Weather, day trips out and I'm tired

31 May

We were up in the middles of the night this morning, well, 7.15 is middle of the night to us, and right now I’m feeling it too. I’ve had to have a fasting blood test and that means making an appointment, and that was for 8.05. Their list was all over the place with names being called at all sorts of times and in any order. Ah well, it’s done now and I shall make an appointment for diabetic clinic for about 14 days time.

Ah, now that’s better. I was sat here nodding off so I went back to bed for a couple of hours. Can’t remember when I was that tired before.

Have you noticed the growing number of writers who now have a second writer named on their books? That was why I stopped buying and reading Tom Clancy books a few years ago. I did but one or two and they were nowhere near as good as when he was writing by himself. And here’s the thing, if he did have an input, there was no way of knowing just how much of an input he had. I buy a book because I like the named the writer, not because I like his ‘co-writer’. There’s quite a lot of writers doing this now and I was disappointed when I saw the Wilbur Smith had taken it up too. How sad … … …

Moving on to mental illness again then; I have been wondering if by highlighting the issue as much as I when on-line, and reading so much about too, whether it can cause the condition to worsen. For me, I can feel depression coming on at times, it’s like a think black cloud rolling in over me, sapping all the energy from me. There is nothing I can do when it happens either other that wait for it to roll off again. When it does roll off, I probably don’t realise it for a couple of hours, it’s a really strange feeling too.

Me old mate Bill Howe has been in touch with a history lesson on that man Spartacus. It seems he was a real man and he was renown as a strategist. The scene in the film where all his fighters were crucified along the Applian Way was indeed true. I’ve since found the flowing which might be worth a read if you wish to look into it … http://www.livius.org/sources/content/plutarch/plutarchs-crassus/plutarch-on-spartacus/?  Bill says that what happened to Spartacus during this time is right, so any story that takes up his life after that event is really up to the writer. Whatever, I am enjoying the read anyway.

There does seem to be quite a few books around at the minute about the Roman Empire, rising, falling, struggling along, corrupt and cruel in the extreme. This current read is the first one I have tried, so maybe I might move on to others when this one is finished, I’ll wait and see. I do have the two follow up books anyway so they will get read at some time anyway. But there again, there’s a new Ed James due out soon, Ian Rankin can’t be far off releasing another one. Then there’s all the other crime writers I like, and don’t forget the sci-fi and phantasies ae well. I don’t think I shall be running out of reading matter too quickly. There’s a tee shirt out I fancy with the words, So Many Books, So Little Time on the front. It’s true you know, oh so true.

Kile is due here tomorrow for a few days and we have plans to take him to Twycross Zoo on Thursday, dependant on weather of course. Twycross is only about seven miles from us here and is an easy run along the A444, which is just at the bottom of our street, a right turn, and it’s there in front of us. We have taken him there before but he doesn’t remember it. Actually, he was in a bit of a strop at the time anyway. This time when we take him, he will have his Sony DSLR with him, and loves using that hunk of kit. Friday he is off to his asthma clinic at his GP and he can back from there. We don’t want him here on Sunday because I have a hospital appointment and we don’t want him worrying about it. He tends to fret when one of us ill, better him not knowing I think.

So today’s photo …

Kile and his Sony.

Today’s funny …

What do you call a secret agent that hangs around department stores?
A counterspy.           

Facebook and note taking

30 May

My right hip began playing up again yesterday again. At least we hadn’t made any plans to go anywhere. I’m due to visit Vampire Hall up at the Hussy at 8am for a fasting blood test tomorrow morning. We looking forward to that cos we don’t do early mornings. Still, it gets it done out of the way I suppose.

Facebook again; I’ve come across another writer here in Dorktown, Robert Southworth. Robert writes historical fiction and the one I’m reading on my kindle right now is Spartacus, first in a set of three. A lot of us older folk are perhaps used to seeing Spartacus dying on a cross at the end of Kirk Douglas film. Robert however keeps our man alive and sends him off on a mission with a Roman guy. There’s not much trust between them to start off with, but it does come slowly.

And that is where I am trying to get to – at what point does historical fiction stray into the world of fantasy? As far as I am aware, Spartacus is a myth anyway, so all the books that say differently are a fantasy too. This is the first such book I have read, and it’s not a bad read either, so I can only judge this one. It certainly shows to twisted and cruel Romans in a bad light, but there again, we already knew that anyway. The events on the story take place over two millennia ago, so it’s fairly safe to play with the history. But what of other closer times? There are fiction stories already coming out from the second Golf War and Afghanistan. Are they fantasy, or they just adventure novels? In the end I don’t suppose it really matter if you enjoy reading them.

Remaining on Facebook for now then … one of the groups on there I’m a member of is for the Army Catering Corps. I know a few of the guys on there at least, but although the Corps was small, the number of soldiers who served in it is quite large. Anyway, one of our members posted a photo of a 24 hour ration pack. These packs were given to soldiers when they were an exercise in the filed for the full 24 hours. I’ve seen a lot of those packs my friends, but the one in that photo was issued after I left the Corps in 1979. It had Oxo cubes in it, along with Spangles (remember those?) and Rollos too.

Those Oxo cubes got me thinking about the ones we have in our kitchen cupboard and how many of them get wasted after they have gone hard and are difficult to crumble up. After a tip on Facebook, I now crush them while still in their foil packaging. So much easier. Now though, we only buy the smaller number boxes, usually 12 cubes. Only to cut down on the waste though. I used to have one crumbled in a mug with the hot water as a drink, now I don’t, I wonder why?

