Wow, how time fly's, so, if you read my last post you will have seen that I have started to get back into my Philately, and I was doing an evaluation on my stamps, as the last time I did one was 30 years ago, OMG, was I in for a shock, I am only 10 pages into my UK collection and I find a stamp worth £25000, yes twenty five grand, I also came across one worth £7000.00, so my £15000 replacement insurance is so far out of date it's scary.

Why Fuck the Post Office I hear you say, well, I have noticed of late that they no longer use nice rubber stamps to cancel the stamps, some of the rubber stamp impressions are collected by Philatelist as well.  But recently the PO have take to scribbling over the stamps with Biro's and thick black markers, which completely ruin the stamps, so I went onto twitter where I follow the PO, and I asked the question, expecting a good reason for this horrible way of cancelling the stamp's, the answer I got shocked me it was 'We can cancel them anyway we please' WTF, that's not an answer you fucking dick head, in fact I know the answer as I asked my postman and he said 'Laziness, they just can't be assed to take the time to use a proper cancellation stamp', So what the fuck is going on, I buy new mint stamp packs every year from the PO, and they are not cheap, last year I spent over £200 just for my collection, without the everyday stamps for letters etc .

So, if you are one of the twats that ruins stamps in the post office, move on and don't come back, but if you are a senior member than think about it, I am just one person who spends about £500 a year on my hobby, there are thousands of us just in the UK and millions world wide, you earn more from us collecting than you do from your services, so, just think about what your doing, you are killing the hobby for used stamps, how can I get young kids interested in the hobby if the stamps are so defaced you cant see the beauty or have a postmark of interest?  I have been collecting for 56 years, and hope to continue to carry on for another 56 (yeah I know I ain't gonna last that long) so come on Post Office, get back to thinking about the hobbyist as well.

Moan over.

PHILATELY, Yes, I am a stamp collector, I know, I know, the grumpy old man has another hobby, but this one I have been doing since I was 7, yeah, 56 years, I could not wait for the postman to arrive when I was a kid, it meant that I would get another stamp for my collection that I kept in a WH Smith stamp album that I got for my 7th birthday, wow, a long time ago.

So why do I mention it now, well I have been getting the usual amount of Christmas cards this year and for the first time in a while I thought that they were a decent design, simple but nice and colourful, and thats what attracted me in the first place, these little colourful works of art were great.
So, I decided to have a look at my albums and update them, it was about 2010 when I last spent some time and money on my collection, but I was thinking over the last couple of weeks that maybe `i should invest some more time and money in my stamps, did you know that the annual return on stamps as an investment is around 10%, not bad for a few bits of paper.

I have been busy buying some more valuable stamps as a insurance policy if you like for my son, when I kick the bucket, he can sell the collection to pay for my final goodbye.  Yes my stamp collection is valued at about £15000 for insurance purposes.  So, let me know if you collect stuff like stamps and coins, I look forward to your comments.

Happy New Year to you all.

​

OK, you can now here me on my new website, www.drden.co.uk 

Go check it out, I hope to have a new show every week.

​Later.​

I was standing in my bathroom this morning gazing at some old (2010) photos, I then realised that these were the last photos that I took before losing my love for photography, let me explain.
My father was a keen amateur and us kids would be his main subject matter and on Sunday's I would spend hours locked with him in his make shift dark room which was a piece of board over the bath with the enlarger and the Developer, Stopper and Fixer with a gap to a bath of running water for the final rinse.  I would watch in amazement as the photos would magically appear on a white piece of paper.

At about 9 years old my dad gave me his Lubitel 2 as a gift because he was now using a 35mm camera, the make I remember was a Practica.  I was aloud 1 roll of film with 8 exposures per month, not a lot but we were a poor family, money was hard to come buy, I remember when he gave me the Lubitel that he had saved for moths to get it and about 2 years to get his new 35mm Practica, I would treasure that camera for about 7 years, saving my pocket money for film, this meant I had 2 rolls of film a month, 16 exposures, Lovely.

