~This Is England...Just Don't Tell Anyone~

Today saw Birmingham's St Patrick's Day parade.

I was going to go this year, but work made sure that I didn't.

St Patricks Day is quite an occasion here in the UK, with pretty much every pub doing the obligatory 'Guinness' promotion.

It's quite an occasion in Ireland too, I'd wager.

Just as St Andrew's day is a big deal in Scotland and St David's day is a big deal in Wales.

Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for St George's Day here in England.

Somehow, we have allowed the situation to arise where it is acceptable to be proud of one's Scottishness, Welshness of Irishness, but decalring yourelf as 'English' is frowned upon and the declarer deemed to be a rabid racist of the worst order.

If you are 'English', then one has to be 'British' in order to be politically correct.

The last few years HAVE seen a few St George's Day parades, but these seem to be discouraged at every turn by whichever local authority is in charge.

My local council have refused to grant a licence to hold the Sandwell St George's Day parade this year, their excuse being that the British National Party were distributing leaflets at last year's event.

I'm in no way a supporter of the BNP, but they are a legitimate political party who have every right to dostribute leaflets if they want to. I don't agree with them, but I agree with their right to free speech.

Everyone is equal, after all.......

Unless you happen to be English......

And have the audacity to actually live in England.....


TODAY'S MOOD: Disliking double standards.

SOUNDTRACK: The Clash - 'This Is England'

Even the slideshow put together for this video seems to mistake 'British' and 'English'.



FOOTNOTE: I am an Englishman, Wednesbury born....

The Victimised Groover

~Time For A Change Of Emphasis?~

Maggsworld left a comment on my ~Getting Real~ post a couple of screens down the page.

It went thus;

"The self reflection is a good and necessary thing for growth. Just do what you need to do for you. One day at a time. No-one else is living your life except you and if the configuration feels wrong then do your personal gap analysis and change it. Maggs."

Food for thought indeed......

My act of impetuity on Saturday was to drive up to Fleetwood in Lancashire and sit on the sea-front eating fish & chips whist gazing across the Irish Sea, pondering where I was, how I'd got here and where the hell I was going to. Eventually, I moved a few miles south to Blackpool, did more of the same, quaffed several pints of Guinness and stayed over in a B&B for the night.

I've always had a tendancy to put the feelings and needs of other people before my own. It's a hard habit to get out of. The trouble is, I've allowed it to permeate pretty much every aspect of my life, to the extent where I feel that I no longer have any real control of it.

I've always got someone else to put first, someone else who needs X or Y doing before I can do anything for myself.

Quite an acheivement for a separated guy who lives on his own!!

Yes, that includes clients sometimes too and yes, it's my own bloody fault for being such a soft touch and not setting proper boundaries.

"No-one else is living your life except you"

Maybe I ought to carve that on the back of my hand, as a constant reminder to myself?


TODAY'S MOOD: Introverted

SOUNDTRACK: Bobby Brown - 'On Our Own'

I guess we're going to have to take control.........



FOOTNOTE: I love Ghostbusters I and II....two of my favourite films, in fact :-)

The Needs-To-Think-Of-Number-One-More Groover

~Impetuous~

Being of a Taurean disposition, I am not known for acts of spontinaety.

However, yesterday I did just that.

I turned right instead of left after leaving the gym and ended up almost 200 miles away on the West coast.

I did a bit of soul-searching and came to a few conclusions.

One of them being that you can still love someone, no matter what fate has in store for you.


TONIGHT'S MOOD: Old

SOUNDTRACK: Appleton - 'Don't Worry'

Not the original video, I couldn't find one with the embedding enabled, but a beautiful song....



FOOTNOTE: It was a bit nippy up north yesterday.

The Impetuous Groover

~Getting Real?~

CYBER LIFE;

Some of you may have noticed that Carla has been busy 'reducing her cyber-footprint' of late.

I have to admit that it's got me pondering the pros and cons of my 'cyber-life'. Both as it is at the moment and how it's been over the 5 years during which I've had various profiles on different sites. The main one (obviously) being The Lone Groover here and at the old Journalspace.

I think it's easy for blogging/facebooking/MySpacing/YMing/MSNing, or whatever flavour you choose, to slowly take over your life without your realising it. It certainly has done in my case.

In some ways, I'm grateful for the time I've spent on-line.

In other ways, I curse the day I ever bought a bloody PC.

I hate the way that it brings out the worst in me sometimes, as it has done this very morning.

I've just become so very, very weary of it.

It's simply not worth it anymore.


3D LIFE;

I've had several people tell me over the last couple of years that I "have it all".

They see me as driving from gym to gym, doing personal training sessions, massage sessions and teaching classes.

They see me as being able to come and go as I please, with no-one waiting at home with the proverbial rolling pin to give me the 3rd degree over where I've been or why I've been working so late.

Those things may be true, but I'm far from 'having it all'.

I've lost count of how many times I've walked into my empty flat at the end of the day, then turned right around again and gone to my local ASDA, just to be around other people. How sad is that?!?!?

There are some distinct advantages of living alone, in many ways it's bloody marvelous, but there are times (too many times) when it's just too quiet and lonely for comfort.

Yes, I have a (very) small group of friends and family who'll take pity on me occasionally and invite me out, but on the whole, I don't do a great deal socially.

To some degree, my work is a little like having a paid social life. After all, the gym is leisure time for most people and it DOES rub off on you, but it's not the same as a social life.

It's still my job at the end of the day.

I need to work on it.


TODAY'S MOOD: Pondering.

SOUNDTRACK: Faith No More - 'I Started A Joke'



FOOTNOTE: I was supposed to be going to the gym early this morning, oh well.....

The Lone Groover

~Chopsticks~

You Are Chopsticks

People see you as exotic, unusual, and even a bit intimidating. You are a difficult person to figure out. In truth, you try to live a very simple life. But most people are too frenzied to recognize the beauty of your simplicity.

What Utensil Are You?

Hmmm.....interesting....quite accurate in some ways too, now that I think about it.

I've often wondered how the people who built the Great Wall and invented countless invaluable invention-type-things managed to come to the conclusion that it was a good idea to eat a staple diet of rice with a couple of f*cking sticks!!


TONIGHT'S MOOD: Grateful for the wonder that is 'Cutlery'.

SOUNDTRACK: David Bowie - 'Watch That Man'

He talks like a jerk, but he could eat you with a fork and spoon.....but he'd be bolloxed with a pair of chopsticks, I'd wager!!!



FOOTNOTE: They eat so bloody fast too! A case of having to, before it falls off the chopsticks, I guess?

The Exotic and Intimidating Groover (yeah, whatever...LOL!!!)