15 March 2012
Thank You
A big THANK YOU to all the family and friends who rallied around and gave me support this week following the traumatic events of last Saturday while I was in the Capital for a break while feeling down. I won't single anyone out, but I really appreciate the numerous FaceBook messages, the texts, the phone calls, and the meets for Coffee and a walk. I really needed the support and I truly appreciate that friends and family were there. Diolch yn fawr iawn i chi.
12 March 2012
Blue Lips
Phew, back home from South Wales and so glad to be back in the safety of my home environment. Strange really as had to get away from this house as the last week or so has been so stressful and we needed to plant me somewhere where I could grow and avoid the then current stressors in my life. Just when you think it’s all ok, everything goes pear shaped. Or as a qualified Strategist I know that no plan survives first engagement with the enemy.
As you all know I believe in fate. Or as the Street Pastor said in Cardiff after the event, “it was the guiding hand of God”. That comes as no surprise as I do pray daily. We had planned to pop along to the cinema check out the film times and the then scurry away for a meal to return when the chosen film was due to begin. We wandered inside at the electronic listings, and we wandered outside to check out the posters and the paper time. This to-ing and fro-ing went on for a bit until we stuck on a choice between three Thrillers. I got my way and we opted for that one. Then wifey suggested that we caught the film straight away and went for the meal later. Now given wifey’s willingness to throw her two main choices by the wayside, and opt for one of three thrillers, agreeing to the early evening film was the least that I could do. So folks, we shouldn’t have been where we were, and we could have been walking out at any of the varying times each film ended.
So why on earth do I walk outside and turn right instead of left (where we normally turn) and end up saving the life on my 6th victim? This time it was a young girl lying on the ground surrounded by people; who wifey and I clocked simultaneously and I’m already moving away briskly as wifey shouts “go!”
My first and obvious question was to ask if an ambulance has been called, to which one of the bystanders asks “do you think that we need an ambulance?” I mean come on folks, young woman on ground, partly in gutter, hardly moving. You don’t actually call for a taxi do you? A few seconds later and I am engaging the Ambulance Trust in my first of three calls that evening. During the first, the operator answers but no one from the Ambulance Trust. Indeed the operator told me that he was trying another number and still no answer. I gave up and continued rendering first aid and wifey instead used her phone to dial 999 as well. Which was also met with no success when wifey handed her phone to me. The onlookers in a state of shock as the condition of the young woman deteriorated. None of them knew what to do. My third phone call was when the Ambulance Trust rang me back on my phone and I explained the circumstances and gave the address. As I stood to locate the street name a voice said, “no pulse, she’s stopped breathing”.
Wifey mentions that when the victims pulse stopped and her lips turned blue and she looked like death, I said "Oh shit, here we go" as I passed my phone to a bystander to finish the call with the Ambulance Trust. I heard the bystander say something like, “do you want assistance, they are saying do you need assistance?” but I was already rolling by then. The thing that struck me the most was that the young victim was the Spit of Resusci-Annie: her face and hair shape, body size, age, facial expression, and right down to the white neat teeth as the lips separated from the mouth. It was all extremely emotional for me, but also almost like being in the classroom. I don’t know if the violent jolt as I moved her briskly from the Recovery Position to the resuscitate position and tilted the head, or the finger scoop for debris inside her mouth where maybe the forcefulness of the action caught the roof of the mouth or the back of her throat and thereby prompted her brain to react, but whatever it was one eyelid moved as I withdrew my finger. I found the pulse before putting her back into the Recovery Position where she started to wretch without any vomit coming out. Maybe she was choking when originally in the Recovery Position and either the violence of the movement to resuscitate or the finger scoop dislodged debris. Or, equally credible is that the high level of intoxication meant that her systems had closed down and the movement and the scoop prompted them to restart. I can’t be certain for sure. But I do know that her best friend had thought that she had died in the street and was crying; but it wasn’t going to happen on my watch.
I’m upset while typing this Blog, but the story has to be told as others should learn First Aid and be ready for the day when your help will inevitably be needed. I had my first of many nervous breakdowns in 1998. That was a combination of stress and anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD was brought about during a First Aid situation with a family member. My continuous poor mental health and the flashbacks of the PTSD means that saving victim number six was extremely traumatic for me. It happened on Saturday and I am still crying today some 48 hours later. But you have to talk about it to help recover from the trauma. It’s a strange thing when you are part of a good positive happening but so emotional that the event makes you feel unwell and upset. Then again you can’t walk past someone when the guiding hand of God puts you next to them and say “Sorry lady, but if I save your life, I will make myself ill.” So come on folks, learn some First Aid and share some of the burden. And if you can’t learn the First Aid then at least call an Ambulance.
My eldest is worried that I am still ill as she seen firsthand how I was affected by Saturday nights action. I shall say to her and to others; don’t worry, I shall get better – it’s just that I don’t know when. Or as wifey says, “you sure got f@cked up working for that lot.”
Ps if you survived post Ambulance and Hospital, then I would love to hear from you. Find me on Facebook as I know your name as I asked your friend at the scene and used your name every time I talked to you while waiting for the Ambulances to turn up. I say plural as like London buses when you need one there is none about and then two come rolling along.
As you all know I believe in fate. Or as the Street Pastor said in Cardiff after the event, “it was the guiding hand of God”. That comes as no surprise as I do pray daily. We had planned to pop along to the cinema check out the film times and the then scurry away for a meal to return when the chosen film was due to begin. We wandered inside at the electronic listings, and we wandered outside to check out the posters and the paper time. This to-ing and fro-ing went on for a bit until we stuck on a choice between three Thrillers. I got my way and we opted for that one. Then wifey suggested that we caught the film straight away and went for the meal later. Now given wifey’s willingness to throw her two main choices by the wayside, and opt for one of three thrillers, agreeing to the early evening film was the least that I could do. So folks, we shouldn’t have been where we were, and we could have been walking out at any of the varying times each film ended.
So why on earth do I walk outside and turn right instead of left (where we normally turn) and end up saving the life on my 6th victim? This time it was a young girl lying on the ground surrounded by people; who wifey and I clocked simultaneously and I’m already moving away briskly as wifey shouts “go!”
My first and obvious question was to ask if an ambulance has been called, to which one of the bystanders asks “do you think that we need an ambulance?” I mean come on folks, young woman on ground, partly in gutter, hardly moving. You don’t actually call for a taxi do you? A few seconds later and I am engaging the Ambulance Trust in my first of three calls that evening. During the first, the operator answers but no one from the Ambulance Trust. Indeed the operator told me that he was trying another number and still no answer. I gave up and continued rendering first aid and wifey instead used her phone to dial 999 as well. Which was also met with no success when wifey handed her phone to me. The onlookers in a state of shock as the condition of the young woman deteriorated. None of them knew what to do. My third phone call was when the Ambulance Trust rang me back on my phone and I explained the circumstances and gave the address. As I stood to locate the street name a voice said, “no pulse, she’s stopped breathing”.
Wifey mentions that when the victims pulse stopped and her lips turned blue and she looked like death, I said "Oh shit, here we go" as I passed my phone to a bystander to finish the call with the Ambulance Trust. I heard the bystander say something like, “do you want assistance, they are saying do you need assistance?” but I was already rolling by then. The thing that struck me the most was that the young victim was the Spit of Resusci-Annie: her face and hair shape, body size, age, facial expression, and right down to the white neat teeth as the lips separated from the mouth. It was all extremely emotional for me, but also almost like being in the classroom. I don’t know if the violent jolt as I moved her briskly from the Recovery Position to the resuscitate position and tilted the head, or the finger scoop for debris inside her mouth where maybe the forcefulness of the action caught the roof of the mouth or the back of her throat and thereby prompted her brain to react, but whatever it was one eyelid moved as I withdrew my finger. I found the pulse before putting her back into the Recovery Position where she started to wretch without any vomit coming out. Maybe she was choking when originally in the Recovery Position and either the violence of the movement to resuscitate or the finger scoop dislodged debris. Or, equally credible is that the high level of intoxication meant that her systems had closed down and the movement and the scoop prompted them to restart. I can’t be certain for sure. But I do know that her best friend had thought that she had died in the street and was crying; but it wasn’t going to happen on my watch.
I’m upset while typing this Blog, but the story has to be told as others should learn First Aid and be ready for the day when your help will inevitably be needed. I had my first of many nervous breakdowns in 1998. That was a combination of stress and anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The PTSD was brought about during a First Aid situation with a family member. My continuous poor mental health and the flashbacks of the PTSD means that saving victim number six was extremely traumatic for me. It happened on Saturday and I am still crying today some 48 hours later. But you have to talk about it to help recover from the trauma. It’s a strange thing when you are part of a good positive happening but so emotional that the event makes you feel unwell and upset. Then again you can’t walk past someone when the guiding hand of God puts you next to them and say “Sorry lady, but if I save your life, I will make myself ill.” So come on folks, learn some First Aid and share some of the burden. And if you can’t learn the First Aid then at least call an Ambulance.
My eldest is worried that I am still ill as she seen firsthand how I was affected by Saturday nights action. I shall say to her and to others; don’t worry, I shall get better – it’s just that I don’t know when. Or as wifey says, “you sure got f@cked up working for that lot.”
Ps if you survived post Ambulance and Hospital, then I would love to hear from you. Find me on Facebook as I know your name as I asked your friend at the scene and used your name every time I talked to you while waiting for the Ambulances to turn up. I say plural as like London buses when you need one there is none about and then two come rolling along.
8 March 2012
Mental ill health
Mental ill health is a terrible thing and I am glad that I can talk and write about the three nervous breakdowns that I had since suffering Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in 1998. Maybe, just maybe some of the things that I have previously written about in this Blog along with this entry might help others to come to terms with how they feel:
I suppose that there are those out there who will incorrectly contend that there can’t be much wrong with him if he can write about that ‘stuff’. But that’s the point, the writing and the model making and the swimming and the art work and the reading and the ancestry researching and the occasional DIY are simply multiple techniques to avoid facing the demons.
These numerous ‘deflection from reality’ activities include this Blog. They are the means of deflecting thoughts away from the occurrences and the outcomes and the dark days. And they can be dark as the last week has shown when I realised the descent and wifey commented upon it to others. The smiley face came back yesterday evening and I am looking forward to a weekend of de-stressing after what has been yet another stressful time for me. The thing is, what you find stressful doesn’t necessarily correlate to what I find stressful. For example; I hate opening envelopes and accepting or making telephone calls. It is a real fear and my palms become sweaty as I begin each time to experience flight behaviour. Now if you have never experience mental ill health let alone wide awake daytime flashbacks, then you probably cannot comprehend what I am writing about. In my world what to you is normal is abnormal, and some abnormal things are quite normal.
I used to be a compulsive obsessive. Thankfully my former employer paid for high end counselling when I had my third breakdown and the counsellor explained and helped me with techniques to suppress that behaviour. But this is also an important point, just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Because folks it’s only suppressed, i.e. just below the surface and ready to strike at any time that I drop my guard.
You might be thinking; “oh why is he writing about this today?” Well the truth is mental ill health, unlike a broken leg or broken arm does not carry the outward signs of a plaster cast. So when there are gaps in the blog, and we know that statistically there are gaps and this is why it is called “The Weekender” and not “The daily”, you can rest assured that all is ok, but maybe I am doing one of the other numerous deflection things or having some darker moments.
One of the deflection activities of course as mentioned on numerous occasions is the swimming. This particular activity has triple purpose in that it is good for the mental health, good for the physical health, and by attending Monday to Friday and at 0730 I am able to bring about weekly structure and focus to something that is otherwise an absent void since I ceased working over two years ago. Those that think that I should be working need not worry as society does not support me and I simply struggle along on my Occupational Pension. I paid my taxes for 32 years and I don’t get a handout. Not anything, nought, nothing, zilch, zero, nil.
