There Is Hope For Me Yet,

if I took up the 100 meter dash,

apparently 13.47 seconds is a good time, one that most 20-year-olds can only dream of beating, but here is the thing, at the Penn Relays athletic event last Thursday Michael Kish, a 70-year-old American runner did just that! although Michael Kish’s time isn’t anywhere near the all-time record for the 100-meter dash for men aged 70 or over set by fellow American, Bobby Whilden, at the 2005 Senior Olympics (12.77 seconds), it’s still a monumental achievement, one that has since won the praise of millions of people on social media,

 Kish only started using the running track at age 59, when someone advised him to check out the New Jersey Senior Olympics, He was already a force to be reckoned with in his early 60s, and was frequently placing on the podium in events for M65 events. In 2018, he was the fastest member of the men’s relay team at the World Masters Athletics in Malaga, as a commentator wrote, “I don’t even drive that fast,”  I have to admit that running is not my thing, but it just goes to show what determination can do, a big 'well done' to Michael and indeed all of the other competitors at the event.

Sunday Has Raced Around Again,

where did the week go?

at midday time for a sherry and a read,

for our starters,

breaded prawns on sticks,

'Cheers!',

our main course,

roast pork with gravy for Diana,

sans gravy for myself,

looking out of the window one of them was perched there, on the roof of a neighbours house,

it somehow it seems strange to see a duck on the roof of a house rather than on the ground or in water,

tiramisu for dessert, then feet up for the afternoon and evenings entertainment,

on the cover of the Hugo Blu-ray it says, 'A Magical Masterpiece' and it is, the sets and camera work left us spellbound, the story follows the adventures of Hugo, an orphan who learns how to repair clocks and lives in the railway station, but he has a connection with a shopkeeper there who sells toys, Georges Méliès, it is difficult not to give the plot away, but it was a marvellous film, also before you dismiss this as a kids film this was Martin Scorsese's first PG rated film in 18 years, as another aside if you do buy/rent/borrow this film be sure to watch the 'extras' the true story behind Georges Méliès who is a central character in the film is fascinating, and with that in mind we were happy to watch the extras again,

next for us a couple from an old favorite series Open All Hours, the series ran for twenty-six episodes, all written by Roy Clarke, and were produced for the BBC. The show began airing in 1973 with the pilot episode and ended in 1985 after the fourth series, the series ranked eighth in the 2004 Britain's Best Sitcom poll, the story line is of a small grocer's shop in Balby, a suburb of Doncaster in South Yorkshire. The owner, Arkwright (Ronnie Barker), is a middle-aged miser with a stammer and a knack for selling. His nephew Granville (David Jason) is his put-upon errand boy, who blames his work schedule for his lacklustre social life, great fun for us, we followed that with a hourlong standup show featuring the other Ronnie, Ronnie Corbett in front of a live audience, what a entertainer he truly was, 

lastly for the evening the Free State of Jones, a little slow at times and almost a documentary of one mans fight against the Confederacy, of which he was a member, that went on long past the end of the war, for the fascinating true story of Jones County, have a look here, and with the end of that, we were off to bed.

It Is Good To Plan Ahead,

and Greenwich Council certainly are,

with just 236 days to Christmas, Greenwich Council has issued a new language guide to its staff, the booklet suggests that staff omit the word ‘family’ when sending Christmas greetings so as not to offend those who have no relatives, staff are also being urged to avoid referring to ‘the young’ or ‘youngsters’ in favour of ‘young persons or young adults’, and not to describe those who are pregnant as either women or expectant mothers, the suggestions feature in an inclusivity guide, Language Matters, going back to Christmas a phrase such as ‘Sending our best wishes to you and your family this Christmas time’ should be replaced by ‘Sending you our best wishes this Christmas time, however you’re spending it’, that sounds sort of cold, but there it is, the guide also recommends avoiding phrases such as ‘women who are pregnant’ and ‘expectant mothers’ and to instead use gender-neutral phrases like ‘people who are pregnant’ and ‘expectant parents’, Greenwich council said: ‘Our inclusive language guide is advisory only and was designed to encourage staff to reflect on the use of language in the workplace and how it might impact their colleagues.’ all I can say is if it was not broke why fix it? but then I am a little old fashioned, still it must be nice for the ratepayers of Greenwich to know that their rates are being spent so wisely.

 

Keeping To A New Language Guide Theme,

Norfolk Constabulary has issued a new guide for the police force,

it appears that officers are making mistakes when describing people and their sexual identities, so this guide has been issued to police officers and staff to help them when dealing with members of the public, force staff who are confused by any of the definitions are directed to the ‘gender bread person’ diagram, which includes a series of sliding scales that relate to gender identity, sexual orientation, gender expression and biological sex, the document, ‘The + in LGBT’, explains current terminology alongside a picture of a ‘gender bread person’ lets face it if an officer calls a man a woman by mistake or the other way around I guess the police could be sued and less face it, if the police publicly called me a maverique and I was really varioriented and in no way gynosexual I would have a team of the best lawyers in a no win no fee company I could find, and sue for every penny the police force has! but with the help of the above Gingerbread man, oops I mean person, officers will have no difficulty in identifying the 37 different gender terms and sexual identities, the guide has been issued to police officers and staff to help them when dealing with members of the public, well that's a relief!

Whilst Diana Was At Work,

I played with the computer,

Graham had asked me to make some gift vouchers for the shop, the problem was I knew what I wanted to do, but not how to make the images I wanted, great fun trying something I have not done before, in the evening time for a sherry and a read,

a 'Cheers!',

and my evening meal, a chicken and cashew nut curry, after Diana returned home it was feet up for a coffee for Diana, a spiced rum for myself and a chat, as we settled down to watch another episode of Silent Witness before we were off to bed.

Is There Such A Thing,

as a professional complainer?

photograph Pascal Meier/Unsplash, the reason I ask is in response to an article I read about some one repeatedly complaining, so many times I am starting to think it is a profession, Dublin International Airport last year received a staggering 12,272 calls, or an average of 34 complaints per day, but here is the thing, the person that complained managed to double the number of noise complaints they made in 2020! a respectable 6,227 of them, even though plane traffic was only up around 10 percent from the previous year, because of pandemic restrictions, the unidentified complainant, who reportedly lives in Ongar, northwest Dublin, is apparently largely responsible for the dramatic increase in noise complaints received by Dublin Airport since 2019, up until three years ago, the airport got around 1,500 complaints a year, but in 2021 the number skyrocketed to 13,569. Interestingly, without the calls made by this mysterious serial complainant, the airport would have only received 1,296 calls, according to the Irish Independent, the same person is already off to a great start in 2022 as well, accounting for 5,276 complaints out of a total of 5,573 logged by Dublin Airport in the first three months of this year, He has already improved his ratio, with an average of 59 complaints per day, a Dublin Airport spokesperson declined to comment on the large volume of complaints filed by this one person, but mentioned that the airport operators responded to each individual complainant about issues raised, 59 complaints a day, he must be a professional complainer!

A Scary Illusion Indeed,

when placed on a black background,

Israeli artist Vika Bren paints her left hand to create various optical illusions,

to make sure her illusions have maximum effect on the viewer, Vika relies on pitch-black body paint and a black background, this helps her pull off all kinds of effects,

she has been getting a lot of fans on video-sharing platform TikTok, 2.9 million followers!

and is also on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube, what an amazing talent.