The cat - chasing the cursor, also making it difficult to type at the same time.
Those of you from outside the UK must be having a giggle at us and the way we cope with (or don't cope with) the snow. Day time temperatures today didn't rise above minus 5 degrees Celsius where I was and the car clock this morning at 7 am said 'minus 9.' Several weather records have been broken this last week.
The main urban roads here are passable with care and the minor estate roads are hopelessly dangerous. The local authorities never get round to the side roads because they have other priorities, i.e., strategic routes and bus routes. If you think it's bad now in the UK and think the councils have been poor (I think they've worked very hard), it's going to be even worse as councils prepare for up to a 25% cut in expenditure for the next four years.
We even had mail delivered on Sunday (5th December!) That's because our postie had fallen behind with his work have fallen (literally) several times and hurt his back, he decided to come out on Sunday morning to catch up - off his own bat. Well done him!
This wonderful Government will slash spending on clearing our roads, our public servants that operate the gritters will be reduced along with everyone else, there will be fewer nurses and doctors to mend the broken bones, fewer ambulances to take you to hospital in a timely way so if you think it will get any better after all the 'constructive criticism' our wonderful public give the public sector - blimey, you ain't seen nothing yet!
Tonight is my first attempt to start writing my Christmas cards, well to be accurate, at least printing out some fancy address labels. I have wondered whether or not I should put a note inside the cards to say that I'll donate the £60 it costs me in cards and stamps every year to a charity next year. I haven't decided yet. I've given myself three or four days to make my mind up. The dilemma I guess is that I like to receive cards from friends and relatives. I find it comforting that you are thought of, if only for a few seconds a year while they write the card.
It's my dad's 74th birthday tomorrow and I have committed sacrilege. I was in Sainsburys tonight and bought him a bottle of Scotch. As I was paying for my lottery tickets on my way out I dropped the bag with the Scotch in and it smashed on the floor. OMG. The smell of spirits pervaded the kiosk area and a golden liquid started spreading across the floor. I was hugely embarrassed. But not as embarrassed as I was surprised when I realised that they were going to replace the smashed bottle and the two boxes of chocolates that I had consequently ruined in the same bag - no charge! Well done Sainsburys!
To a valued colleague and wonderful person 'J,' an old friend who is having treatment for an illness right now - thinking of you and your family too - best wishes and positive thoughts coming your way.
Hope you all have a safe, warm and successful week!
Chat soon
Ta-ra.
I suppose the effort of recycling may extend the life of the worlds resources by a few weeks but it does give me a warm feeling to recycle. Why is that? As a fifty plus Yorkshireman to whom recycling, until the last couple of years, has been a non event, the recognition that my grandchildren (my kids haven't even got regular girlfriends!) may have to live in a world that will be more difficult to navigate through that I have been lucky enough to enjoy has been motivation enough.There are a few stumbling blocks to overcome to wipe out any vestiges of cynicism I may have about the efficacy of recycling. A good friend works on a redundant landfill site monitoring methane and other nasty gasses, and he tells me all sorts about mysterious lorries turning up to remote parts of the landfill site where he works and dumping 'stuff'. No one is allowed to go close enough to examine the material. Other rumours abound that since the start of the 'depression', sorry Gordon, 'recession', recycled material isn't worth the effort because there is no return. Since the Chinese have been hit by the worlds troubles, they are no longer snapping up the world's detritus. Such material is simply being dumped apparantly. If it is - I would be very annoyed - I might even write a letter!Continuing with the recycling theme, concerned that my identity might be stolen, I am a regular shredder of the important rubbish that comes through the door about 11.30am when the postman gets round to visiting. I end up with black bin liners full of the stuff but my local council (East Riding of Yorkshire) tell me I can't put it in my blue recycling bin because the shredded paper falls off the conveyor belt, gets into the works and sets it alight! Wrap it in newspaper (like fish and chips presumably) and place it carefully in the blue bin they say. I can only imagine that when the bin gets lifted onto the bin man's lorry and the contents get violently shaken into its smelly belly, the quality of my wrapping will not be sufficient to save it from being strewn all over the place and be a potential fire hazard in some anonymous warehouse somewhere! I wonder if there is a night class for effective chip wrapping?Some weeks ago, I took my black bin liner full of shredding to the local tip and attempted to put the shredded paper into the requisite bin through a slot about the size of a large letter box slit with the result that my hands were getting trapped in the flap and most of the shredded paper went on the floor. I got a bollocking for my trouble.I went today and the man at the gate to the tip politely said that he would open the back door of the large bin and I could walk in, tip it all out with the proviso that I didn't leave the bin liner in the bin. Why couldn't the guy a month ago been as helpful? Duly dumped, tidily and without littering the surrounding area, I am now attempting to physically warm up at home listening to the football on the radio and cuddling a mug of tea. So there we are - I am spiritually and physically warmer than I was all through putting paper in a bin.Four spelling errors today!Chat soon. Ta-ra!
