Muxworthy's Musings

I'll be honest I am not the biggest fan of Christmas for me as somebody who is Neuro-Distinct it is just complete sensory overload and it leaves me feeling drained. That's one of the reasons I always insisted on a book as a present so I could escape the whole thing once I'd unwrapped it. Working as I do in a retail environment ( also see the word 'Torment') has made me realise more and more how the reason for the season - the incarnation of Jesus, has been well and truly lost in the western world. Where else you can find people celebrating the season of goodwill by getting so drunk they can't recall a single thing or taking part in the pre-holiday war-game that is shopping. There are moments when I honestly wonder if when presented the truth of Christ's coming most people would turn their noses up at it as if it were an over-boiled sprout. For some perhaps the Saviour gets a dusting down once a year like the artificial tree in the form of the annual visit to...

I once heard a joke about a rather disreputable individual who died (certainly not the person in the picture above) The person who was asked to give the eulogy knew full well the character of the man and was suitably wracked with dread as culture dictated that he not only tell the truth about the deceased but also say something positive. Telling the truth was not going to be a problem but saying something positive was going to be a big ask. So come the funeral this is what he said: ‘As many of you know Mr Robbins could not be described as a man of a clean character. He treated his family terribly, on reaching eighteen he threw each of his children out onto the street to earn their living with only the clothes on their back. In his business dealings he had no care for those he ripped off. In addition to this he had numerous affairs and even more children as a result, he treated his wife so abysmally it shortened her life, and he didn’t even bother to attend her funeral.’ He then paused ...

As you might know I hold a train driving licence. It was a very long hard slog to learn all the rules and regulations and ultimately pass my test to be allowed out on my own to drive passenger trains. During the practical side of this training, I was trained to drive during the dreaded leaf fall season. Yes, there have been many derisory comments made about the fact that a mere lot of leaves can wreak havoc with trains. Well, it’s nothing new, even the Rev Awdry wrote a story about it in his Thomas the Tank Engine series called ‘James and the leaves.’ The thing is that you have the two surfaces of polished metal in the wheel and the rail and then you add to that a collection of wet leaves. As the train runs over them it naturally squashes them and leaves behind an invisible residue which caused the wheels to lose traction. Trains have safety systems (one akin to ABS on a car) to mitigate against this as well as sending out specialist trains being sent out to clean the rails. So, how...