Diary 18th To 20th April 2018

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Diary Wednesday April 18th 2018 A routine day livened up by a meeting with fellow atheists from the Lancashire Secular Society at Preston's Black Horse pub, with the bonus factor of some really good beers to chose from. The meeting involved two informal discussions. The first as to whether we consider ourselves English or British (obviously less applicable to those not residing in the UK). Many Englanders tend to be nationalistic to a level of racism that has gained the British Union Jack and English flag of St George have been used so much by far right extremist groups as to gain the country a bad reputation. I dislike being asked my nationality on official forms and having to prove my nationality on job application forms or in interviews too. I am always tempted to write 'citizen of the World global village' for my national status. England / Britain is largely a mongrel race anyhow, composited of invading Romans, Jutes, Saxons, Angles, Vikings and Normans as well as welcome groups of immigrants and refugees. Our school history books are often bias in favour of highlighting English events, so the whole idea of national identity saddens me. The second topic was whether we should all be vegetarians and vegans, which I appreciate on principle but I am rather too carnivorous and a lousy cook to cope with the change. Much of the discussion moved onto the value of free range animals rather than intensive battery farming production which seems cruel. It is however all well and good to offer farmed animals happy free roaming but it is a mink-lined death row prison that still ends with the creature being slaughtered. Diary Thursday 19th April 2019 A routine visit to the job club proved to be unusually annoying. Apparently during a visit there yesterday (so routine that I never even included it in yesterday's diary) I apparently left my log in details on a few websites I used. One of the staff spotted it later and mentioned it to me. Fair enough I thought, silly mistake. Thanks for telling me. Then another member of staff told me about it, giving me a long lecture on why I shouldn't leave log in details online (despite my stating that I'd already heard about it).. The lecture droned on. Then a third member of staff told me about it before they started making big notices and computer stickers advising everyone to log on and off properly. It was an annoying level of overkill. Diary Friday 20th April 2018 A quiet day in, catching up on my writings. I am angered and distressed that much mail I hope to see has still not arrived. I am expecting 1/. a publisher's contract 2/. a confirmation letter of payments expected from a newspaper that used some of my photo images 3/. certificates from a course I took part in shortly after Easter. Finding the mail box still empty every morning is quite depressing when I really hope for some correspondence. Youtube Postman Pat theme song Arthur Chappell