Chasing the Sun

If you stop doing poi, becasue it's been winter and there isn't room to practice indoors, then it's amazing how long it can take you to catch up again. I've been relearning my tricks one by one the last couple of weeks and I've finally hit the point where I stopped last year. I can do 'chasing the sun' once more. It's a trick that involves swinging both poi clockwise in front of you and then both of them behind you going the same way. Unless you get the timing exactly right, the strings tangle very quickly.

Poi are good for stress. You have to concentrate hard on the balls, as the moment you don't, you get whacked by a fast-flying poi. (Women have one serious advantage when it comes to doing poi. Getting whacked by a ball in the balls is seriously painful - or so I'm told by exalted_mugwump...

Political surveys

I've just filled in a highly loaded, politically biased survey from one of our local political parties (the one I normally vote for, so this isn't a gripe at the opposition).

Many questions I simply refused to answer. eg. Do I feel that Council Tax is a fair system? (all systems of taxation are considered unfair by those who pay more under that system than the alternatives. If we want to pay less tax, then we have to demand fewer services)

Do I feel more bobbies on the beat is a better use of money than an identity card scheme? (Neither. If you really want to reduce offending rates, then there are schemes for working with prisoners to help them develop social and educational skills that are more cost-effective - but less popular politically - than either of the alternatives offered in the question)

At least they left lots of space for comments.