Tag Archives: talkswindon

by | October 3, 2011 · 11:37 am

The plague of the wrong trousers

I know that this plague has been with us for some time, but feel that I just have to speak out as it shows no sign of receding. Or should I say that there is no sign of things going back to the point they were at before they began to recede.

That which troubles me is the fact that many men, many of whom are old enough to know better, have allowed themselves to be sold trousers that stop a long way short of where a trouser should. I believe that descriptions such as three quarter and five eighths apply.

Now laudable as it is to be encouraging the use of old fashioned fractions, the fact remains that men look stupid in these garments. There was a time when I was a lad and growing quickly that you might be asked if your trousers had had a row with your ankles if they didn’t drape nicely over your shoes, but this latest look is beyond the pale. Men, what are you thinking?!

If you want to wear shorts then get a proper pair of tailored ones, otherwise cover up with proper pants. And if you’re over 50, then just cover up. Old men’s legs are not attractive.

I think that it has been a female plot. Never mind “does my bum look big in this?”, if they can get their men looking like half wits then no-one will notice how big their bum looks. Clever, eh?

Come on guys, stop letting the side down. Dress properly and let’s see some standards coming back.

One last thing. If you must wear stupid three quarter length pants, or those silly long shorts, for goodness sake don’t wear socks with your sandals. Be warned; if I get into power I will be promoting a shoot to kill policy for the fashion police.

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by | September 18, 2011 · 7:16 am

the joys of blogging

There are those days when there is so much that you want to say that you just don’t have time to get it all down, and other days when you stare at a blank screen with your fingers waiting for messages to flow down from the brain and tell them what to type. Some days they can wait a long time…. Continue reading →

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by | August 15, 2011 · 6:59 pm

A letter from the House of Commons – short lived joy

The post thudded onto the doormat on Saturday. In amongst the white enveloped demands for money was a brown one; HMRC I thought, but no, House of Commons.

Bearing in mind the feedback and interest that I’ve had in some of my thoughts on the recent riots could DC have recognised my worth as an advisor and was summoning me over for a chat and to seek my help?

Unfortunately not. A few weeks ago I sent a briefing note to my MP in advance of a Commons debate in the hopes that it might have helped inform him on the subject. I got an Out of Office response to my email and nothing further. With recent events having, rightly, taken precedence over the subject that I had written to him about I had forgotten the matter, at least as far as Parliament was concerned.

But no. This was the subject of the letter, and so I sat down to read with interest. Having taken the trouble to write a carefully worded briefing for him I thought that there might be news of the debate. Once again, but no. The response expressed sympathy for me regarding the issue, and went on to suggest things that I could do to help myself in this matter.

Maybe fair enough on face value, but one of the central issues of the debate was the failure of a government appointed body to adequately deal with an issue in the area that it was suppsed to police, and to have also failed to follow up effcetively having allowed the problem to occur in the first place.

Part of my briefing covered this failure, so to recieve a piece of advice that included asking this agency to assist when it should have been clear that I already had done and that it had failed me (amongst others) is not impressive.

Quite frankly I would rather be ignored than patronised. And I voted for this bloke. Mea culpa?

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by | August 2, 2011 · 6:36 pm

more fun at the NHS

I had a bad feeling about a late afternoon appointment for a check up and, sure enough, things were running an hour late. This sort of thing drives me to distraction and I ended up having to leave part way through what they had planned for me as I had something else that I needed to be doing.

Whilst I do have some sympathy there are some aspects of my NHS encounters where they just play themselves into trouble. My GP will arrange appointments from 0830 but they wait until exactly 0830 to walk around and unlock the door, so even if you are first through the door it will be a couple of minutes before you are sat down and the Doc is never standing at the consulting suite entrance waiting for you. By their own clocks it is usually 0835 before anyone is called, so they are late from the first appointment.

In the Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin Reggie dictates a letter to the British Railways chief suggesting that, as his train is always 11 minutes late, they reissue the timetables adjusted accordingly. Same sort of issue really.

So I’m sat here this evening feeling pretty low. I’ve had time wasted that means, to avoid letting someone down, I’ve had to do an hour’s work this evening when I had plans to do something personal.

Such is life, but I doubt that anyone else cares too much.

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by | July 25, 2011 · 7:43 pm

Garden progress here in North Wiltshire

Tonight dinner was enhanced by the first potatoes from what used to be our rockery. We dug it out a couple or three years ago and made a raised be into with we’ve planted various greens and potatoes. Tonight’s are the result of a potato that I just planted because it was sprouting in the veg drawer. A nice change from some of the shop bought (we were very disappoited with the Jersey Royals this year – almost tasteless).

Earlier in the year we had a great crop of strawberries that lasted us throigh about 3 weeks of enhancing puddings. Not so many coming through now though.

The tomato hanging basket (Tumbler) is cropping like mad and making salads nicer as are lettuce from the garden. The plum and full size tomatoes are flowering, but no crops yet.

