Panic!

Panic!

Fear and alarm spread through the town yesterday.

People stood around, pointing skywards.

"It's an alien," said one.

"It looks like a spaceship," cried another.

A man carrying a sign saying 'Repent! The end of the world is Nigh!' walked across the park, mumbling.

"Who is 'nigh?' asked one woman,"Isn't that a Welsh name?"

"Yeah," said her friend,"He was that Welsh bloke that made the NHS, remember?"

The police were out in droves, much use of radio, personal phones and waving truncheons to keep back the panic stricken mob.

Eventually, dressed in all his robes, the vicar appeared standing on a van roof.

"Worry not my children," he cried. "The bright shiny thing is the sun!"

"Wot?" cried one man, "the one Murdoch owns? It can't be, I got one in me pocket, it don't shine like that."

"No,not that one. Nothing shines in that one.  This is the real sun, the one that heats the earth."

"Ooooooh!"  Cried the gathered crowd by now full of wonderment. 

"Who pays for it?" asked one. This is a Tory area.

"Nobody pays for it,the Good Lord gave it to us to keep us warm."

"The who?" came a shout.

"No, not the 'Who,' the Good Lord!"

 "So why does it never show, why always behind clouds, rain, hail, and mist?"

"Because you are here in the UK and not in Africa," said the preacher.  By this time he was beginning to wonder why he had come here.  "I may pop down to Maldon Quay and see if there is a banana boat going somewhere," he thought.  

The congregation was beginning to disperse.  Fear was eased, the sunglasses and T-shirts emblazened with unfunny slogans and adverts appeared.  

Then the English did what they do best, they went to the pub and had drunken fights with one another.

 

Haircut, Football and Church

 

I sauntered up the road this morning after waiting for the Royal Mail van delivering my parcel.  He raced by which meant he did not have it, so out I went.  I headed for the barbers shop and wondered why no one was waiting outside.  Other barbers had queues of several people huddled from the chilly wind.  The reason, this was a shop big enough to seat several inside.  Not that social distancing was too perfect here.  Eventually a young lady sheared my gray locks and charged me £9:50 plus tip, for the pleasure.  It was a weight off my mind, indeed the head no longer feels like I am wearing a hat!

 

My saunter afterwards took me across the park.  The cold air contrasted with the bright sunshine, except when clouds decided to appear and spoil it!  And while the crossing is a short one it is good to walk among trees and grass with an occasional bird in the air around you.  

As I opened the door I was suprised to find that Chris the postman had already been, he usually arrives around 12:30.  I was also surprised to find a red ticket telling me he had my parcel!  Bah!  I sat at the window watching the park for a while, drinking tea and eating chocolate buttons, my diet has gone haywire again, watching to see if I could catch Chris as he returned across the park from his final drop. I never saw him.  Either he finished very early or is still with one of his women across the park.  So my packet will not be delivered until Thursday now!  Bah!  I used to wander to the sorting office to collect them but that is too far to walk at the moment.

 

 

As Chris had not appeared and as the bag of chocolate buttons appeared near the end I took it unto myself to get out and cross the park once again.  The sun had returned, people were enjoying the air and I just had to get my stiff knees out there.

I crossed slowly and at the Congregational Church decided to venture into the graveyard, where I have often been before, and found myself taking pictures of the names on the stones once again.  In the past I have looked up the names where I can and found some interesting (to me) stories of people who lie there.  I hope to investigate some later.  The wildlife is found here but is very scared of movement. Today only a wood pigeon or two were faffing around.  

I hobbled back home, slouched for a while, ate chicken from Sainsburys, and later attempted to watch Dunfermline playing Dundee.  This (very poor) game began at 6 pm, but I also had to watch the Curate getting made a Vicar on Facebook at 7:30 along at St Johns.  While Covid rages churches are adapting to social media!  This involved digging out the aged laptop, setting it up early, with much swearing and faffing around, before it was usable.  Then, settled in my bed, I also had to call a friend (my second family) on her 80th birthday while watching the football and preparing the other laptop for the church event.

This was all very confusing.

