Twelve Months on That Boarding School Girl 2021 edition

It is the day before the new year so we're having a bit of a look at things from the last year on this blog

One reason this blog continues to exist is the need to have a space for more middle or even grown up things at times having deliberated at times the need to keep it going with having the littles one.

We normally publish a kind of review but as I have said before this year has been in such a state of flux it's been no sooner than I had a planned and at least partially written blog ready then it's been all change so of necessity it is different than the planned one.

The year has been very much the year of the virus from us feeling towards the end of twenty twenty that the worst of it was with those of us who had been more or less shielding coming out of the woodwork as I visited Sandbach a few  times before we went back into reverse.

It is kind of hard to underestimate how it feels to be think you can be out more, even perhaps staying with friends only to have it dashed in the new year but that's how it was with the Delta variant.

Because of all of that inevitably a fair bit of blog coverage was devoted to the ups and downs this virus and our battle with it.

The one saving grace of the year was the Vaccination program that had got away around December 19th the previous year and was ramped up across the year getting the overwhelming majority of adults vaccinated which although we needed to have second vaccinations and in the last two and bit months boosters to deal with both the inevitable drop in protection over time and the Omicron variant that appears to date to be faster at spreading if less severe.

So far in after a dismal few months in the Winter and Spring we have had less restrictions in England for a longer period than pre March twenty twenty, able with caution to have christmas with families and even celebrate new year because that linkage between cases that are very high and people in hospital have been decimated and some for good measure.

That was a massive achievement.

Vaccination is working although we remain to stay cautious and be sensible about mixing with people especially large groups.

Education got back to class although I remain concerned about the long term developmental and psychological impact of this whole period on children's welfare missing schooling, social learning and mental health it has been bad enough for many adults part from underscoring inequalities.

I did read more comics and listen to music in part to keep the continual dripping of anxiety from covid heavy news reports and speculation under some control, avoiding being a news junkie and spending more time out of doors.

I managed to get to one of our littles meets which helped no end with recovering from the stresses and strains of the last fifteen months and we had a Halloween party too.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed our next meet is able to happen in a few months time.

Christmas day edition 2021

On the ball or not this has been hastily put together by the blog team as a syncropost tm  as we are able to do a bit more than last and so we will have a few visitors today.

Christmas here is very much a repeat of how things were cos I haven't change any so a staple is annuals connected to comics so we have this years Beano Annual which my of caught up with the Spotty as Scotty renaming in the Bash Street Kids or not but will have the two new classmates in.

We don't have a Dandy no more outside of the Summer Special but we do have an all new annual to look forward to.

Recently there has been themed compilations of classic cartoon strips from the Dandy and Beano from the past and this years looks at stories featuring characters doing art and drawing within the comic.

 

 Although I am familiar with the aria's from it I hadn't a copy of the full Madama Butterfly opera by the Italian composer Puccini and in the christmas stocking is a new acclaimed recording and a disc of Woodwind music by Vivaldi.

 Spinning at 33 1/3rd, I had the limited edition Dusty Springfield Atlantic singles set from 1968 thru 1971 on ruby red vinyl that uses the original mono singles mixes.

Also I had the November 24 limited edition 2 lp mono set of the Best Of The Red Bird and Mercury Shangri La's  album with retro disc labels.

I also had some money I can take with me once we are clearer how the start of next year is likely to be.

Christmas paws

While there are other things around one constant of this blog has been that we do take a bit of break around this time and given normal publication next week is Christmas Eve there will be plenty of necessary stuff to be helping out with.

It's been a roller coaster of a year, thank goodness not as bad as last and indeed for many of us we'll be able to have Christmas with a bit of care a tad more like normal than last.

Christmas here is unapologetically both of the past and very much a child-like thing so without going into things that belong on the other blog it'll be and feel more like one from the past with Mary and Joseph out, a tree, decorations and yes an Advent calendar a child would love. 

We're recreating that magic with our rituals.

 

Wishing you all a Happy Christmas and all the best for Twenty Twenty-Two.

Seasonal preparations

 

In the normal course of events we'd be seeing a variety of things going on in our towns and cities across the Christmas period although of course people do observe other religious seasons as they overlap.

A common thing would be a fair with rides, some kind of accompanying music such as a fairground organ or a public address system that plays music.

You'd have a festive market selling things like Christmas trees, wreaths, cards and hats outside all adding to the atmosphere with posters for various pantomimes and other performances.

Some areas have scaled things down thinking people remain reluctant to mix after last years of necessity strict rules while others are going ahead although talk about this newest variant seems to produce more uncertainty with everything being clouded with "what if..."  as experts share differing views.

Outside of just taking precautions when very close or indoors following the renewed guidance for using face masks I'd just go enjoy things as it's all time we can't get back and as thousands can still attend sports events in similar settings I see little difference.

Deja vu and Can Christmas be saved?

We're into Advent here having nom'd a bit of the Paddington Bear calendar and guess what's returning rather like a boomerang?

Things had seemed fairly stable until last week as we appeared to be managing a reasonable balance between playing wac-a-mole with Covid and having a functioning economy and society.

Then late on in the week people started talking of a variant discovered in and around South Africa with a few returnees in the Netherlands showing signs and by Monday it was apparent it has crossed our shores.