We tried Pak Choi this year for the first time and managed to use 4 or 5 in stir fries before they went to flower.

Fennel, garlic, round carrotts and beans all coming along.

We’ll never match Tom & Barbara, but it is a bit of fun and relaxation, the food miles are minimal and it all tastes good, so we’ll be doing it all again next year.

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by | July 7, 2011 · 10:34 am

back (excuse the pun) at the chiroprator

Having managed to put my back out speaking at the Public Procurement Show the other week I have been back at the chiropractor. The one that sorted me out after being rammed from behind on Birdlip Hill has moved so I have found myslef a new one. Not the one where the owner runs a Maserati and wanted me to pay them thousands, presumably to keep up the payments on the trident job, but one who has reasonable charges and has got me walking around pain free again.

If you do take up this route you do need to think about long term work on your skeleton to get bones and muscles working and, as you get older, this makes more sense.

So if you have problems, do consider a chiropratctor to help you. It has worked on me and I would be happy to recommend my lady to you. Drop me an email or post a comment here and I’ll pass on the details.

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by | July 2, 2011 · 6:57 am

mobile phones and boring people

Why is it that the mobile phone culture dictates that a person’s volume on their phone is in inverse proportion to the substance of their conversation?

Riding home from London on the train last night I was joined by a fellow businessman, but a complete stranger. His papers identified him as working for a company that I know well and he spend much of the journey making and receiving calls, but I heard probably less that 30 words over about the same number of minutes of talk time despite the fact that we were sat so close. A shame in some ways because, being in an industry where I frequently earn my keep I might have picked up something useful.

Three or four rows in front and behind were a man and a woman who were both so loud that every word rang out through the carriage, and boy were they inane. Having seen them both neither looked like a gormless moron, but they both sounded that way. Do these people think that a lack of decent conversation skills can be overcome by shouting?

Oh, the joys of train travel.

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by | June 22, 2011 · 9:19 am

wiltshire wildlife june 2011

The local Sparrow and Starling youngsters are going through 5 or 6 fat balls a day at the moment. The Starlings are just starting to show signs of transition from juvenile feathers to the adult plumage and are feeding themselves, but the Sparrow young still, mostly, need to be fed.

Despite reports of a decline in Sparrows in recent years we have a good crop and can often have as many as 20 flitting around with their complex air traffic control stacking them for a turn on the feeder.

Fortunately we’ve had no sightings of the larger birds of prey that turned up towards the end of last year, but the Pigeons, Gulls and Crows still have spats amongst themselves, uniting against the Magpies and the Heron.

Samantha Squirrel was last seen in August and so we think that she has gone to that drey in the sky. She would have been at least 6 and had been through some hard times. A strange thing though; it was four summers ago that she moved herself and her two babies into our loft and we had to evict them in fear that they would chew up wiring with the attendant risks to them and us. Twice in the last few months an adult squirrel has come down our path, run unerringly up the cherry tree to the corner of the house where Samantha made an entry, looked around and then run back down the tree and left, ignoring the adjacent bird feeder. Could this have been one (or  both) of Samantha’s offspring, following some memory of a previous home? Maybe I’m just being wishful, but why would a squirrel just turn up, check that location and leave?

This is the fourth year that we have not had a fox take up temporary residence under our deck. Having been a regular maternity ward for several years we had enjoyed the spectacle of the youngsters play fighting in the afternoon sun, even if we did not like some of their, shall we say, personal habits.

 

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by | June 12, 2011 · 7:12 pm

why are publishers so reluctant to pay up for content?

I’m in the process of having to take strong action against one publishing house and am actively chasing another for payment for articles that I have written for them and, in the former case, for several photos to accompany the article. Both articles have been published against agreed terms, so what is the problem with coughing up what is owed?

One problem is that it is taking me longer to chase them than it did to write the darn things in the first place, but I am going to keep going even if I end up taking them down the small claims route.

It is a shame as it takes away both the pleasure of having something published and any feeling of support for that publication, but such is life. There are a lot of shysters out there.

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by | May 6, 2011 · 7:36 pm

victory is never sweet when it is at the expense of friends #vote2011

So it looks like a massive No2AV.

I voted No, but am I pleased with the result? Not especially, no. Yes it is the result I voted for, but only because I was presented with an alternative that I found even less palatable. I voted for the lesser of two evils as I saw it.

Was the No campaign persuasive? I don’t think so, in fact I would say that the Yes campaign did more damage to itself with some of the arguments it put forward. The campaign has seen some pretty stupid things said on either side, but unfortunately that is par for the course in modern, sound bite ridden, negative politics, and the result has been voted in by a poor turnout, even if it was better than some predicted.

So I sit here this evening casting an occasional glance at the unfolding vote with no sense of pleasure let alone satisfaction. And not just because of what I have just said, but also because there a few people I count as friends who were as passionate about a yes vote as I was opposed to it. As a Scottish pal once said to me, victory is never sweet when it is at the expense of friends. Their loss gives me no pleasure.

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