Lionel

Ah, these days of female emancipation. There I was, knight on a white charger riding furiously to the rescue of a damsel in distress and what do I find? I've been replaced by some cheap plastic import. Too late to say you can't beat the real thing!

I've been a coffee man most of my life. Stopping alcohol intake three years ago changed a lot of things. Tea became so much more palatable, coffee slid into the background and my evening drink now is a cup of tea. Funny 'ole life, isn't it?

Science fiction is too often becoming science fact. Remember Star Treks' little hand held communicator? I thought that wouldn't happen in my life time. Well, I've gotta be wrong at least once in a lifetime to know hoe it feels!

Borrow an uncut Tom Mog and just let him roam around. The home will smell awful for a while but it washes away.

No, I'm not keen either Len. My 85 year old neighbour, a former master carpenter, struggled for years with his aids. Eventually, gave up saying to me there wasn't much worth hearing anyway! Well, I suppose at his great age he's got a point. As for me, well, I can hear what I need to, turn the telly up a little on the fairly rare occasion there's something to watch but otherwise I'm quite happy. It's made better for the fact I read a lot and that is a silent pass time. I'm not so sure you got off so lightly. Pig feeding was twice a day whereas you must have been in industrial noise all the working day. For me farming was a steady job, if a little bit mad at times.

Well Marion, you got some very good points here. I'm a firm supporter of another lockdown, but at the time believing it could be enforced if necessary. Very regrettably outside of Surfers, it has been brought to my attention successive governments have run down the Police Force and military to the point where they couldn't prevent the local deli opening. All of which brings me to the point of asking Boris, why the hell bother announcing another type of lockdown. It just ain't gonna happen. I'm completely confused here. Who's running this country?The young folk or the elected government? But what government? It seems to me we haven't had an effective government since before the EU Referendum. That's almost five years ago. Our chap has been missing for five months, I suppose on full parliamentary salary, perks and now the pay rise as well. But back to governance. On the one hand Boris announces a lockdown for Manchester and failed Labour leadership candidate Burnham now turned Mayor is bargaining with Boris for a billion pound hand out to comply. The Mayor of London is busy shutting down our first city all of his own accord. Who the hell is in charge here? Perhaps more to the point, has that person got the clout to enforce a lockdown or, to quote a pal, even prevent a deli opening? Do you know, Marion, because I don't. As of this evening it seems to me the bulk of the country is blissfully heading for herd immunity or a great national disaster. Right now I'm glad I live in the back woods away from most people so my wife and I don't have a choice. We just carry on as normal.

Hello Len, I'm going back forty odd years and maybe a little more, when farm work was hard graft and you worked up a good sweat before breakfast at seven. There were no ear defenders then and the job had to be done. I had a little Sheltie dog then, a Shetland Sheepdog; she was with me wherever I went including the pig houses. Poor little thing was well deaf before I was even partially deaf. It's odd, even in her deafness she could hear my voice. These days my partial deafness has a good side. My worst side is the left and my wife's chair is on my left. She talks a lot, well, she used to ... I wouldn't know these days! Don't get me wrong here, she a great lady and a perfect foil for me but silence is something I treasure. Perhaps Len we should swap ideas on hearing aids. What do you think?

It's funny you should mention lip reading, Len. My hearing was damaged by working in pig houses particularly at feeding time where the noise level can reach 130 db I now learn. As you say, it's only since people have started to wear masks I realise I'd been relying on lip reading rather than keep on saying, 'What,' or 'Can you say that again please.'

Allegedly welding masks are nowhere near as effective as a cloth face mask. However, for me, it's a case of breathing or dying of carbon dioxide poisoning. No contest really.

Thank you JE. I fear if our leaders don't wake up and face facts and the lessons of history rather than science (actually, that word derives from the Greek word gnosis which means knowledge) we'll be importing every spade China can make. And knowledge is one thing in short supply in these times.

Wilf, let's not spend our days in hope of magic bullet. If it happens it happens. I believe our best hope is to learn from the past, particularly their mistakes. Our best defence today? Share what we know among each other; on doorsteps, on Surfer's wherever and however. That's why I've spoken out tonight. The upshot of months of research is that we're in trouble as a people. I don't say that lightly, no, but with a heavy heart. Right now this is a phony war, the like of which are parents, your folks, will remember. But stand by ... It was said so long ago a prophet has no honour in his own land. I expect to be ridiculed for my thoughts.

