Friday News - 15th January

So it's Friday again and I am giving Wendy's Friday News another go. You may remember last week that I had trouble with the sport category as I simply don't “get” sport! This week I am scrapping sport in favour of UK news. This will be in addition to International. Let's go…….

International.

The international story which I have noticed today is that of the medical trials in France that have gone so badly wrong. Apparently the drug trial was in phase one which is where a tiny dose is given to healthy people to test for side effects. One man has been declared brain dead and 5 more have suffered permanent brain damage. It is being said that the drug being tested was derived from cannabis but it is not clear what the eventual drug would be used for.

This is truly horrible. I know that we need new drugs for all kinds of conditions and at some point they must run trials with real people but that means there is always going to be the potential for this kind of tragedy. For the record, I am totally against animal testing. Apart from the often cruel way the animals are treated and the pain and suffering they endure, I cannot see any logic in it at all. Every single animal is different to us so how testing on a mouse, or a dog, or a monkey has any bearing in what a drug will do to a human is beyond me.

UK.

Apparently we have a British astronaut in space! Who knew? Not me! He is called Tim Peake and today he was doing a space walk with another astronaut to repair an electrical box. Simon has the news on and this came up whilst I was typing. It would seem the space walk has had to end early as the American astronaut had water inside his helmet which is not a good thing it would seem.

Can you tell that I am not overly enthralled with space stuff? I guess some of it is interesting but I am afraid that I think we need to put our house in order here on Earth before we start worrying about what’s out there. So much money is spent that could be spent on better things. Just an opinion of course.

I commented to Simon just now that I had no idea that there was currently a Brit up there in space and he said how could you have missed that? Easily. I try really hard to not watch or listen to the news. It is so often depressing, half of it is totally fabricated, they only tell us what they want to tell us which is not always the truth, plus I simply do not have the time for anything that doesn't interest me.

Another cousin of mine, Pat, posted on her FB page today how sad she was at the death of Alan Rickman. I thought she had just lost a friend. It soon became apparent from the comments that this was not a friend but a celebrity. I had to ask her who he was and got told to wash my mouth out! I think she couldn't believe that I didn’t know. I hardly ever watch TV and haven't the patience to sit through a film, and I have zero interest in “celebrities” so consequently I never know who anyone is.

Local.

The local news buzzing around the nearby town of Bourne is that a well established and loved gift shop is to close to make way for a new pub. A Wetherspoon's pub, which is a big chain here in the UK. The general feeling seems to be that there are enough pubs in the town anyway and we don't need more and also that the big chain type establishments ruin the image of the country market town. I tend to agree. There is already a big chain pub as you enter the town but this new one would be right in the middle of the main high street. However, it could help bring more custom into the Three Counties Dog Rescue charity shop which is just a 100 yards or so further along. Now that would be good.

Entertainment.

I guess the big news story this week is the death of David Bowie. Yes I had heard of him! Not a fan though. I am continually surprised by how the death of a celebrity apparently causes so much distress to so many people. It is sad when anyone dies, particularly when that person is no great age, but I don't understand why it would cause such upset if you didn't know him personally. I am also rather taken aback by some of the tributes. I quote: “Singer David Bowie, one of the biggest stars and most influential musicians of his era, has died of cancer at the age of 69.” Was he really that big and that influential? Perhaps I missed something? He wasn't ever really on my radar. I was a teeny bopper and massive Donny Osmond fan.

Miscellaneous.

My misc news is that today is my little grandson, Jackson's 3^rd birthday. 3 years ago today he was born at just 28 weeks and he lay in an incubator whilst we stood by helplessly. He has come such a long way since then and today he was going bowling with Mummy and Daddy. So very, very proud of him. Happy 3^rd birthday Jackson.

Here is a photo of me and Jackson.

Well those are my 5 bits of news. I said earlier that I find the news depressing. If I do this next week, I am going to seek out positive, happy stories. Maybe I can even find something that really interest me!

Friday news was the idea of my cousin Wendy.  Why not join in. It would be very interesting to read what is going on in your area and maybe we could open discussions on some of the topics. 

Wednesday Hodgepodge 13-01-2016

Going to have a go at joining in the Hodge Podge again.

Wednesday's Hodgepodge is brought to us courtesy of Joyce at 

 From this side of the pond

Pop over there to see other posts and if you want to join in add the link to your Hodgepodge blog post to the Linky List at the end of Joyce's post and don’t forget to visit at least your neighbours on the list.

Have fun

1. Share one thing that really makes your day.

Blue sky and preferably sun. Not much chance of that happening here any time soon. 

2. Lots of these kinds of lists out there, but one found here says the fifteen most colourful places on earth are: Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Italy~Burano, Italy~Havana, Cuba~Rio de Janiero, Brazil~Chefchaouen, Morocco~Balat, Istanbul, Turkey~Menton, France~Jodhpur, India~La Baca, Buenos Aires, Argentina~Guanajuato, Mexico~Capetown, South Africa~Valparaiso, Chile~Wroclaw, Poland~San Francisco, California~and Pelourhino, Salvador, Brazil.  
Of those listed which would you most like to see up close and in person? Of all the places you've seen or travelled in your own life, what would you say was one of the most colourful?

That depends on what you mean by colourful? Does that actually refer to colours or colourful as in what goes on there? I have been to France and to San Francisco. France can be very colourful in summer when there are fields and fields full of giant sunflowers. San Francisco is colourful in its eclectic mix of people and cultures.

3."Everything you want is on the other side of fear." Jack Canfield  In general, would you agree or disagree with that statement? Why? 
I think in certain circumstances it can be true. Sometimes you need to conquer your fears and if you can then the end result will be positive. However, I pretty much have everything I need right now so I have to disagree.

4. Imagine you're stranded on a desert island and dessert appears...what do you hope it is? Do you ever struggle to remember which spelling is desert and which is dessert?

I know how to spell both words and do not get confused over them.  I would choose Malteser cheesecake with a dollop of double cream and a dollop of clotted cream! I LOVE my cream!

5. What song almost always makes you cry?
I am really not mush into music But the Vera Lynn song “we'll meet again” was sung at both of my parents funerals and I can't hear it or even think about it with out being totally wretched. Tears running down my face right now!

6. January is National Soup Month.  Everything from soup to nuts, in the soup,thick as pea soup, souped up...which saying most recently applies to your life in some way? Explain. Who on earth comes up with these “months” Why soup month? How totally bizarre. I have never heard of any of those expressions and they don't sound like they would be relevant to my life at all.  
7. Write a two word note to your younger self. What does it say?

Be happy.  

8. Insert your own random thought here. They keep saying that it is going to get colder towards the end of the month. They forecast snow today but we haven't seen any. I HATE winter. Roll on spring.