WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

Damage caused by a burst water pipe to the A4 Bath Road in Bristol. You wouldn't want to be driving over that spot when it happened!

[Stanley]

So many of our water pipes are still the original 19th century ones.
The fact that I slept like a log despite all that I have on my mind. Am I insensitive or just a tough old bugger?

[PanBiker]

Peak of the Geminids meteor shower in the early hours (around 2am) tomorrow. Not much chance with the overcast and then if that clears a 98% super moon. The meteor scatter propagation lads will be happy though over in amateur radio land, clouds or a bright moon will make no difference to enhanced radio propagation via pinged ionised trails.

[Stanley]

There are large gaps in the cloud this morning and when I took Jack out there was a very good full moon so I have been lucky! I didn't see any meteorites.....

[Big Kev]

I hope it all works out OK Kev.

Hopefully so, I've usually been lucky and found something. I am happy to do (almost) anything if someone is willing to pay me to do it

Off to Leeds tomorrow for "a bit of a chat". Could be interesting.

[PanBiker]

Best of luck with that Kev.

Venus is very bright tonight.

[Big Kev]

Best of luck with that Kev.

Venus is very bright tonight.

Thank you Ian.

I can see Uranus from here (the old ones are always the best)

[PanBiker]

[Stanley]

I remember how pleased I was when I found that Uranus is my birth planet and that it spins in the opposite direction to all the other planets. That figures!
What grabbed me was when I realised that if I put steam on my cylinder it would work. Still lots to do on it of course but this is a significant milestone!

[Big Kev]

I hope it all works out OK Kev.

Hopefully so, I've usually been lucky and found something. I am happy to do (almost) anything if someone is willing to pay me to do it

Off to Leeds tomorrow for "a bit of a chat". Could be interesting.

A very productive day with a positive outcome (paperwork pending)

[Wendyf]

Good news Kev. Congratulations.

[Big Kev]

Thank you Wendy, a great relief especially at this time of year.

[Stanley]

As I said before Kev... their timing is impeccable, the sods!
The fact that next Wednesday is the shortest day. We are having a very easy ride up to now.....
The fact that up to now Janet is having a spell of very quiet symptoms and she's having a good life. This is my main focus of attention these days.

[Tizer]

Well done, Kev, - onwards and upwards!

Take a look at the dramatic photos in this news story....
`Oldham Maple Mill fire: Building 'still dangerous' LINK
"A huge blaze which gutted a former cotton mill continues to pose a danger to the surrounding area, fire crews have said. Witnesses saw flames leap up to 200ft (60m) in the air and said the front of the building, in Oldham, had collapsed. About 100 nearby homes were evacuated as up to 80 firefighters tackled the fire, which broke out at 04:15 GMT. Hundreds are unable to return home since the fire is "still alight" and the mill "structurally unstable".

Still on the topic of dramatic photos, here are some superb images...
Raw nature in all its beauty: LINK
In pictures: The Art of Building 2016: LINK

[PanBiker]

Nice one Kev.

[David Whipp]

Sounds like good news Kev.

The abrupt cutting off of my VOIP phone at 7.30am this morning, and, as it turned out, broadband too.

Have been doing cold turkey until restoration an hour or so ago; apparently a widespread problem following a BT failure somewhere.

[Wendyf]

The computer system at Earby Post Office was down this morning, some very stressed staff & potential customers around!

[Big Kev]

Thank you people

Lots of card payment machines down too, one of my offspring was unable to pay for the work done on his car today...

[Stanley]

Maple Mill. These large 'fireproof' construction mills are a big problem. They look massive but they are in fact quite weak in terms of the floor loadings they can accept. In particular they cannot support fork lift truck operation let alone heavy machinery. Coates Inks did a very thorough investigation of re-use when they bought Ellenroad and it was cheaper to demolish and rebuild. They are also anything but fireproof!



(Click to enlarge) Ellenroad just before the 1919 rebuild after total destruction by fire. As an insurance man once told me, it isn't buildings that burn, its their contents! The consequence is that unless you have a massive operation that doesn't carry with it heavy floor loadings (Like Littlewoods Home Shopping at Royton or the cigarette factories that they were commonly used for.) you can't have single tenancy operation and they tend to be divided into units. This means that there is less control over fire prevention. When they are empty they are a magnet for vandals and rough sleepers. So it doesn't surprise me when, to use the Glasgow expression, they 'go on fire'. There is an upside to this fire, the remains of the building are now sterile, all the rats, pigeons and assorted crap have been evicted or burned so it is a very straightforward job demolishing the remains.



This mill at Ripponden had been used to house battery hens and I can assure you, a fire would have been very welcome!

[Tizer]

`As an insurance man once told me, it isn't buildings that burn, its their contents! '
The fire brigade would confirm this, as would the timber frame house-building industry. The public's fear of fire is one of the main reasons the UK has largely masonry built houses rather than the timber frame used widely on the continent, yet the fire brigade will tell you that a masonry house will burn and be as a big a hazard as a timber frame house. Scotland has built many more timber frame houses in recent years and self-builders like them because they are quick to build and you can now get them in kit form. If the big housebuilders would use timber frame we could increase our housing stock much faster than with masonry and double the amount of insulation in the walls without increasing the wall thickness over masonry. But we're stuck in a rut. They won't do it because they'll say `the public don't like timber houses'. But the public has that view because the housebuilders are always defending themselves by claiming timber is less safe. Another factor is that we'd need a differently skilled workforce but that would be a benefit - we need better trained builders anyway, so let's train them to build in timber.

[Tripps]

So - looks like the end of the Maple Mill. No obituary would be complete without a look at this guy's contribution. Vance Miller


PS - I've just, almost without realising it, just started a sentence with 'so'. Aaargh!

[David Whipp]

A bloom group colleague was keen for me to snap the catkins growing on a tree next to the library this morning.

Later: after posting this, I was racked with indecision about whether to call these catkins or pussywillow... or if indeed they are catkins/pussywillow!

[Whyperion]

Catkins (I assume its silver birch)

[Stanley]

John Burlison sent me this pic he took yesterday.

[Stanley]

There are clear signs that my perennial Xmas Enigma is well under way. What on earth do people do with all the food they are buying and how much of it ends up in landfill? You can always identify someone who was reared under rationing, they always send clean plates back from the table. Incidentally, the best compliment you can pay the chef! Today, this is not the norm, it's almost as though people are leaving something on their plate to signal they have had enough.
I remember once in LA I was having a meal with Susi and a bunch of her friends who were mostly psychiatrists. I had a steak and it was very good so I asked the waitress if she could find me a slice of bread. (Always hard to get in my experience in the States) She brought me a roll and I mopped up the gravy from my plate and polished it. It was at that point that I noticed everyone had gone quiet and was watching me intently. I asked what it was I had done and was informed that by cleaning my plate like that I had signalled almost certainly that I was 'orally obsessive' and 'anally retentive'. I couldn't help laughing as I told them they were mistaken, I was simply enjoying my meal and having been reared under rationing I didn't waste food. I don't think they were convinced.....
Incidentally, another thing I noted in the States was that peas are almost never served with a meal, you have to ask for them or steal them from the salad bar! I was told once that this was because peas and rice was associated with slave food.