Bored & Busy Saturday

 

Boring Again

 

It's been a boring couple of years, and there appears little excitement on the horizon for me.  I have not been getting out, and if I try to get out now I am unsure of busses or trains at the moment. One or other will be on strike, and this corrupt government under another gooseberry will not be able or willing to do anything about this.  Not as long as they are coining it in.

On top of that inactivity has made me less inclined to activity, my knees tremble easily and therefore I rarely venture far.  This does not do me any good but that is how it is at the moment.

This sums it up.

My head wants to see other things, find strange places, take bad photos, invigorate the brain and stimulate the intellect (don't laugh).  But the bulk of my body wants to sit here watching Scottish football, eat, and sit some more.   The knees like the rest but I know they need exercise.  We argue about this often.

Anyway, tomorrow, Saturday, I must trot up to a shop, one I consider the biggest chancers in town, to collect a couple of books UPS have left there.  Or at least that is what I am told has happened.  These were bought via Waterstones at beginning of December, it took me a while to work out they were not coming, apparently had been attempted delivery, but no card left, no idea what happened.  When I contacted them I was told they had been left in a safe place.  What place?  No idea.  Today I have the paper telling me where they are (HA!) and tomorrow I find they are not there.

Ah well, some excitement I suppose.

Bored or Confused?

Amazing as it is, I am bored.

Yes, I may have 12 books to read but I am not in the book reading mood.  I wish to go outside and wander in the sunshine, except there is no sunshine, again!  A wander today would only be over the usual paths anyway.  And this bores me.  I have been over them countless times and it is an empty town with few highlights missed.  There is nothing new in this small town, nothing new to photograph, nothing new to see bar continuing road works and a needless white elephant building erection, nothing that is not boring!

Some people like Suza can wander along the same paths and fine many differing photographs and sights.  Some can find sunshine at Christmas!  Here, lacking transport, lacking a bus service just now because of Tier 4, here we can only dawdle around the same old places, freezing to death and being bored by it all.

Now I do not wish any crazy adventures to appear, although having a nice building fire, attempted murder/bank robbery or such would create interest.  Instead we have the traffic to Sainsburys, the freezing postman telling me the man in the Frame next to him has Covid (I do not expect to see him again this year) and an occasional dog walker passing by.  A boring place, not made exciting by doing the Laundry, although it appears my neighbours were in so maybe it excited them?  The week between Christmas and New Year is boring when Tier 4 traps us all indoors.  

However, reading Twitter I see how important this is!

This morning Twitter was stuffed with Medics of various types demanding help from this government, lack of equipment, lack of staff, and a huge increase in Covid patients.  Instead some media emphasis the emergency 'Nightingale Hospital' is being closed.  It is closing because this was another balloon from Boris, a new hospital but no-one to staff it!!!  Now all NHS are overburdened and Boris has disappeared.  No change there!

 

Bored?  Confused now.  One of my delightful, intelligent, talented nieces has decided to take a family photograph and have it made into a Jig-saw for me.  This sounds a clever idea, and in truth it really is clever.  However, the main colour is dark, little is light, and as it concerns several people posing before the launch of the Queen Mary in 1936, once she had been fitted out, it has awkward bits all around.

She thinks she is clever, and indeed she is, however, I am beginning to have somewhat rougher thoughts concerning her now.  In my mind jig-saws are things I last got occupied with back in the 70's, and not for long then. I have not forgotten the tricks to doing them, find the corners, look for the edges, but I am beginning to believe she has removed a corner and hidden some edges!  Anyway, it has been put aside for feeding time.  I will finish it tomorrow...

