Jubilee, being British and holy stuff

Sunny days are here again, la la la la la, la la la la, sunny days are here again!  After a week of gloriously hot and sunny weather we are due to have a cooling off just in time for the Jubilee weekend.  Hmmmm, not what Her Majesty ordered.  I meanwhile am doing my bit for being patriotic with bunting up, paper chains ready to make, cakes to bake and Jubilee activities with the little folk all ready to get going!  There are plenty of Jubilee events going on around town plus the coverage on television so it should be a good time and make us proud (for once) to be British.

On this subject, I watched an article earlier about what it means to people these days to be British.  The presenter was someone from children’s television who came to the UK from Afghanistan at six years old and considers herself to be British although she also keeps her Afghan culture with foods and costumes for festivals and the like.  All her siblings were born in Afghanistan apart from her younger brother who was born in the UK.  She asked him if he thinks he is British and he said he feels half British and half Afghan even though he has never been to his family’s original country.  Gives us some food for thought really..................do we feel British because we were born and/or live here and are absorbed in the culture or is it because we have been raised to be told “you are British”?

This morning I spent a couple of hours cutting the lawns, pruning some overgrown shrubs and pulling up weeds.  I took a break for elevenses and flicked the television on to be met with (wait for it) an advert for a Christmas catalogue.  It is May.  Enough said.

I went to my god-daughter’s first Holy Communion over the weekend.  The day was lovely, the weather roasting and the church baking hot!  Twelve children were receiving Communion and had spent the past year in holy classes to prepare for their big day.  Lucia did really well and was the last child to be done so had to hold onto her nerves for a little longer than the others.  Each child was presented with a certificate at the end of the service.  Lucia referred to hers as a poster and it has found its’ way to her ‘holy table’ in her bedroom.  Hopefully the power of prayer will make her hamster reappear sharpish as it went missing somewhere in the house on the morning of the Communion – it couldn’t have chosen a worse time to go on an adventure.

Following on from my rant last time about people doing other stuff whilst at the wheel of their car, twice last week on the way home from an evening stroll I was waiting at a zebra crossing to safely trot over the road and on each occasion cars failed to stop.  With eyesight that bad they should not be driving.  At least I had to presence of mind to wait rather than presume the cars would at least slow down when approaching the crossing.  Unbelievably, this morning one of the people who failed to stop nearly ran into me as (here we go again) she did not stop on a roundabout despite me having the right of way.  Perhaps she is expecting a prize on her third attempt to cause me bodily harm?  In fact all she will end up with is a visit from the local constabulary – madam, I have your registration number.

Last week a friend was gossiped about in the school playground by a couple of nasty sorts.  Without going into detail, they commented on something very personal to my friend loud enough for her to hear.  Fortunately she is a strong character and has many, many friends and is a far better person than these bovine creatures.  Once again it is a case of do not comment on or insult people when you know nothing whatsoever about their personal circumstances.  Karma is a strange thing and it will leap up and bite you on the bum when you least expect it.  I hope someone is selling tickets for when these two get their comeuppance – please can I have a front row seat?  The ‘ladies’ (I use the word very loosely) are easy recognisable by their warty faces, pointy noses and broomsticks.

Sunny days, modern churches and ignorant people

With another week of no decent weather to speak of, my waterproof coat has been getting plenty of use and the garden hasn’t had a watering can near it for months.  Allegedly this is all due to change this week with sunny days and temperatures in the mid 20’s.................I will believe it when I see it, although today bodes well with a bright and warm start to the day.  About time too.

The conservatory saga drags on and on..............two months into the project and all is now done apart from the flooring.  The boss man paid a visit last week to check on progress and he was limping badly from a recent failed knee operation.  He ended up leaving with one of the walking sticks my Mum had after her hip operation!  Well the hospital won’t take them back so at least one has been put to good use.  No wonder the costs to hospitals are continually rising if they don’t recycle walking sticks, crutches and other mobility aids.  Apparently it is due to hygiene reasons......so why not have a large sterilisation tank and pop them all in for a wash?

I recently attended a Christening service for the son of some friends.  The service took the form of a very modern approach with plenty happy clappy religious songs rather than hymns, the vicar was light hearted and made the service appealing to all ages.  The local congregation was made up of all sorts of people, a chap with tattoos around his face, various less able-bodied folks, children of various ages, but all had come together to enjoy a morning of celebration and togetherness (to say nothing of the buffet afterwards!).  Whilst some older people may feel that the church is deviating away from tradition, a fun approach is needed in order to keep the pews full and to attract new church members.  It does not detract from the religious side of proceedings (we were after all there for a Christening), prayers, readings and a sermon were still part of the service.  The order of service had a note to encourage children to play with the toys at the rear of the church and for parents to carry on worshipping even if their offspring were making a noise.  What a difference from other churches where congregation members are glared at if their child so much as sneezes.  This coming weekend I am attending a First Communion which I anticipate will be a more formal service but I could be proved wrong.

