Spider story again & walk doesn't go to plan

Normally headline grabbers these spider stories. This one though reads like a nightmare.  The lady had to have a finger amputated after being bitten by a False Widow spider while in a park in Sunderland.  She finished up with a flesh eating bug which in the end meant having her finger amputated.
"Close to death" claims the story, although at the end of the article there's a bit about "generally the symptoms are no worse than a bee or wasp sting - - -

Looks like all the fancy toothpastes and mouthwashes should be hanging their heads in shame after this set of figures.  Mind you there's a saying about "survey's" that you can make the results say anything you want isn't there?  Out of 54,000 youngsters checked over 12% had some form of tooth decay . All this is smoke and mirrors though as the finger is resolutely pointed throughout the story at? - - - Parents & Carers! giving kids sugary food and drinks - - -

A new/ish social media site "Ello" invented by Paul Budnitz, a bike shop owner from Vermont is being branded in this story as anti facebook which it isn't according to the founder.
Originally designed for his own friends the site calins not to have adverts or sell your data!  Its already had an attack from the "hackers" so it might just succeed.  take a look  - - -

I wondered recently having noticed what looked like new BT cabinets springing up by the roadside what they were for.  They carry a sticker bleating on about Broadband so here's what its all about super fats braodband at up to 1Gb using fibre and then up your copper phone line.  There's mention of the "commercial equipment" being "available" from manufacturers by 2015 but no role out dates as yet - - -

Closer to home
So one week into the Autumnal Equinox and the usual high winds and rain are lining up for a go at the UK.  As usual though the forecasters are hedging their bets by not committing to mild or mighty in thier predictions for the coming 4 or 5 weeks - - - bring it on i say!

We decided to recce a walk in the area of one of our favourite local villages Sheldon.  Having studied the map for a likely route i promptly left it on the dining table as we left for the village.  Nil desperandum "its all up here" as i tapped my tapped my head Sally smiled that "knowing smile"
Sure enough we tramped down the narrow footpath between the limestone walls route and it joined an ancient trackway at the appointed place.
Some way on i became a little concerned because we seemed to be getting too far away from a large farm/house where I imagined the track to take us back into the village.  We then came up against a "no entry" sign leading up another ancient trackway and had to re-trace our steps.
On studying the map back at home we had gone the right way but my assumption about using the last ancient trackway had been incorrect - - - trying desperately to point out that "i wasn't wrong" i again got the "knowing smile" - - - hey ho - - - note to self do recce's on own in future - - -

Sad to relay that another ex army mate from my time in Germany has bitten the dust.  His name was Geordie Monkhouse, he was a small bloke with a huge character, great football player,

  I have precious few pics of my time there,

Grainy as this old B & W is its easy to spot him in the back row.  RIP Geordie - - -

Back to the old hospital early tomorrow it will be interesting to see what they think of my operation scar it looking a little ragged

The bit just down from my thumb joint was looking decidedly weepy the other day but it looks to be settling down now - - -

Enjoy the day

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Volcano deaths in Japan & garden antics

Disaster on a Japanese Volcano as at least 30 are dead when a "tourist attraction" volcano erupts without warning.  The picture has a snowy look about it but this is just a layer of ash after the volcano erupted.  There were 100's of hikers on the mountain at the time of the eruption so its amazing how few casualties are reported - - -

The Hong Kong pro-democracy movement had a good weekend in the city. Riot police are eventually deployed even though the huge crowds appeared non violent.  The Kowloon district of Mongkok also appears to have had its own demo although it seems to have been less of a problem to the authorities - - - makes you wonder where this is going to go, you cant imagine the mainland Chinese bosses wanting to let Hong Kong residents too far off the leash so to speak? - - -

The bloke in the pic wont be getting ups Employee of the month award more like dope of the month after slipping a package containing a $160k diamond into his pocket while unloading a plane at Phoenix Arizona.  He later exchanged the gem for £20 worth od cannabis - - - "who says Cannabis doesn't cloud your judgement?"  - - -

Not being a fan of the "bag of bats" following. I'm more a supporter of "spoils a good walk" - - - That said the European team scored what looks like a resounding victory  - - -





Closer to home
A pleasant sunny afternoon meant we sat in the garden enjoying a glass of vino and Little Man joined us.

