One thing this lockdown has taught us is to have more respect for people who do the unpopular but vital jobs which carry a social stigma in a world populated by a burgeoning middle class who would not get out of bed for the minimum wage.
I said that I miss the teams of hedgers and ditchers who have been replaced by one man with a tractor and a brutal slasher. Colonel Blimp said that his father once instructed him to make a note of the position of a road sweeper as they left for London one morning, then observe where the man was on their return later in the afternoon. Apparently, he was thirty feet down the road and - get this - leaning on his broom.
My parents were a bit like that. If I slacked at school my mother would ask me if I wanted to end up as a road-sweeper. It was supposed to scare me into productivity, but obviously never did.
Thelma has commented on the inexplicable 'deal' that Boris Johnson has struck with Australia which is going to be another nail in the coffin of small British farmers. I commented that I heard a Conservative minister this morning defending B.J.'s inept choice of countries to make trade deals with, and he asked a woman on the panel who SHE would like to trade with, given the choice. Her answer was so obvious that the Conservative didn't see it coming. "Europe, of course."
John has asked us who we would choose for a role-model. Most people could not think of one, Colonel Blimp cited his eldest son (can't wait for this year's round-robin) and Rachel admitted that she didn't even understand the concept of role-models. That settled it for me. I chose Rachel.
Britta has settled in at Bavaria and has already discovered a fleet of alien star ships on the local lake.
I may continue this later because I am being kicked off the machine to make way for Hungary versus France.
T.B.C. possibly with a picture at the top.
A typical post for you I Tom - you are pretty good at hitting the nail on the head - and hitting it with a sledge hammer I might add.I am surprised you made no mention of the by-election victory - but maybe that comes later.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to take that, Weave. Should I be flattered or ashamed?
DeleteI laughed when you chose me as your role model! I can't think of anything more funny. Another football match about to kick off, Italy are already through; on the basis of the rendition of their national anthem I had never doubted it. It is my litmus test for match winners. They should go on and win the tournament.
ReplyDeleteBack to square one....
DeleteOh well..
DeleteThere was an old whore of Azores ,
ReplyDeleteWhose cunt was all covered in sores.
The dogs in the streets
Wouldn't eat the green meat
That hung in festoons from her drawers.
I thank you
That's the one. I didn't dare quote it.
DeleteHas it occurred to the powers that be that the further away your trading partner is the greater your carbon footprint? Or don´t they care?
ReplyDeleteHe doesn't care. He never has. He only cares for his own career. He wants to leave office now to - in his own words - make money and have fun.
DeleteYou've summed up the thinking on the blogs well. The topics are quite varied and comments are interesting and sometimes surprising. Working out of town can be great or a real drag. Hopefully your having a good time.
ReplyDeleteRight now, working out of town is inconvenient, but I normally really enjoy getting out. I am hoping the tide is turning for me and although this summer is turning out - workwise - to be one of the worst of my life, I think all will be ok in the long run, and it has been a very long run. I am fighting off the negativity that many other people are fighting off and waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. Thank you for your good wishes Susan.
DeleteHow well is Biden doing, mending fences with our allies and trading partners? Has he offended the queen yet, or only the French president?
ReplyDeleteThe little party in Cornwall went well I think. He is busy trying to undo the damage to NATO, which is a big relief for the Eastern states of Europe. The Northern Ireland problem is going to be tricky though. America has always been pro Republican and a devious liar like Johnson in control doesn't help.
DeletePat is right you always manage to catch the essence of the matter you are writing about.
ReplyDeleteThat's because I find it difficult to concentrate on any one thing for long.
DeleteYears back we had a street sweeper (yes, really) who would sing, quite well, operatic numbers. I once asked him about it and he replied that he worked on the roads to get the cash to go to operas. He did not want any other job.
ReplyDeleteI like to hear of people who are quite content with their job. It is becoming rarer to find them these days, thanks to everyone's obsession with what they see as their right to own the latest of everything, and everything has a built-in obsolescence to maintain growth in the market. We are being milked by the big boys. They have stolen our contentment.
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ReplyDeleteI too remember my parents telling me that I had to do well at school or only menial jobs would be open to me. Getting a "good job" was the be all and end all in our house but the tables are turned now that there are shortages of the people who do the unskilled jobs.
DeleteNot only that, but many of the so-called 'unskilled' jobs require a high degree of either skill or experience. When Brexit was looming, the idiots who were supposed to be smoothing the transition advised the soft-fruit farmers to employ students on the Summer break to be pickers if they couldn't get hold of the Eastern Europeans who had been doing the job very well for years. They added insult to injury when they suggested that people should re-train if the jobs they were trained for are lost due to Covid. They really are completely incompetent.
DeleteBack in the 70's (which I only vaguely remember) a student friend got a summer holiday job in a pea factory. She was at the end of the line of "quality control" on the conveyor where all the grubs, caterpillars, bird droppings, bits of small dead mice and twigs were removed by hand before they went into the tin. If she didn't get 'em, in they went. She never ate tinned peas after that.
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