Good Riddance 2013

As years go 2013 has been on the whole a rubbish year in so many ways and it has ended on a all time low. It really is a year I could have done without in my life.

It was a year that was full of promise when it started but that was all to short lived and it just keep going down in general, if you ignore a few exceptions. All I can say is good riddance to 2013.

Merry Christmas

Well it is that time of the year when families should be together and the air should be full of Christmas cheer, but these days that is so rare, with families split and children missing. It is hard at times like this to have much cheer but cheer we all have to have and hope that things will sort themselves out better one day.

For me, I hope that coming year is better than the one that is passing, for it has been a hard year in so many ways.  I just hope, dear reader, that your year has been better and that your christams is full of cheer, and maybe you are lucky to have all your family around you. Have a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year.

Christmas at Gates Nursery 2013

Well it is that time of the year again and the local nursery turns into a winter wonderland for anyone that has any sense of the inner child to delight in the sprite of christmas future, present and past. Here is a selection of some of the photographs from wandering around the display this year, which would have been better if I had remembered to put my reading glasses on before I took them.

If you are in the Rutland area or live in one of the near by cities and find your self down this way do pop into Gates Nursery , in if you have little ones there is Santa's Grotto which at £5.99 per child is great fun and great value too with excellent gifts for the children.

Last Series of Him and Her

One of the programmes I have loved on television is finally coming to an end. Him and her has been one of my favorite comedy programmes since it first aired back in September 2010. I will be more than sad to see it go. The writing is excellent, the directing perfect and the casting acting superb. It is one of the shows that reflects back on us the reality of life and it is a careful observation of the human condition. 

For those that don't know it is a television sitcom about a lazy twenty-something couple, called Steve and Becky. They are both unemployed and share a small flat surviving on benefits. Steve has no dreams or goals in life other than in eating, sleeping, drinking and having sex. While Becky is a ladette with no desire to seek employment, she is popular with friends and the sort of girl that is always first to hit the dance floor when clubbing with the girls. Becky is sarcastic to the point of meanness and she sees straight through Steve but while being completely unable to understand the weird self-obsessions of men. The show is acutely observed, forensically honest, warts-and-all look at their lives.

The first programme in the last series airs tomorrow night and I will be glued to the box laughing at funny moments and be immersed in their life as if it was a soap opera. I recommended that you do the same, it is well worth half and hour of your time. 

I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here

Another series of this classic reality television show is about to hit our screens. "I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here" has become a highlight of the autumn television for schedules for millions of people and for good reason, the shows format makes for good television viewing. 

 

Looking at the press the lineup this year it looks as good as any year. Yes there are the few celebrities that you think who are they but as usual you soon warm to them as get to know them. You can bet from one of the group, for whatever reason will get picked on by the public, but generally that passes and the voting public leaves them alone after they have proved themselves in the trials.

As always I will be glued to the television for the duration of the show as will many countless millions. Hope you will join me too.

Remembrance Day

This is post is to commemorate those that died defending this country from hostile nations of the world that have threaded these shores, be they members of the British armed forces of those of the Commonwealth. Today we owe a great deal to the sacrifice of many who fell on the battlefields of the world, whose lives were lost often because of greed and empire building, religion or lack of understanding between nations

I just hope that we can in future talk and understand one another and the sense killing between nations and religions can come to an end, and we can live in peace with our fellow men with out prejudice or hate. It will take strong men to stop the conflicts of today, but stop they must for the waste of life caused by wars is unacceptable if we are all are to live in free and civilised society. Call me an idealist if you like, but having known in my life the damage hate and jealously can create I know these to be some of the most destructive forces in our world.

Six Today

Lucy turns six today, a most amazing little lady I love with all my heart and always will. Nothing will ever kill the love I have for all my daughters. She is one of my three special princesses and for as long as I live will have a massive place in my heart.

