Should this have happened?

On Tuesday the government has announced the sale of the search and rescue service. It will no longer be manned by the RAF.  The ITV news story is here.

Now I’m not sure, but it seems rather strange to sell the service to an American company from Texas.  I can appreciate that the government might want the cash input, but what do Texans know about the British Isles. Should they have had to pass some sort of test?  I realise that rescue services are probably transferable, but the UK on a whole varies much more than Texas.  And yes, Texas has a coastline…on the Caribbean.  I know they get hurricanes, tropical storms and tornadoes, but I seriously hope they employ UK helicopter pilots to fly the rescue helicopters.  Pilots who are used to the UK and all its foibles.  At this present moment I suspect that the sale went to the highest bidder as is normal, but it remains to be seen if the company who has got the service, is the best for the job, and only time and successful rescues will tell there.  Also, I hope the government are going to put the money they have acquired to good use in helping our economy, and it benefits every man, woman and child in the UK, as after all, it was a public service that they sold off, supposedly in the public domain.

Another point has just occurred to me, will the new PRIVATE company charge for their rescues?  Because I don’t know of any private companies who give their goods/services away for free.  Is this a retrograde step for the search and rescue service of the UK?  What do you think?

This sounds like fun

I found this on facebook today and think it's good idea. What a good idea, send her all those that you've been sent and are either selling stuff/religion....or something good will happen if you forward it within so many minutes.
Who does she think she is wanting to have access to our private e-mails? 
Last time I looked we were supposed to be free in the UK.
And if you decide to send her e-mails?  Where to?
mayt@parliament.uk
Have fun :)

Is this advert being straight with us?

There is an advert on TV at the moment for a chain store called "The Range".
Fair enough I hear you say, but their tagline is, "if we don't sell it, you don't need it!"
I've looked on their website, and they sell a vast variety f goods.
Fine, I hear you all say....but! if they only stock things a person needs, why no food?
After all, food and drink are the premier needs of your average homosapiens.  So a company that advertises itself  with the tagline "if we don't sell it, you don't need it!", should cover all bases? Apparently not.
So I would like to ask "The Range", why don't you stock food, because everyone NEEDS it, yet you don't sell it, why?

I guessed this months ago

There's an article on the Yahoo homepage today about Boris Johnson.
When I saw the headline I wondered if he'd read my blog and thought, "You know what? I think I'd make a pretty good Prime Minister, too" 
But no, if you read the article it will tell you that Boris has always had high ambitions.
What do others think of Boris' ambition? 
I wonder what David Cameron thinks? 

I wonder!

I wonder if anyone else has ever noticed that all psychics are medium, there's never any small or large ones?

Curious.....

The people who live close by are a constant source of entertainment and some of them have some very curious habits.
In summer, you could just be entertained by the live soap opera playing around me.
One of my neighbours has for some reason got bin bags full of cans in their yard.  I can only guess that they are saving them up and will eventually take them to Morecambe Metals to weigh them in, and benefit from them a second time.  I might be wrong, they could just be very eccentric.  This same neighbour also had a room packed full of toilet rolls at one point.  If you looked up at the window all you could see was toilet rolls.  All sorts of reasons went through my mind as to why the room was packed with toilet rolls.  One being, it wasn't packed, just lined and it was the equivalent of a padded cell.  Another, they were expecting a diarrhoea epidemic and they were stockpiling against the inevitable shortage that would ensue.  I'm surer if I thought hard I could come up with other reasons to have a room packed with toilet rolls. 
Another incident that was semi entertaining was around Xmas.  Someone rang my front doorbell, so I answered it only to be asked what I wanted.  The person who had rung the bell was very drunk, and I asked what he wanted, and he told me I was in the wrong house.  He then staggered back onto the footpath, and then, for some unknown reason decided to climb up the scaffolding that was up against my neighbour's house.  This man was having trouble standing up straight on solid ground, and he decided to climb scaffolding?  (It was in the process of being taken down and had no guard rails on it.)  I told him not to, he just swore at me, so I closed the curtains so I couldn't see him, and rang the police.  I don't know if they came or not, but I reported it just in case he fell off.

The toilet roll mystery has been cleared up, partially.  The person used to work in a toilet paper factory...but.....I still don't see why two people needed so much toilet paper.  Perhaps they paid him in part with toilet paper?

Another thing puzzles me, why some of the neighbours insist on trying to do a three point turn between parked cars, when if they reversed a short way they could just reverse round. In fact it looked like two cars were having a "who can do a three point turn in the smallest space" contest the other night.

