On and on he goes.....

Spare room to rent!

So, how does it feel to have a son leave home.
Well, a little bit of this (sad) and a little bit of that (happy).
Sad 'cos I'll miss him.
No one to watch footy with in quite the same way
(the girls are great at watching football, but somehow
it's not quite the same - sorry girls, love you!!)
No one the have that knowing male look with.
You know the one, when someone does something silly.
No one to blame any bad odour on.
No one to lift those heavy boxes.
No one to fill the big empty spaces
No one to take up all three seats on the sofa.
But
Happy because
He's happy
He's grown up - just about, usually.
He's got the world at his fingertips
He's making the most of all the advantages he has
He doing what he wants to do
He's left loads and loads of happy memories
Happy when there's some beer left in the fridge
Happy because he'll be home before too long

Happy because we have txt msgs.

Listen,
you heavens, and I will speak;
hear, you earth, the words of my mouth.
Let my teaching fall like rain
and my words descend like dew,
like showers on new grass,
like abundant rain on tender plants.

I will proclaim the name of the LORD.

Oh, praise the greatness of our God!

He is the Rock, his works are perfect,
and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,
upright and just is he.

Not one of mine

This picture isn't
But note the palm tree
in a garden
in sunny Great Yarmouth
but not so sunny today
after torrential rain
2 inches (wow!)
flooded most of the town.
I like the idea of a palm tree
and a flood.
Where else could this happen?

And while this was happening on the East coast.
I was getting rained on
cycling to work.
I had wet socks for 73 minutes
After which I had dry, but smelly socks.
If the washing line in the picture had socks on
Then this blog entry would be very neat and tidy....

And for those of you that didn't see the fantastic Spooks on TV tonight.......poor Harry!

Sometimes
one opens up one's blog
and has immediate inspiration as to what to type.
Sometimes
one's words are dried up
Sometimes
a joke will suffice.
Tonight
I feel a rant.
Problem is I don't know what to rant about.
I hate it when I don't know what to rant about.
I find it staggering that my mind wont work
It's had all these years to practice
It's jut not fair
Sort yourself out, mind
get a grip.
And while I think about it
Stop forgetting peoples' names.
For once, just get the name right
get a grip.
SORT IT OUT !!!!

Rant over
But I tell you, in all seriousness
The Karen people in Burma/Myanmar
Are abused, persecuted, poor
Forgotten.
Sometimes I wonder why we do it to our fellow men (and women)

Sometimes I wonder

Sometimes

Sometimes I say too much
But usually I don't know what to say
So I just sit and look a bit daft
or look confused.
If you try to talk to me and I look like this chap
Sorry
I am listening
And I do care.

£12.50
For 2 adults
At the cinema
Seems quite steep
When I can get a DVD
For £2.50, and watch it solid
for 2 days. Mind you, It's a nice
big screen, and I could hear what was
being said, during the Sentinel. Surprised
by how much security surorunds His majesty,
the President, and his First Lady. Think of the cost
to the poor American taxpayer. Actually Stevie.g must
remember that it was just a film, with no truth and no fact.
The only truth is that the female star, see picture, looked fantastic!

Is it right to heckle the Home Secretary when he makes a speech?

Who knows - I don't.

Anyway yesterday I had a coffee in Starbucks
(don't tell!)
And from the window upstairs I watched a guy 'performing'.
If you're in my town you'll know who I mean:
A bit disheveled
Older (than me)
Two socks (puppets) on his hands
A old cassette player
On a cardboard box
Mad dancing.

I'm embarrassed when I see him.
Cos I don't know what to do, think, say.

Anyways....
Lots of people talked to him
(I noticed from the safety of Starbucks)
Some to take the Michael
and have their picture taken with him
Some because they couldn't believe what they were seeing
Some to give him advice.

But of course I couldn't hear what was being said.

I could see the phone cameras
I could see the smirks.

My question to you folks:

"What should I think?"

Outlook Express

Today I was sat on a train,
working most of the time:
e-mails.
Occasionally, day dreaming.

I wondered how long it would be
before someone shouted into their mobile phone;
"I'm on the train"
"I can't hear you"
" I'll be quick - about to go into a tunn..... too late"
"bad line..." as if it was the fault of the poor recipient of the phone call.

Then I wondered if I'd catch the flu
from the sneezing gentleman next to me.

Then I wondered if the main behind me
could read my emails.
So I tried to hide the screen.
Got cramp.

I wondered why I was so uncomfortable
The remember that I was on a train.

Also - would the train be 20 minutes late
(yes, of course it was!).

Finally I wondered how sad I was going to be
in a couple of weeks
when 'the boy'
leaves home (temporarily)
But I stopped
because I didn't want the man opposite me
to think I was a wimp....

Back to e-mails.

Jo's India

My friend went to India a few weeks ago.
Kolkata (Calcutta).
This is one of her photos.
And,
as you can see,
I shouldn't moan -
about anything.
Her experience (Jo's),
and mine,
and many other people's
Is that these folk, and others, with
seemingly
very little,
are often much happier
than us folks
with seemingly
everything.
Jo's going to talk about her trip next Sunday (24th)
Why not come and listen......

