Category: Thoughts

The history

Why are we cancelling everything?

What aspects of your cultural heritage are you most proud of or interested in?

In respect of my heritage, history has always fascinated me, and now it annoys me in equal measures.

What fascinates me as it always has, since back in my childhood days, is that I love to know how people worked, lived and managed to survive in a period of time when just one random off the cuff comment could have you accused of many a crime. God forbid if you said anything about the establishment as you’d probably be missing your head before too long.

And the annoying part is that we are in a society where groups of individuals are wanting to cancel everything. People are wanting to wipe out history because they disagree with what happened. That’s history folks! The fact that we don’t (in general, good society, anyway) go around inflicting on the populace accusations of “Witchcraft” “Heresy” and whatever, means we have learned something from that history. We generally don’t make the mistakes of the past as we have become better people and learned from that horrific history that pre dates us all.

She’s right….

I can’t get enough of history, it’s potentially my favourite subject and I will gladly overdose on it in either book or film format. I just love it.

I don’t feel the urge to go and lop off someone’s head, or to take part in hanging, drawing and quartering anyone (not today anyway….) and that’s because we have all learnt, and moved on from those terrible times. We learn from the mistakes of the past, and to wipe out history leaves us in the unenviable position of not knowing the difference between right and wrong, we might as well all go and bury our heads in the sand and just imagine it never happened.

I have news for you Sherlock, it did happen, and as long as we learn, develop and make better then we are being taught by our historical misdemeanours, hopefully to never venture back to those dark old days.

Cancelling solves nothing. In the words of the Jamaican activist- Marcus Garvey,

“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots”

And he isn’t wrong, I used to have a tee shirt with that on it in my teenage years..

History, it shapes our futures. Don’t cancel it.

Have a superb day…

World mental health day

World mental health day and men’s arrogance and reluctance to talk

I just wanted to share a post that was sent to me. Today is World mental health day, and this is one of the most hard hitting, and well formed videos that I think I have ever seen. It was produced by Norwich City football club here in the Uk, and in my eyes it is probably one of the best pieces of film I have ever watched, simply just asking you to keep an eye on friends and colleagues. Simple and straight to the point.

Here in the Uk 40% of deaths in males under the age of fifty, is a result of poor mental health. A horrendously high amount you must agree, and totally avoidable if everyone was just more aware of subtle changes of those around us. Have a look at the video in the link below, it’s hard hitting as the outcome is not what you’d expect.

I have in the last couple of weeks dealt with my 20th fatality on the railway, no one explained in the beginning, on the job description, that my job would involve such horrendous outcomes, and I have witnessed scenes that I would not wish upon anyone. Do I suffer? I’d tell you no, to your face, but sometimes I’m in utter turmoil.

But I have a peer group at work, that are there for me, we are all there for each other as we get no support from work to be honest. If we didn’t talk to each other, and offer words of comfort and reassurance, I’d hate to know where any of us would be now.

Men are stubborn sods full of false bravado, I’m one of them, and I’m great at pulling the curtains over a difficult situation. Smiling eyes I might have, my confidence may seem through the roof, but in the quiet periods or the wee dark hours, I’m asking myself questions i do not know the answers to.

I’m praying I never attend another fatality, but in reality I know another one is never far away, I’m lucky that I have the support of my colleagues to see me through, we talk, we drink tea.

Talking works. It saves lives. And lets people know they are not alone.

You are not alone, and will never be. Don’t let those thoughts rule your head, those thoughts need to be out in the open. They are poison, and the poison needs to be let. Talking helps.

Stay safe. You are not alone.

We’ve found a place…and reality checks

Yesterday we viewed a house. We are both super impressed by it, and have instructed the solicitors to start work on it and have placed a holding fee upon said property.

The solicitors are already rubbing their grubby little hands, as within an hour of instructing them they are already asking for various payments in advance. I should have known.

