well my back felt better, until I reached to lift the shopping delivery, and twinged it again. the tinnitus got me last night too.
But I'm still alive, and annoying you. I moved my router around too, and put a ream of paper under my PC so it could get a better signal. So you are done with me yet.
MY 2 student daughters will be studying over Christmas prior to exams, so I have to make sure signal quality reaches all the parts of the house as they camp out to study.
I haven't forgotten The Hello idea for a story. It could be an essay style, or old Mike the Boring Fart story, etc. But I'll see which way the wind is blowing when I actually hit the paper.
here is M6 to keep you all going. I was going to start a new Kdrama but I had to have a rest. Hopefully by Christmas I'll be my normal adorable self, and you can come by with Mistletoe, Ladies only, I'm liberal, but not that liberal.
Metaphor ThisMay 27, '11 4:17 PM
for everyone
Metaphor This ©
By
Michael Casey
Well first of all I have to confess I am using
Arabic Typesetting as my font type. I
stumbled over it recently on my Word settings, I’m using a very old copy of
Word, If anybody wants to sent me a new super duper version of MS Office I’d be
over the moon.
Tomorrow I pray MU beats Spain, and that Sir Francis
Drake can bowl everybody over, I just want Sir Alex to get what he deserves. It
will be a game of two halves, one whisky and one bitter, but I’m sure at the
end of the day, all will be equal in love and war, and as Bill Shankly said its
more important than that.
So MU will be fighting their corner and especially
when there is a corner I hope Rooney can reach for the stars and fly us all to
the moon when he gets one or three in the back of the net. No doubt their will
be lots of kissing between men, because that’s what they do wen they are happy.
And perhaps folk will be doing The Lambert Walk, people will be cock a hoop all
over the land, in London and in Manchester too, even here in Birmingham you’ll
hear all the screams of delight, in the privacy of bedrooms and in the bars,
for scoring is scoring is scoring, either with a line of white, or with a boy or a girl, for when you get what you want
you are always happy and over the moon. And IF things go down the drain then
we’ll all be as sick as parrots even Joey in the Red Cow who sits on a perch
and says “shut the bleeding door”. I’m fit to burst with all the emotion and
with all the tension, its enough to give me the runs, and I do hope I get back
in time from the bog so I won’t miss any action. I may have an each way bet on
the result, I can even play both ends against the middle and make a killing.
But realistically I hope Manchester United give it to the Spaniards so we’ll
all be done proud, otherwise we’ll all be as sick as parrots and have to drown
our sorrows.
Well I hope the new CIA computer program understands
all of this, otherwise them may come and render the side of my house, which
could do with a lick of paint, then when its ship shape I could flog it, I
shudder to think what those guys in Langley are thinking now.
Cheerio Michael Casey www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com
0 Comments
To
Touch A Beating HeartMay 23, '11 5:40 PM
for everyone
To Touch a Beating Heart ©
By
Michael Casey
I was watching Jools Holland’s show and later on I
watched Glee, its just finished in fact, Music has such an effect on me, I hope
on everybody else too. Music DOES Touch a Beating Heart. Music is like a heart
beat, it offers rhythm to our lives, it goes fast and it goes slow, and when it
ends we are dead.
Obama is in Ireland and now on his way here, he will
have no doubt heard some music just as the Queen did, I imagine that as he has
tea with the Queen they’ll both remark on their Irish trips, and I’d guarantee
that Music will be part of that conversation.
My dad discovered Elvis in his 60s, he watched all
of Elvis’s movies over a Christmas break, my dad was impressed. Musicians do
touch our beating hearts, their power is so great, within 2 seconds a piece of
music can get to you. If I’m very lucky within 30seconds I’ve touched somebody
with my words, but music is still at least 15 times faster. I am of course so
very very jealous, I can hear music on the Phoenix Chinese TV station and even
though I know no Mandarin the music and the Chinese words still can touch my
beating heart. I am lucky that a window has been opened into another kind of
music, I wasn’t expecting that when I found my Shanghai wife.
So what is it with Music, when the first cave man made love and heard
the beat of his mate’s heart, did it fill him with wonder and then did he copy
the beat with bones banging on the skull of his enemy who’d he recently
eaten? Whatever the reason I am so so
jealous, a beat a rhythm a song or just the roar of the sea or even of the wind
itself, all of this is music.
I’d love to be able to write songs, I have produced
a few good poems, and some say my writing is poetic, but really the way I write
is the way I write, I’m not clever enough to analyse my style, it is what it
is. I am lucky though if I get a few
good reports, but I’d rather touch a few beating hearts.
0 Comments
Look
at Me I'm a NobodyMay 22, '11 4:01 PM
for everyone
Look at Me I’m a Nobody ©
By
Michael Casey
Well the Injunction Saga rolls on, out of curiosity
I spent 30seconds online and found the name of the footballer. His wife no
doubt knows who he is, perhaps he is begging her not to divorce him. Millions
are at stake, but it would be nice to think he and she do both love their kids,
and its them they are trying to protect.
