THE CASE OF THE GREASE MONKEY'S UNCLE.

I have not been idle during the Covid lock down for I have spent my time constructively writing a detective novel and to quote my own publicity blurb.

The Case of the Grease Monkey’s Uncle is set in 1947 and tells the story of James Arbuthnott and Arcibald Cluff, two recently demobbed soldiers and the first case for their Detective Agency, Arbuthnott and Cluff.

James was the taller of the two, with wavy fair hair and a moustache to match, very much the Officer and Gentleman and although of Scottish descent he had no trace of an accent, educated at Eton he had that distinguished confident air that immediately says, good breeding whilst his colleague was shorter and an altogether rougher diamond with ginger hair, from the East End of London, it would be true to say that one was tall and good looking whilst the other was not so lucky in the looks department and was built like a brick out house.

The mystery of the disappearance of the Uncle of William Trubshaw, involves criminality, murder, glamour, intrigue and occasionally down right stupidity.

It is available now on Amazon.co.uk and very reasonably priced I might add.

FITBIT.

My wife has a fitbit, I believe this is her second, although I know of people who have had quite a few, some through fashion and some due to malfunction, this being the case with my wife, although to be fair she has had it for five years.

As a collector of classic cars, my current oldest is 70 years old and still in perfect working order, I’m thinking a product made with modern production methods and precision engineering ought to last longer than five years, especially as the latest top of the range costs £199.00.

My wife though was adamant, she must have a replacement fitbit, for how else will she be able to tell how much exercise she has had in the day or how well she has slept at night?

I had a suggestion for her which may help to save the cost of a new fitbit and one which I use myself; when you go to bed at night if you are feeling exhausted, then it is safe to assume you have been very busy and taken a lot of exercise in some form or other, conversely when you waken in the morning if you are also feeling exceedingly tired, it is fairly safe to assume you haven’t had a good nights sleep, it’s not rocket science!

CORONA VIRUS DEEPENS INEQUALITY.

I was watching a news item this morning concerning the effects of Covid 19 on the poor and underprivileged which I thought rather stated the bleeding obvious, that poor and underprivileged people were suffering more in the current situation.

Without putting too fine a point on it, I would have thought it safe to say that the poor and underprivileged suffer more whatever the situation, however I believe the news went on to suggest the poor would be suffering in the current heat wave we are experiencing in the UK today, when they are queuing outside the shops; I have a feeling I may have conflated the news and the weather forecast but I couldn’t be certain.

Whilst I am not poor, I am certainly not rich, but to my great joy I do have sufficient funds to be the proud owner of two Sola Topee, or Pith Helmets as they are more commonly known.

I have a British Army Foreign Service Tropical Pith Helmet the type worn in the 19th century.

I also have an Indian style Sola Topee also know as a Bombay Bowler, both of which are very stylish and most suitable for the current weather conditions, which leads me back to the original point of this post; for whilst I am lucky enough to have the choice of two Pith Helmets, the poor and underprivileged will have to resort to the old tried and tested knotted handkerchief on the head should they wish to protect themselves from the harsh rays of the Sun.

GETTING BACK TO NORMAL.

I saw this story on social media but have seen no mention of it on UK news but I believe it to be true, in this day and age, who knows what is true and what is not?

It appears that “individuals on foot” started shooting in southwest Minneapolis on 21st June 12.37am American time, which to me in the UK is yesterday.

I imagine this must have been a random attack as there are reports of twelve people with gunshot wounds one of which has died, the Police believe there was more than one shooter.

The incident took place near Landmark’s Uptown Theatre where there are several bars and restaurants, although one report said, there were lots of shots and it sounded like groups of people shooting at each other.

The report was a little vague as to exactly where this neighbourhood is but as someone who lives in the UK, I imagine this is not the part of town that has been damaged and looted.

There were no specific details of the ethnicity of those shooting or of those who were shot and there was no mention as to whether it might have been gang or drug related, so I’m none the wiser as to the cause of this shooting.

I have no more information that I can add to this, except to perhaps add the comment; Isn’t it nice to be getting back to normal.

THE UK FOREIGN AID BUDGET.

It seems the UK is to merge the DfID and the Foreign Office and will review our Foreign Aid budget which is set at 0.7% of GDP and this year was 15 Billion pounds.

One doesn’t want to appear too stingy but 15 Billion pounds to feed people in countries which have their own Space program does seem a tad generous and leaves one wondering where the money is going.

I have no idea what sort of food aid we are sending but I would have thought at these prices they must all be dining at the Ritz!

ABOLISH SLAVERY.

This is a request to all the young people who are out there pulling down all the statues of previous slave traders with such hatred for this awful practice.

I have to point out however, what I feel is somewhat ironic in their actions as I would imagine it is predominantly these same young people who are enabling the modern day slave trade to exist by purchasing cheap clothing made by workers on virtually poverty wages in countries like India.

Perhaps someone could point out the irony of the situation to them, for I feel they are very unlikely to see it for themselves.

GAS-LIGHTED AND MANSPLAINING ON BBC RADIO FOUR.

I was listening to Her Majesty’s BBC Radio Four News this morning where the reporter was talking about Priti Patel who had apparently been gas-lighted and then went on to explain that gas-lighting was; to make someone unsure of something, in this case, something relating to her ethnic origin.

The reporter went on further to suggest she had been mansplained but gave no explanation of what the word may have meant and having looked it up it is; for a man to explain something to a woman in a patronising or condescending manner.

Why indeed was a reporter using such modern and made up words on BBC Radio Four News and who on earth did he think he was talking to, I very much doubt if any of the usual Radio Four listeners would have the faintest idea what he was talking about.

Personally I am very much against this modern trend for making up new words and I find myself extremely discombobulated by their usage and have a preference for the more established words like discombobulated, the earliest reference I could find was for 1879.

I wonder if in 141 years time gas-lighted will have established itself as a word in common usage, I have to say I’m extremely sceptical about the possibility of that happening, in the meantime perhaps they would merely refrain from using the word on Radio Four.

TAKING ALL THE STATUES DOWN.

I just wanted to point out that we won the Second World War and at the time we were in the right fighting against Hitler who tried to obliterate the Jewish race by starving and gassing them to death together with Gay and Black people.

I thought it only right to post this information before all the statues are taken down leaving no record of this event for the young people of today to learn from.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCE PHILLIP.

Wonderful to see Prince Phillip celebrating his 99th birthday today, one hopes he remains fit and healthy and manages to get a telegram from the Queen next year.

JAGUAR ELECTRIC CARS.

Due to Corvid 19 sales of cars in the UK have dropped to the same level as 1946 the year after World War Two, when the country was almost bankrupt, which has caused Jaguar to ask the Government for a £1bn loan.

Now call me a sceptical old so and so but I’m wondering why you would give them this money when due to pressure from the Government all the car manufactures are being forced to producing nothing but electric cars by 2035.

There are only 200,000 electric cars in the UK at the moment proving how unpopular they are, the range achieved from a charge is abysmal, the Lithium for the batteries pollutes the planet, they are vastly expensive to buy and as yet no manufacturer has made a profit from selling electric cars.

Perhaps it might be better to invest £1bn in manufacturing a clean fuel for the already successful internal combustion engine, that way Jaguar can continue to make a profit and the Government would get its money back!