A very happy New Year dear reader

I just want to wish all my readers a very happy, healthy, prosperous, lucky ’13 and if we all join in on a chorus of Auld Lang Syne we can forget we’re on our own and be joined together to welcome in the new year.

First man on the moon?

Hey there reader, watching Neil Armstrong, First man on the moon and its a fascinating insight into the pilot of the Eagle which was the first manned craft to land on another heavenly body. One small step for man was indeed a huge leap for mankind.

I know all the arguments that say it was a hoax because… But, if it was a hoax it couldn’t have been kept a secret this length of time as someone, possibly even Neil himself, would’ve let something slip before today. It’s no longer possible to take secrets to the grave, not like it was 2,000 years ago.

Anyway, I’m not going to get into a big philosophical debate about the moon landings, god or anything else. I’m just going to wish each and every one of my readers, yes I know it’s just you dear reader, a happy and prosperous lucky 2013.

Sorry I missed you

I was going to write this entry yesterday but went shopping instead, what can you do, I mean we all have to eat drink and make merry. Especially at this time of year, although in my case, this time of year makes me think of different ways to end it all. I suffer from manic depression (I think they call it bi-polar disorder now) and seasonally affected disorder (more commonly referred to as SAD). That means if I don’t see a whole lot of sunshine (and who has this year?) it brings me down, not just the blues, I get full on depression which I hide as well as I can until I get home. Probably explains why I go through women like liver salts through a body.

Anyway, I got to thinking what I’ve done with my life thus far, what I would’ve changed and how different things could’ve turned out. If I could’ve done one thing that would’ve kept my attention for more than 5 minutes it would’ve been something to do with music. Either playing it, making it or introducing it to an audience. Throughout my life music has been the only constant feature since I was 3 years old. My teenage cousin was into American rock n roll, Buddy Holly, Paul Anka, Little Richard, and Fats Domino, as well as the British contingent of the time, Marty Wilde, Adam Faith, Billy Fury, Joe Brown and Cliff Richard and the Shadows. I soaked all this up like a sponge so that when I heard music on the radio I put it into only 2 categories: music I liked, and music I didn’t like.

In the mid 70’s I was in London and, along with 4 friends from work, started rehearsing in a garage hoping to perform at one of the numerous pubs which featured live music at that time. The vocalist was another Dave and he also played guitar, I played drums, there was a John on bass, another John on keyboards and the rhythm guitar was played by Jon King (not Jonathan King) but we called him 3. We started rehearsing one Friday with a load of booze and only stopped when the police told us to keep the noise down, I think it was about 1:30 then. Anyway, the vocalist never thought we sounded tight enough to get paid and after 3 years Dave, 3 and I called it a day. My marriage was on the rocks and I decided to go home and lick my wounds with my then girlfriend. The other 2 were getting another group together but with nowhere to stay I decided to sell the drum kit and head North.

I went to college while I took stock of what to do next, one of the classes was drama and one of the assignments was to go off in pairs and create an imaginary radio show. As I was absent the day the assignment was given out (and the class had an odd number of students) I was given permission to do something “by myself”. When the tapes had been graded I was awarded an A+ as the only student to start with a theme tune, have “guests” chatting about music and a competition. I had also filled up 1 entire 30 minutes of tape which no pair had come close to. The tape was played to the entire class and I was asked who I’d had in to do the guest spots, I said it was all just me, a bottle of Jack and an ounce of herb which no-one believed. The teacher held onto my cassette while everyone else was given theirs back. Needless to say I passed that subject at the end of the year but I never did hear back from the lecturer so don’t know what happened to the tape, whether she used it as an example to other classes of what can be achieved I’ll never know.

That’s all for now so I hope you have a Happy and prosperous lucky ’13 I hope to catch you again soon.

What is going on here?

Well, touch wood, my connection seems to have stabilised so here goes with my first blog in such a long time.

Xmas is over for another year, presents bought, wrapped and then opened again. Everyone loves to see the joy the presents bring to the faces of those we love. For me, and thousands like me, the absolute pleasure on the faces of our grandchildren is such a joy to behold but afterwards, when they go home to have Xmas dinner, leaving us alone, the temptation to say “I’ve changed my mind, if the invitation is still open I’d love to come for dinner” is very strong, but you don’t say it because the food has been bought, shops are closed and you really don’t want to impose.

