Goodbye 2008.

What a year!

Financial meltdown, wars, famine, terrorism, housing market collapse, record petrol prices, insane hikes in gas, electricity and food prices. On a high note - Barrack Hussein Obama being elected president of the USA! Back to the low-notes - the wettest summer ever recorded, health scares, expanding dole queues, factory closures, reduced production, redundancies, interest rate cuts, taxpayer bailouts of bust banks, VAT cut by a MASSIVE 2.5% to stop the rot in the high street (he (Darling) was obviously having a laugh)

And we said goodbye (or will be any time soon) to Woolworths, Adams, MFI, Zavvi, Whittard of Chelsea, USC and The Officers Club - all huge retail chains who were allowed by the greedy banks to borrow more than the companies were actually worth = and (after HM Treasury) who gets first bite at the Administration cherry, who is repaid ahead of staff, suppliers and all other creditors? - that's right, the greedy banks. (Makes my blood boil somewhat!)

On a personal note I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease, put on steroids which destroyed my immune system and led to infection after infection, these were treated with antibiotics which undid all the good the steroids had done. I end the year as I began it - steroid free and still with dodgy guts.

So, that was 2008 - much turbulence on the Sea of Life. Bring on 2009, I'm setting sail for another challenging journey!!

Christmas.

Ah well, that's that for another twelve months - though it'll no doubt begin again in August 2009!

Christmas at the McArthurs was a wonderful affair as expected - dinner (cooked by yours truly) went down a storm and led to bloated bellies in front of Her Majesty at 3pm but the highlight of the day for everyone was watching Emily as she discovered Santa's footprints from the front door (The chimney was impractical as it would be "too hot" Emily informed us a few days before!!) through the lounge to a pile of presents resembling a delivery of stock to Toys R Us. The look of pure joy on her face as she found Rudolf's half eaten carrot and a note from the Big Man himself, thanking her for the glass of milk!! Priceless. Needless to say the entire morning was filled with the ripping off of wrapping paper and squeals of delight as the contents were discovered, "This wasn't on my list, how did he know I wanted it??"

 

Clever man that Santa!! Now all we have to do is build an extension to the house to store it all - thanks Santa!!

 

A great day was had by all.

 

(I am saving a post regarding the ridiculous amount of selotape, cable-ties, wires and string used to secure children's toys into their packaging until after the festivities, so as to renew my Victor Meldrew image for 2009!!)

 

Here's wishing you all a peaceful and prosperous 2009.

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BUY - "The Baboon's Left Testicle (Part One of Two)" - An appallingly lewd and juvenile comedy adventure written by Gary McArthur and Andrew Baker.

www.mcarthurbaker.co.uk

Vultures Circling - but just who are they?

Are me and the missus the only ones to cry (quite literally) at the demise of Woolies?

We must be the softest of soft people, but we feel for the staff - long term and Christmas recruits - who have suffered at the hands of senior 'Management'(?) yet again. Senior Management(?) who, no doubt awarded themselves enormous bonuses on the back of the Group's enormous 2.7billion profit for last year, whilst all along knowing that the retail element of their group was in a state of financial meltdown.

It's not the flocks of customers looking for a closing down sale price who should be criticised for grabbing the bargains,  but the Senior Management who made it possible.

Shame on them.

Book Finally Published!!

In a roundabout way we have finally managed to get our book published.

Total Fiction - the publishing firm we were signed up to has folded as a result of the credit crunch so we were forced to take drastic measures and self publish via Lulu.com, but what the heck! PLUS by doing so, we have drastically reduced our overheads.

So, we're finally in print and up for sale. If you like a juvenile, raucous cat and mouse chase, thrilling comedy adventure with undertones of Jacobs' The Monkey's Paw, if you've ever visited Hartlepool, Mold or London, encountered a Pearly Queen or been accosted by a Welsh Zombie then our book is for you - Mills & Boon it is not.

The Baboon's Left Testicle (Part One of Two) is now available in paperback and download from lulu.com

Follow the link below to buy, read and review.




You can read a bit more about The Baboon's Left Testicle at our website - http://www.mcarthurbaker.co.uk/


I have been a busy bee of late - so apologies for not getting round too many people - that will hopefully change from now on!

Fuel be Sorry!

If the price of unleaded petrol is linked to the cost of a barrel of crude oil - as we know it is - why does the following ring my alarm bells...

Today - October 2008

Crude oil = $50.67 per barrel - equating to a pump price of £0.91.9p per litre? (average)

When, in August of last year (2007)

Crude oil = $78.77 per barrel - which equated to an average pump price of £0.91.9p per litre?

Someone, somewhere is getting very rich very quickly.

And it's not us drivers.

The First Blast of Winter

Its been a long time coming - I think Emily was three when we last had the opportunity to build a snowman (sadly, at that age, the snow frightened her a little so she watched from inside whilst I built the snowman!) - alas this is not the stuff of snowmen and even as I took these pictures this morning I could feel the patter of rain rushing to wash it all away.

Reminder to self - unhook the hosereel and turn off the water!

New Beginnings and an Old Nemesis

My lovely wife starts a new job today. I can't tell you where she's working, except to say that the wage will come in handy as Every Little Helps!

Suffering as she does from anxiety, this morning was naturally frought with panic and stress. Add into the equation the fact that her taxi didn't turn up and you can imagine the air was as blue as it can get in front of a five year old child!! (Where's the bloomin' taxi? These bleedin' taxi drivers must turn up late on purpose the nasty devils!! - that sort of thing.)

So for a 9am start at a location seven miles away, through rush hour traffic, the taxi tuns up at 8:49!! Obviously my wife's reaction scared the living hell out of the driver and he managed to get her there for 8:58 - I'm very impressed! (With my Wife!)

