A New Dawn

Well, here we are on the cusp of a new year and I haven't written anything since August! How can this be? Have I gone brain dead or something (don't answer!). Have I lost interested in everything? Is there nothing I feel inspired to write about? Well, there have been a lot of things which have caught my interest, but I have just not been motivated enough to write anything, I suppose I have just been going through a phase of extreme lazyitus.

This is all about to change - no wait!........It HAS changed by virtue of the fact that I am actually writing at this moment. I have announced to my children my desire to start blogging again and have been given some sage advice from one of them and that is to stay off the subject of religion. Well, you don't have to look back very far in my blog postings to get a hint of my leanings in that direction, so I won't comment again unless some news story just sits up and begs comment, so I guess it wont be long then......!

Christmas has come and gone and we have all been caught up in the spirit of love and forgiveness for our fellow man - or woman. Of course we have. Have we bollocks?!?.....not a literal question of course as it is clear we don't all have bollocks mainly due to gender related constraints, but if the spirit of love and forgiveness has been adopted then life will be so much better from now on. People will no longer be winding me up so much and I might even change my attitude to humanity in general! Life is about relationships, and if people choose to be shit in their relationships with others then that is their  business, but please don't involve me in that as I have enough issues of my own without having other people's pathetic hang ups dumped upon me all of which could be easily done away with by a simple change of attitude and the realization that life is too short to go around baring grudges. However, I have no faith whatsoever that when the Christmas/New Year break is over and I step boldly back out into the daily grind, anything will have changed. 

Even so, there will still be moments of great positivity and inspiration with people giving of themselves to others in a completely selfless and sacrificial manner. These are people who refuse to be drawn into the norms of human selfishness, hate, depravity and greed, who will not just go that extra mile for their fellow man, but many miles - even to the point of collapse. Most of these people go unnoticed and in the main, unreported. Many will not be acting in response to any religious beliefs, but just to their common humanity to their fellow man. They are not looking for fame or fortune, but just following their instincts and love in the service of others. Most people are decent and kind, though some believe that charity starts at home while forgetting that home is not meant to be the end point! I am of course aiming these musings at myself as well as anyone who might be reading this, as I don't want this to sound like some sanctimonious sermon which turns people off and makes them want to reach for their vomit bag! I just find certain aspects of life, and humanity in general very depressing and I believe it would only take a very small change in common decency and the way people act to transform the world and society in general to being a much kinder and more tolerant place.

Here's wishing a very happy and fulfilling new year to all my readers.

Talkin New Year Gloomsday Blues

This coming year will see many changes in all our lives, even if it’s the unfulfilled longing for Pick and Mix. One change which will come will be more postings on this blog. I am going to be franker, bolder, hopefully funnier, and I will not be dictated to by others what I can and what I cannot write. Whatever appears on this blog will stay, and I will not change a word. For those who have ears, let them hear.

Well, here we go again, and like last year, I cannot help but feel despair for this rotton overcrowded planet upon which we all scrape our existence. Already we hear of a massacre in the Middle East, and we have had our collective share of religious fanatics heaping their suffering and misery onto innocent people in the name of a God which if it did exist would be thoroughly evil. Who needs a devil when we’ve got God?? When did you last hear of an atheist suicide bomber? Hopefully this coming year might see more people waking up to the truth of the inspired writings of people like Professor Richard Dawkins et al. There can only be any real prospect of peace on this world when people grow up and throw off the shackles of religious superstition and irrational fear and start living by the rules of common decency which is innate in all of us, though suffocated by unreason in many.

Yesterday I was talking to my niece who informed me she had to be out of bed by 4.00 this morning. The reason?............she works in a clothing store in London which opened at 5.00 this morning for its Winter Sale. Also, she informed me there were people queuing on the pavement all night in the freezing cold awaiting this great event. What the hell is the matter with people in this country to make them act in such an insane manner? Are people really so materialistic? Didn’t they get enough for Christmas? Obviously not. Greed and materialism are rife, and has gotten us into this current economic mess. You cannot have unlimited growth because it will destroy civilisation. We can still have advances in technology, and better standards of living, but it needs to be more modest and in step with what the natural resources of this planet can afford us. Of course, there are far too many people in the world and little prospect of doing more than a token amount to raise the standards and prospects of the majority who are poor. Even so, we can all help by being that little bit more generous to others less fortunate. While it is true that charity starts at home, it is supposed to get beyond the front door!

