November Xmas Market

Being November it is assumed the Christmas market will appear and so it does.  The crowds flocked to the overpriced hand made items on offer, and many listened in the cold to the Brass Band Blowing Bigly Boisterously.  It was not just the reindeer who appeared frozen.   

I sauntered among the throng, being pushed this way and that, all the while eyeing the price tags, at least those that I could see, while attempting to stay upright.  Who brings pushchairs into crowds? 

The sun was shining brightly, though it may not show it here.

Fighting off the offers of pantomime or a discussion with this months two Mormon missionaries, though afterwards I realised I ought to have indulged them, I ploughed on to pass by the stalls one more time.   

I then headed towards the museum, I needed to buy set honey and check out what was on show.  It is many ages since I last looked inside.  Nothing much has changed, just the latest exhibition regarding how the town grew in more recent times.  Not many in, the market was calling, and if they have the Xmas lights switch on tonight the shop will be open until late.  They might make  money tonight.

As you know these are wee Roman gods found when the shopping centre was being built.  As usual a 'dig' was organised and quite a bot of Roman stuff found.  Not much Saxon, it appears the centre area now was just farmland to them.  Some Saxon bodies are found to the west of this area however, none in the museum...

I stumbled home with my treasures to eat and read the new magazine that has now begun to appear on the supermarket shelves.  Proper journalism, not owned by the right wing.  Mind you at £4:50 I can see me reading their items online rather monthly.  

Boris, Congregational and Museum

 

                                                           Mail

It is no surprise to find Boris has accepted around £250,000 a month for lying in the 'Daily Mail.'  The 'Telegraph' or whoever will be owning the 'telegraph' soon, will be unhappy at this.  Of course the new owners might care little, and offer Boris the editors job and then the 'Daily Mail' will find reason to call the fat lazy, ungrateful coward, a fat lazy, ungrateful coward.  He will care not as long as someone pays him.

One report claims he has informed his people not to vote against the big vote on Monday, so he has a deal of some sort with Sunak.  But what would that deal involve, and why should anyone trust the untrustworthy rogue?  

Interestingly, it was pointed out that the Murdoch press said nothing much re Boris today, thus implying Rupert is looking elsewhere.  Murdoch is less loyal than Boris, so no chance of him working at the 'Times' any time soon. 

I just want him far away, preferably in jail, and soon all the other corrupt rogues can be following him into Pentonville!

The heat has been hot, but the furthest I have been remains the Supermarkets.  However, yesterday  I slogged it up the road to the large Co-op store in search of s suitable gift for the two youngest.  Lots of stuff but nothing suitable!  Ain't life grand!  Therefore I decided to try the kids toys in the museum.  On the way I passed the wife of the Congregational minister.  Sadly he had died in March and I never knew.  I was so sad about this as I had known them for many years.  Congregational churches, as you know, are owned by the congregation, and the problem here was the age of the people.  The minister over the years had buried most of them, and just before Covid struck only around eight members were left.  Aged people, Authorised Version bible, poor music, and this will not attract young folk.  The end was inevitable, and now this church, standing here for over almost 400 years, will soon begin to fall apart if a decision is not made for the future.  It looks like they will have to sell the building to another church in need.  It is a great building with semi circular seating, raised platform, room for development and its own graveyard, where all the previous ministers now lie.  The poor widow is of course cut up, they had been married over 50 years and very close.  The building has recently replaced the lead stolen ate at night, they stole the lead from the roof of the bank also, and this cost £11,000 to replace!  

Anyway, somewhat disheartened, I plodded round to the shop.  There the young assistant was keen on assisting me, to get me out of the shop again, she knows me well, and soon she had taken many pieces of gold from me and sent me on my way.  It costs a fortune just to browse in that museum these days.  

Wet Market Day

So excited to be out in the rain I took my wee camera for a spin.  The real need was for bread and milk but I wandered into town in the rain to find the market almost deserted.  I then remembered that after Christmas many market stall holders take a holiday in the sun, probably Hawaii at their prices, at this time off year.  And add in the rain falling all day, and quite strong it was at that, only the Car advertising driving lessons and one cake stall arrived to seek cash from a very small congregation.  

