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 .......................................??