The Omicron variant seems to had evolved the protein structure to get past any existing defences although so far in for most it doesn't appear to be any more dangerous of itself  but  clearly we need both more time to find out how it fits in with existing control measures and raise protections sooner rather than later.

That lead to a Press Conference where it was announced the rules around mask wearing in public settings were returning and caution needed to be taken.

 It was announced that the current booster program would both be extended to under forties and the delay between having had a second inoculation and the booster would be reduced from six months to three.

As well children over 12 would be offered a second vaccination, the aim of all being to reduce the likelihood of serious illness from Omicron and up the overall protection as we get into colder more damp part of Winter  and keep cases down.

In general I agree with this and feel the return of mask rules in England are overdue as really they do help reduce transmission and protect the most vulnerable on public transport and in the shops.

Many of us hope this will save a meaningful family Christmas for most of us.

Looking ahead and that

The countdown is ticking away as we move out of this month with a coolish fade out unlike last year where we were at sixes and sevens about what we could even do as we approached the festive season.

Things are as most on this account know a bit on the Smolish side so as far as I am aware we will be having a Advent calendar this year to mark our way towards Christmas of a fairly traditional chocolate treat behind the date kind.

Equally while there won't be as many cards written as in the recent past, I have ordered up some cards to get written for family and that as unlike last year, touch wood, we will be able to mix a bit this year although obviously people need to be a bit careful, have their inoculations and ideally try to get some ventilation going if indoors.

One just hopes there isn't a mad dash for everything or an outbreak of Turkey hoarding by people who get into a panic and make things worse for everyone.

I was a bit disappointed that package of three cds continued one with the wrong disc in it, one with booklet out of case and another with an obvious scratch you could feel with your nails that I doubt would play correctly.

Why you should sell what could be called human scratching posts as in "very good condition" beats me as for that matter how you get them in that state in the first place.

Space Junk

There's a lot of noise this week around a whole array of grown up topics that would drive me to distraction and some so I'm just concentrating on one today.

A growing concern today is the debris that has accumulated in over fifty years of man's exploration of space from 1961and it's impact not just on earth but also other structures in space such as the International Space Station which was built in 1998 and has both Russian and American sections. 

The ISS provides a platform to conduct scientific research, with power, data, cooling, and crew available to support experiments. Small uncrewed spacecraft can also provide platforms for experiments, especially those involving zero gravity and exposure to space, but space stations offer a long-term environment where studies can be performed potentially for decades, combined with ready access by research people.

On Monday it was announced that Russia had blown up a former spy satellite at a period of acute tensions across Europe and this had resulted in huge levels of space debris which had the potential to cause serious possibly life threatening damage to the Space Station and it's multinational crew.

It had to take emergency action and put things on hold for just over day before anyone could work on the outside.

This prompted a angry protest by many in the scientific community that whatever blowing this former satellite was supposed to had been about, their actions had been reckless in the extreme.

Russian says it wasn't much to worry about but even tiny pieces can cause huge damage in space.

Personally I feel the international community are right to call Russia out over this.

Voyage

This week we'll take a bit of a break and look at something that's very connected to the past that many people had been waiting ages for.

For a variety of reasons, some being personal with band members gone through divorce the Swedish super group ABBA decided to call it a day in 1982 following the release of The First Ten Years, a double compilation album that had some new recordings on it such as Under Attack although a studio album was attempted but aborted.

ABBA were rather like the Beatles were in their heyday a group who had a broad range of fans and whose music could cover schlager to rock via folk music so they were in many ways everyone's band who realized recording in English rather than their native Swedish was a gateway to world-wide acceptance.

Initially as we got through the eighties that universality of appeal lead to a bit of a backlash with people seeing their music as "cheesy" pop but the appearance of Abba-esque, a four track EP of covers by the English synth duo Erasure in brought their music back into the public consciousness which was matched with the compilations ABBA Gold and More Abba Gold plus a the four cd set Thank You For The Music in 1994, the first time their music had been given that deluxe series treatment beyond a limited Readers Digest set in 1981. 

Roll on to 2021 and a new album that had started life as an attempt to produce a couple of new songs for a virtual reality tour that featured 3D avatars of the band emerged.

There are a variety of variants issued of the album numbering 33 all told. That cover is from the tri-fold "Softpack" version I own while the regular cd has a slightly different one. 

Just a Notion, the single from it issued October 22nd  has a start point of being a uncompleted 1978 tune that had new instrumental backing on it where it was originally included as a demo on that 1994 box set while I still Have Faith In You plus Don't Shut me Down came from 2018 originally intended for a BBC/NBC tv special that was cancelled.

In recording the album the band kept to the original synthesizers and mixing consoles of the early 1980's to keep the original sound while purposely being out of tune with 2021's trends so no duets with people such as the rapper Stormzy or multi artist collaborations.

It is and feels several plays later just like a modern Arrival album just evergreen timeless Abba that the odd quirky turn of phrase with its mixture of thoughtful ballads and more uptempo songs.

It also only plays for a modest 37 minutes and 11 seconds which is just long enough matching the norm of albums of the late 1970's and 80's to enjoy with a side change for those who bought the lp version and cassette versions.

I love it.

Spooky bangs!

 Yes it is Friday sandwiched between one event that is very much an American import  and another that is very British in is origins.

