More unusual observations

As I sit here in my somewhat vulnerable state, I realise that life is to be lived rather than scared of, and in many ways I have chosen to be bound by the conventions that society and life have imposed upon me. One wonders whether this is due to upbringing and protocol. My days of just keeping to the house are over and now I have a wife it is important that I make sure that we share a lot of things together. The days of a singleton are behind me and now I have to realise the necessity to share everything and not keep everything as secure as it used to be, that really just doesn't work.
    My wife, bless her is as unpredictable as the wind but then it certainly stops me from becoming too complacent in my actions and realising what a gift that I have been sent by the Almighty. It takes a good woman to make a man realise what he has and to contemplate the future with a better sense of security than in the past. I sometimes think that I have been unlucky in life events but then when I am brought such a gift as my wife, it makes me reappraise my life and realise that not everyone is lucky except of course for me.!!!!  For all you men out there, marriage is a sacred ritual and you should all learn to accept that women are a very special breed and if you can't get your heads around that fact, then maybe it is time for you to move on.

Party time

Last night we attended a party in the wilds of North Staffordshire, in a large house and a grand marquee in the garden. My wife's eyes were bulging as we headed through the large gates and up toward the front of the house where our hostess was waiting for us. It had been a very long day and of course we had combined this event with the usual spate of house viewing which has recently taken over our lives. It was a very eventful day as we finally felt we had found the house we really wanted to buy and to live in, but in the current climate selling our own pile is beginning to prove a thorny issue but at least we are not alone. The party gave us time to focus for one evening on other matters. The garden was massive and as the guests congregated on the grass and in the marquee we felt quite at home, as my wife's eyes continued to enlarge unabated, irrespective of the rather inclement weather conditions. We spent around 3 hours in this environment chatting and talking to some of my work colleagues and eating the freshly cooked chicken and snacks that had been laid on. The noise from the guest artiste was truly horrendous which is synonymous with such parties but if the theme had been dour as a consequence of the weather at the time, then Shostakovich would have been a better bet. We could have all been depressed together at this time !!!.  It proved a useful outlet from our normal routine and we enjoyed ourselves even though the heavens were not exactly kind to us. On the way home after a good evening and when I needed to speak to my wife to keep me awake she repaid me in the best possible way by falling into a deep sleep and communicated via grunts and snores and of course received my thanks for this event. Such loyalty and devotion, and realising that at the end of a very busy day the last thing she wanted to do was to indulge in small chit chat with her over stimulated husband. Thanks darling but in retrospect she was probably right but then aren't they always .....?

Night time driving

It has always been apparent to me how driving techniques change as the daylight reduces. The other night I had to drive at night to London Standsted airport to pick up my wife from a flight from Malaysia. It is a journey of around 150 miles and normally it can take around 2hours 30 minutes and has no major complications. I tried to sleep a little in advance of the journey but was not able to do so and so consequently I set off feeling unusually tired, generally the tiredness wears off as I drive however as the temperature was moderate and there was little breeze in the air the lethargy didn't wear off so by the time I reached the outskirts of Cambridge around 4am I was beginning to look like a characted out of Victor Hugo's novel -- The hunchback of Notre Dame, namely Quasimodo. If anyone had seen me, I'm sure I would have been a dead ringer for Lon Chaney's version of this character in the 1923 version of this famous story, piercing eyes and bad makeup would have suited my appearance at that time but surprisingly as daybreak began to take effect my metamorphosis was virtually instantaneous. The lethargy that had beset me disappeared and I suddenly became a more stimulated and rationale figure looking less like the aforesaid Chaney so viewers it shows that with the advent of light the body remarkably seems to ressurect itself back to its former self, and on this occasion, I, at least looked human when I met my wife from the airport, rather  than the miserable wretch that was Quasimodo in that famous novel by that well known French author Hugo. " Comme bien dans l'amour et le guerre " aptly said I think !!!

Politicians-- do they ever listen?

It's strange that when I listen to political programmes the protagonists involved never ever seem to give the electorate reasonable and honest answers, all they seem to be interested in is keeping their own jobs at whatever cost? I wonder at times the point of any politician, and their attitudes are quite frankly of no real value to a country as a whole, as many are purely in it for the greed and the corruption that it provides them with, as a form of furthering their careers and nests. European countries have their own issues but regarding Blighty, we always seem to score own goals when it comes to policies. It may be that as a country we should take a leaf out of France's book by completely disregarding some of the ridiculous European rules imposed upon us and create mayhem, and let's face it if the French hauliers can do it by blocking the tunnel then surely we can also cause our own particular brand of non obedience to both political mandarins and the political system in general. Together they have dismantled and disrupted every country they are involved in, surely there has to be a better way than politics to govern a country and send these parasites back from whence they came. Sometimes I just despair at how countries are governed.

