Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

There's a housing estate in the pit village of Thurnscoe where I used to live where all the streets are named after British royal houses or ancient tribes.

Other local themed estates I can think of are 'Little Italy' at Darfield, near Barnsley, where the streets are named after glamorous-sounding Italian towns and cities; and three estates at Cantley, Mexborough and Scawsby, all near Doncaster, named after various racecourses.

I went to the Boxing Day sales, but didn't get too excited - I only bought a multi-pack of underpants...and a baguette - it was the only bread available.

I thought I might pick up some cheap trousers but couldn't find any at the two or three department stores I visited.

The office of the energy industry regulator is called Ofgem; I'd always thought is was Ofgen though, assuming the reference was to 'office' and 'generation'. I wonder what the actual derivation of 'Ofgem' is.

I've just been reading that CNN International and The Discovery Channel will start broadcasting on Freeview in January. This is good news since these are two of my favourite channels - it seems that they will only have limited time slots though.

Wrote and typed up about a dozen poems.

Swept up all the autumn leaves and put them in the green wheelie bin.

Visited a friend.

Spoke to my mum on the phone.

Treated myself to fish and chips.

Continued reading my library books.

Things I associate with the neighbouring county of Derbyshire:

The Peak District, where I used to regularly go hiking

Bakewell tarts/puddings

The ‘blue john’ mines at Castleton – blue john is a mineral unique to this part of Derbyshire; it is found nowhere else on Earth

Derby scones

Little John – supposedly buried in the churchyard at Hathersage

Arbor Low – the ‘Stonehenge of the Midlands’; it’s very disappointing

I added a comment on someone else's blog a couple of days ago and so thought I'd make a more detailed contribution here on my own.

Of the two versions of the song currently sitting high in the charts I much prefer the one by Jeff Buckley; although I think that Alex, the winner of X-Factor, has made a good effort...even if it's overwrought and too upbeat.

On the other blog we were discussing what the lyrics actually mean; they are rather obscure. I proffered that the song is all about a police officer who's just been called to attend an armed siege and something has gone tragically wrong and he's now taking time out to contemplate things, using the story of Samson and Delilah from the bible as representative of the situation and his own life.

I imagine him considering how having a wife and children at home who he dearly loves makes him weaker, yet much more of a man, more human and humane...a much more well-rounded person. Having these family commitments moderates and modifies the officer's behaviour because he has other people he must think about; so he's sitting there moments after the siege has ended violently and questions his own abilities and actions. He's probably a religious man and is therefore maybe seeking redemption or absolution and wondering why God has placed him in such a bind...yet HALLELUJAH, he soon realises that he's just a man, and throughout his career and personal life he's always done his best and the world is a better place because of his efforts.

This is only my personal interpretation of the lyrics though, yet I can really relate to the song because I'm well aware of how precariously I'm connected to the rest of society - I have few family commitments and no professional ones at all.

Nonetheless, an excellent and appropriate song for the Christmas Number One.

I'm not sure which is the correct term since the instruction manual seems to use both.

Anyhow; I bought one yesterday [my mum was generous this Christmas...and I'd got a bit of money saved up].

To begin with I need to get a memory stick so that I can copy the back-up system recovery program as recommended.

The computer only weighs about 3lbs so I can easily take it on the bus to my friend's house so that he can install the printer/scanner software...and in the new year some anti-virus protection so that I'll be safe online. Because the machine doesn't have a CD/DVD drive, and is extremely portable, I'm opting for one of those memory stick type of devices with 12 months' pre-loaded access to the internet for £99.99. I'm waiting until the security problem with Internet Explorer is fixed first though.

I'm hoping that this way of getting online is going to be reliable and easy to install; I'm a bit concerned about not having access to a CD/DVD drive - but the photograph on the marketing leaflet for the service does show a device plugged into a similar notebook/netbook.

According to The Met Office it's been the coldest start to December for thirty years.

I can't say I've noticed it here in Doncaster; the minimum overnight temperature hasn't been that low - it's the daytime temperatures that have been disappointing though.

Things I associate with the neighbouring county of Nottinghamshire:

Robin Hood, Sherwood Forest and the Sheriff of Nottingham

The Civil War siegeworks at Newark

The Union of Democratic Mineworkers, which was established in the county during the Miners’ Strike of 1984/5

Brian Clough – who managed Nottingham Forest football club during the 1970s and 1980s

Things I associate with the county on the south eastern boundary of Yorkshire:

Lincoln green – traditionally worn by Robin Hood and his ‘Merry Men’

Lincolnshire sausages

The Lincolnshire Poacher – a song

Fresh fish delivered from Grimsby Docks

The Pilgrim Fathers who set sail for the new world from Boston

John Wesley, the founder of methodism, who lived in Epworth

Isaac Newton and Margaret Thatcher, who both lived in the county

The steelworks at Scunthorpe

Burghley House Horse Trials [it might just be over the boundary in Cambridgeshire – I’m not sure]

