The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People should learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.

Cicero (55BC)

(Courtesy of Councillor David Glaholm)

Councillor Glaholm makes the point in the Swindon Advertiser that nothing changes. He's right of course, but then why would he not be? Apart from culture and ethics, were the Romans really any different from us? We are their descendants after all. Nonetheless I would point out that the desire for social provision has bred a society that depends on it. As a recipient, I have first hand experience of how hard it is to live without public assistance when your fortunes decline. Not all recipients are lazy fecund vandals.

Remembering How To Be An Employee

It was supposed to be an early morning start yesterday, so the night before I thought that an early night would be advisiable. Good grief, I haven't gone to bed before midnight for ages. Wonder if I remember how? Hmmm... Well... I followed the ritual as I remembered it, and pulled the duvet over myself in the chilly darkness ready to fall asleep.... Any moment now... Oh this is ridiculous. I was physically weary and I couldn't sleep. After several hundred sheep it was clearly going to be a long night whether I liked or not. Why can you never sleep when you want to? At one point I even went to the window and looked out, hoping to see the first flakes of snow from Wednesdays expected inundation, but instead, it was just another damp night.

I don't remember going to sleep at all. No, that's not quite right. I was dozing when the alarm went off. Time to rise and be ready for work, and strangely enough, that was the time I really did want to close my eyes and sleep. Come on, Caldrail, time to get up. Don't want to. You have to. Awwww....

While I was going about the business of getting ready to leave the house I heard that screeching and screaming again. A fox. It just had to be. Out of curiosity I looked out the back window. Nope. Nothing out there, and it seems the noise was coming from the grounds of the Old College... Hang on... What's that? Two foxes. Not the splendid russet coloured specimen I saw the other night, but a pair of youngsters, lighter coloured, hunting on their own and squabbling between themselves. Interestingly enough they went exactly the same route as the older fox did and in the exaxt same footsteps. I guess foxes have to go to work too. Enjoy your first day kids.

Disappointment of the Week

After that great buildup the weather people made the snow turned out, literally, to be a damp squib. I remember when winters were real winters not these.... Well, you know what I mean.