Parcelforce and PlusNet Upsetting the World, well me!

I'm peering into the distance.  I work on the basis that the harder I peer, the sooner the 'Parcelforce' man will appear.  This is a similar attitude taken by people standing waiting at bus stops.  As you pass you will notice them staring hard in the direction from which they expect a bus to appear, the harder they look, the sooner the bus will appear, or not as the case may be.  

So I sit here and peer.  

I ought to be fiddling about with the router, though 'fiddling' is to be understood in the terms of 'mass murder,' rather than 'fiddling.'  Once again the brute cut out during the football, five times while Brazil were exhibiting super skill against the Koreans.  My language was not biblical, my attitude not forgiving.

The intention was to call 'PlusNet' this morning but I hesitated until I have tried all the combinations, pulled all the wires, and shot the 'Outreach' engineer.  Unfortunately, or it is fortunate, I have had to await the, as yet unseen, 'Parcelforce' man.  Otherwise I may have been seen hanging around telegraph poles awaiting men in yellow Hi-vis while dangling a variety of weapons sufficient to make the Ukrainians jealous.  As it is the van has yet to appear, my parcel lies awaiting below, and he is rapidly joining the telecoms engineers in my estimation.  This parcel ought to have gone last Tuesday but was refused as they were on strike Wednesday and Thursday.  Insert 'I support the workers,' and 'Grrrrr,' here.  

Having discovered this brute was only giving 20.04, no wonder it is slow, I switched of the router, switched off the laptop, allowed both time to cool down and decide if they wished to work properly or not, then restarted them in due course.  The speed 'leapt up' (this is a misnomer) to 35.63.  Now this is of course better, and may enable watching the football today, however, it ought to be around the 60 mark!  Insert another 'Grrrrrr,' here.

Now I have a life, indeed it could be better but I do have one.  It is also true much of my life is lived through this blessed laptop, therefore when it fails all comes to a halt and I am exposed as trapped on a desert island.  I write a blog on here that few ever read bar those 'spiders' clawing information for Amazon, Google, Facebook and other chancers, but it is fun and an opportunity to shout at the world.  Indeed it was better in times past.  Some have died, some ran away, others drifted off onto Twitter, or family, or even a life themselves.  The rude repartee once enjoyed has lessened considerably over the last few years.  This is a pity.  Of course a great many got bored reading this codswallop, and who can blame them?  I read this and find myself yawning also.  

There is blue sky out there, though the remaining leaves are freezing off the trees.

Rishis Sunak, the temporary PM, is in hiding, Keir, the temporary leader of what was once the Labour Party and is now the red Tories, has decided to attack migrants, not support the striking workers, and probably wants to lead the Tory Party after the next election.  He has all their policies!  What a disgrace, so desperate to become PM he has sold the workers and runs after the Brexit voter.   His Gordon Brown led 'Devolution' amendments have failed miserably in Scotland, as they would.  Not that Keir cares, on the 'Red Wall,' matters to him.  

So the strikers continue to strike, on the railways, the post, the nurses joining them then the doctors and the paramedics.  December under the Tories with only thy right-wing press supporting their corrupt party is a terrible thing.  Of course Boris is behind much of this.  He is stirring rebellion, once Sunak fails at the polls as he must do Boris becomes the one to lead the Conservatives again.  Unless he is in jail of course.  It is time for Sunak to release the 'Russian Report,' and finish Boris.

3000

As I checked the mail on Blogger I noted at the side the number of posts that I have made on here, some THREE THOUSAND it proclaims.  How many have been worth reading is not mentioned.  I have been scribbling rubbish on here since September 2005, when most of you were not yet born.  You ask what did I say back then as an opening gambit?  I said this for what it is worth, why I did say that I canny remember but there it is in mediocre English and dated 9th September 2005.  How have things changed in Guatamala since then I wonder?  How have I changed here?  Many who once commented here have moved on, got bored, disagreed or died, and I cannot find fault with that.  I have done all those things yet remain so I suspect something is wrong somewhere.  Interestingly 2013 was the busy year with 305 posts, almost one a day.  As I recall I was not busy at the time.  I have not looked up to see what I wrote but it must have been masterly, of course possible the comments flowed from peoples responses, vis their lawyers.

