Never judge a man

"Never judge a man until you have walked a mile in his moccasins."
....................
One of the things that annoys me most is the apparent superiority some people possess, that enables them to believe they have the right to judge the actions and lives of others!

Those that choose to live this way and make their judgements are, at the very least, not usually in possession of all the facts concerning a given situation, but never let it be said that this might prevent them for one moment, from casting their eye over others they have little or no true knowledge of, and swiftly pronouncing ill informed 'sentence'.

The specifics of a scenario don't concern me, that is not the point, the point is that there is usually much more to be known in any given scenario, than the information an outsider is privy too and few situations occur without there being complicated and protracted reasons behind them, be they political, personal or other.

We do of course have laws (though some of those are questionable) and commonly accepted levels of ethical and moral function, which in the main the majority adhere too but why do some feel that there is no way of living different to their own that is acceptable? Why is it that an individual or group who choose to live a different way of life are deemed by those in their self imposed position of judgement, by default, to be wrong? Why if a chosen path is harming no one else, or if it is chosen out of necessity, or if it is forced by circumstance, that some see it as a lesser way to live and something to be derided, punished or worse?

Is it because the very same people who make these judgements are those individuals who are in a position from which they perhaps would be better scrutinising their own behaviour instead of that of others, is it because in their own lives they feel something is perhaps lacking somewhere, is it envy at something they would feel unable to do for themselves in reality or is it simply their fear of something they don't understand and aren't prepared to attempt to see deeper into to, for concern that what they might find outside of their box might upset the apple cart?

I have no idea really why one should feel it appropriate to judge another, even in very dire circumstances, but I do think that no one of us has the right to make a judgement on another without being in possession of the full facts....and even then I doubt we have that right. Should we not instead be using our energies to try and see deeper into things that are outside of our own life experience and gain a little more understanding and compassion for things we don't yet truly understand?

Professional non achievement!

Day two in the solicitors office is over and if I'm honest it wasn't half so bad as the first day. It was less manic, one or two people actually spoke to me like a human being and I found the coffee and made good use of it!

In fact more than tolerable it made me think how in many ways I have wasted my professional life albeit not out of choice. Some of these people have such interesting jobs. Their environment and protocols might piss me off but the jobs they do are just so interesting and consuming, neither of which qualities have ever figured much in my work life. I only ever had one really good career job and that fell apart for reasons I won't expand on here. Now, even if I had the funds to train in something new and interesting, by the time I got though college I would be about ready to retire!

Hey ho, I'm destined to be broke and bored at work I suspect.... but I have discovered the perfect employer.......however, the commute may be a somewhat restricting! ;o)

Another dead parrot!

Go on, admit it....you laughed! ;o)

Tugging my forelock!

Yesterday was my first day at the temping malarkey and I learned one thing if nothing else....that a solicitors office is definitely not my 'thing'! What a carry on! All those protocols, the self imposed faux hierarchical structure and those that must be treated as demi-gods at all times, the solicitors themselves.


Don't get me wrong, I admire their intellect, respect their knowledge and very specialised area of expertise and I'm sure that most of them are very nice people.... but purlease, spare me the demi-god status!

I think it would be safe to say that being a solicitors receptionist is not going to be my niche in life, more plainly it was pretty horrible.

Immediately I walked through the door I was ordered about by some officious secretary (they are second only to the demi-gods in the hierarchy) who overturned just about everything I had been shown in my hours 'lesson' on Friday, I was suddenly responsible for a myriad of tasks no one had thought to mention previously and spent the next eight hours juggling a string of personal callers (most of whom spoke no English or assumed I knew every detail of criminal and matrimonial law myself), a switchboard that never rested from it's habit of 'all lines incoming' for one moment and various grade of demi-god and secretarial staff refusing to take calls! Oh...and not one single cup of coffee was offered.

It seems it wasn't deemed appropriate to warn me that half the staff were on holiday or sick leave and that the remaining individuals wern't in a hurry to cover for them.

