Annoying Electioneering

Not quite 24 hours in and I am sick of the election already.  Twitter is jammed with political offerings, usually repeated over and over again by many others, and for the most part saying nothing or repeating what was said yesterday or the day before.

6 weeks of this!

That's longer than a Liz Truss premiership mind.  

The Tory policy appears to be attack Labour rather than offer policy.  What is said are claims of success, that are immediately repudiated.  Labour say 'Change,' but do not inform us in which way.  The Lib-Dems must have said something but no-one noticed.  Reform, one of Farage's scams, says 'Migrants, Boats, black people,' and little else.  Only Canvey Island Man will be voting for them, and his numbers will not win seats anywhere.  

I have had the Tories knocking on my door all day.  I will give it to 6 pm then I will let them out.

I suspect leaflets to pile through the door soon, but a quick look at the four standing here is not encouraging.  The Home Secretary is our MP.  I think a great many Tories will not vote for him this year.  On the other hand others will simply because he is Conservative, the fact that he is not doing anything for us appears to be missed, and the past 14 years also has not hindered their support.

Labour are offering a London union man, an 'activist' they say proudly, but what does he know of the constituency?  Nothing!  He is however, the only real challenger.  Next comes a young Lib-Dem County councillor, the youngest in history.  A glance at him ended his hopes.  Loyalists will vote for him but this is a forlorn vote.  It would be better if he stood down.  Then the Reform Party offer a soldier with two tours of Afghanistan, a policy concerned with migrant boats and little else.  He probably has a Wehrmacht uniform in his wardrobe also.  His main job will be taking the 'wide eyed loony' vote away from the MP, I hope so anyway.  

The choice is not great, I will be voting against someone rather than for someone.  Many will be doing similar elsewhere.  How much better when voting for someone with something worth hearing?  Not much chance of that at this election.    

It is always interesting to note how the Polls indicate Scottish results.  Always indicating the SNP vote is sliding, always claiming Victory for Labour (they never dare say that about the Tories) and are always wrong.  I suppose only asking people in England their opinion possibly hinders the results.

The joy of technology again this morning.

The boiler man was coming from the company that made them.  They sent a text last night confirming this.  Today another text announced he was on his way, just before 8 am.  All good.  Then the mobile went haywire!  The fiend of Hades began to run through all the apps, all the technical items I never see, and just would not stop.  The brute went mad and though I pressed the power off button it ignored me.  Eventually it stopped.  Naturally, while this was going on the boiler man had phoned.  I switched the phone on, then off again to let it rest.  A few minutes later I put it on and awaited a call.  However, before waiting I checked, yes he had called again, and no the voicemail does not work.  

I mused, I pondered, I thought nasty thoughts, then the doorbell rang, the boiler man was here anyway.  The wee drip that had been found, not me, the one on the boiler, was soon traced as far as possible action taken, and  with just over 30 minutes he had changed a washer and stopped the leak.

Polite, efficient, helpful, and off he went to tour more town boilers and then up the coast to those rich folks boilers that also leak.

Then our landlords man returned to finish painting the hall downstairs and I done some ironing before I decided to follow the mobile and go mad also!  This was the best idea as I'm good at this.

Work Time

Once again the street is blocked by workmen digging up the road.  The two building sites, one on either side of the road, are constantly digging up the road for gas or electric pipes to be installed, removed, re-installed or just to block the road I think.  Speaking to one of the gang this morning he spoke of planting a tent and moving in.  Eight or nine times they have been here and things change with the delay caused by this, the changes I don't notice regarding mortgages has meant three planning to buy over the road have changed their minds as their costs have risen.  The building on this side still has problems however as while the sign says 'Sold' nobody has moved in.  I suspect an agent has bought the pot and is either waiting for prices to rise and re-sell or another problem has blighted the building.  More road works next week!
Update!  This afternoon people began to move in next door!  It may be there will not be any more work at this side of the street. maybe...

The work has come inside today as the old boiler is being replaced with a new glossy one.  Since 9:30 this morning they have been working away, creating dust, much less than the man who installed the thing all those years ago created, bored holes in wall, bored holes in cupboard, upset the neighbour - who I had to deal with - and left me tired and hungry and living on two small slices of bread and honey since 7:30.  Good job I am not one to complain!, As I type I notice how dust, thin and almost imperceptible, lying across this laptop this might take several days to clear up.  Windows are wide open hoping for through wind to clear the air.  Good job it was warm.

Before they left, after they had cleared most of the debris I was given the new thermostat.  As is the way modernisation means digital instead of buttons to press or turn and this leaves me wondering how to work this 'simple' mechanism.  A quick run through before they left and I informed them I knew what to do while accepting to myself that I was lying in my teeth!  I may need to borrow an adolescent when winter arrives.  Testing the boiler proved it works and with it sitting beside me I can alter the temperature, timing probably contact the FBI and the KGB at the same time.
My routine is ruined, I am still hungry but the water boils correctly now.
What can I break tomorrow...?

                    

'The Team For Me.'