We all want our 15 mins of fame as Andy Walhol once
said, even me, but in my case its just to get my comic novel published and be a
paid blogger for The Daily Telegraph. Not even in a million years will this
happen. I have blogged a lot these past 2 years and I feel my writing skills
have been sharpened, so that is good. I discovered that one of the regulars on
MyTelegraph is having his book published in September, so God Bless him and
good luck.
Returning to my theme, being famous for 15 minutes
has now reached STUPID proportions, people become instant celebrities, their
specialities being NOTHING.
Then real celebrities lust after the new
celebrities, and that leads to sex and Injunctions.
You should use celebrity to help folks, I think one
guy won Big Brother and gave the prize away. On the opposite scale a criminal
won the lottery and that led to him being in jail and he lost all the cash too.
So what does this all tell us? To me it tells me we
should get back to basics, don’t believe in all this S)*)(" in the media
and the magazines that we find in hairdressers. Its neither real nor important,
loving our kids now that is important.
But if you are really bored read The Butcher The
Baker and The Undertaker on my site, though some may say its just too old
fashioned, you’ll just have to read it and see for yourself.
Attachment: Padre Pio and Me.doc
1 Comment
Space
GaloreMay 21, '11 3:43 PM
for everyone
Well I worked out how to make more space on my DT
site, I know you'll all be groaning now. I was 99% full, now after deleting my
images I've not even used 1%. If you are desperate to see images then go to my
website.
Google has been copying the world's Literature so
all of us will be saved for Eternity. I hope there is no atomic pulse to
destroy everything, and I hope New Technology 100 years from now enables us to
read what we secure now. Time and Tide waits for no man so I hope technology doesn't forget our age,
we think we are the bees knees but in the future. If we started in 1920 when my
mother was born what did she have then? No running water, but a well outside.
Now gas, no electricity, plenty of Hope and Love but technology, it did not
exist.
Law firms have
so much technology, every piece of paper is monitored and saved, an IT
department who's job is to save everything, think back to Bob Cratchit in A
Christmas Carol working away at a ledger. If he was transported to today he'd
scream, the Luddites tried to hold back Progress but even they failed. Now
everybody at home has a computer and a free website somewhere too. We all take
and treasure photos of kids and family. In my family I was the photographer,
with film cameras before digital arrived. So when our mother died just over 15
years ago I was able to produce a photo album for all my siblings so we could
all remember her. A photo is such a treasured memory, nowadays with digital you
can have 2000 photos on one 2gig chip, can you imagine it? Kodak does not make
film any more, but with your computer you can take a photo and print it off on
Kodak paper in under 2 minutes. Now that is fantastic in my book, go back 90
years and my mum's family would think it was the work of the devil.
Space on your PC and on a free website such as
multiply.com is such a great thing. You can give digital frame picture frames
to granny or your book publisher, so they both are reminded just how much they
love you.
Space Galore
is almost as good as Whisky Galore!
0 Comments
At
the Bus StopMay 20, '11 6:21 PM
for everyone
At the Bus Stop ©
By
Michael Casey
I catch the bus to work, I’m lucky its only around
the corner from our house, so I can give the kids and sometimes the wife an
extra kiss goodbye before heading for work. A last laugh and hug before I catch
my 1st bus to work. We have a good service in Birmingham, my brother once said
it was the best bus service in the UK, he used to travel a lot, so I’ll take
his word.
At the bus stop the occasional pig smokes in the
shelter, sharing his pollution, his cancer, I don’t know about you but any bit
of smoke makes my lungs hurt. I think execution is not good enough for smokers,
and as for the cannabis smokers who come on the bus either innocently or
brazenly, I wish aliens would come and take then away. Cannabis reeks and the
smell stays on the person, yes I wish they’d grown up and stop the habit, but
on my bus route, on that stretch of road, its more common that the white lines.
At the bus stop lipstick is applied, and smoothed
down by a finger, a final look in the mirror, girls are ready to face the
world, girls of all ages. Somebody makes a final call to say how much they love
their still sleeping partner. An old lady as regular as clockwork appears with
her little Jack Russell, the dog leaps towards me under the walls of the bus
shelter, he’s just saying hello, I smile to the little old lady.
I swing my heavy bag from one hand to another as I
wait for the bus, and I wait and wait, today the bus is very late, normally
there are buses every 10 minutes, today I wait 20 minutes. Not to worry I’m
always up to an hour early for my new job, the hour gives me time for an early
coffee, a chat, and plenty of photocopying. Today I finally get the bus, I can
abandon the bus shelter, only there’s a log jam of traffic on my cannabis
scented road.
