Still trying to regain some of my former strength and mobility since my holiday illness, I found it hard going and am still some way away from how I felt before, but I ‘m getting there. As they said it’s “baby steps” but there’s light at the end of the tunnel and have started to use my car again for some journeys, despite having a fairly good public transport link from where I reside. I’m afraid at 74 and with the various health issues I have to contend with daily any idea of getting any greener is on the back burner for now. Anyway given the short journeys I make and the amount of traffic that graces the worlds roads every day, I don’t think my contribution will make that much of a difference.
The recent floods that swept across the north of the country have reminded us yet again of how Climate Change is affecting our weather, and yet our present government, like the previous coalition, seem to be in denial as to how urgent it is that we address this problem robustly. Instead of going on about getting the country out of debt by reducing help to those who need it most they should be diverting some of the billions destined for Nuclear subs and HSR into spending more on flood defences. Admittedly while understanding that in a hostile world, which this one seems to be, we as a nation need to be able to defend ourselves against any unwanted aggression. we also have to plan ahead without really knowing for sure what kind of armed defensive forces we may require. However I am not convinced that a new range of Trident subs is the best way to spend more that £40billion, which by the time it is ready, the world we live in might have changed yet again. Couple this with a need to improve our conventional forces, there’s a need for a real housing action plan to build new affordable homes away from flood plain areas and bolster the defences of those already being hit. It’s criminal the way people’s homes and business’s are being ruined time and time again while the people in power don’t do enough to help those being affected. So come on you politicians, roll up your sleeves and get stuck in sorting out our real priorities.!
I was reminded recently about when I first saw any TV toward the end of 1949, it was a tiny screen showing a monochrome picture, with 1 channel (BBC) that came on in the early evening and switched off about midnight, and played the National Anthem before closing down altogether. The content too was worlds away from what’s seen today and everything seemed very formal with announcers speaking with a stiff upper lip and dressed very formally. The choice of programming was very much in the hands of the BBC and limited to say the least. However over the years additional channels were added and of course technology changed in such a way that nowadays the TV’s are huge, flat screen colour, high definition, 3D and SMART. While exploring my own particular Smart box the other night I could not believe how much there was to access, not only Movies, TV shows, Box Sets, YouTube, Skype and tons of various foreign channels and other internet choices, but a selection of a huge number of radio stations from across the world, Incredible!! I have been taking full advantage of this latter capability to explore some really good Rock and Jazz stations.I tried working out if I listened to just one station per day how long it would take me to get through them all but I eventually gave up as it would take me over ten years to get around the lot!!!! I often wonder if today’s young people realise just how lucky they are to have such a wonderful choice at their fingertips. I just hope they appreciate such a scenario, which I’m sure they will, and never take it for granted as it is such a wonderful addition to some of the new technology that our world seems to be dominated by. I just hope that future generations build in some kind of back up so that if calamity befalls and it all comes crashing down, they will have something to fall back on to help keep their civilisation going.
