The most interesting people are true to themselves.
Namaste. Thank you for reading.🙏
#HeadlineTherapy ” Stone thieves are stealing our street’s history”
Good quality stone slabs are in such demand that they are stolen much as valuable lead is stolen from Church roofs.
Beautiful ancient walkways and paths are ruined by having individual slabs removed,leaving dangerous and unsightly gaps all for the sake of providing a beautiful piece of decorative stoneware for those who can afford to pay premium prices for it.
One innovative suggestion is to smart mark the stolen stones so they are traceable much like a stolen bike.Perhaps this might make the stones less attractive to the hooded thieves in white vans with their fake road repair signs loading their stones into white vans in broad daylight.
Definitely a sad state of affairs.
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy Death of Venezuelan opposition figure in custody “vile” US says
Thanks to Seher Asaf from BBC Online News for the Headline
I offer the family of Alfredo Diaz my condolences for his passing and I hope that they will be told the circumstances that resulted in his death in custody at El Helicoide prison in Caracas, Venezuela . Let’s not forget that a family member has died and that his wife and children need to know exactly what happened. The Venezuelan Government need to be open about it and also to be clear that holding people without trial is not a good image for any Government.
Needless to say death in custody is not an isolated incident, Government’s all over the World have experienced it and continue to experience it. Probably one of the most high profile cases was “Jeffery Epstein” who died at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York in the United States, but there have been many lesser known incidences for example here in the UK.
Venezuela is a beautiful country and needs to be treasured and looked after. I don’t understand what is happening either in Politics or The Drug Cartels, least of all why there should be any move to military action from either side. Military force is deadly to innocent people as we all know.
President Nicolas Maduro whether elected fairly or not needs to behave in a Presidential manner and not be seen as someone who needs to wipe out the opposition. He needs to take the lead from Maria Corina Machado who won the Peace Prize and recognising President’s Trump’s narcissism agreed by telephone call that he was the rightful winner, thus satisfying his ego while still keeping the prize. Oh yes President Maduro , that lady is someone I would want on my side.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy Drivers throwing “bottles of wee” from cars on the A46 in Warwickshire
Thanks to Coventry Live and Rachel Stretton and Andy Mitchell and Local Democracy Reporter for the Headline
HS2 Contractors will be questioned by Council Authorities about the amount of litter , including bottles filled with wee that has been deposited at the roadside and had to be collected by local waste workers.
The waste workers noticed a significant increase in the amount and type of waste collected from the A46 dual carriage and the surrounding area and have identified the Contractors as having been responsible. HS2 and Balfour Beatty Vinci will now be questioned by the Council.
In truth , with the amount of house building underway along with the associated infrastructure this has became a Nationwide problem and will have to be addressed Nationally. There are so many contractors doing all sorts of work in Utilities and Building , it’s obvious some Companies look after their employees with locations where they can take their breaks and portable facilities that they can use for toilet breaks. It is obvious some companies don’t and my experience in my local area is that it makes the said workers( who are obviously on a very tight timetable) very grumpy. Unsurprisingly.
Gone are the days when grateful locals will offer the workers a cup of tea or even the chance to use the toilet. Nowadays it seems we are at loggerheads with each other. The result is resentment from both sides. It is a sad state of affairs and if the bad employers are made to improve it will result in additional costs and therefore reduced headcount and more pressure on the employees who are left to do the work. While in truth, all the bad employer was being asked to do was to provide a basic requirement. I think in modern language this is regarded as negotiation, which explains why working conditions for many continue to be eroded.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏
Filed under Short Stories
Is that possible?
We are all too hard on each other, and if we follow these analog prompt questions with ardour we will just make ourselves unhappy.
Silly question .”What could we do less of?” Hopefully if we know something is doing us harm then we are not going to keep doing it, tell that to an addict!
Or perhaps from the comfort of a comfortable position we decide that we need to do less sitting around and do more exercise classes, problem solved.
Worry less, but then things happen and sometimes it’s useful to ponder.
We should concentrate on perspective and perhaps look less at the smaller picture.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading.🙏
Filed under Short Stories
Stan and Milo A Walk in the Woods
It was a nice day, Milo decided he was going to go for a walk in the woods. Stan was asleep in his shed and Milo decided not to disturb him as Stan had been up late doing his rounds with the Security Guard who went to the Bank with the money from Milo’s businesses in Town.
