Well, well, well. Gordy's sent the Ark Royal to Spain so all will be well in the continuing ridiculous saga that is, allegedly, the volcanic nightmare designed by Iceland to get its own back on Europe for being so nasty. I still don't believe a word of it. There's something rotten in the state of Denmark that even the nation's new darling, Cleggie, can't sort out for us. Good job we've got Compo in charge. Actually, there's something rotten in Kenya: namely, a shed load of mange-tout that can't be flown out to the rampant hoardes over here who are waiting for something green and tasteless to add to their stir-fry. Can't you give it to the Kenyans asks a logical thinking reporter? Comes the answer, no...it's not part of their diet. So, Africa starves because, sensibly, they don't want shrivelled up beans. Please.
Cameron's thinking of a reply. Cameron's thinking of a reply to a lot of things at the moment. Like how to get over the fact that he's a toff. It's a bit like Kinnock in the old days: you can't get over being ginger and Welsh. Doesn't matter what you do...you're stuck with your heritage and the Eton playing fields are as far removed from most of us as Iceland is from Kenya. Dave can't disguise it like Boris can but doubtless the working class Tories will have their wicked way eventually.
A woman phones into Radio 4: I'm stuck in Avignon. How absolutely appalling and second only to the frightful despair of the previous callers who are stranded in Venice. Could be worse. Could be Kenya with nothing to eat but mouldy mange-tout. The travel expert advises her to stop moaning and catch the TGV to Paris and thereon to Calais. Another caller: the French train drivers have gone on strike! Is this another hoax? Unlikely. The metamorphosing volcanic cloud hit on Thursday and as everyone who's ever spent more than two weeks in France knows, they always have strikes on Thursdays. It's the rule. The frogs love le weekend and once Thursday's written off, no-one's going to make an effort on a Friday.
Meanwhile, the Eastern Europeans who couldn't get back to Poland in time for the funeral of their government who, ironically were wiped out in a plane crash...don't make me laugh with that accident theme....are currently rubbing their hands with glee down at Tesco as they wait for five million punters to demand their cars be washed of Icelandic residue. So far, the dust has landed on Waterlooville. Well, serve them right. Couldn't have happened to a nicer place.
I've put the second coat on my decking. Autumn Red. It did what it said on the tin but, trust me, it wasn't the colour it portrayed on the front. The bloody pigeons, which can't stop their continuous sexual spring-time cooing, have already left their mark in several places. Now I'm waiting for the dust to land and my lovely tidied-up garden to take on a Pompeii-type incarnation. I don't think this is what was meant by the Mediterranean look.
We lived near Westbury in Wiltshire in the sixties. Our houses, gardens, cars - and us I imagine - were powdered regularly with fine white dust from the local cement works; not just for a few days when some old volcano erupted, but for years. Aeroplanes flew in all conditions.
ReplyDeleteVegetables didn’t come from Kenya - we grew our own.
When winter snow came we all went up on the hills and enjoyed it. Schools weren't closed and people carried on with life as normal - because that's what normal was!
When soccer players were tackled they didn’t run twenty yards and collapse in the penalty area writhing in unbelievable agony and then jump up as soon as a penalty was given before firing the ball into the net with their ‘broken’ leg. There were no such beings as substitutes and you had to play on for the full stretch - injured or not.
Criminals were caught and imprisoned and there was no such thing as an illegal immigrant.
People worked and were paid and were loyal to companies who were loyal to them: redundancy hadn’t been invented. Building Societies kept your money safe, gave you decent interest and reasonable mortgages that could be repaid.
The young stood up on buses and trains to offer their seats to their elders and politely opened doors for them. Pubs closed all afternoon, reopened at six and closed again at half-past ten at night because even publicans had a right to a life. There were occasional drunks, but binge drinking hadn’t been discovered - doubtless because social security monies to pay for it weren’t available.
We didn’t have health and safety - only the common sense sort. But somehow, many of us have survived; which is a problem because we look at life and wonder what we did that has removed much of what we thought was good in life.
Perhaps we voted for a Nick Clegg!
We lived near Westbury in Wiltshire in the sixties. Our houses, gardens, cars - and us I imagine - were powdered regularly with fine white dust from the local cement works; not just for a few days when some old volcano erupted, but for years. Aeroplanes flew in all conditions.
ReplyDeleteVegetables didn’t come from Kenya - we grew our own.
When winter snow came we all went up on the hills and enjoyed it. Schools weren't closed and people carried on with life as normal - because that's what normal was!
When soccer players were tackled they didn’t run twenty yards and collapse in the penalty area writhing in unbelievable agony and then jump up as soon as a penalty was given before firing the ball into the net with their ‘broken’ leg. There were no such beings as substitutes and you had to play on for the full stretch - injured or not.
Criminals were caught and imprisoned and there was no such thing as an illegal immigrant.
People worked and were paid and were loyal to companies who were loyal to them: redundancy hadn’t been invented. Building Societies kept your money safe, gave you decent interest and reasonable mortgages that could be repaid.
The young stood up on buses and trains to offer their seats to their elders and politely opened doors for them. Pubs closed all afternoon, reopened at six and closed again at half-past ten at night because even publicans had a right to a life. There were occasional drunks, but binge drinking hadn’t been discovered - doubtless because social security monies to pay for it weren’t available.
We didn’t have health and safety - only the common sense sort. But somehow, many of us have survived; which is a problem because we look at life and wonder what we did that has removed much of what we thought was good in life.
Perhaps we voted for a Nick Clegg!