Down the Bog

This isn’t too good is it? It’s nearly my bedtime on the 26th February which means that I last “blogged” five days ago. Was it five days? I think so. I’ve got to try and keep on top of this because frankly it’s so typical of me to start something and not be completely dedicated in seeing it through. I’ve got that movie online site (check the link section) and my updating has slowed down and I’m annoyed with myself.

Ah well, I will try and get on the case but my excuse is that Nicola has now started work and at the moment is doing extra hours while she is being trained. That means that I’m fulfilling my Daddy role quite a bit at the moment and so I should. Whether Nicola is at home or not I should be just as actively involved but the truth is that she is so wonderfully organised that it’s not until she’s out for a few hours that I appreciate all the hard work that goes on. That’s because I’m doing it instead!  

I am enjoying it though, I really am. Our three year old son, Jake is very attatched to Nicola but I feel like the relationship between Jake and myself is getting closer by her being away for a few hours. I also have found that I’m developing a better sense of our new(ish) daughter, Abby and her needs and wants. You know, I’ve been blessed with six children and although the others are all grown up I can say that it’s all been a real delight. It still is except my time for other things is evaporating away with the sweet scent of a full nappy. Except that smell never does seem to go away.

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Well it got a little warmer today. I think the temperature got up to something like -3 degrees and if I was in England I’d be shivering but here it almost means it’s time for shorts! Okay so maybe that’s a bit over the top but it felt a good deal warmer today and it’s good for me and my state of mind. The winter started later this year and we were taking advantage of plus temperatures right into January which was great for going out and great for our electricity bill. But since then we’ve had quite the big freeze and I’m fed up with it now. Roll on March when hopefully the snow will begin to melt (although I know that March can still bring further dumps of the white stuff) and would you believe I’m actually looking forward to the time when we have to get the lawn mower out!

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I added a title to the header of this blog site this morning. You’ll note it says “A Brit living a tad reluctantly in Canada” and I think it best sums up my situation.

Since moving here back in 2004 I’ve found it quite difficult to adjust. I certainly didn’t anticipate such problems but I’m certain that by choosing to head this way at the ripe old age of forty three this hasn’t helped the cause. I’ve read about culture shock and I can say now that I’ve experienced it but I’d have expected these kind of problems if I’d moved to Asia or an area with a significantly different culture. But from England to Canada? In my innocent way I didn’t expect there to be any problem. I once read that culture shock was like suddenly having to use your other hand to write with. You know how to do it, and with thought, time and practise it’s possible to do but it’s hard work for a while.

So here I am two and a half years later and things are better. We’ve gone through a few troublesome times but things are a lot better now a little more settled. But will this ever feel like home?That kinda worries me. I’d like it to feel that way but I do have an inclination to look over my shoulder to check England out where it looks all cosy, homely and warm. Because of course that was (and still feels like) my home.

I just checked the BBC site to see the temperatures for where I used to live in England in the south east. It says a max 11c. How enticing! A quick glance out of the window here at our thermometer says -18c. See? Do you see why England is enticing me back? 

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Good grief, where does the time go? This is hardly going to be a riveting read unless I get around to some regular blogging. But then maybe it’s just not a riveting read. Ah well.

Just the other day my other half pointed out a web page that one of my grown up daughters has out there in internet land. To be honest there was just one small, quite insignificant feature about it that I didn’t very much approve of so I chose to question her on it. All very innocent you’d think and it didn’t appear to cause a problem and yet…and yet today I’ve been thinking about it and I don’t think it was my place to even wonder about it. In fact although I don’t think it’s caused any kind of bad feeling I believe that I owe her an apology because what she had chose to create on her page was her’s and not mine. It wasn’t even designed for my consumption. So I don’t know if she reads this blog but I will be apologising for stepping out of line and it just makes me realise how hard it is to be a parent and just what kind of role do we have when our children are all grown up.

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In Iraq in 2003 a so called friendly fire incident took place between US and British forces. Two American war planes mistakenly attacked UK ground forces that resulted in injury and the death of one soldier. You can read the account here.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/2901515.stm

I remember thinking at the time how on earth can this kind of thing happen? With the military being so technologically advanced surely this kind of thing could be averted?

This week in the UK the daily newspaper The Sun announced that it had obtained video of the event that was recorded from within the cockpit. I understand that there was all kinds of controversy because the video was meant to be classified data and not available for public consumption. The clip can be viewed on the The Sun website.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,11021-10043,00.html

You need to observe the warning about bad language if you choose to watch it but it’s certainly quite a clip to view. What I found interesting was the difficulty for the pilots in identifying a legitimate target and questioning as to whether there were any “friendlies” in the area. After repeatedly asking and being told that there weren’t they proceeded with the fatal attack.

