Wednesday 31 May 2017

Philosopher in Pyjamas

Philosopher in Pyjamas ©
By
Michael Casey

Clever people don’t wear pyjamas, they are nude in bed. As I am, because my bum is just too big for pyjamas, and so when I got my own house 30 years ago I ditched pyjamas. Ok, you can all reach for the sick bucket, 30 years not a prude.

So why are we more relaxed in our PJs and not in our office attire? And why are we so cool when we are in the nude, obviously because we have no warmth from our clothes. Its ideas that keep us warm, its in our PJs that preconceptions are lost, and yes you can see it coming, when nude preconceptions can end and conceptions begin. Its 22.45pm here in Birmingham so you’ll have to forgive my opening.

When you are chilled, again through lack of clothes you are more inventive, that’s why companies have dress down days. These days make us all equal, or so is the theory. I find wearing comfy shoes makes me more relaxed, ask any woman when she comes home from work and throws her heels off. As she pours herself a glass of wine. Me a bottle of Dr. Pepper and my brown suede shoes does the trick.

Ditto with soft furnishings, if you are sat on a nice sofa and not on your hard office chair then you are more relaxed and creative. Google and such places are like a Wacky Warehouse such is the level of low key and dress down. Perhaps a toilet made out of soft furnishings would end constipation as well.

I try and have a comfy chair as I sit here talking to you all,with a bit of Gerry Rafferty playing in the background. As I am heavy and sit in the chair a lot they only last a year on average. I may replace the one in the photo soon, perhaps I should ask for a chair sponsorship from an office furniture company such as Staples. This story is brought to you by Staples printed at the bottom of my story. Or try and get a computer company to offer a free PC and printer, and not forgetting free unlimited Broadband. Sadly nobody anywhere would be so kind.

Its hard to know what anybody will like about a story, some people won’t get the joke, like one I tried to make about Scholes and Scholls tonight when I spotted somebody wearing a football shirt. All I can do is put my words out, on the page or live to people I meet and hope they get it.

 You have to be philosophical about it. If you get laughs 90% plus of the time then you are doing well. Some people will always think I’m an idiot, and not like what I say. I don’t like the Harry Potter books but a billion people do. Who is right on that one? Me or the billion readers?

Have you got the strength to stick to your guns against a billion to one others? Again it depends on your self confidence, and your self belief. Yes things are not always Black and White, and modern writers say White and Black to be trendy and thereby become a herd animal with words.

There are many shades of grey which is a Monkees’ song, and you have seen my hair after all. But you must always be true to yourself. But never say I’m Sorry But, say this is My Opinion, never say sorry but for having an opinion, you’ll be apologising for the colour of your eyes next. Though you do know I have nice eyes, its just everything else about me that stinks, especially my writing. See I stole the words from your mouth, perhaps I should go into Politics.

I have to watch the Press Preview on Sky now before bed, so I’ll leave you all pondering on tonights words. If you are as old as me you will remember Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Holywood, if I remember right there was a video of Reagan and Gorbachev wrestling. Perhaps politicians should mud wrestle naked, then we can see all their shortcomings. And then laugh as we vote, it would be great reality tv.

Or am I just too far ahead of my time? Tick Tock the clock stops for no man. And when it does we argue with God that we just want a bit more time with our family. We feel exposed as God see us all naked, without any Philosophy. So if you are reading this God, I really did want to live till I was 100, but can I share my pain with a few sinners. I’ll let you chose who. Or am I trying to be too much like a god.


Don't Abandon Your Future, There are many Futures


Wednesday, 31 May 2017

Don’t Abandon Your Future, There are many Futures ©

Don’t Abandon Your Future, There are many Futures ©
By
Michael Casey

I begin with irony and pain, my hips are getting better as I listen to the Beatles’ Sgt Pepper album, and I’ve got to admit its getting better. Only for my left shoulder pain to appear and descend to my heart, you think you’ll have a heart attack but actually its “just” Arthur my arthritis in another position. Hence the irony, don’t abandon your future, as I reach for the Movelat gel, and I smile through the pain, don’t abandon my future etc.

