Past Trips...

One of the grubby papers was intent the other day to gather information regarding your past holidays.  Where did you go?  What was the best?  Those deeply intellectual questions being asked.  It surprised me as I could not think of having had a holiday for years.  Last year, while others visited Costa Rica, Portugal, Holland and Spain I had a day out in Great Bardfield churchyard.  I am not sure this counts as a holiday.
When did I last go on proper holidays?  Rare to have had the cash let alone somewhere worth visiting.  As children visits to aunts, as adolescents no money was available and few were rich enough for the early Spanish holidays.  A day out to Whitley Bay was forced on me at 15 by my dad.  Why there?  No idea.  I was intrigued I recall by policemen wearing those tall helmets, gone from Scotland in 1956.  Then later a trip or two to London with my mates, nothing intellectual occurring on these trips though a few hostelries were found.   
Once, only once, living in London, 1976 I reckon, I took a trip to Cardiff for reasons unremembered.  An overnight stay, nothing to recall but a friendly B&B in a backwater, and wondering why the rail tunnel was so long before remembering we went under the River!  

 
In November 1990, just before the first Gulf War, I went to Israel.  This of course was a great trip, even if the intifada and stupidity stopped me seeing all I wished to see.  A trip to Hebron? I enquired, NO! came the response, suicide!  Indeed the worst of the two sides abide there and bus trips do not go there these days.  I did see Jerusalem, mostly, finding much of what I wished to see, getting into the Holy Sepulchre with no difficulty, the American tourists stayed away from fear of Saddam, and sat in the most Holy place by myself, bar one nun.  

   
This shoddy picture shows Mount Tabor rising in the middle of a historical landscape.  I stand in Megiddo, corrupted into 'Armageddon' and before us lie the vast plain in which all the armies of the world will meet on the last days.  A huge plain lies before us.  To our right out of the picture is Mount Gilboa where Saul and Jonathan died, In the foothills near Tabor Barak defeated Sisera, and many a battle occurred where we stand.  In 1918 General Allenby's Cavalry swept across the plain of Megiddo more or less bring the end of the fighting in Palestine during the Great War.  
Sadly I saw no battles, though I can understand why people battle Israeli Border Police, they are a tough force.  Most Israelis were friendly enough, though many wished to sell something to tourists, and all Arab guides should be locked up!  

Not  much of a travelogue to be sure, nowadays I wish to see the Battlefields in France and little else.  The desire to tramp around in hot sun or freezing cold does not call me out.  There again both Brexit and the Virus has killed of foreign and indeed inland trips for us all.  
I can see that the use of digital cameras has improved photography greatly.  Most Israel pictures are on slides, so hidden away for now, the film ones are all pretty poor.  From now on all the pictures will concern Sainsburys and Tesco as far as I can see...

Boris Spoke...

Boris spoke and the world listened, well, most of it...
There is traffic hurtling about, there are shoppers, singly mostly, wandering up town, there are people with kids passing by.  Otherwise as we can see the place is indeed very quiet. 
In spite of closed shops and workplaces many remain open, most are 'Key Workers,' even if they do not work for 'Sports Direct,' and life must go on at a skeleton level. 

It is noticeable that the skatepark is empty!  Not one rebellious child to be found.  Mum is clearly taking control.  Few apart from dogwalkers can be seen in the park, and the local facebook page full of women desperate for dog owners to keep their pets from coming near them, in case the owner does also!  There is a thin line between caution and fear.  However individual walkers/joggers are leaving ten feet between one another.  The message appears to have hit home.
Excuse me while I go for a cough...

The rush hour has been quiet.  People move about but very little traffic today.  The Park was visited by two burly female police, those sitting legally on benches, in two's as they ought, soon left.  The occasional kid with a dad, the occasional mum with a shopping bag, the occasional youth with a phone, but very quiet for Tuesday.
Edinburgh streets were empty also, city and town hiding from a virus.  The nation has taken this to heart.  How long will this last?  No vaccine for months, possibly years.  I may as well go back to bed for a year...

A Day in the LIfe...

Boris Johnson, in a well scripted (written by someone else) address to the nation described my life to the full!
Do not go out, unless you are shopping for food.
Do not go out, unless you are taking exercise by walking across the park.
Do not go with anyone else.  Who?
Stay at home!

There you have it, my lifestyle justified by the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Top that!

Sunday Sainsburys

Having come close to zero on the basics I had to run up to Sainsburys this morning.  I chose to go just as they opened at 10 am in an effort to avoid crowds and ensure there would be something on the shelves.  How wrong I was!  The place was teeming!  Teeming, not with the ‘usual early morning crowd’ I see but with the ‘desperate to ensure I find it crowd’ that now fills the shops. 

The shelves were half empty, many totally bereft, a deliberate policy by the store itself.  What was left was being rummaged through by several at once, none giving way to their neighbour.  I confess that as I speeded along, I also fell into the barging way off life.  It was the only way to get past their trolleys.

