Nothing To Say

I write this as I wish to write something.  I have nothing to write and nothing to say.  My wizened mind is slow tonight, dull and dreary would be appropriate words, inspiration is lacking and no-one is around to read or care what I write. However my fingers insist I type something and my mind is still gurgling away wishing to write even though it fails to provide energy nor subject.  
Thus I find myself crawling to a halt at this juncture.  I look around, as if late at night I can find creative subjects in the grime engrained curtains or the clothes strewn around the room.  Thankfully the dim light hides everything else or I may write about what lies in those dark corners! The bits of the failed shower gather dust in one corner, a picture frame that refused to stay on the wall another, dust that has hardened somewhat now lies deep on the mantelpiece, possibly it is time for a Spring clean after all?
A lone passing car reminds me of the quiet nature of this town.  Saturday night in the big city, as indeed most other nights, brought constant noise, here we occasionally hear an owl hoot in the distance, a plane very high overhead, a dog cheerfully walking the owner.  Of course when the pubs come out it will be different for a short while, and the weekend supermarket shoppers tail one another for miles down the road polluting the world while grasping their special offers that are rarely special at all.  In the big city lucky people have a park nearby or maybe a garden to remind them of the world underneath all that tarmac.  Out here a five minute drive, an hour at 'rush hour' takes in country views.  Rolling gentle slopes, wide open fields the colours varying with the seasons, trees standing tall after more than a hundred years, even cows and sheep desperate to be partitioned and sold in plastic wrappers throughout the land.  The opportunity to sit at a green lined avenue listening to chirping birds and squabbling squirrels means little to those brought up in such places, it is merely the background to their lives, but for city folks it is breathing afresh, inhaling real air and refreshing the tired weary mind.  Of course not all air is that pure, big cities send their pollution this way quite readily and when farmer Jones adds manure to his land the locals know about it. 
This land has been keeping farmers busy from dawn to dusk for thousands of years, even before farming as such began people harvested the deer, following them across what is now the north sea to Germany and back again.  Crops were farmed probably three thousand years ago and the same fields that saw Iron Age man, Roman villas, Saxon and Norman peasants now provides us similar crops.  Apart that is from the bits we have developed towns and industrial estates on of course! Then war needs meant more space was taken up by airfields and not all of that returned to the farmer.  This explains the planes high above climbing towards Spain and France, Norway and China, taking the masses on holiday or the businessman to his wealth.  Blue skies reveal white lines criss-crossing high above, drifting slowly as they fade defiling the clear blue of the sky.  Drunken revellers seeking the sun fail to notice nor care as they look to the beaches and cheap beer bottles lying ahead.  Their own corruption entices them too much to worry them.
The books piled on the table beside me appear to grow each time I notice them. Crossword books dating back years, quiz books, a bible, Tacitus 'Annuls,' and instructions for long dead electrical equipment form the basis.  I am now afraid to search further in case long ignored letters appear also.  There is the remains of a jam sandwich, a 'piece' as we called it back home, gathering enough mould for enough penicillin to supply the NHS. I will ignore that also.  
Nope, the mind has not woken.  Sloth remains.  Only sleep, and I have had three of those already today, can remedy things now.  Sleep, that strange unconsciousness that takes a third of our lives.  The coma that allows the mind to refresh, it's like when we turn off the computer and switch it back on again and it works!  I can mention some folks who do not appear to do this often enough in my view.  Sleep offers dreams, usually instantly forgotten on waking while the emotions remain.  Can this be a means by which the brain resets itself?  Everybody has them, sometimes filled with the actions of the day often bringing to mind people and places, somewhat confused maybe but clear, from many years ago.  I often dream of a building I lived in, a place I worked in, a dead relative, there appears to be no reason but they are real enough for a few minutes or is that seconds?  Like the need for food and water sleep is one of God's ways of reminding us we are just mortals, not gods ourselves, something we forget all too easily.  Sadly we are not the centre of the world, he is, and only when he is centre of our life, my life, can the world be seen for in reality.  
Look at that, having nothing to say, worn mind, so worn I could not watch the football as it meant little to me, tired body still aching from the exercise three days ago and no inspiration coming through the ether I have managed to misspell more words than normal!  That takes skill!  Enough, I canny see the screen for eyes half closed, which indeed is how they have been all day. 

Yaaawwwn!

Swanning Around

I was going to write something some would consider controversial but find that I am worn out with the pressure of the day.  It has been hard sitting inside watching rain fall heavily and constantly.  It was so bad I had to work on my great war men even though it was driving me up the wall.  I have around 25 more men to check up on and it appears to get slower rather than faster.  All morning it rained Highland style and up there they expect winds of a hundred miles an hour tonight. Sometimes it's good to be in the soft south.  The rain ceased long after lunch and allowed the people out once again.  

This was one of the better responses to the Paris attack.  However some papers were not keen to emblazon their pages with these cartoons.  The Express and Daily Mail cartoonists avoided the subject altogether.  

The sodden park opposite has daffodils growing through already!  These beauties that arrive in Spring are showing through, confused by the mild winter and find themselves surrounded by puddles of water.  The climate is indeed changing.  I tell thee Jesus is coming soon!  Not for the daffs by the way.

