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caldrail

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  1. caldrail
    Noisy pensioners...
     
    Noisy youths...
     
    Noisy kids...
     
    Could it get any worse? Well yes, actually. Now we have noisy strikers. Council workers are on strike for two days to get bigger pay rises than oil tanker drivers, and so the libraries are shut. They're all lined up outside council premises with printed placards (I wonder how much that cost?) declaring their strike action and calling for public support. They haven't got mine at all.
     
    So its off to the local internet cafe and spend a few quid. The cheapest is a place out in one of Swindons immigrant areas, so the moslem chants and sermons are played out loud. I guess its because its not my culture and not something I'm used to, but that wailing (the sort you get from minarets in foreign countries) is so irritating.
     
    There's a older woman who's just come in. She pushes and thumps things down with all the grace of an inebriated elephant. She's not satisfied with the position of the computor screen, and so attempts to rip it off its mountings. Three times. Take it easy girl...
     
    talking about taking it easy, the proprietor is having an argument with an african girl. Its quite a ding-dong, the pair of them pointing, gesturing, and spitting out random syllables at frantic speed. I'd like to give you a blow by blow account but I haven't a clue what its all about.... Neither does she apparently...
     
    Speed Camera News of the Week
    Swindon Council is considering withdrawing from the Wiltshire Speed Camera Partnership. Why? Because they object to fines going to the Treasury as profit. At last! Somebody with enough commonsense to see the whole thing was a rip-off by a government so deep in debt they tax anything that moves.
  2. caldrail
    Its the turn of the french to hold the presidency of the EU right now. What are they suggesting? They want each member state to stump up 10,000 men, plus tanks, planes, and ships, for a european defence force. This is interesting because a european defence force was part of the Treaty of Lisbon, which the french people didn't want, nor did the dutch, and neither - somewhat more pointedly - did the irish. But it seems we're going to get a Treaty of Lisbon even if we didn't want one at all - Which is what I said would happen.
     
    Unfortunately, the british are close to being overextended on security issues already, so where are the extra 10,000 men to come from? We used to have National Service in this country, and with rising violence there are calls for a return to just that. Its ironic that in order to solve knife crime we're going to give them bayonets.
     
    But who foots the bills? The government is up their eyeballs in debt already, taxes are the highest they've been since the invention of money, and our armed services are seriously underequipped. One solution is obvious, and in some ways, an unpalatable choice, because I'm sure the europeans would far rather get their hands on our highly professional force than a crowd of bolshy youths with a typically british bad attitude. They suffer that every summer already.
     
    Imagine all those braggarts currently wandering around drunk proclaiming their manhood and denigrating other peoples, suddenly having to prove themselves for real, especially since the french have been using foreigners as expendable troops since 1831. The chances are that Europe will eventually get our professional troops, leaving Britains defence in the hands of 'hoodies'. I wonder if the government are as confident about european unity than they were when Ireland said No?
     
    Power To The People
    Gordon Brown has set 'no limits' to nuclear power in Britain. The plan is to expand current sites to avoid contentious siting issues. Welcome to Englands Green and Luminescent Land. Thats if you can see it under all those wind turbines.
     
    Cancellation of the Week
    Wiithout a doubt, the biggest cancellation is due to the British July Monsoon Period and that means the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford, just down the road from Rushey Platt. For the first time in 38 years the the event has been washed out. The roads around Fairford are notorious for traffic jams during this normally well-attended event and perhaps this is the reason why Swindon was deserted this weekend, as the police deal with the chaos of turning visitors around. Or is it because someones decided to recruit 10,000 extra troops from Swindon layabouts? That would cancel a weekend or two...
  3. caldrail
    Time to get on with my search for gainful employment. I think I'll phone Jobseekers Direct - its a happy friendly service to help idiots like me get a job by finding vacancies on their extensive database. After the usual identity checks the woman asked me what areas of employment I was interested in.
     
    Warehouse, distribution, logisitics.
     
    "We've got one vacancy for a warehouse supervisor.."
     
    North Swindon? Yes I've applied for that.
     
    "Well thats all we've got. Have you done any stock control?"
     
    Just a little bit. Go on, give me the details... She started to give an email address to send my CV. Then something twigged. That name! He's one of those managers who pushed me out the door at a previous job! Lets not bother with that one.
     
    "I see" She said slowly, "Ok, we'll try part time too."
     
    Eh? No, hang on...
     
    "There's a stockroom vacancy. You need to call in at Smartypants Ltd at the Designer Outlet to collect an application form. Do you know where that is?"
     
    Sigh. I can find it. Fine, thank you, thats all I need. Good grief, working for a retailer in a shopping mall... Don't they do long hours there?.... This does not bode well. Too late now. I've got to visit the sports center today so I'll drop in on Smartypants on the way home. Just in case it rains.
     
    It did. Heavy showers were predicted and sure enough the rain came pelting down. Sensibly I stayed under cover. An old woman didn't and wandered out into the car park, swivelling 180 degrees on the spot when she realised she was getting wet. It really was quite funny to watch. So was the hatchback driver going the wrong round the car park and failing to negotiate the corners at very low speed. Then a taxi driver drew up by the exit, decided he wasn't in the right position, then manoevered back and forth until he was satisfied his original position was correct after all. It must be the rain that does that to people. Anyway, I arrived at the Designer Outlet and wandered around until I found Smartypants Ltd, a retailer of clothes for the discerning young professional male. Which was pretty much what I didn't look like. But I stopped at the tills and enquired about getting an application form.
     