Once in town, I head for my 2nd bus stop, its
outside Saint Michael’s the Polish church, and yes I do smile as I wait outside
the church named after me. I sometimes used to attend there when I worked
Sundays in the city centre, but that’s a long time ago, 15 or 20 years ago maybe.
I just missed my choice of 3 buses, but after a further wait my 2nd bus arrives
and I climb on. So I’m happy as I look at my watch, when I do arrive I’m 20
mins early instead of my usual hour.
So another working day begins, I still have time for
my coffee, and did you know that if you want to cut your coffee consumption all
you have to do is use a smaller spoon, or have only half a spoon of coffee, and
best of all it still tastes good. No I’m not a health freak, I just have a
nagging Shanghai wife, perhaps we should all have Shanghai wives and then we’d
all be healthy, wealthy and wise I don’t know about.
The photo is of me, a very tired me, the hat is from
Czech, I gave it to my sister in 1998, now its come back to me
0 Comments
Things
to do before I die, Part I (c) May 16, '11 3:58 PM
for everyone
MAY 16TH, 2011 19:52
Things to do before I die, Part I (c)
by Michael Casey
The article was on about a blood test to say when
we’d die.
I’d get carried up a mountain, in Lady Gaga fashion,
and look at the stars, here in Beautiful Birmingham we have a black square of
gardens so we have a great view of the stars, but to go somewhere great and view the stars, now that would be great.
I have this theory that Hell is really a black hole, with no light and no stars
to gaze at, no music and no touch, no soft touch of the one you love. No
cold drinks in the Summer and no hot
drinks in Winter, no snowball fights, no nothing.
So if Hell is that and I know how many days or weeks
or even years I have, then I would shake myself and do something. I might rush
myself to finish writing Tears For A Butcher. Maybe I’d spam the entire world
so that they have to read my book, or their email would never ever work again.
www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com is where you can go if your free will directs
it, just in case I am dying and that email lands on your doorstep.
I’d watch my favourite films again and again, I’d
watch Little Women and cry when the professor says “I have empty hands” and she
takes them in her hands and says “they are full now.” Simple little pleasures.
Perhaps I go to Lourdes for a cure, though it is great fun in itself, the
parading and the candles, the torchlight processions in the dark, the singing,
the electricity, as well as the cafes and the Irish hotel with the singing and
the late night drinkiung. Wearing a beret badly, climing over the fence into
the grotto at an ungodly hour. Drinking the water and even having a bath in it,
all in the hope of a cure, but Lourdes really is a fun place, so much joy, ask
anybody who has been as a helper and they will confirm that it is a great
place.
I’d go and see as many live bands as possible, music
really is God’s breath, I used to see a ton of bands 20 years and more ago, so
IF I knew when I’d croak I’d see as many bands as possible. I’d also try and
learn to sing, Singing really is when are hearts are happy, Saint Cecilia sai to Sing is to Doubly Praise, not my words but my singing sisters.
Now I even have singing daughters. I would like to read my obituary before I
croak, a Nobel moment, I even wrote a post Nobel and Me 2 years ago, but if I
am to die my vainity would be satisfied if I had a Nobel moment.
I’d pick the hymns, the songs for my funeral, my wife would put a DAB radio in my coffin, perhaps
they invent a battery that works and is charged by perpetual darkness, a solar
cell in reverse. That’s Part I of the things I’d do before I die. If I live
I’ll write more, though I’m sure some DT readers are swearing, die you B(((((
die.
0 Comments
For
Telegraph and Sun Readers and anybody else who finds thisMay 13, '11 6:20 PM
for everyone
These are my books, if I sold 1% of what Jeffrey Archers sells I'd be a happy
man.
The selection of blogs is perhaps only 1/2 of what
I've written.
Tears For A Butcher is my 4th book, I'm on Chapter
2, Old People's Home.
I have met some very nice people over the Internet,
and some very very negative people too.
So IF you want to laugh read on.
AS USUAL JUST TO REMIND EVERYBODY EVERYTHING IS MY COPYRIGHT.
0 Comments
A
little bit of Paris in Birmingham(c) by Michael CaseyMay 12, '11 3:12 PM
for everyone
A little bit of Paris in Birmingham©
By Michael Casey
I have my lunch in a little café up the road from
where I work. They have these little round tables and when you sit down you
immediately struck by the sight of all the cakes, cakes galore so to speak.
They are mouth-watering strawberry cakes, everywhere!
I was away over the Easter holidays and the shop had
a total refit, new windows, new doors,
new floors, new furniture. New display cases for all the cakes, even new tables
and chairs.
What hadn’t changed was the cakes and all things
lovely. I walk through the door and they say hello and start on my beef panini,
I grab a drink from the fridge point to it and start drinking. I talk a lot in
my job so I need a drink, I finish half my drink before my panini is ready. I’m
in heaven, the food is great, the brothers in The Pastry House are very nice.
