Life in the slower lane..

Reach for the light switch and it isn't there. Try and text your friend but the technology hasn't even be thought of yet. Ring on the land line, but there isn't one. Never mind,  pop to the kitchen and get a glass of water from the tap, but there isn't one of those either.. hopefully by now you are seeing a pattern emerging.
For my father growing up in the South Shropshire hill's this was the norm not the exception. They obtained water from a well 300 yards away from the house, there was never a telephone and candles provided the only light.  He was the eldest son of a methodist family who were strict chapel goers in fact his mother Clipsie Eileen played the organ on Sunday's. His father was called Heber, a big shouldered man tall in stature as well as being straight as a gun barrel in personality. He never borrowed or owed money in his life, it just wasn't done.

Heber worked a small farm under the Titterstone hill's in South Shropshire, he worked in a quarry to make ends meet and tended the horses that pulled the heavy carts in and out of the steep climb to the quarry face.
Life was tough and my dad, Caradoc Heber, yes that was his name, worked very hard in order for the family to survive.  No Wii, no X box, no computers, just his imagination and his beloved scooter he had for his 6th birthday was all that he had to amuse himself.
The strange thing is, he was no worse off than any of the spoiled teenagers or youngsters we have spawned nowadays, he used his mind to take him on far off journeys, he used his imagination to take him somewhere else, something the kids nowadays get done for them with the ubiquitous computer. What a shame, we give them iphones and Xbox like they are trophies simply because their friends have them. Why don't we restrict such games until after they are 18?. How great would it be that kids got to use their imaginations once more?.

..Perhaps then they might find out what it would be like to light a candle instead of flick a switch..

And on and on...

Just listening to the radio in bed this morning and obviously the main topic of conversation still emanates (unsurprisingly) around the death of Baroness Thatcher.
Some of the comments from the North East have been shall we say rather less than complimentary to put it very lightly, yet some have praised her single minded approach to problems of the day. That she was controversial is without question. She inherited a Country suffering Winter's of discontent where the greedy unions held us all to ransom for pay rises sometimes as much as 36% above inflation, they wanted less working hours and more pay, a fine state of affairs if you work for a company but not if you are the owners, who ultimately create the jobs.

Having slept on what has been said over the past 24 hours I actually am starting to wonder if it was actually Thatcher that instigated the downfall of our many nationalised industries or was she just the right person at the wrong time for greedy union bosses?. Was it not THEY who had pushed for more and more by striking at the worst possible times that actually played a part in their own downfall?. The country would have been bankrupted years ago if the likes of Scargill and "Red Robbo" had been allowed to carry on with their endless demands.
I think perhaps Thatcher actually stood up to these guys and said what she thought. I think also that she was in some cases too ruthless in destroying communities that were reliant on the industry she helped destroy but surely the blame has to be split with her and the crazy demands of fat cat union bosses who also sought power through bullying the country into submission.
I have to admit when she was in power, I as a youngster thought she was a no-nonsense and not to be messed with leader, she was afraid of no-one and yes we can all pick times during her premiership that she got it wrong or got caught out but may i just bring you fast forward to the ill-mannered, philandering bunch of expenses swindling lightweights we now have in power?. Never was there more need for a politician with stature to take on the rot in middle management that currently festers throughout the public sector. Where nurses scarcely have time to mop their brows while managers sit above them and dream up some other trumped up load of statistics designed to warrant their position,where we have Police commissioners on 150k a year who then appoint a deputy to do the donkey work for another 50k a year, where ambulance staff are stretched to breaking point to cover targets set by BMW X5 rewarded "managers" and make their job almost impossible, where the welfare system is so broken even attempted repairs are shot down before they reach the drawing board.
If you ask me the majority of tears for Margaret Thatchers death will come from the huge silent majority. Those who suffered at the hands of union bullies but dared not to speak, those that work hard for a living while seeing their taxes squandered on yet more hair-brained schemes, those that have a conscience for their country and fellow Briton, the true back bone of Britain,  not the noisy too often heard left wing committee members of a bygone dark age who argue and if they don't get their way resort to evil rhetoric.

