Niece

Today I rushed up to Sainsburys for buffet food.  My niece and her man were arriving on time, they said, so I considered it wise to shop while I could.
They arrived in town after the usual weekend fare on the railways, train so far and arrive early, bus so far, wait for train, then walk to house.  Naturally she who would walk without my guidance as she knew the way got lost. There are hardly any streets in this town and she went the wrong way! Women!
He of course did not know the way and she made use of Google Maps on her phone and got lost.
How nice to see them, it is rare to actually meet the family today (most are pleased with this) and hear the news.  Then after finding out information on him, a good man for her, I threw them out so they could get home before tomorrow.     
How strange to see family after so long, last time we met was her dads funeral a year ago.  What she has gone through since.  It reminds me I must head north at some time this year, once I stop coughing, and see the ageing family up there.  This of course might be difficult as my bus pass only takes me to the border, from then on I'd have to walk the rest of the way or pay... I had better check my shoes.
Now, in spite of missing the football (He at least has the decency to support Burnley) I enjoyed my day with human beings.  I might do this again one day.
The thing is I am glad I have this family.  Too many families I see are broken up, have serious faults and do not get on with one another.  This is annoying.  I am grateful when looking at my parents, many of their ideas, the siblings and their brats and am happy with them even though one or two require  good slap now and again.  It would be terrible to come from a family that would fit into 'Eastenders.' 

I wonder if they are home yet...

Gray Edinburgh

After sunny days, most of them missed by me, I wander out today under gray leaden skies with a chilly wind annoying.  I suppose we will have snow sooner than April.  
This is annoying as I have to spend the next couple of day cleaning the place.  My niece is bringing her boyfriend on Sunday (Sunday with football on?) for some reason.  She comes once a year to see if I am alive and if there is any money, she is disappointed in both.
So tomorrow I must finish the bathroom work, the sinks, dust everywhere, then hoover the dust piles, polish woodwork, tidy books and other things lying around, iron shirts, wash others first, put out the rubbish and open the windows.  
I am worn out already.
If luck is with me I will force feed them in a local cafe, if it is open and if it is not crowded with the local ageing Mods who gather there occasionally with their scooters.  That saves giving them e.coli and time and effort.  
But what is she after this time?

 
Because of the work done on our behalf by the noble parliamentarians the Parliamentary Standards Authority has given them a 2.7%pay rise, around £2000 each.  This means they will be getting just under £80,000 a year each.  Now personally I consider that small beer for an MP.  People who decide Law and routine purposes in life ought to be rewarded with a great deal more than that.  I would suggest a minimum of around £150,000 -£200,000 for such employment.  Of course with a nation under austerity that would not be appropriate, however that would not stop this lot, and such a rise would be unworkable in today's situation.  Also so many of these 'workers' have other jobs.  Lawyers take time of to make ten times their salary on a case, doctors run off to rip of private patients and almost all have 'directorships' that bring in the cash for little effort bar their name on the headed paper.  The advantage of bigger wages would be by tempting in those who earn a great deal more now in their employment, even if they were only MPs for five years or so.  The present lot have sold out for or against Brexit and have little self awareness to take a stand on any principle of any kind.  As such I am not sure they deserve a wage increase and new blood, with principles would be good to have.

    
There is something bout old photographs that are catching.  I refer to pictures of places you once knew.  Here is Edinburgh, 'Up the Bridges' as we used to call it near Tron Church, where lots of major stores once wasted much of my mothers time.  I like such photos as we can compare how things have changed and yet over a hundred years on they remain the same.  
My dad would have been two years of age at this time, 1910, the world was advancing in so many ways, scientifically, socially, economically and it is clear from the picture three men have done reasonably well out of things so far.  I wonder who they were?  How come they can stroll along during working hours while others, on little pay, work?  It is clearly summer, the old man is wearing an overcoat, the younger ones are not.  Watch chains protrude from the waistcoats, hats are worn indicating class, successful men but in what I wonder.
The buildings remain the same I guess, shop names change, goods change but the basic function remains as always commercial.  The lighting will have improved, surely that is gas lighting but how would the 'Leerie' get up that high?  Could it be early electric street lighting?  The cobbled streets are famous in Edinburgh, especially on the northern side where snow aids the buses as they slither down through Stockbridge on frozen cobbles.  The traffic however is considerably less, walking there would result in a few words from a bus driver and the horse and cart is now replaced with 7.5 ton vehicles delivering goods.  
Many changes but instantly recognisable and made me cogitate for a while.

