Does it really matter ?

This time round I have totally ignored all the Political hype surrounding the General Election.
I have not listened to one single party political broadcast nor did I watch any of the dumbed down USA styled leader confrontations. But sadly I haven't been able to miss the nightly NEWS updates !
However, after almost 50-years of voting I have finally come to the conclusion that it matters "not a jot" who is in power in this country. It will have no effect whatsoever on me whether Tory, Labour, LibDem or any other non event party become the next government.
As a sixty-something silver citizen I now firmly believe there is not a single politician ( in any party ) who is not in it for what they can get personally. The average Scottish / British Joe, like myself, will suffer a lifetime of traumas of unfair taxes, job insecurities and continual government rip offs, from womb to tomb. So why bother succumbing to their stupid nonsense ( have you seen the sickly news bulletins and watched them begging in public for votes ,,, OMG, Yuk, the lengths they'll go to .,., )
And as for wasting my valuable time ? ,,, Sorry, no more, get out of my face !
They are, as old Terry Thomas would have said ,, "an absolute shower !"
And I'll add ,, cheating, lying, thieving, tax dodging, unscrupulous, work-shy, useless scumbags.
Can I suggest a total boycott of the polling stations next week ?
No I didn't think so ,, never mind, in the years to come you young things will learn that old can indeed also be wise ?

Spring has Sprung !

Spring has sprung,
The grass is riz,
I wonder where the burdies is ?
The burd is on the wing ,,,
Now that's absurd ,,
The wing is on the burd !!
Boom-boom !!
And so it has come to pass ,,, Easter has come & gone .,., Now is the time !
Spring cleaning, moving stuff, decorating and all that jazz, is on the mind of yon burd wat I married all dem years ago !!
The bedroom needs decorating ,,, What again ?! ( it can't be more than 10-years since I last slaved away in there .,., not counting the sex of course .,., Yo ,, think that calls for another Boom-boom, don't you ? )
The hall needs re done too ,,, ( What ? ,, the painter / decorator guy next door did that no more than ,, was it ? oh that long !! .,., and then of course we promised ourselves a complete new bathroom upstairs after we bought the new kitchen !
So, this afternoon I've been moving stuff .,., chest of drawers from here to there, big storage cupboard from there to here, and naturally all the stuff that was inside these units is now being sifted, discarded or re situated.
I've come to the conclusion ,,, I know, it's taken me a while ,,, but ,,, A married man's work is never ending .,., we're akin to Forth Road Bridge painters ! .,., wonder if our single cousins act out this Spring ritual ?
Anyway I know my next few days on the golf course will be soooo tolerated ,,, the beloved will be in her element now for days on the above sifting, binning, cleaning & re cycling to locations afresh !
All I need concern myself with now is her finding the "right" wallpaper & paint !!
Oh aye, and ye might notice .,.,I've also done a wee Spring clean oan ma blog page in case ye didnae recognise me !

So where's the help ?

Great intit !?
A wee bit of ASH and the country is on it's knees ,,,
Bet old Adolf wishes he'd thought of it !
But doesn't it surprise you that no bugger is lifting a finger to help those thousands of stranded passengers all over Europe ??
Not the Airlines ( who've taken more than their fair share of profit for many a long year),,
Not the Uk Government ( who've encouraged them ! and who should be doing something with a General Election coming up right on the back of this fiasco )
Not the Euro Parliament, nor the individual European country governments .,.,
No Sir ,,, you flew overseas for pleasure at Easter then you can find your own way back ,,, no matter the inconvenience ,, no matter the cost !
OK, so I have an axe to grind ,, half my daughter's family are stranded with her in Denmark ,, and the other half of her family are equally stranded but in France with their father ,,
It's bloody high time the airlines faced up to their responsibilities and at the very least laid on a few BUSES !! For Christ's sake .. how much can that cost ?
And aye they are suffering some losses at the moment but bet your very last Euro they'll pass that on to us sooner rather than later ,,, Just watch air fares rocket real soon now !
And you know what .,., if they increase by as much as a half a Euro they can shove their 'planes where the sun don't shine ! And I'll be wanting a refund on my new EXPENSIVE PASSPORT as well, since I can't use it ( no I'm not about to drive or take a slow boat to the far continent thanks very much ! )
A final message just in from Iceland :
"Leave £30Bn in used notes in a bag behind the Icelandic Embassy in London and we'll turn off the Volcano !"
Somebody ,, please ,, give them the cASH !!

So, we wait !

