Monday March 31, 2008

Penguins that fly!

It is true - there are some penguins that really fly.

Two birthdays

Josie Russell who survived an attack that saw her mother and sister killed has turned 21 . She and her father have kept away from the media since the horrific events many years ago but tonight she is on a program that has her going back to those events; meeting the people who cared for her and brought the killer to justice. Happy birthday to her. The program is Josie's Journey: One Life, Tuesday, April 1, BBC One, 22.35.

Also today the R.A.F. is 90 today. Happy birthday to it and the people who service in it today, those who have served in it and of course those who have died in action while serving this country.

The first day of BST

After a set of miserable weekends in terms of weather and my own health which kept us indoors Sunday was a lovely spring day. We did a circular walk starting at the pretty village of Hurley. We followed a path parallel but away from the river in the direction of Temple lock. At Temple we crossed the large footbridge built in the 1980's to replace the ferry which had ceased to cross the river there years ago. After Temple lock we again walked away from the river and turned right again running parallel with it. Here we met some the Marlow Striders who were doing our circuit for the second time today - after the first circuit they had cycled to Hambledon. At least the weather was kind for this activity even if the paths very muddy. We then arrived at Marlow.

We had a forgettable lunch in a pub; the tearooms called Burgers are excellent but are closed on Sundays. The town has had many famous resident writers - Mary Shelley - she finished Frankenstein while living there, a Thomas Love Peacock, also a little known but prolific writer in the middle of the 19th century called G.P.R James and T.S. Elliot who moved here to be away from London in the war. I think all of them lived in various houses in Marlow but all of them on West Street.

Our path back to Hurley followed the river and at Temple we had a hot drink and cake at the lock where the lock keeper's wife runs a tea room. Even if you are not keen walkers starting at either Hurley or Marlow is a nice stroll even if you only get as far as Temple - where you know you can have a coffee stop.

Friday March 28, 2008

Caught Corpsing..

I heard this on the radio today.The background to the story is here . Here are five other famous corpsing moments

T5

A Terminal disgrace the newspapers are calling it . From personal experience I can confirm BA are not very forthcoming in offering recompense for even expenses due to delays/problems on their flights. It seems even more of a disgrace that local hotels have upped their prices by 100% to cash in on other peoples misery. The only thing you can say is that although it is a national embarrassment other new terminals/airports have suffered similar fates in their opening days.

The forgotten war - Congo

Channel Four News had a terrible story about the The forgotten war - which is happening in Congo. It seems 45,000 people are dying every month from this - four groups all blasting civilians to kingdom come and using rape especially gang rape as the weapon of choice. There have been cease fires but they don't hold. People are living in the forests having been forced to leave their villages to protect themselves. What is the world doing about it ? Nothing that I can see. The reason for this inactivity is there is nothing there the world wants. A disgrace. Well done to the news program - the best on UK TV bringing it to our attention.

Thursday March 27, 2008

The Apprentice returns..

The Apprentice has returned to our screens. To the nations delight the lawyer was the first to get fired. How he thought he would make money selling lobsters at five pounds and make a profit I will never know...

Flying pheasants and a Wheat shortage...

For once a old tradition is not in danger because of skills shortages. Last years wheat crop has had a knock on effect on thatching in the UK. It is perhaps being made worse by the fact that these old houses when renovated have to be repaired using identical materials to the originals. Using reed as an alternative is not acceptable it seems. Everyone is hoping this years crop is better..

President Sarkozy's wife was compared to Camilla in the papers today. One paper said Camilla's hat resembled a pheasant having crash landed on her head and of course the papers dug up pictures of the presidents wife as a model with just her birthday suit on. Windsor castle must have been a bundle of laughs last night at the dinner table..

Wednesday March 26, 2008

The plastic tide...

Last night the BBC ten oclock news had an article on the pollution of our oceans by plastic items. This was the first of a series about this problem and how certain countries are acting to solve this. A diary from Midway describes the daily articles. It seems birds are feeding their chicks on lumps of the stuff and the chicks then die. Other marine life suffers when they get tangled up in it too. If the world struggles to come up with agreements on Co2 emissions what chance of agreements on this pollutant? One thing about plastic that I had not appreciated was the beads that are the raw ingredient for plastic items often find their way into our seas too. One good thing that has emerged on this topic was that Wyevale a garden centre company in the UK is going to start accepting plastic pots to be recycled. Did you also know that decomposing peat also adds its own burden to greenhouse gas emissions? Bad enough that areas of the countryside are be destroyed by peats removal. We have a lot too do...

Tuesday March 25, 2008

One in five

Car accidents are related to drivers driving when they are tired. There is a new campaign to raise peoples awareness to this. More information can be found here. During a two hour driving spell you are meant to have at least one fifteen minute break. Those people who drive for work - like sales reps etc are more at risk. I have also known people drive long distances after a long haul flight - which is total madness.

Monday March 24, 2008

Delia for Dummies

Throw away all your fancy cookery books. This is the only one you will need now. Delia is the first TV chef to admit that despite the fact the nation spends money on cookery books and time watching shows with TV chefs making fancy food - most of us pull something out the freezer...

Thursday March 20, 2008

Formula 1'a back!

After ten years of passable coverage of Grand Prix Racing on ITV F1 is heading back to the BBC. For me the two spoilers to the coverage have been:

James Allen - possibly the worlds worse TV motorsport presenter - if you want to sign the petition to get him off our screens before 2009 sign here

The adverts.

Thank you Bernie - I hope your decision was based upon the coverage and not the money you are getting from this deal....

Friday March 14, 2008

Children in the News

It seems the TV companies are now trying harder to get children interested in news. The BBC has been running a program getting children to make news items to get experience of the industry. It is called School Report . For many years they have also had a news show for children which I always thought was well presented. It used to be called NewsRound but is now known as CCCB News . Channel Four are now jumping on the bandwagon mindful perhaps that their 7pm news show is preceeded by their children's soap HollyOaks. Once we got a TV at home as a child we used to watch the news as a family something I suspect families do not do anymore. Anything to encourage interest in the what is happening in the world has to be applauded.

Thursday March 13, 2008

How was it for you Darling?

Wednesday March 12, 2008

Computus - the way we decide when Easter is..

This morning the BBC Breakfast team was explaining that because Easter is so early schools are choosing to have their holidays over a one month period. This means if you are lucky, your children's school holiday won't fall in the two week price hike that travel companies setup to make the most from holidaying families. I am afraid this early Easter won't happen for another one hundred plus years. How is the Easter date decided ? Well it is all down to Computus

The second item that caught my attention was about deaf couples and IVF treatment. It seems there are calls from some of them to be able to choose if the embryo has the potential to develop into a child that is deaf or otherwise. There is an article on the subject here .

( Mar 12 2008, 12:48:37 AM PDT ) Permalink