Your'e never more than 6ft away from a rat & New year logging

You are never more than  6 feet away from a rat  the  popular saying go's

The "Super rat" variety seem to be abundant in the Midlands in the UK and the story details that they are resistant to the standard rat poison.  A new type has been developed which is absorbed through the skin!  - - - lets hope its application is only administered by the "experts" - - -


The Daily express sums up the UK weather with not too "far out" a prediction for the weeks to come.


Tucked away in the top corner of their front page is the "ever present" miracle cure though - - I wish they wouldn't do that! The wind speed in the story is subject of clipping of the pic and is meant to be 65mph! Nice pic of Nigella who is taking the US by storm! - - -

Not so funny if you work at the Yeovil helicopter plant but this story made me smile a little
"AugustaWestland Deal Cancelled By India".

There are allegations of kick backs  apparently.  The "funny" part is that it is "India" who has cancelled the deal!  If stories are to be believed the whole of Their infrastructure revolves around the "brown envelope" - - -

A & E sir? that'l be £10!
Great story about how GP's support Charging £10 for A&E visits which are not necessary

Sounds ok but it wont stop unwarranted visitors clogging the system! - - -

The Singapore Straits Times Carries this one about an old man being buried by his family in a small Chinese village 3 days after his death.  "Chines Officials" however dug up the body and set fire to it because the family ignored their "demands" for a cremation rather than a burial.
There an interesting nugget about "Confucian edicts say that ensuring ones body, hair and skin are not damaged is the most basic way of showing respect to ones parents because they are gifts from them"
Mind you that's "tradition" which can be trampled over when officials "demand!" -  -- -

I noticed a bit about the shooting of PC PC Fletcher

all those years ago outside the Libyan Embassy in London.  Apparently the Libyans "warned" the UK to not allow the anti Gaddafi demo to take place.  In April 1984 it took place an the PC was shot from inside the building.
A more "Sinister"  story is the death of a British male teacher and a New Zealand woman near the city of Sabathra, presumably yesterday.  Their luggage was found along with the bodies and none of their belongings appear not to be missing?   - - -  

Nearer to home 
A small window of fine weather meant I could go logging yesterday for a short while and I finally managed to clear the pile of cut down bits which have been hanging around for a while

It was very cold at the site because the sun was just below the horizon.  I ran out of space under the blue plastic so stacked up the wood in an effort to stop it getting waterlogged.  It will get wet but any breeze or sunshine will dry it off quite quickly and stop it rotting for a while.
I had an idea to replenish the wood shed a little in the afternoon but the track around the oldest pile of cut wood was far too wet so after a few minutes of trying to get Boris the Defender out of the mud I abandoned that idea!

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  the streaming birdfeeder cam