The winds of change.

Hot coffee, lap top, Twitter, a recipe for a wasted morning !!  It's very hard to concentrate when you have a world to talk to. Twitter is something you completely get or you really don't, there seems no in between. I have many friends who raise their eyebrows still when i mention Twitter but as I hail from Shropshire that is hardly surprising, the highlight of most people's week over here is a shopping trip to Aldi's.

Ok, so maybe that was a little harsh but I have to confess this County does produce some one-offs and if you think i am joking let me introduce you to some characters.  Firstly there is a guy who comes into our yard with an old rusted out 4x4, he wears a cap and is deaf as a post, mid sixties cut him through the middle and he says "farmer" all the way through, his truck has never been washed outside or inside and is full of bale twine and plastic, the fact he is as deaf as a post is just as well really because his sheepdog barks out of his open drivers door window right behind his head and only the occasional  "LIE DOWN" shouted at the top of his voice will give the briefest respite from the dog's constant noise.
Then we have the two brothers, in their 70's both of them, never seen the end of the M54 motorway and if they ever lost site of Clee Hill (local landmark) they would be hopelessly lost. They come out every Friday whether they need to or not as its a "trip to town", it's the highlight of the week for them, they seldom have their teeth in and are always dressed in their suits when they come out come rain or heatwave, we have been to the farm to repair tyres on site and it is a venerable shit hole...quelle surpris !
But this is in deepest South Shropshire.. a backwater praised as much for it's scenery by tourists as it's inequality amongst it's inhabitants is lambasted, it's a harsh environment with neglected roads, hospitals and schools, it gets the second best of everything yet manages despite all those facts.. If you ask my feelings I have grown tired of it's hardships and some of it's inhabitants ignorance to many thing's cultural, but it's where i grew up and where my family are, though the love affair is waning as i grow older and I tire of the lack of facilities from a simple mobile phone signal to a fully fledged modern hospital that can cope with the ageing population... of which i don't think i will be around to witness..

This is true. Absolutely true.

I have found myself wondering of late just how the Prime Minister of this fair isle gets to hear about what is happening on the shop floor of this Country.  I mean, let's face it, if you are the boss of a huge company and you have never walked amongst the people at the sharp end how on earth do you get a picture of what your policies are doing for productivity and value for money not to mention achieving their aim without wasting valuable time and assets?.  If, say for instance our PM is being advised by people of a suited nature it is quite feasible is it not that he is only being spoon fed what he actually wants to hear rather than what is actually really happening, in fact it is MORE than likely.
I say this because as a businessman of some 20+ years with my fair share of battles under my belt I have learnt that if you want to know how the workforce is doing you ask them, not a manager. It stands to reason, if the manager says it's dreadful and everything is falling apart and not working then you would be quite within your rights to dig a little deeper and even quiet possibly replace that manager with one that can knock it all back in to shape.  If you ask the workforce you will get a few moans and groans but invariably you will also get some invaluable information from people who are at the front line, not sat in an office waiting for their targets to be met while making up a new bulletin for all the staff to read and act upon, thus justifying their position in the company.
So, let me say this, if by some wonderful miracle dreamed up straight from a Hollywood movie i was to wake up in the morning and find myself  the PM of this Country,  this is what i would do: I would head to the hospitals all over the country and spend at least a month on the front line, i would then do it with the Police, the Fire Service, Teachers etc etc until I had built a picture of what is really going on in UK Plc at this present moment in time, because without that inside knowledge how the hell can you instruct ministers and their underlings to write policies that are actually meaningful and more importantly relevant?. Simple answer and a very true one. You can't hope to.
If all you have known is life in Oxford and a sheltered up-bringing amongst your like minded brethren you are no more equipped to run this Country than a tribal elder from Timbuktu. Sorry but that is also the truth.
Many years ago i started a new job selling equipment i knew very little about straight into a European market hungry for the goods, but instead of bluffing my way through and making it up as i went along i spent 3 months on the shop floor helping to manufacture the items before i even TRIED to sell the product and even more importantly and surprisingly I made alterations on the factory floor to help production run smoother that are STILL there to this day, so you see it was of mutual benefit to everyone concerned.
Now I am not suggesting the PM gets his overalls on and heads for the nearest NHS Trust but what he could quite easily be doing is sitting down and talking to those that matter the most and that is the people actually doing the damned job,  not those sat in an office writing about how they would like it done, I think he would get one hell of a surprise at what he uncovered in the way of waste and mismanagement while getting a truer picture of what is actually needed to get this country back on its feet.
If, like many right now, you are wondering just how i seem so sure there is waste culture and a lack of moral judgement in middle management in many government departments then i cam reveal my sources, you see fitting a tyre to someones car is a little like having a haircut or being stood at a bar and having a drink, people relax and as you work they tell you all about what is happening in their life and where the problems lie in their jobs and in case you do need a little more proof that my theory actually works yes I do fit tyres still occasionally...it's how i find out just how the ship is being steered and the continual theme that keeps recurring is one of managers making silly rules and spending much needed front line money on theories and plans that only see the inside of a waste paper bin when passed to the next level of management..... Think on Mr Cameron, i am apolitical and I for one always find people struggle to argue with the truth and none of the above is incorrect... as unlike you I talk to the workforce.

