Lonely Christmas 2011.

Alone And Drinking Under The Moon

Amongst the flowers I 
am alone with my pot of wine 
drinking by myself; then lifting 
my cup I asked the moon 
to drink with me, its reflection 
and mine in the wine cup, just 
the three of us; then I sigh 
for the moon cannot drink, 
and my shadow goes emptily along 
with me never saying a word; 
with no other friends here, I can 
but use these two for company; 
in the time of happiness, I 
too must be happy with all 
around me; I sit and sing 
and it is as if the moon 
accompanies me; then if I 
dance, it is my shadow that 
dances along with me; while 
still not drunk, I am glad 
to make the moon and my shadow 
into friends, but then when 
I have drunk too much, we 
all part; yet these are 
friends I can always count on 
these who have no emotion 
whatsoever; I hope that one day 
we three will meet again, 
deep in the Milky Way. 


Li Po 

Latest UK unemployment figures December 2011.

 David Cameron's policies aren't working & he is succeeding in driving the UK to the wall, isolating the UK within Europe, increasing the number of children living in poverty in 21st century Britain & creating a legacy of a wasted generation of young people who can't find work; take a look at the latest UK unemployment figures released today.
The U K as the highest number of unemployed for 17 years. The figure today stands at 2.64 million people. And that's JUST THE PEOPLE CLAIMING BENEFITS, It doesn't include those ineligible for state benefit. If you counted those God alone knows what the figure would be.
Youth unemployment (those young people aged between 18-24 yrs) now stands at 1.027 million people. Shameful.
The overall figure has been swelled by 67.000 job loses in the public sector.
David Cameron is rapidly creating a nation of 'haves & have nots', with the later in the majority. He is creating a generation of wasted youth. creating depression, anxiety & hopelessness.
Meanwhile the (un)employment minister-Chris Grayling makes placating utterances designed to reasure us that things are on the up.They are if you a government minister in Cameron's government or a banker lining your own & Camerons pockets.
Happy Christmas Mr Cameron.

Don't panic buy

Not a day goes by without me have a little nibble of chocolate. A square or 2 of Cadbury's Dairy Milk here, a peck at a Twix bar there or a full blown Mars bar. I love chocolate, be it plain, milk or white, stuffed with peanuts, caramel , raisins or my personal favourite-Turkish Delight coated in Fry's (Cadbury's) milk chocolate. Easter with its chocolate eggs is a time when I inevitably make myself feel sick & swear by the end of Easter Sunday that I'll never touch another bit of chocolate. But come Monday...
So you can imagine my concern today when I read of a looming cocoa shortage. Yes. apparently with 8 yrs or so the world will be in the midst of a chocolate desert., & we'll need an area of land equivalent the size of the Ivory Coast just to satisfy the worlds taste for the stuff! OK then lets get at ..... invade the Ivory Coast tomorrow & plant cocoa trees by the score.  What's the problem? After all if we invade a sovereign country called Iraq for no better reason than to satisfy the paranoia of G.W. Bush & laughing boy Tony Blair then we can go ahead & invade the Ivory Coast without any compunction or hesitation.

But lets not panic. There is enough to go round, its just the greed of the affluent West worried because we'll have to pay a bit more for what for years we have paid a pittance for & exploited the farmers who grow our cocoa bean trees. So don't panic buy, don't rush out & buy your own body weight in Cadbury's Roses or Bounty bars, cos' its gonna be fine.

The best place for the mobile?