So that’s not where I wanted to start but I suppose it highlights the fact that you never know what might happen, you never know just how your Future, you wanted to be a world famous writer and make lots of money for your kids’ Future. Though I don’t want the Fame, the money would be enough, or just enough money to pass on, providing my Care does not cost too much. Don’t show Theresa this piece or she’ll cry, again.

So instead you are found dead on the floor and the cat Totoro hits the keyboard and deletes your masterpiece, so your family stay in poverty eating fish finger finger sandwiches on Hovis. Actually cats do sit on keyboards so close the lid or push the keyboard away. Or Just don’t let the cat in the room while you take a leak.

I’ve digressed as usual, my Joyce Grenfell and Ronnie Corbett on Speed style of writing, it wasn’t planned it just emerged, you can Google them and let them entertain you if you don’t like my stuff.

My daughter is having chill time during the half term, and as she is so super industrious as a student I just asked her had she changed her mind about being a doctor. I then added that there are Many Futures, so if you don’t get one there is always another, so all of the students out there should bear that in mind when the Results arrive in two months time.

Look at my path just by way of example. Tax Office, March Assessor, Computer Operator with interlude at paint factory, otherwise 21 years at the same place, City Hall Computer room, Trainee Betting Shop Manager, 3 years at CPNEC Birmingham at the Hotel where I did everything, 10 roles on a regular basis, Life Insurance Underwriter Non Medical, 3 years Pinsent Masons Law Firm, Esol English Teacher, House Husband or Hausfrau, being there for the girls while the wife went to work.

We want somebody to be home to feed and water the girls when they come home from school. As well as spells of unemployment before becoming full time Hausfrau. Not to mention 2013 when my Arthritis arrived, then 2015 when I went in as a 999, with Arthritis pain, my heart was not too bad, the but once they saw the results of Heart tests I had started to have weeks previously they decided to keep me in, and after more tests, 10 days later 13 Jan 2015 I had what turned out to be a Quadruple Heart Bypass.

So there you go, that’s why there is a Bucket and me on the cover of Still Alive 2015. I’ve also written 4 other books since then, you can count them https://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Casey/e/B00571G0YC 

Nobody can predict what will or won’t be, nobody knows. You may have a Golden Life, rich family and live in a mansion and a beautiful wife. Then one day you’ll wake up and realise its just a bucket, like the one on the front cover of Still Alive 2015. That’s why you have Hippies having a Quest for meaning, and experiencing altered realities via dope and drugs.

Really, and I’m speaking from my own life experience, not some book, or cult. The true journey is Within, its your Interior Life, you can Google that if you don’t know the concept. Its your Family, they are what makes the difference. Money sticks to Money, but when the money goes what’s left? Will Money like you? Money isn’t Bad, its the Love of Money which is. There is a difference and you don’t have to be a Bible scholar to know that.

Family is the boat we sail in, when the storm comes, and it will, and there may be many, many many. It depends on many many things, life is a weather forecast after all. So what are you going to do? Who are you going to call? Ghostbusters? Or curse three times like Hugh Grant in Four Weddings and a Funeral. F-, F-, F-

Or the 3 Fs, Family, Friends, Faith. We all have uncertain futures, me I just hope to live to see my girls grow up into strong women. I don’t know God’s plan for me, or even if he has one, that’s philosophy by the way, so I may touch on that in my next piece. I had one future, the door was slammed in my face. So I had another path, then another then another. Not forgetting stumbling into writing and marriage with children.

If you have a setback you start again, you never never surrender, I did not learn that from Churchill either. His bar bill was equal to 3 people’s salary, there was a programme on tv about it, hence the quote. Old Boris Johnson wrote a book about him recently. Go read that if you won’t buy any of my books. You make your own Future. You live with and through your disasters in life, whatever they are. A Golden marriage turned to dust as she ran away with the milkman or her personal trainer, not that Theresa may or may not do that. She could run away with Jezza and live on his allotment, living on his potatoes and onions.