It is amazing how things come flooding back to you, how some thing just bring back memories. Unlike birthdays before this one has been so different for me. I found myself a few days ago listening the suite of the film “Forest Gump” and I found my mind wandering back to the time Lucy was just a small baby when I use to play the song in a rather large silver Renault Espace. On one occasion we were sitting outside a post office in Leeds and I can remember being so happy. When I listened to it recently I just was amazed how things have changed since then.

If you have followed the blog I haven’t seen Lucy since before the summer, despite a letter I sent giving possible dates. I haven’t heard a thing, nothing at all. All I can hope I will see her one day because without that thought part of my life will have died and with it a big part of me. Living without a child is hell on earth, and something you think of everyday. You can’t escape the knowledge that your children are some of the most special people in your life and for all the right reasons. I can’t wait to cuddle her again and hear her voice and Christmas and the year ahead won’t be the same without her.

What I hope for the future is to see her again, for everyone to make an effort so we can be together again. I love her so much and her loss hurts me at some point everyday. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her, wondering if she has lost her first tooth, how she is doing at school, and more. You can't forget the people you love.

RIP Lou Reed

An icon of the music industry that has died today, the legendry front man of the Velvet Underground, Lou Reed passed age 71.  Probably one of the most influential artists of his generation who together with his band had a influence on the punk, glam and alternative rock movements of the 1970s, '80s and '90s. His songs were covered by the likes of REM, David Bowie, Nirvana, Patti Smith and many others.

 
He loss will be a great lost to the music industry, but he has left us amazing legacy for future generations in the form of his recordings, both studio and live, and in the countless interviews and documentaries about himself, the band and the music of his time. As a solo artist he recorded 20 studio albums along and will be remembered for songs like Perfect Day, Walk on the Wild Side, Sweet jane and many more, as well as the singer of the Velvet Underground.

Beautiful Stamford

One of the gems of South Lincolnshire has to be the beautiful town of Stamford which is close to the boarder of Rutland and a must for anyone that is visiting Rutland for a Holiday or a short break. I'm just going to let the pictures speak for me on this occasion.

It truly is a lovely place and the architecture is beautiful as are the churches and the shops. You can spend a day there with ease and their is plenty to do and look at in and around the town. It a place I return to time and time again and each time I love it more and more.

Celebrity Big Brother Summer Winner 2013

Well it is the end of another summer season of Big Brother and it all ended with the final of Celebrity Big Brother 12. As usual the show had all the twists and turns you would expect from the show with task like the battle of the sexes with the female members of the house going up against the male members in a series of funny challenges. 

As you would expect the house wasn't quiet and there were a few arguments and outbursts the worse resulting in a warning being given to Mario Falcone for slapping Sophie Anderton while play fighting in the garden. Then there was the occasion where Carol McGiffin received a formal warning from Big Brother after using the N word and another warning was given to Ron Atkinson when he said to another house mate "You're not carrying a bomb with you, are you?" because she had jumper over head in a fashion that made her appear like a Muslim female.

In the end the winner was Charlotte Crosby, who for those that don't know is English reality television personality who is known for her role on Geordie Shore. She entered the house on Day 1 and was crowned this series' winner on Day 23 and gave us together with the rest of the house mates gave us 23 days of entertainment night after night.

Timeless

Sometimes you can find yourself in place in life when you think that at last you have found what your are looking. Something so magical that the world seems timeless and what you have feels like it is going to go on and on forever.

Then later you discover it is all an illusion and what you thought you had was nothing of the sort. In the end you are left with memories of the good times, but even those become tainted with the feelings of the present. Life just shatters dreams and those moments when things seem magical are just that, just moments. Moments that you were glad to have but in another way wish that had never happened in the end, because the pain of their passing seems so great, and the only conclusion you can arrive at is that nothing goes on forever, and like everything around us it just dies and withers. Nothing is timeless not even time itself.

Summers End

Well today marks the end of the summer for me and the start of a new year at work and the coming of the colder months. It has to be one of the best summer’s weather wise that can remember in years. It has been warm and sunny.

