Intentionally deaf, and blind? That is the question.

Life is what you make it. Real or unreal.

Reality is a bitch. But it's how you handle it and how you express your thoughts on it that count. For those who do express controversial views, they are sometimes labelled as being mentally ill. This is not because they are dangerous to society, per se, it is because they challenge the false reality under which most people live. It's quite a well-known expression that most people are comfortable living with convenient lies than with uncomfortable truths. Therefore, the free thinkers who challenge sanitised narratives that form the false reality of our society are considered a risk to those who benefit most from this form of social order (the establishment).

In the movie, 'The Matrix', this concept is explored in the artistic form of multimedia. But how many people understand that the issues portrayed in this movie are a reflection of their real lives? Very few want to wake-up. It is far more comfortable and convenient to live inside the Matrix and not suffer the discomfort of the true reality that exists around them. So which existence is best? In the short-term, you want a safe passage through life without controversy. But if you really want to experience the real world, then the harsh truths of life can be too much to bear. Therefore, many of you go back to sleep when you realise you cannot cope with such a challenge.

So who are the moderators of this false reality? They are the people who hide in 'dark places', the politicians, the psychologists, the psychiatrists, the doctors, the consultants, in fact, anyone who falsely thinks they can determine what is and is not an acceptable level of behaviour within the prevailing 'Matrix-style' of conformity. In this respect they are mostly no more than the well-paid and well-rewarded morons who make a living deciding who best fits into this malignant and contrived system, and who is a danger to it.

Sadly, we all live with this great deception for at least part of our time upon this planet. It is the way the establishment conditions us from day one, from the time we are old enough to learn about the world around us. But you do not have to remain this way. It's your choice. If you wish to live a life influenced by the illusions put before you, then do so. But do not assume that anyone who does not share your artificial lifestyle is crazy, or a "conspiracy theorist" (a description given to us by those who oppose us).

Finally, and regarding 'Joe (and Jane) Public': during their last days of life, when their mortal flesh is about to give up on them, many will look back at the existence they have led. And when at least some of them understand that their lives have mostly been a lie, they may just seek forgiveness through confession.

OK. I shall leave you with my opinions, but apologies if I did wake you up. If so, then it's time to return to the dream world I described to you - should that be where you wish to remain.

*Edited on 8th June, 2023.

10th November, 2024: Change is coming, but not necessarily for the better.

Some very important political elections have taken place this year.

The world around us is going to change more radically than since the last world war. Some institutions have changed radically, Swinging from Left to Right, and vice versa.

Back in July, the disastrous Tory regime came to an end. However, the lurch from Right to Left has come with some dire consequences - despite the glib promises of better things to come. In the US, and just days ago, we saw the reverse happen. The oh-so-confident and brash Democrats had their noses blooded as Trump and the Republicans came back with a vengeance.

These two events are not entirely disconnected. What has happened in America will reverberate around the world, and especially in the UK. After a campaign of demonising Donald Trump (even where criticism was justified), those who have poured their bile upon his character, are now going to regret their attitude towards him.

It's actually quite amusing to see how some senior politicians being forced to try and retract their condemnation of him now he has won the Presidency. But all too late. They nailed their colours to the mast and there is no way they can build new bridges with the big guy. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me". Regardless of whether it is the first or second time, Trump is not going to be fooled by anyone who has been so outspoken about his in such a derogatory way.

OK, I am a staunch critic of Trump myself. But my observations are based upon what I perceive about his clumsy and sometimes ill-educated approach to politics. And I am certainly not going to go back on my words - unlike the now grovelling hypocrites who are regretting everything they have said about him. Yes, it really is funny watching all of the back-pedalling by the 'circus clowns' that infest the major political institutions that exist throughout the UK and Europe.

So while those of us from the UK have to put up with Keir Starmer ('Sir Rodney', as I call him), Trump is an entirely different proposition. What will happen in America now that Trump has threatened to dismantle the 'Deep State' and remove all of their actors (where he can find them, of course)? Does he not realise that the beast he is going to fight is a lot mightier than himself, and even if he considers himself fireproof, the dragon's fire will still cause him to be badly burned.