Although my government funded handouts are nil, my arithmetic is still good. This is mainly because of the swimming. You see some people will argue that the swimming is bad for mental health because while you are trawling up and down the pool you are also thinking and of course they also believe that ill people only think of bad things. Well that’s not the case for me, as the only thinking that I am capable of doing when swimming is to concentrate on my stroke, remember when to breath, remember how to breath, occasionally think about using my legs, and repeat counting. One, one, one , one; means that I remember when I turn around that I have just completed one length. As is thirty four, thirty four, thirty four, thirty four. You see as a Compulsive Obsessive I need to know how many lengths that I am doing each time. Although, with grateful thanks to the counsellor I no longer maliciously record these lengths in a book each day. For clarity the Compulsive Obsessive is not about swimming or counting and is far more complex and surreal than I would want to mention here today. Then again when you think about it and hone in on the detail, you will recognise that the counting continuously during each length, the thinking about the stroke, thinking about when and how to breath and the other patterns that occur are in many ways part of the deflection techniques. I.e. by doing all of that which I do, I’m not thinking of the things that hurt. So there’s the deflecting the stuff that needs deflecting, and there’s also deflecting when deflecting.
The strange thing is, when I started swimming I used to have constant panic attacks. Hence the need to think about when and how to breath otherwise it’s hey presto and some young attendant in the water to assist yours truly. I wonder if there is an underlying association with water, as the majority of my wide awake flashbacks have occurred when I’m in the shower. Mmmm, it’s a strange world. Bring on the weekend and coffee in Cafe Nero, a chance to say hello to my friends in Cardiff and some time with the family.
I suppose that there are those out there who will incorrectly contend that there can’t be much wrong with him if he can write about that ‘stuff’. But that’s the point, the writing and the model making and the swimming and the art work and the reading and the ancestry researching and the occasional DIY are simply multiple techniques to avoid facing the demons.
These numerous ‘deflection from reality’ activities include this Blog. They are the means of deflecting thoughts away from the occurrences and the outcomes and the dark days. And they can be dark as the last week has shown when I realised the descent and wifey commented upon it to others. The smiley face came back yesterday evening and I am looking forward to a weekend of de-stressing after what has been yet another stressful time for me. The thing is, what you find stressful doesn’t necessarily correlate to what I find stressful. For example; I hate opening envelopes and accepting or making telephone calls. It is a real fear and my palms become sweaty as I begin each time to experience flight behaviour. Now if you have never experience mental ill health let alone wide awake daytime flashbacks, then you probably cannot comprehend what I am writing about. In my world what to you is normal is abnormal, and some abnormal things are quite normal.
I used to be a compulsive obsessive. Thankfully my former employer paid for high end counselling when I had my third breakdown and the counsellor explained and helped me with techniques to suppress that behaviour. But this is also an important point, just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there. Because folks it’s only suppressed, i.e. just below the surface and ready to strike at any time that I drop my guard.
You might be thinking; “oh why is he writing about this today?” Well the truth is mental ill health, unlike a broken leg or broken arm does not carry the outward signs of a plaster cast. So when there are gaps in the blog, and we know that statistically there are gaps and this is why it is called “The Weekender” and not “The daily”, you can rest assured that all is ok, but maybe I am doing one of the other numerous deflection things or having some darker moments.
One of the deflection activities of course as mentioned on numerous occasions is the swimming. This particular activity has triple purpose in that it is good for the mental health, good for the physical health, and by attending Monday to Friday and at 0730 I am able to bring about weekly structure and focus to something that is otherwise an absent void since I ceased working over two years ago. Those that think that I should be working need not worry as society does not support me and I simply struggle along on my Occupational Pension. I paid my taxes for 32 years and I don’t get a handout. Not anything, nought, nothing, zilch, zero, nil.
Although my government funded handouts are nil, my arithmetic is still good. This is mainly because of the swimming. You see some people will argue that the swimming is bad for mental health because while you are trawling up and down the pool you are also thinking and of course they also believe that ill people only think of bad things. Well that’s not the case for me, as the only thinking that I am capable of doing when swimming is to concentrate on my stroke, remember when to breath, remember how to breath, occasionally think about using my legs, and repeat counting. One, one, one , one; means that I remember when I turn around that I have just completed one length. As is thirty four, thirty four, thirty four, thirty four. You see as a Compulsive Obsessive I need to know how many lengths that I am doing each time. Although, with grateful thanks to the counsellor I no longer maliciously record these lengths in a book each day. For clarity the Compulsive Obsessive is not about swimming or counting and is far more complex and surreal than I would want to mention here today. Then again when you think about it and hone in on the detail, you will recognise that the counting continuously during each length, the thinking about the stroke, thinking about when and how to breath and the other patterns that occur are in many ways part of the deflection techniques. I.e. by doing all of that which I do, I’m not thinking of the things that hurt. So there’s the deflecting the stuff that needs deflecting, and there’s also deflecting when deflecting.
The strange thing is, when I started swimming I used to have constant panic attacks. Hence the need to think about when and how to breath otherwise it’s hey presto and some young attendant in the water to assist yours truly. I wonder if there is an underlying association with water, as the majority of my wide awake flashbacks have occurred when I’m in the shower. Mmmm, it’s a strange world. Bring on the weekend and coffee in Cafe Nero, a chance to say hello to my friends in Cardiff and some time with the family.
28 February 2012
Costa Avventuriero
With the heading 'Costa' those who know me would expect that I am about to write a few paragraphs on the high street coffee brand. Alas my friends, nothing could be further from my thoughts at this dreadful time.
With the Costa Allegra now under tow following a fire and loss of power in the Indian Ocean, we should all start wondering what on earth is going on with the cruise line industry and the further inevitable and damaging fallout for this type of holiday.
This catastrophe has occurred only one month and a bit after the sinking of the Costa Concordia with the loss of 25 lives. Some can claim run aground as one commentator recently did, but in my world on its side, holed and people dead equals a sinking. Worse still most of us recognise that that bad news sort of comes in threes. The ‘sods law’ of events suggests that a third happening will happen soon. It is inevitable, not necessarily for Costa, but somewhere involving a cruise liner. To be quite blunt, this second event so soon after the first one, suggests that sailing on the high seas (or the low seas close to land for that matter) has become a risky business for the holiday of a lifetime tribe. Of which I am one.
I believe that the British ship the Britannic sank not so long after her sister ship the Titanic and that there may have been a third liner. If not a third, then maybe the Titanic and the Britannic belonged to the then Olympic class of ships. The point being that the ‘3’ thing is an historical happening. It is not something new, and no one should be surprised when the third ship runs aground, sinks, blazes away, or otherwise meets its doom.
This storyboard has clearly demonstrated the urgent need for further regulation and safeguards in the maritime industry especially that involving tourism and the high volume transportation of fee paying guests. I am at a loss why there is no back-up system to restore power, and how the circumstances could have been allowed to occur that could disable all systems as a result of a fire. With 32 years experience in the fire industry, and a First Class Fire Engineering and Management Degree to boot, it beggars believe that ship design could be so poor. What really concerns me however is that I suspect that the fundamental flaws are not restricted to the Costa brand and could be replicated far and wide. It’s just that Costa is now taking the big hits whereas others may be sailing on the theme of; ‘but for the grace of god go I’. That’s not a case of trying to paint everyone with the same brush, but rather flagging up to the powers that be, that an urgent review of maritime safety is now needed to ensure that there is not an avoidable colossal loss of life.
Life safety regulations in the United Kingdom have all too often been a stable door reaction to the horse that has bolted. On this occasion there is opportunity to step up to the mark before the big event. That’s not belittling the loss of 25 lives, but the worry about the loss of 4,000 lives when their deaths could have been foreseen and prevented.
If the cruise line Costa brand survives; then long term maybe they could consider naming a future ship the Costa ‘Avventuriero’ as nothing seems to be straightforward for those that have recently booked a cruise with this particular company. In the short term maybe Costa need to undertake a significant review of its products and delivery and thereby restore customer confidence. For all those glowing in the sidelines and thanking that it’s not their fleet; the same review of products and delivery is also urgently needed. In all cases it must not be a back patting exercise and the reviews need to be independent so that the painful observations are made and the painful questions are asked.
With the Costa Allegra now under tow following a fire and loss of power in the Indian Ocean, we should all start wondering what on earth is going on with the cruise line industry and the further inevitable and damaging fallout for this type of holiday.
This catastrophe has occurred only one month and a bit after the sinking of the Costa Concordia with the loss of 25 lives. Some can claim run aground as one commentator recently did, but in my world on its side, holed and people dead equals a sinking. Worse still most of us recognise that that bad news sort of comes in threes. The ‘sods law’ of events suggests that a third happening will happen soon. It is inevitable, not necessarily for Costa, but somewhere involving a cruise liner. To be quite blunt, this second event so soon after the first one, suggests that sailing on the high seas (or the low seas close to land for that matter) has become a risky business for the holiday of a lifetime tribe. Of which I am one.
I believe that the British ship the Britannic sank not so long after her sister ship the Titanic and that there may have been a third liner. If not a third, then maybe the Titanic and the Britannic belonged to the then Olympic class of ships. The point being that the ‘3’ thing is an historical happening. It is not something new, and no one should be surprised when the third ship runs aground, sinks, blazes away, or otherwise meets its doom.
This storyboard has clearly demonstrated the urgent need for further regulation and safeguards in the maritime industry especially that involving tourism and the high volume transportation of fee paying guests. I am at a loss why there is no back-up system to restore power, and how the circumstances could have been allowed to occur that could disable all systems as a result of a fire. With 32 years experience in the fire industry, and a First Class Fire Engineering and Management Degree to boot, it beggars believe that ship design could be so poor. What really concerns me however is that I suspect that the fundamental flaws are not restricted to the Costa brand and could be replicated far and wide. It’s just that Costa is now taking the big hits whereas others may be sailing on the theme of; ‘but for the grace of god go I’. That’s not a case of trying to paint everyone with the same brush, but rather flagging up to the powers that be, that an urgent review of maritime safety is now needed to ensure that there is not an avoidable colossal loss of life.
Life safety regulations in the United Kingdom have all too often been a stable door reaction to the horse that has bolted. On this occasion there is opportunity to step up to the mark before the big event. That’s not belittling the loss of 25 lives, but the worry about the loss of 4,000 lives when their deaths could have been foreseen and prevented.
If the cruise line Costa brand survives; then long term maybe they could consider naming a future ship the Costa ‘Avventuriero’ as nothing seems to be straightforward for those that have recently booked a cruise with this particular company. In the short term maybe Costa need to undertake a significant review of its products and delivery and thereby restore customer confidence. For all those glowing in the sidelines and thanking that it’s not their fleet; the same review of products and delivery is also urgently needed. In all cases it must not be a back patting exercise and the reviews need to be independent so that the painful observations are made and the painful questions are asked.
26 February 2012
Model Making
Not all Cemeteries are a bad thing. I like making models from waste materials and the like.
This model is a gift to someone who made me smile when he mentioned that his daughter chatted to him at a crucial moment during a task and I thought that it was lovely that he let the task slip away and instead spent the time responding to his daughter.
You see; nothing is as important as family and that’s a fact. There are more photographs of this model in the modelling section tab at the top of this Blog. Click on the tab and then scroll down to see the images.
