WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Wendyf]

An excellent talk from Alan Crosby at the Earby History Society last night, about a few of his favourite items from the Lancashire Archives. His talks are always entertaining and informative but disappointingly few folk turned out to hear him.
Please say hello to John for me Stanley, we haven't been in touch for ages.

[Tizer]

She worries about nothing and her favourite English word is "later"...

China, perhaps you should teach her to use the Cornish word `drekly', defined a follows: "Drekly: This comes from the English word directly – but doesn’t have the same meaning. It’s the Cornish version of the Spanish mañana. If you’re doing something drekly, you’ll do it later, or eventually, or at some point in the distant future. You definitely won’t be doing it directly."

[chinatyke]

Thanks Tiz, drekly is perfect for her. I think I'll make it another nickname for her. Her current nickname is Rastus. I don't even know how I gave her that name but she answers to it! Perhaps it was because of her aversion to sunlight, the Chinese don't like dark skins because they feel it marks them out as nongming - peasant farmers who work in the sun.

[Stanley]

He was in good nick Wendy and busy. We had a good long talk and I told him about your influence on me when he said how well I looked on my low carb diet. He was very interested as he and Sylvia tend that way and he's going to look into it.
While he was with me the phone rang and I almost dismissed it as a cold call but picked it up. It was a man whose wife is an antique dealer and he said she had a letter dated 1832 that had come in with some other papers. It was from man called Buttle to another called Stockdale arranging to meet him in the pub at Thornton in Craven so he could be paid his account for £10. It is obviously something to do with the Buttle Award of enclosures on Whitemoor. He found me on the web, has been reading my stuff and got my number off Pluggy. He is going to send me the letter as a gift for safe keeping. More when I see it......

[Tripps]

Can't wait.

I commented recently how few people regularly post on the site, and it seems to getting fewer. We have lost (temporarily I hope) a couple of regular posters. However when something like this happens it shows its hidden value - and it gives me somewhere to burble on.

[Tizer]

Keep on burbling Tripps!

...the Chinese don't like dark skins because they feel it marks them out as nongming - peasant farmers who work in the sun.

Don't forget that we in the western world prized a whiter-than-white complexion, especially in women, for centuries for the same reason. Women put poisons like lead salts on their skin to prove they were not from labouring stock.

[Stanley]

When Lilia and John visited on the 19th Lilia did this pic on her iPhone and sent it to me this morning.



I was in full flow and I think she caught something......

Later..... I saw an advert for the Fellsman in the BET this morning. Despite our shortage of funds Susan and I need a jolly so I have booked us on the 1 August, premier dining class (Full English and three course dinner on the return journey) boarding at Blackburn and doing the bus trip and the steamer journey on Ullswater. Exactly the same as last year but all the tables for two were gone but that's not a biggie. I didn't even ask the price! It will knock a hole in £500 but who cares, there are no pockets in a shroud!

[Tizer]

`Donald Trump's US healthcare bill vote withdrawn' http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-39387550
"A vote on US President Donald Trump's healthcare bill has been withdrawn at the last minute after it failed to gain enough support to pass in Congress. Mr Trump told House Speaker Paul Ryan to pull the bill after it became apparent it would not get the minimum of 215 Republican votes needed. The withdrawal is seen as a huge blow to Mr Trump...."

[Stanley]

[Tizer]

...and now he's on the way to another defeat (see Politics topic).

[chinatyke]

Wendy will understand this story. We keep a few chickens and today my wife earmarked one for the pot. She removed it from the others and put it in a wire basket on the balcony awaiting its fate. She didn't get back to it until later and by that time it had laid an egg. I said "Oh look, it has given you a little gift." At once, tears filled her eyes, and she carefully returned it to the coop with the others.

I can't kill them either! Guess we're not cut out to be farmers.

[Tripps]

I'd been wondering when the newly appointed Commissioner for the Met would put in an appearance. Surely now is the time for leadership. The previous one has gone, but no sign of the new one, who said on appointment that it 'was beyond her wildest dreams'.

The answer is in the Telegraph - I've seen no mention elsewhere.

"It is understood the delay in Ms Dick starting her new job is simply because she has been required to serve out her notice at her current post at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, where she has been working since her retirement from the Met in 2014. A source said had been keen to begin as soon as possible but had responsibilities to fulfill at the FCO before she could move. It is understood the notice period has been significant reduced anyway.

