BITS AND BOBS

30th June 2023

A proper clock

I have been nowhere of any interest since returning from Vietnam in January. Various 'social' commitments have kept me at home in the increasingly frustrating environment of the so-called 'United' Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. It feels less 'united' by the day.

I am writing this now for no better reason than to check that my 'blogsite' is still functioning having not used it since the beginning of January. I thought I would start with a few random 'whinges' just to let off a bit of steam.

As someone who often travels through railway stations, ports, airports and other transport hubs, it is important to be kept aware of the time. OK, I have a watch and mobile phone which both tell the time, but is not a substitute for having a large time-piece hanging prominently in front of you. They used to be commonplace, but not now, as per the one pictured at the top. "Bring 'em back" is what I say.

One can't nowadays avoid all the 'hoo hah" concerning all this 'Trans', 'SIS', TERF, LGBTQIA+ nonsense. To be honest I have lost track of what it all means and who is what, or not. I clearly remember the days, not so long ago, when none of this was on the spectrum of anyone's thought process. Is a 'trans woman' a man pretending to be a female, or a female pretending to be a man? I have lost any comprehension and, frankly, interest. I think they just make an issue of it to wind us up! School-children are now busy winding up their 'woke' teachers by pretending to be cats, dinosaurs and vegetables. Good luck to them! 

Our politicians seem to have spent most of their time fighting over who had a party, or not, during the appallingly conceived 'lockdown' period. Again, I am just not interested and all the time and credibility wasted on this really does not alter the price of fish. Actually getting things done to improve the country takes second place. Indeed actually doing anything seems beyond their capacity. As always, it is all words, promises, plans, 'pledges' and intentions with absolutely no noticeable action (other than by many 'workers' in our institutions going on strike for 'more pie').

A serious problem in the past couple of months, where I live anyway, has been the lack of mail deliveries by our Royal Mail. I went for over two weeks without a delivery. This has never occurred before in my lifetime. To give one example of how this adversely affects us, people are receiving, if at all, letters for hospital appointments well after the appointed date.  It is, in my opinion, a more serious problem than most of the trivial issues which grab the headlines. Our local MP was made well aware of this and, of course, promised to take action by arranging an 'urgent' meeting with 'senior' Royal Mail management and would 'get to the bottom of the problem'. She (I think it is a 'she' but you never know nowadays) also promised to make a visit to our local distribution office to discuss the situation with the manager and would get back to us with an update of what is going on and what is being done about it. This was about three weeks ago. She never turned up at the distribution office (where a senior manager had made considerable effort to travel some distance to meet her) and, needless to say, we have heard nothing from her since regarding an update let alone action. It seems to be a politician's accepted tactic just to say they are going to do something and everyone, they hope, cheers. That is as far as it goes! 

Left: !!!!! From my local town. At what point do these gigantosauruses give up? "Its me metabolism to blame" they cry. This vast pile of flubber is so obscenely obese it can't walk and needs a mobility truck to go on the hunt for further burger shops to plunder.

Right: Another comparatively slim-line monster nearby.

I am pausing this load of rubbish now and publish to see if all is in working order. I might, when bored, add to it later. In the meanwhile I am packing my bag for a comparatively civilised trip, starting in Portugal. Never been there before. I hope to keep you informed, if not educated.