Rucksacks

I hate people who wear rucksacks, especially as I'm only 5ft. They forget that they're wearing them. At car boot sales, they move around hitting everyone and often knock over half the stall!

Have you ever been on a crowded train? I end up black and blue as these idiots talk to their friends, hitting me round the head. And it's the same at airports, where the rucksacks are often even bigger.

like modern cars, they should have loud beepers when they're getting near to someone - or be banned altogether in public!

MOUSE IN THE HOUSE

I'm not happy at all. A couple of days ago I spotted a tiny fieldmouse creeping under our Tv table. We got the painless traps out but no mouse. 

But last night the wretched thing decided to come out & scrabble around all night. I kept getting up, but no mouse to be seen anywhere.

It's left some evidence so I know it was there. But where?

How could one tiny creature make so much noise?!

CAUGHT IT!

I slept on the sofa the other night because the mouse had been in my bedroom.

And in the middle of the night - success! It went into the painless trap in the hall.

Oh the noise! We put it out the front door and I had a peaceful sleep.

I've since found out that my neighbour's got a mouse in her house too.

But I'm keeping all the doors firmly shut!

POTHOLES

I've only been out a couple of times in the last two months since I fractured my back. The potholes are so bad on our roads that on my way to hospital, I was crying and screaming with the pain. They're an absolute disgrace.

As I'm a lot better, I went shopping a few days ago. And I was shocked as the prices are noticeably higher now.

So what happens next? Our country is in a terrible state. Will it ever improve? I doubt it.

SHEFFIELD PARK

The warm weather's back so we're meeting the Family and going to Sheffield Park. I've got a National Trust card so entry is free and the Autumn colours should be beautiful, so I can write an article for Unknown Kent And Sussex. And Granddaughter Isabella, aged 12, will write one as well. She won't be going to Uni as she's already a well-established Journalist. So why mix with Political idiots & end up with a big, unpayable bill?

Also, Stormy Dog will write one - with Isabella's help!

There are lots of benches around for me to sit down if my back gets painful.

We'll take a picnic as there are plenty of picnic areas.

MUSICAL CONSTIPATION

I've got a Music Block. I can't sing in public, even in church at funerals, etc.

My Dad had a terrible temper. I used to tape pop songs on what was our old tape recorder when I was in my teens. He'd come bursting in with his face red with temper and tell me to Stop that terrible noise.

It damaged me for life.

My daughter makes up for it. She's got an excellent singing voice and she can silence a room of people talking.

I feel stupid and embarrassed just standing there, unable to make myself sing. People look at me strangely.

I once had a couple of singing lessons so I know that I've got a really good voice, slightly rock/blues-like. but I still can't sing a note in public. I really wish I could.

Open Mike? You're having a laugh, aren't you? No way!

It's amazing what damage parents can do to their kids.

THAT'S MY SPACE!

We went to Sheffield Park on Saturday. Luckily there are plenty of benches everywhere as my back is still painful.

I collapsed on one bench next to an old couple who were having a picnic and they glared at me. So I said loudly, I'm sorry, am I intruding? No snapped the Old Bat, It's a public bench.

If you go on an English coach trip, you're in trouble if you sit in someone else's seat. You'll be complained about & the driver will tell everyone to keep their own seat.

Only in England would this happen.

My daughter went to a fitness class & spent the first part being glared at by two women because she was standing on their area of the floor! In the break they rushed into 'their' bit of ground.

She never went again.

The Americans warn visitors that the UK is a small island & that they mustn't intrude in our space.

I expect this dates back thousands of years.

'Get out of our cave or we'll kill you!'

MEDICINES CAN BE DANGEROUS!

Taking tablets can be such hard work!

When I collect my new ones I often find that they've changed suppliers and the packaging, size and colour of the tablets is different, making me wonder if I've got the right ones.

Trying to get them out of the packet is an art on its own. The wretched things just won't be squeezed out, then they suddenly pop out, shooting under the bed or across the room, so I have to get down on my hands and knees to search for them.

Several times I've ripped my thumb nail low down so that it's painful for a week or more.

Why can't we have our tablets all loose and in little plastic bottles like they used to be? It would make life so much easier!

Nothing is easy any more though, is it?

BAALBEK, LEBANON

I'm really worried now that the Israelis are bombing the Lebanon again.