    "CALLING MANAGER TO FRONT DESK... MANAGER TO FRONT DESK PLEASE... He'll just be a minute Sir"
     
    Righto. I lean nonchanlantly against the desk and the manager comes around the corner ahead, a tall and very discernably smart young professional male. I hate bosses like that. They're always clicking their fingers at people and casually threatening termination of their employment if they don't run around like little servants. They never show any real leadership. Most of them never show any ability. As he approaches we both size each other up like gunfighters at the OK Corral. There's barely an introduction before he hands me a career application pack.
     
    It was a truly extraordinary document, a glossy colour brochure selling management careers, displaying teams of happy smiling management trainees whose prospects are now going to skyrocket to the point they can afford mortgages. I glanced through it with disbelief at the shear waste of quality cardboard. Noticing this, and assuming it was because I was unable to locate the actual forms neatly hidden in a pocket at the back, he very kindly pulled them out to show me.
     
    Thanks mate. You got a plastic bag for this? Its raining outside...
     
    "Oh yeah" He said, proceeding to rummage around behind the counter. Thank you kindly. Time to go.
     
    Initiative of the Week
    There's been a fair few stabbings in Britain of late, especially London, something we're not entirely used to and threatening to make our streets more dangerous than Los Angeles. So not suprisingly there's about to be some new measures to combat knife crime, and not a moment too soon, seeing as some people in Swindon have been using samurai swords to settle differences. Come to think of it, Swindon was also the place where one guy wandered into a police station with a Bren light machine gun some years ago. At least I had the sense to surrender mine to the police in the privacy of my own home...
  4. caldrail

    Wet Dreams

    By caldrail,

    Yes its mid-July, and the rainy season is upon us. It seems global climate change has given us a monsoon in summer. Here in Rushey Platt there's great concern about where all this rainwater is going to go. The Swindon area isn't too badly off where flooding is concerned, seeing as its built on a hill. Given last years floods and the media attention it received, people are obviously worried.
     
    Funny thing is, I had a dream last night on this subject. Nothing apocalyptic I'm afraid, so I can't write loving descriptions of it, but it was one of those curious dreams where the local area is modified. I dreamt of large basins being dug out in the countryside to serve as drainage lakes, and I vaguely remember looking at a map of them with all the names printed in blue. I was wandering around the area looking at these half completed muddy pits.
     
    As dreams go, it was pretty mundane. Yet in some ways the imagery was very vivid, and in the back of your mind such dreams always leave an impression don't they? How many of us have woken up thinking we're late for work, rushing around like a headless chicken only to realise we're five hours early?
     
    Its tempting to think I've seen something more relevant than another subconcious ramble. A vision of a future? People in less educated times used to think exactly that. People would describe their dreams to others, preach their messages even, and subsequently suffer applause, ridicule, or physical torment as a result depending on whether the 'message' was approved by society, or rather the people running it.
     
    Thankfully we live in more enlightened times, and for that reason, I know I shouldn't take those dreams too seriously. Its still a vivid mental image however, and try as I might, I still have this gut feeling that the dream was somehow more real for some reason than most. I suspect, although most people might be reticent to admit it, that many of us have similar experiences too.
     
    Swindon Redevelopment of the Week
    The demolished shop across the road was touted as a site for a new nightclub a few years back. That I would not like at all, but it turns out the vacant plot is to have some luxury flats built there. Phew. Now all I have to worry about is the 'nightclub' downstairs.
     
    THUMP THUMP RUMMMMBLE THUD THUMP...
     
    Excuse me for a moment. I have to go downstairs and bang on someones door again...
  5. caldrail
    What should a man believe in? A soldier would say you should believe in yourself. A politician would say believe in his vision. A christian would say believe in Jesus. It seems then that there is a choice of what you can believe, and inevitably, there's always persuasion or pressure to conform to someone elses ideals. In some situations, conformity is understandable. A soldier does what he's ordered to do because life gets very uncomfortable if he doesn't. You generally do what politicians want because otherwise they jail you. Most of us have no intention of being burnt at the stake.
     
    The problem here is that conformity isn't just expected, its enforced, with potentially dire consequemces for those who cannot submit. This is the extreme end of this facet of human social behaviour. There is also the that endless recruiting that goes on, the knock on the door from one christian sect or another, the pamphlets or cult newsletters through the letterbox. The symbolism is often well illustrated, but if you think about it, surely the promulgation of stereotypical images require a latent acceptance of christian belief to start with? Since I have no belief in Jesus as the son of some invisible omnipresent super-being, it was hardly likely to work. Sometimes, there's someting more insidious, as religious people manipulate things to bring you around to their way of thinking.
     
    Researching roman slavery, I delved into the works of a roman writer, Cassius Dio. Constantly he refers to slavery as a lack of free will, describing Marc Antony as a slave of his egyptian mistress as much as a conquered people led away in chains. Its a view I can readily understand given the attempts to fit me into a particular stereotype that have gone on for years. I dislike this pressure to change.
     
    One of the things I hate most about christianity is the attitude that the end justifies the means, that any sin may be committed and forgiven if the perpetrator (or his judge) believes or proclaims he acted in his religions name..Fate is the sum of all decisions and natural forces, and since God is merely a human concept and has no reality beyond an excuse for human decision, there cannot therefore be an act of God, which renders prayer pointless apart from proving your conformity to your peers. Or perhaps giving you a psychological rock to cling to when life gets stormy? After all, christianity - like many other religions - relies on psychological dependence to an unseen omnipotent being whose existence is a matter of faith.
     