Holiday time

It is refreshing to know that during holiday time, regimes can change and often a new lease of life can be accommodated after the mundane drudgery of the ubiquitous working week. This week alone, I have been getting up at a more leisurely 9am and wandering down to breakfast debating as to what to eat, unlike the norm when porridge is the order of the day. Mainly for speed. So what did I have this morning, .....porridge!! well I like it ( he said indignantly) however I did push the tug boat out with a dish of sauteed mushrooms, sausages and a poached egg on toast. This you will understand is not usual, however on days when I can suit myself, it is nice to do something completely different. In the summer months it is quieter and life tends to be so for me, as well. My wife told me to go for a walk the other day and you can't disagree with her, it helps to keep the digestion and body working properly. Why are woman always right? Is it that innate desire in them to want the best for their loved ones? I would like to think it is, well in my wife's case that is a strong point for her. Family is the closest thing we have to genuine and honest support in our lives although I am aware that this is not always the case in some family environments. Holiday time is a period for robust and genuine reflection of your life and relationships, it makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have such great support and love from those closest to me. The shackles of work are released albeit for two weeks and there is more of a chance to let my hair down. The charging of my batteries and life are paramount in an otherwise cut throat and tense ridden world outside the four walls of my house and land. The garden at this time is a lovely sight with all the shrubs and plants vying for the sun and in some cases the rain to promote their appearance and vitality. Yes two weeks of solitude and relaxation will do very nicely. !!

Commentators and my pet hates

Do you know that when big global events come round like the World Cup and the Olympics, we are all waiting with a sense of anticipation only to find that the commentators spoil much of it with their inane drivel, and their highly inflated vocal patterns that turn the coverage from either a mellow and laid back chilled out individual, to that of a demented warrior who hasn't experienced real excitement in all their lives. I guess it is a sign of age when I make a rant about it but for many, the destruction of the grammatical content of our language is somewhat disconcerting. For example, certain tried and tested phrases which we have used for many years suddenly get a new structure and what on earth are they talking about?  The worst offenders are " they are nearly home and hosed " and the classic " we have to prevent getting beat !!! "  getting beat ? what sort of example are we setting to future generations when high profile commentators cannot even grasp the rudiments of simple basic everyday English? It is laziness to the extreme, and what for goodness sake, does " home and hosed " actually mean? home and dry I can understand, but hosed? this implies that the subjects were wet to begin with??? I will never understand the propensity for these so called reporters to crucify our language with such ridiculous phrases. Is it to find a level with those whose educational abilities were compromised early in life and isn't that somewhat patronising to them that these well paid people still seem to have little concept or comprehension of what language actually brings to a nation. I despair at times and wonder where we, as a country, have gone wrong over the years to allow such a poor grasp of language to pervade our media and television screens, where so much influence is meted out to the young with a diet of soap operas and poor intellectual communication. Is it any wonder that nowadays there seems to be a dumbing down of standards across the board, and that no one seem to be doing anything about it as that would be considered " uncool ", oh look, even I am not averse to such lingo.....woops there I go again.

CASE CLOSED I think .....!!!!

Nationalism

Patriotism is alive and well in deepest England, this can be seen, particularly at this time of the year with the flags of St George unfurling over the roofs of moving cars as we head into that phase of life that is the World Cup Finals. For some this tournament is the nadir of all that they hold sacred, for others and possibly the majority, the hope that it engenders with regard to business, prestige and nationalism is swelling over like the waves of the sea. The intensity and fanaticism that such tournaments bring to a country can be refreshing, enduring and often inspiring for all, even those that normally would not be seen watching a football, never mind a game, but it can envelop the whole country and consume and engulf innate passions in people that they would never think that they had. Such is the " beautiful game". Now for the Brazilians who spent their young years on Copocabana beach kicking a ball around; this is all very much part of their ritualistic lifestyle but for us, hard work and sheer passion tends to do it for us. As a previous traveller to Brasil, I would like to think that we might meet them in the final to test our skills against the real masters but I fear that might not happen but as a student of nostalgia I can but dream can't I? It is after all, what all our dreams are made of, ......hope, faith and nostalgia. Whether you like the game or not, the next four weeks for some will consign them to be " widows" during this time, for the rest, a glorious reflection and desire to succeed against the very best in that noble art of association football, so whatever team you are following, I wish you well and hope that this quad-annual spectacle musters up all sorts of emotions in all of us that allows us to reflect upon our own lifestyles and future prospects.

