driving without brakes

So as I was saying what seems like years ago when things were a little bleaker. I was apologising for a drunken whinge and still struggling to get over football injury. Well how time heals etc etc. I'm back to near full fitness and playing again and the things that were troubling me are now well and truly behind. I've re-entered the housing market and should be moving this weekend but it's not going to happen because my solicitor isn't ready. So I'm sitting here this morning waiting for some furniture to arrive and will try to cram it in to my already crammed rental. Anyway the reason why I'm back here is the forthcoming election. Now I'm a dyed in the wool Labour supporter in my younger days during the reign of Baroness Barmy I was pretty active, you know usual stuff marches, protests etc. Even spent my Saturday mornings selling the Militant newspaper fighting over 'our turf' with the Socialist Worker brigade. I gradually lost the energy to keep it going but remained a Labour voter and have voted for them in every general and local election since. I've always had the opinion that Tory's are odious tossers and capitalist pigs generally out to get as much for themselves at the expense of anything else. And they read the Daily Mail, which is a jailing offence in itself. However, the lines between good (Labour) and evil (Tory) have become blurred over time and a great part of the blame for this rests with President Blair who seems hell bent in destroying just about all the ideals that Labour stands for. We now have a situation in the UK where there is so little difference between the policies of the major parties that elections are being fought over sensational issues. Gone are the days when the Tory's would announce 'Vote for us and we'll cut your taxes and make you all rich' and Labour would counter with 'Vote for us we'll look after the most vulnerable of you'. While the Liberals would sit in the corner and try not to make any noise. This I think leaves us in a very dangerous position, as politicians now have to dream up ways to capture our vote. And this eventually leads me to my point. We're in the run up to another Labour victory (despite the rantings of the Mail and Express) and the usual rhetoric is spewing forth from people we would rather not sit next to on the bus. But over the past week very quietly statements have been made which are quite frankly alarming. First Michael Howard (surely a child molester in a previous life) announces that he'llabolish the human rights act to deal with 'illegal' travellers. I'll just let you think about that for a second. Ok ready to go on? Then we hear from Labour that they are thinking of passing a law, which means that if you have a mental illness you can be incarcerated regardless of whether you have committed a crime. So that?s abolishing human rights and locking up the innocent without charge but only for certain minority groups. Now is it just me or does this sound horribly familiar. I'm sure that there was a little Austrian around who managed to persuade a whole nation that this was the right thing to do and we all know what happened there don't we. I'm not suggesting that we'll soon see hoards of gypsy's, disabled and left-handed people rounded up and taken away for a train ride. But isn't it odd that this hasn't resulted in mass outrage. Haven't got laws in place already to deal with illegal trespass whether you are a traveller or not and I'm sure we have something called the 'mental health act' to deal with those who require medical help. Soon we'll have identity cards because it'll stop terrorists, yes of course it will. No don't scoff at the back it will it definitely will. Does anyone really believe that's the reason? God forbid that we start to throw people in jail because they come from a county that the Bush administration deems to be evil, or hold children in prison camps while we decide if they are genuine asylum seekers. Oh hang on we already do that.

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I'm really very sorry about previous entry that's what two bottles of wine can do for you I guess. Just to emphasise that all isn't hopeless my current lovely girlfriend returns from Kenya tomorrow and my football team had a great win in the cup on Saturday. Best of all I was feeling fit enough to name myself as sub. Woo Hoo.

I'm actually going to delete last entry.

