Humdrum Friday

I have sat here all day trying to think of something to write.

Nothing has come.

The lack of stimulus, caused by not getting around, is telling on me.  The desire to move is easing, the effort not worth it, and I reach Tesco and am done for the day.  I tried a little exercise yesterday, now I feel it.  The view is limited and nothing rebounds.

The news remains dominated by Israel, with little understanding from all sides.  This is interrupted by the death of a celebrity, or another leaving a TV programme, or a mother complaining her school will not allow her child to be a brat.  

Then they return to the war.  

The Radio is failing me also.  Many good programmes have disappeared, the iPlayer, I refuse to call it 'Sounds,' is searched but reveals lots of mediocre rubbish of limited variety.  Anything worth having has been had.  

Even visiting Tesco has been difficult, the rain has not stopped, and may continue again tomorrow.  Quite how the people up near Brechin will manage I don't know.  A housing development there was evacuated because of the floods.  Now who allowed them to build on a flood plain?  OK, this has not happened before but...

Football and travel in North East Scotland has been scuppered.  Roods unpassable, floods everywhere, and with more rain coming it may take a week to clear.  We just get wet here.  Even down the hill they have not yet been flooded.  Global warming, except it is not that warm, but good for October.

I did make an effort to work out the Christmas offerings.  Things I bought last year appear pricier this year.  Even the PIES bought from Forres have been dumped, they too show evidence of the cost of living rise.  Having struggled to pay thanks to technical problems I decided it was costing too much and abandoned the idea.  I will need an alternative from somewhere as it really is too costly now.  

My idea was to send a box of chocolates of some sort to various peoples.  But then one is vegan, one cannot eat this, another that, and only the dogs will eat everything, except they shouldn't!  I saved money by deleting the links to the high prices.

The rest of the day has been spent in a dream.

Sunday Blether

The Bees and the beasties have been making the most of the times.  The gardens are full of bright coloured flowers inviting them to feed and investigate.  They are also full of midge like flies and kids, I am not sure which is worse.  

 

 

In between the thunder, lightning and rain we see blue sky around here.  Up north they are melting in the heat, fires are seen in woodland areas, not helped by idiot campers and their fires, and firemen are busy everywhere.  

London meanwhile is again flooded, the thunder round here was the edge of the storm, we were lucky.  In the south east heavy rain filled rivers and streams, underground passages flooded, as indeed did railway stations and the Underground.  The heavy rain we saw passed away quickly enough.

 

Climate change is real, whatever people say, and worldwide we are facing heat, rain and conditions which we are unable to control.  Russia suffers forest fires and soaring heat, Germany endure heavy rain and floods, all unusual for the time.  Whatever the cause it is time we opened our eyes to the problem, but as usual money talks.

Heading home as rain began to fall these three RAF aircraft flew over in formation.  I think these are 'Chipmunk' aircraft, they used to be the first line in RAF training but things may have changed.  It is also possible these are overflying some event (can you under fly an event?) and may no longer be official RAF planes.  Nice to see however, though I noticed the passing women gave no thought to the craft above, tsk!

 

 

I have had problems with the Blogs.  Some of the War Memorials cannot be found, though I can reach them.  Google tells me this is a problem they can fix.  However, as it involved the mobile phone this meant I had to reset the thing.  This has been having problems recently, I lost all my numbers, and other things fell apart, so a reset was required.  Naturally, since getting the phone they have altered everything and it took ages to work out what I was doing, much still has to be done.  Tomorrow I need to investigate the 'robots' problem, whatever that is, which needs fixing also.  This would be easy if I knew what they were talking about!  I am in an area of which I know nothing.  With my technical ability I could lose everything, especially my mind, by nightfall.  

Rejoice! Rejoice! Call it all joy! Oh yeah!

