Ruff

Museums and Objects

In museums you get used to old objects lying around.  Penny farthings, looms, Roman vases and occasional old members of staff asleep in back offices.  The shop therefore attempts to stock goods that will sell and reflect the aspects of history that are the main reason for the museums existence and this is always a good thing.  However, and I am not one to grumble as you know, when you look at the imitation Trench Whistle, the key ring made from a pretend bullet and a cut out castle you do not wish to see a copy of a shilling (priced at £2.40) that once formed part of your everyday experience!
We now sell part of my past as HISTORY!
Now I may be on a pension, I may remember Black & White television and steam engines form a fond memory for me but to place my youth into a museum is not acceptable I say.  Lets face it I only look 25, my mind tells me I am 15 and while my body insinuates I am 87 it should not be believed, though it might make a noise tomorrow when I restart the exercise programme!
The shilling, which today equals five pence, has been around for hundreds of years.  Back in Anglo Saxon times, that covers the lower half of England today, a shilling of twelve pence was the price of a sheep. What you got for the money and what you did with it was not recorded.  No actual shilling coin was around until the late fourteen hundreds when a coin called a 'testoon' appeared.  No I don't know why either, but in the fifteen forties Edward VI issued a coin called a shilling and put the date on it. Whether he made them by hand himself or employed a lackey I have not bothered to check, but I suspect he counted them all just in case, Kings were like that.  Since then shillings as such, worth twelve pence, were in circulation right up to decimialisation in 1970 (or was it 71?). Not only but as they were worth five pence they continued until the early 1980's before being finally replaced by the five pence coin. Today smaller five pences carry on the tradition of lining the pockets of the rich and falling down the back of couches or filling children's piggy banks.  
The designs have changed constantly over the years, however it was only George VI who bothered to ensure some shillings had a design on the back representing Scotland, only England had mattered before, but you will guess that.  He of course married a Scot.  Today Lizzie still sits on all these coins while the designs today have a modern absurd appearance which pleases the daft folks.  
Strange to say that often when discussing prices I fall back onto shillings.  If something is a mere 80 pence I might refer to it as sixteen shillings and many a customer acknowledges that is what they were also thinking!  It makes understanding prices much better you know.    

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Now I'm Not One to Complain, but...

Now as you know I am not the complaining type.  I suffer in silence in spite of the hardships and sufferings I endure.  Not one to make a fuss I happily allow things to pass that even the mildest mannered chap would lose his cool over and start waving a poleaxe about.  The need to make the world know that you have been twisted, cheated, robbed or dealt with in an underhand and despicable manner is not the way in which to face the world I always say.
However, I passed the museum today as I returned from the market with a bag full of fruit when a screaming banshee at he window called me inside.  The boss had seen me limping along and desired my presence in spite of four of them sitting there doing nothing!  I told you I do all the work!  Anyway she just wished to indicate all the new stuff brought in to the shop, and good it all is far more acceptable and practical than what we stocked before.  So we chatted as not one person was visiting and then I gathered up my fruit before they nicked it and headed home to catch the football (the Heart of Midlothian won again as you will know).  
Typically it began to rain as I made to leave, not even rain by cloudbursts fell in great drops the size of my hand as I hurried slowly up the road.  Why me? There are around 40,000 people living here why rain when I walk out?  What's wrong with landing on them?  One or two could do with a good soaking I can tell you.  So here I sit now, hours later, the clothes still damp, the shoes reeking, and no doubt flu will result!  
But I will not fuss or make a complaint about this.  I will accept this suffering in good grace in spite of people passing in big cars gloating at me as they did so. In spite of not being offered a lift by these rich selfish peoples.  In spite of standing in the East Wing dripping like someone rushed out of the shower by a dirty big spider, many off which exist in this building I can tell you! In fact I will not mention this to anyone.  

Fraught Friday

I have sent my sick camera of to my sick brother so he can remove the dust from the lens.  He is the expert and I am banned from such tech work, mostly because of ineptitude and the possibility I would set the house on fire!  Since school where my four legged magazine rack sat happily on three legs right up to the massive holes in the wall that appeared when attempting to pin a picture up there my mechanical skills have been as efficient as everything else I get started on.  Having a wee bit more time I look around the house and not the things that await correction, most will still be awaiting in a years time I reckon, those not waiting will have been seriously wounded but not necessarily healed.  At least some form of camera will return, probably by Christmas!

so fraught I watched the football and forgot to finish this...

Dreaming...

