Monday...

Taking the earphones out of my ears I often hear birds singing, or sounds like birds singing.  So imagine my surprise when it appeared unwilling to stop singing, like it usually does.  Outside my window, perched upon an unused tv aerial was the first Blackbird songster off the year.  Glorious!  Such wonderful song that peaks of Spring and Summer, though they do sing all year round, and are found almost everywhere at this time of year.  Great to hear.

I am dwelling indoors for much of the time this week as I am recovering from too much walking and standing around at the Kirk yesterday.  Being Palm Sunday I could not find an excuse to avoid it and with a free lunch 'Bring & Share lunch' afterwards I was glad to hang around.  

A wide variety of foreign foodstuffs was available though I was prevented from bringing Scottish daily fare as one of the Sanhedrin thought a bottle of single malt was not required.  Several others, all men, disagreed it must be said.  Anyway, as is obliged, I ate too much and got a lift home to rest and be thankful.  And I was.

I normally offer a picture of such events but this is now a no-go area.  Only pictures checked by the vicar, and shown on facebook, are allowed these days.  This is the result of someone's pictures getting out into the open at another church and that church being sued by an unhappy patron.  Once again a statement had to be made at the end regarding those who may not wish to be in the pictures, and one woman did object, and I know why.  She was easy to cut out as she did not actually take up much space, but I know the domestic situation is difficult and this may have caused problems.  No worries, I assured her she would not appear.  Neither do I of course, this is because they reckon I would spoil the picture!  Tsk!

 

The week has started in the usual manner, good long sunny days degenerating into rainclouds, media desperate for stories now Parliament is on holiday though a mere 15 Conservative insiders have been charged with betting fraud, Donald Trump's tariffs will remain except where they will not remain unless he changes his mind and they do remain, houses suddenly catch fire when the people living there belong to one off two Glasgow drugs gangs fighting over a half million pounds worth of drugs that appear not to appear where they ought to appear, and MPs have decided there was nothing in Farage's complaint re 'two-tier' policing during the Farage riots, a riot where Farage's influence meant many went to jail because of him while he travels the world making money.

Normal Monday really.

 Make the most of this as it will disappear soon...

'Dell Boy' and Meat!

 

This morning DPD, a proper courier service delivered to me, as one of his 132 drops, and that before he starts collecting, this 'refurbished' laptop.  So far, this appears faster than my struggling old one, less crumb filled than my bust other one, and almost all has been added that is requred.  Indeed some things have arrived I did not know I still possessed.  One problem was the Microsoft licence sticker was missing from the bottom.  However, a short phone call and the young lad at the other end fixed this via something called 'Team Viewer,' which I had never heard off.  This allowed him to do all that was required fromhis end, quicker and more correct in the end.  

Costing only £239 I did not expect much, however, the service was as required, the laptop is much cleaner than Grade 2 normally is, and my phone call was quick and easy but I pay for it!  Almost next day delivery, the adaptor arrived but the laptop took two more days.  It all appears professional and efficient. If this old thing lasts me one year I will be happy, and all looks OK so far.

 

 

The empty fridge reminded me that meat was required.  So I trotted off to Tesco but passing the butcher, the only real one left in town, I noticed he had several varieties of 'specials' on the go.  So I went in, spent just over £40 on a bag of meat that will last at least a month if not longer.  The freezer is now stuffed full of sausages, chicken, spiced meats and no vegan will be near me for a while!  

 

I have done little but glance at the news today, I noted fake £20 notes are going around, these are the type used in TV and films, they look real bar from little things like the word 'POOND' on the reverse, which some folks in Aberdeen might not notice.  The biggest brothel in Europe is closing because of the Corono Virus, I am not sure why, 'Sickly Come Dancing' returns soon and an exciting horde of people I have never heard off will be participating, are you pleased?  'Bread and Circus's' for the masses I say.  Trump stands accused (There's phrase you often hear) of calling dead US soldiers 'Losers,' amongst other things, that could affect his vote more than police brutality.  A married teacher is accused of having it off with a 15 year old pupil.  Where were such teachers when I was at school?  And there are people confused, say the English press, and it is all English owned, people are confused because Scotland says one thing re quarantine and virus, England another.  Why confused?  Follow Scots lead, you will find it is the safer option.        

Newsworthy, No!

I watched the headlines on the 6 o'clock TV news and lost interest in the full stories.  

