WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Marilyn]

Oh...I thought that was David in the back row, toward the left ( bearded)
And I saw similarities between that person and the one at the barrow handles.
Am I wrong?

[David Whipp]

Cheeky git, Stanley! It is indeed I with the barrow, Maz. The pale imitation is my brother Keith.

We still have the barrow. It's a family heirloom, originally bought by TWB Whipp (probably from Preston Farmers) for mucking hens out (I've spent more than one or two Saturday mornings with my hands around those handles.) I reckon the barrow is knocking on 60 years old. The chassis is about shot at, but the galvanised top is in not bad nick.

My theory about the Barnoldswick Triangle is that it may be a wormhole, distorting time. All the people in that picture went into to the triangle in 1987 and emerged ten years later, not a day older! (This is supported by the activities of the main current cleaner upper, Jilly Sandamas, who apparently has engaged a mammoth there; it was petrified!)

[Stanley]

I used to go up there and pick up milk from a smallholding on the right. This was before the new road and the triangle. I think we called him Squeaker because he had a very high pitched voice.....

[PanBiker]

I recognised you and Keith straight away but the thing that attracted my attention was that you are wearing trousers!

[Thomo]

Not a common sight these days Ian. Last spotted briefly on the last Remembrance Sunday. What he wears is his choice, and if he's happy with that, then why not.

[Thomo]

If I get one more syrupy voiced call from an Asian, I am really going to "kick Off". Due to recent sad events within our family, and now trying to help an animal in distress, we have to answer the phone, it could be very important. If these people want to be accepted and welcomed, then they should put their own house in order first.

[Stanley]

What a good day it was yesterday. Good weather, two articles written and some light gardening......



Jeremy Clarkson getting sacked from Top Gear. On Saturday Jeremy Harding gave the origin of the name 'Stig' for the professional driver on the show. Evidently it was the name used at Clarkson's school, Repton, for new boys. It struck me that this was cruel schoolboy humour. Then yesterday it was revealed that the 'punch' was preceded by 'a half hour tirade' against the producer from Clarkson. Right or wrong, the impression I get is that of a spoilt brat throwing his toys out of the pram. It seems that this was not the first time. I think the decision to end his tenure is correct even though I enjoy the programmes. The schoolboy behaviour, particularly what verged on bullying of the other two by Clarkson, got on my nerves. We've all seen it before, unchecked behaviour like this always leads to trouble.

See THIS Farmer's Weekly report on the failure of the new DEFRA system which cost £154million. Despite repeated assurances that it would work it has now been replaced by old-fashioned paper forms. The Farm Payments Agency has been under-performing for years now and has cost us a fortune in fines levied by the EU. What is it about government and IT? The rush to get rid of clerical staff, the increasing complexity of the task and the reliance on systems which 'worked OK in the US' has cost us dearly and needs sorting out. This was made very clear to Lyn Truss in committee yesterday abut will it result in any improvement?
Latest from the Alps air crash suggests that while one pilot was out of the cabin and the door locked, the other pilot failed to respond when his colleague returned and the cockpit recorder suggests frantic efforts to break the door down as the plane lost height. What a terrible scenario.....

[Tizer]

..Farmer's Weekly report on the failure of the new DEFRA system which cost £154million...

And right on top of that we get the announcement that the Food and Environment Research Agency (FERA) is effectively going to be privatised - but the worst is to come...Capita are taking over! FERA is the combined government organisation which includes such world renowned labs as the Central Science Laboratory in York. Capita is said to be taking over because of its `wealth of commercial experience". Remember all the IT failures? I suppose that's a lot of commercial experience - but of the wrong kind. Incidentally, Capita's boss was a director of Barclays while all the bad business was going on there. Not only does FERA look after the safety of our food supplies but it also has the role of protecting us from biological and chemical dangers in the more general sense. And that will now be in the hands of Capita. I need to go and lie down in a darkened room!

[plaques]

Capita is said to be taking over because of its `wealth of commercial experience"

Yes but what you have to remember is that under a capitalist system private firms can do the job cheaper, more efficiently, and still return a profit. Of course they may not put as much effort into the nastier effects of advanced food technology as Joe Public would like but think of the bottom line profit. The final outcome may not be 'poacher turned gamekeeper' but gamekeeper turned poacher!

