SUNDAY RANT: BIT POLITICAL, PROBABLY CONTROVERSIAL (FORGIVE ME) AND DEFINITELY OFF ON TANGENTS

Hi all

Just let me first say that I'm a fan of Facebook; I love my friends on there.  I love their diversity, their enthusiasm, their political and environmental passions, their empathy for others and the world around them and the wealth of information that they give me.

However, there are times when it all becomes too much and like everything else I've noticed it comes in waves.  Firstly my news feed was plastered with refugee crisis, then it was Brexit, then it was Dakota and now it's Trump (with smatterings of the rest still thrown in).  I find this all a bit overwhelming and sometimes, and I mean very occasionally, I also find it a bit contradictory.

During Brexit I had about half and half (bit like the country) with views on leaving and views on staying; this, of course, led to several debates, many interesting articles and one huge fallout and loss of a 'friend'; although to be honest if someone isn't willing to see both sides of the coin and accuses me of being stupid just because I don't agree with them, I don't actually see it as a huge loss.  But I'm digressing from a point!  One argument for leaving that popped up on various occasions was that we (the country) didn't want someone else being involved in our politics; we didn't want people sticking their noses in and telling us how we should behave.  But now some of those people, not all, just some, are saying that we should be rallying to get Trump out, doing all we can to stop his 'nonsense'. Hang on a minute; you can't say on one hand that you don't want Brussels having a say in our politics but then have the nerve to suggest that we can have a say in America's.

I would like to point out that I think we have entered very dangerous times and that I'm also very aware that whatever a country does in it's political system can and often does have a global effect especially decisions made by the 'superpowers'.  I can't stand Trump!  I think he's a self obsessed, power crazy, womanising bigot but the USA voted and he got in. I don't think they had a particularly brilliant alternative, but there you are; he's in and we are going to have to accept that and face the consequences of that decision just as Labour voters have to accept Conservatives winning and vice versa.

Of course we will still continue to campaign, we will still fight to preserve human rights and we will continue to stand up to fascist dictators, we will petition, we will march, we will raise whatever banners we feel are necessary to get people to take notice and that is because the majority of the world's people are caring, humanitarian and generally bloody good people!  BUT, and I put this in capitols because I think it's a huge but, we cannot be all pious on one hand and then point fingers on the other.  We have to accept that some things in this life, although possibly horrific, are none of our business.

I think what I'm trying to say is I'm getting the impression that some people are pointing fingers at American citizens and blaming them for the world that could be ahead just as some people pointed fingers and accused half the nation of being imbeciles over Brexit.  No-one personally knows the people who voted one way or the other (of course we know those that are in our close vicinity), but we do not truly know the reasons why they voted the way they did.  They may have felt it was the lesser of two evils; it may have been, as a lot of people who voted Brexit are now saying, that they were misinformed.  We do not know their personal circumstances so we cannot point blame!

I'm just grateful to those people that voted!  Much better to vote and be wrong, in mine or other people's opinion, than to not vote at all.  Those that don't use their vote are the ones that I'm more likely to point fingers at.  To not vote, in my opinion, is to not care; about others or yourself or family. To not vote allows those dictators to rise up; let's face it if you can't be bothered to get of your arse and tick a bit of paper why would you be arsed if someone starts telling you how to live your life! Democracy is, in my opinion, a bloody brilliant thing; it means that the people have a say.  Of course we're going to get it wrong occasionally, we're not infallible; we make mistakes, we wouldn't be human if we didn't.  We should, theoretically learn from those mistakes and we did for quite a number of years after the last World War but you have to remember that the young don't have those memories, they are removed from that horror, they are blissfully living in a state where that does not exist to them personally and so they cannot comprehend that something that horrific could happen again.

My mother would often say that the world needs a good war occasionally!  I don't agree with her on it by the way although I can see why she said it.  Her argument was that 1) it helps to keep the population down as we have no predators apart from ourselves and 2) it's a great reminder to appreciate what is 'real' in life.  In other words when faced with the horrors that come with war you start to appreciate what really matters; family, friends, food, safety, the lack of fear and the support and love from your fellow man.  Maybe we in the west do need one.  Maybe then we will stop obsessing over celebrity, selfies, size, shape, money, merchandise and all the other shallow things that we seem, in general, to be obsessed with.  Maybe then we will start caring about each other and maybe then when we are next allowed to vote (if we haven't been taken over by a fascist dictator) we will do our research and all get off our arses and make the right decisions about who we want in charge.