Whatever happens you have to deal with it. But Never ever ever have a Keep Calm And sign in your home or the Devil himself will come for your Soul. A sign is rubbish, its what’s in you that makes you you. Its that that determines your Future, everybody’s Future.

I’ve given you the tip of iceberg by sharing, ok boring you with some of my life in just over a 1000 words. You have to move on and do the best with what you’ve got. If you wanted a better house, job, car or life, then you have to work for it. And if you don’t get the Sun be satisfied with the Moon, but always look to the Stars even if you are in the Gutter.

One final thing when you go to bed and you turn out the lights, you are making love to, anybody you like, in reality or in your dreams. The Beatles are singing All You Need is Love as I finish. So you are making love to your husband/lover/boyfriend/toyboy or the female equivalents. It’s all in your imagination.
 Am I Shakespeare and the product of my loins are 1,070,000 words on a page, or am I just a figment or your imagination or a REALLY BAD DREAM.  


Sunday 28 May 2017

Numbers and Your Life

Sunday, 28 May 2017

Numbers and your Life



Numbers and your Life ©
By
Michael Casey
I was looking at a house online, we are viewing it soon, and I thought about the house number. It does not matter a damn or does it? Would you live in a house numbered 13? Or would you rename it Thirteen, just to be on the safe side? In the next street there was a house number 13, a man died in it and his body was not discovered for a while. Would the present happy family living there recoil if they knew. It was over 20 years ago, his name  was Brian, life of Brian or death of Brian if you like. He had a goatee and a very fat dog. So that’s number 13 for you, not forgetting Judas being the 13th man.
In Chinese the number 4 sounds like the word for Death, go to your local Chinese takeaway tonight and ask them to say 4 and Death and see if you can spot the difference. And get me some prawn crackers while you are there. I bring this up because along time ago a house numbered 4 came up but my wife immediately said NO. In Chinese there are 5 accents or tones, so Ma can mean Mum/Ma or Horse. So be very careful with your pronunciation. Or you could be very unlucky and get a clip around your ear, no matter what number house you live in.
I’ve just had a look at the Numerology site on the Internet its amusing and makes you think too. Numbers and their combinations matter to people, such as Birthdays and Anniversaries. So Numerology has much to say about numbers though I could say much to say about nothing if I bastardise Shakespeare. I will be meeting Will down the Trader in Old Forge and Singing Anvil tonight so I’ll apologise to him then, he owes me a drink for saving his life. But that’s not in any of his plays as Anne can be quiet a bitch at times, his words not mine.
So 11th Nov 1977 , or 111177 is a magic number in my own life. My dad’s Birthday, he was 56 then. I was 19, my life had changed, I had a door slammed and locked in my face. Though it turned out to be a turning point in my life as it led to me turning a corner and ending up as a computer operator 6 months later. I can remember my dad shaving in the kitchen sink, the bathroom was so cold after all, and he said something would turn up.My eldest brother said try computers and that led to secure employment for 21 years, the angel on my wall is the leaving present from that job.
So that date is burnt into my brain, the other thing my brother said years later was look at the negatives when buying a house. So estate agents already know to their cost what I want, thanks to my brother’s advice.
Are there any other special numbers, yes of course there are. The day I get my first Royalty check, the day my play Shoplife is on the stage maybe with Julian Cleary and Lilly Savage as my Angels. My mother used to say with the Help of God and two Policemen. Perhaps God does finally help with my Artistic side, and its 2 Gay men instead of two Policemen. I have no idea what either of them knows about handcuffs and truncheons, maybe they’ll taser me for my cheek, should I turn the other one?
I should say though that would be Futurology, not Numerology, apart from when the money comes in, though round the back of where I live there is an accountant, we used to be altar boys together. Fact is stranger that Fiction always, I just hope I have a talent to amuse people. That’s not about numbers, lucky or otherwise, its about sweat and hard work. Though the Help of God and Two Policemen would be greatly appreciated, whether or not they are Gay is unimportant, just a sense of humour required.



Saturday 27 May 2017

May I redirect you?

