Maudlin Monday

Once again we note that that nice US president has been watching 'Fox News' again.  We can tell be cause he has discovered that Iran is a problem and he must declare war on that ancient land.  The war he is now working on, between MacDonald's and Coke, is one that continues the Syrian war the Saudi's and that nice Israeli president started and failed with.  They had intended to curtail Iran by attacking the proxy Syria but having failed, thanks to Russia's intervention, another nice man the Mr Putin, the Middle East rulers now wish a direct US attack on Persia.
The Persians will tell you they go back to Cyrus the Great which means they have been around since he died, at war, in 530 BC.  As such they consider all nations around bar China and India and newcomers and the variety of Arab states they treat with undisguised contempt.  This is not helped when Iran takes the Shia Muslim line and the majority of the rest take the Sunni line, something ignored when Britain and France and the rest divided up the middle east after the Great War.
Today the west's interference has removed almost all Christians from the area, most Jews and all those of lesser faiths either diminish or suffer according to passing fashion.  Such interference continues, with Trump following whatever he is told, a 'hawk' or two in the White House demanding action similar to that dealt to Iraq and again uncaring re the millions who will suffer and die, including their own men of course, they have never been considered by leading politicians.
World War 3 will begin on Twitter...

Getting away from that I have put aside all my other reading and become captive to this small book.  This is one of several found in Waterstones, the 'Penguin Monarchs' series, and so far I have rushed through this easy to read history of William the Conqueror.  Ideal for train journeys, flights, sitting in the loo, the short easy chapters inform, educate and bring to life well known monarchs, all from the past obviously, and appear worth the £4:99.
I have got one or two others to read also and I think this is a good way to get to know the past.  One thing I wonder concerns the rumours of how he married his wife Matilda.  Nothing is said re him pulling her off a horse or battering her or raping her to ensure a marriage.  Maybe these rumours were out of place or too much of a rumour to put into a short book?  Being short it cannot cover all ground right enough.
Enough good information is given however to review the character of the man.  Usually we hear a little half hearted basic information concerning some great man and once we investigate for ourselves we quickly discover things are not quite as we have been told.  William was indeed a religious man, not just for show either.  He placed reforming Archbishops into Canterbury and Rouen  and listened to their spiritual counsel.  This enabled him to rule humanely and judge justly.  We forget or know little about what went before but William improved life for many, even when treating this who opposed him severely.  One aspect unknown to me was the vast degree of slavery in England and Wales at the time, this William outlawed!  Once again a foreigner came to England and freed the English from themselves!  His piety was real but his wrath no less real, opponents felt this but I suspect the reason many disliked him in England was the tax he raised, mostly from those who had the money to spare.
I have finished this book, unputdownable and quickly read. 
I like this one.

Guardian

It is most unfortunate that the Electoral Commission, a somewhat tardy organisation today, has been forced by one time Prime Minister Gordon Brown to step in and investigate the flow of money onto the Brexit Party coffers.  It appears money is coming from outside the UK via PayPal which converts the cash into £s from whatever source and in Brexit eyes does no wrong.  Foreign cash as you know is not acceptable in funding political parties at an election.  It could be our man might be forced out, tsk the 'establishment' again!

Friday Frippary

Thursday lunchtime I took the airport bus, air stewardess included as always, to the good quality charity shops.  There the rich dispose of their worthy items long before you and I would do so.  I searched all four shops, although this was difficult in one as it was closed, but found nothing whatsoever worth looking for.  How mean of them, don't they realise I need a new jacket?  
I did however visit my favourite card shop, Oxfam!  
There is no doubt the cards on offer here, often misusing old photographs, are very clever and full of wit, something missing in so many 'funny' cards today.  I had to buy some as with all these wimmin having birthdays I found my collection of cards were all aimed at men.  This was unfortunate.  Now I am ready for the next woman as long as she does not want anything like money to go with it...
Lovely short bus journey passed green fields, Barley almost ripe, sun glinting on farm machinery and one single farm worker as he prepared his field.  No EU workers on sight, I suspect Theresa has sent them all home so it will be big crops around here from now on.  