Eventually a very tired me got it all done, very badly, saw the poor game, spoke, or rather listened, to my friend, watched Vicar Colin in his robes, wondered about much of this event, especially the submitting to the Queen bit, and was glad he was at last, after 8 and a half long years of trying, now at last a vicar, and that over 5 churches!

Good Lord!

 

 

Spring is in the Air

 

Yes indeed!  It's that time of year again!  The time of year when Dafooldils fill the page as they are the only bright things within miles!  The ones opposite me have been pushing through since December, today these ones at the far side of the park are almost completely out and brightening the world around them.

Mind you as the world around is dominated by the rather boring Town Council offices it does not take much to brighten things up.  I had to get out, with Spring jacket on no less, and walk across the park to enjoy the day.  What always comes to mind on such days is a remembrance of one Spring day in Kensington Gardens years ago.  A great many people were out, many walking dogs, rich and poor, old and young, and the first real day of Spring caused even Londoners to smile at one another.  For thousands of years the Spring awakens us to life once again, we know snow wind and rain, mist and fog will come again before long but we also realise that the warmth is with us now and good days lie ahead, even if locked indoors.

 

However, I could not wait here, I had to approach the butcher for minted lamb chops and huge chicken bits.  These were available so I added a huge pack of bacon just in case Brexit stops it coming over from er, somewhere in England it turns out.  Anyway, once home I chopped all up, packed the freezer and realised there is no more room!  This means I canny order that nice man's pies this week!  Tsk!  It also indicates I have nothing for lunch, some fool forgot to buy what he needed again!

 

Last night we had a Zoom operation.  A church gathering comprising people with the technical ability of those over 50 years of age.  Only one entered in without trouble, she is in her early 20's.  It was noticeable that everyone had a clean house, at least in the bits showing, although until she disappeared one woman only had feet to show.  Knowing which way to point a laptop is difficult isn't it?

It was also noticeable just how many men got on reasonably quickly by ensuring the wife logged on for him.  Zoom, while not perfect, is at least a way to meet those who we have not seen for a while.  It does make proper discussion difficult, in my case partly because the neighbours were in downstairs and I was trying not to talk loudly.  They think I am mad as it is just because I talk back to the TV, football, politicians and most other things I log onto, tsk!  Only hearing one side of the debate mwy fox them somewhat.  If they want madness I can show them that also if required.  Tee Hee!

 

I for one canny wait for the charity shops to reopen.  I expect it will be a few weeks before they sort out the vast quantity of goods that will be dumped on their doorstep when they do open.  I, however, will be awaiting the chance to check out the many jackets dumped by those who have found them shrink hanging in the cupboard while on lockdown.  That said I have a bag that is already overflowing with rotten stuff goods I wish to donate. Some charity shops, like Oxfam, have been working online like everybody else. 

Hot Friday

The day began with a swift visit to Sainsburys and then a walk over the park, all before 8 am and in the early morning heat. By midday it was touching 90 out there, I was asleep!  Fighting with the brute meant I forgot to eat again last night and this had me wondering why I was near fainting in the park.  Slowness of mind runs (slowly) in the family. 

So, once I realised this I made amends and spent much of the day watching the England cricket team fade away while playing Pakistan.  It really is not pleasing that nice Mr Farage that mere colonials are better cricket players than white Englishmen, not counting the English New Zealanders, Jamaicans and so on obviously.

With Boris hiding away on holiday again there is little news apart from continuing coverage of Beirut, coronovirus, Tory lies, Tory corruption, and heat.  I must say little in the free press covering Tory corruption mind, I have no idea why.   

Hot Friday

A stroll through the park in 30% of heat.  Not my usual way but I thought I needed some sunshine.  The place full of mums and kids, most oblivious to the heat, but many kids in the shade anyway.  A breeze took the edge of it but it does make a change to have proper sunshine here.  A few more days like this ahead, not quite so hot, but it is almost as if it is summer time.  Naturally the weatherman is warning of thunderstorms and heavy rain!  That usually happens here when the heat rises.

I am convinced more than ever that Dominic is running the country.  The dictators way is to sow confusion, this government is excellent at this.  The Health Secretary Nick Hancock, famous for not knowing the answers, gave late night instructions, confused obviously, concerning a local Lock Down in the North West of England.  Nobody there knew about this, the council, the Health people, nobody had been informed beforehand.  This is typical dictator stuff.  Keep them confused, don't let them settle, do not let people comprehend what is going on and behind the scenes they are running things their way, nobody gets to know what you are doing.

