9 December
Oh goody, goody, our feathered lodger is going home today. Maxi will
probably miss her quite badly though, and I suppose we will too for a while.
Maxi has been encouraged to come and land on us while she was here. My scalp
might not get pecked so either, that will be a pleasant change.
Bonkers Boris may have upset the Saudis, how dear, how sad, what a pity,
never mind. What he said really the truth of what is happening in the region,
what makes it sensitive is that we have trade deals with them as well with them
being allies in the War on Terror. And don’t forget what he said about the
Russians. At the time of his appointment I was concerned that he was a loose
cannon; he is, but his straight from the hip shooting doesn’t go down well when
it comes to diplomacy. That is why I would never be of any use in the job,
thankfully for me at least.
I once read a description of diplomacy as being the art of calling
someone a liar without using the word itself. That pisses me off; if a person
is a liar, then they are liars no matter what word you use. And that is really
why the world is such a state as it is. No-one will say out loud what needs to
be done in clear unambiguous language for fear of upsetting the others being
spoken to. Nobody likes being called a liar, of course they don’t; the answer
is for the liar to stop telling their lies, not in being taken to task in
flowery language. Everyone knows the truth anyway, liar are bullies write large,
and nothing more.
Apart from the WoT, the perhaps the most urgent problem facing the world
is that of climate change. No one nation wants to pick up the bill for cleaning
the up the environment. And yet it is highest polluters that are paying the
lowest proportion of that cost. The US refuses to increase fuel costs to their
full price because the people of America would shot load and long over it. But
I wonder just how many lies are told at the summits that are held every couple
of years or so. Loud statements are given by what look like proud and happy
leaders, claiming success in doing their bit, and usually it is just a bit too.
And yet what some of the poorer countries of the world complain that they
are facing the larger cost which will harm their economies. Pointing out that they
cause more pollution than the more industrially advanced countries, don’t
really help. It also forgets that when those same industrial countries were
first beginning their march to success, they too caused mass pollution as they
did so. So maybe the advanced nations should pay more towards the clean up – or
should they I wonder.
Looking at some of these ‘poorer’ nations we find that their armed forces
are mainly well financed and up to date equipment. I stumbled on the Indian
Death March as it’s called. Thousands of service personnel march at a steady
pace, all exactly in the same time and all in perfect formations. While all
this posturing, all this show of power tells its neighbours that they would
unwise to attack them. China also has its own Death March too. And while all
this is going on people are dying of hunger and disease just around the corner.
Some of all that dosh being spent in showing off, could be better used in ways than
that. But what of the UK, are we any different?
In a way, no we are not. Every year we spend thousands, maybe millions of
£s in over the top military displays like Trooping the Colour, honour guards
for visiting VIPs and so on. While all this is going two or three battalions of
infantry and cavalry are tied up. How much do it take to take them away from
that and back into combat mode? Yes, it’s all tradition, but like I keep
saying, ‘Do anything in the same way twice and you have a tradition. Leaving
that to side for now, how many people in London are homeless? How many are
living below the poverty line? And some of those homeless and hungry people are
scrapping by in the parks beside where the parades are being held. As a nation,
we are no different to any of the so-called poorer nations. We have two new
60,000 ton air-craft carriers, but no airplanes to fly off them for another
three years so much money wasted!
Don’t forget our own contributions to the environment; how many times do
we travel on our own in our pollution makers? How many of us use more power
that we need to on a daily basis by boiling too much water for just one or two
mugs of tea of coffee? How many of us go out shopping and end up throwing away
around half the food we buy? How many of us have our heating turned up higher
than we really need it? And on it goes my friends, and I for one am guilty of
all of the above; how about you?
Today’s photo …
Getting a new roof.
Today’s funny …
A plumber was called to fix a
blocked pipe. He arrived, banged on the pipes for 15 minutes, and said to the
homeowner, well that'll be $35.
The homeowner said "thirty five dollars!!!!- why thats $140 per hour!! I'm
a lawyer and I only make $100 an hour!!"
The plumber replies, "yeah, thats what I got when I was a lawyer."
8 December
I have just watched a nice show out the front while a driver tried to
reverse park into a space behind our car. The car did more or less get in and
was straight as well, pity it was around three feet from the kerb. So the
driver started again, and ended up in the same spot. Eventually they gave up
and drove off to park elsewhere. I think it’s the person who has moved into the
flat upstairs but two doors down. When they first moved in they regularly
parked out there taking two parking spaces; now we know why don’t we.