The next eight months are going to be quite dramatic as far as world affairs are concerned. And as Trump has failed to learn to moderate his arrogant approach to life, he is going to find himself right in the thick of the action and wondering how he is going to cope with all the consequences that will occur.

Grab the popcorn and soda. Sit back and watch as one disaster after another slowly develops and unfolds. Make sure you have plenty of these refreshments because by this time next year, it may not be safe to venture outside. And even then, if you feel bold enough to go beyond the confines of your own little domain, you will discover that there will be precious few people around to replenish any dwindling supplies you may be reduced to.

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4th August, 2024: A very, very long 'coffee break'.

Here we go again ....

I've been sleeping a lot more since my last entry. I have had my 70th birthday and it seems it was like a trigger that has set off a great deal of tiredness. The last four months has simply 'whizzed by'.

I've previously banged on about the ground shaking under our feet here in the Philippines, but now we are 'officially' warned a really big earthquake seems destined to happen. But when? I have been informed (and according to what my wife heard from 'PHIVOLCS' - https://www.phivolcs.dost.gov.ph) that the tectonic 'Eurasian Plate' and the 'Philippine Sea Plate' are edging closer to each other. Essentially, this means one almighty 'crunch' and likely occur along the 'Philippines Trench' which runs along the Eastern side of the country. It is already the site of most of the tremors we experience on a now regular basis - so no surprise there.

The scale of the impact is predicted to be in the region of 8.1 to 8.2 in intensity. But the depth of this earthquake is also critically important. How powerful will the effect be and what level of destruction will it bring when it happens? These are questions which are difficult to answer as the biggest earthquakes tend to happen with little or no warning. I've already experienced one big scare where our house shook quite badly (but is still standing). Anything worse than this could be disastrous - if not life-threatening if one is on the wrong place at the wrong time. Yikes!

In fact, there has been two sizeable earthquakes since our house was built, and on both occasions no significant or cosmetic damage seems to have been done. But I'm not sure about the next one. Whatever happens, we are still stuck here in the Philippines until everyone in our 'family' has received their Spanish passports (though it seems everyone is now a citizen of this country). Once the passports are received wholesale, there are plans by many of our family (and relatives who are also now citizens) to build a new lives in Spain. Well ... that is the plan.

Oh, well! It's time to end this entry and hopefully it will not be quite as long before the next one - assuming the house is still standing should I be in it when the 'big shake' arrives.

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11th April, 2024: Feeling run down.

Almost 7 weeks since my last post, and nothing much has changed.

As one gets older, time loses some meaning. But paradoxically, it becomes all the more important to recognise the value of it.

I'm approaching a crossroads in several different senses. Firstly, I am not far from my 70th birthday. But where did all of my life go? Some of us would like to turn the clock back and make different decisions, but that will not happen. If one is independent, with no family connections and nobody else to have to take into consideration, then even in old age, the world is still wide open to us. But I do have commitments, and that seriously hamstrings anything I may wish to do outside of the constraints of my responsibilities.

The next crossroad I will encounter is where to live. My wife and relatives are in the process of receiving Spanish passports, and the Costa del Sol is the preferred destination. But how many people make plans that are never realised? Again, being married does mean it has to be a shared decision and when one half of a relationship is either unreliable or indecisive, changing their mind form one day to another, it is not easy to plan for whatever future we have left.

The final crossroad has existed for some time now. It's one I have been stuck at for far too long. My body condition is not great and I am at the stage where only surgery can correct the things that have come to bug me. But that remains the situation and I cannot chose which way to go when I feel it is time that I must make a decision on whether I go under the surgeon's knife or not.

