Saturday Postscript.

It's Saturday night and I have once again forgotten this blog.  I know not why as I've read others blogs, come up with several really good blog ideas which I have soon forgotten.  I could write about the three political books I have gone through, two on ex Prime Ministers and one on an MP who reached the bottom level of government and disliked what he found.  However these bore people who do not wish know about such things and anyway I forget much of what I read. 
I could discuss football but I hate to gloat about success.  There is the question of money, but as you and I don't have none there is no point!  I could discuss my diet but do not wish to appear like one of those blasted cooks that fill the TV airwaves!  Anyway who wishes to hear about fruit and porridge? Bah!

One of the many bad things this week is the camera becoming filled up with dust!  This means it must be off to my brother who refuses to allow me to get the screwdriver out to clean it.  He seems to think I am ham fisted and incompetent just because I am ham fisted and incompetent. What do I do until it returns, probably sometime in 2050?  A trip round the second hand shops calls, but I am too busy rewriting the booklet and cannot leave the laptop!  Why does the day have only 24 hours and why am I so lazy?  
Never mind, I'm off to sleep anyway....  

I don't understand.

I don't understand how people can vote to stay ruled from Westminster when the opportunity to obtain an independent Scotland stands before you!

I have spent all my life ruled by England.  Both I and my nation have been regarded as second class citizens at all times. Any attempt to indicate this has been laughed off by those around me. This does not come from evil people bent on destruction but from an England that does not understand, nor care, how Scotland is treated.  I have indicated many times the constant belittling of Scotland in the media and daily life, something that other 'ethnics' would challenge as racist.
To the average Englishman Scots are 'up there,' and a 'good place for a holiday.'
They regard us as 'one of them, but different' and have no concept of what it means to be considered as the smaller and unimportant part of the union.
Huge resentment rises amongst those who see Scots care for their weakest as this is not an English attitude, at least among 'Middle England' the bit politicians aim for to get power! Greed and selfishness reigns there, just read the 'Daily Mail!' Each Englishman has his castle while Scots have learned to be more egalitarian.

How can anyone consider it worthwhile to continue being regarded as second class within a 'union' and allow half truths and deceit stop them from obtaining their nation once again?
Be a citizen of your own land Scots, the economic problems will always be there but this time under your control!

Speak for Scotland!
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Who They?

So who are all the visitors then?

I was getting a handful of highly intelligent visitors and now I am getting dozens of visitors! What is going on I ask?  Normally I attract a dozen at most, recently it has been 23, 49, 79, 82 even reaching 144 at one point!  Who they I ask?    

A quick look at the Blogger stats says little, it does not look too accurate to me, and after discounting the regulars, Google and other 'bots,' MI5, CIA and Scotland Yard (If you believe the media) then who are the others?  Not only who are they how come so few actually leave a comment?  Comments are not compulsory, reading this drivel can be a salutary lesson to the world as it is, but surely if these were normal visitors more would comment occasionally?

I wonder of somewhere a teacher makes the class read this daily as some kind of warning?  It may be a punishment of some kind, or possibly my ego is correct in assuming I am really worth a read day after day....what?.....oh!

Tonight I once again saw a stuttering, mediocre England side win a game by two breakaway goals against the run of play.  Once again I was surprised to see England playing in the easiest of groups while Scotland had one of the hardest, last night for instance Scotland played the World Champions and played them off the field only to lose too two lucky goals.  England never have that problem.  Now I am not saying there are questions to ask as to how Qatar and Russia obtained the World Cup finals in years to come but I will ask why does England gripe about that while obtaining the easiest qualifying group yet again!  

It was not always like this!  In the beginning Scotland was always superiour to their imperialist neighbour's.  The 'scientific football' developed in our egalitarian society enabled us to develop the passing game allied to our natural football skill.  It was only after the Great War, and more so after the 39-45 war that England began to take the initiative.  Today money talks in a way it did not in the past, foreign players abound in England and both Scotland and England have lost an edge in developing players for today.  Still, if the refs on your side it helps eh? 

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Nations

They say that Corsica, that small island in the Mediterranean, is possessed of many small villages high in the mountains, gleaming white boxes with a tall spired church, and natives who speak only the Corsican language to one another and French or Italian to visitors.  None it seems ever makes the short journey to Sardinia, the Italian possession to the south, even though ferries trip back and forth constantly to France and Italy.  
Imagine being born high up in one of those villages.  Growing up with a view of the sea ahead of you and towering snow capped mountains behind.  What would be your ambitions?  Would there be a desire to leave and see the world or would a loyalty to Corsica, your village and family dominate your thinking? How many Corsican's have you ran into on your travels?  
Humans are strange beings, we have no choice in where we are born, who brings us into this world and where we land on the earth, yet we are often loyal to the place where we are raised. It is common for people to show their patriotism at football or sporting meetings, even if they detest many of their fellow countrymen!  Why is this?  Some say "My country right or wrong," yet would you stand up for your nation if it was imperialist in outlook or justify this in some way? This can be a difficult decision if your claim your country is in the wrong and all around you are following like sheep, nationalism brings people together but it can blind them to wrongs also.

