For the husband who told his wife he loved her before his plane went down in a field. For the wife who stopped in the stairs to call her husband to say she will love him forever. For the mothers and fathers who kissed their kids goodbye that morning for the last time. For the […]
Remember 9/11
Category: Comment
Which Book Have I Read More Than Any Other
Although an avid reader I don’t tend to revisit those books I have read.
In my early teens, around 1967/8, when I would have been aged about 16, I bought a paperback copy of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller.
I am amazed to say, I actually enjoyed it.
Mostly.
But I didn’t get it! Aged sixteen it’s hardly surprising that I missed the point. My brain wasn’t subtle enough to home in on the message of the absurdity of war.
A few years later, in 1970, I watched the Mike Nichols directed movie starring Alan Arkin and although it didn’t stick to the storyline it was close enough to act as a key to unlock the book for me.
So, two or three years later, I dug out my copy of the book, and read it again. Needless to say it was much better the second time round.
Later still, sometime in 2019, I watched the George Clooney produced miniseries. Clooney also co-starred.
So Catch-22 is the only book that I have read more than once.
As an afterthought I submit JRR Tolkiens Lord of The Rings trilogy which attempted to read, several times.
Technically one could say I reread it several times. In truth it was really a case of several restarts as it took me a couple of years before I was able to focus long enough for me to complete the trilogy.
The reality is that although I have probably read thousands of books. There are just too many more out there waiting to be read.
At the age of 74 I haven’t enough time left to read them. Let alone re-read them.
Happy 4th July
Happy Sussex Day
I’m sorry that I am a bit late with this. I fired up the post but family stuff got in the way.
From Wikipedia…
Sussex (from the Old English: lit. ’South Saxons’) is an area of South East England that was historically a kingdom and, later, a county. The current ceremonial counties of East Sussex and West Sussex cover approximately the same area. The two ceremonial counties border Surrey to the north, Kent to the north-east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west.
Sussex is my home county. I was born in the coastal / port town of Shoreham-by-Sea. However, as my father was a policeman we were moved around quite a bit. So, home was Hove, Lewes, Westfield, and Battle. I left home to take up an apprenticeship in the Royal Dockyard, Portsmouth. In reality I haven’t lived in Sussex full time since 1969, having moved next door, so to speak, to the county of Hampshire.
The shield, central to the image above reflects the Sussex flag, bearing Six gold martlets on a Blue field, which dates back to 1611.
A martlet in English heraldry is a mythical bird without feet that never roosts from the moment of its drop-birth until its death fall
The motto We wunt be druv, is a Sussex dialect expression meaning “we will not be pushed around” and reflects the traditionally independent nature of Sussex men and women.
Which is probably where I get my stubborn streak.
My heart still belongs to Sussex.
What An Entitled Bunch We Are!
The UK has the worst statutory paternity leave in Europe, and it’s putting parents off having more children, a survey shared with ITV News has found.
Oh dear! The poor things.
Who’s choice is it to have children? Obviously not the government.
So why should they, and ultimately, us have to bear the costs.
Not Just A Problem In Fareham
https://app.portsmouth.co.uk/story/full_page_image/14th-october-2025-page-17_4f4607e0/content.html
A councillor has said more needs to be done by police to tackle speeding and anti-social driving behaviour across Fareham.
It’s not just Fareham that needs the additional focus. Here, in Waterlooville, we are also plagued by antisocial driving and speeding.
Councillor Pal Hayre is right to be asking for more measures to be put in place, but they need to be county-wide. Thats just me being parochial, this is a countrywide problem.
It’s all very well expecting the police to do more but they need the resources. They need more feet on the ground, more wheels in the street.
Hutt Lagoon
Aka The Pink Lake, near Port Gregory, WA. Hutt Lagoon is Australia’s Most Unique Lake
Hutt Lagoon, or the “Pink Lake,” is a marine salt lake in Western Australia, famous for its vibrant pink color caused by the Dunaliella salina algae and high salt content
When we arrived the lake was a beautiful pink colour. Then the wind got up and the colour disappeared. Thankfully, the wind dropped away.
Roadtrip
Today, Thursday 28th, we are heading up to Sunset Beach, WA, to visit our rellies, my grandson and his family. And we are looking forward to seeing our three great granddaughters, for the very first time.
We have just pulled in to the roadhouse at Cataby, making a pee stop, where these beautiful flowers are enjoying the sunshine.
It is almost as if they are cheering us along our way.