Another book finished and I am glad to have read 'The Team for Me.'  Our friend Mike has put together several books, I am not jealous, and the latest one is a brave account of his fifty years following the Heart of Midlothian.  A jolly atmosphere filled book where all aspects of football fan, from the programme to the reception provided by Glasgow policemen finds a place.  Many times I knew I had been there, many times I understood how the author's emotions jangled, many times I understood why tears appeared, that comes from following a football team, especially this one!
However fans from all clubs will emote as they read.  The grounds change, the club names may be different and the league or division may be higher or lower but the situation in which a man's life is lifted to the heights or brought down to the depths depending on the result of a football game does not change.  This is a book for the 'real fan' not the one who changes scarves at the start of every season t follow the one seen on TV, this is a book the real fan can understand.  
As an example of that as I read I could not get out of my head sitting behind the goals at Love Street Paisley with the sleet in my face as we huddled together singing "We shall overcome" while the  Heart of Midlothian were losing three nil to a St Mirren side that were getting relegated and we scored the first goal two minutes in!  Thank you Danny Ferguson!  Bah!

At just after noon the boiler man arrived keen and willing (keen to be elsewhere and willing to find a reason to charge) and soon he had decided a new boiler was required.  As it happened the landlord, the daughter of the deceased man I knew, was in the building, not that she wished to see me of course, and he rushed off to discuss the deal.
I never saw him again!
An hour or so later a call from the plumbers announced the 5th of October would be a 'New Boiler Day' just in time for winter.  So this sounds very good indeed to me.  A Friday morning which tells me it will be working by noon so they can take the rest of the day off!  Fine with me, I shall run away for an hour or two and let them get on with it.

November 30th

Each St Andrews Day the sky clears and high above travellers heading from Europe to far of lands such as Canada, USA or Luton Airport helpfully form a Scots Saltire Flag in the sky above us all.   It is a gift from above we ought all to be grateful for.
There is a growing movement that suggests that this day ought to become a national holiday in Scotland, I am sure all will be glad about this bar the Banks which work to London time of course.  They can work to London time if they wish but as the Bank of England keeps indicating the Scots Banks are not being run properly I can see their point of view.   A far cry from the days the Banks in Scotland were trusted and even then the one time chairman of the Bank of Scotland, long before the corruption of recent days, was famed for saying "Don't listen to the sound of another drum, just take the cash!"
The First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon has been contacting foreign powers with the intention of having Scotland remain in the EU rather than run into poverty with England and has recently been rewarded with support from the Republic of Ireland.  I am sure some of her supporters back in her hometown of Irvine, Ayrshire, would be less happy about this than most of us.  Supportive words have been offered from other states but there again Nicola you must never trust a politician!
My eatables tonight will represent the Scots diet of today - Moussaka, a Greek dish obtained through the helpfulness of Tesco who reduced its price because of the sell by date.  Scots of course have always been happy to contact Europe, some have even lived there and refer always to the friendly nature of the natives whenever they mention that they "Are NOT English!"  Historically Scots have traded with northern European states since this land was occupied and there is no reason for this to change.  We have much in common with them, and here I do not refer to a liking for too much beer, but so many things in Scandinavia and Scotland ring true.  Holland and Northern Belgium also as well as Germany have much in common with Scotland and long may this remain true.  I know these places well as I flew over them once, in the dark, and once with cloud cover!  At least I have eaten their cheese and drank their beer, and Belgian beers strength must be noted before consuming by the way!
The English on the other hand are divided re Europe.  In the south they consider the Continent to be isolated if there is fog in the channel, in the northern parts they can often be similar to Scots in their approach.  It is the 'Little Englander' in the south who led to the Brexit decision, his papers spurring those up north to support him by lying in his teeth daily about immigrants.  Interesting to find any poll that asks Brexit voters whether they enjoy a Curry takeaway or not?
Scotland must have strong ties with Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Scandinavia and we must not let English navel gazing take that from us. 

A pot boiler!  Or at least a boiler going to pot!  Today it runs smoothly, switching on at the right times, heating the radiators and even the water if I wished to make use of it.  Today it runs well but when I required it early yesterday morning it was a different story!
I came through into the east wing and found all the little red lights shining brightly as they ought.  So confident in their heat I turned on the tap at the bath and proceeded about my business.  Later I plunged my hand into said bathwater to check it was not too hot and instead it was freezing cold!  The brute had switched off!  I fiddled with the thermostat and waited, and waited and waited!  The little red lights would not light.  No matter what I did this brute would not switch on.  One red light appeared for a while, joined by another but seconds later they were gone. 
My entreaties, not particularly considerate ones as I was in a hurry to get ready to leave, did not work.  Speaking forcefully to it in a full and frank manner made no difference so I added a kettle  or two of hot water to the tepid bath which remained tepid as I made use of it.  I was pleased I can tell you, I was so pleased....
Shivering I took my skinny seven stone body through to the kitchen and made an unhealthy breakfast, I ought to have made porridge but I was afraid the microwave might blow up.  So naturally as I sat there, hair combed, shaved, almost dressed and checking the time before the off the blessed boiler sprang into life!  All the little red lights came on one after another! One, two, three, four, five...six, all of them smugly pumping hot water around a soon to be empty dwelling.  
Since then the boiler has worked perfectly and obeyed each and every command.  When I next attempt to bathe my physique, on Sunday next as usual, I suspect funny boy will play up again.