I mention this as I consider Scotland as she approaches the great referendum in a short time, a referendum that will restore her nationhood and lose the ball and chain that is English oppression!  I would certainly vote yes if I could as Scotland will be successful as a nation and there is no reason to be locked into a secondary relationship under English rule.  However this does not blind me to Scotland and Scots faults.  Indeed living outside of the nation I can see many things clearer things that I may not notice if I still lived there.  That said I remain Scottish in my attitudes and this reflects my upbringing and the influence of my family and education.  The era in which I grew also influences my thinking.  I am lucky in that I was born at this time and not later when things are less clear in my view.  
The greatest influence of course has been Jesus as this enables me to see the good things in the upbringing, much of Scots culture is biblically based, even that of those who call themselves 'secular,' and it also reveals the many things that require change.  These things affect me and wherever I am I find I am both Scots and able to stand back and consider the Scots in a way many in Scotland are unable to.  
It is strange how we are so loyal to our nation, our village, even if it is not a great place to be.  So many I met in London lived their lives awaiting the retirement 'back home,' knowing that if they ever got back, and the vast majority would never return, the home they left would be a very different place. I could never return to the Edinburgh I left as it no longer exists.  Places and people have changed, many I knew are dead, others may as well be.  Only the Heart of Midlothian remain the same, and there the players could be my grandchildren! Jings!          

Oh and Scotland were robbed by Germany tonight!  Two lucky goals and our bad misses, bah!

It could of course be that all the improvements in my diet, my lunch is seen above, have led to hallucinations.  It certainly has not led to weight loss but it has led to hunger, bah! 

Complaining, Something I Never Do!

Round our way Mum's little angels have gone to school.  The streets are now safer, the shops less crowded and indeed much quieter and the museum has a hollow ring to it these days.  The classrooms are very different from my day, computers arrive very early while we had to use pencil and paper! Classes are much smaller and parents complain there is only one teacher and three helpers for a class of twenty something, ha, our class reached 41 at one point but did we grumble, no!  

At secondary I wore the compulsory blazer and gray trousers like everyone else but was very envious of the 'rough' types who wore combat jacket and jeans, the trendy outfit of the time. They got away with this by claiming poverty, which was often true, but an awful loot of it was the brass neck attitude against authority.  It must be said most of those dressed thus were of an intellect deprivation culture also and many will not have risen to the highest positions in the land, if indeed they remain alive!  

This comes to mind as several stories appear in the media whenever school restarts, usually regarding some precious child who insists on wearing the emerald green footwear specifically banned by the school rules or has a pin in her tongue (to give her "confidence"), or hair designed in the latest banned trend. The press make a lot of such stories and the typical response when the spoilt brat is banned is 'serve them right!'  I agree with that.   Instead however of dealing with the dear brat in the making I suggest hammering the parent, usually a single mother with no sense of responsibility determined to do what she wants art all costs.  Occasionally daddy whines about his pet but normally when a man is in the house such things occur less, I wonder why?  

There is in the cases I noted recently no 'poverty' involved, indeed the opposite or they could not afford the trendy footwear, so it is selfish ignoring of the school rules.  Now such rules can indeed be a bit extreme, we were not allowed to smoke in the toilets for instance, but normally it is cheaper for the parents if they pay for the school uniform rather than the latest trend.

Maybe I just hanker for that combat jacket even yet?

You may have noticed the news recently.  Ukraine fighting although peace moves are afoot, ISIS or whatever they are called today killing folks dramatically in Syria/Iraq, drought threatening Ethiopia, problems still in Democratic Congo, Christians facing attacks in northern India, wars and rumours of wars abounding.  The TV offering hour after hour of 'pap' masquerading as worthy viewing, soap operas, cooks, bloody cooks everywhere, crime programmes from forty years ago, mostly American, and little else but drama that is no more than a soap opera with explosions.  So what drew most complaints to the BBC?  A game show!