People come in for English tea or Arabic tea, people shake hands and say hello,
cakes are chosen and eaten. You hear several different languages, there is
laughter in the air, there is debating, there is friendship, there is fun.
For me it’s a quick and nice bite to eat before I
dash back to work. I asked Zain where did he get the money to pay the Polish
workers to do all the changes, “did you win the lottery,” I asked.
“No,” he replied, “it was a scratch card.” I laughed
at his reply, he may have been joking, he may have been telling the truth, I’ll
never know. But I do know, for me, this café on The Coventry Road is my oasis
of peace on a busy day, the world may pass by, but for me, for a few minutes, I
could be in Paris, Paris in Birmingham.
2 Comments
UTube
are you ready?May 9, '11 3:53 PM
for everyone
My 9 year old is making a movie of herself playing
Adele's latest tune, her 7 year old sister hold the digital camera while she plays. All this modern technolgy in
our Chinese/Irish household. Meanwhile harking back to oldern times my wife has been baking bread. I'm slightly
bloated having been force fed all the bread, old fashbioned English bread, and
Chinese style bread too. I also knocked over some concoction of mushroom in an
old coffee jar, that was lurking in the back of our fridge. Orange juice is
nice with all this bread, as is a nice knob of butter, there is something so
satisfying a piece of warm bread in your hands with the butter melting down
your fingers. Ice cream streaming down your fingers is a great childhood memory
too. I have a warming mug of coffee besides me at the computer as I talk to
you, behind me one daughter is now singing Adele's song while she plays the
piano, the other daughter has decided to
go into the next room to film my wife and the breadcrumbs all over our glass
eating table. Adele's music echos around the front room as the shadows begin to
fall, we'll have more music soon, Glee is on tv, I'll record it for the girls.
I hope everybody else out there has a similiar family dynamic, it does make you
want to thank God for the gift of family. My small daughter has just returned,
she's just done a tour of the house, filming the entire house, perhaps she'll
be an estate agent in the future. I did notice
on one estate agent website there was a thrumb print on all the photos,
1st law of cameras, clean the lens. I wonder did Michael Moore or Spielberg
start this way, I know they are not girls, but the use of technology and the
naturalness of their creations, I may never be published nor make the stage but
they WILL.
1 Comment
Gagging
For A DrinkMay 7, '11 7:01 AM
for everyone
As usual I cannot post in the right place....
I read the news item about Cocktails and folks
trading up in the drinks stakes.
I used to work for a market research company into
alcohol sales, StatsMR was the name until ACNielsen bought us out, I had 21
good years there. Since then my life has been a bigger and much more varied
adventure.
I can remember when AlcoPops were invented, I seem
to remember when my boss said they wouldn'd last. I was the shandy drinker
while my learned friends were also great at drinking. And I mean great at
drinking. We had a collection of spent bottles and cans which would impress any
party animal, I suppose we had them instead of potted plants. We really were great company, that's why we
were bought up, and our folks became the bosses down at Oxford. The Oxford
office of ACN was like a 6th form college with a sports field behind it. It
really was like a club not a place of work, but that's another story.
As for alcohol it is a great thing, the first
miracle was changing water into wine after all. I'm not much of a drinker
myself, I was the shandy drinker at ACN, nowadays a random couple of pints every few months or more is enough for me. I
do think alcohol is one of Life's greatest gifts, it does relax it does mellow
people, its as good as as taking your shoes off at the end of a busy day.
Perhaps we should have shoe racks under the tables in bars.
Trading up is a good thing, a nice drink IS nice and
if you can make it even nicer with an extra pound or two then good. I do the
same thing myself, though in my case its cloudy lemonade instead of regular
lemonade in Aldi; I even saw lemonade in glass bottles in Aldi, harking back 30
years or more, trying to create an upper class lemonade. I wish them well but
that won't work, wine yes, lemonade no. My brother used to pee in the glass
lemonade bottles because He knew I'd drink the dregs before trying to get the
money back on the bottles, perhaps thats why I like bitter lemon.
Trading up in food is good too, I am lucky my
Shanghai wife is a good cook, Eastern or Western, she's baking bread as we
talk. I like my food too, see the photo for proof, breaking bread is first
thing Man ever did, and sharing a meal is the thing that binds us even in or
cannibal days. So stock your freezer
well.
0 Comments
Shoes
and your Sole(c)May 4, '11 3:47 PM
for everyone
Shoes and your Soul ©
By Michael Casey
I don’t know about you but I love shoes, they are
something we all need and they really are good for your Soul.
When you stand up all day, be it as a Concierge, or
as a Teacher or as a PC on the beat, you really need to have good comfy shoes
or boots or whatever. Being in touch with your Sole IS good for your Soul, we
all sigh when we come home and slip our shoes off. We wriggle our toes and
throw our socks at the dog, the cat arrives to play with your socks. The dog
meanwhile loves to lick the salt off your sweaty toes.
