The Glass Ceiling

Sometime this week there was a Business Woman of the year award, now if that isn't sexist I don't know what is, but it inevitably brought about comments on "the glass ceiling".

It seems that some women who can't get the promotions they want suddenly decide it is because of a glass ceiling and then go on and on about how they need to break through this ceiling. Typically having no regard for the devastation it will cause with shards of glass raining down upon everyone else as do this smashing.

Of course the glass ceiling exists only in the minds of the few who think they are better at their jobs than they actually are, and I recall a woman I used to work with going on about the glass ceiling, before she finally got promoted by accusing the boss of some kind of sexism and therefore getting promoted by foul means.

I am drifting from my point, the actual purpose of this entry to to say one thing. OK all you women who believe your are stuck under a glass ceiling, think of this.
One woman's ceiling is another mans floor. How long will it be once you get the other side of the glass that you start moaning that all the men below the glass ceiling keep looking up, through the glass, and commenting on the colour of your knickers.

Yea, you didn't think it through very well did you.

Nissan Electric Car

Nissan have announced that they are going to produce their new electric car in the UK. It will have a range of up to 100 miles and can be re-charged from a 13amp socket costing about £1 of electricity for every 38miles.

So far excellent, but I have covered electric cars before and still have the same concerns plus a few more.
If it cost £1 for 38 miles that means it must be taking about 8KWh so to charge for the 100 miles is about 24KWh. Your domestic 13amp plug will take about 3kw maximum so a total re-charge of your car will take about 8hours. That's not too bad is it, plug in overnight and your all set, unless of course you get up in the morning and see it needs a charge before work.

And hang on a minute, I have just seen the car will be ideal for urban driving and city and town dwellers.

I guess it would as long as the town and city dwelling people don't live in houses similar to those on the left. Or it they live in a nice new town house how many of those have a garage, an empty one. Remember even Christmas wreaths get stolen off doors in towns so who is going to leave an extension lead running out the house and down the street to charge the car over night. By morning the whole street will be hooked into your electricity.

My final question is how do you drive an electric car in winter. A petrol car has a heater as a bi-product of cooling the engine, an electric car will have to have an electric heater, say at least 1KW so there goes your 100 mile range down to say 60 if your lucky.

I don't expect to be buying an electric car any time soon, what I am buying is a tow truck, there will be a fortune to be made towing electric cars to a power socket.

4 x 4 Drivers are mostly mad !

What is it about people who drive 4x4 vehicles that turns a lot of them into total twits.
On Saturday I was driving alone the A12 at 70mph in lane 2 of a 2 lane section when some idiot in her mega huge 4x4 range rover decided that the stopping distance at 70mph is a mere 6 feet (see above, one of my passengers took a photo of her and posted it on twitter, which being a twit is the place she should be). For some reason 4x4 drivers seem to think that because they cause twice as much pollution they have the right to do as they please. The sad thing is there are no cops about to stop them so until they crash they get away with it.

Earlier today I was walking along a pavement when an elderly 4x4 driver decided he wanted to post a letter. Yes, unbelievably he drove along the pavement and stopped along side the post box. You also notice that its alongside the zig zags of a pedestrian crossing too.

In case you can't see the index number its C6PWG which must stand for something so he is one of those other kind of motoring twits as well , one who buys a number plate. The other car blocking the pavement is a Volvo, so that says it all about him doesn't it.

We used to have a saying about Volvo drivers but this blog is not listed under adult content so I won't go into it here.

SPAM Email

For some reason my email spam in-box is being hit everyday with more and more rubbish trying to sell me drugs. It used to be just Viagra and grow your own penis type dross but now it seems to be more and more "buy prescription drugs", "24hr online pharmacy in Canada" and other things that I have no interest in.

What is the point of spam email, is there anyone who sees "Get a bigger penis in 7 days" and thinks yeah that must be real I will send for that. And as for "discount Viagra direct to you in 24hr" from Toxic and Poison Chemists Ltd. is anyone going to do anything other than hit delete.

What is the point of sending spam mails, who benefits, that's is a serious question, if you know the answer please hit the comment button.

Why can't spam be useful, image if you got "we deliver milk in 20 mins 24hr a day" or "run out of bread, call now", then maybe we would all be hitting "reply".

Jon Venables - It's not news!

I was in the gym last week, if you remember that is where I see SKY News but don't hear it because I am plugged into my Ipod, the breaking news was all about a 17yr old murder.
It was obviously a slow news day and as I was running Sky were busy interviewing some retired detective, retired solicitor and showing 17yr old video footage of an image that could be anyone but we are told was James Bulger.

So what was the amazing breaking news, it was that Jon Venables had committed a crime while on probation and was going back too prison. Yes that's news, but it has nothing much to do with the murder 17ys ago or anything to do with the detectives etc.

Today this news is still running, oh please, the mother of James going on and on about how she should be told what is going on. Why? What has it got to do with her. She has had "sleepless nights" over her sons killer going back to prison, again why?

Venables went to prison for the murder of her son, she has no other rights over the life of Venables, but she seems to think that she should be told about the latest crime, how that would change her life I fail to see, if she was losing sleep because he was out of prison I could understand.

Yet again the media is manufacturing news that is so irrelevant as to have no meaning.

Still it gives me something to woffle about doesn't it.

Ashcroft didn't pay his tax - yeah whatever!

You would never guess that there is an election coming up.
Political parties acting like a bunch of 10yr olds "my dad could beat your dad any day" " your mums fat" " so what you sister looks like a monkey and you smell". Seriously, that's all they are doing isn't it, throwing stupid insults at each other hoping that they find one that the whole country will join in with. There are plenty of Sun and Mirror readers who will, but the rest of us are educated enough to see the truth.

The latest nar-nar-nee-nar-nar from the Labour party is that Lord Ashcroft didn't pay his tax to Gordon, so Gordon couldn't waste it with the other £800 billion he has lost in the last year.
OK so maybe someone on planet earth thinks this is important but to call it a "critical piece of information that Parliament and the people of the country needed to know" is taking it way too far.

I was concerned at the weekend when reading in the times that the latest poll had Labour winning the next election, I don't think I or the country could stand another 4years of the bullying indecisive idiot PM we have at the moment, but look at the alternatives and you have to wonder whether we would all be better off voting for Terry Wogan.

The lesson to be taken from Lord Ashcroft is that there are ways out there that you can keep from paying tax, the critical piece of information we need to know is HOW?

Amazon.com - Those who bought this also ....

I was on Amazon.co.uk the other day, nothing unusual there, a lot of things are so much cheaper on the internet so I often shop via Amazon.
I was looking for a coffee machine, which I decided not to buy because I would need to drink about 10 cups a day to justify spending that much on a machine. While I was on Amazon I noticed the "other people who bought this also viewed" section. I can only ask what is the point of it. Apparently other people who spent too much on a coffee machine also bought a blue ray disc players. Good for them but what the flippin heck it has to do with me I don't know.

I was on Amazon again today looking for a specific type of printer paper which is about a quarter the price on line as it is in any local store, the other people bought section told me that people also viewed digital cameras, sorry, but why would I care what someone else viewed after buying something.