This has been a funny old end of week ! ( but definitely not Ha-Ha ! )
The daughter plus hubby with their first born Anna had gone to Denmark to see their Danish family & let them see their latest little, but growing grandchild Amaia .,.,.,
At the same time the Ex son-in-law had taken the other three kids to celebrate their French grandmother's 80th. birthday.
So all were scattered in Europe when the Icelandic volcano decided to erupt !
I was due to drive back to Edinburgh tomorrow just as I had done last Friday, this time to pick them up from the airport rather than dropping them off !
Sadly as we now all know ,,, nothing is flying but the birds ! And unless they can find a flock of really Big Birds then they are all staying put .,., and for how long is anybody's guess right now !
This volcanic blow out btw, was not something arranged by me in order that my Friday golf game wouldn't be interrupted ! But what a freak of nature it has turned out to be ,,, first time EVER that all UK air traffic has been grounded ! ( and now most of near Europe too )
The daughter naturally is more than a little distraught .,., Her 3-bigger kids have been away with their father for 2 weeks and she absolutely hates these long separations ,, now looking like a possible further week since Norwegian Airways, with whom she is flying, have only two flights out of Copenhagen per week, Mon & Frid !
Of course I've tried doing the fatherly things to comfort her, telling her to relax and enjoy the extra holiday, that we'll take care of the biggies if they make it home before her ,, etc, etc, but she's a mother ,, the Earth Mother in fact .,., and mothers need to see their babies !
So, like I said at the beginning of this piece .,., We Wait !

Here it is then Al !

I've NOT been asked to go into my photo folders open up the first folder, publish the tenth photo from the folder regardless of what it is and give a wee explanation of what the photo is all about, but I'm doing it anyway !!
The photo is my mum, dad & a camera shy little me aged about 4 ( circa 1947 'ish ) with my auntie Cissie ( mum's older sister ) & her sugar-daddy hubby Chay close behind.
It was taken in Arbroath where the auntie & uncle lived.
And now I've to nominate 5 more folk to do the same.
In effect, a chain letter/email. Like the above mentioned ( you can call him Al ! )I can't stand those 'if you don't do this something really bad will happen to a loved one' kind of nonsense so they all go into the bin - even if this isn't that kind of rubbish, being simply the sharing of random potentially entertaining, or interesting, information.
So I nominate Phyl, Thomas, Derek, WeeAnne & any A.N.Other to do their stuff & keep Al happy
:-)

That was the week that was ! ( or TW3 if you're old enough ! )

The way we are .,., to the way we were ! In only a few short years !!

Well it's almost over.
The week of the mighty celebrations and silliness !
Soon I can get back on my oh so necessary DIET ! ( the underpants are killing me again ! )
Thursday 1st. ,, well what can I say ?.,., all the Fools were let out of the asylum for a morning ; special mention to our new'ish son-in-law for trying to convince us that Tories Ken Clarke & John Redwood and even Labour's John Cruddas had defected to the Lib/Dems ! Ehhh ?
Good try Thomas but with Ken Clarke you blew it !
Good Friday 2nd. saw us unable to get tickets for Chris Rea in concert at the Glasgow SECC, however not to be beaten for lack of a wee bit entrance paper we invited our friends & fellow disappointed fans J & S to come round and share a Chinese Take-Away while we listened to Chris Rea Cd's and got quietly plastered !! ( No need to drive home from this gig ! )
Saturday 3rd. and next came our wedding anniversary,,,
I find it hard to believe myself but today we have been married for ( let me just check it again ! ) .,., yip it was 1965 ,, so 45-years !! ( Hey, she was obviously a baby snatcher ,, or I was a child bride or something ? )
Bloody Hell, and her mother said it would never last ! Ha ..
She ( the daughter of the disbeliever, ie, the wife ) tells me this anniversary is something called Sapphire .,. I have absolutely no idea what she's talking about :-)
Next up, Monday 5th. and the anniversary of my being ,, or is it my coming ? ... Naw, I'm definitely no' HIM !
In any event this will be the actual Birthday day, not like one of Queeny's pseudo days .,., this is the real thing ! and NO, it's NOT the big Seven Ohhh as some cheeky b*****d so insulting asked .,., I'm much younger than that ,, years in fact ! Look at me for God's sake ,, do I look like an OLDIE ?!! Aw, really ??
Jumping back a day now, to Sunday 4th. ,, today in fact ! ,, the family Clan are a gathering, coming over ( the son & family ) & up ( the daughter & family ) to celebrate with the old folks and have a bit of a dinner ( and no doubt more drinkies ! .,., OK that's it ! ... this diet is now officially ,,, eh, Banjaxed ! )
Anyway, the problem with this momentous week is .,., the FOOD !! ( oh aye and the hooch ! )
I tried staying true to the good Doc. Atkins but temptation lay all around me ,, I really never stood a chance ,, a Chinese take-away for 4 ( I don't know how these Orientals are all so bloody thin ,, this meal always feeds at least 6 if not 8 ! )
An anniversary meal at our local pub/restaurant .,., a surf n' turf fit for a big guy ! But we were good ,, we opted for NIL PUD !! The wine was lovely and the aprés digestif liquer(s) were superb, but have already gone straight to the hips !!
And so to this Happy Anniversabirthday treat today ,,, Oh Jings !!
Hic, the aperitifs have started flowing already .,., so I'm off to indulge ,, just one more time !!

Honest !! See you again next week Doc. !!