Sunday Dawdle

 

In betweenfootball matches I took a dawdle across the park.  Sun shining, cloudy sky blue, few around in park yet in spite of a chill a young couple sat smoking funny cigarettes possibly thinking it was summer.  Nothing exciting was happening, even the dog walkers were not to be found.  Several men had been lumbered with the kids however.  One man I passed had two, dressed in football shirts, racing to the park, dad carrying the ball, kids dreaming of glory.  Another was taking his 4 year old into Argos (does this shop ever close?) she ready to spend all his money.  Yet another was walking several in a manner of a man herding sheep, I suppose that is the only way with a crowd.  It's times like these that I miss the family.  Even though the brutes are all big lumps now I miss the wee kids hanging around, they think differently, act differently and are small enough to pick up and dump on their mother.

 

 

The million pound or so being spent repairing the mess that was the High Street has led to people bemoaning the works being in the way.  This town creates moaners in a way that makes me jealous.  I cannot moan like them.  The grumble about the street then grumble about people repairing it!  Once finished they will grumble about how it looks, the cost and what ought to have been done, though they themselves did not suggest one idea before now.

 

 
The Old Town Hall does its best to rise above all the goings on, including the erection of a Hotel complex (that is not required) that is costing umpteen million, paid for by a council that cuts services (Tory council) and thinks this a good way to spend money.  Even Dominic would think this weird.

 

The rusty leaves are abundant on the ground now, the chill is with us always, the sun appears in the wrong place, low down, and I have been putting the heating on.  This does not bode well for the next few months...

 

8. The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities

 

 

This is the video I talked about yesterday.  I forgot to link to it as I was rushing to get ready for the football!  Be warned, it is very long and needs to be taken in half hour sections.  Well worth it mind.  The computerised graphics are helpful, the photos good, and the History quite good also.  As always there is room for debate but watch it anyway.  It appears to be some sort of Podcast to which he has added pictures.  Enjoy two hours worth!

 

 

Sumer Writing

Waiting for the football last night I watched this excellent programme, on ancient Sumer.  The Sumerians appeared in the far distant past, possibly from the hills, possibly from the desert, or even possibly arriving by sea not long after the Ice Age ended and sea levels even in the Gulf rose high, some say as high asd a 13 storey building.  

Around 5500 BC they began to erect huts used as temples at Eridu, now far to the south in Iraq.  The civilisation flourished once they understood how to manage the land and by use of the massive amount of crops they grew became wealthy and the number of cities grew.  

By 3500 BC huge numbers lived in cities, some 20,000 or so in URUK the capital itself, clearly an elite had risen and the masses worked the land and gave their craftsmanship to the state.  This would entail grumbling similar to what we hear daily around us, but obviously not from ourselves.

This also required a better means of accounting, and these people were good at accounting.  Clay tablets were used to keep records and over the years a form of writing developed, civil servants arose and multiplied, administrators took their important pompous positions, and soon writing concerning numbers, merchandice and payment became what is now called literature.  (This does not include the daily press, obviously).  

To think that those first words, soon developed from indications of how many sheep had been sold or how much Beer had been given to workers, those words today allow us into the minds of a people 5500 years from us.

They do not appear to be much different from us.

It was the thought of what writing can do for us that struck me, not for the first time, and how powerful this is.  Printed words take us back thousands of years, into foreign minds, new understandings in science, maths (the Sumerians were good at numbers, they gave us 60 seconds in a  minute, and had complicated maths long before the Greeks were thought off), farming techniques, stories and histories, many of which kings of old gathered together with the intention of helping them rule better. 

It is also interesting that as far away as China and in South Americas that writing developed not that much later.  Growing population leading to growth of cities, dominationg personalities, and need for organisation appearing at almost the same time everywhere.      

Note: Any spelling mistakes here are in fact 'Sumerian' spellings.

   

Wednesday Mumbling

As the sky darkens and large raindrops, almost but not quite hail stones, hammer down I begin to wonder why people are fumbling about in the park opposite with torches, banners and tape.  I do not wish to be nosy, I just want to know what is going on.  What sort of individual participates in such activities when the weather is so bad? 