In Britain certainly during the 1970's and 80's you marked All Saints Day with parties that involved things more liking bobbing an apple or in Scotland Guising rather than Halloween and Trick or Treat of which there were a good number on Sunday night here going from door to door.

It's almost become a new old-fashioned custom to those brought up in the nineties that is passed down to their own children who enjoy it and even I enjoy carving pumpkins which was one of the things we were doing last weekend.

Bonfire night was always the big thing for us marking at one level preventing the House of Commons being blown up and on the other a family spectacle with bonfire, a guy and loads of fireworks and believe me I'll feel them here this weekend never mind hear them so it's a good idea to bring the dogs in.

The child-like side of me just loves it.

Have fun this weekend. 

Rambling before we're off

It's the preflight check before the LG ghoulish party with bangs Tomorrow  here making sure I do have everything I need cos with missing last years with you know what  it doesn't take a lot for me to forget something essential.

That means less time to do other stuff while I remember to take the food out to defrost this evening so it'll be all ready for tomorrow early evening and leaving notes regarding delayed orders coming.

You can almost guarantee it if you plan your orders to come before some major incident occurs and they get delayed and obviously I miss Lil Jennies Halloween story time which is to feature Peanuts which would be on Sunday as I'm making my way toward the rail replacement bus.

Bye for now!

Less heat, more column inches

It's a very wet and windy day as I type this to the point I even heard *something* move in the loft space above me this morning which is a bit disconcerting.

One of the things there's been much talk about in the last few days as part of the build up to COP26 climate change conference in Glasgow, Scotland is heat pumps.

The thing is the Heat Pump promotion bearing in mind the UK's climate and relatively poorly insulated homes many of which are over thirty years old simple will not work effectively because the output is lower overall so you need to trap that in the property.

The other issue is any hot water is also lower in temperature typically 40 degrees compared to around 60 in a gas or electric heated boiler which is insufficient for a shower or bath on cold day being lukewarm and makes serious bacterial infections such as Legionnaire's disease more likely as it don't kill the bugs off.

Toss in the need to rip the floorboards up to fit much wider pipes, put in bigger radiators that give out less heat and lose a big chink of your garden to sink the Heat Exchange unit with trench into and I can't see it happening.

It's a bit like Caroline Lucas the Green Party M.P. said "making tea in a broken teapot"

Tuning out and maybe solving problems

 

I think to be up in the sky hitching a ride on the Moon isn't a bad place to be as at least the stars are still transmitting radio waves unlike the 3 Mobile network which as I type this is down aka not working for it's millions of users on top of the continuing supply and energy crisis were going through.

The only kind of silver lining to this week is the EU appear prepared to make some major concessions around how the conundrum that is how the avoidance of borders across the Island of Ireland that apparently is set in stone in the Good Friday Agreement can be reconciled to the problem of placing a border between the Island of Great Britain and Northern Ireland that are politically a part of the United Kingdom.

This had been causing huge problems and gaps in the shelves in Northern Ireland's shops so  for instance some Christmas speciality foodstuffs from Marks and Spencers would not be available in Northern Ireland because of all the additional paperwork involved.

If I buy say a blank tape from Northern Ireland I have to have a customs declaration on the invoice to make legal to enter Great Britain where I am even though it's come from the United Kingdom which Northern Ireland is most certainly a part of. 

As I said at the time on here, that whole issue was massive and under appreciated at the time of the Referendum, not that there's any going back to that and really the question of how to make the paperwork that is necessary between the EU and the UK in general the least time consuming and simpler is really the big thing.

It may be true to say "You knew what to expect when you left" but does it do either party any real good to make things harder than they need to be when all our economies are suffering with both the pandemic and this energy crisis?  

Falling apart at the seams?

The week at least weather wise appears to be recovering more to where it normally would be for this time of the year here

We're having major grump worthy problems here like next to no newspapers save a handful of copies of the Daily Mail and nothing else at the local store that supplies the satellite of GHS with our needs.

I can't recall that even in the height of strikemania in '78/9 where it appeared the nation was having a nervous breakdown following all the business a few years before with coal strikes, the "Three Day week" and having to plan watching tv and cooking around a list of what areas could have electricity when.

My suspicion is some issue between his suppliers either Menzies or W H Smiths  and him following a take over (or "running it for Mr.x" in which instance legally the contracts don't change as Mr. x still is the owner) is behind it.

It may be him not realizing he'd need to remake them if it was a take over with a new contract which would have the order and billing arrangements so the previous arrangement terminates after so many weeks or possibly an unpaid bill.

It's just as well things like my Beano Christmas special and regular comics all come through the post from the publishers otherwise even I would have nothing to read this week but this doesn't bold well for the corner shop which prior to this had done very well on the back of Covid travel restrictions and the tendency for more people to work from home and so buy stuff from him during breaks.

A note from within

As I am sat at my desk working this afternoon it is raining really hard rather putting pay to lunchtime and afternoon recess here  so we have more study which is unfortunate.

I was asked to write some thoughts about what is concerning the grown ups.

The grown ups are getting in rather a tizzy about the fuel they put into their cars sometimes acting rather like silly boys fighting over it even though there is enough for everyone if we don't take it all for ourselves.

It's like sweets. If we share them there will be enough to meet out needs but if someone just takes six big paper bags filling them that leaves little for all of us who are left and that person may not use them all either!

l think naughty adults who take more than there fair share should have to apologize to people for being beastly greedy guts.

