62 years ago, today, in a castle to the north of one of the greatest industrial cities in the world, I came kicking and screaming into this mad world.
In all these years I have not stopped finding reasons to kick and scream at life as I am sure many of us have. 1/13

Fortunately,I was born in an age when you were either a boy or a girl. Girls played with dolls houses and prams, boys with home made carts, rope swings and home-made carts. I got hurt along the way an had more than my fair share of hours in the local A&E and have survived. 2/13

No demands for compensation because it was someone else’s fault, no nervous breakdowns when I did not always win, as I was taught that we can’t all be winners in life no matter how hard we try. 3/13

I have lived through interesting times, the assassination of JFK in Dallas, Man’s first flight into space and landing on the moon. Colour TV, Central heating, and indoor loos! The cannabis filled 70’s and Carnaby St fashion, Platform shoes and flares, and Vesta Curries. 4/13

The Winter of Discontent when we had three-day weeks, regular power cuts, the Country on its knees to the Unions and only three channels on TV. We have seen an Actor in the White House and a Snake Oil Salesman in Downing St. The fall of communism and the Berlin Wall. 5/13

The gays came out of the closet and the blacks came from the Caribbean to help rebuild our Country. Over the years they have gained their equal rights. 6/13

The days of local suppliers and not a supermarket on the high street or out of town shopping centres, Sunday closing and no online shopping or food apps. Somehow life seemed much simpler in those times. 7/13

I’ve lived through TB, Measles, Chicken Pox and have lost count of the number of epidemics and pandemics we as a Country have overcome, through being resilient, using our common sense and a first-class NHS. 8/13

I’ve witnessed our Country become subsumed by a Federalist Empire hell bent on destroying our unique identity in Europe. No more talk of pounds and ounces, no more feet, yards and miles and gone the only real measure of how hot or cold it is. 9/13

Seeing these things as part of our culture makes me a racist these days. Those who have never been taught to lose, now want to defeat democracy, those we gave equal rights to are now demanding superiority rights. It is now wrong to be White, heterosexual, and British. 10/13

I see my fellow Countrymen & women wearing face nappies as they blindly follow Government guidance and poorly constructed laws. I see many too scared to venture out of their own homes or bubbles under fear of painful and swift death from the man-made Chinese Flu, CONVID19 .11/13

Thankfully, I don’t have another 62 years to endure so I shall spend what remaining years I have, still kicking and screaming, with the occasional single malt for companionship. I don’t know what kind of future we face. 12/13

I can only hope that there are enough of us willing to hold on to what we value and ensure that their children and grandchildren can look back on their lives with as much fondness and nostalgia as I am today.
Slainte, Cheers and all the very best wishes! 13/13