Now clearly this kind of thing should never happen but from my extremely uninformed position I’d guess that if we’re realistic there’s always going to be a risk of such events. What strikes me more though is why wasn’t the video released by the US authorities after the event? To me it shows the difficulty that these guys have to deal with in the heat of combat and how such events can come about.

Wouldn’t life be easier if governments, companies, hospitals, and others felt able to come clean with the truth when things go wrong. I know it’s a natural human response to try and pass blame and there’d be a whole line of legal people waiting to get as much cash out of them as possible if they did. Maybe deservedly so but in the end all most people want surely is to understand why things went wrong and for someone to put up their hand and say “we’re really, really sorry.” We just want to know and understand.

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 Are meals a social occasion for you? In a previous life they used to be for me. Back in England before the arrival of our young son Jake we used to have quite a social gathering over our evening meal. There was myself and Nicola, along with my daughters Hannah, Sarah and Ruth from my first marriage. Because we were all out during the day with work or school we’d have the opportunity to catch up with each other’s news as we sat around the table eating. It often was the only time we were really all together but it was a good time and I look back on it with fondness.

These days things have changed with Hannah, my oldest daughter living back in England, Sarah living in Edmonton, Alberta, and the recent arrival of our baby daughter Abby. Meals tend to be much more rushed affairs tending to Jake and Abby and my other daughter Ruth seems to be missing quite frequently due to school, friends, work and everything else that a seventeen year old likes to cram into a day. So our evening meal is not the social event that it used to be which is a shame because I miss it. Still, something to look forward to again in the future.

Another thing I like to do if I’m on my own eating is to have something to read. A newspaper would be good but we rarely buy one of those and I remember as a boy often scouring the breakfast table looking for something to read. More often than not I’d have to make do with the breakfast cereal box for my reading fix. Have you read a cereal box recently? Take a look at the ingredients on the side. There’s no end of stuff to read and it makes pretty bad reading to be honest. I’m talking of course about the ingredient list, all of the additives involved and the apparent need for them along with what are they doing to us once we’ve eaten them. Once you’ve read the cereal box take a look in the cupboard and see what other additives are lurking away in the menu to be.

I’ll be honest and say that I hadn’t given this too much thought until we watched a TV show last night and I can see that it’s a real problem. The reason that so much of this stuff is added to our food is to help preserve the food, alter the colour to make it more tasty because we’ll enjoy it more if it looks how we’d like it to look, and food manufacturers say that they are simply responding to consumer needs. I don’t recall asking them to do this but maybe I did or was it you, or someone you know? Either way if we don’t want to keep eating all of this stuff we’ve got some serious planning to do. Imagine if you removed all of the food that had additives within from your cupboard just how much would be left behind. Enough to make a meal?

So maybe it’s back to basics with food preparation. Replacing all of those processed foods with home made alternatives. No more frozen pizza, pies, burgers, sausages, fish fingers and so on. Don’t forget about bread. Bread from the shops is full of additives. So the list goes on and on and what this all means is that for the average working couple trying to bring in enough money for the mortgage and all of the bills, well one of you is going to have to stop at home in order to have time to prepare all of the meals. Just like me old Mum used to do back in the late fifties and the sixties. Alas, life has changed so much since then and not least I would guess, is the amount of junk that not only do we eat but we ask our children to eat too.

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Along with the rest of the internet community I’m about to embark on doing a little “blogging”. I’ve just asked my esteemed other half as to why it’s called a blog anyway and she informs me that it’s short for Weblog. So there you go. For those who didn’t know - and I’m probably the only one - there’s some new knowledge for you. Now that’s a good thing because I’d like this blog to be educational and of great benefit to everyone that reads it and although I know that in reality this won’t happen it’s great to have an ideal - even if it can’t be achieved.

I’m not a midwife, brain surgeon, scientist, chiropadist, prostitute, police officer or anything even remotely interesting or contoversial. I work for a company that provides janitorial services so I know everything that there is to know about toilet seats which is certainly appropriate to the name of this blog site. Incidentally the name of “downthebog” is all my wife’s work and she doesn’t clean toilet seats for a living. However back to my previous point is the fact that my life is certainly not the most interesting to behold but I’ve got a brain, and I can type with one finger so I’ll be pouring out my heart to anyone that will just listen or read. Reading would be good.

So I’ve nearly finished my introductory first entry. I’m Stephen, I live in Canada and I’m 45. I spent my first 43 years living in England and I miss it terribly. But I’m here and Canada is okay and it’s home for now. I’m married with children, I’m proud of them all and I’ll introduce everyone as time goes on.

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