That is unless Amazon gets really clever and starts saying that when Esssexblogger bought a coffee machine he also viewed the share price index timesonline and then spent 10 minutes on porn sites, then I will start to worry.

I've seen the tripod police!

On the day I read about a father who was told to stop taking photos of his own child in a shopping centre by some dim witt security guard who then called the police, who unbelievably also told the guy off and to delete the pictures (yea ok copper go get a court order) I also saw the London tripod police at work.

It was amazing to see the speed they struck, the photographer and film guy were only just on Trafalgar square when the first one of the gang hit them with "what exactly are you intending to do here". In no time at all two other tripod cops had rushed into the battle then some other member of the SS in his blue coat joined in and out came the fixed penalty pads.

Its unbelievable, there are so many stories of people being threatened under anti terror laws and videos on the www of police making up laws to demand photographers detail and of people being arrested for "suspicious behaviour" when filming a Christmas parade now a father being told he is a paedophile for taking shots of his own child. How did it come to this.

As both I and the other half are frequently carrying both stills and video cameras in public places I guess it is only a matter of time until some mini-Hitler security guard or community support officer tried to tell us off, I can't wait. When asked what I am doing I shall say that I am working for Al-Qaeda taking photos of young children to train as prospective suicide bombers.

The old one eyed scotish idiot in number 10, when asked about the problem of photographers being harrassed for no reason, said that it was only right that the police had the power to control the taking of photographs in public places. Yes of course it is Gordon, the same way you want to control every other aspect of our lives.

Thank goodness we live in a democracy.

Inflation hits 3.5%

Everyone in the UK knows inflation is at 28%, petrol has risen at over that in the last 12 months, but in the land of fairies, where Gordon and the rest of his fools live, they are pretending that inflation hit 3.5% today.
As it hit 3.5% the governor of the Bank of England has to write a letter to the chancellor explaining why. I can't be the only person who thinks this is the most stupid thing ever, am I?

The letters are published but the latest one to be publish will be a cover up, here is the content of the actual letter as written by Mervyn King to Alistair Darling.:-

Darling

The CPI inflation rate to be published tomorrow by the Office for National Statistics is 3.5%, thank the lord that they are not publishing the actual figures and that your bribes and Gordon's threats continue to keep them in check.

I am therefore writing this open letter to you, on behalf of the MPC explaining why inflation has risen above target and what I propose to do about it.

The simple reason for the rise is the sheer incompetence of you and that twit in No.10 who's policies trashed the country while he was in your office and continue to do so with your help to this day. To be frank things are a mess, you are well aware inflation is running at a massive amount over 20%. For heavens sakes even tin tomatoes have gone from 13p to 31p and bananas are up to.

I welcome this opportunity to explain to you what I intend to do about this matter and while many of my colleagues in the banks are grateful to you for their jobs and bonuses this year I as governor was never under threat and my £300k a year basic and £4million pension is doing just fine thank you.

What I and the rest of the MPC will do is simple, vote for anyone but your lot at the general election.

Yours sincerely
Merv

Toyota recall, and other things in the news

Toyota Recall.
I find it interesting how some people think, for example there are people saying that if you crash in a Toyota you can not be prosecuted because they are known to have defective brakes and sticking accelerators.

That must makes it even easier to prosecute someone after a crash, not only have they been a crap driver but they decided to drive knowing they had defective brakes and an accelerator likely to stick at any moment.

In fact why let it get to that, all police vehicle examiners with prohibition powers should be out there issuing prohibition notices to all Toyota drivers, get them off the road before they crash, that's what I say.

Gordon, the really sick PM.
Regular readers of the blog know that I have no respect for the one eyed Scottish idiot we are stuck with in number 10 Downing Street, but even I was aghast at how low he will sink to keep his position.

How can anyone so awful be in charge of the country, OK that was a rhetorical question its because he threatens anyone who tries to speak against him.

Is there anyone else who would use their dead child as a tool for political aims. To go on national television and use the "cry for me you bunch of easily led fools" ploy going on about how he held his dying child as it dies. You sick individual Brown how on earth do you live with yourself.

The Banking Crisis Explained

I have heard an explanation of the banking crisis in a way I can understand so it is only right that I pass it on, in case like me you were confused why we have given them billions of pounds.

It is simple, the banks use their money like a gambler and they put bets on things, this week apparently they are all betting on the Euro.

How they do this is a mystery.

The banking crisis is apparently as simple as this; your best mate borrowed your life savings and lost it all on the roulette wheel. Then he came back to you and said "sorry pal I lost your life savings, but don't worry you go get a loan and give me the money and I will go and win this time". Now we are in the "mates gone back to the casino" time, because some twit gave them more money.
Still whats £800 billion between friends. Nothing at all if you believe Gordon.

An honest driver- Crashes

It is not often I find a driver who says that the way he was driving was not anything other than fantastic, good or average,but today I found a driver who told me how he thought he was driving and I totally agreed.

I was coming through a 30 mph limit at 30, when about 100m behind me appeared a blue car doing considerably more, I would estimate about 60mph. In no time at all the car is behind me then along side me and then in front of me. I remarked to my other half in the passenger seat what a talented driver the man who just over took was, ok I said whats a wan**r , as we watched him speed ahead until he approached the next bend when he hit the brakes hard.
Obviously one of the many drivers who can only drive fast in a straight line and panics at every bend I thought. Down the hill is a right hand bend where we see his car mount the nearside bank disappear for a second before we see it across the other side of the road and hit the ditch.

I had to think serves you darn well right as I parked opposite the ditched car grabbed a fluorescent jacket I keep in the boot for just such occasions and wandered over to the driver. On first opening his door I feared he was having a heart attack, but he was just shocked and otherwise uninjured and I was surprised to see the driver was in his mid 60s. With his car well and truely stuck in the ditch I asked "what were do doing, I wondered where the emergency was as you came past me in the 30 limit" to my amazement he replied "I was driving like a c**t. I was almost speechless at his honesty.

I have to wonder , when he comes to fill in his insurance claim wil he tell the truth again or put "lost control on ice" .

It can be good to be a grump!

I was accused of being "one of the grumps I keep running into" on a web forum I wrote on the other day, which got me thinking.

The reason I was called this was because I remarked that, amazingly, I had seen a policeman walking in the town and that he was wearing a tunic, which is not the correct uniform. There was more to the post but I won't bore you with it.

The another forum member told me that the tunic has been good enough for 150 years and was good enough today etc. No it isn't, it is restrictive and uncomfortable and has no place in modern policing other than court, funerals and ceremonial, but lets get back to being a grump.

If a grump is someone who says things could be better and things should be different then I am proud to be a grump because if you take the view "always look at the positive and stop complaining" we would still be living in caves. Maybe I should explain my reasoning here.
Go back however many years you believe it was that we were living in caves, the look on the bright side cave man was happy to be alive and spent all day smiling at the wonders of the world eating and nothing else, while the grump was fed up with a damp stinking cave and set forth making things better.

