Thirsty Thursday

Christmas time saw the wine cupboard overflowing.  I had almost a third of a bottle of 'Laphroaig' whisky sitting there as it had been for several years 'Laphroaig' being one of those whiskies you take occasionally.  Beside it sat a near empty bottle of 'Highland Park' that arrived at Christmas last, also a half bottle of cheap French Brandy that took my fancy one day.  Today this is all that survives!
I drink rarely and sparingly yet since Christmas a few weeks ago all has gone including this years  'Highland Park' which has only a small drop left.  This thanks to Man Flu!  
Tomorrow when I reach Tesco, if indeed I make it, I will have to spend money to refit as the cough remains alongside other unwelcome symptoms.  This one takes a while to go and I am right fed up with it.  It is costing me a fortune!

I'm right fed up with this bint pretending she is doing something in Europe when it is all games to her.  The 'Black money' behind Brexit will win, she is most likely part of it, and soon this mess will reach fruition without something sensible happening and the UK will soon be defunct.

This is not a good negotiating position to be in yet that is all she can offer.  With big business heading for Holland or Slovakia, Paris and Berlin the tax haven she and her dodgy peers seek will enable the elite to prosper while we suffer, and that under US authority, it is what Brexit is all about - their wallets and serfdom for the rest. 

Man Flu Survivor!

We Man Flu survivors normally take great pleasure in fulfilling the daily duties glad just to be moving around normally once again.  I had hoped today would see that scenario come into being but unfortunately several things went wrong.  For a start the idea of shopping at 8 am went out the window as I did not rise till well after that time, then the weather, claiming to be 3% was in fact much colder as the wind bowled it along at a merry pace round here.  Instead I cleaned myself and the dwelling up and ate what was left for breakfast.  It was half 12 before I actually got out and with the sun high in the sky, partly obscured by clouds, the temperature reached a mighty minus a lot!  
Walking into the freezing wind I hurried to Sainsburys and instead of a slow meander as hoped I once again fought the battle of the Little Big Horn to push past the hordes of trolley wielding folk each determined to be first and having no consideration for the other.  In my mood I fear I was at times tempted to join in.  Gratefully I paid over the top (as you do at Sainsburys) and ran back home for the warmth of the gas boiler.  
How lovely to be out.  How lovely to see the sky and watch the world pass by.  How lovely to be almost normal again and then get home and remember all the things I forgot to buy in my hurry.  At least I can now wait until Monday without adding starvation to my ailments.  The world is a better place when the mind is clearer and the streaming stops.  Headaches which lessen in power also save money as paracetamol remains lying there gathering dust.  It amazes me when people spend money on 'Nostrums peddled in the market place' as one Doctor called them when most cold cures are one of four over the counter remedies with added lemon or whatever and all costing a fortune.  Own Brand and lemon drink are cheaper and work just as well unless there is a reason specific tablets are required.  When working in Maida Vale the nurse gave me paracetamol and a small bottle of 'Hospital whisky.'  This was a concentrated whisky, just add hot water, and take three tablets every four hours, it worked!    Now when energy returns life will return to normal grumblings.  

Man Flu

Also available in female versions!

Sympathy? Brexit? Whisky?

Sympathy?  Not a bit!  Only women muttering "Wimp" and "We just have to get on with it" and all the while not getting on with it.  I fixed them today however, I stayed at home and let them 'get on with it' while I suffered the slings and arrows (coughs & sneeze & ludicrous tiredness) all day long.  At least what passes for a brain cleared a bit although no longer adding whisky to my tea probably had a part to pay in that.  However I remain indoors avoiding the cold wind and bright sun while reading about snow falling and leaving drifts across road and rail.  Possibly tonight we might get this horrid white stuff just in time for me to visit Sainsburys for more Brexit stock.

