WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

Here's Martin Hornby of the Western Front Association giving a talk about the Great War to children from our local village school in Somerset on Monday. I seem to recall he was holding up a hand grenade when I took the photo! They were enthralled by the talk (in the village hall) and afterwards rushed about looking at all the tables with exhibits. Mrs Tiz got surrounded and ended up doing a bit of ad hoc teaching.

[Stanley]

Liked the bit about the bloke who was refused entry to the falconry display. Obviously a pervert, especially if he had a camera! By the way, did you have to be approved before you were allowed to take the pic in the school? I'm all for caution but the world has gone mad. The makers of high vis jackets have done well out of it.....
Finishing Mick's carriage stop...

[Tizer]

The teachers did give me a look but at least I think they recognise me...but it might have been different if I'd been taking the pic from in front of the kids. It does make you feel wary.

This photo was probably safe to take...a view from our window this morning of cows in flooded fields on the Somerset Levels. The Env Agency is testing out its work on the flood defences but it would have helped if they'd given the farmers more warning!

[Pluggy]

Note to self, avoid Somerset levels......

Barlick International Airport only floods when its really wet. I don't think the terminal building (shipping container with a wind sock) is there now so it doesn't really matter. I think the farmer avoids putting lifestock in it unless its drought conditions.

[Thomo]

At the talk I gave last night to the Rainbow Group about the significance of the Poppy, by far the hardest part was trying to comply with the current regulations concerning children and still keep their attention. The group would really like to have a press feature about what they have achieved, to help to promote the good work that they do. These young girls have worked hard on a "poppy" project, and last night it was my pleasure to award them with their badges, all were bright, well turned out, and a credit to their parents and the leaders of the group, it needs to be mentioned here that the eldest was only five. Before they were given back to the care of their parents, they formed a circle with the leaders, after asking permission to take a photograph, one little girl had to be excluded, possibly adopted. In the absence of an official press photographer, I took just one pic, ad then showed it to the leaders. I would love to post this pic here, but I cannot without the permission of all of the parents, the same applies to any press coverage of the event. Three of these youngsters went public for the first time on Remembrance Sunday at the War Memorial, plenty of pics were taken, who I wonder has control over that! A few years ago we suffered a spate of vandalism and non acceptable behaviour outside here, and on a regular basis, by a group of young Asian boys, the Police were called on many occasions. What always happened next, minutes before the law arrived was that at least one would get a call on his mobile and they would all run off, so I took pictures to show to the Police when they arrived. Showing these pics to the Police helped them to identify who the kids and their parents were, this led to the end of the problem, but I was advised to delete the pics there and then due to political correctness at its best, or worst whatever your opinion. A bit of good press coverage would help to raise awareness of the good work done by such groups as the one I was with yesterday, on my pic, the little girl excluded can still be seen in the background, but I can soon remove that part. The next step would be to send this to the Woman in charge for approval for press release, this would involve the parents of all. then pass it the local paper, and delete it from my PC. This could take ages, and meanwhile this perfectly innocent and beautiful picture sits on my hard drive like an unexploded IED.

[Stanley]

The landing of the probe on the comet. See THIS for an account on BBC news. They say this morning that it bounced three times because the harpoons that were to anchor it malfunctioned but despite this it seems settled and is sending data back. The mind boggles at how small a target they had to aim at! Quite wonderful.....

[Tizer]

Stanley mentioned about high-vis jackets and you saw that the school kids in my photo all had such jackets. This is one case where they are essential. Our village school is in the middle of the village and on a very busy `A' class trunk road. The road has several sharp, blind bends as it goes through the village. The village hall is on the other side of the road, there's no zebra crossing and taking children across is seriously dangerous, so the high-vis vests are lifesavers. For decades the parish council has been asking for a crossing and for work to be done to slow down traffic etc but all to no avail. The kids have to dodge the `white van' drivers, articulated lorries and all the usual traffic of a main trunk road but the worst of the lot are the gravel lorries that thunder through the village and seem to be immune to speed limits. We get them all the time but with the flood protection work going on there are many more than usual - we saw a convoy of six go through yesterday and there was an altercation between one of them and an oil delivery tanker that had right of way but was ignored.

My photo of the flood (above) was outdated an hour later when the level had risen and much more of the moor was covered - I hope the cows reached dry land quickly! Two roads, one on either side of that moor, have been closed for months (and still are) while work is done to reduce the risk of them flooding. One is a trunk road and the other a single-track drove road. The drove road gets a lot of traffic and needed the work but, guess what, it's been done wrong and has to be replaced! The Env Agency has put in large kerb stones along the sides for about a mile to keep out the water but they're not far enough apart and the big modern farm tractors can't get through!

[Stanley]

Your story about the gravel wagons reminds me of the old film 'Hell Drivers'! Perhaps they are also on bonus for trips done.
What attracted my attention of how well built the top end of the cylinder I was opening up was. Impressive finish on the bore as well.....

