WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[chinatyke]

I find that figure hard to believe. That's roughly what I pay, and I have meter, and live alone. I would think most households would use more water than me. The rateable value method of payment is a lot more expensive.

I pay around £40 a month for 9 months of the year...

Seems it could be right then. It shocked me. It also shocked me the other week when I discovered how much council tax/rates have got to nowadays.

[Tizer]

With Wessex Water we pay about the same as Kev. We paid much more before we went onto a metered supply. Lots of prices have gone up here, China.

[Stanley]

I have a metered supply and of course live on my own. Total charges last year £240 (12 X £20 monthly direct debit). My water saving habits must be working!
Quantity charged for is 43 cubic metres. Price varies each quarter for some reason but averages at about £1.30 per cubic metre.
Before you ask China, the balance is made up by standing charge and sewage charges.

[Bodger]

We pay .90 euro /m3. with a standing charge of 90 euro / yr, our daily average is less than .2/ m3. So far we have not exceeded our standing charge, that is with two OAP in the house, we must be scruffy buggers.

[Big Kev]

Common sense has prevailed over the planning application for the land overlooking Grenberfield Locks

Burnley Express

[Bodger]

THE OIL PATCH WARRIORS OF WORLD WAR II

Seventy-five years ago this month, a Band of Roughnecks went abroad on a top secret mission into Robin Hood's stomping grounds to punch oil wells to help fuel England's war machines.

It's a story that should make any oilman or woman proud.
The year was 1943 and England was mired in World War II. U-boats attacked supply vessels, choking off badly needed supplies to the island nation. But oil was the commodity they needed the most as they warred with Germany.
A book "The Secret of Sherwood Forest: Oil Production in England During World War II" written by Guy Woodward and Grace Steele Woodward was published in 1973, and tells the obscure story of the American oil men who went to England to bore wells in a top secret mission in March 1943.
England had but one oil field, in Sherwood Forest of all places. Its meager output of 300 barrels a day was literally a drop in the bucket of their requirement of 150,000 barrels a day to fuel their war machines.

Then a top secret plan was devised: to send some Americans and their expertise to assist in developing the field.
Oklahoma based Noble Drilling Company, along with Fain-Porter signed a one year contract to drill 100 wells for England, merely for costs and expenses.
42 drillers and roughnecks from Texas and Oklahoma, most in their teens and early twenties volunteered for the mission to go abroad. The hands embarked for England in March 1943 aboard the HMS Queen Elizabeth. Four National 50 drilling rigs were loaded onto ships but only three of them made landfall; the Nazi U-boats sank one of the rigs enroute to the UK.

The Brits' jaws dropped as the Yanks began punching the wells in a week, compared to five to eight weeks for their British counterparts. They worked 12 hour tours, 7 days a week and within a year, the Americans had drilled 106 wells and England oil production shot up from 300 barrels a day to over 300,000.


The contract fulfilled, the American oil men departed England in late March 1944. But only 41 hands were on board the return voyage. Herman Douthit, a Texan derrick-hand was killed during the operation. He was laid to rest with full military honors, and remains the only civilian to be buried at The American Military Cemetery in Cambridge.

"The Oil Patch Warrior," a seven foot bronze statue of a roughneck holding a four foot pipe wrench stands near Nottingham England to honor the American oil men's assistance and sacrifice in the war. A replica was placed in Ardmore Oklahoma in 2001.

Special thanks to the American Oil and Gas Historical Society.

[PanBiker]

Thanks for your post Bodge, never knew that.

[Tizer]

It's new to me as well, thanks Bodger. I had a look and found there is more on the AOGHS web site with pictures too: LINK Just imagine the uproar if oil drilling was proposed for Sherwood forest now!

[Tripps]

Just imagine the uproar if oil drilling was proposed for Sherwood forest now!

A bit like the reaction to fracking perhaps.

Thanks for the information Bodger - fascinating. Here's a little bit of detail Herman Douthit

[Tripps]

I find that figure hard to believe. That's roughly what I pay,

Correction.

Having read the replies, I spent a couple of days in anguish - thinking I might be paying a lot more than other folk - I've checked the bill and find that I am in fact paying roughly £230 a year, which is in line with others.

Phew. . . .

[Stanley]

I'd heard of that drilling for oil Bodge but didn't know any of the details. Good post.
Glad you're scare is over David!



I got a treat last night! Carole called in to see me and get me up to date on what they are doing. She looks wonderfully well and swanning round the world on an ocean going yacht is agreeing with her. She said she soon got into life on board and stands her share of watches. Jack remembered her of course and it was a lovely visit. She says it will be good to get back and stop wearing all these clothes!
The body recovered from the crashed plane in the Channel has been identified as the missing footballer......

[Tizer]

I'll bet Carole had some great tales of life on the ocean wave and in exotic places!

