MRSA. There seems to be no end to the various viruses attacking patients in hospitals, I started to wonder about it. I know that I should not be writing this, I have never worked in a hospital, I have only been in hospital for operations twice, and apart from sticking a plaster on a cut… Continue reading Random Thoughtss 32, MRSA, Pensions
Belfast 1951 to ’60 in order, What Goes On Beneath Our Feet.
I write to draw attention to those men taken too much for granted., working underground, in risky and filthy conditions. I include a short story based upon one occasion when I really thought I might drown. Under Ground Going up pipes, down manholes, through tunnels, into dark dank corners, beneath the sea, beneath roads and… Continue reading Belfast 1951 to ’60 in order, What Goes On Beneath Our Feet.
Random thoughts 31, Blair’s One Gold Star.
Say what you like, Blair deserves at least one gold star, he taught us that at face value, you can believe nothing that comes out of Westminster, irrespective of the colour, be it red or blue. Most of it is so patently absurd, so thoughtless, an eleven-year-old could see it as tripe. Take the latest… Continue reading Random thoughts 31, Blair’s One Gold Star.
Belfast 1951 to 60 in order, Characters 2
I assume there are as many characters today as there were in the 40’s, but the streets seem more crowded and they don’t stand out like they used to. There was a man with a military style to him, I used to see in front of the Belfast City Hall. Smartly dressed, wearing a trilby… Continue reading Belfast 1951 to 60 in order, Characters 2
Belfast 1951 to ’60, in order, City Airport, Hokers and Lethal Weapons.
The words ‘Hoke, hoker or hoaker’ do not appear in Chambers Dictionary, but are common in Ulster for the act of or the person acting, in digging with the fingers, hands or a tool in small areas ranging from a rotten tooth to the Town Tip. In ‘Digging For Coal’ the construction of the berms… Continue reading Belfast 1951 to ’60, in order, City Airport, Hokers and Lethal Weapons.
Random thoughts 30.
It Is Beyond My Understanding, the circus that surrounded the kidnapping, or murder, of that smiling child, Madeline McCann. I make no comment other than on the exceptional circumstances the parents found themselves in. Firstly, they are both doctors, with more than adequate incomes. Why then was a fund raised for them, what was it… Continue reading Random thoughts 30.
Belfast 1951 to ’60, in order, Belfasr Cuty Airport, Coal Diggers
George Best, Belfast City Airport in 1951,was merely Sydenham Airport, occupied by the Royal Naval Fleet Air Arm, and Short Bros & Harlands as a landing place for planes needing repairs and also testing new aircraft. During WW2 it was the test-bed and the home of the Sunderland Sea Recognisance Plane. It was about 1950… Continue reading Belfast 1951 to ’60, in order, Belfasr Cuty Airport, Coal Diggers
Belfast 1946 to ’50 in order, Idiocy and Practical Jokes.
I often refer to myself as an idiot, because I have been one on many occasions, and because I have that sort of sense of humour. But eating wine glasses? I was a mature student, and so found some of the practices of the other students a little eccentric. We had an extrovert in our… Continue reading Belfast 1946 to ’50 in order, Idiocy and Practical Jokes.
Random Thoughts, 29. Are our children being short changed
I am not suggesting that a high proportion of children are not well fed, well clothed, and their every wish fulfilled. Indeed, it is this very fact that everything is done for them, the world is their oyster, that perhaps is one of the problems that teenagers are facing today. I believe there is such… Continue reading Random Thoughts, 29. Are our children being short changed
Belfast 1946 to ’50 in order, The Effect of an English Accent.
When I worked in Belfast for the council and English travellers came to the little room where we interviewed them, whoever went to the window, returned and said to me, ‘you talk to them, you speak their language’. Just a joke with an edge – in other words, one might be with the Irish, but,… Continue reading Belfast 1946 to ’50 in order, The Effect of an English Accent.