Small Town Scribbles

A NEW BLOG!

2011-05-01T21:40:38.096+02:00

I've started a blog up again!

ON NOT BLOGGING

2010-03-03T15:01:10.512+01:00

I am pretty sure that hardly anyone purposely visits my little blog anymore. A lot of the bloggers who used to come here have packed up their own blogs and disappeared, and those who are left have no reason to come here anymore, seen as how I don't post anymore. So here's a post for anyone who pops by, because I feel I owe the blogosphere that at least.

After five years, I seem to have run out of things to say. Nothing sparks that thing off in my brain to make me want to blog anymore. I can read a newspaper, watch the news, observe the ebb and flow of life, and I just don't get that need to record my thoughts anymore.

I can do a Twitter. But Twittering is taking a quick snapshot of life, requiring nothing more than an ability to record a passing thought or action. Blogging requires a lot more of you and I don't have that to give since the kids came.

Also, I don't know quite who I am at the moment. I seem to have assumed the role of someone who is a parent, but I don't know who that someone is. I have thought that I could change the content of the blog from topical to personal. The intense waves of emotion that keep crashing into you post-adoption are something worthy of record. It is unlike any other experience to be had. But this blog doesn't feel very anonymous anymore and I feel it wouldn't be fair on the children somehow.

So, what to do. I don't know. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this blog saved my sanity when I went through a bleak time and over the years I have been introduced to some great people and have learnt a lot. I love my little blog. But, clearly, I'm not blogging anymore.

I am working on a website where I'm putting up some of my creative writing, and if I ever get that in good enough shape, I'll let you know.

Other than that, I suspect that the rest is silence.

SNOW BLUES

2010-01-18T13:14:29.341+01:00

Well, my snow post for 2010 wasn't worthy of the mini ice-age that the British Isles have just experienced. Especially as I had really gone to town in 2008, here, here, here and here.

Between you and me, I think I have gone off snow now that I have children, which is the exact opposite of how it should be.

This is because the snow caused me to worry, which is the main emotion I experience second only to guilt since becoming a mother.

I worried about the amount of school the kids would miss, because they have already missed so much school in moving from their Foster Home to our home. I worried because the kids get anxious when there is a change to the routine and we couldn't establish a routine post- Christmas holiday because we didn't know from one day to the next if they were going to be in school or not. I worried because we couldn't get out and see other people and so we were all starting to crowd in on each other as the two week holiday extended into a possible third and fourth. We really could have done without the coldest winter in 30 years coming along just now.

Now though that I don't have to spend twenty minutes scraping frozen snow off the car in sub-zero temperatures and risk death slide scenarios every time I need to leave the house, it's feels like I've been without arms and they've just grown back or something. With the thaw life just became easy and I feel like I can do it again.

I am ignoring the fact that more snow/sleet is predicted for Wednesday and started filling up my diary with appointments that have been two weeks in the waiting. I usually hate making phone calls to arrange anything, but this morning it was a relief to be able to get on with things.

I hate knowing that I have been so incapacitated by a bit of extreme weather. I wonder how that can be with recent events in Haiti, which should surely have put things in perspective for me. But it didn't. It just made me feel sad and helpless in addition.

DEC appeal here, if you can afford to give.

SNOW!

2010-01-05T17:18:48.498+01:00

A band of snow is moving south from Scotland.

Country grinds to halt in 3... 2... 1...

MERRY CHRISTMAS

2009-12-25T01:37:53.009+01:00

The kids are off school so I'm not getting much Internet time because the moment I get the laptop out the kids put away whatever they are doing, mope about, and mumble "I don't know what to do" over and over. A none too subtle ploy to get me to let them go on the CBeebies website.

I quite like being a mother, but I don't like the parenting. It's like being a Manager but with the knob turned up +5000 and in your own home. And children are really random. They like baked potatoes one week, scream their heads off when you give it to them the next week. They refuse to put coats, hats and scarves on before going out and then when they're out complain how cold they are. They happily ignore you engrossed in their play until you take a phone call / pop to the loo / start to read something, when suddenly they need nothing but oxygen and your immediate and absolute attention. Parentland - it's quite a culture shock to be here.

It should be quite an exciting time, our first Christmas with our children, but, tell you the truth, I feel quite sad tonight. These children have known us for two months and so are spending their Christmas this year with virtual strangers, even if they don't appear to see it that way. It should never have had to be like this for them.

Here's to us all getting to know each other in the coming New Year.

Merry Christmas everyone. Have a good one.

CADBURYS

2009-12-16T14:03:24.727+01:00

If ever there was proof that the human race is not on a continuous course towards a better world it is the current story that Cadburys are cowering in a corner from big bad confectionery company, Kraft (who?).