I am off to sleep, such hard work is wearing me out.....

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Paris Attack Today

BBC NEWS

The terrorist attack in Paris will make news throughout the world today.  At least a dozen dead, constant repetitions of the videos shot by onlookers, much, far too much speculation and needless chatter on the TV and Radio.

This attack on a satirical magazine which often laughs at Muslims, Catholics and Jews, was the scene, not for the first time, of an attack.  This shows at the very least that disagreeing with Islam can cause offence but with a variety of Jihadist organisations seeking recruits and publicity eventually leads to violent opposition.  Middle East Islam does not comprehend western liberal democracy. Lets face it 'Liberal' is not the most positive democracy, just look at the world around you, but it is better than rule by ISIS or some such group.

Islam of course is one of those religions that in theory is based on the Koran, however it is easily adapted to the culture in which it is found.  Therefore Islam in Lebanon has near naked women on the beach, Islam in Saudi Arabia will not even let them drive!  Just where this latest lot arise will be interesting to discover.

Some terrorist groupings can be dealt with.  The IRA, in spite of the cash flowing in from the USA came to realise that bombings would never get them power.  Islamist groupings will never understand that even after thirty years of so called war!  A quick look at the variety of murders in Pakistan alone over the past thirty years indicates that political understandings will be hindered by hard line groupings somewhere or other.  

It is important to remind ourselves that the fear of Islam in the west omits to point out that Islam kills more Muslims in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan and elsewhere than it does in the west.  Media outrage does not offer even handed journalism, especially when the readership do not wish to read it, and even more so in an election year!  The man in the corner shop is unlikely to offer danger to his customers, his son, growing up in a western society, well educated and talented in many ways may however find himself debating in his teenage years whether he really is a Muslim or a liberal westerner.  It is such as he who is tempted to extreme views, especially when at that age the desire to change the world is strong.  Far too many have been enticed through social media to extreme views, at least 36 have died in Iraq according to one report because of this.  Many have realised too late their mistake. 

More of this is to be expected in the days to come, the question however is how we respond to this. English extremists will no doubt rush to Islamic dominated areas to cause trouble, Islamic extremists will rush to meet them.  Lock them both up, together I say, and let decency prevail.

The thing to do now is for all media throughout the west to publish the cartoons that upset the extremists.  However, our media talk well but will never endanger themselves so that will not happen!

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Back to Work

What a rush there is in the morning to get out of the house.  Struggling to rise when the sun has not risen is not my favourite moment, let alone washing in cold water because the heated stuff has not yet come through the pipe.  Still in spite of the struggle I managed to get out of the house and into the museum five minutes down the road by ten o'clock!  How did I ever get out at 4:30 in the morning in days past?  
How lovely to be back once again, even though as I walked in they all walked out flinging the keys in my direction and rushed of to an important meeting over the road.  Are the pubs open I wondered? So I was left alone, bar Peggy that is, in charge of an empty building.  As always no-one came until around eleven when they all came at once, can they not get up either?  

While quiet I tidied up as best I could accidentally placing all my books in noticeable positions and making use of then'Macro' setting on the wee camera.   It enabled a better view of the little items I thought.  The Piggy Bank is life size in the picture, we have sold lots of those at £1:60 and the key rings sell well to kids.  It is a bit much that 'shillings,' once regularly bouncing along in my pocket, are now sold as keyrings in such places!  We also had a book, 'The 60's House' which regarded such furniture pictured as of a bygone era when it was only yesterday.  
Still the morning was reasonably quiet but I managed to sell a few books and took some cash so keeping me awake.  I would have drunk coffee to keep me awake but Peggy pretended she was busy and I had to make it myself when the rest returned worn out and bleating from their meeting. It is unfair, so it is I say.  Peggy also avoided coming near me while I was forced to listen to a woman talking, you know the type, once started it is hard to stop them.  Some of what she said was relevant to the point made!  She has promised to come back next week.  Indeed several visitors will return next week, I suppose not to see me but the new exhibition, but you can never tell can you?   
The Gas man has asked me to send him a meter reading.  This done I notice he suggests I alter the amount paid monthly but his suggestion is higher than I am willing to pay.  Funnily enough his online system will not work correctly unless I pay his 'suggested amount,' so I have left it unchanged and switched of the heating.  I can rough it.    
  

Laugh, Maybe...

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Frozen

Too cold to think or write, I'm going back to bed! 

Saturday Cogitating

I thought I was in Edinburgh when I awoke this morning, the rain was hammering down.  This continued until nearly four in the afternoon trapping decent people indoors, me too.  There was no choice but to do all those things left undone all Christmas/New Year week(s) but sadly I failed to do them.  I tried Oh I tried but by the time a small breakfast had finished it was time to prepare the early lunch before the Edinburgh Derby at 12:45.  So there was little space left to touch the things that have been untouched for too long. Anyway it is Saturday and such things should be done midweek when the building is quiet and I disturb none.  So I left them untouched.