I think you know me by now Wilf, I'm not an alarmist, nor am I a conspiracy theorist. I have patiently and painstakingly researched the Spanish 'Flu for months believing there is more to Covid than meets the eye. I've just begun to enter into the mistakes made a hundred years ago. These mistakes shouldn't have happened as Europe and Britain had Russian 'Flu in the 1890's. The lessons were there to be learned. But we're Brits and didn't learn. People are making the same mistakes today: we're OK, we survived Covid, sure you're OK today ... but tomorrow? It reads like the let's eat drink and be merry syndrome. The last part of that verse from the Bible might just be correct - for tomorrow we die. Here in East Anglia the rate of infection is rising more rapidly than anywhere else in the country. Yes, I'm worried, of course I am I've a chronically sick wife to protect. But we have spent the summer preparing for this outcome. Wilf, if Covid follows the pattern of Spanish 'Flu - and notice here no one in the press or so-called experts have mentioned this - then there will be no economy anywhere to worry about. A hundred years ago 50+ million died mostly Americans either in the States or coming to Europe as soldiers. Fifty million. That means no economy. The Good Life seems quite palatable in that event. I may be wrong Wilf, I truly hope I am. If Covid = Spanish 'Flu then we're all in more trouble than we can imagine today.

Wilf, I accept your enough said, but please allow me to give a reason for my concern. According to the many sources I've read these last months concerning Spanish 'Flu it was the second wave that did the most damage. It killed millions in Europe and the States. I've been banging on about this for months - beware the second wave, but nobody has taken me up on it. Now it is a reality. If this second wave follows the pattern of Spanish 'Flu it begins with a seemingly less harmful virus but quickly mutates during the early winter months. As far as I can find out we're not prepared for this second more deadly wave; we're still talking about vaccinating against the milder first wave. Wilf, if the record repeats itself there's some of on here today who won't be here at Christmas. After these months of research I'm now calling it as it is.

Let's stop beggaring around. If there's to be another lockdown then shut down the entire country, Scotland and Wales included. Shut all ports of entry/exit, railway termini, airports, in fact just everything. No one moves from their home unless they have a damned good reason for doing so. Shut universities, schools everything except essential services. Enforce a no movements law and enforce it rigidly. The last lockdown of a hundred and something days penalised the elderly and infirm; whoever heard of quarantining the healthy? It's the sick usually shut down. This time, everyone. If we don't take drastic action the country will be pussy-footing around for years and I for one am fed up with incompetence in high places.

From a lot of experience with farm animals and our house dogs I can tell you he needs a vet but urgently. You don't have any time to waste. Gatecrash the place if necessary.

Are you on the Town Council? They're the only people who promote Southwold. For many years I've lived about twelve miles away. Having visted Southwold so many times I can attest the town has become a pit. It's now the up-market Blackpool of the East Coast. A small former fishing village where a two up and two down will set you back a million. Try the Harbour road, riddled with deep pot holes. Am I wrong, Nick? The butchers on the so called market place who want five quid for a single pork pie. The High Street where everyone has such attitude they wander along the raod as if they're immortal. Again tell me I'm wrong. If Silver Surfers have got any sense they'll keep out of Southold; go spend your money elsewhere and get value. There's no value in Southwold.

Trisha, yes, we know precisely what you mean My wife has a 45 year old son, computer something on fantastic salary He cut himself off from her about four years ago and by various means just keeps on twisting the knife in her heart Should I tell him the house is willed to a dog's home or let him wait and see?

Pretty good assessment, Yodama My only question is which way is it going to go because the Yanks can be pretty stoopid when it comes to believing bull crepe? They did, afterall, put in Obama, and then re-elected him believing the whitewash he came out with

Hello Reebe I see you live with a cat with attitude My wife and I have two Collies with a severe dose of superiority over humans It's a weekly job to remind them they are the dogs in the house To the matter in hand Where countries, including Great Britain, have elected younger men to such high office their lack of wisdom as opposed to intellectual ability has lead to some horrible legacies I won't now name anyone as history is a better recorder than I Perhaps also the trappings of power might tend toward recklessness and lack of responsibility to the country in a younger man whereas an older man's head is less easily turned Sorry about the lack of full stops My keep board is dying and Amazon hasn't yet delivered

Surely age is irrelevant here since each president has a Vice President who covers for them at times I would have said if the man (it's been a man thus far) is capable of following through on his elelction promises with the strength of opposition Trump has faced, then good luck to him Terump gives the impression of having the energy of three men and the temper of a half a man, ideal presididential material if you ask me Ideal Prime Ministerial material too! We may we find such a candidate?

