Network rail....more excuses

We were fortunate in the UK the other to experience summer. It was lovely, the mercury in the thermometer reached a dizzy 29degrees C! People walked about in shorts & shirt sleeves, the cat, (God help him in his black fur coat) spent most of the day stretched out under a shady shrub in the back garden. Cool lager and salads were the order of the day.
But not for those poor sods who had to travel via train. As usual the trains weren't only late, they were (lots of 'em) cancelled. Now in the autumn Network Rail cancels trains because of leaves on the tracks (honest, no shit). In the deep mid winter they cancel trains because either the points are frozen or their is snow on the track. (you do find that in winter in the Northern hemisphere strangely enough)
But the reasons for the cancellations last week were the best yet. Network Rail announced that they....."were forced to cancel trains because the overhead power lines were either melting and at best wen't functioning correctly..."
Brilliant!! I have to ask though what happens in places like India were summer tempetures are in excess of 35 degrees C?? As far as I'm aware the trains continue to run.
Network Rail...get yer act together!! We pay a small fortune to use your third world service the least you can do is give us a service &/or offer us a plausible reason why you can't.

The Public Service strike on June 30th-comments made by Francis Maud M.P.

Our comrades in the teaching  and public service unions are going on strike on June 30th. They're striking because Cameron & his Judas catamite boy plan to increase the amount the workers contribute to their pension and for teachers increase their retirement age to 68years of age.
I listened to Francis Maud, Conservative member of parliament for Horsham, on BBC radio 4 this morning, and quite honestly what he said he said like a utter twat. He wants teachers to work til their 68yrs old, said he is concerned about the effect the strike will have upon single parents and here's the best...he said that parents could work voluntary in schools on the day of the strike.
OK. Let me deal with his points one by one: He said that teachers should work 'til their 69yrs old. My daughter works in a jungle of a secondary school in inner city York. She leaves the school at approximately 1645hrs (the kids leave at 1530hrs) She spends this time at school doing work she is unable to do during the day. She has to meet with colleagues, act as a social worker for those kids with special needs & family issues as well as deal with dysfunctional parents.When she gets home she has marking, lesson planning etc to complete. By the end of the week she is shagged out physically, emotionally & intellectually. She is not alone in this either.
Can you imagine how a teacher are going to feel by the time they reach 68yrs old??!!
Secondly, its very heartwarming to here Mr Maud expressing concern for the plight of single parents-the bloody hypocrite! His Government is the one that  ACTUALLY CLOSED CHILDREN'S CENTRE'S.
Finally; is Mr. Maud for real?? Bring parents into work voluntary when the teachers are on strike? I assume of course that every parent who chooses/offers their services will be in possession of a full CRB (criminal records bureau). I think not. Its a  paedophiles dream come true!
Mr. Maud you're a plonker.
Power to the people!!!!

A poem of W B Yeats

WHEN YOU ARE OLD

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,

And nodding by the fire, take down this book,

And slowly read, and dream of the soft look

Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,

And loved your beauty with love false or true,

But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,

And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,

Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled

And paced upon the mountains overhead

                                                      And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

Further evidence of the 'Nanny State'

As if we needed further evidence that the 'nanny State' is alive  & well look no further than than the esteemed College of Psychiatrists who, in a report today, announced that people over 65yrs of age should limit their alcohol intake to 1 half pint of beer a day for men & women.
Now come on lads..... When your 65 a number of factors have to be considered: Firstly when you've reached 65 years of age & worked (if you're bloody lucky in this country) you should be entitled to a binge at least weekly! Secondly, there are a lot of people (65yrs & under) who  (& I'm aware its a bad choice) use alcohol as a mask to hide from the shit life that the Coalition Government /the bastard bankers have gotten us into.

It our choice. If we wanna pickle ourselves in a lake of booze then its our call.
Typical of this Government-Protecting us from ourselves.

Fathers Day #2

Fathers Day came & went. The kids treated me to card, dinner out & a cookbook from my daughter in Yorkshire. However my opinion of the memorial day remains the same though.
If I sound bitter perhaps I am; a bitter, grumpy old man. Having that knowledge saddens me abit to be honest. I shouldn't be to be fair.  I have a home-paid for, 3 loving children & no great money worries in a land beset with debt & unemployment.I have 3 children all in full time employment so...
But if I might be permitted a moan.....Retirement, (even though I'm only 58years old) hasn't turn out what my idealistic head & heart thought it would turn out to be. I'm working harder than when I was in full time employment. I work 2 days weekly in payed employment & spend the other time caring for my dysfunctional mother. Mind you, I learnt so much about her of late-her personality, her relationship with my father, her mother, & my brother & me. I've discovered that I was 'given away' as child to my maternal granny to replace an illegitimate son killed in the Birmingham Blitz of 1941. How does that cause me to feel??- Confused, bitter & explains  to me why I feel very alone at times.
Mom seems to have a degree of developmental (nutritional) mild learning disability, deprived of certain nutriments as a young child, which is becoming more obvious now she is elderly. I reflect upon my growing years with her & I can see the signs now.She presents some personality disorder traits. That's not as bad as it sounds folks, cos' its my belief that WE'RE ALL on a line of personality disorder(s). Some of us more extreme & dysfunctional than others.
I'll end of this note then.... how many of us can honestly say that we are happy & satisfied??.

