The Grumpy Old Man Rants

I have moved the blog

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 12:45:00 GMT

I am moving the blog to a wordpress driven site. This will make things easier for me to produce a good flow of rants for your enjoyment.

so here it is The new home of grumpy old man

I really am getting tired of this

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:07:00 GMT

Over the weekend a good friend of mine who lives in Belize was attacked in his home, for 45 minutes he was kicked tied up and stabbed the attackers wanted money, but he only had $6.00 in his wallet. His wife arrived home and he managed to get to a window and warn her, he was then bashed on his head and left out cold. The attackers escaped leaving him for dead but luckily he has a thick head and survived. This story is all to common people today have no sense of responsibility, they just get drunk and run riot the problem started over 30 years ago with the removal of authority from teachers and police children today are not taught the ideas of getting on with other people and as they courts seem to be unable to give the appropriate punishment for those caught it isnt going to get any better.
I say bring back the teacher who can dicipline kids with a cane or slipper let the courts issue death sentences or the very least bring back the cat of nine tails for some public lashings, the stocks could be brought back I think that a month out in all elements with people laughing and pelting them with rotten fruit and worse will stop these arsholes once and for all. What say you comments please.

AAArrgh

Our Grasping Politicians

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:31:00 GMT

Well here is my two penerth. We do need an election but let’s WAIT until all the dodgy MP's are found out coz it would seem that most are being less than moral with the expenses. I feel that once they have all been found out and prosecuted or sacked then we should get an election.

Just a thought if an MP buys a second home, serves for five years and then doesn’t get re elected what happens to it? does he re sell it and trouser the profit or does he pay back the profit to us? I don’t know the answer. I really think that the country should buy a hotel to house the MP's when they are in London to attend parliament. This would make more sense and probably save us a fortune; it would also give MP’s a place to entertain visiting people without them having to claim massive expenses for eating out at the posh restaurants in the city.

On a sadder note my friend Dave’s Dad has just died see the last rant. He was a great bloke and I can remember many happy times round Dave’s,helping him with his various bike building projects. The Social Care service in this country sucks I am afraid, it would seem that once you get over the age of 75 you are treated like a baby and just ignored.

AAAARRRRGGGHHH

Social Diservice

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Thu, 28 May 2009 17:52:00 GMT

This is an extract from my friend Dave Tooleys Facebook it deserves a read.

As part of an ageing population, at some point in our lives we are all
going to become old and frail. Unless you are one of the lucky few who
have a huge pot of money stashed away, you are going to be at the mercy
of the state.
Naively I thought that the Social Services were there as a safety net
to catch those weaker souls in our society who cannot look after
themselves through either illness, frailty or mental health issues such
as senile dementia or Alzheimer’s.
In my recent experience I’ve discovered that nothing could be further
from the truth.
The only ‘Service’ provided by Social Services is to dole out a list of
telephone numbers to employment agencies which those poor souls then
have to pay for.
The idea of a ‘Wendy Craig’ like District Nurse individual cycling
around your village doling out help to anyone that needs it is pure
fantasy nowadays, although at some point in our recent history I’m sure
those characters existed.
My Father is now dying in a Hospice, caused indirectly by the lack of
care provided after he had an emergency operation for Renal Failure.
Within a very short period of time he was evicted from hospital wearing
Nephropathy tubes hanging out of both kidneys draining into bags tied
to his legs.
Over each kidney there was a loose dressing sticky taped to his back.
A breeding ground for infection. I begged the hospital not to send him
home in this condition because my Mother has Alzheimer’s disease and
cannot even cope with her self let alone an invalid, but they were
unmoved.
He had to go home because they needed the bed. So I then implored them
to provide a nurse to visit him at least daily to check and change his
dressings as necessary. No joy, once a week, take it or leave it. No
matter who I contacted within the system I could get nothing further.
Sure enough, less than a day after he had come home one dressing had
become dislodged. The district nurse eventually turned up and tried to
put on a fresh dressing but bodged it. Later on that evening an
emergency service was called out to take a look. By now my Dad was
getting into trouble. The tube was leaking, and the area around it’s
entrance had started to become infected. To cut a long story short,
after a series of several further call outs to a variety of doctors and
nurses on a late Sunday evening my Father was rushed back into hospital
in an ambulance almost delirious with pain.
>From that point on he was in a steady downhill spiral, resulting in
much further surgery removing part of his large bowel resulting in a
colostomy.
A further few weeks on and he has now had all treatment removed since
they have decided nothing further can be done for him. He has been
left to die.
Easy isn’t it when you can bury your mistakes?
This has now left me with another huge problem. My Father was my
Mothers primary carer. Since he is now out of the loop, I’ve been
desperately trying to get some support to look after her during this
trying time, and into the future.
Once again, NO CHANCE. They will provide someone to put on her
stockings, and maybe give her a wash, but that is the end of the
service they will provide. Anything more requires work which has to be
paid for, and I’ve been given a list of numbers to phone to provide
care at a price.
My Mum lives on her own now in a biggish house. She cannot even get
out because of her illness, so how the hell is she going to clean,
cook, go shopping, or carry out even the most basic functions required
in a home?
Appeals to the Social Services have fallen on deaf ears, they don’t
care, not their problem.