Sensible move Your Majesty

I've just been looking on the official website of the Queen and her family.
It seems that although she is out of hospital she is not picking up the reins completely yet.
A sensible move if I might say so.  Our Queen is a very busy lady and although she might not like to think about it, isn't getting any younger.  Illness takes longer to get over as you get older.
So, it's lovely to hear that she is out of hospital, and nice to know she is following what are probably doctor's orders to "take it easy and rest for a few days".

And Facebook spies on you too!

But ...Hey! That's no big surprise.  How many times have you logged in and there are "tailored" adverts down the sides of the page.  At one point I looked on we buy any car dot com and for months afterwards they kept offering to buy my car, and those adverts popped up anywhere and everywhere.

My reason for mulling this over is that I read this article on Yahoo's homepage.  Facebook have been rather sneaky since they changed everyone's walls to timelines.  And if you read any news stories, entertainment stories, etc, they will pop up on your timeline unless you click the button and  class your browsing as private.
This particular story states how which "likes" you click on can help people analyse your character with scary accuracy.
Surely the answer to this is think at least twice before you click any like buttons, after all, if anyone can see it, it follows without really saying, that your likes help form a picture of you.
So, just think twice before clicking that like button.....yes....you might get let's say, a free sample of a certain chocolate product, (I don't know if any like buttons will give you that,) but apparently it all helps build up a profile of you, and if you have not committed any crimes why does anyone need a profile of you?

Just as an afterthought, you could deliberately give someone the wrong impression with your Likes, if you wanted to.  I wonder if there are people out there crazy enough to do that.  For instance deliberately click on the Like buttons of polar opposites .  But that's just the wicked, (as in mischievous,) side of me showing.

How do you define "first love"?

A comment prompted this post. In a previous post "Best music ever", I wrote about a lovely piece of music that brings back memories of my first real love.
I didn't name them, or how the music related to memories.  OK, I did put that the person in question had just re-married.  But in this day and age, there are so many people who re-marry.  And at my age, if I met a man who had NO history, I'll be frank, I'd be extremely suspicious and steer a wide berth of him.
My first love was the innocent type and the most daring thing we did was share a kiss, just a kiss, nothing intense at all.  We'd been for a walk around where he lived, and still lives now, and it was time for my Dad to collect me...so...a quick kiss on the lips before I left.  After that day we were never even in touch with each other until around 29-30 years later.  Again, all we did was chat, but due to advanced technology, via e-mail.  And most of the time we just chatted about when we were young.  Yes, when we'd been teenagers we'd danced together at parties  that we'd both been invited to, but proper waltzing, and a bit of disco dancing.   Until I was about to move away I had no idea he thought anything of me other than "one of the boys/group", (I was a terrible tomboy back then,) but was OK with dancing with him.  I thought he had no idea that I really liked him, turned out he didn't and thought I was "too clever" for him.  (I went to a grammar school, he went to a comprehensive school,).  I just thought I was too bookish and mousy to be even noticed.  When we both sussed out that we liked each other, there was only three weeks before I was due to move away.  So, we didn't see each other as boyfriend and girlfriend, yet we wrote to each other for a while and eventually met for the only date we ever had.  So, yes, he was my first proper love. The music will always make me think of him, as he is a musician, and it never fails to make me smile.  And if anyone in either his life or mine has a problem with that.....well, they don't understand how innocent my first love was.
A memory of your first love is precious and in my case there is no reason for anyone to resent that the person in question was my first love.

Dating sites! sH1T

I've been a member of a dating site for the past two months.  On the 24th February I met a contact.  He seemed OK.Wanted to meet me again, but since then despite my messaging him via the site....no contact
Why should I bother?
In August 2009 I met the most wonderful man I have ever met...unfortunately he was desperately homesick and went back to his home country after 12 beautiful months together.
I miss him ever minute of every day with all my heart
He might never return to the UK but I hope he will know that I will always love him

Best Music ever?

Is there something that just gets you singing or pum- puming along?  And no matter how down you feel it just takes you back to a time when you had no worries?
Well.....I have one...it not only takes me back to the time when I had no worries, but to the time of my first ever real love.
Now...should I embarrass him forever by naming here as my first ever love?
What do you all think?
But naming him might not embarrass him, I'm happy that he has married his partner of many years...after all we lost touch and had no contact for around 29-30 years.
But he'll always be the first person I ever truly loved.
I wonder how he would reply?

And the music? Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov

Body spray?