The problem with birds is their great ability to see something they wish for and then go get it.  The trouble they then fond is they cannot work out how they got in and therefore how to get back out again.  The Robin has been in, a Blue Tit the other day, another one was found on the window today and yesterday this young Starling worked out how to get in and then screamed blue murder because he could not get out.  
You will notice the mess on the window, this comes from the dust from the stuff they are feeding on these days.  The shop cannot get the usual seed pellets, someone appears to be arguing over money, and what is on offer is not good enough for these brutes.  It also has left a lot of dust down the wall and with no rain to speak off it is not getting washed a way. My neighbour might speak to me soon...

Today the plan was simple, eat a good breakfast and then eat little until evening, great idea.  
I had a good breakfast and fell asleep.
After this I spent all morning on this laptop either reading the grubby papers and arguing with Brexiteers or listening to the 'iPlayer,' sorry 'BBC Sounds.'  It was indeed better as the iplayer but there you go, someone has £10 million to spend and so it must be spent even if in a daft and needless manner.
The radio was good and it took me till after two to remember to get out and get milk, but I fell asleep instead.  This has not been a great day...

I see that nice Mr Farage has been taken apart twice this week, once by Andrew Marr of Sunday and then by a Channel 4 newsman the other night.  The vast wealth he has been given by Aaron Banks, who does not disclose where his cash comes from, is helping him with his Brexit Party as it did with his dying UKIP party.  It is interesting to note he has arranged it so no 'member' of his new party can influence decisions, only he can, with two others, very democratic.  
The sheep rose to the occasion claiming all this was a smear campaign against Farage by the 'establishment.'  How he has them hoodwinked.  There is a kind of blindness which hangs over Brexiteers, facts do not deter the need for Brexit, the emotion goes deep and no fact lies behind it so it cannot be opposed.  The opposite is occurring and if a second referendum is given they will all vote 'Leave' with more belief and yet with few facts.  I see Scunthorpe is losing 900 jobs because of Brexit from the plant that is the mainstay of the economy yet North Lincs voted strongly in favour of Brexit, what did they expect?  
The more I hear of Farage the more I think of  Alcibiades the chap Thucydides wrote about after the death of Pericles through the plague.  His view was that Pericles spoke for the good of the nation, Alcibiades was in it for himself, and it appears so.  It is also interesting that Boris Johnson is a great Thucydides fan, I wonder who he sees himself as?
I would explain this on the 'Daily Mail' forums but the sheep would not comprehend.  Anyway they would see them all as foreigners!  

We can always take our minds off Brexit by watching the US attempt another war this time against Iran.  It is unknown if Trump realises what he is doing here or indeed if he knows what is going on but Spain, Germany and the Dutch among others have withdrawn their forces from the US alliance in the Gulf.  The US will be on their own in Iran, bar the Conservative Party that is.

Annoyed!

As you know I never get annoyed, I am always laid back...
However when I received my replacement driving licence, the one I got ten years ago has never been used as I have not got the cash for the vehicle, I was annoyed.  The details were OK but on the right hand side as illustrated is shown a disgusting English flag!
This moronic emblem has been dumped there by the Tory Brit nationalists to impose the union on the Celtic states.  Those who demanded their own flag have been rudely rebuffed and like me now find this wretched emblem on the licence.  How disgraceful and annoying!
I was tempted to send it back and even worse to run out and buy a car and drive up to Scotland just because.  Instead I sat in my bed watching Raith Rovers struggle against Queen of the South.  This did not help as it was not very exciting until the last 5 minutes but at least it was Scotland glimpsed.

  
Intrigued to find that this gentleman, Mr Rees-Mogg, has written a history book concerning famous Victorians.  I did not look to seek this book out ans another gentleman, one A.N.Wilson, who has also written a book re Victorian individuals has apparently reviewed the Rees-Mogg effort.

"Jacob Rees-Mogg has written a history book. The Times's reviewer calls it "staggeringly silly", "morally repellent", "clumsily written" and "pompous."

Sniggering a wee bit I may just pass this one by... and no, I didn't bother seeking out the title, it didn't appear worth the effort.

