What part of your routine do you always try to skip if you can?
Well if I skipped it on a regular basis it wouldn’t be routine, would it?
Namaste and thank you for reading.
#HeadlineTherapy Texas dam compromised as officials plead residents to evacuate before failure.
Thank you to the Independent and Nicole Wootton-Cane for this headline
My first reaction on reading this headline was the fear of a small hole in a dam turning into a torrent and would the people have time to evacuate. It’s a horrible situation to be in and what do you take with you?
The area that needs to be evacuated is 70 miles North of Houston, and the dam is privately owned and the Company who owns it is having to drain some water off to reduce the pressure. However, surely we should worry that no one was doing checks on behalf of the private Company. For heavens sakes there’s equipment to identify earthquakes or cameras that can record 24 hours a day. Apparently it was a local who heard the “whoosh” of water and reported it. Bit like the little Dutch boy who put his finger in the hole of a dyke and prevented disaster.
Either way I hope that the people affected are safe and can return to their homes. I also hope that the Private Company is made to take more responsibility to ensure everyone’s safety. If we can have weekly rockets into space, then we can have this dam monitored properly and remedial repairs done promptly .
Namaste and Thank you for Reading
Filed under Short Stories
I’m terrible at Faces and Names (Revisited)
Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?
Has the World got too busy?
I very often can’t put a name to a face,so if you are famous or indeed infamous and I ignore you,or worst of all get your name wrong.Please forgive me.
Namaste and Thank You for Reading
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy A seismic moment that shows rift at top of BBC
This headline is courtesy of Katie Razzall BBC Online News Culture and Media Editor
This story of the Director General of the BBC and his Head of News resignations are news to the BBC and it’s media followers aswell as reason for joyful celebration by the mainly right wing Politicians who are gunning for the demise of the BBC aswell as taking away it’s licence fee.
If there is a rift at the top , the little people don’t really care. I call them the little people because in all of this , apart for from viewing figures they’ve never really mattered. Joe Public, whatever you want to call them, have long given up in caring what the BBC produce or what they say, because it is run by people who are so out of touch with reality that they feel they have to push their opinion onto others.
I’m not going to name the characters who have resigned, in truth I only heard of these people because they had resigned. Are they ashamed of themselves and are shocked that it has come to this. That their leaving party has been cancelled.
Whatever, the outcome of all of this, the sex scandals, the political football that is high profile figures wanting Peace in This World and potentially trying to scupper the American Election, it is clear that “influencing” was clearly part of the plot. The chattering classes chattered too much and forgot the basic rules of journalism. They have shamed not just themselves but the BBC which was a great institution, but it will never be trusted again and will slowly be dismantled from the inside.
I would add a conspiracy theory to this, recently the BBC’s Panorama has unearthed very seedy goings on in the Police and also in the Private Care Sector. Did they become a target by those with a vested interest in these organisations. On the face of it it was excellent journalism , but did it upset some key people.
Sad to say the real people who suffer are us, Joe Public, because we need facts and information to make informed decisions. Not hearsay and opinions foisted on us by those who think they are better than us.
There were three Headlines , neigh four about this story in a matter of hours, the chattering classes couldn’t help themselves.
Filed under Short Stories
Petting
What is good about having a pet?
‘To be able to pet your pet is the best thing about having a pet. My little dog, who is like the HMV “Masters Voice Dog” with brown ears instead of black insists on pets and tummy rubs at certain times of the day.
He likes a lie in in the morning, after his walk he wants a nap. Then in the afternoon when he wakes he wants tummy rubs and to play with some of his toys. After that it’s dinner time( one meal a day ).
After dinner he turns into an absolute hooligan( it’s winter so he can’t go outside), but he loves me hiding a toy and then him finding it , he also likes extreme tickles on his haunches which you can almost hear him saying “Stop It!” After ten minutes he’s exhausted and wants to go to sleep. Anywhere.
A day with him is pure joy, he has other great qualities as well, but to see his excitement and joy in life, really does me good.
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy Reform school taxi letter used as “political football”
Thanks to Vic Minnett and Shannen Headley BBC CWR West Midlands for the Headline. ( the opinions expressed in this therapeutic article are purely my own misguided or otherwise thoughts)
My feelings on this headline were initially , oh not The Reform UK Party. As the only member of the Reform Party( he might be the leader for all I know) is Nigel Farage.
I associate Mr Farage with being irresponsible in the EU Parliament while he was an MEP. Guffawing and neigh saying anything good about what other MEP’s were trying to do. At the same time creaming off the expense system and taking an MEP’s salary at the same time as decrying the EC as an institution .
Is Nigel Farage a journalist ?Have his journalist and media friends given him so much exposure that we think him far more influential than he is?
And now I know another Reform Party member, George Finch, who is the Council Leader for Warwickshire County Council at 19 years old. As Head of the Council he wrote a letter to Bridget Philipson, the current government’s Education Secretary, his request was for the Council to be given permission to reform the “walking distances” between home and school in order to reduce the money spent on transporting the 10,000 children who currently qualify for transport aid to get them to school in the County.