Yonks ago I was down at Maldon wandering along the quay there.  A lovely estuary with a couple of barges and some other boats to be seen.  Most of this part of Essex is low lying estuary  filled with the yachts of the wealthy.  At least you need to be wealthy to buy one of these things and then learn how to drive one.  There have been such craft sheltered around here for generations, indeed one reason the Romans chose Colchester as their home was the ease of boats from Rome trundling up the river and almost into the town.  The yachts are a wee bit more sophisticated today but admirable as they are I refer something with a bit of character and this Tugboat suits me more than an expensive boat.
Now I realise you are indicating somewhat caustically that the last time I was at sea was standing on the old bridge at Leith harbour and even then I felt seasick however I would like to dream about being a sailor!  The crossing off the oceans, on a quiet day that is, would be enjoyable I say.  Slowly cruising past Greek Islands, wandering about the Indian ocean, or viewing the landmass of Australia - from a distance, would be intriguing.  Actually all that on a small cruise ship, with good lunches and competent crew, might be better than slogging around on an old tug.  The only problem with cruise ships as far as I can see would be the other passengers!  
Ho hum, I must go and dream on....

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The Parties Over....

The Party Conference season is now over, the election us upon us.  This week have heard heard the Tories turn to lie and as to be expected they offer tax cuts to the hard done by middle class (who vote for them) and freeze increases on benefits on the poorest (who do not).  Pensions will survive as pensioners vote for the Tories and the richest will be allowed to keep their tax havens although George Osborne says he will make them pay tax (aye right!).  In short lies just like those we heard for the other parties and as we have heard them often before.

The sad thing is that we have heard it before and the people will still vote for these people. Some, indeed many will actually believe them, some will claim they will benefit and the nation also!  These people live in a dream.

The work is slackening off however as the wee book we are doing is almost at an end.  The exhibition is doing well and all I will have is the constant update of the memorial.  By the end of the month the booklet will be done and so will I! All the writing, the amendments by the editor, the alterations, the editing, all that red stuff and 'must do better' will soon end.  About time too!

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Tuesday Talk

Instead of working this morning I spent a very happy hour or so searching deep in the bowels of the Old Town Hall for a picture.  For some reason the high heid yins have decided to allow us mere volunteers choose a picture for display.  This may be to make us feel part of things, although we probably already do, but it did give opportunity to peruse the pictures, both painted and photographic that have been donated.  Some very interesting stuff there and I could have hung around longer.  I did choose a print dating back to the early 19th century showing a view of the Meeting House from over the fields.  The cows have long since departed, the Meeting House however remains and the field has been a rich man's dwelling, a school sports area and now forms the park opposite me. Two hundred years of change are seen in one picture, let alone the dissent that ran through Essex in days of yore that led to the erection of said Meeting House.  I chose well I thought, my companion chose one that looked like a night picture of a big city, dark with lots of bright lights on it, painted by a local artist probably, and probably drunk at the time I suggest.  Still it adds to the mixture and I look forward to when they are eventually displayed.  

Ally

I could not post any uninteresting items last night as I did something I never do, I watched Rangers playing Hibernian!  Normally I wish to enjoy watching Hibs lose, it's a nasty habit they have, but when they play one of the evil twins from Glasgow I always wish them to won, for the sake of Scottish football. However last night was going to be difficult.  A dark trip through to 'Castle Grayskull,' the home of the Orcs is never pleasant especially when Hibernian have failed to win a game all season.  The Blue loyalists however have dominated Scots football for so long, and to its detriment it must be said, are famed for their arrogance and pay their players wads more than Hibernian can ever afford to pay, so I was hoping Hibs might do a good job.  Of course with the Heart of Midlothian (5-0 victors at the weekend) top of the table anything that extends the gap between us and second place Rangers must be welcomed.  

As it was by half time Hibernian were three goals ahead!  By then I, sitting in my bed to be comfortable and watching via the laptop, was in a state of near hysteria!  My pot belly aches from the laughing at the arrogant ones who looked so proud and soon their loyal followers where booing and yelling things at them. One should never gloat when an enemy falls, but in truth it is a giggle here. Ally McCoist, who likes to be seen as the 'cheeky chappie' is not very good as a manager.  His fans wish him to go but the clubs arrogance is such that he was paid a million pounds a year when they were forced, for financial fiddling, down to the Fourth Division. In spite of further money troubles he was paid similar in the Third Division and only recently accepted a cut of around 50 per cent to help the club through the trouble. Greed lies at the heart of this club!  Even though they fail the chairman wants his bonus, around £3 million!  

I want to start an "Ally must stay" campaign as it is clear he and the rogues who run the club are doing it no good whatsoever, and that is a good thing in my mind for Scottish football!   

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'Clue.

'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' is one of the BBC Radio 4's better efforts.  Smutty in bits it also possesses much humour.  This particular episode features the great Humphrey Lyttleton as chairman.  Sadly he died 19 days after this recording.  You may, or may not, like this.

