Life?

One of my beautiful and highly intelligent nieces posted on facebook a wee while ago something about life always being one thing or another.   Well yes, that's what it is.  One day you are up, the next down, nothing runs smoothly for long, this she needed to remember, is how it is.

Life here has been slow, but smooth in a way.  Yesterday I was fed by the neighbour, she gave me a roast dinner!  I gave them a bottle of wine and that pleased him, I'm not sure how much she got...

A couple of nights ago she knocked on my door with a question regarding the young lass in the other flat.  This ended with a promise of a dinner, which she brought up to me, after 6 pm.  I had been expecting this at 2 or 3 pm but there you go.  I had eaten by the time it arrived and forced this down.  It was fabulous!  I have eaten little today. This is all well and good.  I had been seeking a chance to meet them more.

On the other hand, when my friend decided to die last year she left me money in her will.  I expected a few hundred but she gave me a huge sum!  Stunned as I am I managed to let it happen.  Now I wonder what to do with it?  Naturally, this means informing the Council regarding the Housing Benefit, which will now stop.  I canny mind if I need to tell the pension people, but I'm sure I must.  So, here I am now with a bit in the bank awaiting news of the changes ahead.  I will survive, bills will be paid, changes will occur.  Easy come, easy go it appears.  1st world problems.  

However, my weight, at 15 stone, has increased today by 2 pounds.  As there was no need to eat today. I also exercised in an attempt to reduce things more.  Crossing to the council office, then around the town to Tesco to save me rising early in the morning, obtaining a couple of needy things and nothing else I hobbled home.   What with checking paperwork, online info, printing things, letter writing, and so on, I have filled the day well.  Tomorrow I may even do something useful!  

You will note I scribbled this in a hurry...

Thursday Blether

 

It has not taken the Tories long to respond to last nights outrages in the USA.  Boris (who once suggested the Nobel Peace Prize for Donald) offered a mumbling statement condemning violence, possibly written by Donald.  Priti Patel managed not to condemn Donald and muttered away, Michael Gove, Donalds friend, said nothing, Rees-Mogg, once delighted to work with Donald, has not posted on his Twitter feed, possibly he has not seen the news.  At best the insurrection is played down, while most laugh and cheer off camera and hope it happens here also.

A Welsh Tory suggested that those opposing Brexit could riot in such manner, on Twitter, Unionists, possibly Tory members, are claiming similar actions will occur if Scotland seeks independence, others claim SNP independence seekers will behave this way (make up your mind).   

It is clear to all, bar those who thought this was a genuine revolution under way, that Trump has done this just to keep a grasp of power.  When he loses power he can then be brought to account for his crimes, mostly dating back to long before 2016.  No wonder he lies in a desparate manner.

Soon Boris it will be your turn surely?

 

 

'Lock Down' will have an effect similar to the last ones.  My hair needs cut, this may not happen until March, Priti Patel wishes people to be ordered off the streets by Police, fined if they do not obey, and shops will run out of so many things under Brexit that soon panic buying will return.  

I have avoided going out, not that I wished to go anywhere, but in the dark, before 7:30 I wandered round to Tesco, coughing all the way and scaring several people heading for work as I passed.  This gave me a laugh and forced them to walk well over 6 feet away from me.  The early morning cough is just that, but they don't know!

Once again I thought I am here choosing bread, once more I collect milk, not the out of date stuff going cheap, once more I ransack the same shelves as before, almost always choosing the same items with only an occasional bright experiment attempted.  

When at school I was jealous of those wandering the streets while I was locked up not learning anything.  It seemed good to be outside wandering to and fro whenever you liked, I looked forward to the time I could join them.  However, I was disappointed greatly to discover that such freedom as I had imagined was brief if it actually existed, work, wages and a hundred other things imprison all of us daily.  

