Another year marks the path across a journey within this great adventure called life. Nobody in certain truth can see all the outcomes this precious wonder will reveal; so catch hold of all the out-stretched arms along the way and pull them tight, till time and motion make us let go; to watch them recede into the distance. If life teaches us one thing it is that we cannot hold on to everyone we encounter. To move, we must by necessity, release all the things we do not ceaselessly cherish. In that thought greet the New Year 2012 not remembering all that is lost but by rejoicing in all that we shall find.

Though we may think it is so sometimes

Remember always that we are never alone
Whisper within a resonance of the fading year
Tell me not the wish, tell me not the hopes
For they are but yours alone to squander

So comes New Year, riding on a waxing moon

Full and bright it shines over our aspirations
To greet our hopes and dreams as we watch...
Our wishes collide in the aether and transmute
Into different realities with endless possibilities.

We humans weave another sorry trail through a bloody twelve months in the world. What at first seems to be improving through our instinctive optimism comes finally into focus as empty promises. It can be a hard thing to watch all these things unfold as small powerless individuals. The reality is in truth that only a few great hands run the world while the rest of us trail in the wake of their decisions. Make peace with that and change all you can. We can do no more.

Perhaps we think too much on life and not enough on living. I do wonder if the Amish aren’t right in their belief that nothing good comes from all this technology and information we possess. Too much information is not a good thing. We don’t really need to know everything.  My plan for 2012 is to not put any more news stories on here, (unless of course I think it is humorous.) Time for me to lighten up in 2012 I think.

This much I know from 2011

1.       There is no such thing as a job for life

2.       I finish the year with less teeth than I started
3.       Trees never stop growing taller and wider
4.       Writing is like love – you’ve got to practice
5.       Global warming won’t bring the Med to Lancashire
6.       Money is finite, but our aspirations are so unlimited
7.       Dogs have inner patience that makes living easier
8.       The people closest to me keep me going on
9.       Tennis seems to be played by good people
10.     I survived this mad world now over half a century
11.     Older age doesn’t mean we need to act old
12.     I surprise myself, but others surprise me more
13.    I'd like to keep bees again when I have time
14.  Is entropy always inevitable

What a difference a year makes. These 2 pictures were taken from the same spot. Hard to believe we had all this snow a year ago...wish it were back. Currently dreary and very damp. It must be strange to live in a country where there is never snow or it never gets cold. For us in the north of the UK substitute snow for sunshine

Oh! too much turkey...think i'll have a snooze now. Christmas is hard work for a little dog.

If snow falls in the night my heart shall hears it and sigh, for it will be gone by morning. Stirring dreams and wishes shall haunt my slumber as each flake falls from a sky drained of colour by Christmas night. It is the time for wishes and foibles, for laughter and for reflection but most of all it is a time to remember all the wonderful people in my life and thank you for guiding me through another year. Bereft of direction at times, I stumble through the seasons taking in all that may ease my own heart without thought for yours. In that thought this coming year then every bee that shakes its wings, every sigh of the wind in the trees and every drop of rain that falls shall be a reminder that you are not forgotten. For even when I am alone you special people are always with me.

Have a wonderful Christmas and bright New Year

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) on the Franco-Swiss border has made its first clear observation of a new particle since opening in 2009.

They have since sacked the cleaner when they found out it was dust

Snow began to fall in delicate sendaline waves against the outline of the pine trees. Asthralain hurried across the clearing towards the comfort and cover of those trees. The distance was quite short but the snow rallied in intensity till she could no longer see. Like a swarm of icy hornets the cold flakes stung her face and blinded her eyes. This was no ordinary snowfall but the malice of the dark one.

She raised her staff and uttered the cry, “warastra mes dukhin” and a ferocious wave of force emanated from its crystal crown. Guardian fire summoned to light the way sprang outward at the whirling white ice and briefly while it lasted, it cleared the path. But the fire was brief and when it stopped the snow closed about her again like a brooding envelope of malice and it held her tight. In that brief moment of calm she thought she saw the foul one laughing at her plight. She sank to the floor battered by the ferocity of the blizzard but then her heart stirred to anger by the laughter rallied.