I started work at 15 with a film company that my dad worked for, kicking and screaming I started 2 days after leaving school at easter that year, 1972, I really wanted to be a panel beater at a garage my best mate worked for, I went with him to Muswell Hill in London where I lived at the time where I met his boss who said that because I showed a lot of enthusiasm he would give me an apprenticeship when I finished school, I would also earn £2 10s a week, that meant I could buy at least 3 rolls of film a month, winner winner chicken diner.
However like I said earlier dad dragged me into the film business, however my attitude changes when I got my first wage packed, £15 10s a week, yes a week, OMG, I was in my mind a millionaire, my dad took £5 from me to give to my mum for my keep???? WTF, £5 was average wage for an adult and I had to give that to my mum, I wanted to know why so much, I then got the story of, you eat, we give you shelter, you want atv, radio and sofas in the house, I was expected to help pay for all of this,

OMG, I cant believe its been over 2 months since I last had a moan on the BLOG.
But I have been so busy I have not even had time to drink my usual 25 - 30 cups of coffee a day (I am down to about 5), so what have you been doing you may ask, well September is always a busy time for me working as a Lecturer, new year/term and all that, however this year has changed I have been given an extra roll to get the colleges Radio Station up and running 24/7.
As you cab imagine it's interesting but there are issues such as the equipment needed to be set up properly, software upgrades etc, but, I now have it running 24/7 have a listen using the link at the bottom of the page, not my type of music, but I will be doing a blues show in the evenings, so listen out for that.

What else is new, well I now have my 3D printer after waiting nearly 3 months, made the mistake of ordering direct from China, communications were fucking awful (THANK YOU GEARBEST)to say the least, they refused to refund me after 2 months, could have got it next day from amazon, but hey £30 is £30, when it arrived the box was badly damaged, but the printer was very well packed and protected so all was well, so for the last month I have been on a steep learning curve

Over a month ago I decided to take the plunge into 3D printing, having done all my research (about 6 months) I decided on a Creality Ender 3, every review I have seen has been extremely good.  So, I dug into my piggy bank and spent the £200 which includes filament, I decided to go with GearBest as I have purchased loads from them in the past 3 years or so, about £10,000 worth, all electronic and luthier stuff, anyway, I placed my order at the middle of June, with an (ESTIMATED) delivery of 3 weeks, here I sit typing and still no printer.
So I checked with the tracking app, at the beginning of July the 2nd to be exact, a label was printed for UPS, great I thought so I contacted UPS, I asked wheres my parcel and when will I get it, they replied 'We are waiting for GearBest (Germany) to give us a call to pick it up, we know its ready because we have a label printed for you, we can't pick up the parcel until they call us', so I sent GB an email asking what's the delay? I got an email back telling me to be patient and to check their terms and conditions, WHAT THE FUCK, so I am now really pissed, so I write back saying that I have read their terms and conditions several times over the years and it states that delivery will commence when the item is in stock and packed, it's in stock, packed and at the depot waiting for collection by UPS, they then send me another email saying, delays can be caused by the parcel company, strikes, air, sea, rail and road problems, so I tell them that UPS are waiting for the call, they then send me email number 1 again, delivery etc, so I send them an email cancelling the order as I found the same printer with next day delivery, they then reply that I cant cancel the order because it's already shipped? WTF, I write back saying 'No it's not, it's sitting in your wearhouse in Germany, give me back my money, I then get email number 1 again.

So I get it touch with the credit card company, and ask them for a charge back as GB took the money from them the day after I placed the order, the credit card company say, sorry unless there is something wrong with the item there is nothing they can do, delivery delays are not covered, they then tell me that when it arrives to return it as no longer required and they will do the charge back, (at this point my head is about to explode and I am looking to rip someones head off and kick it over a wall) I tell them, the reason I want the charge back is that I need the item ASAP and I have no idea when it will arrive, they replay, please read our terms and conditions.

So, here I sit some 7 weeks later with no printer, I know the UPS still haven't pick it up from GB and that it's still sitting in the same fucking warehouse where it been for weeks.

