WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Stanley]

Listening to the fall-out from Nigellagate. Do you get the impression that there seems to have been some thoroughly nasty and vindictive behaviour embedded in this affair? I think that in the end Nigella will come out of this better than anyone else, I hope so.

[Cathy]

I agree Stanley, I'm sure in the future Nigella (her people) will dig deeper into the history and background of her prospective employees. Awful but necessary.

[Tripps]

Two matters today caught my attention -

Radio 5live asking Neil Kinnock to comment on the enormous salaries paid to Premiership footballers. Beyond parody. Could have been given some balance, by asking a Cardiff pensioner to comment on the Kinnock family's pensions.

Then the Chief Exec of something called "The Royal Voluntary Society" being concerned about malnutrition in the old . My first thought was that MOH should be appointed as Special Adviser to the Government immediately; then I remembered a cutting I clipped a few months ago. . . No doubt the Chief Exec will be on at least double that salary. Quite ironic really.

Situations vacant
AREA MANAGER
Royal Voluntary Service
South England
£38,215 to £42,630

[Tizer]

The chief executive of the Women's Royal Voluntary Service is on £130,000 a year. The salaries of other charities' CEOs are shown on this web page:
http://society.theguardian.com/salarysu ... 77,00.html

[Whyperion]

The payment deficit between inports and exports is now at it's highest for more than 24 years, presumably the 'boom' is sucking in far more imports because of the relatively high value of the £

Thinking this evening of the conumdrum of having a high reported numbers of people in work , yet the incomes of them dont seem to be finding there way around the whole economy ( certainly not the bit I have been involved with this last month ) , I had an idea that with the increase in some EU, etc migrants , a proportion of their income is being 'sent home' , maybe not a great amount but enough to have an impact on amount of money circulating in local UK economies.

[Stanley]

I still have the pain in my neck.....
Rolf Harris faces three more charges when he arrives in court in January.

[Tardis]

On Saturday: The train from Colne to Preston really is shoddy and arrived late again. Then Virgin did it's best to delay the rest of the journey, 45 minutes late setting off (blaming signalling above Lancaster) and finally getting me to my destination just over an hour later than timetabled.

One offs I can excuse, weather I can make allowances for. But that is three times in a month on the West Coast, when I've had no issues on the East Coast getting through via Leeds

[PanBiker]

East coast line of course is in public ownership, maybe this says something. A lot of people are in agreement here as well.

[Tizer]

Here is a little Christmas story for you...
As I looked out of the window after lunch the rain was lashing down, the moors were flooded, the wind howled through the trees. What weather for the day before Christmas eve! And I was faced with a drive to town to take my father to his GP for a mental assessment; no chance of postponing it because they urgently need to decide how best to deal with his confusion and wandering. Then the phone rang somewhere in the house, Mrs Tiz answered and shortly afterwards I was consoling a very upset wife - her father's GP was at the nursing home and said father had suffered a massive stroke and did she want him rushed to hospital. Further discussion revealed that the outlook was very serious and the doctor considered it better to keep him where he was. Mrs Tiz confirmed that father would not want to be resuscitated if it meant possibly being in a vegetative state. The doctor said there was nothing we could do and we should phone the home in an hour or two to find out the news. Mrs Tiz phoned her sister and there were lots of tears of course, and sister (who lives near the home) said she would go there straight away.

Meanwhile, having comforted Mrs Tiz, I had to leave her and drive to town and my dad. That took my mind off the matter until a couple of hours later when I drove home and expected that it was likely I would be dealing with a wife whose father had just passed away. When I opened the front door she said "Before you speak let me tell you what's happened" and I prepared myself for the worst. "Sister went to the home and found dad tucking into his lunch and very much alive. I've had a conversation with him too". Well, would you believe it? His biggest complaint seems to be that he was hungry because he'd missed lunch! Next time I see him I'm going to tell him if he wants to play that trick again do it at Easter, not Christmas!

[Stanley]

What a roller coaster! Only good thing about it is that a dress rehearsal like that might make it easier for Mrs Tiz when the next call comes.... You are both accumulating treasures in heaven.
What grabbed me first thing was the fact that Alan Turing has received a full pardon. (LINK) About time too!

[PanBiker]

What grabbed me first thing was the fact that Alan Turing has received a full pardon. (LINK) About time too!

I heard that as well and echo your sentiments Stanley. As a nation we do seem to be good at ignoring the ones that did a lot of the work during the Second World War. Merchant Seamen, Bomber Crews and Far East Veterans to name just a few and in Dr Turings case, not only ignored but chemically castrated in an effort to "cure him", ultimately leading to his suicide. Is this a double pardon then as his sexuality was illegal at the time as well as his suicide, do doubt partly owing to the treatment he received. We should be ashamed of ourselves in that it has taken so long and the fact that we lost such a brilliant mind.

[hartley353]

The Mrs watched a succession of Christmas movies yesterday. This would appear to have worked on me subliminally as I found myself making an impulse buy of pickled onions this morning whilst collecting my morning paper, maybe the festive spirit is entering me.

[Marilyn]

How thoughtful. A jar of pickled onions....for the wife I presume? A very romantic gesture...
I'd be so overcome with emotion, I don't know what I would say to my hubby if he brought me the gift of a jar of pickled onions on Christmas Eve. I suppose I would have to reciprocate by dashing out to buy gherkins or similar.