According to the glorious council leader in our town hall, a certain Dennis
Harvey, there is no congestion here in Dorktown. I have news for him, not that
he will take any notice of course. We headed into town at around 2.50 yesterday
afternoon. Within minutes we were stuck in scotch mist he would say with it taking
us around fifteen minutes to drive from outside Etone school to the bus
station, around half a mile, or just over. Yes, it was school run time and we
made the mistake of leaving while it was happening, however, it’s not all that
much different between 4.30 and 6.30. Where Dense Den get his info from, it’s
not the same source as the us.
Our council is certainly not doing a very good job at all. Some time ago
there was talk about the development of the Upper Abbey Street area that involved
at least one major retail name along with even more shops. We haven’t heard anymore
since. It’s the same with the development that was supposed to be happening in
the Vicarage Road area. That one include the old tax office building and a
large area of land that is currently waste ground just now. That plan was
supposed to see the local college moving onto the site, along with more shops,
cafes, residential units and even a hotel. I wonder what has happened to that
plan. Last time I counted there was at least sixteen empty shops, including the
new Ropewalk area. So why does the town need even more? A question that hasn’t
been answered, or attempted to answer it seems.
Our council is Labour run and right now it seems that they are in as much
disarray as the national party is right now. We do have one decent councillor, Keith
Kondaker is a Green Party councillor who is one of our councillors here in our
area. He has the habit of asking some very awkward questions during council
meetings, so much so that both major parties have attempted to shut him up with
some very dodgy tactics indeed. And yet Keith still gets on with asking the questions.
His latest attempt to get our local muppets to be more open about what they are
doing and saying, is to video the meetings, which any of us is allowed to do.
They certainly don’t like that! They are posted on YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBkvyGB_eys if you want to have a look. Whatever, he will
have my vote again next time he stands.
Christmas cards have begun to arrive now. I will be spending a few hours
writing up ours now we have some, Jan bought some yesterday while we were
shopping. Last year I was feeling at all Christmassy so we didn’t do many at
all. We will do better this year though. I suppose we will get our few
decorations later today too, Kile is coming this weekend and he likes to see
them. Jan says no, to wait and let Kile help doing it, that’s fine by me.
Today’s photo …
A passion flower. This isn’t the one but I do have photos
of one that I took on Christmas Day on the shrub we had in Bed’th, which was a
surprise to us.
Today’s funny …
A car was involved in an accident
in a street. As expected a large crowd gathered. A lawyer, anxious to make
money from the accident could not get near the car. Being such a smart guy, he
started shouting loudly, "Let me through! Let me through! I'm the son of
the victim." The crowd made way for him.
Lying in front of the car was a donkey.
7 December
Are you as surprised over the football child sex story that has broken? I
certainly am, but why are we surprised? Saville showed that where kids are
available there are men who will prey on them. I’m more surprised now that is
out in the open that is has taken so long to happen. We should be asking
whether it is happening in other sports and activities that haven’t come to
light yet.
In most activities these days there are ridged child protection measures
in place, and yet even there the odd one gets through, even with a criminal records
check. But perhaps the most disturbing concern is the sentencing when these
people get to court. A report on MSN this morning, (which now seems to have disappeared!)
was about a man in Greater Manchester who befriended girls as young as 11 and
threatened to kill them if they didn’t send him photos of themselves naked. He eventually
got sent down to nine year after admitting a number of offences against young
girls. Nine years is not enough in my mind, but it’s made worse because he will
spend six of those years ‘on licence’. And yet this is his second court appearance
in two years for the same type of offence.
What is wrong with these judges? Can’t they see the danger these people
are to kids everywhere? That man will come out in three years and start all
over again and we, the tax paying public, will have to pay for another court
case after more kids are harmed, perhaps permanently so, because a judge didn’t
act properly in the public interest in the first place. Enough of that though,
what about nine other judges who are looking into the possibility of forcing
our government to ignore the people of the UK.
‘BREXIT means BREXIT’ says our new prime muppet. After the referendum
there were calls for Article 50 to implemented the day after the result was announced.
