Faces from the past

This is my grandmonther's mother (on Dad's side). She was born around 1890. Spooky huh?

And for the boys

In Toronto there's a gorgeous new statue commemorating Alexander Wood, depicting a 19th century "sex" scandal . Our Alex was a well respected magistrate unitl 1810, when

A woman reported a rape, noting she had scratched the attacker on his genitals. Wood took matters into his own hands, lining up the suspects and demanding that they drop their pants so he could "inspect" them.

The incident is commemorated on the statue's granite base, with a bronze plaque depicting a man's rear end with his pants around his knees, and Wood's outstretched hand in mid-examination.

Sounds like an initiative worthy of CSI 200 years later to me, but sadly Mr Wood was too forward thinking for his time, and was run out of town because people though he was interested in those men in a more than a professional capacity. Sounds like the Newtown police could take a tip from old Alex in how to catch a criminal....

The upside of the story is that the locals have been rubbing the bare bum on the statue for good luck.

Scary scary monsters

I had a dream in the early hours of this morning. In it, there was a large airport terminal where someone had planted a bomb inside. I started to run outside at full speed. Then I stopped, because a former work-mate was inside. I turned back, went into the back area of the airport to look for her. It turned out John Howard was inside, he was walking on top of a very high ledge that ran round the inside of a large and shadowy room (approaching hangar dimensions). John Howard was trying to get me out of there or attack me or something, and then he jumped on my head. I remember a very vivid feeling of his ankles on on either side of my ears- I was standing up, it was a bit like an acrobat balancing act. He was clamped on and I started to panic and try to beat him off with my hands, as I was trapped and held down. Just as the terror really started to kick in, I woke up.