 SKY

While the world goes about its business Theresa and the 650 gather in the House each with a smile on the face and a knife in hand to stab in someone's back, just who as yet they are not too sure but it will happen. 
Brexit again on the agenda, again it is life or death, again speculation mounts, again nobody knows what is going on.  On all sides the chattering continues but in the House each MP is looking to his future.  The eyes are on their hoped for promotion, they follow the man (surely not another woman) who will lead the Tories while on the other side they all hope Jeremy suffers a sudden failure and is carted of to hospital allowing a leader to take over. 
It is difficult to believe this is happening.  Can this really be the state of government of a leading nation?  Can all this be the fault of a small group of Eton toffs fighting for the top job?  Tory Brexiteers have always been there sniping away from the south east, filling their tabloids with stories of lazy unemployed, cheating sick and of course millions of immigrants taking over and every one an Islamic terrorist who will cut your throat as you sleep!
So the sheep vote for Brexit and those more thoughtful who did also find that whatever they expected will not be happening.  Promises will not be kept, trade deals will not happen and while the Hedge Fund managers, all Brexiteers it appears, will be making a killing the millions who voted Leave will be out of work and losing their homes, their families and their NHS (bought by US cash).
I may go back to bed while they 'debate' in the House.  Watching it all day might lead to a brick through the screen.

It's no good, the bug made me sit and watch Parliament this afternoon and the low nature of the debate drove me to drink.  l now sit here in bed suffering Man Flu while coughing loud enough to keep the neighbours awake.  Whisky for warmth then as the weather man again promises snow, rain, wind and horror, he might even mean it this time.  As my work colleagues refused to send a nurse to aid me  tomorrow will find me early up at the shops filling the empty store cupboard as I have already promised.  Whether I can be bothered is another thing especially after the Brexit vote...

You're Toast!

So there I am for another night sitting in front of a television at three thirty in the morning unable to breathe or sleep and watching a man attempt to sell a toaster to nine enthusiastic disciples.  Quite why anyone would spend over £60 on a toaster, no matter the many additional super facilities it offers, beats me.  It is just sliced bread burnt slightly does that require paying out £60?
I turned off and eventually after slogging through several channels of the same advert offering gym equipment you don't need found an old US WW2 documentary on the fall of Berlin.  It was that or another unfunny US sitcom full of bright young things with no future until they sell their trauma stories to the media in ten years time.

  
Somebody out there is buying this stuff!
Who are they?  Do they live near you?  What makes them appreciate an object like this with a tosser salesman like that selling it?  The audience, both male and female, were enthusiastic thereby proving they were actors taking what jobs were on offer.  
Would it not be a better idea for Amazon to sell books here during the night?  How about an E-Bay channel where items could be auctioned all night?  Something needs to be done to improve TV for the sick watching life pass by ...

 

Smoke Gets Up My Nose

The air has been heavy with the scent of someone's fire this afternoon.  I note, and you can see, how the mist has surrounded us this evening seemingly still full of the residue from those Portuguese fires at the weekend.  Maybe it is the general stour that fills this land of course but either way it is getting up my stuffy nose.

I did not realise that Portugal was so densely forested until now.  Apparently it is one of the most wooded parts of Europe.  Now consider a government struggling with a poor economy, the forested areas owned mostly by private companies and organisations and a lack of proper fire control ( a little bit like our tower blocks) a land dry from hot sun and climate change and trees soaking up what water there is and a tinder box appears.  Dry ground, badly organised woods, scrub for kindling and a couple of arsonists arrive and there will be trouble.  
Several have died in this latest fore, 60 died in June, and today the minister resigned, more for her own good rather than for shame it appears and the government might yet fall in consequence.  
It causes me to wonder how a fire so far away can get up my nose here.  I wish it would blow over the Atlantic next time as I find it hard enough to breathe today anyway.

I have been subject to much sarcasm from a woman.  My 'friend' Peggy has seen fit to question my situation with sarcasm and satire, offering contempt and a distinct lack of sympathy.  This is because as I was shown the door at the museum yesterday for being sick she had to work for a change.  The caring staff sent me home as they did not wish me to die on the counter and coughing over the visitors, both of them, was considered bad form.  
Much sarcasm has been offered.  Remember this you females of the species:-

Now excuse me while I get matron to fix up that intravenous 'Hot Toddy' drip and wipe my brow while muttering "There there," "Poor boy," and "Be brave," instead of the present cries of "Wimp," "If you knew what a woman goes through," and "Try having a baby!"  All of which cut no ice with me!  Now where is the paracetamol...?  

Another Weekend Over

Another weekend almost over and what a waste of time this has been.  The coughing and spluttering bug has visited which left me unwilling to venture far... this is not new these days.
Instead I have read the good book, other books, and insulted peoples intelligence on social media while downing prodigious amounts of tea, coffee and rum toddies.  None of this helped but it passed the time.  