Dominic himself is very quiet these days, could he be visiting castles again?

Evening Standard

So the Russian who owns the 'Standard,' a well known friend of Boris, the PMs brother and a nobody from the cricket world who gets a reward for supporting Brexit now enter the House of Lords.  This is a new low in corrupt Lords appointments.  The ex- leader of the Scots Conservatives also makes it, but will not join until next year.  Another failure getting rewarded.

Apart from Ken Clarke, one of the leading Tory Europhiles, there is little of worth in the list.  More grasping friends, donors and paybacks are getting what they paid for.  Just imagine the names of those Boris proposed the committee rejected!  Harold Wilson was not so slimy!

Morning Blues Eased

Monday morning blues ought not to bother someone who is not going out.  However my bleary eyes did not relish the chill in the air nor the requirement to leave my bed at 7:15.  The sight of the pink clouds in the distant did help however.  Deep pink reflecting of the long streaks of cloud, or was it something left by aircraft heading into Stansted?  Either way when I got the camera to the window it had all gone and instead this long, very long cloud reflected a more usual morning sight.  The denser lower atmosphere, so my book tells me, tends to disrupt the 'Blue' wavelength of sunlight leaving lower clouds tinged with pink, higher clouds in less dense air show up white as the light is not broken up.  Whether this means 'Red sky in morning shepherds warning' still rings true we will no doubt discover soon. 

Apart from requiring heating on all night the weather in the morning is bright.  Saturday saw the sun creep just high enough to burn the rooftops of the houses, I hope they did not catch fire.  During 1962/63 we had a terrible deep winter, no 'global warming' then and I recall the pain in my eyes as I stepped out of doors while in school and wandered into the snow filled landscape.  The low sun bouncing of the snow hurt eyes badly.  I am quite glad that is not happening now.  It is bad enough trying to see when the sun is directly in your eyes as it is. 

BBC

One thing we know about Boris is the lies and grandiose statements that fly from his ever moving and never honest lips.  The latest is the Troll idea of moving the House of Lords 'up north' so it can 'Connect with people.'  This of course has filled acres of space in the press already, meaning no space is left for discussion of the 'Russian influence' dodgy dossier that Boris has withheld.  Possibly there is a connection?  Boris likes absurd ideas, a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland for instance, and any other item that will appeal to the sheep while avoiding answering questions that matter, not that anyone in opposition is asking such questions.  We will find the media dominated by such absurd stories in the next few years as Boris and his friends are found out.  The Billions he has offered for Police, NHS, Education and everyone else, with tax reductions, does not make sense until you remember he is a liar who never keeps a promise, just ask any of his women.  I now await expectantly his government, and himself collapsing internally.  This may take time, the sheep will be slow to accept, but collapse it will and then hopefully justice.  It may be too late for the nation by then of course.

Sunday Wander...

Church today was enjoyable, other than falling over young Alfie and almost breaking both our necks. The young ladies rushed to save me, an action which upset the 9 year old as they ignored him while ensuring I was still active.  Quite right too! 
Having made the decision to walk, either walk or fix the bike first, I hobbled down the road in a bright warm sun.  This brought out the motorbikes and Sunday drivers off for a drive, enabled those of us with a warm coat to wear  over our jackets, and the footballers to break sweat, and very occasionally, bones!

  
The under 16's here are pursuing their football dream of glory, even if they only make it to the smaller leagues, and if not enjoying themselves as they labour on the sloping pitch.  How I wished to change places with the goalkeeper!  Alas I merely wandered home and watched the professionals fail to play any better than these lads were doing this afternoon.  

Boris is quiet this weekend, he must be up to something!

Spring Ceaning, Football Programmes and Boris!

