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.

  

Life is Funny

Life is indeed funny.  Yesterday I wrote nothing and I got several happy replies.  In days past I have written deeply thoughtful, penetrating, insightful, and objective posts which have been largely ignored!  The conclusion is either my readership (25 read my last post) has the intellectual depth of the 'Daily Mail' reader, or  er, something else!  Either way it is all so confusing.  

Another confusing yet funny incident occurred far away today.  Our beloved leader 'Dave,' has made use of the Commonwealth leaders get together to have a go at the Sri Lankan boss for hurting those Tamil folks.   That is the Tamils Tiger folks who conducted a viscous war for forty years leading to many terrorist deaths.  The army crushed them once and for all a couple of years ago and now people bleat about 'Human Rights.'  I am somewhat cynical here, certainly the army took no prisoners and is no doubt guilty of abuse however after so many years of war something had to be done.  Now there is a peace, even if it is far from perfect.  Sad to say that if you 'live by the sword, you die by the sword.'  For me this has an element similar to those who say the bombing of Germany should never have happened, or dropping the bomb on Hiroshima was wrong.  Had we not bombed Germany we may have lost, had we not dropped the bomb more may have fallen later, on us!  Guess who would be the first to complain then?  Similarly those not hurt by the Tigers may well criticise Sri Lanca, but I would hesitate.  Had I been the boss down there confronted with 'Dave' and his crocodile tears I would immediately take a trip to Ireland and congratulate the IRA on their war.  'Dave' may not like that.  There is no doubt that David Cameron is not right for his job.  Soon he will be gone but the mess will not be cleared up soon, and probably not by what takes over.  Life is funny, and it might get funnier soon.  I've an idea, lets get that chap from Toronto to take over.......

 

I read somewhere that two thousand left handed people are killed each year by using right handed equipment.  I did laugh!  Naturally we should not laugh at such things, left handed folks are all around and normally everything is aimed at right handed peoples.  Quite right too I say, although one or two cack handed types of my acquaintance tend to differ.  The difference between a normal house and theirs is exposed when you use a utensil of some type.  Potato peelers that are back to front, although I never peel potatoes myself, scissors that don't fit the hand, even the pens are odd to hold, and as for the cups!  The museum Victorian School setup occasionally has trouble with a left handed kid.  In Victorian days you were forced, like it or not, to write right handed, the normal way, and such left handed children as arrive are forced to do this in the Vic school.  They do suffer, but even into the sixties I think it was normal to force kids to write right handed?  Again I laugh when considering how dangerous it can be to be left handed, hospitals you see often have the results of accidents that make you laugh, sometimes serious ones.  For example each year around a dozen people visit hospital because they burn themselves ironing, that is, ironing clothes they are wearing!  So a left handed accident could well be amusing, but I do wonder how on earth they manage to kill themselves?  Any lefthanders out there?  Are you ambidextrous?

Any complaints re spelling today....?

Floods

The Huffington Post

The Brisbane floods have left around 40 known dead, and possibly many more to come after the clean up has begun. Rightly this has received a great deal of airtime on TV and radio in the UK. The connection between the UK and Australia is very strong and thinking about this I may well have a few distant relatives suffering from this flood as I had a long dead aunt out that way. I suspect news will filter through slowly from there. Because of the connections and of course the excellent live pictures and audio reporting, we have a great deal of detail to fill the otherwise 'quiet' news room in the early part of the year.


I was struck however by the lack of reporting on the deaths of over 250 people in Brazil! I came across this story only today and wondered why this was not mentioned before?  Silly question, they are only poor Brazilians living in shanty towns on hillsides prone to mudslides. Why should we car? They don't peak English, a great disadvantage, the TV coverage is not so good, and anyway, they are just going to lose any aid we send in some corruption somewhere, let's just pass by on the other side shall we? I am glad the Independent managed to report this tragedy as if this was as important as the Australian one which has cost less deaths but a great deal more money. 


The weather front that has crossed the southern Pacific and brought the heavy rain to Australia has also moved on to other parts of the region. The Philippines also endured heavy rain and this too resulted in many deaths from flood damage. Around a million people, mostly poor, are suffering and at least 40 have died. Not much reporting on this, there again the only mention of the Philippines concerns Islamic terrorism, floods or corruption, so why bother we ask? One nation not much reported now the Tamil Tigers have been all but obliterated is Sri Lanka. When part of the British Empire (are you standing to attention?) this land was known as Ceylon and a producer of much of the tea that we consume. Thirty years of needless conflict have curbed the tourist trade and the last time Sri Lanka received attention concerned the Boxing Day Tsunami of a few years ago. One wonders if that had happened at a busier time if it would have received such attention? Today the damaged area is not much better off, the aid having disappeared and those who suffered receiving less than they ought. Now again the monsoon rains brings flooding, and we know of at least 18 dead and large areas damaged but it does not affect us much so we can pass on regardless. Much more important to know what some celebrity is wearing or where he, she, or it shops isn't it?


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