WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

It could have been coming or going I suppose!

'twas on its way home. Here it is over Salterforth this afternoon https://youtu.be/WLNGyBvfjR8

[Wendyf]

Thanks Kev! The dogs went mad barking and we dashed out to see what was making all the noise.

[Wendyf]

I think Nick's film is shot from Bleara, following the Lancaster as it went overhead here.

[Stanley]

Nice film..... I was in bed hard and fast asleep. I wonder if that's what woke me up early yesterday......?

[Stanley]

There was a large prop-driven aircraft over Barlick late yesterday morning but it was invisible due to the low cloud.
How much cooler it is this morning. The astronomical calendar tells us that it is summer until September 22. My CH system hasn't recognised this!
See THIS Guardian report on the increase in personal debt over the last five years. Adjusted for inflation income has increased .7% while debt has increased by 7.3%. There is no prospect under increasing austerity, the likelihood of interest rate rises and the unknown effect of Brexit for this rate of increase to ease. It could even get worse. How long can this situation be allowed to continue?

[Stanley]

Trump doing his bit to stoke tensions over N Korea..... I said a long time ago that he frightens me.....
The earthquake in Mexico and the parade of hurricanes in the Caribbean.... There is much to be said for living in a part of the world where on the whole we have unexciting lives!

[Big Kev]

Hot water this morning. The diaphragm broke in the diverter valve on the boiler yesterday it was nice to get back to a hot shower this morning, luxury

[Wendyf]

An interesting history society talk last night by Liz Dent on the monastic granges in Nidderdale. Areas we now see as wild countryside were once producing oats, dairy products and lead for the monks of Fountains and Byland Abbeys.

[Wendyf]

For the engineers out there:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g8vHhgh6oM0

[Stanley]

Wendy, I've always had an interest in granges. Calf Hall was one as was Ingthorpe Grange....
Liked the cartoon, very perceptive!
I did an awkward lift in the shed yesterday and woke my back up. Not serious but a reminder of the knife edge I tread every day...... Forget the lessons of the past and pay for the experience!

[PanBiker]

I noticed a new icon in the header bar of Firefox this morning. Its a beta version of a screen shot tool. Gives you a drag box on your current page and allows you select an area, copy to clipboard, download or save. It only works on the body of the page but could be useful. Similar to what the MS snipping tool does but built into the browser.

[Stanley]

A mistake I made in the shed due to making an assumption instead of checking. Just for once it wasn't attributable to advancing years! I think it's one of the most common mistakes I have made during my life. What Mr Pirsig called a 'gumption trap' in his book on Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance.

[Stanley]

The pleasure I got yesterday from something as simple as a tongue and salad butty! I have eschewed bread as part of the carb cutting Wendy diet but still like it and yesterday Kathy surprised me by popping a sandwich she made late the day before in my bag of shopping. I didn't see it until I got home and really enjoyed it! Don't worry, this isn't a crack on my resolve. However, it just goes to show that, even if we know it is bad for us, a kick over the traces occasionally can be a rewarding thing!
More seriously, the horrible mess most of the world seems to be getting into. Everything from N Korea threatening to detonate a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific to our incompetence in running the country. Sometimes I think there advantages in not having a lot longer to live.....
I've been meaning to point out that in this weeks BET there was a report of a charity XMAS FAIR. We are obviously not safe!

[Tizer]

I thought OGFBers might appreciate this road sign seen on the country lane where the holiday cottage was situated a few weeks ago when we stayed at Colyton.

[Stanley]

I like it. I didn't know the sign existed.
I learned something new about sharpening and using milling cutters yesterday, completely by accident. Isn't it marvellous that we can constantly improve if we take notice of what is going on. I suppose that's the basis of all learning......

[Tizer]

I looked at a Highway Code web page list and can't find it there but I see others that I didn't know existed: LINK

My cousin's teenage daughter plays for the county schools' hockey team. Her dad has just started managing the team. Last weekend he took his older daughter by car to Sheffield to start her psychology degree course and sort out all her accommodation etc. They started out at 8.00am on Saturday from Taunton and he arrived home at about 11.00pm His home journey was affected by the big multiple lorry accident on the M5. He spent spent most of the time on the road. The following morning he was up at the crack of dawn to take younger daughter and the kit that he's now responsible for to another town for the Sunday hockey matches.

