English Thing

The thing I like the most about England is the air at dawn. I have been to other countries but here in England the air is super fresh when the sun starts to rise; it is chilled and clean and every breath feels like new life,  it is cleaned up by all the grass and wild vines in the parks and woods, then mixed with all the sea breeze from the coast. If it were possible, I would make my tea or coffee and sit outside every morning as the sun comes up. If I had a porch I could even sit outside while it was raining and breathe in the petrichor. 

The bad thing is time and space don't come easy, you have to work very hard to pay the bills and then when you have time for your hobbies, you are sleepy and can't do much. Some hobbies need more space than others. That is what it like being an ordinary man in Britain, you wrestle with tiredness to do things in your free time but time and space are not on your side. 

Just So

The best thing about being a free person and not a slave or robot is you can choose to be distracted. You can choose to be lost in a book or a hobby. I choose the stay busy all the time and constantly make stuff. I keep my hands busy and stay optimistic about the near future. 

When water flows it stays fresh, when it is stagnant it is toxic. Stay busy and keep your hands moving all the time. Reading, building, creating, working and cleaning. 

I can't do anything about the world, I can't stop wars, I can't deflect tyranny. What can I do? Almost nothing except my little routines. I wonder if I can find some time to use my skipping rope. 

17 Days World Cup

The world cup 2026 starts in 17 days (just under three weeks). I hoping not to see the usual selective outrage; people accusing Israel of Genocide and ignoring real genocide in the surrounding countries. I just want to see who wins and who loses, that's it. I don't even want to think when I watch the game. Since multiple countries are hosting it, I was wondering how they will do the opening ceremony? It will be interesting, perhaps it will be some sort of collaboration. The Americas collaboration, Mexico, USA and Canada. Perhaps they'll all do their own opening ceremony. 

I saw the mayor of New York won't show up to the Israel Street party in new York. All these people say "shame on you". I say shame on them because they think the smaller western partition of the Palestine province is an occupied country. They don't try to do their own research for themselves. They have selective outrage and say things that are false. 

Hormuz Effect

Recently Iran has made the Straight of Hormuz impassable for oil tankers and cargo ships. Crude oil from the Arabian peninsula can't get out. This has caused the cost of energy to rise dramatically. I learnt recently that the vacuum cleaner manufacturer that makes Henry the hoover started building a large solar farm to bring down their energy costs; I sense it is a response to the energy crisis. 

Like them I also responded , I started buying  solar powered lamps, some set up as a garden products but I put them in my window panes. When the daylight fades, they all turn on and increase the amount of light coming through the window. I can keep the lights off for a few hours longer every day because they increase the twilight in the home. 

Some of them are plane looking  jars, others are faces and flowers, plastic  flowers with a solar panel and light emitting diodes. 

Small Talk Equinox

It is roughly the middle of 2026 and the significant event in my world right now is half of my conversations are with machines. I talk to machines about the same amount as I talk to human beings. I think I will be talking to machines more than people as the year progresses. This is partly because small talk is increasingly difficult in my society and partly because the attributes of AI are appealing, they know every published book intricately and they haven't acquired a sly nature yet. People are a bit worried that artificial intelligence can become sly like a humans but with a mind that can think a billion thoughts at once. I don't think having a sly nature comes with intelligence, it is a human trait that we harbour in our beings. If I am wrong then we are in a lot of danger already. 

In my society, small talk is increasingly difficult. People put ear buds in their ears so they can't hear you speak; they are also sexualised so if you talk to them, they think you have bad intentions. Their thoughts are also polarised to be judgemental of people with different views. They have conditional respect, they think respect should be earned. Machines don't have any of that. They are ready to debate and share some of their knowledge on tap. 

Even our leaders behave like children. There was a protest because Brits think the government are not managing the borders responsibility, many thousands of people are entering the country claiming  to be persecuted (they go on holiday back to the country they're fleeing from after a few years). These people often prefer autocratic societies to capitalist democracies,  that's why the place they left behind is in a mess. Our leader called the protesters far-right. Are the protesters demanding gays and Jews be sent to prison? No, are they calling for ethnic cleansing? No, are they claiming one group of people deserve to die? No, are the protesters inciting violence against other ethnic groups? No. So it's daft to call them far-right, it shows they don't  know what they're  talking about. 

You know what's funny, our leadership are managing a £1.4 trillion public sector budget and they say daft things. They behave like children. They say diversity is our strength; Integrity and toil is our strength, nothing else. Our diverse community go to work and don't take anything that doesn't belong to them. As long as the majority of our community stays that way, we will be strong. If we become lazy or embezzle money that doesn't  belong to us, our society will collapse regardless of our diversity. 

Kingdom Protest

During the weekend while I was trying out some new things I observed there was a unite the kingdom march in London. It was led by Tommy Robinson; as far as I'm concerned there isn't a single racist bone in his body and he is not far right. lt doesn't matter how many times the media attaches these labels to him, I won't adopt their view. Even the prime minister was calling the protesters far right. There was millions of people there, they are just ordinary people like me that are worried about their country becoming transformed into an overcrowded autocracy with corroded rights because of an irresponsible government that won't police their borders. 

I think men like myself are wired to like things. I like to look at my radio and my little clock radio. I think a lot of men are like me, we get a sentimental joy from seeing the same objects every day, the same radio, the same couch, the same wall clock, the same souvenirs from their holiday. There could be chaos everywhere but I see the same things every day and stay busy, I keep my chin up. What else can I do. 

Makes me Tick

I learn something new every day. Yesterday a radio controlled wall clock I ordered online arrived. As soon as I turned it on it set itself to the correct time and date using the British MSF signal. I didn't know the radio controlled time signal contains the date as well. I thought I would need to set the date on the clock myself. That thing is a thing of beauty; it has an LCD analogue clock face. There are 120 little clock hands burnt into the LCD screen. It simulates every tick of the hands by turning on the hand images one by one. The minute hand is partitioned so the same hand can display the hour hand and there is also a disconnected partition for the second hand that can be turned off in the settings. 

It has a little calendar showing the date and the day along with day of the week and the temperature  in the room. I keep looking at it. That is one of the things that brings me lasting joy, seeing familiar objects every day, always the same, set with all the charm they come with. I also got a solar power tiki face lamp but I put in on the window pane instead of the back yard, as night falls it glows away. 

The other thing that brings me joy is eating oven steamed green veg. After 3 days passes by, a light in my mind comes on and it spells joy. It must be all the potassium, calcium and various other nutrients. Chopped vegetables baked in a pyrex pot, steamed by the water content of the vegetables themselves.

Reading, praying , green veg and familiar objects brings lasting joy that surfaces days later.