The Edinburgh Derby, the most important football match since time began (time began on Christmas Day 1875 when the Heart of Midlothian defeated Hibernians (as they were then known) by one goal to nil as you know) takes place four time a season at the moment and the Heart of Midlothian are of course totally dominant in this fixture.  Easily worried wimps however have begun to fear that the revival amongst Hibernian (as they are now known) may lead to a historic defeat for the Heart of Midlothian. Such types are usually found among the younger element.  I was not born the last time the Heart of Midlothian lost this game.  Indeed this time the forces of wickedness put their thuggery to good use to obtain a draw, one goal each.  Totally undeserved as but for the brutal tackling of their ape like defenders we would have won as easily as usual.  Once again the Hibs manager claimed "We were the better team, we should have had a penalty," just like he did last time and all Hibs managers have claimed since 1875, which was surprising as penalties did not exist then.  So I watched this and attempted to watch an English game but they have no meaning after such an important event.

The rain dispersed at four and I ventured out into the dismal streets.  The market was closed and the stalls all packed up.  Business must have been bad as even my 'desperate for every penny' veg stall had almost completely packed away his goods.  Nothing remained but damp streets and rare soggy shoppers squelching their way homewards.  

I  sought a picture but found few.  Taking one I discovered a woman getting out of her car just below the shot I was taking, she very suspicious that I was photographing her!  How self obsessed are these women?  At your age dearie? Pah!  However I moved elsewhere before she started screaming.  I have not forgotten the last time and honest I did not realise her window was open officer!  

My diet has meant desperation to lose weight, today I realised I was not eating enough and have stuffed myself with carbohydrates (I canny spell 'chips') and Sticky Toffee pudding to make myself feel better.

I now feel sick.

Also on the agenda is a review of the budget.  Having been extremely poor for a while, I have moved from pauperism into poverty now, it became noticeable that I was spending just too freely.  Where once I shopped careful of every penny now I was losing control and spending with too little care.  It is time for a rethink.  However it is noticeable that while the supermarkets claim people are spending less I find prices have risen considerably in the past two years alone. No wonder some find themselves using 'foodbanks.'  In spite of fiddling the books in good Conservative style the Tesco's of this world have been losing cash while overcharging the rest of us and claiming we are saving money!  My budget review is nearly done, a walk round the grasping supermarkets once more is required to reign in the spending totally.  (I wonder if I can save enough for a new camera....?)  Look, greed appears again!  Tsk!  

Around me are piled lots of books and papers, none of which are completed or ever likely to be completed.  My life is always unfinished, should I compose a symphony perhaps?  Now I have decided to review the budget maybe I should review these undone things that need done and complete the half read books. There are several language books, Russian, so old it is all Communist in style, Latin, two at least, and English which is too complicated for me learning it as a foreign language.  A pile to my right concern the local scene, all pinched acquired from the museum and unread as we worked through the Great War, that is also unfinished and the names list is not yet completed, I have only got to 'R' jings! On top of all this lies that layer of dust that has to be dealt with also.  I wonder where that comes from, I only removed it a month or so ago.  

Considering all that has made me weary, I reckon the best thing to do is to lie down for a while and see if it is all different tomorrow, I'm sure it will be....

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Nothing to Say

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Dull, Dreich New Year.

The year begins as I suspect it wishes to go on, dull, dreich, dismal and damp. I took myself out after the Dundee derby played in the usual dull, dreich, Dundee derby style weather and sauntered around the empty streets.  Imagine my surprise to find a near empty 'Argos' shop open for business. One or two other shops also considered it worth while paying time and a half, or even double time, to lose money opening today.  Few people trawling the shops for bargains, clearly many still in bed judging by the closed curtains all around.  Scotland would have been entirely closed today, and probably similar tomorrow, as the effects of the season wore off.  I still after all this time find it amazing that so many folks are keen to work on such a day.   So it's a quiet dreich start, with little in the way of new years greetings from passers-by down here, but that is nothing new, and a new year full of promise and bad weather ahead of us.

The only smiling faces to be seen were those of the dogs in the park.  From the grubby window I watched several happily wagging tails sniffing their way through the early morning gloom.  Well wrapped individuals trailed along, desperate to get back to the fireside, while the dog rummaged through the grass for friends unseen.  Today one hairbrush with a collar noted a rabbit that lives near the car park on the other side and chased after it.  Bunny was quickly back inside the bushes and no doubt deep underground within minutes.  The hairbrush cared little at his loss and made off in the other direction with the owner.  Yesterday the man with several dogs was seen clearly on the white ice covered park. He stood out clearly from the white background as did the mutts wandering about, tails wagging in the frozen ground.  Did they realise it was ice cold?  Yes, but did they care?  No!  The dogs had a whale of a time as always, no matter the weather.  

I did manage to fit in almost three complete football matches but my attention was distracted by becoming hooked on 'Watson's Block Game.'  That irritating block game that is so difficult to stop!

In the real world people pay vast sums for an 'X'-Box or PS something or other and buy violent guns and explosions type games to while away the hours. Rarely do any of these hero's enlist in the armed forces but if they do the training helps.  Me, myself and I however find one of the Solitaire games exciting enough and occasionally something else comes along.  For some years now I have taken periods where I get hooked on the block Game and today has been one of them.  Luckily there were vast amounts of goals being scored to distract me now and again but I did lose concentration on the football.  The problem is I have become addicted to using the keyboard!  If I am watching something on here my fingers demand to press keys.  Therefore I must play the Block Game or find something similar if any exists to occupy my fingers.  Life is so hard when you are an addict!