22 February 2012
The Gift
Well here is a BIG thank you to the lovely AUNTY Janet and the equally lovely AUNTY Eileen back in South Wales. Because of their kindness I have now bought myself Winsor & Newton Artists quality Chinese white, Quinacridone Magenta, and Cadmium Lemon with a Derwent Classic 56 page 165gsm acid free water colour book on order. The new and much needed acquisitions bulge my Winsor & Newton Artist’s water colour set to breaking point. I mean there is no more space left in the tin.
Thank goodness for the lovely Brian and Madeleine in the Art Shop on Pier Street Aberystwyth for the advice that they gave me and their generosity in handing me a Winsor & Newton Artists’ Water Colour hand painted colour chart. I have sort of spread bet my colours across the available range. It would be nice to have them all, but that’s not going to happen with the pension. But what I do have is a fair representation of the range of colours and I can now crack on with the 28th of the illustrations that I am currently producing for simple enjoyment.
The ‘Chinese white’ was an essential requirement for the three illustrations as each one involves white areas or depicting white lettering. Now I have to save up some dosh for a couple of the brilliant ‘JP Perkins’ water colour brushes. Pure sable and pure bliss to use, but mine alas are wearing away. All in all this has been a great month, physically and more importantly mentally. Maybe the settling down is due to a stress free period and the relaxation a few hours of painting each day brings. For these reasons the new paints and the paper are extremely well received.
Better still, it’s not a bad result at all for a month when I'm broke :-)
21 February 2012
Exercise
Well today was the day of days. It turned out to be a compendium of physical and mental exercise. 52 lengths in the pool followed by a 10 minute sauna. Then the library for some ancestry research followed by a good read in a nice large but quiet room. Followed by pancake practice (nope not the mixing and the tossing, just the eating) and then chess club this evening.
Which in itself is not that remarkable, except that I haven't been to chess club for 14 years since I suffered the first of my numerous nervous breakdowns. I lost all of the games, but to be quite blunt, I couldn't care less. You see, I played and enjoyed and part of the enjoyment was about going along to play. The only thing wrong; there wasn't a cup of coffee in sight. Full, spilled or otherwise, nope, zero, nothing. Now I wonder if Costa would let a chess club meet there? 1.e4 e5, 2.f4 fun, oh Happy Days :-)
Which in itself is not that remarkable, except that I haven't been to chess club for 14 years since I suffered the first of my numerous nervous breakdowns. I lost all of the games, but to be quite blunt, I couldn't care less. You see, I played and enjoyed and part of the enjoyment was about going along to play. The only thing wrong; there wasn't a cup of coffee in sight. Full, spilled or otherwise, nope, zero, nothing. Now I wonder if Costa would let a chess club meet there? 1.e4 e5, 2.f4 fun, oh Happy Days :-)
The triple three lady and the spreading coffee
The only thing that I have that can match the four pencils and the four fingers of the last few Blogs; is the four unintentional extra lengths in the pool this morning. Gosh it was cram packed in there, and yet again a fool tried to swim backstroke. Unreal I know, but there you have it. Twenty five people in the water and all swimming lengths and one little lady swim’s without being able to see where she is going and can’t manage a straight line. Phew, it’s enough to wind you up. But then again I am a bit of a cool customer when it comes to problems.
If you don’t believe me, then track down and ask the ‘triple three lady’ from Costa. A lovely thing from North Wales who like me has three daughters. So that’s two of the number 3 sequences. The third number ‘3’ being the number of sugars that she brought me when she bought me the coffee that she insisted on buying. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a nice looking pleasant woman, and I like my coffee, and I also like free coffee. So the unnecessary sugar is just a story filler that fits in with the other two three’s if you get my drift.
Anyway, there I was engrossed in the latest of my ‘three on a go at any one time’ reads (two about Passchendaele in the Great War and one about the official history of MI5). Oops, there’s another ‘3’ then, so it’s four three and not three three’s if you look closely enough. The 300 odd pages one was balancing partly on the edge of the table and resting on my reading glasses case. When the vision approached me and asked if she could sit down. I mean, what is a hot blooded man going to say. “No lady that seat is taken, and while you are at it, please leave me alone to read another 30 pages of this historical tome with the Germanic slant”. Nope, not on your Nelly. The book was closed as quick as you could say “Jumping Jack Flash”, or in this case, "Yes, please do”.
This of course makes a nice story but doesn’t necessarily link into my temperament comments at the start of this Blog entry. No, there must be more say you. Well of course you are right. There were no flaying fingers in sight, she sat calmly and did not practice the backstroke, but alas she did hit the ‘sweet spot’. Gosh, I was super impressed and when the lovely lady from the North made a lasting impression on me. There is no getting away from it, offspring co-incidences aside, we are certainly kindred spirits. We share a liking for the corner and a liking for a glass of water with the coffee. Unfortunately as her hand moved eloquently across the table while holding the water, the glass, so gingerly, touched the glass containing her hot drink. Whoosh, and there was a total disintegration of the second static vessel with shards of glass swimming in a volume of coffee. Some of the drink on my new book, some inside my glasses case and on the lenses of my designer reading glasses, a lot on my trousers and shoes. But not a blink of an eye or a harsh word from me. As the eternal gentleman I played down the situation and tried my best to put her at ease. I probably didn’t do as well as I thought as within a few minutes of buying me a drink, she was off on her way.
The second lady from the north to make a lasting impression on me, the other was back in Africa.
If you don’t believe me, then track down and ask the ‘triple three lady’ from Costa. A lovely thing from North Wales who like me has three daughters. So that’s two of the number 3 sequences. The third number ‘3’ being the number of sugars that she brought me when she bought me the coffee that she insisted on buying. Now don’t get me wrong, I like a nice looking pleasant woman, and I like my coffee, and I also like free coffee. So the unnecessary sugar is just a story filler that fits in with the other two three’s if you get my drift.
Anyway, there I was engrossed in the latest of my ‘three on a go at any one time’ reads (two about Passchendaele in the Great War and one about the official history of MI5). Oops, there’s another ‘3’ then, so it’s four three and not three three’s if you look closely enough. The 300 odd pages one was balancing partly on the edge of the table and resting on my reading glasses case. When the vision approached me and asked if she could sit down. I mean, what is a hot blooded man going to say. “No lady that seat is taken, and while you are at it, please leave me alone to read another 30 pages of this historical tome with the Germanic slant”. Nope, not on your Nelly. The book was closed as quick as you could say “Jumping Jack Flash”, or in this case, "Yes, please do”.
This of course makes a nice story but doesn’t necessarily link into my temperament comments at the start of this Blog entry. No, there must be more say you. Well of course you are right. There were no flaying fingers in sight, she sat calmly and did not practice the backstroke, but alas she did hit the ‘sweet spot’. Gosh, I was super impressed and when the lovely lady from the North made a lasting impression on me. There is no getting away from it, offspring co-incidences aside, we are certainly kindred spirits. We share a liking for the corner and a liking for a glass of water with the coffee. Unfortunately as her hand moved eloquently across the table while holding the water, the glass, so gingerly, touched the glass containing her hot drink. Whoosh, and there was a total disintegration of the second static vessel with shards of glass swimming in a volume of coffee. Some of the drink on my new book, some inside my glasses case and on the lenses of my designer reading glasses, a lot on my trousers and shoes. But not a blink of an eye or a harsh word from me. As the eternal gentleman I played down the situation and tried my best to put her at ease. I probably didn’t do as well as I thought as within a few minutes of buying me a drink, she was off on her way.
The second lady from the north to make a lasting impression on me, the other was back in Africa.
19 February 2012
Mr Remington and the Flying Fingers
With the gang back and the car broke it has been a weekend without exercise and we all know the importance of physical exercise to aid mental health. So quite late at night; I decided that I would get up at 0715 hours the next morning and pop along to the swimming pool. This would have been OK if I had thought about it early enough to get my stuff ready and have a shave the night before. But alas the witching hour came and went before the thought of swimming had occurred. So there I was early in the morning fumbling round the room looking for clothes and my long lost swimming trunks and towel and with every movement making noises that were likely to disturb the grandchildren there was no way that I could fit in a shave.
Fitting in things is something I was not thinking of when I arrived at the pool. Indeed, I should have been thinking that way, because as I stepped through the door from the changing room to poolside; I had to rapidly think of ways of fitting myself into a lane. I mean, how on earth do so many people get up so early and only do so on the day that I need a swim? Luckily I caught a break and as I popped into the water, someone the other end of the lane next to the ladder, popped out. This was pretty cool for me as I was now tucked in against the wall and could safely swim up and down or 'trawl' as I call it. Now I know that it was busy, but why did everyone want to swim with and against me when there was a perfectly good lane next door? “Mr Popular or what”, thought I as the first ten and then twenty lengths were done.
I had a few brushes with the other swimmers, there was the chap who just avoided me, the one who swam at me, and the one who swam in front of me until my front crawl touched his ankle. I mean, come on folks, I am in the inside lane tight against the wall. LEAVE ME ALONE! But want I don’t get is the lady doing the backstroke in a crowded pool. Yes, you may think that you move in perfect harmony with tight arms neatly oscillating. When in fact, what actually faced others in the pool was the dance of the flaying hands and flying fingers. As tight as I was to the wall, the inconsiderate act struck me across my face and down my right cheek but thankfully I had my swimming goggles on and my eyes were safe. Do backstroke by all means, but start doing the lottery as well, and go and buy yourself a private pool. Or swim a stroke that includes looking ahead, so that you can swim straight and not strike others.
Smarting from my physical assault, I was aware of my unshaven look. Not a cool look, like those male models have who wear designer clothes. No this is the over 50 in need of a shave look. It then occurred to me that my trusty Remington shaver was in a pouch inside my swimming bag. Now this was a long shot as the thing had last been charged up some two and a half years ago. Even as I unzipped the pouch I was thinking shall I shan’t I. Unbelievably it sprung into life. The light may have been RED but the blades whirred. I even shaved left and right in case the thing died early, but I should have had a bit more confidence as the Remington brought about a close shave. This of course was a nice end to a session that had included the ‘flaying hands’ of the inconsiderate. Four pens from the previous Blog entry, and four fingers with this one, so what on earth would happen next?
Fitting in things is something I was not thinking of when I arrived at the pool. Indeed, I should have been thinking that way, because as I stepped through the door from the changing room to poolside; I had to rapidly think of ways of fitting myself into a lane. I mean, how on earth do so many people get up so early and only do so on the day that I need a swim? Luckily I caught a break and as I popped into the water, someone the other end of the lane next to the ladder, popped out. This was pretty cool for me as I was now tucked in against the wall and could safely swim up and down or 'trawl' as I call it. Now I know that it was busy, but why did everyone want to swim with and against me when there was a perfectly good lane next door? “Mr Popular or what”, thought I as the first ten and then twenty lengths were done.
I had a few brushes with the other swimmers, there was the chap who just avoided me, the one who swam at me, and the one who swam in front of me until my front crawl touched his ankle. I mean, come on folks, I am in the inside lane tight against the wall. LEAVE ME ALONE! But want I don’t get is the lady doing the backstroke in a crowded pool. Yes, you may think that you move in perfect harmony with tight arms neatly oscillating. When in fact, what actually faced others in the pool was the dance of the flaying hands and flying fingers. As tight as I was to the wall, the inconsiderate act struck me across my face and down my right cheek but thankfully I had my swimming goggles on and my eyes were safe. Do backstroke by all means, but start doing the lottery as well, and go and buy yourself a private pool. Or swim a stroke that includes looking ahead, so that you can swim straight and not strike others.
