More mountain/snow deaths & even the police trip up

I was told a few days ago of the death of a Fijian, Fred Marafono.  He was one of the many young men recruited from their islands into the British Army in the 1960's.  A number of them finished up in the SAS and distinguished themselves as true warriors.  His Obituary was in the Telegraph a couple of days ago and is a testament to a great man.  Worth a read

Here's a pic I took of Fred in the 70's clearing unexploded munitions in the Oman. 

The results from the RSPB's "Big Garden Birdwatch" are in and make harrowing reading especially when you consider how cold its been since it took place at the end of Jan.  Here's hoping for a bumper summer so that they might have a chance to increase their numbers generally.

I mentioned not long ago that their might be "trouble ahead" when the remains of the "King in the Car Park" Richard III were eventually re-buried.  A group calling themselves the "Plantagenet Alliance" are kicking up a fuss to have him buried in York! 

With the renewed snow and cold weather around the British Isles inevitably the news is peppered with deaths/injuries on the mountains.  An off piste skier missing in Glencoe, a man falls and breaks his arm while ice climbing on the Snowden Horseshoe and another dies falling off a "Summer walking route" on Glyder Fawr in Snowdonia.  You have to take your hat off to the mountain rescue teams that put themselves in danger to rescue or recover their fellow men. 

"Incredulous" is the way a petrol station owner describes a £50000 claim against him by a woman PC.  He had called the police to investigate when the alarm went off at the petrol station.  The Woman PC tripped over a 6 inch kerb while investigating!   She then employs a firm of lawyers to persue the claim! 

Dont forget to watch the boat race at 1630 this afternoon. Brrrrrrrrrr! come on Cambridge! 

Finally - - - I'm pleased to report that the blog passed the 10,000 hits mark yesterday which is a pretty good milestone since starting it in July 2011.  Thanks everyone and - - - Read On! 

Enjoy the day

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Everyone's caught in the act! & Sainsbury the Tabby is falsely accused!

Another cracker of a headline in the Daily Express this morning "Proof Aspirin fights cancer, pill cuts risk by a quarter say experts!" No doubt by Monday someone else will find out its actually bad for us!  A little down the front page is a much better statement.  "Britain in grip of new ice age, now we face 200 years of freezing winters!"  Wonderful optimism! 

Only yesterday we were wondering when "The Boat Race" was taking place and today the BBC carry a story about the security being employed after last years debacle when Mr Trenton Oldfield decided to take a dip in the Thames to disrupt the race. 
The police however have contacted him this year asking if he "was planning any action this year" to which he replied that he would "probably have a ramble across the Cotswolds instead"  The scale of the security in the story seems incredible, i wonder who pays for it?

I spotted this little snippet while checking a yahoo e mail account its worth looking at the video to see this guy leap 1.63 metres from a standing start in a gym! 

I recounted yesterday the sorry tale and demise of an Easter Bunny at the hands of, well paws really, of "Sainsbury" our Tabby cat.  A little incident just before dawn today however shows he was "falsely accused!"

It was around 0425 this morning when i heard a cat yowling and realised it was coming from downstairs.  Thinking the "interloper", stray cat might be in the house i crept down the stairs and looked towards the kitchen with the noise still going on.  Still too dark to see anything i switched on a light fully expecting to hear the cat flap noise as the "interloper" would be making his escape. 

As I walked towards the kitchen i spotted Tom the old black mog and it was he who was making the noise.  All lights on now i wondered what was going on as he is normally silent unless in the midst of a fighting situation.  He then came towards me and I spotted something in his mouth. 

So here we are at 0430 this morning, Tom caught red handed with a tiny rabbit (dead) in his jaws!  After I got it off him and looked around i discovered that i had stepped over another corpse at the bottom of the stairs.  We had always presumed "Sainsbury" to be the culprit but will have to reconsider now!

I waxed lyrical yesterday about having a BBQ and it did take place.  The day was cold and sunny so it wasn't too much of a trial.  We did retreat to the greenhouse to attack our burgers although the hotdogs were eaten al fresco!  I later received an e mail from a friend with this birdfeeder still pic attached of me caught red handed wolfing down a hotdog, Sally is hidden behind one of the feeders



     Finally - - - not to be outdone Sainsbury the Tabby joined in with some of his climbing antics.

Enjoy the day

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1 less Easter Bunny! & its BBQ Good Friday

As usual the Daily Express headlines are a feature here.  Yesterday they told everyone that there had been a "£16m payout to gas bosses as we freeze" and they carry on the cold story today with "Britains colder than the -10 so wrap up warm".  Currently here in Darley Dale just before 0700 its -0.2 so some way to go yet!

The Daily Mirror carried a headline and inside story about "Forget horsemeat now its cat or dog in our curry"  They had gone out onto your standard high street and bought some nondescript takeaways.  In particular one "Lamb Curry" which was DNA tested contained neither lamb, beef, chicken pork, horse or human flesh!" They came to the conclusion that the unidentified meat could be cat or dog.  We used to joke back in the 1960's when takeaways first appeared that there were no longer a lot of dogs roaming around!  lol

Theres a lovely precise hatchet job of "David Milliband" in a Telegraph article which has to be true not only of him but of many a politician!  worth a read. 

We were warned about an invasion from Romania some time ago and its not got into full swing yet and lets all take head of This  little tale from sky about a gang of 10 Romanians who came to our shores with the sole intention to rob jewellery shops and did so for 6 months until they were caught. 
The judge at their trial handed down some stiff sentences and said they will be deported on release - - -commendable!   The Telegraph carries a story on its front page of "MP's want immigrant ban to save British jobs"  A tad late boys I fear!

