Wednesday, May 02, 2012

From Geckos to Revans (with a rant on the way)

Friday 27th April

A few patches of mould lifted some paint in the ruin over the winter so yesterday I went in there to wire-brush those areas and paint them. I knew the ruin had a guest behind the fridge from when I went in there before, and it was still there when I moved the fridge for painting. The cheeky thing has been living in the evaporation tray at the back of it, doubtless for the warmth. I caught him to show Caroline then, when I’d finished the painting, I put him back. Better to have geckos living in your house rather than those visitors with rather more legs.




Sunday 29th April
One could be forgiven for thinking that we’ve entered the age of the righteous fuckwad, what with smoking bans, minimum pricing on alcohol and taxes on hot pies, but you would be wrong. I submit that the urge to tell people what to do for their own good has been with us since the dawn of history, and always transforms into the urge to force people to behave correctly. We’ve always had those with us who get niggled by the thought that someone, somewhere, might be enjoying themselves and that it should stopped. There should be a law. They should be taxed.

The latest wheeze (forgive the pun) is in the Netherlands. Righteous fuckwads there have decided to ban foreigners from cannabis cafes which of course, like all forms of bansturbation and just like the smoking ban, is just a step on the road to stopping that enjoyable, unhealthy and terribly terribly wrong activity. But hang on a minute, what are those running the cafes supposed to do? Should they put up signs saying ‘No English, No Germans, No French’? Surely that is discrimination on the basis of national identity? The basis of this latest bit of idiocy is that smoking cannabis is illegal in other countries. So, working with that basis ... isn’t alcohol illegal in some countries? Will bars in the Netherlands soon be putting up signs saying ‘No Saudi Arabians’ or, since the ban on alcohol in such countries stems from their particular religion, should they ban Muslims from entering? Yeah, right.

Tuesday 1st May
There is, apparently, a debate across the world about the benefits of austerity as opposed to spending. There are those who feel ‘spending should be increased to boost business’. Yet surely that depends on who is doing the spending and what the money is spent on. Our governments cannot resist agenda-driven spending so we get ‘investment in green energy’ which means expensive, inefficient and heavily subsidized fucking wind turbines. It ‘invests in people’ (thank the Anti-Midas Brown for turning the word ‘invest’ into a joke) which means more social, down-the-toilet spending that fails to generate any wealth at all. By all means spend, but on shale gas, nuclear power, and emerging technologies like biotech, nanotech or ... here’s a radical idea: since every pound paid in tax ends up as 30 pence by the time the bureaucrats and politicians have taken their cut, how about cutting out the taxes and leaving the money in the hands of those more competent at investing it?

I’m hearing a lot of sobbing going on at the BBC about the rise of right-wing parties across Europe. In France it’s Le Penn and in Greece its Golden Dawn (with a flag that looks like an amalgam of Greek key and swastika). How can this possibly be happening? I guess people are starting to learn the truth behind Margaret Thatcher’s, ‘Socialist eventually run out of other people’s money’. Of course the left is kicking up a stink too against austerity, but that’s just short-sighted self-interest – their wonderful response being, ‘Spent too much money? Spend more!’ While the far left is also gaining more support. The reality here is that all across Europe those who are not bored shitless by politics are looking at the main parties – usually centre left and centre right – seeing them perpetually screwing up and noting that you couldn’t slot a fag paper between them, and are looking elsewhere. The problem is that they are looking for solutions in more state control. Those like me who see ever-expanding government as the problem are heading down the pub.

Wednesday 2nd May
Enough of this ranting nonsense. Here’s how the beach looks by Revan’s bar:






7 comments:

Jebel Krong said...

I never used to understand why people drink... Now i do: revolutions are sadly a thing of the past. The irony of more information, knowledge and education being available than ever before is not lost on those powerless to change anything meaningful.

j purdie said...

Austerity brings poverty, spending brings debt. What we gonna do?

I note The Departure is now out in paperback, and I was able to pre order Zero Point on Amazon for nine quid and free delivery.

Chrish said...

Ahhhhhh, to see Caroline sitting there with a jug of white wine, Mak weather forecast for today tells me it will be 35 degrees, you lucky bastards! (thanks for the pics though!!!) On the Dutch cannabis thing: there is smoke coming out of my ears (out of angry frustration not because of heavy smoking)this is how it works: from now on the shops in the border area close to Belgium and Germany are forced to become private clubs, one has to become a member to be able to purchase a smoke and one can only become a member if one is able to show a Dutch passport, next year it will be like that in the whole of the country, people in Amsterdam are really pissed of because they are going to loose millions and millions because young tourists will no come to Amsterdam any more if they cannot buy a smoke....silly buggers! the result will be that foreigners will be forced to buy in the streets again like in the old days which will cause a lot of extra crime and also young people will be exposed again to harder stuff, this legalisation of cannabis in our country in the past was meant to keep young people away from the hard stuff....sigh....btw, cannabis was never legal here, one was allowed to buy 5 grams but it was still illegal to supply the shops, crazy politicians! they are so stupid, if it was made legal and taxed the state revenue would be something like 500 million a year...

Andrew said...

I quite like wind turbines from an aesthetic pointment of view. Also, when resources become overly expensive they might become more cost effective. Just a thought.

P.s. When is the departure going to be out? It is listed on Amazon for preorder but without a date?

Thanks.

Chrish said...

Btw: you probably already know but in case you don't: the 30th of april the first charter landed at Sitia airport. I quote: SITIA airport ( LGST , JSH ) . The first load of tourists from AMSTERDAM ( with a TRANSAVIA B 737-800 ) , just arrived , and the local authorities have prepared a welcome celebration , with local folklore dancers , local deserts , and plenty of RAKI .
Interesting for future traveling!

Grim's Reality said...

Turmoil. I'm rather pleased with the French election result, it's a nice spanner in the overall works... The sooner Greece gets out of the Euro the better... Germany will be fucked, but thats what happens when you try to build the fourth Reich using the banking system rather than bullets.

It's going to be a bumpy ride.

I love Geckos by the way. The best ones I've seen were in the Maldives, they used to line the walls of the outdoor shower and scatter like cockroaches as soon as you stepped into the room. My son and one of his holiday friends spent literally hours running around the island collecting them, and then letting them go on mass.

Neal Asher said...

Too true Daniel - it's the only escape left and their trying to stop that too!

J Purdie, govt spending brings debt, industry & business spending goes towards wealth creation.

We thought you were here last week, Chris. Someone of the same name in your room confused the shopkeeper's wife. It is nice down here but not quite warm enugh for swimming. However, higher temps than last year and hotter up in Papagianades than down here in Makrigialos. 28 up there yesterday. I brought by towel and trunks down today, but I' doubtful... Yeah, we heard about the charter flight from our neighbour. Nice to have them from Britain now too.

Andrew, I don't mind the look of them but right now they have to be subsidized. And they won't be cost effective for many decades if we get into shale gas or ever, if we build a few more nukes.

Graeme, an even bigger spanner going in with the Greek election. I'm taking my euros straight out of my Greek bank here.

Sorry guys, not sure when the paperback Departure is out.