Cadburys, who need no introduction to any person British, was started in 1824 by a family of Quakers. Chocolate was ethical you see and no Quakers wanted to make money out of anything that brought any harm to the world.

Cadburys not only brought us all chocolate, they gave their workers exceptionally good pay, conditions and pensions as well as building for them Bournville Village, which is still there not far from where I live. The people of Bournville had parks built for them, boating lakes, football, hockey and cricket pitches, bowling greens and swimming pools, as well as beautiful houses to live in the arts and craft design, with large gardens so that the occupiers could grow their own fruit and veg.

It was important to the Cadbury family that the emotional and physical well being of their workers, and they people they lived amongst, were taken care of. They cared about the quality of the lives of the Bournville residents.

The whole story is like a fantasy of mine where I come into lots of money and turn West Bromwich one of the best places to live in the country. At the very start I'd take a wrecking ball to the ridiculous waste of public money The Public and give the town its bloody swimming pool back, stock its library and bring back the heydays of Dartmouth Park.

Now although Cadburys can no longer be considered a Quaker company, it does still treat its workers well and the idea of a nasty American "snacks" company coming in to snatch it up so that it can be BIGGER and SELL MORE and MAKE MORE MONEY, as if there was nothing else in the world worth aiming for, could fair make one weep.

CLIMATE CHANGE CONFUSION. AGAIN

2009-12-04T13:52:33.923+01:00

I've mentioned here and here what my confused thoughts are on the whole debate about whether or not humans are responsible for the earth's current changing of climate.

I am confused even more at this latest story that scientists at the University of East Anglia manipulated data to support the theory of man-made climate change.

A few e-mails taken out of time and context should not wipe out all the data, research and accumulative opinions of the scientific community about the cause of this phenomena. But in terms of political will and public faith, this news might be cataclysmic.

I don't know whether the leaking of these e-mails is all sound and fury signifying nothing or if it is the first blast of evidence that will show us that a small number of trusted and powerful scientists, with good or bad intentions, tried to dupe the world into believing something the evidence did not support.

However, I don't believe that asking why the earth's climate is changing is as important as the fact that it is - and that we need to make our environment capable of dealing with extreme weather. As the recent floods in Cumbria have shown us, the readiness is all.

RBS BOARD IN DENIAL ABOUT HOW VERY CRAP THEY ARE

2009-12-04T13:56:35.078+01:00

The Guardian reports that:

"RBS said it had reluctantly agreed to government demands for control of its bonus pool, but ministers would limit its ability to make profits if it encouraged staff to leave for rival banks where bonus controls were absent. According to some reports, which the bank has not denied, its board has threatened to resign if the government slashes bonuses."

It's board has threatened to resign? Oh no! That must not happen! We can't have these incomptetant, narcisstic, greedy, reckless individuals leaving a major British bank ... er... erm... oh.

IN WHICH SCRIBBLES SOLVES THE WORLD'S ENERGY CRISIS

2009-11-10T22:55:41.490+01:00

So, it would seem that the world is running out of oil a tad quicker than we were lead to believe, yet we are still dithering about wondering whether we should go coal, nuclear or wind as if we had a few more centuries before we needed to make up our minds. At this rate we'll be building the new power stations in the dark with hand tools.

I have a better idea however. Why don't we harness the natural energy of the planet's children? Have you ever studied one? They can go on and on and on and on, with hardly much more than a bowl of coco pops, a sandwich and a few turkey dinosaurs and french fries to fuel them up.

In a futile effort to 'wear our kids out' (every parent's dream, I find) we've been taking our kids to soft play areas - huge jungles of slides, ropes and playframes - and allowed them to go mad for a few hours. But it does nothing. It hardly takes a sip of their oceanic energy reserves. They come home and they want to play bowling on the wii. Whilst Mr Scribbles and I can barely keep our eyes open during tea-time, they want to play after they've eaten, with cars, with board games, with marbles, with dolls.

They don't even need sleep. I feel myself sliding down the slip-road to the land of nod even as I read Alice in Wonderland to them in bed, but their little heads won't even stay on the pillow and they want me to read more and more and more and more.

Instead of spilling this precious natural resource in the soft play centres of the world, why aren't we harnessing it? We could build special places where the kids are wired up to energy collecting machines as they run around "playing" whilst the parents get to sit nearby reading newspapers and drinking coffee (just to keep a eye on things). These centres would be cheaper to build than coal stations, safer the nuclear power stations (as long as the kids are not fed too many E numbers), and cheaper than both. The only running costs would be supplies of Frubes and Fruit Shoots.

I can't believe no one else has thought of this before now. We can all relax and bathe in oil if we wish because we don't need it anymore.

IN WHICH SCRIBBLES BECOMES A PARENT

2009-11-06T23:10:06.225+01:00

Oh yes, I have become a parent. Our two adopted children moved into Scribbles Towers yesterday.

