Calais Mayor please come and live here! & wild weather for us!

Grim reading in the Express of a couple shot in their villa in Alicante.  Sky news carries a story of 4 stabbed to death in Gilbralter - - -

Please come an live over here Madame Bouchard!!! the Mayor of Calais Links the lack of ID cards in the UK making it more appealing for to migrants seeking work.  When are "we" going to wake up to the benefits of ID cars rather than letting the "stupid" brigade tell us they are a bad thing! - - - 

This E cigs  story from the BBC got me thinking to a sight i saw the other day.  Leaving the front door to go for a walk the other day as got to the pavement a "child" went by puffing on an e cig!  Mmmmmm i thought at least we looked like we shouldn't be doing it when we used to smoke on the way to school lol - - - Scary stats in the story for any responsible parent - - -

I'm amazed that the News media is not full of "gale damage" stories after the howling winds of last night around our little house.  I must have been awakened by the noise a number of times and the rain was hammering on our car port roof!

mild Temp this morning but the current wind and rain stat figures tell their stories of last nights wild weather 

yesterday during the daylight hours the weather it has to be said was a little benign but it soon went wild after dark.  The weathercam shows a clear view up to the top of the valley but its still blowing and raining 

Enjoy the day

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Its all about the weather & Pics in the book!

Its all about the weather today with the express kicking off with a story of the Atlantic storm which is already with us and set to intensify over the next few days - - -

The Metro  carries a pretty good impression of what the Met O are predicting for the week but it doesn't concur with the Express view that the Easter weekend will be wet and windy.  Their take is it will "remain dry and we might even see some sunshine"   -- - -

even the Maldives resort of kuredu had rain earlier this morning - -








although the live pic right now shows it to be sunny - -

Finland is experiencing a fresh snow storm, the snow having disappeared  from the roads a couple of days ago. I imagine the Atlantic low moving in might even affect their weather in the next few days - - -

Locally its a case of "Red sky in the morning Shepherds Warning!"

 The wind speed doesn't reflect the overnight gusts but the rain in the last 24 hours stat indicates what has been going on 

quite clear and calm at the moment on the weathercam, it should liven up quite soon 

Here's LM giving me a hand with checking the book yesterday! i hope to insert pics in the next few days and who knows with a bit of "application" i might even get the job finished before i return to work Thursday! - - -

Enjoy the day

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Easter hell on the trains & My book text is finished!

someone at the Express does their homework to provide the facts and figures for their headline the message is, avoid the trains this Easter if you can - - -

the ridiculous furore over the sacking of J Clarkson  takes a dive  down stupid street with the DG of the BBC receiving death threats, I'm amazed how much support JC has had when you look at the stunts he has pulled over the last few years - - -

 mild temp stats this morning 

the sky was clear 30 mins ago but its clouding up now and is set for a windy rainy day according to forecasters

I finally finished the text on my book yesterday around 16:15 and promptly popped down the shop for some alcohol to celebrate!   So having had my Alka seltzer start up! I'm going to design the book cover and will post it later  - - - still lots of work to do inserting the photos - - -

something on the lines of this for the book cover

Enjoy the day

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Italian justice - fail! & Dont forget to put the clocks forward tonight

The Express is nearly back to normal with its pursuit of the wonder drug/cure.  A story with the headline "new pill to beat arthritis agony: British scientists behind huge breakthrough"  was carried by the paper on July 29th 2013 - - - why then is there a need for another? - - -

Italian court acquits Knox and Sollecito What a farce!
Merdith Karcher (at left) murdered in 2007. This has been a roundabout of disaster for the Italian justice system seemingly unable to bring closure to the case! A third person is still serving a 16 year sentence for his part in the murder - - -

The bloke in the pic is Chinese and went to the extreme solution of trying to drown himself when he saw his arranged marriage bride for the first time on his wedding day.  he apparently claimed she was Too ugly and would be bad for his image   - - -

 These amusing objects have been branded "pure and simple racism" by a rep from the "Representative Council of Black Associations" (!?) They appeared in a French Riviera bakery and the baker insists they do not represent a Black man and woman merely human beings.  No doubt if the chocolate had been white everything would have been OK  - - - how ridiculous! - - -

