Am I Lucky Or Does The Devil Look After Me?
Throughout my life, I’ve often been described as lucky and several times, positive things seem to happen to me by chance.
For instance, I met my late wife at Liverpool University, when I manipulated a scheme for students to get partners for one of the guild balls.
I ended up in Metier, after a chance meeting outside an opticians on Great Portland Street.
I’ve also been mentored well, by a lot of friends, who would never be described as conventional. Some sadly are no longer with us.
and I could give lots more examples.
Even on Monday, when I had the tooth exorcised from my body, I did the right thing, as it needed three hours and three dentists.
So is it luck or do some quickly weigh up the chances and make the right decision? I do know that my late wife would never describe me as boring and is that because I never throw any possibly useful information away from my brain. Since the stroke, I have lost some memory, like knowledge of who did this or that. But there is always Wikipedia!
As I don’t believe in any religion and believe organised religion is just another way to screw wealth out of the poor, then I can’t think that a devil exists either. Although after my last few years, it is more likely there is a devil, than a loving and peaceful god.
But then I’m a London mongrel! And they have more fight than a wagon-load of pit-bulls.
In Your Face Advertising
I saw these leaflets on every table outside a pub in Islington.
In Your Face Advertising
It will be interesting to see if it works, as unlike the Wonga ads on buses, you can’t but fail to get the message.
Interestingly, when I had my tooth out, the after-care leaflet they gave me, said I mustn’t smoke. I think the only time, I’ll ever smoke is in the crematorium! And that isn’t certain!
Wonga Moments All Over London
I don’t like Wonga and I don’t think I’m alone judging by the excellent press they are getting.
Now they are advertising on the sides of London buses.
I hope that this advertising has the wrong effect from the company’s point of view. It may put the company’s name in the minds of possible punters, but if they don’t need a loan yet, it will also attract them to articles in the media, which is probably a good thing, as I’ve yet to see one that is the least bit positive towards Wonga!
Slogans I’ve seen so far include :-
THIS IS OUR SMALL PRINT
Pay back early, pay less.
How much? How Long? You decide.
Straight talking money.
Need wonga now? Just add .com
All seem to me to be rather too subtle for their target market.
Christmas, Bloody Christmas
Oh! How I hate Christmas!
I shall have lunch with my son and his friends.
On the other hand, it doesn’t cost me much. I will buy just three presents and a couple of good bottles of wine for Christmas lunch.
I can’t even get to the football on Boxing Day, as there are no trains and I can’t drive.
I think this could be my worst Christmas ever!
Let’s ban it!
After all, the only people who like it are children and I don’t know any of them!
Christmas has never been the same, since you could go down Spurs on Christmas morning to see the match and then come home to a late Christmas lunch!
And now it appears the Underground will be on strike on Boxing Day! They were last year and that was a day to forget. It incidentally looks to be the same argument about triple pay and a day off as well.
The sooner we take the numan element out of the trains the better.
Using Mobile Phones whilst Driving
According to this piece on the BBC, the police are cracking down on people, who use their mobile phone whilst driving.
Edward King was on and e told how an AA man, had said the only punishment needed was to lose your phone number, so you’d have to get another.
What a simple idea! Often the simple ideas are the best.
I’m certain it would work well.
Taking The Plunge
I have had a bad molar tooth on the left hand side of my jaw for many years. Various dentists had attempted to fill it, but since the stroke, it had always given me a sort of dull pain. Not too serious but annoying anyway. I remember I asked my dentist in Felixstowe to have a look at it about eighteen months ago. He thought it might be a root canal job.
My new dentist in London, looked at it a couple of weeks ago and said that if it was him, he’d have the tooth out. after all, I lost the one on the other side about thirty years ago and it doesn’t cause me any problem.
So we decided to do the dirty deed on Wednesday the 14th!
Well that was the intention, but because of problems with my Warfarin and different views about how to handle it, my dentist and I decided that perhaps it might be better to use the Emergency Dentist at either the Royal London or Guys.
To me it wasn’t a choice, as the Royal London is just four stops away on the Overground from Dalston Junction. Guys is South of the river and I didn’t have a posse handy. I also have a lot of respect for the hospital, as Vanessa Wright and her team, saved the life of my granddaughter, who was born with a severe hole in her diaphragm.