When I put the radio on the Home Service, the announcer said the Army may be used to get the fuel from the place the get the diesel from it to the petrol stations because there isn't enough grown ups driving the tankers.

That's a jolly whizz idea as it will mean if people put their thinking caps on they will have a bit more in parts of the country where there are particular problems such as the Home Counties as would guaranteeing supplies for important people like those who care for people. 

Caroline Joanne R (Miss) aged 12

Supergirl?

 Female super heroes are a great concept really and yes some of us are near enough indestructible not that I'd recommend just getting though your nine lives willy-nilly although this week has had own challenges with this mega price increase that stopped the fizz going in our pop apart from the ongoing problem of being short of truck drivers so stuff isn't making its way to shops and that..

This stuff of course does nothing to reduce the anxiety some of us battle with all the time with us managing it better at times compared to others especially when we get the "Bandits" stripping the supermarkets of anything the rumour mill says may be short. 

For me it's almost a re-run of how things were in the 1970's which I feel probably left some long standing issues like the tendency to get things just in case they go off market and to hang on to things perhaps without considering if we really wanted or needed them anymore.

FoMo or Fear Of Missing Out is a very common condition today that can override such ideas as devoting time to looking after ourselves rather than endless blogging and tweeting to others that doesn't really satisfy us but we effectively waste time on it.

It's why I try to spend time each day to be just outdoors switched off enjoying my surroundings without any electronic distractions.

I may not be quite Supergirl but I can try to be the best I can.

Shuffling the pack

 This week we are taking a brief look at polly ticks.

It was always on the cards although with Covid there wasn't a good time to to do it but the pack of cards has been reshuffled and thank goodness the hapless, muddled up Education Secretary has been removed not that whoever would of been in those shoes would not of have their work cut out  deal with Covid in schools and the Teaching Unions who tend to oppose anything.

He even got the Sixth Form of children in his own Constituency whose parents gave him a 35% majority protesting outside his constituency office about the computer predicted exam grades that made no sense!

Unlike some I don't feel Dominic Raab should of had to of gone as Foreign Secretary for being on his vacation when President Biden started the great pull out of Afghanistan and the ensuing mess.

He had a deputy and that persons job was to cover for him not that frankly by that point we could do much (and some the issues around Afghan Interpreters being still left their are more to do with the Home Offices inability to accept a simple proposition that people who helped the British Army were at grave risk from the likes of the Taliban and could of been got out earlier).

This is not being away at the start of a war or major offensive where continuity counts.

One aim of this reshuffle is to improve the representation of women in the cabinet which it has although I feel the example of Tony Blairs strongly female cabinet didn't show just being a woman made for a better person in post.

The other I suspect is to freshen thing up knowing were around two years away from a General Election.

It's a crazy world

Tis a busy life we leave.

For one thing I've been proper poorly for most of this week which I had mentioned in a few places meaning chunks had been put off simply because I did not have the energy to do them being very achy.

Between that there been following some adverse developments around the life of a close friend which are a concern in there of necessity extremely guarded nature.

I did see a bit of Wednesday's soccer which I gather was a bit disappointing with a goal draw after two huge wins while the grump was out to his club as it's reopened after being shut for you know what.

The Government Bill got through to spend additional money on post Covid catch up and tackling issues in the Care Service got through, something that had  that been known about since the last Labour Government but to which both main parties didn't deal with preferring to play silly games over.

It certainly isn't perfect but we need to start somewhere.

It's a very mad world the polly titicians live in obsessed by parliamentary terms, the elections and the need to been seen not to commit to anything that the other side can pull you up on but really not dealing with things sensibly by looking for consensus on long term plans so everybody involved to make long term plans.

Instead they either do nothing up keep undoing and changing things all the time making things worse.

You wonder why I gave up that life for being a child...

Back to school Friday

This week it must be said wasn't a great one when it comes to my health having been pretty poorly over a few days and we're only just getting back in the swing of things here.
It's also the time my head goes flying back to the past because when you're like me it's always thinking as if you are in that time so all the back to school promotions when life was rather more like this.

Yes that time you were dragged around the stationery shop for new geometry sets, pencil cases, felt tip pens for writing Carol luvs Simon in embarrassing places and notebooks although schools SHOULD supply exercise books or loose paper for folders.

You thought Minnie was bad, some of my exploits were legendary!

It was always fun to compare your mates pencil case and contents with everybody else's although while you could get a variety of pencil cases back in the day, the contents were generally unbranded and pretty boring.

These days branding gets everywhere as with this Dennis and Gnasher set, although Hello Kitty and Winnie The Pooh are super popular with it being on pencils and erasers (we used to call them Rubbers but American's use that for something very different so global brands don't use our English terms).

Then of course there was that most popular outing to the Uniform shop to try your schools official uniform on and get any alterations such as taking up hems and arm lengths arranged.

While some talk about making it cheaper personally I'd sooner up the quality so it really does last employing British workers rather than children in sweatshops in South-east Asia who work over 12 hours a  day in poor conditions even if it meant every parent was given a voucher to redeem part of the cost.

Something that is well made can easily be handed down if needed and looks smarter when worn which does matter.

Now to put mine on!

