Tag Archives: Brexit

3,101 – Inspiration is Difficult in the Heat

It seems that yesterday’s post was number 3,100. At 3,000 I was happy at my achievement. Then I developed an ambition to get to 3,100. Now I’m looking forwards and wondering when I will get to number 4,000.

Yesterday I sent off three poems for a members’anthology. It’s not a great challenge – I’m pretty sure all members get one in automatically. However, the good bit was that I had the acceptance within hours. In the last year or so I have been submitting so late in the cycle that in some cases I’ve only waited days for a decision. Now that I’m submitting three weeks before the end of the cycle I have to wait at least three weeks. It’s definitely not as exciting . . .

As I’m starting to submit a bit of mainstream poetry again I’m going to have to get used to this sort of thing – many of the regular poetry magazines take three months or more to get back to you.

It’s been a bit hot today, but not the worst it’s been. I’m not going to complain because this i possible the best weather we’ve had all year and it’s going to finish soon. Give it a couple of months and it will be cooler. In fact it’s just a couple of weeks ago we were thinking we might need a touch of heating on. We normally last until late September or even into October in a good year. Withe price of power still being high, every day is a bonus.

These days I do not watch the approach of winter with the same relaxed attitude I used to have when I was in my 30s. The cold and damp hurt more, for one thing. Bills are higher, draughts are keener and duvets are no fun when you sleep with a woman who gathers the bedding round her with the grim determination of a hibernating bear (and snarls in much the same way as the aforementioned ursine when you try to get a little of it back).

It seems that Royal Mail filled a form in wrongly and the Irish Customs have charged the customer nearly 150 Euros in duty. We are now having to provide copy paperwork to help her reclaim the overpayment. The postage was £15 so you’d think they could get it right. That filled a good part of my afternoon.

Incidentally, last week while I was away at the funeral, we had two parcels returned by the Irish Post Office. It’s taken six months. There is something seriously wrong with the Irish postal service. Out favourite theory is that it is their revenge for Brexit. They were OK until Brexit and it all fell apart at that time. Same for Germany. Italy was always chaotic, even before Brexit. I could have walked to Ireland, delivered them and walked back in that time.

Postal charges are going up again – for the second time in the year. In April First Class letters went up from 95p to £1.15, which was a bit savage. In October they will be going up to £1.25. Three price rises in 18 months. Meanwhile the quality of service goes down.

Heavily stamped envelope

Day 56

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I miss out so much with these short excerpts of my day. It’s not usually deliberate, it’s just that when I sit down I find it hard to locate more than one or two ideas. This, I suppose, is lack of the lack of concentration I keep complaining about.

We have had two problems with Germany this week. Two customers bought off eBay. They paid the tax to eBay. We did all the documentation and sent the stuff off. Both customers complained that they had to pay additional tax. We don’t know why, we can’t find any reason for it and we have no control over it. It’s just another racket designed to make life difficult for us all. As someone wrote on a website I used when searching for answers – thanks to everyone who voted for Brexit and welcome to the Brave New World.

It’s cost us several hours of admin time so far and will cost us actual money in a while as the second customer decided to send the goods back rather than accept them. He is currently spinning us a story about having covid and being unable to leave the house to collect the package.

I’m giving him a day to stew and then I’m going to write expressing my sympathy about his illness. I will then explain that although he may be friendless he can always email to ask for delivery, and even if he can’t do that, letters are not returned immediately so he will have plenty of time to be ill and still be allowed out in time to pick up his package.

Let’s see what he says then.

In the end, with all the hassle we are now getting from the post or customs services of various countries, it’s going to be cheaper and easier to stop sending stuff abroad. So, increased costs and lower turnover – tell me again about how we will benefit from leaving Europe.

Day 48

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In my haste to complete last night’s post in 20 minutes I see I missed out the news that I have placed another haibun. The other side of that news is that I now have some poems back, as they aren’t required. This is not actually bad news, although it does involve rejection, as it gives me something to work with for the next set of submissions.

Having placed a few things this month I now feel more like a writer again. This is probably helped by the appearance of some new greenery in the roadside trees, and the first crocuses. I like snowdrops, but you can’t beat a good crocus as a harbinger of spring. Soon I expect the birds will get in amongst them and start tearing them up, but it’s all part of nature, so I won’t complain.

