WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Ian, your labours in Gill churchyard came to mind when I read that you and Sally had been recognised. Well done. It's always nice to know that someone noticed!

[Stanley]

I popped my head in the Co-op. They haven't healed up yet!

[Stanley]

The persistence of this dry weather....

[Big Kev]

It's been 8 weeks since I bought my current car but still no sign of the V5 from the DVLA. I've found that they have a new email service, https://contact.dvla.gov.uk/email
A few presets to choose from and the option to add a note to the query, it also states I should get a response within 3 working days. We'll see how that goes.

I had a response from the DVLA, they have no record of an updated V5 request from the dealer. I phoned the dealer yesterday and they are checking their records and will call me back today. Hopefully it's just a clerical error, they have an online system to update the DVLA.

[Stanley]

Time something trouble-free happened in your motoring life Kev!

[Big Kev]

Time something trouble-free happened in your motoring life Kev!

Worse case scenario, I have to request a new V5 myself along with a £25 fee. The car dealer has the responsibility to notify DVLA which, it seems, they have not done.
In the grand scheme of things it's an inconvenience.

[Big Kev]

The dealer sorted it

[Stanley]

It struck me this morning just how serious the water situation is getting. We are experiencing the driest Spring on record. This is going to have an effect.

[Mags]

According to the BOM we are on track to have the driest May on record......

[Stanley]

Morning Margaret! So you are in the same boat as us. Mind you, Western Australia is used to it aren't they.....

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC Verify report on the water situation.
Many of the UK's rivers have hit exceptionally low levels and that could worsen in the next three months, according to the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), raising questions over supplies to households, farmers and businesses. The warning comes after the driest spring in England since 1961, with northern regions experiencing the driest start to the year in nearly a century. Almost all of the UK is expected to have below normal or low river levels in May, apart from the south-west of England and southern Wales. The Environment Agency has said that the UK is at medium risk of drought and warned households of the risk of water restrictions. The next 2-3 weeks will be "crucial" in determining whether the country goes into drought, says Mark Owen, head of fisheries for the Angling Trust and a member of the National Drought Group. That is the committee, led by the government, that declares if and when a drought is officially under way. The country is not now in drought, but the impacts of the exceptionally dry weather are already being felt.
The weather is quite exceptionally dry, the old saying about April showers was completely wrong this year and May has been no better.

[Stanley]

I enjoyed the tinned haggis I got at the Co-op yesterday so much I went back this morning and got three tins for my store cupboard.... You can tell I was brought up during the war.
By the way, the Co-op have had a delivery of greengrocery..... Perhaps they are beginning to heal up!

[Stanley]

THIS report grabbed me....
6 minutes ago
A huge Mexican Navy training ship has been damaged after crashing into New York City's Brooklyn Bridge during a festive visit to the US. Footage has emerged showing towering masts of the Cuauhtémoc clipping the bridge as the sailing vessel was passing under the famous structure on Saturday evening. Parts of the masts reportedly fell on the deck, with US media reporting multiple injuries. New York City's Emergency Management said it was "responding to an incident", without giving any further details. The Mexican Navy confirmed that the ship was damaged, saying the incident was being investigated.

[Whyperion]

I was searching You Tube for a audio recording of one of mum's 78s by Geraldo , Somewhere in the night, there had been one but its gone now but I know the audio exists on a CD so I can get if from there. What did come up was a film (US) of 1946. While not watching it through in full I caught one line from a male (the male lead?) to his wife? "Its funny what three years of war will do to a man" . I reminded me - and I wondered what any British cinema audience of 1946 would have thought at that (indeed what did the film bureau of censors think?). In this month of 80 years since VE day and Trump's victory messaging that Nazi Germany would never have been defeated without the US( two odd years into the conflict that Britain military and otherwise had been under the sharp end of things ) . (Trump probably right , but its the way he says it). So the three years grated with me - in part as this is about the length of time Ukraine has been under a greater military pressure from Russia.

