Breakfast Grumbling

Having forgotten to eat properly yesterday I struggled to work out why I was so knackered last night.  In the end I worked it out.  Therefore, this morning I sauntered off to the café, the one I was going to was shut, I hope this is because of a holiday as they fill me up much better, and at the town's most popular eating place I found a seat in the corner, under the chefs cooking area. 

From here I had a good view, ignoring the two people sitting at the next table by the window, a good view of those coming and going and passing by outside.

For me it is unusual to sit people watching.  However, I was intrigued by what I was watching.  The number of fat young women for instance, not counting the ones carrying a child.  The lack of dress sense from almost everyone who passed, not counting those in work wear.  The weather indicated light outfits and for the most part this was what was to be seen, but a possibility of rain meant some protection, like my cheap jacket, was noted.  But the mixture of styles made me wonder where some folks get their ideas from.  Putting aside those faces covered in metal and chains, the fantastic perversion of fashion that appeared was laughable at times.  Have some folks no mirrors?  What TV shows do they copy?  Do they not realise those on TV programmes dress for the show, they do not dress like that at home.  

I was in danger of becoming one of the old maids who sat in Jenners café taking the world apart.  Yet it surprised me how the town has changed in the near 30 years I have been here.  The number of foreign faces has increased vastly.  When I came there were one or two black faces, and the owners of Chinese and Indian takeaways only.  There are a great many more today.  Indian, Arab, Asian of a few varieties, and the Turks who run this excellent café.   Allowing for two attempts to burn down the mosque, one man getting 3 years for his attempt, there appears to be little objection to this from most in the town.  Certainly many complain the place is dangerous at night, forgetting this was the case when they were young and did not notice this then, but rarely it seems to me are the foreign incomers responsible.  Drugs and the usual criminal, drink cause most crime in town.  Youths like drugs, I passed a couple who I thought looked like they indulged too much, and thus a 'county line' of young folks get caught up in this.  Not all parents care enough to stop them.  Late night troubles are usually from pub fights, an not as bad as this was a few years ago.  Now pubs close at different hours and do not all empty at once less trouble results.  

My biggest irk today was the tables outside the café.  Here the diners can smoke, and one woman of many years smoked constantly while yapping with friends and while sitting next to the door.  This allowed the smoke to gather within and thus spoiled the eating for me.  Funny how we never noticed cigarette smoke in days past.  Everyone smoked and nobody noticed we stunk because of it.  There was no indication that the pub, restaurant, café, or whatever was a smoke filled danger zone.  Now, one whiff and reach for the fire extinguisher!  

Anyway, I finished by breakfast, I still feel full now, gathered my rags together, paid my bill, left a tip, and having no guilt re my fashion choice, wandered into a crowded Tesco for milk.  This one bottle of milk cost me £19:35.  Someone stuck other things in my basket...

Club Night

 

Having been sort of trapped inside for some time because of the back ache, I took myself out to the Club tonight, this just to get away from myself.  Not many there, all male, bar two women in an adjoining area where they could gossip about others without being overheard.  It would be interesting to speculate on the individuals men there, but not tonight.  

I got chatting to two men, one who emerged from Methil many years ago, and we got on quite well.  The club is a good place, idle chatter, most know each other from years back, and the barman was almost in a good mood as his team, Colchester, had scored. That in itself was a surprise.  

 

With smoking banned the few who smoke these days are turfed out of the club into the smoking area outside the front door.  Quite right too!  Just imagine what such a club would have looked like in the past.  Imagine half the people, if not more, smoking all night.  Mostly cigarettes, a few pipes and a cigar here and there.  Think of the thick smoke filled area, the coughing all around, the smell on the clothes as you get home.  None of that now bar a few who occasionally slip out to cough by themselves.  Few die of lung cancer now in comparison to years ago.  The cigarette companies now sell heavily in China, lung cancer rates have increased greatly there, and the pollution problems have not helped either.

I stayed for an hour, retired to check the football results, and scribble this, quite happy that I have  an excuse to get out and meet people occasionally.  The one trouble is this costs money!  

 

Sundown Again

A gentleman said to me "You are the type who brightens a room," then tapping me on my beer belly added," simply by walking away from the window!"  A similar experience today after the rain that has fallen for the last 24 hours and continued this morning gave way in the afternoon to bright skies and an attractive sundown.  
So attractive was this I left behind the heater and ventured out into the freezing cold.  Crossing the park offered the usual collection of Christmas holiday types, kids with new motorised vehicles, scooters, bikes, girls in bright outfits, and adolescent males in tight groups pouting at passers-by as they huddle around their new iphones.  Most of then texting the male standing next to them I suggest.  Grumpy people also pass by, these are the workers, they have no holiday and have been up since six in the morning and resent not having time off like so many others appear to have.  Occasional dog walkers, well wrapped up freeze as they pass while the dog wags its tail as it happily explores exciting smells all the while not realising the weather is cold no matter how often the owner mentions this.  
Then there is the council smokers.  In spite of the weather a couple of women, dressed for indoor activities, stand smoking and shivering against the wall.  A third, wrapped in large coat, smokes rather too obviously as she wanders across the damp grass ruining her shoes as well as her lungs.  Why are people allowed to have 'smoke breaks?'  If I suggested having 'Standing in the park just looking' breaks would they be acceptable?  How can people take ten to fifteen minutes out of their day several times a day to smoke when others cannot do this just to stand and stare?  And why do people smoke these days anyway?  We have known for sixty years that it kills you, few now accept it as normal behaviour, yet people from many walks of life insist on participating in this ugly habit.  They have never seen the fear on the face of a man being investigated for sickness obviously.  This is not a nice sight.
Many men still smoke as this is what 'rough men' do.  It is part of 'looking hard' and many men participate because that is what their mates do.  Usually they are not the brightest or just feel that, like swearing, it has to be done to keep in with the boys around you.  Women often smoke thereby giving them something to do with their hands, hiding behind a cigarette, while others smoke funny cigarettes and claim it gets them through their day, they never blame that for their mistakes however.  One of the best laws in recent times was banning smoking indoors, it cleaned up so many environments and saved many lives.