Dont forget to put your clocks forward tonight! personally i change them all in the afternoon but seem to always miss at least one !  some clocks we dont even bother to adjust preferring to leave them on "real time"

Sally inspected the fallen blossom in the top greenhouse yesterday and pronounced the cause more likely to be lack of water.  She could be correct because it is on a hill and when she watered the thing the water immediately soaked into the ground rather than pooling! - - -

 stats are rather mild this morning 

Visibility is a little restricted on the top of the hills this morning and forecasters are indicating rain for much of the day 

Enjoy the day

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Debate! what Debate? & Blossom's down

The Express like may other rags carry's the horrific story of the lunatic who crashed the Germanwings plane.  There are plans afoot to have a 2 in the cockpit at all times rule because it appears he locked the door and disabled the coded entry system from outside which had been introduced after the 9/11 tragedy - -

 The internment of Richard III's remains went well on TV with huge crowds and lots of coverage.  One of the intigators of the search for Richards remains however "John Ashdown Hill" appears to have "made himself look a total clown" by shaking his head and rolling his eyes apparently because he didn't get a mention in the eulogy - - - Polly Toynbee in the Guardian tells the other side of the story!!!! - - -

Debate what debate, it dawned on me that the programme was not a debate when Mr Paxman laid out the itinerary.  I thought Mr Paxman was a shadow of his former political savaging of many a politician self and why he asked Cameron so many times "could you live on a Zero hours contract" without getting an answer showed just that.  The reason Mr Paxman that people take up zero hours contracts is because they have no other options.  I switched off just before the audience grilling of Cameron thinking what's the point of Mr Paxman talking  to the PM about what he hasn't done and then asking Milliband what he's going to do and "are you tough enough" .  The papers think Cameron "won" i just think Mr Paxman lost! - - - the plot  - - -

Charging on with the book yesterday i realised that my last few years in the Army when i was on the "Adminstration" side of things has more of a story than i thought! I'm still planning on finishing the text by the start of my next shift pattern though - - - !

Chatting with my opposite number yeaterday down at the Fun Factory he had not noticed the new "regime" notice above the Clocking in machine (i hate that thing) which will so disrupt his work flow.  On completion he was not a happy colleague - - - i advised him just to "go with the flow" - - -

We have a small fruiting XXXXXXXX in the greenhouse at the top of the garden which had already popped out a number of blossom so its sheltered position seemed to be working.  Alas though the heavy frost of yesterday looked to have killed off all but one.  Sally had been pollinating with a brush so it might have "set" but i don't think so.  I have shrouded the thing in some of that flimsy wrap stuff in an attempt to stave off any more damage to the still emerging blooms! - - -

 cold stats again, no frost though - - - 

the sky looks a little overcast but has a fair amount of "blue bits" the forecasters have indicated sunshine later - - - 

Enjoy the day

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Yemeni situation looks interesting & Get Ready to Rumble at the Fun Factory

the Express headline covers the French alps aircraft tragedy with what can only be described as wild speculation about the cause if the disaster! - - - one of the system black boxes has been found but has been almost destroyed, the flight recorder has yet to be found - - -



Clarkson gets sacked so he shares the front page - - -

The Yemeni situation looks to be seriously going down the pan with Saudi Arabian intervention in the situation.  America has pledged its support - - - this will be worth following! - - -






The weather this morning is pretty nasty with heavy rain earlier turning to sleet then snow the forecasters are saying it will clear during the day but give us a cold frosty night!

The powers that be have come up with a brain wave at the Fun Factory.  Yesterday I spy a large printed message above the clocking in machine (i hate that thing) which says "all shop floor colleagues MUST attend the rumble at 15:00.  This is where the empty cardboard and plastic containers are removed form the shelves and the product line up at the front of the shelves.

Normally because my isle is only worked by me i was allowed to ignore the "call" and get on with my job.  Yesterday i was informed by my boss "lets call her Jenny", that i now must attend the rumble like "everyone" else.  It will only take 20 minutes" i am told.  At the appointed time the call comes over the tannoy and i duly go off and do the rumble but notice that "everyone" in the instruction seems not to apply to "everyone" .

