Its all about Black Friday & Hours matching catches up with me!

Trying to stay neutral as usual its hard not to jump on the Black Friday band wagon of describing the "appalling behaviour" from some shoppers in the rush yesterday.  The way that retailers jumped on this  American idea of Black Friday was interesting its just a shame it wasnt better run! - - -

I was only reading one article yesterday that the weather is going to turn colder and here is a story claiming that even if December turns out to be average temps we could still be on for 2014 being the warmest "average" temp year for a long time - - -

Its a year ago today that i buried "Tom" the cat at the top of the garden near to his old mate "Grumpy" who had gone a year before him.  Its easy to have a cat for nearly 20 years to start treating them as "part of the family" so i make no excuse for a touch of nostalgia here.  He turned up on Christmas day 1996 and trotted in the house with our other 2 cats "Wallace & Gromit".  He was a friendly cat and won the hearts of many a neighbour and friend with his easy manner.  Having been with us a very long time when he had some kind of seizure on 28th Nov last year we knew it was his time to go and had him put down.  Even now we always say "good old Tom" rather than "poor old Tom" when remembering him as he was - - - Lord of all he surveyed! - - - In the pic above he is in one of his favourite positions outside the house keeping "his patch" clear of intruders -  -- including dogs! RIP old fella - - -

At the fun factory the stress is telling on some of the minor managers as they battle to cope with the busy shop.  The warehouse is a battle field with a few "casualties" every day.  Some colleagues are already losing the plot and getting a tad stressed, maybe there will be some "colleague casualties" before the "big day"

I was regaled by a colleague, lets call her "anon y mous" who told me my hours were going to be changed. Hours matching finally catches up with me! i thought.
When I first started I worked 8 to 5 but because the shop opens at 8 and the bread is delivered around 7 I was asked by the shop second in command to work 7 to 4.  It made sense so hey "lets do it" i thought.
I am now told its on the cards that i must work 8 to 5 as there will be "more continuity" when i finish at 5 because the night boys will start as i finish.  It makes sense to the bloke who thought it up! who strangely enough is the same bloke as before but now he's the shop manager.  So hey "lets do it"
Forget entirely that i will come in at 8 to view empty shelves and a line of customers asking for this and that - - - I'm hoping that after explaining to my boss, "lets call her cool hand Jenny" the implications of such a move that it might be canned - - - i don't hold out much hope that it will go "my way" - - - hey ho!

warm stats! 

Enjoy the day

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Facebook gets a kicking & Soggy morn

The tragic death of Lee Rigby at the hands of 2 lunatics gets an airing today with The war on Facebook as the "Indi" title to its story which is also covered extensively in other media. Terms like a "safe haven for terrorists" are bandied about! The story also airs the fact that MI5 had identified the pair in 7 investigations but that this "couldn't have stopped the murder" of Rigby - - - lets hope the government's current "Counter Terrorism awareness week" achieves something !!!! - - -

This hunched shouldered figure is apparently a "broken man" according to his sister.
If he hadn't been caught in April this year he might still be "A respected hearing expert working at a number of UK hospitals"  and using a batch of hidden camera's in the biggest voyeurism case ever investigated by British police.  He was only caught when one camera he installed in a women's lavatory fell to the floor and was given to the police.  A subsequent investigation revealed the man installing the camera on video! - - -

The Hong Kong Pro Democracy demo's look to be coming to an end with a Tuesday night time raid on the Mong Kok camp because a local Taxi firm said its business was being disrupted because of the protesters.  This morning the clearance op was still going on

The Express newspaper not known for its quite "factual" headlines seems to be on a scaremongering mission this a.m.  - - - fingers crossed that its a situation thats not "that bad" - - -

Not fantastic stats this morning and earlier the rain was coming down quite hard and we have a soggy morn

Still full cloud cover and with the prospect of more rain to come methinks

"Little Man" (Sainsbury the tabby cat) is still managing to bring in a number of mice during his night time meanderings but has taken to chasing a small ball left over from the "Tom" era.  He hasn't played with it for years but all of a sudden started leaping around with it last night. Maybe Tom's upcoming anniversary of his death on Friday has something to do with it - - - spooky - - -

