Category: General

Come back, Oliver, all is forgiven

Except for the bit about chopping off the monarch’s head (Leave good Queen Bess alone, after all, the armed forces swear allegiance to her and she is a very nice lady), we could do with another Oliver Cromwell to deal with the self-serving nonentities that occupy the present British parliament.

Here is what he said when dissolving the 1653 Parliament :-

“It is high time for me to put an end to your sitting in this place,

which you have dishonoured by your contempt of all virtue, and defiled by your practice of every vice.

Ye are a factious crew, and enemies to all good government.

Ye are a pack of mercenary wretches, and would like Esau sell your country for a mess of pottage, and like Judas betray your God for a few pieces of money.

Is there a single virtue now remaining amongst you? Is there one vice you do not possess?

Ye have no more religion than my horse. Gold is your God. Which of you have not bartered your conscience for bribes? Is there a man amongst you that has the least care for the good of the Commonwealth?

Ye sordid prostitutes have you not defiled this sacred place, and turned the Lord’s temple into a den of thieves, by your immoral principles and wicked practices?

Ye are grown intolerably odious to the whole nation. You were deputed here by the people to get grievances redressed, are yourselves become the greatest grievance.

Your country therefore calls upon me to cleanse this Augean stable, by putting a final period to your iniquitous proceedings in this House; and which by God’s help, and the strength he has given me, I am now come to do.

I command ye therefore, upon the peril of your lives, to depart immediately out of this place.

Go, get you out! Make haste! Ye venal slaves be gone! So! Take away that shining bauble there, and lock up the doors.

In the name of God, go!”

Any volunteers? Nigel, mayhap?

 

You need hands

I was heel-clicked incarnate. Honestly, the cliché police, if they existed, would have thrown the book at me or locked me up and thrown away the key. Nothing could stop me in this mood. I was on top of the world, soaring like a cold blister and full of beans that could make a new forest. As I walked down the street I was the shiniest on show by a city mile (not in the country and anyway, a mile’s a mile for all that). I couldn’t resist singing my favourite Scorpions song “Here I am, Rock you like a Harry Kane.”

Then Destiny called. “Hello, you,” she said.

A driver had lost control of his Ford F650 pick up truck and had driven it onto the pavement. Careering at speed it was almost upon a young boy who was walking in front of me. I had a split second to make a decision.  Continue reading “You need hands”

Good business practice or moral theft?

The gap between “acceptable” business practices and downright dishonesty seems to me to grow ever narrower as time marches on, especially when dealing with large corporations.

For instance, as our garage stands some distance away from the house, when we took the decision to fit an electrically operated garage door, we were informed by our energy supplier that it would require a separate meter which was installed a couple of years ago. Continue reading “Good business practice or moral theft?”

Gallus Gallus Domesticus

Never been a fan but I used to be able to take or leave chooks.

Even quite enjoyed watching my Great Aunt Aggie’s bantams scratching around the farmyard and always appreciated the eggs. But, for some reason, chicken meat and I did not interact too often in my formative years. I remember grey mince and tough slices of beef and/or pork but I really don’t recall chicken impinging too often in my youth and childhood.

Anyhow, it came to be 1963 and I was 14 years old. Able to work and  earn money in the school holidays. One of the major employers in the Perth area was Marshalls (the Chunky Chicken Champions). Continue reading “Gallus Gallus Domesticus”