The Spirit of the Radio

 

For reasons I have from time to time spoke on on here and on the other blog, my life has tended to be punctuated with periods of hospital visits and much time spent in bed being a sickly child and these days adult but pretty much child.

I have a lot of memories I'd sooner of never experienced being either in the school sick bay frequently, off from school being at home or outside of term time being at home in bed being sick, often literally with a bucket beside me with just the odd visit from Mom for company.

So for me, the radio and the presenters were company with it put on quiet often during the day as I'd lie there praying it would all stop.

Often it would tuned to station had 'oldies' hours, dedicated 'gold' stations were a bit late in taking off so I'd hear songs from the last decade and a half typically from about 1956 to 1969 with snippets about the events of say one year and it's hits.

That concept sometimes get taken with commercial compilations like the EMI The Greatest Hits of 19xx series with the years hits and background notes of facts and figures about the year.

Thus while I grew up with first hand memories of music from the tail end of 1969 and into 1970, I heard and developed a liking for that which had gone before especially the pre-Beatles era with the likes of Bobby Vee, Del Shannon, Peter, Paul and Mary and Cliff Richard.

It was announced this Sunday Don Everly of the Everly Brothers had died aged 84 following on from Phil Everly in 2014.

The Everly's music was a mixture of Country, Appalachian Folk music and a hint of rock and roll spirit which was massive in the late 1950's until the Mid 1960's where the British Invasion lead rock sounds made everything before seem out of date even though they did record with England's The Hollies the "Two Yanks in England" album .

Songs like Cathy's Clown, All I Have To Do Is Dream and Ebony Eyes have an otherworldly feel to them that you seldom got from other artists while Wake Up Little Suzie and The Price of Love were more up beat even if some radio stations banned the former.

These songs were amongst those I learned and loved during that time having a small collection of recordings that cover the hits.

One thing that no one expected to be announced Tuesday was the death of Charlie Watts, the drummer of the Rolling Stones as many us had felt it was going to be Keith Richard who would go first given his issues with addictions in the past.

Charlie, pictured on the far right of this picture at the drum stool was the straight forward family man who had studied Art at Harrow College and got a job as a Graphic Designer before playing drums in Jazz band and encountering Brian Jones who was the founder of the Rolling Stones and Bill Wyman and walked out with a job of group drummer.

Unlike them, the rock and roll lifestyle wasn't for him preferring to spend time with his family, breeding Arabian horses, collecting classic cars and the like outside of recording and touring.

His drumming wasn't flash but it provided the beating heart of their music, more than capable of keeping up with their style as the group mixed in country and funk elements in the seventies and with clear indications of his jazz influenced technique.

Their early hits were played by my older brother and again on the radio so by the time I'd moved on from my likes of the early seventies to explore more 'mature' music their albums and the odd single were things I bought for myself.

The common denominator in all of this was The Spirit of the Radio to borrow a phrase from Rush because they all were a part of the soundtrack of my life and of no doubt of many others too which is why I already miss them so much. 

Another fine mess we're left with

 

There's only been one major topic of discussion this week and that is the collapse of the previous Afghanistan government in just under a week from the U.S. pull out of troops stationed  there since 2001 and 9/11 which still resonates strongly with us.

This was always on the cards since former U.S. President Trump signed a peace treaty with Afghanistan after mainly U.S. sponsored peace talks between various groups there including the Taliban, a extreme fundamentalist Islamist group.

From the moment that was signed any incoming President would bound to follow suit which no doubt would of had some support given the cost of that twenty year exercise but where things had gone badly wrong was the quickness of the Taliban having accused the Afghan Government of reneging on their word were able to take control seeing Government own troops defect by a third to them even.

That probably wasn't helped by them not being paid and reports senior figures pocketing the money to put in foreign bank accounts.

Thus as I sit typing this out, the Taliban are in control, yes the people who brought the effective demise of education for those just in double digits, that took women out of work and put them behind the sink looking after men and children, who blow up statutes cos they offended their beliefs and murdered gay people amongst many things.

Their spokesperson said they were going to be inclusive, that women would continue in education in an interview by a female tv anchorwoman who was told the next day no to go to work as women are not to be reporters.

Who are they kidding?

Thousands of Commonwealth soldiers lives in Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada were lost fighting these people before getting some measure of everyday freedom back.

Still others came home badly injured physically and all traumatized and as many of us are saying "For what?" and "Was it worth it?".

Across the week we have seen people not just our soldiers and staff but other terrified, desperate to leave that so remind me of the god awful end of the Vietnam War with people cling onto aircraft as they try take off.

I don't personally blame the incoming President for completing what was agreed, but for heaven's  sake why was the military intelligence so unreliable that an orderly withdraw is the least likeliest outcome? Just where did all these extra Taliban foot soldiers and weapons emerge from?

Criticizing our own Prime Minister who certainly isn't perfect rather misses the point: we had no part in the negations and no input into the timetable, just dealing with what the United States collectively did. We're just trying to get some humanitarian evacuations achieved in this mess.

When you look at the unfolding situation, the clearly increasing breaches of what was agreed around basic human rights and look back at what we had achieved for those people and the price in lives we paid I cannot say as someone whose family gladly joined the Services that were are remotely happy at the outcome.

I'm not alone in being bloody angry over this

The return of music

 

The London Symphony Orchestra are based these days at the Barbican, London, and own their own record label, LSO Live that features recordings by them and various guest as well as principal conductors.