Yesterday afternoon I took a break from sorting my important paper file and stared out at the 30 degrees of heat seen through my dirty window.  The view was marvellous, sunshine improves the most hideous of places, the rusty leaves beginning to appear reflected the light, near naked people sweated across my view, I remained indoors half hidden behind piles of ripped up old papers.
The afternoon previous had seen me deep inside the store cupboard, the one full of things kept 'just in case.'  The reward for that afternoons work was four bags of recycled items dumped outside and one of total rubbish!  Why did I keep these things?  The electric kettle that did not work properly but remained just in case was dumped after several years of space filling.  Cardboard boxes, useful for sending things north, were dumped as nothing goes north these days bar birthday cards and store cards, piles of plastic bags kept for wrapping things going north, a sisters idea, have found where the recycled stuff is collected from and just what to do with a computer keyboard that came with my first computer in 1997 I have no idea!
However the store cupboard now contains important things, a box full of various electric cables which must be useful one day somewhere, recycled bags awaiting use (where did they come from?) and proper 'must keep' items that now have plenty of space, apart from the huge roll of bubble wrap that I kept - just in case I send things north!
There is a satisfaction in sorting out a cupboard.  In fact I was so impressed that before I began the huge file of urgent important papers going back four years I cleaned out the 'Brexit store' cupboard also.  Now the gleaming kitchen stands in contrast to the filthy oven which also demands work.
I looked away.

For some time I had wondered what had happened to old reserve team football programmes that I once possessed.  Monday Holiday in that store cupboard explained that.  In the bottom of a box filled with now recycled items there lay a pile of stored programmes, once at the centre of my heart, not at the bottom of a box! 
Naturally I cried as a man ought to do in such circumstances.
Some ten years ago when my mother died I had a large box filled with programmes collected over the years.  Most concerned the Heart of Midlothian from the sixties and on but there were many odd jobs in among them also.  What to do when clearing the house?  The answer was easy, I put aside some which meant something to me, a cup final, first 'big game,' and the like and we passed the rest, including a scrap book or two, onto the neighbours grandson who at that time played for the Heart of Midlothian under 12's.  I am unclear as to whether he made it, if so are free tickets abounding? but I do know he was delighted to have that box dumped upon him.  A quick look though those programme seller websites reveals it is probably he who is still trying to sell them at £3 a go.

The football memories mix with historical realities as we peruse the programmes.  The fact that the Hearts (pronounced Hertz at that time) produced programmes at 2d a go for reserve games in the 'North Eastern League and for 'A' team games in the 'C' Division indicates just how many people would turn up at Tynecastle Park in 1950 to watch. 
1950, a time when my mother had discovered an 'accident' was on the way, offered my dad just under £7 a week to deliver milk by horse and cart.  A time when the huts, used by the Royal Navy during the war and now abandoned, in the school field behind the tenement in which we lived were filled with people, often young couples, desperate for proper housing.  1950, five years after the war, was also a time of confusion for many as they fought to re-establish their lives after service overseas and with children who grew up while they were away.  People were grateful for the NHS and other improvements that arrived at the time yet managed to grumble against the government constantly, how unlike our time today?
The programme for December 2nd 1950 calls all Hearts supporters to attend the ANNUAL BALL on the 11th at the New Cavendish Ballroom. Dress informal, which means lots of demob suits put into action, while at 15 shillings a ticket just how many Hearts fans with pregnant wives and children could afford to attend that? 
In the middle of the page between the team line ups we see an add for RED HEART RUM an Edinburgh favourite while inside an add claims

BOOZE
       Doesn't Help
       It Just
      Bamboozels  
   
This did not stop the programme editor taking cash from Red Heart Rum however.
Two banks advertise, The Bank of Scotland proclaims £115 million in assets while the Edinburgh Savings Bank claims the best Defence is to open an account with them and save regularly.
On the other side is stated

A
GOOD SUPPORTER
IS LOYAL
     DO YOU
     SUPPORT 
     YOUR CHURCH?
Church of Scotland 

