Category Archives: Musings

No fanfares or plagues of frogs so far, which is a good thing.

Musings

No fanfares or plagues of frogs so far, which is a good thing.

A couple of minor niggles with odd behavior from someone I have been doing a bit of work for though, which put me in a bad mood.

I built and maintained a website for a music magazine and was on a retainer to keep it up to date and support it. I was recently told that this arrangement would have to stop due to financial difficulty’s.

OK says I but pointed out that they could keep the website but would need to move it to new hosting as it does 15GB of traffic per month and I cant give that away for free. So far so good.

I then discover that without telling me they have engaged some one else to do a third rebuild of the site (I had done two redesigns, the site is fully content managed and we had got the traffic up to about 1 million page views a year). It seems to me that its perfectly OK to dispense with my services, but why the bullshit about not being able to afford it? Unless the new person is doing it for free?

This has left me a bit pissed off for two reasons, one sudden lost of income which I could have been told about in advance and secondly that they had not informed me that they were working with someone else. I contacted the web developer and asked them how the new design was going, very well they said.

I then told them that the first I had heard about any of this was a phone call on Friday night. I have heard nothing since.

I don’t think its reasonable when you are working for someone for two years for them to not bother to inform you you about whats going on as they must have started the work about a month ago.

Presumably they might have thought that I would pull the plug or something, which to be frank I am quite tempted to do now if I don’t get a reasonable explanation as why I was not informed.

Watching clouds out of the window

Musings

I have a fairly uninterrupted view of the sky from my lounge window facing roughly ENE and on summer evenings its quite good fun to watch the clouds drift by and change with light. I have an interesting view as I can see the London Eye, the Telecom (Post Office )tower, Battersea Power station, the Shard and one or two other bits and bobs. If I ever do get around to moving I will miss that patch of open sky.

I used to be able to see Albert Bridge too, but various riverside developments have mostly hidden it from view.

From the kitchen of my stately hovel there is a vista that at the very furthest point shows the line of the north downs on a clear day. So if you are thinking of a surprise attack you will need to approach from WNW

Though I am in central London there is a lot of green in view being just above the tree line and also with Battersea Park close by.

Today I am in a very introspective mood and wondering just what the future will bring. I do seem to have noticeably lost drive in some respects, perhaps because in one sense I have managed to achieve quite a lot of the things on my wish list. I had not ever really had huge ambition in the way that some folks have and some of my little victory’s may seem very trivial and unimportant to some, but considering where I started from I haven’t done too shabbily.

I have started getting out a bit more apart from gigs & rehearsals last night I was at the Vortex watching a world music ensemble called Melange playing some rather good North African and Middle Eastern music. We also also met an old friend Laura there (she is a volunteer and works there) as she has recently moved around the corner from the venue in Dalston.

I even played there many moons ago with Elephant shelf on a somewhat disastrous gig about 7 years ago.
Luckily they didn’t remember me. Phew.

Whats wrong with this picture

disabilty and health news, video

OK kiddies, please watch this video and feel free to draw your own conclusions.

Clearly the system is broken, the point is who broke it?

If you find this video disturbing and I find this profoundly disturbing myself , then ask yourself the question how have we sunk so low.

 

FEAR NOT your enemies,
FEAR NOT your friends,
FEAR ONLY the indifferent,

for they can only kill you.
for they can only betray you.
who permit the killers and betrayers to walk safely on earth.
~ Edward Yashinski, Yiddish poet who survived the Shoah only to die in a Communist prison in Poland.

 

 

 

 

 

The turn of the season, but not the turning of the tide

Its been a some what checkered couple of weeks, several gigs, being the usual mix of good bad and indifferent. A little manifestation of mental health problems has also shaken the tree a bit, but I am still rolling abet slightly unsteadily. I am still feeling very tired but getting a bit more physical exercise which is helping a little with the aches and pains. Stretching of various forms seems to really help, perhaps I should get a rack…Some people pay money for that sort of thing don’t they.I am currently much disturbed by the situation with regard to the disability benefits row (ATOS assessments and similar). I have no particular personal axe to grind, but having dug deeper in the news behind the news as it were, I do not see much in the way of good happening. I see a primarily ideologically driven scourge and the demoniseation of many of the weaker
in society with very little justification given.Frequently there is the case that those that are trying to help themselves get out of a hole are having the ladder kicked out from under them. We seem to have been seduced by the devil take the hindmost attitude…


 

 

 

 Response to Alleged Govt’ Plans to Sanction Disabled Benefit Claimants (final)