[Stanley]

Such a refreshing change to see THIS
Three Wakefield Council-run children's homes have been awarded "outstanding" ratings following Ofsted inspections. In one of the homes, inspectors found "children have wonderful experiences" and "are making and sustaining fantastic progress in all areas of their development". Ofsted inspectors also judged four other homes run by the council as "good", with one especially praised for its leadership and management. Margaret Isherwood, the council's cabinet member for children and young people, said: "We are delighted our children's homes have once again been recognised for their outstanding work." Ofsted inspectors highlighted that children at one of the homes had "trusted, secure and lasting relationships" with staff, and that leadership "creates an environment where children and staff flourish". One child told inspectors that staff had given them "a voice".
I hope the report is accurate and that such excellent work is maintained.

[PanBiker]

Cooperative Society at their AGM have voted to cease all trading with Israel.

On a negative it looks like Gary Lineker's chips are up as he is accused of Anti Semitism for criticising the Israeli governments Zionist policies. He is due to leave the BBC shortly.

[Tripps]

I just heard Gary Lineker announce that he had inadvertently posted an emoji which he was unaware of, and had not realised that such a symbol (a rat) was deeply anti semitic. Surely everyone knew that.

He had immediately removed it, and swears he would not have done it had he been aware of it, and understood what was involved. He had immediately fully apologised for the act which he didn't know he had done, and the meaning of which he didn't understand.

He realises that nothing other than an immediate resignation from his highly paid job of the last twenty six years will atone for the incident - so he's off.

Reminds me (once again) of the joke where Abie says to Hymie (when they were about to be mugged) - here's that fifty quid I owe you.

[Stanley]

I couldn't care less about Gary Lineker but I have to say that I wasn't aware that the symbol of a rat was a specifically anti-Semitic insult. Apart from that, where he went wrong in my opinion was sinking to using symbols to reinforce criticism. Good descriptive language is much more powerful.
Of course one of the current problems is where legitimate criticism of of the actions of the IDF ends and vile anti-Semitism starts. The BBC is not the only body to have problems with that.
I shan't lose any sleep over Mr Lineker....
What did get my attention yesterday was the final collapse of the switch on my Swan slow cooker. It didn't take me long to decide I was better off getting a replacement for £28 delivered and having a fresh start than going down the route of looking for another switch. The old one has served me well and looks a bit battered.
I shall not lose any sleep over that either!

[Stanley]

It's no wonder high street shops lose out to online.... I have got my previous slow cookers in Barlick in Albert Road but carrying one is beyond me these days so I ordered it on the web. 24 hours later it's sat on the bench in Barlick ready for action and a fiver cheaper than it would have cost here. ....

See THIS BBC report on hackers.....
3 hours ago
Detectives investigating cyber attacks on UK retailers are focussing on a notorious cluster of cyber criminals known to be young English-speakers, some of them teenagers, police have revealed. For weeks speculation has mounted that disruptive attacks on M&S, Co-op, Harrods and some US retailers could be the work of a hacking community called Scattered Spider. Speaking about the hacks for the first time, the National Crime Agency (NCA) has told BBC News the group is a key part of its ongoing investigation to find the culprits. "We are looking at the group that is publicly known as Scattered Spider, but we've got a range of different hypotheses and we'll follow the evidence to get to the offenders," Paul Foster, head of the NCA's national cyber crime unit, said in a new BBC documentary. "In light of all the damage that we're seeing, catching whoever is behind these attacks is our top priority," he added.
Whoever the culprits are they have caused a lot of damage and I hope they get caught. Old fashioned I know but a bit of retribution wouldn't go amiss 'Pour Encourage les Autres'.....

