Just updated my reading list.

 15/06/2017 
I just found this saved as a draft, seems I forgot to publish this in 2015, well better late than never.


Once more it has been a while.

Time just flies by when your having fun, doesn't it?

It's coming up on three years since I took voluntary early release from my job (early retirement).
What's been happening?
I had to sign on the dole to maintain my national insurance record so I will eventually get my state pension, only to be told that because I already had 46 years of unbroken work my contributions guaranteed my pension.

Not much else has happened except I'm going to be a grandad again this time a little girl is due in January 2016, needless to say both my wife and myself are over the moon.

The medication I'm on for the peripheral nueropathy keeps the dreams at night very vivid to the point that I'm now convinced that dreams merely allow you to visit other realities and view what is happening there. Some of the dreams were letting me see what would have happened in my life if various happenings and choices had been taken in my past.
Dreams are wierd.

I've managed to lay my front garden to artificial grass I've put some pics below.

It has been a while

I'm always saying that,

since last time I posted I've become a grandad again. I have a beautiful baby granddaughter Ruby

Indy vote

It's taken this long for me to come to terms with losing the Indy referendum vote, I can't believe that people voted to remain part of the UK. What concerns me is the difference between yes and no, all the polls predicted it would be no more than 3% win or lose, at the end there was a 10% difference. This was too big to just have happened, and was way outside margins for error in polls, being a confirmed conspiracy theorist  I think we were stitched up. This seems to be confirmed by the latest polls for support for the SNP which is standing at around 50% and has increased it's membership by over 60,000 to become the largest party in Scotland and second/third largest in the UK, I'm saying second because Labour inflate their numbers by counting union membership and individual members which means a large number are counted twice as members of a union and individual members.

Next up in Scotland is the contest to elect a new leader of the Scottish branch of the Labour Party. Could well be Jim Murphy but what will happen when he loses his seat as an MP can he still be leader of the party without being either an MSP or MP? We will see candidates promise the earth the moon and the stars to become leader. It should be remembered that they were in power in Scotland locally and nationally for the best part of 70 years and didn't deliver anything apart for poverty, low standards of living, high unemployment, the benefit culture and so much less than people should aspire to.

Labour have aligned themselves for too many years with the centre area traditionally the home of the Tories and then became the mouthpiece of the better together campaign which was a Conservative product. They have lost their way. Did they ever have it, well in the 60's and early 70's when politicians actually done the job for altruistic reasons maybe, but not anymore Maggie Thatcher put an end to that with open ended expenses and career politicians. Now politicians local and national are in it for whatever they can get out of it and to enable being voted in as often as possible they have joined the party of everyman. This is where they will tell everyone what they want to hear.

I do tend to tar all politicians with the same brush but I do give exception to the SNP because they don't bow down to a London centric master all their energy is geared to getting Scotland the best possible deal. They have consistently shown that over the past 7 years.

Enough for now, I get a bee in my bunnet and can't let it go. I should take stress relief classes.

Take next time non-readers, my phantom fandom of invisible friends.

Tarra.

Okay thoughts on the Independence Referendum.

Where I come from to making my mind up.

During most of the 70's we had a Labour government in London who virtually bankrupted Britain.

In 1979/80 we had a referendum on devolution, bearing in mind that average turnout for a general election was around 48%. the Labour and Conservative parties insisted that a simple majority would not be enough, it looked like a majority would vote yes for devolution, the Lab/Con colluded to have an amendment to the devolution bill inserted which required that more than 50% of all those able to vote had to vote yes. As it ended up a majority did vote for devolution but barely half the electorate turned out and voted, so no devolution.
After this the Conservatives under Thatcher punished the Scots for daring to consider asking for devolution. They killed car manufacturing, Steel making, Mining, Ship building and dozens of other industries and then decimated the armed forces in Scotland. The Conservatives were in power for 18 years and left Scotland a benefit dependent nation with unemployment higher here than anywhere else in the UK.

