Minimalist poet, minimalist lifestyle

I've just been checking my change to make sure I've got enough for the bus fare on Thursday, when I need to go to Rossington and noticed that I've got Pound coins with seven different designs. I suspect there might be even more in circulation.

I’ve got a brother and a sister, both younger than me. My brother still lives at home with our parents, and like me, has never had a job; he’s got medical problems – arthritis and severe facial eczema. He’s never claimed sickness benefit though; always jobseeker’s allowance.

My sister lives in Australia and is a nurse.

Naturally there are quite a few similarities between myself and my siblings. My social and economic circumstances are similar to those of my brother, we share the same politics, and aren’t very practical, and we both always look dishevelled whatever clothes we wear.

Like my sister I have a sense of adventure [rarely put into practice unfortunately] and enjoy the physicality of life.

As far as I’m aware though, my brother and sister have very little in common with each other.

When my netbook computer is not in use and is closed on the desk the brand lettering is upside down from my point of view. Of course, when the lid's open the lettering is the right way up for anyone else.

It must be a marketing ploy; I think all laptops are designed this way.

As far as I know there's never been a 'Doncaster Building Society.' However, many neighbouring towns and cities have, or did.

Here's a list of those I can recall:

Barnsley
Huddersfield
Leeds & Holbeck
Bradford & Bingley
Halifax
Beverley
Leeds

Absolute zero is -273.2C, the temperature at which all activity in atoms ceases and everything becomes a solid.

I wonder if there's a corresponding high temperature at which all matter collapses, or ceases to exist.

Blencathra
Pen-y-ghent
Helevellyn
Butharlyp
Glaramara

Although they don't look like it, these arre the names of hills or fells in the north of England.

An inmate's attempt to heat up sausages in his toilet went up in smoke when the cooking fire forced a unit evacuation at a Washington prison. Clallam Bay Corrections Center spokeswoman Denise Larson says 130 inmates were evacuated to a dining hall when smoke was spotted coming from a sewer vent pipe Wednesday evening. She says the smoke was traced to the inmate's cell and he admitted to trying to heat up snack sausage bought from a prison store in the stainless steel toilet.

1.. If the Earth is the only planet in the universe that sustains life...that's amazing.

2.. If the Earth is the only planet in the universe that sustains intelligent life...that's amazing.

3.. If the Earth is unique in sustaining life and life exists nowhere else in the universe...that's also amazing.

What's not amazing though is that we don't know which of the three scenarios is true; I hope it's either 1 or 2, since scenario 3 will always be impossible to prove.

Much haste, less speed - 'multi-estuary speed'

Scissors - 'sithers'

Mince pies - 'minch pies'

Drizzling - 'mizzling'

Chimney - 'chimley'

Clematis - 'clemantis'

Well...not really; they're all confectionery brands.

Penguin
Torpedo
Bandit
Blue Riband
Lockets
Tunes

Abseiling
Caving
Archery
Target shooting with an air pistol
Completing an army assault course
Having an operation that required a general anaesthetic
Signed a cheque for £35,000

I've just been attempting to send a text message which includes an email address, but I can't fathom out how to get the numbers to display...then, of course, there's the '@' sign to worry about.

The first was from the communiuty centre at Rossington arranging a meeting to plan future developments now that the funding for the writers' workshop and several other projects has ceased.

The second call was from my Job Mates advisor setting up our first session.

I've just discovered that the postcode DN13 doesn't exist. Apparently the area initially designated to this postcode was re-asigned as S64 [Mexborough and Swinton] when the programme was first introduced.

There's been a lot of publicity in the last few days about this film about a pirate radio ship in the 1960s.

Pirate radio wasn't important to me as a teenager growing up in the 1970s; the BBC's Radio One was already well established. I could just about pick up a signal from Radio Caroline though, which was still on air at the time.

A few years later I got interested in shortwave radio and found it quite exciting listening to the English language external services of broadcasters from all around the world.

I’ve discovered what has been damaging my aerial cable. One of the neighbours’ cats has been sitting on a ledge at the base of my chimney pot and scratching at the cable, loosening and fraying it.

The only extant Roman masonry in Doncaster that I’m aware of is a short section of the wall of the fort situated at the back of the minster; it’s not very impressive – it’s only about six foot long and a few inches high. It’s also reported that the foundations of the parish church at Bolton-upon-Dearne [just beyond the borough boundary] are constructed from stonework recovered from the ruins of Danum.

For twenty years, until 1997, I lived in the pit village of Thurnscoe, to the west of Doncaster. The local pit was Hickleton Main, which together with three other local collieries operated a joint social welfare organisation in the area.

I’ve just spent a few minutes trying to recall some of the facilities and services provided:

4 social clubs
2 cricket clubs
2 male voice choirs
2 athletics clubs
tennis courts
bowling greens
swimming baths
one, or two, shops
a greyhound stadium
a theatre
a youth club
allotments
a football club and stadium
a concessionary coal and delivery scheme

The pits closed about twenty years ago and most of these facilities are no longer there.