Saturday, 27 May 2017

May I redirect you?

https://michaelgcaseyfrombirminghamengland.wordpress.com/

Is my other site, loads of stuff to read there.

If you click on the top right box with lines through it, it will TRANSLATE for you.

and this is my Elevator Advert below, I'll write something new later on, I had a drink of cider so I have to wait for that to pass through my system before I write something new. I'm not a drinker, 12 pints a YEAR, so ...





            
 ELEVATOR AD May 2017
For my One Million Words of laughter over 30 years of writing.
p.s. I have readers in:- Canada, USA, UK, Ireland, India,Pakistan,Australia,New Zealand,Russia,Poland,Czech,Germany, Austria France,Portugal,Singapore,Nigeria and China, Taiwan, Philippines to name but a few places.
Hello, how about a Verbal Cartoon for Radio and all other media
I grew up listening to the radio, we all used to hide under the blankets and listen when we should have been fast asleep. Radio did change my life, a lodger gave us a radio when he had to go back to Ireland to look after his sick mum. In fact he left all his stuff and caught the first boat home. Months later he came back to see us and said me and my brother could have his old Bush radio. I spent 20 years listening to radio. That and being afraid of Mr Gallagher when I was 8 changed my life, and improved my intellect.
I met my Shanghai wife in the old people's home, she was cleaning my dad's room. I was positively vetted by a Chinese Ballerina  from the Birmingham Royal Ballet, now we are married with 2 bilingual daughters. Even Totoro our cat is female and bilingual. I am the token male and English speaker in the family.
Now here's a few samples, what I'd like to do would be to read my shorts/blogs on your radio. Each piece is about 90 seconds long, 90 seconds with Michael is the idea, simple idea. I have gained 19,208 views on Funny or Die for a sample  
1st chapter of Tears for a Butcher which will be my 8th book. Only the other day a publisher said my book of shorts 300 and Not OUT was very funny. In fact I must have 1000 shorts, enough for over a year. I have recorded 207 of them so far, 11 hours plus of audio. I have nearly 300,000 views on Google+ as well but I did not believe it, so I left Google +, and I am not on Facebook either. Just on my sites and on Amazon Kindle, one day people may buy some of my books.
I have started recording all my Shorts and have put 50+ of them on www.michaelgcasey.typepad.com  I have a new mike now too, so listen in reverse order.
My  12 books are on Amazon Kindle
Here's the samples for radio or print.
LinkedIn Profile  and  CV ©
By
Michael Casey
We’ve all been on Facebook and LinkedIn, we get to know people and make “friends”. On LinkedIn it’s more about connections and maybe business connections. So we have to rely on the Profile, my LinkedIn profile tells my story, as I am a writer. But how accurate are these Profiles?
I am a born leader.
Means he was the firstborn boy in a family of 11 girls.
I created the supply chain structure.
Means he decided to use a clipboard and notepad instead of just his memory.
I optimised the sales among target audiences.
He chatted up all the girls, he was kind to seniors and went to church.
I was inventive and creative in gaining new sales.
Means he designed a flyer and went street to street delivering them.
I was never afraid of going the extra mile for the business.
Means there was a street gang chasing  him after he was at  the bank
I am great at communicating the business message.
He just would not shut up, so the boss got him to tidy the fruit outside the ma and pa store.
I always try and improve myself.
Means he has no friends so he reads a lot.
I created the new scheme to optimise the business cash flow.
Means he took the store’s cash and put the money on a horse.
I am now looking for new opportunities to excel
Means he got fired, cops not called as the owner married to his sister
I created a great new idea for centralising purchasing delivery.
Means he was a guard for the money delivery company, crash helmet and visor.
I created my own start-up company
Means he stole the money from the cash delivery company and started his own company.
I am now on a learning sabbatical before resuming my career
Means he is in jail, working in the library.
So when you read those LinkedIn profiles or reading a CV or resume think what do they really mean. Check the photos out too, the reality can be far different. Just like actors, photos can be 10 or 20 years old, and they are. Dig deeper.
Me, I google and check people out, as far as you can on Google. Google me(michaelgcasey) and my sites and think for yourself. I am on a sabbatical myself, no I’m not in a library, thought we have plenty of books in the house, no it’s called arthritis, which comes and goes and makes me scream sometimes. But at least I can sit here and make some of you laugh, as I Google everybody.
Sadly since I wrote my advert I need to add unplanned quadruple heart bypass to my advert, but I have written 4 more books these past  few years, taking my total to 12 on Amazon, and I have nearly reached 1,000,000 words written.
Let There Be Light ©
 By Michael Casey
Let my tears be my words
Let the candle light be my eyes
Let the flowers in bloom be my lips
Let their scent be my blood
Let the wind be my breath
Let clouds be my mood
Let children’s laughter be my hope
Let widows’ sighs be my conscience
Let a stranger’s prayers be my delight
Let the bees be my wisdom
Let the trees be my strength
Let my patience reach to the stars
Let me be always remembered in your prayers
            