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Saturday Filler

Facebook and Twitter and any other social media you may use have great benefits when used in the correct manner.  However one of the problems of such media is the repetition of posts that mean little to you individually but are posted constantly by one of your 'friends!'  For instance one chap on Twitter likes American Football.  Now this you will realise is without a doubt one of the most dull, boring and meaningless activities known to man yet he gets very excited by this long drawn out activity.  Every thrown ball, every catch, every rare Touchdown gets a comment and not always polite!  This leads to hundreds of posts to be noted on the feed, usually in the morning as he stays up all night watching this rubbish, and ignored while an effort is made to find the important ones.  If you log onto sports or news sites or individuals repetition of the same news can also be wearing the fifteenth time it arrives.  No matter how important this is irritating and as you know I am one of the most placid people on this earth.  Facebook is similar and does reveal hidden hobbies obscure activities often obscured from the world in general.  To discover a normal individual has hobbies suitable for those less intellectually gifted can be a surprise.   On the other hand of course my own, and yours, interests can be boring to those with no life.  Then there is the 'friends.'  One lass has over two thousand 'friends!'  This comes from several large groups who she is involved with but leaves us reading posts that say important things like "It's Tuesday!" or "The Hall!"  Now around three hundred will understand this, but what about the rest? It is interesting how those who read your posts will react to your interests and your attitude towards them.  At least I find so.  Friends join on Twitter because they have read something you post and figure you are one of their type of people, soon they unfriend as they discover their mistake!  Four 'Albert Camus' became friends after one post on another Twitter post, one or two Christian quotes and whoosh they had gone!  Truth removes nihilism!
I find both these services good for keeping in touch, finding interesting information and discovering what celeb is drinking coffee at the moment.  Both services have their uses, especially if you install Adblockplus and lose the adverts.  Now if I could just remove all those blasted meaningless news stories they offer at the top of facebook!

Explain this!  Why does any man shave off all the hair on his head yet grow a dirty big beard? Does he think it looks good?  Has he become a Muslim?  It is possible Tim Howard the Everton goalkeeper, for it is he, might be looking backwards to some all American image he has deep in his subconscious, for American he is.  It may be, and I think this is the case, he is just daft! There is no doubt he is not fashion conscious.  Worse still are such men who shave the head and allow wisps of hair to grow under the chin and on the upper lip, all to often fair haired men at that, so it hardly shows.  What is the point?  The things passing fashion does to us all. 

Friday Frippary

So, by well over 500 votes to 43 the House votes for action, via the RAF, in Iraq.  I had the debate on the telly most of the day and was intrigued by the debate.  Many I saw were keen to inform the leaders of their party that they were doing what they were told, others, usually more experienced and past minister opportunities, were more willing to tackle the hard bits face on.  The House was clearly afraid of mission creep and all were aware of the Iraq situation of the past.  Their constituents have made it clear this will not be tolerated again!  Quite right too!

Of course it has to be remembered in May 2015 a General Election takes place and this insipid lot are afraid to lose their seats.  At moments like this they do listen to their people.  The only problem is the somewhat unfortunate fact that nobody really knows what will happen next.

God might be about to punish us.

Guilt is a terrible thing.  You do bad things and need to confess them, either that you repress the truth and hide the guilt deep inside.  One guilty secret I hide away and rarely allow to come to mind is the walk to the record shop that once stood at the top of Leith Walk opposite London Road, and spent six shillings and eightpence on this record!  With the Beatles and Stones, not to say dozens of other top groups abounding at the time I chose to waste my money on Tom Jones! What on earth went through my head?   

However I suspect you out there may have chosen badly also.  Any guilt to be confessed?

Here We Go Again!

One of the ideas that entered David Cameron's head some time ago was the one that said a successful Prime Minister was a strong 'war leader.'  He has been looking for his war in order to show himself strong ever since.  We have seen him act in Libya, pushing Obama into an action he attempted to avoid and we now see that country divided amongst several groups, none of whom we intended to allow such freedom.  He wished to intervene in Syria but was put off by Obama and his own defence people.  For some undeclared reason he avoided intervening in the Ukraine difficulty except by mouthing words against Putin and offering solace but nothing else to Kiev. Cynic I may be but the billions of Russian money, taken from the people in a style admired by the Conservative Party of which Cameron is the head, could possibly have influenced him.  The Russian's having all that gas amongst other things we need certainly coloured his thoughts. Cameron will not have noticed any conflict in Africa, or indeed any other poor nation with no oil or other item we require, but he will possibly send them a Christmas Card, if he remembers.

