WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tripps]

Interesting media contrast this morning. I listened to LBC from 7-8 am, then turned to the BBC flagship news programme on Radio 4.

LBC had crackling items on the Doctor whose fitness to practice licence had been restored by the court of Appeal, with a memorable interview with the mother of the child who sadly died. I think we will be hearing a lot more of this lady. Equally intense coverage of the latest on Jeremy Corbyn's relationship with Palestinians.

The BBC in contrast, covered neither story, but had a fascinating piece, high on the running order, on the decline of the Mountain Hare in Scotland. Seems there are less than 10% of their numbers now, than in the 1950's. Who knew? (latest trendy web expression).

[Stanley]

I listen to R4 David and am fully up to speed on all those news items. The BBC covered all three and also had the piece about Mountain Hares.
A small thing, the way the scabs are dropping off Jack's wounds...... I haven't picked them honest!! Just the one major wound to go. It still has a swelling and the wound isn't fully healed but it causes him no distress. Interesting thing is that even though he can reach it he has never scratched it thank God.

[Tizer]

Tripps, the BBC goes into holiday mode through summer and then they think we can't cope with anything serious for more than about 10 minutes. I know it's always been like that but it's worse now than in the past. At least the sports jamboree has finished!

[Stanley]

That's the situation Boris is exploiting. It makes it easy for him to get exposure.....
The way the days are shortening, it creeps up on us at this time of year and early risers like me notice it more than others.....

[Marilyn]

....and we are seeing buds and blossoms on our walks...

[Stanley]

Ah..... Spring is imminent in Oz. Here we are seeing late foliage looking slightly tatty but a very good crop of hedgerow fruits and walnuts.

[Wendyf]

The fields are covered in mushrooms, having to take a collecting bag on our morning walks.

[Stanley]

Good to tell what breakfast at LBH will be!

[Tizer]

Autumn leaf colours are showing up here due to the drought and the horse chestnut trees in particular have suffered and the leaves turned brown and shrivelled. Our big garden project started yesterday so, naturally it's raining today!

[Wendyf]

Good to tell what breakfast at LBH will be!

Creamy mushroom soup for lunch.

[plaques]

Passing through Barrowford today on display were large notices advertising a vintage tractor drive though.

'An array of vehicles will make their way from the Rigg of England Farm in Heights Road, Fence, through the countryside from 5pm on August 18.
They will then make their way through Newchurch-in-Pendle, Barley, Sabden Fold, Higham, Wheatley Lane, Barrowford, Blacko, Roughlee and Noggarth' More details can be seen on Facebook. Link. Interesting if you are a tractor fan but a bit of a pain if you are travelling in this area.

[Stanley]

It's for a good cause...... Think of them as big racing cycles.......
How much happier I am now I know Gillian my vet is happy with Jack. Ridiculous, it's only a bloody dog!

[Stanley]

Has anyone else noticed the terrible quality of any outside line used in a radio interview? Even the good ones are distorted and many either can't be established or terminate abruptly in the middle of a conversation. This in an age when communication is so much better. There is something very seriously wrong with the technology the BBC are using.

[Tizer]

I expect it's the Skype connections. Very annoying when these days you can get a perfect terrestrial connection to the other side of the world.

Another thing that I notice is how so many TV programmes are now made with the outdoor colour settings on extreme vivid. The grass is an unnatural green, the sea an impossible blue. It's as if the programme makers are trying to emulate computer-generated graphics rather than showing the real colours. But then they're only mimicking what the food industry does when it makes everything very sweet or very spicy. The public become accustomed to it and feel let down if they don't get `extreme' everything.

Have a look at how NHS pensions has let down my sister-in-law - it looks unbelievable but it's true: LINK

[Stanley]

And the fact that in any landscape shot the speed has to be altered to make the clouds move across the sky.
For a long time PE was reporting that the BBC was locked into a contract with a large computer firm and the equipment was faulty. I think this may still be the case but is being kept quiet because of the way it shows up the whole process of procurement.
I've read about your sister in law's case Tiz. The NHS is, more then almost any other sector, one which runs on low pay working by dedicated people. They should not be hassled in this way over a measly £2!
The fact that my grand daughter Jess gets married in Kenya today in a very high profile event. I hope it all goes well. Many goats will be killed!
Ian's news...... for understandable reasons it hits me hard.

