It was quite windy today which meant that I was not able to go for my usual walk in the morning as my wife had made me promise that I would put my life at risk by doing so. Instead my daughter decided to accompany me to a walk on the promenade at Hastings, or St Leonards (I had not made a decision then). But as I would need to drive, my wife took us and she let us to walk while she went to the Art Gallery. My son stayed behind playing Among Us to his heart’s content.
But I did not end up going for a long walk. Instead we went to the end of the promenade to watch the waves come in and soak those who got too close to them. My wife rang as the gallery was not open till later so we met up. My daughter and she went to the lifeboat shop, but due to social distancing were not allowed in. I went to walk a bit and took a photo of the lifeboat itself before walking to watch the sea again.
We had coffee nearby and went to the gallery before she did a bit of shopping. After this, it was time for an amazing lunch at The Wild Mushroom. We collected our dog bowls (I am happy for them to be used to feed a cat or rabbit instead) and then got some dinner before returning back to rest.
Labour is in danger of destroying itself due to the reaction of a past leader over anti-Semitism.
Let me start this by saying that I do not think that Jeremy Corbyn is anti-Semitic. In the past, he organised a demonstration against a 1970s National Front march through Wood Green; spoke on the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street and has signed numerous Early Day Motions condemning antisemitism. In addition to this, in 1987, he campaigned to reverse Islington Council's decision to grant the planning application to destroy a Jewish cemetery, and in 2010, he called on the UK government to facilitate the settlement of Yemeni Jews in Britain. He also took part in a ceremony in his Islington constituency to commemorate the original site of the North London Synagogue and visited the Theresienstadt Ghetto, calling it a reminder of the dangers of far-right politics, antisemitism and racism.
The difference is that under Corbyn, Jewish MP’s have been hounded out of the party by those using racist slurs. Under Corbyn, those who claimed to support him have harassed those of Jewish descent. And Labour, under Corbyn, did not bring in the findings of the Chakrabarti Inquiry, a report it commissioned itself!
I had been suspended by Twitter. I felt that this was wrong, but someone independent looked at my tweet and felt it did breach the terms and conditions of the site. So I accepted the findings and deleted the offending tweet. Labour has been subject to a report from the EHRC, a neutral body and it is important for Corbyn to accept to the findings. There are ways of hinting at disagreement with the findings without expressly saying so.
At the moment, while typing this, I am watching The Sister with my wife. It is the final episode and I think it is perfect for Halloween.
My walk was a much longer one than before and took me past the ponies that my daughter did not get to see and I found a cave. A small one, but one the kids would have loved to explore. My wife did get worried with it though as I did not get back as soon as I have with other walks. After that though, with lots of up’s involved, I was knackered and had to rest, and fell asleep doing so.
After this we went to lunch in Hastings itself which was, to quote Borat, very nice. After this, it was a drive to get my wife and son a book each. For her it was the new book by Nigella. The shop had sent some back as they had an issue with the covers but had some without any mistakes just in.
After my walk this morning we went to Lewes. It was a longer drive than we anticipated, but considering that we did not look to see where it was, that could have been expected.
The forecast for the day was not good, but it showered and had sunny spells at times. Most of the time on my walk, it did not rain, but did drizzle at times, and rained a bit more for a short period, the wind driving the drops into my face like little knives.
At times on our drive to Lewes, it poured down, and at other times, it was sunny. When there we ate in a lovely shop that also served food before looking for books. My son wanted to buy a book on magic which we found displayed in a shop for older books. Needless to say, my wife and I said no.
Not sure what we will do tomorrow, but I do hope I get to walk around again.
Today we did some painting. My wife saw that it would rain a lot today so booked a session painting ceramics. We have done this on other holidays and have enjoyed it. This time we painted dog bowls. The kids want a dog and I think that they are hoping to break me down. My wife appears to have her heart set on one particular breed. I am more open to the different types of breeds, including mongrels.
The lady in charge of the place arrived late as she was stuck behind a learner driver, but it was worth the wait. Unlike other places, the tutorial before painting was much better and we also got to use stamps and stickers, something we never had the chance to use in the past. I used stickers, as did my wife. My son appeared to want to use them at first, but I am not sure what happened after that. My daughter made use of a stamp.
Unlike before, when my creation was the worst by far, I would like to say that mine was best. The rest of the family disagree with me, but we all agree that this was our best experience yet. And we loved the previous ones. In addition to the tutorial we got given helpful ideas and suggestions as well as advice how to make our creations better. In other places, we were left to get on with it after the initial much briefer talks.
I had been for a walk in the wind and rain before we went, but despite my stomach getting bigger my wife did not want me to go for a walk when we got back. Instead I played Among Us with the children and also Dobble. My son was very pleased when he beat his sister and me. Normally she wins which made his victory even sweeter.
