WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

`One of the most impressive things I have ever seen.' ...For me it was perhaps the slow and whisper-quiet Avro Vulcan that crept up behind us when we were standing alone facing seawards on a north-facing beach on the Isle of Skye in the 1970s. It seemed hardly higher than the mountain behind us from which it had appeared. It just slipped away into the distance, so quiet it could have been a glider. Those where the days when the Vulcans had been switched from nuclear bombing duties to patrolling the Arctic waters. The way we excitedly bounced up and down waving at it must have been `One of the most impressive things' that the Vulcan crew had ever seen!

[PanBiker]

We had the privilege of seeing the last airworthy Vulcan on it's last tour of the UK a few years ago now. It came up the Ribble Valley then banked over Barlick and headed up over Weets Hill where we had selected to watch the flight path on our patch. At one point we were actually higher than the aircraft and I was also impressed by the fact that you could hardly hear it until it was virtually on top of you.

[Tizer]

Aye, that's a higher gain antenna than the standard 10 element and that does look like a mast head pre-amp. The reflector looks a bit dodgy, (the flat plate type often fall off) which would weaken the signal. I would take the advice of a reliable rigger if you can find one. Go for an old established firm if you can. Antenna designs have come on quite a bit with the advent of digital terrestrial. You may not need the pre-amp with a new antenna. I see it is horizontally polarised this indicates that your signal is from a main transmitter and not a local relay. Not sure of the lay of the land down where you are Peter but you can tell a lot from the picture.
Personally I have not had terrestrial antenna for TV for over 30 years. Satellite dish and a Freesat box is the way to go. Nothing in the way on the signal path.

The aerial fitter is coming on Monday. I'd said in my earlier post he was coming yesterday afternoon but I'd got it wrong - mobile reception is bad here (not only TV reception!). I didn't say earlier but the house also has a sat dish left from the previous owner but we don't use it. The cable goes to a different part of the house and we don't use a TV there. The conventional aerial is also from the previous owner and the cable goes to the other side of the house where we want the TV. The reception is fine for what we watch - the main Freeview channels - and we have a Sony HDD recorder and watch practically everything at a different time to when broadcast. At most Mrs Tiz watches about 2 hours of TV a day and I watch even less. We already have access to many more channels than we want! The fitter we've chosen is a local man with who's very familiar with this area and its needs.

Speak of the devil! The Tone Aerials man came at 11.30. He was on his way to fix aerial problems at a caravan site at Watchet. Straight up the end of the house on his ladder, up the roof to the ridge, re-fixed the pre-amp and we checked the TV reception and we're sorted! A very pleasant man and I'll be able to recommend him to others.

[Big Kev]

We had the privilege of seeing the last airworthy Vulcan on it's last tour of the UK a few years ago now. It came up the Ribble Valley then banked over Barlick and headed up over Weets Hill where we had selected to watch the flight path on our patch. At one point we were actually higher than the aircraft and I was also impressed by the fact that you could hardly hear it until it was virtually on top of you.

Not the best quality video (mobile phone) but here it is from Letcliffe Park
https://youtu.be/Kk_eZICdrQ8

[Stanley]

Not a lot apart from the fact id drizzled all day!
Glad your aerial is fixed Peter. Happy viewing.



Seen on the back street this morning. Is this the 'new normal' litter Covid style? No, I didn't pick it up and bin it, I haven't picked any litter since March.

[Stanley]

Only one thing on my mind this morning, Jack.

[Big Kev]

Screenshot_20200720-180859_Metal Pro.jpg

It's official now

[PanBiker]

Well done to Oliver.

[Christian]

Well done Oliver!

Stanley, I had a walk round Pinhaw and Standrise on Sunday. Just got out of the car to be greeted with 30+ oxygen/gas canister things all over the floor. I thought it sounded a bit crunchy when we drove in to the laybay and parked up. A couple were sat in their car wondering what these were. Kinda explained it to em. Just before we turned up the the beacon there was a disposable mask stuck to the fence post.

I personally bought a cotton one from the shop and can wash it so as not to create the rubbish in the first place.

[Stanley]

Sally's masks wash well. Susan said yesterday that they have to wear surgical ones at work but they aren't as comfortable as Sally's and she uses that one for all activities outside work.
What are the gas canisters Christian?
Yesterday was largely spent nursing Jack. Today will become clear as we progress! So far it's better.

[chinatyke]

Yesterday was largely spent nursing Jack. Today will become clear as we progress! So far it's better.

Glad to hear that news. Hope all continues to go well for Jack.

[Stanley]

Thanks China. He's having a good morning. We've just had a walk and he had a good run, different dog than yesterday but still loses his way, I have to do a lot more calling of him than usual but good to see him enjoying himself. That makes me feel better!
Onward and upwards. Excelsior!

