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As I have been self isolating for the last nine months I have redesigned the shower and toilet area and done all the work myself (If your posh this is now known to most people as a wet room) But in essence its a shower with a toilet and wash basin in it. And I am really pleased with the way it has turned out (pictures will come later)

So now that is finished I have designed and made an industrial dining table that I am thinking of trying to sell commercially as I may now find it difficult to return to work. Standing up for seven hours in the day may be more difficult than it was when I was seventy seven and eight months ( I am now seventy eight and three months) and milling complex shapes in steel was never easy.

But I do need a way to earn some money.

I have lived in three open air schools which children with heath problems were sent to as a way to try to improve their health. We actually lived there for whatever length of time was thought beneficially and of course slept there.

The last one that I spent time at was called Hunters hill open air school for boys and while many boys hated it I thought it was amazing. I was thirteen and stayed there until i was fifteen.

It was in beautiful country side, the lessons were basic, as were the meals but I developed friendships that remained and still remain. Everyone had jobs to do when we were not in school. Len hardy and myself got up at six in the mornings and started the breakfasts before the cook arrived at around seven. The early start was not good but I enjoyed the independance.

Mrs Ross the cook was lovely but very old and not a healthy woman but I did really like her and she wanted to adopt me. My mom often told me that perhaps I would have had an easier life if she had agreed to an adoption. That was really amazing that she thought that way but I would never have left my mom ,I loved her to bits.

More on the characters another time.

It wont be much longer before the results of the election in America are known and whoever is electected its human nature that there will be an expectancy that a new era of prosperity will sweep across the country. IT rarely does.

I can remember when John Kennedy was running for election and I was in my early twenties and how impressed I was with his oratorical skills and compered to other politicians at such a young age.

Politicians in England were what I considered very old (but strangely now I am very old I don’t consider that I am very old) until I look in the mirror.

I was also impressed with his looks and his brothers Bobby Kennedy and how upsetting it was when they were killed one after the other.

You can replace nearly everything but not people.

Nobby Styles died this week at the age off seventy eight he was a professional footballer winning medals at the world cup and a European cup winners medal but what made him special was not his skill level but the amount of commitment he gave every time he run onto the football pitch. Life is all about using all your abilities and not every week but every minute of everyday and that,s what Nobby did, He was the most unlikely footballer but he made himself into someone special.

England is going in a months lock down due to corona virus but like most countries not many people will observe all the rules. Just remember a virus does not have anyone’s name on it but it will adopt anyone that gets to close.

Am I missing something when I look at how the coronavirus spreads.

Not sure about other countries but in the UK the virus appears to be passed from one person to another in mainly the younger population (I am not in that category) and consider that age as up to about forty five where most in the later part that grouping have money and desperately have a need to spend it and the younger ones dont have much money and try to spend their parents money.

So this is what I think from the very young up to around forty five if you get the virus there is a good chance that you will survive without to many health issues and without needing to go into hospitables but as you progress up the age ladder if you get it make sure that you have made a will.

This is what i would do; let the younger people lead normal lives but make sure that the older ones self isolate so that they don’t die and don’t clog up the hospital beds.

But my provisose are. Give them a goody bag; Pay them a small amount of money every week, help them to obtain groceries, let them have free access to pay on demand TV stations and free rock and roll music…….

And personally I wouldn’t mind a Tesla on the drive; a purple one would be nice.

I note that one of the members of the Spencer Davis group has died. I remember seeing them at a local venue in the sixties and thinking how good they were.

My initials are the same as Donald Trump DJT and we have a lot in common …… just give me an hour and I will think of something.

When I was eighteen and studying at Erdington college I remember a boy in same group who had the most amazing hair, it was almost white in colour and very thick but quite straight and brushed backwards. Its funny how you appreciate appearances when you are young.

My nephew once said that I looked a bit like Steve Mcqueen when I was young; I am not sure what bit he was referring too and he did have a tendency to bump into things.

As a reguler user of Amazon and especially at this time in a World that is being desimated by Coronavirius I am continually amazed that I can order an item one day and recieve it the next and most times without a delivery charge.

Then if I think a little more deeply it is easy to see where we are all going with this as shops around the UK are folding like packs of cards and when they are all gone then Amazon and of course other providers will be able to increase product prices and delivery charges.

Then I look at China who are using the same model profile but on a much larger scale and to be fair they started from a much a low economic base with initially low priced items and of poor quality.

That has changed and now their products are quite innovative but of course the price is increasing but again when everone uses them and they become totally domanent in the world this will reduce the need for other countries to manufacturer their own products. Then watch out for huge price increases.

Wonder if they need someone to sweep the floors as I am temporary unemployed at the moment.

In the land of the blind the one eyed man is king

Coronavirus in the UK is hitting record levels which is no surprise as most of our MPs have very little common sense.

If Boris Johnson had been captain of the Titanic it would have sunk before it got out of the harbour and he would have uttered the famous words ‘Captain, woman,and children in the lifeboats first.’