Spring Day (Depending on how you determine Spring and Summer).

This evening I have been entertained by the sound of summer outside my window.  Standing on the chimney stack next door this chap has been happily informing the world of his whereabouts, or possibly asking for her indoors whereabouts, and while it meant one thing to the bird life around here it sounded magnificent to me indoors listening.  

This follows on from the bird song heard while wandering around the gardens earlier on my way to browse the charity shops.  Blackbirds, also members of the Thrush family, entertained as I attempted to photograph things that would not stand still.  This while avoiding the glaring neurotic looks of the mums lounging around the park with the toddlers.  That is one of the problems of the Gardens, when the sun shines people fill it and get in the way.

How different life is when you have some energy and the sun shines!

Tiring Saturday

I have been forced to remain locked indoors as there is a constant stream of football to be watched today.  So far I have had Aston Villa v West Brom, not counting falling asleep at the start of the second half, and await whatever is next.  After watching the Aberdeen Hearts game on Friday night I need reminded as to what football is all about, there was none on show there.
Three more games lie ahead, with similar tomorrow.
Not much else is getting done....

It was during the monotony that resulted from Derby County's inept attempt at goalscoring that I browsed the book 'The Old Ways.'  Mindful of Jenny wishing to read and Fly having considered his precious book 'precious' I ventured inside one Leeds United had taken a comfortable lead.
The first thing that struck me was the paper used, very nice and suitable for a book of this subject, but a bit 'precious?'  Look I am listening to you not reading for myself.  The next thing was the immediate confrontation of four, yes FOUR, pages of review blurb!  People of all sorts from all parts of the wide globe were informing me how good this book was.  I thought one page of blurb usual but four was a bit, er, 'precious' right enough.
However I went straight to first chapter 'Tracks,' and read the first piece as 22 men humped and punted one another about the field to the accompaniment of 'encouragement' from men of limited vocabulary.  In this chapter the author walks out into the snow one dark night and proceeds out of town and across the fields following the tracks left behind in the snow by beasts of the night.  An atmospheric walk and quite enjoyable.  Was it a bit 'precious?'  With that thought in mind I could see what was meant and yet look forward to the next chapter, 'Path.' The reading offered a different perspective from what was on offer in front of me as I read.  Maybe that helped...?

Day Out to Caesaromagus

Late last night I decided to risk a trip into Caesaromagus and make use of the book vouchers in Waterstone's shop. So by ten this morning I was on the Zimmer bus, after almost failing to get my ticket out of my new wallet which had swallowed the thing!  So we soared of past green crops rising in the acres around, aged houses sparkling in the bright sunshine and young women in bright outfits brightening the view.  They ignored me...

It all appeared remarkably quiet, possibly folks made use of the Monday holiday and stayed away now the kids were back at school, possibly I was just lucky.  I clambered upstairs in the shop and browsed the books on the tables, on the shelves and at times found it quite depressing as there was nothing obvious to buy.  That is there were many interesting books but not ones that grabbed me and forced me to take home, which is disappointing.  The idea of laying books on tables is because it apparently sells them better than standing on the shelf facing the customer, it is better for me viewing them certainly even better had I brought my other glasses with me so I could see properly indoors!

All went well, not counting the females ability to walk through you in a shop demanding you move or totally ignoring your presence.  It would be easy to make use of rude words and offer suggestions on correct behaviour, old women are the worst!  
I proffered the books at the desk where the efficient staff man took care of me, indicating the £25 card had only £20 on it and reminded me never to trust a woman!  However I paid the difference and collected the new bonus card which is being used by Waterstone's and made my way elsewhere. Until recently a small card received a red stamp on every occasion £10 or more was spent.  A good idea however some staff were fiddling this, one man has just been dealt with for acquiring £11,000 worth by fiddling the cards this way and so a more secure computerised card has been introduced.  Some staff will not be happy...

Home via the gardens and the butcher in the market.  Plenty of sausages and chicken in the freezer now!  Then stumble up the road to await the transport with the happy people.  Interested to note the growing number of those sleeping rough during the day in public places.  Do they think this will get them sympathy in this city?  I could not decide why this was the case, mostly this sight has been seen in Camulodunum, a far rougher town, so what causes the change and are these folks local?

