Bad driving, bad international situation, bead weather to come ...

1 November

Is a ten year jail term enough for killing four people while using your phone while driving? I don’t think so, however, the maximum term is 14 years. By pleading guilty the man gets a lower term, but why couldn’t it be ten years for each death to run consecutively? That is a question that may well be asked by a number of people. But steeper penalties are applied to repeat offenders. What chance is there that the trucker involved will be offending like that again? Not for the time he is in jail at least, but come on, how many could live with that on their conscious and do it again? I know I couldn’t.

What concerns me is that no matter how good a driver might be, it’s the careless driving, the bad or poor driving of others that you have to watch out for. There is no telling what others will do. Even pedestrians are as unpredictable as our weather. Walk down any high street and watch what others are up to. Their heads are so full of where they want to go and why that they have no idea of what is happening around them. Texting is another distraction isn’t it, but surround them with a couple of tons and metal and plastic, and they become lethal. Basically, it’s all down to selfishness.

For years now our attention has been focused on Islamic extremism. While that is happening, Russia is quietly building up its strength and sphere of influence. Russian involvement in Syria is only the latest incident. Before that there was Ukraine and Crimea. And don’t forget that fleet of war ships passing through the English Channel a few weeks ago. RAF interceptors are regularly being sent out because of the Russian military aircraft approaching our shores. Whatever is going on in Russia, Putin is blaming the West for it. However, I have a feeling that things are not so bright and rosy as Putin tries to pain them, and to draw attention away from the problems there, he blames the west. That is exactly what the USSR did before it collapsed.             

Apparently, October has been the driest on record, or at least that is what several weather services are claiming. So far, so good; but none of them seem to agree what weather we are likely to get over the next few days. I read one forecast that later this month there will be a massive blast of cold air coming in which will lead to 120 days of snow and ice. But how can we be even reasonably sure about that when there are so many forecasters. Out there right now the cloud is low and the light flat and grey, not good for photographers at all. So it’s back to watching cows in the fields and tossing grass in the air to judge wind speed and direction. All that dosh spent on satellites and computers and we’re no better off are we?

Today’s photo brings to mind, ‘Red sky at night, shepherds delight; red sky in the morning, shepherds warning.’ So this shot …

Which was taken around 5pm one afternoon at Asda Walsgrave, really does confuses me.

Today’s funny …

Two guys are chatting in a pub and one says to the other, ''How did you get those scars on your nose?''
''From glasses,'' said the other guy.
''You should try contact lenses.''
''Don't be silly, they wouldn't hold much beer.''