A couple of hours later, while I was attempting to identify the new Heart of Midlothian players in the first 'Bet Fred Cup' match, it became obvious some sort of Map type game was underway.  This involved lots of fit people running around, checking off various marked spots in the park and elsewhere before returning to base.  All very exciting, if you like that sort of thing.  

We have all done this in one way or another in the (distant) past.  Late summer, early Autumn fun, wandering in the early evening, crashing through piles of fallen leaves, chasing who knows what, following the leader who clearly knows what he is doing, possibly.  This is how we train army officers.  Anyone who asks any regiment of the British Army, "Can your officers read maps?" will get a negative response.  This is why!

The football was interesting, if only because it was my team, my home for so many years.  The dubious penalty that won the game was unfortunate but the best team won.  Not that the visiting manager was pleased I must say.  I wonder why?

 

Boris made a speech yesterday offering massive amounts of money, making the nation a green energy leader (by stealing Scotland's green energy) and a lot of Blah! Blah! Blah! that we have become used to.  I followed bits on Twitter and gave up.  Boris is great on promises, making brash statements and being 'Churchillian.'  Nothing of value ever comes of it.  Churchill of course would never have allowed him anywhere near the front bench.

We have debts, we have an uncontrolled virus, and even Scotland are struggling at the moment to control this, soon we will have the absurd Brexit final.  Stock up now for the many things that will not be available after December 31st, especially fresh foods.  Get a garden quick and start planting!

 

Post, Rain, Coal Mines,

 

 

The weathermen said 'Rain in afternoon.'  "Good!" said I, and before noon wandered down to the Post Office with my two packets.  The sun shone the sky was blue, it was even warm on the far side of the street, so I crossed over, slowly these days annoying the motorists, and wandered happily into the shop.  I was in so quick I forgot to put on my mask and risked a £100 fine.  I told the sweet Asian lass at the counter (I only go there because she always smiles at me) I was Boris Johnson's dad, so she let me off.  £2:14 paid, change pocketed, xerox paper bought, I was down to my last sheet, and off I went back home.  Naturally the sun had gone, the sky was dark gray, the rain hammered down, and I was fair drookit by the time I got home.  I am still wet now, my hair cold and clammy.  Was the cloud waiting for me?  Could it be the BBC had got it wrong?  Before noon and the rain was falling, now, after one pm the sun is out again and I am still cold!  It is a good job I am not one to complain, that's all I can say.

 

I just typed in 'Freefotos rain' on 'images' and found many excellent free fotos.  At least they appear free and I am making use of them.  Very useful when you do not get out as much as you would like. I had to get out this morning to post the family details I had been looking into.  My mothers side were all miners from Fife, and it appears that between the early 1600s and almost 1800, some say much later, miners were enslaved to the Lairds who ran the mines.  Coal being important, using trees for firewood banned, the Lairds ensured worers were available for this horrid, hard, dirty, dangerous work by passing laws forcing them, and their descendents, to work for them in their mines.  Moving location was outlawed, wages low, danger to life high.  Add to this small cottages, not always healthy, poor diet, no NHS, and lots of children, it can be seen that attitudes towards coal owners would not be based on love!  

I note that not only do my forefathers first appear in the East Neuk of Fifearound 1620 but they marry people who also cannot move on.  This does not help chasing up relatives, especially with the Scots habit of giving one child grandad's name.  So we have Colin and Robert repeated endlessly over generations, not helped by other family lines doing similar.  The Scottish Mining Website gives details of many accidents, about 5 deaths a month in Scots pits, during the 19th century alone.  The uncles I knew in Cowdenbeath, realeased from slavery by their time, would not allow their sons to go through what they endured.  All got apprentiships somewhere else. 

My grandfather had 11 children.  Two died early, and he went through 3 wives to get them, they too died early.  Not unusual in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  On those few occasions I have had to work physically hard I see it bears no relation to men working with pick and shovel down a mine in which the coal face may be less than 2 feet high!  The dust, physical difficulty, bad, uncaring management, and low wage makes it difficult for me to complain at the work I have been involved with.  

My mother had a story concerning a family member, possibly a brother of my granddad, who became a manager in a pit.  The family cut him off as if he had died!  This was a crossing over to the other side that could not be forgiven, and never was.