So its Good Friday and WE WILL be having a BBQ there's promise of a little sunshine but we will probably sit inside the greenhouse at the top of the garden, out of the wind, which houses the webcams.  If you view the birdfeeder cam early this afternoon you might spot 2 well wrapped up individuals munching on a (100% beef!) burger! 

I went for a walk in the crisp morning air yesterday and was amazed at the number of rabbits sitting on the snow covered fields obviously trying to get to the grass underneath. 

You can make out one in the foreground and at least another 9 in this pic.  There were even 2 of them a good 80 metres out into the field away from the cover of the wood on the right. 
As i went on my way i started to count them and ended up seeing 31. 

That number however has dwindled by 1 "this morning" as Sainsbury (the Tabby cat) had the remains of 1 Easter Bunny arranged rather neatly at the bottom of the stairs to show off his hunting skills!

Finally another pic form yesterday a view West across the field and up into the "nine ladies" stone circle hill feature

Enjoy the day

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Or this one just to see the live birdfeeder webcam  & BBQ later on!

Phil2 gets the Bullet, Boris gets a reprieve & the stop switch for the snow is misssing

We seem to be unable to find the "off" switch for the snow.  To be honest we are getting some wonderful sunny periods but the snow just keeps coming.  I'm looking forward to the "heatwave" predicted in the Telegraph story of yesterdays blog. 

So here we go re: the vehicles then.  After much arm twisting Sally has convinced me to keep Boris the Defender who we had hoped to sell to fund a trip to Australia.  This means then that he will take over Phil2 the Freelanders job of logging during the summer if it ever arrives!  So Phil2 is surplus to requirement and must unfortunately be sold" Anyone want a Freelander? lol

I see the Canadian singer Justin Bieber is in the news arriving in a freezing Poland topless through their customs.  He must be so much wanting to be in the public eye!

"All your eggs in one basket" is what springs to mind after reading the story about a couple of Brit Expats in Cyprus who look to be in the process of having to have 40% of their savings taken to support the bailout plan!  Makes you wonder who is safe! 

The French a a glum lot according to the story in the Telegraph its quite a funny story if you like to poke fun at the French and was going to lead me into another story about the French drinking a lot less of their own wine.

However in a cruel twist of fate I have just taken a phone call from a business acquaintance telling me a friend has been killed in the Bordeaux region in a car accident today while visiting chateaux looking for wine to buy.  So I'll end here and just say James De-Veaver, a great bloke,  Rest In Peace. 

Bits and "boobs"

The snow that's falling right now has not been forecast although the doom and gloom merchants have written off Easter already.  The Daily Express yesterday had a headline of "Coldest Easter Ever -15c" there's some light at the end of the tunnel though as the Telegraph has a story about a "heatwave"  coming our way.  Sad to say though the same story tells us of such gas shortages that our energy bills are going to have to increase. - - - surely if there's NO gas how can they charge us for it - - - oh never mind!

A grisly story on sky news report the murders of 7 men in the city of Uruapan in Mexico with a warning that "all muggers, kidnappers rapists and extortionists" will see a similar fate in the future.  A hint in the story links the murders to drugs, the last line in the story relates that there have been 10,000 drug related murders per year for the last 7 years.  A chilling reminder to stay off the drugs and out of Mexico!  

2 "Ooops Booobed" stories are again carried by sky, the first one a Great white shark almost gets revenge on these thrill seekers who get pleasure from taunting the animals with tit bits just to get close to them while in a cage underwater.  I wonder what would have happened if the shark had been small enough to get into the cage? 
The second Oooops Booobed story is of a bloke who decided to copy a you tube stunt on the 140ft high  Corona Arch in Utah USA, only to kill himself in the process.  It involved The Arch, A Bloke, and A Rope, the idea was for The Bloke, to jump off, The Arch, and end up swinging on The Rope.  The first job would be to "measure the rope" especially the bit that would dangle down!.  Methinks the Gene pool has been slightly cleansed of, some - - -  inadequate material shall we say!

Ahead of the Easter weekend with its predicted snow we had a bit of a "panic buy" in the shop yesterday.  As usual "mad eyed" customers were barging each other out of the way in search of the usual stuff.  The afternoon was particularly busy and i only had 15 minutes left of my shift when the cry went up, "The MAC ladies here!". 
This is a corporate person who visits the branches making sure we have particular items on the shelf, MAC stands for Making Availability Count.  As i left the store i noticed one of the bosses, "lets call him Mike" looking a little concerned as he clutched the MAC ladies report with "a number" of observations on it!

Finally - - - We actually saw the sun yesterday!,  so here's a pic by Sally

  A Thrush, not a bird normally associated with our bird feeders has taken a liking to the fat/seed balls and has been a regular visitor for a couple of days.  Here's a pic i got a few minutes ago

Enjoy the day

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Or this one just to see the live birdfeeder webcam

Hey who switched off the lights? & Did Posh ever sing

Another day at the shop (sainsbugs Matlock) and the "debating society" peeps were in today.  We clocked one group, 6 in all, stationary for just under an hour! another smaller group 4 in total but with 4 kids in tow managed to almost block the bread isle for around 25 minutes.  They were completely oblivious of other people trying to get past and in my devilish mood i didn't bother telling them.

