What A Mess

 The international press must be having a right laugh at our politicians and their bizarre sets of faux pas made, it seems on an hourly basis at the moment.

What with stopping Oil and Gas exploration by one minister which means that Tax revenues won't flow to another minister.  To a Foreign Secretary making "reparations" for climate justice!!  Perhaps he should have asked the minister who looks after that and then try and tell us how the books balance where there £12Bn going to reparations but they are taking £1.5 Bn off of pensioners?  I could go on but it just beggars belief.  The early release of prisoners (some dangerous ones) has also resulted in the wrong prisoners being released early.  They happily had their mates pick them up in flash cars, cracking open bottle of Champagne.

Then there's the bungs and stuff going on and everywhere you turn someone is making something up to curtail our freedom, take our money and at the same time rub our faces in it.

I don't know  how long this will last, normally they have the grace to wait a few years before we uncover this sort of nonsense. Right now it's right in your face.  Accepting £20K here and there when you can already afford it yourself and guess what, you can't pay your pensioners their £300 a year fuel allowance after stuffing a further 10% on the bills as well?

I suppose I just ought to buy in more popcorn and watch them implode!

Breakfast With An Old Friend

 When you have Cancer, it can be a lonely journey.  By that I mean that even with the support of friends and family, no one really "gets it".  Many want to try and help but their "How are you?" question is really, more like "Oh God, you've got Cancer. Are you going to die?"   which is why I bought my Monty Python Tee Shirt with the words "I'm Not Dead Yet!" on it.

Everyone means well but the internal horrors of what it does to your head and the actual horrors of what it does to your body and the blitzkrieg that is the surgery and treatment are far from their minds when you respond.  In fact, it is more likely that you do, what I did and end up reassuring people that you are alright and more importantly that they are alright because they are SO uncomfortable and just want to know that you aren't going to die.  That's the bottom line I think.

So, my friend and I had similar but not identical Cancers and we were both in surgery at the same time and we were both recovering and not saying much to the wider world.  Our shared experience meant that we came together to work on a project after we had recovered and we remain in touch and I think we are "strange bedfellows" as we have business and cancer connections but we aren't particularly friends who go out together for much more than the occasional beer, curry or, like today, breakfast and we chat through things.

We both have  our head struggles and we are both quite different from normal people.  Sounds bizarre I know, but what I mean is that we are both "scientist" type personalities.  We were both heavily involved in an industry of absolutes. So what on earth does that mean?  We both worked on facts, data and right and wrong, yes or no, real world information and objectives and outcomes.   Neither of us dealt with or accepted bullsh1t as that in itself would not get the projects done.  Chancers and idiots could not be tolerated.  In my early days, I was trained to not kill people because every action I did could indeed do that.  If I had wired up a system incorrectly, it could easily do that and I carried this through in all my work.  If you mess something up it can have repercussions, maybe not terminal but certainly it could affect many people in different ways.

So we both have minds that question everything, challenge accepted thinking etc because it wa our job and what we do.  So we click on many things and whilst we are similar, we work in different ways and like different things but our bullsh1t detectors and spider senses are almost identical.  We may not produce identical strategies but we tend to arrive at the same conclusions. 

It's good to get out together and chew over the cud so to speak.  We probably tackle politics, head stuff, meaning of life, emptying the mind of lots of stuff and so on.  We agree on much but have differing views and approaches about it.  It's refreshing and we both normally come away feeling a lot better.  It is interesting how we can be up or down at the time too.  This time I was all calm and clear where previously it may have been the other way.  

Anyway, it was good to talk and nice to meet up and I ought to do it more.

Offended - The Loser's Guide To Taking Offence

 It never fails to amuse me at what offends people and how upset they get.  I am sure that there are people who's only function in life is to waste Oxygen and to be professional Offence Takers.  You see them on the news, on Social Media and elsewhere in day-to-day life.  Who are these people?

Well, I enjoyed someone saying that they were idiots who would take offence at anything to get noticed.  Other explanations are that this is the way in which people act now.  

I am offended by badly produced music, poorly written books, bad quality food and drink and many other things offend me but I don't react the way many do forcing or imposing their offended selves onto others.  If you don't like something, don't do it / watch it / listen to it / etc you get the picture.  

Taking offence is a thing that only one can do it is something that affects you and you alone.  Of course you can get collective offence but let's just look at this bonkers ways of dealing with it.  Me?  Well, I remove myself from the source of the thing that is offending me.  If someone is being an obnoxious tw@t well, just leave them to it, walk away, go elsewhere.  It works nicely when suddenly in a bar or restaurant you just excuse yourself and leave.  I've done it a few times and just let them get on with it.  It's interesting to hear what they thought about it but also that isn't my problem.  I removed myself from being offended.  I could have got angry, annoyed, bit back etc etc but what's the point?  If they are being offensive, by leaving I withdraw from it.  Generally these people are idiots too, so leave them to it.

The TV Programme they are watching becomes offensive to them.  Turn it off, walk away, go read a good book, listen to some music.  Emailing someone saying you were offended just puts a tick into a spreadsheet where turning it off dents ratings and that has it's own affect later on.

Dislike a comedian's jokes and are offended.  Good God!!! You go to comedy gigs and expect not to be offended?  Comedy is the one medium that invites you to consider whether events are worthy of being exposed for what they are.  I dislike comedy live gigs but enjoy a good comedian ripping apart the Government of the day, religious groups, special interest groups and anyone else who dares tell us that they are experts in their field and dares put their head above the parapet.  

I suggest for your own sanity that you loosen up, make time for quiet reflective walks in the countryside and some quiet meditation time.  There are lots of things that irritate me and annoy the hell out of me (as you probably know) and I vent here on the blog.  I turn off the Tele or radio, walk away and disengage rather than get all offended and sulky.  Try it, try turning off the TV.  It's very therapeutic indeed.  

I like that now Government Ministers are taking offence at us, the great unwashed, getting pissed off with them and people making their voices, it's amusing that they, our servants, think they can impose their fantasies on us.  When we say no, they are offended and upset.  How my heart pumps purple p1ss over that, to use an old expression.  

I like that people are offended because I unfollow (I think that is the term) or block or mute them.  Free speech is also followed by free don't listen as well.  You see you are free to say what you want as am I (within the limitations of hate etc as proscribed in law).  At the same time, I am not compelled to listen to what you have to say or what your opinions are.  If you offend me, I can switch you off, block you etc.,  You don't get to say who you aim your free speech at or whether anyone has to listen to you.  That's how it works.  I do like how offended people get when I block them for being offensive :-) It's funny n'est pas?

Anyway, hopefully you either have or haven't taken offence at this post, if you thinks it's offensive then you know what to do?  Block or unfollow simple as.  

Close to three months now

 I could murder a beer right now (it's OK search engines and social media police - it's a well known British expression used in every day parlance).  Having been told off by Arsebook for posting about our Veteran's Tommy Day initiative you just never know when the "I'm Offended" Algorithm or whatever they call it these days takes down your post.

So, let's get back to three months and the only alcohol I had was when I was away in August.  I've lost a fair bit of weight and I'm definitely in ketosis and I feel a lot better.  The Keto / Carnivore diet seems to be working its magic and weight loss now is slowed a bit but still noticeable.  When your clothes begin to fit and then feel loose you know it's working.

I don't weigh myself and do all the measurements stuff as I don't see that it actually helps that much - I think I might have a look next month just to get an idea where I'm at.   I don't seem to get any hunger pangs but I have to say I do miss a nice beer in the evening or something sweet every now and again.  I will have to wait until Christmas to have some beers and sweet things and then get back to eating properly.