We writers are advised to keep a notebook to hand for whenever an idea comes to us. Then we can make a note of it, like this morning while sat here typing this, a thought came to mind, I made a note of it before I forgot about it. There’s quite a few notebooks around here right now, like the one sat here beside me, they get a lot of use. What’ve notice however, is just how few of those notes actually get used. The three subjects mentioned here this morning are all listed in my note book, so they have been used. I’ve just looked back through it and I can see just how few of them do get taken up and used.

In this notebook, I found the start of a story I had noted down. Its start is based in a pub with a man found dead in disabled toilet. He was carrying a copy of Michael Connerly’s The Poet, and the lead investigator shivers when he sees that the deceased had made a note of one particular passage in that book. That passage was just six words; ‘Out of space; out of time.’ I was reading the book when this idea came to my mind and those six words gave a nudge to make a note of it. So yes, some of the notes I make do get used.

Today’s photo …

A much better shot of Maxi that Jan got yesterday.

Today’s funny …

Why do elephants have trunks?
Because they don't have pockets to put things in. 

General mutterings

29 May

We sat here looking forward to getting off out yesterday morning and right up to the point of getting up to get ready, and my hip seemed to explode in pain. Over the next half hour or so it slowly eased off and we thought we’d be OK. No sooner had one side eased up, the other side started, not a huge hit this time but enough to stop me moving. And that was how the day went up till around 3pm, when I finally decided to take some oramorph, a liquid morphine that Jan is proscribed. I know it’s good but it’s also very sweet and sugary and that puts me off using it all that much. I’ll keep an eye on the weather for tomorrow and perhaps we might get to the part at least where we can do the flower shots we wanted.

While I was sat here I yesterday, I set up a number of flikr groups to post my images to and got a few added. They’ve changed it again though, and seemed to take me ages to find my way around the changes, especially when searching for groups. I was really disappointed not getting out yesterday because I could have got a lot of new shots to post. But you know what? All this palaver may have done me a favour really, cos now I can start it all off again with this year.

Jan is off to church this morning and was up sometime before me. When I was up and dress and came through she was looking rather pleased about something and it took me a while to find out why. Maxi is out of his cage and is sat in amongst a huge great cactus that we have here. He hasn’t moved since I got in here so I need to move a bit slower, or at least a bit more carefully so as not to spook him and set him flying about in fright. We had hoped he would be free flying in here, he just needs to gain the confidence to fly off when he wants to.

My copy of AP arrived on Thursday this last week; it’s a bank holiday and it always comes early on these weekends. Anyway, I finally got to read it last evening and one of the items struck a loud chord with me when someone wrote that he was happier behind than in front of the camera. As much as I love photography, I hate having my photo taken by family/friends, even more so when I’m asked to pose for it. I get frustrated because while these worthies are playing about taking just one shot, I could get four or five in the same time frame.

Yesterday my copy of Nphoto arrived, and there’s a lot in there that has caught my attention, and we’ve cancelled the subscription now. Part of the reason for the cancellation was that I got fed-up with not being drawn into any one issue. I’ve also noticed that all the monthly titles tend to follow each other in content and just one tutorial per subject per year is enough for me.

One genre that they do return to pretty regularly is that of landscapes, and I’m sorry, but I just don’t get on with them. Part of it that I can’t ‘see’ them. There’s also the issue of when is the best time of day to go out to get the shots, with sunrise and sunset being the ones that attracts most snappers. Sunset I can do, but sunrise is a no-no for me. The venues for these shots always seems to be far off up the hills and mountains, again, a big no-no for me.

And yet, I remember reading about another snapper who ignore these two extremes and shot in the middle of the day. Think about it a wee bit; think of all those dream mag – err, sorry, holiday brochures that seem to pack with full daylight landscapes. Think also of the various mags aimed at specialist interests, like caravanning, camping, walking and hiking, cycling and so on. They all show landscapes shot in full daylight.

One snapper I know who mainly shoots landscapes, is very careful to exclude all humans or signs of them in his shots. His hit rate seems to be very poor and if I’m honest, it can be boring seeing his same few shots in photo contents and so on. Yet for me, our land looks better for having some sort of human activity. A line of cars I can see as being a drawback, but a house and garden, or people out hiking, add interest to the shot, as well as giving a sense of scale. With digital photography these days, a lot can be achieved post-capture. But that opens up a whole different can of worms.

Today’s photo …

Me, taken by Jan. Can’t remember where we were when she took this one but I do remember that she was messing with my camera and I looked and smile for her; for once she was quick enough on the shutter to keep me smiling. I’m not sure about this one, though. You can clearly see the effects of my weight loss over the last few months, and the lighting is from Jan’s left but behind me which seems to blow the left side of the image.

Today’s funny then …

Doctor, Doctor, I keep thinking I'm a goat.
And how long has this been going on?
Oh, ever since I was a kid.                    

Contents insurance, Flikr and on a fancy

28 May

I’ve been wondering when our insurance was due to be renewed for a few weeks now but haven’t done anything about it because I wanted to wait for renewal notice. That arrived here this morning so first thing I’ve done is to get a few quotes off Uswitch. The current insurer’s quote is £282; all ten of the quotes from Uswitch were for the same amount, £5, 475! Talk about day light robbery. I won’t be taking up and of those, that’s for sure.