Milo headed off , it was going to be nice to get some fresh air. It didn’t take long until he reached the woods. It was early and the birds were singing and the warmth of the sun was beginning to wake everything up. The flowers were opening up and the bees and bumble bees were beginning their long day of nectar gathering. It was just what Milo needed after a busy week.
Milo was very happy. He loved the Natural World and really appreciated it when he had the chance to do so.
Stan , meanwhile had woken up and his instincts told him that his friend Milo had gone off by himself. Milo had left a scent trail and Stan decided to follow him. Which was just as well.
Milo had wondered deep into the forest and began to feel quite hungry. He found a little hollow underneath some trees and saw what he thought were delicious mushrooms.
” An ideal lunch, this will give me energy for my walk back home”.
He began to munch the mushrooms, but they weren’t mushrooms at all they were toadstools!
After a few minutes he began to feel very unwell.
Luckily , Stan , his faithful bodyguard was not too far away and found Milo in the little hollow.
Stan realised that he had to get Milo to the doctor as quickly as possible , so he put Milo on his back and then galloped away towards the Doctors Surgery.
When they got there, Milo explained to the doctor what had happened and the doctor was able to give him special medicine to cure him. After a few hours of rest Milo was back to his normal self.
Milo came out of the Doctor’s surgery and said to Stan, let’s go home, I was going to have steak pie tonight , but I don’t really feel like it now. Would you like it? Stan yelped his approval.
So Stan and Milo spent the evening together on the sofa, Stan ate his steak pie and Milo drank a nice cup of tea.
They were both very happy and laughed when the Chef told them that he had decided not to give them the mushrooms that he cooked to go with the steak pie, although they were delicious, so the Chef had eaten them himself.
The End.
Filed under Short Stories
Life in Past Year
Daily writing prompt
What positive events have taken place in your life over the past year?
In truth, I face everything with positivity. When surrounded by negativity it is your only choice to neutralise the bad karma. Do I need to participate in situations that are quite frankly manipulative, not really. Does it hurt me to say no. No, I say no many times, and when I say “yes” I truly mean it.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy Woman wanted by Interpol over trafficking of tiger parts arrested in India
Thanks to Anbarasan Ethirajan Global News Reporter for BBC News for the Headline
Good News for Tigers in India!
A woman who has been arrested thanks to a coordinated operation between the Madhya Pradesh State Tiger Strike Force and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau in what must have been a very difficult arrest, given that the woman had skipped bail many years ago and remained at large until she was finally caught this week. Thankfully on her arrest and plead for bail she has now been refused bail, so won’t be able to fade into obscurity again.
The net included tracing transactions in Nepal,Tibet and Bhutan as well as some Indian cities including Dehli.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare who monitors the situation has said that Tiger poaching still continues and that the numbers of tigers killed may be higher than we think. Still it’s good to know that there are organisations who are attempting to stop this evil trade and that they are having some success. Long may it continue.
Filed under Short Stories
Taxing
Just thought I’d share this with you as although it was stressful at the time and probably will be until the outcome is finalized , it was also amusing.
HMRC (His Majesty’s Ripoff Clowns) sent me a confirmation that my tax code had changed.Well a lot has changed with me so I wanted to use the Gateway Government login to update my Personal Tax Account.
Long story, I was probably dealing with the worst IT system in the World,geared to making you pay more.The automated questions do not let you tell your real circumstances.To plead lack of funds I had to say that I was paid monthly, there was no other option , I actually finished work a month ago.
Having gone through every loop, including facial recognition and being told despite them knowing who I was I only had limited access to my data.
By that stage my blood pressure was through the roof.So after trying to ring and being told that it was better to go online,I resorted to their chat bot.
After going through the same questions and being given options to click and lists of other sites to go to I just started typing in the chat.
“I want to speak to someone”
It was therapeutic. any thing the chat bot said I retyped
“I want to speak to someone”
It worked.After about 15 lines of
“I want to talk to someone”
I finally did get an answer from them and have actually had an e.mail from them that I can reply to,
I’d recommend it as a ploy to make any organisation interact with you.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading. 🙏
Filed under Short Stories
UK based Wild Animals
Yes , occasionally I see wild animals , however they avoid people as much as they can which is important and shows that we can live together and should not encroach on each other.
Voles, the odd weasel, foxes, deer, rabbits, toads and frogs are present and actually I find it quite exciting to know that Nature fights the good fight to survive.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading . 🙏
Filed under Short Stories
thenotsomightyom 