Neighbourliness was noticed among men of certain age, we accommodated one another, offering looks that spoke towards the panic-stricken trolley pushers.  I obtained quickly most of what I wanted, plenty of actual ‘food’ to be found though I had to make do with overpriced ‘Nurofen’ as paracetamol, considerably cheaper and more reliable, was unavailable.  In fact, I got what I wanted mostly, few limitations for me, I suggest few for others also, but the nation is in panic mode.

I was reared during a time of rationing, though I did not understand this at the time.  I never did without, though we did not have much, and the society approach contained much of a ‘Just accept it and get one with it’ attitude.  They realised the position and made the best of it.

Today, after 75 years of peace and huge prosperity few can manage without the luxuries they have come to take for granted.  In fact, having to ’do without’ anything is now a crime, someone must be held to account!  Wealth does not make you happy, it makes you dependent on wealth! 

We now enter a period of ‘war like’ stress.  Not because our intellectually limited Prime Minister says so but because this virus will change our way off life, possibly for the next two years.  It may take that long to find a vaccine.

Two years of self-imposed isolation, two years of deaths all around (however Dominic Cummings is content this will only be among pensioners), two years with no sport, no pubs or cafes, no gatherings even in churches.  Only those who have seen war in the flesh can understand what this means.  How will our people cope?

The Christian church must now repent, put itself right before God and do things his way.  Those who weaken the faith must be opposed and if necessary, removed.  The church must proclaim the Good News loudly and often, it cannot do this while it is wounded by self-acquired injury. 

There must be an open display in this broken world in spite of self-isolation and wise precautions.  Depending on whom you believe, and there are far too many voices offering their opinion on how to deal with the virus, we may have indeed half a million deaths, possibly many more, and that will affect all of us!  The church must proclaim Christ crucified, the reason for this and Gods love, in spite of this plague.  Jesus has seen many more plagues than this, worse have been and will be again. 

The Christian needs to commit to his God, put his life right, and proclaim Good News, whatever happens round about.     

From the window I watched many people self-isolating together.  A man with his child kicking a ball, quite understandable, several primary school types on the skatepark, and many walking about in groups of four or five, possibly families other youths, all keeping close to one another.  

Sainsburys have this new rule, which I walked into.  A black mark one metre (3 ft 6 in the real world) from the cash desk is where the next customer must stand.  I ignored this until the lass in front pointed out the queue behind.  The leading woman smiled and I moved on.  I joined three men in a line, "I'll join the men, they will be quicker than the women,"  said I.  The men, of similar age to myself, nodded agreement with almost a smile.  Then we waited, and waited, a women was at the cashier failing to make her point. 

While the first man in the queue stood on the black line I was intrigued to note that we stood in the usual line, behind one another, not a metre apart, just a couple of inches.  I turned around once or twice and coughed, nest time I looked the women behind with a trolley had been replaced by a man with a basket.  Fear makes cowards of us all.  I possibly could have indicated the cold virus is not the same as the Chinese one but that may have been too much.  

Anyway, we men got through in due time, considering one another carefully, I almost said 'closely' and a few inches apart was close.  The cheerful young lady at the cash desk did her bit happily, she is not a week day staff, and I gathered my precious possessions and limped home in the freezing sunshine.   

Throughout the Empire, which since Brexit involves the Home Countries and Tristan de Cuna, people are gathering in crowds.  One pub in Greenock refuses to close, people go there, along with a dozen police officers trying to shut the place, Portobello Beach throngs with crowds, parks, gardens, and other open places are busy with people isolating together.  All the while the Mothers, this is Mothers Day after all, are left at home ignored!  For their own safety!

I must admit had I lived closer and mum had been alive I would still go round there.  She might not want me, I may disturb the soap operas she watched, but I think one of us would go.  

Clearly we are indeed living in a dangerous situation.  Made worse by an incompetent government happy to let pensioners die (allegedly).  At first I thought the fuss was exaggerated, I admit I was wrong there.  The more I look at it the more I begin to think this could take more than a year, possibly more than two years to clear.  The economic effect will continue long afterwords.  All we have trusted in is being taken from us, the strained looks on the faces in Sainsburys revealed that.  People do not know what to do, most have no emotional position from which to survey the situation.  I am not sure I have.  This is strange and new.  I can put my trust in Jesus, but that does not mean all will be well in every way, many of my friends are not as young or healthy than they were.  I am tempted to say 'The lights are going out all over Europe' but they will remain on...

Fearful Friday

Watching Charlie here, sitting all puffed up in the chilly morning, led to me ponder all those books that will be getting rushed out soon.  You now the type, reminiscent of those produced under the threat of nuclear war, barren empty, destroyed landscapes with few people attempting to renew the human population.  Deserted cities, small groups here and there fighting for all the resources they can obtain.  Only the animal world, untouched by the virus, will survive.  
Hmmm...maybe we ought to give that a go?
Considering no-one really knows how to deal with this virus, considering locking us all up is the only treatment, no different from historical plagues in that regard, considering any vaccine may be two years away and then dubious it may be we may be limited in our meetings for a very long time.  How will we cope? 
This will not change my life to much, many over 50s "cough" will be remaining indoors most night, the only comfort dreadful television, BBC 1 or ITV their only choices as turning to anything else is beyond them it appears.  Only their daytime activities will be limited now.  For many this will be hard to take, it will make little difference to me as I have hardly got out for the past couple of years, and that annoys me. 
Two years on 'lock down?'  Really?  Can we cope?  How will the drunks survive if pubs are closed, they need the company to be drunk with?  What will happen to those now unemployed?  Who will pay?  How will the economy survive?  Indeed has the Good Lord taken action to remind us he, not we, is in charge?
The future is bleak, especially with no football to watch!

