WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tardis]

The fire engine in the street for the currently empty property at the top

I had heard that it was a very damp house

[hartley353]

The fact that two homes on my street are displaying statutory repossession notices in the windows. We havn't seen one of these for 6 years now, does this suggest a change in lenders policies.

[Tizer]

This bit of news seems somehow very British in nature...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-wiltshire-22158829

[Marilyn]

Hey...maybe now folk won't abandon stolen supermarket trolleys there, Tiz!

[Stanley]

The contractors were evidently being paid by the yard Tiz.
By this evening, both daughter Janet and grand daughter Laura will have landed in the UK. Question is, are we ready for them?

[Thomo]

I watched this mornings events, not because I was a fan, for I would have watched it regardless of whom the subject was, and I have always been proud of the way in which these things can be carried out here. The precision and dignity are unique to this country, the dignity also encompassed the onlookers to a great extent, the only truly unpleasant part was when an unsuccesful attempt was made to upset the horses pulling the Gun Carriage, these were inocent animals doing a job, and to target them was unfair and cowardly.

[Thomo]

Only minutes after my last post here, I saw the other side of the coin. On the estate behind us lives a youth with a collection of "Off Road" motorbikes, these he takes out regularly, around the estate, and onto the roads, always at full speed and negative crash helmet, sometimes with a friend or sibling clinging to the back. This time it was off up Gisburn Rd, presumably to the mini roundabout and back, no respect there at all!

[Stanley]

Grand daughter Laura visited. How they grow! She's a young woman now and a credit to her parents. Tiring but nice. Then Sarah and Mick turned up for a cup of tea and to deliver the big machine vice he refurbished for me.
New bedside radio arrived and I had a little adventure with it. See Ian's radio station topic for the story....

[Big Kev]

4am is no time to be awake...

[Stanley]

It all depends what you are used to Kev. Very few people have seen as many dawns as I have....
The fertilizer plant in West, Texas. Why was it built next to schools and care homes? Or of course vice versa. And they have all that space!
09:00. On the way back from the butcher's I saw a maximum weight artic heading down Gisburn Road. The thing that was notable was that it was a specialised vehicle for loading tree trunks in a forestry area. It was empty and the only thing I can think is that it had been delivering rough logs to somebody like a council who were going to use them in the parks. First I have ever seen in Barlick.

[hartley353]

Maybe the cull of the Ash trees has begun.

[Stanley]

I came across an article in Private Eye about GP practices using 0844 numbers when this is against NHS policy. (LINK) This site reports them to the appropriate NHS authority if you give them the details. Needless to say, I have put the bleat in.
The capture of the second Marathon Bomber. Good.

[Stanley]

My sleep pattern seems to have changed. Normally I wake at about 04:00 but of late it's about an hour later. I think I'm sleeping better as well. It coincides with getting the new bedside radio but I can't see how that could change things. No problem, I enjoy my bed and I'm still up earlier than most.

[Tizer]

... I saw a maximum weight artic heading down Gisburn Road. The thing that was notable was that it was a specialised vehicle for loading tree trunks in a forestry area. It was empty and the only thing I can think is that it had been delivering rough logs to somebody like a council who were going to use them in the parks. First I have ever seen in Barlick.

...or on its way to collect biomass for Drax.

[Thomo]

Sorry Tiz, but Stanley was correct, I "clocked" it going past here, another truck with a guidance system. one of the kind that doesn't just show you the way, it gives the fastest route as well. We are getting a lot of this down here now, we now have ship borne containers coming by, no one around here has the capacity to offload one of these giants, and there are car transporters and "Logistic" vehicles of all kinds, not to mention a high number of massive tractors. Less than a mile away the road is Bracewell Lane, never intended for the volume and weight of traffic that now uses it, another problem is the general speed, remembering that this is now the quickest route from East Lancashire to the Ribble Valley and the North, speed is the main criteria, regardless of the fact that this is still a built up area. Once a driver does it and gets away with it, the speed creeps up, I am a good judge of speed have been driving for 56 years, and taking part in racing events, twelve months ago I estimated that the average speed past my gate was 45 MPH, now it closer to 55 MPH, with the occasional idiot at 70 MPH. Talking to some of my neighbours a couple of days ago I discovered. that many now sleep at the back. This morning I went to Colne for some pet supplies, a journey of about 5 miles each way. normally on a Sunday this would have been relaxed, today it was not. There was a cycle race taking place, this is fine and I love that sort of thing, but when navigating your way through it, and given the modern usage of part of the route, frankly, you need to have eyes in your arse. Coming the other way is a parade of vintage motors, and added to this are the "Long range" farming contractors, collecting manure from Salterforth to spread in Lancashire. The drivers of these monsters, enclosed in their air conditioned and semi soundproof cabs, connected to their onboard sound and comms systems, are easily totally unaware that they have just dumped a great pile of their cargo across the main road, and right at a four way junction, ie Salterforth, The cyclists are trying to avoid this, everyone else apart from the high speed brigade, are trying to avoid the cyclists and oncoming traffic at the same time. It was like something out of "Monty Python" it could have been funny, one small error of judgement and it would have been anything but!! When observing this madness from the house or, if brave, the garden, several factors become clear regarding the worst offenders, Audi and tranny van drivers, vibrant young women in UAV's and teenage tractor drivers are the worst offenders, include here the number of one handed drivers (mobile phone) and food on the move, pedestrians have little chance, animals even less!