In her ire against him she stood and again raised her staff uttering the cry, “warastra mes dukhin all mek Serobben” and again a ferocious wave of force emanated from its crystal crown but this time it shot upward like a lightning bolt. Its blue-white power crackled into the overhead clouds and spread outward from within them. The exertion staggered Asthralain but she held and slowly the whole of the sky above her became illuminated in ghostly patterns of argent light. With a resounding ‘crack’ the ceiling of cloud was torn asunder as the guardian fire ripped through its mass rending it to tatters of mist. A fissure opened above her revealing sunlight and no more snow fell.

“Shesha harat mestras mehan vulsa maa,” whispered Asthralain. “Mother earth, I thank you for the gift of the secret flame.” Quickly she made her way to the safety of the trees and shelter. She could not have known that the Sylvinta was waiting for her there to begin its deliberations.

Out on a walk to the garden and then around the old Jacks Key reservoir. Nice view!

I told Mike it was cold out - but the old boys never listen

Thurs 15^th Dec 2011

Snow arrived to waken us up this morning…not a huge amount but just enough to coat everything with a clean, white covering. Then the grey, old dirty town looks almost fresh again. This is the fun part of the winter until we have a really heavy fall and travelling around becomes tedious. Unless of course I get out for a walk during the holidays or the weekend with a little dog ploughing his way through the deep snow. Not sure of the forecast for Christmas. Increasingly the weather guys seem to be hedging their bets all the time and wont commit to a long forecast.

Not long now to Christmas thankfully. Can’t wait to not be at work for a little while and this will be the last one here and as I move closer to the New Year I am becoming more impatient that the whole work thing is over. I wonder where I shall be this time next year. Hopefully I shall be sat inside scoffing hot buttered crumpets watching the snow falling thick and fast and thinking, “What shall I do today?” Yes like that’s going to happen. We’ll see. Perhaps I’ll have found a new job but Christine Lagarde (head of the IMF) seems to be a bit of a prophet of doom on that score at the minute.

Friday 16^th Dec 2011

The shortest day on the 21^st brings the greatest hope to us that spring will soon arrive. It may seem so far away; but hush now special one, for soon it shall arrive. Christmas will soon be here and then shall come winter storms; but no ferocious intent can stop the world from emerging into a New Year. Already the signs are showing, (although it only seems like the trees were stripped of their leaves recently.) Hyacinths are budding in the dark places ready to be brought inside in January and through the cold, wet earth come the daffodils. 

I have often wondered why the New Year doesn’t start in April for it seems to be that is truly when everything changes. It never makes sense to start the New Year in the middle of winter.

Banker Jokes
 
Why don't sharks attack bankers? Professional courtesy.
 

A young banker decided to get his first tailor-made suit. As he tried it on, he reached down to put his hands in the pockets but to his surprise found none.

He mentioned this to the tailor who asked him, "You're a banker, right?" The young man answered, "Yes, I am."
"Well, whoever heard of a banker put his hand in his own pocket?"
 

An investment banker said he was going to concentrate on the big issues from now on. He sold me one in the street yesterday.

 

Bankers are people that help you with problems you would not have had without them.

A man visits his bank manager and says, "How do I start a small business?" The manager replies, "Start a large one and wait six months."

If you owe the bank £100, that's your problem. If you owe the bank £100m, that's the bank's problem.

 
Hospitals report that the hearts of bankers are in strong demand by transplant patients, because they’ve never been used.

Bankers never die...They just lose interest.

What's the problem with banker jokes? Bankers don't think they're funny, normal people don't think they're jokes.

The biggest joke of all? Bailed out bank Lloyds paying for sense of humour training at the Comedy School. That's one thing money can't buy.

Moonlight traces the paths of gilded discoveries

As the lunar symmetry turns from full to waning
Shadowy silvered tendrils of inverse sunlight fall
Stretching out like serpents, that seethe, prostrate
On the cold lonely earth, mirroring the night sky
A heart in need of minimalism could follow roads
To the worlds end, beyond a long forgotten sea
And at journeys end; stumble and falter in hope
Into your arms if only they could swell again apart

Creatures of the night sadden the day and sully the breath of the wind that blows in renewed vigour across the enormity of the season.  So too comes clarity and now I shall climb within the cage of words and watch the door close. Slowly within its reassuring bars of democracy, the fog of jingoism shall clear and I shall look into the eyes of all the free spirits trapped here with me. But I wonder how did they fit so many others in here; and what will happen if we all start to sing for freedom together?

