WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Wendyf]

Chinatyke has gone quiet but he was on the site yesterday.

[Big Kev]

The GDPR minefield and CCTV, I am required to put up signage now as my cameras partially cover the public highway...

[Stanley]

I had to look up GDPR. Alles klar!

[Tizer]

Interesting B&W photos..
`Work, protest and play on the streets of Hackney' LINK

[chinatyke]

Chinatyke has gone quiet but he was on the site yesterday.

I'm still around!

[Stanley]

Is your wife able yo get back home China?

[chinatyke]

She came home yesterday from Liuzhou. Liuzhou station was very quiet and her train was only a third full, normally at this time of the year you can't get even a "no-seat" ticket. The train goes via Nanning and takes just over 2 hours for the 200 miles journey. She sent me videos of the station and her half-empty train, even she couldn't believe it. People are definitely avoiding travelling. All passengers had their temperature taken both embarking and disembarking. My friend and his wife were not allowed to stay in his wife's home village because the residents were not allowing any outsiders there. We have 1 case of corona virus in our local hospital.
The confirmed cases are increasing at 50% per day and if it continues at this rate there will be over a million in 10 days! It is assumed that most of these cases were infected during the incubation period before symptoms showed and before the disease was recognised, and so it is hoped that cases will dramatically fall as a result of the measures taken since then, but the government doesn't build new hospitals in 10 days on a whim! The next few days will be crucial.

My daughter in California has cancelled her plans to come to China this year because she does not want to put her family at risk, a sensible decision. We might go there instead when the risk subsides. It's possible people from China will be quarantined on arrival abroad, so we'll wait to see what happens.

[Stanley]

Thanks for that China, I hope neither of you gets it! Tell her that Barlick was concerned about her!

[Big Kev]

British Airways have suspended all flights in and out of China https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51292590

[Stanley]

One of my favourite things is baroque organ music. Here's a taster for you, one of the best pieces of classical organ music played by a good organist on one of the world's finest organs in Ashton under Lyne. Be a devil and try it..... LINK

[Stanley]

That was a show-stopper!

[chinatyke]

British Airways have suspended all flights in and out of China https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-51292590

Now some American airlines have followed BA and suspended flights to/from China. Looks like I'll be stuck here forever. Yippee!

[Tizer]

Obesity strikes again!...
`Rescued owl was 'too fat to fly', Suffolk sanctuary says' LINK

[PanBiker]

Apparently the rescue flight from China to the UK is on hold by the Chinese authorities. They are insisting that only hand luggage is taken onboard. I cant see the reasoning on this as all other luggage is put in the cargo hold and has no knock on regarding available seating space on the aircraft. Normal luggage of course contains all the essential stuff that the passengers will need, especially for two weeks in quarantine. What's the point of flying an aircraft with an empty cargo hold? Might have a knock on to the aircraft's aerodynamic loading as well.

[Tizer]

If you love trees and haven't yet seen this video here is your chance. Prepare to feel emotional at the end of the video!
`The oak tree in Kew Gardens that taught the world a lesson' Turner Oak
`Fifteen million trees were felled by the Great Storm which hit the south of England in 1987. But the remarkable Turner's Oak in Kew Gardens in London not only survived the storm, but also changed the way that trees are cared for around the world. Tony Kirkham, head of the Arboretum at Kew Gardens has been telling Witness History about what he learned from the ancient oak.'

[Cathy]

I’d love to hug The Turner Oak
What a sad story for nature and man, so much damage.

[Tripps]

The veteran newsreader Alastair Stewart has resigned/been fired for inappropriate tweeting. He quoted from Shakespeare's play Measure for Measure' which caused great offence to a reader of his twitter account. I'm not at all familiar with the play, so looked it up.

Measure for Measure

Must say on first look I don't really understand it at all. How an audience standing up in the Globe Theatre, and listening in 'real time' would get on with it, I'm not at all sure.

Here's the offending passage -

- but man, proud man,
Drest in a little brief authority,
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence, like an angry ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

Now that I get - I think perhaps it is an early reference to what the Internet people now call the Dunning Kruger effect. Fancy getting fired for quoting Shakespeare.

PS - if that's got you interested try this for an explanation ..Two minute summary No spoiler

[Stanley]

Any measure of protection for trees gets my vote, I love 'em. (Look at HS2 and ancient woodlands...)
Alastair Stewart. Never quite trusted that man.... He's sailed close to the wind before. Remember when he presented the police programme and was caught speeding?

[Cathy]

Rain, rain, we have rain! Hallelujah!
Check Pennine Weather

[plaques]

Now that I get - I think perhaps it is an early reference to what the Internet people now call the Dunning Kruger effect. Fancy getting fired for quoting Shakespeare.

Had to look up Dunning Kruger affect. I guess that puts me in my place. On the Measure for Measure quote. I thought he was having a go at Boris Johnson. Listening to the 'Two minute summary' I'm more than ever convinced he had Boris in mind.

[Tizer]

The BBC has just put out a news flash: `First two cases of coronavirus confirmed in the UK, Department of Health says'. That's all, no further text at the moment.

[Stanley]

That was my impression also P.
I saw that Tiz, they were in a West Yorkshire hotel and are now at Newcastle in the facility that was set up initially for treating Ebola contacts. They said that the hotel apartment has been sealed and will be 'industrially cleaned', whatever that is. I bet the bookings plummet at that hotel, poor buggers!

[Big Kev]

That was my impression also P.
I saw that Tiz, they were in a West Yorkshire hotel and are now at Newcastle in the facility that was set up initially for treating Ebola contacts. They said that the hotel apartment has been sealed and will be 'industrially cleaned', whatever that is. I bet the bookings plummet at that hotel, poor buggers!

I thought they were in York. My son, who teaches in York, had a basketball fixture cancelled as they've been stopped from travelling in the area (the school that is, not generally). Seems like overkill to me...

[Tizer]

My cousin teaches first aid and safety and is doing her course for staff at a children's nursery today. It's a nursery at a local football club and goes by the name of `Kickers & Dribblers'.

[Stanley]

You're right Kev, York.
Today's date in UK style is a palindrome, 02022020.