Shopping Trip©  by Michael Casey

We joined Costco today, you have it over there in USA I believe. We had our photos taken for the ID cards, I looked fat and silly.My wife looked fine, just fine. The store was very big, its near where we bought our Toyota a few years ago. Though the Toyota dealership is closed now. As we toured Costco we looked at the savings we could get. 1/2 price on some items.Though you'd have to be running a dinner or a small hotel to really buy the bulk items. If you buy once every couple of months then you can stock up. Toilet paper and deoderants, fresh orange juice from concentrate. Hugh big cakes not to mention whole sides of pig chopped into slices of bacon in hugh economy packs. If you ran a snack bar the perfect size for your business.Pepsi and Cola galore. I think we will enjoy our new shopping experience. A big beef hotdog with onions and a soda plus refill got about 2.5dollars, a bargain.

Now what does this say about me? I'm normal, I'm average, I like a bargain, as does the whole world, especially in these sad and bad economic times.

Now what if God was out shopping, would he buy the giant economy packs?Would he chose people to be his friends if they used the right soap and the nicest deodorant. Would he like people wearing the nicest clothes the latest fashions, would he prefer Chinese people or Black people,would he like the Irish instead of the Jews,would he like hot countries and vibarnt people such as Brazilians at Mardi Gras. Would God like Gucci clad people. Would God like people whoshop at Costco, or would he only like those who shop at Tiffanys.

Luckily I know my God.He's not upset if I have toothpaste stuck to my jumper, even if once it was a cashmere jumper. He doesn't care if there's too much stubble on my chin and if my hair's not combed and there's a stain on my trousers where I spilt my coffee and then dropped my pizza too. Makes me sound like a bit of a tramp. I'm not always perfect, far from perfect BUT I do know that my God does love and accept me, even on my slobby not going to work days. Yes I may go shopping for bargains and the store does accept all major credit cards. But luckily my Lord accepts the fools, the beggars, the thieves, the dirty the smelly, the very badly dressed and those with no fashion sense and those who think they DO have the best clothes of all. For to the Lord we All are like the Emporer and his New Clothes, we are all naked before him just as Adam and Eve were in the beginning, and luckily for us he accepts us just the way we are.
Remember that next time you are out shopping.


**my 5 books are on Amazon Kindle
www.michaelgcasey.wordpress.com & www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com

Stones

Stones ©

By Michael Casey

Two stones on a beach the tide gently laps at them, refreshing them, cooling them, a perfect way to be, no worries, no purpose, no hope. One stone tries to influence the other, without the bigger stone the smaller one would be washed away, without the smaller stone the bigger one would be all alone. Could the big stone live without its neighbour, or would it be so terribly terribly lonely ?

Let’s go for a beer suggests one stone, but the other is horrified, alcohol is against its beliefs. The other stone suggest a coffee and a donut, but this is rejected, coffee  is not against his beliefs its just that his blood pressure means no more coffee. So the stones settle for a donut, and decide to eat it together on a bench in the churchyard of Saint Phillips. It’s a sunny day, too sunny in fact, so one suggests they go inside the Cathedral, only for the other stone to say it would be against his beliefs to go in a church. So they compromise and move position so that they can be in the shadow of the Cathedral.

Back at the beach the stones enjoy the sea lapping at their toes. Could they compromise on this and on that? They could but neither wants to give ground, neither wants to lose face, their people would say they had sold out, his people would say he is a traitor. So all they can agree on is donuts, and shade is ok. This goes on for years, the stones only move as far as the Druckers behind the Cathedral. Both stones rely on each other on the beach but otherwise neither will give ground, pride and ignorance is their common cause, the shingle shudder at their lack of love for everybody else.

A Flash lights the sky as far as the moon itself. Now they are no longer stones on a beach, they are burnt out, washed out stones in the middle of the desert, the sea itself has done. Me should have been Us.

Interviewing Somebody

Interviewing Somebody ©

 By

 Michael Casey

Welcome to Casey’s Company

As you can see we are a friendly company

Would you like a drink before we begin?

Sorry only tea or coffee, no Vodka or lager

At Christmas, then that would be different

But today you are here to be interviewed.

Now why did you apply for  a position at Casey’s Company?

Because you liked the 12 weeks holiday a year, but you do do preparation at home.

Because you liked carrying a briefcase, because you liked wearing shiny black shoes and a nice shirt and tie.

Or was it because you liked the idea of being called Sir?

What qualities can YOU bring to the role?

What experience do you have in a similar role?

How would you describe yourself?

Are you self motivated?