Well, I can understand that once Daft Dave had said he was standing down, then
of course there had to be a delay while the replacement was chosen. But I see
no reason why it shouldn’t have been triggered after she over. Now we have a situation
where the tax paying public, having made its voice heard, is having to pay even
more money because someone who has more money than common sense, doesn’t like
the democratic choice made and has raised a case. I hope she fails this time
round and is ordered to pay all costs involved. The British legal system is
certainly broken in pieces.
A lot of the problem however lies in that we don’t have a written constitution
as such. Ours is laid down in the long held traditions and practices we have
had since Magna Carta. It’s not wonder there so many who think differently
about what it means and says. But do we really want such a document as the US
has? I’m not so sure folks; look at all the problems they have in their legal
system where lawyers earn mega-dosh on interpreting that document to suit their
needs and wants. Do we really want to go down that road? I don’t at least.
Today’s photo …
I don’t know what this guy has to do with Sandvik, or is
he taken advantage of the tree …
Today’s funny …
Knock, knock.
Who's there?
Ferdie.
Ferdie who?
Ferdie last time, open the door.
6 December
Kile got himself I trouble again this morning. He stopped here last night
and he when got up he decided to have himself a slice of bloomer bread without
anything on it at all, just the bread. Jan warned him not to, he ignored her
and he ended up running to the bog to throw up. He then asked for a note for
it. So, Jan wrote him one, but not what he expected. She explained what had
happened and why. They haven’t phoned us yet so he’s not got away with it this
time at least. We are due to have him this coming weekend but I’m not sure he
will be coming, depends if he behaves between now and then.
Anyway; did you happen to see the news last night and the item on the
return vehicle that brought Tim Peak back after his ride in space. The vehicle
has been bought by the science museum where it will be display with an Apollo
capsule that’s been there for years. Tim did something I would have loved to
do, even just to go up there and come straight back home. We took Tom to the
science museum once and I saw that Apollo capsule and couldn’t resist putting
my hand out and touching it. Come on folks, it’s not every day you get chance
to touch something like that is it, and with me being a space nut at the time,
well, what would you expect?
Books; why do we buy them, can we have too many, and wishing I had been
reading as a child. Over the years I’ve had and read must be in thousands now.
And yet right now I have just over 200 sitting around here in various places.
But this flat is so small we wouldn’t have room for all of them. However, I do
wish I had been encouraged to read more as a child. Dad only ever read westerns,
I tried one and couldn’t get with it, so I tried another one, same reaction.
Mother only read historical romance, and that didn’t do anything for me at all.
I suppose I really became a reader when I was about 16 or 17 and I haven’t
looked back since. So going back to the questions I asked above; I buy books because
I like them, actually I love owning books, and the idea of being entertained
for hours is a bonus. Can we have too many? Well, that depends on how much
storage you I have, and we are limited in storage. But hang on, I have a tablet
with a 16gig micro SD card and a kindle app - oh happy days …
Today’s photo then …
What else but a book shop.
Today’s funny …
A convict escaped from prison by
digging a tunnel. It came up outside the prison in a school playground. The
convict was so happy when he emerged from the tunnel he exclaimed, "I'm
free, I'm free!"
"So what," said a little girl. "I'm four."
5 December
I fancied a couple days off from writing the blog over the weekend, that’s
why it didn’t appear. While I was sat watching telly though, I saw a recorded
show in the Timewatch series that was
more than a little ‘look how much we have done’ sort of show. Basically they
looked at five events that they claimed TV had helped to bring change. The
first was the aboltion of capital punishment, which majored on the Ruth Ellis
and Derick Bentley cases where death sentences at the time, would not happen in
today’s more enlightened times.
Years ago I was very much in favour of its reintroduction. In last 37
years, my view has changed completely, and I’m no longer in favour of it. Or am
I? Cases like Brady and Hindley, Sutcliffe, the Wests and so on can be seen in
a light in favour of it. Other cases, like the Guildford Four and Birmingham
Six makes me wonder. The Soham and Shipman case, along with the recent one of
the guy killing gays pushes me the other way.
The cost to the public purse in keeping those men locked up for life is
going to be huge. However, is cost a justifiable reason for executing someone?