It looks like my 8,000+ photos on Flikr are wasted, simply because I can’t get Yahoo to accept my email/user name combination. I’ve email them to try to sort it and still not had a reply. Thing is, I can’t even get to close the account and remove my photos, let alone add any, so yesterday I opened a new account for both and I can now post to Flikr again. There’s not many on there just yet but that will alter later as I post the rest of this year’s shots. Oh yes, I do still have all the old photos saved to my hard drive and separate drive, so they are not a total loss.

With that in mind we have been wondering what we can do this over this weekend. Neither of us like large crowds these days, so going off anywhere not really an option because of the huge crowds that will be around all the honey spots. So why have decided that a ride into town on our scooters will do us fine. Riversley Park has been planted up again and the black tulips are looking pretty good. So we are off on a shoot into town. I shall get some new candid shots too and Jan will get a lot more macro shots of whatever catches her fancy. The weather is set for fine and sunny, so we will be off soon enough.

For ages now, I’ve been on a fancy for something nice but now common. These days most things which used to be out of reach of most of us, now well in reach of most us. The trick for me is to find something that both of us will enjoy, harder than you might think though seeing as Jan is such a finicky eater. So I will look something in Asda while we’re in there getting milk. Who knows what specials will be on offer today; one thing will be sure though is that the price will be high, simply because it’s a Bank Holiday weekend, bloody rob-dogs! Increasing prices when we come up to a major holiday or celebration of any sort, is a practice that is as old as the hills.

No matter what the occasion, flower prices go up, so I’m pleased I bought some for Jan earlier in the week. And yet, I also like to see flowers in the living room, even if they are just plain old daisy’s, they all give a lift to a room. Flowers are no longer allowed in our hospitals around here. They claim they are an infection risk, maybe, I don’t know enough to comment really. Is this a national thing I wonder, or just a local move?

So then, today’s photo …

Not a great shot but this is Maxi the budgie, sitting and eating from Jan’s hand the other day.

Today’s funny …

What is green, covered in custard, and is always complaining?
Apple grumble.          

Oh for a world without politics

27 May

This time in four weeks we will know if we are to remain in the EU or leave. I want out, and I hope the last person to leave blows up that damned tunnel under our English Channel. If the vote is to remain then I shall be disappointed, of course, but that’s democracy of course and I shall live with it. It’s what might happen, no, will happen afterwards that will get me hot under the collar.

If we vote to remain and start to get drawn deeper and deeper into the EU their ways, we will hear the voices of the stuck pigs crying out in pain at the injustice of how things are. The reply will ask which way they voted, and guess what, none of them will admit to voting to remain. And of course the leave voters will be just the same if jobs go south and the economy crashes.

We saw the same after Daft Dave was elected as Prime Muppet in 2010 and again last year. Few if any admitted to voting for the tories anyway. Now we are stuck with a man, who even his own mother claimed that he is exceptionally stubborn, for another four years. But here’s the worry for me; so we vote to leave and over the next two or three years we must remain in there anyway so we can ‘negotiate’ our withdrawal. Negotiate? No, we should tell them we will withdraw on such and such a date and do it. The concern for me is what Daft Dave and his side-kicks will do during that two years and how much damage they will do during it.

You see, I don’t trust politians, of any colour. None of them can really be trusted with anything at all, simply because they are there to line their own pockets, even at local level. Then they will apply a 50 or 100-year block on their actions so we won’t know what they have been up to. By that time, they will be dead and gone and can’t be held responsible for anything. That could well be cutting even more jobs and making an even bigger mess of the economy than they already have.

I do try to keep away from politics as much as possible, but of course that is just about impossible simply because everything we do and see has some political angle to it. And I was never any good at politics, which was probably why I didn’t do better while in the army. For m, everything was black and white, right or wrong and I got angry (and still do at times), when things happen that turns things into various shades of grey.

Democracy has so much wrong with it but I would sooner live in one than a communism or a dictatorship, or for that matter, a system where the whole of society is run by the rules of a religion. Each of these systems work well for those at the top, the decision makers. For those at the bottom, all they have is grinding poverty. Even here in our democracy there are people who live in poverty, but not like those in North Korea or in any of the Islamic states. Yet how do we measure poverty?

I am retired and we live on my retirement pension, topped up with pension credit and my army pension. Add in our disability benefits and we live fairly comfortably really, even if we can’t afford to jet off for a week in the sun every or even take a UK holiday every year. Yet we are supposed to be ‘in poverty’. Single people living on benefits are not so well off though; and yet even they are doing a lot better than those in India or Africa who have to scratch a living off the cost offs of others.

Sadly, there is no single political system that brings true equality to everyone, simply because there always has to be someone at the top who has the task of keeping everything running. That sort of power corrupts everyone, even in our fictitious system.

And so politics is everywhere, whether we like it or not. We just have to learn to live with it … unless that is a revolution takes place. However, that will mean all that has been done is to swap one load of corrupt politians with another … so sad … … …

And so to today’s photo …

My ham salad dinner last night.

Today’s funny …

Why did Cinderella get dropped from the football team?
She ran away from the ball.         

On subjectivity

26 May

And so we went off to the Merry Hell Centre soon after I closed down yesterday. The drive over there was a nice easy run and Jan did her usual superb job of driving it. We spent a pleasant couple of hours there with Jan buying herself three new skirts and I got myself five new books, Including the new Peter James, Roy Grace story. On the recommendation of the assistant who also bought The Cartel by Don Winslow. I should have had a look at it properly first I suppose. The font is really small and along with just short of 700 pages, that one is going to be loooooong read. 