Three days of hard manual work, lots of banging and crashing, much cursing, and we have a new kitchen with gleaming sink and fancy new hob.  How lovely!  Last night I hastened to Sainsburys for feed to use on it, met the same young checkout girl once again, she now thinks I'm after her, what is it about girls?  Returning to realise I had forgotten the main items!
However, life is good, the kitchen complete, the work finished. 
Waking from a dream in which crowds of attractive young women were sending their boyfriends to get me, I struggled though into my gleaming new world.  All was well, the light was bright, the day ahead was planned as a 'Chicken Soup' day, once I had gone back to get the bits I forgot, and then nothing but joy all day.
I put the washing on, secure in the new settings the boys had made and stuffed my fat face putting back the 5 pounds weight loss the bug had given me this week.
 What could possibly go wrong?

As I ate the water left the washing machine, down the waste pipe and trickled cheerily across the kitchen floor!
A mad, unfit, panic ensued, water stopped by placing bucket under leak at foot of waste pipe, cloths used to wipe floor, ensuring the floor is cleaner than it has been for years, and struggle to work out problem.  Machine off, sink also blocked, realise this is problem, make use of 'Tesco, 'Sink and Drain unblocker,' £2, which eventually unblocks whatever was the cause.  Pump sink and use second bottle of Tesco best to ensure blockage goes.  Later, with manhandling several pails and risky control of waste tube from machine, finished washing.  I did this quite well though now I have an even cleaner floor!  I just hope none went down stairs...  
At least I know where the crack in the pipe is and the boys will return, cheerfully, next week to fix.   Another, 'Tesco Sink and Drain unblocker' £2, will be obtained, the washing will wait another week now, that is not unusual in this house...
Too knackered to seek Chicken Soup material...

So now I sit here, eating my 'Ripe and Ready to eat' Bananas from Costa Rica.  However, delicious they may be but the energy is insufficient to force me to rise unless I must!  Once again I seek a new diet, to inspire energy, to lose weight, to save cash.  Bananas and chicken soup are on order, Oats in the cupboard, other things, including rice water, are being looked onto.  I may also have a word with the undertaker woman up the road, just in case...

Have you noticed that when you log in to a newspaper they demand you accept cookies.  To fulfil the Law they offer a chance to 'reject all' but this never works!  Next time you return it asks again, same choice, same failure.  This must break a law somewhere surely?  
This is either incompetence in every paper or just strange coincidence.  I do not wish to have their cookies, or indeed anything else from them.  However, the problem is how to stop this...

Sunday Blether.

Sky

Another weekend of rain where it is already flooded.  Terrible for those living in such conditions.  Made worse by the ignorant response of this government.  Boris still hides away making no comment.  I suppose he has their votes...
Rain and wind for us also tomorrow but nothing like that suffered up north.  I suspect many homes will be up for sale in the next year or so unless better flood defences are installed.  Whether this government will see these as urgent enough or indeed more important than any of Boris's vanity projects and spend money where it is required we have yet to see.  I would not place bets here however.

The streets were wet this morning as I awoke, around 5 am this morning.  Rising early is an indication Spring is close as the early morning get me up early.  The rain persisted for a while as I pondered the walk to St P's.  There was no choice for my lazy tired body and I decided to remain indoors while enjoying my own Spiritual time, reading the book, Jeremiah 27 & 28, and pondering on the result.  I also tuned in to our clever curate who broadcasts his sermon on his page.  Therefore I got that and was able to criticise in a holy manner while chomping on home made soup.  He also cannot disagree with me.
So often we read of people claiming they have had a 'spiritual' experience.  It turns out they have been out in the country, by the seaside or just away from the built up area for a while.  Good for them I say.  This however is not 'spiritual' but it is refreshing, recreating if you like as it changes our thinking by allowing us to wander amongst green places, or by a sea view hopefully not crowded with sunseekers.  I longed for such times when in London and still today look forward to Spring so we can get out and about.  This does not equal spirituality however that only comes from meeting 'spirit' either good or bad!  I was seeking to meet the good.

The problem with seeking the good is that it reveals how bad I am!  Therefore it can be a tough, rather than a pleasant time.  The good Lord has standards and each time I investigate his book these tend to appear.  This changes my behaviour, sort off and improves my life, but it is difficult.  Maybe I ought to join one of these modern liberal churches where they use a 'loose-leafed' bible removing pages they do not like or are making life hard.  The type that talk about 'Love' but ignore 'holiness.'  Easier on the life but such an approach does not bring you closer to Jesus.