He first adopted a "look at me aren't i appealing" pose

followed shortly afterwards by "I'll sit almost hiding in amongst the plants" for a while

The call of nature however made him hop on top of a pot cleared of plants and have a pee! Such a look of concentration- - -

You know what its like when you've had something for years (since the 80's) and you just cant let it go!  I finally decided that my old Mistral Malibu windsurfer was getting too much in the way so decided to saw it in half! I'll bury just the wide bit and hopefully make an amusing "feature" in the garden.

 The other half is ready to go over the recycling dump  I wonder which section it will go in?  The old sail in the background has been utilised for a while in keeping the wood dry and once the frosts arrive covering Cyril's windscreen.

  With "retirement" looming next year one of my tasks is to be looking after the garden.  I have already got designs of a few changes but some of them are a "little changing" - - -

One of my ideas is to "open up" the bottom of the garden to give more of a view to the top as you come through the gate.  So here i have cut down the Zebra grass around the pond, it will be replaced by a smaller type of grass.  I have also lopped the top off what was meant to be a miniature drooping almond tree this will also be removed later.
 Sally is a little "concerned" and accuses me of always cutting down her favourite trees - - - it has to be said there used to be a lovely conical shaped 12ft fir where the almond was - - - although it was meant to be a heebie and only grow to 20cm!

Its plain to see in this pic in all its glory with the rainbow backdrop 15 Aug 2008!


Its apparently going to rain this p.m. so we are off this morning to Sheldon which is the base for our Magpie Mine walk to look at a new stroll! - - -

Enjoy the day

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Ah the good old days! & A magpie mine walk

Ah the good old days!  anyone who remembers milk being delivered to the door in glass milk bottles will immediately regale you with fond memories of the milkman.  So here's mine! back in the 50's and early 60's the milkman had a horse and cart and looking out the front room window you would see the milkman darting in and out of almost every garden to pop the bottles on the step.  The horse would plod really slowly never stopping all the way down the street. At the bottom of the street without any command it would turn the cart round and plod back up the street with the milman repeating the exercise - - - ah the good old days - - -

Interesting story from the wilds of china "rioters"as they are described blow themselves up or are shot by police as the death toll reaches 50.  The region is home to the "Uighur" community who are muslims and large scale immigration of Han Chinese is threatening the Uighur's culture - - -

The iphone 6s bendgate  saga rumbles on with more people claiming that their handset is damaged.  woerth a look if only for the amusing pics - - - its a very thin phone - - - live with it - - -

"All aboard the skylark" or "Here we go again" maybe appropriate as we look set to go back into Iraq to have a go at the IS forces.  Bombing i dear is only the opener it will eventually take ground troops to make a significant difference - - - as usual - - -








Closer to home

Little man joins us in the garden and enjoys the afternoon sun on one of our cooler days.  He hides under our chairs when its too hot

The sun was out yesterday so we decided to visit the Magpie Mine walk as we set off the sun was shining.

"Sods law" played its part though and 20 minutes later the blue sky was clouded over! - - -

Enjoy the day

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Mystery con trail & ebay feedback hassle

this strange con trail was spotted over Hampshire and photographed.  It looks as if the pilot was trying to amuse people below!  - - - suggestions are that a UFO had been seen in the area not long before and the pilot saw it and took evasive action - - -

Technology buffs will love this story  street light which brighten if there's a disturbance below, rubbish bins that have sensors to tell the bin man they are full, and app that lets kids report dangers on their route to school - - -
It all sounds a bit too much "big brother" but most of it makes sense - - - worth a read - - -

As usual with the introduction of the iphone 6 and 6s people are throwing rocks both at the OS and the phone.
This amusing video  by a BBC reporter doesnt agree with reports that the phone is prone to bending!  other reports and pics show very sorry looking iphones.  - - -

