I Just Need That Something
Yes, I just need that something to get my MoJo working like it did before I started losing interest in everything I was interested in. When I say MoJo, I don’t mean THAT MoJo, you dirty minded people. The MoJo that I am referring to is the one that covers all the things I found interesting or of use to me. I don’t even find the interesting TV programmes interesting anymore. I find that I can live with them or without them. Now when I say interesting I am talking about all the programmes that are on the telly that you can actually learn things from. Not these progs about fat people / thin people / freaky people / and people in general. I’m talking about the interesting progs that cover the animal kingdom and sciences and mechanical stuff. My MoJo just isn’t working for me there. Maybe if I play Muddy Waters music continually that might help me!
To change the subject a bit. I have recently finished reading a trilogy of crime thrillers by Peter May based on the Outer Hebrides. I came across this guy whilst looking for new authors from the Kindle list. Not only did I enjoy the books but I learnt a lot about life in the Outer Hebrides as well. He has also done a series of 6 crime books based in China. I am really enjoying these and learning about life in China at the same time. Great innit! I recommend giving this guy a go. Let me know if you do / have and give me your thoughts.
The other night my wife and I went out to the cinema / flicks / pictures / movies or whatever to see a biopic movie about the life and works of that great music emprasario from Norn Iron, Terry Hooley. The movie itself is called Good Vibrations just in case one might want to google it. It was great. It brought back so many memories for me of the 1970’s / 1980’s and even some of the 1990’s when I was buying so much music. He was certainly one of a kind. If you ever get the chance to see this movie, go see as it’s only out on restricted showing. So restricted that we had to go over to Newtownards to see it as Bangor wasn’t showing it. Mind you, when we were coming out of the cinema I happened to notice that all, not most, but all of the patrons were of a similar age as myself. Definitely a must see. We had chips afterwards. It was like the olden days going out on a date. OOOooeeee
I do manage to pass my time doing other things. I still do light housework but as for outside work that is now a no – no. My heart just can’t cope. I now pay a man to come and do it for me. The same goes for decorating and futtering in general. Although I don’t know what the going rate for futtering actually is these days. We want to get our drive re – done and after contacting a few contractors and speaking to the ones who got back to us we made up our minds as to who we would use. I know we hit the Easter holidays and all but why oh why won’t these contractors get back to you when YOU want them to. All I want to do is arrange a start date and give him some money. He must be to busy making so much money that he doesn’t need my business. Tradesmen. Puh!
My wife has just got home from work so we are having our usual evening time conversation. This goes on nearly every night. Me. ‘What would you like for dinner?’ Her. ‘I don’t know, what would you like?’ Me. ‘I don’t know’ and on and on and on. Tonight we have decided, upon my suggestion, to have duck. MMmmm. I’m looking forward to that. I have to go into the kitchen now to see that things are under control. Speak soon.
Don’t forget to give me your own gack by tapping the above title bar. You know I always look forward to insulting you when I can
Byse Byse
Posted :: Tuesday 4/9/2013 12:00:00 PM
Of Course They Knew Who I Was
The other day, after many attempts, I went to see The Hobbit with my brother and nephew. Instead of going to the local cinema (their showing times didn’t suit my brother due to working hours) we went further afield. We went to Belfast in the snow and sleet and rain etc. etc. Guess what? There were no flag protesters out that day. I’m beginning to think not only are these people stupid but they seem to be only fair weather protesters as well. Anyway, back to The Hobbit.
Upon arrival at the complex I noticed how easy it was to park the car seeing as there were hardly any other cars there. Was it the time of day? Was it the crappy weather? Or was it because they knew I was coming and were waiting to see where we were going to park our car first? Possibly all three but maybe leaning more to the third one. Anyway, we got inside and made our way to the cinema. There was no one there, as in members of the public that is. Mind you, there were four members of staff loitering about doing nothing. That is until they saw us coming. One member of staff to sell us our tickets. One member of staff to sell us our sweets. One member of staff to look at our tickets and another member of staff to tell us which screen to go to. Service or what. I think they knew That I was amongst the party and they knew who I was.