 

Cartridge Replacement

 

 

Early this morning I trooped off to Tesco, I had no choice.  Milk and bread was low and the colour toner in the printer had died.  It died while producing the last page of my days work leaving the last page, the one with the colour picture on the top, looking like it had been dragged through a hedge backwards.  Typical of my life these days.

So I picked up the needful, took the stair escalator up to the top floor, found the empty cartridge stand (please take this caqrd to the checkout and wait forever while a member of staff collects this froma  store somewhere in the depths of the building).  I took the appropriate card '300' 'Colour' and limped down the stairs to the checkout.

Linda, the helpful as always lass, too the card and gave it to the man who was doing all the running for her this morning.  Later, much later, he returned, she scanned the item (I was using the dangerous 'self service' ones) and popped the cartridge in my bag.  Good service as always, though she had to return and help me pay for it as the machine would not let me. 'Help is coming' he lied!  

Thrilled to be back home in one piece, thrilled I had what I required, thrilled I placed the cartridge on the printer to await insertion, and then on the cartridge in big black letters I saw the word 'BLACK.'

I sobbed for a few minutes.  

 

Having breakfasted on two unhealthy bacon rolls (stale and must be used up) I decided to keep the black toner and head up the road to Sainsburys and find a colour one.  No point in using Tesco again, too much fuss, it would take to long, the girl would be embarassed, and in the store, hands covered in hand sanitizer, enough for a days shopping I say, I found the colour ones available for £18 each.  A set of balck and colour ones were also available, for £40!  I took two colour, using the card hides the cost, and wondered about the price of the other set!  Now back home, in time for lunch, a time to peruse the things I ought to have been doing today and wonder if they will ever get done, I now await what next will go wrong.

Ah I have to insert the colour toner...

 

The cartidge came out of its wee plastic wrapping, eventually, out of the box, out of the foil wrapper and after removing the sticky protective bit I removed the old and inserted the new.

Would not work!

Ten minutes of removing and replacing both cartidges later it all worked, once I had switched it off and on again!  Now it works OK, all is well.  However as I was about to print the next batch of research I noticed a fault.  I had to go through all I had done previously and make use of a pen to amend things.  There is not enough paper left to redo them all.  This will be finished tomorrow, I will be finished long before then!  Bah!

 

I note Boris has got his latest Bill through the house, the one where he overrides Devolution and attempts to kill Scotland.  Many Tory MPs objected and threatened this and that - few bothered on the day however.  Any Bill that justofies breaking the law must be a sign of corruption, this however is so common these days few notice and no Tory in the House will oppose it.  English members on all sides will support killing Scotland, they know England requires Scotland's money to survive. 

Where Does Your Belief Come From?

 

ITV

The dafties are out again.  

Several things are noticeable.  For one they are once again almost entirely white, and this in the centre of London. Only one or two non white faces appear.  

For another thing the posters are all self made.  If you watch demonstrations you will find the 'Socialist Workers Party' printing presses have been hard at work furnishing posters for 'the people on the street!'  That middle class led 'workers' movement is not to be seen here, and that is interesting.

Bill Gates, 5G and the vaccine are to be condemned by these folks, the folks who have come to listen to David Icke, one time goalkeeper and present day 'heid the ba,' who opposes Lock Down, Government and asks that the Lizard creatures who impersonate the royal family are removed.  

The only differnce between this lot and Trumps rally's are the guns carried by Trumps followers.

The impression given is that these people believe something.  The information reaching them contradicts what medical people have been saying as well as the dubious English government statements that in truth, are always difficult to believe.  

But what do they believe?  Do they believe the same things?  Are they opposing one thing and not the others? Do they really think Bill Gates will inject them and take over their minds?   The internet has already done that.  Do the really think 5G is killing them?

The web is a great place to put lies, as President Putin knows too well.  Already he has been placing ideas in social media in an effort to have Trump re-elected, I canny think why.  Lies repeated, whether big or small, will always find a home, especially if repeated often enough.  Paul Dacre did that with the 'Daily Mail' for thirty years.  