This did mean I did not wander out and therefore managed to be available to watch the BBC Alba 6pm Saturday night football, Ross County v Heart of Midlothian.  One of TV's better idea is the covering of football by BBC Alba.  The commentary is wonderful, all in Gaelic and therefore the drivel spouted means nothing and you can concentrate on the game rather than the needless statistics and information normally dumped on your unwilling ears.  
This was followed by an interesting programme, with subtitles, concerning the origin of 'The Celts.'
Many see them as a 'race' moving into Scotland, Wales and Ireland from the continent, however this has long been disproved and the real 'Celt' is more likely to be someone who speaks the language of the 'Celt' which goes back into history, possibly into the neolithic age.  From what I have read before this makes sense, the peoples of France and Flanders, Belgium and Spain were in contact with Britannia and it is likely a common language was spoken from distant time.  There is no evidence, historical or via DNA testing to prove an invasion at any time though peoples did move around.   
This was an excellent programme probably still on the TV iplayer, though it was entitled in Gaelic so you can guess that I do not remember the title.

Now I am off for yet another football match, Inter Milan v AC Milan.  At least good football and several sendings off!  Just what we want late at night!

Sent Home From Work...

It took a matter of minutes for the caring colleagues to inform me to get out of their presence this morning.  Wrapping hankies over their mouths (including her what gave shared this bug with me in the first place) fingers pointed towards the door and nursing care was not offered.

As the doors were opened and people were arriving I had to deal with them all the while avoiding the glares from several pairs of eyes.  Having dealt efficiently with the visitors without dying in front of them orders were again despatched in my direction from several women now dressed in NHS supplied protective gear.

For years we had stuff such as this poured down our throats in the pretence that it would ease discomfort, lies all lies.  Today the doctors suggest just drink plenty and this not only eases the cough it saves you money, they are right, but nothing stops the blasted thing, nothing!
Anyway having been pointed in the direction of the funeral parlour I took the hint and made for home.  I must say I was rather glad about that and have tomorrow off before returning on Thursday.
Unless still barred that is...

Chough

Doing My Head in.....

Mail Online

Well here we go! As if it was not enough to fill the media with tales of the US election we now have to face months of lies, half truths and more lies as the UK decides whether to stay in the EU or not.  Usually in elections I am aware that few actually understand the situation, most voting for 'their party' rather than thinking about the candidate or the policies, if indeed any exist.  This time however it will be harder as I have never come across anyone explaining to me (in simple terms) what we get from being in the EU and what it costs us to be there or truthfully to tell us what will happen if we leave.  In short the majority of voters like me are to some extent voting in the dark.  The right wing press have told their readers what the readers wish to hear, now they have to get them to vote the way their owners wish them to vote.
The Daily Mail, who's Billionaire owner lives in France to avoid paying taxes both here and there doesn't really wish to leave the EU, his readers however have been told told how badly the EU treats 'us' because that is what they wished to hear for so many years now it will be impossible to get the 'little englanders' to change their tune.  Murdoch has his media running around milking it for all it's worth and I suspect daily their stories will change to suit his mood, the 'Daily Telegraph' support 'little england' and these readers (ones who consider themselves above the others have also followed the party line) wish to leave the EU but the owners don't and trouble will follow. The majority of voters are like me struggling to work out what really is the truth of the situation and not finding that via the media.
All Brits wish to be part of Europe but not part of a federal state.  The English in particular wish to see the continent as 'different' as their imperialist natures just want to find an enemy (however those in the north may think differently) and maybe that is just an attitude of the south east.  The Scots have happily worked with Europe for centuries and will continue to do so, if however the 'little englanders' win and the UK leaves the EU then a proper Scots independence referendum will occur and Scotland will at last be free.
Boris Johnson has risen from the back room where David Cameron our idiot Prime Minister had placed him, ignored the offer of a job as Home secretary or Foreign Minister (although the present incumbents of these jobs may be speaking to Dave about this soon) and placed himself at the head of the 'Get out of the EU' campaign.  He joins a long time friend of Cameron's and a senior cabinet member Michael Gove who has long wished to leave the EU.  Two big names who will either succeed or finish their careers with this referendum.  I am tempted to wish several others will fall along with them.
Boris of course is a well known lover of History and was offered today a few heckles from those observing his press meetings.  One cry was "You are more Alcibiades than Pericles!" Which I thought clever as well as correct.