                The Dead and The Living (c)
                           by
           
                     Michael  Casey
     I first saw a deceased when I was nine years old, my father said not
  
     to worry as the dead are the same as the living, only the  laughter
  
     has left them, the sparkle has gone from their eyes, the worry has
  
     been lifted from their shoulders, and their voice has vanished  to
  
     eternity.
     In paradise the sparkle will return for it is the  twinkle  of  the
  
     stars, the laughter will return too for it is the morning breeze and
  
     the turning tides are their sides shaking with laughter.
     
     I treat the deceased with the same courtesy as I give to the living,
  
     though I find the deceased are always more polite. My father also
  
     had a few words to say about the living.
     He said that the living are only the caretakers of the soul ,  yet
  
     they think their existence is everything, that they know everything
  
     because they experience many things with their senses.
     What the living don't acknowledge is that their time is short  and
  
     when I lay their bodies to rest then their souls  continue  without
  
     them, without their strong, without their weak, without  their
  
     beautiful or even ugly temporary form, to where I cannot say, only
  
     that it is a better place.
  
     Percy the undertaker placed the lid on the coffin, the soul was free
                          THE  BEGINNING
      
  
Sleepover©
By
Michael Casey
Sleepover is exactly that, your sleep is over, you have laughing kids invading your house, and driving you out of your minds. Well not always, but it is very distracting. You can’t remember what you were doing and where has that file gone on the computer. This is the 2nd time I’m telling this story, why, because my Word, or upon my word, the story died or rather Word did not close properly, so now you’re getting something different.
Total strangers, or strangers to you arrive at the house and kind of invade it for a night. You do shout up the stairs, keep them out of my room. Not because you have anything worth stealing, but they are stealing your privacy, and that’s all you have left if you have daughters in your house.
Then the smell of nail varnish drifts down the stairs and permeates everywhere, its worse than mustard gas from the Great War. You scream up the stairs, open all the windows fully, what about your room, dad? Especially mine.
Its then that your inner sanctum is breached as they bring their friends to help them open the window. They see the Teddy Bear that you’ve had since you were 6 years old, the invader laughs. She also sees the deep heat by your bed, And he complains about nail varnish.
Dinner time arrives and you have to feed the cuckoo, only she doesn’t eat this or she doesn’t eat that, on principle. So you say, you’ll have to stave then. Your daughter, the host, is horrified, so you relent and flick a pound coin at them, cholesterol free oil used to make the chips. So a compromise is achieved.
You put Sky Sports on to watch the match, they say Qatar is going to build underground stadia, novel idea. You are settling down to see Rooney when they arrive back chip laden. Her friend just loves the ballet and Sky Arts has Bolshoi on, so could they please please watch that. You say you’ll record it for them. But you are as bad as a puppy murderer even for suggesting it.
So being a nice dad you let them watch the ballet on your 46inch tv, while you retreat to watch the match on the laptop upstairs. They never tell you about this at parenting classes, just how to change nappies. Let’s hope William and Kate are told.
After the ballet they retreat upstairs for girlie music, and what were you doing in their room on the laptop. Didn’t you know you are just a dad not allowed in the inner sanctum. The Hits is switched on  their dab radio at volume 13, you retreat to watch the after match talk on the big screen.
Later its bath time, so you have to wait 2 hours for all the girls in your house, including the cuckoo, to pollute the bathroom before you a mere dad, and bill payer, can have a shave. Only your last razor has been used to save somebody’s legs.
So everybody goes to bed, all is well, holding your teddy bear, you sleep soundly. Until 3am, when a banshee screaming wakes you, your wife and all the neighbours. It’s the cuckoo, she’s having a nightmare, it must be the chips, and the cholesterol free oil from them. Or half waking up and forgetting where she was.
