As Poppy Day approached collectors started to appear at various train and tube stations accross the capital. I was amazed at how much time some of the collectors gave spotting the same person there at 745AM as was there when I went home some 12 hours later.
Thursday instead of the lone collector in a suit he was joined by at least a half dozen young men all in Army fatigues. I think it is the first time that one has felt that remembrance was about the young brave soldiers who are out in the Middle East fighting today rather than those that served in the first or second World Wars. Joining the young men and the collectors was another young man, dressed again in fatigues and playing on the bag pipes. It was quite a touching moment to see this men collecting in memory of their collegues and I found it quite shocking how few people wore a Poppy. Every news reader or television presenter wears one, but how many of your average Joe's has one?
So today we honour each and every one of the Men & Women that have and still do work on in honour of our country and brave their lives in order to protect our way of life. The fact that Gordon Brown then just signs half of our rights away without a referendum is another matter entirely.
Meanwhile the weather has turned wintery. The leaves have fallen and the cold has set in. It makes waking up and getting ready in the mornings so much harder. It is barely light by 7AM as I leave for work. I am determined that I will not gain weight this winter and will keep up my excercise routine, although I do confess I had a week off last week as my work load had me at the office until almost 730PM a couple of times last week.
Saturday with a real nip in the air I decided against going out cooked a nice meal for the two of us and enjoyed a quiet night in.
Meanwhile the bar in our complex that opened just over a year ago closed without warning last week. You could tell it was going to happen. The place was simply always empty. The recession litterally happened just after it opened and in truth, it was simply in the wrong place. Why would I choose to go and sit in a bar 50 feet from my front door and pay £5 for a glass of wine when I can invite my friends into the flat and enjoy a bottle. It didn't help that during the summer months they insisted on having a band or Disc Jockey on Saturday's and Sunday's. Being posistioned directly below the flats and facing our building and two others, I like many others were annoyed at the noise blasting out as late as Midnight on a Sunday Evening. I can't help but think that with that being the second one to close the whole idea of a restaurant / cafe in a residential complex is not such a good idea. Meanwhile the shop is a complete con. The bottles of wine are at least £2 more than I pay in the shop just outside the complex and considering the owners have just bought a new Lexus, don't think I will frequent their store while they are charging through the nose. How nice it would be to have a M&S Food where the bar used to live. After all, if people will pay those sort of prices for a Quickymart, they would clearly pay for M&S. We can but hope eh?
With one month to go until my software launch, I have a feeling I will be rather busy at work for the next few weeks. Watch this space. Happy November.
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