What does it tell you about someone who wastes so much time scrawling when they could be cleaning the sink, painting the bedroom or fixing the holes in the building?  The desperate, indeed arrogant desire to shove my opinions down your throat and make you all change your ways and do things my way, that way being best for all you understand, play a part here, a big part I suggest.  Why else would anyone discuss things with so eager passion and so little understanding or collection of facts?  You will be aware that men in my family have never required facts to be sure that they have a right understanding of any situation.  Why indeed do people want to become journalists and write columns full of their opinions if not to change others outlook.  I write that understanding that much of today's 'journalism' is merely claptrap to gather 'clicks' and increase advertising revenue while objective opinions from two or three sides are difficult if not impossible to find today.  Possibly that is why so many make use of 'social media,' the phrase itself humorous as the use of 'social media' in many cases is very unsociable.  However opinions can be found on the internet, the independent 'news' ones sadly always too far 'left' while he daily media is always too far 'right.'  It appears to me that thoughtful intelligent informed commentators are always individual sites rather than those gathered under one name, and too few of those can I find.

The success of this blog can be noted by the falling numbers of readers and commentators not including the lack of those wishing to donate large sums of money as these have always been rare, although much of this is I think the fault of facebook and Twitter as people now make more use of these money gathering sites rather than spew out lots of their thoughts on a blog.  I wonder, especially after the recent changes here, how long Blogger can continue.  It must exist to make money and gather info for the secret services of the west and pass these on to that nice Mr Putin, so I suspect it will continue for a while.  I may do so also, you lucky people...  

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......

 

.

A Question....

 My best looking and most intelligent niece contacted me tonight asking:- 

'Who are you writing for when you are writing your Blog?'

It appears she is doing one of those college courses we do to keep the brain alive, or possibly make herself some money.  So I sat down and answered her as well as I could.  

"Today I try to write what I think about the world and its doings.

That is, something crosses my mind and hopefully I can get something out of it. 

I find an appropriate picture and blether away, usually from the top of my head, as most must realise. Sometimes I have something I consider important to say therefore I may make more effort to make this readable.

 

I have found several friends blogging worldwide this way, very different from me in many ways, but we get on well chiding one another rudely but decently.  There is an ever present temptation to write towards them rather than write for myself.  On the other hand maybe that makes me look at a wider variety of subjects?  I tell others to write for themselves, not for the reader.  If you write for the reader you do not say what you wish, you say what they wish to hear or what you wish them to hear.  Neither is truly honest.  I attempt to say what I think, which loses readers on occasion, but maybe gains them otherwise, others remain even if they disagree.  This is good.

 

I find sometimes I am writing just so people will read, that is I am not writing for myself when I write what I think,  I am writing to be paid some attention!  Is this good I wonder?  It can be fun, but is it truly honest?  With such friends however you get away with a lot, bad grammer for instance.... 

 

The blog began because I wanted my voice heard, how selfish and arrogant! Before the internet the small man might be able to vote, write a complaint or two, possibly make his voice heard by not using some facility or going on strike, but today with what is referred to as ‘social  media,’ and this can be unsocial also, the small man can be heard.  By blogging his thoughts, or lack of them, he can throw out his voice to the world, by e-mail he can remind his MP that ‘UKIP are doing well round this way’ and make him take notice, by using forums he can keep in touch with a variety of peoples, in short his voice goes further, and sometimes they listen.  Even dictatorships can be shaken this way!"

So I blethered on and wonder what she will make of this.  Indeed why do any of us blog?  Some have something to say, some blog from political or religious reasons, some for money others to keep in touch with a widespread family. Why do you blog?  Do you find it worthwhile?  You must if you keep it up. Some give up and sneak back again, what is it that drives them back? It would be interesting to know, would it not?  

 

.