The wife, in full supervisor mode

It’s a new home, on a site that I have passed more than a few times a day in the last two years of its construction, i witnessed the day they broke ground, so I know the area very well. It’s in a nice town about 12 miles from where we currently are, it’s pretty much all we are looking for. Believe me it will be our last move unless we hit big time on the National lottery. This so far is proving to be stressful beyond what I have ever experienced on previous moves.

Full supervisor mode

And I still believe the reason for that is the incompetence we have experienced in the early days of the selling experience. Confidence is still so exceptionally low that the sale will ever complete, and it’s strange that we cannot be excited as we are just waiting for the whole chain to collapse. We’ve never experienced such lethargy before and I can only put it down to how this whole process has evolved over the past few months. We’ve always been so excited and positive on previous sales we’ve completed before, this time though they have really kicked the trust and excitement out of us. We are but a shell of our former selves.

Anyway without sounding too dramatic, it will be what it will be. We are fortunate to have a home and if we end up staying here it is no loss at all. We are fortunate and must never forget that.

I spoke to my friend Ed today, he’s the guy I spoke about a few weeks back in my blog who has a diagnosis of stage 4 cancer in both his lungs and kidneys. He’s managing just superbly at the moment and his immunotherapy treatment is progressing just fine. Even despite his diagnosis he is so upbeat and chipper with a superb attitude.

And there’s me whining about a bloody house. What a prat. It was the kick in the pants I needed I tell ya.

It’s a horrible analogy I know, but someone is always worse off than you are.

I’m now saying thank you for what I have, everything I have been given, and for whatever I receive going forward. Just writing this post has made me go from down hearted and depressed to thankful and hopeful.

Thanks to my friend Ed, you have made me see sense and taught me a big lesson today. My friend, I wish you continued good health and I pray for you and your family on a daily basis.

Sometimes, a step back from a situation and a full evaluation of your current situation is all that is needed.

We all need to do a reality check from time to time. Today was that time for me.

And I am truly grateful for all I have in my life. I really need nothing else. Just be humble.

Have a super day my friends. Stay humble. Stay safe.

Financial leaches and stuff

It’s been a tad quiet around here lately, especially on the blogging side, and there is a reason for this. As stated recently, the house has sold but my disdain towards the estate agents still remains and to be honest I don’t trust them as far as I could throw them. For me to regain just a modicum of trust in them they would have to pull off some quite stunning and spectacular acts of estate agent “activity” whatever that may be.

The solicitors are now deeply involved and rubbing their hands and then cupping them to catch the continuous flow of cash that they seem to be extracting from us. What I’m getting at here is you manage to find a way to save a couple of thousand pounds only for these leaches to suddenly drop another bill for a similar amount. It’s just like they are using the smart speakers in the house to listen into our discussions on our finances…the swines!

Anyway that said our search for a suitable abode goes on, we have some candidates and one in particular that the wife has fallen deeply in love with. I suspect that this will ultimately be our target. The thing is that as much as I want to, I just can’t get excited. The total incompetence of the selling agents has scarred me and I expect this sale to collapse at any time, there is something that just doesn’t sit right with me. I try communicating this to the wife but I don’t want to rain on her parade, she is super excited where as I’m being super cautious, we are both at total opposite ends of the spectrum at the moment and I’m struggling to be honest. I seem to have lost faith and that’s very unlike me, but once bitten twice shy as they say.

My wife bless her, is the eternal optimist, she’s the one you want around you. Me however, I class as a pessimistic optimist, or maybe even just a realist, I don’t really know myself to be honest. I’m that one sitting very firmly, not rocking on the middle of that fence, and as I’m getting older the battle scars are ensuring that the balance is gaining a rock steady gyroscopic steadiness, I’m not budging in any way.

Work is exceedingly busy at the moment we have all kinds of issues going off and there isn’t enough hours in the day to get things done, however it is a welcome distraction from the day to day goings on in and around the home.