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...

Watling Street Fail

 

Books about travelling across the country I like.  They offer an insight to places I have never been or if visited a differing viewpoint.  The authors opinions are never far away and when done properly we see something of the world around us tat we do not notice for ourselves.

This book fails in that endeavour.  

Under Dover's white cliffs listening to his daughters enthusiasm for history, something the writer fails to comprehend, he decides to seek some out by wandering along 'Watling Street' an ancient roadway that runs from Dover to Anglesey in north west Wales.

To be successful the author must describe the area, the people if any and the history, especially notable stories from the past.  While the author here does some of that most of the book is a boring reference to any play, story, film or literature that crosses his mind revealing John Higgs failure to get out into the world to see what it really is like.

Canterbury, London, Milton Keynes and so on are dealt with always with reference to a book or TV show based there.  The reality of the life around him is ignored while pages are wasted on repeating such storylines. 

Even worse is his open mind on any occult event which he finds fascinating leading him to waste many pages on people who are clearly possessed by demons, and I do not say this lightly.  One believes a dead prostitute, if that is what she is, comes to him and gives him poetry and words. Another writes science fiction and clearly is considered by the writer to be a man of real wisdom although to me he comes over as one of those bores who are always right and people ought to listen to him.  A third is also admired but to be honest much of what was written I got fed up with and moved on.

If John was not meeting weirdo's and finding TV plays in every corner, he was afraid to enter an aged Barrow in Wales as it brought to mind 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' and snakes falling on his head.  Any archaeologist hearing that may well be somewhat miffed.  In fact when inside the Barrow he stands beside a Piller that he decides is the centre and brings to mind '2001' the film, and ends up hugging the 'centre' in 'tree-hugging style.'
I am afraid to write what I thought by this time.
From waxing lyrical about 'England,' he called it 'Britain' but we know what he meant, he wanders around spouting his opinions almost all influenced by books, films and TV stories.  What was in front of him and the long history behind them appears to have failed to really hit home.
It is no surprise his 16 year old daughter spends a lot of time looking at her phone...

Lazy day...

The dank mist hung around this morning worrying the birds as they sought breakfast.  I watched from the safety of my bed until breakfast for me dragged me sleepily into the kitchen where for once plenty was to be found.  
However tiredness would not leave and instead of going out to change the world, buy needful things and potter around I soon went back to bed which turned out to be the best idea.  Quite why I got up in the first place has puzzled me ever since.

I returned to enquiring re churches.  I had an email from the museum concerning a man who is researching churches of old.  This had me searching for books, most of which I could not find, and will force me to search the library, not very good, to see if any books there can help.  
Some churches go back to the days of the Saxons, the man requesting information has all info on that he says and I now have to look for the info that I canny find.  I keep finding things he probably knows, but will get again, and will have to dip into history for the growth of churches since the reformation.
This could take time...
Otherwise I have merely attended to the disappointing football results and will then return to bed where my mind lies...

   

My Latest Fad!

I hobbled into Tesco today to obtain some of my latest fad - energy bix!  You see footballers and others eating such as these to give them energy and I doubted they really work.  However on Tuesday after standing about for hours in the museum and stumbling home worn out and weary I settled in my bed in the evening, having fed reasonably well, yet still feeling out of sorts.  I turned to a 'Maxi Muscle Promax' bar and within a short while I felt great!  That one was called 'Millionaires shortbread' for some reason but it was worth the £2:50 they overcharged me for it in Sainsburys.  
Sadly Tesco did not have these so I will try this lot.  If these work I will seek cheaper suppliers though I doubt they exist.  There is a warehouse full of these in the town, I worked there once, very badly and very slowly, but they will not sell them to me.  I suppose eating properly would help but one of these with coffee will enable me to make it through the day - probably...

Life is Black and White.