We are about to involve ourselves against this weeks bad guys, ISIS, or whatever the name is this week.  We do this party for humanitarian reasons and we are told, and Scots recognise how the media is used for propaganda purposes, we do this because ISIS are a danger to us and need to be dealt with. Therefore the RAF will join in with bombing whatever the targets provided happen to be.  

Now the interesting thing here is the participation of both Saudi Arabia and Qatar (both Sunni) the very people who provided weapons and cash to encourage the Sunni rebels to break up Syria (Mostly Shia) and yet now joined in this bombing!  Other Arab states such as Jordan are indeed unhappy and willing participants but Saudi and Qatar, really?  Call me a cynic but.....

"No boots on the ground," is the cry.  Our soldiers, or what is left of them after the stringent cuts, will not be 'on the ground in Iraq.'  We know the SAS types are there, this is where they show their worth, but with little understanding of what will happen tomorrow can Cameron really believe that troops will never be put into Iraq?  I doubt it as I do not expect any Arab or Iranian force to be capable of dealing with ISIS face to face.  The Iraqi's ran away last time!  

Once again we enter the unknown, watch this space.

  

Once a week, if the timetable permits, according to the unwritten (and better) 'British (that means English) constitution the Prime Minister meets with the monarch and discusses affairs of state.  This may be a long or short meeting depending on the importance of the issues and whether the monarch is in a hurry to go to watch her horses racing at Newmarket.  Now these meetings are always confidential, no PM has ever uttered a word concerning the exchanges as far as we know.  This when the meetings have not always been enjoyable. Disraeli flattered Queen Victoria and was popular with her but even he ion occasions wished to strangle the stubborn woman (stubborn woman? Surely not?).  She disliked Gladstone who addressed her, she said, like she was a public meeting, and he was around a long time! In recent years no PM has gone beyond cautious courtesy when referring to meetings with the monarch but recently blabbermouth Cameron could not resist boring some foreign leader with his victory over the Scots, a victory achieved by cheating, lying and the aid of the media.  'The queen was, he said, 'purring' at the news.  Well she would be as she owns half off it!  He could have asked her to send donations to the many foodbanks by Barmoral!  However, the point is he discussed the discussion with the monarch, this is a bad thing to do and this idiot PM gave no thought to the cameras, microphones or the devious nature of the two faced media who instantly blasted this story to the world.  Now the PM has to go cap in hand and apologise to her for his blemish.  One hopes she will indicate her opinion properly, possibly by allowing Prince Philip to get his gun out! If a premier cannot be trusted with such a small thing can he be trusted with military action?

  

Tuesday

The Labour Party have a conference.  This is the last big moment before the General Election in May 2015 for Ed Milliband to make play for being the next Prime Minister.  What a choice, Ed or Dave.  At the last election I was given the choice of six candidates, and the Tory always wins with eighty percent of the vote here, and I didn't want any of them!  Worse still I knew almost nothing of most, and what I did know was not inspiring.  I always vote and this year I am hoping the Monster Raving Loony Party will stand, I will vote for him!  The UKIP candidate, more dotty than the Tories, will put on a good show this time and cut the Tory boy's majority by half, but he will still win.  Democracy, don't ya love it?
What did Ed say?  Does it matter, really....?


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Musing

I had a call on Thursday from the landlord's lassie.  She informed me he was arriving about three to look over the property.  This was kind of her as it gave me a couple of hours to hoover, clean, wash, scrub, and hide all the faults that I ought to have fixed, mended, repaired and painted long ago, indeed a very long time ago!  I must say he is a good landlord and his staff are excellent, I have no complaints there, but this year little has been done that ought to be done as I have been too busy!

Naturally he did not arrive although I had my excuses laid out for him.  

He has the eyes of a hawk and would see all the faults I have kindly hidden and he would not see the work I have done in maintenance, because it aint been done!  ooer!  I assumed he may come therefore on Friday so I took evasive action, wandered down to the bus station and got on the first bus to arrive. This at a time when I would rather have spent the day sleep after my exertions of the day before! However it was good to get the bus pass out and drive past fields of green, with a mist in the distance, or was it a house on fire, not to sure.  I wandered about the bits of boring Chelmsford that I had not been bored by before, and this without a camera to picture the one or two old and interesting buildings, mostly Victorian, that survive in the badly rebuilt town. The motor car has led to the pedestrianisation of the centre of town, which is fine, but there are dual carriageways running next too them which is less attractive, especially as old streets and buildings have been demolished for the important vehicle.  This may be practical but is not enhancing the city.  Some towns have managed to improve themselves even with an increase in vehicles and selfish drivers but far too many have knocked down good buildings for roadways.  It is not an attractive place now, practical but boring.

