Non Political Blether

I spent the day in the Great War!
Researching info for the museum handout for schools I have no made the one page handout three pages long and have nowhere near finished.  It was interesting to remember things forgotten and helpful for what I scribbled down however it may not be what the boss woman wishes.
Add to this a short search for info on four men for a remembrance service, which probably will not be used, and altogether I ahve spent much of the day wasting my time.
No change there.

The boiler plays up.
It will not switch on, at least it switches on and goes off.  The thermostat is never at the right temperature for the brute and I keep fiddling with it and waiting, and waiting, and waiting until something happens.  I began at ten past seven this morning and it finally lit up around one!!!
We shall set it again tonight and see what occurs in the morning - frostbite and chilblains I suspect. 

To get warm I went out, it was warmer in the wind than inside.  
I went to 'Poundland' (actually I think ours is a 'Poundworld') for cheap feed for the Starlings that squabble at the feeders.  They are chomping away good style at the moment, I wonder if the cold and wet is making it hard for them to feed elsewhere?  There is usually plenty of places for birds to feed around here but I eventually got what I wanted this morning and before I shut the window the brutes were arriving.
'Poundworld' is full of cheap Chinese trash, ideal for my Christmas shopping!  I usually send gift cards up north, I wonder if they do them...?
I also searched charity shops for a waistcoat for  'do' at the museum coming up soon.  We are supposed to dress up and the women always do it well but I have nothing to suit.  I may have to travel in the zimmer bus tomorrow as the charity shops here are stocking only winter stuff now.

The TV news is full of the election still, I turned it off.  
It's over, the mistake is made, President Putin has him under control, the world is safe.
I bet the secretaries are worried mind! 

Today I began the Christmas shop.  One or two cards, I don't need many, and planning what to buy. "Don't buy for me," they cry, meaning "I am not buying for you!"
Why can't they be honest?
I wish for nothing but to give to them and what I wish for they canny give anyway.   Still it has begun and I will have mine done by next week, all posted on the 1st December and just my fat slob stuff for Christmas to buy.

Tsk! What a Mess!

I slept well last night.  
Climbing in between the gray ex-army blankets (marked WD 1940, I think Dad acquired them) I snoozed away listening to the BBC's over the top coverage of the US election.  At one point I changed channel to find both R4 & R5 offering the same thing so put on a cassette tape (ask your dad) and slumbered away.  
The morning brought the same programme still full of loud Americans denouncing one another and speaking without listening but in between I realised the Trump had won.  Dearie me, what does this mean?  I am convinced Trump stood for the Presidency on the basis that he would be soon rejected as a self seeking liar and now he has ended up as president!  The UK had a similar game played recently between the Public Schoolboys and two of them have departed yet one remains in the foreign Office.  Dearie me, we vote for such as this and they vote for that!

Trump, famed for tax dodging, bullying and lying in his teeth was selected as their man by the evangelicals in the Midwest.  This adulterous liar was seen as better than Hilary?  How come?
Even Billy Graham, famed for supporting all Republicans even though their character was clear to all, Nixon, Regan and Dubya  gave his support to Trump for the sake of America, because of the 'All American Image' he proposed.  Unbelievable!  
The Evangelical side of US Christianity failed here.  The 'Good News' is replaced by a US myth and at the root of that myth is false freedom and the love of money.  It is self and self alone that is worshiped, greed is good while care for others is ignored.  We only have to look at the relations with Blacks (oh sorry, African Americans) or the residue of the Indian nations (oops, sorry Native Americans, I love the way white liberals change the names but don't actually change their prospects) and the millions living in real poverty and without adequate health care throughout the States to see how Christianity has been replaced by Republicanism and white Republicanism at that.
The Book of Amos ought to be compulsory reading for those 'evangelicals' who backed Trump.  I suspect however they do not have that book in their book!

How a woman who accepts abortion and gay sex as normal can be opposed while an adulterer and four times married man can be accepted and supported beats me.  Both are wrong and both ought to be opposed.  Far better for the church in the US to stand up for Jesus instead of looking for worldly goods and myths.  Far better to attempt to change the political system and seek a better one that was fair to all that perpetuate one that has failed so blatantly.  However they did not oppose they merely took sides and ensured a disaster for the world.  Those that have the book must read it and put Jesus words before their own social background and its many myths.  
Trump may not be the worst ever President, he may even do some good, however he ought not to have been there.  What a mess and the only one happy is President Putin!   Today he begins his assault on..well anywhere he chooses now...