[Wendyf]

The canisters are nitrous oxide Stanley, the latest youth craze for getting a 'high'. So pleased that Jack is having a better day.

[Stanley]

Thanks Wendy, I know you understand all too well...
Thanks for the clarification about the NO2, completely outside my world thank god.

[plaques]

Nitrous oxide used by hospital as a low level stress sedation for minor procedures. After a hard days work it has been known for dentist to strap the mask on their faces and lie back and relax with sometimes fatal consequences.
Tractor driving nephew up north hooks up his sieve attachment and cleans the beach up every week. Gas canisters and needles plus beer cans are the main things he gathers up after the weekend beach parties. Sign of the times???

[Marilyn]

When administering Nitrous Oxide the rule is that the mask is never strapped on, but held against the face by the user, so that when they fade out they drop the mask. They cannot overdose this way. Used in childbirth, I found it no good at all, in fact it made me vomit and I handed the mask back, saying I didn’t want this s#*t.
What they get out of it, I will never know.
( then I missed the comfort of breathing on something, so they handed me back the mask, totally disconnected, and I just sucked room air through it, but it gave me something to do, with no pain relief at all. They all laughed, but I found it helped. At that point in labour, the comfort of disconnected mask helped immensely. They even wheeled me to the delivery room with me sucking pure room air. I was not going to let go of it.) but at least I wasn’t breathing rubbish.

[Marilyn]

Mind you, roll on two years and my toddler son fell face first off his tricycle on Christmas Eve, damaging his front teeth. Panic. Where to find a dentist at 5 pm Christmas Eve? Found one, who said son was developing an abscess, baby teeth needed to be removed, and nitrous was the best course ( I wasn’t sure).
The mask went on, son claimed he was going to the moon, and I held his feet down as the dentist removed his front teeth. A good result for son, though I nearly fainted.
So I couldn’t tolerate the gas when in labour my my two year old did well on it!

[Tizer]

I can remember the nitrous oxide on my earliest visits to the dental clinic as a young child in Blackburn. I hated it and I think I might have been sick from it once. Your story about the mask alone is interesting, Maz. I wonder if you might have been calmed by the mask restricting breathing and you then having a higher blood CO2 level. This would be analogous to the `breath from a paper bag' treatment advocated for panic attacks.

The chemist Humphry Davy and his arty friends in the late 1700s were among the first to enjoy nitrous oxide for `recreational purposes'... LINK Sadly, he didn't try using it as an anaesthetic and it was another 40 years before it came into use by dentists.

[Tripps]

Spooky again. . .

Channel hoped on to Parliament, and they are discussing Nitrous Oxide. Just about three honourable members present I just caught the end - seems they have no plans to criminalise possession or distribution, Guess they'd better tax it then.

[Whyperion]

Spooky again. . .

Channel hoped on to Parliament, and they are discussing Nitrous Oxide. Just about three honourable members present I just caught the end - seems they have no plans to criminalise possession or distribution, Guess they'd better tax it then.

Can they a least get fining those whom keep discarding them in the gutters and streets (more a london thing than a barlick one?)

[Marilyn]

Your story about the mask alone is interesting, Maz. I wonder if you might have been calmed by the mask restricting breathing and you then having a higher blood CO2 level. This would be analogous to the `breath from a paper bag' treatment advocated for panic attacks.

It had a big hole in the back, Tiz! They took the tubing off altogether...
(I don’t think high CO2 levels are recommended during birthing)

[Tripps]

Lisa Nandy MP interviewed from home. As usual I'm more interested in the background than what she said. Pleased to see, that like myself, she has a Lowry picture Man lying on a wall. Good judge.

[Stanley]

Private Eye had a pic of a vegetable that looked remarkably like Jacob in repose. The Maz school of art?
My centre drills from China that came less than a week after ordering.
Jack's continuing slow progress.
The glacial progress of the men installing a new flagged patio at Cravenside care home. It's scandalous, and they seem to knock off at about 14:00.

[PostmanPete]

Maybe this should be a 'forgotten corner' but this wonderful sculpture in Letcliffe Park by Stathis Dimitriadis from Leeds has sadly been vandalised. It was part of the Pendle Sculpture Trail and hopefully it can be repaired although it's been badly smashed. (It has been removed from the site in the last few days) My Grandson loved it and called it his "big ice cream"



Stathis' website is worth a look for his story behind the sculpture (in the blog section)

https://stathis-dimitriadis.com/

[Tizer]

This lovely car in the Langport Tesco car park today, belonging to a member of the Citroen Traction Owners Club. LINK