Steve from England

Clearly I support Immigration, if I didn’t then my future plans are hypocritical. What is immigration? Put simply, it is a person not born here but living here. It covers both those here temporarily and those intending to settle. Break it down further and it also covers people like the Governor of the Bank of England (no less) or the man who just hitched a ride in a truck through the tunnel from France. Both those are migrants. Are both legal though? That rather depends because it isn’t strictly speaking an easy answer. Bank Manager is not on the list of those people we seek from abroad to work in this country so, how comes the Governor got his job? I guess it’s because he knew someone who knew someone. I can’t believe we are lacking suitable UK talent we need a Canadian to run the bank which represents this country. This, however, highlights the problem. We are not as a nation against immigration, what we are against is a certain type of immigrant. If they are wealthy, in jobs...

Trying to remember what I did today, not so easy as I am sure I was doing several things at the same time ... apologies to Daisy, I think I didn't quite complete the dishwasher bit. I forced myself to stay in bed a little later. Sure, I woke up just before 7am and each half hour but I didn't get up until after 9am. I took Daisy to Sainsbury as she needed to get something for a birthday present. Around 11 something I came back and Anne popped in for a chat, always nice to see her and the kids though Zach tried flying off some steps but he's OK. Zoey has still not been eating or drinking, it's been many weeks now since she started not being right. I called 111 which is our emergency Health Service number and spent an age on the phone to them, probably an hour or so. Got through to the GP surgery and eventually got them to send out a doctor who examined Zoey thoroughly and concluded she was physically OK but emotionally a mess. She's been prescribed some anti depressan...

In life we are said to meet one soul mate, that special person we can totally relate to, who loves us no matter what and we love them the same. There was a time, not so long ago when we only had the people within a few streets of us to find them from. Then there were trains and telephones and we might find them in the next town. Cars came along to make life easier, TV showed us a bigger view and they might now be anywhere in the country. Then we got air travel and the internet, we've a whole world to choose from. Our streets is now a planet so, why are you alone precisely? My soul mate is 6,668 miles away flying in a dead straight line, that's like, wow!

I shared this philosophy of mine the other day with a friend and firmly believe if we all thought this way we could live happier, more fulfilled lives. All of us throughout life have ups and downs. Some of those are so huge we have real trouble with them. These life experiences are relative to the general level of experiences we have had. What might be devastating for one person is a minor blimp in the life of someone else but, to both, the impact of ‘their’ big one is life long. Thinking of some examples:   A harsh childhood with bullying and depression A relationship which went wrong A lost job An illness The death of someone special A bad accident Money worries Unexpected parenthood Being thrust into a Caring role Rejection These and many more are life changers for many. Some might experience just one or two of these, others might experience them all. As it happens, I got the full list and then some and several of them many times over. All or any of these can...

Some arse starts smoking weed just outside my house, I detest stoners! Anyway, as I was going to say … the past few weeks have been stupidly stressful. Our Zoey, bless her, has become very difficult to manage. We’ve been able to work out it is a behaviour thing, not an illness or anything which can be easily treated. She has become increasingly and dangerously stubborn. Now, I don’t much mind if she wants to laze around all day, she’s never going to have a job, she’s got no real responsibilities and so on which means, she’s a little like someone that retired. That’s not the issue, she’s got it in her head now that eating and personal hygiene are optional and, more often than not, she does neither. She is borderline underweight now, just a couple of pounds in it.   Today we had a huge kick off because I tried to force the issue on her getting clean. I got kicked and slapped and she tried to bite me at one point. She’d gone three days without anything close to a wash and was smel...

So tired! Tomorrow might be the first time in weeks I don’t get to speak to Dennis :-( I am off first on a bike ride and then over at Abington Park for the concert at the bandstand. Dennis is scaring the life out of me riding the back of a bike who knows how many miles to a baptism and there’s likely no service there (phone) to let me know he got there OK so I’ll just like worry all day! On the plus side, he should be home before I go to bed and, if he remembers, can let me know then he got home OK. Dressed up in my suit on Friday for a wedding … I remember looking good in that thing yet now I look like a fatty wearing my suit! I got a nutribullet now and I ain’t afraid to use it! Loved the wedding car … Am off to bed now, cheers everyone

I've got a few years before I retire, at least 13 anyway (is that all?) and it seems obvious to me that retiring abroad makes more sense than remaining in the UK. Our minimum state pension changes next year and is promised to be at least £150 a week, possibly more, who knows yet, we shall find out next season. That £650 or so a month, not a great deal in this wonderful country of ours.But, that's the UK. If we retire to the Philippines that money suddenly look attractive. With monthly wages there something not to far removed from £276 a month suddenly £650 looks very healthy indeed. On top of that, the Philippines just happens to be an indexed country which means that the rate of pension rises with inflation rather than being frozen as it is in so many other countries. Frustratingly, me and Dennis will have hopefully, and maybe (he's not asked yet) enjoyed many years of marriage to discover we have no legal status over there, that's quite a big deal to me. We'll kno...

Had a lay in bed today until 10:20, true, it was about 2:20am when I went to bed but that’s still a step forward for me! Managed to help Matt & Anne a fair bit today which was rewarding, nice to be able to be there for them for a change. Put the rubbish out here and picked up some 8 & 6 legged friends in the process so needed a shower to flush them away (shudder) Only managed an hour with Dennis earlier, I think the local internet cafe cut the connections around them to get some extra business. Thought there was an irony in an internet cafe which didn’t serve coffee! It’s not the best picture of Dennis, but it was a quick screen grab for my blog. In the process of resetting my phone at the moment. It’s not been quite right since it went all lollipop on me and Samsung suggest a reset to resolve the issues. Worth  try I guess.

I keep pushing myself anyway. That said, I am going to write this then go pass out for some hours or so! Yesterday I was so tired I had to stop driving up to Derbyshire. I was able to eat something and carry on but, even so, stupid tired. Had an epic GTAV session last night but I was so tired there were times I couldn’t remember which controls did what! I wasn’t doing much more than making up the numbers! Today I was so tired I was driving up curbs in the car. Am so tired I am genuinely having trouble thinking. Even so, have been having a great many long conversations with Mama in the Philippines, that’s been fun and makes my relationship with Dennis feel even more real. Went cycling yesterday but we only did 5 miles, not really good enough but still enjoyable. Got some good news today that someone has finally got a long overdue criminal record and, about time! It’s not for the sort of crime that they should have been charged with and they will find some way to get someone else ...