While Mr everything is brilliant caveman died of the pox, brought on by thinking his cesspool of a cave was really great, grump caveman was never happy and kept wanting a cleaner, brighter, dryer place to live so kept improving things.

I think you get the picture, and maybe are thinking of reasons why it is better to be positive, I agree positive has its place, but without the grumps in the world, those who are not happy with the way things are, nothing would have changed and we would all be living, and dying, in a cesspool cave.

Maybe even a place as bad as Vange in Basildon.

Airport Security

Here is a thought for you, there was information the other day that the new body scanners being installed in airports take just 35 seconds to scan you. Now that might not seem long but look at it this way.

Stansted airport handles, give or take, 24million passengers a year, now not even considering that the passenger numbers are not spread evenly over the year think of this :-

24,000,000 times 35 seconds is 233,333 hours of scanning and say the airport is taking passengers through 18hours a day that is 12962 days of scanning, taken that there are 365 days in a year that means they need 36 scanners to get all the passengers through. When have you ever been to Stansted and seen more than 6 security positions in use.

Another great knee jerk decision made by the wondrous Gordon Brown.

Stealing from Dara O'Brien - when you have to show your wobbly bit before you are allowed to leave the country, the terrorists have already won anyway.

It's my path I'll do as I darn well like!

The world has gone completely mad but some of the things coming out of this snowy spell defy belief.

For example people are going around saying "don't clear your path or you will be liable if someone slips on it" yeah OK just try it mate. Then a paper apparently said if you don't clear your path and the milkman or postman (or woman) slips on it you will be liable.
No sorry I am not, if you walk on snow or ice and don't expect it to be slippery that's your fault not mine. And if I do choose to clear my path, not that I will, its also your fault if you don't think oh look this has been cleared but all around is snow and ice so it might still be slippery.

Those eediots who go around saying health and safety to every thing also need a kick in the backside. I defy anyone to find me anything from the health and safety executive that tells me what I can and can not do with or on my path.

And another thing, schools are apparently being shut for "health and safety reasons", fair enough if the teachers can not get in but to the drongo woman I heard saying that the school had to be shut because the playground was icy I say this. GET A LIFE!
If the playground was too dangerous how dangerous was it for the children off school making an ice slide outside my house on Friday.

It's only snow - Deal with it!

This snow is very nice, so long as you don't need to drive anywhere, go to work, go food shopping, on catch a flight on holiday. But it is after all just snow, other countries carry on no matter how much of it falls or how low the temperature dips.

I hear people saying "well yes, other countries cope because they expect it and are prepared" then the same people will go on "still this is nothing compared with the winter of ...... " yeah, OK.

Now let me get this right, depending upon who you talk to the winter of 61, 63, 66, 77, 78, 81, 84 or 87 were all worse than this one. So already we have 8 years when it has been terrible in the UK or parts of it and that's not including the odd year where there has been a few days of snow, oh and this year.

So why are we not prepared. Possible because we insist on dumping millions of tonnes of salt on roads when it does nothing useful for falling snow. What is needed is snow ploughs and mechanical path and road clearing, together with the proper used of winter tyres, or at least the banning of summer tyres and the enforced fitting of all weather tyres on our cars.

Oh yes, the people in power say, but we can not afford to buy machines, we prefer to waste millions on salt. If they can manage it in places all over the world why can't we manage it here.

Oh yes that's right, they expect it there and we have only had since 1961 to prepare for snow clearing in the UK.

I saw a gritting lorry!

Its true, I was walking along a local road today and I actually saw a gritting lorry, and what is more impressive it had grit on it. OK, it was driving along at about 40 mph, in a 30, and the amount of grit it was spraying out was possibly enough to melt the ice in a medium sized ice bucket, but at least it was there.

The interesting thing is why in the cab of the lorry it needed 3 men in yellow jackets, one to drive and 2 to do exactly what?

The county council has announced that it is running out of grit, because it has "been gritting for 27 days consecutively" . Didn't anyone tell them that winter is more than 27 days in the UK, in fact it is actually 3 months minimum. Or is it that they spent all the money on consultants to work out how much salt would be needed if we had a bad winter.

To add to the mess this country is in the latest gossip is that the country is actually running out of gas, well its not gossip its actually been announced by the national grid that they will be reducing supplies to company because of record demand. Ho hum, didn't anyone tell them that 70million people now live in the UK and most of them like to keep warm.

I would say that this country is going down hill, but that seems a little too obvious.

Aircraft Security - This plane smells like sh-t!

The latest aircraft security scare, or was it another ploy by the USA for an excuse to take away more personal freedom, has led to an increase in security and the anticipated introduction of yet more checks and procedures to make air travel slower, sorry, I mean safer.

More aircraft fall out of the sky through maintenance errors and manufacture faults then ever will from terrorist attacks, but where is the money to be made from scaring people over that one. Still in the spirit of all things control freak the USA and the rest of the world are looking at yet more ways to slow down your leaving the country by air.

One of the new security measures, in the US at least, forbids passenger from leaving their seats for the last hour of the flight. That sounds like the most stupid thing yet but also will have a very unpleasant effect on air travel. Pass me the air freshener!

Imagine, your on long-haul and 1 and half hours before you land they wake you up and give you a nice breakfast and cup of coffee. Soon after breakfast you find you need to use the toilet, but oh no, its only 59 mins before you land. You sit there, its no good you really need to go, you summon the cabin crew but nope you have to wait until we land. For some people waiting an hour may be possible, but for many it might not. Then there is the possibility that the aircraft might be in the stack for 15.

I won't go into more detail but I think aircraft are going to become unpleasant places, especially for the last hour of any flights.

I only hope the cleaning crew use strong disinfectant from now on - yuck!

New Year - Points from the News.

We, the planet, made it through another year and yes another decade. Everyone is wandering around saying happy new year again. But it only takes a quick look at the news to see it is a case of happy new year, same as the old one.

Lets see now, there is the new years honours again, where this time a racing driver has been given an honour, presumably for his contribution to CO2 and his bank balance, and Jean-Luc Picard got his for saving the universe so many times. Its all bunkum really isn't it.

Also in the news, proving further that nothing changed in the new year, is Gordon Brown ordering a review of airport security, well that's good considering I don't think he could order a cup of coffee in Starbucks, what is far more likely is that the manufactures of the full body scanner have sent him a nice little incentive to tell airports to waste some money on them.

Other than changing the year date from 2009 to 2010, but where do we even write that these days, not much changes with the coming of a new year.
I wish I could get excited about these things, but the fact is that by Monday all the hype of a new year and decade will have faded, only the empty cava bottles will remain in the recycling bin as a reminder that something happened recently.

Chillax

Some time ago on a holiday we were sat at dinner opposite a family with two youngish children. After the meal the father said to the children, " come on now it's time to go and do some chill out". Oh please NO! How can you turn something like chilling out into an activity that you have to go and do. That defeats the whole object of it.

I was reminded of it when I received a text today, after declining an invite to a social gathering, saying "no problems go chillax". For goodness sake, have the morons who think it is clever to use management speak invaded relaxation too.

