WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

David, that thought struck me as well.... Mind you, is Theresa worth £445,000 a year?

Is that a typo or are you adding in something besides salary? Her salary is about £150,000.

[Tizer]

Breaking news, Vince Cable is the new Lib Dem leader... LINK

[Stanley]

Not very surprising, it was a very small field! He's picked the right horse. It makes the LibDems the natural focus for what will shortly become an anti-Brexit storm as opposition based on what is happening hits the Tories.
The fact that I haven't got my tickets yet for the Fellsman a week on Tuesday...... I have tweaked them!

[Cathy]

When I was doing my grocery shopping today I heard an old lady ask someone if she was a staff member and could she help her. The person said no and walked on. A minute or so later I saw the same old lady looking a bit lost so I asked if she needed help. She was looking for some dehydrated peas, I found them for her, tiny little packets that weighed nothing. When she saw that they cost $1.70, she said that they had gone up in price and that she couldn't stretch to buying them this time. Her basket had cheese and crackers in it and not much more.
It was so sad. The whole thing keeps coming back to me.

[Stanley]

I agree Cathy and I have a 10kg bag..... It's so unfair.
I was thinking about the poor people in the Yemen dying because of poverty and polluted water as I turned my tap on for a glass of water. We are so lucky, is it any wonder people want to move here?
My Fellsman tickets arrived.....

[Tizer]

You probably heard about the flood in the small coastal village of Coverack in Cornwall this week. Here's a photo of the end of the car park and you can see where the water flooded down the road and undercut the bank of the car park. The torrent rushed on down, over the prom and into the sea. Why it grabbed my attention is the sight of that bench between the two cars - that's where we usually stop to eat our sandwiches when we visit Coverack. It has a great view! But this photo doesn't show the real damage. Two streams run into the town and both were turned into rivers for a while. Where one of them runs under the prom road it got blocked by all the stuff carried down from the gardens and the fields behind the village. The water built up and then flooded over the top carrying all the rubbish with it. There's one of those council-type steel tube railings on top and the flood flattened it! A lot of rubbish got stuck behind the prom railings, including the proverbial kitchen sink. That had the locals worrying until they found it had been stored in someone's shed. The shed too had disappeared in the flood. A double decker bus became stranded in the lane when the driver tried to escape the flood water - he lost the battle because the water jammed rocks under the bus!

[Stanley]

It reminded me of Lynmouth in 1952....... There are still people who believe that was caused by experiments in seeding clouds to make rain..... Exactly the same scenario as Barlick in 1932.....
Trump digging his hole ever deeper..... As I forecast a long time ago, he's finding out that he can't do exactly what he wants, none of his election promises have flown yet. Implosion looks more and more likely.

[plaques]

Pendle cycle Grand Prix wendesday evening 26th July. Link. a nice tight circuit 800m, round Market st and Cradock road. Good viewing from any position. Unfortunately, I won't be entering this year for two main reasons. 1) If I get dropped by the peloton I tend to get lost round the circuit. 2) If you get lapped you have to drop out. My races tend to last for just over one lap.

[Tizer]

I've found today that among the resources that I can access from home on my PC using my Somerset Libraries membership number is The Times digital archive covering from something like 1785 to 2011. Out of curiosity I looked at the Lancs Libraries web site and found that it's available at home online there too: LINK

[Wendyf]

The British Library Newspapers are available too Tiz, you just need a library card.

[Stanley]

We are so lucky today in that we have enormous archives available to us on the kitchen table.

[plaques]

The Lancashire Lantern is now called the Red Rose Collection Lancashire. Link,. Just put the town you are interested in in the search box and Stanley's your uncle.

Barlick 1.jpg

[Stanley]

Handsome young chap! I wonder what happened to him......
It looks as though Baby Charlie is going to have some peace at last. Thank God! He has suffered long enough.

[Stanley]

Baby Charlie's parents want him to die at home and are back in court today. Isn't it about time they let go? That poor baby.......

[Tripps]

Still not sure what to make of this episode. Don't they sell second hand cars in Swindon?