At one point i placed myself on the edge of their "group" filling one of the shelves.  It took a rather large gentlemen grumpily informing them they were in the way for them to move.  As soon as he had gone past they ballooned back into almost blocking the isle. 

Finally I found a product which was directly behind the lead "debater" with his trolley firmly against the display.  "Excuse me could i get in there please?" I asked.  The lead debater, bless his cotton socks, says, "I do seem to be in the way don't I", In for the kill,  i couldn't resist saying, "Yes cant you see that you are".  The group disintegrated soon after!

A little story i picked up on this morning was This one "Earth Hour" a load of "World Landmarks" turned off their lights for "an hour" to "draw attention to climate change" I do believe about 50,000 other peeps in the UK did the same during the recent snowstorm and some are still "drawing attention!"

I loved the headline in the Sunday People today "Posh I'll never sing again" I really wanted to shout "did she ever have a note in her head anyway" but that would be unkind wouldn't it!   OOOOOoooooopppppsssssss! 

Another Sunday rag carried a headline that "Brits to get homes first, Immigrants will no longer be able to jump housing queue".  Pardon me?

However something to bring us all down to earth and realise that we have some wonderful people guarding our isle and they deserve every accolade we can bestow upon them.  Please read this Story about our fantastic forces people!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Enjoy the day

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Snow pics - snow pics - and more snow pics

Rather a short blog today after having to clear snow after returning form work

Rather a funny tale at work, my boss "lets call her TracEy" has not been able to get home for 3 days (because of the snow!) and has been staying with other colleagues around the area.  It has been noted that she had been armed with an increasing number of wine bottles as she has been exiting the store each night.  However I would like to state right now that there is absolutely no truth to the rumour that she is having a week off to dry out!   

Rather a slow day at the shop due to the snow and its strange how the "bulldog spirit" seems to emerge once we have a bit of an "event" such as the "snow".  You see small groups of people around the store holding animated conversations and you realise that normally they don't speak to each other!  The "hardship" of the snow binds them together and keeps them BLOCKING ALL THE BLOODY ISLES!  GO AND HAVE YOUR REUNIONS ELSEWHERE AND LET US GET ON WITH THE WORK!  lol

Ok then here we go lots of pics to look at some wonderful ones by Sally from the garden this morning here

And some funny cat pics here

 

Enjoy the day

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Or this one just to see the live birdfeeder webcam



Snow day go day & Ever heard of Bacn?

The Daily Express headline gets it right today.  "36 Hours of snow chaos on the way"  We have had quite a bit of snow but a  lot of it has been very wet so its not accumulating too much

Here's a nice pic from Sally's phone.  These are the bull rushes growing in the pond from last year with the snow building up on the South side and the snow can be seen still falling.

The cats however have seen the light and hunkered down by the log burner.  Strangely enough together for a change.  Sainsbury the tabby, is still having medicine for his upset tummy but we think he's gradually getting over it.

The shop took many thousands of £'s over the budgeted figure yesterday and it was expected that today would be rather slow but its been a reasonably busy day.  I spotted this box going into the crusher and had to rescue it for a pic

It was obviously used as a bit of packing in a larger box but i kept asking other departments if they could find some space on the shelves for it, it could be a party seller!  lol

An interesting story we are probably all party to is Bacn, i though it was a misprint but the text in the BBC article tells us all about it.  You know what its like you visit a website that asks a few questions and the next thing you know you're getting e mail every day that you really don't want.  worth a read. 

Finally - - - Still snowing quite well here, The temperature right now Is 1.1c this time last year it was 13.3c, Ah nothing like a bit of global warming!    

Enjoy the day

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Stark reality! - Environmental crime & brace yourself the snow is coming!

The budget was its normal range of "Boooo's & Hooray's" with not a lot of cheer so lets leave it where it is!

A busy day in the shop because a lot of people are taking heed of the weather warning of lots of snow.  Its apparently going to start tonight and last for most of tomorrow.  It could be a slow day in the shop!!!! 

Talking to a bloke today in the shop who is normally very jolly.  He looked a little glum and when i engaged him in conversation he told me he had lost his grandson last week to cancer. The stark reality of it all came home when he said he was aged just 17 -------------------.

Because of the budget yesterday it appears its a slow news day apart from a couple of gems.  Environmental crime! could be a possibility in the story carried by Sky News Thousands of dead prawns washed up on a beach in Chile.  The chilling (sorry) twist to the story is that other fish and animals have already been washed up on the countries Pacific coast.  If an environmental crime is responsible I wouldn't mind betting eventually they will end up in our food chain!

Where is spring? its the second "official" day of spring and we are all still looking towards the cold sky for the next snowfall.  Theres a very good story in the Guardian About a trip made a 100 years ago by a poet and naturalist who made a journey from Clapham Common to the Quantock Hills in Somerset.  The poet waxes lyrical about honeysuckle in flower and house martins flying around.  A different story now I imagine.  Mind you we have had at least 10 years and billions of £'s spent to arrest global warming haven't we!  Couldn't resist that one! 

Right then I had better go and fit the snow chains to Phil2, who is behaving impeccably!  in order to get to the shop before 0700 tomorrow.  lol !   

Still not any decent amount of birds on the feeders. 

 

Enjoy the day

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God botherers get justice? , budgets and page numbers!