I actually feel very well indeed, my only problem being getting too hot - this time of year the weather doesn't know what it wants to do and a warm night with autumn/winter bedding makes me too hot so I have to come downstairs and sleep down here.  When I get hot, I get claustrophobic too and so in a larger room I find it more comfortable.  Other than the odd want for a beer or a sweet and every now and then the urge to want a snack (which is in my head really) it all goes well.  I don't mind things like offal and fat and so on which are good for a carnivore diet.  It makes you satiated and it makes the body burn off its reserves.

Other than that, all is going well.  I feel good and feel fit but I still have this procrastination problem which I am tackling albeit it does seem difficult to overcome.  Soon I'll be up to my eyeballs in work as the App nears testing phase and hopefully we can finally launch it, long overdue as it is.  Who knows, we might even make some money!

I'd recommend taking some time away from alcohol if you can.  I'm stubborn and so it is easy for me once I've decided.  I like that we now have 0% beers and so occasionally I enjoy one of those if out for a meal.  I now steer away from chips, pasta and anything that's got carbs in it - most restaurants have a salad or will swap chips for salad.  In some ways this is the most difficult area but I was able to have a prawn cocktail the other day and avoid the sandwiches and banquettes others were eating.  As I said earlier, it is a little difficult but once you've got things under control and once you feel good and can see the weight fall away it's well worth doing.

Good Grief - Can It Get Any Worse?

 I suppose it probably can get worse but what on earth is going on with this new government?

Suddenly there's a run on people's pensions as it looks as if they are going to change the terms of those.  These long term financial vehicles allow a tax free withdrawal of 25% (cannot remember the limit).  So I used mine the year before I retired but you can do this from age 55 and not 65 like I was.  Well, blow me down if the Pensions industry isn't stating that lots of people are now inquiring about crystallizing their pensions and withdrawing their 25% now before the government get their hands on it.

The removal of the pensioner's winter fuel allowance also looks to be having some effect too.  A lot of people are worried that pensioners will wind down their thermostat and try to save money but will ultimately end up in Hospital as they get hypothermia, fall over and so on. 

The PM is under pressure to explain all of the freebies he gets and I hope someone asks him about his tax free pension and in fact all MPs pensions, their heating allowances, expenses and other such stuff.

It's a bit like Marie Antoinette territory at the moment.  I see non stop policies and ideas being tabled that are ruinous and the only people who can see this are the public who, contrary to politician's beliefs, are not stupid yokels.  The new labour laws being tabled will probably end up in higher unemployment.  If I was running a business, I think I'd take the money and run about now looking at how they want me to pay more energy costs, employ people who would like to come to work at hours to suit themselves and not the business and so on.  It looks to be a disaster.

What else can they do, They've p1ssed off major countries around the world, we have a  Foreign Secretary who doesn't seem to appreciate who are friends are on the global stage and some have outright stated they won't work with. We have more tax burden on the way we are already at 70% and just keep getting screwed.  The National Debt is now more than a year's GDP.  

They are very unpopular which is good, no one trusts them apart from their loyal supporters and those who did vote for them (they got less of the vote than they did at the previous election where the Tories got a 90 seat majority.  The electorate punished the Tories and we knew what was coming (at least those of us old enough to recollect the damage the last lot did).  

Both main parties are cheeks of the same @rse anyway.  They both p1ssed on us, the electorate and both killed of my businesses through their policies.  They probably didn't see that in killing off those businesses that their take became zero and any chance of tax revenue was destroyed so they shot themselves in the foot by imposing stupid rules on those businesses at those times.   It's hardly worth running a business or employing anyone these days and it's looking as if it will get harder.  The damage they do when they step in and want to control your life.  

The unpopularity of this bunch of chancers is incredible and I don't know anyone who doesn't have contempt for them, they laugh and takes the p1ss out of them and no one looks up to these people as "betters" or leaders, they just don't command respect and they certainly haven't earned any.  The anger is quite palpable and they are getting derided in the street and verbally abused (as they should be).  They think being unpopular is because they are taking tough decisions.  It's actually that people smell the hypocrisy and also the great attribute of our country is its "fairness" - at heart most people accept the rights and wrongs of looking after the frail and weak and protecting our families, women and children.  We offer and have fought for people the world over and our tolerate manner gets us sh1t upon by our government and by certain elements of society.  There comes a point where this anger boils over and whilst fighting and rioting are never the answer, it feels like the dam will break and the government are poking us with a stick at the moment and we are getting more and more angry about the idiocy that is being dished out in our name.

I do not consent to this and I know millions more do not.  There's the odd buffoon who tells you that this is all for our own good but they'd be happy to pay 100% tax, be told what to do and to be kept scared of every warm day in case the world boils to death.  Luckily they are few.  They do exist though and so deeply are they bought in to the narrative that they'll have you believe that by burning £20 notes one after the other ad infinitum will solve all the ills of the world.   

How Far Does The Rabbit Hole Go?

 As we appear to be falling into the Rabbit Hole with our new Government I wonder how far this fantasy land, ideological, stupid, insincere lot will take us before something happens?

The PM is roundly hated and appears to have no vision or stance on anything.  His charisma bypass was obviously a resounding success and he stands for nothing and I like that he is so far detached from the people that he cannot understand why he is getting heckled and roundly booed everywhere he goes.  He has the ability to not understand the anger of people, like me, who have had money taken away from them.  We have a small fixed income, way below the minimum wage - lower than that and their idea of good housekeeping is to take that away.  I find that if you did what I did and saved for my old age and invested in shares and pensions savings, you get taxed on any dividends (over £500) and CGT I believe (if you sell any assets) is around £3,000 threshold down around 75% from what it used to be so you're basically taxed on just about everything you've done to stop yourself being a strain on the resources of the state!   

I know what you're thinking but it isn't meant to make sense at all is it.

I see the bloke who is the Business Minister has never run or been in business.  The Foreign Secretary must be kicking himself as after denying certain aid to Israel, I bet they didn't share what intelligence they had and blindsided him.  I see certain countries just think he's an idiot.  We could have told you that.

The energy minister is likewise a bit of a divot too.  If you stop Oil and Gas development how do you intend to levy your wealth taxes on an industry that will now be laying off people and moving to elsewhere in the world where it easier to do business and indeed the Tax situation is better.  It's no good producing our own fuels when we can buy them in at higher prices and be held hostage to deliveries.  However, at lease we ticked the "how Green Were My Policies?" Box. 

The £22Bn "surprise" black hole has been tempered by another surprise £10Bn that's been found.  I see they've got their finger on the pulse of the economy there then!!  The books are never balanced and never audited are they?  But we gormless morons of the public don't question it or ask for the details.  I like that the DWP were asked for the impact assessment of taking the winter fuel payment away and had to state that no impact assessment had been done and no figures were available.  A couple of years ago, the very people who imposed this reduction in winter fuel payments did their own calculations and when in opposition stated that around 4,000 pensioners would die if the then government took it away so - what's changed?

I see my Water bill has gone up, my electricity and my kerosene bills have all risen so that we can pay the green levy and increase the wealth of the energy businesses.  I'd say that in the 7 years I've been here my bills have doubled and it's down to these idiots in power who get rewarded for making these decisions.  It doesn't materially affect them of course as they have index linked generous pensions, expenses and nice salaries to cover it.  They will not know what it is like to be cold and worried about money like some of our elderly are.  

The silly season continues with more freebie scandals and obviously that isn't deemed a problem either.  The haves sure like to rub the have-nots noses into the sh1t don't they?

I don't think it has stopped yet and there doesn't appear to be a plan, just total destruction of the country.  There's no vision, no planning, no assessments and no risk planning at all.  They stare blinking at the outcomes of their policies and wonder "how did that happen?" they don't seem to realise that their actions cause some sort of reaction later down the line.