I hope your day has been good and the new year portends well for each and every one, in spite of all those difficulties we all face.  Remember, it could be worse, you could be English!

       

A Guid New Year!

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Administration Day

I am ending the year with some administration.  Paperwork long left lying about has been put to use, calls made and services amended.  Among them is the change from 'TalkTalk' to 'BT Sport' so I can watch Scottish football legally and with a clearer picture than before.
The need to phone Mumbai to speak to someone who does not speak clear English is a nuisance no matter how well educated and willing they may be. Several times I failed to understand her speech, and she sounded irked by this, I know why as I often have that trouble with the folks here.  Still all went through and within the next month bit 'TalkTalk' and 'BT' will work together to cut me off from the web for a long period of time!  Quite when this will be I know not, but it will happen, won't it?
I have run several devices to clean up the laptop and it actually worked! Several things run faster and I suspect I have also mislaid one or two things on the way. I certainly pressed 'block' on one item when I meant to press 'allow' and now I canny unblock the thing!  I can look at email when half the page is missing I suppose.  
Now I note a new calendar lies awaiting my touch.  This one has those old pictures with word balloons added, you know, "I want to open a joint bank account." "Who with?"  "Whoever has lots of money."  It is a woman asking by the way.  Now I must go through this marking in all the birthdays, especially the ones I forgot last time.   Checking carefully to see just how many of these scurvy knaves have given me two dates for their birthday.  That has happened before.  
This calendar is OK in many ways but has two irritating aspects.  One is the unfortunate habit of beginning the week on a Monday, I always begin on Sunday.  The other is the holidays, they are all US! Who needs to know about 'Independence Day?'   Bah!  However with the birthdays marked in I can now forget about them until the time.
The thing about birthdays is the demand to send a card.  So when I can I buy a bundle of suitable cards and store them for the day.  On the day naturally none of them fit the recipient.  They are either all for girlies or all for men of action, the word 'action' need not be taken literally.  So once again I trek round the three or four places to find cheap cards and by the end of the year I have a bundle unused in the desk.  Mind you I have been known to reuse Christmas cards for birthdays, if I am not fussy why should they be I reckon?
The citizens of Edinburgh will be well into their midwinter celebrations by this time, even though midnight is still hours away.  Hogmany will be a big party for many and I suspect somewhere in Leith Mr S. is handing out the households cash via the bar of the 'Sarry Heid.'  In this dark land the area quietens, until the fireworks at midnight that cause so must pain to the town's animals, then a few drunks will despoil the place but most will remain quiet, apart from the ones punching one another 'up the throat,' an activity that has become commonplace after closing time these days.  The reason is simple, there are too few police now, the Tories have cut them and late night revels and punch ups are left to the idiots to sort themselves.  
I am heading for bed come what may.  In the past we went round folks houses having a drink and a party, today Hogmany appears more concerned with drink than party.  The ability to drink without endangering yourself or others is noted less and less it seems to me.  The 'First footing,' the whisky, the 'Black Bun' was all part of things then.  It still is but it appears to me listening to folks that life has changed greatly in the last twenty years.  The days of yore saw parties, conversation and much laughter, although the Latvian's amongst us could not half knock back vodka!  Not me, then or now! I reckon that is the stuff that has kept them going well into their eighties.  Ban it and they might disintegrate. The harder edge to the world has lost much at this time. 
The outside world has gone strangely quiet.  Few cars pass, no one walks, no talk, no cries from the brats in the park, nothing.  They must be rushing home to watch sad TV or are filling the pubs, and few will 'first foot' as they have no idea what that is here.  That reminds me, I musts secure that door...
   

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The Sky Above

Have you noticed how the days are getting, ever so slowly, longer?  The sun is slightly higher this afternoon than it was last week, and the darkness takes minutes less to arrive.  Spring is fast approaching and once this mid winter festival is out of the way and the drunks locked up we can look forward to better days.  It never ceases to amaze me the way the world works.  If the sun was closer we would burn, if further away freeze, life would not be possible.  How lucky it manages to stay in the right place.  Orion constellation is one I have know all my life, hanging high above us in the cold, clear nights Edinburgh folks are so used to.   Out side Edinburgh it could be seen clearly from the bus stop as we made our way home at nights.  I wonder if it is still there?  Once upon a time I was foolish enough to believe that there was life out there, possibly too many episode so 'Star Trek; or a reading of 'Dan Dare' in the 'Eagle.'  I no longer believe this now.  Vast area of South American desert show no life whatsoever and I suspect out there things are the same.  Not counting the many stars, especially in the far distance that no longer exist, they dying long ago and the light only now reaching us.
I used to enjoy science fiction type books but in the end all comes down to human nature and they way we behave towards one another.  Whether at sea, on land or in deep space science fiction folk always proved to human.  There must be a reason for this.  Still it would be enjoyable to sit in a warm comfortable spacecraft and make speed through the night sky visiting far distant planets, without dying of course, and having lunch at the restaurant at the end of the universe.