[Thomo]

I have just been having a look at the aircrew requirements for the Airbus A320 in regard to the flight deck. Modern technology changed the number of flight deck crew from 3 to 2, with the advent of “fly by wire” and “glass” instrumentation, removing the need for a flight engineer. This applies to the recent tragic events in the Alps, and possibly also to flight MH370. Many of these aircraft have a rest facility within the flight deck area; it would appear that this should also include a toilet. Thanks mainly to terrorism the flight deck area has to be sealed off from the rest of the aircraft with a locked door, presumably with the nearest toilet outside of this. When the senior flight officer exited the flight deck, only one other crew member remained within, had there been two, this latest disaster may have been avoided. Anyone who looks at the recent crash site will be aware of the scale of this disaster and the difficulties facing the recovery teams, there is nowhere to land even a helicopter. I went to a similar site in the 1970s in what was then Ceylon, we were able to land a couple of miles away and walk in, I have a great deal of sympathy for the people working on this one. What we found was bad enough, this will be much worse.
The latest information coming in from France is that what has happened could have been intentional, and caused by the co pilot deliberately putting the aircraft into a shallow dive.
I used to love flying, now I am no longer sure.

[Thomo]

It appears that the last information was possibly correct, and whilst there does not seem to be a terrorist connection, this has happened as an indirect result of 9/11 and other events. There was a time when small groups, usually children, may be allowed to visit the flight deck, this all ended long ago. The press are already assembled outside of the Co Pilots parents home, what those parents must be feeling beggars belief.

[Stanley]

The continuing march of outsourcing of essential services is bad. It starts with the government divesting themselves of expense and responsibility and thus losing control. Experience with the Forensic and translation services are good examples of how performance deteriorates as a consequence. On a larger scale look at who controls energy. I'm one of the unreconstructed dinosaurs who believes that certain functions, 'the commanding heights of the economy' should be firmly under public ownership and control. This insidious policy is eating away at the NHS, social health care, the Justice System and education. Some would say that the party funding system and aggressive lobbying is doing the same to our political systems and I agree with them.
The news about the co-pilot on the A320 is shocking. It should not have been outside the wit of the designers to contemplate worst case and put in measures to over-ride the system. I predict this will happen very quickly.

[Stanley]

I have seen the news of the imminent closure of the treatment facilities in Barlick and have sent this letter to the Park Road Centre and the BET.
Well done the councillors who are protesting and more power to your elbow....

Letter to the Editor.
I was dismayed to see the report in this week's BET of the imminent withdrawal of treatment facilities in Barnoldswick and fully support those councillors who are protesting. I note that there has been 'consultation', all I can say is that nobody asked me. How does an elderly or infirm person with no transport get to Colne?
This is an example of the erosion of small but essential services which contribute far more to the conviviality of life in a small town than their cost would suggest. It would seem that this aspect of life has been totally ignored by this arbitrary decision.
I have sent a copy of this to the Barnoldswick Medical Centre.

Yours sincerely,


Stanley Challenger Graham
10 East Hill Street
Barnoldswick.

[PanBiker]

There is a discussion on the Barlick Talk Facebook page about this and an online petition here:

Stop the removal of treatment room services in Barnoldswick

There are also paper petitions in most of the shops.

[Stanley]

I've signed it.....

[David Whipp]

Darn it!

Stanley is already posting...

The Good News; we know our three linked smoke alarms work and wake us up when we are sound asleep.

The Bad News; Tom setting them off at 3.54am making toast...

The Even Worse News; Staying awake for the next one hour plus, pondering, amongst life, the universe and everything, if that's GMT or BST.

The Even More Worst News? (Apart from being on OGFB at this time of the morning; whatever time it now is.)

Finding Stanley has once again been the early bird!!!

Good Morning everyone! Am off back to bed now.

[Stanley]

Ah, but don't forget David that I always go to bed for a couple of hours in the afternoon after my dinner and sleep like a baby...... Rising early is one of the best habits I have formed in life. Apart from anything else it means I (quite irrationally) feel superior! (Smug B*****d!) (I have proof that the latter at least is true....)
Is profligate use of parentheses against site rules?