I know it’s a kid’s film, but I watched the Disney Pixar animated film “Wall-E” on Christmas Day, a present. I thought it had a very serious point. Here was this robot, going about an uninhabitable Earth clearing up all the rubbish left by humankind who had all fled to live an idle pointless existence on a vast spaceship where their every need was catered for by robots. What struck me was that this was a look into a future where economic growth and the human population have expanded unchecked. It doesn’t take a brain scientist to work out what may befall us in the not too distant future if we don’t start living more simply, making do with the things we do have which fulfil our needs (not greeds), stop endlessly pining over getting the next big thing, and stop having so many children. If you want to see a nightmarish extreme example of what can happen when there are too many people and too few resources to support them in any decent fashion, take a close up look at Manila in the Phillipines where people are routinely dying in the streets and trying to sell their babies. To get an idea of the scale of the problem, take a look at it on Google Earth – it’s shocking. Of course, Roman Catholicism doesn’t help with its evil teachings against contraception. Maybe the Pope should go and live in a tin shack amongst these poor people. Even so, reason and common sense are the enemies of religion which is driven by dogma and blind fear, so I don’t suppose his mind would be changed. Oh, here I go again!!!! Sorry, but religion is a deadly disease of the mind and the sooner people wake up to this the better.

So, did you get anything good for Christmas then?? I did, and pleasingly, all the presents we gave out were well received and we didn’t seem to have made any bad choices. Even better, everything worked so we will not be queuing to exchange or return any faulty goods. I wish I could say that Christmas was a happy occasion for all my family, but sadly one of our members became severely ill and spent Christmas Day in Hospital, but is thankfully now making a good recovery.

I know this posting is laden with loads of doom and gloom, but I do actually have real hopes for things to be better this year. On a personal level, I have much I want to achieve, and I aim to travel to places I have never been before. I hope to take many wonderful photographs and make new friends and acquaintances. The exciting thing about New Year is that it’s a chance for a fresh start. In a sense, we could say this every day, though with New Year there is a much greater psychological imperative at work.

Finally, I wish a very happy and prosperous New Year to all my readers.

Writer's Block New Year Blues

I have decided to sit down and write, although I know not what about. Its a New Year and I should be approaching it in a positive manner and to admit that I am suffering from "Writer's Block" would be a rather negative admission, so here we go - onwards and who the hell knows where? Talking of Hell, the world didn't get off to such a brilliant start did it? - what with the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and now all the trouble in Kenya. The sight of machete wielding savages on the streets does nothing for my faith in human nature, nor my non-existent desire to visit Africa. Also, we had better watch out in Pakistan. If an Al Qaida supporting Islamist government comes to power - with nuclear weapons - then we are heading for a holocaust. Happy New Year.


I was very disappointed with the Christmas TV offerings this year. I thought they were absolute pants. To escape the fast encroaching plunge into the abyss of catatonic cerebral neurosis, I went to the cinema to see "The Golden Compass". I thought the film was brilliant, very entertaining and visually stunning. I am told the book is a lot darker and that the story has been lightened up to make it more child friendly. Being one who likes dark literature, I've bought a copy of the book which I shall be reading just as soon as I've finished reading Dan Brown's "Angels and Demons." Talking of demons, why do the TV channels only seem to put on films I want to watch late at night when I'm either too tired to watch them or cannot stay up because I've got to get up and go to work the next morning. I could record the film (of course), but I don't bother because my life is so full of other things (like going to the cinema) that I just know I will never get around to watching it. The film, in case you were wondering and are still actually reading this, was "Exorcist - The Beginning". This was a prequel to the 1970's film "The Exorcist" which at the time was blamed for people committing suicide having seen it. Priests and others who should have known better campaigned and demonstrated against the film. This, of course, only had the effect of ensuring that far more people went to see it than might otherwise have done. I really loved the film, the more Satanic and scary the better as far as I'm concerned and I loved the projectile sick scene - wonderful! I have a copy of the film which I watch from time to time when I'm feeling low and want to cheer myself up.


Sticking to the subject of scary films, I also went over the Christmas period to see Will Smith in "I am Legend". I have nothing but superlatives for this film as well as the faultless acting of Will Smith. The sets and special effects in this film are astonishingly convincing, and the story line ain't half bad either. If you like to be shocked out of your seat, go and see this film.


Well, that's it then. I hope all my readers out there had a happy Christmas and I wish you all the very best for the New year. Watch this space.............