It's well-known that they'll attack it for any excuse. It has nothing to do with Terrorists there. Lebanon has a river and Israel has nothing.

I went on a Press Trip to the Lebanon. The people were all friendly and welcoming and the food was excellent!

We drove to Baalbek, which I really wanted to see. It's one of the world's most mysterious sites. Huge blocks of stone were quarried miles away, taken to the site and lifted into position.

No tractor with chains or any other modern equipment could lift them. It's proof of another far distant mysterious civilisation that had knowledge which we've lost. Psychokinesis, the power to move objects using the mind?

Nobody knows who they were, although it's thought they worshipped Baal.

It was an abandoned site when the Romans came along and built on it. 

Do the Israelis care about places like that or would they bomb it without any conscience?

I really hope they don't. It's irreplaceable.

One morning when I was laid up and drugged with my fractured back, I was in that sleepy-wakey state as I call it. And IN TWO SECONDS a whole play dropped into my brain - the names, the plot, the scenes; everything!

I quickly made some notes and I've been working on it. I can see it all clearly. I call it my Revelation.

How could something like that happen so completely in two seconds?

Keith my publisher said that he'd look at it for me. So you never know, you might be seeing my Revelation play on the TV soon! 

GUESS WHO'S BACK? THAT BLOODY MOUSE!

How did it get in? We've kept all the doors and windows shut.

Oh the noise in the night! How could such a tiny creature make such a row?

Last time it opened a packet of noodles and dragged them across the floor. But it didn't eat them.

They're very sweet, but the trouble is, they're incontinent. They wee & poo all the time. And they can cause Weil's Disease.

And I've no idea where it's been and what it's touched.

Hopefully it will go in the trap again soon.

AI - A FRIEND OR THE END?

I use AI to load articles & choose Tagwords in seconds, saving me about an hour.

But I hate communicating with Chat when I want advice. They go round in circles, often not solving anything.

I was once trying to sort out a problem on a site I'd belonged to for years. And they kept asking for passwords, etc that I'd long forgotten and never needed, & they just went round in circles, not helping me.

In the end I typed as many meaty swearwords & insults as I could. And I got the reply, There's no need for bad language - from a machine!

But I've since discovered that if you type I want to speak to a Human, they have to connect you to a real person.

Perhaps this will work if AI gets dangerous & tries to take over the World!

IS AI DANGEROUS?

The Luddites smashed up machinery in the 19th Century because they thought it would take over all their jobs. It didn't.

All computers were expected to go back to naught at midnight at 2000 in the Millennium causing world disorder.

Planes were going to drop out of the sky. They didn't.

Then it was pointed out that the Millennium actually started after midnight on 2001, not 2000.

But again, nothing happened & things carried on as normal.

Now AI might take over the world as it is talking to each other and over-ruling instructions.

I don't think it will as Humans are still cleverer than machines, computers & everything else that has been created by Humans.  

They will work out how to control it.

I have great faith in Mother Earth;  Pacha Mama. She seems to be able to solve serious problems on this planet.

So I won't hold my breath or panic over AI. I'm sure that it will all work out in the end - or before the end!

FIELD MICE INVASION

We're being invaded by field mice.

I know that they're very cute, but they're incontinent & they pee & poo all the time.

We caught 4 last night & let them go over the woods.

But I know there are more here.

I was sitting on the loo & a little head popped out beside the bath.

Oil of peppermint is recommended. It's supposed to send them all away.

But no luck here!

Maybe there's a season & they'll just disappear a it gets colder.

But it's messing about with our sleep big-time!

BURNHAM

Beware  of our non-elected Prime Minister!

Despite his casual non ties & his smarmy smile, I think he's a very dangerous man.

He'll be coming for you if you dare to say anything against him. He's already said so in so many words.

And of course we've had the My Grandad was a lorry driver story.

I believe the UK will be in an even bigger mess than ever when he's finished with us & spending all the money that we haven't got!

POTHOLES

After a lovely week in Poole, Dorset, we came home. 

As we drove from Hampshire into Sussex, we all said, 'Back in Sussex and its potholes.'

It was as though there's a line across the road between the two counties.

From then on it was bump bump bump.

What on earth is the Council doing with all our money?

An AA man told us that Sussex has the worst roads in the country.

Well we must have the worst Councils as well!