Saturday Sloth

 

 

I started the new month in the normal way, seeking for what day this is, working out what the time was, seeking coffee, and then hobbling up to Sainsburys before either I was awake or the crowds had gathered.  At Sainsburys the crowds had gathered.  I filled my basket as quickly as possible, joined the shortest queue at the checkout, friendly crowd here, good young lady on till, and struggled home, huffing and puffing all the way.  

Another month has begun!

This is the fourth, and I still working through the second!  Now Spring clean time has arrived, but thankfully I canny be bothered.  So that is that!  

The constant bug over the past few months has been hanging around making life difficult again.  However, by remaining indoors for the past three weeks, only shopping took me out, has helped greatly. Indeed, this week I returned to exercise and housekeeping!  Both have been missing, and my mind is clearer than for a while.  However, I have been here before.  A virus is not a good thing, they come and go, wave after wave, but hopefully this one will clear off soon, I may even stop coughing for a while.

So, Saturday is football day, and to nobodys surprise the Heart of Midlothian threw it!  A good reason for depression.  It is strange how a simple game like football can mean so much.  We all know its only a game but winning and losing have an effect on the fan.  I cheered my self up by watching Motherwell roundly beat Hibernian in Leith.  That brought a smile.

Now I prepare for tomorrow, Palm Sunday, mostly by staring into space...

 

      My latest great niece. That cheers me up.

April Spring Day

 

Here, in what they laughingly refer to as the 'United Kingdom,' it is always possible to recognise when Spring is in the air, it snows!  Today, the 1st day of April, a blizzard rages outside my window, Arctic snows lash the land and indeed, come through the window in the west wing.  

Excuse me while I rush to close this.

The snow swivels around, apparently coming at us from all directions but mostly from the north, and takes great delight in covering those unfortunate to be caught out in the open with a delightful white, wet covering upon them.

I wrap my frozen fingers around the coffee mug in sympathy.

Having had the heating on low all night, and it required to be on last night, I am wary of making use of heating anything again today, after all the energy price increases begin from this morning and all the energy companies are rejoicing in the shareholders profits.    

Jings!  It is definately Spring!  The blizzard has gone, the sun is out, the daffodils shine brightly and all is (almost) well with the world!  40% F. now with an 18 mph northerly wind coming through the cracks in the window frames.  Very Spring like weather.  This is of course quite normal.  Many years ago I went to Fulham to watch George Best playing for them  I spent the entire game with flakes of sleety snow in my face.  As you know, 'The Battle of Arras,' which began on April 9th    1917, included many days of deep snow lying all around, not welcomed by any of the participants at the time.

If this weather keeps up, and it will over the weekend, I may have to rise and start doing things to keep warm!

I worked today just to keep warm, this failed...

 

April Showers

As summer lashed against the window I noticed the BBC and others were claiming the US and UK had found evidence of chemical weapons, Sarin, being used by Assad in Syria.  In fact there is no 'evidence,' just US intelligence agencies believed 'with varying degrees of confidence,' that Syria had used chemical weapons.  Hmmm.  No journalists have been allowed into the area where this 'discovery' was made.  No independent evidence has been proffered.  No faith can be placed in the agencies involved.  As the US claimed months ago Assad was using them, and lied, and as Assad has no reason at this time to use such a weapon, why should we trust such a report?  The US is already offering weapons to the 'rebels,' whoever they actually are.  The UK is rushing to support, while wary of the WMD shambles, clearly someone has decided to enter Syria in force, just as the successfully did in Iraq!   The things folks do to stop Iran having nuclear weapons, yet do nothing about Pakistan's.  Which nation is more unstable I ask?     

Now that I have sat in here all day scouring the web for ancient houses in this district, and finding they are called 'tenements' or 'messuages,' not houses, I note the clouds have moved on and the sun is shining.  I suppose we ought to be glad the rain is not freezing cold, instead it was somewhat tepid.  Raking up the town's past is interesting when every so often a report arises from an individual brought before the Assize and 'recognized' with the support of two others, to stop beating harassing or troubling some other citizen.  The same names crop up, sometimes centuries apart, showing how long lived some folks family have been.  What is surprising is how little can be discovered about men who were important in their day but now lie forgotten in one of the variety of churchyards.  I gather masses of trivia but little real info so far.  Still, it keeps me off the streets.

Though April showers may come your way,

They bring the flowers that bloom in May.

So if it's raining, have no regrets,

Because it isn't raining rain, you know, (It's raining violets,)

And where you see clouds upon the hills,

You soon will see crowds of daffodils,

So keep on looking for a blue bird, And list'ning for his song,

Whenever April showers come along.

Can someone tell Al Jolson that if May is not a flood of Violets there will be trouble!

SNOW!

SNOW! It's disgusting! I knew it was a clod north wind blowing. I knew the freezing blast coming through the gaps in the windows contained some rain. But I remained surprised when I awoke this morning to see the field covered in this white stuff and more daintily falling!

It's horrible! The government should do something about this! Snow should remain up north and far from me! How could they let this happen - and in April at that! The traffic is stuttering along on the motorways, except when it is slithering off them. Runways are closed at Heathrow - more bags to be lost then? The entire world is covered in clouds bearing more of this horrid stuff. The suits at the gas board are jumping up and down at the prospect of everyone switching on their heating. Council employees are grumbling at having to start up the gritting lorries and earn their triple overtime - poor dears!

I want to move to the Mediterranean! I want a place in Cyprus, or Malta or Crete! I was born to be warm! Now I have to dig out my granddads 'long johns' and sit here wrapped around a hot water bottle just to make it through the day.

I want to hear the blue tits and green finches at the nut holders. I want blue sky and sunshine. I want to see daffodils and bluebells breaking through and folks tending the gardens once again. I don't want to see whitened fields and gray clouds. I don't want cold wind from the north pole travelling through Norway and Iceland and ending up my trouser leg. I don't want to see kiddies laughing and joking as they play in the snow - throwing snowballs (Full of stones!) at innocent passers by.

I WANT SUNSHINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April Fool

First day of April. Several papers and no doubt, radio and TV stations will have played 'April Fool' jokes on their followers today. I sit here, cold, hungry, tired and wondering how I got into this mess, thinking there is only one 'April Fool' in this house.

And it's me.