Schools will be an interesting one albeit I feel for the parents and the children in this.  As of January (not even the beginning of term) VAT will be applied to the fees charged by private schools.  Well, if you have one or more children at private school, that's a 20% hit for each one of them and surely, unless you are really well off, that's going to hurt along with fuel prices and all the other bollocks coming down the line.  Understandably, these parents are approaching their local councils to put their children into the state school system and guess what?  There aren't enough places and the councils are screaming they cannot meet their legally obliged duty to educate these children? What next, if you have two children, will you have to choose which one to educate at private school and so on.  The politics of envy and greed and this Government have always done this sort of thing.  There's no impact assessment and it is unfair to give too little notice of this huge 20% hike to parents.  Given that most of this shower of sh1t were privately educated you'd have thought they'd know better.

I am though pleased to see that these MPs are getting heckled, banned from various establishments too.  It cannot be nice to be heckled and yelled at and called names wherever you go but maybe, just maybe, they might reflect on why that would be?  Why would their adorning public hate them so very very much?  How can it be?  It's pretty obvious that they've probably p1ssed off everyone in the country and their own supporters more than most.  Ten million pensioners to start with, parents of children in private paid for schooling.  The general public have noted that there's been no negotiation on all the public sector pay demands and those have all been paid and settled at the expense of the public.  There answer to obvious things that need fixing.  Don't fix them, just throw loads more money at the problem!

So how far does the Rabbit Hole go?  A long long way I'm afraid :-)

AI - fun ways of creating with AI

 You can see this is going to be a game changer and I've just put a couple of examples below of various images I've imagined and AI had produced them from my description.  These are super impressive and you can get AI to build some amazing scenes for you - the more descriptive you are the better the outcome. 

I'll leave you to browse these.  I am quite taken with the first 4 which look like oil paintings. 

Interesting Take On Things

 It's edifying to read that you're not quite as alone as you think you are in today's weirdest of times.  Have a read of this article and see what you think.

I wondered how many people reading this blog know who I am?  Am I male or female, white or black or something else?  If you read regularly you only know me from what I write and potentially how I write.  It's fair to say that if you've read my early stuff and certain posts you know I am a male, you know that I am probably what they now describe as far right and yet I'm probably Conservative with a small "c".  Years ago the Liberals (as they were then) appealed as it seemed that you could wear both the need for capitalism with the social conscience needed for those worse off than yourself.

But I am going to leave it there for now because as you read you make up your own picture based on your experiences and the way your mind works.  

What I like about the article above is that it sort of encapsulates some of what I've been banging on about for ages.  

"We know that they are lying, they know that they are lying, they even know that we know they are lying, we also know that they know we know they are lying too, they of course know that we certainly know they know we know they are lying too as well, but they are still lying. In our country, the lie has become not just moral category, but the pillar industry of this country.”

― Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

It should come as no surprise that we are coming to an interesting time where we finally get people calling out what it is for what it is.  Climate Change is a way of robbing you of your money and making you pay more whilst others get rich at your expense because you think you are saving the planet.  As I said yesterday or the day before - we could really do with some climate change so we don't all freeze to death this winter.  It's a nonsense, it doesn't make sense, it's had 50 years to meet predictions and as my great idol Richard Feynman said  "If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong."  and no one seems to challenge it because you get set on by the people making money from the scam.  For a scam it is.  

We can look at Electric cars and I often ask myself if they are so good, why, when we had these in the late 1800s and early 1900s did they not take off then?  It's because ICE cars were more efficient, cheaper, more reliable, could cover a great range and son on.  It's still the same.  My car can do close to 800 miles on a tank of Diesel.  Less on urban runs but long runs it eats the miles up.  I'd have to stop at least twice if it were an EV on a long run and instead of a 5 minute fill the tank up I'd have to wait for a space and then spend 20 minutes (or more) whilst it charges up.

There's lots of things that need being called out, it's like the Emperor's New Suit isn't it?  Only the young boy called it for what it was - everyone else was coerced into ignoring what they saw with their own eyes.  

Yet another "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." George Orwell, 1984.

Wake up everyone, question everything, challenge accepted thinking and challenge the lies that they propagate to subdue you.  I like that people are so indoctrinated now that they feel they cannot do anything about it.  Getting people to actually go and vote would be a start, getting them to grow a set of balls and go with their convictions would be another.  Take a risk, buy the ticket take the ride.  That's somewhat paraphrased 

“No sympathy for the Devil; keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride...and if it occasionally gets a little heavier than what you had in mind, well...maybe chalk it up to forced consciousness expansion: Tune in, freak out, get beaten.”

― Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Call it out, say that the person is lying, get them to prove what they say, don't take it for granted.  Pick holes in their argument for the rhetoric is full of gaps and omissions.  As they spunk our hard earned money away on frivolous schemes that will not deliver anything they say it will, other than profits to the stakeholders and pain to us users question them, expose their lies and their rank hypocrisy.  Watching them get richer at our expense and doing nothing about it is as cowardly as it gets and those who should know better, those empowered to do something about it turn a blind eye for perhaps they too are tainted with the blood money of the citizens of this country?  Who knows.

The unpopularity of the current incumbents is gladdening to see as they regularly get booed, driven out of places and told in no uncertain way what the public think about them.  They look worried and so they should be.  They are about as popular as a curry brewed fart in a spacesuit and are getting the message just how unpopular they are.  We still have idiots abounding in this country who "identify as" or some such, again, just change the wording from identify as to psychological illness and you'll see through what this is.  I like the child that identified as a cat and was told to use the cat litter tray, had cat food and milk placed in dishes and was told to go out at night - goodness me, that changed their fantasy quickly and rightly so.  We need a bit more of this rather than pandering to fantasy ideas.  If someone displayed these sorts of traits years ago we'd have either ridiculed them but more likely I think we'd have got them sectioned.

Call it out, all of it, for what it is.  £22 BN black hole but they steal £1.5 BN off of pensioners so they can give £11BN in Climate reparations to others all the time holding back third world countries and limiting their ability to lift their populations out of poverty.   Half a Billion a day goes into the NHS that £182.5 BN a year!  Lord alone knows what they spend the rest of the mony on.  But to take money away from an already vulnerable group, we are on fixed incomes and that money was part of the calculation when I retired, is a callous move.  They are coming for more from people's savings and investments.  If you do such things to help in your dotage, this lot will just steal that too, for that is what it amounts to now, 70% tax burden in this country and they want to raise it more.

The 10 million pensioners are angry, wait until they raid that actual workers of this country and let's see how things go.  They've managed to flat-line the economy in just a few months so God help us for what is coming - I think I'll read u  about Venezuela and see how to deal with it! 

Anyway, question everything, get them to explain it, prove it, watch their eyes as they make up their stories and then catch them out when they contradict themselves.  

Cold in September

 It's turned cold these past few mornings, enough to make me put my fleece on and also my snood keeping my neck warm.  There was a report on YouTube this morning which stated that between 50 and 70% more people die of cold than of heat and I'd think that's quite true.

I have been in extremes of heat and cold and have to say that when I was at -44C it was quite sobering to feel how cold I was (getting frostbite even though protected).  Seven layers plus an insulated suit, googles, balaclavas, gloves etc and it was still pretty cold.  I have also been in 44C heat in France, some years ago it was stifling, the local mountain was being water bombed to put out the wildfires.  I didn't feel that I was in trouble but it was too hot to work and the swimming pool was very welcome.  So which one was I more likely to die from?

I often think that when people tell me the dangers of "global warming" they aren't really thinking straight.  A question I've often asked is can you live without any clothes on?  By that I mean can you survive in the UK without heating, hot water, clothes and bedding etc.  The answer is, of course, no.  You would most probably suffer from hypothermia and that's because without the things we use to keep warm we would most probably die.  We aren't built for this particular climate because, humans developed in equatorial Africa.  They spread around the world and adapted to their environments. Look at the differences between the extremes of those living in the Arctic (Eskimos) and those living in say the Brazilian rain Forrest.  

