Musings of a Muppet

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/devon/8372604.stm

First off, I would like to say that I am very sorry for this guy’s family and friends and don’t mean to cause any offense by what I am about to say.

Personally, I think to partake in any activity on a swollen river is a highly selfish act. While it may make the sport more adrenaline fulled and fun, the fact that it has an increased danger means you may well put someone else’s life in danger if you get into trouble.

If you end up needing to be rescued in a situation like this, a team of rescuers will be sent out to help those in trouble, many of whom will be volunteers. Everytime these resucers go out to help someone they put their own lives at risk.

Someone who regularly partakes in river based activities should understand the dangers posed by a river at normal water levels, let alone at flood levels, and thus should know to stay away from a river in flood, and not endanger the lives of the rescuers who will inevitably need to be called out.

Upon leaving the gym at Colchester Leisure World recently, James and I were discussing the ethics of having a fast food restaurant on the ground of a leisure centre.

My own personal belief is that it encourages kids and teenagers to eat fast food after a work out as it’s a nice easy option when you have worked up an appetite. I’m sure that you could put a healthier option there, or what about a sports shop? With the government allegedly so concerned about childhood obesity, surely they should be making tougher laws about the positioning of fast food outlets. To have a fast food outlet outside a leisure centre sends out all the wrong messages.

I also object to smokers who insist on lighting up as soon as they get outside – they stop in the doorway and again send out the wrong message. There are outdoor courts and people using those should be entitled to breathe air that is as clean as possible. Again I think there should be an exclusion zone around leisure centre perimeters.

It is a difficult one, as everyone has the right to choose, but seeing as people seem to be fine with being told what to think and do by the media, I don’t see they would necessarily have cause to complain about these measures.

However, due to the vast amount of tax that fast food restaurants and smokers pay the government, I doubt that common sense measures like these will be introduced.

Everything is about the almightly pound…

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8362295.stm

Well I think it will be a bad move for Jenson Button to move to Maclaren. I reckon that despite being the reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton will remain the number one driver as he is Ron Dennis’ protege. Of course, outwardly it would be stated that either they are equal or Jenson is the number 1, but I won’t buy that.

I also don’t understand why everyone keeps saying it would be great to see a team with 2 British drivers – what if the car is complete rubbish? And wouldn’t it be better to have two number one drivers at different teams fighting for a title, rather than two drivers fighting for the number one driver position?

If Jenson does go to Maclaren, I can forsee a terrible season for him – I hope I am proved wrong if he does go there, but I have very little faith in the team’s partiallity.

Take a read of this link http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/8361220.stm.

Now, can anyone tell me why a convicted murderer was let out, albeit escorted, to go…shopping? Hello? What is the point of prison if prisoners are still allowed to engage in activities outside of the prison walls? For crying out loud, this woman killed someone – and while I appreciate there may be extenuating circumstances and I don’t know all the details, she has been convicted of murder. She therefore poses a threat to the rest of society and does not deserve the liberty of being allowed out shopping. That was proved by the very fact that she made the effort to escape.

What is our justice system coming to? Do those in the profession actually have a collective brain cell amongst them?

I am sick to death of wondering everytime it rains if I will be able to walk to the gym, walk into town, or in fact walk to anywhere in the Cowdray Avenue direction.

A month or two ago Network Rail did some work to improve drainage in their own works yard – they dug a hole and filled in with stones for filtration. Now by some miraculous event, everytime it rains the path below this drainage point floods to the point that a few weeks ago I couldn’t get through without my trainers and feet getting absolutely soaked.

There is a nightwatchman and the flooding is under the streetlamp so there is no getting away from the fact the workers know the flooding happens and yet about 6 weeks after it first happened nothing has been done.

I have emailed the Council who have passed the buck, but now I have taken photos, I think I will send those to the Council and show them exactly how bad the problem is.
If I can’t use the path, I will add to the already stationary traffic around Colchester, and I don’t want to have to do that.

It is frustrating as at rush hour it is quicker to walk the 15 minutes to the gym rather than drive, but I can’t arrive at the gym with soaking wet trainers and socks.

Network Rail need to sort this out and quickly – it’s not fair on the residents that use the pathway to walk or cycle to town.