[PanBiker]

My letter this morning from the Department of Work and Pensions. Inviting me to get my State Pension along with my unique invitation code. Invitation code, anyone would think I have won a prize rather than it already being my money and my entitlement having paid it all in. Gives me an option not to claim it as well, don't think I will be deferring especially as they have already robbed Sally of four years of her entitlement a mere trifle of about £30,000. I'll have mine on the first day and will not be doffing my cap.

Just as an aside, noted yesterday using our fantastic NHS service, free at the point of need. This week it has cost £28.00 in car park charges at the hospital, none of it going to the NHS but the private company that runs the barriers. The private companies will screw you for money regardless of your circumstance.

[plaques]

Last years trip to the Urgent Care at Burnley with a 4" X 1" strip of skin torn from my leg was met by a full car park next to the U-Care entrance. I could have parked at the door to drop someone off but have been given a fine if I had left it there or anywhere else other than the official car parks at £2 a throw. Trailing round looking for an alternative car park place wasn't really an option. Fortunately, another customer abandoned their attempt to squeeze into a narrow slot and left it for me to reverse slalom my car into place. Then I handed some money to a lady standing at the ticket machine and asked if she would be good enough to put the ticket in my windscreen. This was followed by an impressive Chester type hopping run into the U-Care entrance. After that blood pressure raising event the service from the medical staff was fantastic and so was the follow up treatment for the next three months. But why all the agro in the first place.

[PanBiker]

Airedale is a token giving barrier which you shove in a payment machine after your visit, pay the tariff and it flips it to an exit token. I think the first 20 mins is free then it's £2 and upwards. Cost us £8.00 yesterday with our unexpected extended stay.

[Stanley]

Car park charges at hospital, a disgrace and further evidence of the cuts made by our lousy government.

[Tizer]

We live a short distance from the biggest hospital between Bristol and Exeter. There are often long queues of cars on the road leading up to and into the hospital, waiting for cars to leave the multi-storey car park so they can get in. Those of us who live nearby have to put up with hospital staff parking outside our houses all day, almost blocking the streets and making it difficult to get in and out of our drives, all because the staff, naturally, want to avoid the parking fees.

[PanBiker]

Indeed Stanley, a lot of folk don't realise how expensive attending or visiting a loved one over an extended period can be. Not the fault of the NHS just the vultures that feed off the system, carpetbaggers in a way. £28.00 in total this week for us, plus what the kids have paid when they attended.

Just read Tiz's post before submitting mine. It's the same at Airedale, cars all the way on the approach to the site. My daughter has a friend who lives 100yds up the road from the hospital. She has offered us her drive which is nice but hopefully not required now if I can manage to stay out of the AAU until my referral comes good.

[Tizer]

The people who lived here before us woke one morning to find someone had parked their car across the end of the drive and they couldn't get their own car onto the road. Several times already, I've had to put polite notes on windscreens asking people not to park their cars with the end overlapping the entrance to our single drive. It's a narrow street and we're opposite a T-junction and between two more T-junctions. Some people park their cars on the curve of the T-junction. Because the street is narrow, if someone parks outside our lounge window the elderly man in the bungalow opposite has difficulty getting his car in and out too. The council won't do anything because they say it would only move the problem somewhere else.

[Tizer]

I usually prefer to put anything concerned with politics where it belongs, on the Politics Corner thread, but this grabbed my attention and it's more than just politics. I read an interview in The Times with Femi Oluwole, a co-founder of `Our Future, Our Choice' (OFOC). It's the young demanding another chance to vote on Brexit but it's more than that, they're demanding the social changes that we all really know are necessary and yet are being masked by Brexit.
The main page of OFOC is here: OFOC
OFOC's Manifesto here: Manifesto
and a video, Message to Westminster, here: Message

[Big Kev]

This picture caught my attention today, it shows my son playing basketball, Leeds Force v Cheshire Phoenix, a couple of years ago. My son is 6ft 7ins tall...

Thought I'd best mention that my son is in the black kit.

[Wendyf]