The Pointless quiz is being repeated, in the way the BBC repeat everything, and 1217 people complained because one episode was missed out!  One quiz show episode missed and over a thousand people complained!  When first run in 2012 they made a mistake.  An answer was given and it was decided this was incorrect, it turns out this was a wrong decision.  A large number of people wrote in to indicate the fault and so to avoid this happening with the repeat they dropped that episode.  However this resulted in a huge amount of complaints!  

What does it say about us I wonder?      

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Nothing Again.

Too tired after my hard week, too worn out after my day with the niece, too knackered by the bug and too weak after having to eat porridge instead of chips!  
The world it must be said has not noticed.  
I had to drag my weary bulk to the shops to stock up on uneatables like Cottage cheese, nuts and tins of fish.  I really just wanted milk but thought I would gather the stuff anyway.  It was once I got back I realised I got everything bar milk.  Life is no fair.  So I had to drag myself out later for that.  

One thing that drew some limited attention was the practice of taking 'selfies.' This idea appears to thrill tabloid hacks but does little for me.  Take such pics if you wish but why put them in the paper? Why fill facebook with pics of you and your travels?  The sights I wish to see, you I do not!  Especially as you hover between the camera and the building in the background.  Me, myself and I would rather see the building thanks.  I say this because the English queen has apparently been getting annoyed by brats jumping in front of her to do this, not only does it go against protocol, and she is rigid on that, but it is a nuisance. Next time one of her Beefeaters should use that pike thing to remove said pest, that would be a picture worth seeing.

Rangers, that sectarian Glasgow football club, are in trouble again.  Desperately short of cash, overpaying players and manager, the board piling cash into their pockets and the chairman looking for his huge bonus for failing and now it appears the man from JJB Sports bought the rights to rename the ground for a mean £1 some time back.  This means he could insist on naming the ground after his company, as indeed some have done, and upset the fans who in this nation do not like this idea anywhere.  Rangers have it appears been going through the courts in an attempt to buy  out this contract (bought for £1) and so far have spent £25,000 on this endevour.   You have to laugh at the greed inside this club.

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Family

I had an enjoyable few hours today when my highly talented, intelligent and best looking niece came to visit.  The preparation for this visit meant a Spring Clean of course, I think I need more than a weeks warning if that is required, and by the time she arrived the fumigation was almost complete.  

How lovely to see her again, the only one that visits me.  This she does because they are hundreds of miles away and she is convinced I have boxes if used £20 notes under the bed.  I saw her looking but she was most disappointed!  The lass makes her living by pursuing her talent as a classical accompanist, and very good she is too!  Her musical talent came from her dad, he used to play the wireless! She is also available for work if you have money suitable employment available.

Having received my orders for a new diet naturally I ruined it by feeding her properly, including too much strawberries and cream.  Certainly too much cream on my plate but still some left for tomorrow....  The diet starts again tomorrow.

What with cleaning, scrubbing, hoovering, opening windows to let in air and then entertaining the lass by asking her to make my mobile phone work, making her visit the museum, I had little time to look at the world, but it seems to be the same as usual.  It is surprising how the world continues when you ignore it.  Now I am too knackered to care.  All this eating properly is taking my energy from me, and there is not much to begin with.

Bah!

Did you also know the Second World War began on the 3rd of September 1939?

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Culross.

Culross, Fife.

'Culross,' pronounced 'Koorus,' as you know.

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Now What Seems to be the Trouble...

So I coughed my way into the surgery this morning, earlier than my body wished, and was confronted by a friendly, efficient receptionist.  She answered my few questions and without raising an eye answered patiently when  asked if this nurse had a police record.  The negative answer was encouraging but I always wonder if receptionists tell the truth.
With visions of Hancock's 'The Blood Donor,' running through my mind I discovered the nurse, like all nurses, was personable, efficient, attractive and professional, as I expected.  This being the NHS it was also free, not counting all the taxes I have paid over the years of course.  A well run surgery in spite of crowded conditions.  The immigrants into town in recent years, mostly from London it must be said, have led to overcrowding as people commute to work, the town being ideal for those with young families.  At one point the surgery closed itself to new folks signing on as they could not cope.  
Today the modernised surgery abounds with electronic gadgets, my computerised medical record (sold by this government without our permission to who knows who), a machine to gauge my (higher than it ought) Blood pressure plus a small gadget ("I don't know what makes it work," she said encouragingly) used to measure the blood, cholesterol good and bad, and other things.  The blood pressure was up, possibly it was the fear of a needle, but all else was as expected.  The result she said gently and with great care, is that I am a big fat slob!  The list of banned foods (cheese, no more cheese - I'll die!) is enormous, the exercise I must now increasingly indulge in is well,... impossible! All I have to do is lose two stones of ugly fat, by tomorrow or she said I must report to Mr Robinson in Manor Street.
Mr Robinson is an undertaker.
Oh yes, and she booked me in to see her friend in a fortnight, and booked it herself 'in case I forgot!' My blood pressure is rising again...

