WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

What caught my attention was receiving a bill from the courier UPS for goods delivered. We terminated our account with them nearly 2 years ago when we stopped running a business and haven't used a courier since! Someone at UPS must be suffering from `fat fingers' or sloppiness or else there's fraud going on somewhere.

[Nolic]

Take a trip through 17th Century London on the eve of the Great Fire. Well worth a look. http://londonist.com/2013/10/fly-throug ... 8274979%22 Nolic

[Marilyn]

That is absolutely brilliant!

[Tardis]

A nice turn out of volunteers in Valley Gardens to help the park keepers with their woodland clearance

[Tardis]

That De Montford piece is fabulous Nolic. I tweeted it too, thank you for posting it

[Stanley]

Comrade, if they'd done that in the 17th century they'd have been prosecuted for witchcraft. Good job they didn't do the smells with it....

[Stanley]

Bugger!!! I've just realised I missed the clocks changing so I'm up an hour earlier! Ah well, I've still had six hours good sleep....

[Marilyn]

I experienced a sad moment today when I accompanied son to look at a house that is for sale (yes...he is still searching for the perfect home).
It was a lovely house...good bones...well set out. The elderly woman had very recently died, though it was obvious she had not been coping for some time and there were signs she had needed help with tasks. Only the bare bones of her furniture remained in the house and her walking frame etc were in the garage.
What made me sad was walking into her walk-in-robe and the only item still hanging on the rod was her wedding dress. Circa 1950...beautifully made...now yellow with age, and even the plastic protector had just about rotted.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
About the cycle of life...a life well lived by all indications...and the hopes and dreams that beautiful wedding dress once held.
So sad.

[Cathy]

Yes sad indeed. i remember a few years ago inspecting a house for sale in Melbourne. Old house, old suburb, old front garden etc. Upon entering the airless house and very dated decor I thought that the house had been closed up for quite some time. It was like stepping back in time. the curtains weren't even opened and as we walked into the lounge it took me a few seconds to realise that the owner was sat on her 2 seater, in her two piece suit holding her handbag. The real estate agent just ignored her and she didn't acknowledge us and spent the time just looking at her carpet. How sad, and how sad that she had no-where to go while prospective buyers looked thru her home. I wonder what happened to her?

[Marilyn]

Haven't been able to put that dress out of my mind all day, Cazza.
( it was such a sad thing to see).
I ran my hands over the beading on the bodice...gosh...kept for so long...and possibly unbearable to remove from the wardrobe by whoever was clearing the place.
I thought of the young man who turned to see his bride walk toward him down the aisle many years ago. ( possibly a returned soldier even?)

I am just too darn romantic for my own good at times.

[Stanley]

I've seen worse faults Maz......



Here's one of the pics I have sent to the kids. The Old Fart with daughters Susan and Margaret at the Bull last night. A happy man after a good meal. Pity Janet wasn't with us but someone has to hold the fort in Australia. Life is quite wonderful......

[Thomo]

For the second time in two weeks, having to make an emergency stop at the pedestrian crossing by the Gisburn Rd school when the front of the car was already level with the crossing itself, for this we can thank mobile phone addicts. The first was a girl of about 7 years old and with phone to ear stepped off right in front of me, this morning, going the other way, a young woman, again with phone to ear, neither even bothered to look to see if it was safe to cross, and neither acknowledged that they had just been lucky. I am always aware of this possibility near crossings and drive accordingly. These crossings have a zone either side and as I understand it serve two purposes, 1. to warn drivers not to park in that area, and 2. to warn pedestrians not to cross if a vehicle is already within that zone. Has the highway code been scrapped???

[hartley353]

Hope nothing like that happens to me Thomo. I've just had new pads and discs fitted this morning, with my limited mileage these days it will take 3 months to bed them in. I am no fan of mobile phones and earphone being used on the roadside by pedestrians.

[Pluggy]

I'm presently in negotiations with a couple of php developers in regard to sorting out OGFB's problems. It will mean big changes. There's more details in the donor members area for the donors.

[Tardis]

I've had people drive through that crossing after I've stepped onto it as cars from one direction stopped to allow me passage

The other day I was even complimented by the Crossing Attendants on my road crossing technique the other day, so I'm not sure the fault is with me.

[Tardis]

Today: how poorly provided is the train service from Colne when compared with Skipton. I've not been on such a bumpy line since I last rode the North Berwick branch line. Hopefully it will be upgraded and Northern Rail will invest in some rolling stock

[Tripps]

Is it possible that Zebra Crossings and their associated Belisha Beacons are past their sell by date? To me they belong to another quieter age (1950's) when there wasn't as much traffic, and what there was moved a lot more slowly.

[PanBiker]

Just reported on the NW news - 18 semi-automatic shotguns missing from the Kelbrook shooting range following a break in at the weekend.

[Stanley]

Vigilantes at zebra crossings?
I know my north/south divide syndrome is poking through but watching the images on the news last night I reflected on two things. Anyone who wasn't aware would think that the whole of the southern half of the country was devastated. I thought of the winds I have seen that were never reported on the national news. Biggest one was in the 80s when Mary and I watched sustained winds of over 120mph flattening the waves off Eigg. There was a gust of over 150mph in the Cairngorms the same day. Even the news reports were asking whether the problem had been over-egged slightly.
Have a look at this LINK for the opening of the tunnel under the Bosphorus today. Great achievement but I hope the engineers got the earthquake proofing right!
Karen Shoesmith is reported to have gained a six figure settlement in her case for wrongful dismissal. LINK. Not too sure that this is a good judgement.....

[Nolic]

Well worth having a look at this. Pure skill and mastery of their chosen hobby - hand bell ringers playing Duelling Banjos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OecMW2M ... ture=share Nolic

[Gloria]

We finally got to the underground reservoir yesterday, in Clayton-le-Woods. It has been emptied and is being demolished for house building. There have been many attempts to save it but all have failed. The builders have had it open to visitors for two weeks and that ends this weekend. It was fascinating going down the scaffold steps into it, all brick vaulted ceilings, it is beautiful and well worth a trip --- decent footwear needed though as it is a building site. A "Not to be Missed".

[Thomo]

18 S/A shotguns, that is going to bad news for someone, somewhere. Ref; The Storm, I agree with Stanley on that, one reporter said " Those in the North will probably think that this is all just a big fuss about nothing"! Not at all, we don't like big storms either, its just that we don't over react or behave stupidly, like the people shown in bathing suits wave dodging on the promenade. If it had not been half term, I imagine the schools would have been closed as well, and one of the big problems of having large numbers of people travelling great distances to work every day, and in a single hub is that it does not take much to bring everything to a halt. I think that this was as usual more about the effect on London than about the South West in general. The loss of life due to falling trees is sad, but hard to predict, wrong place, wrong time, unlike thrill seekers who deserve all that they get!

[Tardis]

Karen Shoesmith is reported to have gained a six figure settlement in her case for wrongful dismissal. LINK. Not too sure that this is a good judgement.....

Karen Shoesmith won her claim because the Local Authority failed to follow procedure in her dismissal. The shocking part is that the settlement figure has a gagging clause. Who needs to be protected?

[Nolic]

Shoesmith was rightly sacked but in the wrong way - Ed Balls(up) announcing it on BBC News. Some staff from Ofsted should have gone as well. Nolic

[PanBiker]

Just realised after making my last post that the board time was still on DST. I have just re jigged it to GMT so posts should now show the correct time.
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It does.