Miscellany

News from the desperate front.  Dave has realised the UKIP party are in danger of stealing Conservative votes while he continues to act like a Liberal Democrat.  This means he will loses not just votes but his job, and have nothing but a meaningless life on speaking tours of the world telling others how to run the world and earning millions he makes hereby means nothing to him, honest.  His answer to this threat is marvellous.  He appeals to his anti Europe members by promising a referendum on Britain's place in the EU, calls the UKIP bluff, cheers his party and makes this a promise to be fulfilled after the NEXT election.  Brilliant!  Not only did he promise this before the last election and did not fulfill it, like hundreds of other promises, but we all know he has little chance of winning the next election.  Brilliant and the media are falling for it.  So are his voters, both of them.  This government is bad, just imagine what the next will be like.  Dear oh dear.  

   

Now I'm not one to boast, my humility will not let me, so I will happily instead commend Helen for her wisdom in offering this award to me.  Her perspicacity, imagination, intellect and wisdom deserve rewards also.  It is presumed that I will pass this on to others like we are supposed to, however last time I tried this I was rewarded with untold abuse, by Jerry, Max, 'A,' Soub, Mo, RDG, PDP, Lee, Jenny, Kay, Mametz, Dina and Angelika, so I'm not doing that again! No sir.

.

Quandary

I'm in a quandary here, according to that excellent man Max this blog needs to be entertaining, something people enjoy, something they like, otherwise I will not get rich from the Google ads posted here.  People, especially those spending money, will only come here if the want to, and if they like what they find.  This indeed leaves a quandary!  Surely no-one comes here because they 'like' it?  I thought I was part of some Blogger punishment routine!  What do people wish to read?  What do they like?  What would they enjoy?  I ask these questions regarding this site, not what they really like, enjoy or read in private at home!  I am not publishing the stuff my readers read at home thank you!  There again why should I publish what they want?  I do not read their blogs because they write what I like, I read them because I like what I they write, and have come to like the person behind what I read.  They write for themselves not me, and this works fine.  I suppose that is where the great enjoyment arises.  


If therefore I were to make attempt to make money I must act like a daily tabloid and write what readers want, even if this is half truths and downright lies, features half naked celebrities bonking other celebs, and scandalous tales of rape, murder, conniving politicians and such like.  I am not sure that would be an audience I wish to gather.  I am convinced that may well sell adverts but not to me.  I would rather read the ads than such bile.  For me, I prefer the thinking, erudite, normal folk who pass by here, and I am not sure they wish to read tabloid gossip, well not here anyway.  So, the result of this quick cogitation leaves me spouting bile, writing off the top off my head, misspelling words (UK style), mistyping rambling thoughts and ideas, and being corrected by my superiours day by day?  Yeah, that seems fine to me.  So, no more  enjoyment, just more of the same!  Good eh?  What........oh!

Richard Webb

There again I am surprised to a great extent that I managed to survive this long, what with those early days of malnutrition and post war austerity.  Mince and tatties was all we could afford, and then only if dad grew the potatoes in that plot just outside our cardboard box.  Quite where Mum obtained the mince was never clear but Dad never liked that butcher fellow.  Of course we were lucky!  Some folks had it tough, like the people up the road living in that hole in the road.  Real bad when the rains came I can tell you, and in Edinburgh rain came two days out of three in them long gone days.  It hardly rains at all there now in comparison.  I suppose they and we were lucky, having running water I mean, in the south east of Englandshire that dried up come April and hosepipes for the rich were outlawed.  We never knew what a hosepipe was until 1970.  How we longed for the fish van coming up once a week from Port Seton.  Sixpence worth of scrag ends 'for the cat' Mum would say, and we would feast that night!  Later we actually got ourselves a cat, but that was in the days of 'never having it so good!'  It was delicious!