The WA weather is also behaving itself. The sky is blue and clouds white and fluffy. Not the dark and brooding ones that have filled the skies around Perth for the last few days.
Incompetence? or Stupidity?
Earlier this year my daughter lost her husband. Anyone who has lost a partner will know what a difficult time this can be.
Over and above the funeral arrangements there are many administrative and bureaucratic tasks to be fulfilled. For the most part, banks and insurance companies, local councils and utility companies, know what has to be done and execute the processes efficiently.
And then there is Exetel and, subsequently, Superloop.
These companies have displayed a singular level of ineptitude that defies belief.
Over the last four weeks my daughter has contacted Exetel to explain that her husband has died and that his credit card, to which her broadband account is tied, has been cancelled. She has explained that she wishes to keep the account, just transfer it to her name so that she can take over the payments.
She has contacted Exetel via telephone and email. Has provided proof of identity as well as other supporting documents.
She has been handed off from Exetel employee to Exetel employee over three weeks. Despite their promises, not one of these people has taken ownership of this issue, neither responding to emails or returning phone calls as promised.
On Friday there was a light bulb moment. Albeit a dim one. One of the Exetel employees explained that my daughter had to make a new account application via Superloop.
Superloop are the parent company of Exetel. And, if you go to their website, it tells you that they cannot supply broadband services to my daughters address. Which is strange, as they have been supplying this service for several years.
To continue, on Friday my daughter fired up a new account with Superloop. She had requested the same services and also confirmed that her (VOIP) telephone number would be transferred
Imagine her surprise when later that evening her landline (VOIP) stopped working.
So, yet more phone calls to find out that her phone number had stayed with Exetel even though the broadband had transferred.
By then, at the end of the Friday fiasco, Superloop had created a separate, dummy acount, in my daughters name. Supposedly, this was to allow Superloop to capture the phone number.
My daughter was promised that Superloop would call her on Monday, during which they would merge my daughters new account, with the dummy account, to return things to normal.
And so, here we are on Monday afternoon and, surprise surprise, no phone call from Superloop. My daughter has called them to find out what is going on. More confusion as they seem unable to find any record of the dummy account. My daughter is now back to waiting for Superloop to sort things out.
Meanwhile, my daughter was just checking her husbands email account.
Exetel have sent an email stating that his account has been closed and how sorry they are to lose him as a customer. But they just wanted to let him know that he is now liable to a charge for the early closure of the account.
Needless to say, this has triggered another phone call to point out that he didn’t leave Exetel, rather, they booted him out, that they would not be getting paid. In order for them to forgo this payment, my daughter has now been requested to send a copy of his death certificate. This she has done.
By the way, the clown at Exetel, despite moments earlier, having been told of his death, asked to speak to to account holder.
We are now awaiting the next episode of this unnecessary saga.
My daughter cannot be the first person to have gone through this process.
Did they go through the same degrees of stress and upset that such a simple request has caused?
Like I said, Incompetence? or Stupidity?
Blowing The Cobwebs Away
We have been in WA for nearly a month now. Having travelled out from the UK to support our daughter following the passing of Steve, her husband.
Up until now, our time has been filled with preparations for the funeral and general mundane household shopping trips and, most recently, collecting Steves ashes from the funeral home.
To be honest the weather hasn’t been the best but yesterday we managed to get out of the house for a couple of hours. This is the first time that a trip out hasn’t had a purpose. By that, I mean it was, just to get some fresh air, for a change of scenery.
We opted to drive down to Rockingham, forty odd kilometres south of Perth, to walk along the foreshore. After a forty-five minute drive, we found ourselves on the prom.
The sun was shining, and the sky was blue, and with a temperature of 20°C it really was very pleasant. We had already planned to have fish ‘n’ chips, and so it was we found ourselves sitting in the sunshine enjoying an al fresco lunch.
Freshwater Cobbler in crispy batter with crispy but fluffy chips. The Cobbler was a first for me. The lady who served me in Nae’s Seafood & Grill informed me that it was a kind catfish. It was very tasty, but it’s not Cod or Haddock. However, it did hit the spot.
Then, it was time to head back along the prom and back to the car. And, after a forty minute drive home, we were soon sitting in the lounge with a very welcome cuppa.
The brisk, but not unpleasant, sea-breeze definitely blew away the cobwebs we had accumulated.
Shame the weather forecast for the next few days shows a temperature drop and plenty of rain and thunderstorms.
WrAnTz 