The little things that matter

The little things that matter can be many and often not remembered but then there are some little things that really do matter. Apart from the obvious like telling your partner how much they mean to you, there are the ones that involve safety, like tyres and their pressures. Very romantic I hear you all ask, after such a romantic analogy to begin with, but I mean it. For weeks now, I have been promising myself the luxury of checking my tyre pressures and pumping up the tyres, a job I sincerely love,as you can all tell, however today I was all ready to do this small job and what happens?.... the heavens open with disastrous weather following. Now there is a particularly irritating and obnoxious forecourt attendant at the local garage who I despise and as I was about to drive into the forecourt to check my tyres, this demon from Hell appeared. I had no wish to bandy words with him and I headed off on my merry way. The tyres seemed to get lighter and lighter and I convinced myself that I needed a new foot pump as my old one had bitten the dust and had gone off to meet its manufacturer in the ether above. Well you are all ahead of me, I reached my destination in heavy rain to find that there was little air left in the tyres, how had I managed it, low speed, sensible driving and a fear that I had been stupid......VERY STUPID so I resolved to change my ways when it comes to cars. On the way home I invested in a new foot pump and this time carefully pumped up each tyre in turn, by the end of the week I will have two new tyres fitted on the car and the other two next month. This is a salient lesson to us all. NEVER put off what you can do today especially if it might involve your life, the risks are just NOT worth it. Sometimes bad weather can make one appreciate the value of life and the need to modify one's behaviour in such challenging road conditions. It was a lesson in humility to me and it has made me think far more objectively now about the future and the trauma caused to my loved ones if anything more serious had happened to me. Stay safe everyone and remember to check your tyre pressures weekly, they could just save your life!!!

House hunting

I never realised how frustrating this process can be before I started out on it. I thought, I'm living in a nice house and in a nice residential area with good neighbours and a community of older people who generally keep their own counsel so where's the problem? Well no problem looking for that dream house for us but selling ours.......? I might have more luck selling a second hand wigwam!!! The recession, people in general and time of year and actual timing all come into play and are major factors. The problems are that some people have some really daft ideas, they view, they nod in the right places and then offer me a really derisory offer, what pigs!!! Others are just, as I would put it, professional viewers wanting to check out any property in the locale and then just destructively criticise it mercilessly and the worst are the ones with the really daft excuses. If people look at the details from the estate agents they ought to have some inkling as to what they are going to get. If I state that it is in a salubrious area and benefits from all the mod cons, does that help ? well possibly but then it can backfire on me, maybe I should say, it is positioned at the end of a problem estate with beautiful barricades on a backdrop of drug dealers and dirty needles, will that sell the property, well for those of us in that "special area of life" , it might!!!! but for the vast majority, NO so why do the potential buyers come up with so many feeble excuses. I cannot quite make up my mind whether they are time wasters or just mickey takers. I don't actually find it stressful but just DAMNED ANNOYING AND FRUSTRATING!!!!!!!!   Thankfully for some of us, my wife, in particular, being back in Malaysia makes it easier for her to look at this topic far more objectively and less of an irritant that I am finding it. I prefer a bartering system myself, how about I'll buy your house for three pigs, a water tower and a year's subscription to your local Horse and Hound magazine!!!!  not realistic of course but somewhat more interesting than the current set up. Then I have the estate agents suggesting I lower the price as well, Aaaaargh  is there no end to this madness, at this rate by the end of the year I will be owning my very own tent complete with groundsheet. Surreal behaviour is alive and well in the Staffordshire/Shropshire borders and Mr Eccentric is alive and ranting again.........roll on 2011 !!!!!!

Tragedy and triumphs

In all of us there is, at times a beast waiting to pounce. The insanity that can be caused by mood changes is all too apparent after the sad events in Cumbria yesterday. For a human to go on a killing spree is rare but when it happens, it rocks whole communities. The understanding and mentality of such tortured souls can at times be totally intangible to the rest of us. It is by the grace of God that most of us were in other places at the time but this surely does not detract from the blunt truth of what happened to those unfortunate residents of the sleepy coastal strip in Cumbria. This reflects on the other infamous tragedies of latterday Blighty namely Hungerford, Dunblane and from the distant past Aberfan, but the last one was more of a natural tragedy than one perpetrated by firearms and violence.

        On the other footing, England head to the World Cup finals in South Africa and for the majority of people I'm sure they are wished well for the upcoming tournament however for those of us who are due to become football pariahs or widows during this time, my only advice is to take yourselves away to a dreamy beach in a quiet secluded cove with no mobile, no radio and certainly no television to gain that truly isolated experience and feel totally free of all media attention, at least until lunchtime ( joke) I wish you all well, whatever your persuasions but for me personally it is a chance to reflect on previous campaigns and think to myself, is it all really worth it.!!!!! 

Such is the difference between hope and despair, and most of us would settle for a neutral place right in the middle. GOOD LUCK to all of you whatever you are planning to do this summer.