Of course as I returned footsore and weary he had not visited.  I might check tomorrow if I need to urgently visit Colchester!

Braintree Museum

Saturday at the museum began well.  The thunder and lightning overhead shook the house during the night and as I prepared my good looks in the morning the rain thundered down also as lightning continued to reverberate all around.  As I arrived the Big Boss grumpily let me in and muttered something about alarms.  Indeed the lightning had switched off all the alarms, knocked out the town clock (he is responsible for the Town Hall also) and rain flooded their basement.  In his hurry to be in several places at once, and having been up half the night with all this, he forgot he had the only key to the light switches.  We therefore had a dark museum, not fire alarms, and a kids event to run.  This had to be cancelled at the computers and photocopier all failed also. 

I wandered about switching on anything that worked but the young lass was afraid to move through the darkened museum to open some of the locked doors, until the torch on her iphone was used to guide her as she ran through! Just as well we got it all going as by eleven we were busy for a while.  How nice to meet interesting people and kids who don't wish to go home as they enjoy what they are finding.  

Tonight I realised my ansafone was also dead because of the storm.  I should have closed down the laptop during it as lightning landing nearby once killed the old modem in my first PC and led to me being ripped of in my ignorance of such things.  

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18th

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I no longer have a nation!

I no longer have a nation!
The people of my nation sold themselves in a cowardly manner to be the lapdogs of the English Empire. Throwing away the opportunity to be 'a nation again' instead they trusted to the financial 'security' of George Osborne!
My Scotland no longer exists. Instead a cowardly bunch, happy to live with the bedroom tax and foodbanks, have become a nation of Toom Tabards.
We had the potato famine, the Highland clearances and Darien yet this ranks as the worst disaster Scotland has ever suffered and the people responsible are the Scots themselves!
I await the announcement from some back bench MP that form tomorrow Scotland will be known once again as 'North Britain.'
They will have deserved that!

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Thursday Night

We will soon know if the Scots become a free independent state or 

chosen to enslave themselves to a foreign power.

The World Tonight

Unknown Photographer

The world tonight shows Scotland's capital Edinburgh along with the rest of the nation on tenterhooks as they approach the day of reckoning.  Tomorrow the historic decision must be taken to break the stranglehold of England upon Scotland and become an independent nation once again.  It is not possible to understand how anyone, bar those making money from London or the sectarian bigots in  the west coast can bring themselves to refuse independence.  No other nation has ever done that!  The lies of the BBC and the London media, the slanted news coverage, the friends of London lining up to spout lies for their own advantage surely have been seen through?  Even tonight the 'Telegraph' offers a major headline concerning a pensioner attacked while supporting the NO vote.  At no time have the many YES folk attacked been given publicity by this foul paper. It also ignores the owner offering the Scots editor £20,000 to encourage a NO vote!  The twisted facts and false promises that will never come to pass must ensure the Scots take the step we must all desire in our hearts, independence.  The nation awaits, the world watches on, and I wish I was there!

In some places Scotland's trials mean little.  The people of Utter Pradesh watch the Hiindu nationalists trawl through the villages seeking to force Christians and Muslim to return to the Hindu religion.  This has led to many problems for Christians with leaders being harassed and attacked as they go about their day. The ability to start a riot must be one of the easiest thing to learn in India, they happen almost daily, and when the Hindu's turn on Christians dwellings are destroyed and people seriously damaged and killed.  This will of course get no coverage in the media.

In Syria and Iraq there will be little possibility to acknowledge Scotland's peaceful vote.  They will be cut off from electricity in most places and dodging bullets and madmen elsewhere.  It makes me glad to be where I am sometimes when I see how folks live elsewhere.  major wars we hear about to some extent but smaller conflicts, especially those that are ongoing for some time are less important to our news providers, they wish new action, loud explosions, crying women or some sex story involving someone famous.  The media feed up bread and circuses daily and we cannot see it!

Some of course are enjoying their own Garden of Eden, and I am not in the least jealous of them, my skin has an unfortunate green tint anyway with all the green stuff I now eat!  The sufferings in one place do not stop us having good times in another.  It has always been thus and will remain so until the end.  Enjoy while you can, the bill arrives at the end of the month!

I attended a talk at the museum this afternoon on how the Great War affected Essex.  This was interesting and naturally afterwards I was surrounded by attractive young women asking me for information.  The interesting thing at these events is the offhand information that comes out. Two men spoke to the speaker and later he said both had relatives who died at Gallipoli and lie in the same graveyard there.  Naturally he did not collect their names or pass them on to me! Tsk!  It did mean I had yet more info to search tonight for the pretty young blonde woman looking for a granddad who survived but the relevant information has been lost.  

