Malcolm

Our old neighbour Malcolm dropped in for a cup of tea today. He now lives in Canada and is over in the UK for a few weeks.  It was very good to see him.

Here he is with me outside our bungalow next to the roses. Malcolm is on the right side. The last time he called was last summer before my stroke when I was fully fit. Malcolm looked the best I've seen him in years

Malcolm lost his wife to a nasty cancer a couple of years back -  he still misses her a great deal. Somehow I think he is slowly rebuilding his life again.

Breakfast

Breakfast

This was me eating breakfast in the kitchen this morning. The photo was taken from the front garden outside and you can see the windmill reflected in the window glass.

Toy tractors

Amandine

Last Wednesday we went to La Hogue farm shop for lunch with our son Tim and granddaughter Amandine. She just loves the toy tractors and the slide there. Here she is about to pedal down the slope on one of the larger toy tractors. She is three years old next week.

Magazine junk

Some while back, we subscribed to Saga magazine as the deal was a very good one and the articles are pretty good on the whole.

I know this must be why it is not expensive but I just HATE all the junk flyers that come loose within the packaging. Usually, I shake the contents out and immediately recycle all the junk flyers, then you find there are even more loose inside the magazine itself! So darn annoying! None of this rubbish is ever read in our household.

As an example the Saga magazine has just arrived, so I'll count how many loose flyers there are inside the packaging. Seven. Personally, I'd prefer a few extra pages of ads within the magazine itself. The adverts might then get looked at!

Too late to vote now

The UK polling booths closed at 2200 UK clock time so if you did not vote by then I am afraid you've missed the opportunity to influence the result.

The next big test for the coalition government will be the general election next year. It is quite possible that people will adopt different voting patterns then. The EU election will be seen by many as a chance to protest.

I have a sneaking suspicion that UKIP will achieve less success than some have predicted. I personally hope the Green Party has a good show and wins a few more EU seats.

Privatisation of "core" esssential services

To me it is puzzling that "core" essential businesses are nationalised: that any profits go to shareholders rather than the general public. Likewise I cannot understand why the Royal Mail had to be sold off. Our postal service should be owned by us, the great British public. We should be re-investing any profits back into the Royal Mail, maybe reducing prices rather than improving dividends for the few.

I understand the arguments about "competition" but for energy services - gas, electricity, oil, coal, etc plus postal services, rail and buses surely should all be in public ownership? Yes, the power of irresponsible unions has to be curbed, but the argument for public ownership is a good one. It is wrong for services we totally depend on being in private hands.

I am totally against privatisation of "core" businesses such as energy.

Also, I have grave doubts over fracking.  Although it has the potential for low cost gas, how much better to  invest in clean renewable energy instead? Billions will be invested in fracking which is essentially trying to extend the life of fossil fuels with all the carbon released threatening climate change.

Plastic banknotes

When on holiday in Canada a couple of  years ago I was very impressed by the plastic banknotes which are very hard to wear out. I now see that a Scottish bank is introducing plastic £5 notes.   See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-27517606 .

It would be a good idea if the Bank of England also introduced plastic notes. It surely must save money in the long run as notes would last much longer.

If I remember correctly, the Canadian notes had different smells for different values, helping those with poor sight to distinguish between note values.