Rightly or wrongly she stirred emotions and I am sure that will continue. But if we as a Country ever went into a LEGAL war just who would you want at the helm of the good ship HMS Great Britain?.

Have a great Tuesday.

A lady or a Tramp?

Well, the Iron lady is no more. The very mention of Lady Thatcher's name brings about a level of conversation and debate that will never be seen again in this country.
She was reviled, hated, loved, hero worshipped, slanted, chastised moaned about yet admired immensely by World leaders she sat at the conference tables with, so what exactly did Maggie have and was she good for us or a disaster?
If you ask a Union member, she was the devil incarnate. She spawned the destruction of the likes of British Leyland and British Coal, she singularly and bloody mindedly took on the might of the Trade Unions and put them in their place, destroying their "strike first talk later" ability, however this all came at a price that some may say arguably began the disintegration of public companies like The Royal Mail, British Rail and British Coal as it was and even council services nationwide.  She believed that competition was vital for a thriving economy, but her plan was flawed somewhat by her "one plan fits all" mentality.
The truth is towards the end of her term in office she became over confident and that has been the downfall of many world class leaders. She believed her game plan was the immaculate conception and the trouble with Maggie was that her word was law in the cabinet at that time, it was a measure of the woman that she led what is arguably one of the most experienced cabinets there has been since the days of Churchill, she was blessed with a fountain of experienced and at first very loyal ministers yet when they started to turn away from her one by one the outcome was always going to be inevitable.
Much of the far left in this Country will be unsurprisingly jumping for joy tonight at the loss of their Nemesis The Baroness Thatcher,  but I for one have mixed emotions. first and foremost she was a Mother and a human being so her passing should first be a question of due dignity in death. Secondly, while she certainly put a free market in place that was to change the UK forever she was also instrumental in arranging a veto for the UK in Europe, something we have held on to in various guises since she was in power, she stood up for Britain against an ever expanding Eurozone and was defiant that a single monetary policy was pie in the sky, now that was the talk of a very switched on and very astute politician whatever your thoughts.

So, was she an Iron Lady?. I think the title was earned. This is in stark contrast to Tony Blair's "spin" and I know which one I would prefer, at least Thatcher gave it to you straight.  I still hold Blair's handing over of No.10 to his sidekick as an act tantamount to treason as he then sold our Gold reserves for a pittance, that did far more damage to the UK economy in one underhanded fell swoop than the destruction of the coal fields or any amount of privatisation ever could.
Food for thought and food indeed for the ongoing debate that will carry on for years to come such was the controversy of this woman... but for sure she was a woman of her time and I think overall we would have been a lesser Nation without her ideas and influence.

Sunday Roast.

Well what a week that was, I must have been through every emotion on the planet. Being your own boss is a constant learning curve and if you think you know all the answers my advice would be to get out now while you still can.
The facts are, none of us know just how things will always pan out, even if we plan everything right down to the smallest detail, there is still a margin for error. That said it served a great purpose for me in particular. Having been brought almost to my knees with the workload, I have decided to take my life back. This coming week I will downsize some of the work we do and streamline the whole operation, sometimes less is more and in this case less is definitely good for my health. There is a limit to what one man can put up with and I came to that limit and beyond last week I don't mind saying.  Is there any shame in stepping back?. Well to me it makes good business sense and even more self preservation sense, but to the outside it may look like we are closing certain parts of the business because we are on the slippery slope. There is of course no way I can stop the rumours as we are located in a very rural town but it's something i am prepared to do to regain my sanity and THAT is what this is all about.
 It seems to me that despite all my aspirations in business I am losing the race because of the pace and i want to get back to the writing i so enjoy but get to do on a far too an irregular basis, I wish to spend more of my life exploring the wonderful literal world and do what so many of my good friends have been telling me to do for years and that is use my brains instead of my brawn.
Life is very short, but it can also be very fulfilling if you just dare to stop the band wagon, get off and look around. I have been running at such a ridiculous pace I have achieved very little other than try and make myself ill, clever uh?.