I’ve just been looking at a new house on the internet. It’s in Derbyshire and it overlooks Carsington Water, which I have written about several times. It’s not quite where I had been thinking of retiring to but it cropped up and seemed nice. I note from the links I just added that I mainly seem to talk about eating at Carsington Water rather than bird watching, natural beauty or water. This is probably an accurate reflection of my life. Three links, two about cake.

We had a package back from Portugal today. It had a customs sticker attached telling us that it was being returned for being non-compliant with recent legislation. As far as we can tell, after research on the web, it followed all the necessary laws and guidelines. Portugal is becoming a very difficult place to post to and a number of people we know are now refusing to post to Europe.

Preparing a parcel for its voyage into the unknown

It’s all part of Brexit. First our costs go up, then our business declines and finally we are faced with asking if it is all worthwhile. This is hardly the easier, more profitable life we were led to expect. Could it be that politicians have been lying to us?

It used to be had enough when we had Italy to contend with – a country with a Post Office staffed by thieves, and a population that embraced larceny as a second hobby. Now we can’t send parcels to Portugal and Spain because the system has become devoted to losing mail in a variety of inventive ways.

The new house? Unfortunately we didn’t win the lottery so the £7 million asking price was a little more than a mortgage and a search down the back of the sofa could come up with. However, a man can dream . . .

Crocus at Nottingham

Nasi Goreng

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One of the spice mixes we got last week was for nasi goreng. It’s Indonesian fried rice for those of you who aren’t fluent in Indonesian. I covered that last week, and also mentioned I first wanted to eat it after reading about it in my dad’s Somerset Maugham books.

As I write that I realise it was rijsttafel I’m thinking about, which is similar, but not nasi goreng. Sometimes I worry about my memory. Other times, of course, I just forget.

There are many recipes on the internet and I’ll definitely be making it again once I’ve been shopping. There is a quick and simple vegetarian version I’m keen to try next. In this version the egg is kept as a fried egg. In the version we had earlier it is stirred into the rice and meat mix.

You can buy the various spices from TESCO or other online retailers. They do a spice kit similar to the one we used tonight, and nasi goreng paste, They have also had ketjap manis, but there is none in stock at the moment. You can make your own with soy sauce and sugar.

The rice is a bit dark because I’m working my way through our stock of microwave rice (bought to tide us over when there were shortages) and this contains lentils and quinoa.

Once we have depleted the stocks I will buy some more in preparation for Brexit, which is back on the news again.

Nasi Goreng with cucumber and tomato pickle

History in the Making

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A little tiredness, a touch of sloth and I’m on the fourteeth day of the challenge with 26 posts done. I was ahead, I’m now behind.

Today was a busy day on eBay and a reasonably busy one in the shop. This is good, because we are there to be busy.

For the second day in a row we sold a lot of 1973 Proof 50p coins.

That’s the one with the ring of hands, which commemorates our membership of the EEC, as the EU was known at the time. This was exciting stuff in 1973, a whole new world of international relations and the first new decimal coin design.

How things change in just a few years.

It’s forty-seven years later, we have so many new designs of coin that it’s both disorientating and embarrassing, and we are leaving the EU. If the figures are to be believed, and I’d rather believe figures than politicians, it has already cost us a lot of money in terms of lost growth and could cost us a lot more.

We might do better as a result of leaving, who can tell? But my forecast is that when they close the lid of my cardboard coffin, people will still be arguing about it.

I know one thing – the quality of debate has not improved. Someone buttonholed Julia on the bus to talk about the importance of taking power back into our own hands and being able, once more, to enjoy bent bananas. Someone brought their grandson into the shop today, and had a very similar meander through their few remaining brain cells. It seems that today is the firsdt day of a new democracy and we are once again free to enjoy the benefits of bright green mushy peas and bent bananas.

What is it with these people and their bent bananas?

All foods are regulated, and have been since well before our membership of the EEC. If they weren’t, we would still be adulterating bread with alum and feeding kids sweets made with poisonous dyes.

So, what did I do on the day life changed forever?

Nothing much, just parcelled up nibe 50p pieces with an EEC design and listened to someone’s grandma talk rubbish.

History passed me by.

For an example of how coin design has deteriorated, look at out new Brexit 50p. A work-experience kid with a fancy font on a computer could have designed that. It’s pathetic.