There is no way that I will go chillax, it is a preposterous word with no place in the language of normal people.

White Christmas

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, as the song goes.
Millions of Christmas cards are sent showing idyllic scenes with snow covered churches, fields and old cottages or Robins sitting on snow covered branches. Isn't it lovely all white and clean.

Then the week before Christmas the UK is hit by a few centimeters of snow, you would think the world was about to end. Everyone starts complaining, schools shut, roads become blocked with crashed cars, rail and air transport systems grind to a halt.

I am dreaming of a White Christmas, so long as it only falls on Christmas morning, after all the essential workers have got in and melts before they need to change shifts.

As more snow is predicted for the North of England and the Met office issues another warning of winter weather perhaps they would like to check the calender, oh look its December in the UK!

Increased Airport Security - AGAIN

Yet again someone decided to blow himself up on a plane, why these people can't stop at home with a can of petrol and a zippo I really don't know.

And, so again "the President" of the USA has ordered increased security at all airports.
OK right, yawn. There are so many problems with that "order" the first being that it is a total waste of time.
I have just been in and out of the county by air and other than taking my kit off there was not much that didn't get searched. As usual I walked through the arch and it went bleep so got the full rub down. Let me assure you the guy searching wasn't shy on where he put his hands either.

The bomber this time apparently moulded explosives to the shape of his body and hid it in his underpants. (sounds like a load of balls to me)

There is one solution, I dare to mentions it at the risk of the power crazed idiots who now run the world actually thinking it a great idea.
Every passenger will have to fly naked, yup, and before you think "Cor yeah, cool views", remember that you could still be sat next to the 25stone 5ft2in woman from Manchester who would normally be in her tracksuit bottoms and lager stained T-shirt. Prior to take off everyone will have a full body x-ray, then to be escorted onto the plane and strapped into their seat by a nude security guard, so that they can not possibly pass you anything.

The seat belt check will be more fun for the flight crew, I have it on good authority it is already know as "the crotch check" and in future it will be more obvious who is well hung and who has just got PETN stuck to their penis.

Silent Night- Holy Night (Never trust on-line translators!)

Over the Christmas period I shall be singing just one carol, it will be silent night, the thing is it will be sung in German and in the company of Germans and Austrians so I thought I would brush up on the German version as there are a few bits that you have to fit the German cleverly into the tune.

Because I had very little to do at the time I thought I would cut and paste the German version into an on-line translator, even I didn't expect the result to be quite so funny.

Try singing the output of the translator next time you sing Silent Night: -

Satisfies night, holy night, Everything sleeps; lonely is awake
High-holy pair only trusted. Holder boy in the curly hair,
Sleep in more heavenly rest! Sleep in more heavenly rest!

Satisfies night, holy night, Herdsmen only kundgemacht
By the angels Halleluja,
It sounds loud from a distance and near:
There Christian, the rescuer is! There Christian, the rescuer is!

Satisfies night, holy night,
God son, o as laughs Lieb' from your divine mouth,
There the saving Stund' strikes us;.
Christian, in your birth! Christian, in your birth!

"Climategate" - Global Cooling

So there we have it, scientist have been fudging the data for years to keep themselves in jobs and provide fodder for the multi billion pound businesses that have sprung up around global warming also allowing governments to have jollies with champers and big dinners at conference after conference to discussing global warming when all along it is most likely that the climate has been cooling for some time.

And what do those who still believe CO2 is warming the planet have to say now, well one was simply demanding that the people who hacked the computers with the truth hidden on be found and prosecuted for the serious crimes they have committed. Yeah OK.

Various professors and others who's jobs will likely evaporate if the truth comes out are saying anything to make it seem that the hackers have lied about what they have found, but having spent some time looking at the data it does seem to be pretty conclusive, we have been being led down the garden path for some time.

I am not one to say I told you so, but hey I did, its all a scam but even if truth prevails I doubt we will see our CO2 based car tax and others refunded anytime soon.

Waste Food

The latest "save the planet" idea of the local council is a waste food collection. If it follows a nearby council it will now purchase thousands of plastic boxes for us all to put the slops in. But hold on, what is waste food, I don't have any?

Supermarkets waste food by the tonne simply because they don't give a stuff about how much they throw away so long as they have covered the profits on what they have sold, but do people really have enough waste food for a collection. I guess some do.

I have seen a little of the TV program where families are throwing away 40-50% of the food they buy, but for goodness sake don't collect it from them, prosecute them for being idiots or make a new law against wasting food. Lets face it with over 300o new laws in the last 10 years another one won't matter will it.

The only waste food we have is meat bones, and the rag and bone man (or woman) went long ago.

Some one has worked out:-
We throw away:
860,000 tonnes of fresh vegetables and salads
870,000 tonnes of drink
500,000 tonnes of fresh fruit
680,000 tonnes of bakery
660,000 tonnes of home made and pre-prepared meals
290,000 tonnes of meat and fish
530,000 tonnes of diary and eggs
190,000 tonnes of cakes and dessertse

67,000 tonnes of confectionery and snacks
An average £480 a year for every household of 2 people and £680 for a family.

That is totally bonkers, and that is an average, so there must be a lot of people like me who don't throw food away thus some are throwing away even more. Crazy!

I look forward to my plastic box, it will come in handy for something I am sure. That is of course if they don't decide to prosecute people who don't put it out each week.

Boy with his finger in the dyke (2009)

I thought it was about time that the well known story by Mary Dodge of the little boy, Hans Brinker, who saved the town by putting his finger in the dyke was updated to the modern day so here goes:

It was a lovely autumn afternoon as Hans Brinker headed off to take fresh cakes that his mother had baked to his blind friend Jansen. Jansen loved visits from Hans, not many people visited the old man these days, with the fear of pedophiles rife old men living on their own, even blind ones, were considered too much of a risk to let children near.

On his way home Hans was walking by the dyke when he heard the sound of running water, that's funny he thought where is that coming from. He look around and found a small hole in the dyke with water spraying out. All children in Holland know how important it is to keep the water out of the town so Hans grabbed his mobile and phoned the police, who in turn contacted the council who then contacted the sub-contractor who sent an email back to the town council.

The following morning the town council opened the email and referred it to the department dealing with dykes who said that it was not a gender issue so forwarded it to the engineers.
This was major, they knew a hole in the dyke was serious so they called in a number of professors who together with super computers began to produce mathematical models of how the hole might look after 1 day, 1 month, 1 year and 10 years.

The professors presented their findings to the people of the town by a series of leaked emails to the press saying how the hole in the dyke could mean the town would be flooded in less than a year and explaining in detail how in the worst case the entire country could be flooded.

The professors were given a grant, began touring the area giving presentations, making videos such as "an inconvenient leak" and building a new dyke change institute.

Meanwhile the day after finding the hole Hans Brinke had told his father who being a builder had mixed up some cement and filled the hole. The professors knew nothing about this and continued to work with their computers predicting, forecasting and scaring people until one afternoon a professor was out for a walk when he noticed Hans standing with a friend and pointing at the dyke, "look" he heard him say, "that's where my dad filled the hole I found".