Tuesday Twaddle

Priti Patel, the smug self satisfied Home Secretary, has laughed a lot today after ensuring her bill to stop Black people, sorry, poor people, coming into the country has passed in the House.  I wonder if it is possible her parents, and also herself, could be removed and deported for any reason?  I think the Home Office ought to investigate.
Each day passes and more and more Nazi like policies are being worked out.  The many connections to the far right are also making themselves known.  One day a decent paper will take courage and expose the corruption hidden away.  It will not be a paper belonging to Rupert.  
The floods continue to damage the nation, rain continues to fall, heavily in some areas, and Boris continues to hide away with Carrie in the 'Grace & Favour cottage in Kent.  I suppose he needs a break from Dominic's instructions.  He now gets to listen to Carrie's, well until he dumps her.

A little excitement added to the day recently.  Someone parked a police car on the pavement outside, tsk!  That sort of thing gives the house a bad name.  They however crossed into the park and then suddenly moved swiftly to intercept two other constables doing similar.  They ran over to the far side, discussed the day with an individual or two, one who took off and the other who fought back.  One then volunteered to aid the constabulary.
The other day an item on the news indicated some peoples brains were smaller, these tended to be people who were 'hooligans when adolescents and criminals when older.  This chap appeared to fit that bill.  Indeed many on the Police Twitter feed do at first sight.  It is however a short step from there to eugenics! 
Small time criminals, making their way through life the hard way.  Many would be better off if they actually worked.  I suggest however most would be unable to discipline themselves sufficiently.  It is all rather sad in a way.

One of my talented nieces works occasionally on cruise ships for a week or two.  She has just left one ship where she had spent 13 days trapped aboard as no-one was allowed off at any time.  The ship did not put in at any port bar one, and that for supplies, no-one was allowed off.  However they could wander about and were never confined to cabin.  She saw a lot off the sea before landing in Australia and coming home.  I told her to sneeze on board for a giggle but she decided not to...

Nicola Floods

i

Nicola has shuffled her cabinet once again.  The unfortunate minister forced to leave for grooming a young bot chiefly responsible for this.   Once again we see Nicola standing outside the world's centre posing with her cabinet, or at least some of the female members thereof.  Now she has a cabinet dominated by women, she must be happy.  Interesting that while men are involved nine are in the picture.  Once again we see the big failing in Nicola, her  inability to cope with being female.  

Most photos of her feature women, rarely she is seen with males.  Her cabinet is now dominated by women but will it work?  There is no doubt that many of the males involved do not set the heather on fire, possibly they are limited by the chain of the leader?  

Margaret Thatcher was unwilling to have inept women around, how many were members of her cabinet?  Theresa had them in hers but probably ignored much of what they said, she did have trouble listening.  However Nicola has a real problem with men.  She chooses people by their sex not their ability who knows what this will lead to.

She ought never to have read that copy of 'Spare Rib' in the library in Irvine that time.  It has left a mark.

BBC

Floods in Wales, floods in Scotland, floods all over the north of England, people are now asking "Where is Boris?"  A minister responsible for such things, whoever he was, appeared on TV this morning claiming Boris had asked him to 'represent' Boris while touring the floods.  This is acceptable up to a point, however Boris, or at the very least Michael Gove ought to show face here.

Of course they will avoid this, not only is it not in Surrey or Oxfordshire it is also an opportunity to 'Meet the people' and Boris knows what happens when he meets the people!  So no visit will be planned.

David Cameron did visit his constituency in Oxfordshire when floods rushed along the expensive houses there.  He claimed we ought to be able to do something about floods as "We are a rich country."  He did not visit the Somerset Levels which also flooded to a greater extent as far as I can see.  I am not sure if anything has been done there.

People flooded out, nothing to do with government mate, anyway Dominic says "Don't go."

Another Holiday Monday

The Day off has similar weather to yesterday with an added breeze.  Some folks down on the estuary will be out in their 'Smacks' and 'Dinghy's' while others will fill the day messing about on boats, mostly near the wine cupboard.
The town is quiet, with Half Term upon us it is usual at this time of year for folks to go away, those that have the cash that is.  Us poor people simply plod around the gardens once again trying to find the fish in the pond, you can just glimpse a big one at the bottom of this picture.  Several Goldfish can be seen, bigger than those found in most homes, and tempting for the occasional Heron that passes by.

