Jokes and warnings, and a lot else

Latest update is 01 January 2009 on buying a Dyson Vacuum cleaner.

If anyone wishes to copy anything that they find here, there are more than welcome.  There is no copyright, or anything like that, so if you want to print off a particular joke, go ahead and be my guest.

This site is constantly being amended and emended (if you know the difference)

This is Colin D Campbell's personal website and it's main purpose is to entertain myself.  I may also be able to help a fellow human being from falling into a scam et cetera     

As I seem to get about ten hits a day, I wonder whether one of those looking at me happens to live in India.  I was there from 1945 to 1948 with the British army.  I have never been back and have a lot of questions that I would like answered.  If you fit my hopes, give me a call on CDCNottm@AOL.com

On this update I am going to rearrange the "recommended" and "not recommended" parts of the website.  If anyone has taken a note of the page of a subject, I  recommend that they go to IDX and look for the subject as the page number may well be different to what it was

My full name is Colin Douglas Campbell.  My father was a Colin Campbell, and as tradition dictates, I too had to be a 'Colin' as I was the eldest son.  I got the middle name of "Douglas just to differentiate me from the Old Man.  I'm glad that I was not too closely associated with my father as he was a lout.  The Good Book says that one should "Honour thy Father and thy Mother", but I don't believe all that I read.  My mother was an excellent parent, but you can see why I despise the Old Man if you look at page ABB.  Incidentally, my initials concur with the Center for Disease Control. (Yes, I've spelled the word the American way because one should honour the spelling of a proper noun.  The Yanks do that when they refer to our Labour Party); I did think about putting those initials at the beginning of this page to attract more hits via a search engine.  The initials are (or were) used by the "Core Data Corporation", another Yankee outfit.  When I was nipper, I had so much illness that I was dubbed "Seedy C"

What are you interested in?.  If it's soccer or the pop scene, you're wasting your time here.  I am, what used to be known as, 'a square'.  I suppose it's partly because of my age (I've turned 83), and partly my background.  I worked as an electrician in the 1950s and then after a spell with London Transport as an electrical fitter working on trolleybus substation maintenance, I went into electronics with Decca Radar.  Decca subsequently sold that part of the business to Plessey and I spent 20 years with Plessey Radar (later Plessey Displays). It was here that I got the opportunity to see a bit of the world.  You will see, for example, that I am a bit of a Francophile.  I also have a soft spot for the Arabs (a grossly maligned race who are their own worst enemy).  Just click on IDX at the bottom of this page and then have a look at what I have to offer.

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If you find an error or inconsistency anywhere in my writings, please let me know by email to CDCNottm@AOL.com . To the best of my knowledge, all the links work correctly, but there may be something that I have not spotted.  Please call if you find such an error.

I have just discovered another website a bit similar to this one.  However, mine here is rather nineteenth century in it appearance whereas this other one is very much twenty-first century in its look,  I'm not keen on flashy presentation, but http://www.zyra.org.uk is a lot more noticeable than this one.

I always use my middle initial as I have on one occasion been confused with the Vice Chancellor of Nottingham University, although there really is no grounds for confusing the two of us as the V,C. has a 'Sir' and a 'Professor' before his name whereas I am a member of the hoi polloi and am just plain 'Mister' (or "hey you, ugly-mug").  I now refer to this estate as the "Pothole Estate" because this road in particular fits that name.  I also have a letter on Council Letterheading with that name.  I reckon that a typist was told to reply to the address at the top of my letter.  Or, perhaps, that Council Officer understood what I meant.

As I said above, I'm 83 so you can work out my vintage.  When I was a boy in the 1930s, to know someone who had a university degree was like knowing royalty.  I am moderately well educated having studied telecommunications, radio and maths up to 'City & Guilds Final' level.  But knowledge moves on and I am now semi-illiterate in the field of telecoms.  I know more than the average man-in-the-street, but to coin an oxymoron, 'the average is pretty dreadful',  Just look at the tripe that (even broadsheet) newspapers print, to know how low the technical education is of the so-called educated classes.

.Just look down the page; this homepage allows a viewer to choose a topic.  The short list below shows the topics and then lets you move on to an actual essay in that topic.  Alternatively, you can click on IDX and browse through the total list of essays; then click on the link to the essay that takes your interest.  Where there is a 'T' in brackets, this denotes that the page is a 'topic' and has further links to actual essays.

I am looking for feedback from viewers.  You may vehemently disagree with something I have said, or you may like to correct a small point.  All comments are welcome.  I may amend or emend an essay (do you know the difference?)  following a comment.  I may even be willing to post your comment for all to see; but if you want anonymity, say so!  I am also willing to consider an essay of yours for publication on this site; in this instance you will be the named author.  I am sure that I don't need to repeat the usual rules of publication, do I?

AAA   (T)   Nasties and things to watch out for, as well as companies I do, and do not, recommend

AAB   (T)  Law and Order 

AAD   (T)   Cruises, Holidays, Hotels, and Travel (incl. Restaurant Reports)

AAC   (T)   Politics and comments on news events

AAE    (T)    Nottingham City Council

AAG    (T)    My mother's stories and other family yarns

AAH    (T)    Press reports that took my interest, including New Scientist

AAI    (T)     DIY tips

AAK    (T)    Electrical stories, and other scientific subjects

AAM    (T)    The environment and Transport

AAN    (T)     Unclassified stories that I cannot fit into any other category

AAO    (T)    Religion and Philosophy

ACF     (T)   Words and Language

AEE    (T)    A good read

AGE    (T)    Memories worth recording

AGX      (T)      Medical matters

AJE                 Wheelie bin problems

AJF      (T)      British politics

AJG                US and British Language

J000     (T)      Email funnies

IDX    (T)`    A full index of this website