Who started the lies about Bill Gates?  Who offered evidence that the vaccine is mind control?  Who can give facts re 5G or indeed 4G also?  Those working in the business at the ground level appear not too concerned, why are these non engineers worried?   

To be honest there are not that many people at the protest, more are to be found in shopping centres, wearing masks and avoiding the winter flu, colds and coronovirus that is floating about.  Reminds me of the story in one paper today about the man on holiday refusing to believe the virus was dangerous, now he is in the ICU regretting things.  

 

What makes people believe such things?  What evidence have they seen?  What 'expert' do the listen to?  Erik von Daniken published several books in the 60's offering 'evidence' that aliens had been on the planet.  All was quickly debunked but people continued, and still continue to believe such thngs.  Never a day goes past when a tabloid publishes a picture of a spacecraft somewhere, usually over the USA, proving aliens visit us.  Not one astronomer, professional or amateur, has ever mentioned space craft.  What is it in these, seemingly ordinary people, that makes them seek to travel, maskless, to London, for a protest?   A protest that will do nothing, as most attempt to follow the script, even if they doubt the leaderships ability and much of what they read.  They do however look to medical opinion, not the David Ickes of this world for information.  

How can you be sure your beliefs are correct?

 

Self-Service Tills

 Dave Walker

 

I'm tense these days.  Two months of fighting laptops which have minds of their own, and are still expressing them, are not helped by having to reach Sainsburys at lunchtime.  Many people enjoy wasting a day and a half queueing up at checkouts, I am not one of them.  Many people enjoy the crowds pushing and shoving, all wearing masks of course, while wondering why the shop has changed the layout and moved the one thing you require to a far distant shore. I am not one of them.

Once you have evaded the monstrous mass you find the checkouts, at least those with staff, have a long queue, mostly six feet apart, and with trolleys stuffed to the brim with things they really do not need. A change to 'Own Brand' rather than the expensive brands bought would save some people £30 a shop in my view.  I learned not only that the taste is not much different but 'Shops own brands,' which today go under various names, often contain less unhealthy stuff, and are much cheaper.  

The waiting proletariat looked set for the duration, panic buying for 'Lock Down' has begun, and so I went to the self service checkout.  

These machines, brought in to save the company money on staff costs, are supposed to ensure you can leave quickly, this is a lie!  My experience of Technology recently encourages me to avoid such beasts, today I had to use one.  It did not take long until I was banging my head on the scanner, just like the two men behind me and the woman at the far end.  The one member of staff on call to deal with all these tills stood screaming 'HELP!' at the rear  while waving a white flag, meanwhile the manager, with the help of another fresh member of staff and the security guard popped Valium into customers mouths. 

Eventually we made it up the road.

I noticed one man, one of those behind me, walking somewhat dazed, not as dazed as he will be when he gets home and discovered he has a car waiting at the supermarket car park still.   Another was seen to have half finished his cheap Brandy bottle, bought I suspect, in case he had to use the checkout by hmself.

There were still lines of people, the same ones, at the checkouts as I left.

 

Indoor Musings

 

I am thinking of renaming this blog 'The View From My Window.'  It appears that for the next six months that may be all I see.  Now I am happy enough hiding from virus's, 'Lock Down' in my view is better than pubs and street raves, football grounds and cafes filled with folks sharing Coronovirus freely, but it is a drag.

The view is quite good here, however, the rust is beginning to show on the leaves, Autumn arrived today, and with no leaves I get a better view, but mostly of rain.  Very misty last night, cleared by the time I rose, a sign of Autumn if nothing else is.

 

Feeling great yesterday after some exercise I got up early to visit Tesco.  This was a mistake.  Feeling good yesterday has left my knees aching today.  How does that work?  This limited my shopping as I am beginning to stock up for Brexit Day, January 1st 2021.  The Brexiteers claim all will be well, however, I noted yesterday that those Englanders living in the EU will find their cash blocked by the banks because of some 'administrative' problems in London.  I tried not to laugh.  Those who wanted Brexit while living in France and Spain do not encourage sympathy.  

I will however continue to stockpile against the wishes of the government who claim all will be well, it will be for them, lining their pockets on Russian Rubles, and I only hope the Butcher can continue to provide sheep for lunch in January.