 I note this observation to a couple of "managers" one shrugs her shoulders the other defends why the "observed" dont need to attend - - - 45 minutes later! i abscond from the rumble because its my break time.  After the break i just manage to top up the bread shelves and then clocking out (i hate that thing) glide majestically (lol) past the 4 unworked cake rollers!  - - -

On an amusing note however i am removing items form the shelves to reduce in price and come across a number items with the previous days date on. Even more alarming,  in the "Free From" section i come across items i had reduced on a Monday which are still there (2 days out of date).  I remonstrate with the colleague responsible, "lets call him Billy" and apart from a grin he only offers "weren't me" as a reason for these oversights.  Making light of the situation with other colleagues one suggested that the "Weren't me" is closely allied to Not me, or not my job, excuses frequently heard, which should all now fall under the term, "doing a Billy" !!  - - -

Richard the thirds funeral, Cameron and Milliband discussion tonight on the TV what more could a person want today!?  - - - its full steam ahead for me though on the final part of my book!!!!!!

cold wet stats this morning 

the snow is actually accumulating over 500 feet! 

Flight tragedy in the French Alps & "Storm"ing along with the book

A close to home airline tragedy with this Germanwings aircraft plunges into a valley in the French Alps.  All 150 on boiard are feared dead as photo's show little left of the aircraft.  Bad weather is hampering recovery of the bodies and black boxes - - -

The daily Express covers the Alps tragedy

I see Lee Kuan Yew died last Monday.  He was president of Singapore for 31 years at the time the British had an interest in the island.  He was to say the least a political thorn in the side of the Brits about policies and independence from our imperial intentions.
I think its rather ironic though that his coffin is being carried on a British 25 pdr Gun carriage - - -

 Nice early morning view yesterday of the hillside with good looking prospects for a sunny day

 Looking North up the River Derwent on one of the Darley Dale fly fishing stretches

the prospect of a sunny day went down the pan as this shot from our lunch venue shows the rain coming form the clouds is almost upon us

 cold stats this morning with a fair covering of frost

the frost can be made out on the tops and sides of the pergola in the foreground.  The forecasters, who were so wrong yesterday are predicting a sunny day

I'm really blasting along with the book now and as today is my last day of the current shift pattern i'm giving it an optimistic eye and hope to finish the text by the time i go back to work!!!!! The "Storm"ing reference in the blog title today will become apparent if you read the book!?*- - -

Enjoy the day

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Election debate coming & sunny morning/wet afternoon!

Bit of a fairy story in this one if you read it, an MEP and a "senior UKIP figure" have said that cutting migrant figures would boost our economy Mmmmmmm! - - -

 Its never too early to talk about an election but it think this debate might be worth a look on Thursday! - - -

 cold an frosty stats this morning 

the weathercam shows a nice looking sky with the prospect of some sunshine this morning but the forecasters are predicting a grim afternoon of thundery wintry showers, while tomorrow when i'm working will be wall to wall sunshine! - - -

Enjoy the day

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the mossies are coming! & nice sunset pic

How grateful we all must be today with the express telling us that supermarket prices are falling  as usual the devil is in the detail and the "big boys" of the supermarket world are only dropping prices in an effort to stave off the likes of Aldi and Lidl - - - I have notices lately that the price of fuel is creeping back up again at the supermarkets, maybe they think no-one is looking! - - -

Here's a weather story with a twist, because our climate is warming up disease carrying female mossie's are set to arrive in Britain over the next few decades - - - British scientists though are "on the case" and are producing a Genetically Modified male mossie which will only produce male offspring!! - - -

 close by gardens are full of daffodils but on our exposed hilllside location our blooms are only just starting to appear

I had forgotten that the Spring Equinox was the same day as the Eclipse so its time for some good sunset shots as the sun sets on the other side of the valley directly opposed to our garden

 cool stats once again with just a hint of a breeze 

nice looking sky this morning, theres a hint of some rain but also sunny intervals this p.m.

Enjoy the day

Follow this link to see  our weather website

Or this one just to see  Live webcam - - Birdfeeders