I don’t know where I’m going with this yet, but I feel at a time of
Local Elections when smarmy councillors stick their heads above the
parapet and are begging for your votes this would be an excellent
question to put to those fawning individuals. “What do you propose to
do to provide care to those individuals in our society that desperately
require help, but are to frail and weak to fight for it?” Anyone who
doesn’t come back to you with a strong package of policies to do
something about our failing system should have your front door clearly
slammed in their faces, and make sure that YOU and EVERYONE you know
does not vote for them.
Please make an effort to spread the word on this. The power of
communication now is a colossal tool. We have recently seen how
Politicians can be broken overnight. A huge slice of them have their
snouts firmly embedded in the trough of public money, and I’m damned
sure that local councillors are little different.
As Billy Connolly once famously stated “The very desire to become a
Politician should automatically preclude someone from becoming one”

Dave Tooley

Come on my readers start kicking some social service butt. lets start a movement.

Election ?

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Fri, 22 May 2009 05:57:00 GMT

Do we really want to have a General Election just yet? I really think it would be wise to wait until all the dirty deeds our dodgey MP's have done have come to light, do we really want to re-elect MP's who have had their snouts in the trough. So may I say to the Papers, please get all your revelations out sooner rather than later, lets kick out all the dodgy ones and get a Parliment of decent honest people if thats possible.
On a lighter note it would seem that summer has arrived at last! so make the most of the nice bank holiday weekend and dust off the barbie. remember to let the coals go grey before you incinerate your meat, if you are cooking chicken pre cook in the microwave before you cook it on the coals, I don't want my readers taking ill with the Rangoon Rush.
AArghh

our robbing MP's

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Wed, 20 May 2009 06:15:00 GMT

I expect that you are totally pissed orf with the robbing MP's running the UK. I really think that they need a big shake up lock up the one's who have robbed us even if they have paid the money back. Coz if you ro I robbed a Bank got caught but said sorry and paid the cash back would we be set free. I don't think so we would be in jail so fast our feet would not touch the ground. Since when do MP's think that they are above the law Oh but they wrote it what a surprise.
AAAArgh

It's Just Theft

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Thu, 14 May 2009 06:08:00 GMT

If like me you think that these grasping MP's have gone to far I am not surprised. For years I have held the opinion that MP's and Union Leaders are all a bunch of rouges, this current bout of theft has only confirmed what I already knew I am right. I really think that the police should be arresting them and putting them away for a long time. If you or I did this our feet would not touch the ground until we were behind bars.

Aaaaargh.

by the way if you want to have some fun try www.wurbling.com this is a new Twitter like micro blogging site it's fun.

Whinge About Women

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 19:25:00 GMT

I have started a new site www.whingeaboutwomen.com to combat the new site www.moanaboutmen.com its a fun site for us chaps to have a good old moan about the ladies. They had a nice plug on GMTV last week so come on guys get on it and have a good old whinge.

Whinge About Womengreat free widgetsWidgetbox

bored of it

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 20:47:00 GMT

Jade
She's got cancer. did you know?

Thousands of people in this world die of cancer every day, so why don't the media give them the attention that this girl gets. Lets face it she is a stupid, brash, loud mouthed chav.
I wouldn't wish cancer on her and I am sorry that she has it but she has had the symptoms for a few years by all accounts so really she only has her self to blame.
Look the health service is struggling and it really is a victim of it's success our life span has increased from three score years and ten to a ton plus. Hospitals are just over run.
I know that she has not got a long time to live and I am sorry for her so lets hope that all the media coverage brings some changes to screening. Come on Gordon bring the smear testing down to 14 years for our girls after all they are at it from an early age these days.
Aaaargh.