These are my preferences:

Top Five TV Shows

League of Gentlemen
Fawlty Towers
Star Trek
Twin Peaks
House

Other shows I would like to have included:

Open All Hours
Lost
Inspector Morse
Sherlock Holmes [starring Jeremy Brett]
The Two Ronnies

Films You Will Watch Over And Over Again:

Starship Troopers
300 [I've only watched it once though so far...at the cinema]
Total Recall
Terminator
From Dusk Till Dawn

Other films I could add to the list:

El Mariachi
Desperado
Once Upon A Time In Mexico
Glory
Jamon, Jamon

I had three of the neighbourhood cats in my garden at the same time early this morning - they should be helping to keep the vermin at bay.

Well...not exactly. These are places in England I've visited or passed through.

Boston
Lincoln
Newark
Durham
New York
Portsmouth
Manchester
Plymouth
Lancaster
York

Today is the official first day of spring in the northern hemisphere and coincidentally I went to the doctor's this morning to pick up my prescription for neoclarityn [for my hayfever] and have watered the garden for the first time this year.

My sister spends a lot of time on Facebook and does a lot of their quizzes; I find them mostly pointless myself. Some of them appear to be a bit strange, especially these three which she's recently finished.

Name that chocolate.
Fanny or tranny?
Can you name the body part?

The TV news has been reporting this morning that the government is expecting the number of people registered as unemployed will reach two million when the official statistics are publihed later today.

In the early 1980s the figure exceeded three million and I can remember queueing outside Goldthorpe jobcentre for twenty minutes just to get inside the building.

I've just made a wasted journey into town; fortunately it's only a ten minute walk. I went for my first interview with the Job Mates programme and the woman I was due to see was delayed in a meeting.

A new appointment has now been made for tomorrow.

Not a good start.

Yesterday my sister in Australia posted some interesting information on her Facebook page - she's just received her $1,100 grant from the government. Every adult citizen [or possibly only taxpayers...I'm not sure] is being paid this money as part of an economic stimulus programme.

The regional TV news programme was reporting this evening that over a quarter of the shops in Rotherham town centre have closed down. Ever since the nearby Meadowhall shopping centre opened about twenty years ago though the town has been suffering a steady decline.

The situation here in Doncaster is somewhat better; there aren't too many empty premises, but there are far too many charity shops, discount shops, pubs, bars and takeaways in the town.

In the past week the government has suggested increasing the price of chocolate and setting a minimum price for alcohol; supposedly because these two substances are bad for our health. Why aren't there any corresponding policies for making healthy food any cheaper though?

By my own assessment, yesterday in the Barclay's Premier League, out of the 252 squad players either on the pitch or sitting in the dugout, 127 of them have foreign-looking names - that's over 50% of the total.

One team of mercenaries versus another team of mercenaries; why should I care who wins?

One of the forthcoming events being held at the Central Library:

'Devise your own Doncaster Rovers chant.'

I've been living in Doncaster for eleven years and during this time there have been quite a few changes in the town. Here are a few that I can remember:

Construction of the new St. George's Bridge and limiting the old North Bridge to buses only.

St. George's parish church being upgraded to minster status.

The closure of the Southern Bus Station and construction of the new Passenger Interchange on the site of the old Northern Bus Station.

Construction of 'The Hub'; the new college building - the old building is currently empty.

Replacing the role of ceremonial mayor with a directly-elected mayor.

The opening of Doncaster Sheffield Robin Hood Airport at Finningley.

A major extension to the Frenchgate Shopping Centre.

The transfer of the jobcentre to new premises.

Two live reports from Doncaster on the regional TV news this lunchtime; the problems with social services' care for children that's being reported on the national news, and a care worker jailed for raping a terminally ill elderly female resident in a nursing home.

For the first time, this morning at the library, I've managed to correctly enter all fourteen digits of my computer access login code without first having to refer to my library card. It's taken me nearly a year of almost daily visits to achieve this.

I was listening to the radio this afternoon when the programme went over to Cheltenham for live commentary of the horse racing. Despite living in Doncaster, which has a premier class racecourse, I’m not the least bit interested in the sport and so changed the channel. I’ve never attended a meeting at the Town Moor course, but have actually been there many times for the car boot sale though.

Horse racing doesn’t appeal to me because I can’t really relate to any of the groups of people involved with the sport: the county/horsy set which manages, governs and owns the industry, the corporate sponsors, the bookmakers, the racegoers who attend the meetings apparently mainly to get drunk and the punters who place their bets in betting shops – I actually don’t have a clue how to place a bet…and what all the strange terms mean.

In order for me to get even slightly interested in racing it would have to become a team sport; maybe organised something like speedway or Formula One.

Abbreviated or diminutive forms of local placenames - they sound like pantomime characters.

Donny
Goley
Icky
Rosso
Armo
Edlo
Scunny
Sheff
Wakey
Ponty
Cas
Stainy
Sprotty
Grimey

I've just had a visit from a woman who's interested in renting the house next door, which has been unoccupied since before Christmas. She was a very bubbly blonde, an alternative practitioner physiotherapist who told me most of her life story; her older husband who she's left, her daughter and what she's studying at college, her mother who might move to Scunthorpe...and all about her cats.