As for me - well I've had a bad chest and sinus infection for the past three weeks - two courses of antibiotics seem to have finally done the trick BUT having murdered all of the infectious bacteria they have also, in the process, killed off all of the good bacteria lining my gut - this at a time when my specialist has decided to get me off steroids reducing the dose to just 5mg a day - so my old friend Mr Crohn's has decided to step up a gear and lay me low again.

More time off work - just what I (and they) need. Oh the joys of Crohn's!!

Remembrance Sunday - Verse.

Another reflective poem always bound to bring me to tears (despite its asking me not to!!)

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there, I do not sleep.

 

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the mornings hush,

I am the swift uplifting rush

of quiet birds in circled flight,

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry,

I am not there, I did not die.

(Author Unknown, but attributed to many)

It really does say it all - we never die,  we live on in  memories.

How Much Change?

Oh the joy of election night - I stayed up as late as I could but missed the point at which Obama was finally declared the winner - congratulations to him and the American people on a courageous step.

I remember feeling this way in May 1997 when 18 years of Conservative 'rule' were ended by Tony Blair and a revitalised Labour party - apparently whoops of joy were also heard from Princess Diana's rooms within Kensington Palace that night.

A wave of optimism had swept a crestfallen and stagnant country, and Blair's landslide was as inevitable as Obama's victory last night. The hopes of a nation hungry for change rested on his shoulders. For me, Blair offered the hope that he might tackle political corruption at its highest levels, injustice in society and provide more open and honest government.

I am sorry to say that, after eleven years, I am still hopeful that political corruption will be halted and injustice and a more honest government will, one day, be delivered.

I hope President Elect Obama is allowed to live up to the expectations of all those who voted for him yesterday - if he is then change definitely has come to America - and the world will benefit as a result.

For the Fallen

Putting my own woes into perspective. They are nothing. I am blessed.

They shall grow not old

As we that are left grow old

Age shall not weary them

Nor the years condemn

At the going down of the sun

And in the morning

We will remember them

Laurence Binyon (1869-1943)

To find out more about the work of the Royal British Legion

Click here

It's a long time since I last read Binyon's full tribute - so here it is:

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Halloween

Emily plumped for her usual witches costume for Halloween tonight. Here she is preparing to go out into the cold, wet and windy evening - needless to say she and Mummy didn't venture far and were soon warming themselves with milk and cookies by the fireside, counting their treats!

Spam Fritters

I'm over the worst of my chest and sinus infection now - all that remains is a really raw chest when I cough. The antibiotics did their trick of killing every bit of bacteria in my system - which for a 'normal' person would be great, but for me killing all of the bacteria in my guts has a really bad effect on my Crohn's symptoms (The antibiotics wipe out all of the good bacteria too!) so I'm frantically trying to replace the good guys with Yakult and Bimuno powder!! So far though things seem to be okay (touch wood!)

There is one scurge of the modern world that can't be knocked out with antibiotics unfortunately - I'm talking about Spam, or more importantly Spammers. What goes through a spammers head when he joins a blogging service like Blogger and then wastes hour after hour writing non-sensical responses that bear no relation to the post he is responding to?

I had one from "John" recently - who on checking his profile seems to have joined Blogger in August 2008 - John had responded to a recent ABC post with a long list of website addresses where I might find items such as Viagra and sex toys - completely useless to me, so naturally I deleted his comment (After printing off the list for a colleague)

So, I have been forced to enable word verification on comments to this blog - apparently this will put off any self respecting spammer. My apologies to all genuine commenters.

Post # 100 = The Last Bloom of Summer

As British Summertime officially ends next week here's the last bloom from our garden which is already looking like it's settled down for the winter.

Autumnal Art

I'm suffering from a severe bout of bronchitis and infected sinusitis at the moment. My face feels like it's going to implode and my chest feels as rough as the proverbial badger's behind so what better way to avoid the disappointment of not being able to go out than to spend the day crafting leaf pictures from all of the autumn leaves currently littering our lawns.

Emily loves to craft! And it passed a good few hours whilst waiting for the painkillers to kick in!

ABC Wednesday 'M' is for...

Middlesbrough

(It might be a dump, but it's my dump!!)

The Town Hall from Centre North East

An unusual view of our Transporter Bridge - one of only two in the UK (The other is in Newport, Wales)

The once mighty Dorman Long Steel Works - whose crowning glory must surely have been the construction of this...

Have you guessed what it is yet?? Click here to reveal all

And here's the plaque to reveal all..

And finally, a little known fact about Middlesbrough Football Club..

The Legendary - Wilf Mannion

Do you see the red circle Middlesbrough Crest in the background? There were two (now replaced with Middlesbrough's new Shield logo) and I helped make them!!

Originally this crest contained the year of the club's rescue by chairman Steve Gibson (1986). I was responsible (in a previous employment) for cutting and laying out the enormous crests (about 3metres in diameter) prior to them being sent for spraying - I excluded the 1-9-8 and 6 from the process as rumour had it that Steve Gibson was trying to get the club to look forward rather than back and wanted the year of Middlesbrough's bankruptcy removed. I still have the unpainted aluminium numerals - God knows why!!

Oh, and one other thing - the famous Wembley Arch - constructed by local firm Cleveland Bridge - has hundred's of Middlesbrough FC items stuffed in its girders and tubing - scarves, gloves, footie tops, programs etc - the workers' way of saying that Middlesbrough will always be at the heart of Wembley!!

(And probably the only way Middlesbrough will ever get back to Wembley!!)

For more magical M's visit the ABC Wednesday Blog