Smarting from my physical assault, I was aware of my unshaven look. Not a cool look, like those male models have who wear designer clothes. No this is the over 50 in need of a shave look. It then occurred to me that my trusty Remington shaver was in a pouch inside my swimming bag. Now this was a long shot as the thing had last been charged up some two and a half years ago. Even as I unzipped the pouch I was thinking shall I shan’t I. Unbelievably it sprung into life. The light may have been RED but the blades whirred. I even shaved left and right in case the thing died early, but I should have had a bit more confidence as the Remington brought about a close shave. This of course was a nice end to a session that had included the ‘flaying hands’ of the inconsiderate. Four pens from the previous Blog entry, and four fingers with this one, so what on earth would happen next?
10 February 2012
Mythical Dragons
I have just accidentally found a particularly unusual propelling pencil that was made for/by Wyvern in the 1940's. It's very desirable for me and something that I want to add to my collection. I then go and stumble on four more identical writing instruments over the next two days. It's sort of London Buses isn't it? None for ages and then a load turn up. My chances of owning one? Probably the same as my chances of winning the Euro Lottery.
9 February 2012
Crazy Icicles
As forecast it was bitterly cold the other morning. The car should have taken ages to defrost but for some strange reason as cold as it was, there was no deep freeze. But the ground was frozen and the gauge showed -4 degrees at the 0730 pre-swim warm up. With this in mind I have to ask myself why the crazy young driver was overtaking a van while driving towards me on the main road running through the housing estate of Waunfawr? What a fool, I thought to myself as I applied my brakes carefully. Now careful is my middle name, which is a good job, because at -4 degrees you have to be careful. Once you slide it’s usually the other person that you kill.
Although the -4 degrees at 0730 didn’t come as a surprise, the -2 degrees post swim drive home was a big surprise. But not as big as a surprise as the idiots who were walking in the road instead of on the pavement opposite. I mean, it’s not as if the road had been gritted or that the pavement was really icy. I had to pause and think; “does cold weather bring out the silliness in people?” What I should have considered was “does the cold weather also make a fool aggressive?”
I popped out of a junction and with the road clear to the right hand side and took up a central position ready to pop into a gap in the flow of traffic coming from the left. But the next youngster of the day who had moved fast from the junction on the right, now started hitting their car horn and making aggressive gestures at me. Now why on earth would you do that?
Yes, I know that you life is important and that you want to get to where you are going because if you don’t make it in the next thirty seconds then you will die, but hey ho missy, just let the guy turn his car without the need for aggression. No, please save the nastiness for when you are at home with your family and partner. Because in my world, aggressive drivers, are simply aggressive people. Nasty when driving; nasty in life.
I almost immediately move off with the nasty young girl, well I think that it was a girl, having been held up by all of five seconds and still barbing. Her delay was brought about due to her speed, and her aggression was brought about for her desire for more speed. I wonder if she is an uninsured driver? Fools come as no surprise and aggressive nasty little people seem to be a thing brought about by today’s society. However the continual cold weather throughout that day came as a big surprise.
It all began with the -4 degrees that led to foolishness, then the -2 degrees and the nastiness and at the end of the day it was still only 0 degree. Although by then I had enjoyed separately a chat with five friends and a lovely coffee in Costa. So was it a day of ‘crazy icicles’ and is there a correlation between temperature and temper? I don’t really know if there is a correlation, but I do hope that a lot of people take a hot water bottle to be bed with them tonight and start to warm up. Oh, and I hope that the 0740 fool is caught and given a few good points before someone is hurt or killed, and that the 0900 aggressor can’t start her car tomorrow or the rest of the week, oh and next week as well. Now that would be justice, especially if we can also get those idiots to walk on the pavement.
Although the -4 degrees at 0730 didn’t come as a surprise, the -2 degrees post swim drive home was a big surprise. But not as big as a surprise as the idiots who were walking in the road instead of on the pavement opposite. I mean, it’s not as if the road had been gritted or that the pavement was really icy. I had to pause and think; “does cold weather bring out the silliness in people?” What I should have considered was “does the cold weather also make a fool aggressive?”
I popped out of a junction and with the road clear to the right hand side and took up a central position ready to pop into a gap in the flow of traffic coming from the left. But the next youngster of the day who had moved fast from the junction on the right, now started hitting their car horn and making aggressive gestures at me. Now why on earth would you do that?
Yes, I know that you life is important and that you want to get to where you are going because if you don’t make it in the next thirty seconds then you will die, but hey ho missy, just let the guy turn his car without the need for aggression. No, please save the nastiness for when you are at home with your family and partner. Because in my world, aggressive drivers, are simply aggressive people. Nasty when driving; nasty in life.
I almost immediately move off with the nasty young girl, well I think that it was a girl, having been held up by all of five seconds and still barbing. Her delay was brought about due to her speed, and her aggression was brought about for her desire for more speed. I wonder if she is an uninsured driver? Fools come as no surprise and aggressive nasty little people seem to be a thing brought about by today’s society. However the continual cold weather throughout that day came as a big surprise.
It all began with the -4 degrees that led to foolishness, then the -2 degrees and the nastiness and at the end of the day it was still only 0 degree. Although by then I had enjoyed separately a chat with five friends and a lovely coffee in Costa. So was it a day of ‘crazy icicles’ and is there a correlation between temperature and temper? I don’t really know if there is a correlation, but I do hope that a lot of people take a hot water bottle to be bed with them tonight and start to warm up. Oh, and I hope that the 0740 fool is caught and given a few good points before someone is hurt or killed, and that the 0900 aggressor can’t start her car tomorrow or the rest of the week, oh and next week as well. Now that would be justice, especially if we can also get those idiots to walk on the pavement.
7 February 2012
The Godfather
My eldest will enjoy reading this Blog entry. It’s about the joy of electronic information and the catch up opportunities afforded by the Web. Her Godfather got in touch via that well known Social Network site yesterday. Now that was a shock as it must be nigh on twenty years since I last spoke to the Godfather. Well it must be twenty years as I had my first work related mental health episode in 1998 and that’s fourteen years ago.
The thing is I can’t pin down the exact date as I remember meeting up for a beer and a meal and cannot imagine that I would have travelled all the way from the coast for that. No, that get together must have been when we were living in the valleys. It would have still been a jaunt with a thirty six mile round trip, but not as onerous as from where we now live. If it was ‘from the Valleys’; then that dates the catch up at about twenty four years ago. I did try and meet again as I remember the impact that the row of wheelie bins had on me in the street when I called by and how nicely the table was laid when I peeked through the window in the absence of an answer.
The friendship at the time must have been good, as I’m not the type of chap who would pick any old person as a Godfather. I have always seen the duties as quite important. I try to keep in touch with my Goddaughter; and from time to time send a small gift for her daughter. My Goddaughter has a special place in my heart, and I suppose that this is one of those things that can sometimes fall by the wayside when people move away. Our lives are busy and time passes by so quickly. It’s not wholly our fault but we begin to neglect our responsibilities. I certainly neglected mine.
The strange thing is though, that although we are busy we find time online. At a time when there is so much going on, we somehow manage to interact more often and more remotely due to the astonishing advancement of computer systems. We now seem to be better informed. Most of us know what is going on, and what is happening to whom in ‘our village’. That being a social interaction of let’s say one hundred friends and family. Knowledge exchange, sometimes in small sound-bites is one of the big things about Social Networking. The interesting thing is though, that Electronic Social Network systems can have a duality of effect; they can lead to ‘dysfunctionality’ whereby people spend too much time on line and acquire a glut of almost false friends, in many ways like some form of trophy hunting, while paradoxically they can bring people back together. The Godfather still plays Chess whereas I don’t. Maybe if we ever move back to South Wales I can settle down with a beer or a glass of wine and play a game. Better still, maybe if Jeffers visits the Principality I can arrange an international. It could be billed; ‘the Godfather versus the African’, two friends who are Continents apart. But due to Social Networking I can now contact either at any time.
The thing is I can’t pin down the exact date as I remember meeting up for a beer and a meal and cannot imagine that I would have travelled all the way from the coast for that. No, that get together must have been when we were living in the valleys. It would have still been a jaunt with a thirty six mile round trip, but not as onerous as from where we now live. If it was ‘from the Valleys’; then that dates the catch up at about twenty four years ago. I did try and meet again as I remember the impact that the row of wheelie bins had on me in the street when I called by and how nicely the table was laid when I peeked through the window in the absence of an answer.
The friendship at the time must have been good, as I’m not the type of chap who would pick any old person as a Godfather. I have always seen the duties as quite important. I try to keep in touch with my Goddaughter; and from time to time send a small gift for her daughter. My Goddaughter has a special place in my heart, and I suppose that this is one of those things that can sometimes fall by the wayside when people move away. Our lives are busy and time passes by so quickly. It’s not wholly our fault but we begin to neglect our responsibilities. I certainly neglected mine.
The strange thing is though, that although we are busy we find time online. At a time when there is so much going on, we somehow manage to interact more often and more remotely due to the astonishing advancement of computer systems. We now seem to be better informed. Most of us know what is going on, and what is happening to whom in ‘our village’. That being a social interaction of let’s say one hundred friends and family. Knowledge exchange, sometimes in small sound-bites is one of the big things about Social Networking. The interesting thing is though, that Electronic Social Network systems can have a duality of effect; they can lead to ‘dysfunctionality’ whereby people spend too much time on line and acquire a glut of almost false friends, in many ways like some form of trophy hunting, while paradoxically they can bring people back together. The Godfather still plays Chess whereas I don’t. Maybe if we ever move back to South Wales I can settle down with a beer or a glass of wine and play a game. Better still, maybe if Jeffers visits the Principality I can arrange an international. It could be billed; ‘the Godfather versus the African’, two friends who are Continents apart. But due to Social Networking I can now contact either at any time.
5 February 2012
Deed Done
So I done the deed and ventured out in the cold weather all the way from the village and into town. "Why on earth did you do that", I hear you ask.
Well, because some tea-leaf has I believe taken my swimming goggles. Now; I suspect stolen rather than lost as there weren't many places to look. Plus of course I have asked twice at the venue in case they have been handed in. Mind you I met someone in town this afternoon who said that I should ask a third time. They advocate that I should ask yet again; just in case someone innocently took them home believing them to be theirs and then realise the mistake after the weekend.
Nevertheless, I had to buy another pair for the morning. No, option really you see. Because without the goggles it is a neck hurting 20 lengths, and with them it is 32 to 36 lengths and no strain. Mind you, just in case the person who found them does hand them in, I bought blue and not black. Well, it would be pointless having two pairs of black swimming goggles wouldn't it?
Well, because some tea-leaf has I believe taken my swimming goggles. Now; I suspect stolen rather than lost as there weren't many places to look. Plus of course I have asked twice at the venue in case they have been handed in. Mind you I met someone in town this afternoon who said that I should ask a third time. They advocate that I should ask yet again; just in case someone innocently took them home believing them to be theirs and then realise the mistake after the weekend.
Nevertheless, I had to buy another pair for the morning. No, option really you see. Because without the goggles it is a neck hurting 20 lengths, and with them it is 32 to 36 lengths and no strain. Mind you, just in case the person who found them does hand them in, I bought blue and not black. Well, it would be pointless having two pairs of black swimming goggles wouldn't it?
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (15) Of course the coffee machine isn’t just for coffee. Wifey has started enjoying her almost daily hot chocolate: Fresh water, when ready purge steamer using usual small china or heat resistant jug. Discard old water and run hot water through coffee machine without coffee holder and on into pre-warmed jug. Transfer this water to tall coffee/chocolate drinking glass. Put two coffee measurer of drinking chocolate powder into now empty jug. Run small amount of hot water through system into jug. Use a small spoon and mix the hot water and drinking chocolate powder to a paste. Top up the mixed paste in the small jug with hot water to desired amount and strength. Discard warming water from chocolate/coffee glass, and pour drinking chocolate content from the jug into the glass. Steam the mil and froth it up. Use clean coffee measurer to ‘spoon’ milk onto the drinking chocolate so that there is milk marbling on the top. Take a clean knife and scoop small amount of drinking chocolate from tin, place over the drink, and tap the knife so that the chocolate powder sprinkles down onto the milk. Serve and enjoy.
