Just Taken Advantage Of!

Thursday, 29 March 2012

Just Taken Advantage Of!

LONDON, ENGLAND - DECEMBER 18: A squirrel shares a bird feeder with some birds on December 18, 2009 in Carshalton Beeches, England. Heavy snow fell across much of south east england today, causing general travel disruption and the temporary closure of airports. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)

Starling (Photo credit: Laura Whitehead)

I think I must be the archetypal kind of guy that will do most things for anyone. Knock on my door and ask for help with anything and I'm your man-as long as none of it is going to cost me money that is! And as long as you don't want to borrow the same thing more than three times, 'cos that is when its time you bought your own I reckon.

A sparrow after eating some bird seed. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Now I don't mind being of help to people, but, I get the feeling that I am being used. It's not something new. I've had the feeling for a number of years now. And whats more, it's costing me money. What is it that's costing me money? Bird seed, that's what. About four years ago I came over all philanthropic-perfectly legal I'm assured. I had decided to say goodbye to full time work. The routine of getting up at 5.30am five days a week, showering and then driving to work had lost it's appeal. Whats more, the on-call duties were even more of a pain in the proverbial. Get home at whatever time, just in time to get a call to say something had gone wrong and I was needed to to go back in and either fix it myself or get someone in to do it. So, back in to work for as long as it took to fix it-might be ten minutes, might be several hours. No Sir, that was no longer the life for me.

Trouble was, after a couple of weeks I got bored. What to do I thought. Feed the birds! That's what I'll do, feed the birds. not too complicated, not too time consuming and not too expensive. Well, it wasn't at that time. Sunflower seeds were about sixty pence a kilo. I had three modest size feeders hung up on the pergola, nothing posh. I started with 2 kilo's of seed. Couple of weeks passed by with hardly a bird in sight. I began to think I'd wasted my money.

Two days or so later, I had a change of heart. First the sparrows arrived. Just a couple or so at first, then a few more and a few more and then even more. Two kilos didn't last long then. Off I went to get more. This time though, it cost me 70 pence a kilo. Thought nothing of it. Got home filled the feeders and watched what happened next. Now, I'm not a well educated guy when it comes to bird spotting and knowing what they are called, but I soon started learning.

Next in were the Starlings. They came in by the shed load. Despite the books telling me that they are ground feeders, the clever little so-and-so's soon learnt how to cling to a feeder and empty it in record time. So far, not too much in the way of colour you will have noted.

Greenfinches. They are such a grumpy looking bird. Even the female of the species has the kind of look that not my toothless old granny could compete with. Added colour though. The big breakthrough came one morning when we were joined in the garden by our first ever Blue Jay. Stunning colours. We were also joined by a squirrel. Just how cunning can they get, didn't matter what I did to prevent them reaching the seed, they outplayed me. Trouble was, seed was spilled all over the ground. Fear not though, a brigade, flock, gang, or whatever the collective noun for feral pigeons is, soon arrived to hoover it all up. More seed please. No problem, off to the bird seed shop I went. Another 4 kilo's. Pound a bag by this time. Thought nothing of it-all in a good cause.

Bird - Blue Jay (Photo credit: blmiers2)

Next up were the Goldfinches. What a beautiful bird this is to be sure. They came in droves. What started as a minor time wasting activity, turned into very much a regular feature of my day, keeping the place clean feeders topped up, and trying to outwit the ever more cunning squirrels. So, what is the point I'm trying to make here?



Carduelis carduelis English: A European Goldfinch on a garden bird feeder in the United Kingdom. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

My point is thus. Since I started in a modest way to do my little bit for what the RSPB had me believing was a needy cause, I have been taken advantage of by the companies that supply bird seed to people like me. What started as a 60 pence per kilo product, is, as of this week, a £2.85 pence per kilo product. Taking advantage or what? Not even my favourite pint has gone up by such a large percentage over four years, nor has my newspaper, or even the foodstuffs I buy for human consumption. Will I continue to buy the seeds? Yes, of course I will. I enjoy seeing the birds, those mentioned above along with Blackbirds, Wrens and others, visiting not just to feed themselves, but bringing their new chicks in to feed them during the breeding season.

