Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

There were two newsreaders on BBC News 24 on Tuesday night who didn't recognise the symbol/flag of Yorkshire - the white rose...I should be appalled, but I'm not...it's typical of the BBC.

I'm now able to see my Flagcounter stats which are shown in my blog header; it looks like the content filter here at the library is now allowing access. Mind you it does block some quite harmless sites...the Daily Star being one example.

The government's official statistics show an inflation rate of just over three percent...but I know from personal experience that when it comes to day-to-day necessities it's a lot higher.

Here are just a few examples I've noticed in the shops during the last few days:

A packet of four custards; were £1, now are £1.25...an increase of 25%.
Frozen ready meals; were £1, now are £1.19...an increase of 19%.
A multi-buy pack of four tins of baked beans; were £1; now are £1.25...an increase of 25%.
Spring rolls; were £1.59; now are £1.75...an increase of 10%.

I can understand why the Rugby League Challenge Cup semi-final between Wakefield and Hull was played at the Keepmoat Stadium here in Doncaster yesterday, it's a neutral venue situated roughly half-way between the two cities; but why is the UEFA Cup quailfying round football/soccer game between Manchester City and EB Streymur on Thursday night being played at Oakwell, Barnsley?

Some specific events I can recall from my childhood:

The headmaster addressing the entire junior school saying that we'd have to start learning the decimal system, prior to decimalisation.

Learning how to use a telephone by ringing the Speaking Clock from the headmaster's office. It would be another six years until we had a telephone installed at home; a shared line.

Watching our new UHF aerial being installed so that we could receive TV in colour.

Travelling to a nearby school in a teacher's car to do the first part of my Eleven Plus examination and then being told a few days later that I wouldn't need to sit the second part of the exam since due to local government re-organisation all local grammar schools were being abolished. This was my first ride in a car!

Considering that Doncaster is a poor northern town the town centre isn't too bad; it's lacking a few basic facilities though.

A cinema
A cheap supermarket
A town square
More free public toilets
More seats in the indoor shopping centre

The town centre certainly doesn't need any more pubs/bars, restaurants or takeaway food establishments though.

...the word to describe the colour of a car I've seen this morning. It was a translucent silver, grey, pink, purple, salmon, orange colour.

My link to my Sitemeter stats has returned; I was reading yesterday that it's been happening to everyone during a period of upgrading the service.

I've just noticed that my Sitemeter button is missing from the blog header. I've checked my settings and the HTML code is still there, so what's the problem?

At the bottom of the screen it states that there's an error on page, so maybe it's a problem with the computers here at the library.

Some terms that I noticed whilst watching TV this morning.

magical bronzer
silver spoon gala
radiance-restoring day cream
crystal white intelligence
intelligent stain seekers
summer-glow body lotion

I've not been able to post for the last two days because the library's been closed due to a strike. I can't say that I'm that sympathetic to the cause of the workers though; I don't believe in strikes...or even unions - as an employee you have a contract with your employer; so what's it got to do with anyone else?

I'm more supportive when it comes to low paid local authority workers doing the dirty, cold, unpleasant and dangerous jobs; the binmen, cleaners, and care workers: I think these people should all be earning a lot more money.

I'm feeling so misunderstood at the moment after speaking to my mum on the phone yesterday. I did voluntary work for twelve years because I couldn't find a job, she thinks though that this voluntary work is the main reason that I've never found a job [even though I'd been unemployed for six years before I did any voluntary work] and my dad's attitude is even worse...he thinks that I did the voluntary work specifically to get out of doing any 'real' work.

In my understanding, the reason that I've never had a job is that I was brought up in an isolated pit village by insular and paranoid parents at a time when what few opportunities there had been for school-leavers suddenly disappeared.

I'm just wondering what the differences are between dark chocolate, plain chocolate and bitter chocolate.

I've seen all three terms used; maybe bitter chocolate is the darkest of the three.

I love dark chocolate; the darker the better...I like all chocolate though, except for when its adulterated with something such as cinnamon or mint.

Yesterday I had some basa fish which was being being sold off cheaply at the frozen food store. It was very nice; it tasted a bit like scrambled eggs.

On the packaging it stated that basa is a freshwater fish from Vietnam.

Walks so far this year:

Firsby Reservoirs, near Conisbrough.
Don Gorge and Sprotborough
Chesterfield Canal between Retford and Worksop
Barnburgh Crags

I've just failed a test at one of the training providers on purpose because I don't agree with their policies.

Yet again I had to sit a basic numeracy and literacy test; and this really pisses me off. The main part of the literacy test consisted of answering questions about a mocked-up job desciption. The first question just asked what the benefits were and since I refused to mention the wages [minimum wage] or the statutory holidays as benfits my answer was marked as incorrect; likewise when I failed to acknowledge the gap between periods of a split shift as free time.

So...I was informed that I have an 'inappropriate attitude.'

Well; sod 'em!

I just turned up by mistake for an appointment with a training provider thinking that it was for 09:30 this morning, when in fact it isn't until one o'clock this afternoon; I've confused it with another appointment from last week with someone at the jobcentre. It's not the first time it's happened; I'm easily confused when I've got several appointments in the same week with different people in different offices...it's one of the major problems I have with being unemployed; I like routine and having a job where I go to the same place five days a week is a lot less complicated.

Yesterday I was watching an interview on one of the TV news channels with a neighbour of the two French students who have been sadistically murdered and she said that it was a good area to live in, generally peaceful and quiet...she had only ever been mugged twice whilst living there!

The library was ten minutes late opening up this morning, and then when I arrived upstairs the computers weren't ready to use.

Yesterday I was walking with my brother near Conisbrough and noticed that two footpaths which led across fields were blocked by plantations of ten foot high willow to be used for biofuels.

I wonder what the environmentalists would have to say about this problem?