No, it’s not; nor is the fear or perhaps perceived horror of being banged for
years on end. Prisons today are a far different place than they used to be,
even with the problems that they currently have. Anyway …
The reason I mentioned this one show is the claim that it made, that of
TV, with the BBC in the lead, being instrumental is shaping the policy here in
the UK. That is where I have a really big problem. No matter who we are or what
we do, we are all shaped by our own experiences. Those experiences will colour
our thoughts and feelings and we can’t divorce ourselves from them. We may be
able to tone down some extreme thoughts and beliefs, but if we do that, how
much are we wedded to them in the first place. It is something that you dear
readers will need to taken into account while you read this blog.
No matter what the programmes makers might claim, that show was coloured
by the thoughts and beliefs of those making it. The had access to the whole of
the BBC archive, so why did they choice those five issues, and why those photos
and film clips? They chose them because they fitted in with the story they
wanted to tell, and for no other reason. They couldn’t help it. None of us are truly
100% independent of thought and mind. All our lives we have built up years of experiences,
all of which have had an effect on us one way or another. Those effects will
remain with us for life. And that is something we need to remember when we
read/watch any news in print and on TV.
With that in mind then, what do you make of yet another ‘populist’ vote,
in Italy this time. The actually issue behind the referendum I know nothing
about so I can’t make any comments about it, but this issue of ‘populist votes’
strikes a chord. BREIXT was a shock for many people; Farter Trump winning the
vote in the states was another, but perhaps a lesser one. How many more such
votes will there be I wonder? And why is it happening? Perhaps the reason is
down to the age-old rumblings about politians not listening to voters. After
these votes we can only hope that they will now start to listen to what voters
are saying.
But do remember my friends, the muppets we send to Muppet Central on the north
bank of the Thames, are only the figure heads. The real power lives in senior civil
who actually do the real work of government. Muppets can sprout words as much they
like, but it’s those ‘grey men’ that that never changes at election time who
hold the real power. Sadly, their main interest is what is best for them, not
best for the country.
And don’t forget the lobbyists who are paid to get muppets on the side of
large corporations. Their power base is fairly large too, that is part of the
reason why so many good ideas on papers become watered down enough to make the
idea less effective and therefore almost useless.
Can you see my own thoughts behind this little rant? They are there for
all to see. Top and bottom is my dislike of politicians as a group, not on party
lines. They are all the same, no matter which party they belong to, and that is
likely to remain for as long as I can see.
Today’s photo …
A wee cracker …
Today’s funny …
Two policemen are called to the
scene of a crime in a convenience store. One asks the manager what happened.
He replies "There's a man over there covered in Corn Flakes and he's
dead."
"That's odd," said the first policeman, "didn't we have one
covered in Bran Flakes yesterday? And another covered in Wheata Flakes last
week?"
"Your right" said the second policeman. "This must be the work
of a cereal killer."
2 December
My fears over diabetic clinic yesterday were groundless and I was in and
out very quickly indeed. All my blood test results were slap bang in the middle
of the normal range, BP was 114/67, and I even lost another 1.5 kilos. I shall
be back in June/July next year now. The only thing she questioned was why I
hadn’t received the blood test papers that had been sent out. However, that is
down to Royal Fail, and no-body else.
Game of Thrones series six; we bought the DVD set sometime last week but because of its
content we didn’t start because we had Kile with us. In any case, we were
working our way through the other five series and wanted to finish those first.
Last night we began the new set. How was it? Not so bad as I expected really
after reading some of the critic’s comments. It starts off very dark, and by
that I mean in the picture quality as well as the story line. To begin with we
had thought that it might be a faulty disc or something with the telly. It wasn’t,
but hey ho, that’s the first two watched.
The GoT novel writer is George R.R. Martin, seems to be dragging his
heels in getting anymore volumes written. If he doesn’t want to write any more
he should say so and be done with it. However, the whole series of seven books is
a huge story, perhaps he’s got himself lost in the telling? I don’t know. I
suppose he has his reasons, but to produce such a huge and complicated world,
it would be a great shame if he didn’t continue it to its natural conclusion.
No matter how that conclusion comes about, there will be disappointment,
however, he will need to do so at some time.
J K Rowling seemed to bring the Harry Potter books to an end after seven
books. A lot of fans are unhappy that there won’t be any more stories from the
happy trio. The magical world continues though in that Rowling has published a
few added stories about it. But will they any good though? That I don’t know because
I haven’t read any of them and in one case, the Cursed Child, I have no intention of buying new, I’ll wait and buy
it from a charity shop one day. As for the new one, Fantastic Beasts, I’ve just looked for it on Amazon and it’s only
24 pages long. I won’t be racing to buy that either!
