A Referendum on the UK's membership of the European Union

Monday 24 Oct 2011

MPs are voting tonight on the right of us poor Joe Blog members of the public to vote on out staying in or leaving the EU. If they decide we do have that right to a vote which way would you vote. You have two boxes to tick but can only tick one.

Box one asks, Do you want to leave the EU?

Box two asks, Do you want to stay in the EU?

Me; I think there should be two more boxes;-

Box three would ask, Do you give a toss?

Box four would ask, I don't really know enough about the extremely complicated ins and outs of what membership of the EU entails and how I would be effected if we did leave the EU. I feel that if you ask me to decided I will be strongly influenced by the newspaper I read so why don't you just ask Rupert Murdoch what he thinks and save the cost of this referendum?

 

Now if we had a referemdum on should we get rid of putting the clocks back next week then one one box would be required.

Yes!

Man U 1 Man C 6

If you live in Manchester then there is someone near you who is either over the moon and about to bore everyone they know for the next ten years about how they were there or they are thinking of jumping in the Mersey or the Ship Canal. I can not think of a worse game to lose by 6 goals to 1 than at home to Man City. In the years I went to Old Trafford to watch Man U I can remember them scoring 6 goals but never conceding that many. In school playgrounds and shop floors and high rise office blocks through out the city Blues fans will be chanting six one all day long and I wouldn't be surprised if the absentee rate amongst Man U supporters reaches an all time high for the next few days.

 

If you're a blues supporter then enjoy, if you're a reds supporter then it's only a game (sic).

Devon Loch did me a big favour.

During the summer, sat at the stop in Torbay Rd I was asked lots of questions, mostly, Where is the bus station? I could always answer that one. One question I did get asked only once was where is the nearest betting shop? Now many, many years ago I was persuaded by my Uncle Dan, GRHS, to invest my pocket money on a horse by the name of Devon Loch. If you aren't familiar with the name then Google it and find out how many years ago it was. So we went down to the betting shop which in those days was in derelict house, off course gambling was illegal then, and "invested" (my Uncle's word) all my pocket money. Nine pence in old money, about 4p in new money and then home to listen to the race on the wireless. TV had been invented buy then but we were old fashioned and didn't have a set. I remember the commentator getting very excited about Devon Loch. " 200 yards to go and Devon Loch is a hundred yards clear. Devon Loch is going to win. Yes, Devon Loch will win no problem, Oh Devon Loch has fallen over. Last time I had a bet on a horse; ever.

So when the passenger asked where the nearest betting shop was I didn't know. A bit later on I spotted it just across the road from the bus stop. (see photo).

This story brings me on to an item on last nights news. A group of people were going on strike because the governing body of their industry had decided to limit the number of times they could beat some poor dumb animal in order to make it go faster. The new rule allows Maximum seven strokes in flat races and eight over jumps. Imagine the outcry if your boss could whip you to make you work faster. Recently the use of performing animals was banned in circuses because of fears that some trainers might be cruel to their animals but we can still watch grown men and women beat in a cruel way their horse. If the horse doesn't want to run fast then forcing it to do so must be cruel. How long before the Jockey Club goes the way of greyhound racing and bans whips completely. Some time next week I hope.

Sherwood Hotel Reopening Soon

I went for a walk this afternoon and decided to have a look at the Sherwood Hotel in Belgrave Rd. I used to work there, driving a coach until it closed down in August last year. Company ran out of money and went into administration. The Administrator told us all that the hotel would stay open until a buyer was found and we would all get paid and keep our jobs. That was on a Monday. One week later, after the firm dealing with the company's books decided that there wasn't enough money left in the bank to keep going. I expect the bank who the mortgage was with decided not to risk sending good money after bad keeping the place open. Anyway a couple of days ago a reader told me the place had a Sold board outside so I went for a look. When I got there the front door was wide open so I wandered in to see what I could find out. No sign of anyone in the entrance hall, just evidence that a lot a work was going to be needed. There was enough building material lying around to keep B & Q going for a week. I then had a look outside and saw someone with a harassed look on his face and decided he must be the new owner so I introduced myself. We had a quick chat, he was very busy, I told him I used to drive the coach for the hotel and asked him when he planed to open. "As soon as possible. Once all the repairs are finished". I said I would pop round tomorrow (Tuesday) and pass one any information about the place that might be a help to him.

I hope the place gets up and running quickly and he makes a go of it. He has a lot of hard work ahead and I can only wish him all the best.

Still sunny even though summer has ended

The summer timetable has now ended and I am on the holiday and sickness rota for 6 months. I have one days work coming up in a couple of weeks while the other driver has a week’s well earned rest. After that we shall have to wait and see. First thing I did was set the alarm for 08:30, no more getting up at 7 o'clock which suits me. I went into Paignton this lunch time to do some shopping, couldn't find what I needed so I'll have to go on Amazon and get it through the post. Big road works happening in Hyde Rd and Torbay Rd and the roads are closed for this Sunday and next Sunday. Massive diversion in place for traffic heading through Paignton towards Brixham. While I was at Victoria Park waiting for a number 12(for a long time I might add) this artic drove past the two signs which read "Diversion" and "Road Closed Ahead". Obviously these signs didn't apply to him. Then when he got to the left turn that goes into Hyde Rd and found the signs did apply to him. Great big barriers blocked the road and he had no where to go but back. I suppose he could have sat there until the barriers were taken down some time tonight but he chose to reverse all the way back to Cecil Rd which is where he should have turned in the first place. Caused chaos. Before his little reversing stunt the traffic had been coming out of Paignton without any problem but the 5 minutes it took him to reverse far enough to be able to turn up Cecil Rd caused a tail back half way to Brixham ( only guessing but it could have done) Any way it gave me something to watch in the 35 minutes I waited for the 12 to arrive.