I strolled through a near empty Tesco, half the checkouts empty, no customers queuing for long anywhere.  Cupboards maybe still full after restock but weather keeping folks in, I obtained a few things, congratulated the lass on not charging me as much as they usually do, and hobbled home in the wet. 

 

I suspect when the pubs open, mostly to watch football as it is English Cup day again, then many more will rise and shine.  Difficult to tell how many shops had remained shut, though most were open.  

Because my diet has been er, slack over the Christmas period I kept away from the cake stall.  His prices also enabled me to keep my distance but I doubt he made a fortune today.  

 

 

I was too early for the museum this morning, this is a shame as they have advertised a sale with 70% off!  I always told her the prices were too high!  Later in the week I will pop in and seek next years Christmas presents...

For now, it's football time.

 

Fungi, Tardis and Sweets

 

So far, it has been the usual confused day for me.  

Last night the laptop would not switch off.  So, after several late night attempts I left it to switch off by itself.  This morning it was still on, the sleep mode had come on, but now it would not connect to the WiFi. 

Troubleshooters were aroused, the yellow ethernet cable advised and once employed this worked well, but the thing was not connected properly.  

Then followed many attempts with troubleshooter and a restart.  Once restarted it now works fine, without ethernet cable filling the desk.  All appears back to normal.

Why?  Why does it do this to me?  There is no reason for this?   Grrrrrrrrr....   

The fungi pictured I found growing on a grassy patch behind the old Registery office.  Now being run as a kindergarden no-one bothers to cut the grass.  I guess Dave could identify these specimens but to me they are just Toadstools.  I agreed with a passing woman that we would not be eating these any time soon.

 

A late afternoon wander around town where the crowds gather for the 'Xmas Lights' being switched on.  Every child in the town was here, far too many people, and a few perplexed dogs.  I pushed, and was pushed about by the crowds, willing to mix it as not long after leaving home an Audi driver came close to hitting me.  I wished I had said more at the time but he kept moving.  Thus Irked, I wandered about.

 

Sweets abound here.  This stall is a regular who offers bags of teeth destroyer.  He remains considerably cheaper than the fancy stalls found today.  Candles, cakes and things I canny afford nor indeed desire.  Many have been before so must have made money, and Xmas arriving will do them some good.

 

Being FREE entry I popped into the museum for a peek.  I have not wandered about there for some time.  The space exhibition looked good, including this Tardis.  I refrained from opening the door as I was not sure where I would end up.  There used to be lots of these around Edinburgh, now almost all that remain have been turned onto coffee stalls!

Fun Friday

Having got fed up with BT constantly upping the price for things I have changed over to Plusnet, halved the cost, lost BTSport, and hopefully still have a decent service.  Speed this morning is slightly slower, 43 instead of 50, by 1:30 it was up to 57 which is very good for this area.
Fiddling with the wires, removing the old BT cables now covered with a thick layer of dust, scrambling on the floor choking on dust changing plugs in unreachable places, then struggling to start the thing as filters were added that were not required.  All in all it took half an hour before I woke up and worked out how to get it going.  Now I am conscious I need to get the hoover out and get under the desk once again...

You will be aware of the fuss over this.  At Mansion House while the Chancellor was spouting half truths this woman decided to make a protest regarding climate change.  Mark Field, a large Tory MP grabbed her and chucked her out.
A fuss has ensued!
Loud yells from women concerning 'dangerous precedent' and anguish from opposition spokesmen.
Much space filled by the chattering media.
I have no sympathy.
There is a time to protest, the one in Hong Kong is an example, but disturbing speeches and blocking streets as has been attempted recently annoying folks going about their life, is not the way to do it.
Climate change is here and requires action, this is not the way to do it.  This is more attention seeking than protest.  I winder if she would protest for the homeless or the local foodbank?  I wonder indeed.
Of course had it been a man thrown out no fuss would be seen, no comment on TV, no bleeding hearts from 'spokeswomen,' no papers sold and TV and radio time filled.  Women sell papers.

      
Twice this week I have had to work!  Not just Tuesday morning, which was busy again, but Thursday afternoon also.  This I was told was a quiet day, it wasn't!  People came in!  On top of this we had climbed the castle on Monday, I had to iron all my shirts on Wednesday and clean the house and do other important jobs at home.  It has been one of those weeks where I have been constantly busy.  I am not used to this.  