Back to the Fun Factory (Matlock Sainsbugs)tomorrow, could be fun!  I have had a couple of strange conversations with colleagues while shopping lately.  Number 1 was with the bloke who works week on week off like myself, "lets call him Steve" I was generally bitching about the organisation, as you do, when he announces that his current 24 hours a fortnight job, "will see me out" he is a 37 year old!!! - - -
Number 2 was with another colleague normally residing in the bakery but he works the bread isle on Tuesdays, "lets call him Billy"  I strolled up while shopping and engaged him in conversation a couple of weeks ago and he had a worried look on his face.  The night shift delivery had not been worked and he had lots of other rollers to work and didn't know where he was going to find the time to complete even the basic tasks
I told him just to mark what he had worked and i would sort it the following day. - - - Coming in the next day I wondered how he had "found the time" to re-arranged all the bread on the shelves from being side on to end on and had taken time to mix up the various manufacturers "overs" bread in an effort to reduce the number of stacks.

Further to this it turns out that the "Area Bakery Manager", lets call him a faceless bureaucrat who never deigns to speak, has voiced his displeasure at Billy's "new display" to the bakery manager, "the cool handed Jenny".  This was passed on to Billy as a "mild rebuke"

I went in yesterday (Tuesday) to see Billy again changing the display from side on to end on.  When i mentioned my "observations" from a fortnight ago the term,  "water off a ducks back" accompanied the silly grin on his face - - - Is it me? - - - Really! is it me?

No word from China so i might be banned/blocked !- - -

Enjoy the day

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A Jumping truck & Am I banned/blocked in China?

Great stunt by the Lotus F1 Team although i cant understand the "world record" status that the Sky News story and video labels it with.  Its not as if you see it done every week! - - -

With the 11% rise of the Westminster MP's not long ago the Welsh MP's dip their snouts deeper in the trough and vote themselves an 18% pay rise.  This story is "cunningly" juxtaposed with the recent Wales only deal for Health workers who will get a 1% rise from April 2015.
I wonder if any of these jokers also has a seat and salary in Westminster!!! nice money if you can get it - - -

The pic of the police car on fire after rioting in Ferguson Missouri highlights the "Seasons Greetings" banner down the street, but there's not much "peace and goodwill to all men" going on after a White policeman will not face charges after shooting dead a black teenager some time ago.  You can understand the anger but why does the looting of shops have to go a long with it? - - -

Another "Show Stopper" from the Express will no doubt be followed soon with one something like, "Concern over statins!" - - -

 The weather was kind for our trip to Sally's "big Sis" where we tackled some Leylandii which had gone rampant.  I hadn't realised they wanted the tops lopping which my gear is not designed for but we managed it without any mishaps.  We were all surprised by the amount of branches the things had and thankfully the disposal of them, it was decided could wait for another day - - -

Am I banned or blocked in China????? I used to get over a 100 hits a day to the blog and around 50% were from China.  The pic above is a map from blogger showing where the hits are for the blog and china has been blank for some time now.  If you are in China and can see the blog can you comment please at the bottom of this post? 

Its still below freezing even at 10:03 so it must be time to pop the tiny heater probe into the pond to stop it freezing - - - 

Weathercam is showing that the fog has still not cleared form the valley so thats maybe why the temp. is so low.  

Our "begging letter" e mail to the Kurumba Resort  manager looks to have paid off with us having received a reply and being copied in a further e mail to the Operations manager to see what can be done - - - Christmas might not have to be cancelled! 

Enjoy the day

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Another Thornberry kicking & such a busy schedule!

