While in a semi drunken state I watched the approach of this new year on the flat screen magic box, at 24.00 the show went to the Thames and showed the terrific fireworks display surrounding the London Eye, what a show, impressive or what, this display probably cost half our national debt - but what the heck, it is the start of the year and we need something to take our thoughts away from the financial worries for a spell.
Personally, I was most impressed by the co-ordination of the many elements used to create the overall effect, it was breathtakingly awesome and makes me proud that our cobbled together government had the courage to commit the funds to an excellent display and lift our depressed hearts for a moment.
I just hope the they use as much common sense to deal with the worries of our student population here who are stressed by the possible drastic raising of course fees, a clear explanation is needed as a matter of urgency to avoid the actions of those violent few that do not represent the majority at all, and who usurp the intentions of the gathering to turn it to their own violent and dangerous (not to say costly) ends.
They have a disruptive agenda of their own which serves to lose the public's understanding and support for those pupils that have concerns about starting there working life with the burden of a massive debt on their shoulders, I plead with the government to re-appraise their decision and consider some alternative approach which will be less abrasive and more considerate towards our countries future leaders and executives, engineers, politicians, CEO's in fact most of those that hold our future in their hearts and minds.
These students are no longer children, they are young adults who are capable of a considerable depth of reasoning, but who are still learning and assembling their ideas and reaching their own decisions, they are no longer sheep to be herded like lambs to the slaughter, and, after talking with some of them, I am of the opinion that the vast majority are disgusted and disappointed that their genuine efforts are being driven off course by the actions of a group of criminally minded thugs, brought in by god knows who, and intent on doing damage for the sake of it.
Basically these fresh minds deserve the respect of our government and deserve greater consideration when deciding on life changing decisions like this fee increase, surely it would not do harm to debate with them the best way of easing the inevitable, I have the impression that it is not the increase of the fees that concern them but the magnitude of that increase does. they are all worried about the worst case scenario of a threefold increase, surely that can not be necessary in all cases and the uncertainty of which will be affected gives them most concern. A clear explanation of the reasoning would help them greatly.
So I appeal to our leaders to temper their approach with more understanding and realistic ideas to solve the shortfall they are trying to rectify, perhaps adopt some of the broad minded thoughts used for the new years display, that took some courage to commit to in the light of the present difficulties, please don't stress the students unnecessarily, they have enough stress to survive their course work without dropping out.
With the contrasting decisions - the expenditure of the new years display - and the vast increase in university fees feared by those who have to consider their future in light of these possible increases, surely, even a politician can see the apparent unfairness of these situations - or am I alone in my thoughts ?
Brian.
Friday 31 December 2010
Thursday 30 December 2010
Greetings
I nearly forgot.
A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READER(S)
Lets hope our coalition Government comprehends the needs of the country and cooperates with other candidates to co-opt them into the common cause of correcting the financial crash we concern our craniums with.
Company's and corporations alike crease their brows in concern, causing committees to consider conditions controlling critical market conditions, critics claim the crisis was circumnavigatable had the financial corporations controlled the loan criteria more critically, comments by banking CEO's condemn these criticisms but the common man has to cry for his decreasing coppers crashing crazily in his almost empty pocket as his cash is collected to construct a prop for the failing banks.
Here endeth the first lesson.
Brian.
A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL MY READER(S)
Lets hope our coalition Government comprehends the needs of the country and cooperates with other candidates to co-opt them into the common cause of correcting the financial crash we concern our craniums with.
Company's and corporations alike crease their brows in concern, causing committees to consider conditions controlling critical market conditions, critics claim the crisis was circumnavigatable had the financial corporations controlled the loan criteria more critically, comments by banking CEO's condemn these criticisms but the common man has to cry for his decreasing coppers crashing crazily in his almost empty pocket as his cash is collected to construct a prop for the failing banks.
Here endeth the first lesson.
Brian.
Bad start !
Well, nearly new year and I get an emergency call !
A damsel in distress, "Help" she cries "all my power has gone out".
So, I don my Lycra tights and slip my energy underpants over them, then, with my cape flapping in the breeze I hurry to enter the trusty Brimobile.
The supercharged Brimobile starts its atomic engines and speeds me on my way to the scene of devastation in the metropolis of Wembley, as I near the area the populations Christmas lights twinkle but all is silent as I see local people smile at my approach, their celebrations curtailed till this critical situation is resolved.