[Stanley]

See THIS weather report for the Bank Holiday Weekend....
There is a low chance of a small tornado on Wednesday as the UK faces a wet and windy bank holiday weekend. Forecasters say the chance of a tornado or isolated funnel cloud is extremely low and no warning has been issued by the Met Office. A funnel cloud is a cone-shaped cloud that reaches towards the ground but never touches it - if it does, then it becomes a tornado. The country has seen a change to wetter conditions on Wednesday with scattered heavy downpours and thunderstorms affecting affecting parts of the Midlands and southern England. The unsettled weather is set to continue on Saturday with spells of rain, turning heavy rain in the north and west, and into Sunday with wind in the north-west and showers in the west. It comes after the driest start to spring in more than a century.
I don't think I shall go into the weekend worrying about the weather. Mind you, it was at this time of year when we had the Barnoldswick Flood in 1932.....

[Stanley]

What David would call a bit spooky..... Uncle Bob was hit by a tornado yesterday, and I mean a direct hit. He and Paulette were very lucky to escape uninjured.

Meanwhile in another part of the forest THIS caught my eye.
The P39-1 is an anonymous stretch of thinly tarred highway connecting the small towns of Newcastle and Normandein in South Africa, a four-hour drive from Johannesburg. This week the single carriageway road, which runs mainly along the edge of farms nestled in the remote hills of the country's KwaZulu-Natal province, has found itself unexpectedly the subject of global attention. On Wednesday many South Africans were among those watching live around the world as US President Donald Trump ambushed his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa with a video making the case that white people were being persecuted. He had previously said that a "genocide" was taking place. The most striking scene in the video was an aerial shot of thousands of white crosses by the side of the road - a "burial site" President Trump repeatedly said, of more than a thousand Afrikaners murdered in recent years. The president did not mention where the road was although the film was quickly linked to Normandein. But the people who live nearby know better than anyone that his claim is not true. The BBC visited the area on Thursday, the day after the Oval Office showdown, to find that the P39-1's crosses have long since disappeared. There is no burial site, and the road looks like any other. A new grain mill has been built along one stretch where the crosses once briefly stood.
There is much more but once again Donald got it wrong....
There is another reason why my eye was caught. During the days when my dad was roaming the world working before the Great War one of the jobs he had was supervising the native workers building those roads round Newcastle. So a bit spooky again!

[Big Kev]

It did make me smile when the SA president apologised for not having a plane to give to the orange knob.

[Stanley]

I missed that..... But from what I hear, that plane is a bit of a pig in a poke!

[Tripps]

A quick recap on President Ramaphosa is beneficial when considering such matters

Ramaphosa Farmgate

Memorable quote -

A former spy chief laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa, accusing him of committing irregularities in trying to hide the theft of $4m (£3.25m) in cash at his game farm in the north-eastern Limpopo province. The president denied any wrongdoing, saying that the money stolen from his sofa in 2020 came from the legitimate sale of buffaloes at his Phala Phala farm.

[Stanley]

The fact that this morning we have significant rain, the first I can remember for almost two months.

Then I noted THIS piece of global climate comment....
The coming Atlantic hurricane season is expected to be busier than usual, US science agency NOAA has warned, just as cuts to American research are raising fears about the ability to track and prepare for these often deadly storms. Between six and 10 hurricanes are forecast for the Atlantic between June and November, compared with the typical seven. Warmer sea temperatures – made more likely by climate change - and generally favourable atmospheric conditions, are behind the forecast. Several scientists have told the BBC that widespread firings by President Donald Trump's administration of government researchers could endanger efforts to monitor hurricanes and predict where they might hit. Today's 2025 Atlantic season outlook covers the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, called the Gulf of America by the Trump administration.
Leon Mush's 'savings' in his activities at DOGE could well have some severe delayed effects. If you go looking in the news, Tesla is getting flak as well. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Later.... I heard a news report from Gaza that appalled me. A lady who is a trauma surgeon at one of the only remaining hospitals in the strip was working there when she realised that the badly burned and mutilated children who had been brought in for assessment were her own. Her home had been struck by a missile. I can't imagine how the poor woman felt. Terrible!