Waffle

The scraping continues.  

A gentle thump, thump, thump continues through the day.  

Occasionally a gentle yell also as the tradesman drops his brush on the floor.

Hopefully he has put a cover down first.

Since 8:30 they have been working.

First the bathroom downstairs, now the living room, possibly one has been in the bedroom, it is not possible to tell.  An hour for lunch has passed.  And again the work continues.

I do not complain.  

I have spent several days attempting to paint my bedroom, but I found it slow, ponderous work.  Once, like these men below I would finish the job in a day or two.  Now all that is finished is me, the bedroom isn't!

Two walls for me to do, by the time I have finished there, they will have finished two flats!

I'll leave it till next week.

With the glowering clouds rapidly scudding overhead it is indeed better to be scraping and pounding on walls and ceiling.  Working indoors beats getting wet.  The delight of sunshine outdoors is hard to beat however, and even with the windows wide open no painter could beat a job that takes you by the sun filled sea or countryside.  I suspect that of course depends on the job.  Today indoors workers avoid the constant rain heading north at needless speed.  

Strange to say these men work without accompanying radio.  

Normally, doing such work you require a radio offering sound of some sort in the background.  This is understandable, though not when Radio One is chosen.  The mind can be filled with thoughts when working in the quiet spaces, and these can be disturbing for some.  We have all passed workmen with radios blaring far from where they work, and not to keen on turning them down.  Possibly these men downstairs wear those wee things in their ears, offering soothing sounds or encouraging words to fill the mind when dripping paint across the floor?  

This brings us to the usefulness of radio.  

Radio at best, say the presenters, is one person talking to another.  One man in a studio speaks, thousands at home, work, on the bus hear and respond.  Whether they like what they hear or not they can respond to the words.  Today of course some stations allow replies online.  However, the point is one speaker can communicate to thousands, sometimes millions, from a standing start, and change the world, isn't it marvellous?  No wonder that nice Mr Goebbels took over the airwaves as soon as he could.  By limiting what could be heard he ensured that his message was put across at all times.  No opposition was allowed to be heard, on pain of jail or death.  BBC Scotland works the same way today, limiting the opportunity for the SNP to reach the people, and only the unionist tale is told.  

Wartime ensured radio came into its own.  Not just Churchill's speeches, which at time raised morale, but also other speakers, notably J. B. Priestly, who's programme in the evening went a long way in making 'Dunkirk' into a victory rather than a defeat.  It also offered comedy programmes so popular that when the Nazis listened in illegally to the BBC all they heard was laughter.  This confused some. The 'wireless' brought the foolhardy resignation of a King into many homes, followed soon after by a Premier telling the listeners, almost all of the nation, that they were once again at war.  

We take radio for granted now but in its time it was a revelation.  News spreads quickly, and sometimes it is believable, reliable information follows regarding fire, roads and accidents, much needed in todays hustling world.  In our ears daily is a fantastic world of sound that we take for granted, yet offers us so much.  During the war the BBC did reach a status of popularity because it was speaking the truth, mostly.  German radio was always propaganda and the result was the BBC was pushed towards a more honest appraisal of the situation.  How far it has fallen today.

Of course most people are listening or watching their phones today.  This however, is once again radio!  Indeed, often all they listen to is radio, usually music if you are younger than I, but so many sounds can be heard, podcasts being among the most useful.  Indeed Podcasts are more useful, especially as they cover so much ground ignored by the BBC.  Today there are podcasts on every subject under the sun, and as is the case elsewhere, there are good and bad and even worse, that is those that demand payment to listen to their slavering.  However, I use them a lot.  Podcasts are todays way of passing on information, either regarding the items filling the news, or items regarding history, football, photography, knitting, dancing, art, or anything that pleases the listener.  Surely this indicates the failure of the BBC and other radio stations to offer programmes that fill the need of the listening public?  The requirement for so many News channels reveals how the BBC and other Radio and Tv companies are slanting the news to suit the owner, or indeed the governments of the day. 

Anyway, I suspect the painter downstairs is not listening to a lecture on 7th century Europe, or Afghanistan politics, I suspect he listens to a local radio station, probably the extremely boring BBC Radio Essex or some such, or one of the many music channels spouting music from his youth.  I get my music on YouTube myself, which on the laptop is OK, however, on the phone adverts keep showing up, and we know how annoying they are.  YouTube also covers much ground, some of it unsuitable for those with an IQ above 20.  Recently YouTube overtook the BBC in numbers, and the BBC remains popular online.  I never listen to it there, or indeed watch any of the dumbed down programmes from the TV.  Music is about all I take from YouTube, though some football can be found there.  