Whatever happens look up, the sky is always there, even if it is under a cloud!

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Maudlin Monday

The young nurse (they are all young to me) at the surgery mentioned how lucky I was to be retired. "I'm busier than ever," said I, not letting on that I was lying.  I would be busier if I did all those jobs that need doing however!  So passing me fit and demanding I return in two weeks to prove I am still alive I made my way back to the laptop to continue rewriting the writing that I wrote before.  This indicated many mistakes so it was lucky I did this but not so lucky that any time I moved the format changed and required resetting.  Why must computers behave like women I ask you?  

Sitting here chewing my dried dates, figs and small red things I notice that the healthy 'Sweet Papaya Cubes' are 42% papaya and 58% sugar!  How healthy is that?  Natural sugar is one thing but I wonder... Still I suppose all this is doing me good, oranges, apples, lemons, fish, fish in tins, frozen fish, if I eat any more I will grow fins!  I did manage to pump up the tyres on the bike and soon I will be trundling along on it.  The poor thing has lain still so long it is filthy.  I should clean it first but canny be bothered!  It will work, I hope.

I have the eye of the tiger, the heart of a lion, and a lifetime ban from the zoo.

I ignored the media today for the most part.  Too much propaganda, too much for my brain especially as I had so much that I wasn't doing!  Some got done by the simple means of not trawling through the press to comment on English dickheads sayings.  I even cleaned the sink!  It is a white colour right enough! Tomorrow I will report to the museum, possibly take the laptop to finish what I am writing and spend the rest of the day putting David Cameron clones in their place.  

  

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Nothing to say

Albert Goodwin, Westminster

Saturday Postscript.

It's Saturday night and I have once again forgotten this blog.  I know not why as I've read others blogs, come up with several really good blog ideas which I have soon forgotten.  I could write about the three political books I have gone through, two on ex Prime Ministers and one on an MP who reached the bottom level of government and disliked what he found.  However these bore people who do not wish know about such things and anyway I forget much of what I read. 
I could discuss football but I hate to gloat about success.  There is the question of money, but as you and I don't have none there is no point!  I could discuss my diet but do not wish to appear like one of those blasted cooks that fill the TV airwaves!  Anyway who wishes to hear about fruit and porridge? Bah!

One of the many bad things this week is the camera becoming filled up with dust!  This means it must be off to my brother who refuses to allow me to get the screwdriver out to clean it.  He seems to think I am ham fisted and incompetent just because I am ham fisted and incompetent. What do I do until it returns, probably sometime in 2050?  A trip round the second hand shops calls, but I am too busy rewriting the booklet and cannot leave the laptop!  Why does the day have only 24 hours and why am I so lazy?  
Never mind, I'm off to sleep anyway....  

I don't understand.

I don't understand how people can vote to stay ruled from Westminster when the opportunity to obtain an independent Scotland stands before you!

I have spent all my life ruled by England.  Both I and my nation have been regarded as second class citizens at all times. Any attempt to indicate this has been laughed off by those around me. This does not come from evil people bent on destruction but from an England that does not understand, nor care, how Scotland is treated.  I have indicated many times the constant belittling of Scotland in the media and daily life, something that other 'ethnics' would challenge as racist.
To the average Englishman Scots are 'up there,' and a 'good place for a holiday.'
They regard us as 'one of them, but different' and have no concept of what it means to be considered as the smaller and unimportant part of the union.
Huge resentment rises amongst those who see Scots care for their weakest as this is not an English attitude, at least among 'Middle England' the bit politicians aim for to get power! Greed and selfishness reigns there, just read the 'Daily Mail!' Each Englishman has his castle while Scots have learned to be more egalitarian.

How can anyone consider it worthwhile to continue being regarded as second class within a 'union' and allow half truths and deceit stop them from obtaining their nation once again?
Be a citizen of your own land Scots, the economic problems will always be there but this time under your control!

Speak for Scotland!
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Who They?

So who are all the visitors then?

I was getting a handful of highly intelligent visitors and now I am getting dozens of visitors! What is going on I ask?  Normally I attract a dozen at most, recently it has been 23, 49, 79, 82 even reaching 144 at one point!  Who they I ask?    

A quick look at the Blogger stats says little, it does not look too accurate to me, and after discounting the regulars, Google and other 'bots,' MI5, CIA and Scotland Yard (If you believe the media) then who are the others?  Not only who are they how come so few actually leave a comment?  Comments are not compulsory, reading this drivel can be a salutary lesson to the world as it is, but surely if these were normal visitors more would comment occasionally?

I wonder of somewhere a teacher makes the class read this daily as some kind of warning?  It may be a punishment of some kind, or possibly my ego is correct in assuming I am really worth a read day after day....what?.....oh!