 

This indoor life has encouraged tea drinking.  It appears to me the cup is never empty.  As it has occasionally been quite warm the tea drinking has escalated, surely this cannot be good for me.  This reminds me of my mother and her friends who could drink pots of tea, with a pot of hot water standing by to refill teapot, all day.  I use no teapot, I do have one, bought in an attempt to save cash by reusing teabags.  This was OK for a while but six old bags can either be too strong, or too weak, depending on bags.  I may have to look at this again to save money.

 

Of course being trapped indoors means there is plenty of time to do all those wee jobs ignored for the past 'wee while.'  This is of course true and I assure you I have every intention of doing them, tomorrow.

In fact some jobs have been done, others have been noted, and materials obtained for the work in some cases.  Several weeks of laptop problems have interfered somewhat with this and now the problems ease I must begin to fix things broken since Adam was a boy.  Almost everything I possess is either second hand, broken, or aged, just like me.  I was asked a while ago regarding the age of a jacket I was wearing, "About 20 years or so, just like the shirt," I replied.  The poor woman had a fit.  Wearing something that old was beyond her ability to comprehend.  Good job she does not see what is in the cupboards.  I suspect nothing she owned was more than a year old.  'If it works use it, if it wears well, use it' I say.  Modern stuff may be fun but do we actually require the latest technology?  Do we not just require the technology we use?  New clothes are good, if we need them and they are available in the charity shop.  Charity shops are struggling also these days, too little gifted during 'Lock Down' and now too much handed in at the first opportunity.  It is also difficult to get into one with the limitations on numbers allowed inside.

We are however much better off than many, we do not suffer war, or even Civil War like the USA will soon endure.  We are fed while others use Food Banks, we can walk while others cannot.  I give thanks I can see blue sky and sunshine, open spaces and birds singing in the trees.  Some people cannot see these things, I am well off.

 

A Walk in the Park...

 

 

 

Saturday morning I hobbled around the Public Gardens, donated by Sydney Courtauld in 1888.  The Braintree and Bocking Public Gardens website says this:-

From the time of his entry into the business, Sydney rose to be in charge of Engineering at the Bocking and Braintree factories. From 1886 – 98 the business suffered a serious downturn such that had never been experienced before, but this was the moment when Sydney decided to give his garden to the people of Braintree.  Living at Bocking Place, he conceived a great idea. Although he built a new house on the same site in 1887, the garden was the same.

Across the Causeway road was another part of the garden of Bocking Place and Sydney seeing the thundering horse drawn traffic up the Causeway, determined to make an area for people, particularly children, could walk more safely and “whither the tired mechanic could resort, with his wife and children and where the industrious tradesman could escape for a brief spell from his cares and worries of business”. What we see today is his legacy to the people of Braintree & Bocking.

 

The place is awash with trees of all sorts and a vast array of plants, now tended by who knows who?  The onsite gardener is no more and costs must be cut.  I know many volunteer to work there, I am not one of them!

 

When opened the people celebrated by a cheering crowd wandering around the town and at night lighting a great bonfire on the open spaces along the road.  Much fun was had, no TV in those days, and no little beer was drunk that night.

 

 The trick of course is to go in early, before mum and the wee ones beging running around screaming and yelling, the kids not the mums.  Mostly peaceful, birds singing, Bees buzzing, and far too many midge like creatures hovering unexpectedly where I walk.  Only one woman appeared, she exercising by walking around the perimeter and turneg back again, once she saw me.  

This may be the last weekend of proper sunshine for some time.  Autumn begins officially on Tuesday 22nd and the leaves are already turning brown and falling in piles from the trees.  Ideal for kids to run through but a horrid forewarning of winters approach.

 

Today we are confronted with a shameless Matt Hancock offering a future 'Lock Down' and indicating that if it happens it is all your fault.  No shame fro the failing 'Serco' Test & Trace system, a system which tells people to travel 500 miles for a test, no shame for giving a friend, who gave him £100,000 for his constituency, no shame for incompetence.  

Life is Good under the Tories.

 

 

Saturday Lock Down

There ought to have been a COBRA meeting today.  