This could soon be your next Prime Minister.

Think about that!

Wednesday Grumble

Not much has happened since the carnival on Saturday.  This is because it has rained much of the time limiting opportunity to get out.  I suspect Wales is having now what we have had much of today.  Good luck with that!  
I also have museum work which means looking up things I have forgotten, searching for items I wrote long ago and discovering they have disappeared, and having to rewrite in simple language what little I have found.
This interferes with my need to sleep, visit Tescos and read papers and books.  It also leads to eating badly and putting back the weight I lost last week.  Tomorrow I restart my diet again.  Foolishly I bought two big papers at the weekend, something I never do, and have been ploughing through them all week, in the Loo.  Once I have separated the many parts, dumped half off them, began reading the interesting bits I find it is Tuesday!  The colour supplements are glossy but full of middle class writers, mostly women, saying nothing.  The items inside are uninteresting and aimed at those with too much money and a desire to keep up with their peers, rarely do such mags actually contain something worthwhile, it is all image!  Clearly not my image.
There is no doubt that apart from the owners bias these papers do at least contain journalists, even if some of them are far from reality.  The writing is better, some of it is worth reading and the spelling superior to that found in the Daily Mail.  Even the Guardian has got a spellchecker, whoever she is.  I will be through them in time for next weeks, if I can afford £2-3 for a paper.

 
I have watched some of the girly football on offer these days and was impressed by some of it.  Scotland as we know was again cheated by the English with a dubious penalty but put on a good show anyway.  Many teams do show hard work and good skill, not too sure women and made to be goalkeepers mind, and altogether it is not as bad as I feared.
It must be said it is not equal to the men's game and it is annoying to hear some of these females grumbling that they want the same money as the men.  In their minds they are some sort of superior sport but in reality they are far from that.  In fact they get paid much more than men playing for many teams, Cowdenbeath players would like these girls advantages, however if we put Cowdenbeath up against the Scots or English international women's side Cowden would win quite easily.  If you wish to increase cash you must increase the numbers watching, even Cowdenbeath struggle with that.

Wednesday Half Hearted Post

I have attempted to post for three or four days now but frankly could not be bothered.  Pressure of laziness wore me out...
Yesterday I was unable to post as I had to work, the kids came in to the museum for music, that is Bongo Drums and noise.  I remained at the far end away from the noise and had to contend with the mums and kids.  This I like as kids are different!  Kids views on the world are limited to the family, school and whatever they have around them.  Each one is at one and the same time different yet the same.  The same daft actions bring similar responses yet they also act in distinct manners.  So one will laugh while another finds something humorous but has a reply to fit.  At least when leaving all who I asked were genuinely happy to have visited and enjoyed themselves.  Mum will have brought many back each day this week, cheap, safe and easy for them.  

 
Not so easy for me as my replacement took the day off to enjoy her friends birthday leaving me doing overtime.  My egg roll did not help my diet (3 pound lost) and cost me £2:50.  The working late meant I missed my siesta which leaves me tired even today and also left all yesterdays jobs still to do.  They can wait until tomorrow now...

Last night, struggling to keep awake, I watched part of the wimmins football that was on BBC Alba.
While it was fast paced enough, with commitment, effort, no little skill, it was clear that this is 'Girly' football.  Put this triumphant side up against any male side in the world and they will be defeated easily. 
Now I have no objection to girly football as such however I have much objection to the lie that tries to put this on a par with proper male football, it isn't and never shall be.  Such an attitude is part of the lie that attempts to make men and women the same under a lie of 'equality.'  We are 'equal' but we are made to be different.  The satanic lie is to scrub that difference and confuse people, it works well today.  Too often we read of some famous (usually an actor) person claiming they will not force their son to be a man but let him 'find himself!'  Yeah right!  'Bring up a child in the way he should go' I say, you will not do that trying to sand back will you?  Instead the strongest influence in the house, in these cases probably the mum, will fill the kids head with her feminist views, whatever they are.  Feminist views are in the eyes of the beholder, there is not a 'ten commandments' for them, they are a mishmash published in book, magazine and media, a confusion of thought with no single driving purpose except make the woman think she has been cheated and is missing out.
She isn't.  Men 'miss out' as much as women, men suffer as much, men do not have the ability however to sell the gutter press by whining about their lot, women can.  We see in the BBC the epitome of such slanted views on sex and 'gender.'  Women are forced into everything, radio pop stations, football reporting and elsewhere, often clearly not fitting and yet grumbling about this is dismissed.  We are not allowed to complain.  Why a women footballer should comment on TV football when men from the lower leagues are not considered fit to do so is a clear sex bias.  Why mediocre women are filling the BBC World Service today when in the past better journalists were removed, often female, to make way for them puzzles me, probably employed because they are cheaper.  Ah cheaper!  If women earn less in business surely the boss would employ more women than men?  They don't do they?  There must be another reason.
Anyway I was quite happy watching the girly football but it is not equal to the male game and never will be.  When will the hype cease?