So remembering to put on your dressing gown you have to calm everybody down, and answer the door, to the police, as the neighbour from neighbourhood watch has rung them. So the police come in and have a look. Flatulence is written down in the Police note book. As you let the police out the house again your smallest daughter hands you your teddy bear, its ok dad, it’s only a sleepover.
How do Men Shop? ©
By Michael Casey
There is a difference between Men and Women, and thank God for it. But how do men shop? Shopping for men is about getting what you need, my shoes have a hole in them so I’ll go to the shop and buy another pair. A man will buy a new pair of shoes that are exactly the same as his old pair of shoes, or if he’s being adventurous he’ll have a pair of shoes which are exactly the same but with grey laces and not black. Now to a man this is being fashion conscious. If a man wants a new pair of trousers he just goes to the shop and sees if they have his leg/waist size and then tries them on, making sure they don’t split when he bends over and that his package is not squeezed. If a man needs a suit he checks the trousers before putting on the jacket, the jacket must be able to be done up without his belly exploding the buttons off. A man will never button up his suit jacket, but he needs to know that the buttons won’t fly off and hit anybody in the eye, if ever he does.
If a man needs a shirt he checks the neck size, 18.5 in my case, and then he sees if its full fit or not. Then he buys 5 shirts exactly the same all  in plastic . For a lazy shopper he’ll go straight to Slaters and get what he wants. In and out in 30 mins for everything. Then he’ll go to the pub and meet his mates and have one pint too many and leave all his shopping in the Queens Tavern. Luckily they are honest there and his shopping is saved, otherwise he’s have to waste 30mins in Slaters, before going back to the pub.
This is basically the difference between men and women. Woman shop, men pick up clothes or whatever like an order picker does, without any passion.  A man gets home and puts his shopping away and forgets about it. Just like in the film The Fly where the man’s wardrobe contains suits all the same colour, clothes are just a thing so they are all uniform.
As for women shopping s something different, the clothes have to be tried on and they must make the woman look perfect, her bum or boobs mustn’t be to big or too small, everything should be right. To help the woman chose her clothes she brings two or three mates or her children with her. Her man is forced to come too, but he plugs Radio5 Live into his ear and listens to the football  while she is choosing. Men know 5 colours, red, blue, red, green, yellow or maybe one or two more; as for a woman there are at least 50 colours, and just as the eskimos have 30 words for snow a woman has 10 words for each colour and its hews.
This brave man, or am I stupid, I just give my wife the debit card and say leave me in peace, so she goes off with a smile with the girls with her, they are young Fashionistas after all. I decided years ago what a wife needed was space to shop and not constant looks at my watch. So that’s what she does and her bulging wardrobe will testify to the wisdom of my decision. When a woman comes home its 2 hours of mix and match to make sure that the new clothes match the old clothes, the husband tries to watch the big match on tv but his wife is prancing around the living room asking “does my bum show” and various other questions. It’s a penalty, and you sit on the edge of your seat, the wife appears and blocks your view, so you miss seeing why  your side was relegated. Normal life in homes up and down the country.
The next day you watch the match again in peace, you remembered to record it on Sky+ and as for the wife she’s gone back to the shop to return ½ of what she bought because it doesn’t match her shoes. And it’s your fault because you wouldn’t give her your debit card again so she could buy cheap £100 shoes.
All Things Bright and Beautiful ©
 By Michael Casey
