Patriotism - why not?

I have just read a letter in our local paper in which the writer is saying we should be more patriotic and I do have to say I agree with the thought completely. I think part of the reason the writer is writing is the Last Night of the Proms which of course features many of the really well known stirring tunes from Britain - Land of hope and glory, Jerusalem, Rule Britannia, Fantasia on British sea songs etc. I was looking at a CD the other day which featured these and many other great tunes and I thought I would like this to play in the car and sing along to.

I often look at news items on TV from various places around the world and notice how fervently patriotic the majority of people are - why can't we be like this? Why do we have to worry so much about what other people think? Do other people care what we think? Yesterday I saw a number of cars carrying large Pakistani flags as young men celebrated Eid Mubarrak and their roots. It didn't bother me at all and I don't think anybody else I saw was bothered either, but if I were to drive round with a large Union Flag hanging off my car I am sure someone would accuse me of being racist.

While I am not anti Royal the only thing I would say is we could do with changing our National Anthem and going for something with a bit more life in it or at least jazzing up the present tune so it has a bit of go in it.

What?

Now there's a question to pose - what? It could mean almost anything! It could be a question that is single or multi faceted. It really is pretty open ended and it might be that my reader could think of a few what's of their own, but here are one or two that I thought I might pose this morning just before I get ready to go back to work.

What is happening with the weather? We should still be getting some sunshine and warmth but as I look out of the window it is another dull fairly cool day (12.5 degrees according to the thermometer in my car).

What has happened to indicators on cars? Do they not put them on cars now or have drivers lost the ability to reach out to that little stalk on the steering column and just move it up or down.

What is happening to me as I get older and suffer road rage on an almost daily basis as I see the idiotic antics of some drivers?

Why do kids scream so much? I live next to a park and the past week or so there have been a number of occasions when you could easily think a child was being murdered if the amount and level of screaming is anything to go by. The sad thing is if someone was really in trouble we would not know and would probably ignore them.

Now this may be something unique to the area I live in but here goes - why do very young children stand on window ledges apparently unattended by parents and often with the window open (an accident waiting to happen). Sorry that was a why instead of a what but it is still a good question.

What has happened to taking NO for an answer? I had a young man knock my door yesterday from Talk Talk who was trying to get me to change my telephone supplier - I ended up having to be almost rude to him to get the message across that I was quite happy with my current supplier who has served me well for many years.

Well there's a few things to be going on with and I notice that time is getting on so I better get ready to go to work.

Nostalgia rules Ok!

Following on from my previous post which took at least one reader down memory lane I thought my reader might be interested to know about a museum that specialises in days gone by. It is in Craven arms and is called the Land of Lost Content which could mean contentment or lots of belongings - the name is taken from the poem A Shropshire Lad by A.E.Housman.
It really was like going back to my childhood and youth - they even had some Bayko in the toy section along with lots of other things - both my wife and I enjoyed it immensely and we had lunch there as well. We spent a very pleasant four hours in there and how often we said 'I remember that' or 'We had one of those'.
For more information check out their website here .

Bayko Building System

Sometimes life is a little strange - one day last week a chap at work was talking to me over lunch about toys when we were young and one of the the things he mentioned was Bayko, a building system that I always enjoyed playing with. It was tiles of different colours that slid down copper rods that were put into the baseplate and the house I built with mine and then knocked down to start again was really good. Imaging our surprise when on Friday night there was an article in the Express and Star (local evening paper) about Bayko and wow were there some interesting buildings in that article?
The other building system we talked about was Betta Builda which was similar to Lego but never really seemed to catch on and I have to be honest very few people seem to remember it so I was pleased to find somebody else who did.
Well better stop reminiscing as its time to get ready for work!

Hero?

I am having a little bit of a struggle with the use of this word recently in press coverage of things and wonder if we have devalued the word a little as we seem to use it so glibly.
I have noted that every time one of our armed forces loses their life they are hailed as heroes when often it seems that the deaths happen when there is no actual fighting taken place and no heroic deed in the old fashioned sense. For me heroes are the sort of people who fought at the battle of Rorke's drift where the highest number of Victoria crosses were awarded, or the likes of Douglas Bader who battled against immense odds to continue flying. I am concious of how tragic each death is and do feel that it is even more tragic where we are involved in a war we shouldn't be.
The latest thing that made me question the use of this word was an item in the local paper last night about a lady who had been stung and gone into anaphylactic shock and her husband had gone to fetch a neighbour and had saved her life. The paper said he was a hero and no doubt to his good lady he is a hero but is this the right word to use for him - perhaps not that long ago we would have called him a 'life saver'.
Well over to you dear reader - any thoughts on this?

I've seen the light....

Well at least the signs on the Broadway - I was taking my wife to work this morning and there was a car coming the opposite way which I thought was doing quite a bit over 30 as it passed me so I looked in my mirror and there it was the sign lit up saying 30 mph, slow down and showing the vehicle registration.
This must have been someone who didn't know the signs were there or thought they weren't working so it was safe to exceed the speed limit - he may not like the envelope he gets shortly!

What to say?

I can't believe its been almost two weeks since I posted anything - I thought that I would be posting at least once a day and sometimes more than once with the amount of strange things that go on, especially in Walsall, but nothing has really caught my eye in the news and made me feel like ranting.
Perhaps this is a good thing or perhaps it means I am mellowing in my old age - I am not sure but I doubt it will last very long, there's bound to be something soon that really winds me up and I will be able to make some comment.
I suppose all I can say is keep watching and thanks to those folk who are visiting me pretty regularly you never know one of these times you might visit and I will have said something really interesting or controversial.