I also went into the Works, and came out with another of their 3for£5 offers. That adds a Peter Robinson, Iain Banks and a Jo Nesbo to me TBR (to be read) pile. I like four of these writers but Winslow I haven’t read before. We all have our favourite writers of course, but when does a good book become a great book? What is that magical ‘something’ that takes the mundane to greatness? Of course, if we writers knew that wee secret, then we would all be writing great books. The great would then become the mundane and we would all be looking yet again for that ‘something’ magical to lift it out of the sea of books out there.

Of course, this is all down to subjectivity again. Brand loyalty will also play a part of course, with author name taking the place Apple or Microsoft, or whatever. It’s like that Peter James story I bought yesterday, Love You Dead; it’s his latest release and his last four I have bought on, or close to the release date, something I will continue to do. On the shelf close by there was a Harlan Corban, John Grisham and a number of others I like, But I kept to the Peter James brand.

Sometime ago I bought The Wasp Factory, by Iain Banks. It was his first published book and it got slatted in the media when it appeared on the shelves. Yet I loved it, and so did me old mate Bill Howe. But was it just a good book, as opposed to a great book? Subjectivity plays that part. There have other times when I have disagreed with the critics of the day. One instant I remember was in the mid-1970s when I saw a review of a Bob Shaw book called,         

A Wreath of Stars. One critic said that Shaw had thrown everything he could reach into the story, including the kitchen sink. I read it and wondered if I had the book they were writing about.

The same happens with telly shows, usually when they say a show is great, and I hated them. Now I just don’t bother with them. American comedy shows are top of the list for this one, followed by the crop of so-called comedians that we Brits have to put with. I wonder just how much of their success is down to on-going publicity that the media gives them. What has happened to our own critical minds? Or are so many of us so used to follow the crowd and desperately want to be part of the ‘in crowd’ that we suspend our own senses? ‘Dumbing down’ is a term I’ve heard of lot of lately, but in this case, it’s the general population that is being dumbed down!

Today’s photo …

The invader, or Spanish bluebell.

Today’s funny …

A wife said to her husband when he returned from work, "I have some exciting news for you. Soon there's going to be three of us in this house instead of two."
The husband ran to her and hugged her. He was glowing with happiness, but then his wife said, "I'm glad you're are so happy about my mother coming to stay with us."          

Merry Hell Centre

25 May

This will be a short one today. We decided that we are due a run out over to the Merry Hell Shopping Centre, t’ther side of Brum, so we will be off out as soon as we’ve had our morning drinks. But before we go I shall expand on two thoughts that came to me while reading stuff on Facebook yesterday.

The first was around encouraging kids to read and how much they miss out on when they aren’t encouraged. I got to thinking about what my mam and dad read when I was a kid. The    

book genres have been more different; dad only read westerns, and he would get through two a day at one time. Mam would only Jean Pleady romances, not an ideal choice for two young boys. I did try a few westerns but found them to be very much the same as each other, as well as pretty light weight reading. Dave wasn’t much of a reader at all, and never was even as an adult. Hr did loan me Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code, and I’m not sure why he bought it really. Perhaps it was open and clear attack on the Roman Catholic Church, I never asked and he never said.    

The next item was on food, yes I know, me n food again. This one came when it came to what kids eat and why. It took me back to my every night supper of two slice of jam butty and a mug of coco. Nowt wrong with that really, until that is I tried dunking the butty into me coco, and I loved it. For some reason they used to find that highly amusing. I just ignored them and watched telly. Dave wasn’t so amusing though. Vinegar was thing, and always was right up till he died. Mam and dad took to hiding the vinegar bottle so he couldn’t get to it. One day he shook a full vinegar bottle onto a plate of chips when they put it out too early. That was the last of it too and dad wasn’t at happy about it.

Oh the memories …

Today we are off to the Merry Hell, so for today’s photo …

A photo of art work in the Whetherspoons pub over there. It commemorates the iron and steel works that the centre was built on.

Today’s funny …

What did the panda take with him on vacation?
Just the bear necessities.  

In, out, a big shake up to come about

24 May

Yesterday I had a ride into town again, mainly to order my new specs. That price of £108 I was quoted didn’t include the reduction for the NHS voucher. I was more than happy to pay the reduced price though, £36.50, much better. My new specs should be ready in two weeks.

So there I was wondering around town and I started to get a few twinges of heart burn, and yes, it was heart burn, not angina, I do the deference very well. As pre usual I hadn’t had anything to eat at that point so I called into a shop and got me an egg mayo butty for £1.25. I really should have known how the quality would be. I should have waited and headed for Boots.

There was nothing wrong with it as such but I did feel a little off for the rest of the day. But there again, I didn’t have a lot more until late on when I had a couple of slices of toast. And that says something in itself. Most days I don’t feel hungry at all, and I certainly don’t feel like eating all that much even when I do. I’m not ‘grazing’ as it’s called these days, either. I suppose that is why I have so little energy most days. My annual diabetic assessment is due next month so I still need to take it easy with what I eat anyway. Just can’t win eh …

So what do you think about Daft Dave’s latest warbles on the perils of leaving the EU? Personally I wouldn’t rust any of them, no matter what party they are in. We just don’t know how much vested interest they as induvials, have in pushing for a remain vote. I was interested in a group of older folk and youngsters who came together to talk about the issue. Of most interest for me was that the older folk had, like me, voted to join the EU when we got the chance. Now they want out.

One younger lass pointed out that if all the older folks for out and win, then that leaves the younger folk having to live with the consequences. That on the face of it seems to be fair comment, however it forgets two points; 1, we older folks have a lot of experience and we have learned from that; 2, that is democracy in action. The older folk seemed to go rather quiet at that one. The youngsters won that one at least, but wouldn’t if I had been there.