 

Bored

Another day of sudden downpours, thunder and lightning.  Lovely to see, from the window at least.  
Other than visiting Tesco in the bright, reasonably warm sunshine at 7:30 this morning I have avoided polluting the streets.  Instead of original thought or real purpose I have merely eased my ears - my sister phoned last night - and concentrated on staring into space.  This some appear to consider wasting time but I prefer to see it as pondering life.  
Once, full of zeal and little sense, I wished to be out there!  The world was full of adventure and excitement.  There were places to go, things to experience, action, friends and whatever.  Not now.
Much of it I have seen, the excitement has lessened, and a dog speaking to me as I made my way home is more than enough friendship that early in the day.  Much joy can be had waiting on the postman or those white vans that draw up and pull out parcels.  Never it appears for me however.  
Of course I could buy something but I would rather it just arrives as a surprise.  That would be good.
However, with everybody broke, unemployed, locked down, or merely going off their heads I suppose surprise packets will not be arriving any time soon.  Maybe I ought to send one to someone else? I wonder what item (cheap) I could go for?  Of course once I start going for something some fool will put a price tag on it (plus P&P) and put me off.  Ah well.
No football tonight either, though what has been available has mostly been poor.  OK then, back to listening to the wireless!

Boring Day...

The media being full of nothing but repeats of previous half truths, TV and Radio being full of nothing, my brain being full of less than usual I set out to wander the highways for exercise.
However it quickly became obvious my attempts at previous exercise did not encourage me in going far.  This meant a wander through the town by the back roads, luckily, my dishevelled appearance, my several weeks of beard, my untidy ragged hairstyle all combined to encourage people to put 50p or a £1 coin in my hand, "For a cup of tea," so all was not lost.
I passed the usual spaced queues at the few open shops, spoke in friendly terms while passing grans and granddads making the most of a brief time with the grandchildren, very useful the shops being shut, and met one couple from St Ps so we could gossip awhile. 
We agreed that the excitement of our locked down lives may tell on us one day!
Nice to see other men who desperately need the Barbers back.  
I scraped away the seal from the kitchen once again, that did not last long, and when dry tomorrow will make a mess of replacing it with better stuff.  Then the bath needs redone also, same cheap material, so that is something to look forward to.  So many little jobs to be done, then cupboards to clean out...again.
I suppose everyone had an exciting time out there?

Bored

Trapped by rain...bored, no football, nothing exciting happening...

Sunday Again

Sunday without politics was in my mind today.  However I did manage one or two comments on the papers early this morning.  The 'Daily Mail' and it's readers really are not interested in facts are they?
However I put all this aside for better things and hobbled to St P's to find the stand in preacher talk about social justice.  This no doubt inspired by his many years experience of social inequality and the sloth amongst previous churches when it came to taking action.  It may also be inspired by the Archbishop of Canterbury's round robin letter reminding people to vote as this was a duty not to be avoided.  This may stop short of telling you who to vote for but a reading of the 'Book of Amos'  shows how important social justice is to God.  He created all people and cannot see why we do not 'Love our neighbour.'
There are many Church of England churches where he would be asked to leave for offering his thoughts.  Most Evangelical would agree, but whether any actually appreciate what is required is hard to tell.  Some do great works while others sit on their hands a wee bit.  However the book does say 'Faith without works is dead.'
I of course listened intently, and now sit on my hands...

Nothing else has happened.
Life is boring.
The sky spends its time being covered in gray cloud and has done for weeks.
It's cold.
The footballs rotten.
My dinner was worse.
I accidentally got involved in an argument re Independence on a railway site on facebook.
My tea is awful.
Heart of Midlothian fell to another defeat.
This was not on TV so I could not see it!
Radio is awful.
It was awful when I woke at four this morning, it was awful when I woke at six.
It was still awful at 7:15 when I rose.
My knees hurt again.
I am not getting out and about and I am therefore bored!

I was happy when I rose this morning... 

More Boring Sunday

I'm Bored!

I'm bored! It's Friday night and I am bored!

The sun is shining,
The sky is blue,
And I, poor soul
Have nothing to do!

Not only that but there is no money to do anything. There is no car, so I cannot go anywhere, there are no friends (bet that surprises you?) to call, no one to annoy visit, and the family are too far away and too busy boring each other anyway! So I am left alone, and bored.

