WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

We had to pay a sum of money to our solicitor by electronic transfer from our Nationwide account today, using the solicitor's reference code. It failed - the bank's payment web page doesn't accept the slash symbols in the reference code. So much for the modern digital age and electronic banking - they haven't yet noticed they have a slash symbol on their keyboards!

[Whyperion]

If in doubt us a space.

The bank systems from memory are written in COBOL , and the extended keyboard characters often have specific meaning in the language or are reserved as de-limiters between fields.

[Stanley]

Par for the course Tiz. Handy for the banks because they can blame 'The Computer'!

[PanBiker]

Yesterdays foray out onto Hare Hill, already mentioned by Wendy. a fascinating wander with someone who knows what they are talking about. When you are stood on the commanding heights it's a lot easier to see the why's and wherefores.

[Stanley]

That's how summits called 'seat' were named. A good place to stand and get a feel for the surroundings before modern cartography. (Alainset, Percy's Seat etc.)

[Marilyn]

Struggled with the shopping on my own today - no great struggle really, but the shopping centre was packed. Wall to wall humans all dithering over what to feed Easter guests. I was doing the same thing.
Packed the shopping in the car and headed back through the parked cars to get one last item when...BANG!...a driver ploughed into a parked car right in front of me. He backed up a bit then parked next to the car he had hit. Two other people and I stood by to see if he would do the right thing and leave his written details on the affected car windscreen. Out he toddled, none too sober looking ( and terribly unkempt/grubby looking) and disappeared into the grog shop.
Massive dent on the car he hit.
I took photos with my phone and another lady left both our details...but as yet I have not heard anything.
Don't you just hate folk who do the wrong thing like that?

Afterwards, the thing that struck me was the number of folk who just turned a blind eye and walked on...

[Stanley]

That's one of the reasons your insurance premiums are so high.
My back on the downside but on the upside a nice call to Tiz and Mrs Tiz to thank them for a card they sent me. Always a pleasure.....
Oh, and the fact that my back was no worse even though I had refused to take any pain killers. I reckon the cure is as bad as the disease....
Got the itinerary for my teaching trip in the Midlands in July. I shall be off the radar for a week from the 17th of July. Looking forward to teaching bright kids and being with my mates Martha and Roger. An added bonus is that two more good friends from Northfield will be with us. It will be a good trip!

[Tizer]

Maz, a few days ago Mrs Tiz and I were carrying our bags of shopping back to the car in the supermarket car park. A car drove down the lane towards us and whacked my arm with its door mirror, no attempt to drive around me - as if I could jump out of the way with a full bag in each hand! Luckily the folding door mirrors are thin metal and fold very easily and I didn't even suffer a bruise. Well except bruised dignity. For some drivers nowadays it seems that pedestrians are invisible. We get the same problem down our country lane - cars come racing down but there's nowhere for a walker to get out of the way, you have to squeeze to the side and breathe in.

[Stanley]

Car drivers appear to have a collective problem in car parks. They work on the assumption that they have right of way. I had to point out to a driver the other day that even on the road, it's against the law to knock pedestrians down, in a car park the car does not have a right ow way because it is by nature a pedestrian area. In the States this is recognised and applied, cars always have to give way.
Breathe it not but I think there is a slight improvement in my back. Have ditched pain killers and am relying on embrocation, the hot bean bag and Malt whisky for a booster.... Cross your fingers Kids!

[Tizer]

`Winter floods cost councils £250m, says LGA' - headline from BBC news article today. I think it's time we were asking why all this sort of work done on behalf of councils or government costs such astronomic sums. I suspect the cost of the actual work, the materials and labour, is a small proportion of the total and that most of it goes to consultants, advisers,`officials', regulators, accountants, solicitors, PR and so on. There are too many levels of sub-contracting, each bringing its own extra costs. Perhaps there should be a complete breakdown of where the money goes and why, available for us all to see on the Web.

[Stanley]

They've got that one covered Tiz. It is said to be 'commercially sensitive information'.
I spoke too soon about remission. Am back on the aspirin... Bugger!

[Tripps]

"Perhaps there should be a complete breakdown of where the money goes and why, available for us all to see on the Web."

If you're concerned about your location - you could try a 'freedom of information' request to the appropriate quarter. Blair said it was the only thing he regretted doing. Sounds like a recommendation to me.

[Tizer]

I heard that there were going to be some restrictions put on FOI applications.

[Stanley]

You are right Tiz, there are going to be some changes, some are being applied mow. More loopholes like 'Commercially Sensitive' or 'too expensive to gather the information'.
If your posting time is wrong after the clock change, go to the control panel and change to Summertime.