Now, can I go back to sleep...

Vote, Microsoft, Stupid!

Unlike yesterday morning when I climbed the highest hill, difficult around here, washed my face in the dew to keep my good looks and then found a Maypole to dance around for a while, all because it was the 1st day of May, all this before leading the 'Marx March for the Working Class,' a class he knew nothing about, today I merely voted.
This morning I wandered around the corner to the museum where my boss was in charge of the election workings.  I proffered my details, my driving licence (that I have never used since qualifying as I canny afford a car) and answered the inquisitorial questions "What is your address?" etc. 
then checked we had three votes and proceeded to the both where I made my choice. 
'Not him, not him, not him, not him, not him, not her, that leaves and independent about whom I know nothing, and independent ex-Labour (disliked Corbyn) councillor and a Green who has failed before and about which almost nothing is known.  What a way to run a democracy.

I was reliably informed that at mid morning a total of 28 persons had voted.  Of course having 7 an hour is not bad in some places for a local election but it was clear that the Brexiteers were not voting as there was no fascist standing in this ward.  Any neo-Nazi representing the Brexit Party or Ukip would have drawn out the little englanders today.  A great many are unhappy their fantasy has not arrived and economic depression arrived.  Not that they realised this would happen of course, Brexiteers thought all would be economic delight and the British Empire would return once more.
Spite has kept them indoors today.  Nobody representing their views, especially the Asian Tory, so they will not vote.  Usual excuses, 'My vote does not count,' 'It makes no difference,' etc, and while there is something in that view i still consider it important to vote even if none of them are worth voting for.  I am sure many councillors do attempt to do a job for the people and not all are taking fat backhanders so we must not be too down on the council I suppose.  There again there are those who know how to play a system...

   
I recently had a short Microsoft update.  I am not sure if connected but each morning something new arises.  For a few days 'Word' would not start, either restarting completely or footling about inside the machine was required to get it working.  Yesterday other things did not appear, today it would not connect to Wi-Fi.  It took for ever to get that going.  Maybe it is just me?  I look forward to whatever does not work tomorrow.  I wonder if my inability to spell words correctly can be blamed on Microsoft?  There appears to be a lot of red lines on this page...

Stupidity is possibly an inherited characteristic, I think so anyway.  You see I took pictures of the museum organic grown flowers this morning yet did not bother to check what the camera settings were.  Therefore all the colours were wrong and while I can use B&W for a polling pic I canny do that for flowers.  Subtle fiddling has not really done the job but it shows you do not need to be stupid to make mistakes, just forgetful I suppose.

 

Textiles...

It is textile time again and the lassies have been working hard at their exhibition.  I saw it for the first time today in between forcing holes in card for the kids next week.  Lucky for us it was a quiet day, the exhibition opened on Saturday and many women came along leaving it quiet for us.  

The picture cannot capture this long work but I thought it the best on show.  The marshes captured with cloth and paint.  I did not check the price but I did admire it.  Some of these girls are very good indeed. 

Not sure if this is intended to represent an actual place, I did not have time to read the blurb, but I thought it very clever, and large about 5 foot across. 

And I spoke to this one twice this morning!

