Thursday, December 17, 2015

2 (35) NO? AH WELL...

THE MIDDLE EAST.
 Ever wonder? Seen those television shots of underground tunnels housing ISIL - ISIS - Daesh (whatever) fighters - terrorists - nutters (whatever)? 
Seen those bombed to buggery buildings wherein lived women - children - collateral damage (whatever)? 
Ever wonder whether, every bit as much as twisted religious teaching, big power bullying has done nothing but escalate fanatical hatred over there? 
Ever question whether raining bombs down willy-nilly can possibly bring an end to it all? 
Ever ask why the hell we keep sticking our noses in? 
No? Ah well...
HOME. 
Promises promises. So a government that was not going to allow fracking below protected sites has now agreed to said fracking. 
Another U-turn? Another promise broken? 
Well, no, the drilling will have to begin outside the sites and can then insidiously encroach below them
Does that sound like political flimflam to you? 
No? Ah well...  
What flood defences? Here we go again.
God knows how much is supposed to have been spent on improving flood defences in Cumbria over the last six years but it hasn't had much effect, has it? 
Right now the poor devils suffering from that disastrous flooding of the past few weeks must be asking: what flood defences? 
It might take a ludicrously simplistic mindset, but wouldn't we be better served pouring money into flood-proofing places like Cockermouth than in pouring bombs down on foreign countries with whom we are not officially at war? 
No? Ah well...
BOOKS. 
Finished reading No Time for Goodbye by Linwood Barclay (my thanks go to Viv, for putting me onto it) and was inordinately pleased when I again guessed, very early on, who the 'surprise' villain was. 
Also read Hogfather, Terry Pratchett's 20th Discworld novel and a glorious send up on the subject of Christmas. I chose to read it, quite by chance, at exactly the right time of year, which was an added bonus. HO.HO.HO. 
TELEVISION. 
Clear out time again. 
Nurse Jackie, played by lovely Edie Falco (above), was a drug addict, two-timer, liar, thief and, at her best, a superb nurse. Her story, sad to say, has just ended in the only permissible way a story like hers could end. Presumably she won't be back. 
Dr. Who, played by Peter Capaldi (who I like), has taken his leave again. I did not much enjoy the last series, have no idea where he might land next time and, sad to say, no longer care. 
But he will be back. 
Grimm, played by David Giuntoli, has shoved off on half term holiday taking the rest of the likeable cast and their make-up artists with him. 
They'll be back. 
The Walking Dead, headed by Andrew Lincoln, also tend to disappear for short breaks, usually when a mainline character has fallen prey to lurching scriptwriters dressed in rags. 
Occasionally this viewer disappears, too, but that is only when he loses patience with the strangulated cacophony of approaching zombies. 
Who made that bloody soundtrack? 
What? 
Oh, they'll be back (in one form or another). 
THE FESTIVE SEASON. 
Lor, don't it come round quick!
Half our Festive gear is still unpacked. 
But a week away from Christmas Eve. 
My Leader has done what she can in the card writing and present wrapping line.
I have contributed only by taking it to the local post office, which is now in the Spar shop up the road. 
I'm sure many nice people will have been missed in the controlled panic that inevitably surrounds us every Yuletide, so I take this opportunity to bid 
A HAPPY AND PEACEFUL CHRISTMAS 
from Mo and I and the cat Shadow to all who read these words, be they: Google Staff, Government Snoopers, Net Browsing Insomniacs - or simply 
Cheerful Regulars. 
GODBLESSYERWUNANALL! 

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