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.