Nicola wanted one, the Mayor of London wanted one, several others wanted one, none came.  

There has been no Cobra meeting since MAY!  

The PM has not spoken to the Mayor of London since May 10th, he tries not to speak to Nicola who ensures she speaks to him or one of his lackeys.

We are in the middle of a Pandemic, the second wave, expected some say since 1919, is under way, though the woman supposedly fighting the virus did not expect this.  Some parts of the nations are under 'curfew' or 'Lock Down,' and gangs of youths gather together without a care in the world, at the moment.

On top of this the dafties are once again blocking London while claiming the virus is a hoax, that the vaccine will inject Bill Gates computer chips into you so he can follow you everywhere (though phones do this already), and fighting with police is commonplace.  

Interesting that all the pictures I saw were of white people, not a dark skin to be seen.  The middle classes joining the working class Tories to disbelieve medics?

 

In this part of the world people are gathering in small groups, careful not to go over 6 in number, and attempting to avoid disaster.  Elsewhere pubs are crowded, buses full of schoolkids crushed together go by and in school corridors many kids crush together also.

Boris has now made it clear a second wave is upon us, while he is more worried about trying to work out how to pay for four children, two wives and a new child all on a measly £150,000 a year, and ensuring Dominic is keeping the cabinet in its place.  

I've just had a thought, imagine if they removed Boris and replaced him with Hancock?

Ha Ha Ha, I'm going mad!!!

Blogger Troubles and Nothing Happening

 

 

Blogger has been a pain!

The new site has not been allowing me to change the font size, it insists that 'paragraph' rather than 'normal' is the heading, and has annoyed me tremendously.

As I write I note changes, it looks like the font might change after all, so it was worth using the 'feedback' button. Ha!  It now works, well done Blogger!!!

Whether I have actuaqlly got something to say is of course another thing.  This 'Lock Down' maay have eased slightly but we are still limited on our outdoor adventures.  Tesco and Sainsburys are as far as we get.  Walking to church was tiring, especially as I have not done that for five months, and therefore with little to see in this town there is not much to post.

Of course things happen, someone got knocked down up the road, out of my sight however, another gets robbed way over there, an illegal gathering occurs on edge of town, all the excitement out of reach.  Though what excitement that causes is debatable.    

The only pictures I have taken are failed photos of Mars in the middle of the night. My neighbour wondering what I am doing with a camera at three in the morning..

And on top of this I do not wish to look at the news as Boris and his inept mates fill that.  Like so many others I find it hard to watch these days.  Once more Boris is torn apart at PMQs and the papers talk about something else, once more the NHS is let down, the papers ignore that.  What a government, how did people vote for this?

Oh and there is no spellchecker!

 

 

Tuesday Mutterings

 

 

St Margaret of Antioch 

 

You would think, looking at the Anglican Church, St Margaret of Antioch, in the village of Stanford-le-Hope, that you were in a 'typical' English village.  Certainly not far away lie fields, and indeed a river, but the river is the River Thames, which carries the new 'London Gateway' container port terminal just down the road from this village.  Once an Essex rural site now it has become at best commuter land for the big city or the huge works nearby, both industrial and shopping.  

St Margaret herself goes back around a thousand years as such churches tend to do.  Rebuilt and added to many times it has seen Essex life grow around it.  Rural deprivation, nearby 'Fobbing' was a centre of the Peasants Revolt not long after the great plague.  The usual upheavals, a war memorial in town centre, and now commuter land and a rising number of houses, many since the 50's and 60's.  Not much of a village today but elements remain.

St Margaret herself was supposedly martyred in 304, if, that is, she actually exisited.  Some of these 'saints' are not what they were you know.

From here UPS despached their van at 6:30 this morning to rush a parcel to me.  Where once such vans encountered a long line of traffic heading into London now they meet a long line of parcel delivery vans rushing back and forth, all seeking to deliver too many parcels in too short a time.