A story from the weekends "Comic Relief" slides onto the pages of the BBC Entertainment and Arts page.  Rowen Atkinsons sketch on the show as the "Archbishop of Canterbury" drew 2200 complaints and has been "removed" from the iplayer version of the show.  As the show had a peak viewing audience of 12.2 million its not a lot really.  It go's to show though how "sensitive" to criticism the BBC Mandarins are after the recent scandals.  Free speech it seems is dead then, I hope the god botherers enjoy their bit of "justice".  Why didn't they band together and pray for Rowan Atkinson to grow horns like the "Devil".  I fear the result would not have been forthcoming! 

The budget due to be trooped out for our delight this afternoon has already had a few leaks from "well informed sources".  It looks not to be a bundle of laughs mind you whenever is it? Its a story worth a read though just to see if its the "News media" making it up or if some of the points are true

The Daily Express has another headline tack, no doubt the budget will be hammered tomorrow.  "Statins in new health alert" and a by line of "Daily pill can cause kidney damage". 

I spent a long time yesterday agonising over the placement of the many photo's into "my book" about my nearly 30 years in the Army.  I had originally (and still have to date) wanted to put the pics into the text where they were relevant to the story.  However on storing the file for the book in "the cloud" i noticed when opening it online the "MS word" version being more up to date than mine moved a few things around including the pics. Converting the book to pdf which is an online book specification also does the same.   

I checked a few other Autobiographies and noticed blocks of pictures had been inserted but didn't have numbers or upset the text page numbering.  Problem resolved I thought I'll do that, 3 hours later I finally managed to arrange some pics in a test document which didn't carry numbers but didn't interfere with the text page numbering.

The complexity of the "book template" which has different margins for odd and even page numbering took some fathoming. You have to create another "section! of the book for the picture pages.  This section creates its own numbering system from number 1.  You need to remove the page numbers but if you don't unhook the section from the rest of the book the text page numbers also disappear, which happened a "number of times" before I worked out the link!

Having had this frustrating episode i declared yesterday a booze day!  Normally Tuesday, is a "no booze day".  Having duly declared it I drove down the shop not only to put some petrol in Phil2 but also to purchase the "devils brew!".  I spoke to a colleague at the tills who mentioned that,  "winter was going on too long and that we were never to see the green shoots of spring!"

I wondered at her statement but agreed with her as I headed for the exit into the grey light rain of the car park.  It always amazes me how little some people notice the environment around them.  Ok we have been working in the garden on and off for a few days but noticed long ago the flower bulb tips showing and one or 2 of the small bushes pushing out leaves.

 



Here's my across the river pic of yesterday, Admittedly there doesn't look much difference from a number of other. I guess its all a matter of "observation" to see the subtle changes.

Finally then - - - Little sainsbury the cat is gradually recovering from his upset tummy, his temperature and demeanour are much better we just need to get rid of his runs!  if we don't get a result by the time the medicine runs out its back to the V-E-T.
The predicted snow arrived during the night but its so wet its not going to accumulate! Birdfeeder report: we still only seem to be attracting Blackbirds, Robins and the odd Pigeon to the feeders?
Back to the Salt Mine tomorrow for a weeks shifts so blog updates will be later in the day. 

 

Enjoy the day

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Or this one just to see the live birdfeeder webcam

Wot no snow! & Garden moves!

With the promise of snow yesterday broken i peered out of the curtains this morning with a little less confidence than to expect a mantle of white to be covering the garden.  I see from the news though that the A66 in Cumbria slithered to a halt after a couple of inches of snow that was also forecast - - - heads should roll! Just looking at the Metcheck up wind precipitation gizmo and it predicts we shall have snow at precisely 07:53!  

I see from the papers that young Bieber the Canadian singer is in trouble again, having booked a number of suites in the prestigious Hotel Le Maurice in Paris he has been thrown out on his ear because his fans invaded the foyer and upset the more, shall we say, usual clientele!  Maybe he should have gone for the less prestigious Formule1 they don't seem to mind noise!   

The snippet I included about a tax on savings in the Cyprus euro rescue debacle is interestingly covered by a headline in the I with a "Cyprus shuts banks to halt dash for cash" how naive can they be what did they expect!  Another twist though is that our forces on the island who were promised they would be protected against the tax by our "ministers" look to be betrayed!

A tale dear to our hearts at "Che Dakin" is carried by Sky News nuisance phone calls! we get the usual pre recorded ones about PPI but were also plagued by people attempting to sell us Gold, Diamonds and Wine.  Hey ho to have the money for these!   In the end we disconnected all but the answer machine phone and after 2 rings set it to go to the answer machine message.  Result? lots of silent phone calls!   

A pretty hideous story on sky news shows the bodies of 2 dead men strung upside down with a baying crowd below.  The story is from Egypt where the "attorney generals office encouraged civilians to arrest criminals and hand them over to the police! A case of give them an inch etc etc etc!

Locally a great day was had in the garden as we ventured forth even with the threat of avalanches of snow in an attempt to "move a few things around"  The 2 Bamboo plants mentioned yesterday were duly dug up & successfully and moved to their new position along with a number of young box hedge plants.

Here the bamboo plant is being lowered into its new position with Tom the cat looking on from the seat we use to gaze into our pond.  The second one is on the right of this pic at the top of the garden.  They had been in situ for a few years and we wondered if it would be possible to get them out but all went well.

Both of the Bamboo plants safely in place should supply some good cover to the pond in the summer. 

 

Enjoy the day

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A Gardeners tale! & Cyprus banks charge for saving!