All is balanced, we are all one with Nature, we may
soak our feet in a bowl of water, my mum used to add Jeyes Fluid to the water
when our dad came home. When you stand up all day in a steel works your feet really do need some
TLC, my dad’s feet were so so baby white, my mother used to use the tongs that
she used in the washing machine to pull my dad’s socks off.
400 degrees of heat tends to glue your socks to your
feet.
My dad always used to say “It’s great to wash your
feet.” And of course he was right. Finding his slippers for him ,
then a big mug of tea, this was our family.
Me, I like comfy shoes, I buy shoes, 2 pairs every
time there is a sale in Clarks. I buy brown shoes too, not because I like the
colour but because they are cheaper, and when money is short then brown shoes
will do, besides black shoes mean you are in service, like in an hotel for
example.
The bounce and the walk around the carpet in the
shoe shop is always fun, but you still have to buy odor eaters because of your
smelly feet, and they make your shoes even more comfy. I always buy 2 pairs of
shoes at a time, then I don’t have to come back till the next sale whenever
that is. I am 17.5stones or 112 kilos, so my feet good shoes, good shoes are
like a kiss, always welcomed.
Now when me and the wife got together I went to buy
her some trainers in Clarks on New St. now my Shanghai wife looks very young, I
tell her its because she has me, and of course she agrees with me. We were
having a bit of banter and my wife said
to the assistant, “he’s my dad,” and even then I had white hair, so the
assistant believed my wife, “he’s my dad,” the Freudians amongst you can work
that one out.
On another occasion my wife brought back 30 pairs of
shoes from her Summer vacation to Shanghai. You can imagine her horror when
Lufthansa lost some luggage, and yes it was the shoe bag, her size 3s had gone
AWOL. I just laughed, they were cheap but the right size for her. I should add
our 9year old now has size 3 feet, so none of mum’s shoes are safe. Finally
Lufthansa found the bag and we opened
our own shoe shop.
WE are also very lucky because our 7 year old loves cast me downs,
at the moment she has a pair of flashing Dora The Explorer sandals, which I
bought for her big sister when we were in Florida 5 years ago.
I can remember my Concierge days when I used to walk
25 miles a week and that was on marble, we did 12 hour shifts too, so we all
used to walk around like hobbled horses
on our 1st day off. So I think I am an expert on sore feet, I know just how
good shoes are, nice comfortable shoes. Ask the policeman outside
No.10 Downing Street, I bet he and his friends have
great shoes/boots I bet he has foot massage often.
When our kids are young we pull their toes and do,
this little piggy went to market etc. Wriggling your toes after you’ve been on
duty in an hotel or as a policeman outside No.10 really is something that
resonates to the depths of your Soul.
1 Comment
Piano
Girl(c) By Michael CaseyMay 1, '11 10:52 AM
for everyone
Piano Girl ©
By
Michael Casey
Well it’s a bright sunny day here in Birmingham,
over the road the Polish neighbours are moving out, they did block the road
with their van and I suggested they knock on their neighbour’s door so they
could park safely, no I was not being neighbourly, they had nearly smashed into
our car, though it turned out it wasn’t our car but our next door
neighbour’s brand new car. I wear
sunglasses as I type so I had a problem seeing…..
I’m listening to Paul McCartney’s Flaming Pie as I talk to you, I invested 15quid
for new speakers on my PC so Paul is better than ever. My old Kenwood HiFi, 15
years old, we donated to the man at the carwash who did a good job so he earnt
a hifi as a tip. I listen on my PC for years now.
My daughter is playing on the piano behind me, she
asked me to switch off Paul while she
played. I explained it was Paul McCartney, so I had to explain who he was, my Shanghai wife has heard of Paul, but my 9
year old daughter, she doesn’t know who he is. I wonder how Paul would react?
You see we
saved up for a piano and even gave our nine year old piano lessons when she was
very small, it used to be £12 for ½ and hour, but she never practised. The
piano gathered dust, a sister was born and still the piano gathered dust, its
was the Chinese influence in the first place, get them young.
Well time has moved on, both girls are in a choir up
the road from their school which is up the road from where we are. At choir
they get music lessons and are paid too, a bequest I believe. Before we paid a
Chinese girl to teach piano, now a nice little old lady called Betty teaches
them and they get paid to sing. The result of all this? My nine year old has
just came back into this room after finishing her dinner, and now she’s back at
the piano playing Katy Perry’s Firework, and thanks to Betty she’d getting
good. As for Paul McCartney he’s been switched off so she can play piano behind
me.
I have of course helped my big daughter, I printed
off the sheet music from the Internet. Paul hasn’t got a look in, not unless he
reads this and sends us some sheet music of his stuff, and just be warned Paul,
it had better be better than Katy Perry’s stuff.