Next came the biggest surprise of the day. We got ourselves seated in the best seats that were there. Once settled I looked around only to find that we were the only people in the whole cinema. They knew who I was OK otherwise why would they give us a private viewing of what turned out to be a marvellous movie?
So far this year has been a wee tad uneventful. Until, that is, the snow arrived. At last, I was able to use my snow shovel, that I had bought two years ago, for the very first time. Not only that but I was able to throw some grit / salt about the place that was bought at the same time as the snow shovel. It was fun but I paid for it later on in the day when I found myself lying on the settee exhausted from all the extra exertion in clearing the drive. At least I can say to people that I got to use my snow shovel at least once. Next time I will get my son to do the work.
I have, after some gentle nagging from my wife, started to sell more of my Rolling Stones collection. Now I know that they have been busy recently what with special releases of box sets and their new / old album with two new songs on it but I just can’t get into the collecting thing anymore. I have no ooommmph there the way I used to. As for the actual new tracks I have downloaded them onto my iPod and that does me. I do find that the Doom and Gloom track is a really good R n R rocker. Anyway, I got in touch with this dealer who came to the house and he went away with a few things after giving me some cash to a mutual value. I have also unearthed some rarities that I have put up on Ebay for the more discernible collector amongst anybody out there. I still have a large collection of vinyl to dispose of and i am looking for a dealer to come and make me a reasonable offer for the whole lot. Then I need to start on my other Rolling Stones memorabilia, such as buttons / badges / cards / phone cards / backstage passes / concert tickets / postcards / flyers / posters / cardboard cutouts / books etc. Any takers out there??? After that I will think about getting rid of my promo cd’s, maybe. It’s a sad time but I just have no more interest in collecting anymore
I need to go and dry my eyes for a moment so if you want to comment just tap the title bar and have your say.
Byse Byse
Posted :: Tuesday 1/22/2013 5:26:00 AM
And The Next Is #Nine
So that was #eight and the next is #nine etc etc.
Yes folks. In case you have all been wondering about the non existence of me over the past few weeks the reason has been that I was in my fave hotel hospital in the cardiology unit. Had a great time. All those great nurses and doctors doing everything for me (and I mean everything). At one point I counted 11 tubes coming out of my body all at the same time. One by one they were removed and all i had to do was lie or sit there doing nothing. (I have never been so relieved to be able to walk to the bathroom to get a wash in my life)
It all started on a Wednesday morning some weeks ago. I had a very bad night and this was followed by a very bad day. Next day wasn’t much better, nor the next. I won’t go into details but there was a lot of boking and ‘Oh Gawds’ over this time. By the time early Monday morning came it was time to call the ambulance men. My hero’s. (they knew the house, they knew me, they knew the dog. They have been there many times before)
Tests done, in my bed, the decision was made. Get me over to hospital now! Loaded into the ambulance off we went. Just so everyone knew who I was in the back the lights were put on and all I could hear was ‘eeh-awwh-eeh-awwh’ more or less all the way there. Upon arrival I was booked in and tended to straight away. (I think they knew who I was). Taken up to the ward where they were expecting me (do you think they knew who was coming?) and the rest is now history.
I am now home and although I am taking things easy there still needs to be a lot of catching up to be done. For instance. I haven’t seen any telly for two weeks so I need to catch up there. My wife has been great in this instance. She has recorded the programmes she thinks I want to see. She even recorded ALL the programmes about the Rolling Stones that have been on over the past weeks. It’s no wonder I love her so much. (She also found time to come to the hospital and visit me)
It was just soooo good to be in my own bed last night.
Today I have been catching up on my post and making necessary phone calls to people, including my solicitor to find out what’s happening about things with me and a certain supermarket. It is now two years since my little run in (slip up on spilt cream actually) with them. Things are looking veeerrrryy interesting. I will know more next week hopefully.