     

The Birmingham Blitz

This made me chuckle

http://youtu.be/h6CcxJQq1x8

For anyone who likes cats I think this TV commercial will give you a chuckle too!

A Rant

 

                                                                      

Just in case any of you readers may have forgotten I would respectfully like to take this opportunity to remind you that I am a 'grumpy old man'.
The object of my grumpiness at the moment is that money making scam known as 'Fathers Day'. This weekend in the UK sees the 'celebration' of that same racket. Its all bullshit in my opinion. Along with its sister racket/scam: 'Mothers Day'; I believe its a money making racket for card manufacturers, florists, confectioners, & anyone else involved in the cheap tacky gift business. People drive (thankfully my kids aren't in this category) miles to spend a few hours with their parent(s) on these days, & then, job done, they might not bother for the next 12 months! I have observed that florists put up their prices on the week approaching 'Mothers Day'. Bastards.
Its a racket. An opportunity for insincerity, & i cannot bare insincerity.

More shite on the TV.

I had a chuckle tonight. My sense of humour is at best a tad bizarre. At worst sick.but just a few minutes ago I saw a commercial on the TV that is totally bloody stupid, daft & I guess stereotypically racist in its portrayal of a Spanish male.
Its advertising kitchen paper towels of all things-called 'Plenty'. Its set at a wedding & someone spills some wine. Panic ensues when... BANG! A guy appears dressed as a matador, wiggling his arse in tight pants saying that "Juan Sheet can clean up..." But the way he says "Juan Sheet" it sounds like "One Shite!"
Bullshit.

 See what I mean? Or am I overreacting?

Public service pensions

The latest offering of crap and plan designed to drive the proletariat further into the ground was  issued from the gobshite Government was revealed today:
Today they announced that those who work in the public service areas (except police, military & fireman) will have to work up to 66years old whilst at the same time pay more into their monthly pension. At first glance you might think....so? That's fair & OK ain't it?
But no: Those who work in the public service are frequently engaged in stressful, demanding jobs. And whilst as a 25 year old an individual can daily cope with the pressures & stresses of dealing with psychopaths, would be suicidal patients telling you that they're gonna top themselves, or staff in general medicine dealing daily with blood, gore & vein s in their teeth, as a 60 year old I think it might not be so easy. You just ain't got the stamina as a 66year old as you have when you're 26years.Fact.
Come to that, if Cameron & the other prize twat want to reduce youth unemployment surely you needs jobs for them to go to?
But if the jobs are full of old grunters like me there ain't gonna jobs for them are there??
Well thought out Cameron.

Ryan Giggs

I reckon its legally safe now for me to speak openly about Ryan Giggs. Mr Giggs, for those of you who are blissfully unaware, is a soccer player who plays for Manchester United (spit, gob!) & Wales who is at best a bit of a philanderer, and actually (if those excuses for newspapers 'The Sun'  & 'The News of the World' are to believed) one dirty, sexist shag happy git.

Up at my local mini mart -(Rupri's)- yesterday,treating myself to a couple of cans of 'Abbot Ale' (a reward for having coped with my mother for a day & night) there on the counter was the 'News of the World' sporting the headline boasting (I think?) that 'Ryan Giggs is the father of my illegitimate baby'. No doubt another enterprising young tart had spotted yet another gap in the Giggs saga & had jumped on the band wagon & had made a few bucks. I say bloody good luck to her!

Every day last week though there was a copy of 'The Sun' in our office, & it sported a different headline daily concerning the aforementioned Ryan ( the bastard shagged my doberman) Giggs. You could be forgiven that there is feck all else going on in the world-is there a war in Afghanistan?, a revolution in Libya?, Are people being slaughtered out of hand in Syria?? Does 'The Sun' & The News of the World' give a feck  anyway???-Apparently not. In their opinion all the great British public are concerned about are the bed hopping antics of Ryan (the bastard shagged my great, great grandmother) Giggs.. What do you expect though??-Both rags are a Right Wing press who believe that the less the working (?) man/electorate know about the real world the better.
Yet I sense an opportunity to make a quick buck though. And why not??! Today I can announce that "I was date raped by Ryan Giggs in 1954". Look out for this story in all of the tabloid rags coming soon to a newsagent shop near you folks!  The fact that I was only 2 years old at the time, & that Ryan -(I caught him with his cock in our fireplace-he thinks he's fucking grate!)-Giggs wasn't even born then, has bugger all to do with it.

BUT: You know, who really gives a flying feck about what, whom & how Ryan Giggs lives? As long as I don't find him actually shagging on my doorstep causing me to trip & fall over him & his flozzie, I don't bloody care!!

My cats a pugilist!!

