“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.” – Bruce Lee
Reputation is what men and women think of us; character is what God and angels know of us. Thomas Paine
When I said ‘death’ before ‘dishonor’, I meant alphabetically. Unknown
“The greatest discovery of all time is that a person can change his future by merely changing his attitude.”
- Oprah Winfrey
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It’s another gorgeous day on the Costa Blanca with wall to wall sunshine. The animals seem to feel it’s a better day and I’ve already seen a couple of squirrels playing on the telephone wires.
I had a difficult morning with the technology yesterday. It would seem that whenever I have visitors the equipment plays up and this is most frustrating. I suspect their are gremlins lurking in the Windows software grinning like mad as the printer refuses to do what it’s paid to do. It seems the technology really digs in its heels and certainly doesn’t perform impeccably as per normal. This, of course, leaves me feeling a little cross to say the least. It is difficult to strangle the software. The hardware is easier as you can thump it with your hand. It doesn’t help matters. It doesn’t make the thing work and it often leads to personal injury. Leave the blessed equipment for a few minutes and it behaves perfectly!
Our son Andrew dropped in to see us en route for Birmingham. He had been to a meeting in Castellon and his jet-setting lifestyle makes me smile as I remember the days of pushing my boys to learn Spanish and French. The schoolteachers in Cornwall didn’t seem as aware of the reasons why Spanish is more important than French in the world today. If my boys were starting all over again I think I would be encouraging them to now learn Chinese. The world has changed and in the England of the 80s and 1990s there were still many pedagogues thinking that Greek and German were important languages to learn. I add quickly that all learning is of value but it always crossed my mind that there is a better outcome if the subject studied is used in everyday life as opposed to turning up to the pub quiz with a crested sweater and smug smile on your face because you were one of the elite who studied Greek mythology. Maybe you might have fared better studying Greek finance!
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In the queue at the shop, the cashier told the old woman that she should bring her own bags because plastic bags weren’t good for the environment. The woman apologised and explained, “We didn’t have the “green” thing back in my day.
The cashier responded, “That’s our problem today because the former generation did not care enough to save our environment!”
He was right, that generation didn’t have the green thing in its day.
Back then, they returned their milk bottles, lemonade bottles and beer bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But they didn’t have the green thing back in that customer’s day.
In her day, they walked up stairs, because they didn’t have an escalator in every shop and office building. They walked to the grocery shop and didn’t climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time they had to go two miles.
But she was right. They didn’t have the green thing in her day.
Back then, they washed the baby’s nappies because they didn’t have the throw-away kind. They dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning up 220 volts – wind and solar power really did dry the clothes. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that old lady is right, they didn’t have the green thing back in her day.
Back then, they had one TV, or radio, in the house – not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief, not a screen the size of Wales . In the kitchen, they blended and stirred by hand because they didn’t have electric machines to do everything for them.
When they packaged a fragile item to send in by post, they used a screwed up old newspaper to cushion it, not polystyrene or plastic bubble wrap.
Back then, they didn’t fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the lawn. They used a push mower that ran on human power. They exercised by working so they didn’t need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she’s right, they didn’t have the green thing back then.
They drank from a fountain when they were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time they had a drink of water. They refilled their writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and they replaced the razor blades in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But they didn’t have the green thing back then.
Back then, people took the tram or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or rode in the school bus instead of turning their mums into a 24-hour taxi service. They had one electrical socket in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And they didn’t need a
Computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest Pizza Hut.
But isn’t it sad the current generation laments how wasteful the old folks were just because
“they didn’t have the green thing back then”?
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8 years old,
Hateful little bastard.
Bites!
FREE PUPPIES
1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbour’s dog.
FREE PUPPIES.
Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd.
Father is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.
COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED.
Also 1 gay bull for sale.
JOINING NUDIST COLONY!
Must sell washer and dryer £100.
WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE .
Worn once by mistake.
Call Stephanie.**** And the WINNER is… ****
FOR SALE BY OWNER.
Complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 45 volumes.
Excellent condition, £200 or best offer. No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.