If only we had thought of this years ago and made money from it?

The painters have packed up and gone, racing to leave before the traffic snarls up as it does in the afternoon.  Silence returns, bar sounds from various cars passing the door at 3 mph as they make their way from Sainsburys or work.  Imagine spending so much money on a powerful car yet being unable to make use of that power because the roads are jammed, still, they can boast about what they own.  Class war over cars remains popular also.  This does not include me, I'm too poor, but pride in showing off via cars is important to some, it says 'I've made it!'  They soon discover they haven't.  There again, if a free Land Rover Discovery becomes available I might put it to use. 

Colditz by Ben Macintyre.

Most of us have heard the Colditz story, a story dominated by the experiences of Pat Reid (Major P. R. Reid. M.B.E, M. C.).  Reid ensured the story of the castle was not forgotten, it was also a story written in his image and not one that found favour with all the other prisoners.  Ben Macintyre attempts to reveal a more in-depth tale of life in the castle prison.  Less daring-do and more realism of the young, fit men, forced into captivity, with many desperate for a variety of reasons to escape.

The author has researched the many books, letters, reports and files that are available for Colditz and its occupants, both allied and German.  These do not always agree, and do not always agree with Pat Reid in particular.  What does come out is the attitudes of the day, and the personalities of those forced on both sides into such confinement.

German troops placed into POW camps were mostly of the elder sort.  Many had experience of the previous was, indeed one of the major names in the book, Leutnant Reinhold Eggers, one of the main men ordered to keep the POWs inside, was far from being a Nazi.  He was however, a man who had been at the Somme and Ypres and left the war with a bullet wound in his leg.  A proud German, like most, but also like most he was not keen on Adolf.  Doesn't it amaze you when men will support their nation even though the leaders are corrupt and despotic?  You wonder why they do not rebel?  Apart from being shot of course.

We quickly learn from this book of the rampant snobbery among England's cultured elite.  Those who had attended Eton looked down on other officers who went to lesser public schools.  You can imagine the attitudes to their Batmen!  Douglas Bader, built up by propaganda as a great war hero, was in fact an obnoxious snob who treated his Batman contemptuously at all times.  Even some of the other officers rebuked him.  In this book, as we have heard elsewhere, he was a mere snob looking down on others, in spite of the charitable work he managed to do after the war.  This book holds no punches on him.  An Indian officer, Birendranath Mazumdar, a surgeon, also entered the camp.  The English snobbery naturally saw him as 'unclean' and a rebel Indian, one wishing to end the Raj.  I was with him all through here.  He suffered terribly from this racist attitude.

Escape adventures were of course common.  The French, the Dutch, the Poles and the Americans who all at one time were placed here all immediately began to search for ways of escape.  The castle itself aided this.  Having been around since 1043 and constantly rebuilt according to requirements or the wishes of the owner many bricked up walls hid possible escape routes.  Soon tunnels were being dug everywhere, walls broken, false walls built, escape routes out found, some from hiding after exercise or sport, one from jumping the fence.  Most failed, occasionally someone would disappear for a while then return, jaded, tired and not best pleased.  In the last year a rather desperate attempt was prepared, by creating a glider in the attic.  This was not used as an escape, rescue came first, but after the war it was flown and did indeed reach the planned landing area safely!

Guards constantly interrupted the prisoners, day and night, if they suspected escape escapades were under way.  So many were attempting escape each had to be authorised by the commanding officer, to ensure the more absurd were halted.  Occasionally one would succeed and a man would make it to Switzerland, indeed Pat Reid was one of the first to do so.  

Serving up to five years in a POW camp is demeaning and depressing.  The longer time is served the more a man struggles to forget his experience.  Some of course never could forget.  

The book covers the Colditz story in depth, and in a readable depth at that.  It only took a few days for me to reach the end, including feeling the depression of the POWs, and the relief that rescue was close.

The individuals are reveals as real men, not the ones from Black and White war movies, real men with all their flaws and indeed courage and integrity also.  Only one prisoner was shot, and that accidental for the most part, both sides agreed to follow the Geneva convention, and while competent for the most part Eggers and his men treated the POWs as well as was possible.  As time passed they too suffered from lack of resources and war fears.  

I recommend this book.