Pardon? Can I stop because you want to go and have a wee?

Ok are you ready to resume?

You want to go out and make an emergency phone call to your mum, you forgot to ask her to buy some more toilet paper, and some beef burgers and tomato ketchup.

Anything else?

Ok, lets move on.

So do you enjoy where you are employed at the moment?

You’re not employed at the moment.

You were sacked!

Why?

You were found kissing in the stationary cupboard, and when security searched you, you had 120 red pens and 120 blue pens, and 120 black pens in your nice fake leather briefcase. So you were sacked on the spot. The Police were not called in as the girl you were kissing in the stationary cupboard was the boss's daughter.

But you do have a glowing reference.

Looking at the signature it looks remarkably like YOUR handwriting.

Is there anything more you’d like to add?

You’d like to have the 1st two weeks of August off, as you’ve already booked your holiday, other than that you can start straight away.

Oh, you forgot something, could you be paid weekly and in cash.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME.

Oh and when will we let you know if you have been successful in your application for the post.  

Colours

Colours©

By Michael Casey

I don’t know about you but I find BBC4  has some really good stuff on it. Today I was catching up on a programme about colour in Art, then tonight I caught the final episode which was really interesting. We all have a favourite colour, mine is blue, not too blue but blue enough, and then there is the Virgin Mary blue that you see on statues of Mary in church. The show on tv explained how the Church wanted to keep a monopoly on the colour, and in fact how only She should be coloured in that blue. So it was heresy for Mary not to be painted in the right colour so to speak. This is the European tradition, for Faiths all over the world I imagine there are and still are rules and so forth, so I’ll stick to Europe.

I’ve always liked paintings, I saved up and bought a few for my walls many years ago before I was married, you know when you don’t have to think about children’s shoes and so forth, now you think about the colours of the shoes at your daughter’s school and not about paintings for your wall, though both my daughters are artists.  Colours are Life, they really are, we have the beauty of girls all over the world and the traditions of hair and the colour of clothing,  to be honest a girl’s smile and eyes are the most important thing in my opinion.  Girls being girls like or should I say adore a bit of colour, it really does control men, if you like colour is the bait that gets a girl noticed and a man hooked. Yes I know that sentence may annoy some, but you can write your own essay and let people judge your writing. Colour is soft, colour is cold, colour is warm, it is matched and mixed, and when every aspect of colour comes together it stops the show. How do I know this? I have a Shanghai wife and two daughters, they have taught me! However for me its just the eyes and smile which I look for.

In the tv show it talked about artists’ ideas and beliefs, their feelings are so intense, a factor of 100000 compared to you and me, Don McClean’s   Starry  Starry Night explains a lot, even Dr Who when he met Van Gogh, colour means so much. We can hate a colour for many reasons, it may have been your school uniform or your work uniform. I wear rugby shirts a lot, so bright orange with a polo scene on my Polo is my favourite, I can wear office wear when I have to, but otherwise its big brash colours for me, on my site and on Facebook you can see my use or abuse of colours.

On the show they talked about architecture and the use of scale and colour, why do dictators like themselves so much, North Korea has giant statues, Fascists had statues galore and giant imposing buildings to match their egos. To me its like the Emperors New Clothes, we  the people should laugh at those kind of people, their worth and intellect is in inverse proportion to their monuments.  In North Korea the new boss’s wife has her fancy handbag worth 1 year’s salary  compared to the average person in that country. Laughter should be used to bring those people down.

Banksy leaves graffiti all over the place making a statement about stuff, perhaps he should do a tour of all these totalitarian places and draw moustaches and chads all over the loved leaders  posters. The trouble with leaders is that they see things in black and white, colours are forbidden. 

Food and Panda

We've just come back from a family meal at Wing Wah, the one by Wing Yip supermarket. Its a bit like doing bingo, you get a list of up to 80 and you tick off what you want to eat. You have a sip of your drinks while you are waiting. Then  wave after wave of food arrives, its more like snacks, very tasty. Jing Jie, the wife, ordered 11 items, including chicken feet. We did not finish everything so we took two items home, and Jing Jie ordered half a duck too as take away. All in all good value, and best of all she paid. I'm all for equality where women pay. We then paid a visit to Costco to get some books for Annie our daughter, Eve wanted a giant teddy bear, 53inches tall, but we did not get it for her.  You can also get a cheap snack at Costco should the need arise.

