Christmas is coming.

Unless you live on another planet you cannot possibly have missed this fact - the big stores are all playing Christmas music, lots of advertisements on TV seem to feature food or gifts for Christmas, lights are appearing on houses and the usual claptrap about Winterval etc. are being trotted out in all sorts of places.
There will no doubt be lots of conjecture about whether people of other religious persuasions than Christian find the whole thing of Christmas offensive. The reality I believe is that most people take advantage of the holiday whether it is religious in some way or not and to be frank I don't think they are bothered.
The other thing that amazes me is that we are supposed to be in a double dip recession but if you go into any of the local supermarkets people seem to be spending money as if it was going to disappear completely and stocking up for a siege - the shops are only shut for one or possibly two days and to be frank there will be a range of shops open in Caldmore on Christmas day and you could even get a hair cut if you wanted.
Anyway in case I don't post again a merry Christmas and happy and healthy new year to all my readers (yes both of you).

Mad or what?

I can not believe the madness that has been happening the past few days and while much has and will be written I have to say that as usual the police can do nothing right. If they stand off they are criticised for being weak - if they go in with batons drawn they are accused of being brutal.
I will also be watching with interested to see how tough we are with those who are caught - perhaps they will get two weeks holidays instead of one!

What a load of...........!

Well things have been a bit slow here recently and I am not sure if anybody really reads this blog but I thought a news item I saw needed a comment especially as it seems to me it is bureaucracy gone mad.
I was reading about a guy who had purchased a registration number for his car from DVLA and they have now told him they have withdrawn it and he can no longer drive using this number plate.
The registration was BO11 LUX which I found quite amusing but apparently it seems no one at the DVLA had realised is made a rude word! What a load of BO11 LUX is all I can say and let's be honest who in this current day and age would really find this offensive as that seems to be the logic of the DVLA.

A tale of two deaths

Interesting news day today with the death of two famous figures one of who will be sadly missed while the other will not.
One of Britain's best know boxers Sir Henry Cooper has died and while I am not a fan of boxing I always felt he was a gentleman. He will I am sure be sadly missed.
We have also heard that Osama  Bin Laden has been killed and while most of us will not be bothered by this I just wonder if we will now see an upsurge of terrorism. It seemed to me that after 9/11 he was fairly low key but now who knows what his supporters might do.

You couldn't make it up!

I have just been reading last nights Express and Star and came across an article that Butlin's have banned 'bumping' on the Dodgem car rides at their sites. A you can imagine it is the result of fears about people suffering whiplash or other injury and suing Butlin's.
I suspect it will not be long before this spreads to other fairgrounds - what a load of wimps we are becoming. The dodgems will never be the same and it will prevent me venting my pent up anger at the appalling state of driving on our roads - but don't start me on that one.

It's a fair cop!

I have noted with interest the stories over the last few days about the reduction in police officers that we can expect as the recession continues to bite. It is I believe a sad fact of life that they are just some of many who will be part of cutbacks and reductions but at what cost?
It is true to say that many organisations are expecting workers to do more with less as workforces dwindle through all sorts of reasons and then wonder why when stress levels go up and people start being off work with stress related illness. Perhaps the reductions in staff are a sort of false economy when this happens.
It seems to me that there is little hope for those people who are seeking work when all we seem to hear is job cuts - perhaps a radical solution needs to be found to address some of the issues of unemployment - how about working a three day week and having a four day weekend - sounds good to me!

Incredible blog!

Thanks to Brownhills Bob for posting about a brave young man who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
I read this and was amazed by the story and look forward to reading further updates in the next few days.
You can read the story here.

New site for Hill Top School

I was checking out the old West Bromwich photo's site and came across a comment from Hill Top Kid about a new site for pupils and teachers of Hill Top Secondary Modern School and Hill Top High School in West Bromwich.
As a former pupil I thought it would be good to check this out and have put a link to it on my site. I have also added a link to the West Bromwich photo's site as people reading this blog might be interested in checking them both out.