Its not easy to be overweight and on benefits says the headline to this story from the Mail - - - looks like it is to me? - - -
This lady wants more benefits because she cant afford to buy healthy food or buy Gym membership - - -
Does someone really have a job where they go and find this type of news? - - -

The express stokes up the fire of discontent with our migrant policy

Whereas the Star reports the death of a Brit Jihadist.  Reading the story in other sources his mother blames the authorities at his point of departure for letting him leave the country some time ago - - - ?! - - -

The Telegraph reports that Prince Charles is mourning the death of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire who dies yeaterday.
She was always around Chatsworth House chatting to visitors when her husband was alive and i met her a couple of times while I stacking bread down at Sainsbugs when she shopped there- - - wonderful old girl - - RIP Debo


Closer to home
Ebay feedback is getting a bit up my nose this morning.  I recently bought an IP camera to add to my growing collection and it was advertised as being an "outdoor webcam"  It arrived safely all the way from China but alas turned out to be an "Indoor variety".  I blogged about "something lost in translation" almost 2 weeks ago.
I left negative feedback indicating the description was in error.  I was offered £6 by way of a bribe if i would remove the feedback.  My initial outlay was small so i'm prepared to write it off and i dont think my comment will harm the suppliers rating.  - - -

The hand is progressing well although the physio exercises are opening up the incision a little so I'm toning down the 8 sessions day which was the instruction

One of my daily weather check (geek! i know!) websites is in Finland has Snow today which is a full month earlier than normal - - - stand by for a cold winter maybe?

Enjoy the day

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Cox's Multiverse? & Flu jab time

Brian Cox, you know the bloke on the TV who can explain scientific stuff that we all understand.  Well this BBC Article is pushing the bounds of my "cognisance" had to look that one up lol .  Its all about an interpretation of  Quantum mechanics a subject that might take a bit of thought - - -
The bit that caught my eye was the pic of the cat at left apparently shut inside a box which is about an experiment by a bloke called Schrodinger  - - the article says "when you open the box with Schrodingers cat inside it emerges dead or alive, not both", well yes!  - - -  This instantly reminded me of the magician Tommy Cooper opening the box and saying "cat - box - box cat" and giving his "knowing look to the camera.  - - - More Tommy Cooper jokes they might make more sense than the above article - - -

This article is entitled eight-headaches-for-supermarket-giant-tesco and the points raised are absolute "gems" if you are thinking of starting a business.  A poignant phrase might be "slowly slowly catchy monkey" a phrase which Tesco should have heeded before it took on its quest for almost "world domination".  One point raised though is the "first fall in profits for 19 years reported in 2013" quote which was almost mirrored by Sainsbury although their "fall period" was only 10.  - - - the Sainsbury's CEO old "Justin King" retired just in time! - - -

indian-space-race-boost-as-satellite-orbits-mars  So thats it then an Indian satellite joins ones from the US EU and Russian bits of junk orbiting around Mars.
Its ok though because the mission has "been lauded for its low price tag of $74 million" - - - bargain! - - -



Closer to home

The scudding clouds made for a less than sunny lunch at our favourite spot yesterday.  We braved the cool temperature outside when may others tried it then went inside.  Today the rain has already visited us but its clearing a little now.  Cant wait for the Autumn winds to begin - - always so dramatic!

The local med Centre had a Flu jab afternoon so I was delivered by Sally after lunch for the annual freebie.  They are so efficient in the centre, I was in jabbed and out almost before the car was parked!

I was e mailed this pic of the resident lesser spotted woodpecker yesterday, it visits quite often. We noticed yesterday that a large number of coal tits are using the feeders just now.

