Black Friday

Head Rambles Posted on by  

So today is Person of Colour Day?

No, I’m not going to rant about commercialism or tacky attempts to create a feeding frenzy. There’s no point. I have other polar bears to fry.

We’re watching a series on the televisual box at the moment. It’s a drama on BBC which as dramas go, isn’t too bad if a little confusing. The reason I mention it is that the entire cast [with a very few minor exceptions] consists of blacks negros Equatorials non-whites People of Colour. Why? There is nothing in the general theme of the plot that dictates the ethnicity of the cast so the whole thing is obviously a Politically Correct nod in the direction of “Inclusiveness” and to keep the non-Caucasian happy.

Some time back I noticed this trend. It’s not just on the English channels, it’s also creeping into the Irish ones too. Advertising is the worst. Apparently if you visit a fast food place here in Ireland it’s best if you’re non-white. Non-white families enjoy the fruit of several of our establishments and are even prominently present in our service industry. A casual glance at the advertisements on television would convince you that indigenous Irish are in a distinct minority.

I don’t consider myself to be racist. Granted I have that deeply ingrained primitive instinct to distrust anyone who doesn’t look like me [ask any anthropologist – it’s a survival instinct] but I am educated enough to know that there is a basic humanity in everyone [with a few exceptions]. I treat people as I find them. Provided we can converse reasonably fluently I have no problems with them at all. Local Shop in fact seems to be run by a mix of Orientals and members of the Indian sub-continent. I get along with them very well and I hope they get along with me.

However this constant barrage of obviously foreign faces being pushed in my face is beginning to take effect. It’s like the Alphabet Gender people – I hear too much of their whinging and whining. It’s gone beyond an irritation.

I’m going to have to revisit this racist thing.

 

A Thursday Ramble

Head Rambles Posted on by 5

It’s less than four weeks until the Winter Solstice.

Time is a very strange thing nowadays. The years are flashing past at an alarming rate. We watched a film the other night [I cant remember what it was of course] and realised that it had been made about forty years ago. I could have sworn it was released very recently.

We have been back at the Manor now for over twenty years but it doesn’t seem that long. Then thinking back to my childhood and what twenty years would involve – the whole path from baby through infant-hood, followed by years of schooling in various establishments, through third level and finally into a full time career, that is one hell of a lot to cram into twenty years and at the time it seemed almost endless. I just cannot believe that I crammed so much living into the same time span we have been here.

At my last ophthalmologist’s visit she asked when I had last had an optician’s eye test. I told her that it must be three or four years. Yet when I made the appointment for last week’s visit I discovered that I had been to them last year. That came as a bit of a shock and once again time was playing tricks. Though on second thoughts that was probably a memory problem rather than a time one. I have a lot of those too.

So now we are thundering towards Christmas [yes, I know I avoid the word until the day arrives but bear with me] and now the commercial world is starting to gear up. It doesn’t seem that long since the baking basking days of summer. At the moment they are obsessed with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and have been for the last couple of weeks. Both “occasions” are an entirely fictitious inventions of the commercial world to persuade us to buy their tat and I’m not even sure when both “events” are supposed to happen, but soon they will suddenly switch to Christmas mode and we’ll be further mired in obsessive commercialism. I’m not bothered any more though as I know the next four weeks will flash past like a demented express.

I have to make an appointment to see the vet in the next few days. It’s coming up to time for Penny’s monthly injection.

I could have sworn we were there last week.

 

Unscathed so far

Head Rambles Posted on by 7

Yesterday was a bit of an ordeal.

To my amazement [and delight] masks were few and far between at the opticians. It all went well, apart from nearly being blinded by having very bright lights being shone into my eyes.

The outcome seems good. Yes I have a cataract but it is so minor it will be quite a while before surgery is necessary. Everything else is grand and I pick up my new glasses in a fortnight.

The only problem I had was in the car park. On the way back I shoved the ticket into their machine. It thought about it for a while and eventually I was asked to dab my debit card on the screen. I did that and the machine made some funny noises and eventually spat out my ticket to use on the exit barrier. Grand. I drove to the exit barrier and stuck my validated card in the slot. The fucking thing rejected it and told me to go back to pay the money and get the ticket validated. It spat out my ticket. At this point a queue was forming behind me and I was stuck.

I shoved in the ticket again. It announced that there was an error somewhere and it swallowed my ticket. At this point people behind me were getting a tad impatient. I pressed the Help button. The machine made a series of burping noises and eventually a voice asked me what was wrong. I’m not used to speaking to barriers but had no choice. I explained my predicament. Without another word, the barrier lifted. I went home.

Later in the day I came across a little piece on the BBC News site, Apparently they are talking about building massive solar panels in space that will beam electricity back to Earth. It sounds feasible if a little expensive but never mind. A thought did cross my mind though. Suppose the beamed energy drifted slightly so it misses the collector on the ground? Someone is going to get fried. A few Gigawatts of power beamed onto the unsuspecting public?

I wouldn’t fancy that.

But I suppose it would be quick…..

 

Groundhog Day again

Head Rambles Posted on by 7

The excitement here is mounting.

I have an appointment in Skobieville tomorrow.

I did have an appointment last week but they cancelled at the last minute. My appointment is with an optician and apparently they originally booked me to see the contact lenses person, on a day when the optician wasn’t there. So they had to cancel and re-book. Idiots.

There are two aspects of the trip that make it somewhat less pleasant than it should be.

The first of course is that it’s in Skobieville. I try and avoid that kip whenever possible but that’s where the optician resides so I am doomed to endless ramps, traffic lights and crap parking. As Callie’s home town was the Patron Town of Roundabouts, so Skobieville is the Patron Town of Ramps. Every road seems to have them with no escape.

The other lack of pleasantry is that the optician’s gaff seems to be stuck in last year. They’re still on about anti-social distancing, protective shields and clothing and of course the infernal mask. It’s the same at the vet’s. Don’t these people know that the panic is over? Are they stuck in some kind of time warp? I suppose I’ll bring my mask. It’s one of the papery ones I got that age ago when the panic started. I suppose I have worn it less than half a dozen times over the years and apart from being a bit grubby, it’s still in one piece. It conforms with the definition of a mask so they can’t complain. I’ll still pull it down below my nose though so my glasses don’t fog up.

Yes, I know the Virus is still out there. Maybe I have already caught it? Herself and I were feeling a bit rough last week but that seems to have passed. Maybe that was it? It sort of fitted the symptoms but we lust took some paracetamol on top of all our other medications and carried on as normal. If we haven’t yet had the pleasure than so be it.

Confining myself to the house is what I do anyway……