Behind every man....

Behind every man, so goes the saying, is a strong woman, or indeed in some parts of this wonderful world, behind every woman is a strong woman.

Never a truer word spoken. I can only speak from experience but my Martha is my rock, on so many levels, but not what I want to write about here. (She already knows, I tell her enough!)

As a man I get really pissed off when I hear of women getting less pay than men because they are woman, if it wasn’t for the women of this world then I would doubt the men would even be in a position to indeed get that high wage, but we seem hell bent on separating men from women when it comes to the pay cheque, utter madness!

Look at any high flying successful business man and I pretty much guarantee you behind that person sitting under the title of "PA" is a woman, or if not, a very capable gay man (Who is indeed very in touch with his female side) Who truly understands the need of another man. Yet some of these successful business men still insist on paying females less, indeed the person who sets up the meetings, schedules the rooms and sends the letters e-mails and party invites to announce such archaic sentiments is indeed a woman, oh the irony!

I mentioned gay men in my last paragraph because (and I have met a lot) in my business they seem to be as level headed, creative, nurturing and forward thinking as a lot of women I know!

Let’s not get carried away here and say men left to their own devices are hopeless – No lets! It is my experience a grown man left to cope by himself can excel for a short while, but it is not long before the world comes crashing down around them, no matter how insignificant some men think women are I truly believe they would not survive without the amazing humans they call women.

If you need any further proof of how vital, important and strong women are then look no further than history, Women have faced so much sexism and segregation I could write a list as long as this computers battery would allow me, yet still some men seem to think they are not worthy of the same pay and rewards that so many men receive. You only have to look at my (And yours) amazing Queen to find the essence of a strong woman.

I have noticed that there is a huge possibility Hillary Clinton may run for the next presidency of The United States of America, never has a woman been so right to lead the great United States. She watched her husband and learnt, she has faced much in her life and still she remained loyal, strong and inspiring, she is level headed, a leader not a follower and a maker of new rules, new horizons and new targets, she is a woman of change and a woman of much humility, pretty much like Obama, yet she went through a task no other president of the united states could even imagine, child birth! That alone gives her a head start on any other leader ever given the title of The President Of The United States Of America for it is something no man could ever endure, unless of course he was surrounded by women!

Before every man starts kicking off – just stop for a minute and think!  I bet you wouldn’t be where you are today without the woman you are thinking about now!

Pay them less? Hell no, pay them more, and where did my inspiration come for this blog, a woman! Go figure!

Mind The Gap!

So somebody emptied a whole lot of quick drying cement in the wrong place on the London underground thus causing the whole of the Victoria line to be shut. There are mistakes and then there are mistakes, this one is a huge mistake on many levels, under any normal circumstances dropping a load of quick drying cement in the wrong hole wouldn’t be the end of the world but in this case it caused the closure of a whole line of the underground network in one of the busiest cities in the world. Oops!

I can only presume the person responsible for this has been fired, it would be the natural reaction from any boss who has no doubt had to take some very uncomfortable phone calls and is probably trying to dig himself and his company out of a far faster drying cement than the stuff laid over the signal boxes of the Victoria line!

I would like to ask (If this is a genuine mistake) that this person responsible for saying the immortal words “Drop it here” not be sacked, the mistake has happened and sacking him or her doesn’t change anything, the cement is still quick drying, the line is still closed and the problem still exists, sacking him or her doesn’t change a thing and more importantly solve anything other than make someone feel important and more powerful!

We are all too quick in life to apportion blame, I can imagine meetings, focus groups, disciplinary boards and timetables being discussed at great length in a darkened meeting room with suits and high vis wearing people trying to blame one another, procedures will be changed, more red tape implemented and chains of commands formed, it will be a management hoo har and I am awaiting our wonderful major to pop up dressed in a white that that doesn’t fit and a high vis jacket that is two sizes too small telling us everything is going to be ok, but what about the poor person who made the wrong call at the wrong time that caused us all to be a little inconvenienced!