Spring weather will put much pressure on children to get out and about.  How will parents cope?
Take them into the country?  Dow to the sea?  Along to some attraction?  Many places will be busy with people escaping people.  Attractions closed, and nowhere to go.  This will be a drag for many parents. 
I bet the skatepark opposite will be crowded with kids avoiding one another.  
How will kids cope?  Will they develop better ideas or end up glued to laptops and mobiles like we would?  Give kids a few old boxes, one or two intriguing items and they will be happy for hours. Anything that engages their minds will fill time.  Just as long as they are far from me while doing it...

 

Thursday Mutterings

Following instructions from higher command, e.g. the Archbishops, all Anglican churches are to close and if possible go online.  Now I understand this is a wise move, however I also feel the church ought to be open for prayer at times such as this.  Even if one church, in the centre of town, was to keep open at certain times for such prayer it would be a good thing.  This would help, Jesus would intervene, usually in ways we do not expect, and offer a moment of peace for those who would not come at other times.
Churches opened throughout the wars when they felt it would do good.  A very different enemy of course.  However people are in fear at the moment, I say that knowing many are fighting in supermarkets for the last bottle of sanitizer, while others are sitting in pubs happily forgetting fear of virus's or indeed anything else.  There is a fear culture developed in the world, another friend has gone on a 'cruise of a lifetime' and not been allowed off the boat, seen nothing but sea and is worried they cannot get off to fly home.  The unseen enemy hinders all.  Mind you I would be happy at sea for two weeks, not sure about a cruise boat mind you.  An open church, a short quiet prayer, a cheery word, who knows what this may do?  Self isolating with others!
On Sunday the St Paul's facebook page will offer a service of some sort online at 10:30.  Quite how he will manage this I know not!  I will be watching, without the need to dress up, walk down there, or indeed even wash, no-one will see me, so I can follow in a relaxed manner...

Spring has arrived.  According to Google, who must be right, it begins today.  According to everyone else it begins on Friday!  I am well aware Spring has begun, the low lying gray cloud overhead, the chill in the air, even though it claims to be 'mild,' and the drizzling rain that fell when I took the rubbish out does indicate Spring is in the air.    
Now, well into the dark evening, the rush hour stour fills the air, dankness hangs around and the cheerful weather girl promises chilly weather.  Spring has indeed sprung...

Idiot of the Week No 104.

Being an idiot is easy.

I have, unlike some, never required to take lessons on such a subject.  Indeed, many have claimed I could make a fortune by teaching ‘Idiocy’ to the masses.  Adding only that if anyone came to such teaching then those individuals would already have qualified in ‘Idiocy’ anyway. 

That made me think.

Now I have not reached the level of the American couple who asked me the way to Princes Street in Edinburgh many years ago.  I pointed to my feet and said, “You are standing on it.”

They were indeed, outside ‘Binns’ as was and at the beginning of the most famous street in the world.  To be extra helpful I indicated the castle, soaring high above, and avoided any remarks that may offend.  I got no tip.

Stupidity has been a hallmark of my life. 

In the museum I made it to the kitchen early on, filled the kettle, placed cups etc in position awaiting my friend and colleague as she arrived, returned to my position and opened the doors. 

Shortly afterwards the cleaners, making their way home, came past laughing and pointing at me.

It appears that I had left the kettle lid ‘up.’  This meant the kettle boiled and did not switch off.  The small kitchen was saturated in moisture as a result.  Words were exchanged by the non-tea or coffee drinkers as to one individual’s mental health.

The other day I accidentally bought a book through Amazon.

I tracked my package through the system, happily noting the imminent arrival this morning.  Just after 12:30 I raced downstairs slowly and retrieved my package as it hung through the letterbox.  Our front door is upside down!  This means the letterbox is quite high and wee Sue struggles to reach it.   I obtained my package, but once again the Wednesday delivery of ‘Private Eye’ failed, and hastened upstairs to rip open and read.

As I did so I realised I had read one book about Clement Attlee, and this book was about him, some time before.  I had checked my shelves and had no such book but it was in my mind.  I looked at the cover, the drawing of the greatest ever Labour leader reflected his quiet but efficient manner.  How I wished one such as he was around today.

I then thought the book looked familiar and once again checking the shelves I found that my idiocy had worked a treat!  Yes indeed, that very book I had in my hands was already on the shelf exactly where it ought to be!  Not only that the first copy I reckon was bought on the cheap, this one full price.  

I might not bother getting out of bed tomorrow…