I got to the Emergency Dentist department at about one and after giving my details and outlining my story, I was with a dentist by two. I was then X-rayed and by three, they were preparing to take out the errant tooth.
In the end they were very mob-handed. A female Chinese student originally from Hong Kong and a more experienced one probably from near the hospital, did most of the work.
But it got difficult and the Senior Tutor helped by effectively cutting the tooth in half, so they could dig it out bit-by-bit. It finally was removed just after 17:15.
It wasn’t too painful and they didn’t use any stitches. It was probably one of the most serious operations I’ve ever had without a full anaesthetic. Although being stitched up after my mugging in Naples was probably a lot more painful.
I suspect, I self-hypnotised myself by concentrating on the student’s eyes.
I got home OK, walking after the train from Whitechapel to Dalston Junction.
I thought I needed some cash for the morning, so I walked round the corner to the little Sainsburys. However, I then found that I didn’t need the money after all, so I came home.
As I crossed the zebra crossing, an ambulance stopped and waved towards me. I thought they were just asking me to cross, so I did.
It was only when I got home, that I realised that they might have been worried about me, as I had a rather bloody face and I was dabbing it with a bloody tissue. I did phone 101 to tell the Police, in case the ambulance had reported a mugging or assault.
After the football, I couldn’t sleep and now I’m sitting here typing, as a doctor has told that to lie down, will start the bleeding in the pocket again.
At least I had a clean tea-towel, which I’m cutting into small squares to mop up the blood.
The only thing , I’ve eaten is a couple of bananas.
Katie Hopkins on Mrs. Thatcher
Katie Hopkins was on BBC Breakfast this morning, talking about the High Street. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but as she talked a fair bit of sense, I checked her blog out. I particularly liked this piece about Mrs. Thatcher, although she did miss out any mention of Denis, who after my lunch in 1981, I always believed was the mentor behind the power.
Improving the High Street
I have two High Streets close to me, Upper Street at the Angel in Islington and the Kingsland Road in Dalston.
I would use them more, but the trouble with both of them, is that they are just too cluttered to navigate easily.
At the Angel the problem is chuggers, who always want to stop me. I just make sure, I don’t give to the charities they promote. On the Kingsland Road it’s the endless boards put up to block the pavements by the various money and pound shops.
I’m sure more people would go to the various High Streets in this country, if it was easier to walk between the places you want to go. Because of this, when I go to either the Angel or the Kingsland Road, I usually go to visit a specific place like Waitrose or the station and usually plan my walking route carefully, so I avoid the main road.
It is also interesting to compare the centre of Liverpool, with say Oxford Street. The former is pedestrianised and it is a joy to walk around with no traffic, whereas the second is a nightmare and no wonder it’s such a dump, with just a few good shops, like John Lewis, Selfridges and M & S, standing out from the dross.
I can’t remember the last time, I bought anything in Oxford Street, except at those stores!
Yesterday, Oxford Street had been blocked off and effectively pedestrianised and it was so much better.
An RF Bus and the Wombles
The only obstruction was this RF or Regal Four bus and the Wombles.
I didn’t actually buy anything though.
On the subject of buses, which are very important in getting people to the shops, at The Angel, they have two big lay-bys on either side of the road, which accommodate the bus stops. So if I’m going to say Waitrose, it’s just get off the 38, 56 or 73 bus, walk across the road on a light-controlled crossing and then I’ve just a few metres from the shop. Going home, I don’t even have to cross the road and just walk down a few steps to the bus stop. The system works well and could probably be implemented in many places. But then they’ve lost a few car parking spaces. But then how many normal unselfish people drive in Islington?
They could certainly improve the bus access and walking routes on the Kingsland Road, which would probably improve the interchange between the two Dalston stations.
The problem in both these High Streets, is that they can be improved, but usually the motorist is the one to be inconvenienced. I should say, that in both places, there are car parks, close to the High Streets.
Six Arrests in Phishing Scam
I was pleased to see this article on the BBC web site.
I suspect it might have been the result of one of the two phishing scams aimed at students, that I flagged up earlier in the year.
Both were fairly well designed scams and the success, shows how people are vulnerable, when they are embarking on a new phase in their life.
The perpetrators were caught this time, and hopefully new students will be more careful next year.
The Anonymous Widower 