Category: Random musings

Let’s put the rose tinted glasses on

How would you design the city of the future?

This is an interesting question to comment on, especially as I live on the edge of what is most likely, one of the filthiest and dirty, worst run cities within the Uk, Leicester.

Extreme, but you get my drift?

Like all cities they seem to attract a population of people who really don’t care that much about themselves or anyone else to be fair, and they accept no responsibility for their respective actions. We have a mixing pot of cultures who don’t mix, hence we have a city of micro cities with each respective micro city closing itself off from the other parts of the city, and that’s where we have issues. All cities worldwide seem to have similar issues. Current city structures do not work, unless you are in the minority, super wealthy category, where life is wonderful and there is no issue. What issues? It’s great having a blinkered view of the world.

City centres are normally fine, it’s when you look at the fringes that you find the down trodden, the chancers and criminal fraternities that feed on the citizens like a white blood cell attacking a virus, the virus being the everyday individual just wanting to make a living for themselves and their family. It’s tough.

I speak from experience that the air around the city is foul. The amount of cars are increasing day on day and the air quality is decreasing as a result. In the last 5 years there has been a marked deterioration in air quality, and being an asthmatic who also has bronchial issues I can vouch for this and that is why we are looking at moving out further into the countryside.

Planners need to get involved and stop owners digging up perfectly good grassed driveways so they can concrete them to allow 8 cars to park on them. I kid you not when I say one house near me has 11 cars and vans on its drive, it is a 4 bedroom house and has three families living within, how is that even possible? This is not a rarity, it is more of a norm for this city as landlords are fleecing individuals by renting out sub standard accommodation to those who can barely afford to live within the laws of the land. The curse of the HMO, (Home of multiple occupancy), take a bow UK government, you should hang your head in shame.

To improve a city you have to clean it up, put rules in place that the occupants also have to maintain their spaces, try to inject some self pride and ownership back into people life’s. The last time that ever occurred was after the last world war, and I’m not suggesting in any way that we have another one, but where has the comradeship gone since then? The little independent micro cities need to be addressed and all communities need to be put back into that melting pot and spread wide throughout the city areas, good luck with that one as I don’t ever see that happening. And then the air needs to be cleaned up, it’s vile up here but 5 minutes to the east of the city is a different cleaner environment. It’s the magnet of the city that seems to pull communities in, maybe there needs to be an engine size limit to cars, who knows? It’s been tried in bigger cities but does it really work?

I don’t think you can design a city of the future. Yes wearing the rose tinted glasses we can all say how we want it to be but in the end it’s down to the individuals who live there. If they don’t want to integrate, if they don’t want to commit to take part in caring for their environment, if they don’t give a toss or don’t care for anyone else, then what hope is there of improving any community or instigating plans for a better futuristic city.

People make a city not buildings or big corporate entities. Change people’s mindsets and you might have a chance. But until then it’s business as usual, the rot has already set in, and I don’t see it getting any better, any time soon. It’s a generational issue, I live in hope that future generations will overcome the issues and learn from all the mistakes we have all made in the past. I wish them well. As currently we as a society have failed miserably.

Have a good day.

SOLD!

Yep. The estate agent tourism palaver has concluded. Two days ago they contacted us to state a viewer (one of the few that were actually interested) had made an offer and we then willingly accepted.

Sold

We have sold.

However, I cannot bring myself to be excited at this point as knowing just how inept our agents have been, I expect it all to fall flat at any moment. My trust is at an all time low.

At least we are now able to explore the markets for our next move. So both my wife and I are looking at available housing in our chosen area of preference. My wife, bless her has done a great job in getting us on the market, now it’s my turn to deal with the reams of paperwork from the solicitors that has now become my responsibility. I tell her she has done the dirty work and now it’s up to me to clean it all up, this rightly, earns me a clip around the ear hole. I deserved that. Don’t do it again. I won’t.

I just dislike intensely the whole buying and selling process as to be honest, we are just making the wealthy a lot more wealthy, ie the Taxman, the legal guys and all their cohorts.

