Hogmanay in the Snow

Hello Folks

Well here we are at Hogmanay again.  God knows where the time goes to.  With 2 wee ones our Hogmanay will be a quiet one, at home, couple of beers, watch the (repeated) Still Game, avoid the now turgid Only an Excuse and to bed by 1am. 

I know it's cliched to lament the death of this Scottish Tradition, but I'm going to anyway.  Gone are the days of first footing.  As a kid I sat in my grandparent's house with an Advocaat or Snowball.  As the Grieve of the farm, all the workers came to Granda's house for a dram.  It was the only night of the year he drank (apart from the occasional Sweetheart Stout which I still have a fondness for) and a smile still comes to my face as I remember my Dad and Uncle helping him to his bed! 

As I grew older I'd go into the village and go round the houses until the early morning.  You knew everyone and were welcome everywhere. 

Now New Year is organised, forced jollity.  It's become a parody.  I can't think of anything worse than standing in the centre of Edinburgh with a bunch of Tarquins and Cecilias dressed in tartan telling you how their great great uncle was "Scotch" and how they love our quaint traditions..........

As is also traditional, it threw it down with snow here last night, we had around 8 inches, so I've spent a good chunk of the day clearing snow.  In our whole street I think three of us have done so.  The rest are probably sitting writing letters to the Evening Express to complain about it.

Now I know the city council have been a disgrace and many older people are housebound because of the mess of the pavements, but I have to say we have had people clearing the pavements almost daily and the gritter was round the street today. 

People need to take a bit of responsibility for their own lives.  It took me a hour to clear the snow, gave me some exercise and it was a beautiful day to be out.

As our street is full of single mothers and single blokes in their 30s who have inexplicably been given pensioner's houses by the council (I dare say they have 'issues' which mean they just have to jump to the top of the council house queue), you would think they would get off their arses and do a bit of light manual labour and maybe do their pensioner neighbour's path while they are at it.

But nope, no sign of them.  Society is dead right enough.  However to be a 'local' here you have to have lived here since birth and be able to trace your family back 5 generations. 

New Year's resolution - don't get so worked up about the insular inhabitants of the village I live in!!

Have a great Hogmanay and see you all in 2010.

Last music recommendation for this year is a classic Come Together by the Beatles.

Recession is Almost Over - Who are they Kidding?

I see the BBC and our wretched Government are still peddling the myth that the recession is just about over.  They were gutted when the economy contracted again last quarter, after constantly blowing smoke up our arse for weeks beforehand that it would grow.

So much for that bastard Brown's "best placed country to beat the recession" bullshit.  We're now the only major Global Economy still in recession and yet the State Broadcaster hardly raises a peep in protest.  Of course, the recession only hits one part of the population - the wealth creating, heavy tax paying private sector. 

No wonder the BBC, Government and Public Sector think it hasn't been too bad out there.  But you watch them squeal like piggies at the abattoir when they don't get their usual inflation busting pay rises next year.  We'll have the power mad Union Barrons all over the airwaves demanding a 1970s "everyone out" scotched earth policy.  I'm sure the rest of us will get by if the Romany Travellers Equality Diversity Yoghurt Knitting Breast Feeding Street Football Co-Ordinators go off on strike for a couple of days.

Back in the real world and working in recruitment I think I'm well positioned to judge, let me tell you the bad news.  It's not getting any better.  There's still a lot of people being made redundant.  Every day we have desperate people phoning and emailing looking for work, applying for jobs they don't have any experience for, but I can understand why they do it.  It's because they are desperate to work.  Fancy that eh - people in this country with the ethics and dignity to want to work.  They are becoming a minority that's for sure. 

Just to keep the downbeat mood going, I can't see an improvement in the first half of next year.  With a General Election on its way and up here the oil price still all over the shop, nothing will settle down till Q3 2010 at the earliest.  If they don't get their own way Unison and their ilk will be out on the streets by then, especially if we have a Tory Government.  What fun.  By the way, anyone know when a Recession becomes a Depression?

Music tonight is from Indie Icons James - "Laid".  Requested by an avid reader of the blog because of the "awesome drums".  And I have to say I agree.

Only Tax Paying Mugs Require AA Membership

So I'm sitting in the office tonight at 5pm. Been there since the back of 7am and could stay another 3 hours and still not have caught up. So I decide I'll head home to see the family instead and get back in early tomorrow and get into it again.

Go out and the car has a puncture. Being an impractical sod, this causes issues. So I phone Mrs MacBeth and shout at her for a while. Then try and change it. Get it jacked up. And can't get the bloody wheel off. Put on by one of those air machine things (told you I was an expert at this), I can't budge it. So I give up, swallow my pride and phone the AA. We spend enough cash on membership.

They'll be with you in 45 minutes says the nice lady. An hour later they haven't turned up so I phone again. To be told they're busy. And it won't be the AA, but someone else who they've contracted my problem out to. And it'll be another half an hour. The dude who does turn up is a good lad, his big rigger boots and an industrial sized wrench and we're sorted. And unlike many of these kind of guys, he doesn't make me feel like a prick for requiring assistance.

On my way home the original AA call centre galoot calls to say the alternative to the AA will be with me shortly. You really just can't make this shit up can you. Why are these large organisations so bloody incompetent?

So the old motor is patched up for the third time in a month. With both me and Mrs MacBeth working just to keep our heads above water, we cannot afford a new car for me at the moment, so here's hoping the old Fiat Punto can last through the winter.

The amount of tax we pay is crippling. No doubt these bloody politicians will start about 'hard working families' again soon, it's only 6 months till an election. New cars, kitchens and bathrooms will have to wait for this hard working family. Probably for two generations as we pay off Gorgon McDoom's astronomical debt for him.

Oh how I wish I was like a female in our street. She drives a nice shiny red Audi A3. I like them, would love one. Won't be seeing one outside our door in a hurry.

Miss Audi A3 doesn't work.

Sometimes at 6am when I'm looking at myself in the mirror contemplating another 12 hour day away from home I think, "you fecking mug".

Music tonight The Carpenters "Top of the World". My sister loved this song when she was a kid. Very easy listening, middle of the road stuff, but Karen's voice is incredible, a life cut too short.