More misery for Labour and Emily Thornberry in particular this morning as Sky News shouts Labour damaged as Thornberry gets on her bike very droll!  her tweet about the flag bedecked house of white van man Dan Ware is labelled "one of the greatest self inflicted wounds an opposition has managed in recent years" not in this story directly but there are rumours that UKIP are now so popular that more MP's from other parties might "jump ship" to join them before the general election - - -

 The curious case of Rurik Jutting rambles on slowly to its conclusion in Hong Kong with another Sky News story titled Suitcase Murders: Briton ruled fit for trial explains that he has once again been in court and the trail is set for July next year due to the 200 items of evidence collected.  You would have thought 2 bodies in his flat would be enough although i guess the "due process" has to be gone through to ensure "justice is done".  Short on actual detail the story then waltzes off into the red light district with a reporter video showing a police raid on a club for "illegals" and a "Peak" site interview with one of the "girls" - - - very illuminating - - -

 The BBC highlights what looks like  a computer bug called Regin .  looking like it might been developed by a "nation state" to spy on government organisations, businesses and individuals. - - -

Visiting No 1 daughter (the elder) yesterday to have a go at reducing bits of a tree removed form the garden some time ago was success.  While Sally and Caroline chatted and realised they had so much in common they might as well have been "separated at birth" Mike and I set about the job.  With the wood having dried out long ago the chunks of trunk in particular gave the new chain a challenge.  As it got dark we still had the stuff on the carrier at left to do and a few other bits to do.  Looks like a further visit is in order - - -

Another revelation from the Express - - - I thought we had done this one recently  - - -

Our holiday to the Maldives next Feb gave us a little surprise when we asked for the Invoice to ensure we had budgeted enough.  "Shock horror" the 15% accommodation discount for returning guests looks to have been suspended!  We will bite the bullet anyhow but it might be a case of "cancel Christmas" in the words of the Prince of Thieves film - - - A begging e mail to the resort manager has been despatched in the hope of some discount on the premise of "if you don't ask you don't get" - - -

Another busy day with a trip to Sally's "big Sis" in order to fell some small garden tree's - - - such a busy schedule! - - -

very frosty outside although the temp is now above freezing

weathercam view looks great though with the sun halfway down to the bottom of the valley already
Enjoy the day

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Gecko man & its a soggy Saturday

Gecko's you see them climbing the walls or appearing to be motionless waiting for their prey to come along.

They catch all manner of bugs and are normally left alone even in houses, harmless things.  I did see one tripadvisor write up about a Greek woman on a Maldive holiday who complained she couldn't go into the bathroom because there was one in there!


The way the Gecko climbs however is the inspiration behind this story where hand sized silicone pads mimic the gecko's "technology" and allow the man in the pic to "climb" up what looks like a very shiny wall.
"climb" should be a loosely applied term because you can see his feet are on the rungs of what appear to be a ladder.   Impressive non the less - - -

This is Shane Coffey from the USA who travelled to the UK in April this year with the sole intention of attacking 2 people with a knife he had met through online gaming .
Although the 2 victims both sustained injuries the assailant was arrested and is now in prison.  - - - the obvious moral of this story is be careful who and how you communicate with on the internet - - -

The media are in overdrive to savage Emily Thornberry and the Labour party are in overdrive on a damage limitation exercise to play down the effect of Thornberry's remark and resignation from her shadow cabinet post.
Champagne Socialist's Property Empire  is the title of the Mails vicious dismantling of her reputation with some startling facts about how she had become one if Big Ed's (Miliband's) elite champions and supporters.  
The final couple of paragraphs sink their teeth further into Big Ed though as they report how he saved his own skin by insisting Thornberry resign.  with the last paragraph as usual hammering in the final nail to her coffin with " The last thing the beleaguered old style Hampstead socialist needed was a blundering Islington Champagne socialist to demonstrate how utterly out of touch his party is with so many British people" - - -

With the flash on to illuminate the rain we got a real drenching yesterday.
The rain gauge on my weather station clocked up 11.4mm of rain between 17:00 yesterday and 03:00 this morning.

Soggy stats then this morning with the rain gauge showing almost half an inch of rain in the last 24 hrs.

 the weathercam view is restricted by the fog to around 200 metres with the forecasters only predicting light rain today .

