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!!

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.

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!

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!

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?

Related articles

• Fresh euro crisis as Cyprus votes no to accounts bailout
• What Does A 'No' Vote Mean For Cyprus And The Eurozone?

March 20th 2013 Budget Day In UK

George Osborne 0437bm (Photo credit: altogetherfool)

Can I honestly say that I am looking forward to 2013's Budget, to be delivered by Chancellor George Osbourne? Not really, but then again, Yes.

My reasons for not looking forward to it are quite simple for me. There are no give-aways to come, of which I am sure. Insufficient funds in the coffers etc, etc. 

An even bigger reason for not looking forward to it is the uneven way in which allowances and  benefits are applied. Without being too specific, I know of a number of young people who are in a position which I and they find unacceptable. They have done what the government tells them to do. They have got jobs, they have got theirselves onto the housing ladder-but then have found theirselves out of work. They have been granted Job Seekers allowance, but at the same time, have been refused Housing Benefit. For what reason? Simply because they did something else they were advised to do-save for a rainy day. By doing so, they are refused help. Only when they have used their small savings, will they get help. 

At the same time, there are so many people claiming, amongst other things, disability allowances, that they are not entitled to. This is even though assessment for disability has been reviewed. There are many many disabled people, and their carers, who are fully and properly entitled to support. 

Then there are people who make a career out of not working, still be plied with all sorts of support financial and practical. 

My reason for looking forward to the Budget is quite simple. I am really hoping that tax breaks for business are announced. This will lead to improvements in production and sales, and also lead to more employment opportunities for people of mixed skill levels. I am aware that we will never see 100% employment in UK, but we SHOULD be doing more to working toward reducing the very low levels of young people being in work.

Tomorrow will come and go, but if it does so without something being announced that will give British business and Britains young people confidence, it will be a very very sad day.

Related articles

• What time is the Budget? Everything you need to know about George Osborne's 2013 statement

Thanks For Coming

Hi To All, and thanks again for coming. New Blog for me. The idea is that I post , at least daily, some of the things that cross my mind that may or even may not, have an effect on my life and perhaps yours. I hope that just about all posts will be written in a positive way despite what they may be about. I can't promise they will all be serious!!

I'm hoping that you will feel free to contribute whenever you feel the urge to do so. You can do that by either leaving your written comments in the Comments area below, or by creating a document on your computer/laptop/pad/smartphone and placing the document in word or equivalent, in the Comments area. You can submit anything original and not neccessarily related to what has already appeared on the Blog

So, I'm looking forward to working with you, and seeing just what we can create between us. DO keep it clean though.

Peter