Frustration!!!!

God I'm getting cross!!
I have just seen Cat Chat with Caren & Cody's post of the cat singing Star Spangled Banner  (totally brilliant by the way)- I wanted to post a comment but when I try I'm met with a drop down menu of things which may as well be in Serbo-Croat as far as I'm concerned cos I ain't got a clue what the hell they mean! Then when I take a guess I have to keep signing in to the Blogger website-shite!!
And that's not all: Today's is a bank holiday over here, Its almost June (high summer) and the bloody temperature is 11 degrees C! Now come on God....stop messing about, get yer act together & send us abit of sunshine or I might just turn up late for Mass next Sunday morning!! O &  could you please stop the rain??? Please....

The dirty rat....

If I or anyone else needed evidence that Charlie Coal is over his recent dose of illness it was provided by the aforementioned cat on Monday last. And it was a treat to behold.
our garden backs onto a railway line-not a major one-it runs to  Mid Wales from Birmingham so we on;y get small trains. On the the other side of the track (as it were!) is Highbury park which was the former estate of Neville Chamberlain. Anyhow...
...There I was on Monday sitting relaxing, reading my book, listening to some Lightin' Hopkins when II hear Charlie miaow. In he saunters with a live rat in clutched firmly between his jaws. The bloody rat was squeaking and wriggling its legs in an attempt to get away! Dear God!! Charlie looks up at me as if saying "here you are mate, this is by way of saying thanks for looking after me when I was sick..." I couldn't be cross at him. BUT...Kate would have a blue fit if she'd seen it. So very gently I said "thanks Chas', but no thanks " & I motioned that he take it outside & do what he would like to do with it.
He did fortunately...he dropped it, played with it & then half ate the dirty rat. After he had finished I shovelled up the remains of the poor vermin & flung it over the railway where it was no doubt finished off by the 1455 from Birmingham to Taly-Bont!
 Apparently, here in Birmingham we're told that we're never more than 15feet away from a rat/ (some look more human than others in my experience!). Evidential.....
On a serious note I read somewhere that when your cat brings you a mouse, bird or rat, its because he can't understand just why you don't hunt. What he's doing is saying "look this is all you gotta do, its dead easy....look!"

But be that as it may, it was so pleasing that Charlie is back to his old self.

This week....

The week is almost over now. Its Friday nite and I'm sitting here suppin' a pint of Guinness. Wonderful. Today was the quietest day that I've spent manning the duty 'phone for years! I completed 1 assessment of a a sad young man and received only 3 fax referrals from local GP's. Normally, its akin to an actor appearing in the play Macbeth to say the name 'Macbeth' for a nurse to say that a shift is "quiet". This is usually the kiss of death  & the catalyst for all hell to break loose! But today was the exception. Lovely.
I arrived home to find that the workman had completed the installation of the wood burning stove we are having put in the front room. Better still, the mess left was less than I expected.
Further good news is that Charlie Coal is almost back to his old self. As I speak he is playing with a small leaf on the floor beneath my feet! Its a treat to see him on the road to recovery it really is.
Finally Kate returns tomorrow from her week away looking after her 96 yr old mom in Belfast. I'm so looking forward to her return and to hearing all her news from the family in Belfast.
All we need now is for a sudden, unexpected cold front and snap to descend on Birmingham & we can then spend a cosy nite around the fire with a nice bottle of French red wine.

The British: By Ben Zephaniah

The British

Take some Picts, Celts and Silures

And let them settle,

Then overrun them with Roman conquerors.

Remove the Romans after approximately 400 years

Add lots of Norman French to some

Angles, Saxons, Jutes and Vikings, then stir vigorously.

Mix some hot Chileans, cool Jamaicans, Dominicans,

Trinidadians and Bajans with some Ethiopians, Chinese,

Vietnamese and Sudanese.

Then take a blend of Somalians, Sri Lankans, Nigerians

And Pakistanis,

Combine with some Guyanese

And turn up the heat.

Sprinkle some fresh Indians, Malaysians, Bosnians,

Iraqis and Bangladeshis together with some

Afghans, Spanish, Turkish, Kurdish, Japanese

And Palestinians

Then add to the melting pot.

