WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[PanBiker]

Thanks gents, I think the turn we are seeing is a duo that do Country Blues and the like.

[Tizer]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IAN!!
Forget the politics and enjoy yourself!
Tizer & Mrs Tiz

[Big Kev]

Have a good one Ian, enjoy the gig.

[PanBiker]

Band didn't turn up so we got a refund, on the good side the meal and the wine were excellent. Thanks folks.

[Stanley]

No band but nevertheless I hope you had a good day Ian. Many more of them! You survived last year well and achieved much, now for the next phase....
I have a complete set of castings now and Xmas reading and dinner is sorted. Onwards and upwards!
I am going to celebrate by buying two new triple force long back Damart vests, the old ones are serviceable but tattered.

[Marilyn]

Goodness Me! The things you can find! Earlier this year, I went to a book sale held by our local council library. They were clearing the shelves of unwanted books and raising money to buy new stock. I must have bought about 25 books. I have gradually been getting through them. (I find a short rest on the bed between household tasks eases my Sciatica and reading further distracts me from the discomfort.)
Today, I chose a Stephen King book from the pile.
I noticed a small, folded bit of paper that I presume someone had been using as a book mark.
It turned out to be some drug dealer's "tally sheet"!

[Cathy]

Definitely not your normal shopping list.
Eww.

[Stanley]

Quite right, it's amazing what you find in old books.



I found these in a book I bought in Rochdale.

[Cathy]

I’m reminded of being in the shops on Monday , having finished my bit of shopping and walking thru one of the malls to my bus. A woman just ahead of me stopped and bent down and picked up two blue pieces of ‘paper’. I recognised immediately what they were - two $10 notes . She turned them over and over, looked around her, then kept on walking and eventually put them in her pocket. I didn’t think badly of her, half her luck, but I did think if I had been three feet to the right and two steps ahead ‘That could have been ME’. Ho hey .

[Stanley]

I know the feeling Cathy. It's happened to me and my actions depend on the circumstances. I have found wallets and starting from the evidence contained in them have got them back to their owners. Coins cause me no problem, straight into the loose change. On the one occasion when I found a serious amount of money on a crowded San Francisco street I consulted with my companion to spread any guilt and we spent it of a slap up dinner that night. I have never lost any sleep. Does this make me a bad person? I don't know but I risked it!
In another part of the forest... Not hot news but THIS article about Donald Trump's attitudes towards women is worth reading, very revealing. Is his appeal to the red necks largely based on these attitudes? If so it must be the most egregious example ever of the Lowest Common Denominator.

[Tripps]

The sonic bang which woke me at 4.20 this morning. I live within yards of a railway line, and since it was more of a rumble than a bang, I thought it might be a train. Soon decided it wasn't a train - next thought it might be a sonic bang. Nice to have that confirmed this morning.

[plaques]

Today, I chose a Stephen King book from the pile.
I noticed a small, folded bit of paper that I presume someone had been using as a book mark.
It turned out to be some drug dealer's "tally sheet"!

Not quite as exciting as Marilyn's find but this ones a mystery all the same.

Mrs P clearing out some old family mementoes she came across an old vanity / shaving mirror and for some reason decided to take it apart. This mirror had been in the family over 75 years to her knowledge. Tucked in the back behind the cardboard padding was a newspaper clipping...
Altrincham, Girls Cycle Accident.
While cycling along Hale Rd last Sunday, Lilian Walters age 13 of 2 Mount Terrace, George st, Altrincham. was thrown from her machine and sustained injuries and taken to Altincham general hospital...... It then goes on to describe her injuries and the possibilities why it happened.

The mystery is that this person is totally unknown to us but the clipping had been carefully placed in the back of the mirror as a keepsake. ????

[Marilyn]

Well...that IS a mystery!
Did the lass survive her injuries?

[Stanley]

I like little mysteries...
I only heard the radio report and not the boom. See THIS for the story.

[plaques]

Well...that IS a mystery!
Did the lass survive her injuries?

Yes, but they had to remove a number of teeth which made it sound as though there was some serious head injuries. My own theory is that the mirror belonged to the young girl herself who had put the clipping in the back of the mirror has her own personal reminder. Getting your name in the paper in those days was quite an achievement. Mrs P says her mother had this mirror way back to the beginning of the war, her father was a regular soldier (sergeant) stationed in India both prior to the war and afterwards. How a simple mirror got from Altrincham to Burnley remains a mystery.