Back on earth there is the Blues.....

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Back to Normalish

Having spent some time in the morning rubbing whale oil all over my lithe muscle bound body I ventured out into the land of Nanuk.  Here I discovered the world returning to some sort of normality.  Some of the populace had work to go to, some went to work, others crowded the supermarkets desperate to refill the larder in spite of eating enough for the entire population of a small country over the past few days. The grumpy faces once more showed themselves, the kids trundled new scooters, bikes and other overpriced treasures and I merely passed amongst them unnoticed, at least according to all those who walked into me and carried on without apologising! 

Nothing happened otherwise.  The after Christmas, awaiting for New Year days are pretty quiet. The politicians hide away counting their expenses, run of the mill news is slack and even the sad tragedy of another airliner disappearing does not fill the news services timetables.  A fire on a ferry helps but sadly for them almost everybody escaped.  Poor reporters, how hard for them to fill their pages and hour long broadcast slots.

One sad news item concerned a lass who died.  This woman suffered Multiple Sclerosis, a horrible disease that kills you after around 20 years of suffering, and she had gone to court in a bid to prevent her husband being charged if they went to a place abroad where she could commit suicide. She won some degree of support from the judges yet sadly passed away today naturally I believe. Now one of the diseases that Maida Vale dealt with when I worked in that hospital was MS, and at the time I worked there my cousin, a physiotherapist who worked with Raith Rovers and Dunfermline football clubs, also contracted this vile illness.  He died years later, a fit healthy active man in his forties reduced to being trapped in a wheelchair.  How he and his wife coped I know not.

However the point is should people be allowed to assist others to die?  It is tempting to jump to a, shall we say emotional conclusion, and say yes!  End their suffering if they wish it.  However I would worry that such a decision cannot always be taken by someone confused and desperate under sickness and drugs.  I would also worry that such a right would easily lead to the removal of old folks that some no longer wished to care for, and that can be distressing, or those who wish to inherit Uncle Joe's vast fortune.  I caught a report on the radio claiming that such a law exists in the Netherlands today and there indeed have been problems caused by such events.  Peoples wish to die often forced upon them by others for whatever reason.  A difficult situation but in my view to open to abuse by many.  

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A Dark and Cold Night

Not being one to grumble I showed concern for my readership by checking on the weather in their part of the world.  While we sit here enduring the 'cold snap' in which frozen fingers tend to fall of with amazing regularity and pipes freeze sufficiently to ensure the local plumbers will meet up in the Algarve in a few weeks time to sip cold drinks and laugh at the folks back home.  The temperature is minus one on the centigrade scale, 30F or so in real terms, or as it is termed here "Bloody freezing!"  
This caused me some concern regarding the shocking conditions in the colonies and I have been reliably informed that Queensland has drizzle while the temp remains at 72 F.  Please note it is 6 in the morning there!!!  Central America suffers 77% also while stuffing fattening food down their throats and only Edinburgh will be colder than this wilderness.  The poor folks in Texas are overcast and suffering 42%, I suspect they will invade somewhere if it does not improve soon.  It will be raining tomorrow in Georgia but a warm Edinburgh 60% will suffice.  How lucky can they be I ask?   Even Missouri is suffering like us, is this normal?  It is warmer in Cyprus but not much, 55F, which will annoy the landlords handyman as he spent Christmas there.  I suspect however he ventured rarely from the hotel bar once the food options had been devoured.  
Climate change, whether man made or just a happening is real and as usual politicians do little but talk about it.  Some island nations will soon disappear, the likes of Bangladesh will suffer terribly, and even the south of England will have inundations along the coast.  Politicians will do nothing until it hits home and then it will be too little and too late.  Still it has been a surprisingly warm summer, we cannot complain, but the energy robbers will, and if we have a mild winter in comparison to some I will not grumble, I rarely do.   

World Clock

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Dead Town

The problem with having Christmas on a Thursday is that it leaves the feeling of two weekends placed together.  While Christmas Day sees folks visiting one another and Boxing Day offering more visits or crushed in shops for shiny things the town remains quiet.  Today it was so quiet the market did not take place, a rare event that, possibly because some stalls had been here for the previous week, but few were to be found strolling through the few open shops.  Sunday tomorrow so a quiet time for those not watching football on TV on visiting the churches.  
The weather does not help.  After the remarkably warm year the weather girls have been telling us of the 'cold snap' that has hit us now.  'Cold snap?'  It's Christmas!  The Christmas type pictures show heaps of snow everywhere so how come we face a 'cold snap' in December?  This reminds me of the 'Daily mail' story warning of three months of bitter cold weather lay ahead.  As one of their commentators pointed out that meant December, January and February! Usually in the UK this refers to what we call 'winter!'  It is possible the people at the 'Daily Mail' were not aware of this, thinking is not their strongest attribute.
However the north wind howling through the window has meant me leaving the curtains in place today, darkening the inner sanctum but avoiding frostbite and the need to keep the heating on all day. However that pullover is not as yet being put to use!
I started my diet today, have you begun yours....?