Yes, I, and thousands like me ARE being taken advantage of. We will keep on doing it though. I know, I'll moan about anything won't I? Deep down inside though, I know its my little contribution to helping preserve some of the endangered species of garden visitors. Kinda heart warming really.

UK Petrol Tanker Drivers Vote To Strike

LONDON - OCTOBER 12: Labour Party Leader Ed Miliband (2R) holds his first shadow cabinet meeting in the House of Commons on October 12, 2010 in London, England. Ed Miliband beat his brother David to become the new leader of the Labour party on 25 September 2010. His shadow cabinet is made up of Harriet Harman (3R), Deputy Leader and Shadow Secretary of State for International Development, Ed Balls, Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department and Alan Johnson (L), Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer to name a few. (Image credit: Getty Images via @daylife)What in Heavens Name is the Union Unite doing in asking its Petrol Tanker driver members to vote on strike action?

 Today, 26/3/2012, the tanker drivers decided to strike. No strike dates set as yet, talks are to take place to arrange dates. Terms and Conditions and Health and Safety were cited as reasons for the ballot to take place. Were these truly the reasons Unite leadership whipped up this storm? I doubt it!

Since the unions got behind the eventual winner of the Labour Party Leadership campaign, they have become more and more strident in their calls for industrial action by one group or another. I call upon Ed Milliband, Leader of the labour Party to stand up in the House of Commons and condemn the strike. It is a strike that has the potential, unless others take on the task of delivering petrol and diesel to the forecourts of the country, to damage Britain in a short time. What are the motives behind this? Are they to "persuade" the Coalition Government to drop the planned rise in fuel charges planned for August 2012? Are they truly to support the tanker drivers? I think not. If the union was truly intent on helping its members, it would have started with backing the drivers of heavy goods vehicles of Britain who are losing money and jobs because of fuel prices. Unite has chosen not to support these people. It appears to be intent on damaging the country instead.

I have no political affiliation. I do though, have a sense of responsibility toward my country. I can express my responsibility by putting forward the proposition that the drivers that voted to strike, stand back and take a look at the possible effect of their actions. Yes, the military is to be used to deliver fuel in their stead. This will of course help. It will also cause problems in the eyes and perceptions of the the more militant members of society. At a time when our Military Heroes need all the support they can get while serving in military theatres, the last thing they need is slagging off for strike breaking. The majority of the public will possibly see them as heroes for doing it-the militants may not.

Come on guys-think it through. Don't go through with the strikes-sit back, take a deep breath and look at the possible outcomes. Is it all worth it?

Related articles

• Soldiers on standby for fuel strikes (staveleyhead.co.uk)
• Union Votes In Favour Of UK Fuel Strike (news.sky.com)
• Ed Miliband silent as union backers plot strike by tanker drivers (dailymail.co.uk)
• Soldiers train to deliver petrol in case tanker drivers strike (thesun.co.uk)

Team Sports Cause Undue Stress-Fact!

At one time or another, most of us will be required to undergo training in our chosen field of employment. Part of that training will be developing "team spirit" and " team working." Many of us will have been through that experience, several times if we have changed jobs. Having completed the training and assessment, we get the results. I always managed to achieve the same, or pretty similar results. I had absorbed the training, but was considered not to be  team player.

I felt totally vindicated! Throughout my life up to that point at least, I had thoroughly enjoyed sport, well most of it anyway. The sports I enjoyed most were cross-country running and the high jump. Individual sports. (Now, that will come as a complete surprise to anyone reading this, who actually knows me) The sport I enjoyed playing the least, was Rugby Union. It was a team sport. (The fact that I was made to play the game just because of my size and nothing else, did not help.) I was, and I remain, convinced that any "game" that needs more than two people to take part in it, is doomed to a certain amount of failure. With any more than one person on each side, it is likely that sooner or later one person in the duo or even larger team will fail, if only for a second or so, resulting in a goal, a point or whatever, being scored against his or her side. At that point, all finger pointing and stares will be focused on that individual. Don't believe it? Take a look next time YOUR team loses a point or goal next time they play. You may even be guilty of doing it yourself!