This nation is obsessed with the EU Referendum, or at least the media is, the media is of course almost entirely controlled by Conservative types or self made billionaires on the make.  The slanted half truths and lies never end and real facts are hard to find however these two sites may help 'Reality Check' or 'Kings College.'

The rest of the news was typical of the times, worthless space filling.  How limited and controlled the media are, sometimes by governments, often by rich media bosses on the make and all influenced by the need to sell and all the while listening to each and every lobby group that appears.   "Facts, Facts, facts," said Mr Grandgrind!  No chance today unless you search the web.

Mostly these days I hear the news on the wireless via Radio 3 as this is short, well read and tells us we need to avoid listening to the drivel that longer news programmes offer. 

 

I dreampt about buying a new house again today.  It's not that I have bought a house, it's just that I dreampt about it once again.  There are two problems with bringing this dream into reality, one is the need to find £500,000 (that's half a million!) against my bank balance of £47: 23p.  The other problem is the man who lives there at the moment.  For entirely selfish reasons he refuses to move out and let me move in.  Indeed he was keen to strongly make the point he would move out only 'over my dead body.'  This I offered to help him with but he demurred.  Pity as it is a nice place with a nice garden.

Quite how anyone can buy under this grasping government beats me.  The lowest price here is £62,000 and that is for a pokey wee flat in an 'Over 50's only' block.  I would not want that!  The cheapest one bed flat is £84,000 and that is appalling!  Fine for one, not for two.  The first 'house' turns out to be a narrow one bed place costing £170,000 and for £185,000  you get a modern mid terrace proper house (in which I suspect you hear the neighbours easily).  How can a workingman afford this?  A mortgage may give four times your salary, around £15-25,000 for most, that gives a total of £60,000 to £100,000 as long as you don't become sick, over 50 or unemployed.  

The answer they say (or at least developers who bribe MP's say) is to build more houses on green belt land.  These people already have plans for Brown field sites use them first I say.     

Highs & Lows

This morning took me down to the lower end of town to the lovely, but not architecturally grand, St Paul's Church.  The Church of England has some strange people manifest within its borders but this church is not one of them. Here we find a warm atmosphere and people who know what they are talking about.  I looked forward to shuffling down the road as I enjoy this place.  I was as I expected not disappointed.  With talk of a light coming into the darkness, it was what Anglicans call 'the first Sunday of advent,' and with kids lighting a candle, appropriate songs, a laugh, cheery talk, and the presence of Jesus it was an enjoyable morning.  The friendly people are the reason to be here.  The church died for a while but under a female vicar (Tsk Heresy!) it has revived.

When I left the sun was shining the sky was blue, even the temperature was almost bearable, and my heart was light.  I even smiled at the passing kiddies rather than kick them into the bushes.  Home for dinner that today I did not grill.  Yes indeed yesterday I placed two items into the oven I had previously switched on and left it.  Some time later I began to notice a strange odour in the room.  "Dearie me," I thought, "The lass next door is burning something." It took me a few minutes longer to notice it was my smoke alarm that was beginning to yell out!   Bah!
Today the lunch was not burnt, just rubbish!

The joy of the morning received a shock just after three in the afternoon.  At that time I realised we were playing the best team in Scotland and Gollum was refereeing!  Now Gollum has refereed the last six Celtic games at Tynecastle I hear and managed to send off three Hearts players while doing so, he even gave them a very soft penalty while not giving a glaring one to us!  Thus I was in a great deal of fear and trepidation while I watched.
I need not worry, within ten minutes he had sent off our captain, just after half time he gave them a non penalty and cautioned anyone including the manager who dared to ask how he got his job when he DID NOT KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING! 
My spiritual high sank.
Teeth gnashed together, and this is not wise at my age, passions arose and spilled out, loving my neighbour does include informing them of their faults, and I confess I did this in a full and hearty manner!  
What had looked like being a tight hard fought game died within ten minutes, the Hearts players gave up as they knew whatever happened the ref would work against them so what was the point?
If only the club had the guts to stand up to this.  

I now sit here in the dark, the candle has gone out, fuming gently, wishing the dinner had been better, struggling to find anything worth commenting on as there is no news.  I noticed the BBC World Service man Menendez was asking people to send tweets of any news out there, somewhat tongue in cheek. The news folks do not see news around them only wars, fights, bad news and terror, nothing else sells it appears.  The weekend, especially Sunday, is a poor day for news.  The media need a war to erupt, a disaster to occur before they think it worth reporting.  They will not find much to talk about on this site today will they....?