Been off work since finishing early (about 2pm) on the 23rd and am due back about 0730 on the 3rd.
Fortunately, my time spent with Clare and the family has been pleasant, but the "peeved" comment I'm alluding to in the title is to do with the TV and the "January sales".
Luckily for us, we have the "Sky TV" satellite service and hence one of the largest choices of channels to watch in the country. The only problem has been that most of the so called "christmas selection" of programmes has been complete and utter shite!
The films that are usually shown as a highlight tend to be the bigger, well known ones that have been shown at the cinema to great acclaim, but this year, it seems that all of the ones I've noticed on the programme listings have either been "also ran's" or ones that have been shown so many times as to have become a complete fucking yawn.
The only one of note that I've managed to see and enjoy, was the last of the Harry Potter films and that was on a "pay per view" channel.
Apart from that, our saviour has been "Dave". It's tag line is "the channel that's the home of witty banter". So yes, it has had a lot of reruns of "Mock the Week", "Have I got news for you", "QI", "Top Gear", etc etc. Now it's fair to point out that in just about all cases, we'd already seen the various episodes when they were originally shown, but they're amusing enough to keep us entertained a second time round. Thank fuck for that, otherwise it would have been a complete waste of time pressing the on/off switch!
Also, having had some time to use the PC to have a dig around for any possible bargains, it would seem that the only ones to be found, are probably in the high streets, because looking online has proven a complete waste of time.
Perhaps if you want either "white goods" or electronic stuff, then fine you might find at least some savings, yet the stuff I'm in the market for doesn't seem to have been marked down at all. I'm just looking for some cheap, plain t-shirts, underwear, jeans and a new pair of crocs or two.
I can find fuck all in the way of savings, which is despite the so called "economic down turn" that's currently (according to the news and other media people anyway) happening in the world.
I mean, are all these sales people so determined to earn a penny, so desperate that they must retain every penny of their over priced goods to make money ? Or would it be better to discount the numbers where they can to shift some stock and still make a few quid ?
Come on you sales types. Knock some prices down if you want to sell stuff. The media fuckers have got us all so brainwashed to believe that we must all be skint, just because the banks are (where they fucked up big time a couple of years ago), it's the only way you're gonna make some sales..... especially in the next couple of months a.k.a. the quiet time of the year for most market/sales sectors.....
Saturday 31 December 2011
Saturday 17 December 2011
Who really believes the shit ?
Trundling around for the last few days........... Nothing new there.
So I'm starting to notice, not only adverts on the TV, but also bill boards and other similar type notices put up by various businesses that are "wishing our customers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year".
Why on earth, would anyone think that any businesses actually give a fuck if we, the money spending customer, actually do have a nice time over the "festive" period ?
Are people that fucking stupid ?
It's like I also notice that companies are also putting up face book pages so we can all hit "like" and get blow by blow accounts of how wonderful they are and how much of a favour they're doing us by telling us of their wonderful bargains.
Surely facebook was started for People to "network" (god I just hate some of the terms that are used in modern language)......
Personally I don't give a monkey's toss about corporate shit! They should just make a fucking web page that's easy to follow/navigate, what the current price or so called "special offer" might be and then shut the fuck up.
The business world is only there to try and extract as much from our collective wallet/purse/handbag/etc and they don't give a fuck about us as human beings. Hell I understand that companies/businesses actually have legal recognition as some sort of "corporate person". I don't know whether that's the case here or not, but either way, any such recognition should be banned and when it comes to elections etc, if the company or any of it's "officers" try to affect the outcome of an election or similar, then those in charge should be dragged out of their offices and be tied to street furniture and publicly electrocuted (oh and their personal assets sequestered and added to the "public purse").
Perhaps the same should be applied to political lobbyists as well........
So I'm starting to notice, not only adverts on the TV, but also bill boards and other similar type notices put up by various businesses that are "wishing our customers a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year".
Why on earth, would anyone think that any businesses actually give a fuck if we, the money spending customer, actually do have a nice time over the "festive" period ?
Are people that fucking stupid ?
It's like I also notice that companies are also putting up face book pages so we can all hit "like" and get blow by blow accounts of how wonderful they are and how much of a favour they're doing us by telling us of their wonderful bargains.
Surely facebook was started for People to "network" (god I just hate some of the terms that are used in modern language)......
Personally I don't give a monkey's toss about corporate shit! They should just make a fucking web page that's easy to follow/navigate, what the current price or so called "special offer" might be and then shut the fuck up.