Back home I delighted in my day, the first time this year I have been out of town I think.  How nice to almost think I am getting fitter.  

    

Football, Elections,

There is something you do not see every day.  Two Champions League games that were worth watching and two which were also exciting at the end!  Far too many of these games are either one-sided or plain boring, such a change to see football worth watching.  Tonight the Europa Cup does not promise similar excitement so instead I will watch the play-off between Newport and Mansfield Town.  This will be better than watching Arsenal or Chelsea bore us.  Just a shame we could not see the Scottish play-off last night...

Chatting to the postman this morning hew as happy to remind me the MEP elections are about to be held.  His happiness does not arise from a care for or against the EU but instead for the delivery of leaflets for all the political parties represented at this election.  The reason he smiles is he gets paid for each leaflet he delivers, it used to be around 6p each in my day, and tonight I noticed there are 8 parties and one independent involved in the elections.  Great for postmen everywhere, not so good for us however.  
All the usual parties plus 'Change UK,' 'The Brexit Party,' and the 'English Democrats!'  I remember scaring my boss by refusing to deliver the 'English Democrats' leaflet as it was racist!  He thought I was serious...  I did it for the money you understand and the poor candidate did not do very well.  There was of course no UKIP around at that time to seriously worry the Tory who would win as the sheep come out to vote for him.  
Quite how it will go around this region I know not as while the Tory always wins the Farage scam might make a break through in this region, it is very anti-EU and some of them are terrified of all those immigrants who don't live here and the loss of old England, which has never existed!

If only the BTS commentator would read this....

Wednesday Baby

Me, myself and I considered the 'Daily Star,' a very much down market tabloid which I never look at to have won the headline of the day competition yesterday.  With the rest of the press offering page after page of old stories with accompanying photos the Star just had a simple headline stating the obvious.    
Today the papers are till engulfed in using the brat to avoid talk of Brexit.  Search the pages carefully as other important news will be slipped out by the government while this nonsense continues.  Today the fuss concerns the name of the child, I have sent the name 'Parasite' to Harry as an idea, he may however consider this to cover most of the royals, and 'benefit Scrounger' was another that crossed y mind.  I suggested also he takes the bairn down to the local 'Food Bank' and let him know how the rest of the population live under this government.  I suspect Harry, he with the gift of his mothers brain and his fathers hair (how come father never paid for him?), I suspect Harry knows little of life outside the nightclubs where the rich gathered to while away the hours.  Still he knows Africa is towards the South and quite warm.
What?  Me cynical?

  
I see that nice Mr Hunt has once again been taking his smile around the world.  Not that I would consider a foreign secretary doing this a bad thing indeed it is part of the job, however a cynic would say that maybe this is his ploy to get the top job?  Now in no way could I ever be called a cynic but again today he is meeting people, this time greeting the US representative to chat about Donald coming over and at no time will he mention the sale of the NHS to the yankees in any way or form if he became PM.  No, no, no, to think that a possibility would be outrageous, though he did write a wee book suggesting such a ploy some time back and a quarter of the NHS has been privatised much of it to American health peoples.  
Just saying like.

Clem the Man!

I came across a lot of photos of Clem today and wondered at the difference between this rich man who spent his life helping the poorest and the rich of today who spend their lives getting richer.  This man was Prime Minister and had few real enemies bar the opposition and those who wished to take his place.  However he was always too good to be removed, I think he had 24 'coups' against him all of which failed.  The comparison between this man and what is available in the House today is a wonder not to be missed.
Here are some of his quotes...

"We have absolutely abandoned any idea of nationalist loyalty. We are deliberately putting a world order before our loyalty to our own country."
"The Old School Tie can still be seen on the Government benches."
"If you begin to consider yourself solely responsible to a political party, you're half-way to a dictatorship."
"Democracy means government by discussion, but it is only effective if you can stop people talking."
"I just love Chinese food. My favourite dish is number 27."
"A period of silence on your part would be appreciated."
"Man's material discoveries have outpaced his moral progress."
"In a life and death struggle, we cannot afford to leave our destinies in the hands of failures.
"Winston Churchill - fifty per cent genius, fifty per cent bloody fool. "
"No social system will bring us happiness, health and prosperity unless it is inspired by something greater than materialism."

