Monday January 08, 2007

David Bowie is sixty- the Sky at night fifty..

David Bowie is sixty today. Five more years and he can claim his pension but I don't think he will be needing it..

Also celebrating - but annoyed as the anniversary program is going out at 2am is Patrick Moore who has been leading this show for fifty years. Congratulations to them both.

Friday December 29, 2006

Xmas quiz the answer...

So the answer to this week's Xmas quiz question is a pencil.

Why ? Well in Doctor Who used a pencil in a mug to explain to Catherine Tate how she ended up being Kidnapped by the Tardis. At the end of the Vicar of Dibley Xmas show where a joke is usually told, the vicar asked her friend How do accountants recover from a bad bout of constipation?. The answer is they work it out with a pencil. Her friend had been playing with a pencil on the table while this joke was being told and had put it in her mouth. The vicar told her friend that the pencil was Harry's her fiancee's who happens to be a accountant. Her friend instantly put the pencil down in disgust. It was much funnier on TV than the way I have told it here.

Meanwhile a Happy New Year to everyone!

Wednesday December 27, 2006

A one question Christmas quiz..

So here it is. What was seen in both the Christmas specials of Dr Who and Vicar of Dibley ?

Answer on Friday. BTW both shows were excellent and Catherine Tate was an fiesty partner for Dr Who. It is a pity they can't persuade her to do more shows with him.. The Vicar of Dibley has its last show on New years day.

Friday December 22, 2006

All alone

Last year I wrote about folks I thought we should be thinking about at Christmas time. This year for various reasons my attentions are on those folks who are on their own at Christmas time. We are doing our own bit this year to make sure someone we both know will have company this Christmas. It is all too easy for us as we go and visit friends relations and have a great time with them to forget what it must be like on your own at Christmas. I can imagine the day lasts an eternity and being on your own must be very depressing at this time of the year. So if you know someone on you street who you know are on their own you don't have to go crazy and invite them for Christmas dinner but maybe ask them round for a drink or something like that.

To these folks on their own and all my readers - a Happy Xmas and lets hope 2007 is a good year for Planet Earth and all its inhabitants both human and otherwise. As we are entertaining and I have sent the students home for xmas I'll be giving the weblog a break but be back online January 2nd.

Friday December 15, 2006

An expensive nights sleep

A truly amazing story is described here. Drunken man falls asleep on a railway line resting his head on one of the rails. His feet were also close the the lively third rail. He was found, recovered and now has been fined five hundred and sixty pounds and has a load of community service to do. Hei s a very lucky man. The question is what sort of community service should he be given related to what he did.... any ideas?

Second hand but not second best

I have talked many times about my opinion on recycling but here is another slant on something which I feel a lot of people get very embarrassed about. Buying second hand items. It is to Ebay's credit that some of this stigma is being eroded but there is something anonymous about buying something second hand in private, finding and bidding for it on a web page and then meeting the individual to make the purchase - or doing it by post. My parents were not poor but not well off. So my first school blazer was second hand - they could not afford a new one when I started my secondary school. My football boots were also second hand. The cycles I used right up until recently were all second hand. Most of these items were sold because the previous owner had got too big for them. We both buy second hand books usually paperbacks from various charity stores in the UK. When in Northumberland we went to this store the biggest in the UK. Second hand CD shops appear more prevalent in the US one I found in San Jose, Silicon Valley was really good as it was so large it was worth them sorting the cd's into artist order instead of just under A, B and C etc. Car boot sales are also an option I bought most of my copies of the James Bond books at one of these sales. So second hand is definitely not second best.

Wednesday December 13, 2006

The oldest profession in the world

The oldest profession in the world has suddenly got a load more dangerous as events unfold in Ipswich. I really hope whoever is doing this or someone who has information that leads to an arrest contacts the police soon as the number of females killed in this space of time is just scary beyond belief. Heavens knows what is like to live in that area just now.

Seeing thee pictures of the victims I find most disturbing. These girls are young and had their whole life ahead of them. Agreed some were taking drugs and used prostitution as a way of paying for their dangerous habit. But none deserves to die like this. At least the girls were not resorting to crime to get money as others do. I think it really is time to legalise or allow safe houses to get these girls off the streets. No one will want these places near their home but if it is done properly it should be no different than having a hotel next door to you.

In case anyone who reads this can help the Suffolk Police call them on 0800 0961011 or fill in the online web form that is here .

Tax has always been unfair...

A hotel we stayed at recently had fine examples of the previous owner trying to reduce the impact of the Window tax by blocking up some of the windows. The really odd thing for me is that after the tax was abolished people did not open up the windows again. It just shows you that Maggie Thatcher was not the first to introduce an unpopular tax...