Statement of the CenturyThought from the Greatest Living Scottish Thinker–Billy Connolly.
“If women are so bloody perfect at multitasking,
How come they can’t have a headache and sex at the same time?”
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1212 – The Moslems were crushed in the Spanish crusade.Still at it..
1453 – France defeated England at Castillon, France, which ended the 100 Years’ War.Bon
1762 – Peter III of Russia was murdered. Catherine II the Great took the throne. Dangerous days
1785 – France limited the importation of goods from Britain. No more beef
1815 – Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to the British at Rochefort, France. Hands up
1821 – Spain ceded Florida to the U.S. Pity!
1866 – Authorization was given to build a tunnel beneath the Chicago River. The three-year project cost $512,709. Good idea
1917 – The British royal family adopted the Windsor name. Crafty devils
1941 – Brigadier General Soervell directed Architect G. Edwin Bergstrom to have basic plans and architectural perspectives for an office building that could house 40,000 War Department employees on his desk by the following Monday morning. The building became known as the Pentagon. Necessary evil
1955 – Disneyland opened in Anaheim, CA. I enjoyed my visit there in 1996
1960 – Francis Gary Powers pleaded guilty to spying charges in a Moscow court after his U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union. Surely it was his job’
1975 – An Apollo spaceship docked with a Soyuz spacecraft in orbit. It was the first link up between the U.S. and Soviet Union. Clever stuff
1981 – Two skywalks suspended from the ceiling over the atrium lobby at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City, MO, collapsed. 114 people were killed. Five years later two design engineers were convicted for their negligence. Dreadful neglect
1996 – 230 people were killed when TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed off Long Island, NY. This was terrible
1997 – After 117 years, the Woolworth Corp. closed its last 400 stores. A sad day
1998 – An entire village was swept away in Papua New Guinea by a 23-foot wave that was triggered by an undersea earthquake. Eight days later the government reported that 1,500 people were dead, 2,000 were missing and thousands were homeless. Dreadful and almost unbelievable
The Day’s Music Events 17th July1946, Petula Clark made her UK television debut appearing on the Cabaret TV series at the age of 13. Clark began with guest spots on radio when she was only 9 and made her first film a year later. ‘Put Your Shoes On Lucy’ was released as her debut release in 1949, her ‘The Little Shoemaker’ became her first U.K. hit in 1954.She is a vastly underrated British performer because she went to live in Switzerland
1959, Billie Holiday died in a New York City hospital from cirrhosis of the liver after years of alcohol abuse, aged 43. (While under arrest for heroin possession, with Police officers stationed at the door to her room.) In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank.This is so unfair and sad
1965, During a UK tour The Rolling Stones appeared at The Guildhall, Portsmouth supported by The Walker Brothers and Steam Packet. What a show
1967, American jazz saxophonist and composer John Coltrane died from liver cancer at Huntington Hospital in Long Island, New York, aged 40. Worked with Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie. Released the 1964 album ‘A Love Supreme’.A huge name
1967, The Beatles single ‘All You Need Is Love’ / ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’ (originally called ‘One Of The Beautiful People’) was released in the US. It became The Beatles 14th US No.1. This song is a lovely sentiment
1968, The animated film ‘Yellow Submarine’ premiered at The London Pavilion. The Beatles made a cameo appearance in the film but didn’t supply their own voices for the characters.This seemed somewhat silly
1972, A bomb exploded under The Rolling Stones equipment van in Montreal, believed to be the work of French separatists. Angry fans rioted throwing bottles and rocks after 3,000 tickets for the show turned out to be fake. What a mess
1974, The Moody Blues opened what they claimed was the first ‘Quadraphonic’ recording studio in the world.We remember all the quadrophonic hoo ha
