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Doctor: ‘What’s your problem Mr Smith?’

Patient: ‘It’s my memory doctor, I’m always forgetting things.’

Doctor: ‘How long have you had this problem?’

Patient: ‘Which problem?’

As people live longer, more and more of them suffer from illnesses, that do not effect younger people. One magazine recommends us to drink lots of black tea. a glass of red wine every day, to eat red meat, including liver. Another article tells us that too much red meat, red wine, etc. is not good for our blood vessels. What are the oldies to do?

Which medical school of thought should we follow? Both agree that forty-five minutes quick walking is better than taking physical exercises in the home. Which line should we follow? Maybe, because we are all individuals, there is no one correct answer for everybody. there is an old English saying: ‘A little of what you fancy, does you good?’

I’m happy, that I managed to remember that old saying!

http://www.nhs.uk/News/Pages/NewsIndex.aspx

Recently, my family and I were sitting around the table, drinking coffee and conversing about this, that and the other. Somehow, the subject turned to cider (the alcoholic juice of apple). I went on to say how important cider was for farmers, in my childhood days. This was in the ‘West Country’ area of England.

During harvest time, farmers would employ casual workers. Not many of these men would have been interested unless the farmers had a constant supply of cider in the harvest fields. Then I told them about how cider was made. Most farmers in those day, had at least one orchard of apple trees. After the ’eating and cooking’ apples had been carefully picked from the trees, all the remainder would be used for cider.

My father also had an orchard of over seventy trees. In late autumn, we transported our sacks of apples to an uncle’s farm, and there the apples were crushed and the juice taken for further treatment, to finally become cider. This was an exciting, adventures time for the kids. Dark evenings, lit by oil lanterns, and every process carried out by hand operated farm equipment, and listening to the typical farm talk of the workers. We children would hide behind the cider-press and suck up the juice, through pieces of straw, while the man enjoyed the plentiful supply of mature cider from the previous year. During the following Christmas festivities, the ladies drank the new cider, which was a little sweeter, and less alcoholic, than the last year’s product, which the men drank. Children of this modern high-tech age would probably not find the foregoing very exciting, or adventurous.

But remember, that was all before the days of TV, mobile phones, i-pads, etc. and cider making was only one of many other non-high-tech enjoyment. As I said, at the beginning, our conversation was part of our coffee break. What a pity that it wasn’t over a glass of genuine, farmhouse cider, from the ‘old’ days.

Glossary:

casual workers -  not fully employed

orchard -   an area of fruit trees

foregoing -   going before

Every day, here in the UK, we hear stories of the phenomenal sums of money that top bankers receive. Sometimes as a bonus, other times as a  pension. These large sums are then compared with the relatively small salaries of the average citizen.

Is the UK economy too lop-sided, in favour of financial services, as opposed to manufacturing industries? Yesterday, while I was listening to the BBC radio, I heard the same old stories of the above mentioned topics, being repeated with party propaganda from sides coming from their various ’spin-doctors’. Then, separately, the subject of further education (university studies) came up. The public was invited to comment via email, etc. One lady said that she was one of a group of six who had studied and qualified as advanced engineers. But of those six graduates, she was the only one, to take employment as an engineer.

The other five of the group had taken employment in banking. This made me think that, no matter how much this country may need to revive manufacturing, to end the present imbalances in the economy the problem is being dealt with from the wrong angle. I asked myself, which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Maybe we should adapt to the Chinese ‘State Capitalist’ way of running our economy!!

Glossary:

pension -   used for all grades of professions

top-sided -   out of balance

spin-doctor -   political party PR

revive -   bring back to life

As I promised in last week’s blog, I now continue the  subject of U.K. mayors, because, as with many things, London is different and requires some extra attention.

There are two Londons. There is Greater London, known as London Town, and there is the City of London. They are separate in many aspects, including administration.

So, believe it or not, we have two mayors. The mayor of Greater London has a lot of power over what happens in it. The Lord Mayor of the City has relatively little power. He could be seen more as a  representative of old London history.

Within the City, there are the so-called guilds. Historically, guilds were responsible for the good, rigid, regulations covering the production of craftsmen. The guild protected the customer, not the craftsman. Most of this power of the guild has diminished. Only a few proficiency examinations of crafts exist today. An example is the ‘City and Guilds’ examination for dental technicians. However, in the City, there are still many representative establishments of the individual guilds. Today, they are occupied by very rich merchants. Every year, one of these merchants is elected to the office of Lord Mayor of London. His election is accompanied by much pageantry, such as the Lord Mayor’s show, which, to a German person, might look something like a carnival procession through the City streets. The Lord Mayor spends much of his time and energy maintaining good business relations with other countries.

Any time you, good reader, are in London, I recommend a visit to the Guild Hall. It is used for grand conferences, of grand businessmen and politicians. It may help you to feel like a grand person. No guarantees, of course.

Glossary:

rigid -   inflexible, unchangeable

diminished -   become less

http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/

It is generally accepted, that a town mayor is an important head of the town, or city council. This is not quite the case in the UK.

