A day out snapping away

  On Sunday I drove over to Wolverhampton race course for a camera fair, OK, it wasn't bad I suppose and I found a lot of really nice old cameras I fancied buying.  The Nicormat FTN being one such, the Minolta XD7, Pentax SP1000 and K1000, Olympus OM2n ... ... ... ... ...  Good job I didn't have a lot of cash with me.  Oh yes, one other but first a short story.  When Edwards Cameras was still in business their shop used to be in Coventry Street, roughly where the cafe is now.  Anyway, they had a Miranda 1000 in their window in there and I lusted after that camera for months.  It was £90 at the time and I just couldn't afford it.  Then one day it was gone, I was really sad, bo ho bo ho .... but there was one at the camera fair ... at £90!  No, I left it where it was, my lust for that one has gone, but it was nice to see one and to hold it and play with it.
 
From there I drove on to Wightwick (pronounced Whitick we were informed), Manor.   

OK, nice but not as good as some other NT places I’ve been to.  The tea and chocolate and strawberry cake was really good though.

From there I went off to do some pub sign photo’s and got about 60 I think.  On the way I drove past the viewing place for Clee Hill ...  

I eventually got rather tired so drove back home even though I didn’t really want too. 

Liquid refeshments were at the Hen and Chicken ...

A rather nice pint of Town Cryer.  The pub enna bad ... 

Mind you, there's a starnge guy in there that says that he's only booze dependant, not an alcoholic ... yerrrr wotttttt ... ... ... ... ...



So there are worries about what Dithering Daft David is doing to pension.  So what did the moaners expect?   I’d bet the bulk of those moaning now are the ones who voted the prat into government in the first place.  But hang on a minute, the idea of the National Insurance stamp and welfare state was to ensure that EVERYONE was cared for from cradle to grave.  That was OK when it first started up but what they didn’t take into account at that time was the huge increase in the population and the fact that we are all living longer.  Why are we living longer then?

Well, there’s a few reasons aren’t there.  There’s the improvement in our general overall diet which has to be good.  Advances in safety at work have reduced death rates at work.  Improvements in our environment have made great strides in clearing up so many illnesses, like the use of smokeless fuels that lead to the end of the old pea supper smogs we used to have to endure.  But I think the main one is the advances in medicine and health care.

Old ‘plagues’ like typhoid, smallpox, polio, measles and oh so many other such illnesses have more or less been stopped in their tracks.  Annual flu vaccination for the vulnerable has by and large reduced the death rate from flu.  But then there’s conditions like diabetes which although can’t be cured can now be controlled as long as the diabetic follows the doctor’s advice.  And here’s the rub really ...

We as a nation have to decide what we want.  If we want up to date medical research to continue, if we want to benefit from that research and that benefit leads to an even longer life span, then we have to pay for it.  The only other choice really is to stop all the research and let everyone go back to the pre-NHS days.  Of course that just isn’t going to happen.  So whether we like it or not we HAVE to pay for it in some way or other.

As to pensions, there is a lot to be said for both side of the argument, but I would ask what will happen to the money that is saved by cutting pensions?  If it is to be used to fund Trident or to buy more bombs to drop on a strip of north African desert no-one here really cares about, then that’s a big no no in my book.  If it is to be used to help fund care for the elderly in care homes, OK, fine, as long as the government plays its part and put in the same amount of extra cash too.
But we all benefit from a properly funded NHS so we all have to play our part in funding it.  If it means higher taxes, then we pay them – end of story!

The Rochdale Sage has been in touch again ...

 A man doing market research knocked on a door and was
greeted by a young woman with three small children running
around at her feet.

He says, 'I'm doing some research for Vaseline.

Have you ever used the product?'

She says, 'Yes. My husband and I use it all the time.'

And if you don't mind me asking, what do you use it for?'

We use it for sex.'

The researcher was a little taken back.

'Usually people lie to me and say that they use it on a child's bicycle chain

or to help with a gate hinge.

But, in fact, I know that most people do use it for sex.

I admire you for your honesty. Since you've been frank so far, can you
tell me exactly how you use it for sex?'

The woman says, 'I don't mind telling you at all...

My husband and I put it on the door knob and it keeps the kids out.'



And you thought it was gonna be a dirty joke...!



Shame on you