High above us and almost unnoticed the moon keeps watch.  
In spite of Brexit and other follies, riots in Iran, bombs in Kabul, and a decent but not great footballer being transferred for £75 million the moon just waxes and wanes as normal, going about its business with little concern for such small things.  The business of raising and lowering the sea levels is business enough for the moon, that and watching lovers stare blindly at it while thinking of words to rhyme is enough for any moon.
When a lad we read in the 'Eagle' and other magazines how we would live on the moon, so far, in spite of preparing to reach Mars, we have not done so.  It appears cheaper to spend three years travelling to Mars, UFO's permitting, rather than establishing one of those glass domed centres that would transform the moon into valuable living space.  The dreams of the early 1950s have never been accomplished in my view.  The moon was reached, more from national pride rather than human ambition, but in so many ways the future that looked so bright has turned out to be very dull.  Human nature keeps getting in the way or possibly it was reality that got in the way?

Clegg & Cigarettes

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Daily Mail

How long has Clegg got? This man's desperate desire to sit on the government front bench has turned his party and himself into a laughing stock. Having become a lackey to the similarly desperate Cameron he has brought into power a Conservative government and happily thrown away all his 'beliefs' in the process. There have been more 'U' turns by the Lib-Dems in the house of commons than on a major road during the bad weather. While claiming much of the government policy as Lib-Dem in fact the parts that will be put through are entirely Conservative! All their ideas are falling by the wayside and will soon be forgotten. However he is sitting on the front bench, he has a position of 'power' and he is the one that matters not his party or the nation! Not any more! The latest failure, to force his backbenchers to support the government position on student tuition fees was a farce all round. Vince Cable, a Lib-Dem, forced to bring in a bill he did not like, almost refused to vote for it, did so because he had to, and looks as big a failure as his millionaire leader. What a shambles this lot are! How long for Clegg? How long therefore for Cameron, another rich kid desperate for high office and happy to lead an unelected, unwanted government? The worrying thing for us all concerns what happens when this absurd coalition falls apart. The opposition comprises a new inexperienced Labour Party with bumbling fools in charge and they have no policy, no idea, and I suspect no hope! The futures bright, but nothing appears very bright in the house of commons!  

As I was standing at the window, harmlessly watching the girls in the park with my binoculars, I noticed a man standing on the pavement below. He then did a strange thing. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a silver cigarette case, selected one of the white killer sticks inside and placed this in his mouth. Replacing the case he then lit the cigarette and began to increase his lung cancer. Now I was shocked by this as I have not seen a silver cigarette case in use for a great many years. To be honest it was never likely in my family for anyone to have such an item, not counting my aunt, she worked for 'Jenners' (Where the rich shopped) and as such got good things on the cheap! We were only allowed in under guard. The rest of the family continued to dwell in poverty, a habit that remains with me today. During the days of my young childhood, which some suggest still endure, it was common to see folks taking cigarettes from those oblong packets of 'Capstan' or 'Senior Service.' I used to enjoy watching the smoke from my dad's cigarettes slowly curling and twisting into the air. Being told to "Clear off" because I was annoying, did not really compute. It couldn't as we did not have computers in those days did we? The sound of cancerous growths in my fathers lung I must say was not noticed at the time. Both film and TV stars continued to smoke well into the seventies, possibly even the eighties and in the days of black & white films many a director made use of the smoke to create atmosphere. This habit of smoking continued even though we were made aware of the dangers long before we left school in the mid sixties. The site of a lung preserved in an chemical did not stop us obnoxious brats wandering around coughing on our ''Cadets' or 'No 6' brands. It was an important part of adolescence to smoke 'Silk Cut' or some such as everybody else did, although our folks never knew of course. I was somewhat surprised when my dad asked if he could have one of my 'No 6' one day. "I don't have any," said I, "Yes you do they are in your top drawer." Never trust a father! I suspect today's youth know more about 'funny cigarettes' rather than 'Players.' Today China and those nations less aware of the dangers are recipients of heavy advertising by the tobacco companies. Such nations, China in particular, are now becoming aware of a huge rise in numbers of lung cancer victims, yet advertising and peoples ignorance continues. Why do we not ban this foul activity? I do not know? I suggest that we insist that those who smoke wear a black cowl and walk the streets ringing a small bell and crying "Unclean, unclean!"  The banning of smoking in pubs and clubs, businesses and all places where humans gather has already benefited all of us.The air is healthier, clothes worn in public houses no longer reek of others smoke, and only the beer spilled leaves a mark, not counting the falling down stairs and abusing police officers 'student style' of course.  The difference in attitudes over fifty years is amazing. Everyone smoked in times past, pipes, or cigars, then cigarettes became very popular during the Great War, given then to comfort the wounded and often advertised in the press as 'healthy!' Today it is the dumb minority that smoke, Nick Clegg smokes apparently, is this the time to mention this I wonder? It took so many years to realise how daft we were! There again today our streets are filled with the stour pumped out from the back end of oil guzzling motors and this is just as big a killer yet we are slow to develop a better system. The stupidity of the human knows no end.  

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