It would be easy to insert many of these quotes into today's parliament situation. 

Attlee understood how successful he had been when he penned this...

"There were few who thought him a starter,
Many who thought themselves smarter.
But he ended PM
CH and OM,
an Earl and a Knight of the Garter.

 

Time to switch of the news as yet another royal benefit scrounger has arrived on the planet.  This one with a mother with 'modern' ideas.  For 'modern' read 'daft.'  For days the Brexit discussions will be hidden behind the papers gushing puke that follows such births.  Therefore Theresa will be sending out changes here and there behind the baby's back, look out for it.

Busy Sunday

Raising myself out of bed by 7:30 I managed to be in church on time at 10:30.  The chill wind from the north was blowing while the sun failed to heat up the day.  I felt sorry for the three men working on the road works wrapped in dingy bright yellow outfits.  With Monday a bank holiday, the English love these, many were away yet it was surprising how many remained around town.

One of my women gave me a lift home, for which I was glad as my knees are stiff today, and this enabled me to see some football before hauling myself out again over to the gardens where another of my women had an event on.
Having written her dissertation on John Ray the famous botanist you have never heard off she has aided construction of a John Ray garden in the public gardens and the event was to bring this to kids minds even though the gardens have been there for years.  In fact I tell a lie she helps run them but the garden originated in 1986!  Fool that I am.
The event contained lots of activities for the kiddies, helped by mum, and in spite of the weather around 200 attended so this was a good deal in the end.  Just imagine if the sun had shone!  Anyway this took my knees for a walk and allowed me to discuss virii with her mum who has suffered as I have for months, she too lacks sympathy from those who should know better.   

I stole away in time to watch the Rangers v Hibs game but gave up at half time as Hibs, as usual were poor.  I instead watched Salford game victory enabling them to travel to Wembley for the play off final next week.  Play-offs are better than many games as the cup-tie atmosphere makes for mistakes and happenings.  One of today's events was Mr Rooney taking one of the last minute penalties and sending it into the sky, well worth £4000 a week to Salford City I say. 

Now, after such a day, I require a Monday holiday, I suggest eating fruit, meat and potatoes, drinking fine wines (which means going out to buy them so I might not), and doing something useful around the house... sleep I think!

 

The Glories of Spring!

The north wind has been hammering my windows all day.  Rain lashes against them every so often while elsewhere snow and ice, rain and hail aid people to enjoy their long weekend holiday.  
I am indoors. 
Now the sun shines brightly and after the wind has dies and the sun switched on the heat again we will be able to enjoy all the growth in the gardens round about.  I say 'we' but the man cutting the grass again might have a different opinion.

It is fascinating how people interpret the times.  The other day the vast majority of parties supporting Brexit were thrashed in the polls, the parties opposing Brexit obtained huge wins, today Theresa and Jeremy have decided that this means we need to 'get on with Brexit.'  I have discovered many others also wish to accept that is what the 'message' was, clearly it was not.  People will see what they wish to see and political leaders are no different.  It is interesting how many 'friends' I have made on the 'Daily Mail' forums however... Interesting also that insults abound but no arguments are forthcoming.  On one UKIP site I accidentally posted a picture of sheep and some folks were not happy abut this.  
Jenny made an interesting point in her comment on the last post re voting.

From what I've seen most people won't have a clue how to vote. What you really need to know is that the parties list their MEP candidates in order of preference. So you do a bit of research, google MEP candidates, choose your area, check out the candidate at the top of the list in EVERY party and choose which ever candidate's views you like the best. Then you vote for then, regardless of party. The second candidate might not get in if the party doesn't get many votes, so it has to be the top one if you want to be sure of having your views represented. I think that will be clear enough in the case of the Brexit party, but a pity that there is not a Remain party on the other side.