With most shops remaining closed and there being nothing to see but the half dressed women strolling about I sauntered around the gardens and through the town stopping only at Tesco when I realised I had nothing to eat bar what remained frozen in the freezer.
Forward planning is not my greatest talent.  My freezer is full, some of the contents nourishing, but to eat them they need to defrost, how I wish I could remember to check whether they are cooked from frozen or not when buying.  I must buy an emergency pizza tomorrow...

  
I was very struck by the greenery around me today.  It appears greener than usual and there appears a very wide variety of green on offer.  Spring is such a good time!  I note my starlings young have managed to work out how to feed themselves from the feeder and therefore I need feed them less as I suspect the talent of catching the early worm has also been taught them.
This is just as well as I noticed one of my feeder had gone last night.  I went down are retrieved it but left most of the pellets behind as I could not gather them up.  This is not a problem for me but is for my neighbour as it landed in there space.  About a year ago she had the area tarted up with red bricks and only last night I noticed the mess the birds had left.  Oh dear thought I something must be done.  I am awaiting a nice thunderstorm with pelting rain to clear the mess  and I will reduce the feed for a while.  

The thunder arrived this afternoon but it forgot to bring rain.  Hopefully this will arrive tonight clearing the brickwork and the 'close' air that hangs around us.  This taste of summer is welcome but around here it usually ends with thunder and lightning.  The South West and Midlands areas have been hit with torrential rain leading to flooding in some parts.  Those in low lying areas suffer so badly at limes like this and there is little they can do to protect themselves.

O Happy Day!

What a strange feeling, coming home early from the museum, after indeed a very quiet morning, and finding I had all the time in the world to myself! Having 'worked,' three days last week there was no time to sit and stare dreamily into space study, research and cogitate on the world around me.  There were a few queries, some visitors and one or two wee jobs to do but generally it was a quiet morning for me.  With the landlord's lass arriving to check the boilers as they do once a year I wished to be here when she and the plumber were busy. The aim of this was not to check the job was done correctly, it always is, but to ensure she did not notice the bits I have allowed to fall into disrepair!  I did not wish to hear grumbles, I canny stand folks who complain! However offering her tea, from my only clean cup, and noticing the plumber refusing this offer, he had one last year I reckon, this tea and chat stopped her looking around.  Why she comes must be to check as the plumber is trustworthy enough in my view, but I suspect some folks think this wise.  I was informed the folks next door are leaving, this is good as they have not been bad but have not been too sociable either, too young to relate to others.  Hopefully someone decent can afford to move in now.  

So once they left I was sitting at the laptop working out what on my 'to do' list to ignore first. The answer was easy, with all this free time on my hands I had no choice but to fall asleep for a while, and jolly good it was too!  How on earth did I ever get things done when I was working 35 hours a week?   What with work, shopping, sleeping, cooking, eating and whatever else came up I cannot understand how I got through so much with so little time.  Now I have time I do so little! Some ex-managers may make a comment here .....

AOL

The weather continues to disappoint.  Floods ruin houses of the rich and the poor, blame is passed from hither to thither, welly clad politicians pose amongst the suffering, Cameron promising to help and to spend money.  We shall see, and we shall wonder where it shall be spent.  The cynics already claim the Tory heartlands will benefit, not Somerset and the like!  We shall see.  Politicians talk but can do nothing about the weather, all seem unable to identify an honest appraisal of the situation, those that do keep quiet about it.  Another week of this is promised, high winds blasting rain again tomorrow, what is going through the minds of those already two foot deep in water I wonder?  Poor things, the immediate effect will last for several long weeks, the long term affect will never end for many.  

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Floods

The Huffington Post

The Brisbane floods have left around 40 known dead, and possibly many more to come after the clean up has begun. Rightly this has received a great deal of airtime on TV and radio in the UK. The connection between the UK and Australia is very strong and thinking about this I may well have a few distant relatives suffering from this flood as I had a long dead aunt out that way. I suspect news will filter through slowly from there. Because of the connections and of course the excellent live pictures and audio reporting, we have a great deal of detail to fill the otherwise 'quiet' news room in the early part of the year.