FUK YOU GearBest, I ordered the printer so I could learn about it during my holidays, but not my winter holidays, I can assure you that I will not spend another penny with them ever.  And as for the Credit card company, I paid it up and cancelled the card, the cheeky bastards called me back and asked why, when I told the girl she said if she increased the limit would I not cancel, WTF, they missed the point, so I cancelled.  Credit card companies are begging for people to have their cards, at the end of the I will use one of my other cards.  I will keep you up to date with what goes on.

WOW, I cant believe its been 3 months since my last post, I have been so busy that time has flown by, been finishing off at college with the marking etc and getting ready for next term, time flies when you are enjoying yourself.

So, what's making me grumpy at the moment, BMW & Audi drivers, the one thing I have noticed over the last couple of years is that BMW drivers particularly are really shit drivers, they think they own the roads, Audi drivers are just as bad, cutting you up, over taking in dangerous places and forcing me to break so they can cut in, pulling out from a side road no matter how fast you are approaching them, those that know me know I get a little pissed off when in the car when it comes to shit drivers, I change from Mr Grumpy to Mr Very Angry, and yes I do suffer from road rage, I have lost count of the times I have got out of my car and threatened other drivers with death or even worse torture, I have also had quite a few actual fights, one in particular where I dragged a guy from his BMW and shoved his head under the front wheel of a lorry behind, the lorry driver was not amused, I bet the BMW driver will think again before he cuts me up again.
Anyway, the strange thing is this, 95% of the people I have confronted have been Eastern Europeans, now I know what your gonna say, but, sorry it's just the truth, I was quite shocked by the amount, so I did some research, Google etc then I checked YouTube for bad driving, O M F G, nearly all the videos are from Eastern Europe, WTF is wrong with these people?  I know they love their cars, so why try and destroy them every time they get in them.
I think they should have to take driving lessons for 3 months when they get here and then have to take a test like everyone else written and practical.  So until then the lead glove and escrema/Kali sticks will have to stay in the car, for the other 5%, learn to fucking drive, morons.
Sorry eastern Europeans, your women are beautiful but, your driving is SHIT.

Exciting things are happening in the work shop, as you know I make custom one off guitars, and have had problems getting some parts that I want customised to my specification, most of these are plastic of some type, so I decided enough is enough and I have ordered a 3D printer, the 'Ender 3' should be with me in the next couple of weeks, and I am very excited, however, my enthusiasm was dampened a little when I realised  that I need to learn a couple of software programs, bugger, I have a memory problem and I am waiting for a diagnosis as to whats going on, but I struggle learning new things, so having ordered my Ender 3 I did some research and found the best software to use was Tinkercad, Fusion 360 and Cura for slicing, if you don't know what I am talking about, join the club because I not sure myself.
I have watched numerous YouTube videos on all three bits of software, Tinkercad is for kids, so I thought how hard can it be, well its great, makes 3D design simple, I have designed a couple of bits for my guitars, but the problem is the next day I can't remember how I did it, so every day I have to relearn it all again and thats a bitch.
Fusion 360 is a proper 3D piece of software as far as I can see but, I don't think I will ever get to use it as my brain keeps saying 'Fuck this I am switching off' but I will keep going, and Cura is just a case of setting up an imported file for printing, I can write down the settings in a book so I don't forget them, but I am determined to have a go and try to print my custom scratch plates and knobs. Watch this space.

You would think that after 3 months away from this blog that I would have loads to write about, but the truth is work 'College Stuff' has taken up most of my time, so boring really as no one has upset me for a while. I think they have got the message? However I am now on holiday for 5 weeks, so loads can happen, you never know.

​Until next time.............................

OK, I hope you all had a great easter, mine was spent doing some research on YouTube and of course making guitars.
To kick this post off I want to talk about copyright, and the greed of huge and major music companies. I have been playing with the idea of creating a YouTube channel for my guitar making, showing me making a guitar, setup etc.  Also playing a finished guitar to show how it sounds.
So I was looking through the millions of videos, not all of them to get an idea of what people are interested in when I came across hundreds of videos with YouTubers moaning about Universal Music Group (UMG), Warner Music and Sony in particular, and the problem is this, these companies have been seeking out monetised sites that use music (played on an instrument or background, opening and closing sequences and people giving demos and teaching how to play guitar and other instruments) and saying that they are in breach of copyright and are claiming the money made from that site or getting the videos pulled by YouTube.

