Hi Everyone
I am sure that most of you will have sung that lovely children's song "The wheels on the bus go round and round all day long". I was reminded of it as this week we had our annual budget. you know where the Chancellor stands up in Parliament, usually for about an hour to bore us to death explaining the country's finances and how he is going to make the world a better place for all of us. Unfortunately, it is not just a one hour event however as the media has been franticly speculating for ten days what he will be announcing. For his part, he will never divulge his secrets but nearly everything he has to say will be leaked out anyway. Having delivered his basket of delights the opposition parties rubbish the whole thing while not having any better ideas of their own and the 'experts' will be occupied for days doing what they do best, number crunching. In fact, very little of what he announces happens immediately as many of the new ideas are not due to be implemented until 2025 or even 2026. Now as there will be an election later this year with the possibility that a new lot will take over from this lot, much of it might not happen at all. As I said the wheels on the bus go round and round all day long but unless someone gets to grips with the potholes in our roads the bus with have no wheels to go round. Perhaps the next lot will have as their theme "Three wheels on my wagon, still we're rolling along". Me cynical? Never.
In 1954 I took my O level examinations which included of course English. As part of the exam, we had to write an essay. From memory, we were given two or three possible subjects to choose from. Having made my choice, I wrote a slightly outside the box humorous piece. I failed the exam as the examiner did obviously not appreciate my outside the box humour. A few months later I retook the exam, this time, against my natural instinct, playing by the rules. This time I easily passed achieving a significantly higher mark. I was reminded of this as I enjoyed this week's really good news story, the annual BBC 500 words competition open to children 5 to 7 and 8 to 11. Over 14,000 children entered and the top 50 were invited to Buckingham Palace with Queen Camilla in attendance. The stories written by the winners and no doubt by many others were full of outside the box subjects with boundless imagination and humour. Those of us who are approaching middle age often say "Things are not how they used to be", so it was reassuring to see that we are not now in the straight jacket of the 1950s. As you are probably aware I have always enjoyed writing Rubbish but unfortunately I have never had the wonderful imagination and talent of those wonderful children.
Everyone should have one whether it is plastic, glass, polycarbonate, wood, or aluminium.
If you have the space, you need a small enclosure to grow your own plants from seed or bulb. We have a small greenhouse, an even smaller greenhouse, and a cold frame. This is the moment when that packet of ten tomato seeds will start to grow into a greenhouse full of fresh food as well as other seeds and bulbs providing plants for your veg patch and planters. After a long, wet but not very cold winter, I never fail to be excited about watching the green shoots pop through the soil as the annual cycle begins again knowing that something that did very well last year might be a failure this year. That, of course, is why we keep doing it with the same enthusiasm as before.
Just a Thought:
My bus driver friend didn't enjoy his job. He thought that people were talking behind his back.
All you need is a piece of paper and something to write with, and then you can turn the world upside down.
Get in your garden, I'm rooting for you.
Brian
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