All of what I have desribed above in terms of team sports, results in higher than usual stress levels occuring during the game, and for some time after. How many times have you muttered either under your breath, or out loud to anyone who will listen, that you and that team are finished. Never again will you support them-and as for that so-and-so manager, or full back, or supposedly "attacking forward line," they can just take a hike. How do I know? Because it happens to me week in and week out. I would even go so far as to say year in and year out.

Let me give you an example, or perhaps two. I confess to supporting a football team (or soccer team, depending on where you hale from) since 1974. I will not name them as I am supersticious and would not wish more bad luck on them than they currently enjoy. All I will say is that they are named after the town in which they play, which in turn is the oldest known Roman garrison town in England, you know, the one that Boudica raised to the ground!). Another clue is that the team were voted the 37th most stressful team to watch just three years ago. I suspect they will have risen in that table since!!!! I used to arrive at their ground full of optimism, joy and hope. I would often leave their ground with my stress levels at sky high level, despite every piece of advice I offered tham throughout the game, they ignored it, hence the opposotion going home with their faces wreathed in smiles. I would arrive home, my wife there to greet me. (I never understood why, despite the obvious look of thunder on my face, she always chose to ask, "how did the game go?")

To this day, I still support them. I now live many miles away from the town and cannot often visit, but still listen to each and every game on the internet. I will be so doing tonight 6/3/2012. My wife dreads such events despite my skulking off to the kitchen with my laptop, headphones and and a couple of ales in the 'fridge. She can hear the odd comment such as "come come chaps, that was a trifle silly giving away such a soft goal" or such like. She no longer asks how the game went.

A former love of my sporting life was an Ice Hockey team, London Knights, who played at the London Arena. I was introduced to the sport by my son, Andrew. He got a free ticket to a game for excelling at maths one week, (the team was famous for supporting education and rewarding kids at all levels, not just at the top.) It meant I had to buy a ticket so that he could attend, but so what, not even I was mean enough in those days to not take him. We turned up at the arena, not knowing what to expect. What we found was something totally new. Noise, noise and more noise. Loud pulsing music, videos playing on a four sided cosole suspended from on high. It was quite difficult to talk to each other. It didn't stop there. Suddenly the music stopped, the lights went out and a siren screamed out from nowhere. Immediately quietness was replaced by quite the loudest music I had ever heard-The sound of thunder was accompanied by flashing lights, a ceiling light span and lit up the arena and finally settled on the gate on one corner of the ice where the players were to make the entrance-the home players that was.
Image via Wikipedia
In true American showbiz razamatazz style, each player was announced by name-he raced onto the ice having been picked up by a white hot spot light. Wow-we were impressed. The opposition were then "welcomed" to the ice in a very quietly delivered "welcome" accompanied by the music made famous via the Laurel and hardy movies. "Our" team went on to beat Nottingham Panthers by 7 goals to 1. What a team!!!

We decided to go back for the next game. We saw them beaten 5-1 by Newcastle. Then our next game saw them draw 2-2 with Basingstoke Bison, but lose the play-off by one goal. Andrew and me were typically disapointed. Again, it was individual failures that led to team failures. Again I, no we, swore not to support them anymore. (We did, much to my wifes surprise, buy season tickets to watch them for the next three seasons though.)  This ice hockey experience was much more of a threat to my health even than the football. The high adrenaline rush before the game, followed by the low low feeling but high stress levels after each loss added to the foot stress might have seen the end of a lesser man. Thankfully, I survived it all. I am still of the opinion that team sports cause undue stress.

I follow other sports, individual sports that is. I find them stress free. If I am willing a particular golfer on to success, but over the final four holes he bogies three and birdies in one, therefore losing his lead of two shots and losing the match, I simply refer to him/her as a bit of a silly billy. His/her game, his/her loss, his/her failure to win the money. Their loss not mine. Let them bear the stress this time.