Meanwhile the USA struggles slowly through the never ending Presidential election.  The Republican charade continues with the media's favourite bampot Donald Trump still leading the way in spite of telling a story about an American General shooting Muslims with pigs blood tipped bullets which turned out to be a hoax.  All this man says is a hoax in the eyes of the world outside of the US it must be said.  The US has a terrible habit of electing people who would never win in proper democratic elections.  Cretinous, small minded, false types who are all image and shallow as a puddle who would never become British Prim...hold on, forget that, I see a fault in my logic there.
Mrs Clinton continues also to head for the White house.  At least the world would see her as capable if not trustworthy, but with such a choice who would you choose?

Sensibly I took the advice of those who have already endured 'Man Flu' and made considerable use of 'Hot Toddy' as a cure and relief from a variety of monstrous symptoms, and monstrous they were this time I must say.  The 'Toddy' line was worth undertaking and the bottle has some reserve for the next time, I assure you the bottle was open a wee bit before I began this.
My headache however appears to be still with me, I know not why.
The inability to sleep kept me up during the night and this along with the inability to concentrate led to turning on the TV at 2:30 in the morning.  All those channels offering unmitigated pap interspersed with channels offering 'Teleshopping.'  These showed many people with American voices selling new style vacuums and rowing machines, kitchen equipment and perfume and I kept asking myself who buys rowing machines at 2:30 in the morning and from a TV advert at that?  Interestingly those channels that spend the entire day selling stuff had closed down for the night!
I'm so glad that medical emergency is over it helps me to comprehend how those suffering proper illness must endure.  My thoughts are with them.  This bug has hit everyone here and thanks to the international jet set it will be with you by now I suspect, good luck with that. 

Cough!

A Day in the Life

This is the view I am forced to endure at the moment, except that at the moment it is obscured by the rain belting down.  This rain is I understand the remnants of yet another American hurricane that they send us regularly in an effort to increase the numbers of road accidents from English drivers failing to note the rain that blocks their view from their windscreen.  Quite how so many appear ignorant of rains ability to make roads slippery, especially when leaves are beginning to fall onto them, or that it takes longer to stop when on wet roads amazes me.  It is amazing the police who have just asked people to open their eyes.  I am told 'El Ninio' or whatever it's called on the far side of the Americas is promising to send us the worst winter since 1962/3 when it was horrid, I canny say I am looking forward to that!  Anyone got a bolthole in Portugal they don't use...?

 

This stuff, and the honey, is rapidly running out.  It appears the 'Hot Toddy' is something to be taken occasionally and not consistently as I had misread.  Ah well I will not require any more after tonight as healing is with us and soon I will be outside again.  How can such a small thing interfere with life so much?  How can people indicate that 'dribbling' is not a new thing for me in such a sarcastic manner?  The whole museum has suffered with this and I suspect it began with one of the kids during the summer.  Bah!  At least they have to go to school in the rain!

 

Islington Gazette 

 

Jeremy Corbyn had an excellent start to his public duties during Prime Ministers Question Time (PMQs) today.  By asking questions sent in by the public and mentioning their names he forced the Prime Minister to answer the question and avoid insulting the questioner, he cannot insult the public, at least in public anyway.   Corbyns attempt to have a better PMQs by speaking quietly and avoiding the childish nonsnes also worked as the PM found this difficult.  Indeed Cameron lost it when asked a reasonable question by the Scottish Nationalist Leader in the House and replied in his usual blustering arrogant Eton Prefect style to be put down very well by the SNP leader.  A good start by Corbyn although one woman asked if this meant he could not respond to the PMs answers this way, I see it as possible and if he can keep the PM acting like a decent chap he will all too often see this breaking down to Corbyns advantage.  The PM will react in fury and look bad on PMQs, this is the only parliament most people actually watch so it is important. 

       

The rain started hours ago and has continued non stop since.  There is nothing for it but to stop a passing jet and run off to the Riviera for a few days.  Anyone coming with me...?