Many other more mundane things to be done but I am just taking my time over everything for the moment. Maybe I will make a list of things to do / to be done / to forget about. I don’t know. I’m tired. I’m going to finish this gack now. The next gack might have more interesting things to write about.
By the way, Mickmak, think about what I said.
Bye all and have a Grrreeeaat Xmas
Posted :: Wednesday 12/5/2012 9:26:00 AM
And There’s Me Thinking
Please note:- This gack was written a few weeks ago before the server went down. There will be a more up to date gack for you to ponder over soon.
Yes, there’s me thinking that I could spend a whole year (as in twelve whole months or 365 days) without having to go into hospital. My favourite hostel of all time, not. Last week, that is the weekend before the one that has just passed if you get me, I had occasion to visit my Doctor (this was upon my wife’s strict instructions) and so I went. Of course, I had to get past the dreaded receptionist before I saw the Doctor. I went in and stood patiently in line. My turn came and upon asking for an appointment to see the Doctor I was told, rather smugly, by the receptionist that they were fully booked until the 15th of the month. That’s today folks. I mentioned to her smug face that that was no good, I needed to see the Doctor sooner as I was having some problems with my heart. She tapped a few keys on her keypad and looked up at me and informed me that i could see the Doctor that afternoon at 3.00PM.
She knew who I was.
I saw the Doctor, not my usual one but very nice and understanding anyway. She did some tests on me and then looked at my history on the medical computer. Looking at me she informed me that due to the problems I was having she was going to call for an ambulance straight away. No, please no, do you have to? I was screaming in my mind. She went and got a wheelchair as she didn’t want me walking from her room to the other room about 10 yards away. I thought to myself, am I really that ill? No, she was just being over cautious.
She knew who I was.
So, I spent the weekend in hospital with all the necessary tubes etc sticking out of me and being hooked up to various beeping machines. That was a Friday, I got home on the Sunday so things weren’t that bad (the only thing that was bad was the hospital food and especially the hospital tea)(I swear they must go to special classes to learn how to ruin a good cup of tea) As I was in this ward assistant was looking after me and out of the blue she asked me was I the Father of my Daughter. I informed in a positive manner by saying yes. How do you know her? Oh, I’m thingy’s Mum and I sit beside your daughter in Church.
She knew who I was.
Our Granddaughter is getting christened very soon. What can we do for this special day? What can we give the wee dote? Something that she will have for the rest of her life. What could that be? My wife and I came up with various ideas but none of them seemed appropriate for the occasion. And then----POW---- out of the blue, like Keith Richards grabbing the riff for Satisfaction out of no where, my wife suggested a particular item. Perfect I said. Absolutely perfect. I got one of those when I was but a wee bairn and I still have it and use it to this day. So, after many phone calls and looking online we eventually tracked the item down ( I never thought it would be so difficult to find this item especially in this day and age. But we managed) (Joob Joobs to anyone who can guess what the item is) Anyway, we went up to town and eventually found the shop we were looking for, a shop i had never heard of until that morning, and went in. This lady came towards us and asked could she be of any assistance. I said that we had been on the phone with one of her colleagues earlier that day. She knew what for straight away. Off she went and came back shortly with a selection of the items we were there to see. We looked and decided to go for that one, pointing at the one in the middle. The lady took all our details. I was just about to pay for the item when she said I could pay for the item when I pick it up.
She knew who I was
After re-reading this gack it is amazing that no matter where yo go in the world there’s always somebody who knows who you are.
Just talking of reading. I have read the J K Rowling attempt at adult literature, Casual Vacancy, and I found it a very amusing and intriguing book. This is only my opinion but I think the critics are wrong. I would recommend it.
I wonder does she know who I am!!
I have just started the new Saffina DesForges book, Rapunzel, and I am enjoying it immensely. I had written to her earlier this year due to the fact that this book should have been published last year. She wrote back to me explaining the delay in publication etc.
