King's Cliffe

Something that appears to have escaped my news radar is the plight of the people who live in and around King's Cliffe, Northamptonshire. The government have gone against their protests and the opposition of the district council to agree to the dumping of low level radioactive waste in a nearby landfill site. This has quite incensed me and I can imagine how I would feel if a decision was made for me to do the same thing here.
Quite how anyone in their right mind could justify the burial of radioactive waste is beyond me - regardless of whether it it low risk or not, it still presents a risk not just now but for future generations. I understand also that the landfill is above a water table to the contamination of natural spring water in the area is highly likely.
There seems to be total disregard for the views and fears of the local residents and the authorities have adopted a typical 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude to the whole thing - and that has to be wrong. Surely the days are gone whereby if we didn't like something, we simply buried it. Burying radioactive waste cannot be the answer. Are the authorities going to supply local residents with gieger counters and provide an alarm for radiation leakage? No is most definitely the answer. In truth, no one will actually care once it's buried. The people who will care, and who will go on caring, are the people of King's Cliffe who will be worrying for their children playing in the fields, worrying whenever they drink from the tap and worrying about how much their homes will be worth. For these people, their lives will change and all because of an ill thought money-oriented decision by the machine of government here in the UK. If it's so safe, then why isn't it being buried in London or near Sandringham perhaps? There's loads of open space there. Of course it won't - it's too risky. So why risk the people of King's Cliffe...?
I support fully the people of King's Cliffe and oppose this decision to pollute a vast area of land with radioactive waste. I would suggest that their fight should be taken to the European Courts if they haven't already done so.
Wrong, wrong wrong!

Letters and Marmite

I'm a little lost for inspiration at the moment for something to write about. I do often get like this, it'll last a couple of days and then all of a sudden I'll find loads to comment on. For this entry, I've decided to use my Apple PowerMac. It's the most neglected of all my computers. I don't know why really, after all, it is more comfortable to use. Windows appears more harsh in comparison to its warm, soft and inviting operating system. I do like typing on it but I could do with a bigger monitor. I have to look up at it as the monitor is perched up on high and I have to sort of look up to it.

Yesterday I posted two important things. The first was a Warrant of Execution request. It sounds worse than it actually is. It's a form that requests the court to enforce and order they have  already served but has been ignored. Normally you have to pay for this privilege - £200, but I have special dispensation. So that should have arrived at the court this morning. I'm wondering if they simply send the instructions to the bailiff to go and collect my money...?
The second thing of importance is my loan request. This time it was sent to the Lincolnshire Credit Union. I added a pleading letter along with copies of all the other documentary proof they needed. I'm hoping they will be in touch soon to say that they have granted my request. If so, I will be able to go ahead straight away and book my course. There is of course every chance they may say no. After all, alarm bells go off in banks whenever my name is mentioned. I do though have the funds to pay the first few months repayments so I'm hoping that will go in my favor.

Oh, a Happy Birthday to my nephew Oliver. He's 6 today and growing up fast. He's a very studious child for his age and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he ends up at university. He'll always be more studious than my son - mine just wants to enjoy himself and drive buses like his Daddy. I'd hate to force my son to learn, I enjoy his innocence and a know-it-all for a son like I would not. On that subject my wife and I are to visit his school Thursday evening. It's the school he starts in September. He doesn't have to go far - the school is about 50 yards from our home. I'm hoping that knowing he's near home will make him feel a little more comfortable when he starts 'big school', as we call it. I know feeling a long way from home made it all the worse for me when I was his age...

I've decided I really don't like Alex Ferguson. He's just another one of those odious runts obsessed by their own importance and another example of someone who thinks they can stop others from speaking freely. If you don't like what you hear about your players,  do your job and get them to behave a little more appropriately.