[Tizer]

David, what he didn't say is that his post was on Saturday morning!

[David Whipp]

Ah Tiz but Stanley had beaten me to it in another thread...

[Stanley]

I'm often struck by the vast difference in internal clocks. I as I said yesterday I often meet people 'taken with drink' staggering home at six in the morning and some windows are lit all night. Surprising how many of these are bedrooms, some people must sleep with the lights on. Chacun a son gout and the only time early rising is a pain is when you are in a house with a late riser, creeping about in the morning is not good!
What grabbed me yesterday is that F1 has come alive now that Ferrari have a competitive car. True, Mercedes were asleep on the job yesterday but nice to see the Prancing Horse crossing the line first. That new Ferrari boss looks like a hard man...... Toto Wolf will be having meaningful conversations this week!

[Tripps]

This happened last week. The kids (about 350), at my grandson's school went to assembly. The Head said 'Who wants to go for a ride on a steam train?' Unanimous show of hands. 'OK then let's go' she said. She had earlier told them that the canteen had broken down, and they had all got a packed lunch. Out they went and coaches were waiting for them all, and off they went to the Nene valley Steam Railway for the day. The parents knew of course, and had paid for the trip, but amazingly.had kept the secret. Wonderful.

[Stanley]

When I was running Ellenroad I used to evangelise about the power of steam to make a connection with children as well as adults. I reckoned that I could teach any subject using the engine as a starting point. If you want to teach kids you first have to get their attention. Steam does it every time. I hope they enjoyed their day out and the teachers used the experience to educate them.

[Tizer]

It's been blowing a gale here for 24 hours now and I looked at the local newspaper's web page this morning to see if there'd been any major damage in the towns. It had a prominent weather warning map so I clicked to view it. When it appeared I noticed that it was a weather map from January! I also noticed that the top news story was about nine packs of baby milk being stolen from the Co-op store. There must be a baby gang operating in the area!

[Stanley]

I love the police reports in local papers. I once saw one in the Northfield (MN) pare which reported that "The car apprehended by officers because it was full of drunken students was driven by a sober driver". Lovely!
What grabbed me today was that I put on clean trousers this morning (Light coloured trews and the shed don't mix!) and chose a fetching pair of purple corduroys that I haven't been able to wear for yonks! That is significant improvement.....
Later.... I saw THIS in the Guardian. Really? Remember that it is All Fools Day.... I don't think the leopard changes its spots so quickly. Or am I just naturally suspicious.....

Later at 12:30. I came across THIS 'news' item. It constantly surprises me how people who should know better haven't the faintest clue about what is going on in the world. I have rabbited on about this many times. I'm not certain what the position is now because my experience is over ten years ago but it would surprise me if things were any different now. The waste generated by slaughter houses and general food processors is expensive to dispose of but some bright spark realised that as it was mainly protein, it had a value somewhere. That somewhere is the rendering plants that take in the waste, cook it very aggressively and convert it to 'protein granules'. This waste can be feathers, chickens heads and legs and the maggots that grow on them plus the slightly more wholesome waste like bones and trimmings and offal. I haven't bought tinned pet food for years but when you see something like 'animal derivatives', 'protein granules' or 'non specific meat products or a similar vague description on the list of ingredients, this is what they are talking about. The pet food industry has long been the waste bin for the processors of human food. Remember the scandals about sheep's brains and spinal cords and animals being fed on other animals causing 'mad cow disease'? Exactly the same disposal route but prevented in the case of feeding animals for human consumption. At one time the litter from deep litter broiler houses was mixed with cattle food because it was high in protein. You've heard me banging on about 'greaves' and cattle food.
Anyone who believes the blurb about 'marrow-fat jelly' and other claims of that sort is extremely naive. The only way to feed a pet safely is to give them nothing you wouldn't eat yourself. The only honourable exception I know of is Kit e Cat made from fish meal. I remember a report once that their factory put many human food processors to shame.

[chinatyke]

I haven't bought tinned pet food for years but when you see something like 'animal derivatives', 'protein granules' or 'non specific meat products or a similar vague description on the list of ingredients, this is what they are talking about.

But most people have no qualms when it comes to eating 'beef extract' as used in beef stock cubes and granules.