That said, we have a family party on Friday that I’m looking forward to, before delivering my wife to her elderly friend’s house, where she is going to spend a week looking after her. It will be a quiet week at home for me, and I’m going to miss her keeping me in check and being the ying to my yang as they say. To be honest I think I’m going to struggle, but I’ll just have to get on with it, it’s only a week and other people need her more at the moment. I’m lucky, I always have her around whereas others have no one. This is where she becomes that one little angelic presence in everyone’s life. I’m fortunate to have her presence in my life, and I’m eternally grateful for that. It still remains that I will miss her immensely. It will be a lesson in patience. I’m sure I’ll be fine, she’ll still check in and keep me on the level, that I know for sure.

All projects are currently packed away apart from a couple of easy ones that will appear on here shortly, I have a camera to service for a photographer friend, but that’s just going to have to wait.

Life plods on, I sincerely hope you are all having a peaceful time, stay safe and just continue being that wonderful presence that you are. Thank you for passing by, it’s always appreciated.

Cat versus hedgehog

As I’ve written before we have a lovely old non domesticated cat that we inherited with this property. She never enters the house even with all the doors are wide open, she loves the wild and that’s how she lives, I’m sure she is on the title deeds of the house as no one has ever owned her. As I’ve always said she staunchly defends her garden from everything including the foxes of which there are plenty around here. Her name is “Tabs”.

But there is one prickly customer who she has no defence against and that is our hedgehog visitors. When they want food, nothing, including Tabs gets in their way.

Here is a small video as proof, of when I got home this evening, taken through the window after I put some cat biscuits down.

Get out of my way Cat

We are so fortunate to have these visitors, Tabs just sits back and lets them finish their eating, then resumes where she left off.

Have a pleasant and quiet night everyone.

Smoke and wasteland

My role, occasionally requires me getting involved with some old engineering treasures. I sometimes have to go ahead of these trains to areas where there are “pinch points” and ensure that their movements through these areas are without delay or hindrance. The thing is if one of these old girls break down they can cause absolute havoc to timetabled passenger traffic, and passengers, rightly so, don’t take to well to being delayed by what they class as unnecessary big boys toys.

60103 – The flying Scotsman

One such old treasure is the steam train “The flying Scotsman” now I’ve been associated with this train one way or another for many years now, and only recently I was ahead of it as it made its way to a big 200 year train gathering up in Derby. I took the above Picture a few years ago at Tulse Hill station in South London. The bridge at this station is the most frequently hit bridge in the area causing massive delays to trains heading south. Me being there means a bridge exam can be carried out quickly and things can get moving fairly expediently. There is also quite a complex junction nearby, again if points were to fail I could get things running smoothly again, with a small team who work alongside me. This picture has been run through a Matte black mask to give it a vintage type look, it was taken on an old phone and was just snapped whilst I was checking timings with the train crew.

More graffiti- but with humour

Another train hit by the local graffiti artists passed through our patch. Whilst this one was parked up I had to laugh at the message conveyed on an empty stone hopper during the current economic crisis here in the UK . Living La Vida Broke-A! it made me smile.

Wasteland

Just a few months ago this compound next to where I am based was a buzzing hive of activity. Then our government cancelled the electrification of the Midland main line between Leicester and Sheffield, putting an end to the activity in this area. All the men and women laid off, another nail in the coffin of the cities outside of the “One and only London”

This Government really is blinkered and doesn’t really understand that there are communities and businesses north of Watford!

Nothing is going to change anytime soon.

Have a great day, in whatever you are doing.

Fire & Graffiti

We had a fire close to the railway here in the East Midlands yesterday. Acting as the incident officer I was able to get a couple of good shots off that I think show what a fantastic job our fire service do in very tough conditions.

In the heart of the fire
Sifting through the debris
Graffiti artists hit

For a bank holiday it was a busy day for me, two sizeable fires, Cows on the line and Graffiti artists hitting the trains.

Keeps me working though.

Have a great day.

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.