HAPPY MOTHERS’ DAY.

Here in the UK today is Mothers’ Day, or as it was once known .. “Mothering Sunday” .. which was all about “Mother Church” and not about making money for florists and greetings card manufacturers etc.

This grumpy old git hopes that all you mums out there have a lovely day …

… and please remind me …

… When is Fathers’ Day ?  

Blogged off for now !

I’m away at the moment on family business, but will be back in a few days,  So please …

… keep watching this space.

Still going strong (well almost).

Tomorrow is my 73rd birthday. Yes, I’m ahead of my allotted “three score years and ten”, but according to these “ever longer lives” statistics I should have snuffed it 12 years ago, as I was born in 1939.

To celebrate beating the odds and surviving all these years I have decided to brave the freezing weather and head for the pub for a pint or two and a pre-birthday lunch. Tomorrow, if the delivery man can avoid the ice and snow, I will be enjoying a Chinese feast and a couple of bottles of bubbly, and Sunday (weather permitting) will see me at my daughter’s home for a traditional roast lunch, and as for Monday ? … Well …

… I’ll probably feel like shit.   

Festive fury !

Talk about a violent Christmas ! … with reports of stabbings up and down the country during the holiday period, including one in Rochdale, one in Littlehampton of all places, one in Liverpool and two in the West End of London, where the battle to grab a bargain in the Boxing Day sales took on a whole new meaning when weapons were used in London’s Oxford Street and one young man died on the pavement. It would now appear that he was a street gang member out with his ‘gangsta’ mates on a shoplifting spree when they ran into a rival gang. It is even suggested that he died fighting over a pair of stolen trainers (sneakers).

As if all this is not shocking enough, a near riot ensued in Oxford Street because police prevented people from entering the crime scene to take pictures of the fallen man, while others were incensed because they could not get to the stores to continue with their bargain hunting.

Blimey ! .. There was even a report of a melee at a midnight mass in Southampton; and, believe it or not, a priestly punch-up in, of all places …

…    Bethlehem ! 

“At the eleventh hour …”

Bleak young lives.

Here is another post about young children, but this one definately does not fall into the category of ‘humour’, for it concerns various reports in the press, that on entering school a number of children are unable to communicate, socialise and carry out the most basic of tasks such as holding a pencil. In fact, in extreme cases some children do not even know their own name, or do not recognise it when it is spoken in a normal tone of voice, because at home they only hear it when it is shouted at them.

We are told by the ‘experts‘ that this is the result of poor parenting, for it seems that half of youngsters arrive at infant school with poor communication skills, and this situation is blamed on the low aspirations of parents trapped in poverty, where no member of the family has worked for generations. It would appear that these parents do not bother to talk to, play with or read to their children.

As one who had a happy childhood, albeit in a fairly poor working class family, and later made a living by using his communication skills (and still manages to string a few sentences together), I find myself lost for words and saddened when I read, that when questioned about her child’s inability to speak, one young mother is reported to have said …

…. ”He don’t talk to me so I don’t talk to him”.

The Cruise … Seville ‘Siesta’.

The temperature was 104f on the afternoon that we reached Seville and there was hardly a Spaniard to be seen on the streets apart from this bloke …

… who seemed to have left it to his horse to look out for customers. The poor animal was looking at me as if to say … “Please don’t wake him Señor” !

Only tourists (and few of them) seemed to be moving as I strolled from the Royal Pavillion … 

 … along the riverbank towards the San Telmo Palace  …

… and on to The Alcázar … 

(click on images to enlarge)

Just as I was beginning to think that I was in a ghost town, I rounded a corner near The Cathedral …

 … and came upon this group of  happy youngsters performing on the sizzling pavement …

So there was life on those hot streets after all.

The Cruise … “Ooops” !

One of the highlights of the cruise was a five hour journey along the Guadalquivir River to the beautiful city of Seville. Recently this river has been dredged and locks built to allow large ships to dock in the heart of the city, and at one point our ship had to make a sharp 90 degree turn, with the aid of a large tug, to enter a very narrow lock. It was the first time our ship had made the trip and …

I wonder if the captain lost his ‘no claims bonus’ ?