I have just been going through the spam box and I have found comments made as far back as 2021 which they haven't shown me until now. So if you left a comment then which you think I had deleted, I apologise.
Instagram have stopped sending me pictures of 16 year-old girls now, which is a step in the right direction as far as their social profiling of me goes, and now they are sending me photos of 35 year-old women with suspiciously large breasts.
I wanted to discourage them from that too, so I lied by pressing the 'not interested' button and they promised never to show me pictures of one Russian woman (who was described as 'Ukrainian') again, but it seems that did not apply to the 20 others that appeared the next time I went back. All of them had about 25 thousand likes, which makes me think that soon their algorithm will decide that I am gay and start sending pictures of shirtless young men.
Unnecessary photo IDs for the next elections; British Embassy officials jumping the queue to get out of Sudan before women and children; the BBC accused of tainting its own reputation for appointing a corrupt Chairman (who was, in fact, appointed by the government as they always have been), are just three of the daily doses of depressing news which stop me from blogging about the general situation for fear of being accused as unpatriotic or worse, but I have to at least mention some of them in passing once in a while as I am now.
Up until a local complained last year, there was a lone gypsy living on a patch of waste ground near my workshop. He had the owner's permission and he made a living by building very good versions of shepherd's huts, which sold for a lot of money. He was very boisterous and friendly (unless you upset him), often singing at the top of his voice as he unlocked the gate to drive down the lane in his pick-up.
He was very polite to me and my companions, but one of the people living in one of the two million pound houses nearby complained to the council and he was turfed off.
We tried to explain that he was an asset to the community because the land he was on attracted late night weekend raves and parties, bringing in hundreds of dubious strangers from miles around and there would be vandalism and burglaries a matter of days after the party was over. He was very good - and efficient - at deterring the organisers. He could be quite scary and hands-on, if you know what I mean.
As he was leaving I asked him where he was going to live next. He said he didn't know at that point, but he believed that people 'make their own luck'. I think he was right.
Sad to see him go. I hope he found a welcome elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteWe have almost given up on "news"
The same landowner (who owns a lot of it) gave him a place somewhere else.
DeleteGood
DeleteBritish Embassy typists and clerks, kitchen staff etc. are just as entitled to get out of a dangerous country as anybody else being ordinary, not highfalutin types nor anything special in terms of position, so if the Embassy is doing that in helping then get home then good for the Embassy. As your gypsy said, you make your own luck so you run for a plane, you don't wait for someone else to do it for you. In disasters of every description it is always survival of the fittest, not those who sit and wait to be told what to do and then bleat afterwards. They're probably dead by then anyway.
ReplyDeleteI have never said that embassy staff are not as entitled to leave as anyone else. I know of a British woman who was desperately trying to get her two young children to safety on her own who was promised a place on a scheduled convoy. She was called by the embassy who said that she could no longer join that convoy because there was no space left. It later transpired that her places had been taken up by adult embassy staff.
DeleteShe had been instructed by the British government to stay where she was or don't blame them if she tried to make it on her own and got killed. She didn't sit around and bleat as you so compassionately put it, but ran off and got out on her own a week later. She was trying to protect her children. I thought this post would produce another predictable response from you.
And your post was another predictable one from you. I expect the BBC will keep you up-dated.
DeleteWhat'd she bother to tell anyone for then? She got out didn't she.
DeleteThere is a similar case between Martin Clune and 'travellers'. Though in this case the mother of one of the travellers sold her house to Martin, the land on which the family lived is actually owned by them. Glad your landowner is not as mean.
ReplyDeleteWho is Martin Clune?
DeleteDoc Martin????
DeleteOh, I haven't seen one episode, even though my friend Simon filmed it all.
DeleteTom....feeling your pain as you read the comments. We have gypsies and travellers as neighbours. Nah....gonna be quiet there. As for the embassy. The government take care of their own. That lady realised that and thankfully took matters into her own hands. I feel that millions of UK citizens must do the same, and hopefully will.
ReplyDeleteThis particular bunch want to scrap any tradition (or law) which doesn't suit them. The ambassador is supposed to be the last one to leave, not push ahead of women and children.
DeleteThe Ambassador wasn't there because he was on leave in London during Ramadam.
DeleteOh yes, so he was. He left a senior deputy in charge who was evacuated when things got tough. It reminds me of Dominic Raab going on holiday when he was supposed to be evacuating people from Afghanistan.
DeleteI expect they were above being told what to do because they would have said they were being bullied.
DeleteDoes Instagram send your picture those women?
ReplyDeleteI hope not.
DeleteOnline profiling has it wrong in many cases. As we speak, a new profile is probably in the making for you. I also like the saying, "God takes care of those who take care of themselves." Taking action and being proactive is always best. I'm glad the gypsy has a new place to go.
ReplyDeleteWhat God's plans are remain a mystery to me, but I am pretty sure he is neutral in conflicts like Sudan. It must be difficult to know the right thing to do for the best of your children, especially when you are being bombed and shot at with your government telling you they are trying to help via a blanket text message, then that you are on your own.
DeleteInteresting story and one I guess that could be repeated up and down the country. Do you remember learning the poem at school
ReplyDeleteOle Meg she was a gypsy,
and lived upon the moors.
Her bed it was the brown heath turf
Her house was out of doors.
When I was a child gypsies were plentiful (real gypsies I mean.)- where have they all gone?
My mother said that I never should...
DeleteIreland and India mainly I think. There are a few motorised ones without horses around here.
DeleteEast Anglia.
DeleteThat figures.
DeleteCan you have a lone gypsum
ReplyDeleteDammm auto correct , lol but it amused me
ReplyDeleteMy first comment is in spam …..
DeleteMy last two. Comments have been redirected to spam
ReplyDeleteI’m giving up commenting as every one has gone to spam ….
ReplyDeleteExcept this one? I looked through the spam this morning and you were not there. I'll look again now. Give me a minute.
DeleteYes, I found them. Spam is going a bit strange recently. My own comments are going in, even though they are published. Fuck knows.
DeleteAt least it put your comment count up.
DeleteThere is that.
DeleteLol was it worth it ?
DeleteWas what worth it? I am so far behind now that I have lost the thread.
DeleteI wonder about the call to the woman, to tell her the places were gone. It seems a strange courtesy in a bad situation. There is no answer, so don't bother.
ReplyDeleteI think that the same message was sent to everyone on a list.
DeleteI wonder how many of the evacuees had to leave pets behind to fend for themselves, poor things.
ReplyDeleteEverything behind. I hear that they have been killing the pets rather than let them die a slow death. There are many children dying for lack of medical attention. Their parents take them for miles to where they hear there may be a doctor, only to find untrained nurses with a few doctors and no medicines or other supplies. These warlords are despicable. They want the gold - literally. This is turning into the biggest humanitarian disaster for years.
Delete