WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

The re-emergence of Rebekah Brooks in the Murdoch UK empire.... (LINK) Will this end well?

And that's on the same day as this: `Phone hacking: Rupert Murdoch's News Corp could face corporate charges as CPS receives evidence' LINK

[Wendyf]

Colin finally agreed to getting builders in to deal with the gable end wall. The very tough old cement render is being removed and the wall re-pointed with lime.

[Moh]

Will be good for the winter.

[Stanley]

P. Exactly my point and I suspect that it's just chaotic attitudes, nobody has ever taught them the value of order in your life and behaviour... We were left in no doubt as to which way to go when we were kids!
Tiz, I had a lot of sympathy with the views of the 'Hacked Off' spokesman yesterday on R4. He hit all the buttons and said that this signalled that some sections the newspaper industry were totally unrepentant and that Leveson's recommendations are a dead duck. I totally agree with him. Murdoch has been knocked back in his UK media empire and sees her as a way of reasserting his dominance....
Another intervention by BLAIR in the Labour leadership race. When will he learn? If anyone is responsible for election disasters and wrong policy choices it is him. On his recent showing this will cement the Corbyn vote even further. Why can't these people recognise that they are yesterday's men and a democratic process, no matter how flawed, should be allowed to take its course.
Wendy, what a good investment and I'm glad you're not forcing Colin to do it..... I've seen different approaches to waterproofing an exposed weather gable end like yours. One used to be a coating of gas tar applied hot, very effective. Another common one and also effective was to re-point the gable end, install battens and hang slates as a layer of protection.

[Wendyf]

We are going to try a waterproofing fluid that still allows the wall to breathe. The builder has recommended it, so it's worth a try. The cement render was badly cracked allowing water in and trapping it. It's a relief to see that the stonework isn't cracked as well. Someone had used tar on Brown Hill's roof at one time, what a mess it had made of the slates.

[Marilyn]

Wendy, has no one ever suggested putting a path round the house to stop water doing damage to walls and foundations?

[Wendyf]

There is a damp proof course in that end of the house Maz and it is well above the outside ground level. We have no problem with rising damp. The old part of the house has no foundations and I believe there is a danger of subsidence if the ground beneath dries out too much!

[Marilyn]

That's a bit tricky....

[Tizer]

I'm not much taken with the idea of `breathable' walls, it was probably relevant in the old days before we had the modern materials and when houses were at a lower ambient temperature but its seems inappropriate now. At the old low temperatures water was forever condensing out on the inner wall surfaces and causing mould growth. Now the modern houses have insulated cavities and warm inner walls and as long as you have window vents and/or some cracked open windows then the moisture escapes instead of condensing out. In old houses a layer of foam insulation (even a thin layer) on the inner walls will prevent condensation as well as helping keep out external moisture (again, as long as you have ventilation).

[Wendyf]

We have insulated all the internal walls like you have Tiz, and have no problems at all with damp or condensation except on this gable end wall. In conditions where there is heavy persistent rain and high wind the water gets into the wall through all the cracking caused by the cement render and pointing and runs down the rubble fill inside. In principle it should run through the wall and out at the bottom without bothering us at all but most of it seems to find it's way to above the windows (where the wall must be getting on for 2ft thick), and that's where it can find a way inside! Col has tried various ways of diverting it, the latest involving draining it through the UPVC windows ( ), which has worked well in most circumstances except when the wind was so strong it stopped the water draining out.

[Stanley]

Wendy, tar on slates is an abomination but it works well on a wall. I've seen rubble filled walls that are full of water because they had been pointed with sand cement compo which is waterproof, you're using lime mortar which is fine as it lets water out. That's what good jacks use on chimneys for the same reason. Another problem with water trapped in the wall is that frost can blow the face of the stone. Lots of these older solid walls had no foundation in modern terms but they were either built on thick stone flags or in the older ones on Blue Limestone which is waterproof. Hey Farm and the estate buildings at West Marton were built like that and never moved. I agree with allowing water into the ground, if there is clay in the subsoil it can dry out and shrink. Damp rubble walls can be cured from ground damp by fitting a reverse osmosis damp course which simply reverses the polarity of the wall and works like a charm. The principle of protecting a stone wall by interfering with direct exposure to the weather is well illustrated in Lake District houses which are not pointed, the fin like projections of the stones break the weather and it never gets to the mortar which is well set back.
On a parallel matter, did you see the reports of the number of houses in Wales that are suffering from damp because of wrongly installed cavity insulation?
One curiosity.... Hey Farm was dry as a bone except for one damp patch which appeared on one of the large flags in the fire place in the front room whenever we had no fire for a few days. It was only a small patch and was a mystery... Bit like the blood stain in 'The Canterville Ghost'!

[plaques]

Bit like the blood stain in 'The Canterville Ghost'!

It has been suggested that the Canterville ghost was Gay. Or is this just a fairy story?

[Tripps]

His odds are 1/5 tonight. It's going to happen.
May you live in interesting times. Alleged Chinese curse.
Events dear boy events. Harold MacMillan.

"Jeremy Corbyn will be elected leader of the Labour party, placing the most unexpected pressure on the political management skills of a man who has previously run only the planning committee of Haringey council in north London.
Within days of his election on 12 September, he will meet his MPs, only 20 of whom ever truly backed him. Two days later, he will face prime minister’s questions, an event he has watched from the backbenches for the past 32 years. A fortnight later, he faces four days of scrutiny at a traumatised Labour annual conference.