My opposition to the EU is long standing and no matter what they say, any of them, I shall be voting for out next month. I still remember the meat mountain which required huge deep freeze units to be built all over Europe. There was one here in Dorktown. At one time we lived about a kilometre from that one and all day and night we could hear the diesel fuelled freezer motors running 24/7. The noise levels for those living in Gadsby Street must have been horrendous.

Add in the wine and milk lakes plus the huge hit that our farmers took and are still taking, and it all adds up. We Brits play far too fairly in reality. Wire cages which various animals were farmed in were banned and had to be replaced, by a certain date. Our farmers were forced into obeying that rule, while on the mainland a number of other nations ignore it and still do as far as I know. Holland and France come to mind there.

Our fishing industry was hammered too. Yet Spanish fishing vessels steam into our waters and keep their whole catch because Spanish culture allows for use of the smaller fish that our guys thrown over the side, even though the fish are dead by that time. So much waste is involved in this, and not just the in fish either. Fuel for the boats, the hours spent catching and dumping fish. It’s all so sad really.

Then we can throw in the corruption in the EU parliament. Here in the UK our MPs were investigated for their expenses claims, some of them were jailed for it. Yet in the EU, time after time there has been attempts to have an investigation, all of them have been voted out by the MEPs. They at least are turkeys that won’t vote for Christmas! And while I’m on about money, how about the twice yearly move from one place to another and back again. How much does that cost every year. The Euro, oh my, that alone is worth us leaving the EU for so we are no longer helping to prop up and failing currency.                      

I had thought of writing about boring pet names this morning but that will have to wait for now. So today’s photo …

Mayflower I think.

Today’s funny …

"Who's been eating my porridge?" asked baby bear.
"Who's been eating my porridge?" asked mother bear.
"Burp" said father bear.

If music is the food love ...

23 May

Music, do you love it or loath it? There is reason for this question my friends, but der nowot? I can’t remember what it is right now. I made a short note yesterday after reading/hearing something about the role of music just as I was moving on to do something else. I made a not so I wouldn’t forget about it … oh dear … But actually, when I think about it, music does play such a large part in all our lives, even if we don’t think about it. Theme music in films and telly shows help set scenes. It identifies one film/show from another.

We all grow up with music in the back ground of our lives. How many of us sat and listened to the radio when the top 40 records were played, I know I did. Music lesson at school as well as the school assembly where we all sang at least one hymn. I wonder if schools still do that these days seeing as we are such a multi-cultural society these days. Perhaps I should try to remember to ask Kile next time he’s here. But what of our day to day lives?

There have been too many occasions to count where Jan and I have been traveling somewhere and the radio is on and an old song has come one. I’ve turned to Jan and said, ‘It’s been years since I heard this.’ So we listen to it and memories come flooding back of a time that we had completely forgotten about. There are some times when I would prefer not to be reminded of such times, I’m sure we all have those.

I’ve read about writers who sit writing with music playing softly in background, it helps them concentrate apparently. I’m sorry, but it would drive me up the wall. Now if I’m writing, then I’m writing; if I am reading, I am reading; and so on. What it means is that is I want to listen to music I can’t be something else, and that seems a waste of time to me now. Although I can watch telly and read Facebook at the same time. That says a lot about today’s telly and Facebook methinks.   

‘Feeling anxious.’ Just two words that I made a note of on here yesterday as well. I do know what they were meant to be about. There are times when I do feel anxious, and for no reason too. In fact, I just can’t put my finger on why, I just feel unsettled, that something isn’t right somewhere, something doesn’t gel as it should do. As I said, there’s no reason for it. Perhaps it’s part of the depression that comes on me at times, I just don’t know. What I do know is that yet again I feel the mild sun-burn sensation down my back and legs and overall I feel pretty unsettled. Which reminds me …

That memory test I had done; the nurse did finally get back in touch and spoke to Jan. She confirmed that there is nothing wrong with my memory, and no signs of dementia, which is a relief. Then she spoils it and says they want me to have a special type of blood test and then a different type of assessment. So now I have something else to be concerned about. Right from when I was referred for the memory test I was concerned they would let me go without a fight. But there again, with some of the horror stories about the NHS history on mental health issues I should perhaps be thankful for what is being offered. We’ll see … … …

X Files on telly; did you love it or hate it? We saw a few of them years ago and when a new series was brought out earlier this we thought it was worth a go; we gave up after just three of the series. It was crap I couldn’t believe that it was being shown! Anyway … yesterday I noticed there was a film on Channel 4 called Evolution. So I decided to record it. It started the two main actors(?) as X Files, which I didn’t realise. We tried to watch it later yesterday, we suffered maybe ten minutes before it got deleted. Oh dear, so, so bad. I must make more of an effort to look at cast lists better in future.

8.45 this morning and our doorbell goes off. We are expecting someone to call on us sometime today, but not at that time. This moron was knocking doors asking if we had any ‘old stuff’ to sell. Good job she didn’t to sell me then eh? From what I could hear he was polite enough, but it did seem a tad odd really. Why did he just come to our door? We can normally hear everything that goes on in the main hallway, but he didn’t knock on Roy’s door; all very strange.

Because I am slow to wake up and get moving properly, Jan always gets up to answer the door. However, getting up in such a rush doesn’t help her at all, in fact it knocks her about a good bit. That started when I was using my CPAP. So the question is, ‘Why does she do it?’ It’s mainly because Amazon are turning up at all times these days and they don’t hang about either. If you don’t answer quickly enough, they are off. Sometimes they come back, other times they bother. What happens to those parcels I don’t know.