Relaxing with friends and reminiscing of the friendly past

As I shared numerous anecdotes with friends in their garden, I realised the very real beauty of local flora and fauna and the idyllic images of the sun setting in the west. It was a particularly poignant moment for me and took me back to a time when the family used to spend time in our own garden as the light nights allowed us to spend more time outside than stuck indoors. As the dogs would chase after their tails and I would sit there dozing in a deck chair that had seen better days I realised how peaceful and quiet it was and yet another means of escape from the hubbub and turmoil of the world at the bottom of the driveway. The peace was palpable and so tangible, the birdsong, the noise from the insects and the odd barking from dogs coinciding with barking from our own breed led one to think that life could not get any better!! It brought home to me the value of tranquillity and the depth to which such feelings of peace actually matter. Life when I was a child was so different to how it is today. Our lives today revolve around endless regulations, and rules. As a child I was able to make mistakes and learn from them but today we are almost asphxiated by the laws and rules protecting us against ourselves, Where today is the discipline to learn from our mistakes, rules for this and rules for that, you can't do this and you can't do that!!! so what can we do? Our lives are pervaded by the thought police, the do gooders who always want to defend the indefensible, to combat and thwart any attempts we have as individuals to challenge ourselves to daring acts of achievement and attaining a sense of real satisfaction that we had put ourselves in a risk ridden situation and survived, shock, horror but yes of course, this is the 21st century and we have to have rules to follow the rules? Confused, well so am I ? Life was far less complicated in the last century and often more rewarding, than the plastic and often hyper liberal environment that we are cossetted in these days, but that we are told is progress, sometimes I'm not entirely sure it is .......................................??

Buying a house?

The stresses of buying and selling houses can be diverse depending on what sort of personality you have. One minute you are up in the air, the next you are back to square one wondering about the stupidity of the market and people at large. Why should you reduce markedly the price of your most prized asset to fund the work that your potential buyer wants to make to your house, and yet if you hold out for the best price on offer, it takes months and months and then you get the agents on your back wanting to reduce the price of the house to make it sell. Ah it's a zany old world at times isn't it?.......I have been to Saturn and back in the emotions I have experienced in buying and selling a house. I have viewed so many properties and fallen in love with many of them and yet my own house seems to have forgotten the plot that it needs to be sold as well. I have used many techniques to try and rectify the situation including prayer but that just clouds the whole scene. My wife seems to have much more common sense in dealing with this powderkeg of a situation and looks at one challenge at a time and deals with it accordingly. I often admire my wife for staying so calm in a crisis( well to me it is a crisis, to her just an incident to correct) but then Asian women have always trained their minds to be much calmer in such situations. It reflects on the male mentality to want to get things down and out of the way but life, as we all know, was never meant to be like that so we continue to be frustrated and thwarted by it all. The meaning of life ? who knows but for me I am getting more senile by the day finding my way through the pitfalls that life has to offer me. Roll on regardless.......!

The epitome of loyalty and faith

It's strange when as a person you are confronted with possibly a life changing experience and the effects it can have on you as an individual. The emotions tend to be rushing along in many different ways and often there is no rationale for the way your thoughts are stacked and categorised. I suppose an event like a close relative going into hospital for a procedure that you have no way of knowing if the outcome will be positive can be one of the hardest emotions to come to terms with and in the knowledge that if something nasty is found whether your whole relationship will change for the worse. The fear of the unknown is one of life's great mysteries and can be plagued with anxiety and raw emotion of which there is little panacea. I find myself in such a state at this moment in my life, waiting, watching and hoping beyond hope itself that the resolution is a positive one and not one for misgivings and false accusations of a forlorn hope that the outcome could have been so different. The tenuous hold we all have on life itself can be mesmerising and at times a little frightening but the end result of everything in life is to commit it to the heavenly body above who is mindful of our every movements and compassionately will bring to bear the correct outcome in the end. To all those people in the world who wait anxiously for news of loved ones, I say just one thing; ALWAYS REMAIN POSITIVE in thought and deed to maintain that sense of optimism because without hope, what is there, apart from despair and who wants to be saddled with that !!!!

Going to the dentist

It's strange don't you think how events that we never bother to think about, creep up on us in a very insidious fashion, one such occasion is the ubiquitous trip to the dentist, every six months they would have us believe; but how many of us actually keep to this discipline. The idea of looking above you , often with nothing to distract you on the ceiling is tempered with the vision of this masked figure bending over you looking as if they are about to remove toxic waste from around them, then actually peering at you through that surgical mask hiding their true expression. Surreal, if not a little scary as if anything was to go wrong, then at least the patient would have little idea who had actually committed the violation. A lot of things can happen behind the safety of a mask don't you think?

Weather vagaries

Have you ever wondered what causes us as British people to be fickle when it comes to weather conditions? It's either too hot, or too cold, it's either cloudy or clear and finally it's often either too windy or too rainy and bleak. Are we ever satisfied? During the really cold weather we were all moaning about how long it was going to last for, and now, the temperature is increasing and some of us are lurching towards the fans to keep us cool. Interesting that we are so variable about something that is so mundane!!!!