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars,

 but see to it that you are not alarmed. 

Such things must happen, 

but the end is still to come. 

Matthew 24:6

Friday Frippery

I thought of this when watching Donal Trump slag off Hillary tonight.  I say watching but I was looking and not listening at the time, I was waiting for the news to start.  The US elections of course differ from ours in that they speak only to their hearers, that is those who support them.  There are no awkward people asking awkward questions like there ought to be, no one disagrees, all merely attend, scream and shout and wave their placards when the moment arrives and like sheep speak the words offered by the great leader. 
Interestingly the Soviet Unio...sorry, president Trump has all Russia rooting for Trump and he has had contact with him before, this is just what we need, an all American guy obeying the Ruskies!  peace on earth at last - unless you are in Ukraine of course.
Not long to go now to discover which lying good for nothing has bought their way into the White house.  I was reading in an Alistair Cook book a broadcast  he gave during Regan's second election victory.  This man was considered unstable by the population of the world at the time, and they were proved right, yet vast numbers of Americans voted for him!  This makes clear to me that the people of the US, especially in the backwoods, will vote for Trump and I suspect he will gain a huge victory!
Now I will not sleep tonight!

Now for something relaxing....


That's better...

Blethering

This is now an aged example of what ruins cities, towering glass blocks!  If memory serves me right this is 'Millbank Tower,' a 60's monstrosity that houses rich folks in their vast office space with views over the sprawling city, unless of course it rains.  
London of course has not only been filled with such glass horrors but has taken such creations a step further by adding daftness to invention.  Buildings now bend, are mistaken for cheese graters or just sit like a pile of abandoned glass like the 'Shard!'  All this because of a steel frame inside.  That frame allows the builder to go high and wrap his building in glass or brick.  It was once just the money mad Americans who filled their cities with such heaps, mostly built with brick.  That nice attention seeker Mr Trump own one or two in New York, the 'Empire State Building' I think it is called, a construction as hollow inside as he himself appears to be.  
Would you believe that somewhere in Yorkshire (or is it Lancashire) in the distant past a Mill owners began this type of building.  Memory fails to remember the details but by using such a steel frame, well Iron in his case, he created a mill six stories high, powered by water at first but later by steam.  This was the forerunner of all these strange sights that litter our world today.  Rather typical that it was someone from that part of the world to begin it, don't ya think?

This is me trying to earn money for Christmas.  Now why would I be thinking about Christmas when we are still in Autumn and it is only half way through October?  I am thinking about Christmas because 'Selfridges,' that bastion of greed and selfishness has revealed their Christmas window displays today!  

IT'S OCTOBER!

In the early eighties I worked for this company.  Operating from the warehouse in Paddington I spent a delightful three years being driven around London delivering parcels until I stupidly agreed to go inside the vast warehouse and work myself into the ground for eight hours a day there.  Luckily I broke my leg and after nine months was transferred to the vaster accounts office where futility and self serving was a daily occurrence.   Not the worst job I have ever done but foolishly I remained for a couple of years when I ought to have ran for it and found decent folks to work with elsewhere.  Stupidity is of course my main talent so I remained.
One thing was clear when it comes to money grabbing this store knows all the tricks and one of them is Christmas.  The Santa Grotto is always busy with long queues forming, and if the grotto is placed badly these queues hold up the whole store.  Just remembering the crowds makes me shake inside.  How lovely it was trundling around London reminding the driver that he ought to stop at red lights, so much better than the closet that was the office space.  The space was OK but it was full of people and a Kalashnikov was considered a suitable item, in my mind at least!  Oh move on quickly...

Well it's nearly over.  In a few weeks we will know if the Americans have been stupid enough to elect Donald Trump as President!  Only the USA can land themselves in this kind of mess.  Other nations have political systems which ensure politicians stand for election, none ask rich rabblerousers to do so.  Trump appeals to the worst in the US stirring up hate and fear like no-one else, appealing to those who feel far from government and appealing to the All American myth, whichever way the people choose to believe it.  Policies?  There appear to be none, talent, none either, actual desire to do the job?  None!  l think he stood for a joke, an attempt to snub those who snub him and like Boris Johnson and David Cameron over here it went wrong and now he may well end up as President!  