Then Along Came Joe

By David Timmins read on Amazon

Segment of a story about the next big change in the direction the human race is heading; so make sure that you’re at the front of the queue.

‘And the reason that I left that card is that I am intrigued that the LIFE a huge conglomerate with unlimited resources has lost something and can’t find it.

It must have been quite a wakeup call, but I could have told you that every security system ever devised can be unlocked.

That’s why I know what you have lost.’

‘John you’re bluffing you have a few basic facts and now you’re fishing for information.’

‘I never bluff I only use facts but please correct me if I am wrong because I think you have lost the most important part of your search towards immortality and you don’t understand how it happened ?’

‘And what do you think we have lost,’

‘You have lost a key part of your immortality program a clone called JOE.’

David Montgomery’s mouth dropped wide open and there was a long pause before he finally composed himself then he looked at the figure opposite him with new respect.

‘Perhaps I have underestimated you John and for that I apologise.’

‘That is a common human mistake; and one that most people are guilty of.’

David nodded.

‘So if I am to be of any benefit to you I need to know exactly what happened and if we are to work together please don’t miss anything out.’

David stretched his legs out and then said. ‘I know that you live locally and would have seen this building grow from a pile of dirt.

Despite its complexity it is just a temporary building that will be eventually be replaced by a far more advanced project but it is having the best work force that has elevated this company to the foremost in the world in the world.  

We want people working for us who push the boundaries and aren’t afraid to try new things.

Change is something we encourage and some of our best workers have moved from one subject to another and found that they had a hidden talent that would never have seen the light of day but for our encouragement.

As you have already stated the main basic quest for us is to extend life past the normal boundaries and maintain good health for most of that time.

It’s no use living for a hundred years if for half of it you’re in pain or your memory starts to fade; which is how it is at the moment.

The human body starts to age almost as soon as we are born, bone density from early thirties, eyes from forty five, and the most upsetting part of ageing for men, going bald from any age.

We decided that aging should not be inevitable. 

Genetic advancement has usually relied on years of careful experiments and small animals have been the main way to test new drugs but it is painfully slow and sometimes inconclusive.

Several years ago a program was instigated that would speed up this process and provide a far more accurate test procedure.

It was however highly controversial so steps were taken to make sure that no one outside the facility would ever become aware of it.

We called it the Frankenstein programme; and for obvious reasons.

The few people that work in that specialist field are hand-picked with strict instruction never talk about their work to anyone; not even family.

As part of their employment contract they sign a section to that effect and believe me it is far more secure than anything that any person working for the civil or secret service puts their name to.

The Frankenstein project started gradually without any long term ambitions. We developed small genetically grown human organs and then moved onto to more complicated ones. Finally every part of the body could be replicated.

At that stage and out of the blue someone at the very top of the organization asked if it was possible to clone a complete human.

A committee was set up and we brought in the best minds in the world. For months all aspects of this project were discussed.

At times it became heated and some thought the idea of producing a human clone repulsive.’

John Smith interrupted, ‘but of course they would be ignored because as you said before most people would want to extend their life.’

Collin nodded, ‘and I was one of them. When I was ill I would have done anything to stay alive.’

Jenny had become increasingly pale and spoke hesitantly. ‘Jesus you cloned a human.’

David shook his head. ‘Not a human. The copies we make have no awareness and are incapable of feeling pain.

While they have most of our body organs their brain is unable to process even the most basic thought process.

They do have a similar involuntary system to humans but again that is basic which means that we have to feed them and walk them around an exercise yard.

No experiments are carried out on their bodies but each one is genetically different to the one before as their DNA is altered in an effort eradicate illness and extend life expectancy.’

Jenny looked even more distressed. ‘Mr Montgomery you’re playing God.’ she said emotionally.

The head of development shrugged his shoulders, ‘Jenny God was never very kind to the human race. Ask yourself some basic questions. Why should some children develop a serious illness such as cancer and live in pain for years and then die.

And explain to me the logic in suffering the indignity of growing old when our bodies and minds gradually fail?’

Of all the creatures on this planet we are the only ones who are fully aware that one day we will die; and the only ones who may be able to change this scenario.

For the benefit of all mankind we at LIFE are trying to change the status quoi.’

He looked towards John Smith and asked. ‘I think from the projects you have been involved in that you may understand my prospective?’

There was a long silence before he got a reply.

No 8 Beals Buildings buildings was the house I was born in. It was in the slum area of Birmingham in the UK and was accessed down a narrow cobled stone gully with houses on the left hand side and a tall brick wall imediately oposite.

There was a small front room with a bay window and an even smaller kitchen, underneath the front room and accessed from it was a dark damp cellar and its sole purpose was to store coal which most families could not afford to buy.

My dad worked infrequently as an off hand grinder and over many years the grinding dust damaged his lungs and by the time I was eleven he stopped altogether. Mom had a part time job counting out hairpins and putting them in packets, that was where the saying came from ‘ they only pay pin money’

She was still counting out pins at the age of seventy three and it really hurt me that she worked so hard and long in her life for so little money.

