I've Got Summink to Say

  Blast From The Past I hope interest in my ramblings hasn't waned into insignificance just yet, if you're on the verge of abandoning me for pastures greener please bear with this post at least. I was having a bit of trouble sleeping tonight so decided to spend a bit of time with a flask of coffee by my favourite public bench and predictably enough, the Police decided to execute a drive by. This made me look back over some events in my life and question when and why I first came to their attention in a negative light. I guess it could have been the caution I got for criminal damage on my last night at University. I spent the first 8 weeks of my working life paying off the agreed compensation and assumed that was an end to the matter. But another strange event came to my memory. This must have been around 2001 after I returned from Australia and had finished working at FTSE International as it was then. I was living at an address in Brentwood, 5 Cromwell Court, a 2 bed maisonett

  Imagine All The People Or when the fun stops, don't stop. Welcome back, my diverse and apparently International audience. I'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent today and talk a bit about Britain's National Lottery. It's often derided as a tax on the poor and there does seem to be something in that. I often see people in the newsagents with a winning scratchcard that spend all of their prize money on more scratchcards so I decided to do a bit of research into it. I came across  this site.  Essentially, only just over half of the money is paid out in prizes so over time you're guaranteed to lose. I have my own idea, I haven't thought of a name for it, that's not my job, but I thought it could help with the Government's much vaunted 'levelling up' and actually encourage foreign visitors to some of the regions to spend money and support employment. My idea, such as it is, is to raffle 'stuff' Internationally. I originally thought of mus

  Sunday Morning The constellations of a bit of cash and a fine spring morning on a Sunday finally coincided again so I took a trip to my favourite summer boot sale at  Boreham  near Chelmsford. I had a really enjoyable couple of hours and bought some really interesting stuff even though I only went with a tenner. I won't list it all here, it was the usual mix; some CD's a bit of china and antique framed prints. I even did some trading on the hoof. All in all a good couple of hours spent for just £10. A couple of pieces of china I did buy are small ornamental birds, one a Yellow Hammer and the other an American Bluebird manufactured by the company Royal Adderley, probably in the 1960's. I paid £7 the pair which is a very fair price and although I know there's an awful lot of these sort of ornaments still around I'd never seen Royal Adderley ones before. They're in fantastic condition and I can't find any damage to them, even the delicate posies at the base o

  Reviewing the Review This post is a bit of a departure from my previous ones, there's no real madness in my method. Please forgive the inconsistent formatting, I also posted this elsewhere and I'm still getting to grips with Blogger. Here's a book review in the Telegraph I came across on MSN which is worth a read. Please ignore the title, I think it's quite a good review although I won't watch the BBC adaptation, mainly because I haven't got a TV, not because I'm not curious. Anyway, if you're interested I'll give my guess as to what she might be trying to say after the link. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/entertainment ... 182b&ei=63 I basically think it's a commentary on how Britain has faced what must have seemed like existential threats in the past but is still here, the arrival of gun toting soldiers from the future, climate ravaged as it is suggests that Britain will survive the next one. What I'd be interested to see is what the Beeb

  From Hendon to Havering The last couple of days have been quite good, the weather's getting better at last and I haven't been bothered by those awful criminals in the NHS. I popped into Romford with my parents today and it was good to see the local Police responding to some genuine emergencies, with the demographic changes in Havering I know they would rather be keeping Joe public safe than acting as a taxi for bent 'Doctors'. I was also a bit upset to see an ex paratrooper down on his luck, asking strangers for the money for a cup of tea. I can't imagine any circumstances that I'd ever want those guys to have to do that, I'd be ashamed of myself if I did. We're all on the same side. Anyway here's a couple of tracks to let all the men and women that serve their country, past, present and future that the British public appreciate you. Police Passing-Out Parade (1969) (youtube.com) And one for the Paratroopers. My Son Pass Out Parade in Para Regiment

  Thanks For Serving I've been up all night, unable to sleep thinking about the prospect of an early retirement and a healthy pension, enjoying myself on my yacht in the sun; let's face it every dog has his day and I've always loved Turkey. These are just some random songs I like in no particular order, if I may have your attention. They mean an awful lot to me, I hope they mean something to you, the sound quality isn't great but when you watch the video too you should understand, I'm happy to let others Judge. Judas Priest - Breaking The Law (youtube.com) I've always admired the Dirty Harry franchise, all the other cops were scared of him, he could get into trouble working the Subway on the late shift but he never worried about the pension and the Chief Inspector always let him carry the can, candidly. George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Bad To The Bone (Dirty Harry Tribute) (youtube.com) I love this song, this is the original although it's been widely