More headlines in the Sunday Times that have appalled me again.

'Ex-cons given £5m for losing free board and lodgings.'

'Lecturers reveal watered-down degrees.'

'BBC staff offered £46,000 to move north - licence payers will fund a 'gold-plated' relocation deal.'

I went to the newsagent's first thing this morning and noticed dozens of empty plastic bottles strewn across the street. So; this is how effective recycling is in Doncaster; especially when recyclable material is left in boxes out on the pavement for days on end.

Keighley [pronounced differently]
Beverley
Arnold
Ella
Clifford
Clayton

This week has been the twenty fifth anniversary of the start of the miners' strike. I was twenty two at the time and unemployed and so didn't have any direct involvement; I'd just go with the rest of my family to the old tip and abandoned railway cuttings to recover unburnt coal or crushed coal used as aggregate. We'd also scavenge for firewood and my mum worked in the soup kitchen.

I was in the attic room quite early this morning when the light bulb fused. Because of the circuit breakers in the cellar, all of the lights throughout the house went out – for electrical safety and the prevention of fire risk.

As it was, there was enough light for me to see to safely climb down the stairs (and anyhow I now keep a torch on every floor) …but, what if it was pitch black when I needed to attempt the descent? Is there any overarching organisation or policy which balances and judges these conflicting issues? In the short amount of time it would take me to change a light bulb there’s not much chance of a short circuit or an electrical fire; but having to climb down nearly forty steep and angled steps in the dark is surely much more likely to result in an accident?

I know I’d certainly prefer it if the lights would stay on.

I totally agree with the general policy of supermarkets of encouraging customers to use their own shopping bags rather than carrier bags. I always take my rucksack with me and find that there is rarely anywhere near to the till for me to rest my bag whilst I'm packing my shopping. I usually end up plonking my rucksack on the floor - but this is far from convenient.

I often blog about the BBC; about its bias and incompetence, and how much I resent having to pay the licence fee.

Of course other countries also have licence fees, but varying ways of collecting the money. Here are a few examples:

Cyprus – paid as part of the electricity bill; amount payable varies according to total floor space of property.

France – the licence fee is collected as part of local taxation.

Germany – unemployed people are exempt from paying the licence fee.

Poland – inspectors do not have a right to enter premises and so about 45% of households refuse to pay.

Japan – every household with a TV set is required to have a licence, yet there is no penalty for non-payment.

After yesterday's problem with the rainwater coming down the aerial cable and ruining my freeview box I've decided to move the TV into the attic room; it's the only place I can get a digital signal with the indoor aerial booster I've bought.

It's nice and cosy up here though - I already spend a lot of time online here.

Although the indoor aerial is positioned as high up as I can get it inside the building, it's still a few feet lower down than the external aerial attached to the chimney pot and so reception is not as good as I'd like it...there are about six channels that I can't receive.

My digibox [for receiving digital television] has stopped working and it seems that the reason why is that it's filled with water that's come down the aerial cable. I don't know how, or why, this has occurred; it's been raining heavily...but that's happened plenty of times before.

Maybe the box will dry out and start working again tomorrow.

Every time I run a bath, after about thirty seconds the plug pops out and then I have to hold it in position for about a minute until the depth of the water is sufficient so that the flow from the taps doesn't reach down and cause turbulence which would dislodge the plug.

Of course I could stop this happening by only partially turning on the taps for the first few minutes: I haven't seen that on the screen either though.

I've just realised that one of my dinnerplates has a duck design on it and I must have eaten almost every type of food from that plate except for duck.

On two occasions at 6:30 p.m. this evening he said 'Manchester United' instead of 'Manchester University.'

Some things they don't have in America:

Ground floors
Roundabouts
TV licences
Policemen without guns
Temperate weather
Double-decker buses

These are merely observations I've made by watching U.S. TV programmes and films.

On Friday I was talking to someone who is keen to set up a support group for people who are manic depressives [bipolar disorder] and suffer from epilepsy.

I'm certainly no expert, but I should think it quite unlikely that there'd be enough people in one small community having these two medical conditions to make a group viable.

What on Earth's happening to me? I've lost another tooth; that's two in only six hours.

I think I'd better telephone the dentist first thing in the morning and make an appointment.

I've just received some sad news; an old school friend has died. It wasn't unexpected since he was suffering from terminal pancreatic cancer - MRSA actually finished him off though.

I haven't seen him in about twenty years; he'd moved to Portsmouth, and more recently was living with his brother in Norwich.

I don't know what the funeral arrangements are yet, but if it is to be held in Norwich I should think that I'll be able to organise a lift.

I've just lost another tooth; I reckon I've only got nineteen left now. I was chewing a sweet and it just popped out. It doesn't hurt though, and it didn't bleed...so I'm hoping I won't need to visit the dentist until my next appointment in six weeks' time.

I've just found this ;if you enter the URL of your blog it assesses what type of person you are by analysing the blog content.

UPDATE: It seems that the embedded link isn't working...so here's the web address of the site: www.typealyzer.com