The fact that life has returned to me in many ways is something I am very grateful for.  I still have odd bits hanging around but I am now exercising badly again and feeling guilty about the bad food I have shoved down my gullet.  Time to eat healthily...once that treacle tart that fell into my basket in Tesco today has been dealt with...
The sun shines, the weather will be better for a while, and things look up in the world.  Well apart from the usual floods in Africa, war in Central and South America, corruption in high places and Nigel Farage running another money making scam this time called 'Brexit Party.  Would you buy a used car off this man? 
The local elections soon and we have the usual Muppets appearing plus one or two others and too follow we will soon have EU elections, another money making few months for Farage with little change for us.  Hopefully there is change and even the Brexiteers fail to respond.  
In the meantime there is football....

    

Tuesday Trawl Through the Day...

The deep intellectual depth that I trawl at the museum is revealed in this picture.  Hour after hour I sat and poked first one small sharp object through a hole, rested, then poked a second, larger, object through the same hole.  The card was piled high in the morning and by noon I was considering enough holes had been poked by me.  
This is for the kids next week, they, bless their little heads, will be poking wool through the holes to create some art that mum will rejoice in receiving, to be placed beside the art made during the holidays slowly dismembering itself on the shelf.  Mum will be pleased and somehow this will teach lids about woollen mills, silk mills, and making clothes from wool or other material.  Textiles will be all the rage for the next month or so, woopee!
At least there was sympathy for my sickness of recent days, the cough remains yet, I was met with cries of "Wimp!" Or "We women suffer and carry on..." and "Where's my Easter Egg?"  A woman's heart...

The world continues to offer news to please, for instance Donald Trump and his 'State visit.'  Already the fans have begun making their 'Go Home Trump' banners, riot police have taken up training for his protection, and parliamentarians (on the alt-right) are ready to receive him willingly.  The people would say take him and don't come back.  Trump will also insult the people of Scotland by visiting one of his failing golf courses, the banner 'Bolt ya Rocket' has already been noticed nearby one of them, and there is no doubt his few days walking in front of the queen, spilling his MacDonald's on her tablecloths and making blunders will fill the pages of the media for a day or two before we return to the Brexit debacle.  Quite who the Prime Minister meeting him will be we as yet do not know.

 
Today is 'St George's Day' and all over England people are ignoring it.  All that is bar the Brexiteers who are desperate to pretend they have a nation.  I passed a pub, a rather down at heel type of place, with four Engerland flags hanging outside, the bedraggled regulars quenched their thirst with lager (the louts drink) with little understanding of St George or indeed the other nations he represents.  Reading the 'Daily Star' and drinking cheap lager is enough to prove they are English, what else is required.  Those that can spell X will vote soon on a local council election, those at least that remember that is.  They have reason to be proud these English, four English sides made it to the semi finals of the European Cup this year, some even had English players in their squad, although in truth only about seven of these actually played.  

The sun shone over Easter and the photos prove it.  Blue sky, bright flowers and today as I went out into the gray sky and chilly wind I wished such scenes remained with us.  Typical Spring weather, hot one day cold the next.  It never fails to amaze me how many men wander abroad in T-shirts and shorts on days such as this, they saw the sun yesterday and consider it will be warm today, if the sun is shining and a wind chill of minus four is blowing they will claim it is warm.  They can have my virus for a month if they wish, that will cure them.

   
I was intrigued by those middle class lads and lassies having fun blocking London's main streets while grumbling about the environment.  Many moved off to Hyde Park where they had a cannabis protest also and smoked pot for a day or two.  The environment protesters might have noticed the plastic bottles littering the park afterwards had they not been occupied elsewhere.  
Will this protest which took place while Parliament is closed make any difference?  No.  Those who met MP's or other interested parties will soon understand how double faced and uncaring they are. Nothing will change because the kiddies had a party, just Londoners hating them and their kind as usual.

Over 300 dead in the Sri Lankan outrage, one woman killed by the 'Real IRA' in Londonderry and an apology for this offered by the killers, and much outrage in the media.  At least the media that thought these events worth noting not so much those who put TV celebs first.  It does appear Islamic types were responsible for the Sri Lanka outrage, the quality of equipment owes much to ISIS skill, and this is a worrying but not unexpected introduction to the ISIS strategy from now on.  The latest IRA types are as always known to everyone yet allowed to continue their fight, bomb and gun and terrify the locals is always their way.  Will it work?  No, neither ISIS or any IRA will win this way but they will continue to find those weak enough to join them.