Unfortunately I have been forced to watch football on and off all day.  This is not my fault but being the end of season it means teams find out if they are 'going up' or 'going down' and in many cases this was unclear.  Clarity being established for many only the 'play-offs' await and these too can be intriguing.
However this meant I missed my life today.
I now have a backlog of work to catch up on and it is after 10 pm, this is annoying and I am beginning to wish they would schedule football matches at a more appropriate time for me!  
I might then get my life back.  

Vote, Microsoft, Stupid!

Unlike yesterday morning when I climbed the highest hill, difficult around here, washed my face in the dew to keep my good looks and then found a Maypole to dance around for a while, all because it was the 1st day of May, all this before leading the 'Marx March for the Working Class,' a class he knew nothing about, today I merely voted.
This morning I wandered around the corner to the museum where my boss was in charge of the election workings.  I proffered my details, my driving licence (that I have never used since qualifying as I canny afford a car) and answered the inquisitorial questions "What is your address?" etc. 
then checked we had three votes and proceeded to the both where I made my choice. 
'Not him, not him, not him, not him, not him, not her, that leaves and independent about whom I know nothing, and independent ex-Labour (disliked Corbyn) councillor and a Green who has failed before and about which almost nothing is known.  What a way to run a democracy.

I was reliably informed that at mid morning a total of 28 persons had voted.  Of course having 7 an hour is not bad in some places for a local election but it was clear that the Brexiteers were not voting as there was no fascist standing in this ward.  Any neo-Nazi representing the Brexit Party or Ukip would have drawn out the little englanders today.  A great many are unhappy their fantasy has not arrived and economic depression arrived.  Not that they realised this would happen of course, Brexiteers thought all would be economic delight and the British Empire would return once more.
Spite has kept them indoors today.  Nobody representing their views, especially the Asian Tory, so they will not vote.  Usual excuses, 'My vote does not count,' 'It makes no difference,' etc, and while there is something in that view i still consider it important to vote even if none of them are worth voting for.  I am sure many councillors do attempt to do a job for the people and not all are taking fat backhanders so we must not be too down on the council I suppose.  There again there are those who know how to play a system...

   
I recently had a short Microsoft update.  I am not sure if connected but each morning something new arises.  For a few days 'Word' would not start, either restarting completely or footling about inside the machine was required to get it working.  Yesterday other things did not appear, today it would not connect to Wi-Fi.  It took for ever to get that going.  Maybe it is just me?  I look forward to whatever does not work tomorrow.  I wonder if my inability to spell words correctly can be blamed on Microsoft?  There appears to be a lot of red lines on this page...

Stupidity is possibly an inherited characteristic, I think so anyway.  You see I took pictures of the museum organic grown flowers this morning yet did not bother to check what the camera settings were.  Therefore all the colours were wrong and while I can use B&W for a polling pic I canny do that for flowers.  Subtle fiddling has not really done the job but it shows you do not need to be stupid to make mistakes, just forgetful I suppose.

 

Sold!

Edinburgh Castle and Esplanade (Burns 1868)
By courtesy of Edinburgh City Libraries

Today is a day of shame.

On this day in 1707 Scotland was sold to England by Peers ensuring their livelihood continued while the Scots people suffered.  For the next 50 years Scotland, and Edinburgh in particular struggled.  Only Scots grit and hard work brought change.

The Unionists among us, mostly reading the 'Scotsman' paper, a media that has long sold out to unionism, in spite of rumours that it's sub-eds are all down south somewhere.  All media i Scotland is English owned including the BBC which while based in Glasgow is dominated by the Labour Party and that is English led.

Missionary work took me here, and often I have been threatened by the natives, I know not why as I am such a nice chap, and understand the advantages of two nations working together for mutual benefit.  I know also that Scotland is considered as an addendum and nothing else.  What a waste of an opportunity.

It is time Scotland ruled itself.

    

I came across this representation of Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland.  I cannot find the link that gives details but I am convinced he looks like me and I wonder if in fact I am the rightful King of Scots?    

Just asking like...?

Note I say 'King of Scots' not 'King of Scotland.'  While Elizabeth claims to be 'King of England' the Scots King is King only of people, not the land.  English kings as you know grab all they can get.

Just saying like...