For those wondering about Twitter and me, I deleted the offending tweet when a neutral voice said that it was a bit suspect. So I am back to tweeting, and reading stories behind the headlines.
Am still suspended from Twitter. Which is still annoying but I expect it to continue for a long time.
Back to the holiday though. It rained a lot last night which woke us up at different times at night. And then the local cockerel decided to wake us up. Which it has been doing since we arrived.
So in the morning the kids were up when I ate the remnants of the takeaway from last night and then my daughter and I went for a walk. I had asked my son but he was not interested. We went to find the wild ponies that I had seen yesterday. But they were not to be found. We did walk down a path to find them but my daughter was concerned that the ponies would attack us and that birds would feast on our corpses. So we turned around. We did walk everywhere that she wanted to go, which put her in a bad mood.
We then went on a drive to Rye. It was lovely driving through the sun but once there, the heavens opened. Fortunately this was only for a short period of time and we walked through part of the town before stopping for lunch. Initially we had only wanted to stop for a snack, but the place was so nice we stayed for longer. We drove to Battle afterwards but it was too crowded to walk about in a safe manner. I have always wanted to visit here so we will have to return another time.
I did have a chat with my son about bonding. After my father died, and watching Life on BBC, I wanted to act to try and bridge the increasing gap between us. We have watched The Mandalorian together before, but he has decided to watch it without me. I go for walks with my daughter and we watch several television shows together. I hope that my son and I do not drift apart beyond the point of repair.
Tomorrow it is meant to rain a lot more so our day has been planned in advance. Hopefully I will have Twitter back but I doubt it.
I am not sure if this is our first day or not here. While we arrived yesterday, it was at nighttime so while we are charged for the day, we have not spent any daytime here, until today.
After waking up, enjoying the extra hour in bed, we relaxed and ate bits of food, this being cheese on my part, followed by a large packet of crisps. After this, we went through the inventory and noted a few issues. Saying that, the place is great and the few issues do not really matter, but they are issues which were present before we got here. We also found out why we ended up in the wrong place last night, and that was because the last two letters of the postcode had been switched around in the email telling us how to get here. I had intended to go for a long walk in the morning but did not get round to it. My daughter and I went for a brief exploration and saw the garden attached to where we are staying, accessed from the balcony in the upstairs bedroom. We may explore the garden more during the rest of the week.
Afterwards we went into Hastings. We had intended to find a supermarket but needed food and ended up driving to a McDonalds which was not a drive though. During this exploration of Hastings, my wife showed the kids where she used to visit when younger and we ended up having some substandard fish and chips on the sea front. Two supermarkets later we headed home and I went for my walk in the end.
The walk was awesome. The place we are staying allows dogs to stay and I can see why dog owners would come as there is lots of places for them to walk. The view from there was spectacular and I found wild ponies, I am hoping to return tomorrow to walk more, with or without the rest of the family.
We have begun our holiday in East Sussex. I had to try and finish my work before we left Colchester, and in this, I was unsuccessful, though I did clear a lot of it. It was light when we left, but the sun soon set and the wind came. The drive was not as interesting as it would have been in daylight, though my wife, who used to journey this way on occasion recognised familiar parts as well as changes.
But it was a very windy drive and in addition to that, our final destination was not where it was meant to be. But after an initial bout of understandable concern as Doleham did not look like the destination we had seen on the internet, we have ended up in our holiday home. And it is very very windy here!
We have managed to work out that the sofa bed my son is to sleep on is not a sofa bed, and as my daughter got freaked out by a woodlouse in the room, I had to remove that, and the companion it had which she was not aware of.
In my job, I have some dealings with private healthcare, and I have it as well. I have seen how pre-existing conditions are not covered and how insurance companies try to avoid paying out (not an issue with me when I had to use it). So far, that has not been to the levels seen in The Rainmaker, but I have had to word referrals to make it easier for people to be covered at times. But here, when someone is not covered, we still have the NHS.
The Affordable Healthcare Act has meant that people are covered in the USA and while I understand that the GOP want to ensure that Americans are covered for pre-existing conditions, I do not understand why they wish to remove cover before they reinstate it with a bill that no one has seen. A cynic would say they want to return to the situation before the ACA, but I am sure that they would not do that...
I love this film and have just watched it with my daughter. It is a lot more serious than Mallrats, though still has many laughs and appeals to my twisted sense of humour. Watching it this time, I realised that I had not noted the name of the club where part of the film is. One of my favourite characters in the film is Hooper LaMante a.k.a. Hooper X. The film touches on the homophobia that he faces and for nerds like I was when younger, helps to educate many about how this is wrong. But that is not the core message of the film. While the plot is engaging and not conventional, like with the other films in this universe, it is the dialogue which makes it.
I am not sure that my daughter would want to watch Clerks, but it will be interesting to see Dogma with her. I just need to find the other films though!