[Tizer]

It was only very late in his life that my father told me how he'd had a bad fall from his bike as a lad. He was cycling down a street and had a bag hanging on the handlebars - you can guess the rest. It caught in the wheel and he was thrown over the handlebars and ended up in Preston hospital with a head injury. He was more careful with his cycling after that. When in South Africa with the RAF he had another accident. He and his mates were in a jeep going from the camp into town, along a dirt track. The jeep careered off the road and he ended up in a tree. The story goes that when he was found the first thing he said was: `Get me down, I want a pee!'.

[Stanley]

That reminds me of when I wrote Richard Drinkall's brand new BMW off. I was a bit worse for wear and crawled half a mile to the telephone box in Gisburn where I managed (they told me I passed out a couple of times) to call the ambulance and police. Probably due to shock I had a very urgent need to empty my bowels which I managed in the flower bed behind the box. (Sorry to the householder!) The thing is that I managed this and got dressed again and then arranged myself comfortably in the gutter to await George Graham and his mate with the ambulance. Due to my injuries that was the last time I managed even my fly buttons for six weeks. Amazing how shock and adrenaline take over....
I ponder on the effect the two deaths on London Bridge has had, all perfectly laudable of course but it strikes me that there is heroism, tragedy and grief In Britain every day of the year. We should remember that as well. (Then translate that world wide...) Life is a vale of tears for so many people.

[Cathy]

Reminds me of things that come under the heading ‘The things you have to do...’
16 yrs ago I needed a hysterectomy and the night before I had the op I badly hurt my back. I was already in agony, hence the need. Somehow I got to the hospital by bus in the pitch black next morning (bumpedy bump) for 7am. How I managed to get on and off the bus , I’ve no idea. Pre-op the nurse asked me if I was fine in every other way and knowing I’d be full of pain killers I said ‘Yes, no other problems’.
I wasn’t about to give them any reason to cancel the operation!

[Tizer]

Well done, Cathy. It must have been a troubling start to a serious hospital visit.

Here's one way to help avoid student debt - have them work for the college!
`Berea College: Has a US university cracked student debt?' LINK

[Stanley]

Cathy "(bumpedy bump)" rang a bell with me. I swore afterwards that George's mate drove over every kerb and manhole on the way to Burnley. The suspension was on a par with bread vans, I hope modern ones are better!
Tiz, loading students with massive debts is beyond scandalous, I hate it!
My attention yesterday was focussed on the house next door after Brian, a neighbour in Wellhouse Square alerted me to the fact that the front room light in my neighbour's house had been on all night, most unusual. She lives on her own and works all day so after an initial snoop round that told me nothing I waited until 20:00 when Jack went for his pee and knocked on her door. She was there and opened it and Brian had seen me doing it so he came out as well. I told her what she had done and she realised she had forgotten to switch it off. She was touched by the fact we cared even though we both played hell with her! Mind at rest, we all retreated to the TV.
Which raises a question in my mind which I think we discussed many years ago. Is there some simple solution to something like a personal alarm that can summon help if something untoward happens and you are on your own? Does anyone know the answer to this?

[Cathy]

There are personal alarms that you wear around the neck but I think they are for the elderly. If they are pressed the emergency services and a family member is alerted.

[Stanley]

I think I might qualify for 'elderly' Cathy! That's the sort of thing I am thinking about.

[Wendyf]

Mum had one but she hated wearing it round her neck and kept it on the wheeled walking aid she used around the house. Completely useless if she had fallen and couldn't reach it!

[Tizer]

The alarms I can think of are either those that contact a specific service for help (e.g. Age UK device but expensive) or the simple personal alarms that let out a loud shrieking to attract attention. Have a look at this Which? page: LINK

[Tripps]

Is there some simple solution to something like a personal alarm that can summon help if something untoward happens and you are on your own? Does anyone know the answer to this?

This something which you think about as time goes on, and you live alone. My current solution is to have a fully charged phone with me at all times. Since you can't predict all possibilities, it may well not be adequate.

There was a gadget on Dragons Den a while ago whereby the absence of an action triggered a phone call to a nominated number. For instance if the kettle was not switched on by say 10.00 am then the call is made. I don't know what became of the idea.

If you want to be really depressed by the thing go to A Cream Cracker Under The Settee