What is the alternative?  Hilary!  At first site she is obviously able to do the job, she saw it as wife of a President, believes she ought to have had it last time, and has experience failing miserably worldwide before.  All the required skills are there.  The trouble is much of the US hate her.  Some disagree with her policies, many disagree with her.  So far little in the way of rational reasons why have emerged suffice to say that is the situation.  
So which way will it go?  The only one laughing is Putin.

 

A MishMash

Today I decided that I required to take more care when blogging.  I should choose carefully the subject, consider all aspects then when ready write logically and thoughtfully of my topic.  This is of course wise and good healthy advice.

I forgot all about it.

Now here I am brain dead and with nothing to say, logically or in the more usual scrawled style.

As usual nothing happened today.  I never left the house as some malady kept me in this morning even though the weather turned out reasonable.  The football certainly filled the afternoon and some pleasure has been taken dealing with the riff-raff in the follow up.  Dearie me how Hibernian folks get excited when they win.  I suppose this is because it is such an oddity they are not sure what to do!  Two football matches in a row are quite wearying, the emotions aroused, the shouting at the ref, the stress caused and like most others I needed to lie on the floor for a bit to recover my equilibrium, which I am told lies just behind the kidneys.  

After this there was nothing to do but raid the Radio iPlayer for old programmes.  This I must say is how I tend to listen to the radio these days.  It is almost impossible to be there when the programme you wish to hear is available and I find some of the old comedies funnier than those now on offer. Whether this is age or the BBC's unwillingness to serve up anything controversial on these lines I know not, I do know they are quite touchy about bad reports after some folks upset too many.  We are left with puerile or unfunny stuff all too often instead.  Milton is not too bad mind.

Telegraph

As if things were not bad enough the US has started it now.  The Clinton missus has announced she will run for President.  This means we not only have our own election special boring the pants of us as they lie through he media to us all we also will be engulfed by news of Clinton and her fans, news of her opponents and the media baloney that follows them.  Oh joy!  I suspect when election day arrives we will just put a cross somewhere with our eyes closed to get it over with for all the difference it makes. 

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Rest Easy!

The world rests easy tonight.  Around the world leaders of all nations, bar one, have been congratulating Barack Obama on his success in regaining his position as President of the United States.  Memories of Ronald Reagan's disastrous adventures in the middle east, Bush seniors Kuwait expedition, and the needless invasion of Iraq led for reasons as yet unexplained by George 'Dubyah' Bush junior caused the world to fear when they realised a man even less able, less intelligent and less knowledgeable than than those who had gone before becoming president.  Mitt Romney, a man who thought Iran wanted Syria to reach the sea when Iran lies on the Persian Gulf, a man who thought the United Kingdom which he calls 'England' could not run an Olympics, a man who closed his factories and outsourced the work to China then criticised Obama for losing jobs to China, this was a man who wished to spend trillions on increasing military hardware and once again oppose the Soviet Union while not appearing to notice the Islamist threat. Such a man as president?  It would be like having Dave Cameron as.....oh!  Romney is a Mormon yet has not realised that Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormons, was a scam merchant and a fraud, surely his is a fit hand to be on the nuclear button?

The world rests easy but does not sleep!  The world will never be safe and many dangers lie ahead.  Islamic extremists, economic collapse, nuclear fears with Iran and Korea, and the growth of China as a world power all offer a slippery slope. This however is why these men take office.  His problems at home come from a rising number of young liberal voters.  Too liberal for me, these believe abortion, the murder of the unborn child, is acceptable, they also see nothing wrong with sexual perversion such as homosexuality, the women also appear to think that being female ought to give advantages not offered to men.  The racial element is less about 'Blacks' sorry, African American's today,  Hispanics flooding over the border appear to be a more urgent question.  Advantages for these also appear to help gain votes.  Meanwhile what is often referred to in the UK as the 'Right wing Republican Christians,' or 'Tea Party,' appear to be demographically losing out.  You of course realise that biblical Christianity is somewhat different from their biblical view.  Their numbers may be failing, hopefully a reading of their good book will change their worship of mammon to worship of God!