When young life is bright, the future tempts with excitement and pleasures, travel, strange places, new temptations, new pleasures, new people, and adventure moulded to the individuals needs, or so I thought.  Reality was not the same.  Being an adult did not bring much bar wondering what was for tea that night?  What shall I eat tomorrow?  Where can I buy cheap the required clothes?  And so on.  Living in London people spoke of the many wonderful places to visit, the shows to see, the stars, the pleasures available, yes indeed some were tasted, however, travel across London takes time, pleasures are expensive, work tiring and most do not spend their time enjoying the city, they are too busy just living.

Then, suddenly, one day you are a grandfather.  Not that you are a grandfather, it is just that you are old!  In your mind you are 25, in the body 30 years have been added.  The need for distant pleasures fades somewhat, those you once laughed at sitting, possibly in the car, staring out at sea, you no longer laugh at because you are one of them, chomping on sandwiches while staring at the sea suddenly is fun.  The bright lights are faded in your eyes, the joys empty, the pleasures too expensive and not worth much.  Rather the smile of a child in the family, a dogs wagging tail or a cat sitting on the laptop appear more interesting and the joy longer lasting.

This of course does not mean you are dead!  Indeed no, programmes like 'Last of the Summer Wine' which many disliked as the humour was stinted, reflect many a gang of elderly statesmen who, in one way or another, behave in similar style.  The potential for trouble, as any wife will inform you, from the men seeking excitement can suddenly appear.  Those who volunteer in some capacity will always find ways to have fun.  Before the virus many groups aimed at the elderly abounded for those who cared to try them, not me, and aged adventure could be attended to.  Especially if there were three or four silly men involved.  Most such men must be bored now.

 

Virtual Railways.

 

If you thought my life was too adventurous as it is I have discovered a new line of excitement, live Railways pictures!  What's that you say?  Too exciting for you?  Oh!  That's not what you said...

Anyway, I have had hours of fun watching huge US frieght trains rumble across America! 

Virtual Railfan covers a host of US rail cameras.   Many static, some with operators ensuring close up shots of depots and passing trains as they hoot their way through.  And do they Hoot!  Horns blast all the way, no excuse for being on the line when they arrive.  All stations have their 'anoraks' offering useful information, usually in an unknown language, most also using radios to keep track of the trains.  

I avoid them. 

 

The pictures come off the laptop so are a bit dull.

The train we see here, four 6000 hp (I think they said) engines, pulling 113 trailers.  I was amazed at the number of units pulled along, I counted 175 on one train, and almost all have double deckers units, box cars are at similar height.  Clearly US railroads do not have low bridges to go under and glancing at the passing railcars you get an understanding of the nature of the USA at a glance.  This tells us the land is big!  The size of the train indicates the line was laid before anyone got there to block it.  It also, as History tells us, was pushed through in spite of opposition.  Nothing was to get in the way.  This ensured free passage of trains, even the mountains did not hinder travel.

 

 

Box car number 113 passes by in the rain.

Another thing made clear from these pictures re the huge size of the States is the weather.  Laramie, in Wyoming, was deep in snow and remains that way, California was hours behind and in bright sunshine.  Of course they also have different natural problems, Wyoming is near mountains, California has forest fires endangering the station!  In minutes I can fly from one state to another, and this is almost like seeing several different nations rather than one. There, I suppose, lies the problem.

 

I suppose having been inundated with 'soft propaganda' over the years we already understand the US mentality, however looking at the land we see it is possible to gain a clearer conception of how that mentality came about.  The size of the towns pictured varies widely, the top picture comes from 'Big Sandy' in Texas, a small place, a mixture of good houses and what I might refer to as 'White trash' in the run down streets.  Hardly a blot on the landscape, while up the road more complex cities are found, all with that rigid street pattern inherited from the Romans.  

Even the Heritage line seen here, real coal used in this engine, indicates something of the US mind.  It is easy to imagine the sight of early trains steaming across wide open spaces, chasing Buffallo and scaring resentful Indians (oops, Native Americans).  At a glance we see the incoming migrants, the ones who now oppose migration, removing the locals and transforming the land by sheer hard work.  In only 300 or so years the wide open spaces have been concreted over and a new people emerge.  Quite whether that new people realise they are all Americans is as yet unknown.