   

Sniffling

Sniffling forced me to remain indoors all day today, suffering but not complaining!  I wish I had stayed in yesterday also as I was washed out afterwards.  Nothing much happened today although the Tory press appear transfixed with the new Labour leader.
Jeremy Corbyn, another middle class left winger now has the leadership and is forming his policies as we speak.  What these will be and whether any will work is debatable, but what we have now is unacceptable and what was opposed to it was too similar to be acceptable.  
For too long the Labour Party has sought the middle ground simply to get elected.  In doing this they forgot the people who they were supposed to represent.  'Class structure' is not what it was in the UK but the large middle class vote tend to go for the Tories as they fear Labour will steal their cash.  These are the same people who pay through the nose for gas & electric, plus water, and commute by rail murmuring about the privatised prices charged.  Will they never learn?
Certainly the Tory papers, the Daily Mail, Telegraph and Sun, will be attacking Labour now with tales off woe and despair, infighting and fear.  The fear of course is that he challenges their position on all things and people will soon realise this government is destroying not building a nation!

 

 Of course it could be worse....

Ah yes, thanks for reminding me, I need to put some honey in my Hot Toddy, this local stuff will do the trick, G'night all...

Man Flu

While you's were enjoying life and all it's fullness I was allying dying here.  On Monday the bug arrived unwelcome into my head and has ruined another week. Only now do I appear to be near normal, whatever that is?  The pain, the agony, the suffering continued night and day and yet I never once complained. Not that this made any difference.  I was however not happy!  Use of the laptop was limited as I just couldn't stand the glare so close up.  There was nothing there to entertain me either. Bah!  

The inability to breathe kept me up late and this revealed to me the wonders off late night TV.  I have to say 'wonders' can be taken in different ways!  Who, I kept asking myself, sits up late into the night watching this stuff?  Now some folks are sick, some insomniacs, some at work, but nor working hard, and a variety of reasons can make people stay up all night.  However who actually chooses to watch what is on offer?  I can comprehend those who sat up watching Alec Salmond and traitor Darling discussing independence, but almost everything else is tripe!  Just who spends all night watching 'Jackpot' interactive TV just to win a prize?  Is it the same person who joins 'Super Casino' in the vain hope of  becoming rich?  There are of course movies of dubious content and many channels showing 'Teleshopping!'  Who, I ask, wants to know about non stick frying pans at two o'clock in the morning, who?  Do you need to discover how to clean the floor at one thirty am?  how much enthusiasm can be raised to exercise sufficiently to lose four stones by following some American (these things are almost all American) advert?  Do people actually pay money for such things? 

What sort of person watches 'Road Wars,' during the day let alone in the darkness?   Are they the type who watch 'Cheaters' or 'Cleverdicks,' I wonder? It is sure they would not be among the few watching recordings of the Scottish parliament on the 'Democracy' channel.   Had I chosen to watch it I suspect I would be irked by 'Don't tell the bride,' and if I then turned over to 'Challenge Tommy Walsh,' it could have been taken out of context and got nasty!  

I started at Channel One as you do, The BBC channel of the usual routine drivel.  I wandered through the dozens of channels looking for something to enlighten my suffering mind, which it must be admitted was not as clear as it should be.  The usual American 'comedies' that fail to raise a glimmer of a smile, the 'Big fat Gypsy,' programmes that should be called 'Jail this git now,' the News channels at night with the split screen BBC offering, a nice looking painted lady one side and a fat rich man in Singapore talking money the other, then the 'Adult channels.' Now I have never seen these before, falling asleep long before they open up these came as a bit of a surprise to me.  For a start some of them worked!  I thought these were pay channels but no, some work.  I was confronted with bored, hard faced, almost naked women playing with their bits.  Now in the right place, my kitchen, this sounded good to me, however I found it a wee bit off putting.  There was little to attract, only one was actually good looking, and I sauntered back to the 'Yet another how we beat Hitler' programme on the 'Yesterday' channel.  

I eventually slept, but not well.  Why is it when you need something to divert the mind nothing suitable is available?  The next night was just as bad, but with a lot less TV that's for sure.  As I eventually coughed my way through in the morning, just after five, I noticed there was even more 'Teleshopping' and still 'Deal or No Deal,' and 'Cash Cab US' were running.  

