| Wednesday, March 14th, 2012 |
| 9:01 pm |
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| Thursday, March 1st, 2012 |
| 3:57 pm |
The Trouble with this sodding play is that whoever wrote it wrote a very short play and them padded it out to three times it's lenght with vast amounts of innane waffle and not only is innane waffle dull to listen to but a fucking nightmare to learn. From now on I'm sticking to panto ...and possibly shakepeare. |
| Wednesday, February 29th, 2012 |
| 8:16 am |
Their Banning Words Again - Is It Time To Fight Newspeak?
They are at it again. A review in to elderly care has recommended the banning of the phrases "Bed Blocker" and "Old Dear". Bed Blocker is not an insult to a any individual person except possibly administrators who allow the situation to be created. A Bed Blocking is a technical situation that arises when due to lack of places in care homes for the elderly Old people end up staying in hospital beds after they are cured because they would not be able to maintain themselves on their own at home. Referring to this problem dose not denigrate those caught up in it and blocking people from referring to it by removing the language with which to discus it prevents people from giving old people the service they should be receiving. In short Bed blocking is not the fault of old people so it should not be considered an insult to them. As for Old Dear it is true that phrase in inappropriate to some old people. To others it is totally appropriate and and many old dears are proud to be so. Weather people on reaching their older year should be able to choose what kind of person to be. The right to be a Nice Old Lady (effectively what Old Dear means) is everyone's right and to declare the word to be a taboo insult it dose not stop people being nice old ladies it just implies that there is something somehow regrettable and lesser about being a nice old lady. So to any Old Dears reading this, if some nurse starts to refer to you and falters tell them "Old Dear love; I'm an Old Dear and proud of it!" If you find yourself blocking a bed tell those in charge that you are not happy being a bed blocker and want them to get their finger out and stop you being a bed blocker because it's their fault not yours and while they leave you a bed blocker they are failing you. |
| Saturday, February 11th, 2012 |
| 12:06 pm |
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| Wednesday, January 4th, 2012 |
| 8:50 am |
Glorious? Reallyously?
Yesterday the editor of The Daily Mail claimed it was a "Glorious Day" for the police, the law, the parents of Steven Lawrence, The Daily Mail and newspapers in general. Convicting 2 people for murder 18 years after 5 people killed somebody in a brutal attack is far from a glorious day for the police or the law. It's not even half way to a vaugly satisfactory better late than never. From what the parents of Steven Lawrence have said they don't seem to find it in any way glorious. As for the idea that this is glorious for the mail or the press, a decade and a half ago; back in the last century, the mail published a headline that got noticed about a cause that was already hot news. It way even be claimed that at the time it had an effect (although not everyone agrees even with that). In the decade and a half since the mail has not exactly been supporters of equality or diversity, the current state of the whole media is not what it was. Until the NOTW hacker got caught (because he went for the queen so the police had to act) and handed over a list of who he was attacked the paper with the most (as yet unproven) allegations of hacking against them was the mail. If a headline a decade and a half ago was good one can not call today glorious, one can mearly see it as a reminder of how the mighty are fallen. |
| Friday, December 9th, 2011 |
| 3:46 pm |
The Two Dangers
Beyond the risks of isolation I see two main dangers from the outcome of last night's Euro talks. The first is unavoidable now. The strict rules on spending will prevent a lot of counter cyclical methods for preventing recessions and depressions. When this crisis first started the charge lead by the likes of Gordon Brown (and chiefly resisted by the Germans) has now been shown to have prevented the recession from having been far worse. I should add that it would have been better for the Euro zone as a whole and may have prevented some of the current crisis if Germany as a stable strong economy had engaged in a bit of spending early on in the crisis (pure speculation). This will mean that in future the only country able to take such actions in the Europe may be the UK (dependant on what the other three abstainers choose to do) and our efforts would be seriously dissipated if all around us were reducing spending. In short anyone who believes in Kanesian (sp) economics should be very worried about this. However it is the unavoidable result of actions earlier in the century when counties like Germany and France broke the non-automatic rules on Euro government spending and used their political weight to avoid reprocutions making those rules unworkable. The second danger is for the UK. It is now not impossible (and without us being at the table far harder for us to stop) that the when new banking regulations are imposed under this new treaty the counties involved will insist that to trade in any way in their countries banks will have to compile with these rules. In some cases this may be on a company wide basis impacting on the UK parts of UK companies. UK companies may well create subsidiaries to operate in the Euro zone to get round this, but that will take Euro zone business totally out of the UK. Can't help thinking France wanted us out of the negotiations (if not out of Europe) since a very long time ago and got what they wanted. I think both Germany and France think when they finally achieve the fully federal Inner Europe that they want they will be the ones to dominate it. One of them has to be wrong, I wonder which. Either way, since joining the EEC as it then was (or was it the common market by then) the UK government has always made sure they had a place at the table for major negotiations even for things they had no intention of being a part of (like the Euro). In my memory I can not think of a PM who did not at some point demonstrait that they understood the importance of this until now. Cameron has been played off the table. How did this looser ever get in to power in this country. |
| Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 |
| 12:53 pm |
A Day In London
Made my annual trip to see the London Christmas windows and lights yesterday. Had long since decided to use the trip to see ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=91.7) preachermuaddib who I've not seen for way to long. An up side to this was that I parked outside his house which is far more convenient than my normal parking spot in Epping. Preacher was working when I arrived so I headed for town with the invention of Preacher calling me when he was free. Got off the train at Holburn and walked down to Covent Garden via Seven Dials. Browsed round Covent garden and made a trip to Charles Fox where I picked up some makeup for use with my air brush (I'm looking forwards to playing with that). I had a cup of tea in the Victoria market and got a few photos. The Decorations there were much the same as last year but still beautiful although the topiary reindeer was looking a bit battered. My plan was to wait till Preacher joined me to have lunch but that plan was not to be. I wondered across to Charingcross road via various back streets (Far more interesting than the main drag) then up and in to Chinatown via Newport Court at one end of which is a little stall that sells rather nice Pork dumplings. By this point it was nearly two and with no call from Preacher I decided to make lunch of such. Having eaten and wandered through Leicester Square I went down Picadilly and popped in to Waterstones for a couple of gifts I realised I had yet to get. Then I headed up regents street and along Oxford street (Didn't think much to the windows this year). Time was getting on and I realised that Preacher should have called by then. I tried calling him but the phone would not connect although it claimed full signal. I couldn't get a txt out either, but I could connect to Facebook. I left a message there, then I thought to turn the phone on and off after that it worked and preacher and I decided to meet up at Oxford Circus. I think it is nearly time for a new phone. Since I was outside of Selfridges I had time to pop in and look round their Christmas department. I must confess I was not massively impressed.then I headed down to wards Oxford Circus. On the way I popped in to Phones 4U to have a brows and ask a few questions. I think I am most interested in the Nokia Lumia at this point. I'm getting the feeling it may well be the phone to put them back in the game and maybe give Microsoft a solid toe hold for the first time. Had some time at Oxford Circus and got a few nice Photos. I've seen some dire lights up Oxford Street in the past but this year they were really good Prehaps better than Regents St for once. Met up with Preacher. I get the impression he is really doing will work wise these days which is nice to see. We wandered down to Liberties and to check out their Christmas department. This is a real Christmas tradition for me and did not disappoint. It's my favourite place in London for getting decorations. We spent some time getting pretty things. I got a couple of beautiful coloured glass borbles. It's not that there are not cheap knock offs of this sort of thing to be had but you can really see the difference in quality and Liberties decorations really are not that expensive even so. Preacher got a little disco ball. We headed to a pub and chatted about stuff, then headed down Carbnaby Street. Their decorations this year were magnificent shiny mistletoe. Carnaby Street so often have the best Christmas displays. We got dinner in an Italian place on Old Crompton Street that I'm a fan of. The waiter was trying to impress us with his knowledge of Goth. After dinner we went to see authur Christmas. To be honest It might have been a good idea to head to a slightly less central cinema. It certainly would have been cheaper. The film was brilliant. I was sure it would be when I saw the trailer. It's years now since Ardman took over From Raymond Briggs as the source of Must See animation for Christmas Day, but this is the first actual Christmas film they have done. Even so it was incredibly Christmas and laugh out loud funny. I genuinely recommend it although the 3D is a little superfluous in this film so you can wait to see it on the TV next year. I suspect BBC will be wanting it as their Christmas Day film for next year if they can get it. Journey back out to Preacher house and my van was pretty uneventful. and basically took the form of one long conversation of the kind I have missed. Conclusion of the day: Somebody should write a book called "The Last Munchkin" (If nobody has already) |
| Monday, December 5th, 2011 |
| 8:36 pm |
Sneer we go again
I've written a little Limerick about The Primeminister, the man who put the N in cuts. I've posted it on Daily Motion (a youtube alternative with a possibly poor choice of name). |
| Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 |
| 8:33 pm |
Wednesday
Wednesday may very well be my least favourite day of the week. |
| 3:33 pm |
Brrrr
