Well, it’s grey, raining and ‘orribble. BUT I’m playing the double CD of ’secret music’ jazz sent by a nice person for no money. So that’s OK then.

Henry phoned me. That was great. I love the silly bugger so much.

Herself is fired up with ideas for Christmas items in the teeny-tiny world. Meanwhile, in the day job, there’s a major drama in the lavatory area and 300 people have 2 lavatories to use. Well I’m glad I’m not there.

A short blog today - but - a day that passes without learning anything is a day lost. So what will you learn today? Even if you didn’t like it. Love to all - Dad

Well, thanks for such powerful support as I have received from dear Julianna, Henry, O’Mally and Mort’s Mom. It’s wot u sed wot dunnit. Bless you. ‘Granny’s’ snide comment says more about him/her than ever I could.

So if you’re wrong - do the other thing. I intended a short break from the blog but clearly you think I shouldn’t run for cover. So I won’t.

Mild, warm sunny weather here. Playing Country music. Herself is making up a DIY Snowman kit for her dolls house customers and I’m still battling with how to have walls made (50 at a time) for her garden beds. Don’t ask! I’m learning things I didn’t know I needed to know, wozzit.

The DVD project has lurched forward somewhat. I have a business account at my local PC World and have to say that the staff there are super. I don’t get ‘processed’. They know my name, we speak together as friends, they nudge me towards the best way to do things. I could get so hooked I’d go there every day for a ‘friendship fix’!! So for a mere £1,500 I could make the kind of DVD I need to make. First catch the cash cache. So how many DVD’s must I sell to come out ahead and how can I do it? Answers on a used bank note please.

It’s so nice to see the various birds drinking and bathing in the bird bath. It’s really great.

Now would a Dadblog pass without a mild reference to el-tonio and macg-the-money? Our growth is rubbish and he’s been forced to conceed. The Labour-sacrosanct NHS is closing wards / op. theatres / firing staff with twice the money. Seriously, please God deliver us from these sham idiots who are DESTROYING our Nation and love themsleves so much - you can see the pics every day.

OK, so Dad’s reversed course and is back in play - thanks to you. Sticking to Plan A needs commitment. Changing to Plan B requires even more commitment to accept that Plan A was wrong. So many disputes between people or organisations continue because people stick to plan A. As a Mediator, my role is to show that moving from Plan A to a modified Plan B is not a failure - it can lead to a success. Take care, my friends - Dad

I have no idea who Granny might be but her/his comments about me are so unlike comments posted by other blog friends. I find them vindictive and spiteful. So I’m faced with a choice between three ways to go. Ignore them, attack them or quit. I’m not normally a quitter so it’s very difficult to make the choice between ‘equal’ alternatives.

Frankly, I don’t need the spite or the grief. And I will not accept snide cracks about my wife. Granny has a sick mind and I feel sorry for her children and grandchildren - assuming Granny is, indeed, anyone’s granny which I doubt.

So I’m closing my blog site for now. Simon, you might like to figure out who Granny is. And whether (s)he should have access in future.

Sleep well, friends. I’ve much enjoyed your company and hope to return when this pest has desisted or left.

Forgiveness is a rich blessing - but for some sins there can be no forgiveness.

Farewell for now - Dad

For a start - Julianna, sweetheart, how are you? Bunches and clumps of people thinking and hoping for you. Come back when you want to.

Funny day here - some rain, some sun, muggy weather. Kenny Rogers playing.

Been to PC World to agree a spec for another pc for the mini-network. Need to record DVD’s with a mix of inputs. They are just so nice there. New pc + software coming any time now.

Long chats with with old chum in Wales. We’ve been through the wars together (I taught him his stuff) We’re both having a really bad time. We don’t deserve it. But there’s only us to sort it.

Who this Granny person, then? I love my children to bits - but I can’t just uplift and drive to Surrey. It’s not that easy. Which is why you won’t find me at the rock-in in New Haw. Sorry about that - BUT. Have a (big) one for me.

Reviewing this blog it’s pathetic. I have to face the Doc in three weeks. I have to do this ‘n that. I wake up each morning filled with fear. Please may I be able to make some DVD’s that explain my mind and soul. Perhaps then I can leave a decent legacy for my life.