Ignorance is no defence.

Today was going very well as far as Monday's go. I was cool, calm and had all the avenues covered, firm but fair and keeping the ship nice and steady. Of course this being a Monday it was doomed to failure and oh was failure headed my way like an iceberg on the starboard bow while exiting a full right hand emergency manoeuvre..
I had ordered a 44 tonne truck and trailer to load the used tyres on and at 3.30 pm it duly arrived, i noticed immediately that it was one of the biggest trucks that currently use our roads, a Daf XF super space cab, to those who aren't sure then Google it if you so wish, believe me its big. I also knew this truck was automatic and as such a real pig to move in confined spaces.  Knowing the truck owner very well i went to the driver and said "Not wishing to patronise you or be condescending would you mind if i shunted the trailer around the back for you because its an awkward place to get in. Needless to say i was completely stone walled.
So, I stood back and tried to guide the guy down an alley way in reverse and into the yard, this task was somewhat long winded to say the least and after 15 minutes and umpteen tries I popped over to the door of the truck and asked "I am not being funny with you but do you mind if i jump in and do it for you?"

.....oh dear.  Some people really do take life a little too seriously and obviously i didn't take on the look of your average truck driver. What followed was a lot of swearing and spinning of wheels followed by a confrontation where i was reminded that said individual had been driving for 25 years and didn't need my sh#t... etc etc #ad infinitum..  I am pretty broad minded but even i was taken aback by the reaction from a supposed professional driver. At this point i reminded him he was in my yard and i wasn't happy with how i was being spoken to, this was only fuel on the fire and I was even squared up to.
Now.... let me put you in the picture for a second, yes I write... but I have also grown up around lorries and machinery, I have driven.owned,built,sprayed,sold and bought every type of truck in this country.  I have run my own fleet of trucks and employed drivers and run other peoples maintenance contracts on top of all this i run 3 different companies and am a partner in another one so i really do think that would qualify me to step into this poor man's shoes given the well known awkwardness of this particular reversing manoeuvre in what was after all my own yard. But no, instead of that he saw me as a threat. So no more ado he drove out of the yard and went back to his base.

20 minutes later the phone went and it was my uncle who owns the lorry. I have to admit i was annoyed at this point, more out of the stupidity of the incident than anything else, he said he would bring the trailer over later for me so i let it go at that.
  Sure enough the boss came in with said truck and lined it up to back it into the yard..... yep you guessed it, after 3 or 4 shunts he jumped out and muttered something along the lines of "ffs you do it".
  I am not Superman, but i do know the lie of the land in my own yard, i drew the lorry and trailer forwards, lined the trailer up to the corner of the building and put it straight in first time much to the amusement of my own staff who had seen all this going on at a distance.
No, I didn't crow, i just pointed out that it was all i had wanted to do in the first place. Local knowledge is invaluable and if any lessons can be learnt from this debacle it is that you should never judge a book by its cover, the driver saw a well dressed man trying to tell him how to do his job, in reality i was being sincere and offering the benefit of my experience in the given situation. His boss jumped out and let me get on with it.. that is the difference between employees and employers... and the gap it seems is as wide as ever in the trucking industry.  I don't miss employing drivers and especially those who shout and swear at customers who are actually paying their wages at the end of the day.  Rant over.

