Daily Notes

Saturday 18 May 2013

An Eternity.........

European bull in thought (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I first started this Blog, I thought it would be easy to publish daily, what I was thinking of, what I had been doing or was intending to do, and perhaps stimulate you my friends, to contribute to the blog, yourselves.

I started well, full of good intention, as does every author. I would rise from my slumbers and rush headlong for the coffee, sit in front of my laptop and wait for inspiration. "It won't be long," I thought. Second cup of coffee-still nothing. THEN, my first idea, my moment of inspiration, my Eureka moment had arrived! I know, I'll tell everyone whats happening in my backyard.

Question-just what is happening in the backyard of where I live, and would it really inspire every reader around the world to know that Boris Johnson had revisited the idea of building a Thames Crossing, despite cancelling a similar project a few years ago? Would it really excite people to know that the same Boris was still clinging to the idea of building an international airport (nick-named Boris Island) in the Thames estuary of the river , not too far from the major port of Tilbury? For anyone reading this in Vietnam, Malaysia, Germany and Indonesia, (YES, we do enjoy visits to this site from the places listed, as well as from others) I had better explain who Boris is.

Boris is a Mayor. Not just any old Mayor, but the Mayor For London. He has many responsibilities, including the ongoing success of London and introducing new businesses to the city, as well as the ongoing success of The City. (financial sector that is.) He is, not to put it too bluntly, a man who rarely is out of the public eye in and around London. To be equally not too blunt, to anyone beyond London, he is something of an unknown. I have a feeling that some Londoners feel that it would be better if he was an unknown in these parts as well!

Any way, to cut a long story short, it seems to have been close to an eternity since I wrote on these pages. I hope not to upset too many people when saying I intend to return to the keyboard on a close to daily basis. I have stored many of my thoughts for just such occasions.

Thanks go to those of you who have read my articles so far. I would invite you to return, if only on an occasional basis, to leave your comments, and put forward a piece that you would like to see published. Just get in touch via, sayitdaily@gmail.com or via the comment button at the end of this article.

Thanks again, for being there.

Sunday 24 March 2013

Not A Lot, So Far........

Sunday Morning (Photo credit: jspaw)

Bench in fence (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sunday 24/3/13.
After the excitement of yesterday, and the garden furniture purchasing expedition, this morning seems quite tame.

Got up at 7am, ready to watch the Malasia Grand Prix. Followed this with breakfast Followed this by preparing veg for Sunday lunch/supper plus bit extra for monday evening to go with the remainder of today's roast joint.

For anyone of you who has managed to, so far at least, evade marriage or a serious live-in relationship, this is just about as exciting as gets on a sunday. Does change as the kids come along, but , hey, thats a whole different ball game.

Must go now-feeling sleepy and it's only 11am!!

Will probably write something a little later-Beware!!

Saturday 23 March 2013

It's Official!!

Red Bull (Photo credit: miskan)

Yep, its official, we are to get a summer in UK this year? How do I know? Settle down with a nice cup of tea, or any beverage of your choice and I'll tell you.

It all began a couple of weeks ago. when my wife was reading one of the many magazines she subscribes to. House and Home, Living, Good House Keeping and others, you know the type of thing I mean. Suddenly her eyes lit up and she became as animated as ferret on Red Bull. What caused such an event? It was a 20% off coupon, to be used in one of the largest D.I.Y shops in UK, on a particular range of garden furniture. I knew instictively that life was going to be hell for me, unless we went garden furniture hunting forthwith.

Actually, "forthwith" took place several days later owing to prior commitments. Off we went, or rather off she went, with me struggling to keep up. Within minutes of reaching said D.I.Y store, her mind was made up. Actually, she had decided what to get after spending an indecent number of hours searching the World Wide Web. We then went home to discuss the products identified and see if we agreed on them. To be honest, when invited to "discuss" anything with my boss, it really means that it is her way of rubber-stamping whatever, and giving me due notice of going to collect whatever.

This being done, the order was placed via the internet, and a suitable date for collection negotiated. The due date? Today March 23rd 2013. I rose from my bed this morning full of the joys of spring, until I remembered the duties that lay before me. Added to that, it was snowing, in fact it still is, as I write.

Eventually we left home on route to the D.I.Y Shop from Hell. To relate to you what went on in the store would be tantamount to cruelty. Suffice it to say, although I put up a struggle about the total cost and the amount of beer vouchers a simple small table cost, I was reminded of my position in the food chain, besides which there was 20% off.In no time at all, the gooods were paid for.

