JUST A MISHMASH OF THOUGHTS.

I sometimes wonder what goes on in my head, it's full of useless information (but rather handy for quizzes) and things read that I have a differing opinion about. I often scribble a note to myself that I ought to write about the latter and then I end up with a cornucopia (depending upon your views) of mis-matched ideas that have no cohesion other than usually ending up in a blog post. So here goes.

I read somewhere that some green activists wants us all to go vegan because cows are producing too much methane. It makes an interesting proposal, but I want to know how they will accomplish this feat. First, are they going to kill them all off? Animal Rights folk would quite rightly be up in arms about this proposal. Animals are sentient beings inasmuch they know pain,  fear and love, so as such, it would be considered by many as being murder on a grand scale. Second, unless the whole world does this culling, the death of the animals would be more meaningless than it already would be. Should I mention that the cow is considered sacred in India, so I'm sure they would not like the proposal. Going off on a tangent...

Let's talk about carbon footprints for a minute (or more; I'm not a fan of any social media saying, "two minute read" and then it takes you twice as long). I am all for reducing my own carbon footprint; indeed, I turn off unnecessary lights, I no longer have a car (nothing to do with my carbon footprint, more to do with my lack of coordination, but hey it sounds good when I say I gave up my car!), I walk to as many places I can when I am fit enough (basically I can't justify the exorbitant bus fares charged to go half a mile along the road and my free bus pass is a way off yet), I recycle as much as I can to reduce my landfill rubbish (although I think most of mine goes to an incinerator), I buy organic when I can to reduce the pollution of both air and ground, I send things to the charity shop or upcycle (not very good at that as creative ability is not one of my strong suits) and try my best to be as economic as possible in whatever I am doing. I'm sure we all do our best which may only be a little bit, but in the big scheme of things, adds up to a lot. 

I'm not a fan of Greta Thunberg. When she gave her speech to the United Nations in 2018 she travelled by sea to reduce her carbon footprint but she could have just as well filmed her talk and stayed at home. She seems to be doing a lot of travelling for one who says that we (the older generations) are ruining the planet. Her "How Dare You"  speech led to a lot of hype, but I'm not convinced. (See her talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMrtLsQbaok) I agree that the planet is being systematically plundered and ravaged. I agree that we should do more. But, and it's a big but, it's not going to happen overnight; there will always be money hungry people who care not for anything other than lining their own pockets, and Greta's generation and generations to come will all be the same. Until we find morality and ethics, love and kindness, we are doomed (so says Private Frazer to those in the know).

I have another soapbox that I would like to share with you. In England, and the big cities in particular although nowhere is exempt, there is a lot of knife and gun crime amongst young people. We need to train the parents so they can teach their children. Children will always rebel against their parents (it's a thing) but to what extent depends entirely on the parents. I concede that parenting is a bit like Goldilocks - too much, not enough and just right, but we have to start somewhere. It's not going to be a quick fix. Education plays it's part too; the children need lessons in humanities and examples to show the repercussions of e.g., knife crime, bullying, peer pressure, which would certainly be a better education than trigonometry.

I would like to see more physical training done in schools - think National Service (peacetime military conscription) without the service (I wouldn't want some of the kids these days in the armed forces!). Not just P.E. but real hard line stuff that makes you wish you were never born (okay, maybe I've just watched too many documentaries). There are e.g., boxing clubs which do a sterling job of keeping children off the streets and they instil the discipline that life requires, but they are not part of the school curriculum and  to my mind, this type of hard work should be included (and run by military or ex military) during school hours. That would certainly give all children a sense of pride in who they are and purpose for life ahead. Of course, for any of this to work, we need to get the children going to school in the first place. Correct discipline never hurt anyone.

Another change of subject. Reaching targets in the workplace. This is one of my pet hates and I've possibly discussed it before although it might not have been on this platform. I understand targets. I do. I just don't understand why they are so important. In the bank where I used to work, we had sales targets. It didn't matter if the cashiers couldn't cash up properly and correctly at the end of the day, all the bosses wanted was to sell people mortgages, insurance and fee paying accounts. They didn't want the sole customers who struggled with budgets or the savers who didn't have much to save. They turned from a people's bank to a business bank without a jot of sympathy for those who didn't have money but needed a bank account. They also didn't care about their staff either. We were told we had to sell or we wouldn't get a bonus. That was hardly a threat but nevertheless that was the carrot and stick philosophy they used - or worse. When I took the offered package of redundancy, I had to work six months notice.  I hated selling and said that I would do my best but I wasn't going to talk to every customer that I knew about flogging them a product that they didn't need. I was told by my area manager that if I didn't sell, she would sack me and I wouldn't get my redundancy package. Talk about bullying at its finest. Funnily enough, I didn't sell and she didn't sack me.  Businesses work best when you have a team that are good all rounders but specialise in just one or two things. I couldn't sell but I did try to spot some opportunities; I could however, count money and get through queues quicker than many, and still be correct to the penny at the end of the day, as well as balancing the branch cash book and money. The lady who was the sales person, couldn't get a till right if she tried. We all had different strengths and if we had all pulled together instead of being forced to do something that we couldn't, we would have reached our targets without the angst and had a much better working environment. I always said that if I wanted to be a seller, I would have gone to work in Woolworths although that really wasn't a good analogy.

I think that now I've written all this down, I feel better. Not only that but it quite late in the evening and I should really be thinking about getting to bed. 

Maybe my next blog with be full of uplifting stories and anecdotes, but I wouldn't hold your breath.

Thank you for reading this; I will never be a blogger sensation, but I'm happy if just a few people read my blog posts. 

Please be kind; I'd rather you do not comment at all if you are going to say something horrible.

Until the next time. Take good care of yourself and have a fantastic day - and the next one, ad infinitum, until I finally get round to writing another post.