Hello All Sorry about the rant. I’m a lot better now (and today). Thanks for your support 
and guess what, to perk me up my friend in Edinburgh has tickets for the Shannon/Narducy gig at the Lizard Lounge and is taking me! I get to see the show twice. Lucky Me 
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I’ve been feeling a bit tense, you know, there is turmoil in the distance & the feeling not knowing how worse or close to home it’s going to get. Beautiful moon in eclipse right now looking north east where I am.
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If people knew how emotionally crippling it is to be ignored I would like to think they wouldn’t do it but I’m probably wrong. I need to do a better job of choosing friends.
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Today, I got word that the car everyone was so kind to help pitch in for me to buy after my wreck in 2023 is beyond repair. Unfortunately, I am still in the same situation financially and am unable to purchase another vehicle. I definitely understand that folks may not be able (or want) to help out again but at this point I’m not sure what else to do. I’m posting a link to my Venmo account just in case. Thanks, all.
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Sometimes when I first meet people I get a cautious feeling and think no, it’s just me. As it turned out a couple of times, broken friendships with some people left me thinking why did I bother.
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Six months later, I accepted a new job offer. Hopefully it works out.
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It’s autumn here, the time of year I tidy up the garden. Prune & tidy up trees, bushes, pull out weeds etc. It’s in my mind, how long before I can’t do it anymore, or if I’ll stop caring about it. The thought makes me sad. I’ll be happy when it’s done.
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Just came into winter where I live. Not as cold as some parts of the world. I mostly use my pc at night which is in the back of the house. We have a wood fire in the front room where the tv is. I’d like to go there during this time of year, which means I’ll have to use my mobile phone if I want to go online, small screen & keyboard, I prefer the pc. We have gas heating for whole house, energy bills have gone up, we have plenty of wood from tree prunings. Our local councils are talking about banning wood heaters because of the smoke & smell. That’s probably because some burn all kinds of crappy & contaminated wood. I hope they don’t ban wood heaters. I’ll have this old relic in the house that can’t be used anymore, I’ll look at it and remember, once upon a time.
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I know some people up in Vermont and New Hampshire (northern US, near Canada border) who use wood burning heat too.
When I lived in Massachusetts (not quite as far north but still pretty far) I always lived in 100+ year old buildings that had radiators and poor insulation. One was an apartment on the fourth floor where all the heat from the lower units rose up into ours; you could leave clothes on the floor and they’d be warm later like they came out of a dryer. Sometimes we’d open our windows in the middle of winter to keep it from getting too hot.
My house here in Virginia we have an electric heat pump, which works ok. Most places have gas, but no one ever installed gas service to this house for whatever reason.
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In the past I’ve mentioned my daughter plays keyboard in a band. They did a performance today; currently their setlist is a song called “Lush Life” by Zara Larsson, and “Sunshine” by OneRepublic. tbh I didn’t know either song before they started playing it, but that’s fine. They are actually very good, though maybe I’m biased. 
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So we’ve just been “Having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave…”-37.3 degrees recorded- unheard of for us and we’re all melting (yes I know it is and it gets hotter elsewhere in the world) but not for us usually, however, David Attenborough has been warning us all for some time now. I’ve been out and about travelling on airconditioned trains to air conditioned buildings but nighttimes,well the lyrics “A way to shield the hated heat, a way to put myself to sleep” are spot on:
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There are far too many details to get into here so I’ll spare you but after months of constantly having my ass ridden at work by admin, I walked out yesterday. Unfortunately, I’m still trying to rebuild savings after the events of 2023 (wreck, bankruptcy, losing my job [the company went under]) so I’m in no position financially to go without income for any length of time. I’m applying for other jobs but have no immediate prospects at the moment.
I’m going to be allowed to return to work tomorrow but that doesn’t necessarily mean I’ll be able to keep my job. If not, I at least tried. That said, I have no regrets for walking out yesterday. The company I work for treats their employees like absolute shit and I reached my breaking point. Hopefully another opportunity will come along soon.
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I went back to work but am experiencing stomach pain, upset stomach, headaches, fatigue, and sleeplessness due to how I’m being treated there. I have been experiencing this for a while but it’s gotten worse. It is also affecting my job performance. I’m trying to find other work but am also considering reaching out to HR to let them know of the bullying. Not physically but verbal and psychological.
I’m also seeing a therapist. My first day back was incredibly difficult. I ended up missing a day due to the physical ailments I listed, not to mention the psychological ones. No person should have to go through this. It is taking a toll on me.
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Oh Jonathan I’m sorry you’re suffering- I do hope a new opportunity will come along for you soon and in the meantime try and think positive - as a 90 year old advised me not so long ago- remember, life’s a gas 
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So, here we are again- 4am and the 3rd heatwave this year has got the better of me-34 degrees again and the ice cubes in a metal container in front of the fan does not appear to be working (“shall we talk about the weather??” 
) so I’ve come downstairs and opened the back doors.I’m looking after a 2 and a half year old mini tornado in 3 hours so I’d better get my act together! HOWEVER- worse things are happening elsewhere in the world (Venezuela, Gaza, Iran, Ukraine/Russia, Africa to name but a few…) so to paraphrase a famous movie line, the problems of a very small island people don’t amount to a hill of beans! I’m hoping we’ll win against Erling Haaland and the Vikings tomorrow- that would give us all a distracting lift- but I’m sure they’re hoping the same thing! Oh and we have an unexpected wild card Brit currently pounding his way through the tennis at Wimbledon. Sport and Music- what would we be without them??
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So we’re through to the semi finals in the World Cup beating Norway 2-1- Atlanta here we come! Only problem is we face Lionel Messi and Argentina… but if we get to the final and win, Keir Starmer says we could get a Bank Holiday…
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Well that’s it then- no Bank Holiday for us! Argentina have beaten England 2-0 in the semi final of the World Cup. At least the whole of Argentina will be celebrating. It ended up being a heroic but sad affair for us- the BBC commentator likened the second half of the game to being like something out of The Alamo for the England Team- we were defending a 1-0 lead and for some reason tried to keep it that way- defending, defending, defending until we could defend no more and the fresh strikers were substituted too late- we lost 2-1. Nevermind- the Final in New York/New Jersey on Sunday should be interesting with the World Champions (Argentina) facing the European Champions (Spain) . Anyway, here’s a tribute to the brave boys in the white strip:
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Hey! We came third winning against France 6-4- what a game - so many goals and a real treat for football fans. Its our best World Cup result since 1966. What was really lovely to see was the camaraderie between the players both French and English- it was a really good tempered and feelgood game with all the players supporting each other. It’s also really heart warming to see that the England players want to support the manager Thomas Tuchel in spite of our semi final defeat. Brothers in Arms!
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