WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

I'm not sure which topic this belongs in but it's a bit of interesting history that caught our attention. Mrs Tiz has had her head in a big archaeology textbook (65p + postage on the Internet) for a couple of weeks now and keeps relating snippets to me (usually when I've got my head deep in some unrelated book). The latest Michael Caine style `Not many people know this' moment came when she read about some mummified Inuit bodies discovered in Greenland and dated to around 500 years ago. A family were buried, one on top of the other, in a deep grave and in their clothing. The outer clothing was seal skin but, more interesting, they wore underclothes against their skin which were made from feathers. Not only that - the feathers came from several species of bird and were used for different parts of the clothing, perhaps according to their insulation value and their comfort against the body. There were feathers from ducks, cormorants and other sea birds for instance. Fascinating!

EDIT: Mrs Tiz wants me to add `red-throated diver' to that list of bird feathers - fancy having underwear made from one of those!

[Stanley]

Tiz, if I remember rightly the mummified body they found on the alpine pass had similar padding as an insulator.
What does "I am as anonymous as anyone else" mean?
Found out today that the cover of a history book written by my personal tutor at Lancaster, Austin Woolrych, was used in a picture of a breakfast table used by Weetabix in the 1970s. (Battles of the Civil War). Now there's a little known fact!
Bodge, Nice link. And he's running a casino????? If his punters were as bad at forecasting as him he'd have even more money!

[Tardis]

What does "I am as anonymous as anyone else" mean?

It means I generally talk to anyone, here or on the street, but the internet is a very anonymous place. I don't wander about with a badge on though

My twitter feed would prove that, where I do post pictures

[Tardis]

Would appear the Conservative PCC candidate found me on twitter too.

Shame I've already voted

[PanBiker]

Well, I have now been on the Choose My PCC Site provided by the Secretary of State for the Home Department. So, I now know the candidates that are standing and I have read the single statement from each of them. There are no candidates who are not linked with one political party or another. No independents and no one who has a background that would lead me to believe that they could do justice to the job or knew anything about the structure of the police and how it operates.

The Tory makes a point that he is a local lad with his finger on the pulse but he lives in the gentle stockbroker belt of St Anne's. The Labour bloke is quoting party line and can't even be bothered to put a tie on, (not that I am a tie person, but it would show some effort). The UKIP guy's opening paragraph reads like a hang em, shoot em and flog em preamble and the Liberal bloke from Nelson purports to not want to involve politics in the role yet stands on a political ticket with Tony Greaves as his agent!

I am fortunate in that I can access these short words of wisdom from the candidates, there has been nothing else through the letter box other than the general leaflet from the Secretary of State explaining how we should all turn out and vote for a suitable candidate for this very important position. Goodness knows how "non connected" people are supposed to make an informed decision.

I will be claiming my ballot paper next week and will make an entry but I doubt if I will be voting for any of those that are standing.

[Stanley]

Funny isn't it how people's attitudes vary. To me Oneguy is anything but anonymous. If it was I wouldn't be able to make assessments about the people who contribute.
I keep forgetting to mention something I saw earlier in the week which made me smile. Tim was at the door of Gott's Garage first thing in the morning arriving for another day's work. He searched in his pockets, shook his head and set of back towards home. Looked as though he had forgotten his keys. I shouted to him that he was going the wrong way but he just waved and trudged off up the hill. I suppose we've all done it!
This reminded me of a Tackler's Tale that Billy Brooks told me, he was about 98 years old at the time. It concerned a tackler at Westfield Mill shortly after the Great War. He was late in for work one morning and when the manager questioned him about it he told him that what had happened was that on the way towards the mill he stopped to light his pipe and had to turn his back to the wind. When he'd got his pipe going he set off again and ended up back at home, he'd forgotten to turn round!

[Stanley]

Not often Bolton by Bowland gets in the news but have a look at this link for the discovery of a body missing for seven years. (LINK)

[Cathy]

Prince Charles and Camilla have left our shores today after a whirlwind tour, apparently they are well stocked up with Tim Tams and Vegemite.

[Wendyf]

Hi Cathy, good to see you. Maz explained what Tim Tam's were a while a go......but I've forgotten already!

[Cathy]

Best chocolate biscuits ever, and made right here in little ol' Adelaide.

[Thomo]

When getting my gear together for Remembrance day, I discovered that my dolphin badge was adrift. An e/mail to a friend in Dartmouth at 2.30 pm on Thursday had a replacement here at 11.30 am yesterday. That's what I call service!!

[Tripps]

They look good - based on a British Penguin biscuit. Take a lookhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Tam
Available in UK mail order, (at a price) from a company called SANZA in Enfield. I love the idea of biting the corners of and sucking up your Milo as if through a straw. That's another product we rarely see in UK. A bit like Ovaltine as I recall. How this site broadens one's experience.

[Big Kev]

My attention was caught yesterday by 2 major routes north (M1 and A1) were blocked by major accidents. Took me 7 and a half hours to get back from Kent.