Enjoy the day

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Up for Some down for others! & our busy social calendar

The by election triggered  by the defection of Mark Reckless from the Cons. to UKIP has worked out nicely for him as he wins it, so he's on the "up" .  Undisguised pleasure on the face of Farage in the pic - - - lets hope he is similarly jubilant at the next "real election" - - -

However Emily Thornberry has a touch of Foot in mouth disease when she posted a pic of a house with three English flags draped on it and a "white van" parked outside with a title of "image of Rochester" - - - the owner of the house branded her a snob as the backlash forced her resignation from the post of Shadow attorney general. - - - so she's definitely on the "down"

 Unbelievable might just describe the billions of dollars spent on this oil field project in which a whole host of heads should have already "rolled" .
8 years behind schedule $30 billion over budget and problems have caused it not to produce any more oil until "at least" 2016! - - - maybe we will send them some funds! - - -

A Russian based website  is streaming 500 IP webcams from the UK although there's mention of another 250 countries which it also streams cams from.

The main route in for this site is when people do not realise that if the "admin" user on a webcam has no password or it is easy to guess anyone with a little knowledge can hack into them.  One of the largest manufacturers of IP cams is FOSCAM and it appears their cams ship with "admin" as the user and "No password" as the default.  The story does mention that FOSCAM have already changed their software to make the user put in a password before it can be used online - - -

I finally get a clear view from the end of the stand of tree's i have been clearing all year although there is still work to do felling the smaller stuff at top left in the pic

Its a trip to see No 1 daughter (the elder) tomorrow to help reduce some of her felled,  "monster tree" from the garden to firewood, while No 1 daughter (the younger) starts a new job next Monday and we visit Sally's "big sis" to fell some of her garden trees - - - tsk tsk! such a busy social calendar lol!

The early stats make it look a little chilly and damp

while the weathercam shows just a little mist in the valley and with Metcheck predicting quite a bit of rain to hit us today! - - -

I've added a bit of a "bird table" to the feeders and this Nuthatch just visited

Enjoy the day

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UK Moon landing!? & cats in circles

The headline to this BBC story is UK to "Lead Moon Landing" funded by public contributions  - - - ahem - - - i dont want to put a dampener on this bit, I think you'll find the Americans did this in 1969, lol
One of the key personnel in the project quotes that "I really hope that it has the same effect as Rosetta that so gripped the world" Mmmmm - - -

Doom and gloom in Buffalo, an area of New York as it gets 5ft of snow in one go!
The video along with the short story is worth a watch though.   it appears to have been shot from one of those drones i blogged about recently - - -

Another snow story but this time its about why so many people die shifting the stuff
lots of data and facts to mull over - - - people over 55 are urged not to do it because its considered so dangerous - - - personally if it weren't for the over 55's on the terrace I live on the snow just would not get cleared - - -

This is funny why do cats sit in circles is the theme.  Apparently if you make a circle out of almost anything on the ground your cat will go and sit inside it.  Vasrious theories are expounded in the story but it boils down to one thing no-one really knows why they do it - - - My theory is the story is just a ruse to get us all to try it with our felines - - - I tried it earlier with Little Man - - - result? he just looked at it and then at me as if to say "and what is that all about?" - - -

Well well nearly finished the brush clearing.  I managed a couple of hours Tuesday and am almost at the end of the patch. Todays weather looks like it might be kind so i shall finish it off

I then need to get this and another similar pile cut down to firewood size and covered before the seriously wet winter weather hits us.

Down at the Fun Factory (Matlock Sainsbugs) things are not going too well.  Yesterday (the last day of my current shift pattern) there was much grumbling from as small group of colleagues.  On enquiring what it was about it turns out they had worked until 01:30 that morning to get "their bit sorted" and were now back in the shop at 10:00 for an 8 hour shift.   Methinks Anarchy! might hit before xmas - - -

Just before i knocked off a minor manager,  please understand that this is merely a title! "lets call him John, was collecting cardboard from part of my isle which has jams/spreads in.  He made a comment about how many times I had "dressed" that particular display and i answered in the negative.  "Not a team player then?" was his pithy remark, I wandered up to him and reminded him that i was at least 30 years older than him and had "gone through" all that bull-shit!  - - - I must admit to not being affected by the corporate brainwashing that go's on and find it slightly amusing when things like this are "trotted out" in the name of "leadership" - - - its sad and unfair though that "these people" have such a profound effect on some of my younger colleagues that they have eventually driven them from the job- - -

pretty cool at the moment but not much of a chance of any rain today according to the weathermen

weathercam looks a little misty but this was forecast - - - fingers crossed for the logging!

Enjoy the day

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