    For the record, I'm a spiritualist. Not a standard spiritualist at all, but someone with a more individualistic belief structure which I have to say is pretty typical of me. It reflects my nature as a human being. In my worldview, the world is how the world is. I cannot see the world in any other way, for that is the evidence of my experience. Its that experience that leads me to be a spiritualist.
     
    My mother, as a devout practising christian, prays for just about everything, mostly that I'll come to my senses and discover God. She has this strange idea that I'm a stray sheep, who will someday realise that I need to rejoin the flock. To me thats ridiculous. I was never really a christian to begin with, and since I've adopted my beliefs as my own personal worldview I see no reason to adopt the pomp and ceremony of a religion I regard as hopelessly hypocritical and anachronistic.You see, belief is what you hold to be true. Religion is organised belief, and in most cases, its what someone tells you to believe. Since I do not formalise my beliefs, add pointless ritual, nor listen to preachers, it must be said that I do not subscribe to religion. Since I do not therefore expect a divine agency to put my world to rights, the obstacles placed before my progress are the work of people, not some supernatural curse. Those individuals seeking to manipulate my beliefs and entice me to become christian are barking up the wrong tree. So, whoever is trying it on, at least have the moral courage to stand before me and make your case.
     
    There was once an arab, who, having experienced the medieval crusaders handiwork, wrote that - Jews, christians, and moslems are all the same. In truth there are only two sorts of men - those with brains and no religion - and those with religion and no brains...
  6. caldrail
    Libraries are places that require a quiet atmosphere. Its very easy to be distracted and since the whole point of a library is to provide educational material, with too many distractions its difficult to educate yourself.
     
    The day-care centre facilities are a case in point. Young children like to run about, throw tantrums, and generally cry for attention, not to mention inspire adults to hold impromptu singing lessons. I spent one hour on the library computer with somebodies child threatening to use my keyboard, with a sort of mischevious 'I wonder if i can get away with it' look on his face. Luckily, the embarrased father made valiant efforts to keep the kid under control.
     
    AM is largely quiet these days - his epic converations with his poverty-stricken mate in the plastic mac and sandals are no longer educating us on the state of british pensions or how dangerous the zulu's are. But then nature likes to take advantage of ecological niches, and in true darwinian fashion a group of youths has decided the library is a cool place to socialise and so engage each other in loud conversations. I'm tempted to write their biographies. I now know more about their private lives than my own.
     
    I asked one lad to be quiet last week. He told me to go and use and another computer. Time to roll up my sleeves.... Yes, its big trouble in little Library....
     
    Rain Shower of the Week
    Nature slipped up. I popped out to the shops and was back before the downpour began. Its been sunshine and showers for a while now, blue skies with huge lumps of towering cumulus glistening white in the sunshine, and absolutely filthy black underneath. Very dramatic cloudscapes, very pretty to look at, and very damp if you get caught underneath.
  7. caldrail

    Things in the Sky

    By caldrail,

    There's been a lot of UFO stories lately. The british army has been reporting all over the place. A story in this mornings paper is about one guy who dialled the emergency number, describing a strange light. The police patiently asked where the light was and came came to the conclusion it was the moon.
     
    Funny thing is, we all see strange strange objects in the sky sometimes. Thousands of anti-aircraft rounds were fired at Venus in World War 2 for instance. The girlfriend of our band manager once told me of an object taking off and rocketing into the sky one night, and she's a very rational person indeed. Have I seen a UFO? Need you ask?...
     
    I was sat beside my bedroom window one winter morning. The sky was clear, the air quality good. My attention was drawn to a flashing light in the sky. It was travelling at some height over the house in a direction against the normal flow of airway traffic that you usually see over Swindon. The flashing light was quite strong, brighter than you'd expect, and it dawned on me that an airliner couldn't possibly have a beacon that powerful in daylight. As the object went over the house, you could clearly see a polyhedral shape turning over end to end. Thats why it flashes! The objects flat sides were reflecting sunlight as it revolved. I wondered if ripples in the windows glass was distorting the shape, but it certainly didn't look like it.
     
    What did I see? I haven't an idea at all. It certainly didn't look like an aeroplane. In all honesty I doubt it was a spaceship full of space aliens being taken to see our leader, but what else could possibly match that description? An unidentified flying object.
     
    The Vulcan Is Back!
    The Avro Vulcan is a relic from the Cold War, one of britains fleet of V-Bombers, designed to carry nuclear weapons into the heart of Russia on one way bombing strikes. Eventually it did see action during the Falkland War, depositing explosive devices on the runway of Port Stanley Airport at astonishing distances from their bases. Most vulcans have been scrapped, but there's one or two in museums here and there.
     
    I remember seeing a vulcan at a Great Warbirds display at Wroughton airfield many years ago. I was struck by the sight of a large jet bomber showing extraordinary agility at low level, and most of all, the sheer noise and drama as it pulled skyward suddenly and vanished into the clouds with a crescendo of car alarms going off everywhere. The ground literally shook. That was some finale.
     