The professor pondered then headed back to his office and began another run of his model.

So who is the statue at the top, that's Hans a statue was erected to him in 1950 to please the tourists who thought the story was true and expected to see something about it.

Turn That Phone Off!

As you fill your car with petrol you will probably spot a sign similar to the one on the left, indicating that we must not use our mobiles on the forecourt of the petrol station. It is one of those notices that every petrol station seems to have but if you ask them why I bet they don't know.

A friend of mine had a new car with something really strange about the petrol cap that the previous owner had fitted and she made the mistake of calling up from the forecourt to ask how to open it. The woman assistant came flying out of the office yelling and shouting at her to put the phone away, but for what reason.

There has never in the history of petrol or mobile phones been an explosion on a petrol forecourt caused by a mobile phone, no there hasn't, and why should there be.

There is the technical ramblings on the Internet that the electro static can build up on you and discharge as you fill the tank etc, but there is a huge problem with the "a spark can blow up the petrol station" theory. Any car with a poor HT (high tension) lead, you know the one that makes that lovely light display when you open the engine cover in the dark, thousands of sparks flying all over the place, would be a far greater risk than something from a mobile.

Interestingly if there is any risk of exploding when you fill up it is more likely to be for women with nylon nickers, yes, apparently women are less likely to touch the car body when they get out of the car and the first time they earth the static built up is when they touch the petrol nozzle into the tank.

So us men are ok and if your a woman, the next time someone comes rushing out to tell you off for using your mobile simply smile and say "Its OK I've taken my panties off in the car".

Do you want a carrier bag ............

Since the Carpetright fiasco I am always a little wary of mentioning store names in a blog, but as most other places are more grown up than Carpetright, and lets face it no other shop is trying to sell us goods by scaring the heck out of people with snakes, spiders and god knows what else crawling over their products, I think I will risk it.

In a branch of Wilkinson's as I got to the till the very pleasant lady said "do you want a bag", "no thanks", then she went on "postage stamps, mobile phone top ups", "OK stop" I don't need a bag stamps or anything other than what I have put in front of you thank you. "You must get fed up if you have to say that to every customer" I asked and she told me that if she doesn't ask she would be disciplined. No way, seriously?

But this could get out of hand, what if some manger decides that none of us remember anything we go into the store for, the next time I get to the till might be:-

"do you need a bag, postage stamps, mobile phone top ups, sugar, tea, deodorant,toothpaste, matches, dishwasher tablets,shower gel, ....................................toilet rolls, christmas lights, pens, pencils, lawn food, bird food, mouse traps, light switch, fire lighters, saucepans, oven gloves, children's toys, paint, wool, sour cream ........................................................................... wet wipes, dental floss, ............................tea towel, air freshener .......................................... "etc. etc.

Won't it be great if it does happen, then when she gets to the end of the list Ill say, now there was something, what was it.

999 - Tell me the Postcode or you don't get an ambulance!

It is amazing the lengths that people will go to to reduce the number of reported road accidents in the UK, the latest seems beyond belief.

A friend of mine was walking along The Mall in London when he witnessed a cyclist get hit by a car in front of him. As people went to help he did the most obvious thing, took out his mobile phone and dialed 999.
He asked for ambulance and police and was then totally stumped when the operator said "whats the post code there". "Um, I have no idea, its The Mall London, you know the red road that goes to Buckingham Palace" , "well I need the post code", "I don't have it how would I know it" "well without it I can't do anything". This went on for several minutes until he gave up as no-one around knew the postcode so he hung up, to be rung back a few moments later asking if everything was OK because he had been cut off on and emergency call.

For F..... sake, this is unbelievable isn't it, there he was with a cyclist laying beside a taxi and the dum twit operator wanted the post code, how would any of us know the post code of a road we are walking along, why would we.

If it had been me I would have been tempted to say either ER2 2ER or "I am a terrorist with a rucksack of explosive in The Mall and I am walking towards the Palace" I bet they would have sent some police then.

Save the newt, kill the humans

I was at a nature reserve I often go to and several things occurred to me.

It is relaxing and interesting watching wildlife and birds but there are groups of people who go to the hides who I really wish I could understand.
I say groups but I am not exactly sure what the difference is between the two other than a member of one group was slagging off the other last week. The groups I am referring to are the serious bird watchers and the twitchers. (I thought they were one and the same but I am obviously wrong)

Why do they do it, how do they find it so interesting, and why can't I understand it are just some questions that spring to mind as I see someone with a note book and £3000 of spotter scope who tells me he has been there since 8am and its now around 3pm.

By all means be interested in birds but when I hear people having an orgasm because there is a lesser spotted dingle fisher flying over I just don't get it. I would love to get so carried away but I am just as happy watching the bird over there, the one with the long beak and the brown bit that just caught something.

I was in a hide the other day and someone asked me "have you seen the sandpiper", nope sorry and if it was pecking my left ear I wouldn't know it was a sandpiper, perhaps I should, but I don't and maybe that's wrong, or maybe they are, who knows.

It has now become a standing joke between and the other half, "have you seen the sandpaper [sic]" said in a fake posh accent, now describes anyone who is a little too into bird watching.

I have wandered off track of the title so let me get back onto it. The nature reserve joins onto a firing range where today the army were busy blasting the heck out of something with machine guns. It just seemed wrong to be in an area where if you trod on a newt you would be barred for life and yet 1000m away people were training hard to kill humans.

Environmental damage can be great!

I have been on a short break on the Norfolk Broads, November is definitely the time to go because most people don't go there this time of year and instead of being like the M25 on water you can cruise along, at a top speed of 5mph (exactly like the M25), but you don't see anyone else for hours at a time.

I doubt there are many people who would want to fill in the Norfolk Broads but that is exactly what should be done, isn't it , because the broads were created by environmental "damage" on a huge scale.

If you grab yourself a shovel today and start to dig out peat someone comes along and tells you you are trashing the planet and makes you stop. Lets face it if you buy Irish moss peat for the garden these days you are made to feel like the worst eco-terrorist ever.

The Norfolk Broads were created by people digging peat for heating for about 500 years beginning in the 9th century. Then around the 1400s the sea level began to rise and the broads were flooded.
Which in itself is interesting, because unless I read the wrong books the 1400s were not that well know for Range Rovers, long haul flights and gas turbine generators, the things we are told will cause the sea level to rise.

My point is this, 1200 years ago people did what some today call destruction of the environment yet the result was that nature recovered to produce a fantastic habitat for millions of creatures and a scene so wonderful that thousands of tourists head for it each year.

Next time someone moans at you for buying peat for the tomatoes just say "Norfolk broads".

BANNG

Have you ever noticed that some people get carried away with their titles.
I used to have a job where every so often Captain Plunket would phone up, he always introduced himself as "Captain Plunket here" although the (late) gentleman had left the army many years ago he still insisted on being called Captain.

And so it is with people who feel insecure with themselves, they need some kind of title to bolster their ego. There is a gentleman living nearby who used to be a professor, now he is retired and meddling in things he is still being written about as professor Blowers OBE etc.