Nobody knows exactly what the future holds for us, especially in a world going crazy where the criminals, idiots and lunatics who rule over us are making decisions that can cause so much harm to so many people. In this respect I speak mainly of WWIII and those criminally insane politicians who are trying to make the outbreak of hostilities a self-fulfilling prophecy. God help us all.

Oh well. On to the next tedious day and a continuation of my seemingly endless and repetitive routine. Having said this, could I handle any real excitement now? That is the "$64,000 question".

PS. YES! The ground is still moving underneath my feet. It's not going to stop, is it?

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23rd February, 2024: Shake, rattled and roiled

Yes, the ground IS still shaking.

There's just no end to the challenges life can throw at you. I call them 'challenges' because a friend once said that's how problems should be referred to. OK. Challenges it is, but they are still problems if they cannot be solved. Hence, another year of unresolved issues and the tireless wait for big changes causes me to grow more tired each day.

So, to call them what they are, the problems that cannot be resolved are the damned ants that get everywhere. It's a constant issue that needs to be faced and dealt with on a daily basis. Then, of course is the ground shaking and there is no solution to this either. It's happening all over the region and all due to the sizeable earthquake we had late last year. This has left the ground under our feet very unstable. The only saving grace at the moment is that it is not severe, but it is distracting and affecting all daily routines. 'Dark clouds' indeed.

One thing that really gets me though is that there is a lot of humidity in the country where I am temporarily existing. You cannot buy a dehumidifier anywhere. You can purchase something called an 'Air Cleaner', but they are just oversized ionisers. So why, for pity's sake, can you not buy dehumidifiers here? It's insane. But moving on ...

The wife ("Sarah") should get her Spanish passport in a few months time. Maybe a little long than that, but it's not far away. It cannot come too soon. Once it does arrive, big decisions have to be made. How soon before we move there? Can we afford to move there? What about Sarah's close relatives? They want to go to Spain as well ... but it's money that is one of the biggest stumbling blocks here. Then there is the prospect of finding somewhere to live, and obtaining enough income to survive. At my age (I will be 70 in June) it's not easy to be so nomadic, having either lived in so many different places in the UK, and temporarily in 3-month episodes in the US. And of course, now, the Philippines. I really just want to find somewhere to see out my last years where I do not have to make any further plans. Can I find that place? Will Spain, if and when we get there, provide that final solution? Until next time, adios amigos.

Older (Melancholy) Blogs: Please go to the SUNSET INDEX

NB. Here are my older entries. Everything I have 'professed' before the current year. But what happened to 2018 and 2020? Who knows? Perhaps I overslept (twice!).

Nostalgia

My birthplace, Wolverhampton. Remember the good old days? We are about preserving, about tradition, about remembering when the city (when it was still a town) was flourishing.

Time moves on. But progress is not always what it should be. Remember the old Victorian Arcade? Criminally demolished and replaced with concrete. What about the ever-popular covered market? Now to be demolished as well. Or how about the old trolley buses? Beatties? Goodyears? The small shopkeepers? For some of them, a long time driven out of business. In the old days, you would have witnessed working families struggling to get by. But life was simpler, not overwhelmed by all those things which today devalue humanity. Household components were built out of materials that would last longer than the cheap plastic imports we now see from China. Now we use them and then throw them away when they stop working.

At Woeza.com we are partly old school, partly modernist. It must be said though, that as far as the city goes, the baby was thrown out with the bathwater a long time ago.

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People

According to indexes measuring social deprivation, Wolverhampton (which is where I was born, and lived for a number of years) is towards the bottom of any scale you should wish to use. Perhaps one may think that this means that the city is not a great place to live. But the people are generally just as friendly, if not more so, than many other places you may wish to visit.

However, the city is plagued by an 'underclass' of anti-social elements. Louts, drug dealers, degenerates of varying descriptions, we have more than our fair share of them.

Then there is the 'Kremlin'. The city council is ominous by it's 'big brother' architectural design which sits imposingly in the centre of the city. But it is not any aesthetic opinion of the structure that is important - it is the political elements ensconced within the building that is of concern.