    I hear one of the remaining vulcans has finally been cleared for public flying display at a cost of around
  8. caldrail
    What is it with german cars? These days it seems ownership of a product from Stuttgart is an essential qualification for success in life. That means I hate them already. I want choice. I want to select my dream car from a manufacturer who understands that not exeryone who likes a sporty car wears a suit and an expense account stomach. Mercedes, BMW, Porsche - they all want businessmen to drive their cars as status symbols. I once called into a porsche dealer to enquire as to whereabouts of another dealership, and I remember the rather wealthy businessman of a mature age looking disparagingly at me over the top of his Financial Times. All right mate? How yer doin'? He flicked the paper rigid and concerned himself with the finer points of economics. At least Porsche look like sports cars. At least Mercedes and BMW attempt to give their cars some sporty appeal. But Audi? For a start, they look horrible. You can't help feeling the styling was done by the same man who did those panzer tanks in 1945... All they need is a gun barrel protuding through the windscreen.
     
    Of course I exaggerate. The R8 seems to be an excellent budget supercar which just goes to prove that armoured fighting vehicles can be fun too. But this is all beside the point. Why do I think Audi's are naff? It was recently announced on Top Gear that all those brainless idiots who used to drive BMW M series cars are now driving Audi's. I think they're wrong. Brainless idiots have always driven Audi's.
     
    There I was, years ago, driving through Marlborough - sensibly - in a cheap Nissan 100NX. No, please don't laugh, people used to compliment me on my taste in cars. Well, they did in Swindon anyway. The white Audi pulled up to the mini-roundabout ahead from the road coming down the hill. The driver looked at me, my car, and decided I was unworthy of ordinary respect. So, flouting the Highway Code, good manners, and common sense, he simply pulled out in front of me when I had right of way. The gauntlet has been thrown....I know what you're thinking, but no, I didn't. Marlborough is a peaceful little market town where people live and do whatever market-townies do. I stayed driving sensibly.... until.... Yes, the audi is leaving Marlborough up Postern Hill. Its a double lane on that stretch, and seeing an opportunity for justice... Come on little Nissan, this is your moment of glory. I know you're just a tinnie little 1.6 litre but we can't let the Wehrmacht dictate who has right of way on British roads...
     
    YES! In your face Mr Audi Kommander! My little Nissan made short work of the heavy Audi uphill. I was in front, where I should have been, probably grinning madly and feeling very pleased with myself. I patted the dashboard. Well done that car. The Audi Kommander was not happy at all. Having been shown a clear set of wheels uphill, he switched into nether-region mode and decided to overtake me at the first opportunity. He drew up close, almost driving in the center of the road, getting more and more frustrated at the oncoming traffic. He was unable to blitzkrieg past me before the road got to the windy bits further on. There my manoeverable Nissan shook off the lumbering tank on my six. He wasn't going to give up. The Burbage Bypass was next - a wide and fast stretch of road. The oncoming traffic was still choc-a-bloc, and ahead - oh no! A tractor! A lumbering agricultural civilian blocking my escape....
     
    As chance would have it, a gap in the oncoming traffic presented itself. So I timed my arrival at the gap just at the right moment to zip past the tractor, just before a long left hand bend, and the Audi was trapped. I had escaped! I so desperately wanted to do a victory roll... Maybe the insurers might not like that.
     
    A part of me says I was an idiot too, apart from choosing my moments to overtake a little more carefully than Hauptman Von Audi. But thats the trouble with businessmen. They buy these big powerful luxury saloons as status symbols and think that the accelerator is their divine right. And the companies that make these cars do feed their fantasies don't they?
     
    Canal Update of the Week
    Incredibly, some local councillors have forced the council to hold a local referendum before they rip up central Swindon to build a new canal. There you go, democracy can work. Since the money to build the canal comes from the EU, perhaps those councillors might try to persuade the EU to take notice of referendums after all...
  9. caldrail
    As I write this I'm watching the Glastonbury Festival on the box. Its amazing that a cow shed in a muddy field can be such an important event. Its been a long long time since I hit the stage at such an event - I certainly never got to play Glastonbury itself - but I remember one of our gigs on the bill of a folk festival in the west country. The stage was a lorry flatbed. No expense spared obviously.
     
    It was a cold and dark november evening when we went on. You could almost see the frost forming on the grass. You certainly couldn't see an audience. Oh hang on, there's one... over there...
     
    By the time we finished our set I was bare chested and sweating profusely. Stage performance in rock bands can be tiring on an athletic level, and since I was the drummer, I was giving the most physically intensive contribution of the band. Luckily DD, the frontman and band manager, isn't on this blog to claim his performance was the most effort. I doubt there's enough disk space. RH, our guitarist, came last in the exciting performance stakes. He so wanted to be a serious musician.... To be honest, I so wanted a reaction from the crowd. Playing to a muted response is hard work, a test of your resolve and morale. At least we weren't booed.
     
    Funny thing is, DD was in the crowd later and had a conversation with him. "Great gig man" The audience told him. Oh? Then why the heck didn't you clap? We were dying up there....
     
    "You try clapping wearing gloves with a pint in one hand and a burger in the other". Said the audience, who noticeably hadn't brought a girlfriend with him. We never did spot clues like that...
     
    A Pimp Too Far
    Pimp My Ride is a tv program where poor people let the specialists do a makeover on their old bangers. Usually the result is a tasteless and garish eyesore even worse than the original flaking paint, but I suppose if thats what shakes your tree... Anyhow, the Michael Eavis, the farmer behind the Glastonbury Festival, gave the team a sixty year old tractor to be pimped and turned into a desirable street machine. At least they tried.
     
    "What does 'Pimping' mean?" Asked Mr Eavis with a look of innocent curiosity.
     
