You saw her bathing on the roof
by davebarclay1954
Today’s song is from Leonard Cohen, a man not to listen to when you feel as low as a worm. However, there are almost as many versions of this track as there are of Yesterday or Michelle. Music is not owned by me, video is linked from YouTube so as always apologies if it doesn’t play where you are.
Every day on tv’s across the UK there are charities asking for money every month from those without jobs, all to prevent catastrophe in the poorest countries of the planet. For animals and endangered species, people and refugees struggling to find clean water and food. Makes me wonder why these ads are on tv during the day when the only ones likely to be watching are those without work, probably without any spare cash since they will be on benefits and that now means Universal Credit so they will get paid every 4 weeks with less than they need to survive.
Now, being as that is the case, why do they arrive on our screens as regular as clockwork at meal times? The solution to clean water for everyone, enough food to go around everyone is the end of every conflict, war or battle on this planet. We need politicians in charge who can force a lasting peace on the planet. Forget about securing your borders, we have to join together, men; women and everyone else, in order to end poverty and disease. The problems we are facing today are global problems and working alone with closed borders isn’t going to cut it any longer.
If we don’t work together what will happen to the human race? Look around and see how many people are calling the climate emergency a spoof by the scientific community. This isn’t helping to control the effects by tackling the problem head on. If you think Greta Thunberg is crazy then I feel that you are part of the problem and not the solution. Some of us know how to fix things but if we don’t work together then the situation will only get worse.
If we want to ensure the planet is able to sustain life then we have to act NOW, twenty years ago we could have done less and made a difference but because of deniers time is running out rapidly. The deniers are still there advocating for the Status Quo, that won’t resolve anything and the weather is only going to get worse while the planet tries to heal itself. The planet knows we are the problem so in order to correct it we will become extinct, if you doubt that have a look at the sea levels now, if it doesn’t scare you you’re already dead.
On a better note there is always something going on which threatens the lives of everyone in an area on this small planet revolving around the sun. Looking back through history you can see that since the dawn of time human beings have been mistreating other human beings. Nothing new there but you’d think we’d have learned by now that if we continue the way we are going then there will be nothing left for any future generation.
Anyhoo, today here in the UK it is Father’s Day, I had a visit from my eldest step-daughter with a card from her and her family, my youngest step-daughter wished me a happy Fathers Day by text message but nothing at all from my own children. I know my daughter still hasn’t forgiven me for leaving her without saying goodbye, in 1997, but I have done nothing to my son. I text him and get nothing back, I email him and get ignored more. If it wasn’t for the fact he posts rubbish on FaceBook, which my wife sees, I wouldn’t know if he was dead or alive.
Troubled by the lack of contact with my children I often feel that if it wasn’t for my wife and step-children I would have nothing to live for. That doesn’t mean I will give in to morbid thoughts and take my own life. It does mean I have to be super careful though.
Whatever you are doing this week, take care, have fun and love one another. Until the next time I have something to say I will sign off for now and wish you all love and peace forever.
barclaydave 
I can’t watch the video but Leonard is one of my favorites.
Climate change? I’ve been worried about that for YEARS.
I expressed my concern aloud to the ex about our children having clean water to drink or enough food, or being able to afford air conditioning since it is getting hotter every year. His response?
“That’s THEIR fucking problem.”
Reminds me of the oil barons who made billions off of fossil fuel, polluting the air…what do they care? They died rich. 😔
I know, and yet with all their billions they still died in the end. If we are going to end the crises facing the world today we cannot hide ourselves away in our own little countries and leave it to others any longer. It is our making, it is our problem and we have to act. I hate the Brexiteers here because they shout down people like me when we tell them they stole the referendum illegally and we need to have a fair debate now.
They have been telling every black person, brown person and yellow person to go back to their own country since 2016 and I am sick of it. There are wars displacing people and we should all help them as best we can. Don’t bring them in and hold them with no access to funds, allow them to work and they will become an active part of the community.
God, I can hear my urine boiling inside me getting on my high horse but you, I think from our conversations, feel the same way.
Don’t cage people like animals, bring them in, allow them to find work where they can, pay taxes (something tRump has never done) and contribute to society. That’s all they’re asking for. We have major global issues to deal with so let’s get together and deal with them together. Instead of trying to shrink which nations we work with let’s all work together to end war, tyranny (including the tyranny in America and Britain) and make this planet a safer place for our children and grandchildren.
We do seem to share some similar beliefs. I am all for equality, no matter your color, sex, sexual preference, or religion.
Equality being the operative word, that means equality all around.
I read the other day that one of our states is going to issue Driver’s Licenses to illegals, with no questions asked.