I’ve helped to do so much this year, changed the minds of giant corporations, with help of course. But there’s more to do next year, I may be alone but I’m never lonely, never bored as I can always find so much to do to help others, even if they don’t know I’m helping them. This is the only planet we have but we seem hell bent on destroying it. I, and my friends in Greenpeace, are trying to change things but we need your help to do more. The more people adopt apathy the harder the struggle becomes.

Ok that’s enough preaching, especially as you, dear reader, already do what you can. For some of us every day is a struggle, especially those like me coping with illness, surgery and heartbreak. I may be on my own but I still see my step kids and their Nana is very ill and has spent the last week in hospital, I’ve called in to see her and she’s not looking too good. I’m prepared for the worst, as much as anyone can, but still hope for the best. My son still calls her Nana and I take him to see her as often as I can but won’t take him to the hospital as I don’t want his last memory to be of a frail old lady who doesn’t know what’s going on around her.

For my regular reader, you will remember I said the world would NOT end on December 21st and we’re still here. I wish you all a very happy 2013, hoping its not a washout like 2012 has been! We’ve had so much rain this year it’s been a wonder this island of ours didn’t sink into the ocean like Atlantis. Anyway, I hope you had a wonderful Xmas and here’s to good times in the next 12 months.

Sorry it’s been so long

No excuses, only apologies. My back has been giving me problems of late but I’m sure I could’ve found 5 minutes to write on here so apologies to you, my dear reader.

I haven’t been on twitter much, other than viewing my time line as my “restless” leg is going to town at the minute even when I go to bed its twitching the whole time and the duvet usually ends up on the floor leaving me cold, which gets into my back and it’s getting to be a depressing loop.

Any road up (as the actress said to the bishop) time I stopped feeling sorry for myself and got back on the horse, so to speak. That’s why I’m writing this at 6:55 on a Thursday morning instead of being tucked up in bed.

I’m feeling some pain, which is good, isn’t it? Lets me know I’m not dead, yet! Anyway, everything is getting blurry as my eyes are getting really heavy so gonna go back to bed and try to sleep, maybe continue this when I get up, again.

Can I post this?

I know it’s been a while since I last posted on here but I’m having problems with one of two things: either my hub is faulty or my ISP (Internet Service Provider for those who don’t do jargon) has a fault in my area.
Every time I ring the help line it goes something like this:-
Me – I’m having problems going online, I seem to be resetting the hub every 30 minutes or so.
Tech Support (TS) – I’m sorry to hear that, are you online at the moment?
Me – Yes, I’ve reset the hub for the 13th time today is that normal?
TS – No, it’s not normal, are you using a cable or connecting wirelessly?
Me – I’m connecting wirelessly on a laptop, iPad and iPhone.
TS – I see, can you let me take over your computer?

When they do take over, they go into the hub manager and reset the hub back to factory defaults (every time) then tell me the fault is fixed as everything is working! Genius! They do what I tell them has to be done lots of times every day, sometimes twice an hour. When I call back a few hours later they ask the same questions and do the same things. Is it any wonder I don’t ring them any more?
Having worked in Tech Support for 7 years out of the last 12 I think I know what I need to do before calling up, all I need done when I call is to have the line checked to see if there’s a fault there, if no fault is found then someone should replace the hub. I don’t think it takes a degree in metaphysics to realise something’s wrong somewhere, or am I missing something?

Sometimes I wonder what the qualifications are these days for Tech Support staff, I can’t believe Richard Branson will be aware of the poor support his customers are receiving. If I’d been able to pursue unfair dismissal when sacked in 2009 I might have been able to get another job in the meantime. Although I’d been doing the job for almost 6 years, because the first 5 and a half years were “temporary” through an agency before being given a permanent contract 4 months before I was sacked the law was on the side of my ex-employer which is grossly unfair, especially as this has prevented me from getting another job on a tech support role.

Anyway, ’nuff said on that subject.