Thursday 25 February 2010

Bloody defence cuts!!!

I've been reading about the cost of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan lately, and the possible defence cuts that will have to be made as a result. It made me wonder how long it will be before we see the RAF attempting to carry out their duties like this ??

It will make bombing a more "personal" experience but could have severe limitations in respect of bomb load!

Wednesday 24 February 2010

Funny as Hell !!!

Last night, I had a rather large pile of ironing to work my way through and just couldn't take any more of the Winter Olympics. So, I switched off the tv and went to find a cd to listen to whilst attempting to make three over-loaded baskets of mixed crumples into one nice neat pile of clothes that would actually be wearable. (How do tumble driers manage to tie clothes into knots???) I picked up Vol 1 and 2 of Andy Hamilton's amazing "Old Harry's Game", loaded up the auto-changer on the stereo and picked up the first shirt. Three hours later, I had three very large piles of neatly (in my eyes) ironed clothes, ie. His, Hers and Bedding. What was remarkable was that I couldn't remember doing much ironing at all! I remember laughing - constantly - but not the drudgery of the ironing, which, it must be said, is my least favourite bit of housework. Usually I iron listening to something like Meatloaf in an attempt to use the tempo of the music to get through the pile a bit quicker. This works, to a degree, but although I enjoy the music, I still hate every minute of re-organising creases in our clothes! From now on, it's top quality comedy for me, every time.

Just in case you've never heard of "Old Harry's Game", a brief resume can be found at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/oldharrysgame/


and a quite detailed article is at:


http://en.wikipedia.org.wiki/Old_Harry%27s_Game


There are quite often repeats played on BBC Radio 7 and these are always worth a listen. If you have a funny bone in your body, then this program will tickle it at some level!


Your task for today, is Find - Listen - Enjoy

Tuesday 23 February 2010

Still here!

Because it's been so long since I last posted, I suppose I should say, "Merry Christmas", "Happy new Year" ..... and "Have a great Easter" is probably in order too! As with most people, the last couple of weeks have been hectic, we've had severe problems with the weather, and SWMBO's MS has taken a bit of a dive which has meant her care has taken up a lot more of my time than usual. She tries really hard to be as independent as possible, but that just hasn't been possible since before Christmas. We went up North to visit her family over the holiday period, but had to cut the visit short and come home as she just couldn't cope away from home and all her equipment. There's a limit to how much you can take in a car and put into a hotel room!


I would like to say that a thank you to the staff at the hotel was the least we could do when we left, as they were really kind and helpful. We have had many occasions to complain about service etc, but this was the exact opposite. When it became obvious that the MS was deteriorating quite rapidly they helped us to load the car and transfer SWMBO into her front seat. Despite all the adaptions, I would not have been able to do it all myself. This wasn't helped as I had done further damage to my ankle trying to transfer her earlier in the day. Not sure what has happened to it, but I'm pretty sure that it's going to involve another visit to the hospital.

My day seems to have changed somewhat too over the last couple of weeks. I now get up at about 8.30 - 9.00 and get ready whilst the carers are getting SWMBO showered and dressed. I don't seem to get to bed before 2.00am now, as I only seem to be able to get time to do housework etc after SWMBO has been "put-down" for the night. There is a distinct advantage to this, however, as going to Tesco's at 1.30am means that there is a distinct lack of rug-rats about. I know I'm a grumpy old git, (honest!) but if my kids had used the isles of the supermarket as a play area, I'd have ripped their b****y legs off! Last week I was actually knocked over TWICE by a child riding her bike up and down the supermarket isles. After the second knock-down, I got up, picked up the child's bike with her still on it, and took it to the security staff and informed them that if they didn't control both the child and her mother then I would sue the store for the injuries that I had received. I think that the fact that I had blood running down my ankle (fortunately the "good" one) and that I walk with sticks anyway had them worried. A tannoy call was put out for the mother, but it still took nearly four minutes for her to arrive. She, apparently, had met some friends and was having a coffee with them, and had told her child "not to get up to any mischief"! I told her what had happened, and that I was going to inform Social Services that she was not caring for the child correctly. Looking back, I think that I was hoping that it would shock her into thinking about her, and her child's, actions. In the event, both I and the security guard were flabbergasted to be on the end of one of the most foul-mouthed rants that I have heard since I left the RAF! It concluded with the statement that she was going to phone the police and have us both arrested for "child abuse". Some people should just not be allowed to reproduce!

Rant over ..... time for a nice glass of St. Emellion