A Boris Storm

It comes as no surprise to note that the Covid Inquiry has been informed that the Prime Minister, one Boris Johnson, was inept, incompetent, and willing to let old people die if it saved money.  It also comes as no surprise to note the right-wing press are not mentioning this today, instead attacking Cummings, the one time aid to Johnson, who revealed what we already had discovered from the civil servants who spoke in the days previous.

The message is Boris and Sunak had no idea what to do, money was more important, wise medical information ignored or despised, and Hancock, the Health Secretary, was considered by all around as worse than they.  

None of this is a surprise, we knew this at the time, yet the media who also knew this kept quiet then and act surprised now.  I look forward to someone brining a 'manslaughter charge' on them all.

Another stupidly named storm is approaching the land.  Panic is being announced in the media, local councils are preparing for the worst, warnings abound re possible occurrences of wind, rain, flood, and mass destruction.

It's almost as if we have never had a storm before.

Before storms had to be named, and who's idea was that?  Before then the radio or TV man would tell us a storm was approaching, possibly 'Storm force 8 or worse,' and life went on.  Now we must panic in case a storm arrives and the 'Daily Mail' and other tabloids have a chance to attack the weatherman for not warning us that storms arrive during the year as they have done for thousands of years!

I may respond by staying in bed.

Rebel Church This Week

We rebelled yesterday.  The united service with our fellow church was on.  We did not go!  

The other church is High Church, all liturgy and candles.  Our church is Low, very Low, but not Low enough for me.  

An idea was formed that we would meet at our place, in spite of the united meeting.  So we did.

Several mentioned this idea, and five of us arrived to see it out.

One or two would have been there had they not been involved elsewhere.  So we few, we happy few, sat and yacked for a while.  It was not great, we had no organiser, and next time, in six months time, we may do the same again.  However, we will be better organised.

This rebelling is tiring.  It involves thinking, and this tires me these days.  However, the wee meet was good for me and left me happy for most of the day.  I even survived two football matches happily, in spite of referees.

Nothing else happened...

Xmas Shopping Already

I have done some preliminary online searching, too early to actually buy things, and also accidentally ordered some books for myself.  These things happen.  At one and the same time I am attempting to live a more frugal life while searching for 'shiny things' for others Xmas.  This I find awkward.  Less will be spent this year than last, and more basic things will be obtained, after the complaints last time!  

This morning, having returned from Sainsburys I waited until the stalls were out to take a look at the magnificent market today.  I wandered about, pausing only to buy sausages and bits of chicken from the proper butcher, and carried my expensive load around the stalls, successfully buying nothing.

This was because almost all the goods on display, mostly hand made, were not in anyway connected to what I desired.  In fact the one stall I looked for, he sells old toys, cars in boxes, and odd stuff, was not there today.  Possibly in jail for handling stolen goods, like old toys, cars in boxes and odd stuff I expect.

I limped home slowly, sorted the meat into bags and filled the freezer.  No more pies bar the yuckie  supermarket ones now.  Butchers sausages at least will be healthier than those mass produced.  I asked the girls if they had gone out to find the 'wild mushrooms' in the 'wild mushroom and other spicy stuff' sausages.  'Yes,' they said, 'We went searching through the week for them.'  Liars!

Now, with the 'Clintons' card shop closed I have to search for cards also.  I despise W. H. Smiths, a terrible shop, and avoid it when I can, but no other shop here offers decent cards.  One offers cheap tat and rude cards, but they are rarely funny or worth the cash.  I may just make my own.  Fold an A4 sheet with a pattern on it and use that.  Cheap and easy.  

Friday Fussing

I am irked by so many things today.

It's bad enough the tech problems with the mobile phone: I phoned someone and found his face staring at me.  I still don't know how I managed this!  The phone switched itself on as I was seeking the number and off as I tried to switch off.  Bah!

A radio programme featured a middle class woman offering feminist baloney.  She said 'Women are expected to be sweet and quiet and out of the way.'  I nearly swore.  This is the basis of feminism, imaginary women who never existed justifies the well to do in there wishful thinking.  When I heard this I thought of my mum and her sisters who lived through two wars, a mining strike 6 months long, cheap passage to Australia for some of them and a new life, and bringing up kids decently on no money and just 'getting on with it.'  Many still do this today.  Yet this woman, not married or attached obviously, thinks she is suffering!  You can bet she looks down her nose at the girls on the checkout.

Have you ever heard of a woman who sits 'quietly and out of the way?'  Neither have I.