The Sunday Roast. All that I so wanted to be.

We learn constantly, whether we listen or in fact choose to listen sometimes is our choice, but it's those choices that determine where and how we end up in any given situation in life. I am as guilty as the next man for bemoaning my fate and my lot, I have indeed suffered greatly over the past 20 years as a businessman sometimes through no fault of my own but sometimes it was inherently my fault.
This pathway is a well worn one, so not for one minute would I have been alone but at the time when it was all going horribly wrong it felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. I have been well off and i have been poor, I have to tell you I prefer well off but I have a better acquaintance with the latter.
 I was brought up to put myself at the very bottom of the pile, being the son of a deputy head in the same school i was always taught to keep my hand down even if i knew the answers in case my mother was accused of favouritism and I hate to say it but that stigma stayed firmly ingrained in my psyche really I guess until only a few years ago.
I still struggle to put a value on any work I do or any act i carry out, i see myself as a second rate human being despite friends chants to the contrary, you cannot shake a lifetime of belief any easier than you can change your ethnicity or your character, it is part of your make-up and part of what makes you who you are.
I sometimes see utter surprise on people 's faces or in replies when i say that I don't value myself either as a writer or as a person, it sounds like i am looking for self pity but i have been brought up thinking as such from an early age and it stays in your sub-conscious.
So, I may be a lost cause, but through my writing I can regain some control and perhaps one day a little pride in who I am and hopefully for my children it will be a very different story.
Children respond to what we as adults say and do so much more than we ever realise, they are far from stupid and can latch on to an atmosphere of hurt or happiness without a single word being spoken, they are the future and as such should have the very best of all we are as a parent. I can't do that financially and i can't do it through being there every day, but i can give them something else, I can give them the benefit of my years, I recognise what an important part of growing up my words are to my kids, I know that what i say to them now may be with them for the rest of their lives and I want only positive thoughts to come from their childhood.  All too often I hear a parent bawling at their child to stop doing something or other, it makes me wince, for more often than not that is the same disruptive child in class, the one who thinks shouting and being the centre of attention is ok, why not? ...the parents do the same.

I am very much at peace with where i am in my life. Yes I have made mistakes and some of them some real howlers but i cant change any of that, but i can change my future. Life is not all about work and doing and being everything to everybody its about who you are and what you want to be, but as always i myself have felt guilty if i thought for a second i was placing myself higher up the queue than anyone else...which takes me straight back to my formative years, those oh so important formative years. I do have one very good ally and that is i was born with a reasonable amount of intelligence, I only say this because of other people insisting it was so over the past few years, so much so that even i now accept that there is more than the average grey matter floating around up there in my head, but me being me i sometimes wish i was more "normal" in that i could settle for what i have and what i want out of life.
I stood talking to a psychic during the week, she is a wonderful friend and came into our service centre to get her car fixed, we often chat about things that the average garage proprietor would never venture with yet she and i are totally at ease with what we say to each other, she had just lost her dog and was clearly upset but held back the tears while we spoke. I knew if had talked with great sympathy, something i am and was clearly capable of i would reduce her to tears so i stayed strong and emphasised the positives of her relationship with her beloved dog, its what real friends do. During this conversation she said to me " do you ever wish sometimes you were just..well, normal?".  I was taken aback a little by her comment on the outside but deep inside i instantly knew what she meant,
"I do," I replied, " I wish i could be happy with all i have and not have the thoughts i have in my mind,"
"That is how i feel sometimes too" she replied "Its hard to deal with when you have a different vision, its almost like a curse that you have to deal with"
The fact i could instantly empathise with where she was coming from suddenly made me realise that yes i may be different but like the businessman who is struggling at a certain point in their lives I am far from alone with such thoughts, it lifted a huge burden from my mind, I am who I am, I should be very happy with that.