Down the Tubes again

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 09:50:00 GMT

The hooray Henry's of the banking world are still at it, they are determined to take our money and give them self big bonuses for being incompetent. I know I have banged on about it on numerous occasions but it is just getting to much to bear. I really get so pissed off with the arrogance of these morons they are carrying on as if they haven't virtually brought the world economy to its knees.
This morning the breakfast telly had a government spokesman on talking about the situation (what a load of waffle) are they governing the country? it seems not, we live in a virtual police state with CCTV recording our every move (except when someone commits a crime against me and mine) but the Government cannot enforce a cap on these bonuses what are they scared of just put me in power I will do it.
After all the Banks have been rescued by the Taxpayer by the government without asking us what we wanted to do with our Tax revenues. And when we want to ask the bank for a loan to save our business we are told to go away we are keeping all your Tax money for us, then sharing it amongst our failing execs, so ya boo sucks to you little man.

AAAAArrrrrrGGGHHHHH.

Down the Tubes

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 08:38:00 GMT

Well here we go. The bank of England has just reduced the Base Rate to 1% so its no longer an option to save your hard earned and with the pound dissapearing without a trace its all becoming to much. I like most small businessmen are starting to feel the pinch. To be honest I and I suspect most small traders in the UK knew this was coming coz life has not been rosy for many a year.
Still we must soldier on keep a stiff upper lip and watch all we have worked hard for go to rat S**t. Its not a case of being an incompetent Bank Manager and getting a massive bonus for screwing up all our lives. It makes my blood boil you know some of these bonuses appear to be more than my business will earn in 20 years and they are getting it for being a waste of a skin and incompetent.
AAAAAAAAAARGHHHHHH

Is it me

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 17:32:00 GMT

Is it me, Isreal bombing Gaza to a pulp fills me with revulsion, yes I know that the government of Gaza are not keen on Israel existing, and they are firing rockets into Isreal on a regular basis but for goodness sake haven't the Jews learned from the atrocities done to them over the years. They are making a rod for there own backs and probably the rest of the world, I am sure that if they leave any young people left alive in Gaza they will be full of resentment for the treatment being metered out to them and there families, a whole new generation of terrorists in the making. Come on the please you Jews and Palestinians bury the hatchet, and start to live in peace, to be honest I am saying come into the 21st century and stop living by medieval beliefs. Everyone has a right to live in peace so stop it now!

I probably am not the best person to spout off about these subjects because I hold a deep suspicion against anyone who holds strong religious convictions, don't get me wrong I believe that if you want to have a religion fair enough but please keep it to yourself.
Over the course of history so many wars have been started over religion it's about time people saw sense.

Aaaaaargh.

council tax

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 08:07:00 GMT

Well here we are in the middle of a depressing downturn small business is struggling to survive against all odds, and what do we find, our beloved local councils are driving us to the point of just throwing in the towel. I like many small business am struggling to keep all the balls in the air especially after the Christmas bean feast, I really don't know why the country has to shut down for 6 weeks to celebrate a feast day but there you go thats Britain for you. Ok back to my rant, so here we are having had to close down for 10 days no money coming in and what do I get to greet me back to work a summons from the council for unpaid business rates. Now I will admit that I do owe them for Nov and Dec and now I suppose Jan but the financial year does not end till April and to be honest some of my customers think that 90 days is the norm for paying bills. Now I will try and pay this before the court date and the extra £55 they have slapped on for good measure to really dig in the knife, but I do think they really are a bit to quick to resort to court action. Anyway what exactly do I get for my council Tax absolutely nothing I have to pay for my bins to be emptied and as far as I can see I get nothing else, As I live in the Town all other so called benefits are covered by the council tax I pay from home so whats it all about. I do remember a conversation with a councilor, who said that as Business Rates are all for central government to be really honest if all the shops shut down in his town, they would get all the revenue from the houses and flats that replaced them, so maybe thats what they are after, close down all the small shops, just have out of town supermarkets, and just let the town go to the dogs. Walking down Gosport High Street it gives the impression that soon there will only be charity shops left. The tumbleweed is already starting to accumulate.