I'm so glad I can use this beast again, while it still works that is.

  

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Cured

The usefulness of cheap whisky where bugs are concerned is underrated in my view.  Copious amounts of Hot Toddy plus similar amounts of prayer worked wonders.  The prayer may well have been the biggest influence on the healing but the Toddy stopped me from thinking about it!  There followed a quiet day at the museum.  Remarkably few people around and only around £6 taken at the till. Something must be done!  The folks are falling fast, another leaves for higher things tomorrow, yet another volunteer has a sick family member to care about and one found a job!  Looks like I work Friday morning as well as Saturday this week.

Nothing interesting happened round this way 
so here is a British Transport Film.

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A Boring Picture...

That, says you, is a boring picture.  Aye, agrees me, but I like it.  I like it because the sky in the background looked good, the autumnal trees show their colours and it shows that I was once again wandering across the park.  It has been almost three weeks since I done this.  Three weeks since what some women call a 'wee chill,' and all men agree is a serious bout of 'Man-Flu,'  laid me low and ruined my life.  It's ridiculous that something that used to come and go in three days takes almost three weeks now.  Can it be the virus is changing, or is it my health failing?  The muck that fills the skies unseen cannot be doing us any good, it also may well be changing the way virii adapt.  What a great difference a day makes.  Yesterday I attended the museum but was far from awake.  I sat there staring into space rather than doing anything, disturbed only when a few stragglers entered.   I was glad it was quiet, but the museum needs visitors.  Today however I was almost alive and raced out slowly to peruse the market and keep my cash in my pocket.  I did however notice a lass drop a bit paper.  As I arrived on the spot it turned into a £5 note, this meant running at least seven steps to catch up with her. I still have not recovered!  

In an attempt to find a prettier picture I ventured out this afternoon, eyes peeled for enticing sights.  Sadly few appeared under this ever darkening gray sky.  However the falling leaves can produce interesting pictures, however whether this is one is debatable.  

As luck would have it the foto opportunities enlarged as a poor soul required aid from the first response unit.  This has parked in the bay as he ought but the following ambulance just stopped in the centre of the road.  Probably a woman driver I would conclude myself.  The traffic behind may grumble as it is impossible to pass, but most will accept this.  Hopefully the patient will survive, the trip to the nearest hospital is fifteen miles away!  However in spite of the Tories desperate attempts to sell the NHS to their friends it exists still and the cut down ambulance service still manages to save lives in spite of them. Sometimes we forget just how lucky we are to have an ambulance at the other end of a phone.  We take such benefits for granted, benefits not always available, nor so efficient, elsewhere. 

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The View From My Desk....

The view from here is somewhat limited even yet.  The Lurgi hangs around leaving a fog on the mind as well as a cloud in the chest.  The result leaves me sitting indoors as the idea of trudging around in the late sunshine does not appeal, the camera is somewhat disappointed with this. Three times I have found the camera looking mournfully out the window desperate to eye up the world.  I know how it feels.  Instead my dim mind suffers the papers lack of intellect, the older radio programmes that I have searched out, and finishing off the books that litter the place. Quite how several can be sitting half read and forgotten always amazes me, especially as I cannot remember beginning the things in the first place.  Too often I put the book down and take months to get back to it, even if it is a good one.