[Stanley]

Nice to see you popping up Cath, you've been missed! I can't help remembering that 'milo' was a slang word in my army days for bad...
Kev, seven hours from Kent chimes in nicely with the next 'Family Cars' articles....
Resignation of BBC DG Entwistle. I wonder what good that will do.... Shutting and stable doors spring to mind.
One pf my kitchen fluorescents just died. Must ring my tame sparks, I'm getting too old to be climbing ladders! (Update.... My problem is that things like that lamp bother me. So, I got the ladder pulled it to bits and was surprised it had no starter but pulled the fuse out, polished the ends and tested it, OK. So, with no great faith I put the whole lot together again and switched on. Guess what, it works. Silly thing to do at my age but my ego is nicely massaged!)

[Tripps]

I visited a local art gallery yesterday, run by a lady who is originally from Nelson, who still keeps in touch with the area. We had a long conversation about the area, and other matters. I sent her a thank you email later. This was her reply - I've blanked the artist I'm seeking - don't want to push up the price.

Dear David,
I am sorry I couldn't oblige by selling you an xxxxx xxxxxxx masterpiece.
However, it was good to meet someone who knew about 'o'ert'brush i' Barlick'. We must be a rare breed.
Best
Lynne

[Stanley]

David, I like it when something like that happens. I once had a long conversation with a lady from Heckmondwyke, it was in the Budget Rent-a-car office in LA. I think I made her day!
I'm watching the fog of blame and opinion swirling round the BBC. One has to wonder what level of thought went into the decision to pay Entwistle twice what his contract specified, didn't they realise this would be a red rag to the BBC's enemies? On News Briefing this morning they had to go to an obscure Gulf newspaper, 'The Arabic Times' to find a quote that opined that the BBC would survive this affair. John Humphries for DG?
My mind goes back to the long series of stories in PE about the way Birt's 'improvements' affected the BBC. My feeling is that this crisis was an accident waiting to happen as senior management with experience were marginalised and power taken directly to the higher executives. I wonder too about outsourcing investigative journalism and reliance on the blogosphere to reduce costs.
I see that poor Nadine has been voted in for the first bush-tucker trial, generally seen as punishment for the least popular contestant. I wonder how many rabid Tories voted for this?

[Thomo]

I would like to say "a big thank you" to the group of ex Servicemen, other customers, and the staff of the "Legion" club, for the generous hospitality shown to me yesterday in wake of the Remembrance Day event in town. Also to the young girl Cadet for arranging safe transport home afterwards! That was one hell of a "Run Ashore". The only damage sustained was to the bottle of Woods Rum, and if there isn't any left, I am sorry. Despite several attempts to leave I was thwarted each time by the appearance of another "Tot", I missed Sunday dinner, which is a first for me, but I did get twelve hours uninterrupted kip! also a first for many years. If there is to be a hangover, it should start at about 4pm today, if there isn't, I will be grateful for that as well.

[Marilyn]

Gosh. . . .sounds like you really 'tied one on' Thomo.

We realised later that we had been out walking my son's Labrador at 11am, so missed our minute's silence.( always observe it normally and even pull over to the side of the road to observe it if driving. . .can't think how an overweight Labrador distracted us on this occasion. )

Hope the hangover is a mild one.

[Tardis]

Yesterday:

The maroons were both early

I received a mass marketed email from the trainline, delivered at 11.00.05am, when even my UK twitterfeed was silent.

[Thomo]

Yesterday whilst many of us were paying our respects to the Nations War Dead, another British Soldier was killed in an "insider" attack in Afghanistan. This time it was a man from the Royal Scots Borderers, killed by a man wearing Afghan Army uniform. At home is has just been anounced that Abu Qatada has won his appeal against deportation to his home country of Jordan. Isnt bad enough that we send our people abroad for the bad guys to have a go at, without have their ilk living here?

[Stanley]

News that a young friend has MS.
Rang my tame Sparks about the dodgy fluorescent light. He says that it's a sign the ballast unit is giving notice. He's going to fit two new ones. The old ones don't owe me anything because Doc rescued them from a skip for me. Nice lad, he's coming today at 14:00.

[Stanley]

The LCC have dug a very deep hole on the slope in Butts, blocking the street. I asked Garry at B&D this morning and he told me it was a drain they were after and it is very deep. This may be the reason why so many gulley grates have been blocked for so long on Church Street. What interests me is how deep the drain is, I wonder whether they used an existing drain when the original gulley grates were installed. They've got it fenced off so I wasn't able to go and have a furtle!

[Marilyn]

The Solar Eclipse this morning.

[Stanley]

Maz, we aren't seeing a lot of sun....
The Sparks and I decided that the light units are probably OK. He thinks it is failing tubes but they are the super slim variety and don't appear to have hit Barlick yet. He's going to get a couple and I have ordered a new high-frequency ballast unit just in case. That should take care of lighting maintenance for a while!

[Moh]

The price of postage looks set to hike again, 60p for first class & 50p for second class at present. Apparently second class cannot go over 55p until 2020 but there is no limit on first class. One thing is sure my Christmas card list will be much shorter than usual this year.