Tonight I once again saw a stuttering, mediocre England side win a game by two breakaway goals against the run of play.  Once again I was surprised to see England playing in the easiest of groups while Scotland had one of the hardest, last night for instance Scotland played the World Champions and played them off the field only to lose too two lucky goals.  England never have that problem.  Now I am not saying there are questions to ask as to how Qatar and Russia obtained the World Cup finals in years to come but I will ask why does England gripe about that while obtaining the easiest qualifying group yet again!  

It was not always like this!  In the beginning Scotland was always superiour to their imperialist neighbour's.  The 'scientific football' developed in our egalitarian society enabled us to develop the passing game allied to our natural football skill.  It was only after the Great War, and more so after the 39-45 war that England began to take the initiative.  Today money talks in a way it did not in the past, foreign players abound in England and both Scotland and England have lost an edge in developing players for today.  Still, if the refs on your side it helps eh? 

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Nations

They say that Corsica, that small island in the Mediterranean, is possessed of many small villages high in the mountains, gleaming white boxes with a tall spired church, and natives who speak only the Corsican language to one another and French or Italian to visitors.  None it seems ever makes the short journey to Sardinia, the Italian possession to the south, even though ferries trip back and forth constantly to France and Italy.  
Imagine being born high up in one of those villages.  Growing up with a view of the sea ahead of you and towering snow capped mountains behind.  What would be your ambitions?  Would there be a desire to leave and see the world or would a loyalty to Corsica, your village and family dominate your thinking? How many Corsican's have you ran into on your travels?  
Humans are strange beings, we have no choice in where we are born, who brings us into this world and where we land on the earth, yet we are often loyal to the place where we are raised. It is common for people to show their patriotism at football or sporting meetings, even if they detest many of their fellow countrymen!  Why is this?  Some say "My country right or wrong," yet would you stand up for your nation if it was imperialist in outlook or justify this in some way? This can be a difficult decision if your claim your country is in the wrong and all around you are following like sheep, nationalism brings people together but it can blind them to wrongs also.

I mention this as I consider Scotland as she approaches the great referendum in a short time, a referendum that will restore her nationhood and lose the ball and chain that is English oppression!  I would certainly vote yes if I could as Scotland will be successful as a nation and there is no reason to be locked into a secondary relationship under English rule.  However this does not blind me to Scotland and Scots faults.  Indeed living outside of the nation I can see many things clearer things that I may not notice if I still lived there.  That said I remain Scottish in my attitudes and this reflects my upbringing and the influence of my family and education.  The era in which I grew also influences my thinking.  I am lucky in that I was born at this time and not later when things are less clear in my view.  
The greatest influence of course has been Jesus as this enables me to see the good things in the upbringing, much of Scots culture is biblically based, even that of those who call themselves 'secular,' and it also reveals the many things that require change.  These things affect me and wherever I am I find I am both Scots and able to stand back and consider the Scots in a way many in Scotland are unable to.  
It is strange how we are so loyal to our nation, our village, even if it is not a great place to be.  So many I met in London lived their lives awaiting the retirement 'back home,' knowing that if they ever got back, and the vast majority would never return, the home they left would be a very different place. I could never return to the Edinburgh I left as it no longer exists.  Places and people have changed, many I knew are dead, others may as well be.  Only the Heart of Midlothian remain the same, and there the players could be my grandchildren! Jings!          

Oh and Scotland were robbed by Germany tonight!  Two lucky goals and our bad misses, bah!

It could of course be that all the improvements in my diet, my lunch is seen above, have led to hallucinations.  It certainly has not led to weight loss but it has led to hunger, bah! 

Complaining, Something I Never Do!

Round our way Mum's little angels have gone to school.  The streets are now safer, the shops less crowded and indeed much quieter and the museum has a hollow ring to it these days.  The classrooms are very different from my day, computers arrive very early while we had to use pencil and paper! Classes are much smaller and parents complain there is only one teacher and three helpers for a class of twenty something, ha, our class reached 41 at one point but did we grumble, no!  

At secondary I wore the compulsory blazer and gray trousers like everyone else but was very envious of the 'rough' types who wore combat jacket and jeans, the trendy outfit of the time. They got away with this by claiming poverty, which was often true, but an awful loot of it was the brass neck attitude against authority.  It must be said most of those dressed thus were of an intellect deprivation culture also and many will not have risen to the highest positions in the land, if indeed they remain alive!  