Pea Soup

Suddenly, while attempting to eat, I came upon the idea of 'Pea Soup.'  Never before has this idea crossed my mind, and I now wish it had.  Fry a few onions said the recipe, chicken cube, water, and peas.  Crush the peas they said, easier said than done in water, add salt and pepper, then add double cream, well single today.  It turned out nice!  I wish I had thought of this before.  

However, crushing the peas was not easy, and as I had a tin of Mushy Peas in the cupboard, I added that.  Next time, and there will be an 'next time,' I will use Mushy Peas instead.

I've made soup from Chick peas, Potatoes and Lentils before, but this was new to me, though it does go back into the mists of time when such food was all that was available. 

What excitement there is in my life...   

Nothing else happened.

'Make it Do.'

Feeling rough his week meant I did little, and did it very well.  Mostly I wasted time on Twitter either enjoying football conversations or arguing with people rude enough to disagree with me.  How dare they?  However, I did make excellent progress on two of the Christmas books, and began a third, which I can say now, I may not finish.  My niece, who reads lots of books, sent me three novels set in old Edinburgh, and the first chapters of this one I found not very well written, and somewhat conventional, or 'old hat,' perhaps.  Anyway, I did finish this one.   

This is a proper memoir.  Not one written by a senior figure, possibly to justify his position, but by a mere Spitfire pilot writing down for the family what he could remember of his war.  Thus it is not written with a regular authors flourish, instead it is a personal memoir with all the faults of an educated middle class man.  Therefore this is worth a look.

Born in 1921 Ken Cam, grammar school educated and clearly a quite bright young man, joined the RAF in 1940, when the war was at its most dangerous.  Attempting to be a mechanic he found himself instead heading for flying training, simply because of his educational background.  While the RAF had less 'Bull' than the army or navy it retained plenty of the class difference which remains a scourge in the UK, indeed the middle classes flocked to the RAF possibly because they thought of the modern outlook and exciting possibilities available for them. 

There follows the tale of the rough newness of RAF life, the aircrew induction making clear the basics of RAF existence, flying training in Tiger Moths, and posting to Operational Training Units.  Here Ken learns to fly a real Spitfire, now he is close to the war.  Once he has passed this six week course, shortened to three weeks because of 1940 losses in France, he is posted to a fighting squadron.  here again are lessons to be learned in too short a time, then the war is entered for real.

Imagine being a 20 year old flying a Spitfire heading to war with no experience and little understanding of what lay ahead!

By the middle of 1942 Ken has shot no-one down, fired at enemy ground stations, escorted shipping and made some mistakes.  His time is spent moving from one base to another at the behest of those office dwellers nobody knows.  Typical services.

November 1942 saw 'Operation Torch' in North Africa and Ken was 'invited' to serve there.  This was to change his life.  

The Squadrons duties during this operation comprised working along with the army as they advanced into Tunisia and Algeria.  Attacking ground targets in co-operation with the army and routine patrols at other times.  This was to bring abut the defeat of Rommel's forces in North Africa, a major step forward to winning the war. 

The latest Spitfire which our pilot was using was a mechanical miracle, designed just before the beginning  of the war it took its place in military history.  However, no aircraft of those days, like today, is perfect.  As 'operation Torch' came to a close Ken and his squadron were urgently sent on a dawn course for Malta.  This required low level flight, to avid radar, and a long and quiet trip over the Med.

However, a puff of white smoke revealed a problem, soon Ken was flying alone heading either for the sea, warm in comparison to the Atlantic but still cold and wet, or finding a place to land.  There is a small island called Linosa, half way between Tunisia and Malta, and indeed between Tunisia and Sicily, where the aircraft landed, with a crash.  

Stumbling out of the wreckage Ken Cam was picked up by Italian soldiers, treated by an Italian Naval doctor, and well looked after on the island.  It is clear the Italians were never committed to this war as fanatically as many of the Germans were.  Overall, the treatment received from the Italians was better than that from the firmer Germans.  Most German troops obeyed the written and unwritten laws of war for the most part.  The SS, or desperate men did not. 

Soon the pilot was being transferred to another island, from here he was taken on a sea trip by a submarine.  The sub travelled by night, spending the day on the sea bottom for safety.  Eventually he was deposited in Italy, here life as a POW got worse. 

Ken Cam was to spend the rest of the war as a POW with little chance of escape. The allies took over the island of Linosa, receiving a note from the Italian officer in charge written by Ken, indicating the good treatment he had been given by the islanders and their defenders.  It is to be regretted he left the island shortly before they arrived.