More and more often I am seeing people driving around town whilst using their mobile phones.  They are often so engrossed in conversation that they are oblivious to others on the road.  How can it  possibly be safe to drive with your head on your shoulder with a phone wedged in between?  Last week on a five minute drive to a local school I saw seven people using their phones when behind the wheel, two people smoking, one person phoning and smoking and finally, unbelievably, the star of the week, a woman brushing her hair (with a hairbrush) as she drove.  What planet are these people on?  What can be so important that someone needs to put people’s lives at risk rather than pull over to use the phone? 

Smoking whilst in the car with children is something that riles me.  I once looked after a child who arrived every day stinking of cigarettes as she was driven here in a car filled with the poisonous smog.  She had a hacking smokers cough at 2 years old and apparently there was nothing wrong with this according to her irresponsible parent.  Upon speaking to the health visitor at the child’s surgery I was advised that they were unable to do anything unless she was taken there by her parent on this or any other matter.  The local safeguarding children authorities were unable to assist too as apparently it was not (at that time) considered ‘neglectful or abusive’.  So much for protecting children and maintaining their health – red tape and bureaucracy working at their worst.

Rain, trains and dysfunctional lifestyles

Another weekend  of very wet weather which scuppered all my plans for days out – when will it ever stop raining?   I even spied a large wooden vessel floating past steered by a chap called Noah.  For some odd reason he seemed to have a large quantity of pairs of animals with him.  Whatever floats his boat I guess, who are we to judge?

In the interests of my sanity and to prevent me wanting to cull any bird who would dare to poo on my clean laundry, I do not have a washing line.  Wet stuff goes straight from the washing machine into the tumble dryer and hey presto everything is dry and fluffy.  This arrangement worked fine until last week when on my final tumbling session of the week....................nothing!  No way was I going to be able to dry anything so I had to resort to the airing cupboard (for the clothing, not for me to hide out in).  Anyhow I looked through the book of rules for the machine and it mentioned something about checking the fuse.  Just as well I did as the fuse had obviously overheated judging by the burn mark on the plug and the melted fuse cover.  This only reinforces why I never leave the tumble dryer running when I am out of the house.

I have been doing some research on pre-booking train tickets for our forthcoming week away.  For the most part it will be a driving trip, but the day we are planning to visit Edinburgh we are travelling by train for an hour to get there – saves the hassle of trying to find somewhere to park in the city centre plus train travel is fun.  Anyhow, I have managed to find return tickets (booked a month or so in advance) for £35 each return which is a pretty good price for travelling in rip off Britain.  As a separate exercise I looked at the prices for travelling from various points on the same main line route to Edinburgh and bizarrely the prices ranged from £70-£395 to travel from around half way along the route.  To travel the full distance from London to Edinburgh the price can be as low as £49..........explain that one Mr Network Rail.  By factoring in travelling from a station not on the main line, i.e. one where there is a change from one rail service to another, the prices can be as high as £600.  For goodness sake, I can go to Spain for two weeks for little more than this.  Why exactly do we put up with this sort of nonsense?  Give me European or American trains systems any day – cheap, quality service, efficient, on time..................need I go on?

The usual poor television programme choices did nothing to make a wet bank holiday Monday any more entertaining, however I decided to catch the end of a Jeremy Kyle show.  How some of these folk have the brass neck to air their business for the country to see is beyond me, but the three in a ‘love triangle’ on the show took the biscuit.  Girl A was moaning that Girl B was trying to get Girl A’s boyfriend back even though Girl B said she didn’t want him and was only doing this to annoy Girl A , although the boyfriend had been flitting back and forth between the two girls and playing them off against each other (are you keeping up?).  When Girl A was asked if things had improved of late in her on-off relationship with the stud in question (I use the term in total amusement as he was anything but a stud) she replied that he sometimes now cuddles her after their, shall we say, bedroom activities, instead of just going off to play on his PlayStation.  He has also started to bring her presents which is a new thing for him.  To quote Girl A, “he has been nicking bracelets for me from the pound shop”. What a great example of young people in this country today and I daresay an attitude that will be passed down to the next generation unfortunate enough to find themselves mixed up in these dysfunctional and irresponsible lifestyles where partner swapping in the normal thing to do.

Once again, will the last person to leave the country please switch the lights off?