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The Day After

Possibly the most worrying thing today was the weighing machine cracking under my feet as I stood on it.  Being not so young as it once was it shows signs of strain, however loud cracking sounds followed by sighs of relief as I get off are not asked for.  I suggest it is broken and requires urgent replacement and I will look into this once I have eaten all the stuff in the fridge and begin my new diet again.    

Well you see I bought stuff for Christmas and canny eat it all in one go can I? At least I couldn't yesterday or today at any rate.  The puddings are still in the cupboard and the Italian type cake is only half eaten.  Well I say 'half...' Anyway tomorrow I eat more veg and begin to fight the flab.  I even attempted slight exercise again, and slight is the word.  

Christmas TV was poor.  I only found the Chris Tarrant Railways programmes worth watching.  All the rest was films and pap, the usual stuff.  Folks I could have been with this week are now watching 'Downtown Abbey' or whatever it's called, and have been watching several dreary films.  I could have been there grumbling at their TV but stayed here to grumble at my own.  Be assured had I had to watch that 'Downtown' thing again as I had to last time I may well have spoken out of turn!  

Several radio programmes were worth a listen however.

Christmas meditation by Milton Jones, a comic.  

Voices of the First World War, featuring men who saw the 1914 Christmas truce.  This truce was unofficial and took place in limited parts of the line. However it has received much publicity this year, somewhat 'over the top' in my view but worth a listen to the men themselves.  

Desert Island Discs 300th programme.  Most who appear on this radio favourite mean little to me but this man turned out to be a real gem and worth a listen.

With Great Pleasure, items chosen by Ian Hislop.   An interesting insight into Ian and his choice of readings.  Usually this is a good programme whoever is on it.

The rest of the time I just watched football when I could find it!

Oh and my 17 year old great niece sent me a pullover.

Those lights flash on and off too, just wait till I see her........ 

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Christmas Day

May Christmas bring you joy and happiness in spite of it all!

A good and happy Christmas to all my friends worldwide.

I would be nothing without you!  

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Christmas Eve

I had a problem with the lamp.
The bulb went out as I switched it on.  I switched off, went rummaging and found a new bulb.
I removed old bulb, placed it on desk besides new one and got interested in something on laptop.
I returned to bulb, inserted, switched on - nothing!
I removed bulb and replaced it again, firmly this time, and switched on.
Nothing.
Resentfully I then went two whole days in semi darkness before getting round to checking the plug.
This meant crawling under the desk into a world of dust, dead men's bones and plugs.  Eventually the right one was removed.  Opened it revealed an ageing 3A fuse.  I searched the fuses lying in  heap on the mantelpiece for reasons unknown to discover only 5A and 13A available.  UK standards insist on 3A for lamps.
I trudge out among the masses once again to the Indian ironmonger type shop where almost all those little things you require can be found cheap.  China must love this man!  Having stared at the wall covered in electrical bits for an age he came over and went to the fuses which were naturally right in front of me.  
Home again I replaced the fuse, entered the murky world beneath the desk wondering how long that half sandwich had lain there and inserted plug into its place.
Above I grasped bulb and shoved it where it goes, switched on, nothing!
It was at this point that I noticed another bulb still in the box.
Removing this I tried that one in the lamp, switched on and light flooded the grime filled room.
I had been using the old bulb instead of the new....

It was Christmas Eve in the Care Home
and drugs had not been given out....  

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Dusk

The sky appears full of dark clouds as the sun lowers itself into the Americas.  However today was remarkably mild and this has been the warmest Autumn/Winter that I can recall.  Global warming is having its effect.  Of course if we tend to the tropical I will not complain I prefer warmth to cold. The resultant effects elsewhere may however be unfortunate.
I spent much of today attempting to find TV & Radio worth watching/listening to.  I have the tapes/DVD's ready for recording but so far have found two programmes worth noting, and one of them might be rubbish.  Around 33 channels, not counting kids ones, can be received by my cheap TV setup and tonight I see one programme worth watching and one possible.  Dreadful choice as all channels appear happy to delight the dumb and ignore those who wish something a bit more satisfying.  Some programmes are those American detectives made in the 70's, I do not wish to see 'Kojak' these days.  There is hope in the wireless, hopefully...

The Glasgow tragedy, where a dustbin lorry driver appears to have had a heart attack, crashed into the shoppers in the main street killing six and wounding others, gets much publicity.  However around this area we have had several serious road accidents, I suspect caused by impatient or foolish drivers, in which several people have died and others face long days of hospital treatment. To read of granddad and 18 year old granddaughter dying together is more than I can bare, and just before Christmas too.  Other tragedies have occurred most of which we never hear about and the cheeriness of the adverts stuffed with shiny things and smiling faces must hurt dreadfully.  However when I worked at Maida Vale Hospital most patients were sent home and only the needy remained. This led to a more pleasant atmosphere and surprising amounts of alcohol, cake and such like would appear in the open wards.  Patients able to enjoy, in between being drugged by nurses to kill pain, usually have a decent time in the circumstances.  Some prefer it!  Still, it is a tragedy at this time, especially when I am informed my niece was in that street five minutes before!