Today’s photo …

Stepping out.

Today’s funny …

 Mother: Oh dear, I can hear your baby brother crying. I guess that he needs changing.
Lucy: Well if you're going to change him, can you change him for a puppy?              

I was so tired

22 May            

Amazon was here again ringing the doorbell just after 9am. So strange to get deliveries on Sunday that we are still not used to it. Actually, I was more or less awake at that point anyway. Last night I was tired I went through around 9.15 and tried to have a read. What I found was that I was dropping off while reading. I gave up and settled just before 10pm, so a 9am call wasn’t so bad an idea.

So there I was sat in the chair in optician’s place looking in to that mirror on the opposite wall. Last time Jan cropped my hair she said I was getting thin on top, but I could really see it sat there that day. The sooner it’s all gone the better for me. The vanity of many men who will do just about anything not to go bald amazes me. I just wish the facial hair would go too, but I doubt it will. 

The BEEB were at it again on Friday evening. They predicted that yesterday would wet and windy all day, so I didn’t bother even thinking of going out down town for a few hours. We did eventually get some rain around 6pm, but it was very slight indeed. So there I was messing about on the net yesterday and on the BBC website I found a prediction that Britain will be having a series of heat waves that getting hotter each time reaching 38⁰ at its hottest. Oh really? They can’t get it right over the next few hours, let alone weeks or months ahead. Mind you, if they are right and we do get heat at those temperatures, then there is going to be a big hike in A&E attendance numbers; Jan and I will not be moving much at all while it’s on, that’s for sure.

Food Detectives, another show I record was watched yesterday. This is a reasonable show that is not all about the chefs showing off what they can do while advertising their latest book. In this show they show the differences between food at various price levels, budget, midrange and premium. The one I watched yesterday did the taste test on sausages, where the premium banger won hands down. Of course there was a huge price difference on them, about £1.50 a pack. But does that really matter? We don’t have sausages all that often these days so we wouldn’t be all that concerned about the price.

This show does have a chef of course, but this time he’s helping fix viewers kitchen nightmares. Last night he was helping a guy with his roast taties. Oh dear … what a long winded method; first he poached the taties before sploshing a lot of oil into a baking tray and preheating it in the oven. Then he removed each tatie for and placed it into the hot oil before returning to the oven. OK, they looked nice when they came out of the oven, but it still seems a long winded method of doing them.

There was one area in the kitchen that I just couldn’t get to grips with, the pastry department. Don’t know why, I just couldn’t get my head around it. So why am I now fancying having a go again. It’s been years since did anything like that, it’s cheaper and easier to go to Asda instead. What I am fancying doing are the Danish pastries that we like so much. I wonder if I actually do scratch that itch, time will tell.

Today’s photo then …

Coffee cake and black coffee.

Today’s funny …

What do you get if you cross a thief with an orchestra?
Robbery with violins.               

On diets mainly

21 May

Devoured by D E Meredith is a book I bought some time ago, but when I began reading it I just couldn’t get on with it at all. Night before last I started it again and last night I got with it again. Now I’m sat wondering why I couldn’t get on with it. Basically, it’s the start of a series of books on the advent of forensic science and its use within the mid-19^th century criminal/justice system. Tied in amongst the story line is the crazy for collecting specimens of various exotic animals and fossils that were all the rage of various classes of society at the same time, and how it all links in to prominent MP and knight of the realm.

At least I don’t need to do a review of it yet of course, but yesterday I did get the three reviews done and posted that were part of my to-do list that wrote of yesterday. The reviews I write have to be a minimum of 150 words. Most of mine are 3-400 words. They mainly cover how I personally felt about reading the book, although there is a short outline of the story line as well. In the past I have tried to read book reviews in some of the heavier newspapers and I’m blowed if I can find where they get the words from for such long-winded reviews. And yet reader do enjoy them. Anyway, none for me to do right now and later today I shall be getting on and doing some writing done, as well as making a start on sorting Shipshape.

I am a Type 2 diabetic and yesterday I read something about writing my experience of it. That seems a good idea so I shall be trying to make a start on it at some point, but I’m not sure when. And why not do so? If it can help others who are newly diagnosed, then so much the better. I well remember when it was confirmed that I have it and how much it knocked me about, not the illness, just the thought that my life was over at that point. It isn’t, honestly, it isn’t. With careful management you can go on to do just about anything at all. Some diabetics have run marathons without any problems.

The cause of the illness isn’t properly understood, although it is known that over eating and little exercise is one of the triggers. That is me all over, and I still have to watch what I’m eating these days anyway. But it’s more watching how much I eat than what I eat. Even so, diabetes can hit even the most careful of eaters. A friend of ours has always been very careful of his diet and that of his family. Even so, he has been hit by Type 2 as well. That’s what I mean about the causes not being fully understood.    

There are enough warnings these days about how a bad diet can affect us later in life, and yet every time we go out and about we see obese young people walking around, or trying to walk around town. That is what concerns me. And yet there’s this new idea about body image that says you should be happy with within yourself, no matter how large you are. That one is going to kill a lot of people at some time.

The problem as I see it that of one of not understanding what is meant by it. What I think is that the meaning is that no matter what your looks/size, you shouldn’t be depressed by how you look. What is doesn’t mean is that being fat doesn’t matter, it does. I’ve lost at least 28lbs in the last year, and even I can feel the difference that has made. Losing weight will help those people too. This latest crazy for being proud to be fat, is doing more harm than good.

