WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Bodger]

the instructions are wrong!!

Measure twice, cut once

[PanBiker]

the instructions are wrong!!

Measure twice, cut once

Measuring twice would not have made any difference as the instructions were wrong.

[Stanley]

I have an advantage these days. In such cases I blame it on my eyes....
At least the mistake resulted in them being too long. Have you taken of the excess and got them to fit? If so get on to the supplier and charge them for your time. An invoice landing on the desk means they have to respond!

[Tizer]

the instructions are wrong!!

Measure twice, cut once

Measuring twice would not have made any difference as the instructions were wrong.

Correct Ian. I would have done it all on my own measurements and calculations if the instructions hadn't been so detailed and definite about how to do it. They tell you how much to deduct for the aluminium tube length and another figure for the blind width. I wonder whether the manufacturer has changed the end fittings and not altered the instructions to allow for them being a different size perhaps?

[Tizer]

BBC, 4 November 2014
`Rolls-Royce to cut 2,600 jobs'
"Engineering group Rolls-Royce has said it is planning to cut 2,600 jobs over the next 18 months. It said most of the jobs would go in its aerospace division, with most of the posts being shed in 2015. It is not clear where the cuts will be made from Rolls-Royce's global workforce of 55,000, 24,000 of whom are in the UK. However, the Unite union told the BBC there would be 800-1200 engineering jobs cut in Derby and Bristol."
More here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-29900087

Something a bit more upbeat...
`Christmas 2014 stamp designs unveiled' (BBC News)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29886446

[Stanley]

I seem to remember Rolls sending the last lot of redundancy notices in Barlick out just before Xmas. I remember because I wrote and articles about it. Very worrying when a blue chip company is so vulnerable to the order situation. I suppose that's part of the territory when they are big ticket contracts.

[Stanley]

Read THIS for a report on the unbelievable story of the young lad who suffered 13 years forced labour on a farm near Newport. This isn’t the Third World, it's modern Britain. Thank God he is back with his family. I can't find words to describe how cruel the farmer was, all I can say is that he should have been given 13 years in Gaol....

[Cathy]

I have been on edge the last few days thanks to people lack of courtesy.
On sunday an Electrician knocked on my door telling me that next door want a service installed (Foxtel), after he had clod-hoppered his way over my roof without knocking on the door first, he said that in order to do so they had to connect the phone line thru my roof and into next doors roof. I live in a group of units managed by a strata management. I alerted my owner who knew nothing about it and she consulted the strata management who knew nothing about it either. I am connected to next door by a fire-wall and being strata there are lots of building codes that must be met. My owner said No not until they had contacted her and explained how the job would be done, and I gave the electrician her details and strata details. The electrical company (Foxtel) did not return her calls. They did say that they are pre-approved even tho our strata people had never heard of it. Today they came and did the job, without letting me know. Half an hour of removing tiles, dragging cable thru, drilling etc. I don't care what services next door wants, and I'm fine for them to have it, but they have only been there a week and I'm sure they have no idea of renting, especially in a strata enviroment, and made no enquiries how it would effect me. They haven't approached me even tho they were told that it all had to happen from my side.

A bit of common sense and courtesy would have gone a long way. If anything like this happens again, the will know all about it.

[Marilyn]

sounds like you need a nice glass of wine...and a long sit down in a beige coloured room, my dear.
So did they end up coming from your side and penetrating the fire wall? ( cos I am sure that breaks a law)
Hope they prove to be good neighbours, despite the rocky start.

[Tizer]

Cath, If you know any electricians it might be worth asking them if any rules might have been flouted. The company who did the work may at least be obliged to provide the owners of the building with certificates showing what work has been done and confirming that it complies with all the electrical safety regulations.

Stanley, the RR chief financial officer has resigned but there's little information about why he did so.

[Marilyn]

Have we regained tranquility and calm today, Cazza?

[Stanley]

Cathy, regardless of who was right it sounds like a very badly managed project. Tiz is right and in addition the management company should inspect the work and make sure the integrity of the firewall is intact.
Tiz, I didn't know that. No doubt it will be picked up locally. Here's a LINK to the article in the Telegraph.