I have found that children are another country, both in terms of language and culture and preferred TV programmes. I suspect that there will be parenty type posts here on STS as I try to come to terms with my strange new life and I do hope that won't come as too much of a shock to you, dear, loyal, reader.

My husband and I are giving the Kerplunk a rest tonight and watching a Jackie Chan DVD whilst our new son and daughter sleep upstairs in their new bedrooms. I hope they are having sweet dreams.

More as I find the energy and the time ...

WHO PUT BELLA IN THE WYCH ELM?

2009-10-29T20:45:47.909+01:00

(image)

BATTLE OF BOSWORTH FINDS

2009-10-29T20:42:13.778+01:00

Your Scribbles was excited to hear on radio 4 this morning, in context of something else, that the newspapers were full of the new finds at the Battle of Bosworth. Previous best guesses at where the battle actually took place seem to have not been far off, with a huge cache of pistol bullets and cannonballs having now been found two miles down from where the battle was generally thought to have probably occurred.

Don't know what images come to your mind of a 1485 battle, but I'm seeing bows and arrows, not gun metal. Our History has been altered somewhat.


(image)

OK, BUSY STILL

2009-10-17T22:50:09.431+02:00

OK, I was a little optimistic when I thought I was going to be able to post this week. Your Scribbles is working v hard at the moment, but if she wasn't she would have mentioned the anglo saxon loot leaving Birmingham (never did get chance to see it) and the fantastic blasting of the Daily Mail over the Jane Moir article by decent conscientious Internet users.

Don't delete me! I will write again when I get the chance!

NOW, WHERE WERE WE?

2009-10-08T14:32:56.104+02:00

Sorry about that, very rude of me just to go off like that. No explanation. No goodbye. Just a static nothingness of a blog for you to stare at.

If I told you, dear reader, if you are still there, that I have been very very busy with something very very important, then maybe you can forgive me for just pissing off without a word.

I can't say what's been taking up my time yet, but as soon as I get a yes, I'll let you know what I've been up to.

Anyway, there may be posts over the next couple of weeks and so if you find yourself at a loose end, then come on over.

Meantime, I'm off to check out what you've all been up ...

SOME STUDY TELLS BRITISH PEOPLE WHAT THEY ALREADY KNOW

2009-08-10T22:55:06.766+02:00

The Guardian reports that a recent study has concluded that the British are so lazy that they are "in danger of becoming too unfit to perform rudimentary tasks", which makes laziness sound like a bad thing!

And I don't know why it took a study to pick that up; it's been perfectly obvious for some time that British people can't be arsed with most things. Glad to see Birmingham second only to Glasgow as having the most slobs - I would expect nothing less. We know what's important and it's not toned tummies.

Laziness is not so bad. Seems to me that left to their own devices most people manage to be as fit as they need to be. Currently, I need to be fit enough to walk from my car to the office, and visa versa, and sit up straight at a desk all day. I don't see the need to get the dumbbells and treadmill out for that in my spare time. I'd rather have a nap.

True, some people take unfitness to extreme levels and end up stuck in bed the size of a small elephant, having liquidized hamburgers funnelled into their mouths by Feeders, but most of us manage to be unfit within reasonable limits. Whereas fit people are always in danger of spraining an ankle or something and they also move about more doing stuff, using up more of the earth's resources. Laziness is good.

And being fit isn't even sexier than being unfit anymore. Lion Bar Ice Cream say so. The only people who find people who go to the gym really attractive are other people who go to the gym. And gay men. Leave 'em all to it I say.

THE SECRET LIVES OF CATS

2009-07-31T21:22:25.687+02:00

You might have heard about Casper the cat in Plymouth, who regularly goes for a jaunt on the number 3 service.

Mr Scribbles and I have a cat who disappears for most of the day. She's quite an independent free-spirited little Miss, and so one day I fully expect to see a piece on Midlands Today about a black and white fluffy cat who spends her days propping up the bar in the Crown and Anchor drinking Bacardi Breezers and cadging fags off people. That'll be our Betsy.

THANK YOU, MR PATCH

2009-07-31T21:08:54.362+02:00

In honour of Mr Harry Patch, Britain's last living Tommy, who died recently.

Tommy

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o'beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:

O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's ``Thank you, Mister Atkins,'' when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's ``Thank you, Mr. Atkins,'' when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap; An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy how's yer soul?" But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll, The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll, O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints:
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;

While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir," when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country," when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
But Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!

Rudyard Kipling

JULY IN BRITAIN

2009-07-16T20:40:38.255+02:00

Birmingham weather over the next four days

DAY 1: Heavy Rain Shower
DAY 2: Light Rain Shower
DAY 3: Sunny Intervals (in between the rain)
DAY 4: Light Rain Shower

Been to B&Q today 'cause I've decided to build an ark.