4 February 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (14) If you know me, then why not pop over to mine and enjoy a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Oh, and if you like yours brewed as an Espresso, then please bring along an Espresso cup; because I like my coffee long and slender. Better still, why not bring along your favourite blend for us to try out? At the moment mine is ‘Panama Boquete’. But then again not that long ago I was just as enthusiastic about ‘Breakfast Blend’. CAMRA eat your heart out, I can see a range of coffee being purchased, savoured, and sampled as lovingly as a good beer any day of the week. Mmmm, warm beer, now that’s a thought.
3 February 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (13) If you are meticulous with the cleaning as you go along, the only thing that you will be left to clean after enjoying your freshly brewed drink will be the coffee cup. Everything will be there nice and clean and waiting for the next time, but when that comes around; don’t forget to change the water! It may be my 13th ‘Coffee Making Tip of the Day’, but it won’t be unlucky for you! Clean fresh water, system purged, and raring to go. Mmmmm, lovely.
Sky Terry
I should be writing about the appalling John Terry Witch-hunt. That situation has been blown out of all proportions with far too many commentators having far too much to say. As usual in our modernised British Justice system, the condemnation will inevitably mean that the accused cannot receive a fair trial. I should be writing about ‘innocent until proven guilty’ as I too have faced more than one witch-hunt during my life. The second of which led directly to my second nervous breakdown. It would have been an enjoyable discourse or is that monologue? About the rights and wrongs of a society that allows its media to dictate the themes, and a media that seems to allow far too many to have a say rather than wait for the justice mechanism to revolve. Yes, it would have been a good-un; but instead I am writing about SKY News.
The folks at SKY News were right of course. As they predicated and as I mentioned earlier this week; it was -8 degree in Aberystwyth this morning. Ok, so it was the 0715 car pre-warm prior to swimming. But nevertheless it was also -8 degrees. In fact it was so cold that when I arrived at the pool, I noticed that my flip-flops were frozen along with my shower gel. Worse still I spotted that my swimming goggles were missing. They had obviously been left behind yesterday morning or had fallen out of my bag. Whatever the cause for their disappearance, we now know after asking two attendants and at the counter; that some tea-leaf has them in their possession. Quite sad really as Bloggers will recall that there was a period last year when I found three items on separate occasions and handed them in. These included an iPod, and a pair of swimming goggles. All of which were waiting to be reclaimed by what I suspect were their grateful owners.
You see folks; theft is theft whichever way you dress it up. Minor theft is still theft, and ‘finders keepers – losers weepers’ is also theft. If you are reading this Blog and you have found my goggles, then please do the right thing and hand them in. Please don’t blame your partner to maintain what I suspect is your unblemished record. Please don’t blame the newspapers for not writing about your alleged crime. No. Just do the right thing and hand them in. Just say that you meant to hand them in, and there was no one at the counter. There won’t be a witch-hunt, unless your name is Terry. The decision not to needlessly hunt you down and make you mentally ill, is mainly taken because at -8 degrees in Aberystwyth, it is simply too blinking cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
The folks at SKY News were right of course. As they predicated and as I mentioned earlier this week; it was -8 degree in Aberystwyth this morning. Ok, so it was the 0715 car pre-warm prior to swimming. But nevertheless it was also -8 degrees. In fact it was so cold that when I arrived at the pool, I noticed that my flip-flops were frozen along with my shower gel. Worse still I spotted that my swimming goggles were missing. They had obviously been left behind yesterday morning or had fallen out of my bag. Whatever the cause for their disappearance, we now know after asking two attendants and at the counter; that some tea-leaf has them in their possession. Quite sad really as Bloggers will recall that there was a period last year when I found three items on separate occasions and handed them in. These included an iPod, and a pair of swimming goggles. All of which were waiting to be reclaimed by what I suspect were their grateful owners.
You see folks; theft is theft whichever way you dress it up. Minor theft is still theft, and ‘finders keepers – losers weepers’ is also theft. If you are reading this Blog and you have found my goggles, then please do the right thing and hand them in. Please don’t blame your partner to maintain what I suspect is your unblemished record. Please don’t blame the newspapers for not writing about your alleged crime. No. Just do the right thing and hand them in. Just say that you meant to hand them in, and there was no one at the counter. There won’t be a witch-hunt, unless your name is Terry. The decision not to needlessly hunt you down and make you mentally ill, is mainly taken because at -8 degrees in Aberystwyth, it is simply too blinking cold. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
2 February 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Having just wifey a hot chocolate using my new coffee machine, I thought that it would be a good idea to take some more time out from the painting and instead post Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (12) Stop the coffee machine when you have enough coffee in your cup and rather than pour the hot frothy milk from the jug into the coffee, instead ladle the milk into the cup on top of the coffee using the clean coffee measurer. This way you get a nice marbling on the top, some frothy taste, and an altogether nicer drink. Enjoy!
It's cold folks
As the weather bites; the sleepy hollow of Aberystwyth makes SKY News. You see folks the hills are all white and the temperature has plunged. It is -2 degrees today, but SKY has reported a forecast of -8 degrees for Aberystwyth this weekend. Now I know that this is no great shakes for my African friends in Canada. I mean for them, a daily temperature of -8 degrees would be positively warm. But here in Wales where the sheep’s coats are thin, this my friends is worrying news indeed.
I am well prepared with the heaters on in many of the rooms, including turning on the grand heater in the hallway. Now that doesn’t happen often because as a ‘pensioner’ money is tight and I’m not due a pay-rise for another three years. I have even ventured from the village and got in some much needed provisions. I now have in my cupboard; Perylene Maroon, Ultramarine Violet, and good old Winsor Blue (Red Shade). The hatches are battened down, and this old chap is going to plough on with the water colouring. There’s no getting away from it; painting and drawing helps mental health, so thank you ‘the cold wind from the East’. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
I am well prepared with the heaters on in many of the rooms, including turning on the grand heater in the hallway. Now that doesn’t happen often because as a ‘pensioner’ money is tight and I’m not due a pay-rise for another three years. I have even ventured from the village and got in some much needed provisions. I now have in my cupboard; Perylene Maroon, Ultramarine Violet, and good old Winsor Blue (Red Shade). The hatches are battened down, and this old chap is going to plough on with the water colouring. There’s no getting away from it; painting and drawing helps mental health, so thank you ‘the cold wind from the East’. Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.
31 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (11) Wash the steamer attachment and the coffee measuring spoon as the coffee is brewing. The best part of this tip is that I am sat here enjoying a cup of 'Panama Boquete Coffee'. It is a medium coffee that is stronger than the Breakfast Blend, and has the unusual trait of becoming sweeter as it cools. Well so that means that there is a coffee out there that is a bit like me. I tend to be sweeter when I cool. But what gets me about this particular coffee; is that it does exactly what is on the pack.
30 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (10) Did you tamp down your coffee? It’s not too late. Remember that big plastic round piece on the machine low down fits the coffee holder and may, just may be for tamping down the coffee and reducing the water flow in order to extract more of the flavour. I mention this because I was making coffee at someone’s home yesterday using their machine, and they didn’t realise that the plastic ‘thingy’ was for compressing the coffee! So this could be the killer tip of the day if you haven’t been reading the instructions or your coffee machine was passed on second hand by a friend or family member without the paperwork.
27 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (9) Empty your pre-warmed coffee cup of the hot water that you used just before the coffee is coming through. It’s only now, just before I switch the machine to ‘flow’ that I would add that measure of syrup, as the addition won’t have time to cool down the cup. The old syrup isn’t my cup of tea, or should I say 'coffee', but I do understand that there are plenty out there who enjoy some unusual coffee tastes and want the product sweetened in some way.
26 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (8) Don’t forget to tamp your ground coffee powder down before you make the drink. Firmly tamped coffee powder reduces the water flow and therefore the water extracts a greater amount of flavour from the coffee as it passes through the ground coffee and on into your cup.
25 January 2012
Coffee Time
Now that the 'Breakfast Blend' coffee pack has ended this morning, it's now onto (from tomorrow) the new 'Panama Boquete coffee' that I purchased from the Mecca in Aberystwyth. Apparently my new acquisition of ‘Panama’ coffee is a medium coffee that is stronger than the Breakfast Blend. According to the chap that sold it to me; it has the unusual trait of becoming sweeter as it cools. Mmmmm, that sounds a bit like me :-) I can’t wait, but I might have to pop out to Costa in a mo; to get another daily fix.
The reason being that coffee drinking is a social habit, and I limit myself to only one cup a day at home. I need to get out and about or I suffer from ‘Cabin Fever’, and we don’t want that to happen again, do we?
The reason being that coffee drinking is a social habit, and I limit myself to only one cup a day at home. I need to get out and about or I suffer from ‘Cabin Fever’, and we don’t want that to happen again, do we?
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (7) Purge the steamer spout before you start to warm and froth up your milk as a good purging will reduce the amount of water in the system and less water will flow into your milk jug. It’s also healthier as you are removing stale water and cleaning the steamer at boiling temperature if you purge the system just before you start dealing with the milk.
24 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (6) Buy yourself a nice small china jug for warming up and frothing your milk.
23 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (5) As soon as the heater switch is ready; allow some hot water through the coffee machine to warm up your coffee cup to ensure that your drink will stay warm a little longer.
22 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (4) Use fresh water each and every time. Not only will the coffee taste better but it’s probably a tad healthier in the long run.
20 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (3) Store unused ground coffee powder in the fridge.
18 January 2012
Still Cruising
We are both very much looking forward to our next Cruise, once again with Celebrity Cruises.
Recent events suggests that having all of the safety things are lovely, because in theory everything will be fine, but now Cruise Companies have to build in 'human behaviour' into their safety systems and monitoring processes.
Who would have thought of an alleged 'sail pass' if the stories are true. Followed by an alleged early 'abandon ship' by the top guy if that story is true, and to top it all, a 'Not on your Nelly' sequence regarding the Jacobs Ladder, again if true. It could of course all be untrue and the chap really is a jolly good fellow. He may have in fact saved "hundreds if not thousands of lives". Then again, a timely; 'to lifeboats', followed by 'launch' could have resulted in a better outcome.
If any of it is true, then this storyboard must be a very sad eye opener to all of the Cruise Lines and not just the one that sank. How do Cruise Line senior managers deal with what you would never expect to happen? Risk analysis is about the unlikely, and who would have thought what happened could have happened before it actually did happen? Now we have £450m pounds worth of junk, and yet all the best safety features in the world were probably installed on that ship. Human behaviour may have taken the ship where it should not have been, and human behaviour may have failed to launch the lifeboats when they could have been launched. Only the fullness of time and the publication of the official report and the legal proceedings and their Appeals if applicable will tell us all what truly happened. At the moment we are simply double guessing. Yes, these guesses seem to be based on credible circumstances and initial 'evidence' but it's still double guessing until the experts have their day.
It is 100 years since the Titanic sank, and I bet when they launched her; they didn't think that she would sink either. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, does anyone need a good Safety Officer? You see, I've never thought 'outside of the box', because for several decades I have understood that none exists. It is people like me who are not constrained by the norm, the what should happen scenario, or the what could happen, that are needed now. People who see the risks and can identify the solutions. It is probable that Cruise Liners will require greater regulation after this episode. No one can complain, for after all, there are an awful lot of people on board when the boat goes down.
Recent events suggests that having all of the safety things are lovely, because in theory everything will be fine, but now Cruise Companies have to build in 'human behaviour' into their safety systems and monitoring processes.
