An Unexpected Journey

A Conservative Donor waiting for a peerage

 Over the last few weeks I've found it harder and harder to read the paper or watch the news as they've both been full of Israel, Gaza, Ukraine, Iran, Russia all with an undercurrent of China and Trump. As ever, those that suffer are the innocents and one can only look on and wonder at the bravery of the relief workers and medical teams operating in incredibly difficult situations.

Meanwhile, at home, my country waits with baited breath for an election to be held to remove a government which seems bereft of ideas, and to remove as well, some, if not all, of the 18 MPs of various parties who have had the whip removed due to various misdemeanours. For those who don't understand the terminology of British politics, it basically means they've been sent to the sin bin. They are still MPs but have been, possibly permanently, suspended from the party which they used to represent.

My own MP, Mark Menzies, is the latest of this bunch. For details follow this link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68841840

All of this makes for fairly depressing reading over the cornflakes, so I've done what I find helps me. I've gone back to J.R.R. Tolkien. I'm currently approaching the end of The Hobbit and will then launch into The Lord of the Rings. I don't know how many times I've read these books, but the thought of a story where, ultimately, good triumphs over evil is strangely attractive at present. Heather tells me I should try The New Testament, but I find this works for me.

The other thing which cheered me up hugely this week was my second walk with The Ramblers. Heather joined me and 7 of us walked at Leighton Moss near Silverdale in the sunshine. A lovely day with good company which ended with a chippy tea!

Leighton House with Grange over Sands in the distance

If at some point our illustrious government decide to hold an election (Spoiler: they have to hold an election before January 2025) you will need to register to vote if you haven't already done so.

Register Here: https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

You will need photo ID as well. If you don't have any (passport, driving license) you can get a FREE voter ID card at: https://www.gov.uk/apply-for-photo-id-voter-authority-certificate

If you know anyone who hasn't registered or doesn't have photo ID, please pass on these links. My grandson is bored witless with me telling him to make sure he is registered to vote, but, tough, he'll be more bored in the months to come.

Raindrops kept Falling on Me 'Ead

Martin Mere - Mere Sands Wood

One of (the only?) problems with moving has been that I have struggled a bit to find a group of people to "hang out" with, as the youngsters say. In Southport we were both very attached to our church and had a group of friends there who we saw on a pretty regular basis. Leyland Road Methodist was great because there were a group of guys of a similar age and we did stuff together. I'm still loosely attached and allowed to join in the walking group ( see my post 'Last of the Summer Wine..... almost').

I do a bit of work with the food bank in St. Annes but there isn't any social aspect to it and I go along as the +1 to social stuff connected to Heather's art club. Unfortunately I don't find our local church particularly inspiring. Heather and I do a cafe church thing once a month which is OK but, because it draws people from a quite wide area, its difficult to make anything social out of it. So, on Wednesday, I did my first walk with The Ramblers (route above)

Anybody in the Southport area will recognise the walk. I've done versions of it quite a number of times. Also anyone in the Southport area will know what the weather was like on April 10th. Very wet, windy, cold and miserable. Ground underfoot incredibly muddy and route flooded in places. Full waterproof gear weather in fact.

Guess what...... really enjoyed it. It was lovely to meet up with some new people with a shared interest and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

We managed to avoid politics as a conversational topic, which was probably wise given some of the stuff in the news recently. I've really been enjoying watching the legal teams at the Post Office enquiry making the upper management of the organisation squirm. If some of this lot don't end up in jail (particularly the Vennells woman) I'll eat my hat!

Paula Vennells

 

There is a ridiculously long list of 'ordinary' people who have been stitched up by this government and a similarly long list of wealthy people who have been enriched by this government. A commitment from Keir Starmer to pay outstanding compensation claims from the Post Office, Windrush and Contaminated Blood scandals in a specific, short, timeframe would, I think, show the difference between the current government and an incoming Labour government. A further commitment to stop doling honours out to party donors and to legislate to prevent this ever happening again might also help. Actually almost any radical proposal that doesn't get overturned 10 minutes after it's announcement might be good!

Party Time!

🎉 

Splendid party with old friends yesterday. We compared medications, illnesses, discussed the medications and illnesses of people who weren't there. We solved some of the world's problems, but not many. I managed to avoid any political discussions at all (as far as I can remember anyway) probably due to the fact I was driving so on 0.0% Peroni. As an aside, the beer was really quite nice and actually tasted like beer, but not as nice as the one small glass of red wine I had with some excellent food.