It would appear that even if you hum a song for just 5 seconds these companies are jumping on the videos and claiming the rights to it, as an example 1 guy was teaching how to play a D#dim7, Warner Music claimed they own the Chord so they claimed the money from this site???????

What's happening here is plain and simple "GREED", I know the music companies are losing money hand over fist because musicians are making there own records at home on their computers and selling them on line, cutting out the music companies and record shops, great, it means all the money goes to the artist which is how it should be.  But, in desperation UMG, Warner Music and Sony retrying to recover lost revenue by stealing yes "STEALING" money from YouTubers using copyright as a tool, now you can dispute these claims, but heres the rub, the company that has claimed your video and money are the ones that make the decision as to wether your dispute is valid????????? WTF, that makes no sense what so ever.
YouTube need to get their act together and help their community of YouTubers, or they may lose them, just for the record, there are other platforms for people to upload and air there videos and make money.

Copyright law is complex, but, I would suggest that these YouTubers get together pool their money and get a really good copyright lawyer to dispute the claims and get their money back by taking these greedy bastards to court.  Copyright law is different in most countries so it can be difficult to get together and fight these Greedy Fuckers, however, there is a fair use law when you load videos onto YouTube, so maybe this is where you start.

So, will I be uploading videos to YouTube, I really don't know yet, because whats next, Gibson saying that you can't make a guitar that looks like a Les Paul? Copyrighting the shape? The same with Fender and their Starts??  It's really annoying, go check out the videos and see what I am talking about.
_____________________________________________________________________

Apple.
I have used Apple computers for years in my work, going back as far as the brown Macintosh, so I do like a Mac for most of my Graphic and Photography work, I have a large iMac at home, also an iPad and of course my iPhone, so yes I like apple products, but, I have always steered clear of their laptops, the reason, because they are so expensive for what you get.

I have a couple of Laptops, the newest one (2 years old) has started displaying problems like the screen breaking up and losing it boot sector and thats on an SSD, so I need reliability so the hunt was on for a new laptop.

​So, logically I should pay the extra cash and get a MacBook Air, and I did, then I started seeing interesting videos on Apple products that have issues and Apple saying that due to a "Water Ingress" problem the warrantee is null void, in other words, you got it wet so it's not our fault so you have to buy a new one or pay silly money to get it fixed. WTF?????

Water Ingress, how do they know, well all apple products have these little sensors that detect water inside the apple products, OK, I see where they are coming from, it's easy to drop your iPhone down the toilet, or in the bath or in a lake, pond or the sea, that means your warranty is useless?
Now, I watch a video where a guy has an issue with his MacBook screen being almost black, so he can't see anything, so a trip to the Genius Bar at the Apple shop to get it sorted, The "Genius" takes it out the back and returns a while latter and says, unfortunately there is nothing that can be done as it has had Water Ingress (WI)?  The guy says No, can't be, it sits on my desk, never has water, tea or coffee anywhere near it, the Genius says, well the detectors inside say otherwise, so to repair it will cost about the same as buying a new laptop.

Now, hang on a second, they can repair it, not under warranty because it has WI, clearly that is not the case, so the guy politely says thanks but no thanks and leaves the store, he walks 5 stores down and goes into a computer repair company, the guy there listens to the story laughs and tell the guy to take a seat, repair guy takes the base off the laptop, shows the owner the indicators which are now red, meaning the it has got wet somewhere, but no, repair guy says, on a humid day the indicators will go red, as it sees the humidity as water, he pushes a cable at the back of the laptop and hey presto, it lights up great and the problem is fixed, the owner is shocked and up set because he was almost ripped off by the Genius at Apple.
The best bit is, repair guy says, no charge, I have people in here all the time with this problem, Apple just don't care and hope you will just buy a new one.