This one ought to have been strung up.

Kate, Williams bint, is in my view the power in the marriage.  This comes from her pushy parents, who have just seen one of their money making schemes die owing £2.6 million.  How can they get away with this?  Is this the first time they have failed?  Their house costs £5 million, why do they not sell it and pay their debtors?  Or ask Kate for the cash, she has plenty waste now.

The wealthier you are, the less you pay...

I am amazed that Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, cannot find the many phones he uses containing 'WhatsApp' messages from the period of the Covid Lockdown.  Amazing that Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, has gone sick just before his appearance at the Covid inquiry, that Boris could only hand over his phone, with bits redacted, if he has indeed handed over his phone.  I find all this amazing that at the top level of government there is so much incompetence.  Or should I be amazed considering the liars involved?   

Bees

Every day I have to rise from my chair and open the window to allow this man and his mates out.

Outside the back window appears to be a hive, just under the roof, and these men, returning from the hunting trip, often fly in my back window while hovering around attempting to enter the hive.  Each day I find seven or eight tired old Bees attempting to leave by the front window.   But how do they get in?

Because of them I only open the window when standing there, but every so often a Bee is seen floundering around the window pane.  I have learned to wait.  I leave him for an hour or so and when I rise there are often two or three hanging around. 

But how do they get in?

Are they coming from the other room?  But that is far from the hive.  I suspect they fly in when I am not looking, either head for the window, or as most look very tired and near their end, fall on the floor or hide in a curtain.  I found one on the floor, one on a wine glass, and one on the rear window this morning, so I think they must be hiding until fit enough to fly.  Poor things, we need them but take away their plants and allow chemicals which kill them to be used in the UK, but not the EU.  Another Brexit benefit.

 

This is quite long but worth a listen.

Monday Moping

 

Every time I log on at the moment I get an extra browser page.  Microsoft offering me an expensive and unwanted 'Outlook' when I already have similar and find I do not require most of what is there now.

'AdBlockPlus' tell me they have updated and I can contribute on this page.  I like this, and sometimes contribute when I can.  It is a good way to block ads on laptops.  This does not work on mobile phones unfortunately.  'Mozilla' itself logs on to tell me the name is changing from 'Firefox.'  They also tell me how to stop their ads appearing, which is good.  'Open Source' is always good.

The problem with all this is that the new additions are always larger than previous.  This means when operating sometimes things clash, and dead screens appear.  Facebook is appalling for having too much space, mostly for things I do not want, or to grab all my information.  

It also becomes a problem when the numpty working the laptop does not know what he is doing.   

This is a position I have often found myself in.  I am becoming confused between different log-on's. This is because many are the same colour and I canny change them.  So , I click the blue one just to unclick it and click the other blue one over there.  Why can there not be more variety in the colours?  Bah!  

The cables do not help.  I have several black cables, and I had to try them all before I found the right one, the one already in the laptop, to fill the battery of the Kindle.  I have them all hanging from the tree beside me now.  I may join them if this continues!

So it goes on.  Artillery from the border, bombs from aircraft, rockets from far off.  Around 5000 dead in Gaza, all terrorists I expect, and a couple of thousand dead in Israel itself.  Over 300 soldiers apparently included.

So what do we do?

Has God returned the Jews to the land he gave them?  Are Palestinians living out an age old enmity with God?  What about the Christian ones among them?  The third oldest known church has been hit by Israel, erected around 425 AD, yet not safe, many killed.  

If the land invasion goes ahead thousands will die, including the Israeli armed forces.  Iran may attempt to get involved via proxy.  Others by negotiation.  The whole thing is a mess.  

What should we do?

Humdrum Friday

I have sat here all day trying to think of something to write.

Nothing has come.

The lack of stimulus, caused by not getting around, is telling on me.  The desire to move is easing, the effort not worth it, and I reach Tesco and am done for the day.  I tried a little exercise yesterday, now I feel it.  The view is limited and nothing rebounds.

The news remains dominated by Israel, with little understanding from all sides.  This is interrupted by the death of a celebrity, or another leaving a TV programme, or a mother complaining her school will not allow her child to be a brat.  

Then they return to the war.  

The Radio is failing me also.  Many good programmes have disappeared, the iPlayer, I refuse to call it 'Sounds,' is searched but reveals lots of mediocre rubbish of limited variety.  Anything worth having has been had.  

Even visiting Tesco has been difficult, the rain has not stopped, and may continue again tomorrow.  Quite how the people up near Brechin will manage I don't know.  A housing development there was evacuated because of the floods.  Now who allowed them to build on a flood plain?  OK, this has not happened before but...