[Tizer]

Looks like the British Army is going to be seriously short of recruits...Capita have been paid £50 million of our money to find them and all they got was 20 in the last year!

[Stanley]

And they are talking about raising the age for the Reserve to 50. Dad's Army lives once more.....
The emergence of a major whistle blower in the Westminster child abuse investigations. See this LINK for the Guardian article. It was reported on BBC news also last night.

[Tizer]

And they are talking about raising the age for the Reserve to 50. Dad's Army lives once more.....

One officer was quoted as saying "They'll take anything with a pulse!"

Incompetence in organisations seem to have spread to the Pensions Service. I've just got my notice and it shows my payment halved because "someone else in the same household is also entitled to the payment". The only other person here is Mrs Tiz and she's still below the age for entitlement. We can only think it's an error or they're assuming that one of our parents lives here just because their mail gets sent here due to Power of Attorney. If it's the latter then there might be lots of people with PoA who are getting the same error. I don't know what source the Pension Service uses to judge who lives where but I would have thought it was the electoral roll. I've written to the Electoral Register people and will contact the Pensions Service on Monday (they spell their name `Pesnions Service on the notice, which doesn't boost my confidence in them!' Yet more time will be wasted for me and the various parties concerned in sorting out the problem!

[LizG]

(they spell their name `Pesnions Service on the notice, which doesn't boost my confidence in them!' Yet more time will be wasted for me and the various parties concerned in sorting out the problem!

Along the same line; my Mum and Dad have just celebrated thier 65th wedding anniversary on the 5th November this year, and I arranged for them to get letters from the Queen et al. The first letter from their Federal member of parliament congratulated them on their 60th wedding anniversary, the second congratulated them on their 65th but quoted an random date from April 2013. I know it's not an important thing to anyone else but it did seem that whoever had been given the job and wasn't very good at detail and really didn't care that much. It makes you wonder what else they're a bit slap happy with whilst running our country.

For the record the Queens message was correct.

[Stanley]

I've said for years that one of the biggest threats out there today is sheer incompetence. When this is coupled with staff cuts and increased work loads this is exactly what you get.They don't even trust their own computer programmes now.... We've even seen it in the top state offices, senior politicians so badly briefed that they make statements that are simply wrong. Expect more of it.
What grabbed me last night was some stupid bugger letting fireworks off after 22:00. Poor Jack went into panic mode immediately!

[David Whipp]

Short film of last night's Switch On event from Visit Barnoldswick HERE.

The biggest parade yet!

[Stanley]

Good Stuff! Even more activity in the town centre!
The latest ISUL beheading video......

[Thomo]

Sadly it is evident now that a desperate plea from the families of IS captives is in effect a death sentence. We only hear about the high profile victims of this brutal killing, but the actual figure is now in the 100's, 30 women were killed in this appalling manner near the Syria/Turkey border 2 weeks ago, their crime, not conforming to the chauvinistic attitudes of these IS thugs.

[Pluggy]

A thought provoking and what I consider an intelligent and balanced article on IS/ISIS. Contains an extended video news item with stuff we don't see in western news items. Its from IS's viewpoint and contains much of what can be considered propaganda and that is made clear in the video..



Don't expect to get through it in less than a couple of hours.

[Stanley]

Can't be bothered Pluggy. I can think of lots of reasons why Muslims should be angry at the West but I don't think the Prophet would approve the methods ISUL are using.
The fact I ordered the wrong arbor for my keyless chuck. Eyesight or incompetence? Either way, old age isn't for cissies!

[Bruff]

Little threat to us here in the UK is ISIS I would have thought. A threat to those of us going to do ‘good works’ I guess, but ‘twas ever thus. Plenty of Christian missionaries doing their good works were popped in the pot, boiled up and served with sago. I know there’s a lot of panic about plots to kill folk on the streets of this country, but even in my lifetime I can remember when it was more or less routine for ‘domestic extremists’ to blow up, shoot or beat to death members of the armed forces and public alike. On the streets, and in full view. A little perspective please.

ISIS should be seen for what they are. A bunch of pederasts and rapists, with a plausible bunch of charismatic charlatans able to lure the gullible and otherwise desperate. It’s not as though history isn’t littered with these types and just as with them, in time, they’ll be seen off. The only question is how much hysteria and nonsense we have to put up with in the meantime.

Richard Broughton

[Tizer]

I agree Richard. There are similar people in all countries and all races, they are just more stirred up in some places than others. But what does make a difference now is the Internet, TV and mobile phones which makes it even easier for them to communicate and spread their message.

On a domestic note, some of you will recall I made a complaint to John Lewis because the instructions for fitting their window blinds were incorrect and the job had to be done twice. I sent them an invoice for the extra work. They claimed that invoices had to have a VAT number and an official company stamp. I pointed out there was no law that stated that was so. In the end they refunded £30. I also wanted to know what they were going to do to prevent other people having the same problem with their product and I got a reply saying they had "sent it to the product specialist for attention".