So like the camera I sit here moping, my eyes scanning the scudding clouds crossing the late September blue sky, only to discover today is October!  Who stole the time?  Only the other day I watched the trees budding and small green leaves appearing.  Has someone fiddled time somewhere?  Anyway the trees opposite have already began the shedding of rusted leaves, one while offering a dazzling display of bright red berries for the birds delight.  The season of 'Mists and mellow fruitfulness,' sounds romantic but ignores the chill blended in the wind, a hearkening of approaching winter.  Those who venture out reflect the dubious nature of the seasons.  Young men wander abroad in tee shirts emblazoned with 'witty' phrases, multi-coloured shorts, reaching beyond the knees, all the while carrying water bottle to make them look 'cool.'  More 'mature' people wear a jacket as they have been caught out by British weather far too often for their liking.  Surely the brown edged leaves lying across the pavements indicate to some that summer is over?  A bright sun does not indicate warmth, just ask any passing Eskimo.  The dark misty mornings keep the Blackbirds asleep till well after five these days.  A silence broods over the land early in the dark morning, enhanced by the council switching the street lights off to save money. (They have not cut the leading men's salaries however.  The silence is broken only by a raucous coughing, from me, which I think gave the birds their wake up call.  Soon they were all off, barking out (Can birds bark?) their warning to other birds and claiming their patch, a claim that will be heartily defended as the cold weather leaves feathers ruffled in the search for nourishment.
As I write the light begins to fade, indoors darkens sufficiently to demand a light is used, the sky loses its brightness while trying to decide whether it will end with a pink glow or a damp squib. Once more we enter the long nights which herald the commercial escapades of Halloween and Christmas after that.  Once again catalogues begin to fall through the door, their bargains thumping onto the floor and lying their unwanted.  The world is once again forgetting why they exist and follows the crowds into Argos, Tesco and local shopping malls.  Our reason to exist is lost among the urgency to obtain, to satisfy others or ourselves, to forget real life.  Unless of course the reader is a 'benefits scrounger,' (@'Daily Mail') and has nothing to spend on fripperies yet again, not that the 'Daily Mail' reader will accept that.

The reader may by this time have noticed I ramble, I blame the cough mixture, the whisky, the tired mind, the Lurgi!  In truth, it is just me, nothing else, ho hum.......    

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The Man Flu Diaries

Monday

Is that daylight out there?  In spite of intense suffering I have improved my situation from my Monday photograph where I was at deaths door to reach the satisfactory situation found today.

Today

You see today I am eating again!  Not only this but early this morning I made it to Sainsburys and now have tea with milk for the first time since Tuesday! What a difference, not that I cared until 9am today at least.  

What a horrendous week this has been.  My empathy for those with chronic pain has grown once again.  My ability to fail to sleep for 48 hours has impressed me.  The fact that ignoring the news has not changed the world one bit tells me something else also.  Paracetamols, three at a time, failure to remove the throat pain was a surprise!  The requirement to have 'Cockaleekie Soup' on standby has also been noted.

My thanks Lee for your generous offer to fly over from Queensland to make such soup for me.  I am sorry the ticket failed to arrive but the cheque appears to have bounced!

All references to Man-Flu by the female world appear full of sarcasm and cynicism.  The need for a comparison with childbirth fails to ring true with me.  Childbirth happens daily and they are always happy about it, no man likes Man-Flu!  Tsk!

It's good to be alive, but only just.

Oh, and I've just found this newspaper report!

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Go Away, I'm Dying

Wednesday

Today life is beginning to return!  I was supposed to be at the Museum helping remove a display (Witch hunting in Essex in days of long ago.  Mind you I can see reason for bringing that back with one or two women I have met around here....) but poor wimp me did not have the strength having not eaten for a day or two.  (You are allowed to say "Awwww")  Later I was glad I stayed away as I cleaned up and threw out the rubbish and was exhausted after such effort. (All together, "Awww," oh please yourself!)  However I am on the mend and those of you asking whether my death insurance is up to date can stop planning your next sun drenched holiday, you will be going to Skegness!  How lovely eat again, how grateful I am to have life!  Funny how such a small pestilence can be so destructive, and it makes me wonder how others who suffer real disease and pain, and often for a long time at that, endure?  That is why the picture, taken yesterday in between howling gusts of rain, is above.  The blue sky, even with a tree yet to bare new leaves, still speaks of life!  Bright blue sky, sunshine and warmth can make even the most run down area (and people) look brighter. Daylight creates a better atmosphere in any workplace, although some folks like to hide away in the dark, especially those who are not too keen on actual work!  I love the sunshine and this morning, just as I rose, bright and early about seven thirty, from my pallet, I noted the sky brighter than for a day or two and soon a deep pink was rising.  Naturally it soon turned dull and dreich.  However the days are getting longer, the nights shorter, Spring is springing and the confused weather will bring long sunny days to this dark part of the world, especially if global warming increases!


Tsk!  I note there is another football match waiting to be watched tonight.  Is there no end of these I ask?  OK! If you insist I will put myself out and try and watch this one also. As there is the usual collection of cooking programmes, films, dross and surprisingly no soap operas tonight I think the football will provide a better end to the day don't you?  Of course you do.....yes you do!  


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