The Lincoln Handicap – a horse race run here in Doncaster [the race course at Lincoln closed down many years ago]

Cleethorpes – family days out when I was a child

The Greenwich/Prime Meridian, which passes through the middle of Louth and just to the south of Cleethorpes

Lincoln Edge

Lincolnshire Wolds

Lincoln Cathedral

The Magna Carta – a copy is held in the cathedral

Fish fingers – first produced at Grimsby

Here's a list of colours and the words and concepts I associate with each one:

White - cold, pure, virginal, surrender, cowardice

Black - evil, secret, death, mourning

Red - hot, passionate, off, stop

Green - go, on, sustainable, environment, naive, jealousy

Blue - cold, sad, male, pornographic

Grey - old, drab

Brown - industrial, derelict

Pink - female, healthy

Yellow - cowardice

Purple, royal, regal

I wonder if other cultures have different interpretations.

There were democratic elections on the small Channel Island of Sark yesterday, finally bringing about an end to feudalism in the last place in Europe.

Some aspects of feudalisn still survive on the mainland though: there's a local village, Hooton Pagnell [the next settlement to Thurnscoe, where I used to live] which is an estate village where all the houses are built on land owned by the estate belonging to the local Hall. Therefore all properties are leasehold only, renewable every 99 years; additionally, any incoming resident also needs to have the approval of a majority of the village's existing residents - I'm not sure about the legality of this, or how they are able to organise it though.

I've got a job interview...the first one for nearly twenty years. It's in response to one of the spec letters I sent off. The owner of the business phoned me up to make the arrangements: I don't know any details apart from the fact that he requires someone with a good command of written English.

I've just Googled the company and have discovered that it manufactures and installs home communication equipment for the elderly and disabled so that they can remain in their homes whilst still supported by family or health and social services.

So, yet again the government is supposedly reforming the benefits system because it's concerned about people not doing enough in return for their money.

Well; I've been unemployed for 28 years and during that time I've done ten years of voluntary work [most of it full-time], six months' workfare and attended about thirty different training programmes and schemes...and sent off thousands of spec letters and actually applied for hundreds of jobs; years ago I even appeared on local BBC radio begging for a job. At the moment I'm able to offer an employer a three-week work trail - but no-one's interested.

I don't know what else I can do, or be expected to do; there just aren't any jobs available...especially for a man of my age [and total lack of experience]. The government needs reminding not to introduce any punative measures...we're not criminals!

French-looking placenames in the county:

Rievaulx
Jervaulx
Richmond
Pontefract/Pomfret
Frecheville
Beauchief
Grosmont
Arras
Dunsville
Manvers

There's also one Italian name:

Portobello

Here are some phrases that I heard on TV adverts yesterday. I'm not sure what they mean, but they are linguistically interesting.

stain insure
intelligent stainseekers
family of protection
lemon-sparkle range
excel gel
damage rescue
freshmatic max

I've got an appointment card for when I visit the employment training agency that I attend. On the front cover there are photographs of the faces of six people and only one of these appears to be white.

Even bearing in mind the higher unemployment rates for various ethnic minority groups; given the absolute numbers you'd surely expect that four or even five of the people would be indigenous.

There's no wonder I'm pissed off with the world.

Why is Gordon Brown putting the interests of borrowers above those of savers?

Without people depositing money in banks there would be no money available to lend.

With the guilty verdicts having been delivered in the Shannon Matthews trial yesterday a couple of the news bulletins were discussing the problems areas such as the Moorside estate at Dewsbury Moor face, and proposing possible solutions.

Here are some of my observations.

People who live in these areas suffer from a lot of stigmatisation due to their addresses and postcodes meaning that residents have difficulty with social acceptance, getting jobs and accessing credit.

Due to poor public transport links accessing jobs and public services is much harder.

Many people are trapped on benefits or stuck with low paid jobs with little chance of promotion, have limited life experiences and few opportunities to improve their lives...even if they have the inclination.

Unless, as a society, we are prepared to spend vast amounts of money in guaranteeing people educational and employment opportunities [possibly with an element of coercion], a decent basic minimum income, combined with simultaneously improving the local infrastructure and public services, I can't really see any way forward.

It's all rather depressing.

During the last few weeks I've sent 102 spec letters to employers and received back 22 rejection letters now.

On my way into town this morning I've just posted off poems to three magazines.

Why are so many TV detective series set in beautiful locations?

Here are a few examples:

Inspector Morse/Lewis - Oxford
Heartbeat - North York Moors
Wycliffe - Cornwall
Bergerac - Jersey

Earlier this morning, Ian Duncan-Smith, the former leader of the Conservative Party was talking about people living in council houses ought to be encouraged to improve their situation by moving into private rented accommodation. Why would they want to do this though, and give up a lifetime tenancy with all their repairs taken care of?

Although I'm fortunate with where I live and that my landlord is decent and fair; not everyone renting in the private sector is so lucky.

I'd love to have a council house myself; but I'm not eligible to even go on the waiting list because I'm a single male without children, no serious medical condition...and several other reasons.