I was looking for a decent disc of the opera, Fidelio and picked up there's that was on discount which includes the libretto which given this is sung in German, helps with following it although that makes for a bulky package.

On Friday July 30th  the Henry Wood Promenade concerts began generally held at the Royal Albert Hall, London  broadcast live on BBC Radio 3 and streamed with some also being recorded for showing on BBC television at weekends.

After last year where we had a Proms season, reduced from what was planned and heavily socially distanced, at least in 2021 we can have a audience albeit one subject to a few measures watching and applauding at the end the artists after a year when like everything else  that did still continue live, we had one.

It felt more like watching a recording studio control booth from a far, lacking that element of the audience and players feeding off each other.

There are no words at can describe adequately just how elated some of us feel to have live music making back.

The pandemic effected recording not just in  terms of the ability of the superstars of the Classical world to fly in to recording sessions around the globe but also spacing where unlike some popular recording was possible by having people fly in their performances electrically, to do so in classical music removes much of the atmosphere and acoustic feel of a session which effected new releases on disc and download.

The start of a recovery

 

Well, a break's a good as a rest they say as last weeks time helped in recovering from the psychological impact of covid and the restrictions, learning to feel comfortable with interactions that were so common place we seldom thought about them  but were off limits.

Things that also helped were the Olympics that like the Euros with much you could involved with following although they were and are constrained by restrictions due to Japan's current infection rates just because you could see people who had themselves struggled with training apart from the stuff we all did give it their all and winning

Britain's Sky Brown competed in the women's skateboarding at the age of thirteen despite the challenges of a serious injury last year and won a bronze, helping to take our country to sixth on the medal standings which is a good going and something as Britons we can be proud of.

With care we can put what we've been through to one side and move towards recovery and one thing that will help to deal with the problem of disrupted education for our children was the announcement on Wednesday Children of sixteen to eighteen (in other words sixth formers and college students) and those who are vulnerable (or have vulnerable parents, grandparents in the same household).

Given in a sixth form form personal experience you have eighteen year and sometimes nineteen year olds in the same classes who in other respects are classed as adults and that their bodies are at very much the same including abilities to transmit and catch covid that makes sense.

Alterations on the guidance about who needs to self isolate also should help as in a good many instances  whole groups were and not just those who tested positive for the virus.

Across wider society the issue of the over sensitive NHS covid app 'pinging' people whose contact was so brief they were unlikely to had caught it was eventually tackled although I do feel this could of been foreseen as absolute case numbers are of less of a concern  not least for those who have been double vaccinated so an initial rise was not the worry it was.

Actually overall the the infection rate is dropping off which may mean we are past the peak of the so-called Third Wave of the virus.

Things while not quite being where they were are a bit more normal with cause for hope we can live with it rather than feeling locked in.

Return to cuteness

Today I should be back traffic permitting from LG camp while nothing has been automated at tumblr, fa etc only on on the external blogs.

I don't know how it's going to pan out cos for one thing we haven't been together for like ages and for another we are all at different points along where we along removing restrictions that has made it possible we are at our most comfortable.

Society is generally all over place from those who oppose (and continue to) these steps and those who feel they've been cheated not having 'real' freedom but in some situations still being strongly advised to follow some measures and maybe having measures for the biggest events come mid to late September.

Followers of the Tumblr will have noticed what only be described as the Cuteness Overload  in recent months as it's moving toward what I'm feeling happier blogging about bypassing the discourse and issues from past.

For me to feel happy about making a post on that site is something I've battled with with more clearer focus about what is there and from where any reblogs come bypassing some imposed restrictions from others who reblogged but stuck their own community interactions limits on it.

At least it does appear to working out for now.

Prepare to take off!

 Phew what a scorcher of a week,what?

I like exploring and I'm presently running around finding the things after sixteen months out of the usual life trying to remember where I last put them apart from doing such modern things as checking the credit and battery charge on my cellphone.

The grump, to whom it can be said has been living up to that name adding and even try cultivate new things to grump over should be getting my case down tomorrow so I can start the packing having weighed up what will fit where and what may need to go on my tote bags.

As it will be warm I may decide to pack more minimally.

Unlike a few years ago I have to find space to pack my dslr and two zoom lenses although I'll have 'at hand' a compact camera on me for general shots as my trusty Canon died last time and I bought a new Sony that has a sharper and more extended zoom range on with stabilization which helps with my shaky paws.

Get set for Freedom Day

It's pretty much looking like a warm weekend for most of us in England at least where things will be kind of different from Monday.

I say kind of as for the umpteenth time people are confusing Laws with Rules as it is the Laws that are changing in connection with Social Distancing  and related matters which is different because like with say wearing anything obscuring your face there is no Law to ban it but good luck going into a bank or building society with that as it often breaches their Rules and you won't get service only if you follow their rule.

Rules don't trump Laws, they deal with local situations such as in institutions such as school.

This is relevant because an area of concern has been around wearing Masks (I prefer to call Masks, Masks not "face coverings" which refer to a wider set of things you might wear to be honest) where the Law will have no legal requirement backed by authority to wear one.

This does not mean that you may be requested in certain setting such as busy crowded places with limited air flow to wear a mask or in medical settings.