Life is a balance. For every ‘down’ there’s an ‘up’. Please, dear God, grant me the peace of balance. And please, my blog friends, don’t imagine that was lightly said.

Granny - I love my son. Don’t ever imagine otherwise. But what I may do is constrained in various ways. Please gift me the beneficence of your understanding. Dad

Yes, well, the machine is acting up so I can’t play music. Computery is a bugger.

I’ve got ‘the man’ in again to complete stage ‘n’ on the bathroom reconstruction project. But he’s a good guy.

Now, I’m becoming deeply troubled about the identity of ‘Granny’. Acerbic; cutting; not Granny-like at all. I conclude it’s a mask for a person who wants to de-stabilise our world. Hmm. It makes us think.

You get much further with sugar than with vinegar. Almost 40% of what someone else gets from a communication comes from the tone of your voice. So use a good tone, why not? Dad

After a cold start it’s warm and sunny now. Eva Cassidy playing. The day started badly with me in a two & eight (Cockney rhyming slang) and that didn’t settle for a while. Meanwhile I’ve got ‘the man’ in who arrived at 8 am and has spent hours with his head in the bathroom plumbing and other complex questions. But he’s a really nice guy. And has STANDARDS. That does it for me.

Does anyone know anything about making DVD’s? I’ve been asked if I can make some - for training purposes, not entertainment - so of course I said ‘Yes, Guv.’ Now I have to do it. We used to produce CD’s and had a mini-factory producing copies - but this DVD needs to be a mixture of live-to-camera, still pics, voice over, PowerPoint and a bit of Word. Oh, and music. Anyone any ideas what kit I need to do this?

Iraq is clearly going down the tubes big-time and teeny-tiny-tony should be carryinbg the can - but I bet he sidesteps it. Devious sod. The old chestnut about legal matters or, indeed, anything interesting says ‘never ask a question to which you do not already know the answer.’ When teeny-tiny-tony’s balls got bigger than his head (a challenge, indeed) why didn’t he say ‘before we start this thing how are we going to end it?’ WHO THE xxxx keeps voting for a self-interested lunatic? Truly, honestly, I have asked all sorts of people over the past few years ‘who voted for this xxxxx?’ No-one has ever said ‘Me’ He - and his cronies - are self-obsessed turds.

Got to go - ‘the man’ needs a mug of tea and a conference about the real meaning of plumbing. Feel sorry for me.

BUT - let’s get stroppy. Why should decent 70 plus years old people be forced into jail because teeny-tiny-tony and grab-their-purses gordon want to pursue a vendetta against decent people? And when they come out of what will be an horrific experience - they will STILL owe the money. Now THAT can’t be right.

What the Hell does it take to make normal, decent people rise up and say ’stop it, you wankers!’ Or does no-one care?

Yours, moodily, Dad

Bright, warm, sunlit day here. Wonderful weather. Playing Chet Atkins. Aaah.

Of course, as I’m typing this in Dorset I was supposed to be flying a Tiger Moth over Surrey. Herself and I should have stayed at a Country Mansion Hotel last night, one Malt Whisky (The Balvenie since they sent me a free bottle) because I’m flying, a good dinner, a luxury room - then the Full English and no cooking or washing up. Heaven!! But it was cancelled. Weather forecast too dodgy and they wouldn’t want me to spend all that money on travel / hotel etc to be told at the last minute ‘Sorry, old son’. They were very nice about it. I can re-book in January for a date starting in April 2006. When I told a very old mate of mine about the gift last Christmas he sent a gorgeous greetings card with a big 3D Tiger Moth on it (he’s an aircraft nerd with a HUGE collection of small models covering every plane ever modelled) so I kept that on the mantlepiece to remind me of the treat in store. Having unpacked the bag, put the old silk scarf and RAF flying gloves back in the drawer, the card is back up there again - till next time. Still, it’s something for which to live and to which to look forward. There will be life after 1/1/06.

