WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Site off line for 15 minutes from 05:00.....

[hartley353]

The sixth flower head on the Amaryllis opened today, now it has wow factor, but is beginning to lean in its pot so will require a prop. The second bulb a red flower is on the verge of opening, but will only have four heads.

[Marilyn]

I have a "chocolate lily" that we have been enjoying for weeks, and that is having problems supporting itself too, so hubby went round and round it with some bamboo sticks and kitchen string.
I call it my Alcatraz Plant. Still stunning, but nothing to look at unless you know the lily is there. I don't understand how nature can give a plant a spectacular flower above the robustness to support itself.

[Tizer]

Good write up by Tizer on Gold sovereigns here is a picture of a few, when the case is full about £2000.00, when I fill a case it has to go in the bank it is not possible to insure them in the home. Each one has a face value of £1.00 nominally.

Thanks. There's a coin dealer called Richard Jeffrey who specialises in sovereigns and lives in the beautiful,small coastal village of Porthcurno out beyond Penzance at the end of the Cornish peninsula. It's safe to mention his name and location because all his stock is kept in the bank of course. He's an interesting man in another way - his grandfather worked at the Porthcurno telegraph station where the first undersea communication cables came ashore from around the world, the first in 1870. Porthcurno was chosen instead of a port such as Falmouth in order to avoid damage to cables from ships. He also can describe the competition between the Porthcurno station and Marconi's station across Mounts Bay at the Lizard, how men from Porthcurno sneaked across and sabotaged Marconi's place. The two were later merged and became what we know as Cable & Wireless. The Porthcurno station is now a museum which is currently being updated and will re-open this summer.

[Pluggy]

Site off line for 15 minutes from 05:00.....

Probably when 1&1 made the changeover of OGFB from Doc's account to mine. Its all in place now. It took a bit longer than anticipated because the initial changeover form went missing in the post or it never got to who it was meant to. I got Doc over again on Thursday to sign another one. This time I scanned it and sent it by email.

[hartley353]

For quite a few years I have bought and sold sovereigns through Chards in Blackpool. With the recent drop in gold prices many have been stocking up and not many have been available. My dealings with this guy have always been fair and honourable but his dealings through ebay have been recently suspended due to him advertising coins for sale he didn't have in stock, many of his buyers had to wait quite a while for their purchases. So I am always interested in new dealers and particulary now. Gold has been a good investment for me, and comes close second to my diecast collection.

[PanBiker]

Our last day in Innsbruck, packed ready for our early start back tommorow. Breakfast at 07.00 and transfer from hotel at 08.00 for a 10.30 flight back to the UK. Been a good few days.

[Stanley]

Looking forward to the pics Ian.

[plaques]

The latest promotion at the local swimming pool comes under the heading "Swimfit". Aimed at adults who are looking at getting that bit fitter or just "tightening" up for the summer holidays. Anything that gets people motivated into looking after themselves can't be bad.
http://www.swimming.org/swimfit/

[Tizer]

Hartley, Richard Jeffrey's details are listed on this coin dealer web page, he doesn't have a web site but operates by phone and post. I've never met him but assume from speaking to him on the phone that he is `of mature years', so I hope he's still around and dealing in coins.

Now for something different: `The parable of the wonky white lines' (BBC web site, 28th Feb)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-magazin ... r-26381899

[hartley353]

Thankyou Tizer. After your posting I looked him up on the British Numismatic Trade Association, it looks like a fairly recent registration,, but I now have his contact details. When I saw the name I thought it familiar, but there is another dealer of a similar name which may have confused me.

[hartley353]

The latest promotion at the local swimming pool comes under the heading "Swimfit". Aimed at adults who are looking at getting that bit fitter or just "tightening" up for the summer holidays. Anything that gets people motivated into looking after themselves can't be bad.
http://www.swimming.org/swimfit/

Recently bought a season ticket to the local pool, but no matter when I go it is very busy. As well as getting fit I am getting bruises, there must be some way to teach humans to swim like shoal fish. They always seem to be in perfect synchronisation, and at speed without collision.