Football and travel in North East Scotland has been scuppered.  Roods unpassable, floods everywhere, and with more rain coming it may take a week to clear.  We just get wet here.  Even down the hill they have not yet been flooded.  Global warming, except it is not that warm, but good for October.

I did make an effort to work out the Christmas offerings.  Things I bought last year appear pricier this year.  Even the PIES bought from Forres have been dumped, they too show evidence of the cost of living rise.  Having struggled to pay thanks to technical problems I decided it was costing too much and abandoned the idea.  I will need an alternative from somewhere as it really is too costly now.  

My idea was to send a box of chocolates of some sort to various peoples.  But then one is vegan, one cannot eat this, another that, and only the dogs will eat everything, except they shouldn't!  I saved money by deleting the links to the high prices.

The rest of the day has been spent in a dream.

Getting Shirty

I noticed a man crossing the park this morning with his dearly beloved, he was wearing a Manchester United football shirt, this just before 9 am.  Here we are, 350 miles from Manchester, and a typical Man U fan is seen!  I'll bet this creature has never lowered himself to enter the local teams stadium to watch them in action.  A connection to the local side appears less welcome than following a side whose ground you have never visited!  

This irks me.

Some years ago, delivering post up the Ridgeway, I noticed a 10 year old wearing a similar shirt.  His dad told me he supported Ipswich, which makes sense as it is quite local and once was a top side, and he may well have originated from that area.  But the kid was influenced by tv as so many are.

My football influence came from my dad, reading about the Hearts and wanting to play football constantly, even if rubbish at it.  A dozen years of wandering about Scotland in all weathers, mostly wet, following a side with less hope of success than an ice cube in the Sahara.  But this is what the fan does, and they still do.  Those days have gone and the chances of ever seeing Edinburgh again diminish daily, but the club is still in my life.  Not so important as it once was, real life now dominates, but if they win or lose I feel it.  The long distance fan who has rarely seen his team in action cannot comprehend the life of a true fan, it is not possible.  Anyway, next year his shirt will change colour and he will follow another.

Which brings me to thankfulness for Scotland qualifying in marvellous fashion for the Euros in Germany next year.  Win, lose or draw matters not.  We are again amongst the elite, this is where we ought to be as only by playing amongst the best can we improve.  Steve Clark, much unsung by the Glasgow mafia, has led his side to success and looks good for more.  Congratulations and applause for him.

Hopefully he will take on the Heart of Midlothian job afterwards...

Saturday Morn

I sit here sipping my 'Buttermint Green Tea,' cogitating on the condensation on the windows this morning.  I also cogitate on the type of person who produces 'Buttermint Tea!'  The windows indicate the end of the warm spell, it was down to 7c last night, that's 44f to you, and a normal October has arrived.  Limping up the road to Tesco I passed a typical English man dressed in shorts and summer shirt but wearing a big coat over it all.  Some folks are reluctant to end summer, even in Autumn.  

The windows are wiped down, just as well I cleaned them properly a few weeks ago, and the open windows soon dry them, even though I am now freezing!  At least the feeble sun is shining, hanging low behind the town hall as I passed, bringing some warmth to the earth, brightening the leaves rusting in the trees, warming the birds when the stop from feeding their faces long enough to enjoy what warmth is on offer.

The 'Buttermint tea' is quite refreshing as I sit languidly gasping for breath at the desk.  Tesco's was quite quiet this morning, for a Saturday, the lass at the checkout friendly, the price increases enormous!  What a rip-off Tesco has become.  Starmer will not have the guts to demand a windfall tax on their profits!  I notice how much things have increased, how do some people survive?  I remembered, for no reason at all, this morning David Cameron's response to a question regarding an old women unable to afford to turn the heat up.  'Just put on a pullover,' he replied!  A true Tory!

Thursday Thoughts

 

Interesting to read how Bernie Ecclestone, the 93 year old one time owner of Formula 1, has been given a suspended sentence for dodging £400 million tax.  A Trust he did not comprehend, I think is the excuse.  He has agreed to pay £650 million to the tax man to avoid jail.

In itself there is not much here in this story, except that a rich man has been forced to pay money to the taxman.  Bernie himself has always been his own man, that's how he became rich, and after paying this cash he will still have millions, if not billions, put aside 'for the family.'  I am left considering why a 93 year old needs so much cash?

