Time does fly, with a poke in the eye.

Greetings fellow Blog reader and welcome to the forth posting of rant and ramblings. This one I'm writing slightly different. Its kind of a look back, a look now and a glance into the future (with no talking Apes we hope)

That time of year arrived again and it was off to the garage to for the annual MOT yet again. This got me thinking back to the original post I made last year about Just Saying Hello, and more importantly looking at if I had managed to stick to my original concept. The answer can be summed up in one word. No. No I hadn't become the all friendly welcoming soul I'd intended to be, I didn't greet all I met on the street with a cheery hello and a flash of a heartwarming smile. But why. What had changed in the last 12 months to break down this ideology I'd so readily put forward only a mere year ago. Nothing. Absolutely nothing had changed, and for the life of me I couldn't explain why I had failed in what in all essence should have been a very simply task. The simpler truth dawned on me like one of those energy saving light bulbs that take time to come to full brightness. I had the same worries and insecurities about speaking to a stranger in the street as everyone else has. How will they react, what if they look at me like I've suddenly grown a second head, what if I just happen to say Hello to the local nutter, so I'd taken the easy option and just kept my head down and ignored the world around me. Well no more. This is the dawning of a new me (well sort of) I have decided to take things one step at a time. Lets not jump in with both feet here and start greeting all I meet with a Brain Blessed "Hello, there" but lets start off smaller. A Smile. Nothing more than a simple smile. Try it next time your out and about. The next person you see in the street, the local coffee shop, the newsagents, the fuel station, the train, work, home, anywhere. Just smile. It doesn't have to be an ear to ear Cheshire Cat grin (we're not auditioning for Alice In Wonderland) just a pleasant, happy to meet you smile. Its infectious isn't it. No matter how hard you try, something deep down inside you says "hey, they're smiling at me, I feel like smiling at them to now" Suddenly a smiling person doesn't seem quite to off putting to just drop a quick "hiya" or "morning" to. Small steps grow a better world, a friendlier world, a world that you feel actually has a happy future. Will it stop world hunger, or suddenly cease all world conflicts. Ummmm probably not, but that person on the bus, or the person you stand behind every day at the coffee shop, might just have the answer to the question you've been looking for. You'll never know though if you never speak to them. So smile, just smile and as the saying goes. Smile and the whole world smiles with you. Try it!!

I'm going to take this quick Intermission to say sorry for the length this blog post is stretching to. I think I need to start blogging on a more regular basis, rather than leave it for these mammoth epics. Right hopefully you've had time now to grab some more Popcorn and refreshments, made use of the facilities and are ready to resume part 2 of Time does fly, with a poke in the eye. (don't ask why I called it that, it just rhymed ok)

So we've looked back its now time to take a glace at the present and see what's going on in the wonderful world of Neiltown. Something and nothing is I think the best way to describe the current situation. I've released two videos onto YouTube as part of my BlinkliteTV channel which so far have had mixed viewing figures. My review of the Kobo Touch seems so far to be the most watched video on the channel but when you compare that to my review of the WarmLite Flat Fan Heater its hardly surprising. I do have plans for other videos, and yes they will be more interesting than reviewing a Fan Heater (small steps people) including a How To video on building your own 1/2 Wave 2M Dipole for Amateur Radio from simple parts, and fingers crossed some update videos on the work taking place to convert my shed at the bottom of the garden into something resembling more of an office/workshop/ham shack. The biggest issue I seem to be running into at the present, is a lack of time, money and motivation. Money I'm afraid keeps rearing its ugly big head and halting work on the shed cave, but when I do have the time and some money, the sheer scale of the job just hits me, and I'm finding it hard to get the motivation to get started. The good news though is I did actually take some action today and have started to waterproof the internal walls to prevent moisure coming into the shed through the walls in the winter. Really need to keep pushing forward with that project though, as with most things I know its not going to do it by itself. If anyones feeling really generous and wants to chuck a couple of quid my way to help with the shed rebuild, sling me a message over and if I get enough interest I will produce a thank you BlinkLiteTV video, to thank all the people who have helped me out. Not expecting anyone to donate anything, please don't think I'm coming cap in hand begging you wonderful people for money, just saying if your feeling like helping me out, it would be appreciated. In reality I know the chances are the only people reading this Blog post, is me and some crazy cat lady who reads my blogs to realise actually her life's pretty damn sweet. The other big current news and forgive me if you have no interest in Amateur Radio, as this bit will more than likely bore you, is I have set the official launch date/first meeting of my newly formed Amateur Radio Club. Nuneaton & District Amateur Radio Club will be holding its first meeting on the 15th August 2014, and this has seen me kept busy trying to work out just what on earth needs doing in order to get this new club off the ground. Like alot of things with me just recently, forming a club from the ground up isn't something I've undertaken before, so every step of the way is a steep learning curve. I have been lucky to encounter quite a few people who have been happy to help in small ways to ease some of the burden with setting everything up for the first time. Venue has been located and secured, website has been created and the all important domain name purchased (http://www.ndarc.co.uk if anyone is interested) and things are progressing along slowly. The moment of truth is just under 2 weeks away, and I'm keeping everything I can firmly crossed for a smooth start and a continued life for this club.