My license will expire next year, and despite the fact that I have had it for more than forty years, next year, I will have to provide an original birth certificate, my social security card, my marriage license, my divorce decree, three utility bills and my voter registration card. If I fail to produce any of those requirement, I will not get my license renewed.
That is not equality.
We, over here, are all the result of immigrants, except for Native Americans. Our ancestors came over, learned the language, got jobs, paid taxes and relished the melting pot that is America.
There is an avenue for people to come into this country and do it the right way. When it is done illegally, it causes problems. You mention that we should allow them to find work, etc. We should indeed, but they must be willing to seek those avenues, not side-step them. That leads to ridiculous actions, like “putting them in cages,” which should NEVER happen.
I’m so pleased that I didn’t upset you, I think that we need to become more human, allowing those in danger in their own countries to come into ours with the minimum of fuss when all they want to do is find a life away from the terror of the war. The absolute last thing we should be doing to them is throwing them into cages and treating them worse than animals.
That happened in Africa when the Brits put the natives in camps, forcing them to build shelters (that’s where Hitler got the idea for concentration camps from). We should never remove children from their parents because that is an inhumane way to behave. I feel that anyone coming into another country should be given the opportunity to work and make a life for themselves. Over here we used to take care of people from the cradle to the grave. Since 1979, and our first female Prime Minister, that has been eroded by those who govern on behalf of the wealthy. Allowing them to pay less tax, less National Insurance means that the welfare State has not got the funding it needs to stay afloat and viable.
Maggie Thatcher copied the American Model and started to destroy the safety net which was there to help people when they needed help. She started privatising the National Health Service, charging for Prescriptions for the under 60’s and ensuring that without health insurance you could only get dental treatment if you could pay for it.
After the banking fiasco in 2008, the Government bailed the banks out using public funds then changed the way this country was forced to pay for the services which have been underfunded as a result. When the bankers continue to get 6 and 7 figure bonuses for screwing up the economy people are fed up, trying to get back on top the party for the people elected a full red Socialist. He is not willing to hold the Government in check but only wants them to hold a General Election (where we elect a Prime Minister) instead of pushing for this he should be holding them to account for cheating and lying to the British people in order to fool the majority into thinking we had to take back our borders (we had never lost control of them), regain our sovereignty (again, we had never lost that or our Queen). Like America Russia hijacked our referendum in order to bring the west into chaos and leave them as the only super power on the planet.
My family has branches in England, Scotland, Wales, France, Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand. We were the emigrants who helped to found the New World and, while I am ashamed that some of them probably had a hand in taking African Slaves to the Southern Plantations, I cannot change that. I can only try to make amends now. If history teaches us nothing then we will keep doing the same things over and over and only a fool (tRump?) would expect a different outcome this time around.
I also have Scottish, Wales, English and Irish descendants. No one in my heritage ever owned slaves. To my knowledge, no one ever even had maids. And it wasn’t Southern Plantation owners who had the monopoly on slavery. It was prevalent in the North as well. It just isn’t talked about.
I don’t know where this world is headed. Just today, one of the candidates is talking about erasing all student loan debt. Is that fair to those who spent years of their adult life, repaying all those loans? Not paying student loans is the one thing the government over here, will absolutely hunt you down for. And who is going to pay for it? People who own stocks…but not the exorbitantly rich stock holders, you can be sure.
I am really…seriously starting to believe that there is NO equality in anything.
Funnily enough, the one asking for free higher education has a huge student debt she will be paying off until she is 60 which is why she wants to stop others getting into debt in order to become better educated. She is going to pay off her student debt as it has already been incurred. What she wants to see is people not being put off higher education because of the length of time it will take to clear the debt. We used to have free higher education here but now that student loans have come in and the burden is climbing every year, it’s only the wealthy or those with scholarships who are going to university.
We should not be forcing our youth into more debt than they can handle just so they can get an education and strive to become better citizens. That breeds contempt for those who can’t afford to send their children to university because they need the extra pay packet. I really don’t know what the answer is but I do know that saddling people with huge debts is counter-productive. No one in my family ever owned slaves but I think that there were some who worked on the docks and possibly even on board slave ships back in the day.
This is something I am ashamed of and can’t change so would just like to make amends for it any way I can. I have always believed that every one of us is equal, skin colour, gender, sexual preference, don’t enter the equation at all (considering how racist both sides of my family were when I was a child it is amazing I turned out as well as I think I have).
If we could get away from the us and them mentality, the haves and have-nots, black and white with no shades of grey would probably also disappear. There are good and bad everywhere but if we wake up to this fact and the law persecutes law breakers – whoever they are – then we would have a chance of getting along with our neighbours.