Proxy rant

 Good morning. 

As I have mentioned before, Charlie Veitch is a Citizens Journalist. He travels the country reporting on what he sees, and what he finds. He puts his own personal slant on the current situation. This video has just resurfaced from 12 years ago. Rest in Peace Ann. 

Charlie's latest offering has garnered 48,000 views. He asks a question. Are you as angry as I am? In reply to that, Charlie, yes I am. You can watch his mega rant here.

I am able to control my anger at what I see around me. My frustration builds up, why don't people get it, but whatever I say will not change anything. So, I choose this as my proxy rant.

I had planned on going out today, but the event I had in mind was something I have been to before. I don't fancy driving to Doncaster in the heat, so I will have a walkabout locally. I have two cats which are getting on in years, so I want to give them my attention, and enjoy my garden.

Thanks for popping in. Enjoy your Sunday. Toodle pip.   ilona

Getting back to normal

It wasn't quite so hot today so I was able to go out and do some litter picking. I need to keep busy. Having missed about two weeks, I knew that rubbish would have started to pile up again. I picked at two different locations on the Industrial Estate. 

Working underneath the trees gave me some shade. First I went down the whole length of this path and pulled out all the litter. Lots of bottles and cans as usual. This is where the factory workers walk, cycle, and scooter between work and home. It is two weeks since I was last here, it really needs checking weekly. 

Total haul two red bags, and 17 glass bottles. Dropped in my usual place awaiting the Council to come and collect. 

Now I am feeling a bit tired. 

Thank you for your comments. Trying to get back to normal. 

Too many people dying at the moment. Most disconcerting. 

See you soon.   Toodle pip.   ilona

Goodbye Sis.

My sister Anna Maria, passed away this afternoon in St Giles Hospice near Lichfield. She was 72. She has been having cancer treatment for almost a year. It came as a shock to me as I didn't find out about it until earlier this year. She stopped communicating with me for three and a half years. Thankfully we were able to put our past differences behind us over the last few months. 

This is why I keep saying, don't be cruel, don't be hateful, don't be a bully, There is nothing to be gained by taking your anger with you to the grave. My sister badly misjudged the situation. I hope she has found peace. 

Thank you for your comments. 

Have a good weekend.    ilona
 

Waiting

 Good morning

It is Friday. 

Thank you for your comments. I will not be publishing them, they are personal to me. 

Now it is a waiting game. In limbo. Waiting for news. 

Sorry, this is cryptic. 

I see that Ann Widdecombe has passed away. Very sad. A true patriot.

Looks like another hot day. This limits what I can do outside. 

Have a good day.

ilona

Emotional

 Good morning

Just briefly. . . .My head is not in the mood for blogging. 

Having a short break. 

Need to step away. 

Great sadness within my family.

Need to gather my thoughts. 

Back soon.

ilona

New media - old media.

Good morning.

It is Tuesday and the sun is shining.

I am seeing several videos that are talking about the same topic as Andy is talking about here. There is a consultation going on within Government about what news related channels we should be allowed to see. The controlling of the masses rumbles on and on. 

The Government, any Government, are looking at powers to suppress free speech, and push us all towards their state approved narrative. Yoootooob content creators are being stripped of their algorithms, and are being pushed further down your list of suggested videos. For some creators that will mean their business will shrink, fewer views, less income. 

Join the dots and you will see why this is happening. Andy explains, in his easy to follow narrative. You can read the transcript as he is speaking. 

The UK Government is considering new media rules that could force platforms like YouTube to give establishment broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 a privileged position in search results and recommendation feeds.

That means independent creators could be pushed down, hidden from viewers and made harder to discover — even when people have actively chosen to subscribe to them. But when the Government starts deciding which media organisations deserve to be seen first, we are no longer dealing with a free marketplace of ideas. We are dealing with a managed information system.

Daniel, the Black Belt Barrister also covers this subject. 

So why are they doing this? Obvious. The richest 1% are on a mission to control everything. If you are keeping up you will know why. 

Thanks for popping in. Now I have things to do. 

Look after yourselves. Toodle pip.   ilona

How many cans in the bag?

Hello.

This video was uploading while I was at Crafty Club this morning. It shows the extent of the littering I was about to tackle at the Football Ground yesterday. 

First pull out all the cans from underneath the trees. Today I only want the cans. 

Then start filling the trolley. There are 100 cans in this photo. Yes, I counted every one. 