I had a serious talk with Charlie tonight. Fresh from my rant about Cameron et al I was not up for any of his nonsense.
You see he's bee fighting again- in fairness he's better than he was last night when he didn't budge from his bed & hissed at me when I attempted to tickle his ear. ( Years ago there were some women who would swoon were I to tickle their ears (honest)! LOL!
Anyway, in the UK you're charged £46 ($33) for an antibiotic jab & £20 ($10) just for the privilege of a vet looking & treating your cat & insurance companies won't pay out for cat fights. So I told bucko that he had to rely on whatever natural immunity he had to heal himself. He looked at me as if my trousers were undone at a wedding as I ranted at him as he lay supine on his bed.  " you gotta put a lid on this pugilism Charlie, who do think you bloody well are Mike Bloody Tyson?" "You ain't mate, you've had your bits cut off, you're furry & cute & Kate's giving me a hard time so you are NOT going out to play tonight-not to fight you ain't!"
Then I melted, give him a fuss, called him for supper & told him not to behave like a tit & if he did get ill I'd pay more money than I have sense to get him well.

And Charlies response??? He smiled slowly with his eyes. Ahhhh...

If you ever doubted it.....

If any of you readers of my humble ranting blog ever doubted that our Prime Minister & his catamite Judas sidekick Clegg are completely & utterly out of touch with what is REALLY going on in the UK, & how their extreme political policies affect the man in the street. Then I suggest you watch his shite for brains speech in response to the Archbishop of Canterbury's spot on comments today.

Cameron said (amongst other Homer Simpsonesque comments); that "...it is right to take people off benefit, and get them back to work..." D'oh!! But Cameron...... there ARE NO jobs out there you twat! Your policies have caused numerous employers to close, make thousands of people redundant whilst at the same time encouraging companies to move their business offshore.

By the way folks: I went for a spin on my bike tonight. My bike proudly sported a sticker that said.'Assembled in Britain'. I felt sick. That's what British industry has come to-one giant assembly line.
Sad. Thanks Messrs C & C.

But on a lighter note... The 'Big Lunch' Kings Heath

Our street got together yesterday as part of the national 'Big Lunch Day' And it was not only a success, but a good crac. The road was closed to traffic, lots of people cooked- & we all had a shared table. There were games for the kids, live music,drink of course junk etc for sale & sunshine!
The beauty of my street is that its so multi national. We have people from all corners of the world living here together in peace. So...we had some wonderful national traditional dishes brought to the table(s). We had French , Polish, Indian, Pakistani, Jamaican, Irish, English , Afghan, Kashmiri & Greek food sharing a place as, in the same way we, the people of Westfield Road share our street & add to the colour & spice that is Birmingham.

A Workers right...R.I.P.

Today Cameron & his Judas sidekick Clegg showed their true colours & intentions. They today bared the birthmark of right wing Conservatism.
Nor content with a pay freeze for public service workers, bullshitting the country with the their 'Big Society' doctrine-which is really another way of saying to the population that "you're going to put up with fewer nurses, less provision for the elderly, dirtier streets, larger class sizes,increased waiting time for hospital admissions, more people sliving on the breadline "....etc etc. They announced to day that they plan to go one step further than the terrible dragon Margaret Thatcher did in her persecutions against the working person. Cameron et al have announced that if the Trade Unions go on strike later this year aginst his imposed cuts in public service he will make it effectively illegal to strike. (he has actually said that a Trade Union must prove that they have had 50% turn out in any ballot for a strike).
God, Cameron the terrible dragon would be SO proud of you you smug smooth arse hole.

Not that their are many 'workers' left mind you, the Government has seen to that, & at the same time reduced all & every state benefit. And what has the Lily livered Milliband et al said about this? Naf all. Nowt. Sod all. Nothing. Resign Milliband & do the working person a favour, let someone else do the job. (but who??)
However, we have a war & the Olympic Games so that's OK then ain't it?! These pointless & expensive pastimes take our mind off the real world don't they?
Incidentally. My belief is that we all have only ourselves to blame for either voting for Cameron/Clegg or worse still not voting at all in the General Election .
RIP Workers Rights.

Advertising & toilet rolls.

Those of you who read the rants etc that I post on this blog will be familiar with my rant a few weeks ago about toilet paper. In that post I ranted that how absurd I believed it is that we are encouraged by advertisers to spend a mint on 'soft, quilted toilet paper', when all we do is wipe our backside on it then flush it down the pan.

OK, get this: I saw a commercial on TV last night which had Labrador puppy dogs playing musical instruments, relaxing in a supposedly 'gentlemens club' & smoking Havana cigars! What were they endorsing??....Toilet rolls!! WTF!! The commerical continued & showed us that we could ,(if we were insane enough in my view)-buy the afore advertised (soft) toilet rolls printed with coloured stars on. Jesus Christ on the mountain!. The world has gone totally crazy. Half the world doesn't have enough to eat, young people of all creeds, nations & religions are being killed in their thousands weekly in wars & the 'Third world' is chain to a debt imposed by us the 'First world' And what are we encouraged to think about & spend our frozen salaries on???...pretty patterned loo rolls. Bullshit!!

But can anyone tell me please....What have Labrador puppies playing musical instruments, relaxing in a 'gentlemans club' got to do with the softness & effectivness of shit house tissue?

I ain't gotta clue but I'm sure someone out there has.