The business world is only there to try and extract as much from our collective wallet/purse/handbag/etc and they don't give a fuck about us as human beings. Hell I understand that companies/businesses actually have legal recognition as some sort of "corporate person". I don't know whether that's the case here or not, but either way, any such recognition should be banned and when it comes to elections etc, if the company or any of it's "officers" try to affect the outcome of an election or similar, then those in charge should be dragged out of their offices and be tied to street furniture and publicly electrocuted (oh and their personal assets sequestered and added to the "public purse").
Perhaps the same should be applied to political lobbyists as well........
Saturday 10 December 2011
Cameron and the EU ?
So our great leader, Mr Cameron, was acting in the best interests of the country when he walked on the EU talks about financial integration. Was he now ?
Of course, its entirely coincidental that he made the excuses shouted loud around the streets of "the City" that those nasty foreign types that people the upper echelons of the EU, might use the new treaty/powers, to slap a "transaction tax" on bond, shares and other financial type "business" transactions.....
And of course, equally coincidentally, has no conflict of interest, what with him being exceptionally wealthy, courtesy of the mountain his late father made from share dealing......
Sorry, but IMO, its nothing more that hypocritical self interest, from him and his "city cronies" looking to make yet more money, while pandering to the whims of the small minded "little Englander" types that fill a larger portion of Tory rank and file.
Yes, its fair to point out that I don't entirely trust the most influential EU leaders, but as they are the only people who've granted us (the working majority) any kind of legal rights, I'm inclined to suspect that towing the EU line is probably better than sucking up to the Tory financial backers......
They just want to increase the rich/not so/poor wealth gap....
Perhaps my little bit of throw away sarcasm "the only good Tory is a dead one", has a ring of truth about it......
At least I can stand back, and "hand on heart" say, "you fools voted them in, not me"........
Of course, its entirely coincidental that he made the excuses shouted loud around the streets of "the City" that those nasty foreign types that people the upper echelons of the EU, might use the new treaty/powers, to slap a "transaction tax" on bond, shares and other financial type "business" transactions.....
And of course, equally coincidentally, has no conflict of interest, what with him being exceptionally wealthy, courtesy of the mountain his late father made from share dealing......
Sorry, but IMO, its nothing more that hypocritical self interest, from him and his "city cronies" looking to make yet more money, while pandering to the whims of the small minded "little Englander" types that fill a larger portion of Tory rank and file.
Yes, its fair to point out that I don't entirely trust the most influential EU leaders, but as they are the only people who've granted us (the working majority) any kind of legal rights, I'm inclined to suspect that towing the EU line is probably better than sucking up to the Tory financial backers......
They just want to increase the rich/not so/poor wealth gap....
Perhaps my little bit of throw away sarcasm "the only good Tory is a dead one", has a ring of truth about it......
At least I can stand back, and "hand on heart" say, "you fools voted them in, not me"........
Sunday 4 December 2011
My tram experience ?
It was suggested to me that I watch the "my tram experience" video on youtube.
Now what do I think of it ?
Well, to start with, the very allegation of "racism" is difficult. Why ? Well because here in the UK, it would be considered an insult, or at very least, accusatory of something quite nasty.
So here, it's an insult, yet it would also seem elsewhere it's not so. I understand that in many parts of Africa, the term racism goes hand in hand with the term "tribalism", which alludes to one tribe or specific ethnic group, disliking or even hating another, yet it's considered something to be proud of.
Not sure I agree with that.
The woman who's making all the fuss in the video clip, while making herself look and sound like some sort of "trailer trash chav" (apologies for the poor use of metaphor i.e. use of American and British english terms), may have a point, inasfaras, she obviously doesn't have much connection with non-white Britains and has been exposed to the kind of views and standpoints that I have trouble with.
Personally I try to treat everyone with the same level of consideration, manners and respect that I expect to receive back. It usually works.
Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought that the woman in the video clip was "a plant" by some sort of "hard right", minority political group. But I just consider her a foolish person who doesn't seem to know when to keep her views to herself and her mouth shut.
At the same time, there's a point that is worth thinking about. Why is it, that when you get a "social ghetto" of some sort (and yes, I can see that while non-white Britains do seem to flock into area's that end up looking like ghetto's, we white Britains also do the same) does it seem such a surprise ?.
