WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Big Kev]

It’s midnight in Australia

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2022

Happy New Year Cathy, have a safe and happy 2022 from all at Chez Kev.

[Stanley]

Thanks Cathy..... same to you...
What grabbed me today? Have a look at THIS news item in a local paper in the US. The police cruiser in the article has been parked on the Pioneer Car park for two days..... Not a lot of them about!

[Wendyf]

Happy New year Cathy!

[Tripps]

First post of 2022 I think.

Happy New Year to all my friends on this wonderful board. Lang mae your wood burning lums reek.

I think I've had a 'falling out' with the BBC. What happened to Andy Stewart ?

The tattooed face of Rag and Bone Man doesn't quite do it for me and as for BBC1 - don't ask. I dare you to watch Olly Alexander. At least they managed to book the Scots Guards.

My big lad got me a bottle of something called Tamnavulin - which seems appropriate, and doing the necessary.

See you all later in the year.

[Stanley]

Happy New Year to you all.

[Wendyf]

Happy New Year everyone.

[plaques]

Tripps, Lang mae your wood burning lums reek., a farewell comment on my retirement card a couple of decades+ ago.

Uncertain times require a lot of optimism So here goes. Happy New Year to all our readers.

[Tizer]

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL YOU FOLKS
From Tizer and Mrs Tiz....May the vaccine force be with you!

[PanBiker]

Yes, Happy New Year to all. Lets hope it's better on the virus front than last year.

to 2022

[Stanley]

Seen in the Pioneer Car park today.

[Tripps]

I saw that elswhere yesterday. Try this for more detail Huntersville Police car

Seems to get around a bit.

[PanBiker]

Notification via email:

After a few years' lapse, Burnley & Pendle Coop Party have been pro-active organising the 2022 Pendle CLP Sydney Silverman Memorial Lecture.

On Thursday 24th March 7.00pm at Colne Municipal Hall John McDonnell MP will deliver the Lecture entitled: “21st Century Socialism: The change we need.”

This will be a free entry public meeting but with a collection for the Pendle CLP Campaign Fund.

[Stanley]

I note that some officers in a regiment of which Prince Andrew is the Colonel in Chief have expressed disquiet about drinking the Loyal Toast to the Duke of York at mess dinners.
How tragic........

[Big Kev]

Boris is addressing the nation at 5pm, I think I may just read the (distorted) edited highlights later...

[Stanley]

He's ignoring the expert's advice that the virus can only be beaten by either vaccinating the whole world or the whole world being infected and gaining natural immunity. New variations will continue to rise as long as there is a large enough pool of unprotected people. What our leaders are gambling on is that the virus will weaken as it mutates. Their calculations indicate that way costs least money. That's what it all comes down to in the politicians world, how much will it cost?

[PanBiker]

Pre arranged pick up of our Finlay this morning. He's with us for the rest of the week because the new Silsden Primary School that he was supposed to move to last September is still not finished! His old Primary School has now shut. His mum and sister are both back to school and Ant is working of course so Fin is with us.
Our Jack and his team were supposed to be installing the whole of the IT in the school. Primary Technology who he works for rocked up last August at the contracted time to find the Open Reach team who were supposed to be putting GB fibre into the building failing to find the required ducting! Consulting the plans it was revealed that there was no ducting actually installed but all the hard standing around the building, car parks etc was finished and signed off! Some plonker had overlooked the ducting on the plans, you couldn't make it up! So, no servers, no network no whiz bang internet linked white boards and remote monitoring couldn't be installed and tested. Jack is still there this week, it is expected to open maybe next week, he isn't holding his breath.

[Stanley]

That's a big goolie to drop..... How do they get round that, surface wiring?

[Tizer]

A bit of light relief and a chance to say aaaah...
`Scottish seal pup turns up at pub door in Bristol' LINK

[Cathy]

Yes definitely an aaah story.
Love a happy ending. Let’s hope the seal doesn’t do it every year.

[PanBiker]

That's a big goolie to drop..... How do they get round that, surface wiring?

No, they have to dig a trench across all the finished ground works, car parks etc and make way into the finished building of course. All should have been installed along with the footings and during the structural build. Someone will be on penalty I reckon, it's 5 months since contractual hand over, the kids should all have been in from the start of term last year.

As it is Silsden has an entire primary school cohort at home or having to be looked after by grandparents etc. I wonder who we can send the bill to for having Finlay for the week?

[Whyperion]

No, they have to dig a trench across all the finished ground works, car parks etc and make way into the finished building of course.

There is such a thing as trenchless moleing , and running the ducting in behind, I presume a bit of diamond drilling through the foundation at some point,

[Stanley]

Try sending an account in Ian!

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report that Cummings has made another accusation about Covid rule breaking in Downing Street.
That's not what interests me though, Cummings is still trying to get his revenge and Johnson is quietly smothering him. No, what interests me is the repetition of the claim that people sitting in the No 10 garden having drinks were actually in a working meeting. Not like any work I have ever done!
Am I right in thinking they live in a different world?

[Whyperion]

It might be the equivalent of the Three Pipe Problem.

It was strange, in an office situation most of the day was not really doing productive work as such, but the after work drinks would throw up new ideas, new clients to contact and problems of the actual stuff being made and installed of 'try this', as it was the only time the work silos of different parts of the process got together. When I worked at another place, it was the other way round, we started at 0930 officially, but the buses all arrived well before that , so 9am was everyone in the tea room, where the days activities were plotted - we were working essentially on a annual reporting basis , and would fill in the pages of interesting information, new trade ideas, statistics to be collected, verified and compared with competitors plus the wider economic and political landscape.

When work did arrive it was always a rush, Payroll had to be done on a Tuesday in time for the Bank to make the payments on Friday morning- or in the cash days, the cashing out on a Thursday afternoon, distributed by Taxi to the local depots for the Friday Morning. End of Month Invoicing used to take a week to go through, I got a programme written that took all the information we had on one system, that took it into the accounting programme and with a bit of line adjustment for 'funnies', I got three days typing down to 2 hours of watching a chain printer not Jam - we didnt do enough to make investing in envelope automation so the afternoon was a lot of paper folding.
Lots of work was held up by the incompetance of others - Royal Mail when they delivered before 8am could mean a whole days work could be done in 4hours, if they were not until 10am , we could barely get started to process the orders or much else before the collection post person arrived, nor chase the people whose promised cheque in the post had not arrived. Not that electronic payments (see computers thread for general problems we are all aware of), were foolproof. Governments changing rates of VAT did not help, and I doubt the Downing Street officials were considering the tedious and extreme needs of smaller importers and exporters on the mixed products one of the companies would import from Italy and sell on to the USA. Sometimes if there were big deliveries the office staff were needed to unload - mostly lightweight, but a container truck full , of boxes, normally on the day the main bosses had arranged their networking meetings at the Races or the Golf Club.

[Big Kev]

what interests me is the repetition of the claim that people sitting in the No 10 garden having drinks were actually in a working meeting. Not like any work I have ever done!
Am I right in thinking they live in a different world?

Not as uncommon as you may think, I've had many meetings in hotels and restaurants and they've been very productive. I do miss having an expense account