Does that count as another ‘She knows who I am’? I wonder
Comments welcome. Especially your guesses as to what we are getting for our Granddaughter’s christening. Just click on the title above and hey presto, the magic reply box appears
Cheers all
Posted :: Saturday 11/3/2012 1:01:00 PM
This Time Last Week
This time last week I took to my sickbed with a sore throat / chest pains / cough etc. After a few days of misery my wife suggested calling the Dr as my chest was giving me a lot of bother. Me being the martyr that I am declined her generous offer of genuine kindness / thought / love for me (maybe). After another day I succumbed and agreed that she should call the Dr. who phoned back and would only speak to me (as if the state my health was a state secret). After being asked a number of questions and me croaking back the answers as best I could it was agreed that penicillin was the answer. So, after a few days I started to feel a wee tad better. I got out of my sickbed yesterday morning with the intention of going out. Big mistake. After being on my feet for half an hour I felt soooo dizzy that the only thing was to go back to bed. Today I feel a lot better and I was even able to take the dog out for her walk. It just goes to show, when it comes to illness, the feckin’ bugs don’t know who you are!!
Whilst in my sick bed I was able to catch up on some reading. I have now reached part five of Game Of Thrones. Exciting stuff. In between I found an online book that I can only but recommend to everybody. It is a book by Saffina Desforges called Anca’s Story and is available for your Kindle for £2.00. It is the sort of book that once started it is very hard to put down. (I recommend it) (That’s twice I recommended it so it must be good) If you read it I would be interested in your views. Her other crime thrillers make good reading as well.
This year I have had some good fortune with E.R.N.I.E. So far out of nine months of this year my numbers have come up seven times. Not bad and better returns than any bank interest rates. ERNIE must know who I am although I’m still waiting for the big one.
The Indoor Bowling season has started again and Monday past was the first night. Not a bad turnout for a first night and even though I haven’t bowled a bowl since March I did have two very good shots at least. I am going to be at another club as well as the one I play for now. (my wife wants me to get out more) Only problem I can see is, who do I bowl for when the inter club matches start and one club comes up against the other club that I bowl for? Dilemma. It’s still fun anyway.
That’s Monday & Wednesday nights taken care of with bowls. What else can i do to get me out of the house? Tuesday nights I can go to the cinema cheap if I book online. I looked to see what was on. The Bourne Legacy was showing and my friend, who was over from London, told me it was a good movie to see. So, on his recommendation I went for that. What a mistake. Bring back Matt Damon, please. From the start to finish I was lost. In the plot, the characters, the acting. I think I will recommend a crap film to my friend and see what he thinks. This week sees a load more new movies coming out so I will pick my own to see. That way I only have myself to blame if it turns out to be just as crap as the Bourne Legacy (then again, if I make the choice it will be a great film as I only ever make great choices)
I am off to look at said choices now so I can get myself geared up or the excitement of getting out on Tuesday night. That’s three nights now. What do I do on Thursday / Friday / Saturday / Sunday nights now? (or is that too many nights to go out in a week?)
All suggestions acceptable so long as they are within the bounds of common decency. Please leave your suggestions by clicking on the title above.
Gone film surfing
Ta Rah
Posted :: Sunday 9/16/2012 9:28:00 AM
I’m Not A Sports Fan But......
No peeps. I am not a sports fan but I can’t remember ever watching so much of the stuff in my life time. I don’t know what the reason is or how I can explain this but I do have a strange feeling of déjà vu as all I seem to have been watching is the weightlifting / archery / trampoline / skeet shooting / swimming and other not so popular events that are not shown very, if at all, often. I do have this feeling of regressing back to my childhood as when I was naught but a wee lad I remember watching said sports on a Saturday afternoon (before football dominated the channels)along with other more mundane sports such as ten pin bowling. Those were the days. I do seem to remember enjoying these sports then. Now, as I said above, football seems to be the dominant sport on television these days.
Moving back to the Olympics, it is because of this sporting extravaganza that I find myself drawn to either the television or my laptop to watch the sports of my childhood. As a result the poor dog hasn’t been out for a walk with her master for over a week now. I do feel guilty but there are other people in the household who can take her. I will maybe get back to her after all the excitement is over.