Aaaaaaaargh

Christmas is Coming

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:57:00 GMT

Hello everyone, are you Happy, probably not if you are reading this.

Well here we are again another year over, the Christmas feast day approaching fast, the bank balance empty the credit cards maxed out, why oh why do we do it every year, I am just as bad, every year I say to myself only buy the normal amount of food plus maybe a few treats, and what happened I went to the supermarket to buy a small turkey and come out £80.00 lighter with half the shop most of which will drag on for days and eventually be thrown out its lemming action.

We are having a Belizean style meal this year so it's Turkey, Roast Pork, Rice and Beans, Potato Salad and my fave fried Plantains. I do the cooking so it will be a simple job for once not all the complicated calculations to get all the stuff to come together at the right time.

At Christmas spare a thought for all the retailers, many of whom will not be with us next year, all these sale bargains means that they are not going to generate enough profit to carry on, so don't be surprised to see lots of empty shops in out high streets from January onwards, and I fear once they are gone they will not come back. It's the same with our struggling manufacturing industry what little we have left will decimated early next year I am sure. I hope we are not in a never ending downward spiral of business closures and mass unemployment, but I really fear that this will be the case.

anyway on this happy note have a nice Christmas.

And Another Thing

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 20:10:00 GMT

Well I have been quiet for some time now but I can stand it no more. In this wonderful country of mine (the UK) life is now so cheap young lads will kill you for a cigarette, or just for looking at them. ON FRIDAY I went to Portsmouth to see a friend who I hadn't seen for about 10 years. She was at an exhibition at Portsmouth Uni so me and my missus popped in for about 20 mins, we parked her car in the Uni car park, it was well lit and people were arriving and going regularly. To my shame I left my bag and the missus shopping on the back seat I neglected to put a sign on them for people to smash the back window and steal my bag, but someone did anyway the bastards. so there we were in the pissing rain with a car without a back window driving back to Gosport. £70 later I had it fixed but the car is still wet inside. I didn't inform the police they just wouldn't have been interested coz I wasn't parked on a yellow line and my tax disk was valid.
To her credit the missus didn't kick my balls into touch which is strange for her.

This country is in the grip of a raging credit crunch the pound is worth 25% less than in the summer and shops are closing down like a stack of cards. So what does our beloved leader do he reduces the VAT limit to 15% a massive saving of 2.5% I wonder if the pillock researched his idea and really thought it out, did he work out just how much he was costing the retailers who had to implement his crazy ideas. A small shopkeeper having to reprice all his goods is no mean feat. It was just done to score points and make it look like he was doing a good job. Really if like me you are a shopkeeper you will know that the credit crunch has been around for about 5 years with the likes of Woollies and MFI going down so fast should tell you that we have all been struggling for ages.
enough for now but I will be back sooner from now on.

AAAAARGH.

Is it Me?

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:08:00 GMT

Is it me? all this grief over crashing Banks and other rip off merchants I can't say that I have any sympathy for them as they have been ripping off me and I would imagine you for years. But really I lay the blame squarely at the hands of the Government. It seems to me that if the Government had put a max increase on House prices of say 2% we wouldn't have the Banks running out of money, having to shell out £100,000 per house more than they are worth. Its all just pure greed on the part of the Estate Agents when I first moved to Gosport 10 years ago a standard 2 up 2 down was around £35,000 now people are trying to get £135,000 for the same house. The old system of 3.5 times your wages was a safer way to do it the average wage of say £18,000 would mean that the standard 2 bed house price should be around £65-£75 thousand. It's hjust madness to think that people can afford 7 or 8 times their wages to put a roof over their families heads.

european cup

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:07:00 GMT

As I sit here watching the European Cup qtr final match Italy v Spain, I feel a kind of calm not usually assosiated with any footballing event my team England is involved in. To be honest I doubt if even if they had managed to qualify for this tournament, they would have got this far. Our boys always seem to let us down big time, so really I am greatful that I don't have to sit and watch the games chewing the carpet or frothing at the mouth. And with out the usual but inevitable let down. In fact none of the UK home teams managed to get to the tournament so we are all relieved.
Our premier league is supposed to be the best in the world but really if you look at the teams they are filled with loads of mercinery foriegn players some teams do not even have an english player in them, is it any wonder that our foriegn manager has a very limited squad to choose from. When will the FA wake up and put a limit of say 3 overseas players per side i feel that this is the only way for our footbal team to improve.
Anyway the 2 teams I was supporting Holland and Portugal are both out so perhaps its me.