It reminds me somewhat of my brother Dave. He was a couple of inches taller than me, but lb per inch, he was a lot bigger than me. His main problem was again greed, not need. He listened to what people said, and then took just what he wanted to hear from them. So when a dietician said that the occasional fried food won’t harm you, he clung to ‘fried food won’t harm you,’ and forgot the occasional. And this is where the problem comes, with all of us really, we only really hear what we want to hear, not what is actually said. We feel happier that way don’t we.

And so to today’s photo …

Nuff said methinks.

Today’s funny …

Did you hear about the man who thought Bob Marley and the Wailers were the sailors who caught Moby Dick?    

A miracle in Dorktown

20 May

A miracle has happened here in Jaronland. While I was out at my eye test yesterday afternoon, at blubblubblub years old, Jan has produced a new baby boy. And no, IVF has happened either. OK, this baby is covered in pretty blue feathers and he’s called Maxi. Actually, Jan has got him from Kile’s place where he was stuck in a bedroom all day by himself. They claimed he was viscous and unfriendly and fought with their other budgie. Jan has already managed to get him onto her finger twice and we haven’t had him 24 hours yet. He’s done nothing but chatter on in cheepcheep since we got home. Mind you, I was surprised when I saw him; I’ve been wanting another budgie for ages but we decided against it against it. Thing is, Jan is a real softie when it comes to things with fur n feathers.

My eye test went off OK, although there are a few minor bleeds on the retina but nothing to worry about. The crunch came to the ordering of the new specs though. I chose Specsavers because of their 2for1 offer. So I looked for the cheapest frame to get the offer, at £69. However, in a major move they have added £35 for the bifocal part, that brings the price up a good bit. However, I do need new specs, and seeing as my current sunspecs are about ten years old, I need a new pair. Even without that, I would still have the £100+ to pay just for the one pair. Ah well …  

Another surprise this morning; my letter for the neurosurgeon appointment arrived, the only letter we had today. I wasn’t expecting it till early next month. I opened it and read the date, 5^th June at 11.20, that’s fine for us. When I came to enter it into our diary I found that the 5^th was a Sunday, another surprise. One more down, lots more to come though.

I’ve had another letter inviting me to take part in a clinical trial, but I really don’t fancy taking part. Last night on Midlands today, a doctor was encouraging patients to take part in them so other can be helped. He began doing this after he had stroke. My reason for not going for it is that I have enough appointments as it is without adding to them for a trial. But there again, all trial participants will be ill anyway. I’ve still got the letter so I’ll have another read of it and see what I think then.

Jan was out last night at a church meeting and I was sat here wondering what to do, and no, I wasn’t bored, if anything it was the opposite. I’m a good way through HP3, again, I have Spartacus part read on my kindle, Shipshape needs a number of bits sorting out before I can it published, and finally, Arathusia keeps shouting at me for more to be done, and finally, I have three book reviews to do ForReadingAddicts. In the end I went for HP3, just to get it read and out of the way. Come bedtime I began another book, Devoured by D E Meredith, one I had once given up on but wanted to try again. Oh yes, and don’t forget this blog too. And someone said writing for fun! Hahaha.

Kile is due after school today. Because Jan has been doing a lot more than she should have been, she has decided that she won’t doing a lot this weekend. Every year we do try to get out to Bempton Cliffs, just north of Bridlington so we can get photos of puffins and gannets. Taking Kile we know will he will be happy with it, especially if we throw in a few hours in Bridlington, and he’ll be very happy indeed. The trick is to judge it right before all the birds disappear but when the crowds have gone.

When we used to go there when I was driving, we also managed to get to Blacktoft Sands where we’ve seen spoonbills a few times now. A few times we’ve been there we’ve also managed to get a couple of hours in Cleethorpes instead of Bridlington. It also means we travel home by a different route, something we like tod do.  But we can’t do them both with just Jan driving these days. Which is a shame really, but that’s life folks …

Today’s photo …

Kingsbury Parish Church.

Today’s funny …

Do you like fly fishing?
No, I prefer to catch fish.     

Puppy farms

19 May

Panorama on Monday night; if you haven’t watched it yet, please do so on BBC iPlayer. Every dog lover, no, every animal lover should watch it. Their investigation into dog breeding/selling and puppy farms is a really nasty watch. It made me wonder where the Animal Rights lobby are hiding on this issue. They are certainly vocal when it comes to animal experiments for cosmetic use and medication use, or at least they were at one time. So I am now wondering why they are so quiet on this one.

The programme looked at two breeders, both in Ireland, one in Antrim, one in the Erie and two home-based sellers plus a large scale commercial outlet in Leeds and Manchester. All five are basically money-grubbers who care nothing for the animals they trade in. Bitches confined to small wooden boxes where they give birth and are left there for days on end; wire cages in large barn-type buildings where individual hundreds of dogs are left, one to a cage, with little or food or water, and in appropriate bedding; dogs pacing up and down the end of a cage showing clear signs of distress that I have seen in films of animals kept in poor zoos aboard or as pets in the Far East. And yet those breeders are licenced!

The sellers are driving to meet the breeders off the ferry from Belfast where the puppies are transferred. That same van driver is then off on his rounds meeting up with sellers all across the Borders region, putting in a long 20-hour day, too long for the driver, and certainly too long for the puppies he’s transporting. These days buyers are getting more wary when buying pups and are asking to see the pups mum. So now then a bitch of the same breed and looks as the puppies are passed over along with the puppies so that the seller can show a bitch as well. When the next litter is due, they go through the whole process again, returning bitch a and collecting bitch b to match the new litter.

