It's a Mad Mad World

It's a MAD MAD WORLD - Friday 31st July 2020

I began writing a diary on Google Blogger on 15th December 2016. This is my 1,188th edition. If you do the maths you will see that I have not been writing every day !

It was my intention when I started to write one hundred or so ages then publish them on Amazon under the title The Diary Of A Silly Old Man but that did not happen.

In March of this year I started to write a diary telling of my personal feelings during the corona virus pandemic. I deliberately wrote for one hundred days then published that on Amazon as ESCAPE FROM ARMAGEDDON - THE FIRST ONE HUNDRED DAYS.

Yes, I did write for one hundred days, never missed. Since I stopped I have missed the self-discipline needed to write every day. So here I am kicking off a new diary, one I will try to write an entry for every day. Every day until publication. I intend that to happen on Friday 21st January 2021. That is if this mad world is still here then !

It's A Mad Mad World - that is the title of a comedy film released in 1963. This mad world will not be a comedy I can assure you. In 1963 MAD was used in the film title to mean FUNNY. In 2020 I am using it to mean STUPID. I am going to write as I feel, I am going to tell you what happens in my day. I am not going to be politically correct, I am not going to tip toe around anyone's feelings. Ours is a stupid world and I intend to tell it as I see it !  If you don't like that then you should not be reading this should you !

I went shopping this morning to Morissons Supermarket to buy a few plants for the garden and as my wife and I had been blackberry picking I went to buy the ingredients for her to turn it into jam.  Morrissons is brilliant at organising social distancing, the staff are friends and go the extra mile to keep customers safe during this pandemic. Social distancing, yes that's fine (or is it) but what we need is a sanitiser to wipe out social ineptitude.

The government has been banging on about obesity ! Go to the sweet isle in Morrissons and you will see the fat bottoms stocking up on chocolate to make their fat bottoms even fatter. I do not drink alcohol but I am not against it as a matter of fact, what I am against is the alcoholic droves to be found in the booze isles. It's not the odd can here and there but crates of the stuff !

Social ineptitude.

But today there was an even greater social ineptitude than  an alcoholic with a seventy-five inch waist !

Anyone who reads anything I write will know that I despise so called smart phones. One of my very early blog entries in 2016 was entitled Zombie Phones. Just in case you are not familiar with my philosophy on this subject let me explain that a Smart Phone is a compensatory aid. If you break a leg you are given a crutch to help you walk. If you lose your hearing you can have a hearing aid to help compensate. Less than twenty-twenty vision and a pair of glasses is your compensatory aid. A smart phone is a compensatory aid for this and stupid people.

Morrissons was busy this morning, the queue down the social distancing system was long and slow moving. It was long because there were a lot of customers. It was slow moving because all the thick and stupid people were playing on  their phones oblivious to the fact that the person had moved forward and they needed to follow on.

When people can not live without a zombie phone it is indeed a mad world !

Leaving the supermarket I looked for someone I had seen there yesterday. he was nowhere to be seen.

Yes, I am starting IT'S A MAD MAD WORLD on Friday 31st July 2020 but here is my blog page for yesterday, Thursday 30th July 2020.

Speak again tomorrow. For those who need to open their smart phones and check the date let me tell you that will be Saturday 1st August 2020 !

Today I Met A Man In A Terrible Situation - Thursday 30th July 2020
Today I went to Morrissons to do a bit of shopping - just a little bit - I spent £120.

Coming outside I found a man begging. He was obviously homeless and rough-sleeping. I found two one pound coins in my pocket and gave them to him. He thanked me with a smile and a with genuine gratitude.

Last year, speaking with teenagers in Oakgrove School I said I had never met a homeless person who was not genuine and polite. This fifteen year old replied saying: When you are homeless you do not have to hide your feelings or pretend to be something you are not, your real thoughts just come out. THAT FROM A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD.

Was this man a drug addict ?  Most certainly he was. He looked really ill. His face was so haggard I could not attempt to guess how old he was. This guy is a victim, a victim who nobody loves and nobody cares about. Metaphorically he does not have a life ahead of him. Physically and medically I suspect his life expectancy is short.

Pre lock down I was working with who I call my Pavement Buddies, working with a lunch of love every Saturday. That is all gone. It is said that our pavement buddies are safely being cared for in hotel accommodation. RUBBISH !  Some have accommodation but many, like my friend from yesterday do not.

Several times since lock down I have e-mailed the two organisations running the hotel accommodation asking: How is Richard ?  How is Barry ? Neither organisation answered any of my e-mails ! Please do not tell me they care. 

What chance of getting help does my new friend and so many others like him have of finding help ?  You can measure that in a minus number !

Today I will spend £20 on printing ink to print off the draft of my new book MILTON DREAMS THE CITY THAT NEVER WAS. I have to check every word and phrase ahead of publication by the end of August. The book finished with these words.

A CITY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING: During the 2020 pandemic I was interviewed on a radio programme about the work I had been doing supporting homeless-rough sleepers, The Food Bank, vulnerable adults and families with a child sick in hospital. Much of the work I had been doing was at that time on hold due to government regulations. I replied to the radio host’s question saying: The more vulnerable a person is the harder it is for that person to access the help needed.

No matter how long I live I will never forget some words shared with me by former Mayoress of Milton Keynes. She said: It does not matter which good cause you support providing you do support one.

Every town and every city in every country of the world has issues with its government over the care it provides for vulnerable people. It is too easy to blame local government, but I would suggest blame should not be placed at the door of Milton Keynes Civic Offices. It should be placed at my front door and at your front door.

A successful young man, a businessman once told me about his childhood as a runaway, rough-sleeper and juvenile offender. The authorities took him into foster care. He said to me: My foster family loved me out of my situation and made me what I am today. Where would he have been without his adopted family ?

I have said that Milton Keynes Council should be void of politics.  What are my own politics ?  I am a Utopian. I believe that while it is impossible to be everything to everyone that should not stop you trying. I also believe that if we were to live in Utopia it would be Hell On Earth, Hell on earth as there would be nothing to do, no challenges to engage with.

If we could some how lift things in Milton Keynes, give more love and understanding, not by throwing money at charity shops and the like but on an individual basis just how much we could achieve towards becoming Milton Keynes The City That Truly Is.

Talking about trees and road signs, talking about raising the profile of our ley lines, even trying to remove politics from Milton Keynes Council, these are all practical things which we could write into a plan. To make Milton Keynes a city of love and understanding is nebulous. How many people live in Milton Keynes right now today in 2020 ? Two hundred and seventy odd thousand. If everyone from cradle to care home showed love and understanding during their everyday life we would not need a plan, it would just be natural.

A CITY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING ?  That's a dream too far