In 1997 Tony Blair rebranded old Labour with the avowed intention of getting into power. True he gave us a vote for devolution but this was only so he could guaruntee to get the Scottish votes he needed to gain power as it happened he didn't need them. You couldn't have stuck a cigarette paper between New Labour and the Conservatives he replaced, indeed did he not carry on all the conservative  policies set in motion by Major. We got devolution but it was set up in such a way that guaranteed that the SNP could not gain a majority, well they got that wrong, they always hoped the Labour vote would give a Labour majority but were happy with a Lab/Lib coalition as the Liberals are so close to being Labourites, again same difference. The thing here is that Labour, Conservatives and Liberal Democrats are all London controlled parties and their first allegiance is to London and maybe just maybe ninth or tenth on their list of priorities would be Scotland. Gordon Brown, Tony Blairs first lieutenant, was made Chancellor of the exchequer, my own thoughts on this man are for the most part unprintable suffice to say that I seriously don't think he could add to 20 without removing his socks. This is the man who told the world he would sell the nations gold reserves 6 months before he did giving the market time to reduce the price of gold by a third, the man who made peoples pension pots almost worthless by taking first a windfall tax from their holdings then taxing the pot annually from then on, the man who never increased the tax free allowance by anywhere near inflation leaving the working man paying more, the man who introduced the bedroom tax for everyone with a private landlord, the man who introduced a 10p tax rate then took it away again, the man who said of the Scottish Labour leader that they were only the leader of labour MSP's in the chamber of the Scottish assembly and that he was the only leader of the Labour party in the UK, a man who refused to acknowledge that we had a Scottish parliament and that it was just an assembly. I could go on but I won't.
The Scottish parliament and government under Lib/Lab increased the council tax by around 250% over the first 10 years of devolution, this hurts the poor and those on low incomes because pay was not increasing by the same amount and meanwhile council services where falling or deteriorating, there were an increase in managerial posts while a similar decrease in front line staff was in place. Thoughts you can get 3 people sweeping the streets for the cost of 1 manager and similar numbers in all other services provided by councils. Lib/Lab continued the Conservative and Labour PFI, PPP and other acronyms to the same vain where we the public have mortgaged the schools and hospitals and housing to private contractors for a generation, the politicians who brought this in will be long dead or retired by the time this egg hatches. with the amount that this has cost it would have been cheaper for the governments of the day just to borrow the money and pay contractors to build the facilities needed.
Since 2007 we have had an SNP led government and Parliament in Scotland a party who's only allegiance is to the people of Scotland and not London. We have gained free prescription charges, I for one am probably alive because of this I take 6 different medicines a day when I last paid for these it was 42 pounds every time I renewed with no sign that they would reduce in cost it might have come to the choice of feeding my family or buying medicine, Tolls on bridges removed, bought and paid once with public funds and then paid for again with public funds over and over again. There is more employment in Scotland now than there has been in the past 30 years.
We have a vote which will have bearing on the future of everyone living or to live in Scotland for ever on the 18th September, the most important decision we will ever make.
We must make the right choice, I know what mine will be it will be based on my life of 63 years I have seen London centric politicians rape Scotland of all it's worth, destroy industries and peoples lives for the gain of politicians and the establishment in London and the home counties. Politicians of all hues reds and blues once their noses smell the trough they can't help themselves. This referendum is not about party politics though it's about what is right for Scotland now and into the future.
If we are better together then the past 63 years of my lifetime have shown me that that is evidently untrue. The UK no longer has an empire, it is a member of a commonwealth of nations which spans the globe and working together could have been a larger economy than any other in existence bar none, and yet it gave it up for short term political gain in London. We've had a century of warfare in this country, my grandparents fought in the great war to end all wars WW1, it didn't, it was a futile and shameless waste of human life. Throughout the twentieth century we've been in one war after another. The last time we had an attack happen on Scottish soil was  two terrorists at a Glasgow airport and that was thwarted by a baggage handler on a smoke break.
I will be voting YES on September 18 for the future of my family and grandchildren and every child who comes after them my family is important to me.
I realize that many people may consider what I've written above to be a rant and it probably is but this is my view not from a political standpoint but from where I see it because it is the experience I've lived through. We should be proud of our nation, of its many achievements and it's habit of producing great thinkers,artists, engineers, writers, poets, scientists, architects, mathematicians and the list goes on. I refuse to think that we've produced our quota of the latter and we as Scots have no more to give. We are a caring and giving people as an independent nation we could show the world how to live for the greater good and not for the greater greed.

Once we get Independence we will be able to vote for whoever and whichever people and parties we want, but here's a thought.

During the 70's I calculated that out of my take home pay - which had already been taxed with income tax, national insurance, graduated pensions - I then paid a further 35% of my gross pay to local and national government in taxes, VAT, rates, fuel duty, alchohol duties, tobacco taxes etc. a total of around 75% of my pay went back to government local and national.