I'm also on Facebook, in the vain hope of getting noticed as a writer, hasn't worked yet. There is another Michael Casey on Facebook, but he is a porter at Heartlands hospital. And to add to the confusion on Amazon Kindle there is another Michael Casey, but he is a Monk and writes spiritual texts, so that's not me. I have 4 photos of myself on the covers, those are me.

Cheerio from Birmingham, I'm listening to Usher on the computer as I talk to you, I got a free CD when I bought some aftershave. Usher is good, I just hope his aftershave is, or I'll give it to the wife instead.

I forgot to say one of our pandas is a bit dizzy, he was looking manky so we popped him in the washing machine, we watched as his face appeared and disappeared as he tried to swim around the washing machine. Panda came out all bright and clean, the white whiter than white and the black all nice and black, Bold really does work. He said he's talk to his cousin Ted about it. Now the panda is sitting on top of a chair with his bum in the air to dry it.

And the Gold Goes to

And The Gold Goes To ©

By Michael Casey

It’s the Greatest Show On Earth and after years of being a couch potato its every sports fan’s chance to shine. So it’s off to the off-licence for crates of Stella Artois and multi-packs of crisps and a load of chocolates. Then there must be pizzas, 20 pizzas to share, no arguing Pepperoni Rules ok? And after all this eating and drinking there must be toilet paper, so a 48 role multi packet from Costco will do the trick, just  in case the host’s house gives you the squits, at least a full role ready with 3 more ready on the shelf.

So all is ready and you have a spare set of batteries for the Sky remote control, the chairs are  in the best position in front of the 42inch lcd tv, cushions are ready and crisps are at hand and 16 cans are ice cold and ready in the fridge. So let the games begin, everything is ready, apart from air freshener and domestos.

“Pass us a can, and a packet of cheese and onion crisps,” you shout before burping and lifting a leg to fart. You flick through the 35 BBC digital channels of sport, technology is great, Elvis used to have banks of TVs you only need one a 42inch lcd tv monster. Pizzas are passed out and faces are decorated with tomato sauce, and the sport has only been on for 30minutes. Then it’s time for another can and a visit to the bathroom, the toilet paper is ready, see everything is planned to perfection.

You get down stairs only to discover you’ve missed your favourite sport, but with 35channels you’ll soon catch up. Then disaster strikes, no not a sprain of a crash of athletes, you cannot find the remote so everybody has to stand and search for the remote. Then it’s back to the crisps and Stella, but then another disaster, you cannot find the matches to light oven. Somebody has an idea, then you lean over the garden fence with a twisted piece of paper and like an Olympic  torch you lead it into the house to light the oven for more pizza.

So welcome to the 2012 London Olympics, your friends and you have already won the Gold for pizza, Stella and laddish behaviour. 

Flowers

Flowers ©

By Michael Casey

I was talking to Ana and we got talking about  flowers and gardens and such like, I told her to look at www.rightmove.co.uk and enter B67 with a radius of 1 mile, then she could see what Birmingham looked like. As quick as a flash she showed me a house on the site, I told her it was a ten minute walk from my house and that there was a park and then a wood nearby. All a world away from her own homeland, every country has its own treasures.

I told her what my garden looked like, the grass was cut yesterday as it happens, what kind of flowers we have. I forgot to mention our small front garden with roses, fuchsia and pink hydrangea too.  Talking to Ana made me think of my mother, she had green fingers all the way up to her elbow, she even left a surprise after her death, white daisies sprung up in my sister’s garden weeks after our mother had died, a kiss from Heaven so to speak.   

Flowers remind us of loved ones and bring smiles and sometimes tears back, but most of all flowers bring us pleasure. Flowers are given on Mother’s Days and Birthdays and  on Wedding Anniversaries, and at Funerals too. There is a lot of love connected with flowers, kiss from a rose Seal sings, daisy daisy give me an answer true, if I am remember The Good Old Days correctly. The thing is flowers mean something and flowers mean more to women than men. Flowers are symbols, they are even on some National flags, the humble Shamrock is a symbol of Faith and of a Nation too.

Flowers were used in the English Civil War hundreds of years ago, the War of the Roses , white and red roses, if I’m remembering my History correctly. Flowers have a scent, they are soft to the touch, as soft as a lover’s first kiss, flowers hide the stench of death, ring a ring a roses a pocket full of roses means something. Flowers are spread on a wedding bed, a bride’s delight with the  scent of roses.

Flowers can also be false, a traitor, a trap, hiding behind smiles of love when really it is lust. Me am I all romantic, do I bring flowers for my wife all the time? No never, I never bring flowers, even though I have a painting of red and yellow roses on the wall behind me. No, because she has hay fever.