WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

How even partial blindness can be overcome if you use your head. Have a look at Shed Matters.... But roll on my window cleaning!

[Tizer]

Photo taken on a beach and sent to the `Down to Earth' geology magazine by geologist Caz Donovan...

[Stanley]

I like it.....
See THIS for the latest news on the Strauss Kahn trial. Whether he succeeds in getting off or not, what a horrible picture the evidence portrays of his life style. How this man ever got to be chief honcho at the IMF baffles me.....

[David Whipp]

The Barnoldswick in Bloom display in the Town Square Marquee in readiness for tomorrow's 'Local Heroes' Day (emergency services and other organisations displays and activities). I liked the allotment pictures next to the fruit and veg stall...

The Bloom display is advertising Sunday's Community Action Day.

[Stanley]

Town Square is being worked hard even though it's mid-winter. Well done all concerned....
Later, after reading the BET.... I didn't realise that Councillor David Whipp is now the official World Champion Pie maker! His cheese and onion pasty won the trophy last Saturday! Well done David, please post that pic of you holding the trophy!

[David Whipp]

Will do, Stanley.

I did post a link to the LET report (with video) earlier - which has a better view of my prosthodontics...

Leading light with this week's events is Richard Milner (Chubby). Unfortunately, Richard was admitted to Airedale last night with an infection. It didn't stip him messaging me with instructions on setting up for today's Local Hero event...



(The pie makes a better photo...)

[Stanley]

You could add this distinction to your election literature. The Tories will have a job moving in on that one!
Have you seen the latest 'Pendle Matters' from the noble lord's stable? Pure mom and apple pie, not a single mention of anything contentious, like child poverty..... There's a big target there for anyone who wants to oppose them....
Did you see the report in BET where Lyle Davis says he is learning from his mistakes....

[Tizer]

If anyone gets a letter from a company called Concentrix about tax credits have a look at my post on this OG thread:
http://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/view ... 873#p68873

[Tripps]

" Pure mom and apple pie"

Perhaps that should be changed locally, in view of recent events to

"Mom and cheese and onion pie"?

[Thomo]

Or if you see the local alternative, "Pure Wizard of Oz, and Curry"

[PanBiker]

Nowt wrong with curry Peter and unlike Mr Stephenson he is a local lad.

[Thomo]

I am so sorry, it should have been Ali Baba, and not Wizard of Oz, and curry is fine, provided that you know what is in it, and are willing to eat alternatives without your ideological world collapsing, "You can take the boy out of Wales, but not Wales out of the boy" He may have been born in or near Nelson, but being truly local spans more than one generation, and being local In England has more to do with County than Country. I have before me a book entitled " Our Work, Our Lives, Our Town. Burnley People, Pakistani Roots". It is well written with good graphics, it also illustrates the good that may be achieved when a community works well together, it is also clear that in Burnley there is a second community that does not fall under this umbrella. Most of what I write is "Tongue in cheek" and I had hoped that this was obvious.

[plaques]

The other day I attended a workshop type seminar along with other interested groups. The most eloquent participant, for choice of words and grammar, was an elderly gentleman of Pakistani origin. His delivery, though clearly not in a Lancashire dialect, was clear and concise and covered some very interesting points about the Pakistani prisoners of war. Perhaps we don't engage enough with our next door neighbours to find out what kind of people they really are.

[Stanley]

What has ethnic origin got to do with it anyway? Time to wake up and smell the coffee. We live in a country with diverse ethic origins, it's been like that since 10,000BC when the ice sheets receded and the Celts came in. They were of African origin via India....

Maz has sent pics.....

[Marilyn]

Those pics were taken at a Wooden Boat Festival that we attended today. Saw many beautiful old boats...some looked as rustic as The African Queen and others sleek and simply stunning.
The reason why I took the above pics is because I spotted these two characters deep in conversation and seemingly oblivious to both the crowds and the heat. When I saw the engine in the boat, I immediately thought of Stanley, and how much he would probably enjoy a chat with these men.
So if you are thinking "why the heck did she post those pics?".... They were for Stanley and his appreciation of engines.
The little boat with the lovely engine was called " Flamin' Galah", which is just soooooo Australian ( think of Alf in Home and Away. It is one of his famous catch cries, along with "Stone the Crows" and " Strewth!")

[Pluggy]

Might have known there would be steam engines involved somewhere....

Its a conspiracy.

