Friday, March 30, 2012

Petrol peeves

I can't help but feel our current government are a bunch of tossers. Some twat (Francis Maude) was advising people hoard jerry-cans of fuel.

Then, "Mr Penning, the roads minister, later told BBC Two's Newsnight: "You can't store that amount of petrol. It was a mistake by the cabinet minister. He didn't understand the size of a jerrycan. He has apologised since." 

The woman who set herself on fire in York is probably extremely grateful for Maude's sterling advice 'though [/sarcasm].

"However, he [Pennings] insisted that Mr Maude had been right to advise drivers to keep their petrol tanks full as the seven days' notice the union is required to give before going on strike would leave little time to prepare. 
"Seven days isn't enough to actually make sure we have the facilities and the amount of fuel we need to go forward. If they go on strike the country will have a problem. Let's be prepared for that in case it happens," said Mr Penning." (from BBC news website)

If I filled up my tank (if I could blue-pencilled afford to fill up my tank) 7 days before a strike, I'd still need petrol during it. Petrol is one of our household's major outgoings. I live in a rural area where cuts to budgets have just meant our already shit bus service has lost most of its subsidy and therefore we have an even shitter 'service' starting in April. My daughter will no longer have a bus she can catch to get into her school, and the best alternative I can come up with is driving her 4 miles to get a train that will get her in an hour early. We have no cycle lanes, no foot-paths and our rural roads are too dangerous for me to let her bike it, aside from how far it is. I need the sodding car for that, to get to work and to get my husband to work.

My own damn silly fault for being low-paid and rural.


Sucks to be you, say dough-faced bastard Cameron & his cronies. 

But of course, all this drama about a potential strike is based on nothing solid, it's just whipping up a crisis so as to build public support for more undermining of workers' rights, I reckon. And to distract from the budget.


Oh no, cry the Tories, naughty workers dissatisfied with their lot, how very dare they! Let's assume talks will fail, they'll strike and we'll all run out of fuel, wah, wah, panic-buy, don't panic-buy, keep those tanks full to the brim, but don't queue, and don't forget to hoard incredibly flammable substances in your garages, sheds and outhouses, so you can burn down the neighbourhood. 

Thanks for that. 

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Appeal fails

This sucks. The woman who was jailed for retracting rape allegations against her abusive husband has lost her appeal against the conviction. I despair I really do.

Previous posts on this story here and here.

Monday, March 12, 2012

Somebody loves the boss...


It seems someone was trying to tell the boss something.

Saturday, March 03, 2012

Reading Record 2012

Ah the annual reading record. It went to pot last year, forgot to write it, didn't make time to read as much, but that was 2011. Ha. It is gone, forgotten. I'm so over 2011.

We are already into the second month of 2012, which as yet another year on this planet #sigh# started out pretty crappily, but hopefully will improve...

So what you been reading, (you demand ungrammatically)?


January

Snuff /Terry Pratchett - re-read
Alias Grace / Margaret Atwood
Dave Gorman vs the World / Dave Gorman - re-read
The Quiet Gentleman / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Bath Tangle / Georgette Heyer - re-read

February

The Nonesuch / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Pistols for Two / Georgette Heyer - re-read
The Grand Sophy / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Jezebel / Eleanor de Jong
Paradise News / David Lodge
Gather Together in My Name / Maya Angelou
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry like Christmas / Maya Angelou

March

The Heart of a Woman / Maya Angelou
It's Different for Girls / Jo Brand
The Captain and the Enemy / Graham Greene
The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science / Philip Ball - abandoned half-way
Arabella / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Powder & Patch / Georgette Heyer - re-read

April

The Foundling / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Lady of Quality / Georgette Heyer - re-read
The Masqueraders / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Lorna Doone / Richard Doddridge Blackmore
The Unlimited Dream Company / JG Ballard
War Fever / JG Ballard
These Old Shades / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Sprig Muslin / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Sylvester / Georgette Heyer - re-read
The Sewing Book - Alison Smith

May

A Convenient Marriage / Georgette Heyer - re-read
Anansi Boys / Neil Gaiman - re-read
American Gods / Neil Gaiman - re-read
Frost Dancers / Garry Kilworth
1984 / George Orwell

June

Leviathan / Paul Auster -re-read
The Black Moth / Georgette Heyer -re-read
Stiff / Mary Roach - re-read

August

Northanger Abbey / Jane Austen
MiddleMarch / George Elliot

September

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress / Heinlein - re-read
Biggles Hits the Trail / WE Johns - re-read

October

Theodore Boone / John Grisham
Theodore Boone - The Abduction / John Grisham
Exiles in Asperus / John Wyndham
Neverwhere / Neil Gaiman - re-read

December

Red Mars / Kim Stanley Robinson (re-read)
Dodger / Terry Pratchett

Friday, March 02, 2012

And so I limp on,

a wounded creature.


I want to do something dramatic and insane, but I can't because of the kids. I feel tired but I have to keep going, smile and make small talk this afternoon. When the children get home, I'll make them tea and take them to their clubs.

And not just punch the sun out of the sky or crumble into dust.

Just as well I have the kids.