I have no energy, mental or physical today so I cannot be bothered thinking of anything bright, clever, worthwhile or grumbling. Even playing 'Techtris' means little, while reading anything more than simple sentences wears me out. Even watching 'Top Gear' makes me boak as the cars go too fast, although that is normal to be honest. Every time I turn this programme on, and it is always on with 'Dave TV,' there are screeching tyres and clouds of tyre smoke. Why? If you have seen one grossly overpriced car racing along at 150 m.p.h. you have seen them all, yet each week they wax lyrical about something costing £200,000 and expect to get plaudits for it! Not from me pal! Maybe it's because I am no longer 20 years old, or maybe it's because I don't have a small willie (I'm excused shorts girls!) or maybe I have seen too many men trundling past my window in cars they obtained for the image not the usefulness, and here I omit the one who bought a MacLaren willie extender and then smashed it, and himself, into a tree not far from here. That was £200,000 wasted in my view. Of course the programme has some good bits, and occasionally actually informs and entertains at the same time, although while 'entertaining,' driving a car across the English Channel only informed us of the stupidity of attempting this act in the busiest sea lane in the world! But I digress, I was mentioning my boredom which comes from having no friends, no money, no life, and worse, no football to watch!

It never ceases to amaze me that when there is a (proper) football match to watch I need not be bored! It may be boring (Like watching Hibernian) or it may keep me on the edge of the seat, but at least if it is on I am part of the real world and something of importance is happening around me! I even watched Halifax play some unknown side in the 'Blue Square Premiership' once' and felt alive. Where is Halifax exactly? Television you see, while often offensive, insulting to the intelligence (like 'As Seen on TV' for instance! or 'Mutton Dressed as Lamb' 'Loose Women,') and full of mediocrity can in fact be a window on the world. What would folk trapped indoors all day do without a telly? Especially if they can obtain 'Freeview' or satellite TV.' This really can be a window on the world, although tonight it appears closed as nothing but the brain dead can be happy with the offerings being shown! But where is television heading these days. Video recorders were a great boon, especially when they recorded both the start and finish of the programmes, and DVD's and the new fangled digital stuff (I don't know either) make for new 'opportunities' as the TV folk say. The original idea of one channel (the BBC) was revolutionised with the introduction of ITV in 1957. The world changed at that moment, although we had no telly and all I was concerned about was my cardboard fort and the soldiers fighting over it! With TV available on PCs and in hand held 'iPod' like things, with a billion channels available I wonder where TV will take us? Especially as the Football, the news, and little else will have an IQ of more than 10!

Even the wireless is boring tonight. At the moment Radio 4, the middle class intellectual (they say) channel airs 'Any Questions?' One of these programmes where four people are asked to lie in their teeth if they are MP's, push themselves or their daft ideas on everyone else (If they are not) or as tonight four nobodies which means no-one cares any which way. Radio 1 meanwhile is being ignored by normal people, Radio 2 has 'Friday Night is Music Night,' a programme that was first aired I think when the Luftwaffe were passing overhead. Listening tonight I can assure you they would be welcomed back with open arms if they make an appearance any time soon! Radio 3 (the real intellectual station (I listen)) covers the 'BBC Proms!' They are now in the middle of the interlude so a stimulating talk regarding the Influence of Fascism on Italian music during Mussolini's time is pontificating in a dry fashion. Radio 5Live (can it air when dead?) has some hope as it covers the first match of the English Championship season, and Radio Scotland is playing music, again! When in Edinburgh I was amazed at the number of stations playing music! There appeared to be little attempt at all, except during the News broadcasts and that was very insular, especially if you were from Glasgow! There is a need for sensible talk and that seemed to me to be unobtainable there! It was so bad I had to listen to my sister at one point!

What was I saying? Oh yes, bored! Well I am and if my knees did not ache after my cycle ride today, why is the wind always against you when you head for home I ask, I would wander the streets looking for dropped coins. It is true, the wind is always against the cyclist! Before I leave I look to the sky and if the winds are from the west I head in that direction, however, when I head back the wind is from the east, blowing strongly and full of Siberian promise! Does this happen to others, or are the weather girls still upset at the letters I write them I wonder?

Oh I'm bored with this, as most of you are as you stopped reading long ago. I'm off to put my head in the gas oven!