Where a non-white group (mainly) are easily identified by various cultural indicators, with white Britains, it's less about obvious things, and more about the class system and finance/consumer indicators i.e. how much you are likely to have paid for your house, the kind of car you drive and the social status of your occupation, and not the colour of your skin, the type of accent, or style of clothes you chose....... but it still shows a certain level of ghetoisation.
Thinking of it on that basis, also gives rise to other questions like "what can be done about this ?".
It's difficult, as it's easily understood why various groups will form these apparent ghetto's, as we all like to go with stuff and places that are familiar to us. Yet if we try to "improve" ourselves in some way and move into the radar of a different group, then there are always those in that new group who will attempt to prevent us from improvement (if "improvement" is actually the right word ? as it suggests that one is better than the other - and that's not what I'm trying to highlight).
Perhaps, if we were all just a little more open about our differences, while at the same time, able to admit it when our knowledge of others falls short, then there'd be less likely to be events such as the one highlighted by the video clip.
So share our joint knowledge of our different situations and I feel that it would be less likely that we'd end up with such highly visible examples of such bigotry !
I can honestly say, that all of the non-white Britains that I've met, as well as those who are white and not necessarily British, have been nice, polite, pleasant people. Who I'm happy to spend time with.
After all, while we're all a little different (apart from the visually obvious differences), we're all, basically, in the same shit pile known as "life". So why make such a big deal of the visible differences ? some of the cultural differences do go to making life just a little more interesting and enjoyable.......
Equality is good, as is fairness, yet until both these qualities are included in our joint (all colours, creeds, political allegiances, and other differences) society, from the top down, there will always be those who think such views are good.
Now what do I think of it ?
Well, to start with, the very allegation of "racism" is difficult. Why ? Well because here in the UK, it would be considered an insult, or at very least, accusatory of something quite nasty.
So here, it's an insult, yet it would also seem elsewhere it's not so. I understand that in many parts of Africa, the term racism goes hand in hand with the term "tribalism", which alludes to one tribe or specific ethnic group, disliking or even hating another, yet it's considered something to be proud of.
Not sure I agree with that.
The woman who's making all the fuss in the video clip, while making herself look and sound like some sort of "trailer trash chav" (apologies for the poor use of metaphor i.e. use of American and British english terms), may have a point, inasfaras, she obviously doesn't have much connection with non-white Britains and has been exposed to the kind of views and standpoints that I have trouble with.
Personally I try to treat everyone with the same level of consideration, manners and respect that I expect to receive back. It usually works.
Hell, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought that the woman in the video clip was "a plant" by some sort of "hard right", minority political group. But I just consider her a foolish person who doesn't seem to know when to keep her views to herself and her mouth shut.
At the same time, there's a point that is worth thinking about. Why is it, that when you get a "social ghetto" of some sort (and yes, I can see that while non-white Britains do seem to flock into area's that end up looking like ghetto's, we white Britains also do the same) does it seem such a surprise ?.
Where a non-white group (mainly) are easily identified by various cultural indicators, with white Britains, it's less about obvious things, and more about the class system and finance/consumer indicators i.e. how much you are likely to have paid for your house, the kind of car you drive and the social status of your occupation, and not the colour of your skin, the type of accent, or style of clothes you chose....... but it still shows a certain level of ghetoisation.
Thinking of it on that basis, also gives rise to other questions like "what can be done about this ?".
It's difficult, as it's easily understood why various groups will form these apparent ghetto's, as we all like to go with stuff and places that are familiar to us. Yet if we try to "improve" ourselves in some way and move into the radar of a different group, then there are always those in that new group who will attempt to prevent us from improvement (if "improvement" is actually the right word ? as it suggests that one is better than the other - and that's not what I'm trying to highlight).
Perhaps, if we were all just a little more open about our differences, while at the same time, able to admit it when our knowledge of others falls short, then there'd be less likely to be events such as the one highlighted by the video clip.
So share our joint knowledge of our different situations and I feel that it would be less likely that we'd end up with such highly visible examples of such bigotry !
I can honestly say, that all of the non-white Britains that I've met, as well as those who are white and not necessarily British, have been nice, polite, pleasant people. Who I'm happy to spend time with.
After all, while we're all a little different (apart from the visually obvious differences), we're all, basically, in the same shit pile known as "life". So why make such a big deal of the visible differences ? some of the cultural differences do go to making life just a little more interesting and enjoyable.......
Equality is good, as is fairness, yet until both these qualities are included in our joint (all colours, creeds, political allegiances, and other differences) society, from the top down, there will always be those who think such views are good.
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