0 Comments
Simplicity
is BestApr 30, '11 5:13 AM
for everyone
Simplicity is Best ©
By
Michael Casey
A year later, I'm making a modest living using
English.
I still want my books published and my plays on the
stage.
I still blog 2 or 3 times a week on
www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com and I blog on MyTelegraph too.
I notice that some people on the Internet like using
big words where small ones will do.
Yes I know its to prove they are not inarticulate,
but changing gears all the time is boring, if you are in top gear on an open
stretch of the road there is no need to rev. Enjoy the ride as Top Gear might
say.
Boy racers they rev all the time, they have spoilers
on their cars, they have huge exhausts that frightens horses and children in
the street.
There is beauty in words, things can be left
understated, there's no need to prove you have a thesaurus and that you can
spell thesaurus, just let the simple words speak for themselves, and no I don't
say this because we don't have a dictionary in our house.
People are herded along by those who speak better,
who con them with words, stop and think for yourself, don’t trust anybody’s
words, only trust your own words. The
snow blindness of words is a terrible thing, call a spade a spade and trust
nobody as Mulder used to say.
0 Comments
Preparing
to SpeakApr 24, '11 6:20 PM
for everyone
Preparing to Speak ©
By
Michael Casey
I’ll be giving a talk next week, so this week I’ve
been writing down a few ideas, and fitting them all together like a jigsaw.
I’ve also been timing myself so that my talk lasts 20 to 25 minutes, I’ve toyed
with the idea of altering the line up, or when to add this or when to add that.
Writing for myself is one thing, speaking for myself is another, both of which
I think I’m good at. However this talk is like a school essay, I have to fit
their topic to my words and to my writing. Something I write down is between me
and one lone reader, however for a talk I need to present what I’ve written,
then my words now spoken take on a different direction.
Practice prevents pee poor performance, is what I
heard from Derek my boss a long time ago. My sister says she used to scatter
the cushions or teddy bears and then give her speech to them, I haven’t done
that even though my girls must have 40
teddy bears. I just read it through a few times and timed myself. I’m satisfied
I just hope my audience is. Having worked in a 4star deluxe business hotel for
3 years I’m happy with talking, I’ve
spoken to thousands of people perhaps even tens of thousands, just think there
may be 100,000 people out there who know my face from CPNEC. I once had a guest
who did not speak English, she was Dutch and she spoke German too, but I
persevered and discovered she spoke French, so I spoke French to her. Problem
solved and she had a good stay at the hotel.
Don’t give up, just keep on talking is my motto,
then eventually everybody is happy.
I suppose the same thing applies with prayer,
perseverance denotes Faith is what Padre Pio used to say. So I’ll stick to the
5 Ps and see how my talk goes.
Night Night everybody, I hope none of you had too
much Chocolate this Easter.
0 Comments
Easter
2011Apr 19, '11 6:59 PM
for everyone
They say little things mean the most, a kind word, a
touch of the hand, a hug.
Simple ordinary things, not big gifts, not a red
sports car, nor a Lear jet, sure footballers can and will splash out, but
perhaps they should learn what is the greatest gift of all.
Time and Love are the greatest gifts, a few words
with the fans on the way out of the stadium, sign a few autographs before
getting into your 4x4 and away to your
£2m mansion. They say that old players from another era were gentlemen,
pick your own club and see how many gentlemen are left today.
But I don’t want to talk about footballers, let’s
talk about Time. When my father survived his heart attack, you can read about
it,
Padre and Me
on www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com I was lucky because I was the favourite son and because the Old People’s Home was on
the route to work, so I could spend an hour with him before going to work. Now
I hope all sons and daughters do the same as me, because Time really is the
greatest gift we can share and give to somebody else, our Love does shine out
and bring Peace to the aged, be it our own family or the dotty old lady on the
bus. I’m a firm believer in talking to the “mad” person on the bus.
There are lots of great people doing great things,
Lolly Pop Ladies are amongst my favourites, nice Mrs Murphy who stops traffic
outside my kids’ school. People who give time and work in Charity shops, they
are my favourites too. A little bit of time here and a little bit of time
there, it all adds up. The member of the family who rushes around looking after
the rest of the family, we all know people like that, they give their time and
energy, and a whole lot of Love. The
favourite Aunty or Uncle who is just
there for you, who’ll say nothing but give you a nice cuppa while you cry your
eyes out at his kitchen table. So many tears, so many tears, that continue down
the years, tears and memories and yet more tears and memories and tears again.
Letting it all out IS always best, forget the stiff
upper lip, forget we are British, we don’t do that. Pretend you are foreign,
and give yourself time to cry. We are in Holy Week and Easter Sunday is fast
approaching, what does Easter mean to you?
Is it Cadbury’s Day? It is about forgiveness and
love and hope, new beginnings, its about confidence too. If you have no Faith
that’s fine, but use the occasion to say you’ll start over, if you like a 2nd
chance at New Year’s resolution, this time in Spring.