So, as i am writing this I am preparing to go off to the seaside with my beloved kids, the one thing in my life so far I have done right. We are going to sit and lounge around all day, something totally alien to me but I know if I try I am sure I can get a taste for. As for the business?, well yes it's busy but i will work through that in a timescale that is realistic and one that we are all capable of.
If I sound like a different man on here to those that know me then well, perhaps I may just be. I may just have realised what is really important in life and it's certainly not working myself into an early grave.
One last thing before I go for a lovely Sunday of God's making. A big thanks to all my true friends out there who tried so often to get me to change my ways, i have eventually listened and without your dogged persistence I may not have survived to tell the tale, I will love what you did for me forever, I look forward to chatting with you all an awful lot more in the future.
If you find yourself in the same boat and recognise some of my symptoms, do what your friends tell you, they are the ones who see you from the outside and as such know you best.

Enjoy your Sunday folks, I sure as hell will x

The Presentation.

I have been lucky enough to have had a very varied career, everything from a farm lad to a Calor Gas cooker and heater service engineer through to a truck driver and then a service and export manager for a machinery manufacturer. It was my exploits of the latter as you can imagine that made me smile on more than one occasion.
One such occasion saw me fly over to Schipol airport and then jump on to a hovercraft across to Malmo for a trip to a Swedish dealer who was very well known and did an excellent job for us with the quantity of machines they sold. I should have had the alarm bells ringing when half way across to Malmo as we sped along in the noisiest hovercraft ever, the venerable machine suddenly came to a halt, yes a halt.
Now, of course hovercrafts do actually float on water even with their skirts deflated, but I for one was not too keen to test that theory at that exact time. As the engines died down to a tick over there was the sound of footsteps from above as the "pilot" came nonchalantly whistling down the steps from his cabin, opened up the big front door and give it a huge "slam". With that he turned around, smiled at us all and still whistling jogged up the stairs and within minutes we were on our way, obviously now with the hovercraft door well and truly shut!.
On arrival at Malmo we were met by a very nice tall slender gent who picked us up in what was then the very latest Land Rover Discovery and off we went. We drove for about 40 odd miles through Sweden and I remember it was a rather beautiful place, very clean, neat but also very very cold, more of which later.
On arrival at the dealership we were greeted by the company's MD who was also a very tall elegant man who spoke wonderful English, I was very impressed with the whole outfit, everything was so wonderfully ergomatic in it's layout, the welcome was second to none we had ever had before and myself and the MD who accompanied me on this trip were made to feel very welcome.
The idea of the visit was for me to present a slide show to the area managers working for the company throughout Sweden, a task I admit i was relishing. We sat around a huge of table on which stood a stainless steel flask with a plethora of small stainless steel "over sized" thimbles or similar even to small egg cups.

