49 Years, Harvest & A New Libya

An extraordinary day. Colonel Gaddafi has finally been hunted down and killed. Of course this is good and one can only hope that Libya can find lasting freedom and democracy. Today this is big news and the Internet is full of gruesome images and video capturing the tyrant's death. I do find it all slightly disturbing but without showing these images, there will be doubt as to whether he has finally gone. For the countless victims, there must be a sense of relief that his reign is now over. The task now is to ensure that no one is able to take his place.

Back to home and it is my parent's wedding anniversary today, their 49th no less. It would seem their wedding anniversary can be linked with major world events. So what was the world like exactly 49 years ago...? Around this date in 1962, the world came dangerously close to the brink of a third world war sparked by the Cuban Missile Crisis. I find it very difficult to understand how normal life could have continued at this time. I am fascinated by this period in time. A part of me suspects that people probably rushed to get things done before perhaps the unthinkable happened. What is known of this period is that the threat posed by two superpowers hell bent on nuclear brinkmanship was very real and terrifying. Life couldn't have been normal and there must have been real questions asked as to whether there would be another tomorrow.

Today was also my son's school harvest service. My wife had to work so, as parents could attend, I followed the coach to church and attended the service at Holbeach St Mark's. The church soon filled with school children and parents. The children occupied the front of the church and their classes took turns to turn facing the congregation and and sang songs with a harvest theme. It was great to be in the audience and see my son looking longingly through the throng of proud parents and finally spotting me with a huge grin on his face. It filled me with pride to be there and I'll cherish the moment forever.

Dale Farm

Today will be remembered for the shambolic eviction of travellers from the Dale Farm site in Essex. I use the word 'shambolic' as I believe this to be an apt word to describe Basildon Council's handling of this whole matter.
Now I'm on the fence as it were when it comes to whether it is right or wrong to evict them. It is clear that they are flouting the law and as such action should be taken. But I do think the council have made a complete hash of the whole thing and that 10 years is simply a ridiculous amount of time to elapse before anything is done.
I find myself blaming both sides. On the one hand, there is the 'true' traveller way of life and culture which is certainly persecuted not just in the UK but all over Europe. There are members of this community who have scant regard for others or the law and this minority give the traveller community a bad name. The council are 'saving face'. It's all about image. I find the £22 million cost of the exercise obscene and it will be up to the electorate at the next local election to decide whether it has been money well spent. The council should have acted sooner and a solution should have come about many years ago. They have been incompetent, inept and frankly stupid in their handling of this matter and heads should roll.
Enough said.

Saving My Tomatoes & Providing Support

I decided to remove the remaining tomatoes from my outdoor plant. Apparently the temperature is set to drop to just above freezing by the end of the week and it's unlikely they will survive in the open. I managed to collect a punnet's worth, so not bad at all.

While I was picking, I was joined by a large Red Admiral butterfly. It looked stunningly beautiful and was a welcome late visitor to the garden and a sign that we're not yet fully in the grip of winter. It lingered long enough for me to take a snap as it sat in the sunshine.

I have mentioned in previous posts my fondness for a You Tube channel, 'Glen1040'. I really enjoyed his videos and I was fascinated by his efforts at self-sufficiency. I notice that his channel has now been closed and I have been unable to discover where he has gone. It's really quite sad and I worry whether something has befallen him.
My watermelons are now the size of small lemons and growing fast. I've had to provide some support for them and being quite high on the plant, I have decided to use tights as suggested previously. For one, I've created a hammock of sorts and for the other, I've supported in from the roof of the conservatory. All very Heath Robinson but it seems to be doing the job.

There will be a degree of despondency from me over the coming weeks as things begin to get difficult. We are lucky to have an insurance policy which protects our mortgage payments, but this claim period will end in February next year. By that time, I need to have found suitable employment and be able to cover the payments. If this doesn't happen then, frankly, the worst will happen. I must admit to trying not to think about it too much. Depression is one of those things that can be triggered very easily and I really don't want to suffer another bout. But as the weeks pass, I (we) will need to start thinking seriously about what we're going to do. I've always said that I never want to return to an IT career, but it is what I know and as I am still unable to complete and achieve my full PCV license due to lack of funds, it may be my only option.
That is the stark reality at the moment...

Dark Mornings, Dark Evenings

Winter is well and truly on its way. The mornings are darker and the sun disappears beneath the horizon earlier by the day. There's a chill in the air. I wore my winter coat today. It made me look huge, well bigger than I already am.
It won't be long before we begin buying wood for the fire. We need to have the chimney swept first. We use a local chap, Peter Warrick who is well known in the area. He kindly attended our wedding with his son, dressed in classic Victorian chimney sweeps' attire. They looked great. I'll never forget them.

