I 'disappeared' my blog last night. Why? well I seemed to have had an awful lot of visitors the last few days and I wondered if they were bots. Bad ones of course, sometime I imagine there are a villainous group of people out there, stalking my profile and trying to investigate my world.
Well it worked. This morning there was just one visit not the couple of thousand before. Sorry to all those genuine readers of blogs, I am not sure why anyone reads my blog, it is purely my own thoughts on subjects.
So we are now in the New Year, clean and pure for the first few hours, then realisation of the suffering in the world breaks through, should we be guilty of our good lives I wonder?
Lillie is down with the flu, and I hope my daughter will make it to Paris this week without having caught it. The Euro channel flooding won't help, and as there are about 30,000 people stranded by the first mishap, all later people waiting to get on planes and through the tunnel will also be delayed.
Flu at this time of the year is common, I can remember going to Switzerland one Xmas and the whole family had it and we all stayed in our separate bedrooms being ill, including the Canadian side.
One of the things I must record down is that grandpa's book has been written down on the internet. We have all had copies but it was never published. It was only the sad event of Hob's illness when his children came over to be by his bedside that his son worked on it and put it on the web. So the link is here - New Lamps for Old - C. J. Opper.
He was an Education Officer in Africa in the writing of this book, and it of course written in the style of the 1930s but fascinating. A small nugget.
"Nelson Mandela was rusticated for a time to the Farms school for some unremembered misdemeanour, and during that period, the school glowed with his vitality and became a nest of songsters."
It is so much easier to read it when you can just thumb through the pages.
So though I may moan about bots, there is a lot going for the technological age we are living through at the moment. I think politically change will take place in this year it seems in this country that people are taking matters into their own hands. Will Hutton wrote a good article in the Guardian about the absolute foolishness of building an economy on the wealth of our homes and pensions. Apparently similar is happening in Australia, where young people cannot afford not only to buy a house but even to rent because of house prices. Oh dear aren't we experiencing the same?
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| Conrad Opper and his granddaughter Karen |
The same thing with property is happening in Spain now. Sorry to mention it again, but Thatcher's plan was criminally short term.
ReplyDeleteI think your comments are going into spam.
ReplyDeleteYes Tom you were in spam. The logic of thinking that by selling our houses at bigger and bigger prices in a circular movement is helping this country's growth fails me entirely. Or for subsequent governments to allow the selling off of social housing, which Thatcher set in motion. It has now come to haunt us big time.
DeleteGlad to see you're 'open' again. Happy New Year.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year Ruta on your windy West Wales coast line.
ReplyDeleteHappy New Year, Thelma!
ReplyDeleteHappy New year Ellen let us go forth and see what this year brings!
DeleteHave not yet managed to find that particular Hutton article, but you have prompted me to read some of his other articles which are very thought-provoking, including a recent one about too much investment being sucked out of the country.
ReplyDeleteActually Tasker that particular article is about pension funds not being invested in this country business opportunities. But the action of overpriced housing in this country is very similar to Australia, where housing has gone sky high in price. The boomer class is sitting pretty, less so their young. And you can find the article highlighted in the text.
ReplyDeleteAlso it is a bit like putting the cat amongst the pigeons when I write and bellyache against Conservative ways, scary!
DeleteThe rich and powerful sit in positions to further enrich and empower themselves here. I find it dumbfounding that ordinary people cannot recognize this. Another thing that annoys me to no end is that even middle class people will look down on those who struggle and feel not one whit of compassion or obligation. Life does not HAVE to be so hard for so many. Life also does not have to be so easy for so many. There is a happy medium.
ReplyDelete
DeleteI think it is how you interpret that medium Debby, some would be horrified at having to give up what they (rightly or wrongly) have gained in life. Wish I knew the answer, it definitely isn't dribble down money..