Why? Because, over the years, government has become more and more centralised. Contrary to some other countries (including yours), it does not consist of historically important regions, or states. For hundreds of years, London has become more and more the effective centre of government. Now, the present government says that it plans to decentralise powers to the towns and cities.

‘The man in the street’, generally welcomes this, with the view that, for example, the requirements of life in Liverpool, are often quite different from those in London. Of course, parliament consists of members, representing all areas of the country. But they are mostly controlled by party politics, rather than the everyday life in local communities.

So, perhaps in the future, a town mayor might carry some authority in his briefcase, rather than only a gold chain around his/her neck. I’m sure you will forgive me if I end this blog, right here.

Glossary:

Mayor – the elected head of a city, town, or other municipality

‘The Man in the Street’ -   mister average

Party politics -   the themes of political parties

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-16754734

‘Courage’ is a wonderful word to the ear. There are many forms of courage, e.g. a lifetime of coping with a disabling illness; or defusing a road-side bomb in Afghanistan. We would usually see the latter as ‘bravery’. It’s more a form of instantaneous courage. I feel that both words could be used to describe the subject of this blog. I’m speaking of lifeboat crews. Allow me to say a little more about those men and their organisation, in the UK. Most importantly, it is completely based on volunteers. Secondly, it is not state-financed. It depends, entirely, on contributions of money by the general public. Consider the UK’s thousands of miles of coastline, which is historically dangerous to shipping. There are 60.000 sunken ships around the UK. More than anywhere else worldwide. Then think of how many life boat stations there must be, to cover these thousands of miles, efficiently. But, they are efficiently covered. Think further, of the unpaid crews of these life boats. They are ready, night and day to react to any emergency at sea and risk their lives. Their boats and equipment are of the latest and best technology. In this modern age, we tend to accept that such organisations are state-controlled and state-financed. It’s refreshing to the mind, to think that we are not all state robots; that such a large, modern, life-saving organisation, can be purely, individually, voluntary. It’s name, by the way, is the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Perhaps we should have less, not more, state control in our lives. Brussels! Are you listening?

Glossary:

sailor -   seaman

latter -   last item of 2 or more

volunteer -   someone who offers to do something; not ordered to do it

entirely -   totally

contribution -   one of more payments towards a central cost.

to contribute –    may also be of time or effort

As a child I was frequently told, that everything must have a place, and that everything must be in it’s place. I didn’t always comply with this, and was given painful reminders, as a result. I think, most of us will agree, that there must be order in our daily lives, otherwise many things may become lost, and targets not achieved.

Is this always the case? How often have you visited someone else’s home and thought, how untidy everything looks? Yet, that someone may be quite successful in a different way. Then, there are the super-tidy people. They spend their time looking at their watch or clock, worrying about a timetable for everything they do, or want to do. Should something unexpected happen to their plan, they panic and are completely lost.

The above examples could suggest that a degree of flexibility is the best way forward. Many of the world’s top geniuses have not been very orderly in their everyday lives. Look, for example, at the Silicon Valley. Most of the successful people working there, go to work in T-shirts, have long, untidy hair, etc. They wouldn’t normally, impress us well-dressed folk.

Again, compare nations. Those with strict laws, ordering their populations what they can do, and what they mustn’t do, are far less innovative, than those operating freer, more democratic societies. Does this mean, that we should say ‘leave the dirty dishes on the table, we can clean up sometime later’. Or, ‘I can throw my dirty socks into a corner, somebody will wash them, sometime?’ ‘I could become a genius!’ Over to you, dearest reader!

Glossary:

comply -   to do something, as required, or ordered

achieved -   reached

(un)tidy -   disorderly / orderly

Here we are, looking forward to Christmas and all the festivities that go with it. Well, I’m not going to write about Christmas in this article. If you browse back through my blogs, you’ll find one about Christmas, now about a year old.

No, today, I’m going back one month to give you my impressions of the day of remembrance, for those who have lost their lives in the wars since 1914. In the UK, it’s a day of solemnity, but carried out with much ‘pomp and circumstance’. Almost everybody throughout the land wears a poppy on the left hand lapel of their jackets, etc.

The poppy is a red flower, which grew in profusion in Flanders (Belgium), an area of great and destructive military action, in the first world war. It was said that the poppy can lie dormant for many years, until the earth around it is disturbed. Emotionally, the poppy became a symbol of death. The poppy worn today are artificial replicas, which are sold to the public, in the streets, cafes, shops; almost everywhere where people go.

The money collected (£ millions) goes to a charity organisation, to be used for ex-soldiers, who are in financial or health difficulties. Every year at 11 a.m., on the 11th of November, an impressive ceremony takes place in London, at the Cenotaph, the main national memorial. The Queen and other royalty, politicians and heads of state from many Commonwealth countries, attend and lay their wreaths of poppies at the monument. All this is accompanied by military music, marching ex-soldiers with their regimental flags flying – all televised around the UK. Similar ceremonies take place in towns and villages throughout the country.