What happens now?  The Congress has to work with this man, although they are mostly Republican but the Democrats do control the House.  If they fail to agree the whole world may be affected, including the second most powerful economy China!  Already that nation is suffering from the west's economic slowdown, jobs are being lost and some millionaires there are beginning to almost worry about their next bottle of single malt whisky.  A new leadership in Beijing arrives shortly, how will they deal with Obama?  

As always the world is full of 'wars and rumours of wars.'  Natural disasters will continue to occur, political events will surprise us in the way the Arab Spring has,  and none of us really know what will occur tomorrow - and the majority of the world will just get on with life and make the best of it, there is no other choice.  

The one man who does not rejoice at Obama's success? Premier Netanyahu of Israel.  he it seems has already attempted to drop a nuclear device on Iran and been stopped by his own people.  He  would have been happier with Romny I think.

The election cost several billion dollars, however one facts today indicated the States spend $3 billion on Halloween outfits!  The election seems cheap at the price!

Graph

Rab, our favourite Dunbartonshire shopkeeper has posted this graph on his site.  This tells us all we wish to know about the free worlds view of the presidential candidates.  The free world understands the situation correctly, although Pakistan fails badly here, will the ones who visit the ballot box have the same clear understanding I wonder?

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Wednesday

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'The Lochaber' stands at Mallaig after depositing a trainload of tourists. The journey through the West Highland Line found most of us queuing up to shove our heads out of the windows, take pictures and receive eyefuls of soot to enhance the joy. None complained! Mallaig itself is a mere fishing village and departure point for the ferry to the Isle of Skye. Whether this still runs I know not as the bridge at the Kyle of Lochalsh has been opened for some years now. The steam train runs during the summer months and well worth the time and trouble I must say! Head for Fort William and spend a day pulled by steam!

So the lunatics have won the US election! The 'Tea Party,' a group of mentally unstable fascists with no understanding of the world, have forced themselves into Congress. The 'Tea Party' of course covers a large number of different people, almost all white, and a large number of differing policies. Andrew Neil had a programme on them the other day and it as very worrying, especially when you consider that most of them have guns! In fact one interviewee claimed he was living in a 'tyranny.' When Andrew indicated that he was free to speak to him, that no secret police watched his house, that there was no Stalin or Hitler dictating too him, the 'oppressed' was somewhat stuttering. He eventually pointed out that in Washington they wanted to "Initiate gun laws!" This he thought was 'tyranny.' The ageing son of one time potential president called 'Wallace' (I canny mind his full name but I remember him as a racist thug in the 60's,') complained there was "Too much government and why do we need government anyway?" He also demanded to know why the government should tell him how to educate his children, and left me wondering if insanity was in the genes? The programme was full of such people, all with more than enough cash, talking of 'Socialism' because Obama wished to have a proper health service, and 'Communism' because thy had no understanding of what this means. Gathering in their thousands on the anniversary of Martin Luther Kings famous speech the 'Tea Party' abused his memory while making the leading members of the movement very wealthy indeed. Gary Glen (?) one of the main men appeared like a salesman more used to selling second hand cars, along with his books and videos, etc, has made millions, it appears, out of his screaming opposition to Obama, and yet not once has he admitted the basis of the opposition is racism! Let's face it, a black president, and a resentment of paying taxes (without which no society can exist) lies at the heart of the 'Tea Movement.' The most frightening was the church minister telling his congregation which way to vote! Clearly biblical truth and middle America are strangers to one another. Watching the programme and listening to Sarah (look at me) Palin, observing the blogs and US papers it leaves us wondering in the free world just what goes on in the minds of Americans? The worship of the Constitution, written by a man who had 200 slaves, means more than the bible to the minister and his people. The misuse of the early ideas to suit passing fashion lines the pockets of lawyers and does nothing for the people themselves, most Americans are far from rich it appears. Thousands losing their homes yet one man wished to end all welfare, no matter what happens to the people! America, land of the free?  These people not only have guns they have nuclear weapons. Aren't you glad their presidents can lose the code numbers sometimes? 