On the few days it is nice weather in the UK you could probably do OK to go without clothes but I doubt you'd feel inclined to forgo clothes overnight unless it is a really hot one in the 20s maybe.  It cannot be done.  So a 1.5 degree difference isn't going to do anything to make this fact go away.  Fifty or more years ago I recall being told that in my lifetime we would have a Mediterranean type climate by now, that vineyards would cover the land and that crops would have to be grown further north.  There are, granted, a few vineyards and some award winning wines but really, is it like France?  No, we are an Island and we don't have the continental weather as we are a maritime climate.  Many centuries back in the Medieval and indeed more so in the Roman period things were a lot warmer but we aren't back to those heady days of increased warmth.  

These are my basic "So What?" questions for people who demand "Climate Justice" whatever the hell that is.  They spout on about how Greenland and the Arctic will melt etc., yet the Arctic hasn't returned to the condition of the 1930s when you could navigate through in summer.  Ask someone to step out of the sunshine on a sunny day and work out what the difference is in terms of degrees C.  Well perhaps try it for yourself.  You step into shade and you immediately feel, I'd suggest, a good 5 Degrees colder if not more.  Without having an accurate measurement you'll not know but you will feel a difference.  I very much doubt any of us can tell the temperature to even a few Degrees and I can often tell you when it is over 25 because you can definitely feel it but I doubt I am anywhere near accurate.  So 1.5 Degrees isn't really measurable by us humans but if you have a measuring device it is.  I defy anyone to actually know what a small 1.5 Degree change is.  How about today it is 20 Degrees or 8 Degrees given a maximum and minimum by the Met Office.  That's a 12 Degree swing in a day and so why on earth would a 1.5 Degree change in either of those readings give me cause for concern?

So far no one has given me an answer about natural variability either.  The weather (it's completely different to climate BTW) can be 4 seasons in a day here in the UK changing rapidly.  "Extreme Weather" is used to sell newspapers, headline TV shows and frighten people.  We may get a gale for example.  It doesn't last for years or days, it's generally over in a few hours such is the nature of these things.  It can rain at anytime in the UK.  Is it extreme or natural variability, does something that is measured in parts per million have anything to do with it?  How can it, basic laws of thermodynamics don't apply to weather and climate goons apparently.  

The Labour government here has stripped old people of a winter fuel allowance just as energy prices rise (they aren't in other countries BTW) by ourselves shooting ourselves in the foot over how we make energy.  So they take money away, double the bills and expect nothing to change.  People will die this winter as they cannot afford to heat their houses etc.  I've put in some fuel earlier this year which I hope will last me, I also have my log burner which will be doing a lot of heavy lifting this year as I get it to heat the house as much as I can.  Of course they are scaring everyone with fines if your chimney smokes.  First of all, they'd have to stop everyone around here not using their fires.  They'd also have to make sure it isn't when you are building your fire.  The biggest problem is unseasoned wood which does create smoke.  I'd normally have my AGA on in the kitchen which can warm the whole house but I'm not sure that the finances can work out on that - I'm doing the maths now on that.

We aren't designed to live in this climate, we need heating, lighting and clothes etc.  I think we should welcome a 1.5 Degree increase in heat although, by natural variability it is as likely that we will drop 1.5 Degrees instead of gaining by it.

Oh well, it's cold out here at the moment and Autumn is coming.  We will have to wait and see. 

An Imagined Letter To My Angel

 I was pleased to get a nice comment about my post Glimpsing My Angel and after the incident I wrote a little more - I've changed certain parts to provide anonymity to the post and who it is.  

I hope that it is not too sickly sweet but it may give a deeper insight in to things.

That was a surprise, my phone sent a message reminder and it was a photograph of you, it took my breath away looking directly at the camera with your wonderful eyes and perfect smile and it brought memories flooding back of perhaps the most wonderful time of my life. Seeing that photo of you quite took my breath away and I just wanted to let you know how I still love and remember you and how I cherish those fantastic memories.  Safe to say, I got a bit misty eyed, maybe they are tears?  

I recalled feeling properly loved, wanted, special, really alive and I glowed with beingness (if that is even a word). I wandered the fields around where I lived, past the golden corn ears waving in the wind, through the woods and past the Church grounds, the sun warmed my body as if in a foreign country and I'd never felt like it before or since.  

It is such a deep connection, when I think about you, my whole body feels it. Music, arts, literature, everything my lovely, absolutely everything. It's all in tune, in harmony, in unison, in balance. It's wonderful, amazing, unfathomable, and I tune in to some sort of cosmic energy. This without alcohol or drugs by the way LOL.

In our secret garden, the softness of you breath, the light touch of your skin, the smell of your perfume, your hair, the water trickling some way off, the insects moving through the air, the scent of wildflowers and your presence.  How utterly beautiful that was on that late afternoon meeting. It was a perfect day. I'll remember it forever . 

You have the most wonderful presence about you, so beautiful both inside and out, a smile to melt the hardest heart. Eyes that sparkle with affection, humour and a little mischief too, a mouth ready to smile and so softly and gently kiss.  Beauty inside and out. Did I ever mention your beautiful blue eyes LOL?  

You changed my life and exploded creativeness I never knew I had. Poetry, music, literature but most of all you opened my heart and mind to love and I'm forever grateful that you did that.  For good or bad, I've kept those poems and notes safely stored.  I've no idea if they even partly expressed how I felt about you, what you meant to me and how I tried to fumble the words together for just how extraordinarily amazing you truly are.

I do think of you often and smile fondly remembering the way you made me feel. For a while I felt cursed that I had not met you years before but of course, that's not what was planned for us.  I hope I made you feel that way too?

The little time we had together was absolutely magical and I feel so lucky that I was privileged to share that. 

You truly are wonderful and bring joy and light into this world. Please continue to do that. You were my guardian Angel and my life changed forever because you took me somewhere magical, you opened my heart and mind.  

I remember feeling so broken that I could not spend the rest of my life with you but realised that the time we had was probably meant to be short, yet forever memorable and meaningful. 

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say I still love you? I really do, and there are no regrets or bitterness just a warm feeling when I remember you.  The odd tear I might shed is more happiness than regret. I hope and pray that you are happy and enjoying life.

You are wonderful. I bet everyone you know, knows that. The sweetest, most beautiful, Valentine there ever was. Please always be that Angel who came my way and stayed with me for a short but unforgettable time in my life.

Of course it will never be the fairy tale or Hollywood ending. In my dreams it is of course.  Yet I close my eyes, listen to my music playlist, and there you are, right in front of me and my fairy tale ending plays out in my mind and in my dreams. You look perfect, wonderful and a tear escapes my eye just because you are you.  Wow (not my most romantic phrase of course).  

I hold dear that in a parallel universe, the stars are aligned such that we would be together and happy.   

Love always

xxx

Don't Watch It!

 A new series of Strictly Come Dancing apparently.  Didn't watch the last one, not watching this one.  Last Night of the Proms and once again, it didn't make it onto my TV again.  It hasn't for many years now since they dumbed down the music, wound up the rhetoric, allowed the audience to display activist's flags and apparel and tried to get classically trained singers to sing modern music - it doesn't work.  Both have become unwatchable.  

Football (Match of the Day - soccer to our US friends) is fronted by someone who isn't sure whether he wants to be a football pundit or a political commentator.  I lost all interest in Football 12 years ago and I barely watch it.  