Well, this year, at that time, I was in a small town, in the south of Germany, visiting my wife’s family and I went with them to the local church, where at 11.a.m. there was also a service of remembrance. There were two priests; one Catholic and the other Protestant. Several people from other nationalities stood side by side with Germans. There was perfect harmony between them. Without any ‘pomp and circumstance’, except for the local brass band, which played solemn music most beautifully; the dead and injured were beautifully remembered, not only of Germany and not only of the military. All those effected, from all walks of life and from all countries and creeds, were remembered. I was impressed. Now, I had experienced another side of remembering the tragedies of war.Then I asked myself the burning question:

Why? What have we gained from this repeated slaughtering of millions of our peoples? We could answer, that war creates new technical and scientific developments, which are often big assets for peacetime life. Radar is a good example. But at the cost of all the misery of war? And I thought that unfortunately, it is in the nature of humans to make war, and that probably it will never change. Especially as long as we have different country frontiers, languages and religions (and politicians?).

Yes, 11 a.m. on the 11th day of November, can be a deeply sad day. That is unless you live in the Rhineland, where it is the trigger that starts the festivities of carnival!

Glossary:

solemn(ity) – serious

lapel -   part of collar

profusion -  large amount

dormant -  sleeping

replica -  copy

wreath – circular arrangement of flowers

creeds -  forms of religion

trigger -  part of a gun, pulled by a finger(verb. to start, to activate)

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/customs/Remembrance.html

Looking at the above title you could be forgiven for thinking that it’s the beginning of a science or chemical formula. But, in fact, you know quite well, that that is not the case. So what is it?

HS2 means: ‘High Speed Rail Number Two.’ I’m sure you know that Stgt. 21 means: putting Stuttgart’s railway station underground. TAV means, building a 70 Km tunnel through the Italian mountains. What do they have in common?

All three are highly expensive building projects and have raised protest in their respective communities. It appears, that all projects will actually go ahead, despite protests. Only last week, after (I was surprised to hear) fifteen years of discussion, planning, etc, a vote of the German public, in South Germany, gave the ‘go-ahead’ with a small majority, however, with strict conditions, regarding financing.

HS2, however, is not yet, so far advanced. The cost estimate is £20 billion. HS1, has long been completed, being the fast rail connection between London and the Channel Tunnel. HS2 will be the fast connection between London and Birmingham. Why the protest? Because it will pass through some of Central England’s most picturesque countryside. Many of the protesters are NIMBYs (‘not in my back yard’). Other arguments say, that many passengers, already using the present trains, are able to work longer with their laptops on the journey. Still others say, that because the HS2 won’t make any stops between London and Birmingham, it will exclude many would-be passengers on the way. The main pro-argument is, that this is only the beginning of a larger high speed rail network, bringing the North of England into closer contact with London and other countries of Europe. A counter argument says, that it’s no better than the English ‘keeping up with the Jones’s’, because so many other European countries already have a high speed network.

TAV is planned to connect Turino in Italy with Lyon in France, again by high speed railway. Protests in the Piemonte area of Italy are in many aspects similar to those of HS2, but with the added issue of possible radio acitvity being present in the line of the proposed tunnel.

Personally, I shall not benefit directly from either Stgt 21, HS2 or TAV. Therefore, why am I taking the trouble to write this blog about them? Because, dear reader, the strength of the protests, helps to remind me of democracy being so clearly demonstrated.

Aren’t we all so lucky, living in countries, where we are free to disagree with our rulers? Long may it endure.

Glossary:

to have in common -  to have something equal or similar to

respective:  -  other / different

‘keeping up with the Jones’s -  to be not less than

endure – continue

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15642750

No matter where you are, or where you look, or listen, you are, in some way, exposed to sex, in one form or another.

In fashion, in shop windows, magazines and newspapers. Radio and TV couldn’t exist without it. How often do I hear someone saying: ‘Yes, it looks quite sexy.’ They may be looking at anything from a building to a bicycle, or a bunch of flowers.

Has the world gone mad? In its basic form sex is part of nature – without it we wouldn’t be here. But isn’t it meant to be private and personal?  Doesn’t it require depth of feeling? I find the biggest culprit is TV. There’s barely a  programme which doesn’t in some way allude to sex. Not to mention the most blatant displays of physical sex. Nothing is left to the viewer’s imagination, making the whole concept superficial.

My main concern, is how easily it is available to children. The producers tell us that these programmes only start at a later hour of the evening! How many children of a vulnerable age are already in bed at this ‘cut-off’ time? And can’t they download any TV programme, at any hour of the day, on their laptops? Many people will say,’ So what! They are not any better or worse children because of it.’ Well, I can only speak of the UK, which has the highest rate  of teenage pregnancies and unmarried mothers in Europe. This represents the UK in the age of I.T., not before.

I’m sure that many of you have views on this subject which differ from mine. I’d certainly like  to hear them. Put your points of view on our website.

Glossar

bunch -  handful, vase full

mad -  crazy

culprit -  wrong doer

allude -  suggest

blatant — open, nothing hidden

superficial -  skin deep

available -  to hand

vulnerable -  exposed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15921903