Time and Love are the greatest gifts and they were
given to us all at the 1st Easter.
Most people have no Faith, so I’ll just give you a
gentle nudge and ask all of you to give some Time and Love to those you
encounter this Easter. Perhaps prayer will never be your thing, so if you randomly
hand out a few Cadbury’s cream eggs this Easter you’ll bring a few smiles to
people around you. Say a few kind words to people on the bus, don’t hide behind
newspapers on the train, for Easter is about a time to live and a time to love.
Attachment: Padre Pio and Me.doc
0 Comments
The
Merchant Of Venice on TV (c) Apr 16, '11 1:02 PM
for everyone
The Merchant of Venice on TV ©
By
Michael Casey
There was a Shakespeare Double Bill on TV this
afternoon, I missed Taming Of The Shrew, the Taylor Burton version, but I did
see The Merchant Of Venice. In our house there
is a PRE and POST new Toshiba,
the new LDC tv makes a big
difference to our viewing pleasure. So
when we see a film on the new LCD it can and does make a great deal of
difference.
Today The Merchant of Venice really did sparkle,
however I’d forgotten some of the language, so my own ignorance did lessen my
enjoyment. The quotes that you hear really make your skin tingle. A pound of flesh, prick me and
do I not bleed, stand out, I can remember on one occasion the guy in charge of
the Hacienda,the staff canteen at CPNEC quoting Shakespeare. The same guy now
lives near me and stacks shelves in a shop up the road, but I remember him for
his Shakespeare, perhaps he still quotes Shakespeare as he stacks shelves.
The Merchant of Venice today looked so good, Al
Pacino and a great cast were really enjoyable, I’d forgotten all the plot
twists so it was nice to see Shakespeare’s craft. I
recorded it to the Sky+ box, so I can watch it again
soon, I’m tempted to upgrade to a Sky+
HD box then I could record even more films, and yes if anybody wants to donate
a Sky+ HD then I’ll take it with both hands.
A Pound Of Flesh is probably the most famous quote
from the play, and from all of Shakespeare, no doubt I’ll get lots of feedback
from everybody out there. It was strange watching the BT Commercial guy playing
Shakespeare, but it was good, it really is mind blowing watching Shakespeare,
perhaps Mick and Keith may contest what exactly is mind blowing but I have a
hunch they ARE Shakespeare fans. I could
even get a signed photo of Mick and Keith dressed in Shakespeare’s clothes.
Let’s have more A list Shakespeare, not Z list
Shakespeare, lets have more Shakespeare in Love kind of films, and can we have
that series on Shakespeare himself repeated, it was very educational. I did do
an OU on Shakespeare a long time ago, I
was even called Shakespeare’s agent by my OU tutor. Today really has brushed up
my Shakespeare, and why not as Barry Norman used to say.
0 Comments
Fools
ErrandApr 11, '11 6:19 PM
for everyone
Fools Errand ©
By
Michael Casey
The wife often sends me to the shops, and I do forget
everything she wants, so she sends me back to the shops again.
She sent me out for red onions and celery today, I
half got it right, I brought back a red onion and spring onions. So she sent me back up the shops again, as she
was going to cook some some concoction. Only it started to rain while I was at
the shops, then she laughed and she was not cooking tonight but tomorrow. So I
was a double fool.
I should add that she is a good Chinese cook, but
recently she has turned her attention to English food, and as my belly will
testify, she is gifted in that area too. Luckily tonight, she had stolen a
tenner from me, but I stole back a few quid so I could buy orange juice for
myself. Its swings and roundabouts in our house, I give her money for the week
and then she steals my share of the food money for her love of all things fruit
and cakey.
So I consoled myself by eating the lovely
strawberries she had bought. The kids were upstairs playing 3D cinemas, my
sister having given them a few dinosaurs in 3D and some 3D glasses, which meant
I could scoff the strawberries while they were busy with 3D. It wouldn’t be
right to interrupt them with strawberries while they were so 3D busy, I am a
very caring dad after all.
My other errand was to the Charity shop to offload
some of the treasure the girls did not want, at least the Charity shop can make
a few quid. Charity shops are great if you want to pick up a few books,
especially when you want to pass them on as a teaching aid.
All in all its been a good day, even if I had to
throw away a watch and you must know just how much I love watches, if you
don’t then read
The Watch and Me at www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com
That’s all folks, from this fool on his own hill
here in Birmingham.
0 Comments
Weather
ForecastApr 10, '11 7:01 AM
for everyone
The Weather Forecast
By
Michael Casey
I just read in the DT that the Weather Forecast was
going to be quality tested. This is a joke, Weather Forecasts are an Art it is NOT a science, obviously it
involves science, before you pedants out there correct me.
