Wednesdays thoughts

Well! here I sit boored sh**less, have been out to lunch with an old friend who at the great age of 67 has fitted his house out totally with new PVC windows ( without help) and rewired and re plumbed it too ( once again without help!) He really puts me to shame. I still have the tiles to do in the kitchen( wow! lucky me) I have seen the boat that I want to replace my existing one with, its 52 feet long and a motor yacht (what happened to the sailing yacht thoughts you may ask, well I decided that smaller engines were the answer so I wont have to pull strings etc) I have contacted the owner to see if I can have a look? and if its sold or not, so more news to follow.

I am off to France on Sunday to help another friend remove his engine (well its already out of the boat and on the deck) I am to bring it back to the UK for a re-build. I have three of the same engines so I have enough bits to do it.

I spoke with another friend today who is currently on the Isle of wight and rebuilding his boats "drive train", he needs some help with "bearing scraping" his shafts, tail end bearing, when he fits his new shaft, so I am going down there mid next week and get to sleep off shore for a while, should be good fun, he is good company. Tomorrow I am going to the boat repair show at Olympia so I will meet more like minded people, with a view to better involvement in the marine industry??????

Writing this Blog really does seem to make me think a bit more positivley about life, I have everything going for me and really need to remember that. I am two thirds through my book and slowing down, I am rewriting it on a regular basis but not getting nearer the finish! Ho! Hum!! I regret never having taking a creative writing course. In spite of rising to the top (or near) of my profession I only ever gained one GCE at school and that was in Art with a minimum pass of 40%. Yes I know it shows in this Blog!

Two weeks ago I had an altication with a shop person who was out of order, so I wrote to their customer service department manager ( I felt like Victor Melville) and pointed out that No matter how they felt, I was a customer and should be treated as such, etc, etc. After about a week, I really started to doubt that I was in order doing this and it the end I started to feel that perhaps I shouldnt have brought it to their attention, as the person concerned may get disciplined. Well I had a reply today telling me that and they had researched it fully and found very much in my favour and the person concerned is to be re-trained. I am now a little bit more easy with my actions, but as with most Brits (we usuall never complain do we?) I dont find it easy to involve myself with such things. Today is a bit drab its not really raining or cold or windy its a bit "average" There are Rhodedendrums (spelling) blossoming when I passed the large bush at the top of my road, so even nature is being fooled, (God I hate Mud Island! Get me to the sun somebody, me I guess). I have just discovered a new stealth tax. I visited my local hospital and found that the usual free parking was now by ticket so I duly took a ticket and the barrier lifted. I parked and went to Pathology and had a sample of blood taken. I returned to my car (it took no ,more than 15 minutes) and was required to pay £2 for the pleasure of parking. I can go to a central London car park for less than that and for more time. Outrageous dont you think. The Government are obviously not providing enough cash for the hospital to run correctly perhaps or does the staffing of the car park take most of the money and what is left placed in the kitty for the eventual re-furb. Why do I have to pay?? I have paid all my life (well 44 years) isnt that enough? We talk about a free national health service, its only free if you can get it for nothing and 44 years of payment isnt free to my mind. I would not be alive today if I had waited for a place to recieve an operation given the state of "waiting lists" I guess that the staffing of the car park brings a few pounds in extra revenue to the hospital (I dont have a problem with that) but it also employs people and that helps the governments employment figures, doesnt it? and makes profits for the company that runs it for the hospital (remember Goslings National car parks) Its all artificiall!!. we own the hospital and the car park? why do we have to pay.? I said I would go off on a tangent earlier on in my firt Blog and here is a prime example !!

I wish I was in the sun on my boat (or new boat, after completion) one day, maybe oneday! as the lottery says! I shall have to live to be a 1000 years old to do all I want to do.