They would not advertise like this today, especially playing Celtic!
(Interesting however that so many football teams grew out of churches up and down the country.)
I wonder if William Scott, Gents outfitter still exists today?  Leith Street has changed too much for that.  Certainly THORNTON'S once a pricey sports outfitter in Prince's Street has long gone.
Also advertised was the 'Pink News,' the coloured paper that brought reports of games played every Saturday.  Rushed out at high speed they often contained mistakes, reports mixed up and some times in places upside down, but were the first with the reports of games played far and near, a must read in every city that produced them.  Indeed throughout the country sports 'Pinks' and 'Greens' were devoured each Saturday night and remain much missed though modern technology has done away with them today.
Incidentally the young winger playing in that game was one Cumming.  This was the great John Cumming who went on to dominate the midfield alongside Dave MacKay during the 50's earning more medals in his time than any other Heart of Midlothian player so far.  His comment when suffering a head bleed in the 1956 cup final v Celtic was 'Blood does not show on a maroon jersey' and he returned to the field carrying a sponge to wipe away blood.  This is now a much loved Heart of Midlothian slogan.
In 1963 I attended the Heart v Raith Rovers game,  game in which the great Jim Cruickshank allowed a feeble shot to run between his legs giving hope to the enemy.  We won 2-1 and I have collected the autographs of Roy Barry, Alan Gordon, Danny Ferguson and several other Hearts greats even if I canny read their writing today.  This makes me wonder what is the point in autograph hunting?  What did it do for me?  Nothing really but it might increase this programmes price by 50p.  This was a game Hearts had to win as previously at Paisley goalkeeper Gordon Marshall had been taken off with a head injury and Willie Wallace the kind of small centre forward took his place.  The ten men lost by 7 goals to 3. The 60's programmes reflect the growing wealth, 'we never had it so good' indeed, we never had it at all and I have kept that line up ever since.  The better quality programme, still with adverts for beer, banks, and Thornton's, now included photo's and much more information, mostly as such info always is, irrelevant.   
With the news that Bury FC have lost their place in the English league I find a programme featuring Bradford Park Avenue a club which also died during the 60's in similar fashion.  I believe such a club exists again today taking the name and is somewhere in the northern leagues hoping to recover their place one day.  The league table for December 1965 however shows this club in 10th place in the 4th Division, now League Two.  Not bad for a struggling club?  However the list is interesting as several clubs listed died later, Aldershot disappeared, Barrow are now somewhere in the Northern Premier,  Stockport County have just been promoted from that division, Halifax and Wrexham along with Hartlepool all reside in the National League today.  Several others also faced death by relegation or chairmen's ineptitude.  Several Scots clubs went through similar in recent years and have now sorted themselves out, well except Rangers of course, and more sensible accounting takes place now for the most part. 
We have to ask why such clubs disappear when often they are healthy enough when new men take over?  Inept management, bad luck, injuries or corruption all play a part.  However surely there must be a way to ensure such clubs do not die?  A football club has an emotional appeal business cannot compete with.  Once it has a hold little can remove this.  If only we had a government interested in what the people require...
Having collected these programmes I never look at them yet I am unwilling to let them go.  Part of me in in many of them, games I have attended, important events elsewhere, historical events recorded, all have a meaning as they lie in a box unattended.  Indeed I wonder if there is one from the first game I saw, it appears not but if one came along would I buy it and add to the pile?  
As I ponder this I notice the oven looking at me, I ignore it...

WHAT?

Bank Holiday Baloney

It was warm enough when I went to Tesco at ten this morning and the sun has reached 31/87% at the moment.  
I am inside!
Today is a rest day, not that I intended that, I have just done nothing but shop and eat or sleep since. 
Suits me.
Being a Bank Holiday there is of course no news just pictures of people burning in the sun or getting ready to travel slowly along 'A' roads back from the seaside.  Boris however finds a space by declaring Pork Pies are sold to Thailand but cannot be sold to the USA because of trade restrictions.  Immediately he is proved wrong by the Pie makers who have never sold pies to Thailand and don't bother with the US as it aint not worth it.  Good old Boris getting his facts wrong.  The fake news offered continues when he claims foreign observers ought not to talk to those opposing Brexit because it cannot be stopped, just like all his other promises this is incorrect also.  The more time he spends with Trump, the saviour of the world, the more time he becomes a little Trump.  Maybe it's an Eton thing?