Here at Fort Madison, the reconstructed fort is just out of sight to the right, I first saw a train carrying a great number of doubled decker white containers, followed by similar green ones and a variety of other goods.  Much later that day a similar train appeared in another state, although I do not know if it was an adjoining state.  Yesterday the train appeared again and tonight, not that long ago, it passed through Elkhart, Indiana!  Is this the same train I wonder?  Is the driver lost?  Is this one of those Soviet style trains?  You remember, Soviet rail freight ran from 'A' to 'B' even if there was no reason for this, the Plan said it must happen, and no-one questioned the Plan.  Is this train just wandering about?  Could it be a train journeying across the whole of the nation?  If so, how do they know when to drop the containers off?  How do they divide them up?  And if the driver is pulling 150 trucks how do the brakes work?  Are all these trailers brake equipped?  Do they have a wee man in Brake van at the back desperatelly truning the Brake wheel and losing his mind?  Just asking. 

 

Several UK stations now have similar cameras in place.  Crewe has three, but I cannot find number 1, York also and there are others.   It is a similar set up, controlled from somewhere, I as yet know not where, followed by a variety of people, mostly male, who like trains and in some cases have no life. I know how they feel!    

A Day in the LIfe...

Boris Johnson, in a well scripted (written by someone else) address to the nation described my life to the full!
Do not go out, unless you are shopping for food.
Do not go out, unless you are taking exercise by walking across the park.
Do not go with anyone else.  Who?
Stay at home!

There you have it, my lifestyle justified by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Top that!

Life?

"Life," the man said,"is what happens to you when your making other plans."
Today the plan was simple.  Sleep, buy veg, sleep, watch football, type up the notes, sleep, watch football, sleep.  Easy to write, easy to plan, easy to follow.
Didn't happen!
It began OK.  I slept long this morning, had breakfast, began typing notes when I could read my writing, and then went for the veg.
For a start the weather was still freezing cold, then the veg man who is always there was not there.  Has he been kidnapped or bumped off by the man at the other veg stall I wondered?  This now means using the other veg man who I consider to be a bit of a git or use supermarkets overpriced stuff.  I used neither to save money and will struggle through on frozen stuff.
Then slouching my way home I passed the museum.  A knock on the window invited me in to chat, then informed me the lass on that morning had not turned up as her car was broken and I soon found myself there all morning even though I was dressed in the 'unshaven Saturday scruff' look. 
This threw out all my sleep plans and little typing occurred as the football was on the laptop and priorities indicate football comes first!  I miss the sleep the most!
Now having nothing done that ought to be done, just look at the mess in the sinks, the football was flat, the notes unreadable, sleep unavailable as the dire football kept me awake, and this has not been written yet. 
I did however manage at last to get round all your blogs in the last 24 hours. Normal practice takes me there daily but WW2 is making things difficult.  My routine is gone and my life is falling apart.
However I will not bleat about it.

Renovation

The Death Trap Whisky Bond

For some reason today I contemplated my first job, way back in 1966 before you were born, and made the strange discovery that almost all my previous workplaces had disappeared!  The whisky bond where I singularly failed to make any impression moved shortly afterwards outside of Edinburgh. The death trap building itself may well stand down the bottom of Leith Walk but I have no idea if it remains in use.  Wooden floors, stairs and tons of cardboard boxes mixed with a vat of whisky and thousands of bottles of the stuff do not enable Health & Safety men to sleep at night.  Having departed before being encouraged to leave I moved to Slateford Road where a company making biscuit tins and their plastic inserts paid me almost £6 a week to prove I was not cut out for that job. The company realised that making the inserts was more profitable than the tins and last I heard were developing that side of the business.  The do not exist today.

