WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Christian]

I think that yellow colour was an old BT standard before they went to grey?

Anyway, nowt much attracted my attention today other than helping people.. Helped a mate move house and one walk her rather large landshark. All good

[chinatyke]

I think that yellow colour was an old BT standard before they went to grey?

...and one walk her rather large landshark. All good

Ha ha!

I had a buttercup-yellow Ford car and loved it. I remember being told at the time that there had been a study which concluded that yellow cars are involved in less accidents because the colour is repulsive to most people and they kept their distance from them. It didn't stop mine from being wrecked when a driver coming in the opposite direction fell asleep at the wheel!

[Stanley]

That was JCB yellow....
Tiz, I used to drive many hundreds of miles with a pot of tea or coffee sat on the engine housing next to me. Never spilled a drop because I was constantly looking after my ladies in the back.
A funny thing got my attention (I sometimes wonder how my brain works...) I was sat reading and wanted to light my pipe. This book is tight and in good nick and if you leave go of the page it closes. I didn't want that to happen and so reached for my nail clippers, laid them on the joint and prevented the page turn. Then it came into my mind that that was a very human reaction, I had seen a problem, identified a solution, put it into practice and solved the difficulty. That's probably a good example of why we evolved differently than the apes.
Question is, is it normal to have a thought process like that? I sometimes wonder about the way my brain is wired up!

[Cathy]

Then we went a step further and produced Book Marks... Genius.

I have a few specially bought bookmarks but often just use the receipt I got when I bought the book.

[Stanley]

I always use them Cathy. I was taught early in life that it was an insult to a book to turn the corner of a page down!

[Tripps]

I was taught early in life that it was an insult to a book to turn the corner of a page down!

A Post it note is ideal, but for more long term reminders I use Book Darts

[Marilyn]

I use bookmarks. If I cant find one, I fold a clean tissue up and use that as a temporary measure.
(remember I recently found a scrap of paper in a second hand book, thought it was being used as a bookmark, but it was a drug dealer's tally sheet?!)

Can anyone answer this question for me? What will Harry and Meghan's surname be now?

[Stanley]

I often use funeral cards, they remind me of people like Billy Parsons and Rita Barritt. It's nice to remember them. Otherwise I have a drawer full of bookmarks and old post cards.
All those young lasses who will be going to school secure in the knowledge they don't have to worry about period poverty. It'll be like Xmas for them. I hope the system works and is efficiently run.
Hospital appointment. Must remember my water sample!

[Stanley]

Later.... Wall to wall Harry and Meghan as Harry has a public whinge at a charity engagement last night. I wish they would just get on with it.
Meanwhile, in another part of the forest, as we suspected, questions are being asked about what the actual source of the couple's income is and we are told it's 90% from Chuck. This raises interesting questions about whether subsidies paid to the family are tax deductible. Evidently the Queen takes this line in her disbursements. But this raises another hare in respect of Charles as he has a track record of sailing close to the wind in these matters in respect of his wedge from the Duchy of Cornwall which he asserts is a private estate but this isn't actually the case.
Personally I am in a frenzy of indifference to where the royals get their income. It is definitely nothing to do with me. However, there are plenty of people out there who are very interested and there is a definite possibility that a can of worms could be opened up.
We haven't heard the last of Meghangate, not by a long chalk.

[plaques]

However, there are plenty of people out there who are very interested and there is a definite possibility that a can of worms could be opened up.

I'm one of those people who is always interested in public money affairs that are concluded in secret meetings especially where the reported agreement is wrapped up in vague terminology.
eg: from a wiki page. Prince Harry's payments comes directly from Prince Charley's income derived out of his duchy estates which he pays tax on at the maximum rate on a voluntary basis. Well that's all right then. It must save the Inland Revenue loads of time and money not having to look too closely at what's going on as long as they get something.

[Tizer]

Can anyone answer this question for me? What will Harry and Meghan's surname be now?

Smith?

[Cathy]

And Archie’s. Interesting... Spencer?

[plaques]

Can anyone answer this question for me? What will Harry and Meghan's surname be now?

You will need a Phd in Royal names to get a fully correct answer. Here are some of the complexities..