Marmite! Apparently the Danes have banned the import and sale of Marmite. The justification is based on the various vitamins and minerals in the ingredients. Essentially it's too healthy. OK, two can play at that game. Let's ban the import of their bacon based on additives and the factory farming methods used to mass produce it. After all, anyone ever tasted Wiltshire bacon? Far superior.

So for someone who didn't have much to write about, I think I've done pretty well. And I haven't even mentioned Obama's visit to the UK and Ireland. I did have to laugh when one of his 'beast's' got stuck leaving the US Embassy in Dublin.

Common sense finally prevails

It's good to see that this country has finally come to its senses and realised how futile it is to prevent our media from reporting what we all already know. It's about time the people who make the law in the UK begin to understand that we live in the Internet age and that the laws of yesteryear no longer apply and cannot work.
I'll repeat what I have said before... If you don't want people to find out, don't do it. Simple. If you believe what is being said about you is wrong, then sue for libel. This applies to you Ryan Giggs and all the others out there with more money than sense who are under the misguided assumption that they can stifle free speech or impose their will on the millions of Internet users that make up the free Cyberspace we know and cherish.
Let's start getting down to basics - what's right and what's wrong...

A miserable couple of hours

This afternoon saw another one of my in-law's BBQ cum family gatherings. I had been secretly dreading it but what made it worse this time was the fact that my wife took my son to a Birthday party nearby, leaving me on my own for two hours. I've remarked previously about my difficulty with social gatherings - even family - but my darling wife forgot this and cited our lack of funds for not letting me stay at home and collect me when the party ended. 'You'll be fine', exclaimed my wife. 'You know everyone there'. It makes no difference if I know the people or not. It doesn't help that two of the people there (a couple I call the Bungy's), actually come from Bungay in Suffolk and are pleasant enough but they are also the most quite, the most boring people I've ever met. They don't even talk to themselves much of the time. So there I was having to endure two whole hours in near silence, hoping, praying that something would happen. It didn't. Instead, we found as much interest as we could in the weather, staring out of the conservatory at my father-in-law as he struggled to get the BBQ going. At one point the sun emerged from behind some heavy clouds and that gave way to about thirty seconds of mutterings, followed again by silence and the odd grunt.
The whole experience was excruciatingly painful - and my wife knows it. Worse of all is the fact that she hates me for it. She won't talk to me as she knows I wasn't looking forward to the event - and didn't enjoy it. OK, I admit it was a relief to see them arrive straight from the party at 2 pm, my son clutching a motorbike fashioned with balloons, but I soon found myself alone again with little or nothing to talk about feeling as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit.
It felt like an eternity until I heard the muffled sounds of 'time to go home' and 'say goodbye'. Oh, what a relief, my agony and torment would soon be over. I could get back to the company of my computer, the Internet and my safe haven I call Home.
The drive back was silent. No a word was muttered and my wife looked the other way the whole six or seven miles back to our house. I knew I was in the wrong - I always am - my social ineptitude and inability to make small talk goes completely against my wife's sense of family duty. To her, I'm not normal and I suspect this is the sentiment throughout the rest of the family. The thing is, for someone who's had a breakdown - a breakdown that nearly finished them off, nothing really is normal ever again. I know it's my fault and I accept that. Everyone tries to be as nice as they can, but deep down I know they are doing it because they feel they have to. You make the most of it, you force yourself but most of the time, you just want a little understanding.

Injunction madness

I cannot let today pass without adding my comments to the many thousands circulating the Internet regarding the utter madness that is the latest injunction to prevent freedom of speech in the UK.
I simply cannot believe anyone let alone Ryan Giggs can think that preventing Internet users to speak freely can possibly keep a lid on his antics. As I've said before, if you don't want people to know about it or if you're ashamed of it that much - don't do it in the first place. Simple. Now, I don't for one second believe this person is stupid - they can kick a ball around after all - but gagging the Internet...? Think again.
For anyone who thinks the UK is a country of freedom and liberty - they are wrong, very wrong. This latest round of injunctions just goes to prove that censorship is alive and well and if you have lots of money, then you have the power to censor the press and the media at large. If you don't have money - tough.
The only 'freedom' we have is in Cyberspace. Take this away and we might as well be living in China or North Korea. I am pretty angry about this whole matter, as you can tell. I am ashamed of this country and its ridiculous legal system and draconian laws. It's about time the people running this country woke up...