Read Henry’s blog with interest. If you missed my recent letter in the DT - here it is:
‘I have travelled extensively and was trained to accept the culture of the land which was my host. We proclaim that Britain is a multicultural society but that is a two way street. I have to accept Muslim women in a form of dress that I accept abroad but find troubling in my own country. So Muslims will have to accept that we have piggy banks and piggy cartoons and piggy jokes. To accept them, they must accept us. And the sooner ‘them and us’ ends, the better.’ Well you can’t argue with that, can you?

As for ‘Cherie’ who thinks she is more first lady than a REAL lady who has more unassuming ‘lady’ in her little finger than lumpy Ch in her whole body and what passes for mind, I truly question Henry’s judgement. Why is he so liberal / lenient? Has the New Labour insidious 1984-ing of us all finally got to him? Where’s his assertiveness gone? His defiance in the face of obscene imposition by extremely horrible people? Only one Boeing? I worry about the younger generation.

Which segues into the total shambles of this ghastly government and the awful damage done to our country day by day. They couldn’t run a piss-up in a BIG brewery and can’t find their collective arses with a piece of Euro approved toilet paper. What do they mean, we can’t ban bird imports into our country unless the EU agrees? WHAT??? If all this keeps on I think the Asian / Afro riot in B’ham will be a small domestic dispute compared to what could well happen if English (There ain’t no Britain no more. Teflon Tony smashed it after a few hundred successful years) people finally say ‘We’ve had enough, mate, get back down into the hole you’ve earned’. And pour in the concrete after him / them. And stamp it down.

Well, after that mild polemic I move on to positive stuff. I’ve bought a new navy blue double breasted blazer BUT it has gilt buttons and I want black ones with anchors on. They’re out there somewhere. I’ll find them. Any good ideas?

Having fun helping Herself with the teeny-tiny garden business. Directory publisher called and said - ‘Buy advertising’. My flesh puckers at the word ‘buy’. ‘Send info’ I say. It comes. So I phone a selection of people with adverts in there. Oh, my. This went wrong. That happened. We were invoiced when we didn’t place an ad. I had to speak to the MD to get this sorted. Seems like a ‘No’ to me. But when I told her she got seriously aggressive with me. Since I teach all this stuff I sat back and tracked her script. Why do people think I’m an idiot? They’re going to hate the e-mail, fax and recorded dly. letter explaining ‘No’ and certain aspects of commercial and contract law. Phew. How can people like this still exist today? Answers on a used bank note please.

Incidentally, considering how often I’ve said that why has no-one yet sent me a single used bank note? I just can’t figure out human kind.

So - Mort’s Mom - hope all as well as it can be. And sweet Julainna thanks for the note - but KEEP UP THERE! Now listen, treasure - however the cards play you can build / decorate / complete a dolls house nursery with all the bits WITHOUT beating yourself up or having bad thoughts or anything. So it’s a model. It’s as nice as you want it to be. Click on the US site on our web site for a big range of lovely stuff. Making a model is neither a celebration nor a wake. Just an expression of your feelings.

Have you ever thought - it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire lifetime to forget them.

We should think kindly of the many people in our past - but please think kindly of me. Dad

Showers and gusty wind on a dull day here in Dorset. Chet Atkins ‘Sails’ playing to calm my soul. So what’s new?

Herself enjoying growing renown in international sales - an order from Singapore yesterday! I would regard it as the cherry on the cake if her teeny-tiny wonder-bits could sell just one or two to China - which is where all the volume Dolls House bits and pieces are made! US of A contact v. pleased with samples (paid for) and with my designs for ‘The Heartland Range’ of American-themed gardens and stuff including a paved surround pond in the shape of mainland USA complete with goldfish, plants, water lillies. BUT, would you believe it, one potential buyer of a pond (scale 1 inch = 1 foot) asked if the goldfish were live!!!!! Latest project has been to design a set of ‘in-miniature Gnomes’ to be supplied with paints and a brush to DIY your own Dolls House Garden Gnomes. All this creativity is quite exhausting. Thank God for it though. Helps to keep me sane.