Change a few names in my story and it's uncanny...should i be worried?

So now at last you seek my aid mighty queen though I have no more advice to give. Have I not foretold that the spoon would yield to you a more rancid revelation at the bottom of the bowl? Now that you taste its worth tis no surprise it is bitter to the heart. I see your dilemma, but it matters not, what you would wish. All that matters is what you will do now the true acrimony of the choices is laid bare. Ten long years have I gazed into the shadowed pall of fate trying to read its intent and yet it avails me nothing. I am as blind as a mole in the sunlight. Too long have I wasted in the darkness, it is time to re-enter into the luminous daylight alongside my queen.”

Angelain smiled at the old man and replied, “I thank you Sarcasto for both your insight and your patience. We have both travelled a hard road these last few years. Pity me that I could not sway from evil intent the feebleness that stumbled me at its ending.”

Angelain paused then continued, “Ever you have been my guardian and friend Sarcasto. Tell me now, does the Camerona seek to usurp or gainsay me. Ever in public he has been perceived as a champion of all the lands. In word at least he has carried out his duty to his kin and now must I fall on his sword or his clemency. Yet it is my heart he will engender treachery and we sue for their mercy and yet that word does not figure prominently in their designs.”

Sarcasto looked at Angelain like a man who wakes from a dream to see all his desires fulfilled. “You have returned to wisdom my queen; though it was late in coming. But it is of no matter! We must now seek out and convince the high chamberlain Cleggata of our need. Who would have thought that this vile and loathsome creature, the dark betrayer and turncoat is now our only hope to stop the unravelling of the alliance through the schemes of Camerona?

Only Cleggata can affect the ending that will stop Camerona. Often evil intents from opposing forces are a poor coalition; as we may surely yet see in the partnership of Camerona and Cleggata. Our task now is to take those differences they hold and widen them. It should not prove difficult for Cleggata needs the support of Camerona to survive and Camerona likewise the legitimacy that Cleggata offers him. Yet we must be wary; ever the people trust Camerona still, though we know that trust is misspent. This slow ember of misinformation to the people must be stilled. We have been remiss in the education of the free peoples. Desiring to make things better we have allowed them to become wraiths of a false material honour. It’s time for them to wake up.

Sarcasto looked like a man who had wanted to say this for a long time and had now found the legitimacy to do so. He continued, “This paragon of protection that they evade truth with is failing and they know it. When the fools dash their ship of state on the rocks we must be ready to seize the moment. There is now no more time; there will be no second chance for millennia if we fail.” The magnitude of his words hit him like thunder under a frosty sky and Sarcasto fell silent. Angelain, ‘flower of the west’ considered the next course of action.

Cold, wet and misty weekend but managed to find some faded colour from the summer. I'll take robbie out later as there is a full moon and mist...very elfish. Hope you've had a good weekend.

David Cameron has refused to join an EU financial crisis accord after 10 hours of negotiations in Brussels. Efforts to reach an accord of all 27 member states have been abandoned but will continue with the 17 euro zone members and six others. Mr Cameron said it was not in Britain's interest "So I didn't sign up to it". It was a tough decision but the right one," he said at a press conference. But the French president said his "unacceptable" demands for exemptions over financial services blocked the chance of a full treaty.

 

Don't be fooled in to thinking he's done this for the UK itself - he's done this only because the people at risk of being harmed by the treaty are his fellow elites. The self interest of the privileged is wrapped within the nationalistic wrapper of populism. The guy really should be writing headlines for the tabloids not running the country. The whole sorry financial mess can only deteriorate further with Britain marginalised on the outer regions further from the sphere of influence. Thanks Dave.

So now at last you seek my aid mighty queen though I have no more advice to give. Have I not foretold that the spoon would yield to you a more rancid revelation at the bottom of the bowl? Now that you taste its hollow gift tis no surprise it is bitter to the heart. I see your dilemma, but it matters not, what you would wish. All that matters is what you will do now the true acrimony of the choices is laid bare. Ten long years have I gazed into the shadowed, withered face of fate trying to read its intent and yet it avails me nothing. I am as blind as a mole in the sunlight. Too long have I wasted in the darkness, it is time to walk into the bright daylight once again alongside my queen.