However my luck has changed.  From today I will be rich and all thanks to NOC!  Yes indeedy the National Oil Company of Libya has sent me an email detailing my winnings (in a lottery In which I do not have to buy a ticket) of $540,000 US dollars in the fight against HIV/Aids.  I am of course sharing a much bigger pot with seven others in the 3rd level of this draw.  This however is brilliant, this will be worth about £350,000 I guess in real money and that might just clear all my debts.  Woohooo!  How lucky am I to receive this, not only unexpected, but unasked for fortune!  I am so happy.  I guess this is all down to removing that Ghaddafi fellow and sharing his oil through a South African (they say) company.  All I have to do is send my details to Mr Angelo Christians their rep in J'Burg and I will be rich!  Ha!  I bet Prince Bauberg in Nigeria, and Akhmed Abedaye in Nairobi are  jealous they did not win, although they have around $25 million dollars (US) they wish to remove from Africa for safe keeping.  I don't need to help them now, I will just live of my (unasked for) lottery winnings.  No more cave in the wilderness, no more cardboard boxes, from now on I will tour the US spending my (US) dollars and flouting their customs patrols searching for Soub and RDG.  Well I will wait until after the Euro 2012 has finished first.

.

Using old pics to fill a post picture

.

I began this week with energy.  I had plans, ideas, things to do. One of which was to walk more, exercise and get fit.  Indeed I walked a lot on Monday, walked and exercised well (for me) on Tuesday, and my body and mind have been dead ever since!  Tuesday saw me writing things, reading, studying, and since then I have been working my way through 'Herodutus' and nothing else.  My head is dead.  The sad thing is I doubt anyone would notice.  I read all the proper blogs, when folks get around to actually writing something, (it's a bit of a pain to those of us without a life when those of you with one have the life and don't post so that we without a life can have a life through you and don't make me say that again!) and enjoy the torrent of words on show.  There are, I found, a billion American blogs giving details of their happy life. 'The Smith Family,' and 'The Robinson's at Home,' and 'The Watkins Way,' and so on, pages all about their joy, their kids (lots of fotos) and their God, and their support for the troops, and so on and on and on sickeningly!  This is my fault as a while back when pressing the 'Next Post' button I discovered page after page of porn from professional sites. I objected as if I wish porn I am well able to find it and can do without it shoved in my face, especially after reaching 60 it doesn't work so well now!  Some geek has flicked a switch and I find all the Yank families in the Mid West telling me how lovely life is and we support the Tea party!  I feel inclined to offer my thoughts and get banned from that range of blogs and put onto something with more life!  Isn't life strange sometimes?   


Anyway this lovely engine, with its misery of a driver, was the machine that pulled me into Mallaig many moons ago.  The steam train runs several times a day from Fort William to the fishing port, and you can catch the ferry to sky if you so wish, although I think this is only for pedestrians these days. A small fishing village, with I suspect a lot less boats today than when I visited some years ago.  Smoke emanating from chimneys was a strange sight, and smell, to discover, especially as I lived in the centre of London at the time.  The open space, the sky, the sea, the aroma, all made for a wonderful experience.  Watching sheep, with horns, nibbling grass by the roadside was also enjoyable, although they were not very friendly, those Gaels are a rough lot!  I have pictures of a sloping sea with some of the Isles in the distance, and one or two of the colourful boats and possibly one of the seal who kept sticking his head up in the hope of a free fish being slung at him.  Funnily enough whenever I have been up that way all the postcards show glowering clouds, and cartoon ones feature sheep cowering from rain, in telephone boxes, yet the sun always shone when I was around.  Does this mean it really does shine out of my eyes?


.  

Five Years Ago

.

I started this blog.
The world was a different place then. I was working hard, money was jingling in my pocket, people smiled at you as you passed and muttered "Good Morning."  You could leave your door open and no one would break in, policemen looked like Jack Warner and caught criminals instead of slapping their wrists, and I thought the world needed to know my opinions.
Not all of the above is correct!


I suppose the desire to have my opinions heard was the reason I started this. I have found that these were not always popular! In fact some people have been downright forthright in their opposition. On the other hand I have discovered an enormous number of good people out there. From the four corners of the world, having disparate views, writing about a wide variety of subjects they have been jolly good sorts all round! I am glad to have met them!