Its a cold (-0.9c 07:00) foggy morning here in Darley Dale and there's promise of it getting colder and the snow will return today and get worse tomorrow say the weathermen.  We can however take some "warmth" from the Daily Express headline today that "House prices up £142 per day"  - - - must be a very slow news day.

Yesterdays Sunday Express was in a similar vain proclaiming we had a "Crisis as we all stop shopping"  I wish someone would tell my wife, - - - only joking!

The ever present danger of the mountains is once again well documented in the story of the deaths of a Father and Son out hiking in the Mount Blanc region.  The Sky News copy carries a quote from local sources that they had "inadequate equipment" for what they were doing. 

"Flushed with success" after our sunny greenhouse preparation a few days ago we set about a couple of tasks in the garden yesterday even though it was pretty cloudy and cold.  We have a couple of Bamboo plants (cant get rid of em once you've got em in") which are beginning to obscure our view from the top terrace so decided to plant them on the lowest terrace but in front of the pond.  The idea here is for the gently waving fronds to provide some shade for the pond in summer which will assist in arresting the onset of green water algae production. 

We first needed to "make the bed" for the 2 bamboo so a bit of cement was mixed and we threw a couple of bricks one on top of the other "literally" to block off a gap between and old pond structure and the wall of the current one.  Hopefully it will look pretty good once the plants are in.

Another idea was to encourage things to grow up a lattice work screen in front of our top terrace.  This idea had a modicum of success last year partly due to the fact we had "things" in pots rather than the ground.  So our second task yesterday was to open up a bed at the foot of the screen to give this years "things" a fighting chance of survival.  That done we slurped down a stubby and retired to the warmth of the front room.  A few minutes later the sun came out!!!!!!

It would appear though that there are clouds developing locally on the gardening front.  John our next door neighbour who you might remember was the butt of my merciless ribbing last year about the state of his garden has really pulled up his socks.  As the following pics from yesterday show.

His "lower terrace", shown here,  which you might recall is the "courtyard terrace" is showing the fruits of his winter time labours and looks set to be "resplendent" in summer. 

His "upper terrace" however still has a little work remaining.  The green house terrace, in the foreground, has finally eaten the greenhouse which never stood on more than 2 corners of the 4 it possessed.  In the distance the "green sward" of his "conservatory terrace" which is fast turning back into the field from whence it came can be seen.  No sign of the conservatory or its backing wall as yet.  - - - - hours of entertainment our John hours of entertainment. 

The real gardeners tale however in this snippet is the garden bounded by the fence on the left of the pic above.  This is the domain of a lady in the next terrace who has taken to task our friend Sharon (who owns the garden obscured by the stone wall in the pic)  who you might recall from previous blogs is away in Canada working. 
The lady in question is haranguing Sharon to sharpen up her tenants gardening skills (which appear to be on a par with Johns) or "legal action has been threatened".  Most  of the gardens in that terrace could do with some serious TLC so methinks there's a hidden agenda here!

Finally - - - What a strange story from Cyprus "the troubled little isle" at the end of the Mediterranean sea.  A place dear to my heart as it was the first place i visited "abroad" in 1964 after joining the Army. 
However i digress, the plan is for a one off tax to be levied against people with money in the Cyprus bank in order to get the island out of the financial mess they are in.  the story  belies belief to anyone who to quote a line from a previous blog "the government will do nothing to help anyone who saves their money pays their bill and does the right thing" Or maybe the words "Will screw" should replace "will do nothing to help" in the above quote!

Enjoy the day

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Or this one just to see the live birdfeeder webcam

Red nose day survived & cats and birds

Once again Red Nose Day pulls out the stops and raises an enormous amount of money which hopefully will be spent wisely!  The tragedy of it though is the never ending list of recipients shown on screen during the show any number of which are now dead!  I was down at Sainsbugs early so missed a lot of the effort but managed to snap these 2 willing participants

Here one of the Grocery colleagues, "lets call him" Glen is trying to staple a red nose to the hat of his outfit.

This one is the commercial manager, "lets call him" Adam in his super hero outfit while another commercial colleague, "Lets call her" Sam looks to be giving dressing up a miss.  I noticed 2 excercise bikes in the foyer as i left so guess they must have been used for fund raising during the day.

The papers to day are their usual mixed bag with the Express headline "Diabetes pill beats cancer" "Life saving tablet costs just 2p a day!"
The picture of a proud soldier L/Cpl James Ashworth looks out at readers having been awarded the Victoria Cross, sadly posthumously for his selfless action in Afghanistan.  You can commend his actions and admire his courage as part of our efforts out there.  On the other side of the coin you really have to ask what good are we really doing by being there? 

The BBC  carry a story about a South African Cardinal who the headline claims, says  "Paedophilia not (a) Criminal Condition"  The text waxes lyrical about problems in and outside of the catholic church but the real point of the sorry tale is in the last paragraph.  A woman, Marie Collins says, "He is totally ignoring the child"  A good point for someone to take on board who was part of the conclave electing the new pope the other day,  Scary!

Our old cat Tom had his yearly jabs at the V-E-T's the other day and we asked if they could determine if he was deaf or not.  We had noticed that he appears not to hear things now and again and hoped the V-E-T could confirm our suspicions.  Expecting some hi-tech bit of kit to be wheeled out it was a surprise when the V-E-T just clapped her hands softly then louder each time until he turned to face her.  "Yes he is a little deaf" she pronounced.  I always chat to him and stroke almost every time I pass by him but from now on I'm going to make sure i "catch his eye first" .