Keep cool

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Since the untimely and tragic death of the great man earlier this week I've been trying to get something down that would convey my thoughts. A poem or piece of prose maybe reflecting on his influence on my musical tastes over the past three decades. Unfortunately my puny brain couldn't come up with anything remotely close enough to how I felt. So instead I thought I'd just write about the time I met him, or was at the same gig at least. A few years ago I went to London with some mates to see The Wedding Present and decided to make a weekend of it wit the idea that Friday would be a night out before Saturday's gig. However, we discovered that Half Man Half Biscuit were playing in Camden on Friday so we all trooped up to see them. It was a top gig I had heard them on John Peels show (obviously) he played a track called 'All I Want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague Away Kit' a wonderful homage to the world of Subbuteo. I loved them immediately and still to this day. Anyway the gig was brilliant and this was made more so by the presence of Peelie. When the lights came up at the end he was surrounded by people looking for autographs and thrusting tapes in his hand for him to listen to. Not only did he take each tape but took down a phone number just in case he needed to get back in touch with any aspiring rock star. He chatted vaguely and humorously for ages after effortlessly batting away declarations from over excited girl students with easy self-deprecation. I managed to ask him if he had enjoyed the gig to which he replied 'Of course impossible not to'. I've been listening to his show since the mid seventies, he introduced me to Joy Division, The Fall, Buzzcocks, New Order, The Smiths, Wedding Present, Cinerama, Bell & Sebastian, Camera Obscura and hundreds of others. I cried when he announced the death of Ian Curtis and he was crying too, following the news by playing 'Atmosphere' which even today stands out as one of the most terrifyingly sad tunes of all time. He always looked for new directions and constructed his show around brave choices. Sometimes playing the same song back to back because he liked it so much or putting on a track that he hadn't previously listened to so the first time you heard it was also the first time he did. The point was it was always about music even when he played 10 minutes of industrial German trance at the wrong speed. Andy Parfitt, the controller of radio One, said this week that it was impossible to think of him not being there any longer. John Peel an irreplaceable, influential, curmudgeon and gentleman. A broadcaster of true genius and above all a human being.

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A short update on my football injury. On Saturday I went back to the hospital to find out what else had been noticed from the x ray and wish I hadn't. Apart from ligament damage I've snapped a tendon which in turn has pulled a chip of bone off my ankle. Great! Cue a very unhappy bunny over the weekend as I contemplated hobbling about for weeks with the prospect of an operation after the swelling and bruising have gone. To say I'm a tad cheesed off is an understatement. I missed our game on Saturday and Sunday as I tried to rest my useless appendage. The high light of the weekend was my team mates ringing from the pub sunday afternoon to ask if I wanted to go down there. I'm mortified to say that I couldn't be bothered. I'm such a miserable b*stard when I'm not 100%. So I'm consoling myself with my pc and the thought of the Wales v England game on Saturday coming. I'm sooooooo excited about this but more closer to the day about that.

Keep cool ya all

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I've been playing organised football since I was 14 and am now in my 27th season. Hence my knees are those belonging to 70 year old and I carry the odd war wound around the funniest of which is my wonky little finger broken once while trying desperately to stop a goal bound shot going in (and I got sent off as well). Anyhow this season I'm player manager which up to now has been more manager. In midweek we play in a six a side competition which I regularly play in to help keep match fit etc etc. This Tues we were playing and winning as usual when during our 3rd game of the night I went to challenge for a high ball (no mean feat when you're my height) and landed like a new born deer. My ankle felt like someone had set off a minor explosion and try as I might to stand I kept falling over. After a bit of prodding and pulling my sympathetic team mates picked me up and deposited me at the side of the pitch rather than play around me. After a night of ice packs around the now tennis ball sized ankle I went to bed safe in the knowledge that in the morning it would be sore and nothing more. Wednesday arrived to more pain and the inability to stand so a day in casualty beckoned with my mum who had decided to come and keep me company continually harping on about my age and kids games etc. A lifetime later I'm relieved to find out that there is no break but only ligament damage. Only! So I'm strapped up with the instruction to rest and take pain killers. I asked if I could still drive to work the doctor said no, the nurse later said yes so I've been doing so since. Today I even managed to ditch the crutches they gave me by only putting weight on the back on my heel. Happy days and I'm almost normal again. Then horror, I got home to a letter from the hospital asking me to go back in after a 'review of the x-ray'. So I guess I'll go back tomorrow morning when hopefully it'll be quiet. Wit a bit of luck the x -ray has hi-lighted what great bone structure I have and they want me for 'patient number 3' in an episode of Holby City     

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I'm back from staring morosely at a blank sheet of paper and now happily am able to scribble again. It may not be very good or amount to anything but it is mine and that's always been the point really. I've sort of promised myself that my cruelly neglected journal will receive some tlc and I'm going to attempt to smash my world record of posting at least 12 items of poetry or shorts on a board near you over the next few weeks. Well that's all I ave to say right now *blinks furiously in the spotlight and moves to get off stage*. I hope to hear from you all very soon. In the meantime do something today that makes someone you know smile with pleasure

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