Enjoy the day

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Tesco wo's & In house Spider alert

Something not quite right at Tesco with the cock up in profit reporting having hit the headlines not long ago questions are being asked about the "boys at the top" one of whom left only last week.  After resigning in April Mcllwee stays on another 6 months - - - now there's something not right there.  Could be fun following this one - - -

Big Ed has a Plan "Give me a decade to fix the UK" shouts the headline.  The main points of "the plan" make sense as do most of "the plans" these politicians come up with.  The reasons why the plan didnt work in 10 years time would be pure 20 20 hindsight though - - -

No not a story about hairy cows but a load of old rubbish "old Rubbish" being the operative.  The cows in the pic are seen in a video trampling down rubbish tipped illegally.  a "concerned resident" voices his disgust at the length of time it took to stop the illegal dumping.  The perpetrator gets 18 moths inside however he will probably get time off for good behaviour so he will be out soon to count his profits! - - -

UKIP's opening gambit for the upcoming election looks to be abolishing inheritance-tax according to the Express front page.  I wonder if "they" have anything for the average voter though - - -








Closer to home

We have a Nuthatch visitor to the seed feeders regularly now it has a habit of hanging onto the nut feeder and reaching in to get at the sunflower seeds.  Apparently male birds have darker red on their flanks so at the moment we are undecided as to what sex it is.

The visit to the hospital yesterday revealed just over 20 stitches. The idea of not having a straight line cut is that it heals better - - - i was fitted with a splint to wear at night for 6 months! and given a set of exercises to do 8 times a day - - - Back again next Wed to have the stitches out.

Giant spiders to invade UK homes  went the story only a day or so ago, all being blamed on the recent warm weather leaving us.  While watching TV last night i noticed what i though was one of Little Mans escapee mice moving across the floor.  On closer inspection it was a huge spider which evaded my attempts to snap a pic - - - maybe get one today?  - - -


Out to lunch today and back to the book for me

Enjoy the day

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Mars spacecraft success & walk pics

News that NASA's Mars spacecraft MAVEN has adopted an orbit around the planet has to be applauded.  442 million miles is a staggering distance to travel and be at the right place at the right time to achieve the orbit operation
All this is tongue in cheek for me though - - - The spacecraft is called MAVEN which Nasa says stands for "Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution".  Sorry cant quite see how they arrive at that nor understand what it means.  My take on the name is More A Very Expensive Nonsense - - -

Peanut allergies  is the subject of this story and as serious as the problem must be for people its the poor old lab mice who are taking it in the neck here - - - It appears that the roasted variety are more likely to cause an allergic reaction to lab mice.  The mice are exposed to the peanut proteins through their skin and stomach and the ones given the roasted protein had a "much stronger immune response"   the story says "much more work is needed before humans should consider swapping form roasted to raw nuts though"  - - - hey ho all in the name of progress - - -

The film Towering Inferno springs to mind when you look atthius story of a  Tower block fire  in Russia.  The video dramatically show what appear to be vain efforts to put out the fire.  The report indicates there were no fatalities - - -

The Express gives us a headline of "Summer to last another month" and although it doesn't feel like it this morning with a 2.6c temperature right now other media stories support the fact that it might be "a warmer than normal month ahead" - - -








Closer to home
After a few days of haze and mist in the valley yesterday proved to be a crystal clear morning so I went for a short walk before getting back to the book

The East facing hillside was bathed in sunshine and showing off the Autumn colours quite well

getting a little closer the colours get a bit deeper

The lack of any significant rainfall makes for a lazy flowing river and good reflection pics

And another 

Its taken Little Man almost 10 months to jump up onto the old rocking chair where old Tom breathed his last and he still looks a little apprehensive in this pic.  Hes curled up asleep on it right now - - -
Hes had a bit of a rough night though, I heard some whailing which normally means he's caught some poor creature and came down to check on him at around 0230.
It looked as if he had disgorged the full contents of his stomach onto the wooden floor and then legged it outside through the cat flap.
 Strewn around were bits of cat biscuit and small pools of "brown stuff" and in one pile it was easy to make out almost a whole mouse! - - - ah well its about time the floor was scrubbed anyway - - -

I have to go back to the hospital this p.m. for my hand to be checked so is full steam this morning to get some book done - - - after the floor scrubbing!

Enjoy the day

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