D-Day, a wet field and a carnival

6 June

I’m sure you don’t need to be reminded but I’ll tell you anyway; today is the 70^th anniversary of the D-Day landings. It’s thought that 4000 of the 160,000 that took part, died on the beaches. Such a massive sacrifice of young men dying because of the egomaniac who ran Germany at the time. Each time there is such a conflict everyone hopes it will be the last. Yet it never is, is it. When will humanity learn? Will we ever learn?

I’m looking at the weather forecast for the weekend. That truck-fest thingy on Sunday is taking place on Uttoxeter racecourse, and with tomorrow’s promised heavy rain, the ground is likely to be very wet. I could have problems with getting my scooter around a soggy field; but I will turn up to see how things are.

Also on Sunday is the Dorktown Carnival. It always used to be held on Saturday, leaving the Pingles Fields and ending up there too. The main field was home for lots of charity stalls to set up and raise funds, as well food outlets too. Those stalls encircled a display arena where the usual things were played out. The whole thing is really to raise funds for the new town mayor’s chosen charity. This is it’s the Warwickshire and Northampton Air Ambulance service. That is one we support anyway, along with the Mary Ann Evans Hospice.

We are having to stay in today, well, at least one of us is, because Jan is having a new camera arriving sometime this afternoon. Sadly it’s coming by Parcel Farce so it could be anytime at all. They really are a bunch of tosser. And it’s not just the parcel section is it?

We had to send a letter the other day; normally we would just stick a first class stamp on it and stick it the post box. However, our letter was in an A5 envelope and seeing as they have changed the rules on letter sizes we have to have it weighed. Such a shower of tosser!

Did you see Tonight on telly last night? It was on about Type 2 diabetes, and very interesting it was too. I am a diabetic and my control is good enough that I only got to clinic every six months. However, I’m not complacent about that. I still try to watch what I’m eating, with lots of fresh veg and fruit. Last night I had two pints down in the Anker, but that was my first in a quite a few days. My biggest problem is my weight and I really should be trying to exercise more than I do. And yet there’s a but, there always is … I’ve had to take a 2^nd does of pain killers at lunch time today, and by the feel of it I will be taking another does around 5.30pm. I’m not that strong willed to go out and walk or do things when I’m hurting; they that alone could well be enough to cause even better diabetes control than I now have.

Today’s photo is of a mandarin duck … 

part of the collection at Slimbridge.

And the Sage has spoken …

The inventor of the Harley Davidson Motorcycle Corporation, Arthur Davidson, died and went to heaven. At the gates, St. Peter told Arthur, "since you've been such a good man and your motorcycles have changed the world, your reward is, you can hang out with anyone you want in Heaven."
Arthur thought about it for a minute and then said, "I want to hang out with God."
St. Peter took Arthur to the Throne Room, and introduced him to God.
God recognized Arthur and commented, "Okay, so you were the one who invented motorcycles, eh?!"
Arthur said, "ya, that's me..."
God commented, "Well, what a big deal in inventing something that's pretty unstable, makes noise and pollution, and can't run without a road?!"
Arthur was apparently embarrassed, but finally spoke, "Excuse me but aren't you the inventor of woman???"
God said, "Ah, yes."
"Well," said Arthur, professional to professional, you have some major design flaws in your invention.
1. There's too much inconsistency in the front-end protrusion;
2. It chatters constantly at high speeds;

3. Most of the rear ends are too soft and wobble too much;
4. The intake is placed way too close to the exhaust;
5. And, the maintenance costs are outrageous!!
"Hmmmm, you may have some good points there," replied God, "hold on."
God went to his Celestial supercomputer, typed in a few words and waited for the results.
The computer printed out a slip of paper and God read it.
"Well, it may be true that my invention is flawed," God said to Arthur, "but according to these numbers, more men are riding my invention than yours."