Yes, I was stressed, by lunchtime I had a banging headache,(I don't usually 'do' headaches) and by the time I escaped at five all I wanted to do was hide in a corner and cry, or scream....or both.

Yup, eight hours tugging my forelock under heavy pressure is certainly not my bag and being parked at a desk in the cold suited and booted didn't seem like too much fun either.

On the upside, I only have to do two days so by tomorrow evening it will be over and it's money, not much I'll grant you but not much is more than nothing!.

Next please.....

Vive la resistance!

I seem to have ruffled a feather or two with my 'Quote of the day' post over the weekend!

It's been a long time since I was subjected to comment insults and on the few occasions I have been previously it was concerning serious subjects that others were likely to have strongly held opinions on.

This time it seems to be a lighthearted joke that has hit a sore point with someone, who from a 'one liner' has subsequently deduced that I "probably love fox hunting" and wishes for my life to be "derailed".

Oh how little some people know before they wade in with all guns blazing.

Hey ho....we are all entitled to our point of view, however ill informed, so on the principle of upholding the tenets of free speech and all that I will ride with it on the basis that, what is particularly amusing is not the quote in itself but that my commenter completely misunderstood my amusement in it, despite explanation.

Hell, here's always one isn't there!

The big storm?

So, are we going to find ourselves lashed by the howling winds and torrential rains, are we going to have to drive with great care to work in the morning (well those of you that work) avoiding felled trees and

the structural damage forecast by our meteorological wizards, or is this storm going to be another in the now long line of overly cautious warning forecasts since Michael Fish made his now infamously understated broadcast back in October 1987?

Weather fascinates me and whilst most I suppose are hoping for this to be another damp squib I am hoping for the reverse, though of course I would never wish for anyone to get hurt. I have been watching now for days this storm tracking toward us, watching the barometric pressure drop like a stone and wishing that right now I was in Cornwall not Cambridge. Who knows, I am far from qualified to hazard a reasonable guess but it's looking like it might happen,if I'm lucky I might see some significant gusts even here and if I'm luckier still a tree might just fall on my car and write the damn thing off.......It is 'strategically' parked under a number of very large specimens as I speak! ;o)

'Let me in' - Simon's cat....again

This is fab, I love this guys cartoons, the last one, 'Wake Up', like this one, are so true!

Sound on.

Quote of the day

"This silly woman makes even Jade Goody look like someone with an Oxford first"

Ann Widdecombe on Marion Cotillard

Excellent! :o)

Back to reality.....

......in a small way.

So, it's been two weeks since the white van became history and there have been a few vaguely possible new jobs crop up but nothing really suitable, so as of next week I begin the new (to me) business of temping. The days of being a lady (??) of leisure and playing housewife are beginning to be a thing of the past.

Thus far I have only two days work next week covering for a receptionist in a solicitors office but hey, anything is better than the dole and even two days work pays me more than the government would! I promise you, after the last and only time I went the government handout route, I'm in absolutely no hurry to go through that humiliation again!

Hmmmm...receptionist, that means of course I have to get suited and booted, I don't 'do' that, or at least I haven't had to for years, heels, girly clothes, make-up and all that palaver aren't things I relish, it just doesn't feel like 'me' but needs must and by definition it is only 'temporary'!

Now...where's the job that allows me to wear jeans and boots? ;o)

100,000!

Yes, I'm a hit whore, I won't deny it, hits, stats, referrers etc. etc. etc, I love em...and one inparticular.

Look over there ------------>

When I started this blog, way back when and all that, in the days when even fewer people read it than do now, I came by chance, across a blog that was celebrating it's 100,000th hit. At the time I couldn't believe any blog could ever get to six figures, let alone mine and from that day to this it became kind of a small goal for me, one that I didn't think I would likely ever see here.