  

Of course the United Kingdom, with the high education standards, some of the oldest and best universities in the world, can find that watching soap operas, and daytime television can blunt the thinking processes somewhat! There again, she is just a woman of course.....

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Americans!

Please, please, please hurry up and vote!
Just get your election off our TV!!!!!

Have mercy!!!!!!!

Thursday

This American election. It goes on and on and on filling hours of TV and radio time, and it is not even our election! While it is important and deserves coverage I wonder if we really need so much of it? There are several differences between the manner of electioneering in the US and the UK and the most obvious is the crowd reaction. Any time someone gets up to speak they are met with rousing cheers and much waving of banners. Why? Because there is no opposition, that's why! Each candidate speaks only to his own people, only paid up members (should that read 'donors?) need apply. So the crowd are ready to cheer and cheer they do! Every sentence the hero emits is cheered to the rafters, no matter what he says. "God bless America" brings huge cheers as does "I watched a ball game today," folks still cheer, not because of what is said but because that is what they do. Please, please, give it a rest! In the UK there are meetings for party loyalists, but there are also many opportunities to greet and speak to the public directly. This does not produce wild ecstasy from the loyal, but can receive rousing abuse from the enemy! In the last few years this has lessened considerably but still does produce among the abuse and catcalls the occasional childish egg throwing and on occasions a punch! Such open democracy is rarely seen in the US presidential race. It might add some worthwhile television mind.

Another point while abusing passing Americans must be the women! Why oh why do all American women talk in that high pitched screech? is it not possible to find one with a voice an octave lower somewhere? This latest advert for US democracy is no better. This morning, on both TV and wireless I have been subject to her shrieking tirade against their Democrat opponent. I swear every dog in the district was howling wildly. I ran from channel to channel and she was always there. It was like she was following me around just to satisfy a dominatrix desire to burst my eardrums. I remember a young, jealous, English lass pointing out to all and sundry that Californian girls in bikinis may be attractive and available but they all talked "....in high pitched voices!" She said this in a vain attempt to stop her men chasing the girls. Hmmm.
Please America, if you let the woman talk, turn down the sound!

Just think. If McCain wins the election, this woman becomes vice president. Can I ask you to image the situation if something happened to the President, if he died of a heart attack for instance. This woman would have come out of nowhere, or Alaska, as it is better known, to become the first female President of the United States. Consider the reaction of Hilary Clinton, can you imagine her thoughts? Bwwaaahhhaaahhaaaa! Funny? Oh Yes! Bwahaaahaaa!

Wednesday

Rolling news channels can be very good when there is a story of importance which needs to be told now! Great indeed and very useful for society. However when the story does not add up to much we are subject to a desperate attempt to pad out the time until the adverts (and how!) so someone has to ask dumb questions and receive dumber, and much drawn out, answers. As the day progresses the same faces appear repeating the same drawn out nothingness and repeats of conversations with folks who have only tenuous connections with the main subject have to be endured repeatedly. Kevin Keegan has not appeared, so the talk was entirely speculative. How lucky we are that Alan Curbishley found an excuse to get out of West Ham. Not so important but changes the topic for us.

In between writing for two jobs that do not suit, I don't want and don't want me, and informing the Member of Parliament just what I think of the rip off merchants who are overcharging us for gas and electric I have been indulging in the Sky News repetition. I am so glad I got the video working again. After my early morning bike ride,(just why do I feel so worn out when they tell us exercise makes us feel 'good?') I found time to slouch in front of the TV set and indulge what passed for breakfast. Using 'Freeview' I can get many channels and I amazed at the amount of meaningless tripe that fills the early morning schedules. Thirty year old American cop shows, a variety of talk shows where the lower orders have their broken lives exposed - the modern day 'freak shows.' Who is watching this rubbish? Some of these shows start at six in the morning! Who wants to watch a life destroyed at that time?

Now they are giving us the US election. We are as sick of this as the Yanks must be! We have sat through the Obama v Clinton war, and nobody cared about McCain! Now it is his chance and all they talk about is his unknown running mates daughters pregnancy! Is it six in the morning I ask? Will the loser appear of Oprah or Montel and reveal the family mess? I hope not. I think it is time the Yanks copied our political system, at least it is over in six weeks!