I began my exercise straight away after a small lunch.  Well after a small lunch actually.  I wandered around the town, the first time for a week, and felt knackered!  How can I be like this?

Transfer deadline day and many will find themselves watching Jim "I support Rangers" White as he explodes from within with fake excitement as the day nears its end.  This day can surely cause excitement for many but with football prices reaching stratospheric levels not all clubs can participate. However with clubs desperate to climb the league, avoid relegation struggles or feel the need to impress others with their cash flow players at all levels will move today, sometimes surprisingly.  I doubt it will involve the Heart of Midlothian as we have brought several quality players in already but there is always the possibility someone will feel the need to spend large amounts of cash on our exciting young talents.  I will avoid Jim White myself, I have felt sick enough this past few weeks, and will pick up relevant news as and when.  

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Weekend is Over

Well that's another weekend over.
Nothing much happened.
I coughed a lot, slept a lot watched football a lot.
The Heart of Midlothian won as usual, the Hibernian lost as usual, both bringing a smile to the heart.
The news was weak, a child taken from a hospital by the parents became major news as nothing important was happening elsewhere.  A typical weekend false headline.  
The number of blogs I looked at was amazing, although most of them were through Bloggers 'Next Blog' button and therefore the viewing lasted less than a few seconds.  So many  blogs fill the web and half of them have been left unattended for four or five years!  A salutary reminder that words placed on the web remain there.
I failed to find any to add to my friends list here and at least I did manage to read all of them. Blogs have many purposes and it is rather sad that so many are forgotten.  On more than one occasion I have begun to read a good blog and discovered the date, when it could be discovered, was years out of date, rather like the milk in my fridge!  It must be said reading the milk in my fridge can be more enjoyable than some of the blogs out there.  

Today is the last day of August.  September begins tomorrow, the year is almost over and the Christmas stuff will begin to fill the shops.  How time flies when your having fun......

 

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Man Flu

While you's were enjoying life and all it's fullness I was allying dying here.  On Monday the bug arrived unwelcome into my head and has ruined another week. Only now do I appear to be near normal, whatever that is?  The pain, the agony, the suffering continued night and day and yet I never once complained. Not that this made any difference.  I was however not happy!  Use of the laptop was limited as I just couldn't stand the glare so close up.  There was nothing there to entertain me either. Bah!  

The inability to breathe kept me up late and this revealed to me the wonders off late night TV.  I have to say 'wonders' can be taken in different ways!  Who, I kept asking myself, sits up late into the night watching this stuff?  Now some folks are sick, some insomniacs, some at work, but nor working hard, and a variety of reasons can make people stay up all night.  However who actually chooses to watch what is on offer?  I can comprehend those who sat up watching Alec Salmond and traitor Darling discussing independence, but almost everything else is tripe!  Just who spends all night watching 'Jackpot' interactive TV just to win a prize?  Is it the same person who joins 'Super Casino' in the vain hope of  becoming rich?  There are of course movies of dubious content and many channels showing 'Teleshopping!'  Who, I ask, wants to know about non stick frying pans at two o'clock in the morning, who?  Do you need to discover how to clean the floor at one thirty am?  how much enthusiasm can be raised to exercise sufficiently to lose four stones by following some American (these things are almost all American) advert?  Do people actually pay money for such things? 

What sort of person watches 'Road Wars,' during the day let alone in the darkness?   Are they the type who watch 'Cheaters' or 'Cleverdicks,' I wonder? It is sure they would not be among the few watching recordings of the Scottish parliament on the 'Democracy' channel.   Had I chosen to watch it I suspect I would be irked by 'Don't tell the bride,' and if I then turned over to 'Challenge Tommy Walsh,' it could have been taken out of context and got nasty!  

I started at Channel One as you do, The BBC channel of the usual routine drivel.  I wandered through the dozens of channels looking for something to enlighten my suffering mind, which it must be admitted was not as clear as it should be.  The usual American 'comedies' that fail to raise a glimmer of a smile, the 'Big fat Gypsy,' programmes that should be called 'Jail this git now,' the News channels at night with the split screen BBC offering, a nice looking painted lady one side and a fat rich man in Singapore talking money the other, then the 'Adult channels.' Now I have never seen these before, falling asleep long before they open up these came as a bit of a surprise to me.  For a start some of them worked!  I thought these were pay channels but no, some work.  I was confronted with bored, hard faced, almost naked women playing with their bits.  Now in the right place, my kitchen, this sounded good to me, however I found it a wee bit off putting.  There was little to attract, only one was actually good looking, and I sauntered back to the 'Yet another how we beat Hitler' programme on the 'Yesterday' channel.  

