Pebbles and nature

http://www.break.com/usercontent/2008/9/Emotional-Hippies-Crying-Over-Dead-Trees-565864.html

Many people like beaches. Some would like to live on them or be reminded of beaches where they live. Not making your house out of sand, is however, one of the few bits of sound architectural advice that the bible contains. But many of us have the next best thing. We live in pebbledashed houses.

Pebbledash is basically render with small stones (pea shingle or stone chippings) added to give a gritty vertical shingle beach effect to external walls. Does this amount to blasphemy or is it simply sad and naff? Having lived for some time in a house with pebbledashed walls, should I go to confession? Can I be redeemed? Will I ever feel the warm sands of freedom between my carefree toes? Will I forever after feel the sea breeze passing through my carefree locks and forget the petty jealousies us suburbanites are supposed to harbour towards our stone-clad fellow men?

Or am I ever condemned to be one of the "little people" - those who, according to Steve Morgan, quoted in the New Statesman in 2001, "while not poor, live on modest incomes in modest pebble-dash houses, hold modest ambitions for themselves and their children, run modest cars and hold modest views to the effect that the country is being overrun by foreigners scrounging on social security and that gay men flaunt themselves rather too much these days. These people, or so the theory goes, resent the swish, promiscuous lifestyles of the metropolitan glitterati; equally, they resent the feckless, idle poor who benefit from state handouts."

I know its a bit tangental, but the tiny flakes of pebbledashing which came off the exterior of my house as he refixed the telephone cables a few minutes ago made me think that I could possibly squeeze in a small accolade here about Jim. Jim is a BT engineer who came this morning to fix a problem with our external line. A charming man, nothing could get him to stop from his pole and ladder climbing. He wouldn't even have a cup of tea. He was here and the whole job done within four hours 15 minutes of our first reporting the fault.

Has anyone else noticed how rocky the government is looking at the moment? We have Northern Rock, David Miliband pretending he is without sin but did not to throw the first stone at his boss, and now John Prescott is rocking the boat:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/prescott-backs-pm-ndash-by-comparing-him-to-the-captain-of-the-titanic-885187.html

Can these ever be considered a pebble?

Aggregates

I went to Homebase yesterday to check out the pebbles. They had a bag of red Scottish Gravel for £7.50, which I was considering purchasing. The rival to the Scotch gravel was some Celtic Plum Slate. This was cheaper, weighing in at £6.50.

I elected to put two bags of Celtic Plum in my trolley and off through the shop I swooped. As I rolled through Homebase I debated whether I was doing the right thing. £13 on Plum Slate? This can’t be right.

So, I took out the bags of slate and placed them on the floor by the gardening gloves. I then left the store.

At the weekend I went to a shop that sold wooden ducks, I was tempted to buy but in the end did not.

Thank you.

nature, pebbles
turn mexican episodes.

pebbles, nature
fireside escape slide.

nature, pebbles
envelope kisses mouse.

pebbles, nature
rotate backwards poultry.

I like to wonder round with pockets full of pebbles. It helps my digestion.

They,
like the cheeks of a mouse,
run in the forest.

Cold,
whispering in the soft moon,
secrets like backgammon.

Bold,
leaf bud, pebbles and nature
create new musical oxygen.

Taking the two together, I have created this group.

Have fun during your day and, if you love either pebbles or nature or perhaps both pebbles and nature, then stop by and leave some messages (even leave leaves, because leaves are part of nature too).

Kind refraine.

Hektor Hamulec
Group Moderator
Pebbles and Nature Group