Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Monday, July 28, 2014

Good news!

I have been re-instigated into my job as bartender of Student Union Bar.

This information is waiting for me when I return to Dave's flat. It is in a letter which has been sent to me.

I am required to apologise to VP but this for me is no problem. I have often apologised myself from under difficult circumstances in the past.

So this now mean I can pay for cinema tickets - but still require you to pay for the dancing class! This only fair.

The dancing class is going good. Do not you think so?

Anna

Saturday, July 26, 2014

What wrongs could need such righting?

*******************************

Ten minutes north of somewhere else,
A ragged bunting flutters,
Black smoke hangs in a sullen sky
And blood runs down the gutters.

Torn uniforms and shredded boots,
The stink of gas-filled trenches;
And sentries doze
With frozen toes,
And dream of buxom wenches.

From Flanders Field to Gaza Strip -
Not far, as the missile flies -
Civilians, children, refugees,
Flee from the deadly skies.

What is it for,
What does it mean,
This senseless, mindless fighting?
When will it end,
For foe and friend?
What wrongs could need such righting?

It's happening again, you see -
In fact it never stopped -
We paraded, we 'remembered',
But the penny still ain't dropped.



Thursday, July 24, 2014

No need will there be, Georgie, for the Industrial Tribunal!

The admissions tutors - they are the ones who process all the applicants from via the UCAS  who wish to secure places at the university - they are going on strike unless Anna is re-instigated in her job.

This would be meaning that no students would be interviewed or enrolled for the coming academic year. Thus giving VP one big headache, and maybes result in being booted out of his job because he have lack of support of staff.

I would not wish this to happen to man - even though he is twat. So hopefully threat will be enough to make him think again.

Yes, dancing was fun, and even though I am superior dancer to you I am willing to be partner to yourself in order to help you improve.

Will keep you informed of developing of situation regarding job.

(by the wayside - you always used to say, when things go badly,  but I will dance again... well, now you are!)

Anna

Monday, July 21, 2014

In the garage

*****************************

Under the darkest recesses of the bench
shadows shift, and shapes mysteriously beckon; 
that other world that you see out of the corner of your eye,
only to vanish when you look directly at it.

Is this a world of reality
or a world of imagination?
are they the same thing?
different sides of the same coin;
the Yin and the Yang of reality?

You can't have light without shadows -
light creates shadows;
you can't have positive without negative -
negative gives birth to positive.

The reality of our five senses
is not all of reality - 
just a bit of it. 


Not sure where this leaves us for the moment, but let's listen to music on Classic FM.

Despatches from the front

******************************************



I was going to give some background to the above two notes (written at different times) but I remembered the words of my old Commanding Officer: Never complain, never explain. And he remained true to this motto, even at his Court Martial.

The last time I saw him, he still looked resplendent in uniform; he was working as a Traffic Warden in Slough and he booked me for being 5 minutes over the meter time. He was writing out a ticket as I reached my car. I didn't complain, and he didn't explain. 

Regarding your intention of taking the Vice Principal to an Industrial Tribunal for 'unfair dismissal': I think it all hinges on whether you used 'reasonable force' to eject him from the premises (his own premises). It might come down to your word against his and, whilst in no way do I wish to prejudge the issue, as someone who has experienced the savagery of your 'half-nelson', I would not be surprised if he produces an 'expert witness'; probably the doctor who attended to his neck at A & E. 

You say the brace is a sham? That may be so. On the other hand...
Anyway, it is for you to decide. Of course I will appear as a character witness if you do proceed, but perhaps Dave would be a better bet in this case?

On a lighter note.
                          Well, Anna, who would have thought we would have 'taken to the floor' this weekend. Ballroom Dancing! I'm glad I enrolled us on that course, although I had serious reservations. I mean, I have never learned to dance - Disco dancing, I can hold my own with anyone, but I mean proper dancing, where you have to learn the steps and everything.
.
For the one hour lesson I forgot about everything else (and you know I have a lot to forget about).  I came out of the place with a head clearer than it had been for a few days.

Looking forward to the Tea Dance. 

See you Wednesday

George

Saturday, July 19, 2014

No worries

******************************

Too bad about the job, Anna. Never mind - I'm sure something will turn up.

And don't worry about the cinema tickets - there was nothing I really wanted to see.

About the Wainscot woman: I know you are concerned about my safety on the Internet, but sometimes you gotta reach out to people. I mean, what would the world be like if we refused to take a risk in order to make someone's life better?

Look at the risk I took with you, all those years ago.

So stay cool.

See you under the clock at the train station.

George

Dear Folk Lover

****************************************

Thank you for your comment.

The last time I heard the song 'I'll go no more a tunnelling...' was many years ago in the Dancing Parrot just off Water Street in Manchester. Sadly the pub is no longer there, having been demolished to build a flyover supporting the new Mancunian Way.