 I haven’t written a non-pain piece in a while, so I’ll try and forget the pain and write something new. We’ve just had the half time holidays and my girls have been playing “shop-girls” as they call it. They even have a sign on their bedroom door saying “open” or “closed”. They steal my wife’s clothes and prance about upstairs. Our eldest daughter has bigger feet than my wife now so that’s a relief as she cannot steal my wife’s shoes any more, but it does not prevent her younger sister from wearing mum’s shoes. There is also the matter of the beret with silver sequins, that’s an absolute Fashion Must.
Me, I’m not fashionable at all, three girls in the house is enough, if I gave in to them they’d be beading my eye brows, I do wear pink on occasions, so that’s as far as I go. If I were maybe 3 stones lighter I’d try other things, I did see a nice cord jacket in Cotton Traders 48R, it was bright blue, Kingfisher Blue, my girls called it a “Clown Jacket”. With encouragement like that what am I supposed to do? I did say if I win Euro millions I WILL buy the jacket. My wife has a nice light brown one, although as she is a woman there will be a more accurate colour name, men don’t do colours. If you think of it its black and white, blue, green, orange as far as men go, but women at least another 40 names for colours. As far as my hair goes, its silver, though a friend used to say I was an old man with white hair. As the colour of our hair change it’s the 7 ages of man.
I remember Ali saying why wasn’t it “Whitemail” instead of blackmail. We are in the Pink if we have good health, I long to be back in the pink myself. We say we hope be back in the black not in the red when we do company accounts, we look for the silver linings. We look look look for the rainbow as the song goes, we may find the crock of gold, all our troubles may be over and we can pack them up in the old kit bag. Hope springs up within us, it is now Spring after all, and as Chance the Gardener said “in the Spring there will be growth.”
Cheese and Chorizo ©
By Michael Casey
 The thing about girls is that they steal your stuff, you think they are nice and sweet smelling, but they are not. If they get up before you they’ll raid your side of the fridge and eat your cheese and chorizo. Cheese and chorizo on toast, with hot chocolate to follow, this is how your daughters treat you. This is how my girls treat me.
Yesterday mum bought biscuits, and did she share them? NO. The girls got some but I got none. They were  the ones I really like, its always the ones you really like. I looked high and low, just like an Ah Ha song, but nothing. JJ the wife just laughed at me as I went from pillar to post looking for a biscuit, the Tunnock ones. See this is how the 3 girls in my life treat me, I am biscuitless. Finally after much derision my small daughter showed me  where the biscuits were, a new hiding place, that’s why I could not find them. So I was victorious, I sneaked a biscuit into my pocket and slipped away to eat it in peace.
Shoes are a big thing, so our small daughter walks around the house in mum’s shoes, mine are too big so thankfully they are left alone. However having two daughters who like Textiles, which is the fancy word from school for sewing and making things. If they like textiles then your clothes are not safe, they drag a shirt or two out of the wardrobe and say they want to turn it into something. Jumpers are not safe either, they can cut them down to make a dress  or even a handbag. And as for needles, it’s like having a porcupine in the family, DANGER. You only realise that after you have sat on a needle or two, the wife just says its free acupuncture, no need to asked Dr Hu to pay us a visit, and yes he really is Dr Hu, not Dr Who, but Dr Hu.
Now that our 11year old is 5feet tall, as big as mum, she wants to wear her clothes, but you can imagine what kind of clothes a Shanghai girl wears. So there is debate in Chinese, I cannot understand a word, but SANINGONGA is heard quite often which means no. Which also means my girls, our girls will return to steal from my wardrobe again. In a way it’s like having moths, but instead of holes in your clothes, entire items just disappear. BUT it’s not just the girls, its mum too, she’ll decide that the Fashion Police would not like this item or that item, so it  disappears.  When do I find out? Never, or nearly never, until I walk past a charity shop and see a tent sized item in the window, it’s my clothes.
So if you want to keep the clothes on your back, don’t have daughters. If  you want your favourite food safe in your side of the fridge, the none Chinese side of the fridge, then don’t have daughters. If you want to save your pennies, don’t have a Shanghai wife. But then life would be boring, just make sure you look before you sit.
