Why do you work?

There are lots of reasons why people go to work, they love their jobs, they want to be independent, sitting at home all day would bore the pants off them and, frankly, daytime TV is enough to drive anyone out the door.
But one reason everyone has in common is the wages. We all expect to get paid for our graft and then use that money for all the usual bills, shopping and, if we're lucky in these days of austerity, a small treat or two.
Which is why I really can't agree with the coalition government plan to make people on the dole work for their benefits.
Yes, I understand the argument of getting in a routine, not sponging off the state, giving back to society. That is all correct and commendable but if you are going to make someone work a 40 hour week then they should get paid. Surely that is one of the reasons we appreciate having a job? How are you to get in the routine if there is no reward/wage at the end? Will people work a 40 hour week and still not have enough cash at the end for decent shopping, or sandwiches for their lunch while they are doing this graft for free? Will they just be another form of community payback without actually committing a crime? And if there is enough work for a 40 hour week then why in God isn't it a job anyway?
I understand catching out those with jobs on the side and making spongers with 60 inch TVs and enough cash for a holiday each year get off their arse but how do you differentiate unless you actually go to the house of each claimant (surely a new 40 hour week job in itself?)
The fact is some people don't work because they're damn lazy and, yes, ways of putting sanctions in place need to be found. But another fact is people don't work because there are no bloody jobs, in case the PM and side-kick Cleggy have forgotten WE ARE IN A RECESSION. That means redundancies, bankruptcies, less growth = no jobs.
Perhaps time would be better spent on policies to create employment and then get people into work, proper paid work. I'm sure many of them won't need forcing at all.

Wood you believe it

Hurrah. The tree man has been and started work.
I can now see sky when I'm in my back garden and that's with just half the work done.

Instead of all the Special Branch twigging there was a problem jokes I'm just going to show you the photo of the amazing branch swinging chap scaling the HUGE tree by my house.
Who needs Tarzan when you've got the fabulous flying tree doctor, aye?

Dame Vera gets ink-corporated

I know it is oh so wrong but I could hardly contain my mirth when I heard the Dover People's Port launch - star guest Dame Vera Lynn - was double-booked with a tattooist convention.
Oh the giggles as I imagined our Vera getting ink on skin, a salty seadog design on her forearm perhaps? Of course there were other dignitaries, MP Chas Elphicke, district leader Paul Watkins and county council head honcho Paul Carter.
Did they sneak indoors (yes, the tattooists got inside the sea sport centre, Dame Vera and co got the outside balcony) for a warm up and find themselves perusing the artwork? An I love DHB tat for Charlie and perhaps Messers Watkins and Carter bared their chests for an Up the Blues design?

These are images which have kept me amused for a good couple of days. Is it so bad to  imagine  the head of Vera on the body of Popeye, chewing spinach, flexing tattoos and chortling the virtues of communitisation (read the Dover Express and you'll get a definition for that)?

If so then I am going straight to the burning furnace below because it is these thoughts which brightened up my Monday morning.

Google wins

Well, I have tried and tried but Google has decided I do not exist and it will, on no account, let me into Bailes Tales.
And so, drum roll please, we now have Bailes Tales 2.
Yes, it has taken me an incredibly long time to admit defeat and I still haven't added on all the widgets and dressing to make the new blog beautiful.
But, my pal Sue remarked, surely something has happened in my life since August? And so, just for Sue.....
Well,  the teen has been packing in as many parties as possible (three last night and he was still going strong at 7am today), Bloke has been trying to find a way to stop the gales coming in through the VW vents and freezing us solid on any drive longer than 20 minutes and I have finally declared victory in the battle of the trees.
Orbit Housing has agreed to chop down the huge trees which are on the border with my garden and have been blocking out the light for the last decade. Hurrah. As soon as they are gone we are having a garden bbq and I don't care if it is snowing.The bloody things have been the bane of my life. Every summer my garden is as dark as a cave, in the autumn the leaves block my drains and the tree nearest the house is so huge the roots have made my shed subside. The quote to get rid of them is some £1,300 but Orbit can breathe easy, at least I won't be charging for a new shed and repairs to my drain (unless I'm still waiting for them to come down next year).
On the down side this does now mean I will have to properly siort out my garden. Not being particularly green fingered I think this will involve a lot of pots and anything hardy enough to survive my neglect, I mean nurture.