And it still upsets me.

As far as I remember there was never any coal for heating and I would wake up every morning in the winter shaking from the bitter cold I found out when I was older that when dad went to work he would take the overcoat from off my bed that acted as my bed clothes.

Funny how small things from childhood stay with you. I still feel guilty about drinking milk from the bottle when we didnt have enough money to buy any more. And how good it tasted and how hard I tried to drink as little as possible.

I was about twenty so that was about nineteen-sixty two and I had upgraded my very old Ford popular to what I considered a dream of a car.

It was a four-year old Triumph Herald which I saw in a local garage and I knew that I had to have it.

The car was light blue, the bonnet embraced the whole of the front of the car and could be lifted up so that all whole of the engine was exposed. The windows had no frame around them.

it was a sunny day in the middle of summer Even now I can remember looking through the side window at the milometer. it was round with clear number’s which registered 14000 miles and I thought wow.

All logic disappeared and despite having little money I bought it with a loan from the garage.

Over the next few months I fitted an instrument console between the two front seats and crammed as many switches and dials into it as I could, many were never connected up but they looked great.

Then I would cruise around in it with one of my best friends Joey France of italian deccent with thick black hair and who was far better looking than I was trying and failing in most cases to pick up girls.

But this was American Graffiti before I knew it existed and how I loved that car and where it took me in life.

When I was an apprentice at BIP Tool in Birmingham the UK around 1960 there was a another lad two years younger (I was eighteen) his name was Ken Stallard and he was one of the clumsiest people I have ever met but with what I thought was a very strong upper body.

If he walked from one part of the factory to another he walked through things rather than around them.

I left and never saw him for fifty years until there was a BIP reunion at a local club and a man came up to me and said hello Dave It was Ken but how he had changed he moved across the floor like an athlete.

‘You look so different you were so clumsy when I first met you (you will notice that I have no finesse with words or people ) ‘That’s because I started dancing lessons’ he replied, ‘and found out that I was really good at it, I have lots of cups and medals at home and all the girls loved me.’

Its obvious that I would never be any good as a talent Scout.

Len Gab started on the same section of die milling machine that I was serving my apprenticeship on and while I was twenty he was around forty five, a well built man with dark hair that was receding.

He was a nice person and quite outgoing but nothing unusual until one day he started singing and everone stopped and looked at him.

He had the most amazing voice and would sing all the great classic operatic songs.

Allen Ranking was not good in the mornings, he could be charming but not if he was in a bad mood.

One day Ken Stallard said the wrong thing to him and Allen put one hand under his neck and lifted him up in the air and held him against a brick wall,

Surprising because Allen was not as tall as Ken.

When Allen was forty and he walked into the factory no one said happy birthday to him. He never wanted to get old, and they all wanted to live.

Sometimes people aren’t what they appear to be and most can tell some very unusual stories, but you just have to ask and then listen

At the moment its the mess created in the UK by the collective intellectuals who are in charge of the education system and relied on a computer derived system to assess the grades of teenagers who spent a year studying intently in an effort to obtain their dreams and which turned into a nightmare.

I could have told them not to trust a computer they watch you all the time and there is a blank expression on their screens . well at least on mine.

And I will give all the people in the world this bit of advice; make sure that when you have a dream to aim for, make sure that its one that you can never obtain because once you achieve what you aspire too what else is there.

Mine was to live forever and I am three-quarters of the way there.

To get back on track

The Uk has an ever-expanding population and a climate that is getting much hotter so we will need more water and therefore more dams, bet we wait until we find elephants dying by waterholes before that happens.

So we are all switching to electric cars and the strange thing is that because of this we will need more electricity, bet the thirty million cars come before the new electricity supplies are in place.

We could use the new small but useful power supply in our houses produced every time a tap or water flow happens, just fit a small drive system to create enough electricity to charge electric cars.

Of course, it’s just an idea but so was the wheel until it was thought up by …….sorry they didn’t have names back then but I am pretty sure it was ‘growel’

I was sad to read that Edd Byrnes died on Thursday he was quite a cult figure not just in America but many other countries and like many other men and women who were teenagers at the time he was in 77 sunset strip it briefly sharpens the memories of those days.

You only get one chance in this life of being young and everyone should make the most of it. Don’t complain about what you haven’t got;  make the most of what you have got.

We did have the most amazing music then and to start with it all came from America before moving to Liverpool.

And Donald Trump.

Well, I heard a rumour that one young TV executive has seen the President boasting how he looks after his hair and is trying to sign him for a remake of the famous TV series 77 Sunset Strip but apparently he has trouble remembering the difficult lines which are Kookie Kookie Lend me your comb.

But I can’t get the image out of my mind of DJT reaching in his back pocket pulling out the comb and running it through his hair with Connie Stevens standing next to him.

Now Connie Stevens was something else,