There are 200 cans in this photo. Not full yet. 

Now the bag is full. Guess how many cans. I struggled to tie up the top. 

Then I added the one bag to the other three I picked on Friday. 

I am now using these labels to confirm that this is not fly tipping. The Council will come and collect these, today or tomorrow. 

I may not go back to the Football Ground for the rest of the litter. It is hard work to bend down low and scramble underneath the branches. A long reach picker stick is needed and I haven't got one. 

Monday afternoon and it is warm and sunny. A Billy dog walk for later when it has cooled down a bit. 

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

No pride

 The aftermath. 

Catch ya later. Toodle pip.  ilona

Let's go to Winterton Show

Good morning. It is Sunday. 

The weather today will be cloudy and windy, so says my computer. It was very windy yesterday when I drove to Roxby village and left my car there, to walk to Winterton Show. It's a four mile circular walk along open fields. Very pleasant it was too. 

I spent a couple of hours there. Didn't take many photo's because I have seen it all before. 

Here is a post from July 2024. Lots of photo's there. 

And July 2025 I see the entrance fee has gone from £10 to £15 this year. 

And July 2022. 

That's a natty little kitchen at the back of a tiny pod, pulled along by a gorgeous trike. 

Decorated floats circumnavigate the ring. Give the kids a wave. They are loving it. 

Out of the wind inside the big tents. It was very hot under cover. I thought about taking a stand in the craft tent. I'm glad I didn't, it was stifling in there. 

The wind was still raging as I walked back to the car. I met a dog walker and we agreed how nice and warm it was, even with a breeze. 

I don't think I need to go again next year. I am running out of new places to visit within half an hour from home. 

Enjoy your Sunday. Toodle pip.   ilona

Stop and breath

 Good morning.

Someone put a report in on the UK Litter Picking page. They have been monitoring two laybys on the A453 in North Leicestershire, for two years. They have taken photographs and gathered video evidence of the litter problem there. Over that time they have contacted every environmental agency and every authority they can think of to come and sort the problem out. This has led to a lot of dead ends where no one is interested. The litter picker has reached the end of her tether, she feels that she has exhausted every avenue available to her, and is about to give up. I sense the despair in her lengthy report on this situation. 

The hardest thing to do is stay motivated when everything seems to be against you. I should know all about that. The messages you pick up are telling you to give up. To stop. But you carry on in the hope that it will all come right in the end. The obvious is staring you in the face. Life would be so much easier if you just gave up and settled for a less meaningful life. Where you just got on with doing what everyone else was doing. Just throw the litter down and add to the pile. Walk away from it, not your problem. 

I didn't walk away from lorry driving. I stuck with it, and in the end it did work out well. But not everyone has my resolve. Women did give up when it all became too much. Everyone has their breaking point. How much anger, conflict, and misery can you take before you eventually crack and say, I'm out of here. 

Self belief has a lot to do with it. In any situation you can only give as much as you have in reserve to see you through to the end. When the tank is empty you stop giving. Oh, you can try to push on further through the barrier which is screaming you to stop. With each push you become weaker. The end will come when your world totally collapses and you drive yourself towards insanity. 

This has happened to me when I have endeavoured to make relationships work. I stuck with it, but only for a certain length of time. Eventually I knew it was never going to work. Then it was time to move on, to save my sanity. 

To the lady who has been struggling to tidy up the layby's, to anyone who is stuck at a dead end in their life, to anyone who is on the wrong track, there is nothing more important than your own mental and physical health. It would be nice if everything we ever did ended in success. We can try our best, we can change direction, but there will come a time when we need to stop and breath. Every morning is the start of a brand new day. Embrace that feeling. 

Enjoy your weekend.  Toodle pip. ilona 

The easy option.

I was in the mood for litter picking today. I had my eye on the grottiest spot you have ever seen. Thought I might give it a go. There is a big car park at the Football Stadium, and along one side of it underneath a row of trees, there is humungus amounts of litter and fly tipping. I noticed it last week when I was there so I thought I might make a start on it. 

I parked my car and did a walk around the whole perimeter to see what the rest of it is like. I decided not to tackle that awful mess today, and found enough litter along this edge with easier access, to fill three bags. There is my car, the trolley is out, and I started by pulling all the rubbish out first. 