During the 80's and 90's this actually came down to around 55% with no real change to my lifestyle except getting married and having a beautiful daughter, sorry massive change, but lower taxation, go figure that one.

During the naughties - is that what we're calling 2000 to 2010 - it started to rise again towards 65% by the time New Labour had been and gone.

Proof that New Labour government can't add up. With devolution came the need for a new assembly building as they liked to call it parliament as we like to call it. It was initially given a price tag of 45 to 50 million pounds, final cost in the region of 400 million pounds out by 900% or 360 millions.


In Edinburgh we had a Labour council who wanted to build a tram network from the airport to Leith and and back via a loop to the western general hospital to haymarket total length of track around 14 miles costed at 300 million pounds. Final bill 750 million pounds and further interest on loans of around 250 million pounds for about 8 miles of track airport to York place. Now Labour will say that it wasn't their fault as they lost power in Edinburgh to the Liberals before it started. Now there might be some truth in this as it only went over budget by twice as much for half a line which I reckon would have been over by eight times for the full track. Labour record on the Parliament building was nine times over budget so by that reckoning Liberals brought it in underbuget. Okay that last part was just being silly.

Scottish Independance

Thought I'd put some of my thoughts on Scottish Independence down.

Since I was around 17 years old I've wanted Scotland to be an independent nation. My reasoning right or wrong are that we have become a nation of moaners and blamers, is that a word.

We constantly moan that everything is someone else's fault mainly the English although it has been more recently directed at London and the Westminster village as the English parliament has been dubbed.

Lets be quite clear the parliament in London is for the most part an English institution it's functions for a majority of it's time is passing legislation which applies only to England (Education, local government, planning laws, environment) to name a but few.

So for a long time I've wanted independence to stand or fall by our own designs. I don't want a little copy of the UK I want a country that cares for the people living within it. That is involved with the wider world but doesn't want to make changes to other countries as the politicians in Westminster and the USA have tried to do, what possible right do these politicians have to try to change the way of life of another country, I would say none. If there is a threat of terrorism from certain countries then close the borders to these countries, or is that too simplistic.

I don't think we need a vast defence force, we certainly don't need nuclear weapons on our soil or even nuclear reactors within Scotland. Nuclear power is not cheap when you add in the cost of maintaining the safety of the site and waste material for possibly thousands of years. Politicians don't think of the consequences beyond the next election.

I do believe that Scotland can live within it's means and provide in the future a quality of life for it's population that meets or surpasses that which we have at the moment.

I am non partisan although I have voted SNP for the past 15 years since devolution because I do believe that their interests lie solely with Scotland (might be a clue in their name). They have also shown that in the things they have done for country.
The other parties are simply branches of their masters in London, Gordon Brown once said that he was the only leader of the Labour in the UK and that there was only a leader of the party in the Scottish Parliament SMP's, and I believe that the other parties operate a similar structure.

I don't agree with being part of the European Union, I did vote for a common market as did a majority of other people at the time. This was to make trade between European countries easier to remove trade barriers between nations. That is all successive governments have had a mandate to do not to increase the complexity of the beast that has become the Union. I can see politicians seeing a gravy train, a trough to stick their noses into and feast on the bounty of expenses.

I've reread the above and once more I begin to ramble on so I'd better stop.
Suffice to say that come September and voting day I will be voting for a better way of life and placing my cross in the YES box and I sincerely hope that the majority of voters in Scotland do the same.

We must take responsibility for our actions and stop depending on the hand outs and benevolence of a parliament in Westminster.

I finished Koreys bed and he loves it.

Loved making these beds and am thinking of making them for a living.
I'll be charging 500 pounds unpainted and 630 pounds painted.

I always seem to start with 'it's been a while' well it has so there.

Since last I was on here the weather hasn't been able to make up it's mind. One day spring next darkest winter. We even had our summer a couple of days ago and it lasted nearly the entire day, which was really strange as it normally only lasts about an hour or so in August. Today though it's cold damp, nay wet, and overcast it's like the darkest days of January all over again, very depressing.

I finished Rileys bed and he chose the colours which his mum applied, he is now sleeping in it nightly and he says he loves it, picture below.

That's Korey, Riley is behind the light, rubbish photographer hehehe.

That's the wee man himself. I have increased the height of the safety rail where he is sitting as much for peace of mind as for making sure he can't fall out over night, better safe than sorry.

I have completed Koreys bed which his mum is painting in Spiderman colours Blue with red trim.
This should hopefully be installed over the weekend.
This type of bed really does almost double the amount of useable space in a bedroom.