Bob Hope used to say he liked England because you
got 4 Seasons in one day, my brother’s Wedding Anniversary is upon us, and he
had:- snow, rain, sunshine and more, all
on one day.
Just look out the window, that’s the best weather
forecast, we all know that the black clouds bring rain, even children know
that. What’s with all the Political Correctness and the Weather. Where is the
common sense?
There’s too much of the “I’ll Sue” mentality, it’s
the weather for God’s sake or are we going to start suing God. You got it all
wrong with Creation, it should have taken less that 6 days, and as for the 7th
day of rest, you should have been doing overtime to correct your mistakes.
And as for Weather, Mr God, you really messed up
there.
A bolt of lightning just hit the soothsayers, thank
you God, I like weather your way!
Hotel Achat Offenbach Frankfurt 2008 I'd love to go back
0 Comments
The
DoorApr 7, '11 5:21 PM
for everyone
The Door ©
By
Michael Casey
The door wasn’t even there, I couldn’t even see it,
I had always hoped that somebody
would opened the door. But how could a door be
opened if it did not even exist?
Then by a series of random events I found I’d passed
through the door, and I was
somewhere else, somewhere totally unexpected. I have
a photo
of me standing up
and presenting, at the time I felt that was a dream,
a hope, an “if only” and the photo
must now be 20 years old.
Concierge duties have prepared me for presenting
duties, the major difference is that
now I have a whiteboard behind me. The talk is a bit
different, much more important
now, but the fun is the same, the standing up is the
same. The sore feet still part of
the territory, but the door has been opened and I’ve
past through it.
So how has this happened? Is it magic? Is it prayer?
Is it luck? Perhaps its God’s luck.
I did once dream of a dirty white door, but now
instead I’ve passed through an
invisible
door, I’ve reached my dream, only 20 years after the dream began.
Perhaps
I’m a really heavy sleeper, and like Rip Van Wrinkle I’ve awoken, only to
find
myself where I’ve wanted to be, standing up in front
of a whiteboard talking and
getting paid for it.
I haven’t made the bestsellers list, that’s an even
longer dream, probably even beyond
God’s magic, beyond Hope beyond Reason. But I am a
good at waiting, very good at
waiting indeed, perhaps even better than a pregnant
woman, I’m watching the sands
of Time fall
and maybe just maybe another door will open without me noticing it.
Then before I retire I will be the latest new thing,
the latest new writer, and with the
help of God and two policemen I’ll sell more books
than Dan Brown.
Attachment: Shoplife.pdf
0 Comments
The
things that bind usApr 4, '11 6:46 AM
for everyone
The things that bind us
Our Father Who Art In Heaven, these are the words
that should bind Christians together. I’m a Catholic for what its worth, and
immediately hatred begins. My daughters have both joined a C of E Choir and one
will be Baptised there at Easter, even though I though she was already
Baptised, this took place at the Chinese Evangelical Church 9 years ago, and I
did dab water on her head within days of her birth.
So that’s 3 Christian churches where the family
attend, I hope it means our prayers get answered sooner, though if you read
Padre Pio and Me on my site www.michaelgcasey.multiply.com then you know I hit
the jackpot years ago, spiritually that is, not in money terms.
None of this makes me or us holy, quite the reserve,
I am in need of prayer. So its nice that new Muslim friends pray for me at
Friday prayers, if any other faith group wishes to pray then I will be very
happy to receive all and any prayers. I did write a nice poem which can be seen
on my home page, but all in all Prayer for me is a deeply personal thing. Its like the whispers in the night,
its like the star lit sky, its the breeze on a summer’s day, its like the
goodnight kiss from a child before they go to bed.
I just read a little about Melvyn Bragg in today’s
DT, I wish I had a tenth of his intellect, but I do know that occasionally a
few words come to me which are much
greater than I ever will be. Artists create and we struggle to understand what
its supposed to mean, struggling with ourselves is the biggest struggle. The
interior life is the biggest deal of all, its a never ending journey, sometimes
along the way you get a “whoosh” perhaps when on a Pilgrimage, or when you are
having a quiet sit-down in a cathedral,
you’re there to rest your sore feet on your lunch hour but then “whoosh” you
get a poem or you witness something. I
spent 3 years+ of lunch hours
resting my feet in St.Phillips, its the C of E cathedral, St. Chads was too far
away, I joked that I was trying to convert them to Rome. I saw many things, such as a hugh bodybuilder
lighting candles with his wafer thin girlfriend in tow. I was a voyeur while
girls cried their eyes out, I just joined my prayers with theirs, a phantom
prayer sayer hoping and helping them with prayers, not that they’d ever notice
me.
Does all this sound old fashioned and useless,
prayer is dead, God is dead, that’s what ignorant people say. So what should I
say and do? I’ll just say what my mum always used to say, “God is Good.”
And so are we if we just stop and listen to the
prayers on the wind, listen to the stars, beyond that curtain in the night sky.