From the Guardian 7^th Dec 2011-12-07

 

Thousands of seriously ill cancer patients will be forced to take medical tests and face "back to work" interviews, despite assurances from ministers that they would not make it harder for the sick to get welfare, charities have warned. Buried in a report to ministers by Prof Malcolm Harrington, the government adviser on testing welfare recipients, are proposals to force cancer patients who are undergoing intravenous chemotherapy to prove they are too ill to work.

At present, patients who are unable to work because of cancer and the side-effects of treatments are allowed to claim the highest rate of employment support allowance (ESA )However, the expert report says this "automatic entitlement" has encouraged a dependency on benefits, "encouraging wrong behaviours from employers and stigmatising cancer as something that can lead to unemployment or worklessness".

Instead, cancer patients on chemotherapy in hospitals will now have to prove that they are too sick to work, and take part in the controversial work capability assessment to determine whether someone is eligible for benefits. If cancer patients are found able to return to employment they may also be required to participate in work-related practice job interviews, as a condition of receiving their benefit.

Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: "Cancer patients in the middle of treatment are, in many cases, fighting for their lives."Yet the government is proposing to change the rules so all cancer patients will have to undergo a stressful assessment to prove they are unable to work.

From the BBC website

7^th December 2011

It’s official now – living may make you ill

Nearly half of cancers diagnosed in the UK each year - over 130,000 in total - are caused by avoidable life choices including smoking, drinking and eating the wrong things,  says the Cancer Research UK report. Its authors claim it is the most comprehensive analysis to date on the subject.

Lead author Prof Max Parkin said: "Many people believe cancer is down to fate or 'in the genes' and that it is the luck of the draw whether they get it.”Looking at all the evidence, it's clear that around 40% of all cancers are caused by things we mostly have the power to change."

No mention of the other 60% then...and when has 40% been nearly half? Good old BBC more sensationalist reporting again

Nice to see Victorian values are returning back to society

From the BBC website

11 October 2011

'First ever' fall in global TB

The number of people falling ill with tuberculosis has declined for the first time, according to the World Health Organization. New figures show the global death toll has also fallen, to its lowest level in a decade, with major headway made in China, Brazil, Kenya and Tanzania.

7^th December 2011

North West TB cases 'highest in Blackburn'

Blackburn had more new cases of tuberculosis than anywhere else in the North West last year, it has emerged. Figures released by the Health Protection Agency (HPA) show there were 828 cases of TB in the region, with 80 of those in Blackburn with Darwen.

She looked up into a clear blue sky and saw one solitary cloud heading east. Its smooth white surface was edged in grey to give it an appearance of heaviness riding in the air. A hawk flew across its white expanse hovering briefly in the middle like a motif to scan the surface below for some unlucky creature. Finding none it resumed its soaring, gliding flight.

She felt so akin to the hawk; free and yet desperately searching for sustenance. For the hawk it was a piercing need to eat and for Asthralain a hungering, craving sustenance for her very soul. She sat upon a small flat topped sandstone boulder rising from the meadow and watched the world around her.

From this island on a green ocean she saw here was a land of incredible beauty; rolling hills, flowing rivers watering arable lands. It was populated by a hardy rustic people; fell and stern but also incredibly kind. Why would anyone seek to harm this idyll? At that moment a shadow passed over her and she looked directly up to see the hawk hovering above. Suddenly it plummeted to earth like a weighted arrow and snatched up a viper from the grass close to Asthralain’s feet. Clever hawk, it gripped its talons in the centre of the snake and rose high into the air. The snake was unable to counter gravity or the hawks grip and lay motionless. High climbed the hawk till it was but a speck in the air and then without remark it let the snake go; to fall and smash upon the rocks in the distance. She knew nothing could have survived that fall. The hawk flew off into the distance.

