Raggedtiger's Blog

My daughter, who moved in with us has her 17^th birthday today. It is the first time in many years that I have been able to celebrate her birthday with her, so it will be a slightly more special birthday.

 

However since she has been with us, which is now 6 weeks, her mother has not once called or even sent a texted message to see how she is. HOW SAD IS THAT!

 

Her mother did call me last week, but only to slag me off for not paying child support money for November. I should stress at this point, that I pay child support regularly without fail every month on the same day. The only reason she never got the money in November was an act of anger and annoyance on my part for the way she had treated my daughter.

 

She will get her money, as I will pay it today, but I rather enjoyed not paying it and being awkward for once, though it did show to me how much she depends on it, even though she works, her partner works, she claims for social security even though she shouldn’t because she has not declared that her partner has moved in, plus working family tax credit (in some way, it would not surprise me if she has more money that me!!!!).

 

However, the Child Support Agency has re-assessed my support money and I will be paying less each month (as my son still lives with her)….not much less, I might add, so she will get a disappointing shock in December.

 

And, if anybody reads this and thinks that I am not being responsible since I missed a payment, then here are a few facts that you may not know:

 

I have paid the correct amount, every month, religiously for years.

My wifes ex-husband, pays at the moment £10 a month, and has arrears of £4000.

I pay £350.01 a month with no arrears.

And with all that money I have paid over the months and years, I hear stories from my daughter of how there was very little food in the house, they had not many clothes, and what they did have was the cheapest of the cheap, while their mother goes out buying herself nice new clothes and hitting the town at night.

At this point, I feel very angry that the money was not all benefiting my children, and even though I complained bitterly, the CSA would always say they have nothing to do with how she spends the money.

Which is why I feel like campaigning and complaining to my Member of Parliament about it and suggesting that at least a certain amount of it, when given to the resident parent, is given in vouchers or tokens to be spent only on childs clothing or something like that.

 

Nice idea I guess, but it will never happen.

•1922: The British Broadcasting Company, forerunner of the BBC, begins daily broadcasts from the Strand, London. •1940: German bombers raid Coventry, destroying much of the city including the Gothic cathedral. •1991: The US accuses two Libyan intelligence officers of planting the Lockerbie bomb that killed 270 people.

Living in the United Kingdom, we have unfortunately been subject to continual coverage of the US presidential election.

Why do I say unfortunately?

I guess it is because I have no interest who ends up being president, and when some media channels seem to go overboard with the coverage, the analysis and the relentless poll ratings.

However, it did make me think of a few views that had also been spoken about in the news.

 

Warning-the views (and words) here are my personal views and are not meant to offend anyone, but no doubt they will.

 

1.     He is the first black president, but it may well be a fault with the contrast on my television, but he does not look black and he does not have the typical features of a black man. He looks half white, half black….ish.

But regardless of my opinion of his actual skin colour, he is still regarded as black, which makes me think that the media attention to his colour has fuelled the debate of racism. FOR EXAMPLE - I have seen interviews with black people (and white), and some of them seen to see him as some kind of saviour or messiah who will fight for the cause of the apparent down trodden black communities in America.

Ideals and comments like that, to me at least, would not make me surprised to see comments that there is racism against whites, or incite more anti-black  views amongst any white Americans sitting on the fence.

Just as a side note to this, I think in America, more than any other 1^st world country, is there such an issue between blacks and whites that there are such deep rooted divisions that almost seem impossible to over come. It is like the THEM & US syndrome.

Yes, in the UK we do have race issues, but not anywhere near on the scale that America seems to have it, and we don’t seem to suffer the ‘them and us’ issue really .

 

 

2.     Mr Obama has used some really powerful speeches to great effect in order to rally support for his campaign. He has been seen as someone who has inspired hope and self belief in a lot of Americans, something similar to what JFK had apparently done in his presidential campaign. But if I were an American, I would be very weary of being caught up in the euphoria of hope and high expectations.

From what I have heard from Obama, he has stated that it may even take 2 terms of office to bring back the economy (of America) to a more satisfactory level. But with all of his fine speeches of hope and belief, I do wonder if he may have installed some false hope (as most/all politicians do) into some of his supporters in believing that the current credit crunch can be resolved quickly. I cannot see what he can do that probably hasn’t really been tried before. Maybe there is and I am being a little cynical, but hey…I am talking politics here!!!!!!!!!!!

1002: Ethelred the Unready orders the St Brice's Day Massacre - the murder of all Danes in England.

1941: Aircraft carrier HMS 'Ark Royal' is torpedoed en route to Malta by a German U-boat, sinking the next day.

1942: US 'liberty ship' production reaches its peak with a single 10,500 ton ship built in less than five days.

Yet again, I have disappeared for a while, and yet again I have returned. I have been really quite busy with so little time to do anything. But I am determined to do more posting on here. One reason why I have been busy is because a month ago my daughter (who is 16) moved in with me after yet another bust up at home. I had to fly here secretly to me, otherwise her mother would have stopped her, even though she has the right to leave home without any consent. So she has been living with us for a month. In that month I have learnt to my disgust and anger the way she was treated at her mothers home. To put it briefly, she has been physically and mentally abused. She is waiting to see a councillor so she can deal and sort out the shit that is in her head. She is also waiting to see the specialist at the hospital as she has suffered from a fallen arch in one of her feet for a few years. Her mother never did anything about it. It has not been easy her moving in, as my wife’s daughter, although at times very sympathetic and caring, is also one for winding everyone up till they snap. Anyway….more will come soon

BATTLE FOR WESNOTH

"The Battle for Wesnoth is a Freeware, turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme. Fight to regain the throne of Wesnoth, of which you are the legitimate heir, or use your dread power over the Undead to dominate the land of mortals, or lead your glorious Orcish tribe to victory against the humans who dared despoil your lands. Wesnoth has many different sagas waiting to be played out. You can create your own custom units, and write your own scenarios - or even full-blown campaigns. You can also challenge your friends - or strangers - and fight multi-player epic fantasy battles." - XP games review.