Take a look at the attached photo. The story behind it is as follows:

I went out the back this morning to bring in some kindling wood for the stove when I came across my neighbour about to lift up the inspection lid of the sewer that his & mine house share. I must explain that on occasion the sewer gets clogged up- the houses were bombed by the Luftwaffe in 1940 & were rebuilt the best they could be considering the shortage of materials. Anyway, there he was..."is it blocked again?" I ask.
"No" he replies, & then tells me that whist on the toilet he dropped his mobile phone down the lavatory pan which he accidentally then flushed away! He'd dialled the number from the land line & heard it ringing from underneath the inspection lid-in the sewer!
I gave him a hand (as any decent neighbour would do) & low & behold there was the mobile phone in the sewer-as the photo shows.
As I hold aloft the inspection cover he reaches down when suddenly there's a rush of 'blue' water gushing down the channel to the right of the channel where the phone sits!! Some has flushed the toilet sending forth a torrent of disinfectant diluted piddle!! Grabbing a strategically place bit of timber, I  attempted to push the phone out of the line of fire of the excreta  that was heading relentlessly towards my neighbours Nokia.
"Its had it now, it'll never work after that lot gets into its innards" says I.
But....... After he fished the phone out of the sewer, gave it a wipe first with a kitchen towel, then with some antiseptic wipe gel I have around for such emergencies. I dialled his number......it worked!!
Wonderful. especially when you consider that all he payed for the phone was £16.

He's been at it again!!

No, I don't mean Cameron or any of his cohort of coalition ejjits, but my Cat Charlie Coal.
He's been street fighting again. This time he's got a laceration on his right cheek caused by some other feline pugilist  in the neighbourhood. The first we noticed was when the furry thug growled at me when I attempted to tickle under his ear, & I guess there's of lot of people out there who'd growl if I attempted to tickle them under the ear, but be that as it may/may not be the fella is injured.....again.
This is proving costly. I mean trips to the bloody vet -(y'know the lady with the dreamy Scottish accent)-it cost £56 a time for a shot of antibiotic! Kate says that its getting out of control, these fur ball fisticuffs, & that a trip to the dreamy Scottish vet is not going to happen for poor old battered Chas'. So its down to old fashioned grin & bare it matey & no treat for my ears were we to visit Fivelands Vets.
The little sod's so aggressive! I mean; he had his nether regions snipped off when he was a bundle of feline mischievousness, & that. allegedly, is supposed to curtail Tom cats aggressiveness. I'm wondering what the hell would the bewhiskered fiends behaviour be like were we to have left him with the 'full set'!

This comes after a day when he sat on my log chopping post watching me has I tided up the lower part of the garden. He sat there looking cute but nevertheless keeping a chary eye on my activities on his territory.
I took a snapshot of him for your amusement.
But for the time being Charlie you got sweat it out, rely on our TLC & pray that Goddess Bastet will bring about a speedy healing.

Thank you David Cameron

Everyone would agree I'm that the world is in dire financial straits. Europe especially, is in a mess financially. First the Irish, then the Greek, Portuguese & most recently the Italian economies crashed necessitating massive bail outs from the European Central Bank in order top prop up the ailing Euro.All this was caused by the greedy, callous grasping behaviour of bankers-not only in Europe but worldwide. Moreover these low lifers are apparently continuing their destructive, amoral behaviour.
The leaders of Europe have been a little tardy in dealing with the crisis, not wanting I guess to upset the aforementioned bankers as it is they who fund their political positions & futures. However now, the leaders of France & Germany appear to have grasped the metal & come up with a plan that I hope will be the salvation of not only the European Union but the greater world.
I admire Angela Merkle the Chancellor of Germany. She is a driven, intelligent person & is determined to hold the EU together whilst at the same time doing her level best to ensure the Euro stays as the common currency. President Sarkozy also has to be applauded for his contribution in putting together the latest package which will hopefully resurrect Europe's financial markets & economies.
Then... What does that dick Cameron do???
He plays the veto card & all but scuppers the treaty!! Who does he think he is Benjamin Disraeli?? It was in the late 19th Century that that former Conservative Prime Minister of the UK pursed a foreign policy that he called 'Splendid Isolation'. Cameron clearly has aspirations to emulate him & the Marquess of Sailsbury-God help all us poor bastards in the UK.
We ARE European Cameron, we belong in Europe & Europe wants us (I think?!) Cameron says that "I did it for Britain..." How many other despots have said that they did so & so for their nations good?
Thanks Cameron. We all know that your Government will never tax or chastise the bankers that got us all in to this sorry financial state, as YOUR government is so far up the arse of the bankers that its hard to see where your end & the bankers begin!
I take comfort though in the fact the Judas Nick Clegg is pro Europe & may, just may have the balls to challenge Cameron on this one in some way. If he does then.... it may spell the death knell of the loathsome Coalition Government that we have here in the UK & force a General Election. I hope...but I ain't holding my breath.
You've really isolated us now Cameron. Thanks. Thanks a bunch prat.