But, sometime today I should make it, kicking and screaming, to my very own 100,000th hit count....unless you all bugger off! ;o)

And I might add, I haven't 'cheated' and inflated the count with my own hits, I have obsessively kept myself excluded from the count. Ok, so it's taken better part of four years but I have hobbled there at last!

Yayyyyyyyy.

I'll try and work who makes the actual hit is but in the meantime I think I shall partake of a bar of chocolate by way of a small celebration! ;o)

Blown away!

Remember this post a few days back....the howling gales overnight and all that? Well what we didn't realise until the following day was that both bikes, that's Eloisa and the VFR, had been blown right over and were lying forlorn and broken on their sides.

The parking spaces here can't be seen from the flat and so it wasn't until we returned from a shopping expedition that we noticed something amiss....handlebars looking skyward, handlebars aren't supposed to do that!

Sure enough, closer and rapid inspection revealed both bikes had been blown clean over. The sight of a bike on it's side is always a bad one, somehow it's always a sight that seems very wrong, damage to man or machine is usually the result and this was no different, though thankfully under the circumstances of course, only damage to machine resulted.

That must have been some wind! Eloisa is getting towards a quarter ton in weight. She of course escaped almost unscathed, tough as she is, only a bent pannier, the VFR however was another story presenting badly scraped fairings, a snapped brake lever, bent peg, broken indicator and a distinct lack of petrol left in the tank!

Ugh!

It's amazing how easily and quickly you can pick up something so heavy under the 'Oh shit my bikes down' scenario!

But it could have been worse, both only missed hitting the car parked next to them by inches reducing the repair bills or any insurance claim significantly.

Over a bridge

One of the many things I love about living where we do is something really simple, the fact that I can walk just a few hundred yards over a bridge across the river into town...no car needed! :o)


It may not be the retail hub of the world but it has everything necessary on a day to day basis, it's pretty and it's civilised, the short walk is lovely and the numerous swans and other waterfowl along the way are a bonus, yet so close to town, once inside the flat, with the river running by it's side, you would never know from the peace and quiet that so close by was the hustle and bustle of a small market town.

Bill who?

As is the way when one has very limited funds everything presents itself for renewal, case in point, my anti-virus subscription very inconveniently was due to expire tomorrow. Ugh.

I have always run Nortons, not because I think it's particularly good, in fact it's a pain but over the years it has done what it says on the box and not once have I fallen victim to anything nasty, so I stuck with it. However, the renewal cost, as the annoyingly frequently occurring reminder kept informing me was a little over £50.

Every penny counts to my bank account right now so I decided an alternative had to be found and whilst I was considering if I dare risk AVG I came upon something unexpected as I did the grocery shopping....Tesco AV at a mere £20!!

Now, my computer snobbery common sense screamed at me not to go that route but my financial situation fought it well and won and I went home clutching the disk in my hand.

It transpires that Tesco AV is actually Panda Platinum, which whilst it may not be 'top notch' stuff it has protected my fathers system for years without a hitch and he has never had a complaint. Things were looking up.

Installation was easy, none of the faff that Norton always seems to require, the only hitch was in registration....hey, ain't that supposed to be the easy bit with legit S/W? ;o), but three attempts later it worked and all appeared to be hunky dory.

There is of course always something isn't there and in this case it was the bloody usual problem....VISTA/I.E. Wouldn't you know it. Perhaps it's time to rethink the long resisted change to Firefox!

The problem: On trying to open the Blogger dashboard, it just wouldn't, the whole machine became manic with constant attempts to open the page and then abort the action and just about every change to every setting failed to rectify the situation.

And then a shot in the desperation dark.....

The solution: I had Blogger set as a 'trusted site', I removed that protocol and hey presto, it was happy to open it!!! FFS.

Of course, Firefox had no issue from the word go....I really must reconsider my allegiance to Bill!

Spot the similarity!

Ok...one is Tilly aged five weeks in a state of temporary collapse and the other a somewhat rarer and more famous cat, the new Amur Leopard cub at Marwell zoo but they both seem to have a similar approach to resting!