As to the words... I can only remember the chorus, which I think went something like this:

I'll go no more a' tunnelling
Down along Urmston way,
Though my wife has gone and left me
'Cos the gaffer he stopped my pay.
I'm lonely, cold and hungry,
Existing on the Dole,
But I won't go down the shaft again
Till they catch that bloody mole.

Sorry but this is all I am able to tell you.

Best of luck in your search.

George



Friday, July 18, 2014

Lost my job due to ejecting from out of bar the VP.

This is blow to self esteem and also to finances. So when me meet tomorrow I shall not be able to pay for seats in cinema like usually do.

Who is this female who is asking you about moles in her Wainscot? My dictionary say this is 'a wooden panelling on lower walls of a room'. No other meaning is given?

I know you always like to help peoples what are in distress (especially ladies) but what is condition of a woman's wainscot to do with you?

Anyways I am going to the pub with Dave. One needs cheering up when losing one's job.

Anna 

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Dear Anonymous

I am sorry to learn of the random penetration of your Wainscot by these furry creatures; it must be so irritating.

As for having a little man in ... well that is rather up to you.

If you do decide to go down this route, do not choose someone off the internet. It is my personal experience that they promise so much and yet deliver so little.

Do you have a friend or neighbour who has had her Wainscot recently treated. Were they completely satisfied?


As regards payment: some men ask for money before getting started on the job. Have none of this! Even if the man comes recommended  do not part with any money until he has finished the job, tidied away his tools and wiped down your Wainscot. (a real expert should leave your Wainscot so you can see your face in it).

I hope this has been of some help, but do not hesitate to contact me if you need further advice.

Sympathetically

George





Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Not that kind of mole

No, my silly Swedish girl - not that kind of mole. I am talking about the small digging mammal. Well, usually small - but in this case a giant mole.

My poem is based on the legend of the Giant Mole of Urmston.

Urmston is a small town just to the south west of Manchester.

When London began to build its 'Tube' network, halfway through the nineteenth century, Manchester decided to beat it to the post and began excavating for its own underground system.

Unfortunately when excavation began (in Urmston so as to confuse spies from London) the tunnels collapsed. Workmen would arrive at the site on a Monday morning to find that the tunnel they had dug the previous week had great holes bored through the sides which had caused falls of earth.

At first sabotage was suspected; that London had got wind of the rival scheme. But then sightings of a great black slug-like creature 'of enormous girth' began to be reported by terrified workmen. Its length was never ascertained because just a glimpse of this fearsome 'thing' was enough for men to throw down their shovels and picks, and run.

In the end, workmen simply refused to return underground and the scheme had to be scrapped. Eventually it was replaced by the sophisticated overground tram system which is today the envy of the capital - and indeed most other countries.

Although the Great Mole of Urmston does not get the publicity Nessy (the Loch Ness Monster) gets, it has been the focus of much scientific enquiry. The problem is that - unlike Loch Ness - the whole area where the sightings were made is now buried under several feet of concrete with houses, roads and tram-tracks on top.

But the legend lives on in Lancashire folk lore. Even today, in the folk clubs around Manchester, songs are sung about this fabulous creature; perhaps the most famous being: I'll go no more a tunnelling, down along Urmston way. 

So you see Anna, my poem is not a metaphor but a chilling reminder that there are more things lurking underground than we can ever imagine.

Sweet dreams

George
What is this silly poem? Is it supposed to be metaphor? If so one does not get it.

I have small mole on left shoulder, as you are well knowing, but for what is this giant mole doing? How can such a thing burrow in earth?

This is why I suspect metaphor. 

I have to chuck out of bar last night one very loud person, who is drunk and making advancements to me. I take him by arm behind back and say: I do not care if you are vice principal, I will not tolerate such behaviour.

Here is another photo. I am thinking this shows well the British seaside resort.


Your Anna

Tuesday, July 15, 2014

And now for something completely different

************************************

The Giant Mole of Urmston

Down, down, down in the earth,
Burrowing, burrowing for all its worth,
The Giant Mole of Urmston is heading this way –
It’ll be under your house by the end of the day –
And then you’ll regret the life you have led,
As the roof comes crashing down on your head,
And you fall in a hole like the pit of Hell,
Gasping for air in the sulphurous  smell.

For though in this life you think you’re a winner,

You could end up as a giant mole’s dinner.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Those who shout the loudest get the attention

******************************

Those who make the biggest noise usually get what they want. Why is life like that? Or, perhaps more importantly, can we change things? Because as long as those who have the means: either an ability with language, wealth, a particular accent, or  who are simply prepared to fight for what they wan, come out on top, how can we expect society to change?

What you see in the individual is replicated in the larger society, and in relations between societies. Is it naive to imagine there could be any other way? They crucified the man who thought so.

Is it simply human nature to 'fight for your rights'; your family; your country? 

Change has got to start with the individual - are you going to be the first to risk it? Probably not. And why should you, when a look at the world shows you what happens to those who 'turn the other cheek'.

So we go on demanding 'our rights', and knocking over - verbally or otherwise - those we perceive to be denying us those rights.