I eventually slept, but not well.  Why is it when you need something to divert the mind nothing suitable is available?  The next night was just as bad, but with a lot less TV that's for sure.  As I eventually coughed my way through in the morning, just after five, I noticed there was even more 'Teleshopping' and still 'Deal or No Deal,' and 'Cash Cab US' were running.  

I'm so glad I can use this beast again, while it still works that is.

  

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Charity or Self Projection?

This nation is one of the most charitable in the world.  Through many years of poverty and struggle for a decent life the people understand what it is like to suffer, although many may doubt this while reading their 'Daily Mail.'  The strong Christian influence left its mark concerning the need to consider those without basic needs, an attitude that remains withing society even among 'liberals' who refuse to accept Christian influence on their ideology. Therefore when a charitable movement becomes popular people many are willing to join in.  On occasions however this takes on a life of its own and the results are less than charitable.  The social pressure to undertake this 'charitable act' has led to politicians off all sorts joining in as they are afraid to refuse.  The so called 'ordinary' person is influenced likewise.
The 'Ice Bucket Challenge,' in which an individual allows a bucket of ice filled water to be poured over their heads and then posts the picture on every social website possible is one such charitable act that now fills the media.  Some see this as harmless fun and beneficial to charities. I beg to differ.
Sitting here in my 'miserable old man' outfit I recall similar daft means of raising charitable cash, for instance the woman I found sitting, somewhat bored, in a bath tub half filled with Baked beans for instance.  This behaviour was sponsored with money collected going to a charity of some kind.  I myself believed offering the beans to the nearest Food Bank a more charitable and practical idea.  In similar fashion the money spent on wasting water this way, plus the cost of creating ice, would have been better spent finding a suitable charity organisation that actually seeks to provide clean water for those who need it most in drought areas.  There are dangers in Ethiopia of long term drought killing the major coffee growing areas and the people who live off that produce with it, the Sahara regions and parts of India suffer terrible drought or just lack a source of clean water, could money spent there be more charitable than seeing yourself on facebook catching flu?  Vast numbers in this overcrowded world are beginning to lose the drinking water available, Middle East rivers for instance can no longer supply the vast areas let alone the war torn ones.  The need is great and I wonder what they think when they see fat people in rich lands pouring gallons of clean water over their heads?  Are they impressed?  Could it be resentment or would this breed a desire to move to such areas, legally or not?
Some clever people take a more appropriate outlook when collecting charity money, sponsored walks, women not speaking for a certain period of time (that's popular!), 'fun runs,' and such events while others take a holiday and ride a bike across a desert while being sponsored for the fun, a much better idea and both riders and charity benefit, unless of course the rider dies of thirst or heat exhaustion.  
There is nothing wrong with having fun while being charitable but a better way than ever is also more likely to benefit those that require assistance.  That is giving a direct debit of say £5 or £10 a month, depending on your income, to the charity of your choice thus enabling them to control their finances in a better manner and you have the satisfaction of doing something good and not even noticing it.  Of course you get no publicity for this and surely that is another benefit, who wishes to know how much another gives to charity, whoever they are?  Rich men who give to charity should do so quietly, those who are constantly seen in such poses do so for their image, not others.  
'Loving your neighbour' means just that, it means 'love your neighbour,' help those you wish to help and can afford to aid, it does not mean be seen doing good, or be afraid of a bandwagon. Let us continue in charity work, but let us do so wisely.

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Imitation Wireless

BBC Online went down tonight - you can tell it's a Bank Holiday!

So here are a couple of Radio type interviews to fill in 

while you await the BBC Geeks fixing the online wireless.

You don't wish to have to watch the TV do you?  

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Busy Saturday

Busy day at the museum.  Rose far too early, worked all day, walked back and forward, back and forward, clean tables, do this check shop, run to Tesco, drink tea.  Missed the football and too worn out to care.  However as we won it matters not does it?  

ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz

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A Thought at Twilight.