This spectacle baffled Asthralain and then at last she understood. ‘The enemy of my enemy is my friend.’ It was a pre-emptive strike against a foe that had taken place. In part because the hawk had seen Asthralain’s imminent danger but also because perhaps the hawk’s eggs would be safer in the spring. Though there could be no winner in this battle the preservation of balance and order was always the intrinsic goal of all survival.

Tues 6^th Dec 2011

Haven’t done very much over the last few days but did go with Nick to his tennis club awards in Manchester at the weekend. Stayed over at the Palace Hotel, which is a huge place and was converted from the Refuge Assurance  insurance building. (Nice building from the outside see picture below) The rooms were comfy and clean but the hotel is a bit of a maze of corridors. I think it took 20 min to find the room and that was following the directions. It was very enjoyable though.

We got some snow forecast and now it actually does feel like winter outside. I think any snow in the next few days has probably been over egged, but it is coming. Which reminds me that I just got the fuel bills; so it’s off to the cupboard for a jumper.

Last Tuesday went to the Bridgewater hall (see below) which was great. Why are nights out like buses you wait for ages and then loads come along at once?

John Wilson and the John Wilson Orchestra Hooray for Hollywood

Date Tuesday, 29th November 2011 7:30pm

Programme

Special Guest Stars include Annalene Beechey, William Burden, Kim Criswell and Matthew Ford. For everyone who enjoyed the sensational John Wilson Orchestra MGM show last year, they return this year joined by a cast of guest singers with a new show celebrating the golden era of Hollywood Film Musicals.

Hooray for Hollywood takes us from the dawn of The Talkies to the birth of The Movie Musical through to the 60's. The show features show stopping sequences from 42nd Street, Top Hat, On The Town, Guys And Dolls, Ziegfeld Follies, A Star Is Born, Gypsy, Hello Dolly and many more.

Ps Dog had a haircut yesterday so he’s a very smart boy now. Christmas decorations are up so now its official it’s Christmas – bah humbug!

There is no historical precedent for what is coming.

Time is shifting away for every moment you delay
Reality will always slip through the net of dreams.
Wake and after breakfast go out and enjoy the day

The Office for Budget Responsibility, the Government's official fiscal watchdog, says George Osborne's economic strategy rests on continued high levels of immigration to Britain – in contrast to the Conservative policy of cutting net migration down to the "tens of thousands". The Government will find itself in the position of either having to allow continued immigration in the hundreds of thousands or jeopardising the country's economic recovery, Ministers will not reduce average annual immigration down to the "tens of thousands" over the course of this parliament according to the OBR's projections. Instead, net inward migration to Britain will remain at an average of 140,000 a year until 2016, it says, despite repeated promises from Conservative ministers that they will reduce immigration flows to substantially below these levels.

 
So great no pension, no jobs and even more competition for dwindling resources...within a lifetime we have become some kind of worthless underclass. A sub species of UK citizen called the indigenous working population. Or more likely due to successive government policies the non-working indigenous population and despite what you read most people do want to work.

Stealing from the older generations has now become a UK law....

 

To keep the bankers warm

The bones of old workers

Will be piled and burned

 

The chancellor announced this week during his autumn statement that the state pension age is to rise to from 66 to 67 for both men and women a decade earlier than planned. This means millions of people currently in their 50s will have to work a year longer than they expected. The basic state pension is currently worth around £5,000 a year. The Treasury said the decision to speed up the rise in the SPA to 67 was in “response to changes in demography”. But the measure will also save the government about £60bn in today’s prices between 2026-27 and 2035-36.

I don’t need an economics degree to work out that I will therefore have a minimum of £10,000 robbed from me. You couldn’t make this up; you really couldn’t!

When I began work I entered into a contract with the government that I would work and pay taxes (which I have) and then I would retire at 65 with a pension from the state. They have now broken that promise to me; no matter how they explain it. They need to buy fewer warheads or give less foreign aid but they don’t need to rob millions of the chance to have some sort of small ease before they die.

Repeating rhetoric drives change even though that change is the work of a selfish or innocent mind. A storm may sweep in now; but it is driven by the wind of retreating wealth. The amazing rich and favoured; these perfidious hornets exhale the righteous breath of laboured seriousness while awhile stinging us repeatedly. Their honey and rotten gains now safely stored offshore they sit and wait out the winter while the populace goes mad with futility.