I came across this evocative picture today and had to stop and seek out others.  This is one of the great Bert Hardy photographs and all are well worth a browse.
Bert Hardy was born in Southwark before the Great War and was to become famous for his work in 'Picture Post' magazine during the 40's and 50's.  Before the days of TV news reporting came from short 'Pathe' or 'Gaumont' newsreels in local cinema's, the only alternative fro those seeking pictures was magazines like the 'Picture Post,' a magazine that brought many famous photographers to fame.  

Bert took many pictures around London offering a view of the people he grew up amongst.  During the war he even climbed to the top of one of those long fireman's ladder to photograph the inside of burning buildings during the blitz.  This was the first time his name was added to the pictures, usually the photographer's name was omitted.  His pictures, clearly some posed, do offer a caring view of Londoners at the time.

'Picture Post' began to slide after the war when television began to arrive.  There was also trouble from an article by James Cameron accompanied by Hardy photographs taken in Korea during the war there.  This did not give a one sided view of the conflict and indicated one side was as bad a the other.  Soon afterwards the editor departed and sales began to drop.  By 1957 the magazine folded but TV was then dominant in the land.

Hardy served time in the army as a war photographer landing in France on D-Day and eventually reaching Belsen.  He then went to the Far East.  After the war he returned to the magazine until the end and for a while dallied with advertising pictures but in 1964 he retired and became a farmer.  Hardy died in 1995.

Bert Hardy was one of the great documentary photographers, few can match him.  His black and white pictures, taken often in dangerous places, will catch the eye for many years to come.  It is a shame there are so few books around filled with his pictures.

Kids Day

I opened the doors at ten and fell under the crush of kids, mums, push chairs, dads, grans and granddads who were waiting outside.  We never stopped and by 11 am I had had to reprint all the paper 'trails' we were giving out, refill all the 'stickie' labels and still they kept coming!
My reckoning claims around a hundred thousand came in today but this might be inaccurate.  The fact that they were still coming in long after I left at 2 pm tells us that we touched on a popular subject this time.  
I was weary when I arrived, an hour short of sleep, and was posted giving out the trails and setting folks in the right direction.  My knees did not like standing all day but I really enjoyed today just the same.  Most of the kids were young ones, mostly under 9 years, a great many under 5 years and they were easy to please, few were unhappy and for most this did not last.
A magician was on hand with card tricks which proved popular, one lass aided the kids making cupcakes, she had to run back to Tesco for more six times but the first thing all kids liked was 'cupcakes!'  In the big hall many more made magic wands, each and every one in the hands of a three year old designed to 'take someone's eye out.'  
This I think was an excellent day even though the quiz was too difficult for most and I had no clue as to what it was about.  Still they all appeared happy, mums and dads, including the dad who was constantly chasing his 3 year old this way and that, all smiled and were determined like the kids to get a free sticker at the end of the day.  It is amazing how getting a sticker cheers a small child!
I am now attempting to find something nourishing for my hulk.  The kids will sleep well tonight, mum and dad will sleep well tonight but none will sleep as well as I will!
Wake me on Thursday!

 

Thursday Afternoon Work

 
Thursday, when attempting to sleep of my cough, I was dragged back into the museum to cover for the women, all the women, who had taken the day off to have their hair done!  Valentine's Day and they were on the make.  However much to their displeasure not all the women could skive as there was a meeting arranged for councillors in an attempt to get their attention on the museum.  The many great works in which they are participating affect us and two lassies and the manager, who did not require having his hair done, called the meeting to harangue the council.
So I was left on my own with all the work.

One couple on a day out and a local wasting time were all the visitors, at least once the councillors had decided to arrive.  These were an interesting bunch.  Some I knew, intelligent women with, shall we say 'drive,' who have been 'getting things done for thirty years,' others rather younger and much better looking who will be the same in thirty years time.   Council men came and went and one or two ought to 'went; as far as I am concerned.  Just how do these people get elected?  Some are capable and others make me look a genius, so that says much.  Almost all are Tories, and many look like it, but one appeared to be like Farmer Jones who had never moved out of the suburbs, most worrying.  
Will anything follow from this meeting?  Maybe...
Today I am resting my cough.  Why do these coughs not go away?

 

Private Eye