1975, Bob Marley and the Wailers played the first of two nights at The Lyceum, London, and both nights were recorded for the November released ‘live’ album, featuring the single ‘No Woman No Cry.’ I loved his music
1976, Demis Roussos was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Roussos Phenomenon EP’. It was the Greek singers only UK chart topper and the only No.1 EP to top the charts in the 1970′s.He was originally with Aphrodite’s Child
1979, Gary Moore left Thin Lizzy during a US tour and was replaced by ex Slick & Rich Kids guitarist Midge Ure. A pivotal change
1982, Irene Cara was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Fame’, which was based on the hit TV series about a New York drama school. Cara (who played the role of Coco Hernandez in the original movie) won the Academy Award for Best Original Song and the Golden Globe Award for the same. This was a well-loved hit
1993, Barbra Streisand entered the US album chart at No.1 with ‘Back To Broadway’.Fabulous voice
1993, Take That had their first UK No.1 single with ‘Pray’. Their first of 8 No.1′s, they went on to be the most successful British boy band of the 1990s. They have since got better and better
1993, U2 scored their fifth UK No.1 album with ‘Zooropa’, the album was also an American No.1. Brilliant group
1995, Robbie Williams left Take That. The group had scored six UK No.1 singles and two No.1 albums with Robbie in the group. Good move for all concerned
1996, Chas Chandler died aged 57 at Newcastle General Hospital, England, where he was undergoing tests related to an aortic aneurysm. He had been the bass player with The Animals and manager of Slade, Nick Drake and Jimi Hendrix. Another giant of the music world
1997, During a European tour Michael Jackson appeared at Wembley Stadium, London. Tickets cost £26.75...and he’d fill the place
1999, Kevin Wilkinson, drummer with Howard Jones hung himself at home aged 41. Also worked with China Crisis, Holly and the Italians, Squeeze and The Waterboys.Dreadful
2004, Half of the 4,500 people in the audience walked out of Linda Ronstadt’s show at the Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas after the singer dedicated an encore of ‘Desperado’ to filmmaker Michael Moore and urged the crowd to see his film Fahrenheit 9/11. This was something we didn’t hear much about in the UK
2005, Jamaican musician Laurel Aitken died. Dubbed as ‘the Godfather of Ska’, his 1958 ‘Boogie In My Bones’ became the first release on the Island Record label and was No.1 on the Jamaican charts for 11 weeks I loved the Island label
2008, Ageing rock stars and session musicians would keep receiving royalties for their old recordings for the rest of their lives under a European Union plan. Performers currently lost the rights to their recordings after 50 years. Veteran artists like Sir Cliff Richard and Roger Daltrey were among those who campaigned for it to be extended. The EU had announced a scheme for copyright on recordings to last for 95 years. We loved their music and they needed support
Born on this day
1941, Spencer Davis, guitar, (1966 UK No.1 single ‘Keep On Running’ 1967 US No.7 single ‘Gimme Some Lovin’).
1947, Wolfgang Flur, electronic drums, Kraftwerk, (1975 US No.25 single, ‘Autobahn’, 1982 UK No.1 single ‘Computer Love / The Model’).
1948, Ron Asheton, guitar, Iggy Pop And The Stooges, (1973 album ‘Raw Power’).
1949, Geezer Butler, bass, Black Sabbath, (1970 UK No.4 single ‘Paranoid’, the bands self-titled 1970 album was voted as the best British rock albums ever by Kerrang! in 2005).
1949, Mick Tucker, drums, Sweet, (1973 UK No.1 single ‘Blockbuster’, plus 14 other UK top 40 singles). Tucker died of leukaemia on 14th February 2002.
1949, Mike Vale, bass, Tommy James and the Shondells, (1966 US No.1 single ‘Hanky Panky’, 1968 UK No.1 single ‘Mony Mony’).
1952, Chet McCracKen, drums, The Doobie Brothers, (1979 US No.1 single ‘What A Fool Believes’, 1993 UK No.7 single ‘Long Train Runnin’).
1952, Phoebe Snow, US singer, songwriter, (1975 US No.5 single ‘Poetry Man’, 1979 UK No.37 single ‘Every Night’)
1970, Mandy Smith, in 1983 at age 13 she started dating the then 47 year old Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. The couple married in 1989, divorced 1992. Smith became a singer, model and actress, released records with SAW none of which charted. Wyman’s son dated Mandy’s mother.