1973 50p

A Very Quick Post

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Bribery, bloodshed, Stone Age values, corruption, anarchy…

No, not Game of Thrones, just a comment on the Prime Minister’s disastrous European dealings and her alliance with the Democratic Unionist Party.

I feel ashamed to be governed by these idiots and soiled by the way the future of the country is being decided by the bigots of the DUP.

There was a time when you bribed someone and they stayed bribed but after Theresa May secured the votes of the DUP with promises of billions in aid, they now turn round and are likely to betray her.

At one time you could rely on the venality of politicians, promise some cash and some knighthoods and carry the day.

What is happening.

We even have a power-crazed person of restricted growth – in our case The Speaker, rather than Tyrion Lannister.

Idiots!

A Bad Day – Part I

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We’re off looking for cacti today. It’s part of Julia’s plan for making the Mencap garden more sustainable.

As with all these plans, time will tell. If nothing else, we will have plenty of pictures of decorated pots and blog posts on mistakes made in cactus rearing.

We’ve already begged some cuttings and stuck them in soil to see what happens.

I’m thinking of trying to grow prickly pears, but I expect it will, like my tea plantation, end badly.

I went to bed last night knowing that the politicians in Westminster had made us a laughing stock to the rest of the world, but I’ve become accustomed to it over the years. I’m thinking about writing down my thoughts on politicians and Brexit so that I can look back on it as a significant political document in years to come. But then again…

Although I voted to remain, I have supported the exit process because that was the side that won, and that’s how democracy works.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

It’s not a great system, as Churchill pointed out.

Democracy is the worst form of Government, except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

To be honest, the leader we need is Enver Hoxha. He had his faults, I admit, and may have ordered the murder of up to 25,000 people in pursuing his policies, but as long as two of the were Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg I think I’d forgive Theresa May for the other 24,998.

I suppose, after expressing admiration for a Communist and advocating the execution of politicians I’m going to end up on a list somewhere and will never be allowed into the USA.

Such is life.

Winter Came

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We had a touch of winter this morning. It had been frosty last night so I covered the windscreen and went to bed. It turned out to be a good decision and saved a lot of scraping this morning.

It was about minus 4 degrees Centigrade this morning or minus 7 for Number Two Son when he left work out in the countryside). That’s 25 and 19 for those of you working in Fahrenheit – nippy, but a long way from being a polar vortex. So far, despite the gloomy hysteria of the newspapers, it’s been quite a reasonable winter. It’s often like that – newspapers never like the facts to get in the way of a good story.

It’s the same with our exit from Europe – all all gloom and doom with tales of starvation and shortage. We probably will suffer shortages, but mainly because of panic-buyers, not true shortages. I remember this back in the 1970’s – shortages of bread, sugar and toilet rolls come to mind.

I’m going to buy an extra pack of toilet rolls and some tins of beans and corned beef. That, I expect, will see us through.

Anyway, back to the weather – have a look at the photos. It was a good morning for photographs.

Logs at Wilford

Mencap Garden – Wilford

Logs at Wilford

Mencap Garden – Wilford

These four show variations in colour as I used the camera to pep up the colour. The enhanced photos aren’t too far from the truth, though the greyer ones are probably closer to the truth.

Frosty Moss at Mencap Garden, Wilford

Leaves and frost – Wilford, Nottingham

The hut

Leaves and frost – Wilford, Nottingham

And here are a couple of birds – one Great Tit flying off as I tried to picture it feeding, and one Blackbird assuming an air of mystery in the frosty grass.

Frosty Flying Bird

Mysterious Blackbird

Seems Like Monday Morning

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It’s dark, it’s cold and enthusiasm is low…

There is more than a hint of Monday morning about the place despite it being Wednesday and on TV there is little to brighten the day.

Politicians are talking about Brexit.

The McCann case has been given another £150,000 to pay for detectives. The total cost for police time is now, it seems, £11.75 million. I think it’s now time to redirect resources.

England is doing badly at cricket at the moment, though this isn’t too unusual.

And then we have the 70th birthday of the Prince of Wales. I’m not sure whether I approve of royalty or not. I do, however, know that some of his favourite foods are pheasant crumble and groussaka (moussaka with grouse).

This is typed using the new WP editor. I never really mastered the old one, so let’s see what sort of a mess I make of it now.

And it’s not even 9.00 am yet…

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Life after the Care Farm