And second question why do bloggettes seem to enjoy my writing when 1/ I usually don't know what I'm talking about and 2/ am struggling to find something to write about?
Went out for a Sunday roast as eldest son and wife have been visiting for a few days. Paid £6.40 for a pint of Guinness. £6.40. Now isn't that just ridiculous? Turned on Facebook yesterday morning and somebody had posted beer prices from 1971 when a pint would cost you the princely sum of 16p. Yes 16p
£6.40 would buy you 40 pints at those prices. I worked part time in a pub at that time and well remember those prices and having to work out the cost of large rounds in your head and work out how much change to give in the same way - no automatic tills or calculators in those days.
Yes I know all about inflation, cost of living and how much you could buy for 16p. Roll back a few years and my mother gave me 1s/6d every morning. That was 6d for my bus fare to school, 6d for the ride back and 6d just in case. Or in today's parlance 2 1/2p for getting to school, 2 1/2p for getting back and 2 1/2p just in case.
Today even with the bus fares that have been pegged, the journey would cost you £4. Which of course is still cheaper than a pint of Guinness. I know in my example from the 1960s re the bus, I have quoted half fares for being under 16 but even so.
On the subject of drink, there was a story in the newspapers of an idiot who decided to challenge himself to drink 2000 pints of beer in 200 days. Again no calculator is needed to work out that's 10 pints per day. He realises this might not have done his liver a lot of good, not to mention the withdrawal symptoms when he stops. Oh and it cost him £18,000. Next time he wants to chuck that amount of money away he might consider going tee total and giving the money to charity. As they always say, don't try this at home.
We had to turn back on the way to the pub on Sunday when we had under a mile to go. The road in front of us close to Marlingford Mill was flooded. It was difficult to assess how deep it was but I wasn't going to risk finding out so we turned round and found a new route.
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I find a good way to go to sleep at night is to have a read for up to half an hour and then think about something specific. It might be something that has happened during the day or one of my many projects or something lined up for the coming days. You might think that keeping my mind active would prevent sleep but I find the opposite and I soon drift off. I think reading is the key and I've just finished the Kevin Sinfield biography I have mentioned a few times.
He talks about all the amazing marathon efforts he has made with his team. And team is the big word here. He seems to think that running thousands of miles is quite normal. He is an amazing human being but his modesty precludes us from really learning how difficult and painful his efforts have been because he is too keen to praise everyone else.
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Yesterday I mentioned not knowing what had happened to the autograph I had of Bobby Charlton. Well son Chris says he has it along with a number of other autographs. So that's good to know.
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I lost all interest in Formula One racing when we had that farce a few years ago which saw Lewis Hamilton lose the world title after losing a clear advantage going into the last lap that would have seen him cruise to victory. There was an accident, the so called safety car came out, the cars restarted in a snaking line and Hamilton got overtaken, turning the whole race and championship into a farce.
Apparently Hamilton finished second on Sunday only to be disqualified. Was he disqualified for dangerous driving - no. Get this. He was disqualified because of something illegal about his underfloor skid blocks. I say again - what a farce this sport is.
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The latest celebrity to burst into print is Strictly Come Dancing's head judge Shirley Ballas and on Breakfast Television she admitted something I have long suspected. Her first novel Murder On The Dance Floor was written in conjunction with another author. It sounded very much as if this author had been given the bones of the story by Our Shirl but actually written it herself.
The Kevin Sinfield autobiography was also written by somebody else. It would be nice to think that a novel or autobiography was actually written by the person whose name appears on the jacket. Oh have I pointed out that my autobiography is written 100 per cent by myself, sitting at my laptop. No other writers were harmed in this process. Every word that will be dropping off the pages will be mine, all the mangled grammatical errors are mine.
Towards the end of the Sinfield book there is a distinct stab at the procrastination of our Government in promising funds for research into a cure for Motor Neurone Disease and then not releasing them. Sounds a familiar story.
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I have often talked about my butterfly mind which flits from one subject to another. Well I have another example. Often in the evenings I sit down to write something. It might be any one of my projects which I have outlined in the past few days. I might settle down to answer e mails and that's where everything goes haywire.
Suddenly I'm taken into other people's worlds. Bloggettes might be saying hello or making comments on that day's blog. Somebody might be making contact on Messenger to share something or just say hello. And know what - I love love love it. The more people that contact me the better. I love the interaction around what I have been doing. Please please please continue.
Something special is happening at the moment as well. I am getting wonderful reaction in a number of ways which I will explain at a later date.
However tired I am feeling I always feel rejuvenated reading all the comments and messages. Please keep them coming.