The trouble with this kind of person is that the easily led go "oh gosh a professor he must know what he is talking about", in the same way as they used to go "oh gosh a bank manager he must be trustworthy". In the case in point the professor is meddling in the decision to build a new and much needed nuclear power station and has set up a group called BANNG, hence the title of this entry.

Many people nearby are falling for the ramblings of the professor who was once a government advisor so should hardly be trusted with anything important, and he is busy "proving " all kinds of rubbish about how this and that will happen if they build a power station. Did I mention there was one there before and somehow we all survived.

Me, I have never been swayed by titles and am sure the most knowledgeable people in the word are just Mr, Mrs or Miss . Professor is a job title and connected to a place of learning or study and I remember well the saying that as someone becomes an expert in a field they learn more and more about less and less, until they eventually know everything about nothing.

Me, I know nothing about everything, but give me something to write about and Ill find an opinion.

Let the poor save the planet!

I don't believe humans are totally responsible for global warming, and the more I hear from those scientists who risk disagreeing with the government view the more I am convinced that the planet will warm up no matter how much CO2 I am responsible for.

But just for a moment assume I believe all the hogwash about CO2, am I the only person who has realised that it is only the poor who are being required to cut CO2 and save the planet. The rich just don't give a stuff.

Even the super rich who are joining the CO2 band waggon preach one thing then jet off in their private jets (no air passenger tax or CO2 offsetting there) to mansions with heated pools.

While Mr poor takes advantage of the scrappage scheme to buy a new 1.25cc fiesta, it is a low car tax, low CO2 and all he can afford, Mr Rich is buying his new Range Rover for his wife to take the brats 1 mile to school "safely", car tax is no problem to him, his bonus is more than Mr Poor will earn in 5 years.

Mr Poor has put a solar panel on his roof, it cost him a fortune so he took out a loan, in 25years he will have saved his money back.
Mr Rich has a new pad for his helicopter.
Mr Poor books a family cycling holiday in Norfolk because it is a very low carbon holiday while Mr Rich is flying his private jet to Spain where he will join his boat and burn 800litres of diesel an hour for 2 weeks.

Mr Poor has turned his heating down to save money and produce less carbon, Mr Rich has built a new swimming pool, heated by gas.

And so it goes. If you believe what we are told endlessly about CO2, you have to wonder why it doesn't apply the the rich. Dont you ?

Post Script - Point proved again today, the flumps who just won £45 million immediately took a trip on a boat, booked a long haul holiday and plan to buy a top of the range "sporty Range Rover"

Come on you poor people, cut the CO2 will you !

Christmas Trees

Straight to the point on this entry, why do people buy black Christmas trees?

In a shop, where most of the ground floor is Santas that will drive you crazy within 3 minutes, reindeer that look as if they were made by a 5 year old and other Christmas trash, they have more black Christmas trees than green ones.

A little bit of research and it seems that in past years black trees have become trendy for some reason.

I might be mistaken, but before shops took over Christmas as the celebration of retail spending and a way to balance the sales figures before the new year, Christmas was a celebration of the birth of Christ. Yes I know that it was actually another celebration that was adopted by Christians, but that is a debate for another time.
What I want to know is why would you, even if you're celebrating retail therapy rather than Christ, go out and buy a black tree.

If you run an undertakers perhaps, or are trying to produce a scene for a forest fire you might want a black tree but there is nothing in the least joyful looking about it, in fact if someone were to place one in my house I would find it just a little creepy.

At least if the long summer drought has killed off all the real spruce trees this year they can still be sold, all they need is a quick run over with a blow torch and instantly sellable, which isn't a word but Ill refer you to an earlier post on language.

The Tale of the Useless Gardener

Several years ago the parks department appointed a gardener to run the village park. The gardener had no qualifications in horticulture but he told the people he was really good and would make their park the best in the country.

Because they trusted the parks department the people paid him well knowing they were investing in a park for the future, they left him to decide what plants to buy and where to plant them. All summer long he planted many many tropical plants from far and wide making the village look fantastic.

Several people in the village were concerned that he was planting so many tropical plants and spending so much money, they thought that the plants would die in the winter. But the gardener told them he knew what he was doing and that everything was completely OK.

The parks department collected a huge Christmas bonus for the gardener from the people of the village for making the gardens look so good.
Then winter arrived, the plants at first seemed to be OK, but one by one they began to turn brown and die until there was nothing but dead rotting plants in all the gardens

The gardener saw the plants and said "no matter give me more money and I will go and buy more plants". Some of the people thought this was wrong but Mr Brown the head of the parks department said it was OK and gave the gardener a huge sum of money from the village funds to buy new plants.

Spring arrived and the gardener re-planted all the gardens with tropical plants and the village looked wonderful, but then a late frost killed every one of the new plants. The villagers were furious with the gardener for what he had done. But Mr Brown said it was not his fault and gave him more money.

The gardener replanted all the tropical plants and all summer the gardens looked splendid but the villagers were not pleased, they knew what would happen as soon as winter arrived.

Christmas came around again and the people said that the gardener should not get a bonus because he had done a terrible job and cost them a fortune. But the parks department said that if they didn't give the gardener a good bonus he would leave and go to another parks department. The people of the village were delighted at the though of the gardener going, they knew he was a rubbish gardener and was doing a terrible job.

But the parks department took the money from the people of the village and paid the gardener a huge Christmas bonus so that he would not leave.

Based on a true story ? - You can bank on it.

Nick Griffin - BNP - Question time

I thought I would share my observations and comments on the leader of the BNP who appeared on BBC Question Time last night.

That's it, that's all the time I can be bothered to spend on him.

Womb transplants - What the heck for?

The scientists, doctors or someone today has announced that womb transplants have come a step closer.
You may disagree but what the heck are they doing. If I had my way IVF would be banned along with any other types of fertility treatment. The world is over-populated and only just able to sustain the number of humans that we have at the moment, so why do we need to help another group of women have babies.

Again you may think what an awful person I am to make such a suggestion, but truly we need to stop helping people have babies and leave it to the will of God who can and can not have a child.

There is no earthly reason to help create more babies than are naturally conceived, and if you are a woman who wants a child and can't have one then tough. Think of it as your way of helping the planet.
If nothing is done to slow the expansion of the population then it will only be a few generations before starvation hits big time as countries stop exporting food and seas become empty of fish.

Persil - What is the point of it?

The heading is Persil but it could just as easily be Aerial or any other of the multitude of powders and liquids that are on the shelves. The reason I say Persil is because that happens to be the one that is by my washer at the moment, but they are equally as useless.

Let me justify that, at the weekend I enjoyed a takeaway meal, unfortunately so did my t-shirt upon which I dropped just one piece of rice with sauce. The next morning together with the rest of the washing in went my shirt. A nice long wash at 60degC, I don't ever do 40deg especially if it has one of those stupid "think environment wash at 30" labels, the necessary amount of Persil added plus water softener and the washer left to do its thing.