I stood up and immediately fired in to my sales pitch, I was very young but i knew the machinery very well, having spent 3 months with our manufacturers building the equipment on the shop floor to give me a better idea of how it all worked. I answered a plethora of questions and soon it was made clear to me that i was to do a live demonstration of the machines after each explanation, something I had done many many times before, so no problem. Well, actually there was a little bit of a problem, you see in Sweden before you step outside into what turned out to be -17 degrees you have a little tipple which came courtesy of the flask set in the middle of the table. So, before we headed outside we were all handed this stainless thimble like container and all said "Schol" and tipped it straight back.   Perhaps I should explain right here and now that at 24 I wasn't a drinker or a smoker in fact i was a very good boy, but all the same I drank it and off we walked outside.
The cold chill air took my poor Anglo Saxon breath away, I was frozen and had to demonstrate a machine to the waiting crowd. Of course being the professional I was I carried out my task without question and we were soon once again climbing the stairs to the huge sales area where we were presenting the equipment.
This all went on for an hour or so as we had quite a range of machinery, but after each presentation we again drank from the stainless flask....
Now, I sense you are ahead of me a little here, we were getting towards the end of the presentation and after yet another sip from the cup "schol"  we were heading back out into the freezing temperatures. This steady mixture of warm buildings quickly followed by -17 degrees outside demonstrating equipment had started to take its toll, i was in effect becoming slightly "tiddly" much to my hosts amusement. I had a permanent stupid grin that i couldn't get rid off, I started cracking one liners that would empty a graveyard and even worse my MD was stood frowning in the back ground.
 By the time the presentation had ended I had warmed the room up to almost fever pitch and had the whole Swedish sales team rolling around the room in fits of laughter, most humor of which was aimed squarely at the machinery we were actually trying to sell!.
The end of the session arrived with yet another sip from the cup and all i can remember then was how warm it felt going all the way down, it was some very good stuff !.
We were thanked very warmly for our presentation and were soon on our way back to our hotel, we dined that night with the MD and he was as courteous as ever, despite me being obviously worse for wear after the days proceedings. Soon the evening was over and we caught the last ferry back to the "Magnus Steinbock" hotel in Amsterdam, feeling very weary and also because of the delicacy of Swedish food to our English palates also very very hungry.
We dumped our bags in the hotel and walked out on to the harbour streets of Copenhagen in search of some food, both of us by now quite desperate for some good old fashioned home cooking. Then before our very eyes on the high st by the harbour there it was, like an oasis in a dust filled desert, "The Hereford Steak Bar".
I can tell you we went in and filled our boots to the hilt whilst sat on authentic old oak benches and gorging on the most succulent sirloin steak i had ever tasted and even home made chips!.. heaven.

 On arrival back into the UK myself and the MD said our goodbyes and said we would meet first thing in the MD's office to discuss the visit. I have to admit I was not looking forward to listening to the report as getting potential customers to laugh along with you whilst describing the company's pride and joy isn't exactly what my MD had in mind when he initially sent me the job description, I did however think it had gone reasonably well despite the unorthodox nature of the presentation.
I walked into the offices on the Tuesday and was greeted with a few smirks from the commercial manager, he was always trying to score points so my guess was i was in for a bit of an ear roasting. Two of the UK area mangers for the company were there too and they were pretending to lie flat out across the desk in a drunk like manner. Just at the moment where i was starting to regret even turning up that morning the MD's door flung wide open and the gaffer was stood there with a cigar in his mouth and a big smile across his face, "how is my star salesman today? is your head better?" he shouted,
"errrr... well actually no" i quipped back
"It's damned sore".
"Well" said the MD "it's going to be even worse by the time we finish celebrating!"
and with that he gave me the fax document he had been holding and said
 "read!"
I glanced down and there was this lovely "thank you" paragraph from the Swedish company we visited, followed by a long list of our machines and a figure at the very bottom of the paper... £30,000 ... an awfully big order in 1990
It seems our presentation had done the trick after all. I was promoted from zero to hero in seconds.

But... to this day I still do NOT know what I was drinking. It did however do the trick!.

Don't put off until tomorrow...

The first real warm day for as long as I care to remember, that I even care to mention it underlines how long the winter has actually lasted in the UK. It's been a long haul and the inclement climate has only added to the woes of a faltering economy and bad news days every other day. One thing has changed this week for me however, after having listened intently to a radio programme describing the moments experienced by terminal cancer sufferers on their initial diagnosis i have had the comments and thoughts of those involved buzzing around my head ever since.
What if?, what if I was put in that position and was given months or even weeks to live?. The initial reaction would be to do everything that you had hoped to do and create a list so that you could mark them off one by one. That would be human nature, we take everything for granted until it is taken away or threatened, then we go into hyper-space to try and fit as much of what we will be missing in in half the time.
But the question that really made me sit down and think, well not so much a question more a statement came from a breast cancer sufferer who was diagnosed terminally a couple of years ago and is literally a ticking bomb, she said "why do we have to wait until we are diagnosed with a terminal illness before we actually start to live life".... and to be honest I cannot get that thought out of my head.
 What if our very next action after getting up from reading this is to actually start into motion some of the things we really do want to do? What is stopping us? duty?.. finance?... family? or just a feeling that you have years yet so you have loads of time to fit all those things in?.
Well I for one look at life a little differently after that programme, not a little unconnected to the sheer weight of work i have been getting through of late that has caused me physical and mental stress that cannot continue at it's current pace as it is making me ill.
I guess I am saying  to you all don't take life for granted  Never was "seize the day" more apt than in this maelstrom and cacophony of crazy working hours and on-time pressure that modern life spoon feeds us with continuously, it is time that all of us stepped back and gave ourselves time to live a little. I for one intend to start doing so and today with this wonderful warm sunshine it seems one hell of a good day to start.