An announcement on what day she will take up her new post is expected to be announced by the Mayor of London in the coming days, but she is not expected to start for around another month."

[Wendyf]

Wendy will understand this story. We keep a few chickens and today my wife earmarked one for the pot. She removed it from the others and put it in a wire basket on the balcony awaiting its fate. She didn't get back to it until later and by that time it had laid an egg. I said "Oh look, it has given you a little gift." At once, tears filled her eyes, and she carefully returned it to the coop with the others.

I can't kill them either! Guess we're not cut out to be farmers.

I certainly do understand! Our old girls get buried with due pomp and ceremony when all Colin's ministrations fail and they drop off the perch. I have been known to finish one off in an emergency but couldn't do it to happy healthy hen. I like to think I could do it if we had no alternative.

[Stanley]

Stanley aLSO UNDERSTANDS. wHEN i WAS REARING BEEF i COULDN'T EAT MY OWN BUT FUNNILY ENOUGH i COULD EAT MY OWN PIGS!. tOTALLY IRRATIONAL! (Bugger caps lock)

[Stanley]

The serious pain in my right thigh. Must stop climbing on the worktops to clean the glass on my knicker prints! Old age can be a bugger......

[Tizer]

Solution: move them to a more convenient position where a stool isn't needed!

[Big Kev]

A 19 year old Colne woman has been fined £385 for not clearing up after her dog in Valley Gardens. The story is here

[plaques]

I see things are looking up on the employment front. Santander (bank) are not using Zero hours contracts. They have moved the goal posts with a new '1 hour contract. You will be guaranteed at least 1 hour per month or the equivalent of 12 hours per year. Link. I'm not sure if they are going to offer a parallel mortgage to buy one brick at a time over 50 years prior to moving in.

[Stanley]

Kev, all I can say is good!! I noted a couple of days ago that someone has been marking deposits with coloured spray paint.
P. Thanks, I hadn't seen that. I can understand temporary or seasonal employment but 'zero hours' or in this case 'one hour' is so transparent. It's management saying "bugger paying benefits like sick, holiday or maternity pay. We don't care about you". They think it's a Cunning Wheeze but it's a sign of the accountants running the business and not the managers. What does it do for shop floor relations or loyalty? All my paid jobs were relationships, these are exploitations.
The Queensland cyclone reminds me that there is much to be said for Barlick weather!

[Tizer]

Ironically, these zero-hour and similar contracts, together with the fall in the pound since the referendum, are conspiring to drive foreign workers away from the UK. We don't need need Brexit, the immigrants want to go somewhere with better pay and conditions!

[Stanley]

Halifax Bank giving £500,000 prizes each month to two 'super savers'. A bank giving prizes???

[PanBiker]

I received my revised timetable with my invigilator sessions for the May /June GCSE's. I have about 24 days starting on the 2nd May and running through to the last one on 20th June. That should top off the holiday fund nicely.

[Tizer]

These were the front pages of two UK newspapers yesterday, reporting the signing of Article 50 for K to leave the EU. More interesting than some front pages. Today the Mail and Express both have front pages featuring images of their favourite man, Nigel Farage, drinking beer and grinning inanely.

[Tripps]

Halifax Bank giving £500,000 prizes each month to two 'super savers'. A bank giving prizes???

Not to be outdone HSBC now say - Take your pick. As Charlie Brown would say "good grief", though I must say Mre for mystery has some appeal.

The banking giant will let people choose gender neutral titles from the following list:
Mx, which is pronounced "Mix" or "Mux"
Ind, an abbreviation of individual
M, an abbreviation used in France
Misc, an abbreviation of miscellaneous
Mre, for "mystery"
Msr, a combination of Miss and Sir
Myr, used in other parts of the world
Pr, an abbreviation of person, pronounced "per"
Sai, pronounced "sigh", used in Asia
Ser, pronounced "sair" used in Latin America
People who wish to change the gender on their account need to bring a passport, driving licence or birth certificate that supports the change of gender and update their details in a branch, HSBC said.

PS. I'm a sucker for April fool hoaxes, but I've just checked - and it's not till the day after tomorrow.

[Stanley]

I was once verbally attacked by a woman for describing her as a 'lady'. I gave up worrying after that.



I have taken steps to avoid a repetition of this week's mishap......