I am still suspended from Twitter. The frustrating part of this is that I still get notifications. I have made my second appeal and they have stated that they will get round to looking at it, but that I can regain access to my account by deleting the offending tweet. I suspect that this will be a game of chicken and that after a long period of time, my appeal will be rejected. So I will have to make to with the frustration of getting an alert about a tweet and not being able to read it. Saying that, going without Twitter may be better for me as I was/am addicted to it.
My son has had an interesting time. Since my last post, he has strived to be banned form his phone for a long time. His issues with not putting away clothes for the house continued since my last post. Not only had he not put away clothes as required, but he had tried to hide them under mess in his room which was meant to be clean. A day after he was busted, a more in depth inspection of his room found yet more clothes that he had not put away! On the bright side, he appears to have learned to flush the toilet, though occasional issues are still present.
I am hopeful that the phone and television ban that he has been subjected to will focus his mind. Considering that his sister had a ban for a month a while ago, he knows that things can get worse.
I love The Thick Of It. Malcolm Tucker was apparently based on Alistair Campbell, but the comparisons now to Dominic Cummings cannot be avoided. Saying that, I think Malcolm Tucker had more ethics!
I am still suspended from Twitter. I was told that my tweet had been reviewed and was felt to violate the terms and conditions of the site. I am an advocate of free speech but also I believe that people should obey the terms and conditions of any website they sign up to. Twitter is right to police what is posted and hate speech should be acted on, as it violates the terms and conditions of what people agree to when they sign up to the site.
My son is in he doghouse. He is meant to put away clothes once my daughter has washed and dried the clothes. Yesterday I woke him up when I was not able to find any socks. Today, I had no jeans or jumpers. In addition, he is not able to flush the toilet anymore.
Woke up this morning to find that I had been suspended from Twitter for violating the rules. In the thread, someone referred to Stormy Daniels as a whore. I pointed out that she was a Porn Star and was not a whore, as well as pointing out that Melania Trump used her sex appeal in the past as well. I did not post any of the pictures that have been shared about Melania Trump on-line as I feel that doing so would be Slut Shaming her.
I can accept the suspension, or appeal. I do not think that I have done anything wrong, so even though it means I may be suspended from Twitter for longer, I will be appealing.
The issue of rights for trans-people is not not a binary one.
Despite this, discussions about trans rights appear to be so. I have been blocked on Twitter over my views on this matter despite trying to be civil when discussing this. Which is a shame as I would like to learn more about this.
My views, as noted before, were shaped after listening to an interview with Piers Morgan. In the interview, the issue that there were many genders was discussed, and it was then that I realised that having a binary attitude towards safe spaces based on chromosomal sex was limited. While I have come across unisex toilets before and also, in one restaurant/bar in Colchester, toilets for male, female and anyone, this is not an option for all locations and services. So I feel, that such facilities should be genitalia based. I know that my view on this is not going to be liked, and as many have pointed out, cannot be enforced with ease, but it is the least unfair option in my view.
But back to what JK Rowling has written about. She has referred to Magdalen Burns being viewed as transphobic for refusing to label lesbians who do not date a women with a penis as being bigoted. I am a man and would not wish to date a women with a penis either. I have not looked at all the views that Magdalen Burns has. From a cursory glance, I would consider her to be transphobic, but just as my children have not read what JK Rowling has read, I have not looked at all the view of Magdalen Burns on this matter either.
Another issue that she discusses is that of detransitioning. This is where a person changes back to the gender matching their chromosomal make up. The exact figures when it comes to this are not available to view, but it appears that those who are younger when it comes to this are more likely to change their minds. This does not mean that we should deny the right to transition to those who are young, but JK Rowling is right in that we should look into this in more detail. With the wait for such services on the NHS being so long, the importance of supporting the psychological health of those seeking to transition is even more paramount (as is the help that is needed following it). But this is not just to support people in the process of transitioning, but helping them to decide if that is the right choice for them.
Women do face more sexual assault than men, and when they do, almost all of it is at the hands of those with a penis. That is not to ignore the psychological and physical pain that the trans population face, but much of what they face when it comes to physical assaults is mostly from those with a penis. Just as most of those who transition (or wish to) are not sex offenders, most of those with a penis are not. However, I understand the desire of those with a vagina not to share safe spaces with those with a penis.
Allowing those who self identify into safe spaces without checks carries great risks. I have treated sex offenders and the victims of them. I know how some are predators who will exploit any loophole to offend. There are examples of offenders born with a penis who identify as women and it is hard to determine if they are doing so because they want to prey on women (CIS &/or trans) or if they are offenders who are genuine about being a different sex.
The argument that those found to be offenders can be banned carries no weight to me as many offences when it comes to sexual assault are not brought to court and the rape conviction rates in the UK are low.