Two writers then, two series that brought to the attention of the
book-buying population. There are far too many such series to mention here, but
a lot a writers have them. Stephen King for one. His main series if the Dark Tower series, six or seven stories
all in a linked set-up. Even so, he has another two book set, The Shining and Doctor Sleep. In that set it’s mainly about the boy in the first
one and in the second one it’s about his life in adulthood and uses his ‘shine’
to stop a group of travellers causing mischief everywhere they go.
One of the best series I ever read was the 12 volumes of the Roger Brook
series penned by Denis Wheatley. Set during the Napoleonic world of war and
espionage between the French and the English, Brook gets himself into all sorts
of sticky situations. He also gets himself out of them all.
Are you able to think of other books series I wonder? What about Lee Childs
and his Jack Reacher, or Ian Rankin’s Rebus, Peter James’ Roy Grace? And don’t
forget Colin Dexter and his Inspector Morse, although I’m not convinced or interested
in his series about the early Morse. Last one for now then, is Tom Clancy and
his Jack Ryan series. I was left hanging high at the end of The Bear and the Dragon. It seemed to me
to be left there deliberately because of the way the critics savaged his The Teeth of the Tiger. Starting with
that one, Clancy began listing a second writer in his work, but how much did
that second writer add to the story. Even more of a concern, how much did
Clancy write? We shall never know now seeing as he died in 2013.
And that my friends is a danger for all writers of books series. We found
out later did we not when other writers tried to write more James Bond books;
none of them were convincing were they. As stand alone books they were probably
fine, but not as follow ups to master spy.
And so to today’s photo …
Got my eye on you …
Today’s funny …
What is white, light and sugary
and swings from trees?
A meringue-utan.
1 December
Malware Bytes is working well I think. Since I downloaded it, it’s
stopping a lot of strange sites that are trying to sneak in. Most mornings a
site with the name finholme keeps on trying to get in, but so far Malware has
stopped it. I won’t be complaining about that!
A copper was deliberately run down after chasing a lorry which was being
driven dangerously. However, he wasn’t run down by the lorry, oh no, that had
stopped and the driver was running off, the copper chasing him on foot. At that
point a car drove at the cop and left him with serious injuries that might be
life-changing. The lorry driver made a car stop, dragged out the driver and
drove off in it, abandoning the car several miles away. The lorry was stolen of
course. Neither driver has been found.
In another chase somewhere locally, a stolen car was being chased by
cops, but this time the thief managed to role the car with the cop not far
behind when he did so. Most traffic cop cars these days are recording what they
is going on around them, and that car was doing just that so we saw the actual
roll. Nothing was said about the condition of the driver though, but I’m not
overly bothered by that. As far as I’m concerned the thieves deserve everything
they get when they do finally crash. I mean, why should Joe Public give toss when
the criminals get caught or get hurt. If they were behaving themselves then
they wouldn’t get chased and wouldn’t hurt. Nope, I’m more concerned about the
owner of the car and their bill for increased insurance premiums and any excess
they may have to pay too.
Our police forces throughout the country are far from perfect, we all
know that, far too many of them being taken to task when things get out of
hand. But you know what, I wouldn’t want their job. I wouldn’t put up with the
way drunks behave or kids either for that matter. At some time we all have a
moan about the cops and what they’re doing or not doing, but who is the first
people we call on when our homes get burgled or we have a smash while driving
which wasn’t our fault. We might not like them, but sadly we do need them
simply because it’s in our nature to misbehave. Most of us are able to control
that side of our nature, some sadly can’t, or won’t; and that is why we need
cops and always will.
I have diabetic clinic at 2.50 this afternoon and I’m not looking forward
to it. I feel as though I have put some weight on over the last couple of
months, and I know that I have not done as well so normal on sugar control.
That means that the major indicator in the blood test, the HbA1c will be higher
than normal. It measurers the average sugar level over a three month period
(don’t ask, I have no idea how that works!) and that is the main level that is
used to measure your control. After that we shall be heading off to Asda in
town seeing as Jan is feeling a lot better today.
Today’s photo then …
A type of ox I think, shot at West Midlands Safari
park.
Today’s funny …
William Shakespeare walks into a
bar and asks for a beer but the barman says sorry I can't serve you, you're
bard.