The treatment under the Italian authorities was as decent as possible, however, as time passed and the author moved from one camp to another, the allied landings on Italy were beginning to tell.  Eventually the Germans took over the camps, worse still, they were soon under control of the SS.  Mild authority under Italians was sufferable, control under hard hearted dangerous, and willing to kill SS soldiers was not.  

One camp in which Ken stayed for a while as Adolf's guest was Stalag Luft III, made famous by the movie 'The Great Escape.'  German guards were efficient, and escapes were few.  As the war slipped away Hitler ordered those who escaped during the 'Great Escape,' to be shot, and most were.  

Bad treatment followed often enough, especially when the movement north took them into Austria.  

The SS exposed the POWs to bad treatment from the locals, while continuing to move them at short notice.  

Eventually, a long march during 1945, from Zagan in Austria, occasionally in cattle trucks, often by walking, all the way through Hamburg, which brought some bad responses from the natives after all the dockland city had been through, to Lubeck where the war ended for Ken Cam.  

He returned home, was rested somewhat, described his psychological problems resulting in being a POW for 3 years, and spent another 18 months with the RAF, eventually in Palestine as trouble there was brewing. 

The story ends well, he gets a job, marries, raises a family, and from 1997-00 wrote down his war service for the family.   All ends well for him.  

The book si easy to read, contains lots of small stories from activities in various bases, sometimes concerning the war, sometimes concerning the local fun and games.  The descriptions come from the memories put aside for many years.  Time amends our memories, others are enhanced.  In the authors case his memory was clearly enhanced when many years later he holidayed in Linosa.  Once again meeting the man who found him after the crash, and some of the people who tended to him while he was there. 

Millions were involved in the war, many cannot write their stories, being dead makes this difficult, and each story is different from the next.  Until he was a POW Ken had a 'good war,' after that things were not so good.

This book is well worth an easy read, an insight to one man's war, the RAF as it was, and probably remains, and I recommend it.

China Persecutes Christians Once Again.

Once again China is persecuting Christians.

The weakness of President Xi Jinping is revealed in his paranoid attacks on the church.  There are two main churches in China, the official church owned by the Communist Party, and a wide spread of independent churches throughout China, who do not submit to Party control, these may number in millions as the official church has around 44 million members.

In times past official warnings were given to independent churches before action was taken.  Now now

no warning are heard with church leaders being arrested suddenly and charged.  

Nine church leaders from the 'Early Rain Covenant Church,' have been arrested, though five were later released.  In Wenzhou the Yayang Church building was being demolished.  Wenzhou possesses the largest number of Christians in China.  October saw the leaders of the 'Zion Church' arrested, the pastor remains in custody.  Christians are banned from online preaching or teaching children or raising funds online.  

The weakness of the leader forces such intolerant attacks on the freedom of religion in China.  Only those who submit to the Communist Party policies are allowed to preach or teach.  This policy obviously goes against scripture in many ways, therefore fear at losing control stalks the government.

We need to dins ways to support the growth of the Christian church in China.  Since 1950, when Mao took control the churches have been outlawed.  Since that date, and in spite of the Parties actions, the church has grown and continues to grow.  Persecution never stopped the Christian Church, persecution does not stop the work of the Holy Spirit from reaching people worldwide.

Pray for repentance from Xi Jinping and his Party leaders.  May they too meet Jesus today.

Jazz

 

A wee bit of jazz to enlighten the day.  Oscar Peterson - C Jam Blues.  1964 in Denmark I believe.  

Weather Here, Wish You Were Lovely...

So I strode manfully out along the icy pavements this morning, ignoring the attempts at snowfall from a handful of snowflakes falling from the sky.  So few were swirling around the air that it was almost possible to count them.  I didn't try.  

The world has returned to normal.  Unsmiling faces, busy shops, all well wrapped up, wishing they were indoors again.  Comparing sausage prices and meat content, the local butcher has closed, due to rising meat and rate prices, an old woman pushed in and took numerous packs of cheap 'Lincolnshire sausages.'  'Having a party?' I enquired.  'No, for the dog, he likes them,' she said smiling.  These are the dogs favourites, so what the dog wants, the dog gets.  I suspect many households have the same situation.  Ruled by a cat, dog or parrot, while the people are put to one side so the animal rules.  

This, and climbing the stairs without falling back down, has been the highlight of the day, so far.

Mirror

You may not have noticed, but Donald has been acting the 14 year old again.  While you were cleaning up after Christmas he has attacked Venezuela, kidnapped the leader and his wife, and imprisoned them in the USA.   Note: The BBC are not allowed to say 'Kidnapped.'  They must call it 'Captured.'  