How sad. But we need to remember that we are, after all, animals (albeit sophisticated animals) and we have a long way to go.

Somehow though, that doesn't just seem good enough. So can you come up with an answer, Anna, because I can't.

Anyway, it's 11pm and I am yawning so am away to my little bed.

( I don't know what to make of that photo of yours)

George



No - it is not of the students but of the academic staff that one has to be ware. But never fear, I am able to deal with such people. Of course is ok for them to buy Anna a drink but that so far as it is to be going. Well a bit of chat because this only polite since they buy me drink. This I am making clear to them.

How are your heads what you have been having? Perhaps you are needing the pills?

Exercise is very important. Like the walking or even the cycling.

Here is another picture I take.


Saturday, July 12, 2014

Photo

********************************

Here is one of my photos.


I call it 'Come to bed'

It's been another hot 'un, Anna. And I have been travelling.

I am too tired to tell you about it now. But I enjoyed it.

I think I shall go to bed.

I hope you are taking care of yourself behind that bar. I know what students are like!

Slightly concerned

George

Morning

***********************************

I like that photo, Anna, it is the one I always wanted to take... with the dark clouds making it seem even more like a 'Castle in the Pyrenees'. 

It's another hot day and I cannot stay here. I will grab my rucksack and board a train. They say that 'to travel hopefully is better than to arrive.' I think I understand that. But it's not just the happy anticipation; it's the travelling itself that's important. To be suspended between two places... neither of them owning you, making demands on you.

You have to have a destination in order to travel... but it's the travelling that's important. Like Life.

See you soon my Swedish Siren

George

Friday, July 11, 2014


This is the photo for which I was looking in the bowel of computer and now have found it.

Still am aching to return to our place and will do so as soon as possible, is not that so?

Having finish all examination, I am now working at part time job in bar of student union as bar-tender. This is just the temporary job so as to make my ends meet.

Do not worry that I shall be chatted up (as you say) or if so (and probably likely when one thinks about it) I shall not be offering my body to anyone, but keeping chaste and pure until our next reunion.

This poem you put on blog sound very depressing. It is reminding me of song 'Is this all there is?' by sundry artistes of which my favourite is Peggy Lee.

Not ready for that final disappointment... eh?

Your Anna

Optimism?

******************************************

The day begins
And you know you can't win,
'Cos you didn't win yesterday, either;
And you start to think
About ending it all -
But it's really not worth the meither.

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Yes, good days we had and accomplished much.

Danger now is of the slipping back into the doldrums (another English idiom which I look up and see originated from area of sea which no wind blows in but now is to mean being down and flat and going nowhere.)

Anyways here is photo I take as reminder of holiday.

Oh, sorry, photo has disappeared somewhere in bowel of computer. I will try next time.

Sleep good and no more of the dreams what you awake from all hot and bothered and agitated.

Anna


Four days in another country

*************************************

What a four days they were, eh, Anna. 

Tuesday, July 08, 2014

How do they make socks?

***************************

That thought struck as I was pulling on a sock this morning.

I mean, we take socks for granted - don't give them a second glance. But suppose we had to make out own? Knit them? How would we get the elastic in? The elastic that stops them from slipping down?

Then again, there's underpants. I cannot begin to understand how they manufacture underpants. And yet, somebody has to. If someone asks you what you do for a living, and you say 'I'm a surgeon', they're impressed. But if you said 'I make underpants' they would probably laugh. But they wouldn't laugh if their underpants kept falling down because they'd not been made properly. Or, even worse, it they had no underpants at all, and had to suffer the resultant itchiness throughout the day.

It's these little, seemingly unimportant things that matter in Life.

Saturday, July 05, 2014

By the seaside

******************************************

You'd like it here, Anna.

The sun is shining on this very British (well, Victorian) seaside town.

I have just been to the top of the Great Orme. I travelled up by tram but walked down. Then I fortified myself with a lemon and sugar crepe - and a pot of tea. Excellent.

I have located suitable lodgings for us - you and me - and I am sure you will approve. The food is good, the beds are soft; what more could one ask for.

Looking forward with eager anticipation.

Your George

Friday, July 04, 2014

Memories of a village childhood

I was thinking about all the games we used to play as kids. We had to amuse ourselves back then; there were no computers, or even television. We played outside in the street, and we were healthier for it.

Tick; hide and seek; spin the bottle; they were just a few of the games I remember. 

Although I do have a hazy recollection of a game; I think it was called ‘Vlad the Impaler’. I don’t remember much about it, ‘cos I was only little, but the name sticks in my mind. I know it involved them spiky iron railings at the end of Froggit Street. And for some reason I seem to associate it with my first ride in an ambulance. But my memory isn’t what it used to be so I may be mixing things up.

We didn’t play the game for long though. Now I think back, we stopped playing it about the time that policeman came to the school to talk to us. 

 And Daft Derek – the lad who invented the game – went away.

And He never came back.

And the council pulled down the railings.

Anyway we moved from the village just after that.



Happy days.