This comes to mind as several stories appear in the media whenever school restarts, usually regarding some precious child who insists on wearing the emerald green footwear specifically banned by the school rules or has a pin in her tongue (to give her "confidence"), or hair designed in the latest banned trend. The press make a lot of such stories and the typical response when the spoilt brat is banned is 'serve them right!'  I agree with that.   Instead however of dealing with the dear brat in the making I suggest hammering the parent, usually a single mother with no sense of responsibility determined to do what she wants art all costs.  Occasionally daddy whines about his pet but normally when a man is in the house such things occur less, I wonder why?  

There is in the cases I noted recently no 'poverty' involved, indeed the opposite or they could not afford the trendy footwear, so it is selfish ignoring of the school rules.  Now such rules can indeed be a bit extreme, we were not allowed to smoke in the toilets for instance, but normally it is cheaper for the parents if they pay for the school uniform rather than the latest trend.

Maybe I just hanker for that combat jacket even yet?

You may have noticed the news recently.  Ukraine fighting although peace moves are afoot, ISIS or whatever they are called today killing folks dramatically in Syria/Iraq, drought threatening Ethiopia, problems still in Democratic Congo, Christians facing attacks in northern India, wars and rumours of wars abounding.  The TV offering hour after hour of 'pap' masquerading as worthy viewing, soap operas, cooks, bloody cooks everywhere, crime programmes from forty years ago, mostly American, and little else but drama that is no more than a soap opera with explosions.  So what drew most complaints to the BBC?  A game show!

The Pointless quiz is being repeated, in the way the BBC repeat everything, and 1217 people complained because one episode was missed out!  One quiz show episode missed and over a thousand people complained!  When first run in 2012 they made a mistake.  An answer was given and it was decided this was incorrect, it turns out this was a wrong decision.  A large number of people wrote in to indicate the fault and so to avoid this happening with the repeat they dropped that episode.  However this resulted in a huge amount of complaints!  

What does it say about us I wonder?      

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Nothing Again.

Too tired after my hard week, too worn out after my day with the niece, too knackered by the bug and too weak after having to eat porridge instead of chips!  
The world it must be said has not noticed.  
I had to drag my weary bulk to the shops to stock up on uneatables like Cottage cheese, nuts and tins of fish.  I really just wanted milk but thought I would gather the stuff anyway.  It was once I got back I realised I got everything bar milk.  Life is no fair.  So I had to drag myself out later for that.  

One thing that drew some limited attention was the practice of taking 'selfies.' This idea appears to thrill tabloid hacks but does little for me.  Take such pics if you wish but why put them in the paper? Why fill facebook with pics of you and your travels?  The sights I wish to see, you I do not!  Especially as you hover between the camera and the building in the background.  Me, myself and I would rather see the building thanks.  I say this because the English queen has apparently been getting annoyed by brats jumping in front of her to do this, not only does it go against protocol, and she is rigid on that, but it is a nuisance. Next time one of her Beefeaters should use that pike thing to remove said pest, that would be a picture worth seeing.

Rangers, that sectarian Glasgow football club, are in trouble again.  Desperately short of cash, overpaying players and manager, the board piling cash into their pockets and the chairman looking for his huge bonus for failing and now it appears the man from JJB Sports bought the rights to rename the ground for a mean £1 some time back.  This means he could insist on naming the ground after his company, as indeed some have done, and upset the fans who in this nation do not like this idea anywhere.  Rangers have it appears been going through the courts in an attempt to buy  out this contract (bought for £1) and so far have spent £25,000 on this endevour.   You have to laugh at the greed inside this club.

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Family

I had an enjoyable few hours today when my highly talented, intelligent and best looking niece came to visit.  The preparation for this visit meant a Spring Clean of course, I think I need more than a weeks warning if that is required, and by the time she arrived the fumigation was almost complete.  

How lovely to see her again, the only one that visits me.  This she does because they are hundreds of miles away and she is convinced I have boxes if used £20 notes under the bed.  I saw her looking but she was most disappointed!  The lass makes her living by pursuing her talent as a classical accompanist, and very good she is too!  Her musical talent came from her dad, he used to play the wireless! She is also available for work if you have money suitable employment available.

Having received my orders for a new diet naturally I ruined it by feeding her properly, including too much strawberries and cream.  Certainly too much cream on my plate but still some left for tomorrow....  The diet starts again tomorrow.

What with cleaning, scrubbing, hoovering, opening windows to let in air and then entertaining the lass by asking her to make my mobile phone work, making her visit the museum, I had little time to look at the world, but it seems to be the same as usual.  It is surprising how the world continues when you ignore it.  Now I am too knackered to care.  All this eating properly is taking my energy from me, and there is not much to begin with.

Bah!

Did you also know the Second World War began on the 3rd of September 1939?

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Culross.

Culross, Fife.

'Culross,' pronounced 'Koorus,' as you know.

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