The Recycling Bin Police

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Tue, 20 May 2008 07:16:00 GMT

Whilst indulging in an unexpected burst of energy at 6.45 this morning I was cutting down the jungle in my back garden, I was startled by a shout from the missus "there are women outside checking the recycling bins". Sure enough I peered out of the window and there were two women inspecting the contents of my neighbors bin. As I was getting into the car I noticed that the neighbors bin had a RED tag attached so they must have transgressed, driving down the road I noticed that some bins were showing RED tags and some GREEN tags I am wondering if the red tagged bins are going to be emptied. Our bin hadn't been put out and was not tagged so I am wondering if ours will be emptied. I often wonder if the recycling bins are actually emptied differently at the depot or is it all a waste of time, I hope not.
On the subject of bin collections why oh why do we now only get the waste bins collected every two weeks the bin is overflowing and gets quite smelly in the summer yet we still are paying high rates of council tax, and now it seems that if your bin lid is open and rubbish is peeking out you are fined and given a criminal record, whats going wrong with the world where is all the rubbish going to vanish to perhaps the council want us to bury it in the back garden.
I am sick and tired of paying high costs for poor service anrt you!

Little Darlings

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Thu, 15 May 2008 08:20:00 GMT

Here we are again, no rants for months and then 2 come along at once, Maybe I'm getting crankier but here we go.

Children I was listening to the Breakfast show on ITV this morning and they were talking about kids who give parents a very hard time.
There must be an underlying cause for this shocking behavior, I really don't think it is all down to the lack of parental control that stressed parents are allowed to give.
I feel that some blame must be put at the door of the food industry, back in the 80's I remember the outcry over all the E numbers added to the packet food and drinks, I bet that they are still being added, or even worse ones yet to rear their heads. Parents why not try to cook fresh food and only give your children plain water to drink for a month and see if it makes a difference.
Remember that children need training to become rounded humans and it's up to you to do it.
I fear that todays parents all to often send the kids up to their rooms with a telly or computer to entertain them, no wonder that family values are stretched thin, it's all to easy to get the kids out of sight and let them get on with life on thier own. Back when I was a nipper we only could afford 1 telly for the family, and if it was watched we all sat down together and mealtimes were also a family affair.
If you ned to discipline your children remove all the electronic equipment from their rooms make sure that they have a good selection of books to read and banish them for an hour or two, hopefully they will read the books and might even enjoy it.

Aaaaargh

Hi Long time no Moan

marten@grumpyoldmanrants.com (Aaaargh) — Wed, 14 May 2008 07:27:00 GMT

Hi it's been a long time since I pontificated about life the universe and everything. But it really is time for me to vent my spleen again.
House Prices and the credit crunch. It don't take a rocket scientist to work out that with the vastly overpriced houses for sale that there is going to be a problem.
A house that only a few years ago was selling at £38,000 is now being offered at £180,000 were is all the extra cash coming from to fund these over-inflated prices? no wonder Banks and Building societies are running out of cash, it's just complete madness.
Who is gaining from this stupidity, certainly not the house buyer or even the seller if all they are doing is moving house, I suppose Estate Agents and Solicitors are making more on the percentages they charge. I feel that the only way to actually make money from this madness is to inherit from a relative or sell your house and move to another country where this stupidity hasn't yet appeared, and surprise surprise it seems many people are doing just that and quiting this sorry mess of a country.
I really think that if I was running this country I would have made sure that house price rises were capped to the rate of inflation, lets face it it is the most expensive purchase anyone is going to make, and with the prices as they are people are just making themselves paupers, just to get a roof over there heads. Anyone on a normal wage has no chance of surviving this, and if they have managed to get a mortgage on a vastly overpriced house they are now finding that the Sh1t has hit the fan and they are now the proud owners of a millstone which is losing value daily is anyone surprised that house repossessions are at a record high?
When will we learn that life is hard and there really are no free rides still the mantra for this country I am reliably informed is "what's in it for me" seems about right.
To be honest I will be quiting the UK for Belize as soon as I can sell my business I'm orf.

AAARGH