[Stanley]

David, I think that he could surprise everyone.... Whoever wrote what you quoted has a fixed negative idea and life isn't like that....
I've been meaning to post something for a few days now but keep forgetting... Many years ago a friend of mine told me that there's nothing wrong in occasionally wondering if you were mad, it's perfectly natural and the ones who never have that thought are most likely to be mad. I was reminded of this the other day when I was listening to a discussion about the onset of dementia. The very sensible doctor said that at times we all find ourselves stood at the top of the stairs wondering what we went up them for and thinking that this could be a sign of dementia creeping up on ourselves. He said that in his experience these were the people who would be immune. I like that.
Later at 11:30....
It's been a full and exciting morning! I started out with a simple task in mind... to replace the ceramic sealing cord on the door of the Morso stove... Apart from the mucky job of cleaning the inside of the door and the mounting groove in readiness for the adhesive for the cord I cleaned the cast iron rim on the opening into the stove upon which the cord seats.
At the same time as I was doing this I had some dried peas on the stove on a low light in the pressure cooker ready for making some pea soup. I heard the safety valve lift while I was cleaning the stove in the front room and came into the kitchen to turn the heat down further. What I found was not a pretty sight! The safety valve on the pressure cooker musty have stuck and when it lifted it blew off and covered the ceiling the wall, the floor and anything else within range with a sort of very dilute pea soup. It took me an hour and a half to clean up. The only good thing is that a lot of surfaces and equipment in the kitchen are cleaner than they were when I started!
In case you're wondering, yes I eventually got the door seal installed and the door refitted to the stove.

[Marilyn]

I've had a few messy kitchen incidents, Stanley...

Had a bit of a smirk on my face this morning whilst watching breakfast TV.
A young French lass describing her plight and asking for help to locate an Australian man, who she believes is the one true love of her life. They had a one night fling whilst she was on holidays here a couple of months ago and is desperate to find him. She has discovered she is pregnant! She lost her phone somewhere on the journey home with his number on it.
Apart from that, unfortunately SHE CANNOT RECALL HIS NAME (!!!!)....but she feels it was a magical evening and he is indeed her one true love. Can anybody who knows him get in touch?
Ha! Fat chance!
I think the fact she can't recall his name says more about the situation than anything else. And the fact that she had stupid unprotected sex with a complete stranger.
Complete ding bat if you ask me....

[Cathy]

Fancy recording someone's phone number into your phone but not putting in a name as well, poor wee thing, she thinks we were all born yesterday. She is doing it in the hope of publicising herself and getting a job in the media or as a model/celebrity etc.
We've cottoned on to her already.

[Stanley]

I agree with both of you, she was stupid and now quite possibly has another agenda.... The kitchen ceiling has dried out to the same shade as the rest, nobody would ever notice.... The pea soup is finished and is brilliant!

[Marilyn]

How on earth did we remember who we slept with before they invented mobile phones?!

[Cathy]

Anyway... . It was a PR stunt to try to bring in tourists to a holiday spot on our east coast, by a business owner there.

[Stanley]

Local knowledge always pays off Cathy.....
I agree with Maz, I can remember them all.......

[Marilyn]

My list is VERY short, Stanley!
No bragging rights for me...NOT that it's a competition...(but some youngsters seem to feel it is)

[Cathy]

It used to be the guys who did the counting (and bragging) but in today's times the females are doing it too.
Some of the young ones are very 'open' today.

[Stanley]

I'd just like to state that contrary to rumour, my list is very short as well Maz.
Today will be a good day because I am expecting a visit by Mick and Sarah from Geordie land. He's bringing my Adept shaper and some castings from John Mills and I have goodies for them..... Lovely people who I met via Shed Matters, good things happen on OG!
Read THIS for a report of rape as a punishment for two innocent sisters because their brother eloped with a higher caste woman. This report has been denied but many commentators are suspicious about the denials. Normally I would have noted this and passed on but I watched the first in a new BBC2 series on the history of women last night and this punishment by rape of innocent family members for the infidelities of male relatives was first written down in the CODE OF HAMMURABI reckoned to be the first written system of law in 1800BC. Fascinating programme and well worth seeking out. The Sumerian Code has echoes down history in many other codes of law and the roots of the causes of the status of women to this day in the West. The Indian case is a direct descendant from the code.

[Wendyf]

The holes in Skipton Old Road heading down into Colne attracted my attention yesterday. They were marked out with spray paint last week but no one has been to repair them yet and there is only four days to go before the Tour of Britain comes through.

[Bruff]

A book I’m reading, ‘Engel’s England’. Engel is Matthew Engel, former Guardian journalist and now self-described least fiscally aware journalist at the FT. He was also an editor of Wisden, the cricketing almanac. He took a 3-year journey around the counties of England earlier this decade, and this is the result. Barnoldswick merits a couple of pages. Interestingly………in the Yorkshire chapter! He is very complementary about the place (obviously), if noting that the Council offices opposite the bus shelter outside which he guaged public opinion on the Yorks/Lancs question were probably the ugliest and worst maintained building in the country.

Barlick aside (and he refers to B’wick as Barlick), it’s a really good book. Very humerous and well worth reading.

Oh, and on his findings regarding the question? In the words of a young woman/girl ‘it’s only the old folk who bother about that’.

Richard Broughton