Ready for instant action , I gain entry to the quivering damsels domain to find all in darkness,from my utility belt I draw my plasma torch and it lights the scene brilliantly but reveals that the area of problem is hidden behind a protective shield, removing this shield may expose bus-bars carrying 240 thousand millivolts.
Thinking of the safety of the damsel and her young son, I ask them to step back to protect themselves and I then gingerly attack the power fuse box with my laser screwdriver, gently I remove the securing screws and I see the cover loosen as I do so, holding my breath in suspense, I ease the cover free of the box and expose the deadly bus-bars, breathing easier, now I lodge the cover in a safe place.
Withdrawing my Brimeter from the belt, I speak my instructions to it and it sets the correct scale, with bated breath my heart quickens as I apply the probes to the incoming supply, with care, for a wrong move at this stage could mean the everything is obliterated in a blinding flash of light - - - - - - - - The meter reads a big fat zero, Nada, zilch, "&)$(£:{+}.
The confounded main fuse had blown, and the power company said it may be four hours before their engineers could attend her premises.
So, my time, fuel and patience were stretched to the limit - for nothing.
It is sometimes no fun being a 'Superhero' Dammit!
A damsel in distress, "Help" she cries "all my power has gone out".
So, I don my Lycra tights and slip my energy underpants over them, then, with my cape flapping in the breeze I hurry to enter the trusty Brimobile.
The supercharged Brimobile starts its atomic engines and speeds me on my way to the scene of devastation in the metropolis of Wembley, as I near the area the populations Christmas lights twinkle but all is silent as I see local people smile at my approach, their celebrations curtailed till this critical situation is resolved.
Ready for instant action , I gain entry to the quivering damsels domain to find all in darkness,from my utility belt I draw my plasma torch and it lights the scene brilliantly but reveals that the area of problem is hidden behind a protective shield, removing this shield may expose bus-bars carrying 240 thousand millivolts.
Thinking of the safety of the damsel and her young son, I ask them to step back to protect themselves and I then gingerly attack the power fuse box with my laser screwdriver, gently I remove the securing screws and I see the cover loosen as I do so, holding my breath in suspense, I ease the cover free of the box and expose the deadly bus-bars, breathing easier, now I lodge the cover in a safe place.
Withdrawing my Brimeter from the belt, I speak my instructions to it and it sets the correct scale, with bated breath my heart quickens as I apply the probes to the incoming supply, with care, for a wrong move at this stage could mean the everything is obliterated in a blinding flash of light - - - - - - - - The meter reads a big fat zero, Nada, zilch, "&)$(£:{+}.
The confounded main fuse had blown, and the power company said it may be four hours before their engineers could attend her premises.
So, my time, fuel and patience were stretched to the limit - for nothing.
It is sometimes no fun being a 'Superhero' Dammit!
Monday 27 December 2010
Christmas greetings
Well here we are, with Christmas over and 2011 approaching at an unstoppable speed and the sales starting leaving most folks delving deep into their pockets to see if that which rattles there is coinage or those cheap toys dropped from the crackers pulled at the dining table, in my case it is mostly fluff.
To all those who made the mistake to trip up and hit the Enter key on my Blog I wish you well in this new year and hope, like you, that the year is easier on our finances though I fancy it will not be. The whole financial world seem to be in the middle of a monetary tsunami, no one seems to know the epicentre, or is prepared to admit they know of it as they may be blamed, the result concerns all, both rich and poor are affected to differing extents.
Like the dickens story, Scrooges bank gets help from public funds (from our pockets) to stop the bank from going under, while Bob Crotchet and his family suffer horrendous charges from their power supplier, hiking up their charges above inflation rates, while the Crotchets can't raise a loan from the bank they have just invested in to cover the fuel usage they have had to consume during the cold winter we are enduring. I am sure Dickens would have framed this more eloquently but I am also sure his message would have been somewhat similar.
On a personal level, this has been an unexpectedly peaceful Christmas, we have been undisturbed by our neighbour's rantings, I will not explain further as it is too stupid to be suitable for this site.
As a confessed Anorak, my activities at my club (Harrow & Wembley Society of Model Engineers) reached it's conclusion this year with our Father Christmas run, (we run model steam trains on a Sunday giving rides to the public round our permanent track in a park setting during the summer period), with the weather right for the setting we had set up the grotto in the rear of our clubhouse, one of our members endowed with the right build and attitude made his usual excellent performance as Father Christmas surrounded by two elves and lit by many twinkling bulbs.