Awards like the Oscars or BAFTA, The BTA and so on are awful.  Infested with self righteous people of notoriety.  These people (in general I know a few exceptions - documentary etc)  pretend to be someone else and get paid greatly well to entertain us.  Somehow they too think they are some sort of political campaigners, pundits on climate change and any other hang your hat on activism.  Unwatchable trite nonsense by people self congratulating each other over how well someone else thought they did their day job.  What next?  Milkman of the year?  Delivery Driver awards?  It's about as interesting as that luvvies.

It's as if they aren't even bothered anymore.  The awards used to be interesting, what films were made and who made them etc but now it's a lecture on who I should vote for or what I'm doing to the planet.  I love that some of them fly half the world to come to these events, in a private jet and then lecture us about carbon emissions - it's a joke!.  

Yet none of them see it and I cannot change the world but I can change my world.  If everyone changed their world maybe things would improve?  These things need an audience and if they don't get one, then they are going to have to ask why.  But many people have the idiot box on whilst looking deeply into their smart phones and liking posts by randoms.

My stance on new car parking fees is to not go to the places that are charging them in the vain hope that revenues will plummet and they change their minds.  I get a 'free' bus pass so I'll use that and change from paying out to using that paid for by the people who impose the car park charges.  People need to vote with their feet and their cars and spend their money elsewhere not kowtow to these impositions.

There's some cr@p coming down from Government soon that will affect more and more people in this country and at some point, everyone has to say no.  It's got too big for its boots, it openly in your face wastes our money and then blames us for it.  There's a point where it will overstep the mark and it will be interesting to see what everyone does.  

I've always been rebellious and dislike being told what to do by people who think they are my elders and betters but frankly can only tie their own shoelaces with the help of an instruction card and to borrow Blackadder's phrase "I wouldn't trust them to sit the right way up on a toilet."

These people are dangerous and they need to do the admin job we ask of them.  This self appointed 'Ruling Class' need to stop spending our money and fleecing us and realise that they are the servants not the masters of the people.  Better than that, the people need to realise that fact too and once the realisation has hit home, they need to do something about it.  

Silence is Golden

 As the song says, Silence is Golden, and this afternoon was a case in point the sun was just about staying out from behind the odd cloud and it was an autumnal sort of heat, enough to allow you to sit out and just enjoy it.  I put on some music (Troika by Nick D'Virgilio Neal Morse and Ross Jennings), it's quite soothing and very Crosby Stills Nash and Young vibes.  

Then I just sat there and let the sun wash over me and just listened - of course there were planes overhead flying into and out of Gatwick, a lone Spitfire circled around the house and the Sheep at the back were chatting amongst themselves and even after all this time the Lambs seemed to lose their mothers with regularity requiring the shrill bleating and deeper responses from their mothers.

I didn't think about much just thought I'd enjoy the sunshine and take stock.  There's something brewing in my head and I need to spend some time working it through.  It's to do with the old restless me I guess.  Am I happy?  Will I ever be happy?  Should I accept where I am now and all that sort of nonsense? I am prone to this sort of thinking and it's part of the way I am.  It's to do with the time of year and 

This sprung to mind as I write.

The law of unintended consequences

The law of unintended consequences is a frequently-observed phenomenon in which any action has results that are not part of the actor's purpose. The superfluous consequences may or may not be foreseeable or even immediately observable and they may be beneficial, harmful or neutral in their impact.

Not for the first time in history are decisions made, lots of money spent appeasing a certain interest group who were lobbying for it and the unintended consequences come to light.  I suggest that these are common sense really so taking the Welsh decision against all the popular public's opinion to drop speed limits to 20 mph.  Here is the link to the data.

Here is a graph that is telling although I agree that not too much should be read into it at present but here it is nonetheless.

So there is something here stating that it is possible that these collisions would have occurred if it was still 30 mph.  We have 20 mph limits around here, they've taken away the ones on the Trunk Road as that really was a step too far.  I've spouted off about it before too.  I don't like it but neither does my car and so I so 20 mph in second gear and make a lot of noise and I'm sure that the car pollutes more in 2nd gear than 4th but there you are.  People overtake me doing ridiculous speeds way over 40 or 50 on a 20 mph road.  People are frustrated because they've always driven at around 30 and now they are constantly looking at their speedos instead of concentrating on driving.  You can see the frustration.  I think that 20 in the High Street and by Schools, Hospitals is perfectly acceptable preceded by flashing red lights telling you.  What I find unacceptable is restrictive kerbs that push you out into the path of oncoming traffic, loss of road real-estate caused by adding cycle paths that cyclists do not use as they continue to use the narrowed vehicle lanes. 

I am certain the rise in accidents is through distraction (I tend to use cruise control to limit my speed so do not need to constantly check my speed) as they take their eyes off the road to look at the speed and also on manual cars try to change gear to try and maintain what little speed they have.  It is difficult in modern cars to maintain 20 mph in anything other than 2nd or 3rd gear.  My car doesn't like me trying that in 4th gear which is of course more economical.

All I see is more noise and pollution than before, more crazy overtakes by frustrated drivers, the road rage type aggression that goes with it is increasing and it's aimed at the drivers who are sticking to the speed limit.  I am probably going to start reporting these from my dash cam soon as it is getting silly out there.  A motorbike overtook me the other day going at unbelievable speed, so much so that I was convinced he was going to come off as he went over the hatched (no overtaking) lines with all the debris!  

I see that there has been no improvement in London's air quality although it is pretty good anyway.  In fact some places it's got worse.  Of course, no one has wondered why that is?  There's no invisible barrier as you drive into the London Boroughs to pay this "tax" of course not and there's nothing stopping the wind blowing stuff into London from somewhere else or blowing it out by the same means.  Such is the bare faced bollocks we are being confronted with by these half-wit con men called politicians. When will the house come crashing down, when will the people say they've had enough?  I hope it is close and that all of this theft comes to an end soon.  I think once the October Budget arrives people will have had enough and we will have to see what happens next. 

Off the booze and weight loss progress

 Being stubborn by nature it wasn't so bad to give up drinking beer and I'm only touching the 0% beers if I go out, or water.  I'm carrying on with the Keto/Carnivore eating it's not a diet in the way people say it is, it's going back and stopping eating highly processed foods and especially carbohydrates.  Complex ultra processed carbohydrates are in most food that comes out of a factory and so I'm avoiding those.

When dining out I've been known to eat a salad or just have a steak without fries, or a mixed grill without fries and that means I can avoid the tempting potatoes and pastas etc. I certainly don not eat those at home anyway.  

I noticed today, doing some work in the garden that I am a lot thinner and I don't have my stomach digging into me when I bend over to do anything.  It was actually a little painful and could make you feel slightly nauseous but not today.  Getting up from a kneeling down position is also a lot easier but I really want to lose a good two or three stones more if I can and then work on sticking to things.  It's OK to have the odd sweet or dessert and it's OK to have the odd drink.  I actually finished off a half a pint of beer my friend didn't want - and we shouldn't waste beer.  

The trouble I had before was that I had beer in the house and I'd happily sit down to listen to music, watch the TV, do some work or read a book and open a beer whilst doing so.  1 beer can easily become 4 beers and before you know it, that's a habit every night.

Now I drink a bit more coffee, sparkling water and  occasionally Bovril which is a beef flavoured drink perhaps with some yeast in (like Marmite although I'm not sure about that).  It's tasty and stops cravings for drinking and also if I'm feeling hungry which is rare.

So far I've definitely lost weight especially around my waist and my face and neck area are noticeably thinner.  I normally notice that my arms lose weight too but this time, whilst there is some loss, my watch isn't coming lose like before but it is beginning to feel that way.  I notice my trousers fit better and my belt is ready to go in a notch already which is good.

The main thing is to keep at this and continue to gradually lose the weight.  As I have said before, it took years to put the weight on and it will take some time to lose it.  In the interim, I just need to keep at it.  

