Writing, Parry Hotter and a nice pint!

13 October 2013

Today is just as bad as yesterday in regards to the weather.  Hopefully it will dry up again, just as yesterday did.  However, tomorrow is likely to be as wet as today according to the forecast; that means we will have a wet trip up the M6 in the morning.  The same forecast claimed that things will dry up and become slightly warmer from Tuesday.  That's good to know cos we are going away for a birding week.

My new Fred Cooper novel isn't going very well at all; in fact I haven't touched it for weeks now!  I read magazines; I read books; I watch telly - I sat and watched the first Parry Hotter DVD last night too.  But I keep looking at A4 pad I'm supposed to be writing in and making myself promises I will start again tomorrow.  Then I feel guilty because as we all know, tomorrow never comes.  But do you know what?  I have no idea why I seem to have dried up of ideas - if you see what I mean - at least as far as that novel is concerned.  I do have ideas about new stories and at least I have learned to make a note of them when they come.  Ah well ... ... ...

What do you make of the man who started the EDL leaving it because it has become a home for extremist right wingers?  There is and always has been a simmering undercurrent of dislike, even hatred of immigrants in this country.  I was once asked by an army to make him a coffee.  "How do you like sir," I asked.  "Black!  Black as Nelson and twice as bitter!" he replied.  To understand that statement you need to know that Nelson was a man from Trinidad who was once that officers driver. 

At one time I used to work for a company called Surridge Dawson, a news agent wholesaler.  One of the guys I worked for was called Jim.  He regularly used to tell us jokes that he'd picked up from various news agents he visited during the morning.  Jim was a smoking and because of his relationship with these agents he used to get his ciggies from one particular agent.  One time we all talking and Jim said he hated 'Pakies' as he called them.  Someone pointed out that he got his cheap fags from one and Jim got very angry indeed.  He didn't liked being picked on his double standards at all.

You see, this sort of thing is rampant all over the UK and in whatever walk of life you look at.  So what I can't understand is the man who started the EDL must have known this when he first set up his movement so he must have had an inkling of some of the sorts of people who would join him in his movement.  That is also why I am not sure of his motives now he has stood down from his leadership role.  It smacks of cynicism and underhandedness to me.

Oh dear, my taste buds got a real work out yesterday.  I saw and add in the Maily Dale for a bottle of red wine - a snip at £122K each!  I asked Jan how much she loved me but she said I had to wait till we won the lottery to buy whatever it was I was loving after.  I then read on a little into the ad and found that bottle was actually a very large one, the equivalent of 16 normal sized bottles.  Even so, that works at over £7K a bottle - more than a tad over my price range!  I suppose I shall have to make with this instead ...

So now for today's photo's ... two dogs in sand.

And today's funny comes from my usual source ...

Stevie Wonder was playing his first gig in Tokyo and the place was absolutely packed to the rafters but it was quite a tense atmosphere, with the audience staying very quiet and restrained. In a bid to break the ice with them he asked if anyone would like him to play a request. A little old Japanese man jumped out of his seat in the first row and shouted at the top of his voice...
"Play a Jazz chord! Play a jazz chord!"
Amazed that this guy knew about the jazz influences in Stevie's varied career, the blind impresario started to play an E minor scale and then went into a difficult jazz melody for about 10 minutes. When he finished the whole place went wild. As the noise eventually died down the little old man jumped up and shouted again...
"No, no, play a Jazz chord, play a Jazz chord".
A bit nonplussed by this, Stevie, ever the professional, dived straight into a jazz improvisation with his band around the B flat minor chord and really tore the place apart. The crowd went absolutely wild with this impromptu show of his technical expertise.
But again as the noise eventually died down the little old man jumped up once more. "No, no. Play a Jazz chord, play a Jazz chord".
Well and truly brassed off that this little guy didn't seem to appreciate his playing ability, Stevie said to him from the stage "OK smart ass, you get up here and do it!"
The little old man climbed up onto the stage, took hold of the mike, and started to sing....
"A jazz chord to say I ruv you................."