The city is not blessed with a set of councillors who care much about each other. Historically, the left-wing councillors have long been at odds with their right-wing opponents. You could say that where divisions exist, they are often and seemingly unbreachable. Each side likes to play it's own political card and it is the citizens who have to suffer as a consequence.

Generally though, and knowing the people of this city quite well, they are wary of anyone who is not within their own social class. Speak with a 'posh' accent, and you will be viewed with suspicion by the unemployed and working classes. Speak with a typical Black Country accent, and to outsiders, you will be seen as not being too clever.

Overall, it's not a bad place to live, but it could be much better. And it is only the class divisions which stop the citizens from making the place a lot better than it could be.

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Environment

To put it bluntly, and in certain places, a bit of a let-down. Badly maintained roads and pavements. Dilapidated buildings as the result of abandoned development projects. Poor air (at times) and water quality (the water is fluoridated with toxic waste chemicals). Noisy due to pig-ignorant motorists hell-bent on making as much noise as they can. The 'pitbull class' who let their less-than-desirable dogs run free. Cannabis fumes permeating blocks of flats. People deficating in stairwells. Misuse of facilities and total ignorance of fire regulations. Increasingly confusing city centre road network due to increased pedestrianisation. Never-ending Metro fiasco. How long does it take a small amount of track? These are just examples and this list may increase.

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Facilities

A handful of parks of which West Park appears to be the most well-used. A concert / conference venue (Wulfrun Civic Hall), a badly-designed bus station which is very cold and draughty during the colder months of the year. Large supermarkets such as Sainsbury (but inconveniently situated for bus users), and Asda. Continually shrinking council public service outlets. Shopping mall (Mander Centre) where the roof leaks every year (mind you do not trip over those buckets). Toilet facilities inside the Mander Centre which close after shops finish trading early in the evening. Fair number of bookmakers and drinking outlets. Large police station where the police like to hide (they are going to need to get a bigger car park for all the cars not on patrol). A regularly troublesome Metro tram system. Again, this list could get longer.

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Summary

Could do a lot better. City is too 'disjointed' and subject to the whims of councillors who think the city centre is the only place to invest in development (considering the long-term 'bomb site' appearance of at least some of the suburbs. Improved soccer team is one of the better things. But the jury is still out on the ability to be a top-six club. Unpleasant place to be at night - dark, miserable, a number of drunken revellers. Sprinkling of very bad food outlets. Ultimately, OK during the day, but avoid at night.

Updating the website.

Better late than never.

This section did not appear on the original version of this website, but I felt a need to add a few more words and add some updates.

I left Wolverhampton a few months before the end of 2021, and although my website is not that old, a lot has happened since I left. Now it's late 2023, and the soccer club is in the doldrums. Managers have come and gone, financial restrictions are taking their toll, and the club just seems to be treading water - as it has done for a few years now. Elsewhere, some things have dragged on, some have changed much to the dislike and upset of some of the local traders, shops and other outlets have closed (due to the effect of the 'scamdemic' and the UK financially and militarily supporting America's long-time contrived and proxy war against Russia). Then there are people struggling with mortgages, increasing food prices, energy costs. Add to this more violent crime, dog attacks, some local governments going bankrupt (and possibly more in danger of doing so), etc.

Leaves are falling off the tree. It's part of a annual cycle for some. But if the tree is showing clear signs of distress and disease, will they return next year?

But more about my 'disclaimer' ...

What is written in this blog may seem outdated in some of it's opinions, information and purpose. I do not apologise for the criticisms I have previously made, and some (or many) which are still valid to this day. Yes, it may seem I am still rubbing salt into old wounds, but some will always refuse to heal. These wounds run deep, but my justification is that not a great deal of good has occurred since I left, and many of the issues I previously and personally experienced with the city still remain. The situation with the UK as a whole is even worse. It is despairing to see the criminals and (useful) idiots in Westminster taking this nation to Hell, but not likely back again.

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