And on it goes. The SSPCA had a call from someone about some dead puppies on the side of the road. There was four of them, dumped in a field after they had died in transit. Some of the illnesses listed by one of the ex-employee of the retail company mentioned, kept copies of the paperwork that accompanied the complaints when a sale goes wrong. One pup was half blind, another was too young, another had a heart murmur and on and on the list went. And remember, all these dogs had supposed to have passed a vet check before sale. One of the breeders that this company deals with is the self-same breeder that was suppling pups to home-based sellers.

The BBC asked all those involved for their comments about the what they had found, the only one to reply was the retail company who majored on the dis-gruntled ex-employee and didn’t say much about the issues raised. From the breeders and home-sellers, not a peep. The council has inspected the Antrim breeder since being contacted by the BBC and have refused to give a new licence to continue.

Come on folks! This in 2016, this should not be happening now. All these puppies are selling for £450+ and it seems that far too many of us are willing to hand over our cash without too many questions. The main reason, the only possible reason that this is happening is because there is a ready market for these puppies. Close that market and hopefully the illegal breeding will stop. Hopefully, the new law stating that all dogs must be micro-chipper will help. But don’t hold your breath folks, where there’s cash to be made, there are plenty of people, including vets apparently that will look the other way when it’s needed.              

Today’s photo …

Our little Cindy-pup, who is still missed even today.

No funny again today, after that show last night I just don’t feel like doing funny!

Daily life in Dorktown

18 May

My Office subscription ran out at the start of the month and this morning when I opened it, it wouldn’t play anymore. So I had to bite the bullet thingy and pay for it, not cos I wanted to, but because I needed access to all my documents already created in Word and Excess. But that is the last time I shall be paying for it. Later today I shall be copying everything to Open Office and next year I won’t be bothering with MS Office.

Anyway, Jan said to go for the five PCs version and she could get an updated version too. So that’s what I did. I’ve sent her the receipt so she can sort out her package and now she can’t use it, and from she has just said, it’s working, so that good enough for me.

There was only one letter today, yet another invite for me to join in on a research project to test the effectiveness of an additional treatment find out if it might actually help statins work more inefficiently. All well and good I suppose but the project takes place in Brum somewhere and although they say they will pay expenses, it can go on for three to five years. Well, right now I have enough health related appointments as it is, without having to try to fit in any more. So I won’t be taking part.

There is the argument of course, that if the trail doesn’t go ahead then a more effective treatment might not come into use. It’s a persuasive argument; but I would possibly be 73 when this one comes to an end, and by then my day to day health needs might have increased considerably by then. I don’t think my voluntarily increasing such appointments is all that a good idea.       

As most of you know I’m a Parry Hotter fan, and no, I’m not ashamed to admit it either. Anyway, I’m reading Prisoner of Azkaban for the third time. I friend of mine once said that life is far too short to re-read books. That’s OK as far as it goes but what I’ve found is that no matter how many times you read something, you will find things you’ve missed before. Last night I came across another one while reading HP3. On page 145 of my copy, Harry has just been given a Magical map of the castle by the Weasley twins and he remembers something their dad said to him; Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can’t see where it keeps its brain. When you think about it, that’s not bad advice is it? So fiction can speak to us in the real world.

It was good to get out yesterday for a couple hours on me scooter. The weather was fine and dry and with a fresh fully charged battery I had no worries about getting stuck and having to call Jan to come and pick me. There was no real need for me to go into town other than for just getting out of home, but I did manage two things I wanted to do. One was making an eye test appointment at Specsavers so I can get the 2 for 1 offer on a free pair of shades, my old ones are around 10 years old now.

After that I went to the Works and looked at their 3 for £5 offer on paperbacks. My TBR pile has now grown again with a McDermid, a Baldacci and a new writer for me, A Sarah Crossan. But even that wasn’t the end, oh no. Costas for plain black coffee and slice of a sponge cake I hadn’t seen before. I thought it was cherry but no, it was even nicer, it was blueberry cake. I can hear the moans and groans here you know, ‘Why Costas? Go to Starbucks or Café Nero or …’ I go to Costas because I like their coffee, simple as that.

Monday evening of course we did our shopping but some of it we didn’t get because Asda didn’t have it in stock at that time. So I called in to Dave Caves, a grocer in town and picked up the bits Asda didn’t have. I also picked up and punnet of nectarines for £1.65, not a bad buy really seeing as there was 11 in it, Asda had some in, but at £2 for 5, I wasn’t buying.

And then as I made my way home, getting mixed up with a loads of Bratislava from Higham Lane School. Kids haven’t changed have they? There they were a huge great wodge of them spread across a fairly wide footpath, but do you think they would give way for me? Now don’t be silly, of course they won’t! I’ve been caught in that lot before so yesterday I went down onto the cycle lane on the road so I didn’t get caught up. But I did hear some prat shout out about me not being on a bike but being the cycle lane anyway.

Has all this bored you? If you have read this far then perhaps not. So why do I write so much mundane stuff. Well, the simply answer is that by doing so I am still writing, even if I am not working on Arathusia, and all would-be writers need to write every day. I hope you will stick with me when this happens.

Today’s photo …

Bikers taking it easy.                      

Today’s funny …

What do you get if you divide the circumference of a pumpkin by its diameter?
Pumpkin pi.