    Election Result of the Week
    Mugabe has won. The rerun of his presidential vote has taken place and Mugabe beat his opponents. You know what I mean. Thing is, since there weren't any competing politicians after Morgan Tsvangarai pulled out, you have to wonder why he only got 85% of the vote.
  10. caldrail

    Fit To Live

    By caldrail,

    Something strange is afoot in the Independent Peanut Republic of Rushey Platt. Up until now I've only been dimly aware of it, but yesterday something clicked into place.
     
    Somebody wants me to conform. To be the same as everyone else. To be ordinary. To relinquish my individualism. To accept mundanehood. Most people do. They choose a stereotype in order to fit in and avoid attention. They adopt the uniform, the manner, and the language of their chosen tribe. Thats ordinary social behaviour for our species. But perhaps there's another way of looking at it. One might consider it a lack of personality, in that they imitate someones elses, without any real self-expression. One might consider it a form of cowardice, in that the person is too afraid of public ridicule or ostracisement. Or perghaps more appropriately, one might consider this confotmity a form of slavery, in that they accept the wishes of a dominant member of the tribe concerning their appearance and behaviour.
     
    The Romans understood slavery better than we do. Thats understandable, because it was a feature of their everyday lives. What I notice about roman slavery is that time and again, an enslaved man is held to have died. A legionary captured and enslved by the enemy was considered dead, and a funeral held in his honour. Most importantly, the romans therefore valued freedom.
     
    So perhaps you could say that life without freedom is simply another form of death.
     
    A man who is not prepared to die for something is not fit to live
    Martin Luther King
     
    Strong stuff, from a man in the forefront of the abolition of the american apartheid, a social offspring of the slavery outlawed a century before. In romanesque fashion, MLK believes a man should be able to choose his cause, that he has that freedom, and that freedom must be defended. I've already said elsewhere that if you don't defend your freedom, eventually someone will take it from you. Mine is now under threat. Why?
     
    Thats more difficult. As is often the case, manipulative people prefer not to confront. Is it about my lack of motor transport? Employers have been stressing that just lately, and thats unusual. My lack of motor transport is because my last two cars were deliberately ruined. Why then would I waste money on another, especially for a class of car I loathe with every fibre of my being? I also notice that employers are stressing the need for me to consider second place to someone less capable than I am.
     
    Is it my 'independent republic', my declared independence of the British government? Whilst I cast scorn on our dear government, I did nonetheless once make an oath to the Crown in my younger days - I never reneged on that.
     
    Or is it my religious beliefs? Of what value are they if I simply discard them on demand? Of what value are beliefs adopted in their place without passion or piety?
     
    So, MLK, in a small way, it appears I too have to face a struggle for freedom. The possible death I face is an abstract one. Not actually fatal, just a lingering exclusion. Is it therefore worth denying myself my hopes, dreams, and aspirations? What an empty and false existence that would be. To give up is to conform, to enslave myself to a stereotype of someone elses choosing, to lose my individuality, to put on a public face, to live a lie.
     
    I have chosen my battlefield. My eneny stays in the shadows.
     
    Another Mans Fight
    What am I to make of Morgan Tsvangarai, Robert Mugabe's electoral opponent? He campaigns for positive change as opposed to the negative change enforced by Mugabe's thugs. In that I cannot help but support him. Yet somehow I fail to really understand the man. Is that a failing of the media reporting, or simply a success of Mugabe's suppression of it? For sure MT is treading a difficult path, and clearly he risks an unpleasant fate. But what does MT actually want? Is it really a new beginning or does he have a more personal motive? Its very difficult to tell, and he doesn't quite have the presence of his opponent on screen. We shall see.
  11. caldrail
    Yesterday evening the weather was warm and sunny, tempered by a cool westerly breeze. I enjoy a hike into the country now and then, and in order to try for an atmospheric or dramatic sunset photograph, I climbed the torturous footpath up to Burderop Ridge. Getting photographs like that isn't as easy as it sounds because nature invariably displays its best when you're least prepared, but lets try nonetheless. So I found a comfortable grassy spot overlooking the local countryside.
     
    The first event was a mechanical rushing noise behind me. At first I thought it was a lorry on the back road, then realising it couldn't be, I turned around as two army helicopters flew by a few hundred yards away at treetop height, turning to overfly wroughton airfield before I lost sight of them. Well that was certainly dramatic, but my cantankerous camera refused to switch on. Typical.
     
    After that helicopter flypast, I wondered if nature was going to able to better it. I waited for the sun to go down. There were birds flying around, mostly pidgeons, but then one hawk flew over the top of me slowly, very low, beating its wings powerfully against the wind. My jaw dropped in suprise at being so close to a bird of prey in the wild. Its less than ten feet away! Quick! Get a shot! (fumble) Oh no, I don't believe it, the camera is playing up again! I sat and watched helplessly as the bird of prey swung right and swooped down the incline out of sight.
     
    To be honest, the photos I did get were lacklustre. Compared to the ones I should have got, they were rubbish. Nature had done what it always does - displayed its best when I wasn't ready.
     
    UFO Incident of the Week
    Mind you, that helicopter flypast might have been a top secret mission to intercept UFO's. Don't laugh, the army have been reporting them just lately. Well, in order to save the government several million pounds worth of investigation, it was only me and the camera... Must have been the flashlight... Sorry guys...
     
    Talking About Nature...
    Shame about the photo's but never mind. It was a lovely evening, watching the cropfields ripple in the wind, clouds drifting by, birds wheeling overhead. At least it was until the sun went down. Up on the ridge, without shelter from the wind, it got very chilly, very quickly. Once I was back down amongst the hedgerows and trees, it was noticeably warmer. Just a reminder how harsh the climate can be in exposed places, even in summer.
  12. caldrail

    Camp Hell?