W&P

Today a modern housing development that greased somebody's hand stands there.  In the modern world 15 and 16 year old's seldom find employment, the government keeps them at school to avoid paying them dole money, but in the past companies throughout the land were employing feckless youth who took the money, chatted up the women unsuccessfully and offered little in return, at least that's what the company secretary told me with an uncompromising stare.

Shortly after this conversation I found work at the brewery.

Tenents Heriot Brewery

Here I remained almost four years, enjoyable years at that.  The work was not difficult, even I could do it, the women threw themselves at me, well if you used a can or two of 'Husky Export' that is, and when my life changed I departed for London and a new life.  The people, almost all of whom I actually got on with, gathered together sufficient funds to pay a one-way train ticket to London for me.  Wasn't that nice?  Now the one time brewery, not far from Tynecastle Park home of the world famous Heart of Midlothian, is a block of overpriced flats.  So that's three jobs where the company has found the premises demolished after I left.  This cannot go on can it...?

After a year of London life, where I found a church where Jesus would speak to me and a job with a charity rehousing folks, I came back to what appeared to be old fashioned Edinburgh, well it was 1972!  The shops shut at five in the evening whereas in London they stayed open longer and one worked 24 hours! After a few months away it seemed so boring to a 20 year old.  I was employed eventually at a Cash & Carry where I happily upset people daily.  Deciding to do something a bit more worthy I embarked on a healing career by joining the Royal Infirmary as an orderly.  Here I was so good the other wards attempted to head hunt me!  I wish they had!  While happy at the time I discovered just how difficult women could be to work with.  Until then I had found no trouble working however in this ward bitchiness from the sister towards her superiors and to her nursing staff did not enable a happy atmosphere.  The patients, even the female ones were better behaved, there again I suppose Sister had the needles!  I returned to the Cash & Carry for another year or two.  Both the Royal Infirmary and the Cash & Carry have been redeveloped!  That's five jobs and five redevelopments, so far.  Naturally I should add the building we resided in while working for the charity London no longer operates as we did.  Our 'Hippy' like approach did not go down to well and that place is now someones home.  The organisation has become another council and who knows what goes on with them today!  The old hospital now has many grand flats, for the rich.  

In 1975 it was important to return to that church in London.  This meant leaving the family that I missed, especially those lovely nieces, how hard that was, and found a few months work in a highways depot in Finchley.  That is now a small housing estate.  After a few months I moved to a slum in Swiss Cottage, since redeveloped, and worked at Maida Vale Hospital for several years. 

This was my best ever employment.  Whether the others agree I know not but this place still appears in my dreams at times.  Happy place to work, something new each day and the people on the whole good to me.  Working amongst the long term sick and others dying gives a differing view of the world.  On occasion this place appears in my dreams and I suspect appear in the ladies dreams also.....what..oh!  The hospital is now a block of flats.

Sadly my long years which followed at Selfridges, in the vans, warehouse and then dreadful office, did not result in the stores imminent collapse.  Maybe I was unnoticed there?  Running from that dead end to temp work and eventually I escaped to the wilderness of Essex.  Here those who employed me know about it.  One closed the warehouse and moved, actually two did that.  One almost collapsed but thanks to cost cutting, e.g dumping staff, survived and one was badly run then collapsed, one lost the account and died and Royal Mail has been sold off in a disgraceful manner and soon will become like the private energy companies, greedy, expensive and out of control. 

How strange I find that so many places that once saw me wandering about in a dream no longer exist.  Was it ever thus I wonder.....?  

.

A Furtherance of Bliss.....

Yesterday morn, long before the milkman had gone back to the depot, I was out on the bike and whizzing slowly around town.  After this I strode purposefully around for bread then tidied up the area in the front of the building.  Well I shoved it all onto the street for the council to remove, same thing.  My beefcake like torso then done the laundry, by flinging it in the machine, I no longer use the pond in the gardens, and after a microwaved cheese omelette I cleaned the cooker.  Almost all of this was finished before 9 am.  I tidied up, moved one or two things around, had lunch and fell asleep.