[Thomo]

When you consider more closely this country of ours, and the current problems attendant to it, and viewed from the perspective of someone who's family has been here for centuries, many valid questions arise. The majority of this country's population can trace their origins back a long way, be they English, Scots, Welsh or Irish, without going into the technicalities they are the indigenous population of the United Kingdom, warlike when required, yet generous to others when they are in trouble. The greater part of these people are tolerant, patient and understanding, they do not need to be told how they should behave or think. Hundreds of thousands of people from other lands now live here, bringing with them their own contribution, cultural, physical and spiritual. The problem here is that we are told what we must accept, rather than being invited to take part. Taking part however should work in all directions, and in all fairness there is little evidence of this at present, my suggestion at a meeting of last years Remembrance Sunday Group that the local Imam should be invited was met with stony silence, I never even mentioned the local Rabbi which would have been more pertinent as there is a young Jewish Boy on our Memorial. The recent media furore over the Schoolgirls who have gone to join IS leaves me cold, and already the authorities are to blame, they should have monitored the girls Twitter conversations, try and imagine the hue and cry if they had, the howling's of the human rights brigade, and the outpourings from these girls communities. I do not see the future of these misguided girls as being what they are hoping for, what IS represents is not the stuff of the Arabian Nights or the Desert Song, and if they are not found soon and returned, a quick death may be the better option.
I made fiends several years ago with a Man of Pakistani descent who lived near here, we could talk about all manner of things, I understood his concerns, and he understood mine, our conversations were always interesting and light hearted, he had never seen Pakistan, whereas I had on several occasions. He asked me what it was like, I believe that "Complete Shithole" was the reply, he fell about laughing and said that, that was how he saw it, I also remember that on my last visit there, and when leaving, my thoughts were "Now I understand why they want to leave". I believe that integration is the only way forward, but this must be seen to work in all respects, we need to be a little more tolerant perhaps, but they hold the key, let us in, let us see, open up, and take a more active part in what we are.

[Stanley]

How much cleaner my shed coat looks now I've washed it!

[David Whipp]

Some of the litterpickers who collected over one and a half cubic metres of rubbish (mainly from the Rainhall Road car park).

Rubbish included three traffic cones, 2 gas pipes and a sofa. (We couldn't remove the sofa, so Pendle coming for that.)

I was staggered by how much litter there was.

Another team were planting at the Memorial Gardens. You can see a photo of that in THIS POST.

[David Whipp]

The litter picking was, of course, yesterday...

What attracted my attention today was the black stuff going down on the improved path alongside Stocks Beck for wheelchair users and cyclists, exactly a month (by date) since we took the photo of cutting the first sod.



Braithwaite's, who are doing the work, specialise in such 'little' jobs and have small equipment for such contracts.

Colin Braithwaite is on the right with the hat on.

[Stanley]

How bad my left eye is now, my welding was an act of faith! Roll on April 14th and the start of the window cleaning process.....

[Tizer]

My attention was grabbed by this today because it happened in a quiet Somerset backwater (literally) that is only a couple of miles from my home....it's nothing to do with me, honest guv!
`Arsenal of ‘IRA’ firearms – including AK-47 and M16 assault rifles – found by two teenagers ‘magnet fishing’ on Somerset Levels'
http://www.westernmorningnews.co.uk/Ars ... story.html
and there is a short video on this BBC page:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-31611673

[Thomo]

The death in Milton Keynes in the early hours of this morning, of a Man from a Barlick Family and my Brother in Law, Mr. Peter Booth. Details in Obituaries.

[Stanley]

Tiz.... amazing what gets chucked in the water off bridges. When the canal company put the new Coates bridge in to replace the old hump back they found scores of turbine blades in the canal bottom. The theory was that they were 'mistakes' dumped by workers. I wonder whether these are a similar origin.....
What grabbed me yesterday was a nice little present from my mate Daniel, four copies (One of me and one each for my daughters) of a limited edition of 200 of collections of pics related to Bancroft Shed. There are three more to come at monthly intervals... Nice!
More on Saville.... (LINK)
The Cliff Richards allegations haven't gone away.... (LINK)

[Stanley]

THIS MINOR COURT CASE decided yesterday could have major consequences. Under EU law airlines are 9in theory0 forced to pay compensation for significant delays not caused by 'extraordinary' circumstances but they have been refusing to pay until the law was tested in court. This case would seem to settle the matter and opens the floodgates to all the claims that have been held in abeyance. It remains to be seen whether the airlines will accept this....
Breaking two very expensive saw blades through carelessness in the shed.... Not one of my best days!
Later... The news item in the BET about the sharp increases in house prices in Barlick. Could this by any chance have anything to do with the high profile we have achieved by reason of the activities in the town? Such things can't be accurately quantified but I think there may be something in this.