[Cathy]

I'm sure they have done everything correctly, they are a huge company and being electricians they are under an umbrella of 'big brothers'. we have most things underground here, they went into the underground phone lines down the far side of my unit, up inside my far wall, thru my roof and out at the end to the fire wall, next door's side of the firewall is about 18" higher than my side, you can see the cable which then goes into the front wall (where they drilled) of next door then down thru the front wall to give them the outlet inside. It's just that one of the things that bothered me most was that when the strata was asked if they knew the job was being done, ( they actually called them 'cheeky chappies') they should have said that these installations are pre-approved, but they didn't and because this type of thing isn't in our usual sphere of knowledge it caused some complications. I'm starting to think the strata had no idea. I assume the cert. of compliance has to cover not just their work but the security and building alteration as well.

Anyway it has been lovely and quiet today and I am back to normal.

[Tizer]

I sent an email to John Lewis customer services explaining their errors in the window blind instructions and attaching an invoice for the extra work and time involved. I haven't had a detailed response yet, just their usual auto email saying "Thank you for contacting John Lewis. Your email is important to us, and we'll do our best to get back to you within 24 hours." It's now about 36 hours on so perhaps that's a good sign, if they are having to look into it rather than just fire back something from the script on their computer.

Our builder, whose original trade is as a carpenter, is doing the final job - building us an open framed storm porch out of oak around the front door. You can tell he's enjoying it, he's singing and busily making mortise and tenon joints. The weather is mixed and we get sudden rain showers so he's fixed up a big tarp over the area outside the front door so he can keep on working. To get the work finished on time he's been there after dark with halogen lights flooding the area. In the old days there would have been a big group of kids standing at our front gate and shouting "Hey, mister, what are you making?" and things like "You've put that bit on upside down!". I told Ed, the builder, this and he said "And I'd have had offcuts ready to chuck at them!" (He has three young kids so he knows how to deal with them.) Happy Days!

We've had some good banter. One of Ed's lads, called Ben, is known for `having a good think' before starting any task. Yesterday Ed said he'd send Ben up to finish something on the point were the roof ridge meets the apex of the gable. I said "Tell him if he doesn't do it right we'll put glue on his trousers and stick him on there as a gargoyle". Ed replied "If you do, he'll look more like Rodin's `Thinker' than a gargoyle!"

[Bodger]

Came across this post on another forum, i wonder if Golcar lies on the same seam of treacle as Barlck ?

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Treacle Delph, Golcar
« on: Monday 13 November 06 16:34 GMT (UK) »

Quote

The place name Treacle Delph in Golcar appears in censuses 1861- 1881 and I would like further information on where or what it is, as I can find no modern-day reference to it. Families living here included Ainley, Whitwam, Sykes, and Thewlis.
HH

[Stanley]

Glad you are more relaxed Cathy. It sounds as though Tiz has educated Chippies!
Bodge, I doubt it. According to Lyle in his book 'The Wonders of Treacle', deposits are usually associated with their local River Basin. Apart from the seepage at Nutter Cote excavated by Doc eight years ago, all ours are part of the Calder complex of seams. Notice that they get more frequent as you move towards Burnley. The Golcar deposits yield a thin unattractive product whereas the Calder seams are particularly rich. This explains the greater trade eastwards from our mines, they needed the better quality for the Pontefract cakes most of which were made using Sabden Treacle.

[David Whipp]

Announcement that there'll be an announcement about the Great British High Street Awards tomorrow (Saturday)...

Nothing like keeping you on the edge of your seat!

[Stanley]

Jennifer Purcell trying to get in on the flower act....
The report of the man who died after being stunned with a Taser when caught cannibalising the body of a 22 year old woman he had evidently killed. This was not in some far flung primitive tribe it was in Argoed, South Wales. (LINK) Bizarre and quite possibly an example of how our modern caring society can fail spectacularly.
The case of the woman who committed suicide just before being put into court by the CPS on a private charge of perverting the course of justice. See THIS for the tragic story. So sad when a beautiful young woman gets into trouble like this. Something went badly wrong here and I hope they find out what so it might prevent it happening again.
Oh, and Andrew 'Bandwagon' Stephenson doing it yet again in his weekly puff for Central Office in the BET.