I spent the day working on updating the war memorial site and listening to people sniggering worldwide at my Win 8 problems.  It may indeed be 8.1 but I have yet to work that out.  This is a Bank Holiday weekend, one of the biggest of the year.  Today many disappeared to get away from it all and spent the day with millions of others doing the same thing.  One day people will learn something about this.  I did many years ago when I arrived at Kings Cross station on my way to Edinburgh.  The queue was long and the trains were coming and going, station staff attempted to keep order in the queues but not always successfully.  This was a busy Friday and not the situation I adore. Eventually one of the staff shouted that an extra train had been put on over on platform whatever, and pointed in that direction.  Half the concourse ran over there and crushed themselves onto the train.  I waited thinking, stupidly, that this meant less people and more room on our train.  Wrong!  I got in and sat down.  In those days open coaches had four seats, two facing forward, two backwards, with a table between them.  Acceptable when quiet not so when trapped therein for four hundred miles through the night!  I do not know how I survived but I did.  I had to and folks were standing all along the train!  When we arrived at Newcastle the other train came in also at the other platform and I could see they too were standing crushed together all the way.  I never travelled at a holiday time again, bank or otherwise.  I chose off peak as it was quieter.

My holiday consisted of taking a walk after seven as the sun was going down in a vain hope of getting a good picture of the sky.  This was a mistake as the camera is full of dust and I have had to faff about with the one decent shot. The colour is now w bit iffy but reflects something of what was out there.  The cool off the day, especially after it has rained, gives off a distinctive aroma as the flora (or is it fauna I can never remember) absorb the water after the dry day and fill the air with sweetness, well in my mind anyway.  The streets are quieter, except in town centres, less traffic, no children, and walking where I have not wandered for a while refreshes this dulled mind greatly.  Simple pleasures for the simple minded.  Cheap too!

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AAAAAARRRGGHHH!!!!!!!

The morning began in the usual manner.  I sat here at the laptop, switched it on, waited an eon or two while it wormed up and once all was ready I moved my hand over it and accidentally switched the blessed thing off again!  Hmmm this does not look good thought I.
So I decide to take a bath even though Sunday is several days away.  This means twisted the dial on the boiler, pushing the switch and standing back until several little red lights light up one after the other.  I waited, I waited and I waited!  After two had ignited I turned on the tap, rather too early.  No other lights lit up.  I turned of the tap while the tepid water slunk along the bottom off the bath, hmm that needs a clean too.  Eventually the spluttering boiler offered hot water and I was somewhat satisfied.
I returned from the ablutions and switched on the laptop.  The screen went black, light black, then switched off again.  I thought I had touched the button twice and began again.  I again came face to face with a black screen then a light coloured screen and then a small box informing me something had not connected (what did it say?).  I switched off.  I switched on, black screen, light purplish screen for ages and ages, then nothing.  I switched off and dumped it.
For the past few weeks the thing has been overheating.  Strange things have been happening now an again and I suspect the poor thing has been overworked for the past two years.  It is no longer able to cope with the excessive workload.  Sadly I considered a new one that works.  

I switched on again, it worked, it offered me a 'safe screen' but I began normally and it has worked since, but it is somewhat hot still.  So I decided a new one must be obtained.  I searched the Argos catalogue, gulping at the prices and failing to understand what half the words meant, then made a sort off decision.  I checked the alternative shopping places, not many here, and plumped for the best laptop the emergency fund would allow.
After much humming and hawing I got it out of the box.
I kept the old machine running as I was listening to a radio programme there, and began the operation of opening up the brute.  naturally all the plug sockets were taken up, covered in dust and in the most unreachable places.  Coughing and spluttering I sought an extension cable and got the brute to switch on.  I was then led through the many pages taking me into Microsoft's world. Coloured screens with messages telling me things are OK but I want a message that tells me what is really going on.  I want to see the workings.  There were forms to fill, decisions to take, and then I entered my email and passed on to a screen where I entered the code sent to me.   Easy eh?  No, I had to enter a code that I could only get from my Googlemail account. However I had not got into the blessed thing so I could not get into anything to retrieve the code!  Luckily the other machine was still blethering away, and I was missing the programme as my teeth were grinding together loudly and drowning out the sound, but via the other still working machine I got the code and got in, eventually.  For about an hour the screen changed colour while I ate the carpet and a message informed me that they were working, installing APPS (what?) and eventually as my carpet became a rug I was confronted with a 'Start' screen.
WHAT?
What on earth is that?
Windows 8 that's what!
What a shambolic mess appears before me.  What am I to do with this?
Where is Google, how do I get links?  What? Where? Why? and can I borrow a geek please as my fingers require a throat to surround!
Bring back XP I say!  It was simple, clear and not filled with needless childish geek muck!

On top of this my dinner was rubbish!

Bah!  Good job I'm not one to complain.