Already transportation such as Trams and Underground trains have made it plain a number will be expecting you to comply with a request in metropolitan areas which as so far only two -thirds of people over eighteen are fully vaccinated and much less likely to spread and catch covid.

The same will apply in some Supermarkets which as we all know get super crowded at weekends and other establishments.

To me this does make sense for now and can always be reviewed later although some areas like hospitality may be more "at own risk" as it is impossible to eat and drink masked and opening with huge limits on numbers almost unsustainable economically.

It doesn't diminish our freedom to respect the rights of others such as service providers and their employees in looking after themselves.

You will be be able to do more and with more people BUT you will still need to be cautious and be responsible.

The moodlifter

Not the greatest of weeks here but it may get better by next, as I type this in a new splint, the seems to be a amazing mood about the Country.

Yes, England have made it to the finals of Euro 2020+1 which apart from giving many people over what has been a pretty rubbish 16 months since lockdown began something to cheer about it has been quite interesting to see the number of women and girls taking interest in it, attending the many fan zones set up.

Part of that is that the female game has come of age with both Premiership Clubs operating quality female teams and the increased numbers of girls taking part in football, even joining girls own teams, having their own heroines.

Certainly it was a rare thing when I went to school to see girls playing in PE/sports or in the playground although my Mom was one of handful that did play the game with her brother and his friends and yet today it is by no means uncommon to see a girl bouncing her football enroute for the park for a game and for it to be offered to girls as team sport in school.

In the crazy world here, the new Fridge has arrived as I left the one and only grump to get on with moving the old one out, sweeping god know how many years of dust and that where it was before unboxing and installing the new one.

I don't need the static of arguments often stupid ones born of an unwillingness to discuss and agree a timetable for doing things rather than just doing it when he wants and then have fuss because others are already halfway through things they've started.

Thankfully it was dry and fairly pleasant so  spent that time walking and watching the world go by before settling in to children's programming on the BBC in the afternoon.

The month things will change

Well, we're into July where touch wood, I should be able to be out of this house overnight for the first time in absolutely ages.

There is as ever continuing discourse about how we are supposed to get out of this some of which can be paraphrased as "let me sleep on it" forever looking at other things into the future and saying effectively I'm not sure I need more time.

We of course now have for other reasons a new health secretary who is more inclined to take a broader view looking at the social,economic and even health consequences of the measure we felt were necessary to tackle the Covid pandemic.

It's always been a balencing act an act that has at least reduced the numbers of projected deaths by a huge margin even if the situation around Care Homes remains understandably sore part of the problem being that Care homes moved from mainly local authority controlled where they would of recieved support to mainly privately owned ones where it appears home owners expected the state to supply P.pe. and non one in the state was checking what if anything care homes were doing.

Regardless of party politics, social care and medical care including homes needs to be fully intergrated into the NHS, not fractured with demarcation issues.

There is talk around the requirement to wear masks (we can now call them what they are not just facial coverings) with some saying they should be optional given some 85% of people have  had a one innoculation and about 63% currently have had both has had a massive effect at bring the link between cases of Covid which are high and people being so ill as to require hospitalization.

That impact goes beyond being decimated but I do feel strongly that in enclosed public spaces people would be best adviced to stay with wearing mask for both the additional protection against transmission not just of covid but of things such as Winter Flu.

There was a reason many in South East Asia do wear masks for this and from my point of view we should keep that even if we do relax the one metre rule in things like entertainment centres.

Yes we need, however hard we may be pyschologically to break out of the fearfullness of the last year and a bit for our own good but we should be prepared to learn from and kept those things that can keep us all healthy

Going forward on Tumblr

This week hasn't been a great one with pretty bad muzzy head for a large chunk of it and as I'm typing this apart from the bang bang bang of next door erecting another shed it is raining pretty hard here, to hard to be honest for me to be out spotting the wildlife and no I don't mean Grumpy by that,lol!

I've been working a little on my Tumblr which I've had for a while now tidying the odd post up and working on the style of it as some of things I might of considering posting to be honest I had grown a bit tired of.

Part of that is really more to do with how Age Dysphoria runs in my life, I don't so much need a regressive tumblr so much as one that covers just what interests me a bit like a half and half of this blog and my other one cos I'm in the same space.

So that does have things related to manga, anime and lolita fashion mixed in with some past childhood related posts minus much of the age regression war discourse which as I've said before ironically takes you out of the very headspace you need just for arguments about terms and that.

That's always been me I feel and getting that tumblr right so I feel comfortable posting on it the stuff that matters to me is important.

The summer on temporary hold

 

The summer has been paused due to concerns over the extent of case rising of the Delta (previously known as the "Indian" ) variant until July 19th with just a few relaxations around things such as weddings and  few events going ahead as "test" events  and the break on when people and businesses can be evicted for being behind on rent shunted forward to March 2022.

Of itself that doesn't surprise me because it is generally accepted the variant is something like 60% more transmissible so you need a higher ratio of people with at least once vaccination and more including all vulnerable groups on double vaccinations to keep the transmission and hence the number of cases down.   

The good news is the vaccine especially where both doses have been given does reduce the number of severe cases up to and including needing hospitalization down and those that are seem to recover quicker than the initial Covid form so take less time in hospital.