I intended to make a serious point with a touch of humour. Sometimes I thought it was almost working and sometimes this failed. I have never attempted to stick to one subject, except moaning of course, and have likewise favoured with my presence blogs covering many areas, some surprising to me, and keep links to these excellent blogs and their excellent people. Most I visit daily at the moment, some when I feel like it. All teach me a great deal, many make me laugh, all reveal a variety of lifestyles, some lifestyles I would never wish to emulate, (isn't that paint?) and some make me jealous with their intellect, talents, lives, and photographs!    


I discovered all this as I looked for one particular item, which I never found, on previous posts and was surprised to discover five years had past. Doesn't time fly when your having fun, or getting old? Anyway so far it has been a lot of fun, whatever you lot think, because I have enjoyed shoving my opinions down your throat and indicating to you all your mistakes! That's what friends are for after all! So I intend to continue whether you like it or not, so there!
  
  
.

Blogs and Blogging

Reading through some blogs the other day, well most days actually, I find many folks are sitting at their PCs awaiting the muse to move so they can blog! This fact fascinated me as I realised that I, like so many others, sit here desperate to write something. Why do we do it?When I began this blogging I just wanted to shout my opinions to the world in a vain effort to make all and sundry know I had all the answers. This has brought many replies, the main one being that I was wrong! It never ceases to amaze me just how many people in this world live simply to point out my mistakes. I would argue about this but all to often they are right! However being wrong about so many things does not, at least in the blogosphere, stop anyone from posting their opinions, so I continue. The blog was a place where I could make my opinions known, and just be heard by someone somewhere. Whether they agree or not is irrelevant, as long as I can have a place to let my voice be heard, that is what is important.

I might be wrong, but for many this is one of the main motivations for blogging.

Certainly blogs have practical uses. People can keep in touch with others when spread miles apart, families or clubs, servicemen far from home, sports organisations and even businesses can keep contact with their friends and families when distance keeps them apart. This is good, but boring for those who come upon these blogs unexpectedly. (Can anything be more boring than a blog full of pictures of a baby and its doings? No doubt fun for granny miles on the other side of the world, but for you and me the doings of little Johnny, especially when covered in spaghetti (why post such pics?) can, and should, be given a miss!) The results of a local badminton league do nothing for those uninvolved but are at least useful for those concerned. It is the personal blogs, whether about the individuals life or their opinions that blogs come into their own. The daily diary may appear somewhat boring but the lives revealed seldom are. (Unless it's a woman talking about her boyfriend of course!) What's more they are world wide and that really impresses me. The media in any country spends its time on local affairs, world wars and tragedies are irrelevant if a cat is stuck up a tree in the local high street! The blog world however takes me with a couple of clicks from Singapore to Kent, on to the USA and wherever takes my fancy. The only problem is the time difference! While I am dreaming of golden beaches and pretty young girls bringing me cold drinks as the rain lashes against the window someone in Thailand is insulting their intellect by browsing the site. As I rise I read their scribbles and then while the drowsy eyelids of America snore through the night I indulge my laughter muscles with blogs hot from late night typing. Who knows how they cope in Greenland?

Somewhere in the world there are itchy fingers with nothing to type, looking out the window for inspiration. The need to type away is now an addiction which must be obeyed. Drugs and drink can be 'Cold Turkeyed' away, Blogging cannot be avoided! The need to write for the audience (the worst reason, you must write for yourself or you become another aspect of the media, writing what they want to hear rather than what you want to say!) the desperate need to post that humorous story, or possibly the political situation that only the blogger can put write must be posted! However, if nothing comes to mind the void left is deeper than the Grand Canyon, wider than the Pacific Ocean, and the heart of the blogger bereft. I must stop here and mope for a while as nothing comes to mind this morning, and on top of that there is far to much to do, now as I have nothing to say I must do it. Those little chores, drawing back the curtains to let light in, opening the windows to let air in, clearing the moss covered contents from the fridge, and lifting all the mail from behind the door! A pile of junk lies there now. Oh yes, I suppose having my second bath of the year might be an idea also......