A little over an hour later I unloaded the washer and you guessed it the greasy rice mark is still there. Yet how come on the TV ads the clothes go in covered in everything and the next minute there they are all glowing white again.
I suggest that there is a trick of TV, the soiled clothes go in the bin and new ones find their way to the washing line.

I have yet to find a washing powder or liquid that removes any actual dirt from clothes, everyone knows this is the case too because they are happy to buy Vanish or Shout or some other chemical that will get clothes clean to add to the already overprices washing chemicals. And you guessed it these chemicals don't work either.

The washing chemical market is worth billions of pounds and for 30 or more years the TV has been telling us that this or that washes whiter, brighter or whatever so we all waste money on them in the misguided belief that the adverts are true and they will remove stains from our clothes.

Washing powders and liquids must be the longest running con in the history of retail. On holiday the washer only had these "eco" balls to wash with, they have been proved to be no better that washing with water alone, yet surprisingly I thought the clothes came out just as clean and fresh as when I wash with Persil.

So, Eco balls wash as well as Persil, and they wash as well as water alone. Ill leave you to draw your own conclusions on that.

Climate protest & other Points from the news

Climate change protesters

The great unwashed drongos were out over the weekend again, this time they were in Nottingham trying to "shut down a coal fired power station".

Who do these people think they are and why are they not treated as terrorists and shot, or, I have another idea that might wake these low-life up to reality.

Let them into the power station to turn off the generators, then tell them they can all go home but to remember the journey home, in the VW camper smelling of cats, might take longer than usual because there are no traffic lights working and if they need petrol they are out of luck because the petrol stations can't pump and the service stations are all shut.

When they get home to their squats proud of their days work they can't have a cupa tea because the power is off, can't cook, cant buy food can't use the phone or mobile, cant go on the computer, can't use the toilets because the sewage treatment is out of action and oh there isn't any water either or gas.

So come on all you climate change dim-witts, with your mates stopping any new nuclear power stations being built or trying to turn off the gas ones, how exactly do you think you are going to live now.

Security undresses you at the airport

The latest security scanner to be trialed at Manchester airport strips you off so the security staff can see through your clothing.
How exciting for them, they can apparently see how well hung the guys are and if the woman with the big, you know whats, is using a wonder bra or had implants.

Within days of saying it is not a breach of our rights for someone to be using a device to see through our clothes someone has stopped them scanning anyone under the age of 18 because its an offence to make an indecent picture of a child.

Hold on, "make a picture" I thought they were just looking for explosives and knives I didn't realise that if I walked through my image would be posted on www,airportsecuritywanksite.com or some such place.

Two other things come to mind, if it is OK to scan someone who is 18yrs old then why is it wrong to scan someone who is say 17yrs and 363 days, and secondly isn't there just a chance that a terrorist might be under 18 or heaven forbid get their under 18yo offspring to carry the weapon through.

If its OK to subject me to being virtually nude as I walk past security in the interest of safety then it should apply to everyone regardless of age, or no one at all.

Everyday we get closer to the science fiction that used to scare us, and everyday we let it happen.

MPs' Expenses - They still don't understand

Funny how views of a person can change over just one thing they say. I had thought that Anne Widdecombe was one of the more sensible of the loonies in power, until she opened her mouth about expenses this week.

Anne raved that "if any other employer had changed the rules" on expenses after you had claimed them and "stuck fastidiously to the rules" then the employer would be up before a tribunal.

Sorry Anne, you and the rest of your mates have really still not got it have you.

I defy you to find any other employer in the world who would pay you expenses to clean your moat, buy a £15k bookshelf, pay to furnish a second home, build a duck house, pay for your usual daily expenses of living twice and still give you a huge salary.

If any other employer paid expenses for all these things to all their staff they would be bankrupt and out of business, or if you claimed them you would be out of a job at the least and the way some of you lot have fiddled your claims, possibly in prison.

Can you believe that some MPs are thinking of taking the case to the High Court, I guess they are not worried about how much that will cost, it will just go on expenses.

Debt Collectors - Pay what you don't owe or else!

Have you ever wondered where the saying "crime doesn't pay" comes from when crime quite obviously does pay very well.

Three years ago we were victims of identity theft and had £10k worth of fraud done on one of our credit cards. To this day we are sure that a call centre sold details because the fraudsters knew everything, and other people with the same credit card company had similar experiences. Still as the police were not interested and after a lot of hassle we got the money refunded we thought the matter was dead and gone.

Until this week. Imagine my shock when opening a letter from a phone company I have never had any contract with to be told that they had sold my debt to a debt collector and a letter from the debt collector saying pay us in 10 days or we will send the boys round. I could not grab the phone fast enough.

The debt collecting agency were, as most probably are, totally obnoxious taking the line that you owe us money and you will pay us unless you can prove otherwise.
I told them that I had never had a phone with these people and had never even visited the part of the UK where I was supposed to have lived. Then I realised that there was no point talking with them. They had put some kind of black mark against our credit rating, were demanding money that I did not owe and were threatening me but I had no redress at all. What kind of country do we now live in.

Luckily we still had the paperwork from the credit card fraud and looking through it I found an entry with a phone company, so not only had they bought a phone they had obviously set up the payments against our card and so as soon as the card had been stopped the debt began to grow.

I phoned the gangsters, oops debt collectors, again and tried to give them details of the credit card investigation but they were not interested, telling me that they didn't believe me and anyone could tell them a story like that. Well yes they could, but taking the logic he was giving me they can, and probably do, pick anyone at random and demand money, because how do you prove you don't owe something.
It is funny that they apparently have "access to information to trace us" to our home address but not to establish that we never lived where the phone was sent.

So crime does pay and the innocent get threatened and hounded.

But if Mr debt collector calls at the door I hope he has good medical insurance. I don't know why but I think he might need it.

Biodegradable

I was at Hyde Hall in Essex the other day, if you are into RHS places and have the chance it is worth a visit, and after wandering around the gardens we headed for the cafe.

The new visitors centre is a wonderful building of lots of wood and supposed to be all Eco and sustainable, although they have a metal roof which is probably not very "Eco". Inside they serve everything in or on paper plates, with forks and spoons made of some kind of re-cycled plastic.

After munching my way through a panini and cupa tea I headed for the "recycling point" and as I sorted my various articles one of the managers there began to enthuse about how the plates and cups bio-degraded in just 80 days, "just 80 days that's really good isn't it". When I am chucking out paper plates and plastic forks when the most Eco solution would be china and metal heading to washing up I can't get excited about degradable in 80 days.
"Surely re-usable cups glasses and forks would be far better" I replied, "the kitchens don't have a dish washer" un well that's not very well planned is it, doesn't she know how much energy and bleach etc is used in making paper products.
Its like Eco re-usable shopping bags, made from fibres of a plant but they forget to tell you that the rain forest is now being cut down even faster to grow the plants for the fibres. Yes really it is.

She went on about her 80 days, "and where is it bi-degraded is it on a compost heap and then used on the gardens here" I asked. "I don't know" was her feeble reply.

So there we have it, biodegradable crockery that degrades in 80 days, and if I guess right that will be in landfill somewhere, not very "Eco" after all is it.