   Amazon

Meanwhile I have been finishing some books.  This one was a bit slow, the author tended to spend to much time on detail better omitted and stick to the flow of the story, though I suspect he was attempting to establish Bonhoeffer's 'Christology by doing so.  He is also American speaking to a generation that emerged long after the war and therefore has to explain thing most people came to know in the 50's and 60's.  
Bonhoeffer grew up in a  wealthy family with legal leanings and for some reason chose early to read theology.  He, like his family, was not a church going type so the reasons for his choice are unclear.
He was then educated at a liberal type theology college and was to spend his life in study rather than normal pastoral roles.  These did come later during the 1930's when Adolf Hitler was making his mark and it is remarkable that this man's learning gave him the desire to oppose the rise of the Nazi Party.
The church in Germany had a close connection to the state and many Christians happily went along with a Nazi ruled church, the minority opposed this and many were not to survive the war, and mostly not from enemy action.  
Bonhoeffer did his best to prepare men for leadership in the church, especially after the war,all the time becoming more and more evangelical in this thought as he did so.  However this was not clear enough and he fell into the trap of associating with men who wished to remove Hitler and spent much time in jail as a reward.  Killing Adolph was not a Christians job, something he failed to appreciate, terrible though such men are they have to wait in God's time not ours.  By 1944 unknown to Bonhoeffer the allies did not wish Adolph killed as he was seen as their best general!  His tactical knowledge, or lack of it, his insistence on standing strong by 'the power of his will' did not reinforce the men at the front as he had hoped.  
Bonhoeffer, like most of the conspirators died before the war ended, Bonhoeffer on the 9th of April 1945 one month before the ceasefire.   His call had been clear for a long time, if you follow Jesus you must do so even if it leads to death.  Death to self is a Christian calling, on occasions it must be taken literally.  It is to Dietrich Bonhoeffer's credit that he took that line seriously.  We are left wondering what would have he produced had he lived?

While fire engulfs the Amazonian forests creating profit for cattle farmers and a variety of national presidents Dunfermline proved they too could manufacture fire for no good reason.  Here a 14 year old proved this by setting for to his school and destroying at least the 'Additional Support Needs Department which I suspect he knows well, and damaged at least a fifth of the school buildings.  There are now 1400 happy pupils (sorry, students) wandering around upsetting locals by not being locked in their classrooms.  Anything right wing South American dictators can do Scotland can do better!

Sun, Houses and Radio 4

Sunshine tempted me out early this morning, long before breakfast, to visit Tesco!  Since then, trapped inside cleaning, sorting and lazing about, I have avoided the sun as strangely for an August Bank Holiday weekend it is still shining.
After all the hard work of the morning I dreampt of having money and moving to other parts of the world, well Scotland, where I could live in peace and see out my days undisturbed by people.  This is a dream as my piggy bank offered only £3.78 and one Israeli shekel.  However using Right Move I  considered places as diverse as Seton Castle, a snip at £8 million plus, a nice view from Largs at just under £400,000 to a parking space in Edinburgh for a mere £30,000.  The car will not cost as much!
There is much fun to be found looking into other people's very much tidied up houses they wish to escape from.  There is much more fun using Google Maps to check on the surrounding area to note the items the photographer has omitted, schools, petrol stations, nuclear power stations and the like, items which on closer inspection might tend to put buyers off.  Then of course you may not know the area, the local people or how many drug deals are done in your street each night.  
This was a good way to pass the time, my piggy bank reminded me it was nothing more than that!

She finished today!  The reader finally ended her work and jumped off a bridge to ensure some happiness for those close to her.  The author sadly did not.  There is nothing worse than listening to a woman talk about her baby, today we had 15 long minutes of a woman confused by her daughters behaviour when they entered adolescence.  Comparing their behaviour to when they were sweet young things and discussing this with other mums in similar situation it was clear there was shock that teenagers, especially young ones, would be what they have always been.  Is it just me?  Have people not always been thus?  How come this 'educated woman' did not know this?  Mind you, she was educated at an all girls boarding school, possibly that helped her avoid real life. 
The reading of this book, while increasing the number of listeners now queueing up at the doctors for anti-depressives, told us much about the narrow confines of the 'witty and clear thinking' author. For one 'wit' was not something she revealed at any time, for another 'clear thinking' was used instead of 'needless cogitating of the obvious.'  Clearly this was was indeed writing a play, or rewriting a Greek play for the stage, and she had little hope of ever becoming a lawyer, doctor or someone in the real world.  The Greek play, in which she wishes to change the plot to make the cruel and violent woman appear to be a 'hurt woman defending herself' also reflects her middle class colour supplement reading.  Maybe she ought to visit Holloway Prison for a wider view on life?       
At least she has now gone, the authorities are cleaning up after the readers demise, and we look to something interesting and hopeful next week, I wonder what it is?  Oh great, a man tells us of his life in care and how he survived.  
I can't wait... 

