Jan's update, parking and MH370

27 March

Right then ... Jan first ... she was very tired yesterday because of lack of sleep the night before. Around 8pm last night she went to the toilet and fell on her way back. Last night she slept right through the night and woke up at 9 this morning. The other day she sat and had a good chat with her consultant and he says that she won't be released until she is eating proper solid foods, not liquidised foods. That good be weeks. Total recovery could be months and some things she may never recover from. Only time will tell.

Parking at the Hussy, like all other UK hospitals can be a real nightmare! The pricing just doesn't make sense either at least here at the Hussy. So far I have been paying £2 for up to 90 minutes. Yesterday they wanted £3 because I was there for just short of 2 hours. Having heard what Jan had said I decided that I would pay for a longer period up front instead. The pricing is £7 for 7 days, £14 for 14 days but only £15 for 30 days. I paid the £15 on my card so I don't have to worry about having change for the machine now.

I haven't seen the news yet today so I don't know the latest on flight MH 370. The worry of families of flights passengers must be horrendous and I can't imagine what they are going through. It does seem strange to me that there is no on board device that can't be interfered with that can track the airplanes location. All ships are required to have one fitted so why not airplanes? Maybe it's because they are fairly limited in their range, or perhaps because there is a tracking device already fitted, BUT ... and here's the thing, that one can be switched off by the flight crew. It is the thought that one of them had switched it deliberately to conceal the airplane's location that is causing the problems.

Of course, the conspiracy theories are already starting to wing their way about, Malaya hiding weaknesses in the their air defences being one of them. I wonder how long it will be before one starts about the Yanks being behind it; or how about ... yes, why not ... a UFO has snatched the airplane to do experiments on the passengers. What's the betting on both of them ;-)))

Some time ago I mention what was termed the peace dividend and said that before long it would come be seen as the peace duping, or what term I used. My argument was that Russia was still was strong  as she ever was and would continue to be treat to the west. Others have now seen the danger since Europe, and ourselves by the way, buy a lot of gas from the Russians. It's far too easy for the Russians to turn the tap off and plunge Europe in the cold and dark. Perhaps they might not have been so keen to do so if there still a strong NATO presence in Germany. Britain's armed forces are just a shadow of their former selves. Remember, in the 1980s there was a large army in Germany and the UK, large enough to keep a large presence in Ulster and to raise a fairly large force to steam down to the South Atlantic in 1982. Now we would be struggling to find enough troops to cover Ulster if that place kicked off again.

The blame for this is not just a Tory one, Labour too has cut the armed forces. Both must take a large share of the blame for our reduced strength in arms. I wonder who the historians of 50 years time will blame for it all? Sadly I won't be here to find out, but I really would love to know.

And so we come to a photo then ... 

Ah yes, a Vulcan boomer, a sign of Britain's might as an armed nation.

Time for a funny then ...

A girl in a bar starts talking to a handsome & very fit bloke. Things progress and she invites him home for a coffee.
It was a warm night & he unbuttons his shirt & she sees NIKE tattooed on his chest. She says "What's that for?"His reply " I earn money every time someone reads it"
Time passes and she asks "Have you any more money earners?"He rolls up his trouser leg to reveal REEBOK." Same again, every time someone reads it I earn money"
Things progress and as he strips off his briefs there she sees AIDS tattooed in a delicate location. She says with horror "Surely you haven't got Aids and don't get paid to advertise it?!"
"No" he said "Wait a little while and it will warm up" It said ...
ADIDAS