WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Marilyn]

We have all been inside a bit long
I’m fine, but I’ve noticed hubby gets a bit “ropey” at times

Have you finished that fence yet Big Kev ?

[Big Kev]

As far as I can go, I've run out of timber so I cleaned the windows

[Stanley]

The CGI version of the Grand National and a Champions race won by Red Rum. Very well done and quite convincing.
How light it is in the evening, remember when it was going dark at 15:00?

[Tizer]

When we were out for a walk yesterday we saw several men painting their fences. They've probably already mowed the lawn. Like Kev, they'll be on to the windows next.

[Big Kev]

Glass of wine in the sunshine today, I reckon.

[Stanley]

Grand daughter Laura recently got her degree in paramedic medicine and went job hunting. She got a job immediately and her starting date has been brought forward to next Wednesday when she flies out to Rio Tinto's port at Cape Lambert at Karratha, WA. She is very excited.... She does a fortnight on and a fortnight off and it is a well paid job. Bit like working on the North Sea rigs...

[PanBiker]

Excellent news Stanley.

[Big Kev]

Good stuff

[Tizer]

Wow, Pilbara, just about as far away from Sydney you can get! What an experience, to work there! Rio Tinto Pilbara

[Cathy]

Yes what an experience, but it’s a tough job. I wish her well.
She will be very well looked after and make big money

[Stanley]

What struck me was the fact that she was hired so quickly, it suggests a high turnover to me but I said nothing. She's a tough cookie and I think she stands a good chance of being OK. She did a spell of work experience with the Flying Doctor service in the outback and enjoyed that!
What a lovely day it was... No idiot crowds in Barlick breaking the rules as far as I noticed.

[Tizer]

A strange thing we've noticed here in the last week - discarded drinks cans on the grass verges where we walk in this residential area. Not in groups as you might expect if people had gathered together, but single cans in different places, more likely thrown out of passing vehicles. All new cans, sitting on top of the grass and they hadn't been there on our previous walks. Today I saw an empty wine bottle on one of the verges. This is not an area where we have people sleeping rough and the kids and students at the schools and colleges are usually reasonably well-behaved. All I can think of is that it's the angry brigade, the same ones who got more troublesome after the EU referendum when they felt their time had come.

[PanBiker]

Reviewing old topics, (which is what you tend to do when you are at a bit of a loose end). I came across a link that Tripps put up a good while ago The Wayback Machine which is a webcrawler site that scans millions of websites and caches the contents under the URL reference of the site. Playing around with it I managed to recover a couple of old threads that I put up which were lost on the Archive site. Couldn't recover the images but I can probably find and scan them again. When I have more idle moments I will repost when the time is right.

[Stanley]

"When I have more idle moments I will repost when the time is right"
There's going to be plenty of that about Ian. I reckon 18 months at least......

[Tizer]

"When I have more idle moments I will repost when the time is right"
There's going to be plenty of that about Ian. I reckon 18 months at least......

Why do you say that?

[Cathy]

Ditto.
I need hope Stanley.

[Whyperion]

The CGI version of the Grand National and a Champions race won by Red Rum. Very well done and quite convincing.
How light it is in the evening, remember when it was going dark at 15:00?

At present there is a run of four storey (with the roof) terrace houses that blocks the evening direct sun into the kitchen at mums. I have to balance the Post Lunch washing up and washing to catch it just right. At least its warm and some plants are putting on growth.

Elsewhere - the lack of posting for 2 days in Politics Corner ( is everything covided now ?) I thought the announcement of Keir Starmer's inital cabinet and spokespersons was overall quite strong and generally has potential.

The US Went digging on the FIFA world cup bribe stuff and found enough to ask questions.

[Stanley]

Why do I say 18 months? Because I'm a realist and it's going to be at least 18months until people like me are released from Isolation. If we have3n't had it and built an immunity we will be vulnerable.
I am fed up with hearing nothing but Johnson in ICU when I want to hear news about the pandemic. Just had 25 minutes of it. Enough all ready!

[PanBiker]

I am fed up with hearing nothing but Johnson in ICU when I want to hear news about the pandemic. Just had 25 minutes of it. Enough all ready!

Indeed and it's all conjuncture and supposition. Sick of the what ifs and explanation to the nth degree about what will happen in every conceivable hypothetical situation. Do we really need to have it disseminated to such a simplistic level on the political aspects. Do they think we can't understand appointing a deputy or what?

Boris is not irreplaceable and all will continue even if he doesn't come out of the other end OK. I hope it makes him realise how valuable the NHS and the folk that work within it are. I still don't wish him ill but cannot get over the fact that he voted for cuts to nurses and clapped when they refused to give them a pay rise. Karma may be in operation here.

[Stanley]

I agree Ian. Big problem is of course that due to the situation but also funding and organisational handicaps in the BBC nobody is actually gathering news, they are all hunkered at home under the stairs relying on dodgy phone lines.
In case you hadn't noticed there is nothing of any importance coming out of the news briefings. The statements all have a long winded preamble telling everyone what they have said already and this is followed by a couple of vague aspirations. Even the hard substantive statements like the Chancellor's turn out to be flawed and needing adjustment to make them effective.
The fact that if China is to be believed, they are turning the corner in the fight against the virus. Most hopeful sign so far.

[Tizer]

Why do I say 18 months? Because I'm a realist and it's going to be at least 18months until people like me are released from Isolation. If we have3n't had it and built an immunity we will be vulnerable.

Plaques was saying something similar in the covid thread and I replied thus: `We don't have to wait until a vaccine is available. Nasty viruses are always circulating in the background. It's only when they pass a certain transmission rate (known as R1) in the population that they cause an epidemic. So the objective is to suppress transmission to below that level.'

In addition we've all learnt lessons from this outbreak and we'll be better prepared for future epidemics so they can be nipped in the bud.

[Stanley]

I don't want to be vulnerable Tiz and if self isolation is the way to best ensure it I shall do it. Remember that if I get it, it is almost certainly a death sentence!
Susan and Mick are still very poorly but seem to be improving slowly at home. They are both care workers and of course had no PPE at all. I wonder how many similar workers have fallen this way?

[Stanley]

Later. See THIS BBC report about the milk being thrown away as contracts fail with food chains like coffee shops that have closed down.
You might remember a bit of history called the Milk Marketing Board. Founded in 1933 to organise and regulate the production of milk it functioned well until the 1993 Agricultural Act abolished its powers and in effect privatised milk production. Since then the farm gates profit has fallen to uneconomic levels. Under the old MMB none of this would have happened, true we would pay a bit more for our milk and there would be less opportunity for industry to make a profit but these present problems with oversupply wouldn't result in milk being thrown away. It would be diverted into manufacturing cheese milk powder etc., products that have a long shelf life and can be stored.
But we allowed the greedy buggers to take it to the market on the grounds it knows best. Can anyone spot the flaw in this theory?

[plaques]

It would be diverted into manufacturing cheese milk powder etc., products that have a long shelf life and can be stored.
But we allowed the greedy buggers to take it to the market on the grounds it knows best. Can anyone spot the flaw in this theory?

Nothing is as simple as that. France always has a surplus of milk but milk is bulky and difficult to transport long distances. The result is that they turn their surplus into butter and cheese ie: longer life and easier to transport. The end result is that the UK is under intense competition in both these areas. Raising the UK farm gate price would help the farmers but without subsidies finish off the rest of the dairy industry. We need a plan B.

[Stanley]

But the system worked P.