My son sang a song this evening. As he sang, it felt familiar to me and I realised it was a song I used to sing at primary school many years ago. I remembered the chorus and sang with him 'So we musn't forget, no we mustn't forget to say a great big thank you, we mustn't forget'. How marvellous that my son was able to jog my memory this way.

It was Mum's Birthday today. She is 69. We visited this afternoon after we'd collected our son from school. She had prepared a small buffet which was nice and the lounge was warm and cosy. The log burner was lit and glowed in the hearth. Mum never makes a fuss of her Birthdays but she always makes sure everyone is looked after and has plenty to eat and drink. My Nan was very much like that, always giving. We stayed for a couple of hours.

We have some new curtains. I know this isn't front page news, but it's significant as the previous set had been up for 9 years. It's strange how you get used to things and never give them a second thought. But when they are gone, you really notice it. The new curtains are very nice. My wife has impecable taste when it somes to home furnishings. They match the furniture perfectly and I actually find myself admiring them.

In the news today there is criticism of the government who have met today with energy industry leaders to discuss ways of helping consumers in the current economic climate who are struggling to afford crippling bills. Apparently they have managed to achieve absolutely nothing except to remind us (as if we're idiots) to make sure we compare prices and switch suppliers(!) Are these people really in charge of the country?
I fear for us all...

Happy Birthday Mum, love from us all xxx

Living in Poverty

Apparently we are living in poverty. Our income is below that needed to support a family. So why aren't we starvng, dressed in rags and shivering in makedo carboard shelters? Have the government got it wrong? We live quite a comfortable life. We don't go hungry, we're well dressed and our home is warm and comfortable. OK, we don't have heaps of spare cash to spend on things we would like rather than need. We do hunt out the best bargains at the shops and settle for second best at the supermarket. So what is poverty? I often think of images from Victorian Britain when the word is mentioned. Children in rags playing on cobbled streets. Parents heading to and from smokey factories. Perhaps it's because those using the word 'poverty' have the life of a millionaire so anything less than a huge house and country estate, five cars and eating out every night is considered a pauper's lifestyle. Something has to be wrong. We need to re-evaluate just what it means to have and to have not. Not having a car doesn't make someone destitute. Not eating the finest of food doesn't make someone needy. People manage. We all have to manage by making the pound in our pocket go further. By making things last longer. To live in poverty must surely mean having very little or nothing. Let's think again before using this word...

The CAB

It's comforting to know that when life throws up problems, there are people out there to help. I'm referring of course to the Citizen's Advice Bureau. I am in a good position to praise them - I've called upon their help, more than once in fact and I was there earlier today with my wife. We needed help with a debt plan. Of course, it isn't a completely stress free experience. You have to lay yourself bare and be honest about everything. Your income and outgoings are scrutinised so there can be no hiding anything. But it's all worth it. They are helpful, they listen, they are sympathetic and they do not judge. They see thousands of people each year who are in financial difficulty, many worse than us. We were told this, of a client who has a mortage three times the size of ours. Ours is £111,000... Of course it's not over, it won't be for a long time. We have a lot to pay back but we have to justify what we can afford to pay our creditors and that's the purpose of the CAB in helping to draft a new financial statement.
So, to anyone out there needing help, I say turn to your local CAB. You're not alone and they really help.

Baby Melons

Not done much today. I helped my wife prepare the paperwork we need for our meeting at Spalding CAB. I hope the advisor we're seeing is nice. They can sometimes be rather scary.
I'm really please to see that my self-pollination appears to have worked and is bearing fruit, literally. I have four developing embryo melons.

 I will need to research how one goes about supporting the melons as they continue to grow. My wife suggested using tights which would contain the fruit and could be fastened to provide support. I laughed at first but having given it some thought, it does sound a rather good idea.

Peterborough was my destination yesterday. I travelled there with my close friends and we visited Trains 4 U. We had a couple of locos to collect and I wanted to look for something I could use as a bridge to carry the new line I'm constructing. It had been at least three months since our last visit and it was nice to get out for a few hours.

It's Sunday evening and it's already dark at just beofre 7pm. Winter is certainly on its way and it won't be long until it's dark at 5pm... I must confess to enjoying the dark evenings. For someone like me, dark evenings could be a problem but they don't really affect me. It's actually been rather mild today but depressingly grey and cloudy. The Daily Express has been headlining dire warnings about freezing weather and snow to come in a few weeks. Local councils have been stockpiling grit and salt and spreaders are being prepared to hit the roads at the first sign of frost. I'll actually be pretty arsed if the weather doesn't turn out the way it's been predicted. I love snow and I don't mind the cold provided we have enough fuel for the fire.