[Wendyf]

I met the cyclists as I was heading back up Stoneybank out of Earby this morning, they were coming down the hill at frightening speeds. I kept stopping to let a batches through..it took me ages to get home. The vintage cars were up here too, heading towards Skipton from Colne.

[hartley353]

Cycling is a wonderful way of travelling,exercise,fresh air,and time to look at the scenery The lycra clad warriors who invade the lanes of cheshire fill no part of my picture of this activity. They ride in packs not just two a breast but four and five abreast, travel at speeds which in the event of an emergency they would not be able to stop, and have no regard to any of our regulations. As far as I am aware no one is allowed to race on our roads without special dispensation, why are these idiots never challenged by the police, and why is it allowed to continue?

[David Whipp]

I'm not sure if everyone is talking about the same cyclists here...

Today was the Pendle Triathlon which includes a time trial style cycling element with individual riders setting off at timed intervals. The route is circular from the Sports Centre on Kelbrook Road and involves only left hand turns. I doubt these were the riders coming down off Bleara Moor on Stoney Bank. (They would have been the ones avoiding manure at Salterforth though!)

[hartley353]

There is no beef on my part with organised sports events, correctly marshaled and well planned and advertized, just the heart stopping moments I have endured when coming round a blind bend to be faced with a solid row of cyclists bearing down on me occupying all the road.

[Stanley]

I'm all in favour of going downhill fast! It's over 65 years since me and two of my mates were stopped by the police for doing over 60mph down Long Hill out of Buxton. However, we were in sibgle file and Lycra hadn't been invented then! A lady friend of mine once invented a collective noun for the Lycra brigade, she said they were a 'clench' of cyclists....
What's struck me over the last two days is that Ronnie Sullevan on song is sheer poetry!

[hartley353]

All good snooker players have a rhythm,when they are on song it is poetic, the one notable exception was the hurricane, very unballanced and clumsy but still accurate.

[Stanley]

Higgins getting knocked out in the first round by Mark Davies. Competition can be very cruel but Mark has been struggling for years to get into the top flight and deserved his win.
11 horses in the Godolphin stable have tested positive for anabolic steroids.... Bit embarrassing for the ruler of Dubai.
Discussion on R4 about Eric Pickles' initiative that the old county names like Cumbria, Huntingdonshire etc. should be used for 'non-official' purposes as they promote social cohesion. During the discussion it transpired that the old shire names are still legal entities but superseded for administrative purposes by the new boundaries. Remember the discussions we had on the site about whether Barlick was in Lancashire or Yorkshire? I always held the view that the old shire names couldn't be extinguished even if administrative boundaries were changed. It looks as though I might have been correct. Worth remembering that the Post Office gave up the struggle with Barlick when they gave us a unique postcode and stated publicly that it didn't matter whether letters were addressed to Lancashire or Yorkshire. Remember also the matter of the county boundary signs which were uprooted after the administrative changes but are now back in their original locations. It is quite accurate to say that Barlick is still in Yorkshire! The county boundary sign with Lancashire has been reinstated on the far side of Hague whereas under the boundary changes it was just beyond Gill Brow. Remember how the lads kept on uprooting it and at one time 'Yorkshire' was painted in bold letters on the end of a building at Hague nearest to Foulridge.

[Thomo]

It looks as though Canada has now been added to the list of potential targets for militant islamists. The authorities there have foiled a plan to derail a train travelling from New York to Toronto. two suspects are out on bail! is that a good idea? or another version of overstated human rights. The perpetrators of terrorism should forfeit such generous acts of benevolence as they would not extend the same to their intended victims.

[Tizer]

Thomo, I had the excitement a couple of days ago of seeing a speeding BMW coming towards me on my side of a traffic island. He was frustrated by being stuck behind an articulated lorry on a single carriageway so he went on the outside of the island as the lorry passed it on the inside. Fortunately I wasn't going fast and he swerved back in front of the lorry just in time.

[hartley353]

Yesterday I attempted to buy some gold coins from my usual dealer, imagine my surprise when he told me he had none available,and many orders to fulfil. This is one of the many unexplained quirks of the modern money markets. At a time when gold has been falling at unprescedented levels in the last 15 years, why are there so many buyers for it. Most people realise that institutions like the Federal Reserve Bank have been controlling the gold market, but why now have they acted to lower the price at the same time as the world is pushing for debt ridden countries to sell their gold reserves. It makes little sense to sell at the bottom of the market, when your debtors want cash. The correct term is probably Shenanigans, Global control.