As the evening carried on a few people left and the conversation became a bit like the fabled 4th verse of Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days" ( Spoiler Alert!: There's only 3) "When I feel like crying, I start laughing, thinkin' 'bout............... Glory Days"

Just goes to show that there is no substitute for shared experience in friendships. Over the years the guests at the party have done a load of daft, dangerous, stupid, borderline illegal stuff, a lot stuff that you wouldn't get away with nowadays, (Children in Need night at The Scarisbrick anyone?).

We sort of drifted away on the back of our financial problems around 2009, but stayed loosely in touch through work.

It's been fabulous to reconnect with them. Thanks very, very much to David and Julie for twice providing the venue to enable us to reconnect.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

 Released in 1963 ( I was 12) this was one of my earliest favourite films. Perhaps this explains the way my sense of humour developed over the years.

However, the title of the film was obviously prophetic.

This is from The Guardian this morning: 

China targets group of MPs and peers with string of cyber-attacks

If we know that China is responsible for this and possibly other cyber attacks, then why on earth do we still engage with them. Why do we allow Temu, for example, to sell into the UK. 
This from the Which website: "Products are listed by third-party sellers, rather than Temu itself, and shipped directly from the manufacturers or producers in China to shoppers.The app is headquartered in Boston and owned by Chinese e-commerce company PDD Holdings Inc."

It took the UK government until 2022 to take over Chinese involvement in the proposed Sizewell nuclear plant and last year China withdrew from the Hinkley Point power station but we still seem determined to attract investment from China and deal with them as if they were just a normal country.

In the period from Oct 2022 - Sept 2023 we imported £63.5bn of goods from China which was actually a 12% fall on the previous 12 months. Perhaps we should be looking at the actions of those governments that we run huge trade deficits with.

Perhaps also we should examine the ties between countries with whom we are attempting to negotiate trade deals and Russia.

 

Last of the Summer Wine......... Almost

Three of the 5 amigos

A lovely day out yesterday around Wayoh and Turton & Entwistle reservoirs with some good mates. Despite the threat of rain, the weather ended up rather nice really and a good day was had by all.

The picture is taken on the dam of the Turton & Entwistle reservoir which was built in 1832. When built the dam, at 108 feet from the base, was the highest in Britain. The reservoir holds 3.4 million litres of water when full, and, with the Wayoh reservoir a little lower down the valley, provides around 50% of Bolton's drinking water. The dam is constructed of  "puddle clay" and the dam is 110 metres long at the crest. A third reservoir, Jumbles, lies a little further down the valley, below Wayoh.

Wayoh Reservoir before the sun came out

The area is served very well by 2 pubs. The Black Bull ( My favourite. Good food and Timothy Taylor's Landlords bitter) and the Strawbury Duck. According to the barman, the Strawbury Duck is so named because a former owner was called Bury....... not sure about this. I think there must be more to it.

Rag pudding, chips and mushy peas and a pint of Landlords

The walk was only about 6km, but took ages because we sauntered and chatted all the way round except for lunch and an afternoon coffee break when we sat and chatted.

Many thanks to Neil, David, Tony and Bob for your company and still letting me join in despite being a foreigner now and thanks to Neil for 2 of the three photos.

Click Here to see the route

For Tony and David

Politicians? Ha! They're all the same!!

Short answer: NO THEY'RE NOT!!!

First off you need to register to vote. CLICK HERE to go to the form to allow you to register online. If you aren't already registered you need to register by April 16th to vote in the May 2nd local elections. You don't need to re-register for subsequent elections (General Election coming up sometime this year), unless you move house or get married and change your name.

If you haven't already got photo ID (passport, driving license etc.) you can get a free Voter ID card HERE. If you don't have photo ID with you, you will not be allowed to vote.

Then read about your local candidates, preferably not just the bumf that is poked through your letter box, but try to find out what they want to do to/for you.

In the 2019 General Election under 60% of under 35s bothered to vote but over 70% of over 65s voted. So, if you were under 35 in 2019, your future has been decided by your parents and grandparents, and they are why we have the government we have at present.

If you have children or grandchildren who are old enough to vote, please encourage them to register to vote. The Conservative party won an 80 seat majority with only 43.6% of the votes cast and the turnout was only 67.3%. I don't intend here to try to persuade anyone who to vote for, but please go out and vote. Politics affects everything and everyone. If you want to create change or maintain the status quo, you need to VOTE!!!

The Ongoing PSA Saga

 Just a very quick post today. I mentioned I had another PSA test this week in my last post and it was yesterday. I got the results today and am delighted to report its fallen again to 1.18. In the words of the late, great Larry Grayson, "I'm cock-a-hoop!"

Larry Grayson