My son's first swear-word & Friday road idiots

For a Friday, today was quite typical. It will though now be remembered for the day my 4 year old son uttered his first swear-word - 'Shit'. There were witnesses to it - my mother-in-law and my wife heard him say it as he rolled about the floor in a small tent. He's managed to get himself stuck and out came the expletive. Now, I'm against bad language generally - especially where children are concerned - and I can only assume he's picked up this new word from playschool, for the language used by other children his age is really terrible. It's no great surprise when you meet some of the parents responsible for these little budding brain surgeons and airline pilots (not!) - they communicate only by shouting at the top of their voices and every other word is an expletive. You cannot blame the children when they are growing-up in this kind of environment and I shouldn't be surprised at all that my son has brought the word home with him. I'm actually quite resigned to the fact that his language will become more diverse and expletive ridden the older he gets. He knows what guns are for and associates them with instant death, as he demonstrates on his mother and father (and the dog) regularly. I suppose I don't really want him to grow-up. The world is just so full of nasty things and equally nasty people. I must face the fact that I can't protect him from everything...

I can guarantee at least one idiot every Friday evening flouting our road laws or endangering road users. This evening was no exception. Once again the new and clearly marked 50mph limit was ignored by two drivers who shot past me at 60-70mph, and once again I was nearly pushed off the road by some idiot who had no idea how to safely overtake. The standard of driving in this county has to be the worst I have ever seen, and possibly the worst in the UK. It's no wonder Lincolnshire has some of the highest incidents of road accidents and fatalities.
Enforcement is the answer and I don't think education is. Those breaking the law are young and education has either failed them or they simply can't be bothered. It's sad, but it's a fact. But all the while there are fewer and fewer police on our streets, they'll simply continue to get away with it. If you want people to drive according to the law, I'm afraid you have to make them.

Another opportunity and a dangerous defect

My trip this afternoon to Boston went quite well - in fact better than I thought it would I met a very nice guy called Joseph at Taylor ITEX who discussed with me my plan and the problems I had encountered along the way. He suggested I contact Lincolnshire Credit Union, an outfit I hadn't come across up to now. They are a community bank of sorts who provide loans to those who would find getting them elsewhere impossible. As I need the loan to advance my career, there's a good chance it will be granted. So this afternoon I completed another application form and will add the various other documents required tomorrow. I should have it in the post in time for the weekend and hopefully they can get to work on my application early next week.
So, another try...

Something in the news today that caught my eye is the Citroen recall which affects the C3 Picasso. Now, I wouldn't normally remark about car recalls - as there have in recent times been so many - but this one really is quite ridiculous. It involves the pedal arrangement and the fact that they have had to be moved to right hand drive configuration. Fine you might think. But not when the gubbins the brake pedal is connected to is left on the passenger side and protected by a thin piece of felt. For when the passenger presses his or her foot down , it connects  with the brake and stops the car. This can happen at any speed and without the knowledge of the passenger or driver. Unbelievable but true.
Now I always had great respect for Citroen. They have a fine history of car design and production but I find it incredible that such a fault could have gone unnoticed. Surely someone must have questioned the fact that the brake pedal gubbins was so accessible from the passenger foot well? Or did they just keep it to themselves for fear of appearing to criticise their management. Maybe they thought no one would notice and genuinely believed that no one would press their foot down in that particular spot? We'll never know.
I know only too well what it's like to lose all power in the fast lane of a motorway - that's bad enough but for the brakes to go on for no reason, well that could be disastrous...