When I was little I used to watch Mum and Dad putting the finishing touches before they went out. Make up, the bare minimum in Mum's case and just a splash of aftershave for Dad.
What I do remember is that they used "just a splash" as too much can be overwhelming.  Also, I was told if you are eating out you should keep perfume, (aftershave in the man's case,) to a bare minimum so as not to spoil the food.
Why am I musing about this?
Because it now seems to be the norm to douse yourself in it, or the body sprays.  I think some of the young people today use it in place of having a good wash.
I hate it when they do this at school, as it is very cloying and makes me have to use my inhaler.  The worst of it is when they blithely spray in the food room, disregarding the fact you shouldn't spray near foods and the fact both myself and the teacher have asthma.  (We have even dismissed certain cleaning products as they make us both cough and wheeze.)
Body spray, perfume and aftershave are meant to help attract the opposite sex, not repel.  And I am well aware that some people douse themselves in order to disguise the smell of cigarette smoke. I've got a better idea, don't smoke!
And the other point is, if you have a good quality aroma, you only need too use a little as it stays around for longer.  In fact I have a perfume that I can still smell the day after, and after I have washed.

Get well soon, your Highness

It made me feel quite sad to hear that the Queen has gone into hospital because of her gastroenteritis.  She must be quite ill, but hospital is the best place for you if you are suffering.  As it can cause loss of fluids, that is possibly why she has gone in, so that she doesn't become weakened from the gastroenteritis.
I'm sure that I'm not the only one who is wishing her a speedy recovery.

Reins

Not the ones used to control a horse, the ones for toddlers. 
I wonder if you could answers my question.  Why do Mums of young children not use them?
The reason I'm wondering is today after doing some shopping, I was talking to someone outside the shop. A young Mum came out with bags of shopping and a toddler.  The toddler walked straight off the pavement onto the road.  Luckily the car stopped as it was only crawling forward to a red traffic light.  How the Mum reacted was I supposed reflexive, but why did she yell at a toddler?  She didn't have hold of the toddler's hand, or have it on reins, and it wasn't even holding onto the shopping bags.
Toddlers are not born with road safety knowledge, they have to be taught.  And unfortunately parents who are not capable of thinking of their child's safety are allowed to have children. If the light had been on green the toddler would have been hit by the car.  Why give yourself the worry when a simple set of reins would prevent incidents like that happening?

Just in case you are unsure

I saw this flowchart on Facebook, and think it is quite funny.


I don't think I need to say anything else about it.
The Mormons were out touting for business around where I live today, unfortunately I only passed them in the street and wasn't in if they knocked on my door.
There isn't a section where it asks if you wish to proselytise though. 
Where do I end up? I'm not telling, but I don't think the flowchart is comprehensive enough.

In case you want to know exactly where I lifted this from it's here

Really?

Apparently Amazon have come under fire for something else lately.
They have been selling offensive T-shirts.  That is T-shirts bearing offensive messages
What I don't understand is why were these T-shirts even manufactured in the first place?  Surely if the workforce making them spoke English they would have objected, or some of them would, to making T-shirts that bore offensive messages? 
The question should also be asked, why did Amazon think it was OK to sell them, as they suggest violence against women, both ordinary violence and sexual violence.
I know sometimes you wonder about why certain things have been banned, but in this case it makes me wonder what sort of warped mind designed these T-shirts, and thought they were suitable for general sales?

From the mouths of babes?

There's a saying that goes something like that, and it usually means that the unvarnished truth is being told.
But you don't normally expect it from a teenager.  Why am I wittering on about this you are possibly wondering?
Well, yesterday there was a fight at the school I work at, in the Maths block.  (I found out later that there had been more than the one fight.)  But it is this particular one I am going to mull over.  I didn't even see it happening, yet the whole of the year involved were buzzing about it.  It was a comment afterwards from another year 8 boy that made me think.
Due to damage being done if they are left open, the toilets in the Maths block are kept locked. The key is kept in the office, which is next to my "office", (it's a store cupboard.)
If students need to use the toilet they have to ask for the key, and return it.  One of the students is very chatty, and he mentioned the fight, and did I know what had happened to the boys involved. He then said "Well, Bert Boggins is a Pikey, so he thinks that he can do whatever he wants."  (Obviously Bert Boggins is not the student's real name.)  But I thought, yes, how true. "Pikeys" do think that they can do what they want when they want, and the rules are for everybody else. There are quite a few at our school, due to where we are, and they are a very disruptive element in the school.  The particular student is a nightmare, but he also turns on the charm when he wants to, which makes it harder for the teachers to deal with him, because they never know if it is Dr Jekyll Bert Boggins they have to deal with or Mr Hyde Bert Boggins.
Ah! Had I better tell you what a pikey is, or do you know?
A Pikey is a slang term for a traveller, that is a member of the travelling community, the males of which tend to be arrogant and to steamroller people into their way of thinking. And actually one of the other Pikey students was also involved in a fight yesterday as well I have since learnt.