I have played this and have had hours upon hours of entertainment with it. Many adventures and campaigns to choose from, you can create your own maps and units, there are tutorials, and, most importantly, it is still supported and being improved by the designers.

Take my word for it, it is probably one of the best turn based strategy games out there.....and it is free!! Here is another review on another site Bigdownload.

•476: The Roman empire in the west comes to an end with the forced abdication of Emperor Romulus Augustulus.

•1864: The first Geneva Convention, governing internationally accepted rules of warfare, is signed by 26 nations.

•1914: The Royal Navy destroys German coastal patrols at Heligoland Bight in the first naval action of the war.

•479 BC: The invasion of Greece by Persian emperor Xerxes is defeated by Pausanias at the Battle of Plataea. •1928: The Kellogg-Briand Pact condemns 'recourse to war for the solution of international controversies'. •1979: Elizabeth II's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, is killed by an IRA bomb on his boat in Ireland.

Yes, I was on holiday. I did not go anywhere special, just taking time out from work, allowing me to catch up on a lot of things i would not normally have time for. I did plan to try and keep posting during my hols, but that never really happened....as you can guess. But i am back now, so watch out for regular posts

Yesterday, when I was at work, I went to a certain department and happened to walk into the middle of the discussion, which was about true love.

 

This made me think about my first true love, and believe it or not, I was 24 when it first came to me, or hit me! At that time, I was living in Inverness, in the Highlands of Scotland.

This is not say that I had never had any girlfriends/partners before. I had, and indeed, up until that point, I thought I knew what love was, until I met a particular woman.

 

Her name was Sharon Doran, and I met her through friends, and although I found her extremely attractive the first time I saw her (which was enough to grab my full attention), it was after the first or second time I had chatted to her, that I found her so encapsulating, enchanting, and addictive. I just could not get enough of her.

 

From then on, all I ever thought about was her, and we got on so well together that I thought to myself ‘She is my soul mate’.

 

But, (there is always a But), she did tell me that she already had a boyfriend, who lived in Cardiff, Wales. (I should state at this point she was still living with her  parents). She said that she was not sure if she really wanted to be with him, as he wanted her to move to Cardiff to live with him.

This did place a small dark cloud over me, but I did hope that she would tell him no, and stay in Inverness, with me. However, she had already organised a trip to Wales (before I knew her), to visit him and to see if HE and Cardiff were what she really wanted.

 

Until that day arrived, we basically made the most of our time. We went to see a movie together, Tango & Cash. All I can say is we never really saw much of it….lol…, but know when I see the film now on TV, it always reminds me of her.

 

When the day arrived for her to leave, She had told me that if she did not return, then it meant she would be staying in Wales, and if she did, well, we would be together.

 

I never saw her again.

 

I was so low. Nothing interested me, and it was during this low time, that I realised that I had met true love, I had experienced it, and she was it. If I had broken up with a partner before, I just used to shrug it off. But this time, it was different. The pain and heartache were intense.

 

In time I picked myself up, but I have never forgotten her, or the brief time we had together, and I never will.

•1917: British pilot EH Dunning, the first to land an aircraft on a ship, is killed trying another landing.

•1926: Britain’s first motor racing grand prix is held at Brooklands, Surrey, and is won by the French team.

•1962: US congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, increasing American military involvement in Vietnam.

Here is another fantastic software site. Not for games, but for tech support, like backing up,, security, utlities, digital/photo software etc.

It is run by Ian 'GIZMO' Richards, with help from volunteer site editors and testers.

They list what they think are the best free software available on the net for all different application. It does get updated frequently, so there is no out of date info on there.

I have downloaded numerous software packages as per their recommendation and my own personal needs, and I have found that their description of each package to be very accurate, and the software to be safe.

I recommend you at least look here first before buying any utility software, as I have found all that I need here

GIZMO'S LINK

Home of the Underdogs is another brilliant site where you can download freeware and abandonware games, documents, and patches.

The last entry by the owner was in 2006, so I do not know if it is actually updated with new games, but it has hundreds of them.

Only catch is that if you download direct from them, you can only do one download at a time, due to bandwidth issues.

Here is the link and have fun!!!!

HOME OF THE UNDERDOGS LINK

When you click the tab at the top called "MY BLOG", it shows recent clicks. I always have lots of visits by someone with a strange green avatar. I dont even think they are on tblog.

Does anyone know who or what it is?

On some of the paths that it displays after the avatar, it ends in "TWEAKSSETTINGS" ;.......very worring

A funny picture I thought I might share with you.

 

•1806: The Holy Roman Empire comes to an end when Francis II renounces the title, becoming Emperor of Austria.

•1890: Murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair, at Buffalo, US.

•1945: An atom bomb is dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima by the US bomber 'Enola Gay'.

This is one of the best Free XP Game sites i have come across.

They have loads of games, and they are all free to download....no shareware or limitations

GAME SITE

I thought i would post this picture - some of you may like it