In other ways it hasn’t been so good. Despite sending a letter with dates to see little Lucy, just after the start of the school holidays nothing was forthcoming. I heard nothing back and to say this disappointed me was an understatement. Haven’t got a clue if I will ever see her again, given what has happened over the summer.

Anyway I hope all of you had a happier summer than me, family wise, and you managed to enjoy the sunny days with fun, love and giggles

Strange Times

Despite the blue skies and the sunshine yesterday it turned out to be a strange day from what I thought was a good morning. It had a lot going for it  in so many ways and it all seemed so promising after the day before.

Not sure what is really causing it but I feel that I want to move on with life and I can't. I know something is missing and I know who it is. The problem is I can't have what I want. There is no way to square a circle as the saying goes. One day things might change but at the moment I feel so frustrate, a feeling I have never dealt with very well. 

What I do I don't really know. Maybe I can feel that cave time coming on that men need from time to time. I need to find a solution to a problem that I feel has no real solution. I just want to get on with life and be with the people I love so much. I know in time something good will happen but until then it all seems so hard. I have faith that things will get better than they feel they are at the moment.

New Season

Today sees the start of the new football season for Southend United and it hasn't started on a good note with all kinds of preseason problems and once again these are to do with the financial state of the club.

 

How we far this year might just come down to how the club gets out of the financial hole we find ourselves in. If money can't be found then we might find our self in receivership and the ten point deduction might force us into the low leagues. Again if we fight off receivership and the players don't end up get paid, as has happened in the past, we could lose as many points in low team moral. Finally with a small squad any player that is injured is to affect terms performance. All round it is going to be a hard year.

Personally I think the heights we achieved last year are beyond the club this year and we will do well to survive the year with the club in it's present state. What is sad is the new ground that has been talked of for so long seems further away now than it ever has. I know one thing it is going to be a hard year for the players and the supporters of the club. Personally I wish all connected to the club well in this most difficult time.

Rutland County Council Parking Surplus

It was interesting to read on the BBC news website about the surpluses made by councils on car parking in our cities and towns around the country. In the year 2011 to 2012 across the country made a total of £565 million, so I thought I would see how Rutland as a whole did compared to the rest of the councils.

It turned out to be a good news story for a change and out of the 359 councils the country came out as a respectable 268th. Over the 2011 to 2012  Rutland County Council made £138,000 out of a approximate population of 37,300 people that live in the county. A increase of of just over 10 percent from the year before according to a recent RAC foundation report. It would be interesting  to know how this money is reinvested into the community and what proportion is used in transport spending or whatever, but I guess that would be impossible to get hold of such information from the council.

What would be nice to see, especially in Oakham and the car parks near the town center is free parking up to an hour or maybe two hours and then charges for longer stays. This might bring more people into the town and onto the high street. This is going to be important as more Supermarkets move into the area and threaten the existence of the small shops and family run business that have made Oakham the place it is over the years. It would be horrible to think of Oakham becoming full of just charity shops, fast food restaurant, coffee shops and estate agents.

It is going to vital in the next few years to protect the High Streets of the two towns in the area if we are going to protect the qualities that make Rutland the place it is and avoid the shop closures we have seen in the past. A list of current charges are available on the Rutland County Council website for 2013 if you are thinking of visiting the towns.

Beautiful Rutland

With the summer in full swing, and before the developers and their friends in Rutland County Council have theie way, I thought it would be nice to include a post on why it matters that we fight any move to destroy this beautiful part of England forever.

To me Rutland is one of the most beautiful counties in England and I will never tire of its lovely open countryside that is there for all to see and to enjoy. It is this fair land that I walk on everyday and see as I drive along to work each day that as kept me smiling when everything else seemed to be a mess. I guess that is why I get so passionate about keeping it rural for the future generations of mine and others families to enjoy.

