9 September
Just one more small task to do now, informing the
mineworkers pension admin. Mother was paid a small amount of pension from my dad’s
time working in the pits. When I say small, I really do mean small! Even so,
she still had to pay tax on it.
I’ve just been speaking to my cousin Christine and
asked her how she was doing. Her hubby Carl had told me she was having a rough
time just lately. Chris is struggling to breath, and I could hear that over the
phone. Apparently she has fibrosis of the lungs, which is a smoking disease;
the thing is, she has never smoked in her life. It’s all rather strange isn’t
it?
Neither my brother Dave or me or have ever smoked, or
have any smoking related illness. Yet mam and dad were very heavy smokers.
Indeed, mam was going through 60+ a day before she stopped in 1996. Mam has
just died at the age of 89, yet it isn’t smoking related. Why some folk are
prone to such illnesses and others aren’t is a mystery isn’t it?
There was an article in one of the papers just lately
that claimed there was a shortage of wasps about this year. Oh really? The
shortage isn’t short enough for me! Jan is terrified of the damned things and
although I don’t like them at all, I’d sooner not see any than see even one. I’m
not even sure what their role is in life apart from producing g more stinging
wasps. If they come anywhere near us, they get zapped PDQ. So what is the
difference then in me zapping a wasp and the culling of badgers?
The wasp is just a pest to my mind; but so is the
badger to a lot of farmers who have cattle with TB. Have you ever wondered
where the cattle got the TB in the first place though? According to Andrew Marr
in his BBC series on the history of Britain, it was us humans who gave TB to
cattle. They must have spread it to badgers in the dropping in how and now
there is a vicious circle between cattle and badgers. And so the badger is now
paying the price. I wish that history could be more widely known!
For today’s photo then I offer a shot of a starling I
have been trying to get for ages …
And today’s funny …
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