Ok so time to jump into my Deloren and zip into the future to see what lies in store for me. Yeah ok if only you could do that. So what do I want to achieve in the coming months/year. Well the new BlinkLiteTV video's I've mentioned above, and hopefully I do want to try and get into the habbit of blogging more regularly, maybe even move it over to Vlogging via the YouTube channel. I'll be sure though to Blog it first, just so you can come over to the channel and have a laugh. Definatly want to continue pushing forward with the shed work, as its one project that seems to have been there forever, and once its completed will give me (I pray) a lot of the flexibly to work on the IT repair, and design side of BlinkLite, as well as giving me the room to produce a higher quality stream of BlinkLiteTV contents. There are other things as well which I'm in the deciding stages of, but those I think I'll save until a future Blog. I think your eyes are about to burst from all the reading you've had to do.

So time to wrap this up now, like a sausage in a hot dog bun (ummmm hotdog) Thank you for taking the time to read this blog (if you have that is) and rest assured I will be producing more blogs and more contents for the BlinkLiteTV channel. I do actually enjoy writing these posts and I do enjoy the videos, its just hard sometimes to find the time or the motivation to get them done. 1:16 to be writing this one, is way way waaaaay later than it should be, but this is the first chance really I've had to do it. If any of you fancy heading over to watch the Kobo Touch review and marvel at how amazing a review I do, head over to YouTube via the amazing link below. Until next time guys, thanks and see you later.

Click here for the amazing BlinkLiteTV Kobo Touch review.

Just Say Hello

Like many days Tuesday dawned like any other day. However this was no ordinary Tuesday. This was Tuesday 16th July 2013 and this day was MOT day.  I'm sure like most people who drive, however confident you are about your car, the three letters which strike fear into the heart are M.O.T.

 Now fear not this post is not an hour long rant about the evils of the MOT system, however it needs to be mentioned to set the scene. I dutifully dropped the car into the garage with a smile and started back on my walk home. The walk itself normally wouldn't take more than maybe 5 -10 minutes, but due to my slightly increasing waistline I decided to take the slightly longer and scenic route.

 It was while walking, with the sun shining high in the sky, a slight breeze (thank you god) and feeling pretty happy about life in general that my mood naturally began to lift. So it was with a friendly smile on my face that I greeted the first person I saw. "Morning" i said with a happy tone and a pleasant smile. Silence was the reply as they passed by avoiding eye contact. Undeterred I continued on my walk, passing by a large lake, and stopping to enjoy the sight of a dragon fly gliding and diving over the water. A duck swam past and gave me a friendly quack, and generally bird song filled the air. I carried on, passing more people enjoying a morning walk. Again I stuck up a friendly "Morning" and again silence was the stern reply. I continued my attempts at conversation with anyone I saw on my walk, and of all the attempted "Morning" conversation starters the best I was able to achieve was a less than enthusiastic grunt from one passer by.

 While not disheartened by their less than friendly responses, it began to highlight to me the changing attitudes of people to others. We are living in a society so gripped with fear of other people and the unknown that we are pulling back into ourselves. I would like to say that it is more of a general problem and not one which appears to be affecting only the more urban area's of life, but I'm unable to. On a regular basis I walk in rural area's and canal paths. Time and again while on these walks I will encounter people either going about their day to day tasks or doing the same as me. A friendly "Morning" or "Hello" is responded to with a smile and a friendly reply.

 To many people life has just become to busy to spend time casually talking to strangers. If I'm walking in an urban area, I'm in a hurry, I'm busy on my phone texting or "talking" to someone, that I haven't the time to interact with mere passers by on the street. Anyway how do I know what they are like, I might say Hello and get stabbed just for looking at them wrong. While I accept and understand peoples reservations about speaking to a stranger for fear of what might happen, we also have to ask ourselves the question how many people are we passing by who might just need that simple "Hello" or "Morning" to actually be the only person they spoke to that day. Its a shocking thought to think that for some people, depending on the jobs they do, or the circumstances they live in, that simple greeting may be the only interaction with someone they have all day.

 I'm under no false illusions that this simple act will in some way change the world, but wouldn't it be nice to be the person on the receiving end of a friendly greeting. It doesn't even need to be a greeting, it can simply be a friendly smile, holding the door open for somebody. It can start in the smallest way and suddenly you find people smiling at you, greeting you, holding the door open for you, picking up an item you've dropped and passing it to you. Take a moment to think just how nice a place this world could be if we just took a few minutes each out of our hectic life to be friendly to someone else.

 So here is my challenge to everyone. It wont be easy and I'm the first to admit I'm having to make active choices to stay on this challenge myself. The next time you leave the house, whether going to work, the shops or anywhere. Take a few moments to smile at someone as you walk past (just a pleasant smile not a full blown grin) hold the door for someone, help someone who needs just a few seconds of your time. When your at work, again a simple smile, or a friendly morning. Hold the lift when someones running for it, it really doesn't matter how small or large the gesture is. If everyone does something small the impact felt could be massive. Hey you never know,that simple "Hi" could lead onto something massive for you in the future.

 I've started it already, and its true, not everyone is going to reply to you, or even smile back, but its over time that things can change. We lived in a society of community and friendship, is that really such a bad thing to strive to regain again, or are we happier to risk slipping further down into a world where communication has never been so easy or available  but where we lack the simple ability to greet another without being fearful!