It's finished!

My story, that is, all 62000 and change words of it. I've still got to proofread it, and maybe tinker with a few last things, but Xander and David's story is, to all intents and purposes, complete. It should be published, if not tomorrow, then certainly by Sunday. It's been a labour of love, in more ways than one. I hope at least a few people might like it.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

WTF?

I've seen many prejudiced, bigoted, self-serving, illogical and downright stupid arguments against marriage equality over the years, but I don't believe I've ever seen one as imbecilic as this. Mind you, given who said it, I probably shouldn't be surprised.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Moving home

But the shortest move of my life - all of about 15 yards! There was a tap on my door late this afternoon - after I'd got up, luckily, given that I'm still on nights! - and I was handed a letter by one of the admin staff of the place where my accommodation is. It seems that there's going to be some substantial work going on in the building, and my current room is one of those affected, so I'm being shipped out to the end of the corridor. The new room, which I had a look at an hour or so ago, is slightly bigger than my current one, but otherwise similarly equipped, although the downside is that due to it being at the end of the building, it will probably be slightly noisier. I'm sure I'll get used to it, and, of course, there is still the possibility that I won't be here for that much longer, anyway, if the new job comes together - I'm still waiting for news on that front, although, knowing of old the glacial pace of my employer's HR organisation, I'd have been amazed to have heard anything by now.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

The equal society

In the wake of the Budget a few weeks back, I saw figures which suggested that millionaires would receive a tax cut of around £42000 a year. Today, the same government, Cameron's 'cabinet of millionaires' who handed such largesse to people who predominantly support them, announced rises in the national minimum wage. For young people aged 18-20, this amounted to a rise of five pence an hour - don't spend it all at once, guys - to the princely sum of £5.03 an hour. By my quick calculation, it would take a young person on the minimum wage 8350 hours a year to earn £42000, which equates to their working 22 hours and 53 minutes a day. Every day of the year. That degree of inequality is so egregious, it's not even wrong. The economics of the trough.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

A sham

I have, as documented here, often been reduced to almost inarticulate frustration and annoyance by some of the attitudes and opinions of certain of my work colleagues, but I think something that was said this morning has surpassed all that has gone before on that front, leaving me almost in tears, tears pretty much equally engendered by the need to suppress the urge to choke the living shit out of the person who said it, and by the knowledge that I would be tarred with exactly the same brush if the reasons behind my divorce came to light. There have been aspersions cast in the direction of one of the staff at my workplace, who I very rarely work with myself, because of the way the roster is constructed, to the effect that, in spite of the fact that he's married, for a second time, and has children and grandchildren from his first marriage, that he's actually gay. Having a marriage and children is, of course, no guarantee that a person isn't gay, as I know from direct personal experience, but when someone casually, and pretty brutally, on more or less zero direct evidence, says that the man's marriage is 'a sham', I'm afraid I find that completely unforgivable. I have no idea whatsoever whether my colleague is gay or not, and, in terms of the frustration I felt, it doesn't actually matter. For someone who barely knows the man, beyond a working relationship, to arrogate to himself the 'right' to such an opinion is just disgraceful. The second half of my upset at what was said came about because of the expectation that the same person would judge my marriage 'a sham' as well, something which I would absolutely deny. I loved my ex, genuinely, and did what I did, as I've said before, for genuine reasons. I decided that I wanted to spend my life with her, and honestly thought that, when all was taken into account, that I was doing the right thing at the time. I can admit now, with the benefit of that most useless commodity, hindsight, that I made the wrong decision, but that doesn't mean that I wasn't committed to the marriage, or that it was undertaken for any reason other than love. For someone to imply, albeit through a comment not aimed at me, that my marriage was a sham, simply because I'm gay, is something that I find deeply upsetting and offensive. When some so-called 'normal' marriages can be measured in hours rather than years, the fact that I loved and cared for, and was faithful to, one person for twenty years gives the lie to that implication, as far as I'm concerned. This isn't the most fluent post I've ever written, I know, so maybe some of the inarticulacy I felt this morning is still there. It is from the heart, though.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

However you dress it up....

....it's an attempt at political censorship of the broadcast media, in my opinion. I'm referring to the pressure that is being applied to the BBC to not play Ding, Dong, The Witch is Dead on the radio in the wake of Thatcher's demise, despite there being speculation that it might make number one in the charts this weekend. Needless to say, the most obvious frothing at the mouth has come from the 'raving right' tabloids like the Express and the Mail, who worshipped the very ground that vile woman walked on during her time in power, and who have led the rush to the hagiographic bandwagon since her death, but they seem to have conveniently forgotten that her reputation as a 'conviction politician', notorious for dogmatically following her version of the truth without compromise, works both ways, that people have equally strong negative opinions about her works and her legacy, and are both prepared, and entitled, in my view, to express those views. The instant surge in popularity of the song is evidence of how many people virulently disliked Thatcher, and the forces of reaction don't like having that brought to light, it seems. And that's before we get into the vast expense to the taxpayer of the forthcoming 'state funeral in all but name' that will take place next week. The only saving grace on that front is that I'll be on nights, and, hopefully, able to sleep through the whole benighted affair. I hope they've got the stake ready, just to make sure she doesn't rise from the grave.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

A visit, and the end of a visit

I've undertaken a nine-hour round trip today, despite still being a long way from my best, to spend an hour at the location of the job I've applied for. One of the reasons I was given for having been passed over for the job the last time it was advertised (although the real reason was something completely different, as I found out subsequently) was that I didn't make such a visit, so I was determined to dot the i's and cross the t's this time around. I knew the two guys who were on duty, and we basically just chatted for an hour, because there was no sign of any of the local management, even though they knew I was planning to be there today. I did hear a list of the other known applicants, and, as I expected, none of them has anywhere near the experience I do, but, then again, neither did the person who got the job last time. As I said as I was leaving, all I can do is to give it my best shot, and they'll either give me the job, or give it to someone else.
The outbound journey marked the end of a visit, too, as my daughter travelled with me on her way back home. Even though we didn't do anything that much out of the ordinary, especially over the past couple of days, the long weekend together was still thoroughly enjoyable, for, I hope, both of us. If I don't get this job back at 'home', there is still the possibility of my daughter coming this way to do her A-Levels and higher education, so, one way or the other, we could end up living under the same roof again at some point. That would certainly be something that I would both enjoy, and that would give me a sense of direction in what is still a rather rudderless lifestyle. Time, as ever, will tell.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B