It is infinitely doable. 

How to meet the leader of the free World

 I really don't have a lot of time for Joe Biden but I see our Foreign Secretary today went to visit, no doubt to talk about how he intends to start WWW3.  What amused me was that he was wearing a suit and.... wait for it....wait for it.... Trainers (are the called SNeakers too?).

I'm sure that the President will be impressed.  That's if he actually knows who these two clowns that have come to see him are?  Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister of our wee little island.

In other news it appears that this bunch are still intent on stealing our hard earned so they can give it away to elsewhere in the world.  I suppose we just ought to let them get on and screw everything up - it is after all what they normally do.  Socialists are meant to look after the people but it feels like we are going full on Venezuela!

I'm not dreading the October budget, I'm looking for was to buck the system.  To become ungovernable if at all possible.  I need to think of ways of making a nuisance of myself that keeps me within the law but at the same time limits paying anything out to these clowns who get paid their heating expenses but have stolen mine.

I do hope that Starmer meets Karma as soon as possible.   

Is The Curtain Finally Being Pulled Back? Toto, It's Time To Do Your Duty

 A great scene that in the Wizard of Oz as the Wizard is exposed for what he is by Toto who pulls back the curtains.

Here, in the UK, I think it is finally dawning on the public what some of us have known for years and that is that we are run by incompetent chancers.  Yesterday our Foreign Secretary gave away £3BN and promised that much every year for continuing the war in Ukraine.  They gave £11BN for Net Zero reparations or whatever based on the amazing (if true) possibility that CO2 found at huge quantities of.....wait for it... 400 parts per million in the atmosphere can magically affect the planet's climate. So that's less than 0.04% have I got that right?  So less than 1% forces the remaining 99.96% to heat up.  Anyhow, £11BN and then there's £12BN for foregin aid to places like China and India, yes China and India tiger economies.

Meanwhile here they are attempting to save £1.3BN by taking away the pensioner's £300 winter fuel benefit.  It was there because the pension really doesn't cover enough to properly live on, the living wage being some £8000 a year more that the pensioners get.  On top of that nearly all of us now fall into the tax bracket due to fiscal lag.  The personal allowance hasn't been changed and so pensioners now have to pay tax on their pensions, not a lot but enough to be a nuisance.  They add the money and make a headline of it but of course that isn't how much you'll get.  

I paid into a pension for most of my life, losing not quite half of it through divorce proceedings.  So for my diligence in saving for old age, I get rewarded by that being taxed too!  

The MPs were elected and this is where Twitter and Facebook et al come to our assistance, on protecting the Pensioner's winter fuel payments and so on.  We know exactly which ones agreed with the Government and who did not.  Some MPs are surely going to get a hard ride in the future on this.  Fifty abstained and they should have voted against and lost the whip as only one did.  Brave, MP, principled and that is what we have - cowards, not representing the views of their constituents and slowly the public are beginning to see what these people are like.

There are around 10 million pensioners and of course, some are well off enough to cover the bills etc.  However, lock-down and other world problems have doubled my fuel bill in the last 4 to 5 years.  I cannot run my beloved AGA oven as it chomps through 40 litres of fuel a week which is now close to £32 when it was around £16 it was OK as it also heated the house so the impact on the central heating was minimal.  Electricity and Gas have all but doubled and many people are struggling, the very people these MP charlatans said they'd help and protect. 

I really hope that the people will now get angry and I am glad to see that MPs are getting heckled and yelled at in the street.  I hope that people write into their MPs and tell them what they think about them.  I don't wish it but there looks as if many people will be severely impacted by this and they know that 2 or 3 million pensioners should be on benefits and top ups and they aren't.  Why?  well a bit like the old chap in the bank yesterday, I don't have internet banking a smart phone and I am deaf so I cannot hear what your Indian Call-centre lady or man is saying to me.  They don't have internet banking, the DWP are advertising on Facebook FFS - how may older people use Facebook or even know what it is?  It's pathetic and wrong.  Those in greatest need are the more vulnerable of our population and the MPs have thrown them under a bus.

Of course, they still get their second home allowances and expenses paid, they don't need to go and get means tested just to stay warm this year!  Today is one of the coldest September days I can remember, there's a north west wind from the Arctic and even snow falling on the Scottish mountains and hills!! That's normally a November thing having been up there when it does snow!

I think the anger needs to ratchet up a few notches and this pathetic bunch of liars for that is what everyone can now plainly see are confronted every day with the consequences of their actions.   Taking away something that is seen (rightly so) as an integral part of the pension because they don't pay enough in the first place is like taking sweets or a toy away from a child just after you gave it to them.  It was there for a purpose, it is outdated and hasn't kept up with the costs of fuel doubling and now, when energy costs are going up, it has been taken away so in reality, you have the money you haven't got any more and the impact of the near doubling of fuel costs and they are rising 10% in October and possibly another 5% in January. So the impact isn't the loss of £300 is it probably more like £500 or more that has to be found after losing the £300 anyway.

Everyone needs to stop believing that these imbeciles even know how to govern and they are not our lords and masters, they are our servants.  Why no one seems to realise is beyond me, maybe they just enjoy being pushed around, bullied and being told what to do.  They'll be telling us who our friends are and whether we can leave the house or not next!  To Hell with the lot of them. 

No Sh1t Sherlock

 As I am apt to say on many occasions when some dumb f***wit in high positions does something stupid or suddenly what I've been saying for ages comes to pass.

The Government are realising they have a youth unemployment problem.  Indeed, if it  easier to sit at home and get paid to do so then that sort of thing happens -no sh1r Sherlock.

They voted through the removing of the Pensioner's winter fuel allowance which by their own statements they weren't going to do and opposed as 4,000 could die.  But they voted it through anyway whilst increasing fuel bills so we can pay some sort of green levy that should have meant our bills were cheaper as it was greener, renewable, reliable, cheaper.  People who voted for them can't believe they did it despite hey always have been the politics of envy and whilst saying they represent the working class, they've just sh1t all over them.  People are angry, they didn't keep their word.  No sh1t Sherlock.

Labour Politicians are being yelled at and sworn at in the street, heckled and are finding out that they are truly disliked by their constituents because they have supported the removal of the winter fuel allowance, released prisoners early, and are now openly saying they are coming after more punitive tax raids on our money.  They don't feel safe and they feel intimidated because of the decisions they've made and it comes as a big surprise when you don't keep your word or you punish the people who voted for you.  No sh1t Sherlock.

Oh, the sale of EVs is down and no one can see why.  Well, if you live where I do, you can see why as you'd be hard pushed to run one in a rural environment.  As subsidies disappear and you start to impose road taxing on them they don't look such a good deal.  Given the depreciation figures on them I'm surprised anyone would want one.  I can see that having one in a city might be considered useful but hold on, after 5 years the comparison on the second hand market shows a huge problem.  If you need to replace the battery you quickly see where the black hole of ownership will end up.  People sound surprised that this is a problem.  I just say no sh1t Sherlock.

I see businesses are busy working out how to get the hell out now.  They see changes to the tax regime and CGT, IHT, NI and other things are going to make it difficult to run a business in this country, enabling workers to change working practices, impositions on landlords and things that surely are designed to stifle growth and throttle back productivity make no sense.  Our economy is stagnant now and the shock of these new measures being introduced will potentially divert investment away from this country who's costs are too high, productivity, too low, energy costs are too high and taxes too.  As the country starts to stagnate we could perhaps say no sh1t Sherlock.