I saw a bit of the new drama that’s on a 9pm every night this week – Collision. Apparently it’s about a multi-car pile up on the A12. Well, the signs were genuine, but seriously, the road is never THAT empty when it is daylight.

I know there is artistic licence, but don’t tell me it’s the A12 then fail to represent it properly. Where the hell was the service station they were at supposed to be? All the Little Chef’s have closed down – and the one’s that are hanging on are further north than the implied accident spot which would be just north of the Chelmsford South (A414) turnoff.

I know I sound pathetic by pulling holes in all this – especially as I only saw about 20 mins of the programme, but it’s a road that at rush hour is infuriatingly slow and needs to be made 3 lanes all the way from the M25 to the A14. What they should be showing is how dangerous the constant 2 to 3 back to 2 lanes is. I will reserve judgement until I see more of the programme, but knowing my luck, this week I will develop a social life and miss all the episodes!

** EDIT **

Yes I did develop a social life, or at least didn’t see the remaining episodes, but can catagorically state that it was not filmed on the A12. Also, I question the lack of lorries – they are the most dangerous thing on the A12 and would expect a lorry to have been involved in the accident.

Aw yes! Just booked for me and James to go and see Pink at Portman Road next June. It’s been an absolute age since I last went to a gig – and in fairness that was a festival, being V2004.

Her latest album is awesome – I bought it for James’ birthday and pretty much comendered it as mine!

Can’t wait now! Why can’t it be next week?

It is with great sadness that I have been reading the Have Your Say column on the BBC news website. The level of ignorance displayed by so many is quite frankly frightning. The inability of some to seperate the emotion and the politics demonstrates how ignorant many of today’s young people are.

I for one give thanks today, on Rememberance Sunday, to all those people who have given their lives or suffered injury so that I have the freedom to write my own thoughts down and publish them for you all to read.
I thank my Grandad for helping the Atlantic convoys supply food to Britain during WW2, I thank my Nan for the work she did as a Firefighter for her road whilst living in London during WW2, as well as the thousands of others who fought alongside them to keep our ‘freedom’ in tact.
I also thank those men and woman who continue to give their lives without question, to create what will hopefully be safer environments for everyone.

Today is not a day for politics and those that are unable to seperate the two, should keep quiet.

To all those that have died or been affected in the course of serving their country, today I thank you for your sacrifice and I can assure you that myself and others like me will ensure that Britain never forgets.

I have always been a supporter of the poppy campaign as I believe we should all acknowledge those that have given their lives in the name of our country, regardless of their beliefs.

It was brought home even more so this evening when I got a phonecall from my mum letting me know that the husband of a family friend was killed in action at the weekend in Afganistan.
I spent quite a lot of time with Chrissie when I was growing up due to my brother and her brother being best friends. I haven’t seen her in probably 20 years but this is absolutely tragic news and would like to pass on my condolances to her and her family.

Chrissie was interviewed about her husband on the BBC and showed enormous strength and absolute pride for her husband http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/8343706.stm

Since I’ve gotten older, fireworks have lost their magic and I think after tonight, I have realised why!

Last week I bought tickets for me and James for King Coels Kittens firework display in Colchester’s Castle Park, and tonight, on a relatively warm November 5th evening, we went along.

We started out with a hot dog (well, James had a hot dog AND a burger) then went and found our chosen place to stand in Upper Castle Park. The park was suprisingly empty at 6:30pm – the gates opened at 6pm. We listened to the local radio dj’s trying to get the crowd involved, culminating in a procession of the guy being led to the bonfire.

After the fire was lit, and there was a bit more the silliness with the DJ’s and then fireworks started.

After years of watching people running about lighting fuses with each firework going off seperately, I wasn’t expecting much. How wrong was I? I didn’t time it but I would imagine there was 20-25 minutes of solid fireworks to a soundtrack of Abba (yay) and Michael Jackson (meh). Not only that, but there were a lot of amazing fireworks in the mix – and I hadn’t seen a lot of them before.

It was an amazing display and I don’t begrudge the £7 per ticket we paid as you would be hard pressed to find a better display! Not only that, the organisers arrange to give a lot of money to different local charities.