Run

There are times when I feel like running away from all of it. All of the petty sniping and heedless homo/xeno/gyno/(insert any other 'outgroup')phobia, the mindless parroting of tabloid bullshit, hang  'em, flog 'em, castrate the 'paedos', scroungers, immigrants, blah, blah, fucking blah. But, apart from the fact that I'd never abandon my daughter, where could I run to? Is there anywhere better? Human nature being what it is, I seriously doubt it.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Sunday brunch

Well, that's probably overstating the case a little, because it was originally only going to be bacon sarnies for K and I this morning, until I realised we had some eggs that were getting towards their 'use-by' date, so I made omelette as well. Sunday is virtually the only day we ever have a cooked breakfast (unless you count toast), and even then, not every week by any means, between my working most weekends and K's typically teenage addiction to the warmth of her bed! Still, a nice way to sugar the pill of my having to leave for a late shift in half an hour or so, before I launch into my latest week of nights tomorrow night. Oh, joy!

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Haunted!

If the cuties are 'ghosts', then I've undoubtedly been haunted today. They've been out in droves! One in particular, on his own, in a slightly 'off the beaten track' bit of North London, 13 or 14, was so lovely, two seats away from me on the little 25 seat 'hail and ride' bus, but, as ever, so far away, so out of reach. My mood, though, is in a place where I'm more pleased to have been able to see him than I'm disappointed at his inaccessibility. Maybe, one day, someone like him will fall into my arms. But probably not.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Into it

Drinking, that is. I make no secret of the fact that I like my beer, but there are times that I'm more up for it than others, and this evening is one of those occasions. The Kronenbourg is really slipping down easily at the moment. I might regret it in the morning, but I'll deal with that as and when. I'm not proud of my alcohol consumption, but I refuse to be ashamed of it, either. If it ultimately kills me, at least I'll have died of something I enjoy.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Cuteness, and the latest slip of Farage's mask

I headed more or less straight home after work yesterday, partly through exhaustion, and partly because I had a couple of domestic things to do, most notably washing. I stopped off in our local town centre on the way to pick up a few bits of shopping, and on walking back through to the bus station, found myself getting on the same bus as a boy I thought I recognised. And, indeed, as we alighted at the same stop a few minutes later, it proved to be my cute next door but one neighbour. I hadn't seen him for three months or so (ironically, given how close he lives), and, in the intervening time, doubtless under the influence of puberty, he's got even cuter - he was a bit on the 'chunky' side, but he seems to have got taller without gaining much weight, if any, and his face is losing the last of its 'little-boyishness', leaving him heading, apparently, for decidedly handsome youth. The ratchet of temptation tightened another turn or two, just what I need on the doorstep!
On the journey into work this morning (the last 'stupid o'clock' for a while, I'm delighted to say!), one of the main items on the 6:00 news was the vile UKIP leader's latest pronouncement, that he believes that racial equality laws should be abolished, because 'racism isn't a problem anymore', and that employers should be able to hire on the basis of 'nationality'. Apart from the self-evident fact that Farage's very statement proves that racism and xenophobia are decidedly alive and well, there is a completely obvious 'domino effect' here - if racial equality laws are scrapped, what rational person would imagine that curbs on gender and orientation discrimination wouldn't go the same way in very short order? I read a Guardian report just now about Farage's comments, which described them as 'a lazy appeal to lazy voters'. Unarguable, but, as I've bemoaned before, being lazy and stupid doesn't disenfranchise anyone.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

Another of those coincidences

I was listening to Planet Rock on my little pocket DAB radio on my way to work this morning, when the song Caroline by Status Quo came on. They play the track often enough, but, on this occasion, for some unknown reason, it brought to mind my brother's first serious girlfriend, from when he was around 14, who shared her name with the song. It's been years since I've thought much about her, although we were quite friendly, strictly platonically, even if I have to admit that I was somewhat attracted to her, mostly, I think, because she had, at 14/15 as she was then, a distinctly 'boyish' physique. And that leads very neatly into today's coincidence. As I got off of the bus outside my local, forty minutes or so ago, and crossed the road, I passed a beautiful boy, 13 or 14, crossing in the opposite direction. And he really was very reminiscent of Caroline, in looks, colouring and physique, albeit, of course, in a masculine key. Would that I could be half as friendly with the boy as I used to be with the earlier girl, but, needless to say, it's very unlikely that I'll ever see him again. Another 'ghost', but one with a kind of indirect backstory.

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B

On the downhill side, finally

It seems to have taken forever, but I am now, at least, past the halfway mark of my run of early turns - five down, four to go. I'm mind-manglingly tired, though - roast lamb, roasted baby potatoes and veg will be on the table for K and I in about twenty minutes time, and once the meal is done, I strongly suspect I'll be asleep in pretty short order. I know it's in a good cause - i.e. for my daughter - but it doesn't get any easier to convince myself to keep doing it week in, week out. Still, no point moaning about what I can't change - except to get it out of system, I suppose!

Love & best wishes to all
Sammy B