@bullstuff2
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I was still in Germany when the vote was taken, but posted back to the UK in time to vote against it. In BAOR we were told that we could not vote, but the uproar changed their minds. I voted NO after several of my German kameraden advised me not to vote YES. Their reasoning was purely financial: the UK would be assisting Germany to support the southern Mediterranean states, which they saw as “arbeite schüchtern” – work-shy freeloaders.
What really worried me was the EU adoption of the Euro in 1999. I think it was Nigel Lawson who kept us out of that, not sure. I do remember going to Brugge after the Euro began, with a packet of Euros. Only to find that the hotel was not using them yet and would prefer GBP. The calculator came out and I corrected the receptionist. Then swapped the Euros at a bank and made a little profit! Enjoyed that holiday, went back a couple of times. Belgian food and drink is great stuff and the people are fine. Or at least, they were until recent history….
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I'm out.How did I miss that thread when it first surfaced, Ryan? Saving that, thank you.
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I'm out.By now we are actually looking forward to the move Richard, it’s just the hassle but the family will help. We have spoken to our daughter and on Monday will see our son, he and his son are our reliable ‘Heavy Lifters’ and son has a large trailer. SIl will also help if he is on the right shift, that lad is a demon for work, although I have always struggled with his Brummy accent and he struggles with my Nottinghamshire speech. No doubt he will inform me that Birmingham City beat Nottingham Forest yesterday! Moving to a secure, modern, comfortable ground floor apartment, larger actually than the bungalow, will be good for us as a last home. Shops and market of Louth, surgery and dentist will all be close.
We have been ‘off’ lamb for some years, as you say it is fatty and I am advised to leave out animal fats as much as possible. Plus lamb has gone up in price so much lately. I prefer fish (almost any sea fish) or chicken, with the occasional small joint of Topside, Silverside or Brisket, cooked in the slow cooker.
Taps we sorted out very early here: all are lever arch taps, as my missus has very poor function in her right hand and reduced in her left. I recommend them, but they do tend to leak every 5 or 6 years, so I have a stock of washers for that eventuality. Once upon a time the so-called ‘Social Landlord’ would have done that, now we DIY. I have no idea what they will make of some of the alterations we have made over the years when we leave. Adapting double power sockets to triple ones may baffle them, for example. If there are charges I shall ask for a detailed breakdown of costs and work. That should baffle them even more.
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I'm out.When ah were a lad, me and me dad would hire a boat and skipper from Scarborough. I caught my first monster cod from that boat as an 8yo. The seas then were of course not subject to any rules (EU or UK) regarding quotas, there were no ‘factory farm’ boats and the sea was full of fish. We caught so much fish, of so many varieties and during the whole fortnight’s holidays, we lived on seafood. That’s why I love it today. I would take a ledger line to the Pier and bring up crabs from around the Pier legs, chuck them in a bucket and chop them up later for tomorrow’s sea fishing bait. My best memory at a young age then, was fighting a catch for over 30 minutes. It nearly pulled my arms out of the sockets: turned out to be a conger eel, an evil-looking thing. The skipper clubbed its brains out on the side of the boat. I gave him that catch, as we did with many of the fish, and he sold them. That was the price of the trip, but dad always gave him “Summat fo’ thee diesel.”
I was told some years ago that there is still good fishing for the inshore guys there. Of course, the time I am talking about was the 50’s and early 60’s and the boats were small. I can support Dave’s words, fishing is not easy at all. I meet quite a few boat owners around this area and they are of one mind in saying that post-Brexit fishing is not going to be as easy as everyone seems to believe. There are a lot of the strident voices on FB and elsewhere with probably no experience of it and live usually well inland. So when you see media talk about “Our fishing industry”, take it with a pinch of salt. It’s a food producer, but with added danger and often slack times when no money is made because the catch is low or non existent.