Who would have thought of an alleged 'sail pass' if the stories are true. Followed by an alleged early 'abandon ship' by the top guy if that story is true, and to top it all, a 'Not on your Nelly' sequence regarding the Jacobs Ladder, again if true. It could of course all be untrue and the chap really is a jolly good fellow. He may have in fact saved "hundreds if not thousands of lives". Then again, a timely; 'to lifeboats', followed by 'launch' could have resulted in a better outcome.
If any of it is true, then this storyboard must be a very sad eye opener to all of the Cruise Lines and not just the one that sank. How do Cruise Line senior managers deal with what you would never expect to happen? Risk analysis is about the unlikely, and who would have thought what happened could have happened before it actually did happen? Now we have £450m pounds worth of junk, and yet all the best safety features in the world were probably installed on that ship. Human behaviour may have taken the ship where it should not have been, and human behaviour may have failed to launch the lifeboats when they could have been launched. Only the fullness of time and the publication of the official report and the legal proceedings and their Appeals if applicable will tell us all what truly happened. At the moment we are simply double guessing. Yes, these guesses seem to be based on credible circumstances and initial 'evidence' but it's still double guessing until the experts have their day.
It is 100 years since the Titanic sank, and I bet when they launched her; they didn't think that she would sink either. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, does anyone need a good Safety Officer? You see, I've never thought 'outside of the box', because for several decades I have understood that none exists. It is people like me who are not constrained by the norm, the what should happen scenario, or the what could happen, that are needed now. People who see the risks and can identify the solutions. It is probable that Cruise Liners will require greater regulation after this episode. No one can complain, for after all, there are an awful lot of people on board when the boat goes down.
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
Coffee Making Tip of the Day No. (2) If your coffee bag sticky label is broken, then turn over the edges of the coffee bag and seal using a clothes peg.
17 January 2012
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
So with my Parallel Universe 'Roger Bennett' enjoying African Coffee and me being a daily habitual coffee shop drinker and getting that coffee machine for my Birthday; I thought that it might be a nice idea to offer a series of Coffee Making Tips.
Coffee Making Tip of the Day
(1) Coffee machines take a finer ground powder than the old plunger device so don’t forget to ask for the right grade of grinding when you visit your local ‘Mecca’ to collect your favourite blend of coffee.
14 January 2012
Parallel Universe
I found out recently that my other half of me in that Parallel Universe that must exist; likes Coffee, runs a Blog and is into many things including posing Lego figures, African coffee and the like. Now you all know that I am a fatalist and understand that all things happen for a reason. It may not always be for a good reason, but nevertheless the reasons are always there.
With this in mind I am really glad that ‘Roger Bennett’ sent me that Facebook message on 01 June 2011. More so in that this particular bit of fatalism has been a good thing. His likes and dislikes appear to be mirrored by mine and those of my friends. I have a really good friend who is a Registered Doorman, and another who writes Computer Code. I like posing figures, and I can see the fun in posing a ‘Lego’ storyboard in stills, or as a short film. His latest Blog is about music, and I wish that he had been around when I bought my latest surround sound system. Like me, he dislikes noisy computers, and I also dislike noisy surround sound Blue-Ray players. The more I hear about my Parallel Self; the more I would like to sit down with him and share a good coffee and a few beers. It’s strange really, the social networking that I have mentioned on many occasions as creating massive friendship numbers that really equate to very little, could, just could bring about a connection to my Parallel Universe.
With this in mind I am really glad that ‘Roger Bennett’ sent me that Facebook message on 01 June 2011. More so in that this particular bit of fatalism has been a good thing. His likes and dislikes appear to be mirrored by mine and those of my friends. I have a really good friend who is a Registered Doorman, and another who writes Computer Code. I like posing figures, and I can see the fun in posing a ‘Lego’ storyboard in stills, or as a short film. His latest Blog is about music, and I wish that he had been around when I bought my latest surround sound system. Like me, he dislikes noisy computers, and I also dislike noisy surround sound Blue-Ray players. The more I hear about my Parallel Self; the more I would like to sit down with him and share a good coffee and a few beers. It’s strange really, the social networking that I have mentioned on many occasions as creating massive friendship numbers that really equate to very little, could, just could bring about a connection to my Parallel Universe.
10 January 2012
Well here's a 2012 cheer up for all of us recession hit folk. Mr Tister popped into my room to bring along a smile and to show me his 'Stickers'. I particularly like the cheeky ‘Thomas the Tank Engine’ one. Well being a train geek, I suppose that this was inevitable. What’s wonderful is the way that a small child can bring a big smile. Thank you Mr Sticker and what a great start to 2012. Happy New Year everyone!
6 January 2012
Question: is TWITTER micro-blogging or is it FACEBOOK without the hang-ups? Answer: in 140 characters
26 December 2011
War on Christmas
Had some nice presents earlier today. Engaged in a short phone call with my bro, no phone call with my Sis, but had some nice exchanges of Christmas texts with lots of friends and of course a nice dinner. We indulged in Champagne for breakfast courtesy of a guest, freshly ground coffee for eleven's courtesy of our eldest.
So all in all it was not a bad Christmas 2011.
Now with that in mind; what's all that fuss going on in the States and the declared "War on Christmas?" It wasn't that bad this side of The Pond, so why all the fuss over there?
The sound of Carols in the background courtesy of the Chapel of King’s College, Cambridge, an excellent Queen's speech (probably one of the best ever) and a grand buffet to top off the day. I don’t know about you, but we tend to leave our Christmas pudding and Brandy Sauce until late evening. Well you would do the same if you sat down to one of wifey’s Christmas Dinners. I only go for one sitting, but there is one or two in the family who will load their plate again. Enough is as good as a feast for me, and wifey’s Christmas dinner is a feast!
Now please, please, please, don’t spoil our Christmas by declaring war on anything. Listen in good people, War ain’t good, and War on Christmas is downright bad. I mean do you want me to declare War on Thanksgiving? No, of course you don’t. So hands off me sausages wrapped in bacon and keep your hands away from my twinkling little star. I don’t see the tree as a Christian symbol. Nope, I see it as a nicely decorated glittery thing. Jolly nice when done properly. The Nativity is part of Christmas, attending a service or two is also part of Christmas, the birth of Jesus is also part of Christmas. But these “War on Christmas” people have to understand that Christmas isn’t just about the Christian faith. No, it’s mainly about the family. Christmas is the main chance of the year for people to put their differences behind them and instead move together for the greater good.
So come on people, watch the Queen’s speech, listen to the commentary about the importance of family and forget about fighting Christmas. Another mince pie anyone?
24 December 2011
African Figures
Now don’t get me wrong as Hornby do a great job, but why on earth do they produce Circus wagons, Big Tops, Helter-skelter’s and the like when there are no 00 scale circus figures? I know that we can go out and pay a fortune for the Continental pre-painted small packet branded ones; but that sort of defeats the object i.e. fun figures for fun time.
Having suffered a few mental health episodes, I recognise the therapeutic benefits of doing a bit of art now and again. So to ensure that Mr Tister could have his fun-time, and I had my therapy, I went off in search of Airfix Circus or Zoo sets. The idea being that Airfix 1:72 is as near as needed to 00 scale. A Circus set would be the perfect solution, but failing that then the animals of a zoo box would assist with the Circus theme. Little did I know when I set off on this adventure that Airfix no longer made a zoo set and the closest thing A.K.A. a Tarzan set was also out of production. Now I can see a gap in the market forming here. If you make colourful trains, lorries, tents and the like, then how about a few people and animals to populate imaginary Circus land?
I also found that the few remaining Airfix zoo and Tarzan boxes were pretty costly items, indeed so much so, that some fools were buying the empty boxes! Not to beaten by these set-backs, or should I say, absent sets? I managed to track Down the Hat 1:72nd scale Jungle Adventure for a few reasonable pennies. I haven’t used every moulding contained in set No.7018 as I had no call for an African boat, or numerous warriors. But what I did have a call for was a ‘Tarzan’ who is now the ‘Circus Strongman’ and an African grouping complete with drum and traditional attire, a Circus Elephant, and numerous other animals suitable to the Hornby Circus theme for Mr Tister to enjoy.
After the figures were carefully removed from their sprues, they were washed in water and detergent and then rinsed and allowed to dry overnight. This removes the chemicals that adhere to the plastic during the factory moulding process. The figures were then carefully trimmed with a modelling knife and filed where needed with emery paper. Humbrol primer was applied by brush and the figures were left overnight. Do not use Halfords grey plastic primer on Airfix or Hat 1:72nd scale figures as the flexibility of the figures will cause the paint to crack. When dry the figures were painted with Games Workshop and Tamiya brushed acrylics. The finished paint job was allowed to dry for two days and then coated with quick drying varnish after which they were left for three days before Circus play.
Merry Christmas everyone
18 December 2011
False Marketing
It seems that some food providers have pushed the false marketing boundaries to such an extent that their ploy’s may backfire.
I sat down to try and enjoy a ‘Thai Green Chicken Curry’ ready meal yesterday evening and was perplexed as to why the food container was such a strange shape. It then dawned on me that the large diameter at the top of the packaging made the meal more appealing in layout and proportions than it actually was.
Now this seems a big mistake to me. Yes you get my money once, but will I and others return to your product if we think that we have been hoodwinked? I mean, it’s only a ‘Thai Green Chicken Curry’ but you have to ask why the base of the container needed those four protruding bits to support the unbalanced whole. The truth is that the four bits are needed because otherwise the thing falls over. Now that seems like a whole lot of engineering and smoke and mirrors for very little profit, and a loss of goodwill.
The same situation applies with the coffee shoppy and that piece of card that lifts up the sandwich to make it bigger than it is. Why on earth would a retailer use ‘smoke n mirrors’ to hoodwink loyal customers who already pay a premium for what is after all a self service operation? Why would anyone want to squeeze more out of those who already give enough? Maybe it's about time that you started to think about how your false marketing affects your business as a whole. You may sell your ready meal, but you may lose £80 worth of fuel sales when I go elsewhere. Oh, and that's £80 time and time again.
I bought one ready meal and one sandwich, but I won’t buy twice. Worse for them is that I may also avoid other products or even take my custom elsewhere. Brand identity is important, but brand loyalty can have serious repercussions for a provider if that loyalty is lost.
Now there’s an idea; truth in marketing – sell something as it is:
“roll up, roll up. Try our succulent piggy strips that have been cut just right and lightly fried before being caringly placed at the front of our fine textured dual dough mixture. Then warmed inside our temperature controlled electric personal user griddle, after being lovingly cared for in our premium pack care and presentation range that includes value added extra lifting card for premium display and customer encouragement”...
...“Yes please mate, I’ll have a toasted bacon sandwich”.
I sat down to try and enjoy a ‘Thai Green Chicken Curry’ ready meal yesterday evening and was perplexed as to why the food container was such a strange shape. It then dawned on me that the large diameter at the top of the packaging made the meal more appealing in layout and proportions than it actually was.
Now this seems a big mistake to me. Yes you get my money once, but will I and others return to your product if we think that we have been hoodwinked? I mean, it’s only a ‘Thai Green Chicken Curry’ but you have to ask why the base of the container needed those four protruding bits to support the unbalanced whole. The truth is that the four bits are needed because otherwise the thing falls over. Now that seems like a whole lot of engineering and smoke and mirrors for very little profit, and a loss of goodwill.
The same situation applies with the coffee shoppy and that piece of card that lifts up the sandwich to make it bigger than it is. Why on earth would a retailer use ‘smoke n mirrors’ to hoodwink loyal customers who already pay a premium for what is after all a self service operation? Why would anyone want to squeeze more out of those who already give enough? Maybe it's about time that you started to think about how your false marketing affects your business as a whole. You may sell your ready meal, but you may lose £80 worth of fuel sales when I go elsewhere. Oh, and that's £80 time and time again.