So after this video I do more research, Fuck Me Sideways, this is a common problem now with Apple, they Geniuses are told if the little red dots appear, scrap it and sell a new one, how do I know, because I know an ex-student who works in my local Apple Genius Bar and told me about the train they have and how they are told to repair as little as possible and Sell Sell SELL.

So why did I buy an MacBook well, I like them, most of my work is created on a mac, so it makes sense, am I worried about the red dots, no don't give a toss as I know a man that can fix it for me, outing Apple in this way is the only way to try and stop this ugly process, I hope you all share this advice to friends etc.

That's enough moaning forgone day, need to go lie down for a bit.

​Later's.

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since my last post, however, I have been busy and unwell so a combination of things have meant that I have not written anything for a while.

The guitar making had to stop for a while as I fractured my fingers on my left hand by catching my glove in a bobbin sander, OUCH, so have them taped up for the next  8 weeks, not a happy bunny, but I have still been doing some things that don’t require a left hand.

I have also be unwell in that my health seems to be deteriorating, I am suffering from fatigue, and a lack of enthusiasm for anything at the moment, even writing this blog which I really enjoy, normally, also my eyesight is deteriorating as well,  this is due to my diabetes, which is really bad to say the least.

Anyway, my job as a lecturer is still shit, now have an issue with my boss, she is bullying me so I am keeping a record of everything she does that involves me, I hate it, but it has to be done.  If she was a man I would have beating the shit out of her by now, but, I can’t so that makes me angry as well.  I have decided I need a win on the national lottery so I can just fly off to somewhere else and never come back to this shitty college.

So many celebrities I grew up with seem to be dying at an alarming rate, then I think I am now at the stage where I could pop my clogs at any time too, age creeps up on you, seems that not long ago that I was chasing women, playing sports, chasing woman, going down the pub with my mates and just doing so many things, I used to watch Jimmy Greaves at White Hart Lane, go to live concerts etc, but now I just seem to have lost the enthusiasm I had for all that stuff, accept for chasing women, LOL.

Anyway, I will wait and see what’s happening in parliament today and probably have something to say about that, in the word of a famous actor, “I’ll be back”.

Last night was a historic day for British politics, The prime minister lost her vote on the deal she has been working on with the EU, which means at the moment we are heading for a no deal situation.
Is a no deal a problem, depends who you are, several car manufacturers supported the PMs deal saying it would allow them to continue as they are now, trading with the EU so manufacturers would be happy, however, that's now not going to happen, as I type we are still going to leave with a no deal, what next, no one really knows, but I don't think it would be the end of the world, we would struggle for a year or two, but at the end we would be climbing the ladder to be being a successful and power country once again.  

I have always said that we are an island and we have always led the way, we saved most of he world from speaking German, the fact that are trying to rule the world again through the backdoor of the EU I find very distasteful.  We will survive, we are a race of fighters and survivors, Great Britain will be great again, once we get rid of Scotland who just happen to be led by a septic dwarf hell bent on independence, great, let them have it on one condition, once they have gone they can't come crawling back when the get fucked by the rest of the world, especially the EU who really want nothing to do with them.

So, whats next, tonight is the is the Little Red Turd's vote of no confidence in the Government, I think the PM will survive this and TLRT will then have to step down as leader of the wining reds, about time too, he's fucking useless as an MP and a leader of a party.  Then where do we go, I hear on the radio this morning that MPs want to have a say in what we put into the Exit Agreement, are all those who voted NO last night completely deaf and stupid or just plain ignorant of the facts, the EU has already said on several occasions and said it again after the vote that they are not budging, and will make no more concessions, if they think that the EU will panic at the last moment they are living in cloud Cuckoo, it ain't gonna happen.

As you can see from this post I have very strong views on Brexit, what ever happens eventually I think we need to get out or we will waste money and continue to have to live by their rules, no thanks, make Britain great again, fight for your rights and your country, done let the reds lead us into a pit again where we have to spend another 10 years climbing out and recovering from thier very bad leadership and management.

​Time for tea.