OneGuyFromBarlick

Stanley wrote: You can always identify someone who was reared under rationing, they always send clean plates back from the table.

Or who was reared by 'someone who was reared under rationing'. I hate that people leave a heap on their plate and then ask for dessert. 'If you're still hungry eat what's on your plate.'

Exactly right Liz! I hate the modern approach of asking kids what they want for their meal. We all had the same and cleared the plate, it was the only way to manage the rations then and today it helps manage the household food budget. No such thing as 'kisty' kids then..... (see the dialect topic)
See THIS BBC report of yet another area where the government is cutting funding despite it being acknowledged as a vital service essential to national security. Do they actually know what they are doing? Look at the mess they created through farming out the court translators to the private sector which immediately cut wages as a way of making a profit and lost most of their best people. You wouldn't leave this lot in charge of a market stall.....

Another problem affecting funding has reared its head here. There is concern that the postal and internet scams depriving the elderly of their savings is going to leave even more of them dependent on the state for their social and nursing care. Over £9 billion was lost due to such scams in the UK in 2014 alone and it will be much more now.

The bottom line is that spending on Social Care has been under attack for many years, New Labour was equally guilty. Like almost all these welfare cuts they save money short term but in the long term start to have blow-back effects such as, in the case of social care cuts, bed-blocking in the NHS. I don't know of any studies which quantify these long term penalties but there are plenty looking at the mechanism from the opposite end. Like the fact that there is general agreement that money invested in Primary Education saves many times more in future costs caused by increased offending by poorly educated and deprived kids. The same applies to many 'expensive' medical policies. I'm afraid that modern politicians are programmed to think in terms of voter impact and short term which in turn is best for their electoral survival. Those who hold power control policies. This is why I can see no prospect of more progressive taxes such as a Wealth Tax. I agree with Piketty and Stiglitz, this is the only mechanism that will reverse the flow of capital in the long run. But as Keynes said, "In the long run we are all dead!"
What grabbed me was a telephone call from my daughter Janet...... A miracle.

Seen by a friend this week.... from the wall of a training workshop at the International Boat-building Training Centre near Lowestoft: 'I know you believe you understand what you think I said, but I am not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant'.
I often think about the fact that while we may have a clear understanding of what a word means, others may interpret it differently. Language can be a minefield!
Hurricane strength winds in the far North but nobody in the South will notice..... The same conditions in London would result in a State of Emergency!

Big Kev wrote:A very productive day with a positive outcome (paperwork pending)

Paperwork has arrived.

On Christmas eve the official Santa Tracker will be available again on the NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) web site. Watch him start out from the North Pole! Santa Tracker Mobile phone apps are available on the same web page.
Also on Twitter: LINK

My wage slip arrived from West Craven HS Academy today to advise of when my pay for my last session of invigilating will be paid in. I have been asked for my availability for the February mocks this week, two more weeks for the holiday fund.

last night at teatime I realised the house was cold. I investigated and found the boiler was not firing but everything looked normal. Bugger!! Just what I need at the moment! Normally I never touch any of the controls between servicing, I believe that the less interference, the better the boiler likes it. However, I switched the power off and operated all the controls. Then I switched it back on and set the thermostat at 20C and away it went burning shed loads of gas for a couple of hours until it got the house warm again. Last night as I went to bed I reset the thermostat at 18C where it is normally and this morning all is well. I suspect one of the controls had a brain fart and shocking it by operating it cured the fault. Sometimes the old thump with a hammer gets the attention of the mechanism! This was the equivalent of that. Crisis over!
Trump and Putin rumbling at each other about nuclear weapons. Peace on Earth, Goodwill to all Men!

The NORAD Santa Tracker is now in action! He's over New Zealand as I write! LINK

A full Christmas lunch at Rosehill House Hotel, off Manchester Rd Burnley. Fine dining for a couple of £s more than you would pay at a down town pub. Weekend lunches are always good value with full staff in attendance served in a nice quiet relaxed atmosphere. Built by Adam Dugdale, of the weaving manufactures family its worth a visit to see how the other 1% lived.

With all the available technology it was good to see 4 of my grandchildren (5, 8, 13 and 15) playing dominoes and draughts together.

Yesterday, Christmas Eve, we called in to the supermarket at 3pm ( they were open until 9pm). Can you believe they had staff taking down all the Christmas decorations?!
Thought that was terribly un-Christmassy!
Hubby asked one young staff member why, and he replied that "Christmas was over". Oh Really? I've just popped in to buy my prawns for Christmas Lunch!

Funny how your mind works at times like this....