Someone from the Football Ground stopped his car to thank me for tidying up. I said the litter is much worse underneath the line of trees around the corner. He said that the car park has been sold. They will be building houses on it. I think that will be a long way off, so I will keep it in mind to at least make a start on picking some of the litter up.  

Funny what you find. Right next door to the Football Ground are lots of fast food takeaway establishments. Someone obviously didn't like the look of their sausages. 

I thought about dropping my bags off next to four wheelie bins by the layby just before the motorway roundabout. I checked it out first. Oh my goodness, the whole area was covered in litter, and the bins were less that half full. No time to pick it up. I decided not to add to the mess that was already there. 

And so I dropped my bags off at my usual place, where I know they will be collected by the Council. 

Have a good weekend. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

I'm still here.

 Good evening.

You may have noticed that I recently published a nasty comment, someone calling me arrogant. I've been called worse. I publish if I have a reply, or delete when I can't be bothered. I delete a lot more comments that you don't see. 

There really is no point in trying to get through to trolls. Their whole world revolves around punching someone in the face. Their aim is to inflict hurt and pain on their victim. When you retaliate that gives them even more ammunition to twist the knife. 

Some people are pretty screwed up. They are at the mercy of their genes, and their upbringing. It doesn't matter how much you try and engage with one of these anonymous  people, their sole intention is to bring you down. They may never give up, spiting their vitriol for the rest of their lives. What a sad life they must have. 

If I do publish one of these nasty comments, the last thing I want is for others to jump to my defence. While I appreciate the support, that only exacerbates the situation. I can fight my own battles if need be. Nasty comments bounce right off me. My zest for life will never fade. Come back next week, next month, next year, I'll still be here. 

Remember when Papillon, Steve McQueen, jumped off a rock into the sea, and floated away? The last words he said, 'I'm still here'.  A cracking good film. 

Thank you for reading my blog and watching my videos.

Toodle pip.   ilona

My home town

Gooooodie morning. Did you notice I was missing yesterday. I went to visit family in Burton upon Trent. It is 6 months since I was last there, so it was about time. After lots of chat, I took time out to do a walkabout, and take a few snaps before heading north and back home. . 

I parked my car at Stapenhill Gardens. and walked over the Ferry Bridge. Swans and ducks in abundance. 

The bridge comes out in town, at the Technical College and market Place. 

I walked down the High Street, it all looks pretty much the same as any High street. Nothing to interest me. There is a new blot on the landscape. Where there used to be a bowling alley, and a nightclub, and a shopping arcade, there now stands a big housing complex of what I would call blocks of flats for rent, and a few mews houses to buy. Small boxes in a very busy and noisy part at the main junction through Burton. 

My circular walk took me back across the river over the old road bridge. I noticed that a lot of new paths have been laid out in the washlands area. Very nice walking when it is a sunny day, but they will be completely inaccessible during the winter months when the river frequently floods. 

Heading back up Stapenhill Road, I decided to have a bimble around the Cemetery. It is a pleasantly quiet area to relax before my two hour drive home. The traffic was building up at that time, so if I delayed my journey, hopefully it would be clear in an hour. And it was. 

Here is a link to my blog post of August 2024. Pictures of the gardens, and a video of the cemetery. 

This time I took a few photo's, mostly of very old gravestones which have not been tended to for a long time. The contrast has been pumped up to accentuate the difference between light and dark. 

 

I wonder how much longer this leaning tree will stay upright. It looks like an amputation has already taken place. 

The following three photo's have been massively tweaked with contrast and saturation. 

As you can see from the map it is huge. I didn't walk right to the very top end, maybe next time. 

Time to head back. The roads were all clear, A38 northbound, bypassing Derby, and joining the M1 northbound at Junction 28. 

Very windy here today. dry so far, and still quite warm.

Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona

Tidying the grot spot

Help. I am running out of time. This will be a quick one. I managed to squeeze in an hour of litter picking this afternoon, at the Industrial Estate, on the way to Aldi. I took a sandwich with me because I knew I would have to eat. Get the chair out and have a break half way through the job. 

I was at the grot spot, that was first cleared by the Scunthorpe group pickers. It's two weeks since I was last here. It's going to need regular monitoring as it's a busy path that people walk between work and home. I could have easily filled a second red bag but didn't have time, so I used two smaller bags, and filled a carrier bag with glass bottles. Close by is this red litter bin so this is where I left my bags. 

Now it's time to go to bed. Thanks for popping in. Toodle pip.   ilona