Here in North Suffolk we're not under any restrictions apart from the obvious of face covering and spacing However, when Banham Poultry (about twenty five miles from us) found quite a few infected people backers of the business pulled out and now it's closed But the story isn't finished there Most of the infected people are from Roumania/Bulgaria, living in tightly packed accommodation locally The agency which imported them for Banham Poultry has now re-assigned them to a Bernard Matthews plant at Holton Tuesday this week they were all but shut down because of a group of workers testing positive Locally, word has it they're the same group from Roumania/Bulgaria who were the reason Banham Poultry was shut down That information comes from local people employed by Bernard Mattews at their Holton plant Make what you will of it, someone somewhere isn't playing the same game as us PS I'm sorry about the lack of full stops in this post My keyboard is giving up the ghost

You're very welcome, mate

Such profundity? I'm not surprised even if you are! The wisdom that comes with age and experience. I'll get there one day. Yes, the natural world has it's ways of dealing with any species getting out of hand. I've read this summer of unprecedented swarms of locusts ruining food crops over Africa, India and China. And that at a time of declining agricultural output. Billionaires like Bill Gates of Microsoft are supposedly funding disease eradication programmes in Africa and India yet we must stand back and say disease and starvation are the natural ways of dealing with burgeoning populations of animals and people. It would be a trifle short sighted to deliberately turn aside from nature's ways and consider ourselves proof because of technology or booming medical expertise. We may only go so far in our own defences. Unashamedly, I believe we are witnessing one of nature's culls and this time the Western peoples are not immune. Indeed, our affluent lifestyles have left us unprotected, less resiliant than native peoples and full of our own self importance. We've become disconnected from the very creation from which we sprang. It's our time too. So very often I too gaze at the stars and remember God created them and calls them by name. It's a staggering thought; star gazing puts me in a perspective of creation - miniscule yet a part of this enormous whole. Well, PurpleHat, that's a slice of farm/country wisdom. Fatalism to some extent, but always hopeful.

I don't think the pendulum will swing back. The best analogy I've understood compares society to a bowl of fruit. Once one piece of fruit begins to rot, corrupt, no matter what we do - cut out the rot, fridge the fruit, freeze it - the rot spreads. Eventually the entire bowl of fruit is useless to anyone. It is then creatures that feed off corruption thrive. Just reading the online press and watching a very small amount of TV shows us we're in that final stage. The carrion are circling. Yes, Purplehat, believe it or not I am optimistic but not in man's own abilities to right his pitiful condition.

Thank you for hearing, PurpleHat, and responding. Childhood and teenage years weren't so bad. I had a godfather, a benign bear of a man; a childhood friend of my mother's who lived in the village and worked on farms. He took me under his wing, so to speak. I took every possible opportunity to return to the village. As soon as I reasonably could I began working on farms too. Made a good career in farming. My godfather knew my father was an alcoholic and stood in his place for many years. It was he, not my father, who shaped the man I would become. Much later several opportunities to stand in the breach with other people's kids came my way. Some were successful and others weren't. The deliberate and progressive devaluation of the family unit in my lifetime by politicians and liberal thinkers has led, I'm quite sure, to so many of society's ills. There's no longer a solid role model for youngsters, such as I had. Everyone just does what they think fit without any regard for the consequences. Kids are neglected, never know the genuinely expressed love of a parent, nor the disciplines imposed in love. I believe the lack of instilled personal discipline in childhood and reinforced in schools has resulted in the abject failure of our education system to deliver the results this nation so badly needs. But that's another subject and not one many people will want to hear.

Yes, it is funny what we remember about childhood. Christmas 1956 in Norfolk was white over. I went to bed on Christmas Eve with the promise of a big surprise the following morning. On waking up I remember running excitedly into mother's bedroom to find a bare chested man sat up in bed with a military hat sat jauntily on his head! It was my mothers husband, my father whom I had never seen before as he was a Ship's Master in the Merchant Navy, a blue water sailor, always in another part of the world. That was not a good beginning and it didn't end well years later. To this day I firmly believe so many of the problems with our young people stem from a lack of a stable family, particularly a strong but loving father. But there, who would ever listen to me?

As said before on other threads, what bothers me most is this second wave. According to rather scant records and an excellent Smithsonian Channel documentary in the 1918/20 Spanish 'Flu pandemic it was the second wave which killed more people by far than the first. Here we're speaking of millions more. Given we now have government by deceit I can't help wondering if the boffins at SAGE, the two Prophets of Doom on TV and the redoubtable Neil Ferguson are hiding imminent dangers from us. That would be in the public interest of course! If that is the case then we could be looking at deaths directly from COVID of eye watering magnitude. If it isn't the case then our utterly deceitful Pinocchios in Whitehall must be held to account and pay an appropriate price. Any suggestions what would be a fitting price?