4000
Job losses announced by my firm today
I love my firm
So much so that I've stayed for 21 years
And I understand the logic..

But

It's a big number
It's 4000 ones
And as we all know one is very important.
I'm a one

One finds out ones fate in a couple of weeks.

I'll keep you posted.

Thunder and Lightning

Tonight I thought we were having a mammoth storm,
Getting our fair share of lightning.
Then I discovered
There are around 2000 storms around the world at any one moment in time
There are 100 stikes per second
There are around 10,000 people killed by lightning every year

So maybe it's not so bad in Norwich tonight after all

And talking about the weather, did you know that there's a technical term for a sunny, warm day which follows two rainy days. It's called Monday.

9-11

Things to remember today:
my friend Kath's birthday
the Scots defeating the English in the battle of Stirling Bridge
the world trade centre acts of terrorism, and start of our so called 'war on terror'.

I meant to have moment of reflection and quiet in the office, particularly for the third remembrance.
But I forgot!!

Today was however warm and sunny.

And I just learnt that in Siberia, the permafrost is beginning to thaw - first time in 40,000 years. Perhaps this is the most significant thing of all the things to think about today. 40,000 years is a long tome to be frozen, and all the busy little bacteria and plants are waking up and pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, accelerating the warming of our planet.

Maybe I can have more lunchtimes sat out in the graveyard outside our office enjoying the warm sun.

Bad Joke

On the last blog entry....
Was a bad joke - sorry.
It might not happen again.

Back to more serious blogging.

I'm watching a programme about 9/11
a drama.
a documentary.
a frightening experience.
Not sure why it's been made
but I guess a bit like remembering the two world wars.

As someone once said
"To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward".

Talking of history
I went on a free bus ride today
the open top ride about Norwich to look at it's history
cool
normally £8
I wouldn't spend that
unless I was on holiday
in which case I'd probably be happy to spend £16!

Tony, Tony

Oh Dear, oh dear!
Your friends are turning.
Your nme's are on your case.
All seems to be falling
around your ears.
And yet you still have to
run the country
keep the terrorists at bay
hold the party together
keep the Queen happy.

Only the Archbish of Canterbury
has a tougher job

Oh, and maybe the
poor person who has to clean the loos
in our office.

Talking of something really bad
Here's a tale of a bad conductor:

There was once a bus conductor, and he really was really bad. He had anger management problems.

One day a woman on the bus refused to pay the fare. Well, the bad bus conductor got so angry he killed her. He was tried and sentenced to death by the electric chair. (yes, he lived and worked in America)

The day for his execution came, and they took him out of his cell and brought him to the chair. The guard said, "Have you any last requests?"

The man replied, "Yes, I'd like an unripe green banana, please.

So they got him an unripe green banana, and he peeled it, ate it, and threw the skin away, and they strapped him to the chair. "Are you ready?" they asked."Yes," he said. And they hit the switch. And nothing happened. So he was taken back to his cell.

The guards rewired the chair and tested it a few times, and it worked perfectly. They brought the man back and said, "Have you any last requests?" The man replied, "Yes, I'd like an unripe green banana, please." So they got him an unripe green banana, and he peeled it, ate it, and threw the skin away, and they strapped him to the chair. "Are you ready?" they asked. "Yes," he said. And they hit the switch. And nothing happened. So he was taken back to his cell.

Well, the guards bought a brand new electric chair. This one was amazing: leather seats, gold-plated armrests studded with rubies, the works. It was an incredible sight. They brought the man back and asked, "Have you any last requests?" The man replied, "Yes, I'd like an unripe green banana, please." So they got him an unripe green banana, and he peeled it, ate it, and threw the skin away, and they strapped him to the chair. "Are you ready?" they asked. "Yes," he said. And they hit the switch. And nothing happened.

Now, in this particular state, there was a law that if someone survived the electric chair three times, he must be set free. So the man was released.

As soon as he stepped out of the prison, the press were all over him. He walked through the crowd and the flashing cameras until he saw a small man who asked, "Have you discovered some miraculous phenomenon of unripe green bananas?"

"No," he replied, "I've just always been a bad conductor."

Another wedding

I forgot to include Liz and Marc, in all my 'no internet access' troubles.

Here they are
or rather were
a couple of weeks ago.

So - today I was in Luton
Once voted the least happy town in the UK.
And I can see why.
Although I had a very nice cheese sandwich.

Radio 4

Paying off debts to African countries means:

They don't collect the taxes from the wealthy (and perhaps corrupt) ruling classes.
They never try and sort out their own problems -relying on free handouts.
The get away with 'it' whilst the countries who have worked hard to sort out their affairs are penalised.
They are able to use handouts for lavish parliament building and lifestyles whilst the people starve.

So says a professor of economics from on e of the effected African counties.

He was talking on the Radio (4).

And he pleaded with the West to let them alone to sort out their own problems

I was left no knowing what I thought?

Donna

Thanks for the day - 'twas grand...

Donna and William


2 September 2006

Liam wearing a kilt
and I'm not sure what else !!