Special Council Meeting

Following on from the a blog post last week, in a special meeting of the council the following resolution was passed:

"That the Council grants an indemnity to, and support to the Chief Executive and/or officers, to take legal action in her/their own name(s) for defamation by Councillors Gale, Richardson and Wainwright of the Rutland Group of the United Kingdom Independence Party."

This gives the green light to individual members of the council to take legal action for defamation against the members of the former Rutland anti-corruption party members who recently joined the United Kingdom Independence Party. The ruling Conservative council claim that the group of three have made defamatory statements on a website and harassed staff in a series of emails. While the group of three maintained they have done nothing wrong, insisting they need to ask difficult questions to carry out their jobs.

This cleaver move avoids Minister for Justice, Lord McNally, comments that "it would be contrary to the public interest for organs of government to be able to sue in defamation, and that it would be an undesirable fetter on freedom of speech.” By allowing individual councilors members to sue for deformation Secretary of State would be unable to stop the legal challenge as would be the case if the council as a whole were to sue the councilors.

The cost legal action against the three councilors is estimated to be around £150,000  which could be covered public money, which, as we know, is in short supply in these times of cuts grants to local government by central government. The leader of Rutland County council, Conservative, Roger Begy is reported as saying that "I don't know how much this is going to cost, nobody will at this particular stage." but went on to say "This is not a blank cheque for the lawyers."

The leader of the council Roger Begy has demanded that the group of tree councilors apologise or produce evidence to prove there accusations. The later being a tough call when the council won't give them the information they require to prove of disprove their concerns about the dealings of the council, the thing that started this all off. If one good thing came out of the legal action it would be the answers to the original information requests that the three councilors asked in order to prove their case one way or another. It could be the only way the people of Rutland find out what is the truth.

Councillors Gale, Richardson and Wainwright have asked for more time to consider the demand by Rutland County Council to "refrain from further defamatory statements and allegations and provide a full and unequivocal retraction and apology". As yet no statement has appeared on the groups website as to what they are going to do, although a number of posts have been removed. In the end it could just come down to money and if they have enough resources to fight the individual councilors who have the financial backing of the council.

If it is a good use of public money remains to be seen when it could be spent on essential services rather than a silly playground fight designed to shut up three councilors who just want openness in local government. I know what I think and many others think about the council taking this action, but I will keep that to myself. 

FOOTNOTE: Currently the total cost to the local council tax payers is around £42,000 according to local reports in the press.

UPDATE (1st August 2013): A full, well written and factual report can be found on the Rutland Times Website that even the BBC would be proud to have on their website.

Ready for Sainsburys?

Having traveled through both Melton Mowbray and Leicester (below) recently I have started to wonder, once people are stuck in traffic jams on the way into Oakham, if the people of Rutland will think the addition of a new mid price supermarket is worth the trouble.

The road between the level crossing in Okaham and the roundabout with the A606 is a major one for the people of Rutland and is often beset by roadworks due to the construction work associated with a large housing development with the land north west of Oakham looking more like a war zone everyday with the destruction of farmland for bricks and motor.

Personally traffic jams and the increased pollution they cause isn't something I am looking forward to and with the prospect of another mid priced supermarket to come one that I see as pointless. If it was a low cost supermarket there might be a point of putting up with the disruption for the connivance and saving that could be made in doing the weekly shop, but in this case it will bring little to the town, other than the closure of more high street shops.

Ghost House

Sometimes feels like this place has become a ghost house. Once so lively and full of sound not it has taken on a silence that is quite eerie. The days in the house seems so lifeless compared to those of the past.

All the fun, and the laughter and the joy seems to have gone from the house, and what remains and just memories of what was once a place that was alive with the sound of children.What it needs is an injection of life, happy and smiling faces to bring it alive again like in the days gone by. That has been sadly lacking today. There has been none of the noise of laughter and fun, a sound that makes the world seem bright and full of hope.