Make a brew then sit down and look at these photos - there are lots of good ones, although I wonder how much is down to the computer rather than the camera?....
`Winners of the 2019 International Garden Photographer of the Year Competition' LINK

[Stanley]

She said that they are very happy with their life at the moment and they are managing well. They still have the house in Barlick and one of these days......
The rising wind.... I think it must have been rough in the night because this morning Jack was nowhere to be seen, He had spent the night in one of his safe places which he only uses when something is worrying him like fireworks. It's blowing hard now as I write, this is a quiet, sheltered house but I can hear the wind this morning. Wendy will have a bit of protection from the hill behind them but even so I'll bet they have had a rough night. That extra 500ft of elevation makes a lot of difference!

[Tizer]

Remember my story of being fined for driving through a bus gate? A psychologist in Chelmsford has managed to win an appeal, saying there are too many signs for the brain to process. LINK She's right, and you won't find the signs in the Highway Code booklet. She's also right to say that by the time you realise what's going on you have no way of turning around to make an escape and end up having to go through. Chelmsford has made £1.5 million from 54,000 drivers going through the bus gate in 18 months. The council in Manchester has made £9 million from 150,000 motorists on Oxford Road. When challenged on the basis of the validity of bus gates the councils claim that a bus gate is the same as a bus lane and therefore can warrant the fines.

[Bodger]

Stanley, how about this for you next project, you could base the doll on yourself ?
https://www.chonday.com/15454/the-writer-automaton/

[Stanley]

I don't think so Bodge......
Tiz, the bus gate. We all know what is going on, councils are being forced to exploit every Cunning Wheeze possible to get revenue to make up for government under-funding. In Pendle there is a move to impose litter and dog poo wardens on us. God help anyone caught dropping a fag end in the street if it happens. The private company will be paid on results and the wardens will be under instructions to nail even the most innocent infringer of the regulations. Deep Joy and bugger Austerity, this is an example of how bad government policies always end up punishing the PBI.
What grabbed me was the fact that as soon as Margaret got back to the hot weather her air con died. Just when she needed the expense of a new one! Sod's Law in operation?
I note that Phil has ditched his driving licence and admitted he was at fault. He is open to prosecution for driving without due care and attention, will it happen?

[Stanley]

Have a look at THIS if you like whales. It is a video of an incredible breach and well worth watching!

[Stanley]

The fact that Susan has the car today so I shan't have to shell out for taxis to get to Airedale! I shall give her the money instead.
After today I am past the half way point in the BCG immunotherapy course. We aren't there yet but it feels like progress.
The fact that my beloved Cox Apples are nearing the end of the season, they have been wonderful this year but the funny thing is I never saw any Russets.....

[PanBiker]

so I shan't have to shell out for taxis to get to Airedale!

Didn't one of Susan's or Margaret's friends offer to provide you with a lift if required?

[Tizer]

Oh dear, the Seaborne ferry fiasco is going to roll on (and roll off).
`Government sued over no-deal ferry contracts' LINK
`The government is being sued for its decision to charter firms to run extra ferries, including one with no ships, in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Channel Tunnel operator Eurotunnel, said the contracts, revealed after Christmas, were decided in a "secretive and flawed procurement process". The move comes days after Seaborne, one of the firms chosen, had its contract axed after its funding fell through. The government said it had carried out a "competitive procurement process".'

[Stanley]

Ian, Vicky is taking me for the next two weeks, she had to get time of work. It is very kind of her but she tells me it is because I have always been nice to her ever since she was knee high to a grasshopper. Bread on the waters!
Tiz, Seaborne..... The 'Grayling Effect'! Need I say more?
The full SP on my BCG treatment. Far longer and more complicated than I thought. I understand why they drip feed the full extent to you and am happy to get the care and attention. Just for the record, the care is wonderful and the Macmillan Nurses are angels! (I have the same nurse, Helen, for the full course and that's a very thoughtful provision.)

[PanBiker]

Ian, Vicky is taking me for the next two weeks, she had to get time of work. It is very kind of her but she tells me it is because I have always been nice to her ever since she was knee high to a grasshopper. Bread on the waters!

Indeed Stanley it always helps.

What attracted me today was the new wrapper for my RSGB "RadCom" magazine, delivered today. It used to be a plastic address jacket and went into the recycling. Now it's a totally degradable potato starch job and goes into the composter.

[Tizer]

I think Mrs Tiz's WI magazine comes in a compostable mailing bag. The WI started campaigning in 2006 for supermarkets to cut down on packaging but the British Retail Consortium at the time said it was `misguided'. The WI has proven them wrong.

[Tripps]

Speaking of magazine subscriptions - I took the plunge last night (I've mentioned the perils of late night posting) and subscribed to a magazine. It was £55 for a years supply on paper by post, or £18 for the digital version.

My problem is I don't like throwing them away after I've read them, so end up with a lot of paper, until I eventually do get rid of them, so I tried the downloaded version.

Anyway - I'm very pleased with the outcome - especially using my excellent new Samsung tablet. (Still very pleased with it). Navigation is straightforward, and a touch of the finger increases the size of the text for easy reading. I would not put anyone off doing the same.

Is there an online version of RadCom - you would think so?

[PanBiker]

The monthly magazine is available online for paid up members, (which is the only way you get RadCom anyway). Can't see a reduced subscription for just having the online version though, have to say that I havn't dug very deep in the membership stuff though.