Let’s for once do what this great country thrives on and what has become the backbone and spirit of this fine nation and capital city, lets laugh at the mistake, have a bit of banter, all grab a sledge hammer, break up the cement, fix the signals, get the tube up and running and take the piss out of the bloke for the next few months, it’s what we do best and what will always keep us so vibrant and alive.

Admittedly some journeys home will be a nightmare, but let’s all just picture the poor persons face when realising the mistake that was quick drying in front of their very eyes!  I only hope we can then all afford ourselves a little smile and make new plans and take new adventures on our way home, you never know something exciting may happen as a result! New roads, new paths, new experiences, new life emotions!

Pick up the paper as you wait for the longer journey home and read the headlines from Syria, a bit of concrete is nothing in comparison to what is going on in the world, really it isn’t!

We have all done and made stupid mistakes in our lives, but let’s, on this occasion, have a chuckle, promise never to do it again and get to fixing the problem rather than banging on for weeks, months and years about how it happened, it happened, move on, move up and on this occasion, don’t worry about “Minding The Gap” It’s gone and filled with a lovely grey coloured concrete!

Thanks for reading.

Roycey

Frank Friday.

It is a very sad day today as I finally put my pink suitcase into retirement, after travelling the length and breadth of the country with me on BGT and The X Factor over the past years it has reached the end of the road! It has been replaced with a mighty fine thing with more pockets than a snooker table and straps and compartments, a little confusing and not as basic or simple as my little pink case but it was time for true change in my touring equipment and I shall now pull a rather lovely grey Swiss thing around with me, you see it’s not just penknife’s!

I stopped today and gave some of my time to someone less fortunate than myself, as a result of this some really nice things happened to me, firstly I met a lovely Scottish man called Frank, we had a chat on the way to the station and I got to talk to a complete stranger about stuff, yep, I met a stranger and I liked him. Sadly as a result of my first encounter I missed my train home to where the car is parked, this meant the slow train home and a bus, this bothered me not one bit, I have come to realise over the past year that sometimes things just happen for a reason to fight them is to try, I believe, to change destiny, so I just got on with it, because of stopping I had to use the bus I got to whistle “The Wheels On The Bus” for real, a thing I do in my warm up often, now this may seem a little odd, but while sharing it on twitter, it made me smile, laugh and feel very happy. You see if I had not had stopped and talked to someone, I would not have met Frank, I wouldn’t have got to feel so happy and laugh while sat on a bus. Now I don’t say this to make myself feel special but to just try and share that sometimes just going with the flow rather than fighting it can and in this instance did turn out to be a very enjoyable experience, something I am going to try and do more of!

This then got me thinking, wouldn’t it be amazing if you, the few that read this, did this tomorrow, let’s call it “Frank Friday” and just slow down, look around and go at the pace the universe so desired, I kind of reckon it’s like letting go of self will and just seeing what happens, I mean really, what’s the worst that could happen here?

Tomorrow I return to another series on the road of “Britain’s Got Talent” and of course to the routines such as “My name is Alan and I think I might be gay!” “Oh God I’m Good!” and of course “5,6,7,8” There will no doubt be a wedgy, a laugh and “A look” from the headmaster, but I am truly grateful to once again return to a place that has been a huge part of my life and deliver some new material and no doubt the use of some random persons mobile phone.

 

I am so privileged and grateful to once again stand in front of  Amanda, David, Alecia and of course the world wide superstar and friend Simon Cowell. To also even be on the same stage (Or just to the right!) as our countries biggest stars Ant and Dec and of course to have some banter with Stephen as he returns a far bigger (and rightly so) star than when we all departed last summer. Grateful doesn't even cover it!

Belfast you are the starter for ten, I cannot, once again, wait to be in your company for it was some 15 years ago we last met and had the best time ever, sadly without my little pink case, but to be honest, that’s probably not a bad thing!

Thank you for reading and have a “Frank Friday!"

 

Roycey.