But if you want to beach fish, that’s a different matter and that is good fishing along most of the Lincolnshire coast. Sutton on Sea is particularly good: I know one local restaurant owner who has a guy fishing incoming tides there with good results, especially with a strong breeze. It help that the beach is also full of lugworm and razor worm casts. Dig down for your bait.
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I'm out.I am relaying the opinions and words of Scots relatives and friends. Some think she is a very good First Minister who works for the good of country and people. Some do not have a very high opinion of her and some are of the opinion shared by two of my old Glaswegian mates: that she is ” A right wee rocket” – meaning a small person not quite right in the head. The problem with Scotland and Scots, is that they are wont to believe that they are one people when it comes to their sporting teams (especially football) and any contests against the English. In reality they are even more tribal than the English, and that is really saying something. They are an even bigger mix than the English, with so many different tribes and clans having a part in the making of what became Scotland. I have been up there many times and the differences fascinate me. My great nephew and his kids live up above Aberdeen and their speech is totally different to the Aberdeen city dwellers. I have friends over the years from Glasgow, the Highlands, the Western isles, Perth, Inverkeithing (near Edinburgh) and Dundee. All of them have distinct accents and some are just a few miles from another. Most can seem to hold an opinion only long enough to be persuaded it’s wrong, or long enough to cause an argument over it. The worst reaction I ever got from an argument was in an Edinburgh bar with my Inverkeithing mate. I said that the Scottish name came from Ireland. Cue uproar, until I explained with some difficulty, that referred to a tribe called the Scotti, who travelled across the Irish sea and invaded, then made themselves at home. When I also said that many Scots were descended from Angles, my mate took me away from the reactions! Well. I had been on the hard stuff…
But I stick by what I said. The Scots should be allowed to decide their own destiny, with one final referendum. I cannot really tell what that decision will be and I suspect not many of the Scots I know, know yet which way they will vote. I should have corrected my words about madame Sturgeon by saying that she is not someone whose personality appeals to me. Can’t stand her in fact, but I do believe that she believes in Scotland and does what she believes is best for it. Her problem is Boris, a British politician who believes in the UK and who has the power to refuse her that vote. And uses it. There are many possible results to another referendum:
1- Scotland becomes independent and leaves the UK. In which case all the Scots MP’s leave Westminster. They lose our sovereign as Head of State and become a Republic. They lose the GBPound and they are barred from joining the EU. The border becomes hard and their economy crashes. Scots flood England and Wales as illegal immigrants. A second Diaspora of Scots emigrates West to Canada.
2 – Scotland votes to remain in the UK and this a huge blow to the SNP. Sturgeon resigns. At this point the UK PM might call a GE.
What is forgotten though, is that Alex Salmond was First Minister at the last referendum and he gave the promise that it would be Final.
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I'm out.That looney scotish woman has got on her nutter pedastal again and is mouthing off. I think we need to get DT to rebuild hadrians wall. Tall enough so we cannot hear her as in DT size… 😉
Keith as someone with a good few Scots relatives and even more Scots friends, I have to point out that you are ignoring what Nicola Sturgeon does, and has done, for her people and her country.
She has given them pride in themselves and what they are. She fights her corner ferociously on behalf of her country. Doesn’t matter what we think of her down here, it only matters what the majority of Scots think of her and what they decide to do about Independence. The future of Scotland is a matter for the people of Scotland only.
Can anyone point to an English politician with that resolve, that belief that what they are doing? Right or wrong, do not make the mistake of calling her “loony”. She is of very sound mind and possesses a fierce intelligence.
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I'm out.According to Look North, East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire* TV News: ”
Two people from the same family have tested positive for coronavirus in the UK, the chief medical officer for England has announced.
They were guests at the Staycity apartment-hotel in York, before being taken to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
The hotel remains open for business but their apartment will be thoroughly disinfected, the company said. ”
The couple were said to be from Hull, later corrected as a newsreader mistake: “ The two people with coronavirus were moved from their York apartment-hotel to be treated initially at Castle Hill Hospital in Hull, before being taken to the infectious diseases unit in Newcastle. ”
I might just drive up to the Humber Bridge with my lad’s OxyAcet welding plant and fit the cutting torch … 😝😆
*A very long title which is almost as long as some of the News Reports.