I just pray that this won't always be the case that in time the house will return to normal and become a home again. Full of love and support for the people that matter so much to me. I know this prayer will be answered, it just a matter of time.

Old Picture New Frame

Although the picture was taken many years ago the thoughts behind it mean the same now as they always did. It is about family and the importance of creating a family and the meaning behind it and keeping those you love together and showing them the love they deserve and need to grow.

The children in that photograph were separated and the ties between them broken forever and their small sister, Lucy, who was meant to unite those three girls will probably never be with the all three of her sisters at the same time ever again. There isn't much I can do about that now, how much I wish I could. Everything to do with that time is broken like the frame that the picture was in, but all it was needed replacing.

The fact is you can't change the past but you can re frame it and preserve the meaning and feeling behind it. As adults we make many mistakes in life but those little people in the picture which we united had a bond and although that bond may weaken it never really goes away. Like the picture those bonds can be renewed if only people will let it happen. The question is  there the will to uphold the promises of the past, rather than to carry on the history of breaking them, I think not but I hope not.

I know I need to build the bonds between the two older girls and there little sister, whose face is just visible in the picture to the picture of the three girls. I know how to do that and to rebuild some of what is important to me. It is not a question of will that happen, more a question of when. For me the sooner the better for I can't carry on for much longer having two of my girls split form the other. I love all the people that matter to me and that will never change.

I just find what happened to me so sad because it was never what I wanted for my children. It what that picture showed that I wanted and can never have again.

Well Done

I was amazed to find a story in the Rutland Times that for once allowed both sides to speak and for people to make up there own minds about a story to do with Rutland Country Council. Since I have recently been one of many criticising the local press I though it was only fair to congratulate them.

In their recent story about the three councilors they are thinking of taking legal action over not only did the paper give the views of the Conservative run County Council but also those of the three councilors that they wish to prosecute for deformation. So well done to the local paper for taking the right approach for a change, now all we need is some good old fashioned investigative journalism into stories stories pertaining to the council. 

For those that don't know the about the facts behind this story, it was in the national press not that long ago about Rutland Country Council taking legal action against three of the councilors for trying to get information about the dealings of the council by using freedom of information requests and asking questions other council members by email. 

Unfortunately they decided to call themselves the anti-corruption party which seemed to anger the ruling party at the council, as they thing it implies that they are corrupt.  The government have taken a rather dim view of the council trying to use a legal route under the Localism Act to sue the councilors concerned for deformation to shut them up, but if this stops them using anti-harassment legislation remains to be seen. 

The fact is whatever the decision is that is taken at the public meeting you can rest assured that it was made in private before the meeting takes place, like a lot of decisions the ruling party at the council makes, but that is politics for you.

All Change

Don't let the lovely sunset fool you today, the warm spell is nearly over if the story on the BBC News website is correct and the warmest spell since 2006 is nearly over.

With rain showers forecast for Saturday afternoon and then thunderstorms rolling up the country from France on Sunday marking then end of this part of the summer. I guess we will be in for more localised flooding some of the streets in the village and the main road will be under inches of water again for part of Sunday at least. Personally I have loved the weather, after all it was about time we had a change from those long damp summers of the recent past and something that more like the summers of old. 

And it Rained

After all the sunny weather we have been having recently the heavens opened up over night, the sky lit up with the flashes of lightening and the air was full of the sound of thunder.

Predictably with so much rain the streets of the village flooded once again and peoples gardens were threatened with flooding because of the state of the drains at the side of the road. This is becoming more and more common when we get any significant rain fall. Lack of investment in the drainage system in Rutland to solve on going localised flooding is clear to for all to see. This isn't the first time the road shown in the picture has flooded before and nor will it be the last.  

Instead of taking action trying to sort out the drainage system the council would rather do nothing and ignore the problem for as we all know spending on infrastructure is something they just ignore. No action will be taken until it is to late and the people mopping up the mess will be the insurance companies and the people paying will be the villagers with high insurance premiums.