Unfortunately, Bridget after reviewing the letter accused Reform of dragging children ” back to the Victorian Era”.
Please stick to the facts Bridget and don’t flounce off about what you may see as the bigger picture of Reform UK or UK Reform , whatever they are called, potentially being a party that would like Orphaned Children in Workhouses and fed on gruel and made to pick oakum. While their more fortunate peers will sit quietly in class having walked to school through bad weather , with leaky shoes and a summer coat.
As Head of the Council, George Finch wants to understand if there are better ways to organise school transport. They offer subsidised transport to 10,000 children , George thinks the figure should be closer to 2500. Unless someone looks at the facts no one can really be sure.
Unfortunately accusing a fellow Politician of living in the Victorian Era, particularly a 19 year old elected Head of Warwickshire Council, seems Victorian and a bit Old School Mam’ ish to me. Stick to the facts Bridget.
Filed under Short Stories
Personal Loan
Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased( not your home or car)
Aren’t loans expensive and they are very personal. Haven’t had one for ages , but they were and still are very expensive. I had to repeat that twice because they are so personally crushing. Just thought I’d put that out there folks.
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy Park licence fees will be rolled out without consulting public despite “harsh feedback”
Thanks to ITVNews for this headline,Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporter
Bristol Parks planned to charge personal trainers and professional dog walkers/trainers up to £450/ annum to use the local parks to run exercise classes for humans or exercise dogs in Public Parks.
There was uproar, but to be honest, public spaces are just that and if you are running a business , then there is potentially a conflict with those that are using the park for rest and recreation.
Lets get real , these are Public Spaces for everyone and businesses can be very selfish, they are out to make a profit at whatever they are doing and will fight tooth and nail to reduce costs and maximise their sales. Hence the conflict.
Reading the article , I got the impression that the Council did not realise how many small business’s were using Public Spaces, nor do they have a handle on the upset they cause for normal park users.
Potentially some of the business’s don’t even have insurance. Really Council’s do need to know who is using the Parks and protect every user. One of the Conservative Councillor’s argued that the money raised from licence fees would not even cover the costs of administering a licensing scheme and it would be best to leave it as it is. However, surely it is worth monitoring in order to ensure that no business is abusing the situation and also to make the environment in our Public Spaces a pleasure for everyone.
Filed under Short Stories
There are loads of great Podcasts
What podcasts are you listening to?
Podcasts are like good food, there can be simply too much of it but if you can afford the time and have the opportunity, device and the money (to subscribe), then indulge.
So my treat is a podcast called Oh My Dog, with Jack Dee, Seann Walsh and the one who holds it all together , Producer Sara. It’s not a subscribe podcast yet, though Seann is always looking for ways to monetise everything, having a wedding to plan and two children under five to look after as well as recently moving house. So we will see.
If you are interested in Dogs it’s a great podcast . It’s very much an every-dog scenario, with information and opinions on all sorts of dog situations. The amount of people who sing to their dogs is amazing and also have dog voices, and there seems to be in inordinate amount of people who will let their dogs kiss them on their mouth. I am not one of them, though my dog gets lots of tummy rubs and plenty of play with his toys. Each to their own.
The podcast quite often features a guest, usually someone from the World of Showbiz and it works well, each guest brings something different and it is interesting to hear how these busy people integrate a dog into their working life.
There is also Simon the Dog Behaviourist , who loves German Shepherds and has a very sensitive , wise approach to dog behaviour.
The podcast really is enjoyable and if you love dogs, definitely worth a listen to.
Enjoy Dog Lovers!
Filed under Short Stories
#HeadlineTherapy End of an era as semaphore signals are taken down.
Thanks to John Devine and BBC News Online for this headline.
It is with deep regret that the semaphore signals at Manea( Sounds like an Aztec ancient village but is actually is a rural location with it’s own station on the Ely to Peterborough line.) have been taken down.
Some might regard this as the obvious demise of a manually operated system of gears ,levers and wires which has worked effectively for a hundred years as a disaster and a reflection of the onward march of the boot of the digital era into all areas of our lives.
I , however, am not so dramatic. I know the wooden red and white signals will find a good home in an Antique shop somewhere in Britain and will most likely feature on an episode of Antiques Roadtrip, where the expert “Oohs and Aahs” about this wonderful piece of Railway History and then two doors down in another shop , finds the full set of levers which were used in the now fully digitised Signal Box. More” Oohs” and “Aahs.
” I wonder if they worked together, this will be a railway buff’s dream lot.” The Roadtrip expert looks a the camera.” Exciting!”
From a maintenance point of view, no one is going to miss painting the Semaphore Boards and maintaining the tracks levers and pulleys in order to operate them. So although their demise is sad , it’s probably for the best and they will I’m sure go down in TV. posterity.
Filed under Short Stories
