Monday February 02, 2009

Boris Johnson's take on yesterdays weather...

He said "it is the right sort of snow, but too much of it!"

Plenty of other quotes from him are here including the classic "My chances of being PM are about as good as the chances of finding Elvis on Mars, or my being reincarnated as an olive."

Thursday January 29, 2009

The Deer problem

Twenty people die every year; these animals has doubled their population over the last ten years, woodlands are being stripped of the natural scrub other creatures need and two hundred accidents every day are attributed to these animals. The culprit? Deer. It seems we are going to have to accept a larger culling of these graceful animals to keep their numbers down, other things have been done to try and reduce accidents between vehicles and deer like rumble strips. But as usual it is another example of nature getting in the way of our lifestyle. Over the years I have "met" deer on three occasions in all cases they were standing in the road watching the cars go by. It was almost comical.

Thursday January 22, 2009

Solving the Italian Job's dilemma

The Royal Society of Chemistry setup a competition to solve the dilemma of the gang in the Italian job ( the original that is ) to get them all out of the bus as it hangs over the cliff and of course recover the gold. The solution is described here .

A better thing to have done would have been to pick a better vehicle to move the gold and to drive more carefully on that twisty mountain road.... but of course that would have made the ending of the film not so interesting.

Friday April 18, 2008

A letter from B.A.

Lets hope they do something with the feedback they get..

Dear Mr Humphreys,

As part of our ongoing work to improve our customer service and understand our customers' needs, we would be grateful if you could take part in our Internet survey. This survey will help us to measure customer satisfaction with British Airways' performance in resolving complaints made to the Customer Relations department.

This survey should only take 10 to 15 minutes to complete. The information you provide will not be associated with your personal name unless you give us your express permission at the end of the survey.

British Airways Customer Relations has asked Harris Interactive to conduct this online survey. All issues of confidentiality and survey content can be addressed by contacting Harris Interactive directly at the SurveyHelp desk, the link to which is shown at the bottom of this email. In addition....

Your opinions are very important to us and we very much look forward to receiving your feedback.

To participate, please proceed to:

Thursday April 17, 2008

Litter bug..

Bill Bryson has launched his own campaign against litter in the UK - a country has made his own. It has been said that he looks a bit like a Womble which is very apt if you remember who they were..Meanwhile in London a pilot scheme to fine drivers who drop litter from their cars is being launched. If it works it will be rolled throughout the UK. The good news evidence can come from a variety of sources like mobile phone cameras etc.

Tuesday April 15, 2008

Titanic - the BBC opens its archives

The BBC has given us all access to the archive material it has on the Titanic disaster. The site also features the spoken word of Commander CH Lightoller the most senior surviving officer of the sinking of the ship. Listening to his voice is quite spooky - he seems so calm about it. The BBC also describes how in 1947 a play to commemorate the sinking was almost not aired as several organisations tried to stop it going on the radio. It seems the great ship has not revealed all its secrets - yet.

Monday April 14, 2008

Bowling going, going gone?

Like the village green and duck pond the village bowling green is very part part of what you expect to find in the UK. Sadly though people are now becoming reluctant to join bowling clubs and without the support of full time members these clubs are at risk. I think this is very much what this country is becoming - we are starting to go home shut the door and stay there instead of going out and meeting people and interacting with them. Henry VIII actually put in place a law where the game was forbidden to be played except at Christmas - that law only repealed in 1845! It seems Henry wanted the population to spend more time doing archery much more useful in his opinion. As usual the Wikipedia site has an excellent item on bowls.

Public Enemy Number One..

It seems in Northumberland conservationists have decided if they are to save the Red Squirrel in their county they have to exterminate large numbers of the North American "imported" grey. The Grey Squirrel is larger than its native cousin which means it can cause the red to leave the area as the greys move in. Also the grey carries a bug that it seems immune too but which is usually fatal to the red if it catches the bug. The canny Northumberland residents don't waste what they cull; the meat of the grey squirrel is fast becoming a popular new game dish.

Thursday April 10, 2008

Insider trading..

The numbers relating to drug abuse in our prisons are quite staggering .

Big Ben is 150 years old today.

Big Ben the bell inside the famous clock tower in London is 150 years old today . It was cast in the Whitechapel Bell foundry one of only two foundries left in the UK today. In fact the bell is the second cast for the tower - the first was found to be defective when shipped from a foundry in the north and was rejected. Whitechapel still have their sales ledger for the period that shows a rebate was given on the sale as the original metal was reused from the first casting. It does not explain why the other bell foundary were not given the chance to make bell number two.

Wednesday April 09, 2008

The Simpsons replaced by Babewatch...

I am not a fan of the Simpsons but this story amused me as in Venezuela it has been dropped to be replaced by BayWatch as the former was deemed unsuitable for children...

Planning permission...

In an attempt to stem the tide of people paving over their front gardens to provide car parking planning permission will be needed soon if you want to do this. The reason for doing this is once paved over or a when a hard surface replaces a garden or grass, more water runs off this surface making flooding more likely in times of heavy rain. I just wonder how the authorities will decide if permission is granted? Will it be related to the number of paved over gardens on the road already?

Tuesday April 08, 2008

Birdsong - on the radio

In typical British manner the oddest radio channel has to be this . It is a continous stream of birdsong sung by UK birds. Half a million people listen to it every day. But with no adverts it is not likely to stay online for long. Who says British eccentricity is dead?

Hedgehog I.C.B.M

This is a horrible story and I can only assume the launcher of the weapon wore gloves. Apart from the fact the hedgehog was reported found dead no one seems very worried about it's demise after being used as an I.C.B.M.

A cheque for ten million quid..

Will do very nicely to pay the bill for this fiasco Al Fayed. Modesty forbids me from going into any further details but I am sure you will understand that the British taxpayer does not feel able to foot the bill.