Today was the first really cold days gardening I've done this winter. It didn't help that it was weeding out the patio which was made up of freezing cold slabs that the sun didn't bother to come out and warm. My hands feel very unhappy. Still at least I was prepared this year hand had a stove in the van for a nice nourishing soup and a cup of tea. It's been a long time since a cup of tea felt that good. |
| Monday, November 14th, 2011 |
| 8:49 am |
I am single
Today Ally and Amy moved out. They have moved to a place they think will far more suit their lifestyle needs (I think it will too). I however have a work here and a band and frankly no desire to move. I never really managed to adjust to the situation of a three person household. I don't want to make that a permanent arrangement. Now the real crunch; Since Amy and I will be a long way from each other and Amy is unlikely ever to move back here. We have decided to separate. Quite simply the pleasures of our different lives have made it inevitable. We still love each other in our own way but we are now both single people again. That is a little sad but it is better than a situation where an attractive girl in a new town finds me a bit of a block on her social life. It's not like either of us will have the money to travel to see each other very often. As ever at this point I'm in the mood of "That's it, No more long term relationships ever!" but I say that every time and I'm not sure if I'm only saying it as some kind of joke this time. I'm certainly not looking for another relationship right now. Right now I plan to get the house How I want it. |
| Friday, November 11th, 2011 |
| 5:21 pm |
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| Thursday, November 10th, 2011 |
| 10:22 am |
Crap sticks
So close to breaking in to the Black in my bank account but now both pairs of gardening trousers have go in the space of a week. One pair can be made decent with a bit of work, but one can't keep going with just one pair of trousers especially since the tumble dryer hasn't been in a usable state since the spring. Oh well, off to bury. I guess it will have to be jeans as the place that dose combats is a market stall that only turns up on Wednesdays (or was it Saturdays) Either of which I can't do this week do to work and other commitments. |
| Monday, November 7th, 2011 |
| 2:16 pm |
And Finally
Really not doing these any more. I only finished this one because of the mince pie recipe at the end. Will still post stuff to you tube but not a blog as such. |
| Sunday, November 6th, 2011 |
| 4:52 am |
Bonuses
Everyone is bitching about the amount of pay bankers get and the Size of their bonuses. No only am I uncomfortable in the extream with placing limits on the amount of money somebody can earn, but I can't help feeling that it dose us no service but to serve a desire for vengeance and probably misses the point of what the problem really is. Aimlessly kicking the 1% dose not help the 99. That leaves the question what has gone wrong? (or what has always been wrong?) What can be done about it? What actually matters? It's nearly 5am so I've got to go to work now. So rather than post my answeres I'll leave this hanging and post some thoughts on answers when I have time to think. |
| Saturday, November 5th, 2011 |
| 10:06 am |
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| Friday, November 4th, 2011 |
| 11:41 am |
Painting Time Black
A meeting of international scientists today may decide to abolish leap seconds. Leap seconds were invented because the earth dose not always stick to exactly 24 hours in a day. Not only is that kind of exactness a bit difficult for such a big piece of rock but it wobbles slightly from time to time due to "stuff". To compensate for these things a second is occasionally added to a day once every few years when deemed nessersary by "scientists". This being quite a major international thing it takes a lot of scientists all meeting up to agree on when the extra second is required, but today the meeting called to decide if another one is needed may vote to abolish the whole Leap second thing altogether and just go with time as decided by atomic clocks allowing times relation with the relative positions of the earth and the sun to "Drift a bit". This is shocking arrogance. "The Time" is for The Earth and the The Sun to decide between them, The job of mankind in all this is to observe and record. It's like the scientists have got pissed of with "The Time" being an actual physical thing that everyone can see and have decided to make it purely theoretical to make sure us mere mortals don't get a say in it any more. The Time will become entirely fictitious for the convenience of a bunch of men who frankly gave up wearing white coats ages ago but still keep a couple in a draw for ceremonial occasions. Man really should remember his place in the great celestial scheme of things lest in his arrogant forgetfulness he dose something really stupid. |
| 7:42 am |
Hi tech makes it worse.
The first time I missed Whitby it was a bit rough but at least all the people actually there dropped off line and you'd just get the one post at the end when they got back. These days thanks to mobile tech facebook is full of goings on and photos. This is really depressing. Especially as these days you never know Which Whitby may be the last. On an up note I may have enough money to go one day. I actually got within a fiver of being in the black last week (Before I had to pay for fuel for the van). Hope Tim pays me for last weekend Quickly that may be what gets me past that magic line before Christmas. |
| 7:27 am |
today
Today is a gardening day ...unless this rain keeps up in which case it is an arting day and Christmas cards may result. |
| Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 |
| 12:29 pm |
Sorting out stuff
Today I have disposed of all the socks I have that do not have partners. About 14 of them, some dating back to the 80's. |