He is described as 'frail' in court, but such 'frail' men are often seen on their yachts with young ladies later looking quite frisky.  Remember that Guinness man who developed dementia while on trial and then forgot about it after release?   What does a 93 year old require billions for?  He must have family, he must have friends, but once again I think, had it been me, I would be making positive use of this money.  Maybe of course it is having the riches is where his life is based.  The wealth, the boasting, the power, is what matters, the actual cash means little.  

I wonder when the HMRC will decide to take such action amongst the present cabinet...?

I wonder if Benjamin made a mistake?  We hear from many sides that an attack by Hamas was expected.  Lat night I heard two BBC correspondents mentioning this, and the BBC foreign correspondents are quite good, unlike those in London.   The problems on the border, the jailing of Palestinians, the difficulties in Gaza, the deaths of young Palestinians, all have created tension.  Hamas have been looking for an excuse to launch an attack, did Israel misunderstand this?  

The more I read the more I wonder if Benjamin considered a small outrage by Hamas worth suffering as then he could go in heavy and deal with it, and strengthen his leadership.  He is not one to avoid an excuse to build himself up.  However, the Hamas attack was very creative, totally beyond what was expected, hundreds killed, many wounded, and total shock in an Israel slowly building itself into a 'European/World State.'  The immediate response was expected, but who suffered Hamas or others?

Now there has been created a 'national government' of sorts.  Maybe this will save Netanyahu, maybe not.  Many on Twitter blame him, indeed a poll today almost 60% blame the man himself.  The problem with playing with war is that you can get hurt.  If he overdoes the response now it could go very wrong, much more dangerous for the world that Ukraine, which we now all ignore.     

Prospect

I've just been listening to a podcast on 'Prospect' magazine, featuring a 'Haarez' journalist in Tel Aviv.  It was good to listen to a calm thoughtful 25 minutes, including a big 'bump' in the distance, as she spoke of the situation there.  Well worth a listen.

Monday Murmering

This is October and people are walking around in summer gear!

The weather is warm, it ought to be cold, while we have had heavy rain closing roads and rail way up north, some floods damaging housing etc, down here we are doing OK.  This has nothing to do with climate change says a politician holding a bundle of money donated by an oil company.  This is just coincidence.

Talking about backhanders, did you note how much leading Labour ministers have received from private health companies?  Hundreds of thousands, and the NHS is 'safe in their hands?'

Meanwhile Rishi is doing the unthinkable, he is having an 'event' while the Labour conference continues, something that has not been done before.  Do Tories only know how to misbehave?

Anyway, this shipwreck remained indoors yesterday knowing the walk would not be good for him, neither would having to think.  Braindead and weary all week.  Today, life returns somewhat and I look forward to proper health soon.  In the meantime I just rested in God choosing to love me, something I would not choose to do, and in some degree of wonderment muse upon this and what to do about it.  

Al-Jazeera

You may have noticed a war erupt in Israel.  I think this has been coming for some time.  Whether 'Hamas' visited Iran or Moscow makes no difference, clearly there has been 'outrages' in the region for a while, and bad feeling going back well over a century here.  We will not be surprised at this latest battle.

What does a Christian do here?

Do we, as many US do, back Israel unthinkingly?  Do we stand up for tortured Palestinians?  Do we make an effort to understand the region, or indeed what God is actually doing here?

What we must not do is look on in  human manner.  We must see this as part of Gods work.  However, we do not know what he is doing here, and constant warfare makes many take the easy option of joining one side or another.

The fact that God has returned the Hebrews to Israel is important.  Any who try to remove them become an enemy of Gods plan.  However, this is not a religious Hebrew nation, some are, many are not.  Quite a number see themselves as of the 'Jewish Race' rather than religious.  Politically, many are

opposed to the present leadership as they knew this is what would happen, especially while he leads with extreme right-wing types alongside him.  

Did they bring this about deliberately?  Or was it a reaction from a frustrated people?

You and I cannot tell, though many spout, like me, their opinions.  

All we know is we must seek Jesus and be found in him, rather than window gazing in Israel.  We seek to 'pray for the peace of Israel,' and seek 'peace in Jerusalem.' We remember that the Hebrews remain Gods chosen people, though Christians now take that place, and God will bring the Jew back when they repent and choose to follow Jesus the Messiah.

In the meantime pray for peace, and do not forget Syria, Ukraine, Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere that war exists still.   

Worn Out

Having woken feeling almost normal I attempted to do normal jobs.  Now I am worn out.  Maybe I will leave the rest until next week...