Indoors!

The idea of running about all over the country via the bus pass has led to an unfortunate situation. My knees ache!  Sadly I did too much too soon and have spent this week lying about the house, not unusual that, awaiting my body recovering.  Naturally the sun has been shining all this time, buses pass my house indicating the place to put the bus ass and running off into places far away.
I remain indoors.
This morning I ventured out to Tesco as the food stocks were somewhat low.  I considered using this as a chance to diet but failed to make the most of that and by 8 am I was shopping.  My diet has been blown again and must be restarted today.  The stomach sticking out makes it difficult to see the keyboard on this laptop which hinders me somewhat.
This also means exercising again as that lowers the bump apparently though I have yet to see a difference.  That is one thing that saves me money however, I save £50 by not buying a Heart of Midlothian football strip because it looks daft with a big bump at the front.  Many do buy these and waddle around but this does not present a decent sight in my view, or indeed anyone else's.  
Clouds tomorrow, I will probably be fit enough to go out...

I sometimes sit here amazed at my stupidity and ability to misunderstand facts, however having listened to parts of Donald Trumps 4th of July speech, in heavy rain, I feel considerably better about things.  He waxed lyrical about the war of independence (in 1775 was it?) pointing out how Washington's army defeated the British forces including "Taking over the airports," as they did so. Now this is a slip of the tongue surely and we all make such mistakes, although not as a President of the United States desperately trying to remember the words he has been rehearsing all morning.  
I note he also forgot to thanks the French for their part in the independence struggle, the ships blocking the harbour, the men on the ground replacing the home forces who had deserted, the vast amount of cash given to the new US government, so much cash some say it led to the French revolution, and yet none of this was mentioned, just the airports...
Of course in recent days Theresa May, Jeremy Hunt and Boris the oaf have all revealed a similar lack of historical knowledge of their own country, this when parading themselves in Scotland!  The members of the Scottish National Party are well pleased with the results there.
The Tory infighting, like the Labour infighting and the almost completely ignored Lib-Dem infighting continues apace.  We all wish it would stop!

 
The advantage of sitting at home is that I do not get caught up in transport difficulties.  My real sympathies go out to the early commuters who fled London early to begin their weekend and are now facing a bus trip home. Damage to the overhead wires on the lunchtime service has blocked the line which means from Witham buses must be used to get people home.  
The weather is hot, the people tired, drinks running out, buses slow as it is rush hour, and the happy citizen concentration on his mobile phone or his crossword in the free paper will be considering some of the words he has heard from his boss concerning the failure of his work.  He will be reusing them tonight.  I once got the commuter special, never again!  Either in morning or evening the experience is not good.  Crowded, impatient, and tedious when things go wrong.  Train journeys are great when quiet...

Yellow Flowers

They say the weather will begin to deteriorate tomorrow so when I saw the bright yellow Daffodils beckoning me out I sauntered across the park and snapped a few.  The sun was as warm as a decent summers day and it crossed my mind that April will bring snow as it usually does.  
Kids were cycling small pink bikes, mums pushing pushchairs, some sitting on benches wrapped in coats just in case, and high above a thin white streak in the bright blue sky carried 200 or so people towards Europe.

'Europe,' that is what we now call the EU and many round here are desperate to abandon to its fate. Sadly these 'Daily Express' readers have yet to understand that they are the ones being abandoned. If this Brexit goes ahead there will be no 'sovereignty' just Donald Trump and chlorinated chicken!  The idea that anyone has sovereignty in this world is plain daft, everybody is tied to everybody else one way or another and this is how it has always been.  It is difficult to keep up with the constant niggles in the House but I had to laugh when Savid Javid was in front of a Commons committee.