Is this boring?  It bores me.  While my knee is aching less and I get about a wee bit more there is nowhere to go and nothing to do this week.  Shops crowded, folks disappearing to warm places, and the news drying up as nothing important is put through at this time.  At least not up front!

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Cats

Today, as promised, I gave myself over to exercise.  The weight must go and I ate healthily and exercised moderately.  I am now hungry, feel weak and ache all over.  My weight stays the same.  I suppose five minutes is not enough but it is the first time for a couple of months my knees have allowed me to do this.  I could not have done this last week.  Cue cries of pain...

I also wandered out a couple of times to look for happy smiling faces like the ones you see on adverts. None could be found.   Just where do all those sparking teeth go I wonder?  Billions of people strode manfully about pretending they knew what they were doing.  Most will be disappointed as this little town has few shops worth Christmas buying in.  My smug comment last night referring to having 'done Christmas ages ago' to a lovely lady allowed her to remind me of all she still had to do!  I did not mention the fun she gets for children, grandchildren and seeing happy faces, she might have bitten me. You know what women are like.

Cats are like women, their logic no man can understand.  This half Persian, half factory cat arrived as a kitten when my brother in law brought it home from the BMC factory.  It proved at that time to much for the kids, they were too young to appreciate it so it landed on us.  My fingers still have scratch marks from the brute!  It grew with its own personality, demanding tea when we all had one and wishing to run outside to check the land at one in the morning.  When the kid stayed with us she drank weak milky tea and one day we saw the cat drinking from it.  Eventually that cup became the cats and when we had tea a milky half cup was placed at the emperors feet so he could join in. A withering glance resulted if this was forgotten.

In those far off days the street lights were not that bright, adequate for the time as the traffic was much less.  Today zebra crossings, lights, flashing colours and bright beans illuminate that street while the traffic hurtles past non stop.  So much quieter here in the backwater.  However the cat wished to examine his patch.  I would find him sitting on top of me punching my face at half past one. This meant I had to get up, unlock the door, wander down to the back door of the building, open that and allow the brute to step outside.  This he did reluctantly while he perused the darkness.  Eventually, after a short eternity, he would race of round the corner of the building, I would close back door, open the front one and find him half inside the door staring into the dim light. Satisfied his kingdom was still there we returned to bed and sleep.

Today I would shoot him!

I noticed the film 'The Great Escape' was on one of the channels the other day. It has become so important to have this drivel shown every Christmas.  I much prefer the real story than one with Steve McQueen overacting.  All the channels have lined up vast amounts of mediocre dross for the season. Hopefully the radio will not disappoint.    

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Carol Service

Not long back from a carol service with fattening mince pies and chocolate sweets.  Time for an early bed I fear, lots of exercise to do tomorrow....

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A Car, a Band, and an Aircraft

The ability of the readers of this humble page never fail to amaze me.  Soub's request to satisfy his petrol driven mind is answered before I awake from my unsuccessful beauty sleep.  So we know this car mystery is a Lloyd Alexander, a wee German car made for the cheap (my) end of the market. How clever you all are, but I suspect some of you at least, know this.  I now find myself wishing I had such a cheap to run car, even if the Germans thought "He who is not afraid of death, drives a Lloyd."

As the football was rotten, the usual boring English stuff, and there was adventure to be had out in the free world I sauntered about the town hoping the market would be full of good things.  Sadly it was merely full of people!  Walking through the shopping centre I encountered around about seven million people there, every third one intent on walking into me!  With the brass band playing something about 'Merry Christmas,' I took note that not one happy face was to be seen.  Occasional excited children would pass, too young to realise happiness had nothing to do with Christmas shopping, and a few smug looks appeared amongst those who clearly had finished theirs. Otherwise it was not as cheery as I had hoped.  Rather sad as I had quite a good day really, boring but quite good.

     

I really cannot stop looking at the skies, especially on bright cold days like today.  The dying sun offers great skies, especially when vast numbers of polluting aircraft make their way to various local landing spots.  Some high above are passing on to North America at 35,000 feet, others sadly aiming for Luton Airport, a place not to be confused with Washington of Toronto!  Once again there are arguments about putting another runway at Heathrow Airport, already grossly overcrowded, because business leaders say it must be done! Spread them out around the country I say, not all planes need to land in the south east! As I write a China Eastern Airbus from Heathrow heading towards Shanghai has passed overhead, Another from Luton is on its way to Prague while one from Sharm el-Sheikh (where?) comes in the reverse direction, and this is a quiet time!  It is rare to hear aircraft so high above but just how many pass by daily can be imagined.  Flight Radar is one way of following such adventures.  

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A Query Answered Perhaps?

That great man Soub has been attempting to identify this car for some time now.  It was seen in Sainsburys car park some time ago and we had no idea what it was.  I still haven't.   Is it a 'Lloyd Alexander' built by 'Norddeutscher Lloyd?  

So the question is can our car be one of these two that he found?

What thinkest thou petrol heads....?

