some POSITIVE budget news

The government has been criticised from all quarters for the budget Alistair Darling delivered on Wednesday.
Here is a link to eleven positive points, benefiting ordinary people, that were delivered by a Labour government in last Wednesday's budget:
http://money.uk.msn.com/budget2009/gallery.aspx?cp-documentid=16302801

sign the petition

I've just signed an online petition organised by the Trade Union I am a member of, Unite the Union (TGWU section) , in support of 600 people who have lost their jobs at Visteon, a car component firm.
These workers have been treated disgracefully by their employers,Visteon, and their former employers, (and,ironically, also my former employer), Ford Motor Company.
Please support these workers.
I attach a full transcript of the e-mail that was sent to me by Unite, along with links:

Thank you for signing this petition and sending a clear message to companies like Ford and Visteon that their behaviour will not be tolerated and help us show the UK Government that the British people demand justice for workers. To help us build this campaign we need to spread the word far and wide and we need your help to do this.
To help please go to:
http://www.savemanufacturing.co.uk/sayno_spread_the_word
Here you will be able to email your friends about the campaign and tell them why this matters to you.
To help please go to:
http://www.savemanufacturing.co.uk/sayno_spread_the_word
All you need to do is type in the email addresses you want to contact. And don't worry, we won't email anyone without your permission.
So please help by going to:
http://www.savemanufacturing.co.uk/sayno_spread_the_word
Thank you

here's to future swimming medals

Went to the Olympic size pool again tonight. I am getting really addicted to it.
The City of Liverpool swimming team was just finishing training when I arrived. I got talking to one of the coaches who I used to talk to occasionally when they trained at Everton Park.
I asked if the improved facilities were paying dividends yet. He told me the team was in a national final this coming weekend, the first time for many years.
Who knows, we may have an Olympic champion from Liverpool in 2012, but I think the commonwealth games in 2014, or the 2016 Olympics are more realistic targets.
These young people train really hard. I dont know what the training regime is now, but I know that when they trained at Everton Park, they trained both BEFORE and AFTER school. I also know that their school work was not allowed to suffer. These young people deserve every chance of success.

A new experience

I have just returned from the Liverpool aquatics centre. It boasts a 50metre Olympic size swimming pool. I have been to the aquatic centre several times to try out the Olympic size pool,but on each visit it has been unavailable to the public.
Despite being a seasoned (but slow!!!) swimmer, I had never swum in a 50metre pool before. I usually swim half a mile at a time, and that equates to 32 lengths of the pools I usually swim in.
It was a strange feeling tonight ,swimming in a pool twice the length I am used to, and only having to swim sixteen lengths to achieve the same distance I normally swim. I seemed to have been in the pool ages, and yet I had only done around six lengths!! The psychology of it all takes a lot of getting used to. However, it was a fun time, and a very enjoyable and recommendable new experience.
With my change of shifts in work, I have had to adjust my exercise regime. From now on, I aim to swim in the Olympic size pool twice a week , as well as visits to the other gyms and pools I use around the city.

Sunday drive out to North Wales

Took advantage of the lovely weather today, and took my mum for a drive out to Wales. We followed the A55 along the coast to Llandudno Junction, the took a left and followed the Conway Valley. This part of the journey was very scenic and picturesque. We called into my Dad's birthplace in Llanrwst, you can see a picture of the house where he was born alongside this post.
Just imagine. My grandparents and seven children in this small two up two down house!! That is how families lived then.
Just as an aside, you will now realise that I am half welsh. Yes, I am very proud of my Welsh roots. I follow the (mis)fortunes of the Welsh football team, and follow Wales in the six nations Rugby. Sorry if some people may think I am a traitor to their cause!!
We carried on down the conway valley until we reached Betws y Coed, where we had our lunch in a hotel called the glan aber hotel. It is situated almost opposite the famous swallow falls, and the food is good.
After lunch, we made our way back over the equally scenic Denbigh moors route, passing Moel Fameau, and Colomendy (now sadly sold off by Liverpool Council, but once a place of enjoyment in the past for generations of Liverpool kids, for many it was their first ever trip out of the city)
When we arrived back at my mums flat, we had completed 180 miles. A very enjoyable day.