I bought one ready meal and one sandwich, but I won’t buy twice. Worse for them is that I may also avoid other products or even take my custom elsewhere. Brand identity is important, but brand loyalty can have serious repercussions for a provider if that loyalty is lost.
Now there’s an idea; truth in marketing – sell something as it is:
“roll up, roll up. Try our succulent piggy strips that have been cut just right and lightly fried before being caringly placed at the front of our fine textured dual dough mixture. Then warmed inside our temperature controlled electric personal user griddle, after being lovingly cared for in our premium pack care and presentation range that includes value added extra lifting card for premium display and customer encouragement”...
...“Yes please mate, I’ll have a toasted bacon sandwich”.
16 December 2011
Snow
Snow
This mysterious stuff called snow,
Messy flake stuff you know.
That eyes light up when they see,
The stuff setting up to knee.
It only has to twinkle down,
And broad smiles displace a frown.
But what I really don’t get,
Is calling it snow when it’s just wet.
For me this stuff called snow,
That messy flaky stuff I know.
Is cold compact and white,
Making the landscape Christmas bright.
What it isn’t you know,
Is hailstone rain feigning snow.
No, my mysterious crystal stuff,
Is bright clean white and full of fluff.
Roger Bennett
16 Dec 2011
“The right of Roger Bennett to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in any form whatsoever without the express written permission of the author."
14 December 2011
Letters
Just bashed another letter off to a national newspaper.
Am I the only person worried about mans search for the 'God Particle'. Given that the Mayan Calendar may or may not abruptly end on the 21 December 2012 is it really a good time to be messing about with Hadron Colliders in CERN?
It sort of like; makes me a bit nervous.
Am I the only person worried about mans search for the 'God Particle'. Given that the Mayan Calendar may or may not abruptly end on the 21 December 2012 is it really a good time to be messing about with Hadron Colliders in CERN?
It sort of like; makes me a bit nervous.
13 December 2011
Goodwill to others
In this season of goodwill to others, one of many worthy causes can be found at http://www.davidrathband.co.uk/brainport.html This worthy cause is about a police officer who was blinded when shot on duty. Police Constable (PC) David Rathband was targeted by a coward brandishing a shot gun, who shot the unarmed officer at point blank range while the officer was sat in his patrol car. PC Rathband was out there defending his community and taking risks to protect their safety.
With Christmas fast approaching any chance to restore his eyesight in any way is a Christmas Present worthy of contributing towards. So click on the link if it works, or if the link doesn't work then simply cut and paste the web address into your browser. When you get to the page about PC Rathband and the new science that might help him; maybe you can think about making a small donation. If you don't like making electronic payments, then still check out the webpage as there is a postal address to which contributions can be sent.
With Christmas fast approaching any chance to restore his eyesight in any way is a Christmas Present worthy of contributing towards. So click on the link if it works, or if the link doesn't work then simply cut and paste the web address into your browser. When you get to the page about PC Rathband and the new science that might help him; maybe you can think about making a small donation. If you don't like making electronic payments, then still check out the webpage as there is a postal address to which contributions can be sent.
11 December 2011
The games that people play
Now don’t get me wrong; we all make mistakes when driving, but the trick is to learn about what happened and adjust your future driving accordingly. So please don’t think that I am the perfect driver, because I’m probably not. Careful yes, learning all the time yes, making occasional mistakes, of course. But what wifey and I have noticed a lot of late, is the games that people play.
I mean, you are driving your car forward, so please look at the road ahead and don’t pay undue attention to those behind you. they probably know what they are doing, they know how their car handles, and they probably understand anticipation, space and a safe pass. The driver behind doesn't need you to stare at that small bit of glass and in doing so hit the embankment or drift out over the broken white line. But alas that is what they do in their desire to try and stop others making that clean pass.
On Monday on a long drive back from a funeral we saw one car drift into the verge and another car deliberately cross the broken white line to stop an overtaking manoeuvre. Like, hey folks, why would you do that? What difference does it make to you if another car safely drifts on by and moves ahead of you? It’s not like they are speeding or making a dangerous manoeuvre. I stay within the limits of road design, speed enforcement, and personal ability. So just calm down and relax, it doesn’t matter if the car behind you stays there or drifts on by. Honest, it really doesn’t matter so cast off your hang-ups. Their progress does not affect you, but you can and do affect yourself.
This weekend we trundled down to Cardiff. We popped off left at the Carmarthen roundabout and the car in front immediately jumped from the left hand lane into the right hand lane. “What was that all about?” says wifey and we both giggled. I mean, fend me off why don’t you, but 1,000 yards before the next roundabout, are you serious? Time and time again we see it. Drive slow, opportunity for me to glide past and the driver in front speeds up and crosses the centre of the road. Like, uh huh, it’s not a game. This is the real deal folks and if you drive like a prat in your desire to stop others then someone will get hurt. Probably you because you simply are not concentrating, hence going up onto the verge or out into the oncoming lane.
Indeed, wifey and I think that the driving standards these days are quite diabolical. For instance you could never imagine the speed that oncoming vehicles take a blind junction from where we emerge very weekday morning. Each and every one of these drivers simply has no idea whatsoever what is outside of their line of sight. It could be a child or walker in the road, someone on a bike who has stopped or fallen off or a broken down car. But day in and day out; they take the shallow junction at speed and with complete gay abandon as to their fate.
So the next time you are out driving and you start to take an unhealthy interest in the car behind, stop and think. Does it really matter what he or she is doing? Does it matter if they glide past when it is safe to do so? No stop thinking about the person behind, and start wondering if I should slow down before I take that left up ahead. Mirrors are for reversing and manoeuvring and otherwise only tell you where you have been. What matters far more, is where you are going.
6 December 2011
The Flight of the Intruder
We know my position regarding an intruder in a home from my previous Blog entries. It’s not the protection of the property that matters; but the fear that unwelcome intrusion brings. The majority of people can only imagine how they would feel when faced with an unwelcome intrusion that has breached security. When someone is somewhere where they shouldn’t be, then it’s a case of vulnerability and the fear that goes with being vulnerable.
We also know that I have a position regarding the possibility of the existence of what we term ‘ghosts’. Long term readers of the Blog will recall my experience in Africa when I stayed for a short while near Accra. I mentioned in a Blog entry at that time that I am a realist, and can accept that I may have inadvertently eaten something that was hallucinogenic, or maybe I had been unwell and was delirious. That doesn’t mean that I believe that Ghosts don’t exist, but rather that I am wise enough to understand that for every occurrence there may be one or several valid reasons, and that these reasons are not the validation that we tend to cling too when something occurs that is a bit different than the norm.
We also know that I have a position regarding superstition. So when we arrived at the nice cosy and warm hotel and the nice man said “Room 13 is ok, isn’t it?” we agreed to being assigned that room without hesitation. Things as you know tend to go in three’s so it came as no surprise half an hour later when we were sat in seat 13 on the train for a short hop between Newport and Cardiff. The room was intact when we left, and thankfully the train did not derail. I was even more grateful that the seat numbered 13 did not spontaneously combust or otherwise bring out our doom.
All in all it was a great night out and a lovely opportunity to dine with our eldest. I didn’t clock the seat number of the return journey, and nor did I count the number of steps from the Railway Station back to the hotel. I mean, yes, things do go in three, but why chance your luck by adding to the systems and knowledge? I am a nervous sleeper, and given my position on intrusion, that should come as no surprise to the reader. I always drop the dead bolt, and where available also close the door chain. The other thing that you may not know about me is that I used to be a firefighter and I used to work nights. Now seconds before the alarm sounds the lights go on, and I would be awake before the alarm sounded. This as well as my mental health is probably why I am such a light sleeper. I also know that sh*t tends to happen around 4 a.m. when people are asleep. It’s sort of a witching hour of doom and despair. Rubbish if you wake up, but far worse if you are slowly suffocating because you haven’t checked your smoke detector recently. I suppose that it's also a great time to do some breaking and entering.
So why do I tell you the time and the combinations of the number 13? Well, because at 0404 precisely an intruder opened the deadbolt on our hotel room and entered. Bad luck for them because I’m no Mr Sleepyhead and within an instant I was bolt upright and knew that someone had entered the room. Wifey asked me if there was a ghost. Not a surprising observation given that she was half asleep and had also felt a presence, and knew like I, that I had secured the deadbolt before retiring to bed. I was dressed before you could say ‘Crackerjack’, checked the bathroom, my wallet and wifey’s purse and the off to reception.
The conversation went thus “Do you have CCTV?” to which came the reply, “Yes”. My next move was to define the location, “do you have CCTV in the corridors?” to which I was told no, there was only CCTV outside. To which I explained that we needed to call the Police as someone had entered our room even though I had closed the deadlock. “It was me”, came the reply. Now folks get your head around this, its just gone 4 a.m. and how many people would be at reception at 4 a.m. in the morning asking about CCTV. So why did the conversation go around the houses? Did she think that I was an unhappy customer, who was board with the range of television channels and in this gloomiest of hours, needed some CCTV footage to satisfy my small screen yearning?
It appears from my dialogue with the manager many, many hours later when I was in a state of exhaustion prior to my drive back across Wales; that this crazy company check on all empty rooms from 0100 hours to ensure that they are ready for the next customer. And that the Intruder was going about her company directed business. Well here’s a message from me, you can stick your company up your backside, as I have never ever been as terrified as I was the night that the intruder opened my deadlock and entered my room.
If I lived in the United States of America I would sue your Arse for several Million.
You need to change your procedures, and you need to ensure that people booked into room 13 are checked in correctly. You could also do with fitting a door chain in every room because I ain’t coming back in a hurry, even though the intruder scurried off as I woke up.
We also know that I have a position regarding the possibility of the existence of what we term ‘ghosts’. Long term readers of the Blog will recall my experience in Africa when I stayed for a short while near Accra. I mentioned in a Blog entry at that time that I am a realist, and can accept that I may have inadvertently eaten something that was hallucinogenic, or maybe I had been unwell and was delirious. That doesn’t mean that I believe that Ghosts don’t exist, but rather that I am wise enough to understand that for every occurrence there may be one or several valid reasons, and that these reasons are not the validation that we tend to cling too when something occurs that is a bit different than the norm.
We also know that I have a position regarding superstition. So when we arrived at the nice cosy and warm hotel and the nice man said “Room 13 is ok, isn’t it?” we agreed to being assigned that room without hesitation. Things as you know tend to go in three’s so it came as no surprise half an hour later when we were sat in seat 13 on the train for a short hop between Newport and Cardiff. The room was intact when we left, and thankfully the train did not derail. I was even more grateful that the seat numbered 13 did not spontaneously combust or otherwise bring out our doom.
All in all it was a great night out and a lovely opportunity to dine with our eldest. I didn’t clock the seat number of the return journey, and nor did I count the number of steps from the Railway Station back to the hotel. I mean, yes, things do go in three, but why chance your luck by adding to the systems and knowledge? I am a nervous sleeper, and given my position on intrusion, that should come as no surprise to the reader. I always drop the dead bolt, and where available also close the door chain. The other thing that you may not know about me is that I used to be a firefighter and I used to work nights. Now seconds before the alarm sounds the lights go on, and I would be awake before the alarm sounded. This as well as my mental health is probably why I am such a light sleeper. I also know that sh*t tends to happen around 4 a.m. when people are asleep. It’s sort of a witching hour of doom and despair. Rubbish if you wake up, but far worse if you are slowly suffocating because you haven’t checked your smoke detector recently. I suppose that it's also a great time to do some breaking and entering.
