Alan Wearring-Smith

Just wanted to share some news… some of you may have noticed a bit of re-purposing of my X account in the past few weeks. I had tried to launch my novel by serialising it each week on Substack, but it all became a bit too overwhelming, and I wasn’t enjoying the experience. So I’ve put that aside for now and will write for a bit of fun 🤩. Here’s my new introduction: open.substack.com/pub/alanwearri… The first proper post to follow later this week… called my manifesto! Don’t worry, it’s tongue in cheek (British humour)!!!

No one knows who’s in charge, but vibes are high, and the water looks clear blue. Nature is healing.

When people ask me what I do for a living — on holiday at the beach bar, drink in hand, making small talk — I tell them I sell beds. This is where it usually goes wrong: they grab me by the shoulders, their eyes glowing. One says, "My mattress has a dip; it’s worse on one side," while the next claims, "Memory foam is a scam; pocket springs are best." NO. NO. NO. I don’t want to discuss your comfort issues… that’s for work, er, I’m holidaying! To read more about BEDTOPIA, please subscribe for FREE on Substack at: open.substack.com/pub/alanwearri…

Just finished The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary Quirky. Lighthearted. Abundance of romance and crochet! Important themes: respect, gas lighting and criminal justice. Was it my cup of tea? No. Did I feel happier with the world? Yes My book rating: I’ll let you know when I’ve escaped the scarf!!!

Sense of achievement today… Swing seat painted (shed done too) and neighbour’s laurel trimmed back ✅ Next… the BIG one, the fence paint 🥲😩🥲 Oh, I forgot to mention jet-washed paving last week 😆😜😆 Garden maintenance rules!!!

You can tell a lot about a person from their mug collection. Mine contains various slogans: “INCREDIBLE DAD”… paternal greatness, [insert tick] “DAD, YOU’RE TOP DOG”… not sure how I became the father of a dog, but anyway, here we go! … And a big Disney Robin Hood mug… Oo-de-lally, Or-de-lally, golly, what a day! Happily, none of the sublimation ink contains the word: “Nerd”, more so “Nerditis”, the condition of the most extreme nerdiness imaginable. To read more, please subscribe for FREE on Substack at: open.substack.com/pub/alanwearri…

@JohnRentoul @tompeck I can’t even do that on a bike!

@tompeck That’s 13mph. Absolutely no way

26 miles through central London in under two hours? No way. Not possible.

Here's the first of my comic-iky style musings, now available for FREE on Substack. If I were to run for Prime Minister, my manifesto would be refreshingly brief… “Hooray!” hopefully you’d say. One. Ban Christmas-related ads before December. And two: Abolish clock-changing. That’s it. No small print. No focus groups. alanwearrings.substack.com/p/my-manifesto… Of the Sixties, in the Sixties. Gen-X Muser, offering Musings!

@FuzzKitto boasts one of the most impressive beards I’ve ever witnessed. He is the National Co-Director of Be Slavery Free, an Australian coalition dedicated to eradicating modern slavery and human trafficking. What he and his cohorts discovered changed everything: there are more people enslaved today than during the 400 years of the transatlantic slave trade.  Hundreds of thousands of fellow seekers of a heavenly kingdom have felt his influence, including myself. I had the pleasure of lunching with him and a friend at St Pancras Station during one of his trips to the UK, where we discussed modern slavery, funding for charitable works, debt levels, and the concept of a new economy. In my diary, I noted that Fuzz is a firm proponent of a ‘give and receive’ economy rather than our traditional ‘buy and sell’ model. His charity’s approach has also evolved from ‘name and shame’ to ‘name and fame,’ as they focus on partnering with businesses to create solutions and celebrate progress. Their motto is “Let’s end modern slavery together.” Fuzz is a generous storyteller whose mind-boggling ideas impacted THOSE FINE MARGINS, my novel on Substack: alanwearrings.substack.com I look forward to the possibility of crossing paths with Fuzz again.

You’re welcome. @stepchange helped me prepare my bankruptcy petition a decade ago, and I’m indebted to you for the assistance at the time. The entire bankruptcy experience led me to write a novel around the idea of who is truly the most bankrupt-the chef in a financial cesspool or the investment banker who refuses to stand up to greed? I’m serialising it on Substack at: alanwearrings.substack.com. The first chapters are there already!

@AlanWearringS Thank you for signposting us Alan! Debt is way more common than people realise and with so much stigma attached, people avoid reaching out for help for too long.

Reminds me of Bruce Cockburn’s song, “Call It Democracy” (from the album World of Wonders, produced by True North Records, 1986). Perhaps the only song ever written about "insupportable debt".

@policecommander No. They should face automatic relegation to allow non-cheating teams to thrive without them.

Premier League football clubs found to have cheated should, as a minimum, be stripped of all titles won during any period affected by their dishonest conduct.

There's no better time for distraction than a good book. Here are my latest reads: Shuggie Bain 3/5 Shy Creatures 3/5 Station Eleven 3/5 Bear Grylls: Never Give Up 5/5 #booksiveread #booklover #goodbooks #iamreading #iamwriting

@policecommander It depends on the wisdom of the office bearer. Take Trump and Biden for example. Both over 70. One with one without?

Men over the age of 70 should be banned from holding high office. The future is not theirs to determine. The past is theirs to reckon with.

@TerryVirgo Happy birthday! Have an epic celebration 🎉

Wendy & I “in the pink” in Cape Town. 86 today! How good is the God we adore!

Today, February 11th, was my grandmother's birthday, and - as she told it - signifies the start of a beautiful coincidence: teatime creeping into daylight, a poignant reminder of the brighter days ahead.

@ShabanaMahmood @paulmasonnews @UKLabour All I can say is that I’m glad I’m not the grumpy old man at 17 Norfolk Avenue 🤪

Pleasure to be up in Gorton and Denton on the weekend supporting Labour’s candidate Angelika Stogia. For unity not division. Only @UKLabour can beat Reform.

Forget the quagmire of recent royal and political scandals, my latest book ratings are in: One Day 4/5 Piranesi 3/5 Queenie 4/5 Rebecca 5/5 #booksiveread #booklover #goodbooks #iamreading #iamwriting

@BeauchampPC Let's be real, proof reading the era before printing the signage would save us from fashion disasters!

@AlanWearringS Looks very similar now, although businesses not station buildings now.

@BeauchampPC Are you convinced that this photo was of Kibworth station late 20th Century? Seems to me that travel in the 1980s and 1990s became a whole lot more sedate!