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Drivel Post

Last night I dug out some old, decaying albums and found one or two old pics that I liked.  In fact some were well taken and I was pleased with them, better than those I take today.  These were taken on the old 'Zenit-E,' a Russian camera built like a brick and old by the time it came into my hands, free!   It was the type of camera many learned their photography on and by the use of longer lenses, bought cheaply, and all those other bits I added I got some good shots.  Out here in this small town there is little opportunity for much photography and my wee camera, good though it is, is somewhat limited in its reach.
The problem with old pics is the condition of the print.  This one was taken in the early eighties and is now tainted by bits of dust and other things that I cannot remove.  Not that I bothered of course.
I think that one was taken at Herne Bay on the south coast.  Dusk produces such good skies, especially in summer.

Today I got well away from the Great War!  I met another of my bosses at the museum (all women) and discovered I am now researching World War Two! This is unfortunate as I have not finished the last lot yet!  However I began today and almost forgot to eat, forgot to post this rubbish and forgot something else I forgot.I wonder what it was.....?

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Another debacle ends

Another debacle in my life finishes.

Leaking cistern (the brethren were OK) impossible to get handyman to fix Friday, planned for Tuesday.  Leaks held until then by tubs underneath, emptied every two hours or so.

Turn water off?

If we touch that tap it leaks or possibly explodes flooding house, it has not been used for 25 years

and they tend to do that.

Turn main one off, where?  Will not turn, even plumber struggled.

10’ o’clock Tuesday I should be in museum, no handyman.  He has gone to fix door that fell off.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!   

He is promised for afternoon.

Late afternoon much prayer was answered when real plumber Darren arrived at the  door.

I hugged him!

He was surprised somewhat.

Now all is working, although the sodden carpet has been dumped and the bare floorboards in the loo are not pretty.  I missed the museum as I was trapped indoors, they did not miss me however.  An email arrived ordering me to research WW2!  I still haven't finished WW1 yet!

This was a small thing really but took days and aggravated greatly, especially when the handyman does not arrive and nothing was said!!!  Only after ten when I called the office did I find out that she knew nothing either! 

However all bar the damp floor fixed and that can wait.

Such things cause much aggro, more than war and disease, unless you suffer war and disease of course.

Today I did nothing, and done it very badly.....

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Leith

Leith, as everybody knows, is Edinburgh's port.  Until 1926 when the two were amalgamated into one, much to the Leithers annoyance, the port existed very well for centuries.  As a port it was used to visiting dignitaries, passing through to Edinburgh, and saw many an encounter with invading armies. Beginning around a thousand years ago Leith grew up on either side of the 'Water of Leith,' the river wide and deep enough to allow quite large boats to unload cargo.  Fishing and shipbuilding also became staples of the economy early. The first bridge between the two sides arrived around the late 15th century. Scotland was once ruled from Leith by Mary of Guise, as regent for Mary Queen of Scots, who stayed in France.  This led to a siege when the Scots nobles decided on a democratic change, using big guns!  Two mounds on Leith Links are considered by some to be bases for the battery during the siege. 
In 1822 King IV arrived at Leith to much pomp and circumstance.  Walter Scott, he of novel fame, was the man responsible for the myth of Scotland.  The variety of tartan, the romantic highlander, the noble suffering Scot.  All baloney of course!  However he persuaded the first visiting monarch since Mary Queen of Scots to dress up in glorious highland dress, and those who keep in with royalty, and the rest, quickly decided this was wonderful and highland dress as we now know it began then.  It was never thus fir the actual highlanders of course.  It speaks much of London that rarely did the monarch visit Scotland until recently. 
There was a downturn in Leith after the war.  The many distilleries, and just how many were there in those Victorian death traps of Leith, moved out of town by the sixties, the docks lost work, the shipbuilding, always a major employer ceased, and the area became run down.  Attempts are renovating the 'Kirkgate' by a modern 60's style shopping centre fell flat.  However the area has since undergone improvement with the arrival of many Scottish Office administration offices, and the people who work in them, thus leading to a gentrification of the port.  The old royal yacht 'Britannia' now lies moored as a tourist attraction among others.  The port also plays host to the worst football team the world has ever known, 'Hibernian,' renown as a laughing stock they do make the rest of the league look better than they actually are!  
To me it was the place we shopped most Saturdays.  In days of yore when the world was young the shops took a 'half day closing' and Edinburgh, including Princes Street itself, chose Saturday for its half day!  This meant jumping on the bus in our high class neighbourhood and travelling down the straight road into the darkness of Leith.  Leith was, like much of Edinburgh, dark then.  Tenement buildings dating from Victorian times and beyond, busy traffic, crowded shops and masses of people thronging the pavements everywhere.  Before I was five I managed to get lost in 'Woolworth's' at the 'foot of the Walk' and can remember my mother grinning to the shop assistants and other girls who were coming to aid me, or belt me to stop me wailing!  There was a shop near the junction of the 'Walk' where we obtained clothes, also from the 'Thompson' shop over the road.  A small thing but these two shops supplied at least half of Edinburgh & Leith's kids for many years.  My first job was in a whisky bond in Leith, off Leith Walk.  Suffice to say a quick understanding of my talent was soon clear and they got shot of me before a year had elapsed.  Employing 15 year old's is not in my view a good thing.