[hartley353]

I have a "chocolate lily" that we have been enjoying for weeks, and that is having problems supporting itself too, so hubby went round and round it with some bamboo sticks and kitchen string.
I call it my Alcatraz Plant. Still stunning, but nothing to look at unless you know the lily is there. I don't understand how nature can give a plant a spectacular flower above the robustness to support itself.

Probably man made interference. The six headed plant now has two green sticks supporting it and the red one with four heads has one stick, the plants are attached with selotape. We used green garden sticks so they wouldn't stand out.

[PanBiker]

Transfer taxi was waiting for us when we had finished breakfast and checked out. Only a 15 minute drive to the airport at Innsbruck as it is only a couple of miles up the valley. Take off's and landings fly directly over the city. Raining and very low cloud when we got up. Processed with typical Germanic efficiency at the airport, cloud base at about 500 feet so could not see the tops of the mountains, OK of course at 38,000 feet. Back into Manchester 15 minutes early with a decent tailwind. Home now and the right side of a brew. Will put some pictures up later. Back on site duties now until Bletchley at the end of the month.

[Pluggy]

Just had an email from Chinatyke, asking if OGFB was down because he hasn't been able to get here all weekend, looks like the Chinese authorities don't like our brand of subversion......

http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl= ... lick.co.uk

He thought his derogatory comment about Chinese quality in another thread might have got their backs up....

[Stanley]

It was probably that pic he put up of himself demonstrating the head heater....

[Tardis]

The number 72

[Thomo]

With the book nearing its final stages, there is still something I wish to know about the Forces Memorial Garden on Kelbrook Rd. I know about the Broughton Family involvement, but "when" was it built? does anyone out there know? Please.

[David Whipp]

John Broughton, whose mother donated the land for the Memorial Gardens, is a good source of detailed information.

[David Whipp]

The gardens were opened on 9th or 19th August 1951, according to the plaque. I can't make out if there's a '1' in front of the 9 on the picture.

[Thomo]

Many thanks for that David. Close examination reveals that there is indeed a 1 before the 9 making it the 19th of August 1951. This information can now be inserted in the book at the appropriate place.

[Tardis]

Even a damp day can't hide the fact that spring is springing

[plaques]

The number 72

To be honest I can't think of anything of major relevance that the number 72 would attract anybody's attention.
Possibly the sum of some consecutive primes. (5 + 7 + 11 + 13 + 17 + 19) or (13 + 17 + 19 + 23) or even the exterior angle of a regular pentagon.
It could be Tardis's birthday in which case "Congratulations". If not my apologies.
Tardis, please let us know!

[chinatyke]

Just had an email from Chinatyke, asking if OGFB was down because he hasn't been able to get here all weekend, looks like the Chinese authorities don't like our brand of subversion......

http://www.blockedinchina.net/?siteurl= ... lick.co.uk

He thought his derogatory comment about Chinese quality in another thread might have got their backs up....

Thanks Stephen for your help behind the scenes. Well, today (Wednesday) we have access again, first time for 4 days. The censors have relented and OGFB must have been deemed to be no threat to the security and cultural heritage of this mighty land.

We can use VPN (virtual proxy networks) to get around the censorship but this is illegal and so I won't do that. Most of the things that are banned are sites that they cannot control, like Facebook and YouTube and I can do without those. Google.com is restricted but they allow Google Hong Kong which has exactly the same content as Google.com.

As I told Stephen, we enjoy great freedom here and it is not an oppressive place. We can go anywhere that normal Chinese citizens are allowed.

[Marilyn]

Glad you are not excluded Chintyke.
I don't think the powers that be could find too much that could be perceived as a security threat on OG.
The world is going a bit weird in some places however, and I guess censorship is one way of managing the masses.

Recently we passed through the Dubai airport and I took the opportunity to read one of the free local papers on offer, and I have to say I was rather shocked by some of the stories and photos in there...stuff we wouldn't print here because it is too confronting.