Tuesday December 12, 2006

It works!

Upon reading up on Iris I wrote about it. After checking in to my flight to Singapore I registered. It took all of ten minutes. Upon arriving in the imigration hall of Heathrow on my return I used the system and it worked a charm. As our plane came straight in - we were not stacked there was hardly any queue in the hall so the benefit was small. At busier times it will save time I am sure. The only thing to be careful of is to keep any baggage you have behind you else the system thinks there are two people in the booth and gets confused.

Thursday December 07, 2006

1st class?

When I first travelled long haul I was lucky enough to travel in business class. I had not really flown long haul before and it was quite an experience. After working in Sun and getting this job I had to travel a lot and that meant I qualified for business class. It is really interesting how snobbish you can become without realising it. Sitting in your lounge sipping a nice cool drink with meals on order and in the Virgin lounge you could get your hair cut , a massage the works. Getting on the plane you get to go down your own red carpet tunnel and on the plane you get the big seat, better food and so on.

So it was with trepidation when I knew I had to travel cattle class for my overseas trips. A much reduced itinery perhaps one or twice a year. The Singapore trip concerned me the most - being a very long flight. The amazing thing is it was a non event. I don't enjoy being in an aluminium toothpaste tube for fourteen hours but it is fourteen hours whereever you are in the plane - time does not go faster in business class. Cattle class is a lot more civilised nowadays if you pick a decent airline like Virgin or Singapore airlines. The food is better, the seats are not too bad and often have those wings you can rest your head on to help prop your head up when you are asleep. video on demand is a feature most airlines have now and with a cdplayer or ipod you can fill the time in easily I think. While you sitting in cattle class remember you are subsidising the folks in the front of the plane. Without you it would not be a commercial option to allow first class...

Monday December 04, 2006

A breath of fresh air

At Last.

Thursday November 30, 2006

Press a button and save your family's lives?

After the fire alarm in the living room beeped a couple of times for no good reason I decided to give it the Button Test . It passed. Despite this I decided to change the battery and brought two home the other night. When I came to swap the landing one it had no battery in it. I quickly inserted a battery feeling much ashamed. So I have decided I am going to test these devices once a week. So if you want to read more about fire Safety give this it could save your life.

Friday November 24, 2006

Something he ate disagreed with him...

Postcard from Parkgate

Many years ago my parents in law moved to a village called Parkgate on the banks of the River Dee. This is one of the villages and towns that are on what is called the Wirral peninsula near the historic town of Chester and not far from the city of Liverpool. Years before they moved there the Dee came up to the front as it is called and I imagine they used to get tides like any seaside town. Old black and white postcards show this. Now the Dee has silted up and the area is all marshlands. The Dee does flood the marsh at high tides perhaps twice a year. The BBC program Coast featured a visit to Parkgate where they showed the high tide coming in and the havoc it caused to wildlife living on the marsh. Very often you will see lots of bird watchers looking through binoculars at birds that have moved in on the marsh. On the other side of the marsh and the river is the country of Wales and you can see the Welsh mountains during the day and in the evening the lights of the houses and street lamps twinkle across from there making a pretty spectacle. On the front there are many pubs and restaurants that we visited when we went to see my inlaws. The Boathouse is at one end a half decent pub, then there is the Red Lion one that we never visited much. Further along is the Ship Hotel which was a favourite and finally the Old Quay. From a restaurant point of view the Marsh Cat which is an excellent place to eat but you must book in advance. There is a Chinese place and a couple of fish and chip shops.

A lot of places in the area try and build upon the fact the Lady Hamilton lived in Parkgate and as Nelson went up the Dee she would have a candle in the window to show him where she was. The fact is she left the place aged six months. Oddly enough the most famous thing most people know about Parkgate is its famous ice cream. As usual there is more than supplier who claims to make the famous ice cream and very often even on cold days you will see people wandering along the front eating the stuff.

All in all a nice place to visit.

Thursday November 23, 2006

Henley - A rather nice jigsaw

This is an excellent jigsaw of somewhere local to me. It is of Henley the town famous for hosting the Boat race first before it moved to London and of course its Regatta . The jigsaw as shown features a look at the town from the other side of its lovely Cotswold coloured stone bridge. The famous Angel pub with its black and white walls looks great by the river and slightly in the distance the tower of the church where Dusty Springfield's funeral was held and where she is buried. The only critism of the puzzle would be the amount of blue sky in it - mitigated by the cloud that breaks up the monotonous effect. It is a pity the maker of the puzzle Ratzenberger don't sell other ones of local interest for us jigsaw puzzlers.