Free yourself.

Focusing on what is wrong with everything can leave you blinkered. Open your eyes to what you have and make better use of it, negative thoughts and actions will only make your life tougher and that of those around you, who will tire of your poor outlook, when it is the darkest it can get, light the way with the warmth of your smile and the light of your soul and you will find your way, no-one is ever lost completely, there is a way forward but only you and you alone can make that very first step.

A Seasoned Tale.

That I should walk that distant path
Through scented forests one more time
And hear the Nightingales laugh
Their song of Spring the perfect rhyme.

Be soaked in sunlit heaven's rays,
And thankful just for my existence
On such extraordinary day's
..Even I could last the distance.

Yet only fools dare seek perfection
Reality the dawn of reason
The land of Poets seeks protection
From inspiration's strangled treason

I cannot lie with those that taunt
Provide me now a world unreal
The likes of which forever haunts
The way i live, the way I feel

Bring sword unto my slumbered chamber
Fear not the deed that i request
For I shall only see my freedom
When sword is plunged deep in my chest

Don't weep a single tear in sorrow
As life just gently floats away
For truth is any new tomorrow
Will bring more promise than today.
 

Homecoming.

The room was dimly lit, a slither of late evening light drawn in by the setting sun lit the far wall of the room in a vertical line on the wall, slowly but surely the line got shorter and shorter as the sun slowly lowered it's head, a distant hum from a mixture of voices and trolleys could be heard in the background, the clatter of old central heating pipes shuddering under their boiling hot load seemed almost calming.  The room had a single bed in it, tucked up against the wall without the light, yet a warm glow came from the bed area as a small table top light gave of it's best. The bed was surrounded by wires, tubes, monitoring devices and all manner of paraphernalia congregated around the single person lay motionless under the bed clothes.