From A to B from Sat Nav to Blocked Sink  ©
 By Michael Casey
 Well I hope you are all fine this morning. For us the Sat Nav debate continues. In the old days a Black Taxi would not be seen using an AtoZ, it was beneath his dignity. He'd done the Knowledge and it was all up there in his head. Jack Rozenthal wrote a great play about it, was it 30years ago? Maureen Lipman was his real wife.
 Delivery drivers have and egg and bacon butty in one hand dripping egg on to the AtoZ in their other hand while they try and deliver a chest of drawers, with 5 days growth of beard for good measure.
 Bus drivers know their route, so once they've done it a while its automatic, they know what they are doing. All they have to do is put up with kids trying to use a 3 day old ticket, and not get too high from all the cannabis on the bus. Or remember when they have switched routes because that can lead to strange directions.
 Door to door salesmen all those years ago, with the rap at tat tat on the back door had their route carrying the suitcase with samples in. I can vaguely remember one at our back door did my mum buy a clothes brush? But that must be 45 years ago.
So basically we all know what we want and where we are going. Going further back they say people only knew a six block radius around their home. Going to War changed all that as did radio and then more importantly tv. Tv being our eyes on the world, previous to that only Merchant Seaman knew of the world. My own granddad was a merchant sea man, I sometimes wonder did he ever get to Shanghai
Or was it me, his grandson who got there first. Had he visited at the turn of the 19th/20th Century 100years and more ago.
 Which brings us back to Sat Nav. Me I use a bus which is fine apart from the pot heads who sit next to you on the bus and all I want to do is puke. My wife is a car driver, so she and our girls love the car. But my wife has borrowed a Sat Nav and likes the ease of it so now she wants one of her own. The result is that I’m being nagged to provide one. You pay, me pay, yes you pay, why me pay, because you are the husband so you pay, no way me pay, you pay you pay yourself, I say. And on the ding dong, sing song goes. Which is the fun part. Me I no pay, use computer I say. You can get perfect directions off the computer all you then have to do is print them off, if our printer was still working we’d be doing that. So really all the wife has to do is copy them down, in English.
 She’s  busy with the wok as I talk to you, she’s compromised now, she only wants me to pay half. So I say I’ll be doubly generous and double the share I won’t pay, I’ll pay zero and she can pay 100%. That’s the true spirit of negotiation, now I have another thing to resolve, she’s blocked the sink, so pardon me now as I take the plunge, or rather take the plunger to the sink, no need to use a Sat Nav to get there, its over my shoulder in the next room, just turn left at the tv and go straight on to the sound of bubbles. Love is everywhere don’t you know it, just find it, no Sat Nav required.
My other idea is a book of shorts, 40 stories with 40 translations
on facing page plus 40 audio of me reading my stories on usb stick.
Perfect to teach English as a 2nd language, via humour.
I was an Esol English teacher and gained
2 Excellents and an Exemplary on my external Assessment
As I have written 890+ stories this would be a series of 20 plus books
So we could have Mandarin/Japanese/Urdu/Spanish/Hindi/Russian etc
This would be a world wide hit, angel investors needed
Thanks for reading this, that’s if Junk did not get it. I have come close and not got a cigar many times in my life, so I decided to try you. Radio is the medium for my words, 90 seconds with Michael, could go nationwide, it’s a simple idea, with great words, mine if I can be boastful. I have already recorded 200 of my 890+ shorts, 11 hours plus of audio  so far recorded.
some can be heard at www.michaelgcasey.typepad.com 
Cheerio, Michael Casey  
 to hear 50+ stories
12 ebooks and 3 Printed on Paper Books
p.s. I have readers in:- Canada,USA,UK, Ireland,Australia,Russia,Poland,Czech,Germany, France,Portugal,Singapore,Nigeria and China, Taiwan to name but a few places. 







PIo my soul cleaner

  from our back garden grotto, with Mary and Bernadette behind him Let There Be Light © By Michael Casey Let my tears be my words Let the ca...