Leave the ingredients to simmer.

As they mix and blend allow their languages to flourish

Binding them together with English.

Allow time to be cool.

Add some unity, understanding, and respect for the future,

Serve with justice

And enjoy.

Note: All the ingredients are equally important. Treating one ingredient better than another will leave a bitter unpleasant taste.

Warning: An unequal spread of justice will damage the people and cause pain. Give justice and equality to all.

This poem I think should be about my city-Birmingham which is home to so many colours, languages & nationalities all existing (for the main part anyway) in peace & harmony.

I'd like to show you these....

I gotta say that I think that the guys who put together the layout of this blog etc have done a good job.
 I mean, I'm not the bright pebble on the beach when it comes to working with & operating computers, so imagine my surprise when messing around with my last post (rant) I discovered some photographs that I'd taken August 2010, at my eldest daughters (Claire) wedding to Ed in Dingle-southwest Ireland.
Thus; I'd like to bore you all senseless with two of my favorite photos of the day. One is taken on the beach where the film 'Ryans Daughter' was filmed-(but I guess that your all to young to recall that film) & the other was taken outside the church-St Marys' RC in Dingle.

I know that I'n biased, but I think she is beautiful.
Ahhhh....!

Personal choice......?

I went back to my family doctor again this morning. This was a pre arranged appt booked to once again take a blood specimen to check out whether I was diabetic or not. Apparently the last 2 fasting results were 6.2mmol, which I'm told ain't good.
So. I fast for 12 hours, awake & without my beloved home made rhubarb & ginger jam on crusty bread & cup of Earl Grey tea, cycle up to see the gorgeously stylish nurse Erica. She then tells me that she ain't gonna take my blood but rather leave it 'til the autumn. Now I can forgive nurse Erica anything- not just because she is so stylish, but also because her body language is relaxed & she has time for each patient. However today she annoyed me a little.
So I had no blood taken. But then she tells me that although my blood cholesterol is "ok & respectable", my HDL's are too low & she launches into this spiel about how & what I should eat if I want to live to a ripe age & avoid this & that bloody illness.
Theres much too much of this sort of shite flying about this country in my opinion. I was ona train recently & was tiold not to leave "my valuables on the train & please ensure that I've taken all & every bit of my luggage" What the hell??!!! They are MY valuables & its MY luggage-if I want to leave it on the train I'll bloody leave it!!  The lovely nurse Erica is feeding me the line she has to I know- she is an agent of the 'Nanny State'-where the state does everything (including think) for you. Its all about control I reckon-call me paranoid but....
If I wanna have a heart attack by the time I'm 60 then its my decision. If I don't wanna have treatment for the aforementioned MI then its my choice ( I would like to however at this moment in time anyhow!)
Its the same when we travel on aircraft. We're told to "pay attention whilst we instructed on how to put on the life jacket. Feck off!! If I don't wanna wear one I won't! & don't tell me to pay attention-I had enough of that when I was at school.
There you have my rant for today people.

However, I am a little disappointed that I won't see nurse Erica until September though!!

Charlie Coal

I am very pleased to write that the health of Charlie is improved. Though still having analgesic drops in his food daily, not jumping up on to the window sill to watch the world go by, Chas' is happily walking better & lets us stroke his back where previously it was sore for him.
I sense that he isn't totally recovered, & I wonder if its the painkillers that make him sleep more than usual (especially during the daytime). What I do miss greatly is him not jumping up onto my lap as he used too for a fuss, but I hope & pray that he will begin to once again enjoy the activities that he formerly used to.

Thank you everyone for your kind thoughts & prayers for Charlie.

Cameron, Clegg & the NHS reforms

It would appear as if the prime Minister David Cameron might be finally seeing the light. Following his proposed reforms to the National Health Service, his partner in crime Nick (the Judas) Clegg has, it seems had an attack of 'sour grapes' prompted I think, by the Lib-Dems atrocious performance in last weeks local elections, & their failure to persuade the electorate to change the voting system in the UK.

Clegg (remember he is supposed to be running the country along with Cameron) spoke out & criticized Cameron & the proposed reforms in no uncertain terms.