Good news and bad news in the post this morning. Good news being that I got a letter from one of my consultants telling me that he is very happy with me and that I was looking very well when I went to see him the other week. He has asked me to stop taking certain tablets every day so that means instead of taking 27 tablets a day I now only have to take 25 tablets a day. (or instead of 189 tablets a week it’s now only 175 tablets a week) Great innit!
The bad news is, and this has happened to many thousands of people around the whole country, I will not get my pension now until my 66th birthday. This is just not on. These people mustn’t realise just exactly who I am. I might not even live to 66 (but just to annoy / sicken them I hope I live to 110 or even more) I pay my taxes just like any responsible citizen should (although I do have tax free savings with ERNIE and ISA’s which are legal and government backed unlike those people who totally do their utmost to evade paying tax) Here’s a hint on how to avoid paying tax:- Give up smoking / drinking / driving a car / buying things that are VAT priced. By following all these you could avoid quite a bit of tax. But by doing these you could also be a miserable sod for the rest of your life. I want to enjoy my life so you can guess which category I fall into. And no, I’m not a miserable sod!
Mother in Laws have this terrible reputation for some reason or other. My Mother in Law is one of the better ones. In fact she is one of the best ones. She is having gas heating installed in her house next week and she has a full tank of heating oil to dispose of. She has very generously offered it to us providing we can get it transferred from her oil tank to our tank. All is organised for this coming Wednesday. When we have her oil in with our oil that means we will have enough oil to last us until early next year or even later, depending on what sort of winter we have of course. That deserves another Great innit! Don’t you think?
I will need to leave you now as the weightlifting is about to start again and I need the laptop to watch it seeing as they aren’t showing it on the telly So with a aaaaarrrrrttttttthhhhhhhggggggg I will leave you all now.
Your comments always welcome, as always and with interest
Newcomers comments especially welcome. Tell us what you think of life. Just click on the title bar above and say your thing. Don’t be afraid
Ta Rah for now
Posted :: Saturday 8/4/2012 9:20:00 AM
Great Time Had By All
Well, we’re back. We had a wonderful time. The food was great. The ship was sort of great (I’ve forgotten the name already Avid) The people were goo company. The countries were interesting. But best of all, the really best part of it all, was getting into Russia and being able to visit the Hermitage (there was another palace we went to where Rasputin was done in but I’ve forgotten the name of that as well. (I think it might be an age thing) (Who am I anyway?)
Being an ex shopkeeper & ironmonger I was fascinated with all the hardware that was in the palaces. The architecture was more interesting to me than an old oil painting of someone. Even the hinges and locks on the doors held my attention for longer than hearing how this person went to war against that person. If there was anything of interest to me about the paintings it was the frames that surrounded them. As no pictures were allowed of the paintings I went around the rooms with my head looking up at the magnificent ceilings. I had a bit of a sore neck by the time the tour was finished. We did get into the Gold Room. That was well worth a visit. I have never seen so much gold in one place in my life. Interesting, veeeerrrryy interesting indeed. For me though it was the ironmongery that did it. They don’t make stuff like that anymore.
We were told that the passport control in Russia was strict. It was like going through Madame Tussauds and showing your passport to a dummy. However, on my second return to the ship (we had two days there) I got a smile from the border guard. She must have known who I was. Eh!
During the voyage we had a great time. We didn’t even think of the house (our son was house sitting for us) We got home and surprise surprise. The house was tidy. Dirty but tidy. There was no food in the freezers (expected) There was no food in the fridge (expected) So we needed to go out and do a bit of shopping. Any way, we soon got everything back to normal. The house was cleaned. The beds were changed etc etc..........................THEN.....................Early one morning there was a knock on the door. Police!! Don’t worry, says the policeman. There’s nothing wrong. We are just checking with you. There were some cars along the Avenue that have been keyed and we were wondering if you heard anything last night. My wife hadn’t but I had. Kids out in the Avenue late at night. Shouting, swearing, kicking cans etc etc. The policeman thanked us for the information. He was just about to leave when he turned round. Have you been away somewhere? Yes, we were on holiday. Why do you ask? It’s just that we called round last week due to a complaint about the noise coming from the back of your house. We tried to get in but there was no answer. There was some sort of party going on at the back of your house. He left saying a wee bit of consideration for the neighbours please.