Queen Victoria after her marriage was Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Edward V11 was also Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
George V started as Saxe-Coburg and Gotha but adopted the name Windsor.
George V1 continued with the name Windsor.
The current queen Elizabeth 11 also took the name Windsor from this point it gets complicated.
Her husband 'The now Duke of Edinburgh was called Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
Which he then adopted Mountbatten which was an adaptation of Battenberg
After the queen's marriage and the birth of her first two Children (Charles & Anne) were allowed to use Windsor as their surname. Elizabeth did not adopt Mountbatten's name and continued with Windsor but her next two children were Mountbatten-Windsor.
Prince Charles was Windsor and so were both William and Harry.
So Harry's adopted surname is Windsor, unless he drops it and takes his grandfather's name Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg which I doubt but could actually finish up as Tizer suggests Smith.

[Tripps]

Tricky situation- I was going to comment, but I knew you would do it better than I could .

Didn't the name tag on his army combat kit say WALES ? because he was the son of the Prince of Wales?

[PanBiker]

Indeed he did.

Smart motorways, apparently, according to official figures from the Department of Transport in a soon to be released report. It takes an average of 17 minutes to update the overhead displays to turn off any of the live lanes! Some folk not surprisingly have died.

There are only two small sections of the M25 that have "stopped vehicle technology" enabled on the sections. The rest rely solely on pickup by manually scanned cameras or the unfortunate drivers ringing a central control, no good if you don't have the number or a mobile phone to hand.

Circumstances of two fatalities, two vehicles in minor collision, made it to inside lane. Both parties got out, other side of barrier was a sheer drop, nearest refuge area nearly a mile away. While they were thinking what to do, both were killed by a wagon that hit them at 50mph unaware that they were parked in what was still a live lane according to the overhead gantries.

Both the AA and RAC have stated that in their view the inside lane should be permanently switched to closed to act as the previous hard shoulder until the correct safety systems are fully operational across all newly commissioned sections of smart motorway.

Won't get me on one, that's for sure.

[Marilyn]

I keep hearing Harry and Meghan being referred to as “The Sussexes”, and I wondered if that was in the offing?
If you are going to live int real world, you need a proper surname...
I didn’t realise Archie’s surname was Spencer, but this may be a clue to how long they have been planning the escape. If they take on his mother’s maiden name, it will save them having to change their son’s surname...or having to adopt the lad!

[Wendyf]

Not Spencer, Archie was registered as Archie Harrison Mountbatten - Windsor. They remain the Duke & Duchess of Sussex so they could also call themselves Sussex.

[plaques]

I didn’t realise Archie’s surname was Spencer, but this may be a clue to how long they have been planning the escape.

This is what the newspapers had his name down as....Earlier this week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle welcomed their first baby! Today, the royals announced their son's full name: Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor This is the name they can use if they haven't got a royal title. It would appear that they can adopt any name they choose or as Johnny Cash would say..Bill or George any damn thing but Sue.

[Stanley]

Speaking as a man who has a legitimate claim to four surnames (Not by royal connection but because I am a bastard and the registration rules in 1936 were different than what applies today.) I feel superior to all of them. All my names have solid legal antecedents! Mind you, I was tempted. I've always thought that Stanley Challenger MacDonald has a certain ring to it but father, like many others, registered for army service under an assumed name, he took his mother's maiden name. I note that in my latest reading, Rudolph Hess did the same thing in the Great War, he registered as Alfred Horn, a name he subsequently used again.
On the subject of the Duchy of Cornwall, HMRC have had reason in the past to ask searching questions about how the income is treated. Chuck has always maintained it should be taxed as a private estate but it quite obviously isn't. I think Private Eye will have a field day with this in the next edition!

[Tizer]

So Harry's adopted surname is Windsor, unless he drops it and takes his grandfather's name Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg which I doubt but could actually finish up as Tizer suggests Smith.

Or Schmidt?

[PanBiker]

More on the smart motorways. I found out that eight people have died so far as a result of having to stop in a live lane. Fastest fatality apparently was only 17 seconds after suffering a breakdown. In all cases the cars could not reach a refuge area. Loads of information on a google search. Found this one from Highways England themselves reporting to MP's regarding stopped vehicle technology:

Highways England - Stopped Vehicle Technology would have saved lives

[Big Kev]

If at first you don't succeed...

Royal Mail.JPG

They tried fobbing me off with a list of requirements for the use of a large letter stamp, I'm sure they thought I wouldn't read it. I was compelled to respond

[Stanley]

Christine is a handy woman to know, she evidently has a desk drawer full of books of stamps! Nice one....

[Cathy]

Is anyone following the Santos Tour Down Under bike race? You’ll get to see some lovely footage of our Adelaide Hills It finishes on Sunday.

[Stanley]

Not seen any mention here Cathy.
Wuhan, the source of the present flu outbreak has more inhabitants than London. 11 million as opposed to 8.5 million in London. We forget how many people there are in China!