[Bodger]

I knew that Yorkshire was famous for treacle sources but heres one i wasn't aware of
http://www.treacleminer.com/Mines/Pudsey.html

[Tizer]

Bodge, here's what happens when treacle escapes...

[Tripps]

Interview plugging a book on Radio 4 yesterday, which is to be read as Book of the Week, starting on Monday. I came in part way through, but still recognised it was Blake Morrison, who seems to have very good connections at the BBC.
The book is about his family especially his father, who was described by the interviewer as an 'overbearing bully'. Blake did not dispute this description. Should be interesting.

Didn't we have a photo of this 'Cantankerous Yorkshire GP' on the site somewhere?


When did you last meet your father

[Tripps]

With wonderful timing, and after several postponements, the first batch of Libyan troops have arrived at out local barracks for 24 weeks training. Signs around the place have been bilingual English / Arabic for some time now.

"A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “These recruits have been carefully vetted by the Libyan Government and Home Office officials to ensure that security and immigration controls are maintained and that those selected are representative of all of Libya."

What could possibly go wrong?

Here's the follow up to the above post. Mr Cameron says that none will be granted asylum. I wouldn't bet on it. Good to know that at least the three hundred 'carefully vetted' soldiers wont be just a few miles away.

Predicted outcome

[Thomo]

I can see the cause for concern over the Libyans here for training having come across some of them in the 1970s. There was a contingent at HMS Sultan, the Naval Engineering school at Gosport. Whilst being in the minority they considered themselves somewhat special and treated that establishments protocols with complete disrespect. It was clear that their habits were very different to the rest of the personnel, born out by evidence that was littered around their accommodation block, ie. used condoms! Strange given that their religion is a tad homophobic. At mealtimes they would go to the head of the queue, this was tolerated at first despite the length of the queue, until one evening they were confronted by a very large and angry 3 badge Stoker, a rather one sided fight broke out, the lads had come to the end of their tether, our boys were charged under the Naval Discipline Act, the antagonists were not, but they were sent home. Libya had purchased several ex RN ships, all were steam powered, they had been there to learn how to manage them. It soon became clear that they had absorbed nothing, as one by one the ships started to fail, due to a complete lack of daily care, no boiler blow downs, no boiler cleaning fluid injections and no soot blowing, the basics had been ignored.

[David Whipp]

Barnoldswick winning the Great British High Street Awards 2014!

Check it out on the Visit Barnoldswick film.

A big 'THANK YOU' to everyone!

[Stanley]

David, plenty of pics and stuff about Arthur on the site and in my articles.



Arthur in his surgery on Water street in 1977. Arthur was my GP for well over twenty years until he died. Not only that but he was my friend and I often called in to see him at the Old Vicarage in Thornton and then at the house he built at the back for he and Kim his wife to move into when they retired. I haven't seen Blake since he was a small lad. When Blake wrote the book 'When did you last see your father?' I got hold of it and read it. It disturbed me because in essence it was an attack on Arthur which portrayed him in a very bad light. The next time I called in to see Kim (who was also a doctor and in practice with Arthur and had treated me many times) the first thing she asked me was whether I had read the book. She asked me what I thought about it so I told her it wasn't the Arthur I knew and she said that she had exactly the same reaction. She was terribly upset by it and had never been consulted.
Later, after Kim died, Blake wrote a book about her using private letters of his mother's which I am sure she would not have wanted made public. He went on to write a book about the Bulger tragedy. I never read that but the subject reinforced my opinion that there is 'something of the night' in his make up. I don't know what sort of relationship he had with his father but what I do know is that until fairly late in my life I had problems with my dad but we worked at it and well before he died we were good mates. From what other people have told me this is a common thing with a son and an authority figure. It seems to me that not only did Blake never get over his problems with his father but exploited them, and his mother Kim, to make money.
I make no secret of the fact that I don't like him or his attitude towards his parents. They were good people and did much good. I can't say the same about Blake....

Fireworks still a problem last night. Jack wouldn't go out for his evening pee so I took him out in the early hours. He was still frightened. The sooner they run out the better!