All the while this is ongoing he has also sent a larger fleet to the east end of the Med, possibly to attack Iran.  There is it appears no end to his stupidity.  

Now, we none of us liked the leaders of Venezuela, or Iran, however, to unseat them in this manner is not the normal democratic process, the one used by the USA for many years now.  This is thuggery, from a juvenile delinquent.  Now Donald thinks he can steal Greenland also, it is time for the free world to be counted here, although  under Keir Starmer it is unlikely the UK will intervene.

Shameful.

Glasgow Herald

Scotland, and the north of Scotland in particular, is covered with snow.  Few people would be surprised at this news.  This has happened regularly since the last ice age passed by several thousand years ago. 

The gritter lorries and covering roads, snow ploughs are wandering across rail lines in the far north, and a demand for soldiers to dig small villages out, so they can escape has been heard, and ignored. 

Apparently, one of those storms with silly names will be covering us with snow on Thursday, I may be back at the supermarket quicker than I intended!  Two days of horrible snow for us, who live in the driest county, which will cause chaos for several days, then be forgotten about as always.

Life goes on.

Thoughtful Vote?

I managed to interrupt my sister today, long enough to question why people vote Reform.  It is clear she, like others who read the Daily Express, a dying Right Wing paper, and watch BBC Scotland, run by the Unionist Labour Party, cannot understand why Reform is dangerous to the country.  In her Scottish constituency, a local council election recently saw a Reform man win.  I indicated what they stood for but she had no conception of this, she had read nothing, knew nothing about them, and like millions of others might be tempted to vote for them if she ever makes it to a polling booth.  It was clear she did not understand how the SNP, for all their many faults, have improved life in Scotland.  She was shocked to discover the English pay almost £10 for a proscription from a doctor, shocked to know0 how much more it costs to live in England, shocked re the free fares and benefits in Scotland do not exist in England.  Yet she will still vote as she has always done, with little thought. 

So many people simply accept what is offered on the main TV and radio channels, the daily papers, all based in England and mostly right wing, accepting what is offered and never questioning what they read.  There is no attempt to use social media for information, no seeking out others opinions, at best people like her merely discuss things of less value and leave politics up to others.  They then vote as they always have, unless a fancy bright shining star appears, but then return back to base.   

No wonder the liar Farage is winning.

By the way, Farage had a cancer, he lost a testicle because of this.  I can think of one other rabble rouser politician with one ball from times past.  Look how he ended up!

Look Out!

 

The Long First Day of the Year

A selection of Xmas reading.

I now have to work my way through all this literature, a word reserved for no good reason only for story books, and while I have opened all of them, read a few pages, and a couple of chapters, I can say I am delighted with what lies before me.

Story books were a surprise, I don't read novels as I tend to throw them away after a page or two, but my niece insisted so I will give them a go.  The others are already capturing me, well written, good interesting tale, and decent research for the facts, I can't wait.  

There is a problem here, that is, I am still working through the books I received throughout last year.  The problem there was that all those books were quite hard to read.  You know the type, 700 pages of small font, complicated stories, foreign names abounding, and some are quite 'heavy.'  So I am slowly working through them, enjoying them. learning, and taking too long to finish.

I may have to stop staring into space and read more...

The New Year arrived at the usual time.  I sat up watching the BBC ALBA offering, being Gaelic I never understood a word, though captions were offered, but the music was good as always and better than what was on show on the other channels.  

The day itself dawned with a pinkish hue slowly changing to yellow as the sun began to climb towards the horizon.  The thin cloud dispersed, the birds flew slowly, while only dog walkers could be seen passing by.  The dogs once again unaware of the date, while I suspect they were aware of the fireworks that began ten minutes before the hour last night.  Less than last year and still annoying when over my head.  

It took till lunchtime till the traffic woke up.  Sainsburys, open from 8-8 tonight, brought some along but I suspect few Scotsmen approached today.  Certainly not in Scotland where today and tomorrow remain holidays.  It used to be a day for derby football in Scotland, not now, Celtic and Rangers saw to that with their bad behaviour, the trouble they caused affected us all.  Now I am watching English football, which never played on New Years Day in the past!  

So, as the sun dips over the horizon again, there must be hundreds of them lying there, the dusk begins to fall, curtains are closed, and the world returns to normal, with yet another day off before the weekend.  When Monday comes many will be unable to cope!

Happy New Year 2026