Gordon Brown

Would you buy a used car off of this man, or trust him near small children.

It's not just me, this is a scary picture, isn't it ?

Thank you - for driving safely

I have written about road signs before, the crazy explosion of flashing speed limits signs, but the more I drive the more I see how overcrowded our roads are with useless signs.

One that seems totally pointless is the "thank you for driving safely" or "please drive safely" through our village. I love that I have been able to find the image that heads this blog entry. What is the point, do the people who ask for these signs actually think they make a difference to the speed or manner of driving. Why would they, all they do is take your mind of the road for longer than a place name alone, as you can not help yourself reading the whole sign.

Why don't we see "please drive like a total twit through our town" signs, maybe with "sponsored by Claims Direct" or "sponsored by community speedwatch". And while we are about it I have a couple more suggestions "thank you for not crashing on this motorway" or "thank you for not rubbernecking this crash and causing a 20 mile tailback". No, that would be silly, yet someone agrees to the existing signs thinking they are not in the least silly and will actually have some effect on motorists.

Who is actually saying thank you to me as I drive past these signs, is it the local people, the council, the highway authority, or more likely the company making a killing manufacturing the sign.
We are often thanked by inanimate objects, computer screens, automatic payment devices and a multitude of do this don't do that notices, what is the point, to my mind a thank you is something that one person expresses to another not something that can be conveyed to anyone who reads it, and certainly not from an electrical device.

Which brings me to a sales assistant who was instructed by her manager not to say thank you to customers, "It says thank you on the till receipt" she was told.

Well that's the lot for this time - thank you.

Techno Kids.

Talking to a neighbour at the weekend he told me that as a reward to his son, for something, he is buying him a playstation 3. They have a playstation 2 but a playstation 3 will do whatever a playstation 2 does but better, or was that faster or in more colours or something.

What is it about technology that gets people so hooked that as soon as a new Xplaymultibox3LCD comes out they have to buy it even though they have just bought the Xplaymulti2LCD.

When computers first became the thing to have at home, as a toy, there was the ZX80 then things like the BBC computer, Commodore64 and so on. We were quite happy spending an evening typing in lines of Basic code from a computer magazine then delighting in trying to run it, changing the mistakes, re-checking it and eventually playing a game as simple as say battleships against the computer. It was excellent fun to us then so why would a child today if told to type the code first be so put off with the idea. Why was something so much fun not even be considered today.

People have not changed but technology has. I feel a little, I don't quite know what it is , annoyed or confused or something along that ilk that today any child can turn on his computer and instantly have access to the entire world but he knows nothing about computers.
I spent hours with a modified ZX80 hooked into my 2metres amateur radio kit desperately trying to get radio teletype to word and establish a contact with someone in the USA. I spent just as long writing Basic programs to make the computer do really quite pointless things but learning the fundamentals of how a computer works, how programing had to be structured etc and how a computer calculated decisions.

Do children today even know what Basic as a programming language is, have they the slightest idea how their Xbox works. Does it even matter, are we better people for having to learn computers from the start.
It goes deeper than computers it is now part of life that children and young people have to have the latest flashiest fastest gizmo as soon as it comes out even if they have a gizmo that does exactly the same thing already.

It may be progress but what progress is it, is happiness really just about the latest games machine or would my neighbour be better off rewarding his son with something less transient and less material.

I don't know the answers but there must also be a problem on the horizon in the future. Many of us played about writing computer code yet today children only play about with computers with no knowledge of its code.

Who will be the creative forces of the future when everything is switch on and play today, how long will it be before children will be taken from the maternity ward and plugged straight into a computer, how long until The Matrix comes true?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Matrix

Broadband Tax

You could not make this up, the latest daft idea by the twits running the country is to tax everyone who has a landline broadband. As soon as they can pass the legislation we are all going to have to pay £6 a year broadband tax so that broadband can be made available to everyone. Well it is starting at £6 but like road tax I am sure that within a year or two it will be linked to your broadband speed or the size of your hard-drive and be around £100 a year at least.

Also like road tax you can guess that it won't be used for its intended purpose and will go to ensure the bonuses of some banker or BT executive.

Which brings me to another point on this broadband tax, did I miss something have BT, Virgin and the rest all been nationalised? If not then why the dickens is the tax payer going to give money to private companies yet again.

While they are at it why doesn't the government re-introduce window tax, maybe even extend it to include the windows in you car , that should raise a few bob.

OK rant nearly over, I would write more but it will probably take 5mins to upload this, it is 8pm and at this time of night my 8Mb broadband, that costs me £17.50, runs slower than an old modem (no really it does). Still when its £18 a month I am sure it will be much faster.

Right where did I put those details on wireless broadband.

Eats, Shoots and what the hell!

There is a book that sold millions of copies by a woman named Lynne Truss which professes to tell us all how to use punctuation. At the time it came out I thought what a good idea and nearly bought a copy but today I am rather pleased that I didn't waste my money.

I have never been very good with the rules of english writing and if you tell me that I have split an infinative I will find you a plaster and I don't have a clue what a prepositoion is, but I could probably google it if I cared.

My views on all this proper and correct writing stuff changed today when I listened to a pod cast by my hero of English language Stephen Fry on, funnily enough, language.

Stephen, to my mind, was the last person to be saying that punctuation and grammar doesn't matter. I doubt there are many English speaking people as eloquent as him but I always thought that he would be one of the first to complain if I ended a sentence with a, whatever it is that you must not end one with.

When you think about it, what does it matter if you have a comma in the right place or an apostrophe misplaced as long as you write something that is worth while and can be understood by the reader.

My reason for telling you this is that I won't be spending so long worrying about my punctuation and correct use of words in my blog in future.
It will have another advantage, for me anyway, I will be able to write blogs at the same time as drinking wine. Which as it happens has just been passed to me so I will close on this entry.

If you decide you have a free half hour you might wish to listen to the pod cast which is in typical Fry style an enthralling listen and covers a lot more on language that I have touched upon here. I would be pleased to read your views by way of comments to this blog. Or should that be will be pleased, whatever.

http://www.stephenfry.com/2008/12/22/series-2-episode-3-language/

Thanks for the plastic bags - Please stop!

For some reason sending out plastic bags has become the latest craze where I live, save the children, heart foundation, save the something else , protect the lesser spotted nutter, stop cancer you name it they are all sending me plastic bags.
What do they want from me in these bags, my clothes.

Some people might have unwanted clothes, but not me, other than underpants I haven't bought many clothes since my last trip to New York 8 years ago. I am not an avid follower of fashion and don't believe in throwing clothes away just because someone tells me they are "so last years colour". Having received 8 bags in a month I don't think I would have anything left by now anyway.

It would not be so bad if these bags were actually for a charity, but as a lot of them are run by con artists and nothing to do with any genuine good cause I wonder why they are not subject to the "10p a bag mate" syndrome that some of the supermarkets bug me with.

If I was a little more organised I could take the bags with me for my shopping but as I have said before a plastic bag won't save the planet.
So charity bags go straight to landfill along with my unwanted underpants, well they can have them if they really want.