So why do I tell you the time and the combinations of the number 13? Well, because at 0404 precisely an intruder opened the deadbolt on our hotel room and entered. Bad luck for them because I’m no Mr Sleepyhead and within an instant I was bolt upright and knew that someone had entered the room. Wifey asked me if there was a ghost. Not a surprising observation given that she was half asleep and had also felt a presence, and knew like I, that I had secured the deadbolt before retiring to bed. I was dressed before you could say ‘Crackerjack’, checked the bathroom, my wallet and wifey’s purse and the off to reception.
The conversation went thus “Do you have CCTV?” to which came the reply, “Yes”. My next move was to define the location, “do you have CCTV in the corridors?” to which I was told no, there was only CCTV outside. To which I explained that we needed to call the Police as someone had entered our room even though I had closed the deadlock. “It was me”, came the reply. Now folks get your head around this, its just gone 4 a.m. and how many people would be at reception at 4 a.m. in the morning asking about CCTV. So why did the conversation go around the houses? Did she think that I was an unhappy customer, who was board with the range of television channels and in this gloomiest of hours, needed some CCTV footage to satisfy my small screen yearning?
It appears from my dialogue with the manager many, many hours later when I was in a state of exhaustion prior to my drive back across Wales; that this crazy company check on all empty rooms from 0100 hours to ensure that they are ready for the next customer. And that the Intruder was going about her company directed business. Well here’s a message from me, you can stick your company up your backside, as I have never ever been as terrified as I was the night that the intruder opened my deadlock and entered my room.
If I lived in the United States of America I would sue your Arse for several Million.
You need to change your procedures, and you need to ensure that people booked into room 13 are checked in correctly. You could also do with fitting a door chain in every room because I ain’t coming back in a hurry, even though the intruder scurried off as I woke up.
14 November 2011
Royal Pier
I have just added a review for the 'meal deal’ at the Pier Brassiere in Aberystwyth on the Critic page. Click the Critic tab and then scroll down the page to read the Review.
5 November 2011
Prague Tips and Hints
Prague is a beautiful city full of some very nice people and great history. So it’s well worth the visit. Hopefully these hints and tips will help you to get the most from your holiday. In no particular order;
Cost
We were going to book four nights Monday to Thursday inclusive with Bed and Breakfast, Airport Transfers and flights from Birmingham. This cost around £900 but instead we booked the same hotel, the same Airport Transfers and the same carrier for three nights at the end of the same week and the cost was £400 less. This booking was made with the same travel company with the comparisons made within minutes of each other. Advice: compare costs by varying the number of nights and if flexible by varying the start date.
Evening River Cruise and Dinner
Our river cruise was going to be a highlight of our holiday with the cost of the river cruise, taxi and alcohol coming in at £104 in total. It was absolutely dreadful with a capital ‘D’. Imagine your worse ever self service very long queue Social Club buffet with a tiny tea plate and you might just get the picture. There may be constant interruption by a waiter who was intent on selling you as much alcohol as possible. If you are lucky there may be a view out of your window from your central table, but the view is pointless while the craft labours in and out of the lock. Being static is not a river cruise. Gosh it was bad, and I only hope that this advice saves a few grateful soles from wasting their hard earned cash. It’s billed as a gastronomical delight, but the only similarity between the billing and the experience is that you might catch gastroenteritis. It was a total unadulterated rip-off where it was all about the coin in our pocket. Advice; maybe try a daytime river cruise but not one with food, and for the evening, go and find yourself a good public house that serves food and enjoy a great night together at probably a fifth of the cost.
Money scam
I got hit twice by the money scammers but had wised up by the third attempt. Our currency goes 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 with the 100 being our £1 coin whereas in Prague it will be a 100 note. Their notes seem to go 100, 200, 500, 1000, 2000 where at today’s rates 2000 is worth £78 and 1000 is £39 and therefore 100 is £3.90 and it would be a good idea to round up your exchange rate values so that you can keep an eye on the coin in your pocket. We put our decimal currency into the camera bag and I was surprised to find a 50p piece in my pocket on Day 1. We moved that coin out of the equation and at the end of Day 2 we found another one amongst our change and then realised what was happening. If you were due 87 in change they would hand over 37 of the local currency and a 50p piece. We count automatically and miss that it is our 50p piece that is worth 50p whereas their 50 is worth circa £2. Another scam involved handing over 270 whereby only 100 was a note i.e. lots of coins. When I checked the change there was 3 x 2 coins instead of 3 x 50 i.e. the trader would have pocketed circa £6. Advice; make sure that you understand the exchange rate, watch out for the 50p piece scam, and if there are not enough notes being handed back, take extra care over your change.
Charles Bridge
Don’t miss a trip to Charles Bridge. When we walked across there were several bands playing. Advice; watch out for pick pockets as the bridge will be crowded and handbag or pocket dipping could be easy. We picked up a CD of “Charles Bridge-Swing Band (3)” while strolling across the bridge, and I am enjoying every minute listening to the music back home.
Music
I wanted to take in a concert but unfortunately our three night stay and the river cruise meant that I missed what are considered to be some of the finest musicians that you will come across. Advice; make sure it’s a good venue and good players with stated durations as a city that is out for your coin will con you into a short poor performance if it can. I had not experienced this problem, but a couple at the airport told us how disappointed they were with the performance that they chose.
Food and drink
Think Paris prices and you will not be far wrong! Astonishing I know but that’s the way it is. We paid £20 for a coffee and a cake and a hot chocolate and a savoury crepe. That was near Charles Bridge and we spotted a group of young girls walk in and checkout the prices and walk out. I would have also walked out but I was exhausted and didn’t have a walk left in me. Advice; avoid the extortionate coffee shop on the right hand side of the far side of Charles Bridge
Pub grub
We had deer goulash, bread, and the best ever dumplings in the world. This was accompanied with four beers between us and £20 the lot. Advice; check out the eating places carefully and remember that a good pub will bring in a good reward in both price and quality of the food.
Metro
You need a Metro ticket for the Metro and the Tram. It costs about £2 for up to 30 minutes for two people. You can buy your tickets from machines in the Metro station and then validate them by inserting them into a yellow machine on a pole in a tram or before you proceed further into the Metro station. There are inspectors and on the spot fines for those without a ticket or those who have a ticket and have failed to validate the ticket. Advice; an inspector carries two forms of identification with the number on their photo I.D. matching the number on their badge. Apparently there have been scams with fake inspectors. So ask for both forms of I.D. if you are stopped, and if you are certain that you have done nothing wrong; then insist that the police are called.
Pushy hotel staff
We were accosted and conned by our hotel staff. We were offered paintings that we declined and expensive tours that we also declined. With the latter we found out that the receptionist worked for the tour company. But we were conned when we asked for a taxi for a certain time rather than hailing one that could be unsafe in the street. I was expecting professionalism and a genuine taxi to be ordered, I was not expecting her brother or her lover. £12 we paid for a £5 journey and in a vehicle that was of course unregulated and could have been unsafe. Advice; don’t be afraid to say ‘no’, we did and stuff them. As for taxi’s it may be worth telling the receptionist that you want a ‘yellow’ safe cab and nothing else.
Fake Taxi
We paid for Airport Transfers as we had heard about the danger of fake taxis in Prague. At the airport there are clear signs directing travellers to the genuine taxi stands. Our Airport Transfers were well worth the money as the airport is a fair way out of the city. Advice; Airport Transfers may appears expensive but they are safer and we were told by one couple that they had paid more for their two taxi journeys.
Enjoy Prague and don’t be put off by these notes. They are provided to help you get the best out of your trip and to enjoy the warm and honest welcome that you will get from the majority of the city dwellers and fellow travellers.
24 October 2011
A great story
Forget the television and the cinema. If you want a gripping story of murder, greed, stupidity, infanticide, treachery, war, and lust; grab yourself a few books about the Kings and Queen’s of England. I just can’t put down the one that I am reading at the moment regarding great British Battles i.e. those fought on our soil. It is astonishingly good stuff. Each page bringing with it news of a new twist, in what feels like and never ending saga. Phew, I can’t wait for Series 2. Oops, it isn’t TV and therefore it can’t be ruined by an unnecessary stretching to and beyond the limit sequel.
20 October 2011
Senator John McCain
I think that the Republican Presidential Candidate of 2008 Senator John McCain spoke exceptionally well on the BBC Television Programme 'Newsnight', broadcast live tonight, regarding events in Libya. Presidential Candidate McCain was 'Presidential' in the way that he handled the questions, represented the people of America and more importantly demonstrated a Humanitarian side that is all too often missing when commentators speak about world affairs involving injury and death.
Others should pay particular attention to Senator McCain's call for Humanitarian medical aid for the many thousands of injured people in Libya and the inability of the local infrastructure to effectively cope with the extensive medical problems. I agree that American Medical Ships should be deployed and European countries and the United States of America should take in those that have been injured and help with their care and rehabilitation.
Well done Senator John McCain , well said, I applaud you.
Others should pay particular attention to Senator McCain's call for Humanitarian medical aid for the many thousands of injured people in Libya and the inability of the local infrastructure to effectively cope with the extensive medical problems. I agree that American Medical Ships should be deployed and European countries and the United States of America should take in those that have been injured and help with their care and rehabilitation.
They fought for democracy and to make our world a safer place - the least we can do is step in and prevent and ease suffering.
Well done Senator John McCain , well said, I applaud you.
19 October 2011
Silk
My 'Big thing' at the moment is de-stressing and relaxation along with my morning midweek swim Monday to Friday. So with a nautical them in mind, it's a good job that my current relaxation project is a rebuild of a Model Pond Yacht to form the Centre Piece of a Scalextric layout.
I have found out that the Yacht that I am renovating as a Scalextric Centre Piece is a lovely wooden hulled model sailing yacht made by GINER of Spain.
The original model is a double masted beast unlike the single master that I am building. The original model has “Guaranteed to Sail” written on the label, whereas this model ain't sailing anywhere. Indeed when I get around to it the harbour has to be drilled in two places and the Pond Yacht screwed home from underneath the layout. The Model Yacht has a drop down metal keel that I dismantled to make it flat bottomed for the Scalextric layout. The hull is approximately 23½ inches long with a width of approximately 4¾ inches. On the original model the height from the top of the mast to the bottom of the drop down keel is approximately 33 inches, whereas on my re-build, the height of the single mast to the deck level is 32.5cm.
The photograph shows the boat unfinished but after a considerable amount of modelling work undertaken over several weeks. This work has included dismantling the original model yacht, sanding off thick paint, priming, airbrushing several layers onto the hull, lining the hull with white acrylic, and then over-lining the white band with gold acrylic. The deck barrier posts were made from cocktail sticks, with the hull marked and drilled to receive these. The deck post wire is a single strand of unravelled picture frame wire that has been threaded through holes drilled in each cocktail stick. The bolting base for each post was cut out of an old ice cream tub. Well it wouldn't be a new one would it? Because if it was where would all of the ice-cream go? Now if there was enough of that, then that could be swimming heaven....
14 October 2011
Models
I have just added a 'Models' page and put up one of my best photo's onto that page as I think of ways of improving this Blog.
8 October 2011
How things change
I just realised that my Dell Laptop has travelled more than most people. It has been to Gibraltar, Spain, Italy (several times), Portugal, France (several times), Austria (several times), and Germany (several times). Along with various trips to each of the home countries. But the real question must be; why on earth did I lump it around. In the pre-digital information technology explosion our messages to family and friends would have been restricted to a late arriving postcard of dubious sentiment and content, along with post holiday social intercourse between the overly excited traveller and anyone who was foolish enough to sit and listen.
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