Rant over.

2017! WHAT THE F...? OH I DON'T CARE ANYMORE!

Frosty Leaves

Finally, the new year is here!  It's been months since I posted but, to be honest, after the whole PIP debunkle, I 'shut down' for a month and concentrated on the festive season and having a 'brain holiday'.

The year has started all good.  PIP, which we won at the higher rate (which I wasn't expecting), has now started to be paid in and ESA is coming in too.  I've renewed his bus pass and regained his CEA card (Cinema card to those not in the know - holder pays and carer goes free).  I've now reapplied for my Carers Allowance even though I have a part time job just because I'm sodding entitled and if they hadn't been such arse breaths about the whole thing I probably wouldn't have bothered as I'm getting Carers Credit, which means my National Insurance is at least getting paid even though I'm not actually receiving any money, plus my wages are so low I'm not paying any through that.  So I, theoretically, can breathe for a couple of years as court over-rode the decision and awarded it until he is 21; he's currently 17, 18 in June.

So what are we going to do with this new found 'wealth'?  Well, apart from having to use it to get food as my partner's current job doesn't pay as much as the old one did and they seem to have cocked up last month's wages, although he hasn't tried to sort it out; he just cut my money by £200 this month instead!!! So the old adage of 'give in one hand, take from the other' seems to still be in existence.

What we have done, however, is sign him up for his online BTech and I've joined Ancestry so I can finally spend some time researching my family tree; been meaning to do it for years, but just never got round to it.  I'm also sending my DNA off to see where in the world I originate from.  Some will say "NOOOOOOO!! They now have your DNA on record!", but to be honest I don't care as if they wanted it they would probably already have it along with my fingerprints and any other identity proving methods such as skin cells and probably stool samples.  Let's face it, there is enough online information and CCTV footage of and about pretty much everyone that nothing feels secret or sacred anymore.

I also want to sort out his provisional driving license so he can have driving lessons and I want to sort out passports even though we probably won't be able to afford to travel abroad even if we are allowed too under the Brexit regime.  Although the way things are going we won't be leaving anyway as it's now gone to a parliamentary vote before they can/will invoke Article 50 (or at least that's the way I'm reading it; not taking a great deal of notice of worldly affairs at the moment because it's suddenly gone a little loopy drawers and I'd rather not know; *sticks fingers in ears and skips along the road singing 'la la la la la'*).  But, to be honest, I think Europe will still kick us to the kerb anyway just for being arrogant enough to want to leave in the first place.

I could probably do with replacing the washing machine as the door lock is getting temperamental, the tumble dryer squeaks like a dying rat and the fan in my range cooker has to be 'spun' with a skewer to get it going, but they are 'things' and I don't want to replace 'things' even though I know that one day the whole lot will got phut and I'll be sobbing into my cuppa.  I want to do long term things with it like sorting out passports, doing something fun, maybe even have a holiday (been 4 years since we had one of those and then it was only a 5 day break on a Haven site; hardly 'holiday of a lifetime' stuff) and, of course, squirrel some cash away for a rainy day (mainly for my son as most of it is actually his money, not mine so always feel hugely guilty if I spend it on anything but something for him).

I'm also hibernating a bit as I really can't be arsed with going out and being sociable; the best I can summon up the energy for is a cuppa in a cafe, a night round someone's house flopping on their sofa instead of mine or losing myself in a movie at the flicks.  Have done a couple of family things, but nothing major and I'm preferring to be at home having a bit of a clear out or sitting with a pen and paper making plans that I probably won't get round to, but at least I've thought about.  I have popped out into the garden to take some frosty photos and to have a peruse at what veggies are left to eat and to look in disgust at the small salad plot that has somehow turned into a neighbouring cat's litter box.  However, all will change once the fear of frost is over and I can go out and have a proper tidy up and cut back and begin to sow.  Beware cat!  I know who you are!!

So, that's a quick(ish) run down of 2017 so far and I'm sure this wonderful time of calm, contemplation and general laziness won't last and I'll be back to my normal ranty, irritated and generally disgruntled self before long.

Cya

Frosty Web