WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

And if the present crop is any guide Kev, verbal skills will suffer also. Look at people we have noted who can't even speak in complete sentences!

[Marilyn]

A field of birds outside our back fence this evening...must have been several hundred out there, but I cropped the pic.

[Cathy]

Are they Galah’s ? Very pretty in a domestic / suburban setting.

[Marilyn]

Yes, they have the pink chests....( cockatoos? Galahs? I get confused. I can tell you they get up very very early and love to chatter)

[Tizer]

Breaking news!...
`Gnome shortage: Lockdown and Suez canal blockage blamed' LINK

[Stanley]

That is truly shocking news. It could bring the government down!
Meanwhile, in the surreal world of HMRC there is a webchat facility. I contacted it this morning after receiving yet another letter for Mr Twist (Which this time I opened.) ! It wouldn't let me in until I took a chance and used his name. That got me talking to a lady called Natalia. Her solution was to send it back to the returns office marked not known and this would end the matter. I told her I had sent seven and that hadn't happened. After taking all the details off the letter she asked me to send it back to the returns office and she will alert them. The necessary steps will be taken and I will not get any more. We shall see.... All this took over 30 minutes, who do I bill for this?

[Stanley]

I went for a walk to Town Square and a sit in the sun. The chairs and tables are a good idea and Victoria's tearoom is doing a roaring trade. Whoever is responsible, well done!

[Cathy]

Good pics Stanley.
History in the making, a day many will remember

[Big Kev]

I went for a walk to Town Square and a sit in the sun. The chairs and tables are a good idea and Victoria's tearoom is doing a roaring trade. Whoever is responsible, well done!

BTC

[Stanley]

Thanks Kev, I thought it was, I saw Tom Whipp there unpacking the furniture.
A big help for the businesses on the Square Cathy so yes, very important.

[Bodger]

https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... onists-aoe

[Stanley]

Interesting article Bodge. I wonder if M&S will read and respond? Sounds as though they didn't do their homework.
Apart from that, wall to wall Philip funeral. I shall be strong.....

[Tizer]

Even the British Beekeepers Association have criticised M&S. It's like some of the `plant a million trees' projects where somebody goes and plants thousands of acres of conifers which are hopeless for wildlife compared with broadleaved trees but mature quickly and are then chopped down and sold for profit.

[Stanley]

Bit of a variation this morning. After my marathon with Natalia at HMRC I got another letter this morning this time addressed to James Kenneth Twist so it is almost certainly the jerk that Postman Pete alerted me to. This time it's from the DWP asking for the Universal Credit Money back. They have an 0800 number so it's a Monday Morning task. Both tax and DWP after him, a busy lad.

[Tripps]

Time to step away I'd say. You've done all you can. He knows where you live.

[Stanley]

That's what I am trying to do David. I might have achieved that with HMRC, now I have to do it with DWP. At least their line is 0800 and not 0300!

[Tripps]

now I have to do it with DWP

No you don't.

Either return to sender. of bin it, would be my unsought advice.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

I've just come back from Town Square. Supporting the town economy. Ham sandwich, salad and coffee £7! Then two books and a bag of toffees. Thought I'd better come home.

[Big Kev]

Thanks Kev, I thought it was, I saw Tom Whipp there unpacking the furniture.
A big help for the businesses on the Square Cathy so yes, very important.

And here is the young Mr Whipp

20210417_144529.jpg

[Stanley]

I mentioned what a good thing the tables were to one of the young ladies who waits on at Victoria's Tearoom and she complained that they had made a lot of work for them. I kept quiet but reflected on just how far some people are from reality.

[Stanley]

Soil imported to the Green in the last couple of days. Not sure why but only the other day I was noting that the Green could do with a good top dressing of soil. We shall see.



O'Callaghan have virtually finished the re-flagging at the base of the town flagpole. Could it be the first job they actually finish?

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report on today's attempt by NASA to fly a drone on Mars where it faces two major challenges, the thin atmosphere and the communication delay which means it has to have autonomous control.

[Tizer]

I hope they don't get a Martian dust storm...
`The Fact and Fiction of Martian Dust Storms' NASA

[Stanley]

I spoke to a nice lady in Cardiff who was not at all surprised that Mr Twist is using my address. She gave me an address to send it back to, not the one on the letter. The whole thing took five minutes on an 0800 line.