The other problem I related on OG was my Winter Fuel payment being halved because they claimed someone else in my household was also claiming. There's only Mrs Tiz and she's not yet eligible for the payment so I checked with the Electoral Register to see if there was a mistake in the listing - but no, there's just the two of us listed. Rang the Pension Service (or `Pesnion Service' as their own letterheads call it) and after much trying on different numbers and lots of waiting on non-free lines I got a lady who took down all the details (more waiting). Finally she said she was sending an email with all the details to...the Pension Service. I asked for an explanation of the error and she had no ideas so I explained about the Power of Attorney that my wife and I have for three parents and how all their correspondence, bank statements, pension payments etc had to come to us at our address and could that perhaps be the reason they'd made a mistake. She then admitted it might be and took down the full details of the parents and sent these to the Pension Service too. Finally, she told me that - if they agree it was a mistake - I would get the £100 at the usual time but I'd have to wait for the other £100 until `later in winter'. Why? Because that's the way they do it if there's been a mistake.

I'm lucky, I have enough pension that I don't have to rely on the Winter Fuel payment to keep my house warm but what irks me is that there are people who do need their payment and some of them will now have half of it held back, like me, simply because they have PoA for a parent. This is even more serious in the country than in town because they'll need that money to fill up their heating oil tank for winter now (£600 plus VAT for a modest 1200 litre tank). And the oil price is going up again. There's a big surge in the number of people activating PoA for their elderly parents so there's going to be a lot of complaints to the Pension (sorry, Pesnion) Service.

[PanBiker]

I ordered up a replacement rectifier and some heat sink compound for my PSU refurb along with one or two other bits last night online from CPC at 17.20. I ticked the free delivery option for 3 -5 days (next day was £2.99). I chose the 3 -5 as I knew we were going to be out today. I found a missed delivery card from UPS left at 14.25 today to say sorry you were out but your parcel can be collected from Happy Shopper store down on Coates Ave. Not bad, delivered 21 hours after ordering on a 3 to 5 day service.

[Tizer]

I find that Amazon's free delivery service which always states some long period (designed to make you opt for the more expensive service) usually takes only 2 days at most; but your CPC seem to have beat them by a big margin!

[plaques]

I was foolish enough to sign up for Amazon 'Prime' The blurb said that the special trial period would automatically end but I need not take any further action because the agreement would be cancelled and there would be no onward costs. Like a fool I believed them. My next credit card statement showed a £79 payment to Prime. I cancelled this and was promised £72 reimbursement. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture dump of the offer. So I can either spend hours of my time over the £7 delivery, which would be about right for the time scale, or let it go. Sometimes life is too short to waste precious time on things like this.
Just be careful about taking up trial offers.

[Stanley]

Some good advice in those posts. As usual I agree with all of you!
Richard, fear has always been a potent weapon and funnily enough is used by our political systems as a way to control us. Fear of Muslims was used by the Pope to trigger the Crusades 800 years ago. Fear of the Russian Bear was used to bolster expansion of the British Empire in the 19th century. Fear of Communism was used by the US after WW2 to encourage people not to cash in War Bonds. Bottom line is that fear of an outside threat helps obscure close scrutiny of domestic policies which are not in our best interests. At the moment fear of the consequences of another failure of the economic system is being used to justify the erosion of the Welfare State. This has become so endemic in the system that even the politicians believe their own advertising. Add to this the fact that the general population no longer has any bench marks to assess risk by and we get 'The War on Terror'. Possibly the biggest con-trick of all time. People as old as me have good benchmarks! We survived real threats!
A particularly insidious phishing scam this morning. A mail purporting to come from Talktalk reporting my payment had failed two days after my latest monthly bill. Deleted of course but how many fall for it and register all their payment details again?

[Tizer]

This caught my attention on the BBC web site today; I've never heard of it before...
17 November 2014
`World War One Halifax explosion: Unseen pictures revealed'
"Unseen pictures from World War One have been released showing what was then the world's largest explosion. Sailor Victor Magnus captured the scene when a ship carrying explosives caught fire in Halifax, Canada, resulting in the deaths of 2,000 people. The explosion, on Thursday 6 December 1917, almost wiped out the town. Mr Montague's daughter, Anne Foreman from Cornwall, is to take the pictures to the Imperial War Museum in London."...."SS Mont Blanc was described as a huge 'floating bomb' because of her formidable cargo. There were more than 2,000 tonnes of picric acid, 200 tonnes of TNT, 56 tonnes of gun cotton and 223 tonnes of motor fuel on board. Records show the ship exploded and disintegrated in seconds. Altogether 3.8 sq km (1.5 sq miles) of Halifax was flattened in an instant and more than 1,900 people perished."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-30051013