Today I have gone for seven mile bicycle ride with my son. I think that it was the longest ride we have done together. Initially he was faster than me, much faster, but his stamina started to give out and the balance swung my way at the end. While I was a bit concerned about him turning right when cycling and his habit of owning the road in inappropriate areas, he did well.
The kids played Among Us with me. I still do not know how to play it properly but managed to win the game about four or five times back to back. My daughter beat me and then we had to stop. It is an evil game (edit - video added on Monday about this) and appeals to my core. Makes me want to watch Alien though!
And my wife and I have finished the day by watching Mission Impossible. Fallout is better than Ghost Protocol as a film with fewer stupid twists. Would I watch it again? No. Am I glad I watched it? Yes. Good stunts, but it had amazing scenery. While I suspect that the final parts were not filmed in Kashmir, like so many of the films, the settings are amazing.
Spent the morning at work with my daughter. She prefers to do her homework there while I catch up with paperwork. We could not spend too long there as my wife needed to have a haircut (note to self, book one before lockdown starts again). Once I had dropped her off in town for it, I went home and watched Star Wars Rebels with my son. He had gone through a period where he had stopped watching it with me, but it was great to watch it with him again. I did get to go for a short walk later when my daughter went out for a walk with one of her school friends and her dog. After collecting my wife, I had to collect the girls as they had an incident on their walk which turned out not to really be one, but had them shaken up anyway.
In the warm, as a family, we watched Eurovision, the film. And my wife and I enjoyed it. I think the kids did as well, but not as much as the two of us. While we have made Eurovision a thing for them, they do not appreciate it as much as my wife and I. The film, while corny and predictable, seemed to capture that part of the spirit of Eurovision quite well and if it was not about Eurovision, would have been too silly. But the balance it had for the topic was great. My wife had wanted to watch it for a while and had mentioned this on several occasions when we were picking films. After listening to the interviews from Rachel McAdams about the American perspective of this, I had to watch it as well. She was not aware of just how this is watched across Europe, and also Australia. I would say it is a must for those who enjoy the contest. At least to complain about it!
Sadly, yesterday, we heard that Cineworld are to mothball cinema's. This is understandable as without something to scrub COVID from the air, they are going to be sites where the disease can spread and people, understandably do not want to catch the plague. So when our Prime Minister said to visit the cinema, this really is against common sense when it comes to avoiding COVID infections and reducing the spread of this condition.
It was the funeral of my father today. With numbers limited due to COVID, only a few people could come. I saw some aunts and uncles from my fathers side of the family who I had seen at the funeral of my stepmother but also some cousins who I have not seen in years.
My brother (who had continued to keep in touch with him) organised the funeral and was under a lot of pressure to make it a religious one. Due to this, it was a bit religious. I missed the viewing which was at my fathers house (or rather that of his wife as his finances were in a mess). While part of me wanted to take the children to see their grandfather, we were to go to my wife’s parents and she did not wish to expose them to any potential risk of Covid that we would have by going now.
We ate a late lunch at her parents before driving to the crematorium. While I had been dropped off there before, this time, we all went to see it. We arrived earlier than my father, who despite what my mother had said during the time they were together, was not late for his own funeral.
Sadly for my father the service was partly religious and I did not feel suited his needs best. However my brother was under a huge amount of pressure to have a religious ceremony and managed to keep it mostly non-religious. The first person to speak about him spoke about my fathers views on human rights and equality which was quite strange considering my father could be very racist about certain groups of people. When it came to equality he did not seem to believe in equality of the sexes but rather equality for specific groups of men. His heart was in the right place, if you are a wife-beating racist misogynist, and allowing for that, he was a nice man.
I am glad my wife and children came. For my children it was for my fathers family to see them. Seeing some cousins who I had not seen for many years was strange. One my aunts talked to me about my father, but seemed to be unaware of just how bad he was to my mother. Luckily no one talked to be about him being a great man, for I would have found it hard not to correct them.
There were a few good things about my father though. He loved me and my brothers in his own way and did teach me about maths and science. I will treasure the good memories that I have of him, and will try to ensure that part of his legacy is that my children have a lot more nice memories of me when I pass,
I have decided how I am to remember my late father. I am going to donate some money to a women's refuge. Ideally our local one. My mother, when pregnant with my youngest brother took us away from my abusive father, and for that, I am very grateful. I suspect that I may have become a wife beater like my father if she had stayed with him. There were many good things about my father, but there were many things which where not that good either. It has been strange returning to work as quite a few people have expressed their sympathy over his passing. But fathers are not meant to be wife beaters. I know that he could have been even more violent to me and that others I know had more abusive fathers. So in a way I am grateful that he was not even worse. Anyway, it is going to be his funeral on the weekend. I will say a few nice words about him. But there is only a few things I can really say as I am going to avoid how bad he was. Unless people decide to tell me how 'great' he was.