A fine British actress indeed. It's a pity she didn't get the TV parts to showcase her range of acting. Perhaps that's what landing an iconic role early in an acting life does to you.

We've got to assume it will be a watered down version, tempered to suit the fragile snowflakes and other protesting minorities. Unlike the previous version I doubt there will be much cutting humour, political insight or revelations of skulduggery in high places. Having said that, there's no shortage of true material to go at!

Yep! You've got it right. Shalom Baby

Smetana is one of the most under rated composers. For me, sadly, Dvorzak went to America and commercialised his output and became better known. Several years ago I walked alone along stretches of the Vlatava river with a Sony Walkman playing Smetana. It was a spiritual experience that I doubt could be repeated now. Probably, the scenes on Charles Bridge today would be true of far too much of the Vlatava, commercialised with tourist attractions everywhere. Yuk! But having said that, an artist working on Charles Bridge penned a very lifelike portrait of a Czech friend. She still has it in her apartment.

That's one giant step for mankind, Wilf. I just don't know if the world is ready for that.

Thank you for your kind thoughts and words Viking. They will be fondly remembered. Again, our thanks.

Wilf, I think I may be joining you in being hairless soon. The hairline is heading north toward the tonsure which is itself is spreading south, east and west. I feel like putting a pudding basin on my heading, drawing around it and declaring a demarcation line, 'that's far enough chaps.'

Yes, Jeanmark, it grieves me that anyone would stoop so low as to make money over and above a reasonable profit for services rendered in such a crisis. A think that most useful of human attributes, a lively conscience, has been seared to death by personal greed. What a state of affairs! I cannot but wonder at the gross mismanagement of our testing effort; so much on our local news bears out precisely what you say. As for your family situation I just don't know what to say. I cannot enter into the state of mind your great niece must be in.

Perhaps I'm just being hopeful, Jeanmark. Surely a little hope, even if it is misplaced, is better than total despair. But having said that, even grasping at straws of hope these days is such effort it tires me.

Of course, old friend. How about the casting vote from the Chair? I'd propose you for Head of the Civil Service (good gold plated pension there). You've got more wisdom and integrity in one hair than any incumbent I can recall! Did I say hair? Sorry, it's a saying in my home village from long ago.

This argument is usually horribly skewed, often by writers more interested in selling copies than relating a whole truth. I was in livestock farming for 25 years in England and Ireland. During that time there was the obvious world population increase, but of more importance was the shift in dietary habits. So many more people had more disposable income and demanded more meat in their diet. Farmers were happy to oblige - they would be wouldn't they? Sadly, quality meat cannot be produced in quantity on finite land resources. Thus cattle are stall ffed cereals, chickens are housed ... and it goes on. Nutritional values have fallen through the floor and we are at the point where one might as well chew a piece of used shoe-leather rather than buy a decent steak. Newton's First Law of Motion applies in agriculture too. There was an equal and opposite environmental reaction. Pastures not grazed by sheep and catle require huge quatities of toxic weed killer and artificial fertiliser. The former is usually cancer inducing Roundup from Monsanto. The later high nitrate fertiliser ends up in domestic water supplies. It's damage to human tissue hasn't yet been made public but damage there most certainly is. Hormone growth promoters are used to rear full size cattle in stalls in nine months when on grass it requires at least three years. These hormones get into the food chain. We have a teenaged grandson born to family of small stature. He currently stands six and a half feet tall. Coincidence? I could go on, but you get the picture. Eat less meat, but don't take it out of one's diet. Eat in proportion to need not appetite.

I live in the backwoods of Suffolk on a single track road. Cars and the odd truck/tractor aren't a problem, we may hear them approaching, but a huddle of speeding cyclists come flying around a bend at speed and blast all before them. One day there's going to be a tragedy here - several pedal-artists are going to be killed and maimed. Arousing sympathy will be difficult indeed.

Like you Shrew I can't think what would surprise more anymore unless it is an outbreak of truth and honesty. Allow me to dream, please. No, this isn't going to be allowed to go away, it's too useful to the powers that be, and far too much money is being made out of it by unscrupulous operators. Reminds me of a good war; there's always those who will make fortunes out of other's misfortunes or death.