SWINE FLU: OH SHIT!

2009-07-17T15:09:47.641+02:00

The other week when we had a heatwave (British version, with lots of rain) I saw an expert on telly saying that he was more worried about the amount of people who would die of the heat than he was about the amount of people who would die of swine flu. Now I've just seen an expert on telly saying swine flu could be a bigger threat to national security than terrorism. Worst case scenario 30% of the population might get it, with a possible 65,000 deaths - I just hope that they don't mean all at the same time because that could mess the country up somewhat. Although, looking on the bright side, at least the traffic would be lighter.

I live in Birmingham and the bloody thing is everywhere. For once, I'm not with those who think this is media hype. The thing is so infectious from where I'm sitting the 30% figure looks an underestimation.

I do wish however that the media would stop saying in such comforting tones that the only people dying from swine flu are the ones with underlying health conditions. I shouldn't imagine that's of much comfort to people with underlying health conditions.

HEATWAVE REPORT

2009-07-02T00:46:00.273+02:00

Until today, the heatwave was pretty crap here in Birmingham. The weather succeeded in being very wet, dull and muggy, which is all the bad stuff about a heatwave with none of the good. It is very odd to drive to work in fog and then have to run to the office from the car being pelted with rain harder than pebbles and hotter than my morning shower.

Today was an improvement. It was actually sunny and it was heartening to see sunrays bounce off those cars - my office overlooks a carpark, which is alright, but I'd prefer a lake or the ocean maybe. I didn't actually get to experience the sun until I got home at 6pm. It's a very sad thing only to get to look at sunlight and not actually be in it.

I note that the year Wimbledon gets a rain-proof roof-thingy, it turns out to be hot and sunny. Ha! Weather has sense of humour.

WE'RE HAVING A HEATWAVE!

2009-06-29T11:10:42.550+02:00

Seriously! Britain is going to string together several days of hot weather this week!

Broken up with a bit of rain and stuff.

Reported in the Guardian here with a headline about a teenager being struck by lightening, which is not the first thing that springs to mind when thinking about a heatwave, but it'll do.

To celebrate (the hot weather, not the lightening strike) here's the Muppets singing Tropical Heatwave.

HADLEY FREEMAN v MICHAEL JACKSON

2009-07-14T00:18:14.040+02:00

Hadley Freeman tries to make a case for why we shouldn't show collective grief about the death of Michael Jackson, because such a thing just leads to "false emotion".

Poor love, she can't differentiate between how people might genuinely feel about the death of a uniquely talented global superstar, and how the media will report it. But not to worry - I think we can learn something from her poorly argued and ill-timed article just the same.

As Hadley is so very scornful of "collective grief", I think that when she shuffles off her mortal coil we should take every care not to do anything that could lead us to this same "false emotion".

I think, when that Big Event happens, that the radio, TV stations and newspapers the world over should just ignore Hadley Freeman's sad passing. I don't think we should give her death any newspaper headlines. I don't think we should spontaneously collect in small groups and chant together her many unforgettable newspaper musings. Radio stations should not devote hours to her talent. We should not make any tributes to her on social networking sites. It would all just be so false, wouldn't it?

Much as I am sure the planet will heave with grief over her loss, I don't think we should get hysterical because clearly she would not want us to.

Certainly, any obituary written should not mention her genius. She did, after all, shag Piers Morgan* and so any celebration of her astounding talent for writing bits of irrelevant stuff in an on-line newspaper would seem a little strange, if not dishonest.

No, I really think that when Hadley Freeman passes away, we should just forget her.**

* No she didn't. Hadley Freeman has never even met Piers Morgan.
** On reflection, bit harsh. Now that I know she didn't shag Piers Morgan she should definitely get an obituary in the broadsheets.

MICHAEL JACKSON: WHAT A TALENT

2009-06-26T21:42:41.575+02:00

Performing Billie Jean, live, 1983

R.I.P.

IRAN

2009-06-22T00:57:02.539+02:00

If anybody is still bleating on about lack of civil liberties in the UK, then Scribbles would like them to look at what is happening in Iran and shut the fuck up.

TERMINATOR SALVATION: THE WORLD IN 2018

2009-06-22T13:45:58.401+02:00

Scribbles is heartened to be able to report that in post-apocalyptic 2018, women still wear make-up and have long glossy hair. It is good to know that Frizz Ease survives nuclear blasts. I think it's important to keep some standards, even if you're losing the desperate fight against a global war to prevent the termination of the human race.

Also, in 2018 people no longer swear. Not even when a great big bloody scary terminating machine creeps up and scares the shit out of you. In a world where humans are crushed, enslaved, hunted down and made to live like rats in sewers, nobody utters a single "fuck". This is progress of sorts, I would say.

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