So what have you learnt from reading this? well i hope you have learnt a little more about who i am and why i am but also that we should all take more notice of who and what we are around our future, namely our children.
 If I dared to offer advice to any parent and Lord knows I am not even close to being the perfect role model it would be to think back to your own childhood and remember what you learnt from it, if it was good then carry it on if it was negative then spare them such trauma, for only by passing on the wisdom of all that's positive about them in life can they venture into a world with open minds and hearts not scarred by our very own hang ups.

Enjoy your week.

You cant bomb your way to peace.

Oooohh, here we go again, in response to America being robbed of thousands of its citizens during 9/11 they are again bombed and killed while simply out running a marathon. A sane man would be the first to ask why?.
Is it not bad enough that lives are being taken in Iraq and Afghanistan as we speak?. Where will it all end?.

Let's just do what a wise man would do. Let's draw on our own experience during the past thousand years.
No-one, but no-one has ever won a war. Think about it.
Battles have been stopped because the losing side has had so many men killed it can no longer stand and fight, that is not winning its a senseless massacre of our sons and daughters, its not a victory.
All it takes is that frailty of human belief to gather momentum and before you know it the foot soldiers will be throwing themselves under buses and blowing themselves to pieces.. and what for?. A seat next to the "God" they worship?... Eternal salvation in paradise?.. as laughable as that sounds this is what some right minded adults believe such is the strength of the brain washing they receive at the hands of such religious groups and most of them supposedly mainstream.

Could I just spell it out guys and gals... there isn't an afterlife with angels or virgins waiting for any of us let alone someone who is a cold bloodied murderer. If they read their own small print it tells them so and in any case we are skin and bone, we die we die, its only our fear of the unknown that gives us religion and a hope that we continue and that fear is what religion plays on, when our organs shut down and we die or are killed, the truth is we are animals like any other on this earth, we die...we die.
The goings-on in America are dreadful they are beyond the belief of a sane man yet let me now remind America of what their sponsorship of the IRA did all those years ago...yes you guessed it, exactly what you suffer now and there is not a single true Brit whose heart will not go out to our American brethren for what happened in Boston this week but you are now living with what we in the UK lived with for decades.
So.. lets go back to the word experience because its something we English have in abundance when it comes to terrorism. In this case experience says you can try and fight terrorism and some times you may catch a few of the perpetrators and have a show piece trial..we had plenty of those in the UK in the 70's and most of the "villains" were locked up while innocent such was the UK populations baying for blood and i think America is on the very edge of the same precipice.
 Experience tells us that negotiation is the only way to peace. You cannot fight that that is invisible, America should sit down and talk with the Muslim community and broker a deal to save more innocent lives and until the "big man" grasps the nettle then people will die on American streets, which is senseless for the sake of a few politicians trying to save face, America is now in a war it cannot win, along with its staunch Allies it has stumbled in to a clusterf#ck of immense proportions and there is only one solution with the word "EXIT" sat over the door and that is negotiate, there are no winners in this fight except the undertakers and the bank accounts of the very fanatics you are trying to eliminate, so stop getting our sons and daughters killed for such a poor reason and sit down at the table, it's where you will end up eventually so do it now and save hundreds if not thousands of lives.

But what do i know i am just a simple farmers son?. 

Listen.

You judge like you are always right
That you alone are 12 good men and true
Though you, like us are made of skin and bone
Your shouting.... the only difference.

If you need to raise your voice to make your point
Then is the point worth making ?
True wisdom neither an audience or volume sought,
The wise man listens more than he talks

And in that silence he learns much,
Take heed from such as he
As wisdom often writes the chart of life
Or just be on your way with your noise

It grinds me, eats me and serves only your purpose
And it's a noise that won't be missed
I tire of such behaviour.
Though a wise man would never admit it.