[BillHowcroft]

We have a patch of delphiniums half way down the garden that every year we keep threatening to rip out because they don't flower.
Sure enough flowered this morning.

[Stanley]

Tiz. I was talking to another old wagon driver yesterday in Town Square and we both agreed that despite our love for the job we would never take it on these days. Our problem is that we tasted the freedom. I saw the report of the closing of the M5 due to the 'dangerous substance' that the police found and wondered how dangerous it actually was. It seems to me that they close roads these days on grounds that would never have applied years ago. Remember when they closed the M6 because of a very small bomb at Gravelly interchange? If we'd done that during the war.......
Bill, that's why you should talk to the plants, to issue threats!

[Tizer]

We have a patch of delphiniums half way down the garden that every year we keep threatening to rip out because they don't flower.
Sure enough flowered this morning.

When we lived in Oxfordshire the villagers were up in arms one year when the council came along and cut the long grass on the verges. The villagers said it would prevent the wild flowers growing that they liked so much. In fact the result was verges covered in orchids! They'd been lying dormant in the ground for decades.

[Stanley]

How depressing it feels when it is dark during the daylight hours. We had a spell in Barlick yesterday from 8 to 10 AM when it was almost dark enough to trigger the street lamps. Felt like November!
I got a shock this morning..... I inadvertently hit the short cut key for a screenshot in Firefox and there was a noise just like an electrical short and the screen jumped about! My first thought was terminal failure! Luckily it was just the sound effect. If you don't believe me, try it. I can do without shocks like that.

[Tizer]

The default Ubuntu screenshot tool is much better!

Here's a fascinating story from Lyme Regis Museum. It relates back to 2015 but I hadn't heard about it... LINK

[Stanley]

We were all given tokens like that during the war in case we were killed in an air raid and our bodies needed identifying. So I favour the identity disc for Parish Relief!
The fact that Twitter are doubling the allowance of characters for tweets. What's the betting Trump will be one of the first to use it.
The visit yesterday by Susan and Mick. They recently went on a trip and Mick had occasion to spring to Susan's defence when a sticky situation evolved unexpectedly. He's a formidable bloke and I'd have loved to be there. Well done Mick! She's been working hard on the probate and other matters and it's lovely to have someone like that supporting me. Things move ever so slowly towards a resolution. Daughters can be wonderful!
At long last Saudi Arabia is to allow women to drive from June next year. The religious conservatives will be outraged but it is a royal decree and to ignore it would be heresy.

[Tripps]

But I guess you already knew that. . .

Contented Craven

This is in stark contrast to a half page advert I saw in the local Cambridge paper this evening asking anyone who felt the world was a burden or were anxious, or depressed to get in touch with the NHS. I thought they couldn't cope with patients they had let alone be actively recruiting new ones.

Perhaps they'll relocate them to Barlick?

[Stanley]

They wouldn't like it here David, too wet and cold!
I often wonder how useful/accurate surveys like this are. They are very subjective and narrowly based. I've been asked many times about our reputation in some quarters for being a touch on the dour side and I always explain it as being a product of the fact that we have been let down so many times in the past but survived that we don't do enthusiasm or 'happiness' (whatever that is....). We have learned not to expect too much and just get on with life.Of course there are a lot of people in this world who have been educated by Big Pharma to believe that if they are unhappy all they have to do is take a pill. Good for profits and it's working, look at the modern trend towards over dependency on anti-depressants. A nice little earner for someone.
Later..... I might have done the equivalent of the rain dance! I think most of you know that 'long' hair annoys me and for a few days I have been aware that my hair had reached the stage where it was getting wavy again. So, this morning I got the clippers and the shaver going and got back down to the bare wood. It feels lovely but thinking about our recent spell of settled weather I could perhaps have triggered off a change!

[Bodger]

Did you ever wonder how they fill soda syphons ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRRQ_08WN3Y