( I am only joking)

We bought son's dog a rawhide bone of considerable proportions. She commenced it just over eight hours ago, and is now sitting on the back lawn with it between her paws. It is getting dark...she has exhausted herself with it and can no longer chew...yet she can't bear to leave it there overnight. All she can do is sit and guard it.

[Nolic]

Superb day yesterday brightening up a few young lives. One little girl refused to let go of me until I manged to explain that unless I left then no little boys and girls would get presents. Another asked to see my reindeer and I had to be quick to reply that I#'d left them at the North Pole resting as they had a busy time on Christmas eve and morning. Great feeling and very humbled. Nolic

[Stanley]

Lovely Comrade...
Maz. Jack loves his rawhide bones. I usually get him the monster Alsatian size but yesterday they only had the next size down. He ripped the first one to bits last nigh and yes, he does the same thing, sleeps next to it if he is downstairs. Lucky I got three so he will not be bereft over Xmas!

[Marilyn]

Ha...the dog ended up burying the rawhide bone overnight and dug it up again this morning!
She still has half of it left, though how she finds it appealing with all that dirt clung to it, is beyond me.

[Stanley]

Just had a request for one of my daughter's hand in marriage. I told the bloke YES! For God's sake get her off my hands!!!
I think it went down well.....
(There's another wedding brewing in the family and if it comes off we will have some lovely milk chocolate flavoured babies..... Yet another stick for me to use to beat racists over the head! Lovely bloke, I like him a lot...)

[hartley353]

Wow! Some guy in a red coat came in the night and left me a new Range Rover. Thank you Santa. Now to settle down with the nuts and a beer. All the best to everyone have a lovely time. Merry Christmas.

[Thomo]

We were facing this Christmas with a big cloud hanging overhead, the loss of a much loved pet followed by the return by my daughter of the gifts sent for my grandchildren. By last weekend, the worst was over and a modicum of Yuletide spirit was returning. It is well known that Christmas is often associated with difficulties, family break ups and illness being two of them, our dark cloud has returned with a vengeance. Another of our cats, "Izzy" the ex stray who came 18 months ago, and for the last 10 months has never missed being in at night went out on Sunday afternoon and has not been seen since. On the grand scale of cats that go missing, 3 days is not long, but I have a bad feeling about this that is not going to go away quickly, a skirmish of the area revealed nothing and there are hundreds of garages and garden sheds on our patch. Each day presents dozens of reminders of this lovely animal, his food dish is on top of the fridge awaiting his return, this I will have to remove soon for the sake of sanity. The worst part is not knowing what has happened and this alone has severely dented my natural resilience, we have lost a fair number of cats over the years in a controlled situation, but never lost one in the true sense of the word.

[Tizer]

I hope Izzy returns Thomo - take heart, even though you might feel pessimistic miracles do happen. I related the story above of how on Monday Mrs Tiz's father seemed to have cheated death. We've had a photo of him this morning, happily eating beans on toast. The nurses are calling Mondays' event a miracle and they say they've never seen anything like it before!
Happy Christmas everyone!

[hartley353]

How thoughtful. A jar of pickled onions....for the wife I presume? A very romantic gesture...
I'd be so overcome with emotion, I don't know what I would say to my hubby if he brought me the gift of a jar of pickled onions on Christmas Eve. I suppose I would have to reciprocate by dashing out to buy gherkins or similar. The pickled onions were for me only, to have with my game pie. I would never be able to close my eyes again if I presented Mary with them as a gift. Amongst the gifts for Mary is a Sholley which is a posh shopping trolley, I thought this was like buying the wife an electric drill, but she insisted this was what she wanted and it is only one amongst many. I even doubled up on one when she saw a russian wedding ring in a shop in Stockport, and I secretly bought it, then she saw another in a local jewellers that had narrower bands of gold and said that was the one she wanted, so I bought that if she asks why two I shall say it offers choice to suit the mood.

( I am only joking)

We bought son's dog a rawhide bone of considerable proportions. She commenced it just over eight hours ago, and is now sitting on the back lawn with it between her paws. It is getting dark...she has exhausted herself with it and can no longer chew...yet she can't bear to leave it there overnight. All she can do is sit and guard it.

[Thomo]

Tizer, you are right of course. I was very moved by your post about your Father the other day, and pleased to hear that all is going well, that is a good and proper Christmas present. Be assured it will be a long time before I give up hope, its the mental images of the cats situation that are a real problem, very corrosive to rational thinking. If anything makes it worse, its keeping it to myself as the mere mention of it all has the Wife in tears. Its at times like these that the basic nature of this site can be of immense value. Thank you and enjoy the day.

Best Wishes: Thomo.

[Nolic]

Cath sparkling for Christmas.

[Stanley]

Comrade, given what a year she has had that is a lovely Xmas Pic! Give her a big hug from me!
A lovely Xmas Day, full of news and incident. Couldn't have been better, just enough to eat and drink and warm and pain-free! It doesn't get much better than that.



Icing on the cake was a pic of four generations of the Porter family and this one of my Great grandson.

[Marilyn]

Cath...you look FAB! Good to see you have recovered.

Stanley...is that Alexander? Or is that a newer addition?
( searching my brain cells, but keep coming up with the name Alexander...forgive me if I am wrong)