    By caldrail,

    Being unemployed is a bit of a wierd situation. You get paid for doing nothing and investigated to make sure you are. Then they get impatient because you're not doing anything.
     
    In reality of course you sign a Job-Seekers Agreement. It's a contract. You have to fulfill certain obligations before they can pay you benefits. That way people don't enjoy being unemployed and subliminally get the message that looking for work is a good idea. Now someone has touted the idea of 'boot camps' for the jobless.
     
    So, as I step off the coach at Camp Hell there's a black guy in a slouch hat, hand on hips, sizing up our merry band of misfits in the blistering heat of Wiltshire, England.
     
    "Awright..." He growls, "Welcome to Camp Hell. In the next six weeks aah will teach you to fill application forms, to post letters, to knock on doors. Aah kid you not people, in six weeks you will become fully qualified job seekers. There is no room for failures in mah job queue..."
     
    Yeah right.
     
    "What was that? Did aah hear you squeak? Gimmee twenty, Job-Seeker!" He yells, pointing at the mud.
     
    But its muddy
  14. caldrail

    Olympic Woes

    By caldrail,

    Our local paper ran an interesting story yesterday. A Swindon company has been given the contract to supply China with translated bibles whilst the olympic games are being held there. As a succesful commercial bid its praiseworthy, but I'm astonished that China is permitting their import. China is after all a communist regime which inherently regards religion as a rival for peoples loyalty.
     
    The olympics can be a thorny issue. The labour government went to some effort to get it held in London in 2012, with the usual political phrases about what a great opportunity it is for Britain. When it was announced, a lot of people said it was brilliant. I didn't. I pointed out that the cost of staging the games will increase well byond predictions and inevitably taxes would have to rise to cover the cost, never mind that the benefits of staging the games would be fleeting. Once the games are over, who cares? Well - I would say the people who would still be owed money. Already we've heard stories about rising costs, and a report in this mornings paper has unveiled that taxpayers will bail out the cost of the olympic village. Who would have thought it?
     
    Prediction of the Week
    The officials overseeing the Zimbabwe elections have said that its unlikely the election will fair. Who would have thought that? Still, its pleasing to see african leaders finally getting their act together and warning Mugabe over his efforts to stop people voting against him. Better late than never. But thats the trouble with democracy. If no-one enforces it, sooner or later it gets pushed aside.
     
    Like in Europe, where the EU have told the Irish leader that he has four months to find a way around the negative vote for the Treaty of Lisbon. Politicians aren't concerned with democracy anymore. They have an agenda that suits them, and if it doesn't suit us, tough. Welcome to the USofE.
  15. caldrail
    Woke early this morning to the sound of demolition next door, as it appears the old college building is finally being pulled down. The older vicorian block is to be preserved and redeveloped as luxury flats, but the 60's eyesore attached to it is coming down. I spent five years studying there and funny enough, I don't feel any sadness at its passing. I must admit, I would be sorry to see my old high school vanish. There have been plans to close it
     
    Thats happened a lot in Swindon over the years. So many older buildings have gone. Even the replacement market hall, a curious construction resembling a circus tent, has closed for business and is to be redeveloped. Swindon knows how to live with the future, but it just can't live with its past. Its railway town heyday always seems to be something the place is embarrased of. Swindon is a joke used by comedians and tv presenters. The old image of dirty run-down workshops and soot encrusted brick terrace houses endures, and modern Swindon is a horrible mish-mash of old and new. Recently a big screen television has been erected at our local shopping center. What on earth for? Why would I want to stop and watch Sky News on my way to the supermarket? I can't change channels. A part of me says Swindon really should stop all this hapless beautification and be true to itself, to give the town an image more comfortable with its past.
     
    Too late for my senior school though. It was flattened and turned into housing and a social center years ago, which saddens me because I do have very fond memories of that place. So do others as I found out during my recent reunion bash. Its a shame the place has gone. Just one more victorian pidgeon nest hit the dust.
     
    Another Brick Removed From Brittania
    The House of Lords in Britain has decided to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon, despite its failure to secure agreement and a last minute defence by conservative politicians, not to mention a group of protestors remonstrating at them. Where is the referendum we were promised? Why am I not suprised?
     
    Inflation Busting Pay Rise of the Week
    I see the tanker drivers have been given a 14% pay rise over two years, bringing their pay over
  16. caldrail
    There's been a four-day tanker driver strike in Britain this last week. You probably saw that on the news, or searched around for an active petrol station if you're living in Britain. The cost of fuel is rising steadily, and people are complaining. But the strike wasn't about that.
     
    The tanker drivers earn something like
  17. caldrail
    Walking toward the supermarket I spotted D a little way off. He's a tall guy, very individual, a sort of happy go lucky bloke who doesn't let life get him down in any way. I used to work at the same warehouse as him when I was employed by DS, but more to the point, where's his mate?
     
    "He's in there.." Says D smiling, "But he's not my mate"
     
    Thanks for the warning. D's mate is MS. He's another jovial chap, shaven head, but someone with a more direct way of achieving his ends. Years ago he was jailed for soccer violence. Now he says he's a reformed character, so he only spars for fun. Actually, joking aside, the man has a confidence about violence that is very impressive. For him, fighting is automatic, something he can do without thinking, so he's very calm and quick, and given his mischievious nature, you need eyes in the back of your head!
     
