Hertford

Sunday gave us an opportunity to meet friends that we have not seen in five years as we drove from Exeter to Hertford and back in a day for a one hour dedication ceremony and an hour and a half of coffee and chat.

We attended the methodist church there where there seems to be a vibrant church full of young children and babies. The star of the show spent much of the time crawling around behind the lecturn or being passed from parent to parent. This one is going to be an explorer.

We got a chance to hold him at one point but he was far more interested in the map of the world than in us. Perhaps the fact that his parents were born 12,000 miles apart has something to do with it. He has northern and southern hemisphere genes in his body.

Today is bank holiday monday and I cannot remember the last time we had no plans for such a day but school starts quickly this season as Dawn is back to work tomorrow so today will be the day of rest in place of yesterday.

The Holiday

We got away, thanks to mother, on a very pleasant cruise of the Adriatic.

Flying out to Heraklion in Crete we joined up with Ocean Village Two or as we have renamed it (along with many others) Butlins-on-Sea with all the charm and sophistication associated.

To be fair, the accommodation was excellent with no bits falling off like some other ships we have been aboard. Sadly, the decor improvement was at the expense of choice of things to do and places to go on board. There is no cinema, no library and no nightclub. The choice of food was less than previous experiences but I cannot complain as there was an excellent selection of fish so I was in my element.

It took us a while to relax but after a day at sea we were in Dubrovnik and walking the city walls in intense heat. It was a delight to get back to the swimming pool and dive in to cool off. We then found out that rather unusually the jaccuzzi was cold. The HOT TUBS on BUTLINS-ON-SEA are COLD. This, we decided between us and other clientelle, was another cost cutting measure of which there seemed to be many.

The second port of call was Venice, a lovely city in north east Italy. My memory will be of my wife spotting the buildings at sea level and commenting "There is something in the sea". I knew instantly that we were fast approaching the city in the sea and fortunately we had to cruise through the main canal offering top quality views of the main island and surrounding islands. We also spotted the base of a new barrier that is being built to protect the city from the worst tides of the future.

Dubrovnik and Venice are both tourist traps full of trinket shops selling identical trinkets at identical prices. We were much happier when we stopped off on the Croatian island of Korcula. This proved to be a tender port, meaning that the cruise ship anchored offshore and we were delivered to the quayside by tender. We disembarked early and found a lovely cafe overlooking a bathing beach where we tried to local brew 'Lasko'. Like many I have tried in my life I will be very surprised if that is not in the English supermarkets before long.

From there we moved on to another tourist trap. Corfu town in Corfu was full of trinket shops selling identical trinkets at identical prices. Come on you tourist traps, at least make us buy things by varying your prices so we can think we are getting a bargain somewhere. Following a morning suffering the tourist shops we took a tour of the island during which I was educated. I have always loved the word Kumquat and I knew it was a fruit but I have never in my life seen such a small orange. Think Orange, Satsuma, Tangerine, shrink it down to the size of a grape and you have a Kumquat. We tried the spirit brewed from it and decided not to buy. The next stop on the tour was a beach resort where we indulged in an ice cream. The coach then wound up the mountain using those narrow roads where you can look out of the window and see no road but a steep drop. We also passed the worst traffic lights in the world. Fifty seconds of green are followed by seven and a half minuted of red. This allows a convoy to make its way through a very narrow lane the full length of a village. This is a four or five minute drive but our coach slowed as the windows came within centimetres of the walls on the corners. The view from the top was a bit special and no doubt my wife will put the photographs on facebook.

The last port of call was Zakinthos where I was able to purchase a pair of turtle bottle openers and a turtle kids bag for the next door neighbours. I still, however, have not seen a turtle, so if I go back for a third time I must take a trip to the turtle farms on the island. This time we sat outside the main church enjoying a quiet pint of the local brew (name not known) (too relaxed) when a firecracker disturbed the silence at precisely eleven o'clock. This was followed by the locals firing guns into the air and many other firecrackers obviously part of a celebration that I found unusual primarily because this was a wednesday.

We returned to Heraklion and flew back to Britain leaving early but once back in our own country life immediately became unpleasant again as we were met by the Gatwick Gestapo who treated us like criminals and made us wait two and a half hours for our baggage. Welcome home to the worst country in the entire world.

I may add more about Gatwick Airport later but it would contain too many expletives if I were to write it now.

Hectic Life

I would much rather be busy than bored but just lately we have been so busy that there has been no time to think, let alone achieve all the targets that we started aiming for at the start of the year.

Work has become a drain rather than a boost so something needs to change in that department. The role I had worked myself into has been ripped apart and I have been left with a rather dreadful portfolio that will require more time than I have to resolve. Time will tell, but I have no time for anything at the moment.

Now - Find the positive in all that - No time to worry about the really important issues.

I need a holiday so I think I may just take one.

Genesis - Follow You Follow Me

AND A TRUE FAVOURITE - FROM OUR WEDDING - FOLLOW YOU FOLLOW ME

Deep in the Motherlode by Genesis

And this one with one of those haunting lines that keep coming back to me ................. what if you had no friends and were so alone that there was ....................... no-one to pray for a safe journey home?

Snowbound by Genesis

One from back when I had emotions and would FEEL the music

Renaissance - Northern Lights (1978)

I have been searching for a version of this that sounds good through the headphones and this is it. ENJOY.