   

Non Political Blether

I spent the day in the Great War!
Researching info for the museum handout for schools I have no made the one page handout three pages long and have nowhere near finished.  It was interesting to remember things forgotten and helpful for what I scribbled down however it may not be what the boss woman wishes.
Add to this a short search for info on four men for a remembrance service, which probably will not be used, and altogether I ahve spent much of the day wasting my time.
No change there.

The boiler plays up.
It will not switch on, at least it switches on and goes off.  The thermostat is never at the right temperature for the brute and I keep fiddling with it and waiting, and waiting, and waiting until something happens.  I began at ten past seven this morning and it finally lit up around one!!!
We shall set it again tonight and see what occurs in the morning - frostbite and chilblains I suspect. 

To get warm I went out, it was warmer in the wind than inside.  
I went to 'Poundland' (actually I think ours is a 'Poundworld') for cheap feed for the Starlings that squabble at the feeders.  They are chomping away good style at the moment, I wonder if the cold and wet is making it hard for them to feed elsewhere?  There is usually plenty of places for birds to feed around here but I eventually got what I wanted this morning and before I shut the window the brutes were arriving.
'Poundworld' is full of cheap Chinese trash, ideal for my Christmas shopping!  I usually send gift cards up north, I wonder if they do them...?
I also searched charity shops for a waistcoat for  'do' at the museum coming up soon.  We are supposed to dress up and the women always do it well but I have nothing to suit.  I may have to travel in the zimmer bus tomorrow as the charity shops here are stocking only winter stuff now.

The TV news is full of the election still, I turned it off.  
It's over, the mistake is made, President Putin has him under control, the world is safe.
I bet the secretaries are worried mind! 

Today I began the Christmas shop.  One or two cards, I don't need many, and planning what to buy. "Don't buy for me," they cry, meaning "I am not buying for you!"
Why can't they be honest?
I wish for nothing but to give to them and what I wish for they canny give anyway.   Still it has begun and I will have mine done by next week, all posted on the 1st December and just my fat slob stuff for Christmas to buy.

Time/Timely

The good news is the clocks going back one hour and offering an extra sleep in the morning.  It goes without saying that I awoke at five, that was six and struggled to sleep properly until ten minutes before I had to rise.  Tsk! Struggling into the cold east wing I began looking for all the timepieces that required changing.  As always during the day others appear out of nowhere and I sometimes wonder why I have so many clocks is useful positions that I never notice except when the stop or require moving forwards or back one hour.  

Having succeeded in registering time in the house I looked to having my weekly bath, what with this being Sunday and all.  The boiler would not work!  It has been giving problems off and on and now it was just off!  The starter has decided not to start and the little red light says call for the man!  So I sent an email to the woman who calls the man who calls me and turns up probably sometime during the week.  Just as the weather turns winterish all the boilers fail, this year it's my turn.  Ah well, I suppose I can have a bath next week, no need to fuss is there. 

The thing about the Edinburgh derby is that you must realise the Heart of Midlothian always win it!  OK on occasion the wee team sometimes scrape a victory but since 1875, when we beat them one nil on Christmas Day, the Heart of Midlothian have always been the superiour side.  This is one of the blessings I have received, to be born into a Hearts of Midlothian family, how lucky is that! Hibernian fans, those few, those noble few who follow the wee team do not like this situation.  Indeed since we defeated them in the cup final, again, in 2012 one or two of the most likeable Hibs lads have only referred to me in grunts, and that via the web!  

Today the Hibs had some idea that they were in a position to defeat this mighty team, jokers that we are we played along with this allowing them to convince their feeble minded followers that a victory was on the cards.  Indeed they even managed to get the ball into our goal and with this one goal lead the happy bunch were celebrating a win long before the end.  90 minutes had been played, 4 more added by an excellent referee to cover injury time and other happenings at the end when cheering Hibbys had reality restored.  That great man Alim Ozturk strode forward into enemy territory, unleashed a shot from close on 40 yards and watched as it sailed into the air, dipped, and off the bottom of the crossbar rocketed into the Hibs net!  Oh what a shot, what a goal, what a laugh (in love obviously) as the Green and white clad lower orders stared in disbelief.  Once more they had failed to win, once more the BIG TEAM took a point, we should have had three) once more i expect to hear grunts over social media soon, when they come out of the pub/sulk/coma. 

Some feardies thought Hearts were going to lose?  Some, like me, are not old enough to experience the shock of being defeated by Hibernian.  Tsk!  The Edinburgh derby, one of the most one sided in the world.  Still, it's a giggle innit?   

.