Visiting with my Cuz

Every so often I see my cousin when she will stop by the flat to have a cup of coffee and talk for a while.  We do this every so often and, after talking with Cat, this has been the most pleasant side of my time here.  Talking with her is very relaxed and we get into a great many things while Louie, her dog, is continually trying to sneak off to sleep on the bed and we continually drag him back into the living room where he will live with our conversation, like it or not.

Yesterday I had vacuumed the flat and, within an hour, my cuz was knocking on the door.  We had arranged that we would see each other the next day but it wasn't going to be at the flat.  There was no plan to visit the flat so tell me it wasn't telepathy that I vacuumed before she came.

For some time there was a bit of tension as she would stop by but I wouldn't answer the buzzer for the door.  I hadn't been hearing it and I finally concluded the only explanation was that it just didn't work.  She really didn't believe it as why should anyone believe something so simple should fail.  So we tested it and, sure enough, the damn thing had stopped working.  There was no way I could test it by myself as the ringer is too far from the flat for me to check it so I went downstairs to ring it while she waited in the flat.  Nothing happened and there we had the proof.  Finally it's settled!

My cuz also stops by Belly Buster every so often as I don't have a telephone and that's a place she knows for sure she can find me.  Cat heard me talking with her and later remarked how she liked her accent.  As with anywhere else in England, accents vary tremendously even over very short distances and someone from outside Scotland may well understand the accent of someone from eastern Scotland but would understand nothing at all from the accent of someone from western Scotland.

Some of what comes up when we talk is private and that won't be any surprise to anyone but there are other things that wouldn't betray any kind of confidence.


Royal Mail for Sale ... Cheap

Cameron is a shabby version of Thatcher and one of his stunts has been to force privatisation of the Royal Mail.  The Mail is an institution which has been part of the government for centuries and yet now it's been put up for sale in an IPO on the stock market.  It appears the share prices will yield for the government about three billion pounds which is trivial relative to the overall budget so the exact purpose of this sale is not clear.

Both of us agreed that this sale is a disgrace and it's following a similar process taking place in the U.S. which will likely result in the same thing happening.  As with the U.S., the sale invites one question:  if the government doesn't deliver the mail, fix the roads, etc, then what the hell does it do.


Blowing Government Bubbles

One thing the government is considering doing in England is a blatant suck-up for votes by Cameron in offering mortgages to people based on a five percent down payment on a house.  There is no consideration for the inevitable housing bubble that will come from this as apparently the perception at 10 Downing Street is that delivering the mail is not important but destructive manipulation of home prices is the new business of government.

Just as in talking of the Mail, we were most concerned about this as well with my cousin remarking what a hell of time everyone had in 2008 and the damage from that period is still taking place.


Scottish Independence

Something we haven't yet discussed is the currently hot topic of Scottish independence and for which there will be a referendum next year.  I don't have any particular opinion on the subject but I know that one aspect driving it is the large oil reserves Scotland owns.  One thing that amused me about independence is that Scotland is concerned about its military and whether it would be included in NATO and possibly even the European Union.  I assume the Scots want to keep some submarines so they can defend against the Vikings coming back.  Who knows.

Don't take that last to mean any denigration of the Scottish contribution to the last real war as one of my uncles fought in the tank battles against Rommel in north Africa which Winston Churchill described after the victory there as 'the end of the beginning' of World War II.  Tangling with the Scots in war time is a very bad idea and has a very high probability of leaving you a dead person.