[David Whipp]

The list of work in Lancashire can be viewed online at the LCC website... here it is:

Appendix A.PDF

[PanBiker]

I reported (on the LCC site) the grate just past the ginnel on Commercial Street the other day, it's sinking lower everyday as all road users have to drive over it due to cars parked on the left. It will be a proper mess if it sinks anymore and probably bust a few shockers.

[Stanley]

It's very noticeable that the number of road surface faults is gradually increasing. No doubt this will get even worse under the present funding starvation. Don't blame me, I didn't vote for them! I suspect that if it wasn't for the persistent advocacy of David and his colleagues things would be worse than they are....
How cold it was during that thunder shower yesterday....

[Wendyf]

It was Friday afternoon, not today, but I was out doing the stables and noticed two couples walking on the footpath across the field on the other side of the valley heading towards Blearaside. They had two loose dogs with them and next minute I heard loud shouting and saw my friends running across their garden with unusual speed. One of the dogs had jumped over the wall into the garden and grabbed one of their new pet ducks, which later died from shock & it's injuries. Dogs will be dogs and accidents will happen, but despite my friends obvious distress these people basically shrugged and went on their way...without more than a brief "sorry" and "they should be kept penned up" !

[Stanley]

Sad isn't it Wendy. Some people have no concept of Duty of Care with their dogs, there are some dogs about that I don't trust at all, why people have obviously dangerous dogs beats me, I couldn't live with the responsibility.
Apart from my back which is claiming an inordinate amount of attention, it's the fact that I must write an article for the paper. I shall go back to one of my favourite topics, Women's Rights!

[Stanley]

I wrote an article yesterday.
What has grabbed me this morning is the fact that my back seems to have taken a turn for the better. Not clapping hands just yet but it is certainly not as bad as yesterday.... Fingers crossed! (I'm still taking the aspirin though to try to stop the spasm)

[Tizer]

It's very noticeable that the number of road surface faults is gradually increasing. No doubt this will get even worse under the present funding starvation.

We've seen a very significant increase in such road surface problems in our area in recent months. I think part of the reason is the foul weather and the `undermining' of roads by repeated floods. The same sort of things that are causing so many more landslips. Also, bodged repairs are now crumbling and adding to the trouble. The council tends to do tiny patch repairs and new holes quickly open up nearby.

A contractor's van appeared in the lane this morning. Two men in hi-vis vests came to a neighbour's house, working for EDF, to trim a birch tree that is near an overhead power line. First they waved about a very long, extended long-arm with a saw on the end and tried to cut branches about the thickness of my finger. It took them a while to realise that was useless and they needed loppers on the end of the arm. After another go with the loppers they went away with a couple of 3-foot long thin branches. On another thread here recently I asked why everything done by councils etc seems to be so expensive now. These men were an example. two of them, probably sent out from Bristol (40 miles away) to cut a couple of twigs!

Another thing that caught my attention this morning. The company that pays most of my occupational pension is probably about to be taken over by a big US business. I worked for Rank Hovis McDougall in the 1980s. Shortly after I left (and I'm not claiming any link!) it was taken over by another company. Later that company got into trouble and sold it to venture capitalists. Then it was eventually bought by Premier Foods. They got themselves into serious debt problems and sold the Hovis brand to a US company. Now premier itself is the target of bids from McCormick Foods. premier has many well-known British brands which will now probably go into American hands - names like Ambrosia rice pudding, Oxo stock cubes, Batchelors soups, Kipling cakes*. Fortunately, I have pension money from elsewhere too!

*Now add Bisto to that list - the `What we're having for tea' thread has just reminded me!

What brightened up my day is finding that Hull has been chosen as the latest place to stage a mass nude gathering. Don't go to Hull on 9th July!

[Tizer]

[Accidental post by me, fat finger problem - deleted]

[Stanley]

I've mentioned this under politics but I was aghast this morning when I found that the Republicans are actually debating (arguing) about whether to gaol women who have an abortion if, as proposed by Trump, abortion is made illegal. Comment on this would be superfluous....

[LizG]

I listened to that too Stanley. It was appalling.

Our 4WD came to a stop in the middle of the road. Good job we weren't traveling too fast at the time. After about 15 minutes it started again in limp mode and we got home. It's in being fixed, hopefully back in time to tow the van away next weekend for a couple of weeks.

[Marilyn]

Heading off in the tin tent ourselves, Liz...
I expect to give a report from "North" tomorrow.
Just quietly wondering what Febby has forgotten to pack this time. We have had the trip where he forgot to pack underwear. We have had the trip where he forgot to pack heart medication. We have had the trip where he forgot to pack any tops.
could be anything!
I shall let you know, of course....