Reality

The last slivers of light race to the horizon
The air carries a chill that darkens the spirit
Across the hills beyond, the clouds roll every crease
And seem to dance as if at once possessed
Tall grasses bend their heads towards the earth
The breeze relentless on their backs
Like some miscreant bully without shame,
It traces your face, pulls your hair this way and that
Tears fall from chilled eyes that stand and stare
Trying to focus, watching the darkness winning the war
There before your feet in cold stone, the past.
You have to return to where you belong
The warmth, the light, the life, yet you are torn,
You turn and step away, first one step then another
But then pause, look back, at that cold stone
"Rest In Peace Dearest Father"
The deepest scars still raw as first encountered,
Yet peace must find it's place to dwell
Fear not the unknown threat of darkness
For in it's harshest depth,  light is always there behind you.



 

The vicious circle of terrorism.

Once again the world is left shocked and saddened at the senseless deaths of innocent people, this time bystanders doing nothing more than watching marathon runners cross over the finishing line in Boston MA. The sight of American people being slain on their own soil is one that rightly sickens every right minded civilian in that wonderful country and the rest of the free world, it defies belief and is the work of some very sick minded individuals.

Let me dare to play devil's advocate for a few moments however. Just what if this was a bomb blast in Iraq or Afghanistan in a crowded shopping precinct?. Would the impact on the world media be the same?. I doubt it. If this was downtown Kabul for instance would it be as big a media story?. My point here is this, if we in the West continue to bomb our ideas on to other cultures we will have to expect more ruthless attacks such as this.  For every person killed by a stray bomb or mistimed raid there is a legacy left that is unseen but now sometimes as now, very loudly heard. Every one of those victims, like the ones in Boston have relatives, be it parents, sisters, brothers etc and no matter how it is explained, 'friendly fire', 'a mistake', 'yes, but there were 5 insurgents killed',  the truth is they are dead and America and it's allies are deemed responsible. So what happens is, you turn sane minded religious people into hurting fanatics with a hate of everything the West stands for and that makes them very easy pickings for groups like Al-Quaeda to recruit.
Now I am not saying this was Al-Quaeda though i am sure they are a likely suspect, but if another country dropped bombs on your home and killed your wife and 3 daughters I am sure you would not be singing the Stars and Stripes or God save the Queen at the next available prayer meeting or writing a "deeply concerned" letter to the local rag, in fact no, you will react as only a grieving person would be almost forgiven for acting, fight violence with violence.
 If we as a race continue to kill and maim those that would fight against us then we can unfortunately expect to see more innocent people maimed and killed closer to home.
Northern Ireland was eventually brought to the negotiating table and although sometimes uneasy, the peace has lasted, mostly because of the will of the people to make it work. I wonder how many more Americans must be sacrificed on home soil before the people decide enough is enough and get their leaders to start meaningful talks?. No-one likes to work with terrorists but on the same level you cannot wipe out a man's family and expect him to turn a blind eye because you are trying to save democracy in his country, life will never work like that we take things at a personal level when they affect us directly.  At some point all this damned killing will have to stop and my guess is as in Britain's case with Ireland the country that is the most powerful will have to get the ball rolling

In terrorism there are no winners, it is the worst form of retaliation known to mankind, its ruthless, random and unforgiving, it strikes at the very core values we as Christians and civilised beings are brought up to respect,  the lives of innocent men women and children, which is why it is so abhorrent.  But do not lose sight of the families on the other side of the bomb and their suffering too, it may seem hard to be so charitable given the scenes in Boston over the last few hours but is it that much different to those who lie beneath the soil in a foreign land the victims of "friendly fire?" .  Food for thought for our political leaders it's probably enough to choke them on.
 I wish a speedy recovery to all those affected through mindless acts of terrorism.

The first paragraph..(unedited)

The first paragraph of the new book.. (unedited).