Meanwhile what is happening to our economy? The New-Lab Spin M/c keeps telling us that IT’S ALL WONDERFUL!! el-presidente blair and extreme left-winger control-freak brown (no caps. req’d) keep cooing how lovely it is under their thumb (= boots / whip). But it’s not. Wherever I go I talk to people about business. How are things with you? Rubbish is the answer. And the poor old population have discovered that brown has picked their pockets to such a degree that they have to pull in their (spending) horns. Hmm. brown is slightly to the left of Stalin and refuses to understand (didn ‘e go twa uni, then, wozzit?) that the private sector makes money. The public sector makes nothing but spends money (in a disgustingly wasteful and inefficient way) stolen from the private sector and the people. So if you screw the private sector and the people - you’ve just screwed yourself.

There is NO EXAMPLE anywhere in the world of the public sector running anything more efficiently than the private sector. Governments should neither own nor run things, they should do simple things like Defence of the Realm (first priority for any National Government) and organise things for the private sector to run for the satisfaction of the people. Anyone (with names starting with ‘b’ spring to mind) who doesn’t understand this is acting against the interests of the Nation’s Citizens.

How much longer will people put up with the wilfull destruction of their Nation, their economy and their lives? Answers on a used bank note please (Note public-sector approach to this issue. If you won’t send me a bank note - why agree to have it stolen from you by a Labour apparatchik?)

I can’t bear seeing my Nation destroyed.

So, hi there Julianna - please look at the web site www.in-miniature.com (no click-link on this blog I’m afraid) and order a small something. Even if you have no Dolls House you might keep it on your desk, on your bookshelf, wherever. We’d like to send it to you (free, of course) so you have a special memory of all the people who care for you. Or mail me at windsor@power-base.co.uk because you’re wrapped in care.

For the rest of us? Excellence is not an act, but a habit. Lift your personal standards and you lift your mental approach to your life. For a start, never go out wearing dirty shoes. Even if you are going to dig a ditch - you can start off with clean boots. Then work your way up from there. Nothing does more for your confidence and self-esteem than knowing that how you look and how you work makes a statement about who you really are. Have a peaceful night and a valuable tomorrow - Dad

Well, Henry’s blog lit a few rockets. I think he’s right in princple - the problem is the reality. By the way, I spent a very character-forming year in a Sanatorium with TB which was, indeed, known as ‘consumption’. The wasting and debiltating effect of TB is about equal to the similar effects of consumption today.

We face a huge problem. The planning assumptions made following the second world war REQUIRE people to use a car because the living / working / shopping / pleasure areas have been deliberately kept apart. Imagine a nice, decent, married couple with two kids. An image that should be standard for our country. It is simply IMPOSSIBLE for them to go to work; take kids to school and bring them back; take them to ‘clubs’ or hobbies; shop at the supermarket without the independent flexibility of a car. It can’t be done by public transport. They have no bxxxxy choice. So to make an alternative model work we have to overcome 50 years of planning assumptions. Can’t be done in an afternoon.

Alternative energy forms are a good idea. Biomass is good stuff. Wind farms are stupid, gross and destroy the environment. Anyway, when the wind won’t blow - or blows too much - back-up capacity is needed so the whole thing’s useless.

O’Mally is right to seek a slower pace - as has Prince Charles. Somehow we have to think the unthinkable and make a paradigm shift of how we live. Work within walking distance. Shop at the end of the road. Holiday nearby. So how can we achieve that objective?

Today’s thought? You know many people are worse off than you are. But that doesn’t lessen the pain you feel. Pluck a small blossom from today - a smile from a stranger, a joke with a shopkeeper, a moment’s chat with a neighbour - and remember how lucky you are. Love to you all - Dad

Thanks for unmasking yourself as the ’secret Trouty’. I hope that my explanation has reassured you of my sanity!! Dad

Sunshine and more Eva Cassidy. I can’t seem to get out of my downbeat mental groove. Pig miserable old grouch.