I was struck however by the lack of reporting on the deaths of over 250 people in Brazil! I came across this story only today and wondered why this was not mentioned before?  Silly question, they are only poor Brazilians living in shanty towns on hillsides prone to mudslides. Why should we car? They don't peak English, a great disadvantage, the TV coverage is not so good, and anyway, they are just going to lose any aid we send in some corruption somewhere, let's just pass by on the other side shall we? I am glad the Independent managed to report this tragedy as if this was as important as the Australian one which has cost less deaths but a great deal more money. 


The weather front that has crossed the southern Pacific and brought the heavy rain to Australia has also moved on to other parts of the region. The Philippines also endured heavy rain and this too resulted in many deaths from flood damage. Around a million people, mostly poor, are suffering and at least 40 have died. Not much reporting on this, there again the only mention of the Philippines concerns Islamic terrorism, floods or corruption, so why bother we ask? One nation not much reported now the Tamil Tigers have been all but obliterated is Sri Lanka. When part of the British Empire (are you standing to attention?) this land was known as Ceylon and a producer of much of the tea that we consume. Thirty years of needless conflict have curbed the tourist trade and the last time Sri Lanka received attention concerned the Boxing Day Tsunami of a few years ago. One wonders if that had happened at a busier time if it would have received such attention? Today the damaged area is not much better off, the aid having disappeared and those who suffered receiving less than they ought. Now again the monsoon rains brings flooding, and we know of at least 18 dead and large areas damaged but it does not affect us much so we can pass on regardless. Much more important to know what some celebrity is wearing or where he, she, or it shops isn't it?


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Tuesday

Every week I begin by attempting to get fit. By the end of the week I feel good and within days I am overcome by weariness and the 'bug' feeling. This lasts for days and then I am ready to start again, but always starting from the beginning I find. To that end I walked out in the cold sunshine this morning, and after sleeping that off, I went out again this afternoon. It was almost like Spring! The sun shone, the sky was blue and people almost smiled as they passed. Wandering along the old railway I noticed this squirrel happily sitting, or was he posing, on top of this cut down tree just off the line. he appeared to be doing nothing but questioning the meaning of life, or maybe wondering where All the branches had gone more like. Poor lad, it was probably one of his favourite hang outs and now it's gone! There has been a lot of work on the vegetation on the line in recent days, and though this tree is in a private garden the squirrels must be wondering about their hide outs. How lovely to walk in the sunshine, to even see a few flying insects, and hear the birds in the trees. A robin and a thrush sang for me as I passed by. Mind you, if I could speak thrush I may be disillusioned by what he was actually saying about me of course! A good afternoon! However I am knackered now. How come I am so unfit?



This is the river from which the town gets its name. Now from our window in Edinburgh I can look over the Firth of Forth, and the sight of that majestic Firth speaks to me of what a river is like. In fact the young ladies on Scottish Diary have some excellent pictures of the Firth of Forth on their Flicker widget. Well worth a look! However, when I consider what I was brought up with and look into this dirty brown stream I find it hard to call this a 'river.' This is no more than a wee burn to me, and when you look you see it has actually overflowed and flooded the land all around, well a wee bit anyway. Further along the reeds and flooded area would make a great place for kids to play. I suspect neurotic mum's and social service staff would object.

When we drove around on Monday we passed many fields on the borders with Suffolk which were flooded, some over a wide area. The rain has not been excessive but the water floods down through the fields, leaving a dirty brown river full of chemicals and farmers waste I suspect. Kevin, my instructor, kept suggesting they dig barriers to control the flood as it happens every year. However I don't believe water is that keen to be controlled. Far too many houses are built round here on flood plains, in one area the houses have a form of 'stilts' 20 foot high under the foundations just to keep them above the possible flood! How daft is that? The drive was in fog and sunshine, what horrible conditions! So bad that even the drivers round here behaved well! I have booked the theory test fr the 10th and then, if I pass, I will book the actual driving test.
I am on my knees now!