The other cat, Sainsbury has been out of sorts and off his food for a few days and we noticed his inner eyelid (article on this eye lid) showing, so carted him off to the V-E-T.  We think he must have killed and eaten a rodent with some kind of infection which he picked up. 
He hates the trip there and yowls for most of the journey both there and back.  The V-E-T (you don't say vet in front of a cat or they do a runner!) did the usual inspection and pronounced that he had a "squidgy stomach"  2 bits of medicine and £50 later we are home and managed to squirt both potions into his mouth.
The second time we tried at the end of the day everyone got a bit of it as he shook his head at the taste of it!  Happy to say though he's eating now and appears to be getting over the problem.
The night of the V-E-T visit we locked the cat flap to keep an eye on him and he rewarded us by forcing wider the slighlty open bedroom window and jumping down to the ground by way of the front porch roof!

I finally got around to taking out the carpet from the Freelander Phil2 and giving it a good scrub to finally rid the vehicle of the doggy smell. Another task though was to find out where water is getting into the vehicle as the sound deadening material attached to the underside of the carpet is always wet. It rained most of yesterday and last night and I checked this morning, not a damp patch in sight!  

We don't seem to be getting many birds on our normally very busy bird feeders, asking locally some report normal activity while others see a drop off in numbers.  I'll give the feeders a good scrub and refill them today to see if that's part of the problem.

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Sunshine and seed trays & Kids in debt, its all our fault!

So then there's a new Pope! but that didn't stop us spotting the sunshine this morning and realising its about time we started looking for seed trays and things.  It was quite cold to start with at -5c but it soon warmed up and i sped off for another load of wood to add to the ever growing pile in the woodshed. 
After unloading the wood we decided to get the seed trays and propagators ready in the greenhouse and we will put in the seeds once the days are a little warmer.  As soon as we started in came the clouds and down went the temperature.  Luckily the sun broke through again and here's a pic of Sally with trowel in hand getting on with it

Note the door is firmly closed, keeping the warmth in!  I'm the one running up and down the garden re-filling the peat box!

Another garden story struck Sally as particularly odd yesterday.  A couple had rented this house, an old  water mill and spent years developing a wonderful garden.  They now have unfortunately to move and the agents "James Perks" want the garden to be changed back to how it was or are going to charge the pair £5000.  Worth a read lots more to it than is detailed here, shame on you James Perks!

 The Daily Express is back to the "normal" headlines, "Arthritis: New jab to fight the pain".  They have flagged up at least 2 or 3 other arthritis cures this year why do we need another!!!!!!!

A real gut wrenching (sorry) story is written up by the BBC Health people.  Its about the "Tapeworm Parasite"  and how we pass it on to pigs and then get it back again,  Read it but not before a meal!

Kids are in debt and its all our fault!  It appears that half of Britons between 20 and 30 years old blame their parents for not teaching them about how to manage their finances.  This is according to a story in the Telegraph .  Excuse me! he said indignantly.  These 20 to 30 year olds were,  not long ago teenagers yes?  Even as a crusty old "shop assistant" I am reminded countless times during my shift that "teenagers" know everything"and rarely converse with parents except to demand "more!".  Seriously though its another attempt by the "blame shifters", they blame someone else for a problem they cant, or refuse to accept and get on and do something about it!

Our youngest cat Sainsbury has been a little off his game for the last few days so its a visit to the v-e-t, in a short while, so there will be long faces from him as soon as he's put in the cat box! 

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Huhne bullied in prison & Sally takes to the Vodka and slimline tonic diet!

Stories abound today about Chris Huhne who is spending his early "in prison" days being attacked and bullied so much that he's already asked for a transfer.  The Sun carries a headline to the effect that a warder called over the loudspeaker, "Will the right honourable member for wandsworth please come to the office!  - - - Pryceless! 

The Express today carries a creditable headline, maybe they are taking heed of my ribbing!  "Outrage at new migrant flood, Public force MP's to debate on migrant flood"  Another story carried later in the day is that Danny Nightingale the "SAS hero" caught with a Glock 9mm pistol and 300 rounds of ammunition has had is conviction quashed and is to face a retrial.  Mmmmmmm All the best Danny, personally I think he's on thin ice. 

A great story for the NHS is trumpeted by the telegraph about a new "NHS Tsar" who acknowledges the NHS is sick and needs a new "Culture" Cynic that I am i think its going to be a case of "Same old balls different racket!" 

There was a great "hero"story from Australia not long ago where a bloke grabs a shark that had wandered into the shallows near children and steered it into deeper water.  Hero Hero everyone cried except his employer back home who fired him because he, and his wife were on sick leave.  For or against? read it   

Here's hoping for a little sunshine as i start my week away from work. Yesterday i picked up a couple of loads of firewood to replenish the wood shed while Sally visited our friend Lisa at the same location, for a chat.  This is normally a time for them to "plot a cunning plan".  Yesterday they came up with the "Vodka and slimline tonic diet!".  Lisa swears that she has lost over a stone since swapping her tipple from wine/lager to vodka and tonic"  Sally being "easily convinced" is now a willing pilgrim to this regime.  Watch this space!!!!!!!!!!
   

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Another fish dies & The Falklands want to remain British

Just sitting here this morning culling stories from the news for the blog and all our power went off.  I flicked it back on and everything seemed ok. Not long after i went out to feed the birds and noticed ice forming on the fish pond.  Not unusual I thought as its below zero and the pond heater only keeps a small hole free.  The pond filter and air bubble maker only run intermittently so nothing looked out of place. 

