The Power Of The Weather
These pictures from the BBC, sum it all up.
How To Be Green
This arrived as an e-mail from that green island across the sea; Ireland. It cried out to be posted.
When at a store checkout the young cashier suggested to the older woman that she should bring her own shopping bags in future because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment..
The woman apologised and explained, “We didn’t have this green thing back in my earlier days.”
The cashier responded, “That’s our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations.”
She was right — our generation didn’t have the green thing in its day. Back then, we returned milk bottles, pop bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got blunt.
But we didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
We walked up stairs, because we didn’t have an escalator in every shop and office building. We walked to the shop and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two streets.
But she was right. We didn’t have the green thing in our day.
Back then, we washed the baby’s nappies because we didn’t have the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 2200watts — wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right. We didn’t have the green thing back in our day.
Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house — not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the county of Yorkshire. In the kitchen, we blended and stirred by hand because we didn’t have electric machines to do everything for us.. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not polystyrene or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn.. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right. We didn’t have the green thing back then.
We drank water from a fountain or a tap when we were thirsty instead of demanding a plastic bottle flown in from another country. We accepted that a lot of food was seasonal and didn’t expect to have out of season products flown thousands of air miles around the world. We actually cooked food that didn’t come out of a packet, tin or plastic wrapping and we could even wash our own vegetables and chop our own salad.
But we didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people caught a train or a bus, and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their mothers into a 24-hour taxi service. We had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn’t need a computerised gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza place.
But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we oldies were just because we didn’t have the green thing back then?
Please forward this on to another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart-ass young person.
Remember: Don’t make old people mad. We don’t like being old in the first place, so it doesn’t take much to piss us off…
A Solution To Travelling Paperwork
On my trips to Europe, where I fly out and then take a train back, one of the biggest problems is all the bits of paper for airline and train tickets and hotel reservations, you have to take. I used to take these in a secure A4 folder like this one.
A Secure A4 Folder
But it is rather large and is a bit of a nuisance to get out of my small case. As most of my tickets are A4 sheets of paper, which folds in half to A5, I thought that an A5 version of this folder would be ideal. I’d tried out stationers near me, so this was why I was at Tottenham Hale today, to visit Staples. They didn’t have any, but they did have this clear plastic zip up A5 bag.
Staples A5 Zip Bag
Several would have been ideal on my home run from Stockholm, where I was constantly changing currency, so I could have had bags for Sweden, Denmark, Euroland and the UK.
My only mistake today was just buying two. But at a pound or less a time, I can afford them!
Changes At Tottenham Hale
Tottenham Hale station and the associated bus station, is an important transport interchange in North London. It suffered badly in the August 2011 riots, but some would claim that the 1960s design of the area was better after the modifications.
I went there today to go to the Staples, as that is my nearest. I was surprised to see that the bus station has now been demolished and work is starting on a major upgrade of the station and the roads in the area. there’s a lot more about it, with some good maps here on the TfL website.
My first thought was about time too! Hopefully, those that have demolished the bus station, will move on to Highbury and Islington station next.
Just Keep Driving, No-One Will Bother!
This story is terrible, as it details how many drivers have more than twelve penalty points and are still driving.
Almost 7,300 motorists with 12 points or more on their licences have not been banned from driving, the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) has claimed.
Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) latest figures show a man from Liverpool is driving with 45 penalty points on his licence, the IAM said.
I suspect that none of these drivers have committed a serious motoring offence like dangerous, drink or careless driving, as then they would probably have been banned. But who knows, as surely some of these drivers didn’t get banned because of various underhand means. Nudge! Nudge Wink! Wink!
But even if these drivers are just persistent speeders, do they moderate their speed in towns and cities, where there are some not very alert pedestrians and cyclists, who might misjudge a speeding vehicle? And do their insurance companies know of their points, which if they don’t would surely invalidate their insurance.
I suspect now, that with a persuasive medical report from the right consultant, I could get my licence back. But I have made the decision after my stroke not to drive again, as if I was involved in a serious road accident, I’d be the one to blame.
Except for cases like my abortive trip to Doncaster, it is no inconvenience to not have a car.
One thing that does worry me though, is that I’ve been in a couple of cars lately, where I think that my eyesight was better than the driver.
There are masses of drivers out there who should be banned from driving for various reasons.
But politicians don’t want the law properly enforced as it would be a vote loser.
Sergeant Rain
I jokingly said to two policemen, sheltering from the rain at the Angel, that all the rain will be bad for business, in that most of the low life wouldn’t be venturing out.
One said, that some officers call this weather, Sergeant Rain.
But everywhere wasn’t very busy.
Kicking A Bank When It’s Down
I keep all the scamming e-mails, that I get sent, so I can see any trends. If for instance I were to see a large number attacking the bank I use, it would put me on alert, and I’d be very careful in checking my account.
Over the last few months, RBS and its subsidiary, Natwest have had a series of well-documented computer problems. So as customers of this group now seem to be the target of most of my scam e-mails, could it be that the scammers get a higher chance to fraudulently remove money from a customer of a bank, that has a series of computer problems, as this softens customers up.
So perhaps, if your bank continually annoys you with unavailability of the service and security lapses, you should move to one that is more reliable.
Perhaps, the Financial Conduct Authority, should publish a web site, showing all of the failures of banks, building societies and credit cards. Then we’d all be able to sort the good from the bad.
How Many Times Do You Go To A & E In A Year?
This story on the BBC’s web site has done a bit of research and here’s the first part.
Some patients are going to A&E units in the UK more than 50 times a year, a BBC investigation shows.
Data from 183 sites obtained under the Freedom of Information Act revealed nearly 12,000 people made more than 10 visits to the same unit in 2012-13.
A small number of those – just over 150 – attended more than 50 times.
I wonder why they needed a Freedom of Information request to get all this information. This sort of information should be shown on the NHS web site, suitably anonimised.
I didn’t go in 2011. but I went once in 2012 and 2013. Last year’s visit was when I damaged my hand and it just wouldn’t stop bleeding.
Surely, if the NHS had a decent joined-up computer system, they could deal with their serial patients better. I am joined up to UCLH, where I went for my hand, as I had been an in-patient and that got me through the hospital a lot quicker.
The Anonymous Widower 