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Market Day

As I trudged back from the market I sat in the park somewhat surprised by the quietness. Usually the brats whine, skateboarders yell and passersby gossip too loudly.  Today nothing moved bar two crows who flapped sullenly across to the Scots Pine and sat high above occasionally calling to the world their ownership of the park.  Nothing replied to them.  In the distance a pigeon entered a tree to roost, Far off on the other side a walker slowly made their way along, and large puffy clouds moved relentlessly to the east.  Still little sound.  Two children passed asking mum lots of questions about the world in between answering the call of the crows.  Mum did her best to bring them back to reality but with little success.  The rumble of cars as they passed far off threatened to break the serenity, as did a light aircraft as a pilot made up his hours.  
I again was fascinated by the clouds.  Huge clumps, darkened on the flat underside and threatening rain, bright cotton wool reaching thousands of feet into the air above.  Today we were covered in floating islands of such clouds, the sun shining hot between the many breaks, the chill wind revealing itself as the clouds darken the sun.  
Moving here I understand why Constable was so intrigued with clouds.  When in London you had to look straight up between the buildings to see the sky, out here it is all around us.  In Constables time, some 20 miles down the road to the east, there was many more opportunities to note the sky above the flat lands around him.  His sketch pad would have run out of paper today.  

       
With the exhibition up and running I thought I would have more time to myself. Not so!  Not only have I discovered new ways to add to the info already gathered but people ask for information and I sit here looking for what I can find.  This is good PR, better than the PM's anyway, but takes time.  Today for instance I placed a photo on a a website asking for info re the uniform but nothing I attempted would make the thing work!  It took hours of searching the forum, trying different software and lots of rude words before it worked!  Now I notice I have a couple of helpful replies and it feels so much better, but it took time!  Similar but different occurrences already this week including having to rewrite some stuff for the booklet, and here again I stupidly checked facts and discovered more!  Bah!

I need a holiday!

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Confusion?

Not that long ago Winston Churchill, he of the champagne breakfasts and half smoked cigars, talked of the 'special relationship' between the 'English speaking peoples.'  What he meant of course was Britain and America, and Churchill's mother was American and he had indeed a special relationship with the country. Since then many British Prime Ministers, and loud newspapers, have kept this 'special relationship' in the public eye.  Whether Churchill really believed it I know not, no other PM believed it!  However what they did recognise was the two nations have a lot in common, not language as we know they cannot speak it properly, but basic understandings of life, who the good guys are and what should be done about things.  Today both intelligence services work together in many ways, mostly listening in to you and I as we phone our family, scribble a blog and send emails.  These poor men must be helluva bored that's all I can say!  
However it was quickly learnt in Britain that the USA under Harry Trueman did not appreciate this 'special relationship,' as they hopped it back to after the war, ignoring the Soviet takeover off half of Europe and ignoring the threat to the rest.  I think it may be down to Churchill's speech off an 'Iron Curtain,' cutting Europe in half that allowed General Marshall to produce his 'Marshall Plan' to rebuild Europe.  Marshall was not a great warrior General but he was a wise diplomatic one and understood that not only was Stalin a threat but the US could not export to a dead Europe.  The dead Europe would have seen some nations tempted to Communism and US cash, well spent, would aid the USA also.  And so it was, and I admit I generalise freely here.