If there is one single thing that typifies my relationship with Janet it's the Dougall house I made at her request at Hey Farm when she was about 7 years old. She was a big fan of the Magic Roundabout and had a soft toy Dougall. I made her one and it has always been the only thing I have ever made that I consider perfect. It is still with her to this day. Dougall had a four ounce tobacco tin full of sugar lumps in his house and one day Janet asked me to get her case down from the top of the wardrobe. I asked her why and she said she was leaving home because "there are no bloody sugar lumps in the house". I went out immediately and bought some.....

See THIS for a BBC report on the problems Toshiba is having with its US subsidiary Westinghouse which is heavily involved in Nuclear industry. Occasionally reports surface about the difficulties and consequences in the industry particularly in de-commissioning. We hear very little about Hinkley Point these days. Most people consider it a done deal but I watch Old Sparky in PE who seems to have a good track record in this field and he is deeply sceptical still over the whole deal.....

If anything stops Hinkley C going ahead now it will cause big trouble here, so much has already been done to prepare for it, so many people committed to jobs, so many businesses been started, loads of money invested in essential associated projects...

But one thing that seems to have deteriorated is the ability of Somerset County Council to grit the roads properly in winter. Yesterday morning had been predicted since last week to be the coldest so far with ice and fog but the M5 and the Severn Bridge had to be closed by police when cars started skidding off the lanes at 09.00 and they stayed closed until 11.00, causing tailbacks and traffic chaos in the region. The Council claims it gritted the roads and bridge.

If its anything like the stuff they use up here it will be mostly coarse sand.

As we walked through the centre of our village this afternoon a gritter wagon went racing through the 30 limit at about 50 mph. Grit was spraying everywhere but I think it was accidentally getting thrown out by the speed, rather than intentionally being spread on the road. And this after a gravel lorry in Bath killed children recently. Last week I was pestered by a recycling collection lorry behind me on the main street in a local town. The driver was obviously annoyed because I was observing the 30 and 20 mph limits. I wonder if they aren't being trained properly?

Sally collected our granddaughter Ruby from Stratford and she is with us until after New Year. We will get Ilsa and Finlay tomorrow for a couple of days as well. We are taking them all to the panto on New Years Eve at Harrogate, (turn again Dick Whittington).

Ian, rock salt does have sand in it. The Council tried cheaper alternatives a couple of years ago but I think they recognised it was a mistake and are now using rock salt. They seem to be doing a good job so far and appear to be doing a lot of gritting during the night.
Tiz, perhaps the answer to bad driving is speed limiters on vehicles like gritters. The ones they have now allow over 50mph. If the Council is checking tachograph cards as they should they will recognise the speeding drivers and should discipline them.
See THIS for a BBC report on the Dr Helen Stokes Lampard warning that GPs are on 'thin ice' as they are on the verge of being overwhelmed and if they fail the hospitals will not be able to cope. The government of course trots out statistics to prove everything is all right. I've just heard her on 'Today' and I never thought we would be hearing warnings like this in one of the richest countries in the world with the best health system. It is being so poorly managed that it is in danger. Shameful!

The flood of mail as the obituary goes public and the fact that Margaret and Susan have just sent me a message of approval...... They are delighted with it.... You have no idea how vulnerable I felt!! Yippee!!!

On the rocksalt issue; the stuff in the gritting wagons is rocksalt with some molasses mixed in with it (apparently this makes it stick to the road). They spread it very thin nowadays - Pendle Council used to spread it much thicker and let it go right on to the pavements (the county council, who paid for the grit, always complained that PBC used too much).

The 'rocksalt' in the grit bins is mixed with sand. LCC do this to make laypeople's hand spreading thinner and to identify if people use it to treat private drives (as the sand doesn't dissolve away).

Molasses! What's wrong with locally mined treacle? Or are the treacle deposits running out?
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If Stanley ever wants a change from making engines he could make objects like this, I'm sure he'd have a shed full of suitable bits! It's one of my favourite ornaments, given to me by Mrs Tiz. About 3 inches high and made from various metal oddments - I also like the recycling aspect! We bought it years ago in a shop on the waterfront at Plymouth near the National Marine Aquarium.

I like it too Tiz.... However, for the foreseeable future I shall be fully occupied on the winding engine......
When I heard that Putin was not going to indulge in tit for tat diplomatic expulsions as a response to the US my first thought was 'smart move'. I found THIS piece from the New Yorker which seems to me to make sense. I agree with the writer that on current evidence Putin is on a good wicket with the incoming Trump administration because of their lack of experience. This is very dangerous and doesn't bode well for international relations. I have seen opinions which say that Putin's biggest problems are internal as the economy is in a mess but I think this may be wishful thinking. It wouldn't be the first time that Russia has been underestimated. I have said in the past that Putin appears to be playing a blinder. This does not imply my approval, simply a recognition of reality. Watch this space carefully.....

From a recent Economist web site article on Russia:

LINK