When I awoke I was knackered!  Since then all has gone wrong.  I lost interest in anything, the 'things to do' list was dropped in the bin, accidentally, there was nothing on the telly, the papers were full of Thatcher, no emails arrived offering money, and my dinner was rotten!  Moving the indoor aerial caused the picture to wobble and now I cannot get the thing back whence it was!  Life returned to normal then?  Today I wandered around for bread, some fat git had eaten all yesterdays already, had a bath and deafened myself!  The warm water has loosened the wax I thought was beginning to show in my ear and now my hearing is dulled.  Naturally the cure is a bottle of 'Otex' from the friendly chemist.  How wrong can you be?  He was not around, his friendly staff have gone, I was confronted with a menopausal woman playing jobsworth.  Having mentioned I was going deaf I asked for the stuff, "Is it for you?" she asked!  As I could hardly make out what she was saying I almost missed that.  It went downwards from there.  By the time I left I was less worried about not being able to see properly, (going deaf does that while not wearing glasses affects the hearing) but more concerned as to how to dispose of the body.

Daily Record

The only good news came from the SPL rejecting the absurd new league setup.  Mr Milne of Aberdeen was apoplectic about this, especially as two teams in the voting system (11-1 required for change) voted against change.  He did not indicate why he voted in similar fashion at his friend Celtics bidding last time the voting system was debated, but there you are.  St Mirren and Ross County have done us a favour, whatever the money men say. Any system in which four Old Firm games are required to keep clubs going is not good for the long term.  Mr Milne, who apparently has dumped many of his employees lately for selfish reasons, may be upset, the fans however are pleased.  Not that he would care.

CNN

A bomb explodes and so does the speculation.  Three obvious culprits come to mind, a mad individual, although two bombs may be to much for one, white supremacists, remember Oaklahoma?  The main contender will be what we now call 'Islamist' groups.  I wonder if it was, and why?  There are many reasons, US activities abroad, men sitting in Arizona dropping bombs from drones on Pakistani children, and a general dislike of the US.  It happens here also, four more are on trial in the UK for bomb plotting, most info apparently coming from other Muslims. The US will soon work out who was responsible, the make up of the bomb will show this, and the allies will hopefully bring it to an end quickly.  

  
.

Life...

.

Almost Christmas

.

It was as I strolled on the white sand, hand in hand with a brunette beauty, glancing at the turquoise beach and the blue sky as we walked, and enjoying the warm sun settling on my back that the alarm went off and I flowed quickly from being Robinson Crusoe to  became Nanook of the North! Divesting myself of my dingy army blankets I dressed in my dingy clothes and nourished by a cheap nan and cheaper coffee headed once more into the day. (That's nan as in bread nan as opposed to nan as in Grannie by the way!) To Tesco I slipped and slithered on the icy pavements cheerfully ignored by the council gritters. My intention was to grasp if I could those items forgotten yesterday. My awful forgetfulness is a problem these days and once more this let me down. Today I forgot to take the chainsaw with me, I find it enables me to pass through the masses to the checkout much easier! However after a mere short and very uncomfortable lifetime I was free once more to slip on the ice outside, fall flat on my face and return home without the Cayenne Pepper I went for. I really desperately require this as it puts life into my cooking! Bah Humbug I say! Drat, I forgot the Humbugs also! More Bah!


Ah but it's great to be alive! The sun may be hidden by clouds, the pavements ice covered, money flowing like water from the wallet (not here mate!), and all around miserable faces greet the weary traveller, but we are alive! The robins still sing in the bushes, the stomach has more than enough grub inside, the PC brings good people to your heart, and we are still healthy enough to enjoy walking through the park, breathing the air, and observing the world around us! Ignore all the bad things, we think about them too much. Concentrate your energies on the things you like, the people you love, indulge what makes you laugh, what builds up and does not knock down (chainsaws exempted) and determine to enjoy your world in spite of everything!

.