By today all adults over eighteen will be able to book their vaccinations and a combination of intense surge testing and mass immunization in hot spots including all of the historic counties of Cheshire and Lancashire with their modern day "City Regions" of Liverpool and Greater Manchester cases will be flattened as well as nearby Leek here in Staffordshire where it is clearly linked to high schools and colleges so were already on eighteen plus vaccination.

I see masks and much of the one metre plus rules staying in place for the foreseeable future although it must be stressed we WILL need to live with this virus, keeping ourselves safe rather than be kept on permanent restrictions because as sad as the impact of Covid has been on health and deaths, the measures being taken to deal with it are also having a severe affect on health from operations and treatments postponed leading to people losing health, massive impacts on mental health even amongst those less vulnerable, time lost in physical well-being and education and so on.

We can't permanently pause society due to concern about NHS capacity, we need to address that capacity issue through increasing it.

Past loves and the struggles today

Not being a good week here with a muzzy head and migraine for a few days only semi-interrupted by a trip to the hairdressers so while haven't been able to prepare very much my brain was going backwards.

One of my first earworms was Sugar Sugar as performed by the Archies who had in 1969 had a tv show apart from being a massive comic giving an outlook on the teen life but having at least a dog and super clothes to grab my attention back then

It was a funny kind of era because coming in from the end of 1967 into 1968 a mixture of sophisticated productions, allied to a more child-like comic book approach to pop music and even cartoons had come in from songs like "Simon Says" the party game we played set to cheesy organ driven pop, catchphrases like "Quick, Joey Small" turned into songs and then things like the Archies and Josie and The Pussycats.

That was before you took into account things like Rupert The Bear being sang on Top of the Pops and Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep by the Middle of The Road being in the charts

I always loved watching The Wizzard of Oz with it's songs I loved to sing along to.

I did see this crib sheet come up which I thought was handy.

Finally like a good number of us with autism I find small talk in parties, social get togethers and even in the world of polly ticks very hard going and remain unable to make eye contact without freaking out.

I was once told in a employment annual review to apologize for not making eye contact something which I saw as being near enough having to apologize for my autism, that I absolutely refuse to do.

It's one thing to say if someone's notices it "Due to my autism I'm afraid I'm unable to make eye contact with people" it's another to have to apologize for not being able to meet a norm due to a disability I have no control over.

The alpaca's pj's

Phew, it's been a pretty warm week here so I've had to keep up the hydration here with extra glasses of water and pop as the heat takes a fair bit out of you and I tend to run on the warm side normally as it is.

I've been outdoors a fair bit taking in the sun, meeting people as you do while I've been exploring and sunbathing trying to stay healthy after all of last years business apart from obviously having now had both of my vaccinations.

While out I spotted these Alpacas playing around, half expecting me to toss them a carrot or two otherwise they'll send a posse around. 

I think they're really cute.

Making a tape or two returned II

 Hasn't been the best week being off for part of it so Matron's been insistant that I rest and take the pills.

Following on a bit from last week, often there was a promotion often tied into things like Christmas or Summer when it came to buying your tapes as after all, compared to much else we had back then, they were more portable so we could take them to a picnic or a beach and just insert and press play.

Often such promotions would tie in with key albums the companies were prepared to allow them to use to push the sales here such as this top sellers from mid 1986 with discounted stock prices.

You can also see how the art work on the cassette editions moved from a simple squared image on the front to more complex wrap around forms that might carry all the way the way to reverse of the insert know to some as the 'j card' adding to the appeal of the cassette version.

Making a tape or too returned

We kind of mentioned this machine way back in October 2019 after writing a bit about the week before in connection with making some new tapes on the Technics cassette deck, it had died.

The Panasonic RQ-JA63 is a personal cassette player from around 1985/6 that has an all metal single direction tape transport mechanism with switching for playing type I and type II+IV tapes and a switchable dolby B circuit for playing tapes made with it.

The problem with it was the main drive belt had gone soft and broke and it took a while to find the correct length, width and finish belt to replace it with. 

After lubricating the mechanism and fitting a new belt, it sounded as good as it did new. 

I haven't mentioned pre-recorded tapes much either but this edition of The Principal of Moments by Robert Plant better know as the lead singer of Led Zeppelin is one I've had from release in 1983.

Technically it is a very high quality tape using lower noise and much better sounding genuine chromedioxide tape made by BASF and played on the tape player it sounded superb

I first bought a cassette of Foreigner 4, their 1981 hit album home to Juke Box Hero, Urgent and Waiting For a Girl Like You in early March of 1982 while at school and until cassette editions were discontinued it had been reissued in different forms.

The first significantly different one was in late 1982 when like the Robert Plant tape it was duplicated on Chromedioxide tape rather than regular brown ferric oxide tape.

I came by recent a edition from the late 80's which while using ferric tape but a very good sort used the Dolby Hx Pro system to maximize the high frequency performance on more demanding parts of the music.

The Best of Rainbow originated from a Japan only release which was later issued in the UK and Europe in late 1981 adding single versions and the otherwise unavailable on album Jealous Lover.

This was a discounted Double play tape of around 86 minutes which was useful as I bought the lp version at the time making my own tape but recently bought a used but in nice condition copy of the official UK duplicated version with the red paper labels 

These tapes do sound pretty good showing before cds and Mp3 players entered the scene just how good a compact music source the cassette could be.