Stopped at the level crossing about 5.30 pm last night. I was first in the queue. I saw an elderly gent (70 'ish), in shirt sleeves, with a cough, and a wheeled suitcase, wandering about into the road in front of me - seemed totally out of place. He went up to the crossing gate, and gave it a shove. Something odd here thinks I. Tempted to give him a beep, and gesture him to get off the road. Resisted the temptation.

He then approached my window, so I wound it down and spoke to him.
"Do you know where 'XXXX Autos is? (largish second hand car lot and repair shop).
Yes says I - it's further down this road - not sure how far.
"Can you give me a lift?"
Yes - no problem - get in. He confidently opened the side door for his case, and got in.
It was a three train closure so we spoke.
"How far is it"?
I'm not sure , but too far to walk I would say.
"The bus dropped me off here."
That's OK - You're saved.
"We are all saved thanks to the Lord." He then went quite biblical on me.
Oh dear. Starting to regret decision to help.
He looked at the station open fronted waiting room -
"I could bed down there tonight if the worst comes to the worst. It's very dear in Cambridge."
"I've come from Swindon with my bus pass today."
Can you do that free of charge?
"Oh yes you can travel the whole country for nothing".
Shows me his bus pass marked Swindon. I never knew that.
Had a brief chat about Swindon, and Wiltshire in general, and what might be in the massive train goods wagons going past. Gates opened - Drove to XXXX Autos, and dropped him off. It wasn't as far as I had thought, but saved him a walk. Hope they were still open.

[Tizer]

Ah, but he could probably get the s/h car £5 cheaper than in Swindon!

[Stanley]

David, I've had encounters like that and have always put them down to the fact that we can't know how the other half lives and it's best left alone! I once met an old bloke on foot in a smart business suit walking down Tubber Hill early in the morning on a fine day. He greeted me when he passed and I watched him going steadily down the road. I wondered whether I should have mentioned the fact that he had his underpants on over his trousers but decided that as he was decent and not harming anyone it was best left as it was.
My mind is on Baby Charlie.

[Tripps]

Ah, but he could probably get the s/h car £5 cheaper than in Swindon!

Oddly enough you may have got it.

Being terminally curious, I couldn't let it rest of course, so called in at the car dealer's this afternoon. I asked a salesman, who quickly grasped what I was talking about, and told me the chap had come to collect a car that he had ordered. He had assumed he came by train, and was as surprised as I was to hear he had used his fee bus pass. Simple really.

[Stanley]

These things are usually the simple explanations David.... Richard Drinkall was one told I had been seen in the West of Scotland dancing on the roof of the cattle wagon. I was actually straightening the wireless aerial after passing under some low trees.....
The final resolution to the Baby Charlie problem.

[Stanley]

Being able to solve Ian's problem with his components for the new aerial. Very good for this 81 year old fart to be useful!

[Tizer]

This is a lovely bit of fun...
`Bristol teacher's end-of-term gift - the sweetest present ever?' LINK

[Big Kev]

I'm sure some are already aware of this but I've been reading about people struggling to get through to 101. I'm sure other forces have the same facility...

https://doitonline.lancashire.po ... ts/Create

[Stanley]

You used to be able to pop in the police station and talk to someone.....
Realised yesterday that I had forgotten the steak marinading in the grill since Friday..... It had not suffered!

[Big Kev]

You used to be able to pop in the police station and talk to someone.....

There used to be a time when you'd see police patrolling the streets as well. I used the online service this morning to report the tree/plant damage in the town. I got a reply within 10 minutes.

It doesn't replace the lack of available police but it seems more effective than calling 101

[Tizer]

I can still remember as a child the first time I came home from playing out to find a policeman waiting with my parents. I can't remember what I'd done but I won't forget this burly man in police uniform looking very serious. It was a shock, partly the sight of him but also the fact that I'd been found out. Another time I was running away from some mischief with my pals. It was dark and we carefully made a long detour through a farmer's field, well away from any houses, and out of the gate onto a road. Suddenly we were blinded by light and a voice said something like "Alright, what have you lot been up to now then, eh?" Again, a big policeman standing there with his torch. That left me with the impression that the police had supernatural powers and knew where we were and what we were doing!