Other news is that after 16 months of being retired I'm getting bored with it and have started to apply for part time work we'll see what that brings. I've had a couple of interviews and am astounded by the change of interview practices.I passed one interview at which they phoned to congratulate me on passing the interview and said that my name now went on file and they would call when a position opened up, that by the way was over a year ago, what kind of way is that to run things. I've only ever had about 4 job interviews in my life and these were were you turned up in a suit looking your best and sat down opposite the manager who was going to be your boss and you talked about the job and your experience and knowledge of the post. If he thought that he could work with you and you could do the job you got started, and if you proved you weren't as good as you said you were you were soon found out and were fired.
Now you have group interviews where individuals don't actually make the decisions, you perform in front of HR and they tick boxes to show that you are a 'team player', outgoing, fun loving and many other psychobabble criteria and in some cases nothing about the position you've applied for. I wonder if turn over in these companies is higher or lower than it was under the old system, I suspect it will be higher.

I have been thinking of making Tongue drums and selling them to keep active and maybe supplement my small pension. If you don't know what a tongue drum is go on YouTube and have a look and listen they have a nice mellow sound not harsh at all.

Good gracious I wrote that last paragraph almost as if I thought that someone other than myself actually read these ramblings, wow how strange would that be?
 One last pic for today this is the view I was looking at a wee while ago when the sun came out briefly

Anywho ramblings of this old man are over for another wee while.

Dreams, what are they?

I don't know if I mentioned it before but one of the side effects of the medications I take is tiredness.

This means that if I sit quietly for any length of time I will fall asleep, I'm sitting yawning fit to break my jaw right now. once asleep I have such vivid and realistic dreams, I am actually in there taking part. Some of them have no bearing or relationship to my life it is so strange. I have for about three years been building a whole existence as part of the Horsemen department of soul collection, I'll maybe put some of the story on here someday.

Having experienced these dreams I am formulating the theory that dreams are not the reorganization of the days events into sense the brain can deal with and file away. But that the brain slips into and experiences a different reality or alternate universe which is every bit as valid as the one we live in. Were we would have been and indeed are had different choices been taken at different stages in our lives e.g. should we take this job or that job each would have led to differing paths on the journey of our lives. What about staying with this partner or that partner each would have had differing emotional make ups which would have meant different needs. Our children would have been different for each partner, differing random combinations of genes, in some realities our children might never have been born and that would have been a great loss to us in this reality but the phrase 'what you don't have you don't miss' is very true. When I was in my early twenties I had the opportunity to emigrate to Australia, I didn't go, but my mother had the same chance to take us all to Australia after my dad died when I was about 12 or 13, we didn't go then either. But I was recently in a reality where I was Opal mining in Townsville, not very successfully I might add, and where I could taste the dust feel the heat and experience the daily lives of the people around me and I was 34 years old and celebrating that in the pub with friends.

 In the past I've been an archeologist, an international lorry driver, a project manager on major construction projects, a merchant seaman and quite often an awful lot of bricklaying jobs around Britain. Not forgetting one of a team of Horsemen, maybe I should explain a little about the Horsemen.
 The department is officially called 'The department of THE FOUR HORSEMEN' it shows no affiliation to any other department of LIFE.

The function of the department is the collection of what we call souls but is in truth the energy of life, the stuff that makes us us and alive. It passes from us on death but must be collected and placed in the energy bank of the universe.

 The department is made up of teams of four Horsemen, each team responsible for specific areas of the plant Earth and the same on various planets around the universe, we are not alone not by a long chalk. There are specialist teams who deal with the energy from dying stars, I'm not going to mention them any further as most of them are just plain weird.

The job of the Horsemen is to travel their area of responsibility collecting the energy of living things as they die, plants, animals, insects and humans in short if it lives it has energy and when it dies this energy has to be collected and returned to the energy bank.

The Horsemen are eternal I have been one for ever or maybe just a day, If you know of no other way of being you have no time frame to relate to how long you have been. Does that make sense it did to me when I started writing it. Why are they called the Horsemen? I've no idea it has always been so. Why is up called up, why is left not right or something else.


Rambling over for today, more rubbish to be spouted anon.

Making a playhouse bed for my grandson Riley, there will be another for Korey afterwards. I already mention this but forgot to give credit for the design and plans for the bed. This is available at the following website  http://ana-white.com/2010/09/playhouse-loft-bed

I'm getting along with it as you can see.