Stuart MacDonald SNP, to Sajid Javid: What’s wrong with the amendment?
SJ: Nothing. 
SM: So now the Gov't’s supporting it? 
SJ: Yes. What do you mean, “now”? When was the gov’t not supporting it? When did you hear that? SM: Yesterday. 
SJ: From who? 
SM: The Prime Minister. 
SJ: Did you?!

Here we have the Conservative Home Secretary, one of the Four most important jobs in the cabinet being informed of the Prime Ministers thoughts from a member of a committee as he had not been informed of her opinion from the day before.
I suppose too many in the cabinet were shouting others down and she forgot to indicate what the policy of certain matters actually was.  I wonder if she has changed her mind to agree with Savid or whether she is travelling somewhere and canny mind who he is?

India and Pakistan are flexing muscles (I wish I could) and threatening one another in Kashmir again. This is not new, this has been going on since 1947 and was badly handled then and is being badly handled now.  Much loud talk of both sides having nuclear arms but the option of using them is unlikely.  Many more aircraft shot down, bombs dropped, the wrong people killed as usual but I doubt nuclear war is near.  Pakistan is a confused nation, led by the elite who fight among themselves, leaders chances of being killed by those around them a real possibility.  India facing elections and will seek to 'be strong' and killing a few Muslims goes down well with the Hindi nationalists, especially these days.  Many more to die, many more shouting matches and then peace, it is too easy for India to win - again!

Cold February

Standing at the museum door watching young women shove ice creams down their throats I pondered the freezing cold February weather. In some places it reached 70% today, at my computer this morning I considered it higher than this.  If Trump does not believe in global warming I am now all in favour, as I have been for some years.  This does not stop me from realising that we will however have snow, probably serious snow, in April as always.

The day went well.  I coughed less than I have done for weeks,the management ran away to a meeting and left me in charge (ha!) and those that came in were decent enough not to be trouble.
No kids today for me!
I taught one lass how to find what she required on ancestry, scanned briefly three large volumes of hand written history on a local company, very impressive I say, and then rushed through Tesco to finish the day.  Finish being the word as I fell asleep as soon as I got home.
How nice to have a near normal day.
Tomorrow it is back to reading about ancient church disputes...

Sabbath Muse

Trundling down to church in the sunshine was an unusual experience today.  I found my tinted glasses and looking like someone from Hollywood I ventured forth.  Surprisingly nobody noticed me.  This was a bit awkward, at least while using the zebra crossing and indeed on the way home where I failed to look properly crossing the road and almost went under the police car.  The fear of thirty pages of paperwork meant he said nothing and moved on.
Soon people will begin to hate the heat that never ends, water companies are already threatening hosepipe bans and crops are failing in the fields, so Tesco can increase the price.  The red backs will soon have folks grumbling at the doctors  and the incompetent government will be given the blame.
Living on this island allows great scope for grumbling.

Amazon

Another book moves from the reading pile to the read shelf.  Very good it is too!

Far too many grumble about British generals and their apparent failings, this book, written by people who know as opposed to those with an axe to grind, offers us men in high positions with great responsibilities and carrying the same ambitions and failures we all have.  It shows these men to be human and far from willing to waste men's lives.

Haig himself is not mentioned, these are the army commanders, men who rose up the ranks to the top, some during the war and others in the field.  All had some sort of war experience, Sudan, India and the Boer War among them, all served at home and abroad.

The charge of uncaring generals wasting men's lives is often thrown around in the UK, never elsewhere for some reason, and these men were ordered to remove the enemy from France, therefore they had to deal with what was in front of them in the only way possible.  Tactics changed constantly over the period, weapons improved, yet the chief strategy was the same, siege warfare. 

There was no other choice.  The nonsensical waste of time and effort in Gallipoli and Salonika, ordered by London not the army, cost many lives but orders are orders.  The war could only be fought in France and Flanders nowhere else! 

For all the grumbles re generals, something that did not happen elsewhere and probably began with Lloyd George the one time Prime Minister trying to pass the buck onto the generals who followed his orders, it must be remembered that 70 or so generals died during the war, several of the leading army commanders suffered wounds and not only did they participate in holding the line with meagre resources against a vast German army in 1914 these were the men who finally pushed that army out of France and Flanders.

A good book, well written and worth reading.