I went through several links before I found the UPS page that informed me when the delivery would be made.  DPD, if you remember, gave me not only a one hour slot when the delivery may arrive but a wee map showing the drivers progress.  UPS, when I eventually got to the page having 'signed in' again, told me the package was 'Out on delivery' and would arrive, 'near days end.'  Very helpful!  As it was the driver, who made me feel slim, told me he attempted to finish his individual drops by lunch time, and he arrived at around 12:30, and clearly was happy to almost be finished.  'How is Stanford?' I asked, 'Bloody Hot,' he replied.  It was very hot outside today.

I remained busy indoors.

 

In spite of 'Lock Down' or indeed this more open regime I still find how little I am reading books.  Quite why I do not know, but they not only pile up all over the place, half read, unopened, or just gathering dust, but there is little desire to look inside at the moment.  Latop problems do not help, weariness that has hung over me does not help, but just getting involved in the books remains difficult.  Those with small fonts and 700 pages of big words can be easy to ignore.  However, even those written easily are hard to pick up.  My weaak brain is dying, I think it is the lack of football has bruised it somewhat.

 

I found this cartoon quite revealing.  How the media have used this lie for many years.  While the nation is standing on the beaches with Farage repelling asylum seekers in rubber rafts the Press Barons continue to lien their pockets, move the goalposts, inform Prime Ministers what they are to do, and sit happily surrounded by lackeys yet with no life, in spite of their money and power.  

Spending your life being important and powerful might bring a thrill but if it rots the world around you it leaves nothing behind.  I did read one portion of Paul Theroux travelling in China some years ago.  He went to Chairman Mao's birthplace and found it deserted.  While some years before the Red Guards had flocked in their thousands to his birthplace it was now a lonely museum, even the shop had no postcards of him, nor any of his 'Little Red Books.'

Ozymandius came to mind.  

Great power can change the world for good or it can destroy it.  Mao, in spite of the present 'Communist Party' name has been forgotten and discredited.  His understanding, and cruelty, challenged millions but it was his successors who turned China back into a really powerful state.  His legacy is empty.  The Press Barons end will be the same.

Cars, Furniture and Fire

Why are car ads so bad?

I rarely watch TV but the ads offered in between football or cricket bare little resemblance to the car on offer.  On one, a female ballet dances around for no good reason while the car putters about.  What is it saying?  Cultured car?  Take up dancing?  What does this tell us about the vehicle itself?

Another features a man, in slow motion, diving into a swimming pool, why?  Is this saying watch out you have driven into the pond? 

All is image, and all image is meaningless to me.  

Possibly there are people out there highly influenced by these ads, I suggest they get themselves a life.  I wonder if anyone who actually knows about cars is impressed by the ads?  Certainly those who think themselves important, those 'on the up' will be impressed if an ad featured a 'big car' driven by a 'Big man,' they will buy one as this shows them they have made it.  Poor fools.    

Nothing wrong with the car of your dreams, I await my Landrover arriving, I have waited a long time, and nothing wrong with succeeding and having such cars.  However, all cars are sold by image, what then does that say about people who are impressed by car adverts?  What sort of life are they hoping for?

Sir Terence Conran has died.  He was the man who gave us the 'Habitat' shops and they say, 'revolutionised the way we live.'  Hmmm.  I wandered through the Chelmsford shop a few years ago and found myself checking the high prices and wondering in the 'Habi' part of the name was required. On show was a lot of cheap furniture, made out of cheap wood, fancy designs occasionally, but always with a big, needless, price tag.  Was it because it became fashionable it 'revolutionised our lives?'  Or was it for the actual style on offer?  I am afraid hs shop made me look at the 'Sue Ryder charity shop furniture section' for better quality and longer lasting furniture.  Indeed, my house is almost all second hand, rather like my humour...

One thing that caught my eye was the sight of small US towns obliterated by the fires hanging over Oregon.  I grumble about laptops or the milk being off while others are looking at a pile of ash and wondering where their house has gone.  Small town America would never be my idea of home, but we must sympathise with those who no longer have a home, who may have lost all insurance documents, and who may have lost friends or even family in the fire.  

Our life is not so bad after all.