    He was in there, but I didn't spot him. Once though I saw a side of him that was even more interesting. In a mischievious mood myself, I yelled across the warehouse in a typical sergeant-major fashion...
     
    S! Get your hair cut!!!
     
    He looked around in a state of horror. He admitted later that for that moment, he thought one of his old prison warders was in the warehouse. Its a very telling moment.
     
    Years ago I did some part time delivery driving. Once I had to drop some parcels off at a prison. From the main road, you couldn't see it, but eventually someone kindly pointed out the lane I needed to go down. Whilst I was there, I caught a glimpse of a barbed wire stockade towering over the surrounding administration blocks.
     
    Don't think I want to stay there.....
     
    More Floods...
    South China gets hit again. The upper mississippee suffers severe flooding too. It must be devastating to have your home indundated like that, and I do have sincere sympathy for those affected, not to mention people who've lost friends and family. Britains rainy season is soon to be upon us...
  18. caldrail
    The French said No. The Dutch said No. Having rendered further progress on the Treaty of Lisbon illegal, the power brokers behind it then asked the Irish. The Irish said No. So the power brokers behind it are now telling us we must find a way around the obstacle.
     
    Pardon?
     
    Whats the point of a vote if its going to be ignored if the sponsors don't like it? The people of three countries have stated their wish to halt further european integration under the terms given.
     
    It hasn't gone unnoticed by me just how much of traditional english life has been dismantled already, and that by a socialist government that has already declared it will continue to ratify the Treaty of Lisbon. A treaty that gives Brussels unprecedented powers over its contituent nations.
     
    We cast a critical eye on events in places like Zimbabwe thinking it could never happen here, yet something uncomfortably similar is growing under our noses. I've warned about this sort of thing in the past. If you don't defend your freedoms someone will take them away sooner or later. A government that doesn't listen - at all - is a tyranny. Its easy to say that such views are merely paranoia. Perhaps, but its also true that tyrannical governments thrive where people dismiss their intentions as harmless.
     
    It may well be that many things that have occured in Britain are nothing more than coincidence, but I can't help seeing some sort of gameplan here. British nationalism is well known - its an obstacle - so lets dilute it. We'll give Wales and Scotland the local government they want. We'll import large numbers of immigrant workers. We'll stop teaching 'proper' history in our schools. We'll use fears over climate change. We'll use fears over terrorism. We'll make the british people dependent on government aid. We'll encourage the british people to see themselves as european.
     
    There are men and women out there planning our futures. The only problem is, they're not the ones we voted into office. It would be a grim irony if the sacrifices made by our forebears to fight for freedom in Europe were pushed aside and a new reich put in place.
     
    Good News of the Week
    The crew of the space shuttle Discovery have been told that the floating debris and an unexplained bump are not dangerous. One certainly hopes so.
  19. caldrail

    My Drag Coefficent

    By caldrail,

    What on earth is happening at the library? The day care centre children are quiet, well behaved, not singing tunelessly nor pretending to be aeroplanes. Everyone else is quiet too. AM hasn't whinged all morning. Everyone else is staring slack jawed at their emails.
     
    Well I'm not going to be so stationery. I've recently begun to jog. You know, that keep fit nonsense, although I should point out I jog outside the library, not in. Well I had to really, I'm getting a little tubby and being this aerodynamic isn't something I'm proud of. Its time to reduce my drag coefficient. Also its my age. I've reached that point where instinctively I stare into the mirror and wonder what happened to the great looking guy I used to know.
     
    Don't get me wrong. I'm not depressed about ageing, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So, in order to do something positive, I'm going to jog. Mind you, given the hospital waiting lists in our time of revamped National Health Service, perhaps I ought to book an appointment now? And start saving up for it. This free national health service isn't cheap you know.
     
    President of the Week
    This of course goes to Robert Mugabe, who is so desperate that he arrested the opposition leader twice for having the temerity to campaign before the second vote for his office takes place. Clearly Mugabe has no intention of giving up power, and no ruse is too low in the quest to have his moustache immortalised as Zimbabwe's leader permanently. But I suppose with inflation at 100,000% he can't afford a shaver. Ooops, my mistake, he simply orders someone to do that for him.
  20. caldrail

    Flaming June

    By caldrail,

    June is becoming an all-or-nothing month for british weather in our new globally warmed climate. Last week it rained incessantly. I got soaked in the downpour. This week the sun is out with a veangeance and I got soaked with sweat. You just can't beat the british weather can you? You get soaked no matter what happens..
     
    Puppies For Sale
    Ther's a fashion for 'handbag dogs' going on, and perhaps not too suprisingly, unscrupulous east european traders are selling puppies reared in very dubious conditions. I must admit, I do get tired of the animal welfare lobby and its extremist idiots who are more interested in being eco-terrorists than actually helping animals, but there are times when I cannot disagree. Now of course the traders are at fault and should be stopped from treated these animals cruelly, but then aren't they just responding to market opportunities? The real idiots here are the celebrities who treat an animal as a fashion accessory. A dog is not just for handbags.
     
    Comeback of the Week
    This definitely goes to Edwyn Collins, a succesful singer/songwriter (Never met a girl like you before) who suffered two serious brain haemorhages. Despite being unable to use his right arm to play guitar properly, and having difficulty in speaking clearly, he's fighting back and releasing a new single. Its good news, but whats even better is that he's so self effacing about it all. If anyone deserves a comeback he does. I wish him well.
  21. caldrail
    The Toyota Prius.
     