There are a number of people of notoriety (they aren't celebrities whatever anyone states) who are in the public eye and are shall we say, activists, not presenters and they command high fees and just make obnoxious comments on social media and are revered by people etc.  Shock and horror, their employers have just found out the reasons for their programme ratings crashing is because they hold these extreme views, cannot separate their job from their personal views and spout a load of garbage.  Ratings falling, people don't like them, they dislike the content of the programmes and so they switch off and some no longer watch TV and so no longer pay the licence fee and suddenly the pockets are hit and blinking like Rabbits caught in the headlights they have no idea how they got here or what to do to get themselves out of it because they know best but they don't - it's funny to watch them blaming their audience for not thinking the way that they do!!! So ratings plummet, licence uptake is down significantly, and no one saw it coming.  No sh1t Sherlock.

Failure must be a natural part of the day to day experience of these people.  Quite how they f**k up so massively and so regularly and blame us for their failures and shortcomings is beyond me.  They have no common sense and have little strategic long-term thinking.  One wants to save the planet and imposes some sort of green agenda which actually punishes everyone in the country, delivers nothing except costs, has no benefits whatsoever, isn't measured, isn't monitored and is so narrow in outlook that it affects lots of other areas through the knock on effect not considered or even thought about.  They get all upset about it but do not have the ability to scrutinise their own part in their inevitable downfall.  The cognitive dissonance if off the wall.  We didn't epxect that and I just say no sh1t Sherlock.  

COMPUTER SAYS NO

Changing my electric company and I knew this would happen.  The departing one took a DD out of my account despite the fact that I changed a few weeks ago and was over double that amount in credit!  Great that threw my bank into meltdown and now I've got an email saying we will get the credit back to you in 10 days!  10 days, what on earth are they doing in 10 days that cannot be automatically credited back, it's all on computer these days.  So rant over on that one I suppose.

Dentists today first time since 2019.  It kept getting delayed and cancelled but I've found a local one and they all seem quite nice.  I had a chipped tooth so that's been sorted and I will see the hygienist next week so that's good too.  Of course the rant about this is that you have to pay for dentistry it's no longer NHS, our glorious NHS doesn't provide this free at the point of need.  It's been so for years and we've gotten use to it.  However, it was never envisaged as this and you can see the meddling hands of the MPs and administrators writ large on the demise of having your teeth fixed this way.

 It is interesting that my teeth otherwise are in pretty good nick for a 67 year old.  That's good.  I need to make sure that I look after them.  When my Nanny was my age she'd had them all out and was wearing dentures.

  

Spider Senses

 A friend of mine often comes out with "Spider Senses" and what he means is that you know something is wrong but you can't quite put your finger on what it is.

I've a similar sort of Spider Sense and some people set off alarm bells in my head.  Now it could be anything that does this, how they behave generally, their body language and also how they talk.  It's something I think is in built in us, possibly more so as I had to manage people from a young age and being "different" it just sort of means that I am alert to people's behaviour more so than most I guess.  

I dislike the way that people hold grudges, don't like or are outright intolerant of others.  A case in point being that I do not generally hold grudges or anything like that in the way that most people do.  If you've wronged me somehow you will either know about as I told you, or be wondering why certain things are happening to you, as I haven't told you but I'm pulling invisible strings and getting my own back (I know it's childish but it's also very interesting and quite rewarding too).  However, you are more than likely to find that you never get contacted by me again or I totally ignore you.  I don't have a need to be confrontational, once it's happened it's generally over and I move on (these days).  So it is interesting that all of a sudden someone needs something to be done but they've burnt their boats a long time ago.  They need to get something done but it looks like I will have to do it as I didn't go for the option and still remain in touch.

This is circuitous but what I am trying to say is that if there's a good reasons to burn your boats then do so but realise what the potential outcome might be in doing that.  Once it is done, it is difficult to come back from it.  Choose wisely what bridges you burn.  Mine are those where the other party has done something that requires me to break off communication or to "Punish" the infraction in some way.  Very few make it back from that position.  However, I don't do it because I dislike something minor about them as many people take and give offence far to lightly and easily these days.  

Back to Spider Senses.  I can generally feel that something is awry way before it may become obvious.  I find a lot of people aren't genuine, aren't what they make out they are or have some sort of hidden agenda.  My Spider Senses will do things like make the hair on the back of my neck raise, or on my arms, limit my reactions and make almost every interaction guarded and I'm highly alert to what is going on in their whole demeanour.  Something alerts me to this but I couldn't tell you exactly what.

Out with people in a group and watch the interactions and the way the conversation ebbs and flows, who dominates and who is quiet (normally me the first set of times I meet you but after that I'm far more relaxed).  I can pick up on most things except flirting or similar sorts of come on.  That's the INTJ problem they don't always pick up on it unless it is quite obvious or they are initiating it.  I really didn't get the signals on a number of occasions and almost had to told directly what was meant and of course then I got it.  However, if someone is a Ne'er-do-well or not who they make out to be or isn't going to be a team player or some such I can find them out really quickly.  

It's going to be fun to try and do the intermediary job for the burnt bridges scenario.  I wonder if they will learn from that?  It will also be interesting for me to think about the people that I have sent to Coventry and knowing full well that they deserved it consider whether there was any value in not doing so.  Yes, thought about it, they bloody well deserved it and a bit more really. 

Lunch With Friends

 Our Aussie Friends are coming towards the end of their 3 month trip and we had our final lukch with them today.  I mention this as he ordered a second pint and took a few sips and said that his eyes were far too big for his stomach and so would I like to have it as he'd only sipped a bit.

Well, I don't like to see beer go to waste and so I did have it, I suppose about 2/3rds of a pint.  It was very nice and I haven't touched alcohol for about a month now I guess so it was strange what it did to me.

I feel fine but I really could down a couple of pints as once you've got the flavour you really could have another.  I didn't, I was driving but I did feel like picking up a 4 pack and having them tonight but I've resisted that and the odd slip off the wagon in beer and food isn't so bad as long as it isn't regularly done.  

Had some maniac motorbike overtake me as I was beginning to pull out for a parked car!  It's a good thing that I am aware of motorbikes and was able to brake to let him past or else at the speed he was travelling he would have been pretty seriously injured.  He had no number plate on so not going to be easy to identify him, hopefully someone has better dash-cam of the incident than I do.   

It was interesting that they didn't know that I had been married before - but now they do know :-) It's interesting gauging reactions and seeing people who had made assumptions about you suddenly find out something new and unexpected about me..  

Sunlit Uplands Indeed

 The lies started before the cam to power and continue now.  "Everything is broken" says Dear Leader.  Surely he knew this as he stated it incessantly before his election and now it comes as a total surprise to him.

The "OUR NHS" (glorious health service of no criticism allowed) is broken he says and blow me down, how does he intend to fix it?  Same as always, throw money at it in the hope some, like mud or sh1t will actually stick and achieve something.  No root and branch reform, no, lets throw money at it, it's never worked in the past but it might work now.    “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” -attributed to Albert Einstein, but likely to be apocryphal. 

The chancellor's latest move of adding 20% VAT to public school fees (Private schools in the UK are called this for some obscure reason) has resulted in council suddenly getting an influx of pupils now unable, now, to attend these schools needing to be found places and the councils are squeaking about it, they don't have the places nor the staff etc.  The politics of envy at play thinking they were going to get a great big tax hike now find that it is probably not as big a take and they have to divert money elsewhere to fulfil statutory duties to educated children in the state schools.  Many of these politician's were educated privately themselves but they've always despised the system that they were educated in.

I think it was Churchill who in his "The Few" speech mentioned the sunlit uplands but I doubt we will see them with this bunch of clowns tearing down our country and society.

I wrote earlier on FB that I had a note on my desk at work that stated:

"It is difficult to soar with Eagles when you work with Turkeys!"

How true that was and indeed is.

We are going to hell in a handcart here and the quality of leadership gives hope that our local Village Idiot might aspire to high office in the near future!  

Leave Me Alone! Stop Telling Me What To Do!