Nazareth - Love Hurts

Aint that the truth

Sweet-Love is Like Oxygen ( 12" long version )

This is a very happy memory from the past. I got a new record player with speakers more than twice as loud as the previous set and used to fall asleep listening to this one through the headphones to get the full effect of the stereo.

Gollob dropped by Boyce

This sort of thing just does not happen any more.
Why did we replace emotions with professional etiquette?

Authoring

I have an ambition.

It is to create a world where people can be themselves.

The problem with this is that individuals are so diverse that what suits one person may well be HELL to another. I loved the fantasy world of DOOM on my computer. The rules were easy as it was a simple game. Anything that moved had to be killed. There was a time when I could have brought that attitude to the real world in the city of LONDON. I can understand when one person snaps and kills another but it is certainly antisocial behaviour.

In a totally free world we would have the right to kill those who displease us, but that would take away their right to displease us as much as they want. I certainly curse with the most painful cancers all those who deliberately blew smoke in my face when I was a young innocent in the city. There are worse curses wished upon those who committed worse antisocial behaviours.

Church teachings suggest that we must forgive those that sin against us. Why? The reason is that we may well have upset others without intent and without realising what we were doing. I know this is the case in my life when I think back. Many times I cracked jokes aimed at one individual with the intent of entertaining others in the group. It is only years later that I know how painful that experience can be for some at certain times.

My world will be perfect in every way. It will be the same as the world that we have now. I shall explain that logic in a future post.

Approaching Chalkwell Station

I used to travel to London every day from Leigh-on-Sea station until I got my own place in Chalkwell. That short extra journey from Leigh-on-Sea to Chalkwell has the finest of views over the Thames estuary. Here they are.

Somerset v Newport - 27-03-09

I was there.

This was the race of the night.

Full marks to Mark Lemon who never stopped trying.

Eve Appeal

It is dress down day at work today.

This is in aid of the Eve Appeal. The Eve Appeal is collecting for research into Ovarian Cancer which is known as the silent killer because there are usually no signs until it is too late.

In an odd twist of fate Dawn is going in for an operation on her ovaries. We trust that it is merely endometrial tissue that has accumulated and not the dreaded cancer but we will only know once the lump is removed and analysed. The doctors are taking it seriously enough to get her into hospital within the month.

The Speedway season started on 15th March and we visited Newport to see Kevin Doolan win the event while our men finished third and fourth. A good start to the season. Today I expect to get my first visit to Somerset but I am not 100% certain of going as it is only a challenge match.

The weekend sees a break that is rare as we have had busy weekends for several weeks on the trot. I should be able to catch up on the paperwork. Maybe the bills will get paid at last.

It is a boring old week for football as the internationals take over from domestic competition and as we all know England are rubbish. Arsenal have 16 players taking part in internationals but not one of my team is playing for England.

For both of you who read my blog at last I have made two entries in quick succession.

Enjoy.

N

ALL CHANGE

All apart from me that is.

My wife has a new job description and new role although she is staying at the same school.

My daughter has left her old company as the management there never offered her any support (read "English Management") and she is starting with a new company in a similar field that may have better prospects for advancement.

I am still ticking over in fourth gear which is like cruising on a motorway as there is always plenty to do but I am rarely challenged. I turn up at 9 am and start churning Emails and that keeps me going until 5 pm. Some days the Emails come in faster than I can deal with them and on odd occasions I clear the In-Box and grab a cup of coffee.

I think ENGLISH MANAGEMENT have been told to utilise all staff to 100% capacity which actually means that if there is a rush or a crisis there is nobody left to do that work. I am not surprised that so many members of the public are exasperated by their experience with corporations. Most staff I know do their utmost to keep customers happy but the simple fact is that most English Companies are under resourced.

Hang on! I just told the truth! In England that usually results in a P45 for whistle blowing. The most powerful people are covering up their raping of the English way of life by removing all those who object to the replacement of SERVICE by PROFIT.

I suppose I should fight for what is right but if you look back through history the pace-setters mostly ended up dead or imprisoned. Only after their efforts did society actually change.

Last night I watched a television program about the National Health Service. I am angry that a good friend of mine when I was younger lost a job that she loved as she was an S.E.N. who really cared about people. The NHS has been very careful to remove all those who care about people and replace them with Highly Qualified people who can process the objects that arrive at their doors.

The NHS now rewards all those trusts that cut costs. The quickest way to cut costs is to reduce patient care so that is what most trusts have done. So what if a few patients die as long as the books balance at the end of the day. Sack five nurses and employ an administrator that can cook the books and the following year you will get more money to employ the nurses you needed this year. I understand the logic but I cannot agree with it.

AND HAVE YOU NOTICED ALL THE ROADWORKS EVERYWHERE NOW IT IS MARCH?

This is because the government take back any money that has not been spent so councils across the country are wasting as much money as they can as quickly as possible. I hate this God Damned country.

CHRISTMAS and NEW YEAR

Lovely times.

I have taken the opportunity to relax and although we have done some sorting and clearing most of the time has been spent relaxing.

Tomorrow, we resume normality, starting with the weekend.

Jessica and I intend to walk on Dartmoor this coming Sunday morning.
See you there!