We are now proud owners of new furniture, tucked away in the garage, still in their wrappings. I am prepared to wager that it will still be sat there half way through the summer, unwrapped, but ready for next year. The last decent summer in our neck of the woods was 2008. I have no faith in the forecasts-although my wife has declared it OFFICIAL-there will be a Summer.

Friday 22 March 2013

A Disaster

English: A manually drawn decision tree diagram drawn on a flip chart (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Friday morning-8.45 am. Got up far too early. Will the day be a disaster? Will my decision making be affected by my tiredness? To be honest, it doesn't take a lot to affect my ability to take decisions anytime.

So, why am I concerned? Because today is a big day for me. Not only do I accompany my leader/boss (my wife) on our main shop for the week, but I get to go to the Patient Participation Group Meeting, or PPG as we insiders call it.

What the deuce is that you might, or if you were up too early, like me, NOT ask. It is a group of like minded people (stay awake at the back!) that want to improve services provided at GP surgeries/Health Centres. I'm not going any further with the explanation at this hour of the morning as, quite honestly, I don't have the energy.

So thats it then. Time for yet another coffee, despite the fact we are warned against taking too much caffeine on board. Just before I go, I have already taken one decision this morning. I will be having a Siesta del Hidalgo a little later. (see yesterdays article)

Speak to you later-have a nice day!

Thursday 21 March 2013

Salvador Dali and Me

English: portrait of Salvador Dali taken in Maurice Hotel Paris (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

No, we never met. "We" being the surrealist artist Salvador Dali and myself. "We" do though, have one thing in common. We both recognised in his case, and recognise in my case, the benefits of a Siesta del Hidalgo.

A What? A Power Nap. In fact, just a few minutes ago, I arose from mine. I confess that I take a period some afternoons, to close my eyes and think of nothing. I try to do this at a point in time when my wife is not giving me instructions on what she wants done, or even perhaps, telling me how to do whatever it is she wants done. Should it happen though, I will protest my innocence by saying it was an accident.

Is it beneficial? I feel it is. I don't care what others think, I enjoy it and will continue to do so. I have to confess though, I am not particularly driven to becoming more energetic or enthusiastic about doing anything remotely concerned with labour of any kind, any more than I was before my nap.

Take my advice, tomorrow, should you find yourself with something to do, that you don't really feel inclined to do, take a Siesta del Hidalgo. You can even say that it was me that put you up to it if you wish!

Wednesday 20 March 2013

Empty Vessels

maths (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

This is the first of an occasional series of items on things that annoy me, and possibly you too.

My first "annoyance" is empty kettles. By the time you have read this, you may well think that I have "a problem".

I have a "thing" about kettles always being left full. Why? Goodness only knows. All I know is, in my house, each time I go to make a drink, the damned kettle is as close to empty as is possible without being totally dry. There never seems to be enough water in it to make a small cup of coffee, let alone a full mug! Strangely, however, no-one is ever guilty of being the last one to have used the kettle.SOMEONE must have, I protest. "Just get on and fill it up" is the response. So I do.

Empty photo copiers I can cope with. Empty kettles, now thats a different story.

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What drives you almost to distraction? leave a comment in the box below this, or if you prefer, write an article and post it into the Comment box below, and I'll publish it for you.

Another Day-Another Dollar

English: (Green) Cyprus. (Light-green) The European Union (EU). (Grey) Europe. (Light-grey) The surrounding region. See also: Category:SVG locator maps of countries of Europe Português: (Verde) Chipre. (Verde-claro) União Europeia (EU). (Cinzento) Europa. (Cinzento-claro) Paises circundantes. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Wednesday morning here as I write this. As the heading says, another day-another dollar. What it doesn't say though is, less tax.

Cypriot people and ex-pats, will have woken up to a day where they now know that their savings are not to be savagely taxed, apparantly because of a German demand that the people of the Cyprus suffer in this way. I am no politician, by trade anyway, but even I can see the unfairness in all this.

What is to happen now, since the vote against the tax by the Cyprus politicans? Will the EU leaders move toward the full bail out of Cyprus, or will the island be left to suffer? My hope, for the people of the island is, that they are spared the suffering that could follow any refusal to help. Yes, they can turn to Russia for yet more financial support, but that is tantamount to pushing Cyprus out of the eurozone and into the arms of Russia. Should we not be seeking to consolidate the islands' position in Europe rather than pushing it away?