 I get pretty fed up and I'm stubborn as you like so if you intend to tell me what to do you will find, very quickly, that you will be being told what to do and depending on how I feel it may be an expletive lined flowery response or just NO as it normally is.  You see, no one tells me what to do and it's been a problem all my life.  I'm an INTJ which is worth looking up and reading about.

If you cannot ask me nicely and back up why you want me to do something then you are doomed to failure.  Why is massively important and if you are just being a authoritarian git you are going to get some sort of comeuppance. 

Our local council have hit the national news as they intend to spend £75 to £100K on ANPR technology on car parks meaning that you'd have to have some sort of smart device or internet to register and use it and if you are a Blue Bade Holder (for disabled people) who normally park free the unintended consequence of this is you get charged to park.

No one asked for this, it used to be free to park and get some country air and enjoy the natural beauty of the lakes and grounds and have a coffee at the cafe but no, sod our well being, we are going to get charged for it and observed by ANPR cameras.  They know that vandalism is a possibility hence they've added £25K to the guesstimate.  FFS leave us alone and stop making our lives harder especially no tech savvy people (around 12 to 20% do not have internet).  Older people have lost their Banks, Post Offices etc and are being asked to do things they have no experience in.  I'm lucky I grew up with Tech and can get my way around it - it's still sh1t and doesn't work properly for every day people.

We pay a substantial amount in taxes with a burden around 70% it's effing ridiculous and this new mob are hell bent on killing us old 'uns off over the coming winter, stopping us driving our cars despite the fact most of us live in rural areas not where the metropolitan "elite" live.

I can feel the anger brewing up against these undemocratic, waste of funds, useless policies aimed at signalling virtue and that don't actually achieve anything other than setting fire to £20 notes - p1ss1ng our money away for the sake of feeling good about themselves and appeasing a very small minority at the detriment and disadvantage of the majority.

I guess it's just something to live with for a little while longer until it all goes pear shaped.  No one seems to be noticing what the BRICS group of countries are doing and how disruptive that will be to our economy as a whole.  We are importing just about everything we used to manufacture ourselves, the only reason GDP looks good is that we also import cheap labour (or let it be imported under the radar).  Productivity is dropping alarmingly and together with low birth rates among the population things look grim.

The car crash energy policies being pursued will possibly lead to the lights going out the way that we bright eyed and optimistically look to wind and solar to power our lives without the strategy to have back up when it's night time and when the wind blows too much or not enough for you need 100% back up for all of them in these situations.  It's OK they say because it will give sustainable, cheaper supplies.  Well, my bills have doubled and there's no way that a windmill lasts 10 years let alone 25 without a lot of maintenance and of course, they are built with things that require traditional technology.  None of it is new.  

I hope that they strands of our Government start to unravel as they realise that they cannot tackle the real problems with money we and they haven't got, we can't tax our way out of it.  If they go after the "rich" then I imagine they will, like quite a few have already, leave or change their status to avoid punitive taxes and also punitive labour laws which will damage their businesses.  Why bother if you get constant envy based penny pinching from politicians.  

I'm sitting back watching it all slowly unravel and like I would do at work many times to my enemies, I will use that old maxim from Sun Tzu: "Never interrupt your opponent while he is in the middle of making a mistake."

You let them take enough rope to hang themselves and watch them run faster and faster to their jolt of awareness and even then most do not realise that they have come to the end of their plan or whatever else they were doing.

Revenge is a dish best served cold they say and so the fun part is letting people do stupid things, letting them fail colossally and smiling on the other side of your face as you pretend to show sympathy to their predicament all the time know that they bloody well deserved that and more.  

Won't all this austerity or downright theft cause more problems?

 Another story of people losing their jobs in the Third Sector as donations start to dry up and there are insufficient funds to employ the people.  A store in Sheffield closes and 30 jobs are lost because people don't go there anymore as they would have to pay a clean air tax type scheme.  You know where you cross an imaginary line and the air is suddenly cleaner because the polluting cars pay to go into the zone?  

The problems arising are a bit like my experience.  I live in rural countryside, few buses and it's 45 to 60 minutes for me to walk to either of my stations.  It takes around 15 minutes to walk to the nearest bus stop and a bus goes past I understand hourly but not after 6 pm!  So I pretty much need a car.  The powers that be all appear to be from cities as they think everyone uses or should use public transport when, in reality only around 10% of the population actually does - they, like me, could look up this sort of statistic, but why let the facts get in the way of taxing the daylights out of the population?

In my view killing off my spending power by taking away my winter fuel allowance and with rising energy costs - the Chancellor once again thinks that we all only run on electricity! means I have to make choices.  By making me pay £12.50 each time in make an incursion into the invisible ULEZ zone, it means I don't go to things I used to thereby saving the money I'd spend there and the imposed tax to do so.  So far not doing so has saved me around £500 and quite a bit as I no longer eat and drink in the establishments I used to go to.

The impact on my social life and on my disposable income is such that I have consciously, in the past month since this silliness arrived, with a further month until the next government budget and with measures already in place, have decided that only essentials will be bought, the remaining money is now going to be used for to clothe, heat and feed ourselves.  I have plans to use my log burner a lot more this year to keep ourselves warm and I no longer plan to go the local town as they've put the car park prices up and you have to pay whenever you go there.

Shops are already closing and saying footfall is down.  It's not fair on them or us but they, at least have some leverage over petty council diktats and surely councils will see that they are destroying they very people they need to encourage for employment and prosperity and to increase rates etc.

But they'll never see it as they aren't business men and women and they don't see that their actions have a reaction (equal and opposite) despite this being well known and understood.  A place I went to this year had a great idea and didn't charge for parking except between 8:00 and 8:30 when it was a large sum of money,  rest of the time, it was free to park which was great, you could spend all day there, see the historic monuments, shop in the town's shops and so on.  They made the rule so as to dissuade those using the station to get to work to not park there but in the allocated station car parks.  That left these car parks for tourists and residents to use.  The result was a vibrant shopping area (thinking back I don't think I saw too many empty or boarded up shops).

Punitive tax regimes often have the effect of not doing what they set out to.  I just wished more people were as bloody stubborn as I am about it.  In my view, there ought to be a Gandhi style non violent resistance where for example acts like not buying petrol from a specific brand for a day or week happens.  Where no one buys from a certain supermarket for a week or similar.  The message about who holds the power would come through but people aren't inclined to put themselves out these days.  

If you remember, I've never gone to MacDonalds again since the incident where they tried to "fine" me for parking over 1 hour at one of their establishments.  My crime was I'd gone and got a second coffee.  It was ridiculous and the "fine" was dropped but the time and cost involved in me to fight it made me take the decision that I'd never spend my money in one again. So what you might say, you're just one person and that, dear reader, is the wholoe point.  If everyone did it, they'd reverse their policy but the Muppets pay these "fines" and they are around £70 or more and so all the time you don't fight it, you invite it. A general level of ignorance as to what these "fines" are would help but no, people pay and don't fight them.

So with all the talked about impositions on people coming down the track in the October budget I think it might start to wake a few people up. I hope so.  The levels of taxation in this country are abhorrent.  I'm dipping into my savings, the ones I've put in all my life, saved for times like this where money is being taken away from me as a pensioner and blow me down but they're taxing that money too!  Shocking behaviour.

I really hope that the people will get angry and organised to actually do something about it.  The societal damage successive governments do is unacceptable and so let's hope everyone realises who actually holds the power here.  However, most people think that these MPs are something special - they aren't, they are our servants, they should do what we say, we put them there, they want the job (we don't) and that's what it boils down to.  The cronyism and greed, squirrelling away of our hard earned money into vanity projects doing the opposite of what they are intended make us all poorer.  We might as well go back and live in caves if this carries on.