We discussed this with our son and we found out that he had his pals round nearly every day (and night) complete with DJ decks and speakers. That’s why the police weren’t heard. Oh the memories, the memories. How many parties had I had whist growing up just like that?
With a fond tear in my eye I will leave you all
Ta Rah for now. Comments as per usual by hitting the title bar (only if you feel like it)
Posted :: Monday 6/25/2012 9:44:00 AM
Bloody Neighbours Next Door
Bloody neighbours next door. They have to be next door to be my neighbours. Why can’t they be someone elses neighbours next door? More than one problem exists in this household next door. First of all, their house is attached to mine (yes, we live in a semi). Secondly, they have 3 screaming / fighting kids with shouting / arguing parents. Thirdly, and most annoyingly, they have a small yappy dog that doesn’t know how to be quiet. It barks constantly / it howls constantly / it whimpers constantly. They never exercise the dog. I am a dog lover and owner myself and I would like to think I am a considerate dog owner. But this is driving me nuts. There is more noise and racket from this house next door that if I ever wanted to sell my house I don’t think I would have a chance in hell. The only good thing to come out of this is I get to play my music loud to drown out the noise from next door. (I suppose the other thing to look forward to is the kids will all grow up and leave home someday.
If things really went well, the whole family might sell up and move away but that is only wishful thinking. (It’s strange, the neighbours on the other side of me don’t make a sound. Well, they are in their 80’s)
Recently I have been having a lot of trouble with my broadband supplier and mobile supplier, no names mentioned (but they go by the name of a coloured fruit). Anyway, I have it all sorted now. At first my mobile supplier was having mast problems in this area and as a result they couldn’t supply a service. What was I paying them for? That was my argument. As of about 3 hours ago I have no mobile. This came about after me making a number of calls to said coloured fruit company to let them know I wasn’t happy. Number of calls I made to them over a period of 7 days to get to speak to someone who had the authority to push the button to cancel my contract--------11. I am now a very happy bunny because I can now go and cancel my direct debit to coloured fruit company and go else where for a mobile that will work.
As for my broadband, same company but a different person to get the authority (MAC code) from. Eventually emailed to me and I am just awaiting the other company’s engineer to arrive to set everything up. I am going for the fibre optic version of connection this time. Some friends have it installed and they tell me it is amazing. Wait and see. Wait and see.
I have re-started selling my Rolling Stones collection again. For a while there I hadn’t bothered doing anything with it but a dealer guy contacted me and he looked through what i had to sell and he offered me a good price for what he took away with him. Some of the stuff I have is more high priced and i might have problems shifting those pieces but I’ll wait and see what happens. Maybe when I come back from our Summer Cruise I’ll really get stuck in and sell all of what’s left. After all, we have a grandchild on the way.
Talking of grandchild on the way. Every time our daughter and son in law are visiting we hear nothing but what Google said about bringing up a baby. It’s all, Baby, Google it, Oh that’s what you do, or, that’s how you do it. Whatever happened to common sense and asking your parents or grandparents or friends. I don’t want my grandchild being brought up by Google (unless it has shares in the company)
That’s all my moaning done for today. Have to decide what we are going to have for our dinner tonight. TV is crap. Nothing but sport and Shakespeare for some reason. I have to download more reading material, part 3 of Game Of Thrones, but I have to wait until my new credit card arrives as apparently my card number has been selected by the anti fraud unit and has now been closed. New card on the way which means I will have to change all my online accounts. I know they are only doing their job but it’s a bloody nuisance. Why my number. They obviously don’t know who I am, or maybe they do know who I am.
That’s just another moan for you
Keep in touch
Ta Rah for now
Posted :: Saturday 5/19/2012 11:37:00 AM