    Heard of it?
     
    Its that fashionable eco-car that celebrities buy to look like they actually care about the enviroment. Its the car that Top Gear entered in its Comedy Handling Competition. That Jeremy Clarkson gave to a cowboy to shoot with a .50cal heavy machine gun. Its slow, ugly, the seats are uncomfortable, and never does achieve the fuel economy that Toyota claim. Its also the car my father bought.
     
    My father wants me to buy his Prius. A couple of years ago I threw his offer of a Corolla back in face - dies he really think the Prius is going to be any more desirable? Road tax is only
  22. caldrail
    In Douglas Adams' Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy, Marvin the paranoid android moans and groans about intelligent doors, about how smug they are at completing their task of opening for their human masters. Well, he would groan even more at the doors to a local shopping mall. There's a three second delay between their sensors detecting your presence and deciding whether or not to allow you entry. Small boys pretending to be aeroplanes bounce off them in confusion. Adults trying to slip by get whacked as the door decides to close anyway. Sometimes the doors just stay there inert whilst you look an idiot in front of them.
     
    Doors? Don't talk to me about doors....
     
    Meanwhile, Back At The Brewery...
    The local newspaper dispkay the headline - Royals Visit Brewery.
     
    What an image. Her Majesty stumbling toward the limousine, crown askew, saying "What delightful brew... One is (hic).. quite light-headed.."
     
    Then again, perhaps after generations of governmental experience dating back to the Dark Ages, perhaps the Royals really can organise a booze-up in a brewery? Labour party please take notes...
     
    The Listening Party?
    Talking of the Labour Party, our Prime Minister appears to have had enough of the media reporting gleefully on fuel protests and has slapped a gagging order on them. It seems Gordon Brown has gotten fed up of listening already.
     
    Caldrails Guide To Political Polls
    Labour Party -
    Conservative Party -
    Liberal Democrats -
    Everyone Else -
  23. caldrail
    Yesterday I wandered into a music store and as usual fingered through the various artists that I particularly like. One CD stood out, with stickers telling me it was the 'new album'. Okeedokee, one purchase made. When I looked closer at home I realised it wasn't the artist the CD had been filed under, but some band I'd never heard of. Doh!
     
    I suppose I could of taken it back but curiosity got the better of me. And I'm pleased it did.
     
    The album was Indestructible, the band called Disturbed, playing a sort of melodic thrash metal of better quality than most. I don't like thrash metal, it hides a lack of talent beneath frantic enthusiasm for fast songs in most cases, but these guys are better than that by a long way.
     
    I like it a lot. 9 out of 10 people, and thats my score for a thrash metal CD of all things.
     
    Socks of the Week
    Goes to the pair I was wearing on Tuesday, when we had that heavy rain all day. They're still wet.
  24. caldrail

    Damp Squib

    By caldrail,

    British weather struck with a veangeance yesterday. Not quite the heaviest downpour I've ever suffered, but it kept on raining heavily all day. I have an army issue rucksack - officially declared waterproof -which had a small puddle at the bottom of it. My mobile phone got trashed by water damage again. Why can't manufacturers make a mobile phone that doesn't disintergrate in mildly moist conditions? Worse still, having already been out in the rain and well soaked, I found a message left by the post office asking me to collect an undelivered parcel. Oh no... not another hour long trek across Swindon...
     
    ...All for a pair of light bulbs donated by my electricity company. Cheers guys. That put a damper on the deal...
     
    Canal Progreess of the Week
    Its looking ever more serious, as I see from the old collectibles shop that advanced planning consent is in the works. Can't wait...
  25. caldrail
    Ok. The blog's been running for a while, stories are getting thin on the ground, characters a bit familiar and tired, and its slowly metamorphising into Last of the Summer Wine. Time then to... Come with me now - and let me take on a journey through Time and Swindon, to the Land of the Mighty Supermarket...
     
    Why is it, whenever I go there, that every old person seems to drift in front of me and block my progress in the search for provisions? You turn left, you turn right, you give up and use the next aisle, and they still block you. These days of course they have those infernal mobility buggies, which aren't designed to negotiate the torturous corners in your typical supermarket. Oh get out of the way Old Person, I want to go...
     
    "Excuse me young man. Could you reach up there for me? I want a tin of peaches.."
     
    Of course madame. There you go.
     
    "Thank you. You're very kind."
     
    No problem.
     
    Now please get out of the way...
     
    Oh no, I've attracted the attention of that young keen security guard. He's shadowing my every move like James Bond after a KGB agent. Heck, I hope no-one saw me putting that bag of vegetables in my shopping basket...
     
    Then there's that spooky check-out lady, the one who started a few weeks ago. She's nearly ready for a bus pass too. As she lifts my bottles of coloured water through the barcode reader, she says "Good value these, aren't they?"
     
    Yes. Yes they are. Thats why I buy them. Hasn't that possibility occured to you yet? Or that you've asked the same question each time I've used this lane at the check-out - Am I stuck in some sort of time loop? Condemned forever to pass through this ladies check out lane?
     
    No. If I've learned anything from endless repeats of Star Trek Next Generation, there's always a way to break the cycle. Come on Caldrail, what would a trekkie do in a situation like this?
     
    Ah yes. Beam me up Scotty....
     
    Undiscovered Tribe of the Week
    In Brazil a previously undiscovered tribe has been found in the Amazon jungle.Sorry guys, even you can't escape my blog.
     
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