Andy lay still. He listened to the noises in the corridor, the central heating pipes,the creaking and groaning, he tried to make out some of the more muffled voices and what they were saying in the corridor, then he would drift off and forget where he was, but deep inside, a cry for help was continually going unanswered, the cries of the human spirit were being cut down like a Lioness strikes her prey to ensure her survival and that of her cubs, it ate at his very flesh and slowly day by day he was losing the warmth from within his bones to this ferocious unrelenting disease, it paid no heed to creed or colour, it simply moved onwards like an army the size of which we could never imagine, like that of a giant's foot that would quell those that dare disturb his vengeful path.  Andy grew weak, his eyes reddened and his face a pale shadow of what was once the glow of youth and all it had to offer. The cancer within Andy was winning. The faceless beast that plays chemical warfare on our bodies had taken hold of Andy and was systematically shutting him down, like a favourite timepiece now forgotten  that slows then eventually stops.
The tick tock of Andy's final hours had begun, he grew weaker and weaker from the drugs that had actually tried to save him, one last bitter irony of this uncaring dragon of a disease. The door to the room slowly clicked and opened, Andy moved just his eyes, he hadn't the energy to move his head . There in front of him stood his wife Sarah and as the door opened wider two little faces could just be made out peering around the corner of Sarah's dress, it was Andy's two daughters Jazzy and Mia, their bright wide eyed smiles in contrast to the pale slowly poisoned body that Andy inhabited, despite this a smile drew across Andy's face as the two little girls' ran towards him and as kid's always do jumped on the bed and kissed and hugged their Dad, Andy winced from the immediate pain he felt from their not so soft landing on his poor broken body, but he didn't let it show.
"Daddy!" came the shout from them both,  they began to talk about what their day had entailed, about what Gran had bought them and how great their new Lego video game was.. but through all this Andy had noticed his beloved wife of 12 years Sarah talking to a Doctor to the one side of the room as the children continued their recital of the day's proceedings, the Doctor was slowly shaking his head and looking to his feet, Sarah's face was angst and a tear was methodically wiped from her eye out of the children's view with military precision, so as not to make them aware of their father's plight.
The conversation stopped and the Dr left the room, Andy was feeling very sleepy now, his two lovely youngsters were becoming a bit of a blur, Andy tried desperately to keep his focus on his beloved Sarah but the sheer hard work of keeping his eyes open was too much for him to overcome as desperate as he was to chat and listen to his two little girls he could keep his eyes open no longer.
 At that point, though he didn't know it, Andy was gone.
 That unforgiving disease that knows no earthly boundaries had used it's full arsenal of weapons on Andy and had taken yet another poor soul from this Earth, yet in such bitter twist of irony he had ensured it's own demise at the same time, as by dying Andy had at last won the battle, but lost the war.
The room fell silent, the two little girls slid off the bed as Mummy said "Daddy wanted to sleep now", another strategically hidden tear rolled down Mummy's face, this time it was much harder to get away with. They left the room and the door closed with a clunk.
On the far wall the long strip of light emulated the room's only occupant by slowly being engulfed by the darkness, much as Andy had been engulfed by that dreadful disease. Then, save for the odd footsteps outside and the sound of central heating pipes still carrying out their noisy task, the room fell silent.

Partners in time.

No man is an Island.  Wise words indeed, but equally true about the fairer sex, coping on your own with anything, big or small is made all the more tough by doing it single handed.  So why is it that so many couples split these days and then try and make sense of their lives afterwards?. Surely it would be simpler to work through issues before they became major issues?.
If only life were that simple.
The pace of life dictates how much time you actually get to sit down and chat with your spouse/partner and the facts are that life's pace at its present level for many is unsustainable, so despite all their best intentions couples will split simply because they do not get the quality of time together that sustains a relationship.
Many years ago the two day weekend was a fact. No-one worked on Saturdays except emergency services and shift workers of which there were few, but at the present moment in time Saturday's are carte blanche with the odd Sunday or two thrown in for good measure.
This scenario leads to overwork, tiredness, pressure and even guilt for not being with your off-spring etc. In turn the partner at home can feel isolated and alone and also have such thoughts as "they love work more than me", it is human nature and it is contributing to many rocky patches and break-ups quite simply because no-one gets time to actually talk.
As a society, we are all guilty of wanting 24 hour access to all amenities, we want petrol/diesel, groceries,clothes,tires,cars etc etc so in turn shops employ at the weekend, traditionally the sacrosanct family time, but it's now been eaten away by our 24 hour need for items and the more we employ the less family time we get, the more pressure we get on relationships and family units, its a vicious circle.
Do I have the answer?.. absolutely not, as I too have to work very hard to make ends meet and as such I find myself sat alone writing to everyone about this subject in an empty house on Easter Sunday, a victim of the very needs i have just spoken of, having not seen my off-spring for days the very afternoon I am free they are with the in-laws because they issued a decree for lunch that is rarely ignored. Can I blame her? no not really, all we see of one another is hello-goodbye, so she is hardly going to sit and wait at home for me to return as and when. So, as you see, I have no answer to the stresses on family life that the burden of 24 hour work brings upon us, but one thing I am sure about and that is that as long as we keep increasing the work load on those that will actually work hard for a living the more marriage problems will occur and no matter what politicians preach, those facts won't change, we are caught in a hamster's wheel of misfortune. I am now going to make myself a cup of coffee, grab some toast for lunch and try and take things easy for at least an afternoon as tomorrow (you guessed it) it may be a bank holiday but i have to work and so the cycle continues.... if i make it to old age perhaps i may write a book about it.