The Diary of a Country Bumpkin

I was sent this advertisement by a friend, I thought it was fabulous and well worth sharing.

I saw this story on social media but have seen no mention of it on UK news but I believe it to be true, in this day and age, who knows what is true and what is not?

It appears that “individuals on foot” started shooting in southwest Minneapolis on 21^st June 12.37am American time, which to me in the UK is yesterday.

I imagine this must have been a random attack as there are reports of twelve people with gunshot wounds one of which has died, the Police believe there was more than one shooter.

The incident took place near Landmark’s Uptown Theatre where there are several bars and restaurants, although one report said, there were lots of shots and it sounded like groups of people shooting at each other.

The report was a little vague as to exactly where this neighbourhood is but as someone who lives in the UK, I imagine this is not the part of town that has been damaged and looted.

There were no specific details of the ethnicity of those shooting or of those who were shot and there was no mention as to whether it might have been gang or drug related, so I’m none the wiser as to the cause of this shooting.

I have no more information that I can add to this, except to perhaps add the comment; Isn’t it nice to be getting back to normal.

Not long after I posted my previous “getting back to normal” post we have tragically had yet another example of what is considered to be normal life in this modern age.

It is alleged that a Libyan refugee killed three people in a Park in Reading and injured three others in what has been described as a terrorist related knife rampage.

Khairi Saadallah allegedly approached a group of middle aged men who were sitting drinking in the Forbury Gardens Park before going on to another group of people and attacking them too.

The Police and Air Ambulance were on the scene at the park and Police have declared the knife rampage that killed three as a terror incident.

In the meantime Mr Trump has had an election rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma and is spouting his usual nonsense!

So nice to be getting back to normal!!

So nice to see things getting back to normal as the Covid 19 situation seems to be getting a little better, enabling more of us to get out and attempt to get back to normal life.

I noticed from watching the television news last night that normal life was beginning to be reflected in the news broadcast which contained the following stories.

A Policeman has been shot in Ireland, it is believed the attacker took the gun from the officer.

The Police have threatened to arrest anyone going to an illegal rave organised for Manchester on Saturday evening.

Police have warned to avoid London on Sunday if you want to avoid being caught up in another Black lives matter demonstration.

Last week there were three stabbings and one 18 year old woman raped, I think they said it was in London but it may have been Manchester, sadly these thing are so common place nowadays that you hardly notice when you hear it on the news.

A rather stranger story is that of the protest march organised by Extinction Rebellion who are marching the route of the new HS2 railway line as the route goes through three ancient woodlands. You just can’t win with these people, one minute they are complaining about pollution from motor cars and then when the Government spends billions to build a new railway line which is allegedly a greener way to travel, they are complaining about that. You just can’t please some people!

As I said, how nice it is to be getting back to normal life, assuming of course that you consider these news worthy events to be normal.

It seems the UK is to merge the DfID and the Foreign Office and will review our Foreign Aid budget which is set at 0.7% of GDP and this year was 15 Billion pounds.

One doesn’t want to appear too stingy but 15 Billion pounds to feed people in countries which have their own Space program does seem a tad generous and leaves one wondering where the money is going.

I have no idea what sort of food aid we are sending but I would have thought at these prices they must all be dining at the Ritz!

Very sad news for people old enough to remember Mr Pastry, it appears he has changed his name to John Bolton and moved to America and has written his memoirs in a book entitled The room where it happened.

Rather worryingly it seems Mr Trump is suing Mr Pastry to stop the publication of said memoir although what on earth the friendly children’s television entertainer has written that has upset Mr Trump, I have no idea!

This is a request to all the young people who are out there pulling down all the statues of previous slave traders with such hatred for this awful practice.

I have to point out however, what I feel is somewhat ironic in their actions as I would imagine it is predominantly these same young people who are enabling the modern day slave trade to exist by purchasing cheap clothing made by workers on virtually poverty wages in countries like India.

Perhaps someone could point out the irony of the situation to them, for I feel they are very unlikely to see it for themselves.

I was listening to Her Majesty’s BBC Radio Four News this morning where the reporter was talking about Priti Patel who had apparently been gas-lighted and then went on to explain that gas-lighting was; to make someone unsure of something, in this case, something relating to her ethnic origin.

The reporter went on further to suggest she had been mansplained but gave no explanation of what the word may have meant and having looked it up it is; for a man to explain something to a woman in a patronising or condescending manner.

Why indeed was a reporter using such modern and made up words on BBC Radio Four News and who on earth did he think he was talking to, I very much doubt if any of the usual Radio Four listeners would have the faintest idea what he was talking about.

Personally I am very much against this modern trend for making up new words and I find myself extremely discombobulated by their usage and have a preference for the more established words like discombobulated, the earliest reference I could find was for 1879.

I wonder if in 141 years time gas-lighted will have established itself as a word in common usage, I have to say I’m extremely sceptical about the possibility of that happening, in the meantime perhaps they would merely refrain from using the word on Radio Four.

Having just heard the latest news concerning the 5000 jobs being cut at British Gas by Centrica the company that owns it, I have two observations on the subject.

Firstly and most worryingly are my concerns for the safety of all the British Gas customers who rely on British Gas to provide sufficient cover to maintain the pipes and infrastructure delivering the gas as it is a rather explosive product and with 5000 fewer employees who will be looking after these pipes etc; unless of course it has been sub contracted out to the cheapest bid already, although with an explosive product like gas I would personally prefer it was being maintained by the best firm rather than the cheapest.

My second concern as a British Gas customer is one of cost for surely if they have been employing 5000 people who are totally unnecessary to the business this must be reflected in the price they are charging for their gas, I wonder if I might be in line for a refund?

I just wanted to point out that we won the Second World War and at the time we were in the right fighting against Hitler who tried to obliterate the Jewish race by starving and gassing them to death together with Gay and Black people.

I thought it only right to post this information before all the statues are taken down leaving no record of this event for the young people of today to learn from.