WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

I wouldn't have the faintest idea how to do all that Kev. If and when I ever need a new phone can I please call you?

[Big Kev]

Most of it is just following a few 'on screen' prompts, the software does the rest of it.

[Tizer]

Note the irony of so many Lego `marine' items, e.g. life jackets, scuba tanks etc, being washed up from the sea...
`Lego lost at sea exhibition at Royal Cornwall Museum' BBC

We're looking forward to this new programme...
`‘Fear is motivating’ says Chris Packham as BBC series re-creates past extinction event' Guardian
He [Packham] told the Guardian he had spoken to Greta Thunberg and Attenborough about what they could do next, asking them what happened after their meetings with world leaders: “To paraphrase, they both said, ‘They listened, but then they forgot it the next morning.’”

[Stanley]

I got a letter from IPSOS. (nstitut Public de Sondage d'Opinion Secteur) offering me work as a researcher on media use. I rejected it immediately but then looked at the web opinions on the firm and they are mixed....
From what I could see it would involve having to watch TV.... Include me out!
If anyone fancies having a go and earning money the letter says I can pass the opportunity on to someone else......

[PanBiker]

Apparently, according to a Facebook memory it's four years today since I managed to get my driving licence back. My six month mandatory suspension on medical grounds turned into 10 months by the time it was returned. Four years later now it's time to apply for a replacement as I turn 70 in November. I don't know if the DVLA send you a reminder or how far in front you can apply for a replacement. I will have to have a furtle.

[PanBiker]

That was easy, a quick check on the DVLA website tells me I can apply 90 days before my birth date so that is roughly the beginning of September. It's a free renewal and there is an opportunity to change the photo on the licence. Don't need to do the latter as it's only 4 years old and taken from my current passport which is the reference you have to send them if you want to change it. I suppose the thinking is that if it works for facial recognition at border control it must be a good enough likeness for a driving licence. I can put the request in online. I'll stick it on the calender.

[Wendyf]

I renewed my 70+ licence recently as I'm fast approaching 73. I did it online and it arrived within a week which surprised me!

[Stanley]

I kicked both my car licence and the Class 1 HGV into touch at the same time I sold my last car and have never regretted it. I realise that living where you do Wendy that isn't an option and it must be a worry....

[Stanley]

Every morning at 04:44 a lad comes home from work on his motor bike and parks two doors down. You could set your watch by him. I happened to be in the yard this morning when he came home so I botton0holed him and congratulated him on his time keeping. He said that his shift finished dead on 04:30 and that's why he's so regular. I told him that I admire punctuality like that, it keeps the world turning!

[plaques]

Our Andrew Stephenson MP, centre stage, (Sitting in a nest of bad men whisky bottles piling high. The Hollies)

Andrew Stephenson 4 .jpg

A bad tempered debate where they are accusing the selection to the committee as being rigged. Now that takes some believing.

[Stanley]

Ken, thank you! I tripped over that half hour video and watched it and wanted to comment on the fact that Sunak had astounded men like Bill Cash (40 years experience) by barring five candidates to the committee because they had announced their intention to rebel but I couldn't find it again and in the end decided it must have been a clip dating back to a meeting in March.
Yes I noted our MP and the fact that whatever he was drinking looked like amber nectar which he sipped while working busily on his (important) papers.
As you say, takes some believing but in these interesting times anything is possible!

[Big Kev]

I had to check mine off the back of your post Ian. I have the £16 anytime UK calls included with my Fibre65 package. I pay an extra £1 a month for a voicemail service, £29 all in. I just renewed it in May.

My anytime call boost package has expired, I've changed it to evening and weekend calls only at a cost of £7 a month. I may be doing away with outgoing calls altogether, the new mobiles we've just bought have very consistent 'wifi calling', the old mobiles kept dropping out, so we'll see how it goes. We can't rely on an actual mobile signal here, it's non existent indoors.

[Stanley]

Seeing my mate going downhill so quickly.... Frightening!

[Stanley]

Heard during a debate on politics..... 'Starmtrooopers'. These are Shadow Cabinet Members who can be relied on to toe the official line.....

[Big Kev]

A letter, from Transport for London, advising that my car doesn't meet ULEZ standards. If I travel into any London borough after August 29th 2023 I will be required to pay £12.50 a day for the privilege. I can only presume the infrastructure was in place back in May, when I visited my mother, and it picked up on my number plate.

[plaques]

I checked up on their web site my car now 5 year old still doesn't attract a charge. Not that I would dream of going into London.

North Valley road in Colne is said to have the highest pollution rate in Lancashire. A £12.50 per day charge would be terminal for Colne and for most small towns in this area.

[Big Kev]

I'm looking to change mine early next year, the Mini Countryman model I've been looking at is ULEZ compliant so TfL will hopefully leave me alone when I next visit.

[Tripps]

Interesting that the Uxbridge by election result hinged largely on a matter that national Government has no say over.

You can check here ULEZ compliant?

Just enter your number plate - or anyone else's for that matter, and you will find out.

If the object is to keep polluting, air damaging vehicles out of Mayor Khans back yard then it doesn't work - because those who can afford it will just pay the fee and carry on 'polluting'. Just targeting poor pollutors. Trades will addd it to the bill and carry on.

Mine's a diesel engine and also compliant. Seems a bit of a paradox to me. Just another reason why London is best avoided .

[Big Kev]

Mine's a diesel engine and also compliant. Seems a bit of a paradox to me. Just another reason why London is best avoided .

I still visit my mother, in Kent, and friends who live in outer London boroughs. Some of the diesel Minis I've been looking at are ULEZ compliant so I should be OK for continued visits next year. I avoid all but a couple of areas of outer London, it looks as though anywhere within the M25 will be liable to the charge. It could work out very expensive if you were staying outside of the zone, visiting someone inside and returning after midnight, you would be paying two separate charges. The '24 hour' charge period is midnight to midnight.

[Stanley]

It sounds like a very Draconian impost to me. Ken makes an interesting point about the effect of similar charges elsewhere. I am glad I don't need a car.....
Just as a matter of interest, is ULEZ in addition to the congestion charge?

[Cathy]

This isn’t funny, well it is.
There was an incident here last night involving an Uber driver , delivering a pizza. Nothing unusual. Except it was noticed upon delivery, that he was drunk. Not good. Not laughing.
But… when the pizza box was opened, it was discovered that the driver had eaten some of the pizza!
I couldn’t help it, I cracked up laughing

[Stanley]

I'm not sure I would have been laughing Cathy......

[Big Kev]

Just as a matter of interest, is ULEZ in addition to the congestion charge?

Yes, it is.

[Stanley]

That's a penal rate then!

[PanBiker]

Checked our Hyundai i30 1.6 petrol on the link. It passes on emission's without problem but still cops for the congestion charge. Note to self, never go! No real problem to us.