Why does the world never learn? Obscenity in London, in Iraq, in Palestine / Gaza, in Northern Ireland. Man’s obscenity to man. That’s bad enough, but for any man to offer obscenity to a woman or a child is gross beyond belief. Every ‘man’ with those testicular hanging lumps should move AT ONCE to protect and shield any and every woman or child from any harm. Anyway you look at it, it’s getting worse. Now the Muslims want to blank out remembrance of the extreme obscenity offered to the Jews in the Holocaust. Six plus million decent, ordinary, normal people wiped out brutally. But ‘religion’ demands that that utterly gross and extreme act be subsumed. Why should Muslims imagine that trying to force me to forget obscenity on a massive scale will make me think better of them? I struggle to maintain a balance in my views of people. But some make it almost impossible for me.

The only surprise about N.Ireland is that it took until now to happen. The IRA and their political twin sister are barbarian terrorists. What on earth is our unloved and pathetic el-presidente doing giving in and giving in and giving in to terrorists? Letting murderers out of jail who should have been hanged or shot. Throwing away noble Irish Army Regiments. Forcing the Police Force to its knees. No wonder London was bombed because blair has so many levels of craven lack of belief he’s a caricature.

So moving on - thanks to Julianna because I am now equal with my wife whose teeny-tiny gardens have been described as ‘awesome’ by people in the US of A. Now you think I’m awesome. My wife and I are quits!! You are doing what I asked you to do, aren’t you? Answer on a used bank note please.

We’re delving into the mysteries of laser-cut plant leaves and other exciting discoveries. Cor blimey, Guv’nor.

Continuing sanity requires a Plan B. Yesterday has gone - wallop. Tomorrow is a fresh page. All we have is the here-and-now. So from time to time the wheels will come off tomorrow. Time for Plan B. Love to you all - Dad

Warm, muggy and occasional rain today. More Eva Cassidy. I’ve been helping Herself with her teeny-tiny stuff and am trying to design a dolls house sized DIY dog kennel with my new CAD CAM software. This way madness lies. But I’ll (gibber, gibber) do it (honest, Guvnor) if it kills me (but not today, please) wozit. I’m thinking of taking up brain surgery as a softer option.

Julianna - you’re serene and wonderful, bringing quiet joy to so many people. Look in that mirror, girl, and know that so many people are rooting for you. Let’s both have an objective for the week to come. This weekend will be tranquil and quiet. By next Friday we will both have achieved one important thing each day. And having done so, will allow ourselves a lift of our spirit and the knowledge that others are silently wishing us both well.

The doubtful-trouty has not so far identified himslef to me. Well, life seems to include perverts and other human dross. Look, foul person, you sought to cause a rift betwixt me and the Real and Redoubtable Trouty (to whom I send much love). So put your person where your slurred finger-tapping was and meet me. OK, prat? Or have you no nether appendages possessed by most men?

Meanwhile there’s a conflux of stimultaion here. F1 to which we are both addicted - manic manufacture of teent-tiny garden stuff being bought by the bargeload - creative preparation for an Autumn series of Training Courses I have to deliver - and on, and on. Phew.

I can’t wait for lunch.

Why not win one new friend each day next week. Not necessarily someone to invite for dinner, but just someone who will smile when they next meet you. We can do that. With my love - Dad

Deepest Dorset - a sea-fog this morning - a full-sun day just now. Playing Eva Cassidy again.
So thank you all for your kind thoughts. They lifted me.

Dear Trouty - thank you for telling me it wasn’t you. Will the spoof trouty (no capital T needed) please advise me of the date / time / location of his (because it would never be a ‘her’) arrival in Poole so that the small group of over-excited guys with the blunt instruments can meet you. Or - worse - me. You toad. I bet you haven’t the bxxxx to meet me, have you? You pitiful sod.

Well, things aren’t going too well. Herself has small delights and some problems. I’m crushed under a burden of distress today. Hence Eva Cassidy.

My friends have moved to a new house. He and their son are delighted - she is destroyed by leaving the last house to which she was wedded. How the Hell can I help her?

I’m trying to get Europe (that lot of peasants over the water) linked together in a Training Site. What? Seriously hopeless. So why should I try? Answers on a used bank note please.

I don’t think I should be doing this. BUT - you are what you are seen to be. Dress for the image you want to convey or the next job you want to get. Cheers all - Dad