Tuesday Four

Welcome to South Manchester and a very cloudy Saturday afternoon. 

Let’s dive straight in with some silly questions from Sunday Stealing. 

1. Are you currently reading a book you'd like to tell us about? Maybe a TV program you can recommend to us?

I am currently reading a book by A.G.Riddle called “Lost in Time” which, as the name suggests, is a science fiction novel about time travel. And it is very intriguing. Whenever I read a book about time travel, I start looking for plot holes because they are quite prone to them. So far, I haven’t found any in this book, which is encouraging. 

TV wise, I am watching Seinfeld for the first time, mainly because I love Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm. I’m up to season 7 and it is improving all the time. I can see Larry David’s influence in it. I am sure most of my American readers have seen it. 

I am also watching Black Mirror, which is a collection of thought-provoking stories written by the Charlie Brooker, a British satirist and comedian. They are usually set in a dystopian future and I would highly recommend it. 

2. Are you a Jane Austen fan? So many seem to be. If you are what is your favourite book and who is your favourite character.  If you aren't a fan, is there an author you especially like to read? Favourite character..etc?

I am not a Jane Austen fan at all. Mrs PM loves Jane Austen and when we went to Bath a few years ago, we saw plenty of evidence of her time living there. 

As I have said a few times, I am more into horror and science fiction, as well as political thrillers, the type written by Robert Ludlum. 

One of my favourite authors is Dean Koontz who has written seemingly hundreds of novels. I wouldn’t like to be a character in one of his books though because nasty things tend to happen to them.

3.  How do you spend your time during the day?  Do you set apart time to read, watch TV, study?

It depends on the day. I have a list of my “daily duties” that I have to perform whatever the day:

• Learn some Spanish

• Write something – anything (it’s mostly crap but there you go).

• Read

• Play the piano.

• Go for a walk.

Today I have completed these “duties” already. 

On a workday, I get up, go for a walk, work, complete my other daily duties and relax.

On a weekend the only thing I have cast in stone is to complete the daily duties and leave the rest to chance. Of course, when I am on holiday, all bets are off.

4. Have your beliefs changed in your life time?

Yes in some ways and no in others. 

Religiously, I would say yes. I am a Roman Catholic and was enveloped in the church until I was sixteen when I decided that religion wasn’t for me. My analytic and scientific mind guided me through this change. Don’t get me wrong; I am not against religion and if you are a believer and deeply entrenched in your religion of choice, I am absolutely delighted for you and would encourage you to keep practicing your faith. I know these things give comfort to people and I am happy for them. It’s just not for me. But then again, I think, once a Catholic, always a Catholic  - and if I am wrong then I will no doubt be treated like a very naughty boy when Judgement Day arrives. Unless of course, God pops into my house to prove that He exists. If he does, I will make him a special cuppa and have a lovely chat.

Politically, my beliefs haven’t changed really. Perhaps the only thing that has evolved is my massive distrust of politicians, even those from parties I support. Most, if not all of them, are charlatans, psychopaths and malignant narcissists. Some are better than others but I would never befriend one. 

I simply don’t trust them.

Life? Well, as you get older, your outlook on life changes as the years go by. At this time of my life I am now an opinionated, grumpy old git, but I have never been happier. 

5. What are your interests and hobbies? .. reading? writing? collecting?

I alluded to this above. 

I love to read, write, learn Spanish, play piano, walk, travel, watch football, watch cricket and watch rugby union. 

Of course, I am a very weird blogger too – as this post proves.

I am massively into music, particularly progressive rock, progressive metal, heavy metal, ambient music, ambient electronica, electronic pop music and some classical music. Last night I went to see Devin Townsend for example. He was amazing. 

I also love to socialise and am very happy having a meal with friends and colleagues and a few beers in the pub. 

I intend to look into more hobbies when I retire. Watch this space.

6. How much time a week/day/month do you devote to your interests?

I devote a lot of my time to my interests I think. It is currently approaching 1pm and I have spent all morning with them. I double up occasionally – for example as I am writing this drivel, I am listening to a new band I discovered yesterday – one of the support bands for Devin Townsend, a French art-rock band called Klone. They were very good and deserve my attention. I usually take evenings off though and either go out or mostly vegetate in front of the TV with Mrs PM.

7. Do you share your interests with anyone?

I have a couple of mates who are into similar music to myself and we go to gigs together in Manchester. I think writing is a solitary discipline and I largely do that for myself – apart from the public side – i.e. this blog – where I cast my drivel out to the world for judgement. 

You can’t socialise on your own though so I do that with friends, family and colleagues.

8. Tell us why you enjoy your hobby, pastimes or interests.

I enjoy writing because it allows me to express my weird thoughts in a permanent way. 

I enjoy reading and music because they take me away from reality on a trip around my imagination.

I love travelling because I always learn something new, and if you learn something new you will grow – you can’t help it. 

9. What emotions and feelings does summer conjure up for you?

I love summer. It is my favourite season. The weather is warm and generally gorgeous, although here in the UK we tend to get a fair amount of rain. It is also the season that I travel most. I am generally much happier in summer. 

10. What's summer weather like in your neck of the woods?

It is the warmest season in Manchester and temperatures range from 20 to 30 degrees Celsius (60 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit) but we do get heat waves, like last year for example where for about a month the temperatures exceeded 30 degrees Celsius and reached a peak of 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit). I had Covid-19 that week and was stuck in the house, which was a bit of a blessing in disguise. 

We do get rain in summer though and it is one of the reasons that England is referred to as “this green and pleasant land”. When we have a heatwave, we all welcome a rain shower. 

11. Got some special summer meals you and your family enjoy?

Not really. I eat more salads in the summer and we have barbecues in the back garden. 

12. What do you enjoy doing in summer? Sports, trips.. do you go on vacation?

In summer we tend to go further afield for walks, I watch cricket (I have at least four matches booked later this year) and we spend time in the garden enjoying the heat. We also travel more – we are off to Croatia and Sicily this summer.

13. Did your parents have things better than you today?

No – definitely not. I come from a working class family, even though I would say that I am not that now. My parents lived in a time when it was expected that he was the sole breadwinner and although he looked after us, we rarely got luxuries. This is one of the reasons I didn’t travel abroad until I was 20 years old. 

I am much better off than they were. 

14. What time period would you rather live in.. or are you okay with today?

Technologically speaking I am happy with today because, being a geek, I love the gadgets that we have and the new ones that are being developed. 

Politically speaking, today is quite an unpleasant time to be living in, with pandemics, wars in Ukraine, arses like Trump, Johnson and Bolsonaro making a mockery of truth, the rise of conspiracy theorists and dependency on social media etc. I would like to escape that sometimes.

I would quite like to be able to pop back to the 1980’s now and again because I love that decade, as weird and wonderful as it was. 

15. What changes would you make for our time to make it nicer/better to live in?

I would make it illegal for politicians to tell lies and I would do my best to remove people like Vladimir Putin from office. 

I would love somebody to invent a device that exposed the lies of politicians whenever deceitful words escape their mouths. Perhaps then the Russian people for example would overthrow the lunatic in the Kremlin and people like Boris Johnson and Donald Trump would receive their comeuppance once and for all. 

Like I have said – when I am World President these people will be blasted off into outer space to find a planet to colonise and destroy along with all the other arses who are ruining this world today. 

I will be a great leader – I hope I have your vote.