Now to you Mr Cameron I say this: Clegg is a weak willed, inexperienced politician, but above all Mr Cameron he is a Judas-today's comments by him prove this I think.

I rest my case.

This is the limit!!

We all to a drive up to see Claire (my eldest daughter) in Tadcaster (Yorkshire) yesterday-Sunday. as it was her 30th birthday.

Aside of forgetting the Sat Nav', getting lost, & returning to Birmingham via the counties of the East Midlands of England- Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & skirting thru Leciestershire, via the loathsome town of Grantham (remember thats where Margaret Thatcher hailed from) but, we all had a lovely day in the warm sunshine of rural Yorkshire. Wonderful.

But then: driving thru the lovely olde English village of Wetherby I drove into a pot hole that was the depth of a lunar crater. It jarred our bones, I lost a hub cap off the rear wheel, not to even think about whatever damage occurred to the suspension of the 'Silver Dream Machine' -aka my Skoda Roomster.

"Right then, the bastards" thinks me, having just payed £210 ($105) for the 'privilege of driving/keeping my car on the public roads I'm gonna sue the bloody council for damages to my car. However first we all had our lunch & only 1 beer in an idyllic country pub. So en route back to Claire's house we stopped with the intention of taking a photo of the hole. However: The bloody thing had just been filled in!! The tarmac was still wet & warm. Bastards!!I can't still believe it! How come??

It just ain't right nor fair. I believe some local resident witnessed the event & came out & filled the hole with a handy bag of redi mix tarmac they had in their shed. Very kind for those motorists who might do as I did but to late for me.

Sods law I reckon. But I had to laugh....

My Cats a junkie!

I took my (still) sick cat Charlie to the vets again today. The vet was lovely, she had a melodious Scottish accent that made everything seem better & if if she were to practice CBT, her voice would bring about an orgasmic distraction.

However I stray past the point.

The point is that Charlie is very sick, I actually shed a tear yesterday when I looked at old photos of how he was pre illness. He avoids us, he hisses & growls when we go near him, generally its very, very disturbing & we all here at number 104, have a strong feeling of impotence about his illness.

Anyway, Moria, (the lovely vet) gave us 20 minutes of her time & lovely accent. Sadly I don't think Charlie appreciated any of this , well would you if you had a thermometer stuck up your arse & had your legs, spine etc twisted this way & that? No I think not. I think though she found the trouble.

When she felt his spine he almost climbed the wall. She thinks that he may have either an infection in 1 of the discs in his lumbar vertebrae or he has bruised that part of his vertebrae where she felt. This might have been caused by the big bully cat who lives 4 doors up fighting with, & jumping upon Charlies' back. The vicious bastard!

What can we do/has been done?

Well she has grounded Charlie for 5 days, he had 2 injections-I of Metacam-a feline painkiller & another of a stronger painkiller. He also has to have 0.05ml of the aforementioned painkiller put in his grub daily til' we return to see the lovely Moria next Wednesday.

Since the injections poor old Charlie has been completely off his face! The poor fella is totally spaced out on painkillers. Having said that he looks much less tormented by pain, & allows us to stroke him. And, like any cat of mine, he still manages to make it to the kitchen to eat his supper! That's my boy!!

Thank you to St Gertrude of Nivelles & St Francis

.

We wear the mask....

Paul Laurence Dunbar (1872-1906)

We Wear the Mask

WE wear the mask that grins and lies,

It hides our cheeks and shades our eyes,—

This debt we pay to human guile;

With torn and bleeding hearts we smile,

And mouth with myriad subtleties.

Why should the world be over-wise,

In counting all our tears and sighs?

Nay, let them only see us, while

We wear the mask.

We smile, but, O great Christ, our cries

To thee from tortured souls arise.
We sing, but oh the clay is vile

Beneath our feet, and long the mile;

But let the world dream otherwise,

We wear the mask!

The Tiger

THE TIGER

The tiger, on the other hand,

Is kittenish and mild,

And makes a pretty playfellow

For any little child.

And mothers of large families

(Who claim to common sense)

Will find a tiger well repays

The trouble and expense.

Hilaire Belloc