We have built a tunnel which we are going to cover with foliage of some sort, this was covered by a tarpaulin and bedecked inside with more Xmas lighting, most of our members dressed for the occasion including an overgrown elf and a walking talking 8ft Christmas tree, complete with lights, the public love it, especially the children, it is a delight to be involved with this as it is our way of saying thank you to our regular visitors who turn up, sometimes in very inclement weather, to support our efforts during the whole summer period.
This coming year it is our 75 anniversary and we have been chosen for special attention by our organising body The Southern Federation who intend to use our facilities for some of their events this year, thus we have been working to improve our track where age and weather had taken it's toll on the concrete track base, over a period of three Sundays the members raised the faulty area track, removed the crumbling concrete during the first Sunday, laid new concrete on the second and, re-laid and levelled the track on the third. The Xmas run proved the newly laid track was well worth doing as it proved far smoother than previously encountered.
The Alexandria Palace Model Engineers Exhibition this year will also be special, as part of our celebration year, we have booked a larger stand than usual and are determined to fill it with as varied a range of exhibits as possible. All in all this should be a special year, I just wish I could contribute with greater involvement and contributions. If you visit the show I will probably be either on the H&WSME stand or the demonstration stand and would be most interested to meet any visitors to this site.
The links below are related to my text here and I hope you may find them useful.
I wish you all well for this new year and look forward to reading your comments of any that has the time to bother with writing any.
Brian Everett.
http://www.hwsme.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.meridienneexhibitions.co.uk/our-events-detail.php?id=0000000002
http://www.southernfed.co.uk/
To all those who made the mistake to trip up and hit the Enter key on my Blog I wish you well in this new year and hope, like you, that the year is easier on our finances though I fancy it will not be. The whole financial world seem to be in the middle of a monetary tsunami, no one seems to know the epicentre, or is prepared to admit they know of it as they may be blamed, the result concerns all, both rich and poor are affected to differing extents.
Like the dickens story, Scrooges bank gets help from public funds (from our pockets) to stop the bank from going under, while Bob Crotchet and his family suffer horrendous charges from their power supplier, hiking up their charges above inflation rates, while the Crotchets can't raise a loan from the bank they have just invested in to cover the fuel usage they have had to consume during the cold winter we are enduring. I am sure Dickens would have framed this more eloquently but I am also sure his message would have been somewhat similar.
On a personal level, this has been an unexpectedly peaceful Christmas, we have been undisturbed by our neighbour's rantings, I will not explain further as it is too stupid to be suitable for this site.
As a confessed Anorak, my activities at my club (Harrow & Wembley Society of Model Engineers) reached it's conclusion this year with our Father Christmas run, (we run model steam trains on a Sunday giving rides to the public round our permanent track in a park setting during the summer period), with the weather right for the setting we had set up the grotto in the rear of our clubhouse, one of our members endowed with the right build and attitude made his usual excellent performance as Father Christmas surrounded by two elves and lit by many twinkling bulbs.
We have built a tunnel which we are going to cover with foliage of some sort, this was covered by a tarpaulin and bedecked inside with more Xmas lighting, most of our members dressed for the occasion including an overgrown elf and a walking talking 8ft Christmas tree, complete with lights, the public love it, especially the children, it is a delight to be involved with this as it is our way of saying thank you to our regular visitors who turn up, sometimes in very inclement weather, to support our efforts during the whole summer period.
This coming year it is our 75 anniversary and we have been chosen for special attention by our organising body The Southern Federation who intend to use our facilities for some of their events this year, thus we have been working to improve our track where age and weather had taken it's toll on the concrete track base, over a period of three Sundays the members raised the faulty area track, removed the crumbling concrete during the first Sunday, laid new concrete on the second and, re-laid and levelled the track on the third. The Xmas run proved the newly laid track was well worth doing as it proved far smoother than previously encountered.
The Alexandria Palace Model Engineers Exhibition this year will also be special, as part of our celebration year, we have booked a larger stand than usual and are determined to fill it with as varied a range of exhibits as possible. All in all this should be a special year, I just wish I could contribute with greater involvement and contributions. If you visit the show I will probably be either on the H&WSME stand or the demonstration stand and would be most interested to meet any visitors to this site.
The links below are related to my text here and I hope you may find them useful.
I wish you all well for this new year and look forward to reading your comments of any that has the time to bother with writing any.
Brian Everett.
http://www.hwsme.org.uk/index.htm
http://www.meridienneexhibitions.co.uk/our-events-detail.php?id=0000000002
http://www.southernfed.co.uk/
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