I put out some bird feed and came back to the PC and tried to look at the webcam and it wouldn't show, thinking the netbook running that end needed rebooting i went up to the shed and realised it had no power.  It didn't take long to suss out the pond heater had fused the system and I replaced it with a spare and we were up and running!  However one fish was definitely not "up and running" lying on the bottom.  So we chalked up our second fatality, fingers crossed now that its not some kind of virus! 

In the news however - - - I see that Chris Huhne and is ex have been banged up for 8 months.  He has said he is "sorry" for what he's done.  Only cos he's been caught though i fear!!!!!!  

Once again a "little" snow brings parts of the country to a grinding halt.  A cracking example of how not to clear the roads of 4 yes 4 inches of snow.  Can you believe it hundreds of vehicles stuck all night on a major motorway because of 4 inches of snow.  read all about it!

I never knew cricketers had to do homework - - - did you?  A wonderful story in the Telegraph tells of a cricketer "Shane Watson" who says "I'm sort of weighing up my future and what i want to do with my cricket in general".  This is all after he and 3 others didn't fill in a questionnaire requested by the coach.  The coach then dropped him and the 3 others only to get a real roasting from former players at the decision.  Hang on guys, just a minute here, it could be me but i seem to think the coach was just trying to instill a bit of TEAM SPIRIT into a bunch of smug self important spoilt "athletes"  that seems to have blown up in his face!!!!!!!! 

The Falklands folk have been voting to stay, or not, British.  As expected from a 92% turn out of voters the Yes vote was more than 99% so yee haaaa! wave the flag etc etc etc.  But wait a minute 3 votes, yes 3 votes were cast for not remaining British.  I wonder who??  Mmmmmmmmmmm

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Make haste to the pumps! & snowing again

A story in the Telegraph shows up the fact that we don't have enough stored fuel to last more than 6 to 8 days in the UK.  The upsurge of supermarket petrol stations is one of the salient points in the closing of fuel sites.  I don't imagine the story might cause a stampede to the pumps but it could, it would be best to keep your tank full whenever possible so, make haste to the pumps!

Red wine is good for you, er - - well it might be.  A story again in the Telegraph says a pill is being developed that could let us live until we are 150! heaven forbid!  It seems that red wine contains a chemical called resveratrol, try saying that after 3 or 4 glasses! that has an anti ageing effect.  The boffins have been giving this stuff to "mice, bees and flies!"  I think I'll just keep glugging down the wine and hope i get enough resveratrol!

I normally love throwing stones at the headlines in the Daily Express but today they did have a couple that seemed to be going down the right road.  One said, words to the effect that to encourage the younger generation to invest in a pension they would guarantee that pension "pots" would be protected.  A smaller headline caught my eye though that speaks for itself and i admit to agreeing with it.  "The authorities never seem to be on the right side of those who pay their bills and do the right thing" !!!!!!!   

Our weather today has been a real mixture of sun and snow!  It has been bitterly cold and the wind has a real wintry edge to it.  We have had lots and lots of short sharp snow blizzards followed almost immediately by brilliant sunshine

  Here's a pic of one of the snow flurries just hitting the valley as the sun is going down in my across the river pic of the day. 

Finally a friend sent me this link showing a climber losing his grip while climbing a snow covered slope on Snowden at the weekend.  It just shows how easy it is to slip!

 

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Chris Huhne in trouble again! & Paras without parachutes!

Chris Huhne does no favours for himself does he!  Deep in trouble over the speeding points debacle, and hopefully awaiting a custodial sentence, he is now photographed driving the wrong way in a one way street! The story, with photo's in the Mail online go's on to point out 2 further transgressions on a bike one ignoring a "No right turn" sign and ignoring a "No Entry" sign.  His idiocy it seems knows no bounds! 

There's a great story in the Telegraph which to me seems to de-bunk the whole global warming theory.  A Chillingly (sorry) "accurate" graph shows the temperature to have only warmed 0.8 of a degree since 1997.  Ok its all a load of "statistics" but you cant deny we have spent billions of £'s on trying to goad people into slowing down the "global warming" trend.  worth a read! 

We all, well some of us, like a good challenge! You know what i mean you do something that sometimes is a little "hairy" or down right "dangerous" but your self belief and self confidence drives you on to beat whatever you are trying to overcome.  The story though on Sky News of the death of a sailor in a yacht race near the US coast sounds like a case of going "beyond the line".  The yacht was already in trouble but they carried on until it became a disaster and one man died. Its a fine line between success and failure but knowing when to choose one or the other takes a bit of doing!

The Express on Sunday Express to be precise is not known for its sensible headlines but one today is worth a look.  "Revenge of Saville Victim" a woman who lays claim to having been abused by Saville and other BBC people is refusing to pay her TV licence fee.  She might end up in prison if she carries through her threat - - - interesting to follow the story if the "Express" has the guts. 

The Mail online carries a story worth a read about the Parachute Regiment not training all their soldiers in the art of parachuting.  The storyline is laced with facts and figures and even carries a picture of "Sean Connery" acting in the film "A Bridge Too Far"! Interestingly though i liked the comments section below the storyline which has been injected by the "old guard" Paras and the old "hate the Paras" ex squaddies.  A real hoot!

