OneGuyFromBarlick

News this morning that the third volume of the Mantel Cromwell trilogy will be published in March 2020!

Ah! Spirograph! The kids had one and I used to play with it. It was playing with his grand daughter's Spirograph that triggered Johnny Pickles into having a stab at Ornamental Turning, he had already built the lathes. I love the Scandinavian wooden toys usually operated by pulling a string..... Have...

Use your vote, a lot of good people made great sacrifices over the years to win it for you!

https://www.oneguyfrombarlick.co.uk/app.php/gallery/image/6423/medium The sole flue under a Lancashire boiler. This was at Ellenroad. Very few people know about the complicated brickwork in a standard Lancashire boiler setting. It was subject to very high temperatures and consequent attrition durin...

Re. Scunthorpe and British Steel. I saw yesterday that the sharks were charging the company an 'administration fee' as well. I heard part of a report yesterday about the buy to let market. The 'expert' witness was saying that the expectation is for house prices to fall and that many landlords are go...

Funny stuff inflation and the devaluing of money. Looking at that £300 it must be the equivalent of over £10,000 today if compared to the industrial wage. In the lean times Vera and I survived off a wage of £8-10-0 a week and we were paying back the bank loan for Hey Farm at £30 a month. Seems total...

Meat Ball and veggie X two for dinner and tea. With an injection of grilled sausage to extend it the stew will see me through the day!

Once again, yesterday was better than the forecast suggested, a nice day.... At 20:30 we had broken cloud and it was calm, dry and mild. First thing this morning it was the same, stars peeping through the gaps in the cloud. I've looked outside and it is a bit more overcast but dawn is showing in the...

I've been thinking about Philip Alston's report for Human Rights Watch. I didn't realise that this is the full report of the same 24 page summary he published a few months ago. I did a bit of a furtle and there is a massive body of support on line for his conclusions in inflammatory rags like the Ma...

Is that the new one they tell me about?

I have that image in mind, very good! He is a big lad!

I think Conor's knicker prints come under that heading.....
The wooden scooter the joiner at father's works made for me during the war. Hours of fun and entertainment at a time when that was thin on the ground.

I didn't know about that Tiz. Seems to me like cynical exploitation of parents who are at their wits end and will grab at any straws. The fact it's voting day and Susan is coming to give me the luxury of a pedicure. She does it so much better than I do.... My young friend Vicky agreeing right away t...

You've almost got it Tiz. Give it a bit of thought..... Clue, is it pull or push?

I agree David. I was expecting her to go any time yesterday but as you say she is stringing it out until she is forced to do something. (And wasting even more time!) Never mind waiting until the Monday results, they are a foregone conclusion, better for a caretaker (Lidington?) to deal with the flak...

David, I didn't feel that Sue was getting at me. She has noted what must be obvious and the most likely reason is a combination of age, dealing with cancer and the treatment itself. Be sure it's not sending me into a decline. I consider myself lucky. Voting today and Susan comes to trim my hooves th...

I shall read my ballot paper very carefully. I am back in monitoring mode after a sleep.
British Steel is in administration, so much for Stephenson's reassuring words. The Official Receiver will run the company until a buyer is found but have already said that there are no takers....

"Every single death in [the Troubles], and every death in every war that was ever fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother’s labor spurned." Betty Williams, Nobel acceptance speech, 1976. On August 10, 1976, a young IRA soldier was shot at a British army roadblock and fatally wounded. His ...

I've just written a piece about Gove but it hit yours and I lost! I have listened to him this morning making what on the face of it was an emollient and calm statement in support of his Leader. It was actually the knife slipping in her back. The key thing he said was that the Cabinet would be having...

I agree with what you are saying (after it has been processed by my irony filter. You are so good at it!). I am struck (and have been for the last 10 years) by the fact that exactly the same arguments were used in the 19th century when the Poor Law was rebuilt on the basis of the difference between ...

I think you may be right Sue but then again it could be simply old age! I am not letting it worry me because either way I can't do a lot about it! There is no doubt in my mind that one of the consequences of BCG treatment is fatigue, what isn't clear is how long it takes to shake it off. It will be ...

THIS Guardian account of the latest report from the UN Human Rights Watch couldn't be more damning and reflects what I believe to be the truth. The worst thing about the reaction to it as far as I am concerned is that the first reaction isn't to agree with it but to complain to the UN about its 'to...

And others as well Cathy. The High Street is suffering badly....

Those of you with long memories might remember that in 2012 after years of searching I spent £126 on a book by David Omissi, 'Air Power and Colonial Control' I am reading it again and don't regret spending the money. I've just looked on Bookfinder and the prices range from £230 to over £600. I might...

I have to agree.... Mind you, I have been known to spend ridiculous amounts on rare books....