running?

Having once again managed to finish the great north run I am in a state of great stiffness but feeling pleased with myself.
People often ask me how I achieve such commendable style and speed in my running (well, ok they don't but they could if they wanted to).
It's all down to a lifetime of living life on the edge and never having a moment to spare. I don't actually run at all, what i do is fall continually and constantly manage to get a leg out in time to save me from complete collapse.
But seriously, The run (and others like it) at a great social occasion and I always meet and chat with some great and inspirational characters from the teams running for a massive charity to the individual running to give themselves an achievement or to show the world that they are not beaten.
It was never truer that it isn't about winning, it's about taking part.

give a little whistle

Just the other day, whilst enjoying some very un-British sun, I got wolf whistled!
The whistler then shouted that I had nice legs lol.
Now, OK. this was all a joke, probably a dare but it made me feel good.
No big deal to many of my friends because I'm sure they are frequently desired but (and this is how genuinely sad I am)I haven't been wolf whistled since 1996 (it was October on Headingley Lane in Leeds at about 16:30 for some reason I don't recall the day).
I felt good for two reasons.
1. in the pretend area of my brain someone noticed and liked what they saw
2. By parading around in my shorts I brought a little fun into someones day.

I thanked the young lady and proceeded with my day a happier person (see it takes very little to make me happy)

Big brother wants me to relax

I suppose I always thought the government was a bit faceless but I'm now starting to think big brother is indeed watching me and that my benign big brother is concerned about me overdoing it in the work department.

I have spent the last year or so trying to do as much over time as possible in order to pay the bills and buy important stuff (like food and clothes) for the kids.
Unfortunately my hard work has pushed my earnings over the qualification bar for tax credits (a government payment to people on a low income) and, I now find that our household income is £12 A YEAR over the maximum income for two of the girls to get full Educational maintainance allowance (paid to young people 16 -19 who stay in education if the household income is low). The net result then of our hard work is:
Approx gain in income = £1200
Approx loss in income = £5400

The message from Big brother is clear

'don't work to hard, take it easy, we will look after you'

so thank you big brother!

oh, just one problem, we have to get through this year without the government help and make sure our income is low because the benefits ar ebased on the previous tax year

Stalkers?

those who know me will confirm that stalking is a thing close to my cold, amphibian heart.
I leapt at the chance to use this facebook application http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fapps.facebook.com%2Fstalkercheck%2F&h=30724749cf8123699d1370ef92c78c7f which tells me who my biggest stalkers are, I'm not sure it's entirely accurate because it works from interactions and excludes page views (you know when you sit for hours just staring at someone's profile picture) and it doesn't include private messages (100 a day just to say I think you're wonderful). It also enables me to see who is 'stalking' my friends but as it needs their permission to access their data I believe that even less.

Anyway,due to the above, I'm not sure it's really about stalking but I do think it gives some indication of who actually interacts with me and it also shows (and I intend no disrespect to Geri who has held the #1 spot on my list for a while) who has to much time on their hands to hang around on facebook

tell me more

You may (or may not) have noticed that I have a feed from Twitter in my side bar. If you have noticed this then you will also have noticed that some of the tweets make very little sense. I am putting a link to this post below the tweet feed so that people can come straight here if they want to know more about any of my tweets or ask me questions.

lasting love

at the library we give out a free paper called the Mature Times aimed at our slightly older customers.
Here is a copy of an appeal from the latest edition from a Mrs Kathleen Adcock (nee Ainsworth)

"During the war I fell in love with a young man called Stanley Wild and he fell in love with me. He asked me to marry him and I said 'yes' with all my heart. But then his letters to me stopped. I discovered that my grandmother, with whom I lived, had kept them. She didn't want me to move to London away from her. It broke my heart.

I lost touch with him - and ever since I have carried a burden. I wanted to explain to him what happened. I am now in my early 80's and he would be several years older than me. But I do so want to tell him 'sorry' can any readers help me? [a picture is inserted in the article but i can't show it here].
I know he was in the royal engineers and lived just south of the river in London".

I felt that this story deserved a wide readership and who knows, someone might know something so please link to this so that lots of people see it and if you do know something e-mail admin@maturetimes.co.uk