Work today was a bit of an anti climax after the slight "panic buying" trend brought on by the threat of snow yesterday.  We did have snow overnight but only above 800ft near the top of the valley sides.  As we are only at 300ft there was very little around this morning and the shop saw little trade after the normal Sunday morning activity between 1000 and 1230.  Last minute fathers and kids buying up Mothers day flowers and chocs made a bit of an impression but it had all fizzled out by 1300.  The clouds cleared a bit this afternoon and it looks as if we are in for a cold night! 

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Bieber who is he? & A touching underground story

Back at work in the local Sainsbugs shop now after the excitement of the Ben Nevis climbing and as usual the amusing incidents are trickling in.  A guy came in this morning carrying a loaf he bought the previous day and he had a rather, "hang dog" look on his face.  It was an in house baked loaf that his wife had added to the "shopping list" he had followed the previous day.  What he didn't do though was get it sliced in the shop.  His wife then must have really blown  fuse because she sent him back this morning to get it sliced!!!  

I went up the garden the other day to get something form the shed and passing the pond noticed we had a dead fish on the surface of the pond.  I had been past it earlier and everything seemed fine but this one was definitely a "dead un".  Its a common story to lose fish in spring we lost 1 last spring but we are hoping we don't lose any more this year.

We do seem to have some strange shaped fish!

 



The Canadian singer, Bieber who doesn't look as if he should be out without his mother seems to be in the news at the moment.  Late for a concert, feeling unwell on stage and now having a go at one of the paparazzi.  Having never ever heard of him until the splashes across the papers I guess its just a publicity thing.  There's no such thing as bad publicity!

The Daily Mail this morning carried a headline that "At last Tories see sense on aid money".  Apparently "aid money" is going to go to UK companies that are investing abroad rather than "corrupt regimes".  - - - Isn't that a bit of a contradiction in terms? 

A nice touching story in the Telegraph tells of a widow who used to go to the "Embankment" underground station to hear her dead husbands voice (he died in 2001) which was used to tell commuters to "Mind the gap" on the PA system.  The recording was eventually phased out but she asked if she could have a copy of the recording.  Not only are the powers that be giving her a CD of the recording but re-instating it on the "Embankment" station. 

"Thousands" of people caught in speed traps on the M42 are not going to have to pay the fines because the "font" on the signs, "may not have complied with traffic regulations".  The story on BBC News   Also go's on to say that even more cases will have to be reconsidered since the signs were first used in 2006.  What a cock up! 

The Daily Express once again warns us that "Big Freeze Blasts Back" but we don't see any of the promised snow around here, could they be wrong again? 

Finally then - - - an amusing pictorial look at what must be the worst jobs in travel  . worth a look if only for the odd smile!

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Dont eat processed meat! & Phil2 is pronounced well!

Yet another Report this time by the BBC tells us not to eat things that we take for granted.  Its processed meat this time with a "mind numbing" series of statistics in the story.  There is however an interesting line that says if you "eat a lot of processed meat" you are "more likely to smoke be obese and have other behaviours known to damage health".  I think this is yet another case of not letting the truth get in the way of a good story, or, with statistics "you can make them say whatever you want!

A rather interesting story is carried by sky about sharks migrating up the coast of south Florida and there's some video footage to back it up.  I never knew they migrated and it seems its an annual event.   Imagine if you knew nothing about it and went swimming!! 

The papers this morning all carried the story about Huhne and Pryce being found guilty of trying to pervert the course of justice.  I liked a couple that trumpeted "The Pryce of revenge" The sentencing is due soon i wonder what they will both get?

I loved the headline in the "Star" this morning, "Strop Gear Clarkson gets Wheely angry after being caught with Ex Mistress"  This sounds like another story of something that should have ended but didn't, talk about "a mug!" No doubt his wife will understand! 

Finally then - - - Phil2's visit to the garage yielded no concrete results which is no surprise as neither Sally nor I could replicate the problem we had the other day retuning from Scotland.  They (the garage) did however tell me that all Boris's accidents bits are now on site and once the new back door is painted they will be calling him in for the work. 

 

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Lake District excursion & Phil2 misbehaves

Back home and taking up the normal cudgel again I see the Daily Express headline says "3p blood pressure pill beats dementia".  Back to reality i suppose. 

A million things to wash and dry after the great weekend up in Scotland and the weather forecast is for rain, rain and more rain over the next few days.  Strange that I just saw a story line about March being a hot month this year!  We'll have to wait and see.

We cruised into the Lake District yesterday morning in glorious sunshine and went straight up to the Honnister slate mine.  The idea was to get some slate for a couple of projects we have in the planning stage.  We stopped by Derwemt Water for a few pics and a van pulled in behind us to tell us none of our brake lights were working.  we fiddled around with the fuses but couldn't find the solution.  After a while we managed to get 2 working so went on our way. 

After collecting the required slate we stopped for lunch at the Water Edge in Ambleside before starting the final journey home.  Everything went according to plan until just before Manchester Phil2 decided that 850 trouble free miles of motoring was enough and he would lose a bit of power before picking it up again.  We managed to coax him through Manchester and back home after picking up the cats.  Strange that if we stopped the engine for a few minutes the problem would go away for a while?  Its off to the "doctors" once they can fit him in.  My bet is faulty turbo or injector - - - we shall see! 


 



Nice view of the snow on the hills as we drive into the northern end of the Lake District

Derwent Water on the way to Honnister Mine

 

Sally takes a pic of me taking a pic of Phil2 by the slate pile

 

Early Spring blossom on a tree at the lunch stop

 

The jetty at the lunch stop, Lake Winderemere Wateredge Inn

 

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