Life has at this moment very quickly changed. Everything is now being packed away, everything going on at this moment in time is now being put on hold, I probably won’t catch up with any of my camera projects for a few months now, until we are safely ensconced in our new residence, wherever that may be in the world.

I’ll keep on posting on here, as I’ve always said this blog is very much my journal and I need this to help maintain my sanity, so I will continue to post pictures, answer those prompts and post whatever dross comes to my mind within this moment in time. It’s just that the repair / technical stuff will be taking a temporary back seat, it will return. It has to.

So, the next few weeks for me involve filling out paperwork, making boxes, filling boxes, and moving boxes, as well as making the not so good, good again.

This really will be the last time I do this. Our next home will truly be our forever home.

Have a superb day, enjoy your weekend.

Ooh that’s a struggle…

What are your top ten favorite movies?

As I’ve probably stated many times previously, I don’t watch a great deal of television or cinema. The last time I went to a cinema was on my 50th and that’s getting on for ten years ago now.

Most of the films I rate were what I viewed in my childhood and a number were influenced by what my parents liked to watch. As a sixties child a lot of those films were “War” based films as the 2nd World war had only ceased some 19 yrs before my arrival on the scene.

So here are 10 films (I may struggle to get that many) that feature in my top ten but in no particular order:

  • The Dam Busters
  • The great escape
  • The Glenn Miller story
  • Robin and the seven hoods
  • Priscilla Queen of the desert
  • The exorcist
  • American werewolf in London
  • Jaws
  • Close encounters of the third kind
  • Saturday night fever

Quite a range I’d say, and pretty much nothing falling within the last 20 years or so reflecting the fall from personal grace of this entertainment medium, in my personal point of view.

Now… make that a question about radio and I can go on, and on, and on….you get it 😂

Have a great day.

Heck, I miss going Walkies.

A year ago today we lost our little dog Alf. It’s been a tough year and I must say time has not been a good healer, it’s as tough now as it was back then and he’s left a massive void in our family structure.

I’d say now that if you aren’t an animal lover then read no further. You wouldn’t understand.

However if you have a modicum of appreciation for a species that loves another being, unconditionally, then please read on.

Is there a cure for a broken heart 💔

I wrote this last year at his passing, nothing has changed.

Alf – our little fellah

I really miss walking this little fellow.

Good day to you all. Have a happy and peaceful one.

Planning, reactive not proactive

How do you plan your goals?

Planning goals, now there is a conundrum if ever I heard one. If I really want / require / need something then there is a modicum of thought and planning that goes into it, otherwise most of my goals are on the fly as they say, whimsical to many and probably with no planning at all.

Things like holidays and breaks away are the wife’s domain and she does that most competently, I just pass some money her way when she needs it, so I don’t really get involved there.

Work

Personal goals for me are pretty much medium to long term and I don’t go over the top in achieving them according to any time scale. If they occur then that’s good, if not I’m not really that bothered. I have nothing planned that’s life changing or affirming, to be honest, I’m quite happy with my lot.

The only goal I’m really spending some time in planning is my pending retirement. It’s been on the cards for a couple of years now and will probably be a few more years yet, unless Lady Luck intervenes and allows me to close that door and enter through a new one any time soon. But even here I have no time scale, it will happen when it happens.

I guess this is why I am not a planner for my company as timelines and schedules are not really my thing as they say.

Things such as days out are always off the cuff, last minute, and here I am pretty good at putting together a last minute schedule. This is something I am good at, and ties in with my work. At work I’m always responding to issues that occur on the rail network and have to have a plan in place out of reactive necessity, not really having the pleasure of being able to draft a plan in advance of such a set of events.

Failed trains

That’s where i can excel, I guess that’s why I’ve been in this role for the last 25+ years, we have planners for the proactive stuff and I’m there for the reactive stuff, applying the big Elastoplast if you like. However, you always learn from these incidents and therefore fine tune activities accordingly, so if they ever occur again you can apply a different sticking plaster if you like. You learn and adapt, reactive response allows you to do that, you are not working to someone else’s plan, a plan that is just put together to satisfy auditors, and has not even been prepared by an experienced individual in the first place. Railway management is good at doing this, incompetence reigns supreme!