 

WORD, Politics, Stress

 

Laptops keep you busy. Once you have worked out the ins and outs you then have to work out the programmes you place upon it. WORD has been bothering me. Microsoft have updated this one, the system I used before was simple enough and worked well, so naturally now all goes via the ‘One Drive’ and is no longer what I was happily used to. So, a search for an alternative began.I tried ‘Apache Open Office,’ an ‘Open Source’ system I used years ago which is good but I could not get the text to remain as I wished. Also ‘Free Office’ from ‘SoftMaker’ which did not word wrap the page and had no spellchecker, which in my ignorance I require. There are others, each with good and bad points, like WORD itself, and for the moment I am using ‘Libre’ which spellchecks, look at all the red bits, and the page is better. This also does not require the entire Browser and is therefore more suitable for me keeping pages on the Desktop, ready for use. This appeals to me at the moment so I am left wondering what will go wrong next.

The laptop works fine but gave Beeps when switching on. 3 beeps, four times, was worrying. I followed the lead and yesterday ran the Diagnostic. This ran from 7:30 to 8:30, offered me more test that ‘May take 30 minutes,’ and so I ran them. 3 and a bit hours later the machine told me all was well, nothing to worry about, all tests were passed.

As I switched on today I got 5 beeps! 

That can be fixed tomorrow. 

I also had to move everything to allow the plumber in. The handyman, John, working on the empty flat below, told me he was coming even though they had not warned me. So, all was moved to give him space. 

When he arrived he was wanted the flat next door. 

However, moving things indicated it was time to make use of the expensive Meile vacuum and move the dust thickening the carpets. 

So ends another day of excitement in this house.

 

I keep reading of people breaking down under ‘Lock Down’ and find myself unsurprised. Those who have no person to discuss things with must be under a real strain. I would think lonely old women, unable to get to coffee mornings and the like may be the most likely to suffer, bar those with real mental stress.

My own stress will be great tonight as no football can be found. Having watched it hourly since Friday I may have overdosed. So many games, most forgettable, and I can no longer remember who played who. With changes of shirts to avoid clashing it is not always possible to recognise who is who and which team is which these days. Consider also, ‘old’ and ‘veteran’ players are in their mid thirties! Possibly this is why the co-commentator spent last nights game, who was playing again? Calling almost every player ‘youngster.’ I could not decide if he was condescending or jealous. He was certainly irritation. I have just remembered, it was Iceland and Belgium. All the Icelanders names ended in ‘...sson’ and considering what the Belgians under thon King of theirs did to the ‘Belgian Congo’ in days past it was surprising to see so many players of African decent lining up for what is without a shadow of doubt the best team in the world just now.

In other news Donald Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize! How do you spell ‘Gasp!’

No gasp is required when you hear a government minister informing the House the government will ‘Break the Law!’ No gasp either when Boris tries to kill devolution by stealth. Fascism is with us once again. No press scrutiny, no investigation anywhere except by the small ‘Bylines’ operation, and a crowd of lackey MPs who vote with the government, even against policies that were intended to prevent another tower block catching fire.  The local world is heading for a fall, don't say I did not warn you...

Bleary Eyed Monday

 

This football is tiring!

I was forced to watch 4 very poor games yesterday, though I confess to falling asleep in one, and ought to have done in the others also.  On top of that I just watched two ex-Soviet sides failing to impress and now I have to prepare emotionally for Scotland playing against an unknown Czech side.  

This sort of thing leads to PTSD you know!

What with the virus, Lock Down, and silly players catching the virus when they ought to be at home there is always a backlog of games to play.  However, the men in suits have forced this tournament upon us which means crowding lots of games into a few days.  This is not good when so few players have had any games behind them at this time, even Belarus, who I just watched, were looking unfit by the end of the game.  Possibly as their season did not stop they may be worn out, but that was not a good sign.

Once more unto the viewer we go...

 

Boris, seen here with what he calls the 'British Flag, has been caught out again.  The 'Financial Times' discovered he was threatening to dump the Brexit withdrawsl agreement, in spite of the cost, and now is claiming it was a lie.  The story may change by the time I finish this.  I note the media are downplaying this, on instructions I suspect. 

Where are journalists today?  Where are the people in the mainstream media questioning this government?  The BBC, with the new Tory chairman, SKY, ITV and the papers do not question?  Not at all!  No government has such an easy run, especially when it is so inept.

Christmas and Brexit are close.  Stock up now!