Come George W Bush and his needless invasion of Iraq we find the UK government led by an admirer of all things American, Tony Blair.  Bush, and especially those strange men behind the scene, were motivated not just for oil, if indeed that was the reason, but because Israel wished Saddam out of the way.  They feared his threat, real or imaginary, to their state and the compliant people who actually run the States followed on.  Tony Blair spoke of the 'special relationship' which he knew meant 'follow the US at all times or they might turn against you' and he did not wish to spoil that relationship.  A more courageous leader might well have done so with no break in the 'relationship' for Harold Wilson, then the Labour PM, refused to send even a military band to Vietnam when urged to do so by Lyndon Johnson.  Certainly that would have produced problems at home but in the end we still borrowed cash from America, amongst others, and life continued.  
This morning we read of David Cameron who, I kid you not, is actually Prime Minister of the United Kingdom!  Indeed you rub your eyes but it is true, he is the PM, the most important man after which ever singer/filmstar/footballer has committed suicide/got married/found with drugs. Incredible as it seems he is once again following on the one lesson he learned during the Blair years, you get votes if you prove you are a tough war leader!  He forgets Iraq is Blair's legacy, one he cannot ever evade.  
Our bright, keen 'Dear Leader,' has already urged Obama in action in Lybia where the nasty Gaddafi was removed and the people set free to kill one another while gangs of gunmen roam around for political/religious/banditry reasons.  His next move was more intricate, he wanted to join the war on Assad in Syria.  Now Saudi Arabia(our friends who buy our guns etc, Sunni Muslims who produce bin Laden) and Qatar ( our friends who buy our guns etc to keep their population under control, Sunni Muslim rulers of a Shia state) both supplied arms (bought from UK, US, France etc) to the Sunni's fighting against Assad.  Both states are afraid of Iran (Shia state that is not sold anything by anyone bar North Korea and those who don't admit selling stuff) so get at Iran by breaking up the stable state that was Syria.  Obviously the west allowed this to occur as nothing was done to stop it.  Obama rightly may not wish to be involved in the Middle East but the US must have allowed this to happen.  The proof is Cameron's desire to join in. Now we see the 'rebels' are dominated by Sunni 'extremists,' armed by our friends in the Middle East now taking over the northern parts of Iraq which as we all know are Sunni dominated.  The southern part of Iraq, Shia dominated and badly led, now finds its capital under threat from the 'rebels' who not only are Islamic extremists they are so violent they claim al Quaida (spell it your way) have distanced themselves from them!  The threat to the Kurds is real enough and the ISIS mob, or is it Islamic State mob I don't know, have better weapons than the Kurds (who may be Shia or Sunni I know not but are Kurds first when this lot are about) so Cameron is talking not just about arming the Kurds but taking military action against this 'real danger' to the UK.

So what this means is the people supported by our 'friends' are now our enemies but the arms they posses were given by our friends when they were also our friends but are not friends any more but our friends who armed them are not opposing them in northern Iraq but we are, and while opposing our friends friends we take help from our friends enemy who is our enemy except when aiding us against our enemy who once was our friend but isn't any more but remains friends of our friends just the same while our friends enemy is no longer our enemy but our friend.
Simple really.
What it comes down to is another PR stunt by the slimy Cameron telling us that Obama, against his wishes, has to aid the Kurds, we support him in this and use air power, something our friends friend who is our enemy does not posses, to attack his heavy weapons and drop aid to the folks he is killing for no reason. We will also supply heavier weapons (who pays Cameron?), SAS troops on the ground, although they may already be there, and according to this mouthpiece troops will soon follow.  
Cameron is following the 'special relationship' much loved by the Conservative Party, even though it is one sided, and it may well be attempting to drag Obama rather than follow.  
By all means stand by our friends, and the US are 'friends.'  By all means oppose tyranny everywhere and at all times.  The one thing missing is long term consideration of what is going on in the middle East.  This problem grew out of the aftermath of the Great War when Britain and France carved up the middle East between themselves taking no account of religious differences. Ignoring the people we find that after Saddam the place was left, under Israeli instruction, to fall apart.  What has happened has brought a greater danger, to Israel and the wider world!  Folly at all levels has allowed the situation to explode and the politicians in the west are struggling to cope.  In the meantime many die.

Cameron stayed very quiet while Israel bombed Gaza, merely stating they had a right to defend themselves, he was very reluctant to leave his holiday in Portugal while the Yazidi's were being forced out of their homes, he has only now surfaced to play the war leader.  He has certainly never mentioned the many types of Christian who has suffered in the Middle East, especially under ISIS, where death for thousands has occurred.  He cannot mention them as he is afraid of the Muslims at home.  A bit late for that Prime Minister!  He is also afraid of the gay lobby and the secularists who he is desperate to run after.  
This man is not a leader, he merely runs after whatever grabs the headline and reaches for a vote. The 'special relationship' will be used here as a reason to follow the US, 'for our own protection,' while a wider vision of what is actually happening will be seen as unnecessary. 
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Beasties

The picture is not perfect as it was taken at a distance, a long distance, from where this chap was 'entertaining' the kids with beasties.  What you cannot see are the crowds of kids shuffling forwards to touch the great white brute he has around his neck.  All of them were keen to be entwined by this, er... thing. When I was a lad we knew better and kept well away and instead looked for furry creatures like cats and dogs certainly not snakes!  
It gets worse!
Among the beasties there were iguana type things, including ans Australian dragon.  A creature that survives in the desert.  I rather liked him, but there again I am used to dragons, and Aussie ones as well!  He was cute but as I said it gets worse, several of the kids were photographed with the tarantula sitting on their head!  No thaaannnk yeeewwww I and several others were heard to say as we made our way to the door.  As can be expected the kids had a wonderful time and the adults have difficulty sleeping.  Every movement just out of eyeline is a beastie on the make!  

   

No 11 Downing Street.  The Chancellor of the Exchequer lives here.......

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Laff!

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