Buds appearing Spring is around the corner

 With all of the COVID-19 worries I have found it difficult to find anything positive to blog about but today as I sit here in my wheelchair staring out it feels like spring is on it’s way! The sun is shining and the sky is blue, the birds are busy flying in to visit the feeders and the buds are swelling on the small tree at the bottom of the garden. Yes Spring is on its way😁. As the saying goes ‘One swallow doesn’t make a summer’ one bud doesn’t make a spring.

We still have along way to go before I will say spring has sprung but it is definitely closer than it was a week ago.

More needs to be done on Mental Health

 I am often going on about mental illness and I make no apologies for doing it. When I was in my mid twenties I suffered what I now would call a breakdown. In those days mental illness wasn’t even mentioned by my doctor. I was just told take these three times a day and shoved out the door. I will never know how different our lives would have been had someone sat me down and explained what I was going through. The reason I am banging the drum again is I have just read two articles about women being murdered by their partner because of the stress of living under COVID conditions.

Mental health can effect us all and in these extreme times it is just below the surface and waiting to erupt. Yes murder is extreme compared to a black eye or a broken wrist. But talking about feelings can make a big difference. People like the Samaritans are there to help. Always at the end of a phone put them in your contacts 116 123.

Remember that “it’s good to talk “



The last ditch Brexit fiasco

 I have never wanted Brexit but the Brexit that it appears we will have will according to the OBR damage the economy making it shrink around 4%. Add that to the readjust of the Euro immediately after the vote the economic crisis is just getting worse. Johnson can bluster and put on a brave face, mop the brow of the electorate and say a soothing “there there” but even COVID won’t manage to cover up the damage done. Yes we will be okay in the long run but we are not some Gunboat nation we used to sit on the top table but Brexit will not be the one size fits all the tories proclaimed. Yes I put a small t in the front of the name, I can no longer bring myself to say the words. I voted conservative all of my life (yes small c) but Brexit has changed all of that, I am a paid up member of the labour party and until Starmer sorts things out I am using the small letter for them. I have just read a good article by Polly Toynbee in The Guardian that I enjoyed, if you feel so inclined click here https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/30/boris-johnson-deal-betrayal-brexiters-no-deal

It just reiterated the way I feel about the shambles of Brexit. It has none of my anger towards Cameron or my dislike towards Farrage  but if you have five minutes give it a read.




Mudlarking with Nicola & British hovercraft company

I have always loved hovercraft since I was at school and once crossed the channel from Pegwell Bay in one when Hoverlloyd were in existence. Another love of mine would be if I was able to, mudlarking. My wheelchair 🦼 is not equipped to use mudlarking so I will have to make do with memories of days when I could walk and was able to search the shores of our coast for treasure. I never found much but each discovery was a real adventure. I still have fossils I found forty years ago! The reason for this post is Twitter, everything starts with Twitter, I follow Nicola White https://twitter.com/TideLineArt and often watch her marvellous videos on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDQbMQo87F0 is the one I watched earlier today and because it featured hovercraft I was hooked. Nicola had been invited to join fellow mudlarker Simon Bourne https://twitter.com/si_finds on a trip to the River Medway. All of these things and places are special to me I used to work and play in Medway over forty years ago.  This post maybe disjointed but I wanted to mention the British Hovercraft Company https://britishhovercraft.com/  as I said I love hovercraft and once built a model one many years ago. British Hovercraft Company are close to where I live in Thanet. They export the marvellous machines all over the world from Sandwich they are to be found at E: https://britishhovercraft.com/contact/ here is Nicolas Mudlarking video with hovercraft on the River Medway :-E:sales@britishhovercraft.comHere is the video click here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDQbMQo87F0 

Close run thing but sense prevails

 I try and not be bothered by American politics but since Donald Trump appeared four years ago I have found it very difficult not too. I have been concerned that someone with such a scant grip on reality could have become the leader of the free world. From the very get go the man had a different view on the truth and what surprised me most was the American public lapped up his lies! Here is a link to his latest tirade https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/05/trump-record-lies-us-election

I find it amusing that Trump has yet to concede defeat😊 with Biden getting 290 against Trump only picking up 214 electoral college votes. Maybe it is a case of sour grapes our maybe he has trouble with the math, I think that what the Americans call counting.




Remembrance Day again lest we forget

 With each passing year survivors of the war get fewer I only have to look at my own family, aunts and uncles who were born during the thirties and forties are disappearing. Members of the armed forces that survive are now elderly. It is right that we remember the sacrifice made and I find Remembrance Sunday very poignant. 



My own recollection of Remembrance Day goes back to my teens, I recall cold frosty mornings watching the cadet forces parade at the memorial in Faversham. I remember a class mate fainting in full dress uniform and countless other details from fifty years ago. Yet this year due to COVID people up and down the country were unable to pay their respect in the usual way.  I would like to just say Thank You to all of those that have and those that still continue to serve in our armed forces.❤️❤️❤️

Bored waiting for Americans to declare a new President

 After three days and no result am I wrong to be fed up with waiting for the end of this election? I cannot be the only person feeling this way. I know American is a big place but surely they can do better than this? And as for Trump he sounds pathetic and he is the purveyor of ‘fake news?’ His diatribe about stealing votes really makes him out to be a bad looser, he has become a spoilt kid or maybe an even more spoiled kid. I am not a lover of the way we vote here in the United Kingdom and would love to see a proportional vote system but the US voting style seems crazy to me. Well maybe we will get an answer tomorrow until then I am going to get some sleep 💤 nite folks 😴 sleep 💤 tight 🛌 





Re use Repurposed Recycle the new three R’s

 I just googled what’s the three r’s What are the 3 R's stand for? reduce, reuse and recycle The 3R Initiative aims to promote the ...