All the Planets and Bullies are out to Play

Hi Everyone

I bet that every one of us remembers who the bullies were when we were at school. We kept away from them as much as possible but I am sure we all have memories of the times when we got too near. As we progressed to further education or work, it became a time when we could choose our friends, and we were neither interested nor cared what happened to them in later life. The sad thing is those bullies we had to deal with would most likely continue to be bullies for the rest of their lives. Just occasionally one of those people who we despised so much are brought to our attention. This week my moment of the week was when I saw Volodymyr Zelensky leaving the White House without putting his signature to a supposed agreement. Whether he was asked to leave or whether he made his own decision is of no consequence. What was on display was astounding in that Trump and Vance gave him no opportunity to even speak, never mind put forward his case. All that Trump and Vance were doing was playing to the crowd who voted for him. Trump trashed Zelensky in the same way he trashed his political 'friends' to get the job. Now they have joined Putin as two of the most dangerous men in the world. Apart from those three, we are all well aware of what has happened in Ukraine for the last eleven years and who is to blame. I hope that our Prime Minister and country, together with all the leaders and people in the rest of Europe, will continue to support Ukraine and its people as never before. Of course peace will not come easily as Putin cannot be trusted for one second. We all know that except for you know who and his puppet. The good news is that bullies never win although they think they do. One last thought - are there any sane Republicans out there brave enough to call them out? Here this week, one of our Ministers resigned as she opposed our Prime Minister's plan to cut foreign aid to increase the budget for our armed forces. We may or may not agree with that position but she had the courage of her convictions. American politicians should take note.

You will know that if you are approaching middle age and you need to look up into the sky to see if there is still a sun up there you will very likely fall over backwards. With that in mind, I was both excited and apprehensive to see that this week a very rare phenomenon took place when the planets Mars, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus and Neptune were all visible in the sky on at least two nights. Although I am not a stargazer, I sat down with my binoculars just after sunset, which was apparently the point at which they were all visible. Those of us who live in built up areas suffer from light pollution plus the fact that I do not really know what I am looking for, so it all passed me by. I was however encouraged by the fact that the next time this phenomenon takes place will be in fifteen years time in 2040. By then I will have definitely reached middle age so someone will carry me out to a comfortable reclining chair with my antique binoculars while muttering something like "silly old fool".

This week the Main Contractor gave me a piece of custard tart. Nothing remarkable there I hear you say, except that it was the nicest piece of custard tart that I had eaten for years. It reminded me of the epic custard tarts my lovely mother in law brought from her home to ours every Sunday morning, probably to make sure she got a free Sunday lunch at our house. The problem was that, just occasionally, the tart arrived with the pastry at the top and the custard at the bottom. I don't know how she managed to do that, and I don't think that she did, but either way, there was never anything left.

Just a Thought :

If people are trying to bring you down, it means that you are better than them.

How do you organise a stargazing party? You "planet".

My friend is an expert pastry maker. He has to be to stay employed, his job has a high turnover rate.

Brian