"The candle snuffed out, the darkness smothered the light in a battle that was lost before it had ever begun, Jake slid under the goose down duvet and pulled it right up to his chin, he could barely see out with his one eye buried in the soft pillow and his other staring into the dark abyss.  Jake looked across the room at where he knew his window should be and slowly as his one eye adjusted he could make out the huge window ledge and beyond that, appearing slowly was the moonlit countryside he knew so well.

As Jake lay there he could hear his parents talking in the kitchen below, he couldn’t make out what they were saying but it comforted the 7 year old to hear their low cut voices, his huge farmhouse bedroom was a very daunting place for such a youngster, not helped by the fact that just across the landing from his room he had witnessed his great granddad passing away in a gasp of sudden breath and blood curdling groans that would stick with this young farm boy for the rest of his days. Right now however, Jake was trying hard to not think about that, he needed sleep as sure as day follows night, for the next morning his Dad was expecting him downstairs at 6 am sharp to help feed stock and earn his keep.

The darkness slowly transformed its evil stare into a warm maternal smile that welcomed Jake into that sub-conscious world of dreams and adventures our imagination keeps in store for us, where inner thoughts that only your own soul would ever choose to create or dispel in dreams run wild are the norm rather than the exception."

The Sunday Roast.

How interesting this week that Tony Blair, the great white hope of New Labour, installed alongside a fanfare of pop songs after a campaign slicker than one of Elvis Presley's discarded combs, now chooses to imitate all the previous heads of state that have led this country by taking a side swipe at the present leadership style.
One can only imagine the reaction in the Miliband camp when the news broke of Blairs outburst, poor Ed, or is it David? they are so hard to tell apart, must have wondered just what he has to do to get his party on his side, even during the week when the supposedly much reviled Margaret Thatcher dies he fails to capitalise because Blair steals his thunder, poor chap, I really do hope he doesn't take it personally after all it is the remit of all ex PM's to put on the rose tinted specs and still think they can make a difference, though if Brown starts to make a noise I think if I was Ed I would be asking brother David (or is it Ed ?) if there is room for a small one in his suitcase bound for America.

I am loathe to bring up the Thatcher subject again because it has been done to death, the rights and wrongs are written in real facts and if people bother to actually research those facts then they will discover a time of unrest and a definite need for a strong person at the helm, that said she eventually took her own views too far and I thought at the time, she was rightly removed from office, no one person should be allowed to ride rough shod over our country. I do however find it strangely unsettling that a parent who was not even alive during Thatchers terms in office should teach their four year old to chant " The witch is dead", apart from being in disgustingly poor taste whatever your political leanings it is also completely untrue, as apparently according to the President of Uruguay she is still in office in Argentina.

The world of politics is always and emotive one but it may surprise the wider population to know that many MP's from all sides do actually talk outside of Parliament and some are even indeed very close family friends, this has always been the case in varying degrees but it doesn't make for good press so it is rarely mentioned. If you compare that to the Trade Union movement then you will find it completely the opposite. You see without being too harsh on Union leaders and without trying to be condescending they lack the sense of humour and disparity that an MP has to have, they don't have to appeal to everyone, they just need to make the noises their members want to hear, Union people take everything so very very seriously and let's face it if it is written by Rupert Murdoch then it has to be true surely?.
Union people are obviously left wing, they hate people who have worked hard and have money or indeed anyone that has money, yet all too often they see no problem with feathering their own nests at their "brothers" expense, it is communism at it's very core, like the beginning of The Nile, it has to start somewhere.  They preach of the "evil" of the current leadership and offer a better life for "the workers" if they swear allegiance to their movement. It's a time honored practise and is nothing new but I fear for this country of ours if a strong Union leader springs on to the scene because we have no Kryptonite in Westminster to deal with it, communism relies on fear to govern and at the moment a lot of people are frightened, for their jobs and for their futures, it's a very dangerous path we walk and I don't think the present government is up to the task if there is a large swing to a charismatic well spoken left wing activist, did I mention Tony Blair had taken a side swipe at David, or is it Ed Miliband?.....

Enjoy your Sunday and remember life is short, not always sweet, but always worth living.