Itandje the clown

The behaviour of Liverpool's substitute goalkeeper, Charles Itandje at the Hillsborough memorial service was juvenile and undignified to say the least.
It showed a total lack of respect for 96 people who died while supporting the team he is so very privileged to play for.
You may see this kind of inappropriate behaviour in a young child at infant school, even then, the overwhelming number of young children would be very well behaved, and you certainly do not expect to see this type of childish behaviour from a 26 year old adult on such a serious occasion, and where he was representing his employer. .
You can see the video on you tube, but I am not going to tarnish my blog with a link here.
Please don't think I am writing this because I am from Liverpool, and also follow LFC. I would have the same reaction if any adult behaved in this way,and showed total lack of respect, an example being at the cenotaph on remembrance day.
Liverpool FC have acted swiftly by suspending this character for two weeks, the maximum allowed under FA rules, while they conduct an investigation into the incident. This is the action I would expect from any employer in this matter, and is good industrial practice.
I have no wish whatsoever to pre-empt the result of the enquiry, but my own personal view is that Itandje should not represent Liverpool Football Club at any level ever again.

Chestnuts roasting round an open fire....

Had to visit Liverpool city centre in my car this morning.
As I passed the Liverpool Empire, whilst waiting for the lights to change on Lime Street, I noticed their main billboard was not advertising forthcoming productions, instead it was advertising their C-word production, Peter Pan!!
I took a look out of my car window, and yes, my eyes and senses told me it was the warmest and brightest day of the year so far.
I consulted my calendar when I arrived home. It told me we were in day 108 of 2009,therefore there are exactly 250 days (and almost certainly shopping days) until the c-word day.
Is this a new record for advertising the festive season?
Oh well, better go now, and write some cards, buy and wrap the pressies and stuff the turkey, I may run out of time!!!

Bank Holiday Madness

Decided to make the most of the decent (for a change!!!) weather this Easter weekend, and have done some work in my garden.
Needed some weedkiller,so I jumped into my car, and off to my local B&Q in Aintree. Queued to turn right into the retail park, queued for a parking space, queued to pay for my goods, and finally queued to get off the retail park.
Spoke to the girl on the till, and she said it is the busiest day of the year. Hope B&Q and all the stores that are open are appreciating their staff by paying them double time and a day off. Probably not, but one can still hope!!

Hillsborough remembered

Next Wednesday will be a sombre day on Merseyside, and at LFC in particular. It will be exactly twenty years ago on that day that 96 Liverpool football fans lost their lives at Hillsborough, Sheffield, where Liverpool met Nottingham Forest in the semi final of the FA cup on 15th April 1989.
That day will always be remembered by people on Merseyside , Liverpool supporters and all right minded football fans in particular.
Twenty years on, the families are still fighting for justice. For the families there is no closure. They have had to deal with the lies of the sun newspaper, the indignity of having one of the most senior policeman on duty that day, the police force he was responsible to (South Yorkshire) whose overall policing of that event were inept to say the least, appointed chief constable of Merseyside for a time until he found something better. I am not saying Mr.Bettison himself was inept, but the policing of the event by South Yorkshire police that day was woefully inadequate, and it was seen as an insult to the hillsborough families, and provoked outrage on Merseyside, when he was appointed Chief Constable of Merseyside Police.
Also, only the other week there was the case of Mrs Williams, whose son was one of the hillsborough victims, being denied justice in the courts in a case about her deceased son, despite powerful medical evidence presented on her behalf.
This is but a small snapshot of the injustices felt by the families of the 96 hillsborough victims. There have been many more setbacks down the years.
I hope the families of the Hillsborough victims get justice soon, only then can the families begin to get some sort of closure, and the 96 can finally rest in peace.

The problem with my weight!!!

Went to the nurse in my doctors surgery last week. I go there once a month to get weighed, and have my blood pressure checked as part of a weight management programme.
I have been going for around eighteen months, and have had some success, managing to shed three stone. I have gone from an obese B****** to merely a fat B******!!!
This last month i have really tried hard. I walk about six miles a day in work, take the dog out for a two mile walk at least once a day, have hit the gym at least three times a week in the last month, and swam at least one and a half miles a week.
I expected to lose several pounds, indeed I looked and felt thinner. Imagine my surprise when the nurse told me I had put on four pounds!! The nurse told me not to be too despondent,as my exercise regime had probably turned fat into muscle, which weighs more.
Better luck next month!!!