Peace!

Peace & reconciliation has returned!

Unreasonable?

This post might upset & may even anger some readers but I feel I've got to get it off my chest. Damn it there's no one else to tell how I feel to.
I live in a female dominated house. Theres Kate my wife & Esther my daughter. Very occasionally they have a row, neither of them will give way, they both have to have the last word in an argument & last night was no exception. As usual  (& like most arguments) it was over something trivial. It blew up & somehow or other I got roped in when I was trying to act as a 'United Nations peacemaker) so finally neither of them ended up speaking to me either! I suppose that sometimes even UN peacekeepers get shot or wounded.
It continued this morning. Kate wanted an apology from Esther, she refused & wanted an apology from Kate. I tried again to make the peace, attempting to persuade Esther to apologise in a way that wouldn't cause her to lose face. This was going OK & Esther attempted to do so & negotiate. I was blamed for this by the elder lady who then put her coat on & went for a walk. Esther then retired back to bed. Round 2. Holy Mother of God!
I reckon, rather my male logic tells me that they are both being unreasonable. C'mon ladies, lets not be so arrogant & omnipotent, none of us know how long we've got left, lets make up. Sorry is a small word but it has to fill so much of your heart. Its to late to be sorry when you're dead or unable to communicate
Its my belief that the aim of an argument should not be victory but rather progress & growth of a relationship, but sadly at the moment my house appears to be entrenched in a war-zone which offends my spirit. I'm stuck right in the middle of 'no (wo)mans land'!

 

Like this poor fella...I'm stuck in the middle of two immoveable
pillars!

The public Service workers strike, Jeremy Clarkson &..... Cameron

Yesterday saw over 1 million Public Service workers in the UK strike over the outrageous cuts & readjustments imposed on us by Cameron's Government in their punitive attempts to reduce the countries financial deficit. You can read for yourselves how they want to hack into the services but amongst other things it would mean us working to 68yrs of age, paying more into our pension pot & receiving less at the end.
Now all this state of affairs we ALL know was brought about by corrupt greedy bankers who even now are awarding themselves bonus's of £8,000,000 in one instance. Capitalist bastards. Making money from our money & spending t on their lavish lifestyles.
At a march in Birmingham yesterday we heard from a care assistant in an old folks care home who said that she receives the national minimum wage £5 odd per hour. She said that she actually sweats whilst she works & if Cameron as his way she'll have to work until she's 68yrs of age doing this work.
Then Cameron says that the likes of this hero "has no right to bring the country to a standstill". What a nerve!!
I have no special grip against the Royal Family but didn't they bring the country to a standstill when one of them got married last April??? And who paid for that fiasco?

And now that prize prat Jeremy Clarkson:  He came out & said whilst being interviewed on the BBC (who were conspicuous by their absence yesterday) that those who were on strike yesterday ".... should be taken out & shot in front of their families". How dare he! When his prat of a TV presenter sidekick Richard Hammond was involved in that near fatal RTA some time ago, it was thanks to them that he would have shot that put the fool back together, saved his life, nursed him, gave him physiotherapy, fed him, etc etc & did not ask for any reward nor praise (they didn't get either anyway). Think on Mr Clarkson. Think on.

Now Cameron tells us that his plans to cut the budget deficit were inaccurate. That it'll be another 5 years until the country is back in the black. He thinks(?) C'mon Dave...you an't got sa clue have you?
Surely the way to make money for the nation is to get people working again. We have youth unemployment in excess of 1.000.000-is to keep the retirement age at 65yrs old then the young would have jobs because people would be retiring. But if you don't let folks retire til their 68yrs old + then there are no jobs for the youth to go to....or is that too simple~??You tell me.