So in a nutshell my goals are pretty much reactive and get put into place as they occur. This is the same in my life outside of work and I guess this is a result of how I am at work. It can’t be all that bad as it seems to work well with me across all areas of my life.

So I’m not going to change just now, am I?

Here’s to that impending retirement, roll on I say.

Have a superb day.

Estate agents / Tour guides

Those who have read some of my past ramblings will know the issues we’ve had with our estate agents whilst our place is up for sale. Most of the time they are tour guides showing people around our home, these people having not the funds or any intention of purchasing. We’ve pulled them up on a number of occasions even threatening to talk to their governing body as they are so non-compliant in a number of ways that they conduct their business.

Today it has hit a comedic level.

“You might have a better chance of selling if you remove a sign from a shed in the garden”

I despair

I think they mean the shooting one that was brought by a friend when they went to Canada, however it could be the Leicester one, but that’s our local team.

Needless to say I have just completed a thoroughly enjoyable phone call, where in layman’s terms I’ve “Kicked their arses” a few times.

They are here doing another guided tour later today, and I’ve just been out and polished the sign so it really stands out 😂

They have also been given their two weeks notice of cancellation as to be honest, they are about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike.

Have a jovial day!

Run if I’m running…

Create an emergency preparedness plan.

That would something like:

If you see me running, just run after me and try to overtake me. I’m running for a purpose😂

Other than that such a thing doesn’t exist for the majority of people.

I love the attitude of the Icelandic people, they live on an island that is forever changing due to volcanic and seismic activity but they have such a mañana attitude. They know their environment and they are constantly prepared to move on out, with pretty much no real panic or concern.

One lady I spoke to who makes lovely art using glass and volcanic ash said, “ if I was constantly worrying how would I even begin to enjoy life?” And she is right you know. What’s the point of worrying about something that hasn’t even happened yet and making yourself sick over it?

The ability to get away from an incident fairly quickly is probably the best advice I’d give. But then again what do I know?

I tell you what though, I won’t be losing sleep over it.

Have a great day.

Comfort and silence

What brings you peace?

I guess this is quite easy, especially for me to answer, and I do suppose a lot of others out there will probably feel the same. I’ll read other comments later just to confirm this. But for me I’m pretty simplistic, for me it’s just two things, comfort and silence.

I know that makes me sound like I’m some kind of Monk in training but it’s not meant that way. I could have said solitude, but I like to have company, however when the occasion suits, solitude is good.

Local park

I find the company in choosing those I want to be with, those who know me and have similar likes and tastes to me. The silence/quiet/solitude aspect is what seals the peace, and to be in that position with the company you choose to be with is what truly brings me peace.

Part of my work environment

I’m a city dweller, I work in the city and the noise is 24hrs constant with no let up, I find peace in taking breaks away from that environment. Fortunately my work allows me to venture into some of the most beautiful parts of the countryside where I can find that peace, and as I work alone I also find that solitude. But that moment of solitude is often kept as a moment of time in my memory, to share at a later date with my loved ones, and so that perfect circle of finding and observing peace, starts again.

Hoping you all have a peaceful day. 🙏

Ghost radio service

No, I’m not talking about secret Russian radio stations, that seems to be all the information you can find, regarding ghost stations on the internet. This Ghost service station has popped up on DAB radio in the Uk, in Leicester, and there is no info that I can find about it online, and all that it seems to be broadcasting is someone making spooky ghost sounds. Have a look at this little video I made of it, only about 30 seconds long.

Spooky

I’m wondering if someone is having a laugh on this channel, maybe it’s on hold, just awaiting a new residency, who knows? I believe this is based somewhere in Leicester city as I’m unable to tune it, anywhere outside of the city limits. I’m surprised that our radio regulators at OFCOM are allowing it, however radio standards aren’t what they used to be nowadays.

Strange one isn’t it?

Have a lovely day all.

Daft cat

At work I frequently visit the station at Hinckley in Leicestershire and I can pretty much guarantee that this fellah is there kind of challenging me to go get him off the tracks. Personally I think it’s a person reincarnated, trying to tempt me 😂. It’s uncanny that it’s always about when I’m in the area….spooky!

Daft cat

Have a good day.