Just A Bit Of An Update

I've been meaning to write something on here for a while, but every time I start I realise I just can't be bothered. The only time I really get to post these days is at night and by the time I've settled in from work and feel relaxed enough to actually write something then I feel like I'd rather spend that time either with my partner, in person, via the net or what ever or doing one of the many things that bring me pleasure. Now I'm not saying I don't enjoy writing on here, cause I clearly do, I'm just saying my music, my books, my games, my films, my friends etc. etc. seem like a better way of spending my time so blogging ends up being treated like a second class citizen of sorts.

Anyways today my lady is busy preping her lesson plans for next week, she's a teacher, and I have a new phone to play with so have discovered the joys of having, more or less, round the clock internet access and figured I could drop in an impromptu update. Now me and my lady have been talking about moving in together for months now, but, as of yet have failed to make much of an in road, it recently came to our realisation that a possible reason for this was that renting a house didn't appeal as much to us as buying our own. I dunno maybe its just me but when I think about it, it seems you pay someone for the pleasure of looking after their house for them and then when they're sick of you they kick you out, perhaps I'm just being overly cynical. So basically after months of unsuccessful searches for rental properties we've come to the decision that maybe some intense saving with a look to putting down a good size deposit on an actual house of our own is the best way forward for us. It's really good to have something to look forward too, I just hope it really works out.

Anyway thats enough for now, its Sunday afternoon, its raining and I want to just enjoy the weather for a while. It seems the older I get the more I enjoy the bleakness of wet, windy weather and grey sky's.

England Prevails

Again its been a while, I'm not good at this blogging malarkey. I've actually done a hell of a lot since I last wrote on here, I've grown older, I've been to gigs, I've drunk WAY too much, I've been on holiday, I've visited many interesting places. None of that is really what I want to talk about tonight though, tonight I want to register my disgust at the current state of things in this country, I want people to know what I think and feel about the riots and the supposed reasons behind the riots.

To start with, the 'peaceful' protest and demands of justice from the family and friends of a 'victim' of a police shooting should NEVER have been allowed to happen. This so called 'victim' was a well known gang member, a criminal who was shot during a police operation against the organisation that he belonged to. For those of you that are unaware, ordinary police in the UK do NOT carry fire arms, we have specialist armed police units that are only used in circumstances where such force is strictly necessary. The police in question knew this man to be carrying a loaded fire arm, new that he was more than prepared to use it and there's even reports that he shot and wounded an officer prior to him being shot dead.

Now I'm not great supporter of the police, in fact quite the opposite, I feel the police are a largely ineffectual force that are part of a decadent past and, in their current state, are little help in society. However, I feel that the police involved in this operation should be commended for their bravery, not just by their colleagues in the force but by everyone. As it is they're being investigated by The Independent Police Complaints Commission. They're being treated like criminals for going in to face a criminal organisation, knowing full well that these people would be armed and more than willing to use those weapons. These people who were knowingly risking THEIR OWN LIVES in order to protect those of normal, law abiding citizens, it's a mockery of everything being English has ever stood for.

Now leaving that behind and on to the riots themselves, the first riot broke out during the peaceful protest, that should never have happened, on the pretence of being part of the protesting group. In reality the rioters are nothing but thugs and gang minded individuals looking for a reason and opportunity to cause trouble and damage to other peoples property. Very few of them would have had anything to do with and probably not even any knowledge of the actual reason behind the protests. These people, and the people involved in the subsequent riots and looting up and down the country, are nothing more than the dregs of society, people that we we would, in all honesty, be much better off without. It sickens me that we as a nation could sink so low that so many people have sought to involve themselves in this, so much so that towns and cities up and down the country have been forced to shut themselves up in fear. If you know anyone involved in the riots and looting it is you duty to humanity to turn them in.

I genuinely fear what a continuation of these riots and this behaviour could herald, if it continues, at some point, the government is going to start covertly removing our rights and freedoms in order to force us into compliance. The truly scary part is that the silent majority of people, who find the riots as abhorrent as I do, are likely to welcome these measures in the name of their own safety and the safety of their loved ones and treasured possessions. This could be the first steps to a Britain not far from the comic book pages of the likes of V for Vendetta, a place where the government has total control of our lives and any deviation or difference to society's accepted norms will be stamped out with extreme prejudice in order to ensure that actions such as we are seeing right now can never happen again.

Ok rant over, remember... England Prevails...

Urgghhhh, Just Urgghhhh

Isn't it wonderful how spending 5 days a week doing something you hate drains you of any creativity. I haven't posted on here since October and its not because I've done nothing or had nothing to write about, it's because the state of mind my job puts me in has killed all drive, ambition, creativity etc. from me.

Oddly this month I've had 2 4 day weekends, yet this is the first month since Christmas that I'm not arranged to really do anything. Since Christmas I've been to London, seen a rendition of hamlet, been to 4 or 5 gigs (some not entirely planned), been on several nights out (again some not entirely planned), seen 3 stand up comedians, been to the zoo, looked at places to live and spent £2000 on a car that I can't even drive. That's just the bigger things, I've done countless other less mention worthy things, been on excursions and spent many happy weekends with my partner.

Work is really dragging me down at the moment. I'd just kind of levelled out, found a rhythm that I could cope with, when my boss lands it on me that, because my formal review was due (early last month) meaning I should have gone on a permanent contract and gone up a wage bracket, he's decided that I'm on an indefinite probation and cancelled my formal review. This has effectively both frozen me at my current rate of pay and kept me on a temporary contract. This has left me in a state where I don't actually know what's happening or even if I'm keeping my job, it literally hangs completely in the balance and is completely in his hands, a point that he's made to me on several occasions by pulling me into the office to talk about how's he's watching me. I don't even know where I'm going with this rant, I just can't keep my mind focused, urghhhh I'm going to bed