Groundhog Day

Today’s photo is of Poundland in scenic Walsall. I went to Walsall art gallery last week. I think I’ll try to find somewhere less depressing to go today. It is Groundhog Day of course. The film by that name is 21 years old.

That was art copying life. Every morning when I wake up it seems like the same old thing will happen all over again. Most people in the Black Country live boring, mundane lives. The highlight of the week is often a visit to Poundland and many people can’t even afford that.

Flog ‘em

Michael Gove has been on about trouble in schools. He’s not on about Eton and Harrow is he? He’s on about schools around here where boys go to school with no breakfast, share a bedroom with their sister because of the bedroom tax and feel it’s the last straw when someone tries to nick one of their Poundland pencils. Michael Gove wants ‘traditional’ punishments for such behaviour as shoving a Poundland pencil into another students orifice. They should be kept after class and made to pick up litter in the playground or clean dining halls; according to Michael Gove. I’m surprised he isn’t in favour of bare-arsed flogging. Most Tories still enjoy that well into adulthood. They employ a dominatrix especially for the job.

German Beer

German beer has to be made in accordance to a ‘purity law’.  It must contain only malt, hops, yeast and water passed by the government. Sales of German beer are down by 8.6% across Europe. Austerity has finally made Europeans wake up to the fact that there are alternatives to German pilsner lager. I think Britain should take advantage of this opportunity and have a export drive for our beer. I must admit though, that most beer here has taken a turn for the worst. It’s cold, tasteless and fizzy, just like the German stuff now. Well, maybe not quite that bad. Walsall still has the Highgate brewery, maybe it’s time to revive the brand. Highgate Mild, cask conditioned; it would be a shock to their taste buds.

Dogma

David Cameron took the President of France for a pub lunch. Someone on Twitter joked that Cameron had the special and Hollande had the waitress.  His ex, Valérie Trierweiler has gone to India on a charity junket. Nothing like a free holiday in the sun to get over a failed relationship. The question that no one asked about that trip to the pub was; did they drink British beer, German beer or French wine? They are quite used to horse meat in France and so the Tesco beef burgers with chips could have been washed down a nice stable British beer like Dogma from Brewdog. That’s one they would both be familiar with.

Facebook

It was my birthday yesterday. Birthdays are a Facebook event now. People around the world wished me happy birthday. I had a good day, there were so many candles on the cake this year; I turned the heating off… I had that joke left over…

I won’t say how old I am, but I have to go and have a scan on my aorta next week just to make sure a aortic embolism doesn’t finish me off before my next birthday.

Photography

The sun’s still shining and so I might have a chance of taking some photos this afternoon. My camera actually shoots HD video too, so I would like to shoot some video this year. I could compare the more scenic spots in the Black Country to the ones that have suffered municipal vandalism. Despite austerity, the council can still afford to introduce 15 MPH speed limits everywhere and spend millions on white lines, mini roundabouts and speed jumps. The councils do more damage than the graffiti artists. I suppose every cloud has  a silver lining, at least it keeps some of the tourists out. There was a queue of traffic near Junction 9 of the M6 last week. There should be a law against one day sales. Bloody Ikea are always bringing Junction 9 to a standstill. If they had a month long sale, say January; they would sell more stuff. They’re Swedish though. Blondes aren’t known for their brains are they?

Do you have thoughts going around in your head or are you a Tory voter? If you have a thought, please share it in the comments box. You can also follow me on Twitter.  Anyway, it’s Groundhog Day and I want to do something different…