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I'm out.Know your pain Les!
Yesterday I decided to replace my two exhaust case fans. Simple job, right? One of the fans has been a long term problem, being butted right up against the two RAM modules, the Arctic Freezer CPU cooler and the 12v motherboard connection. So I looked at this fan: http://tinyurl.com/s87tszo
Being slim, after some careful measurement I decided that it would be a much better, less intrusive fit. Then I thought, ‘Why not replace both rear exhaust fans? A matching pair.’ So I ordered two. Then I spotted this Fan Hub: http://tinyurl.com/tcfldf5
Cool, I thought. I only have one chassis fan motherboard socket, that will replace the (2X2) splitter cables. Stripped out the old and replaced with new fans, connected the Fan Hub. The front two inlet fans worked, but the two exhaust fans simply jerked a bit and died, could not get anything out of them no matter which way I connected them. So I returned to the (2×2) setup, connected just the PC lead, booted and all four fans worked and the system seemed to provide even more exhaust power, which for these slim fans is good. Shut down, reconnected everything, booted up. System dead, bugga! Stripped the case sides and front, investigated. Then I realised that I had not switched on any of the switches on the new 4 gang socket I mounted on the wall. DOHHHH! Connected everything, ensured all switch lights on the power socket were red, booted up, bingo! Tested the new fans via Speccy and the temp’s are lower than they were with the old, thicker-bodied fans.
There is a moral in this story, but it seems to have slipped my mind… 🤔😏😫
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I'm out.I know what you mean Stevie: on my bad days I have to enlist my missus to feed them. They will sit on the fence looking at us through the kitchen window. I never knew birds could give you an accusing look! When we lived in Louth we had sliding glass doors in the kitchen/diner extension. At breakfast on warm days we would leave them open and a previous blackbird family would hop in for their share. We even had a peacock there, no one knew where it came from but we all fed it until one day it just never turned up.
Here we are surrounded by farmland and with a huge old wood up the road, a chalk stream coming down off the Wolds not far away. We have so many different birds visit the rear garden: 3 species of tits, woodpeckers, robins, wagtails, goldfinches, siskins and until recently literally dozens of sparrows, living in next door’s privet hedge that I call Sparrow Towers. One morning there was a kestrel sitting on the fence, the sparrows all disappeared and have not returned in numbers yet, just a couple. And I am forgetting the crows, magpies and the boring song of the pigeons. There is a massive rookery in the smaller wood half a mile away and they try to get onto the bird table, it’s funny to watch. Then there are the hundreds of seagulls which come over at around 4 pm in the winter and 5 in the summer, and they have still not worked out where the big field over the road went: a new housing development there. The gulls would drop down to that field and feed from whatever was there. Now they fly in circles above it, confused. I also pick up snails, tap the shells on the slabs to expose them and the thrushes come down to them.
Every summer we have ants and when the temp’s go up, the flyers emerge from the latest nest around our front, large south-facing picture window. I kill them but I don’t poison the area until the sparrows and others have eaten their fill. The birds seem to pass on the message, because as soon as the flyers emerge, the sky fills with them, performing aerobatics in front of our window, catching the flyers in flight and dropping to the ground to scoop up the non-flyers. I love this village and surrounding area, but we will soon have to move into town as we cannot manage the garden any more and our landlord is not keeping up with maintenance. We have found a good, modern apartment on the ground floor of a secure, gated complex, which is actually directly below our grandson. It will be a wrench to leave, but it is a beautiful, comfortable last home for us. Not looking forward to the move, and the task of informing every service provider, though. We are at an age when hassle is not what we need!
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I'm out.This link is very informative: http://tinyurl.com/t4x3zss
Reading the genome and trying to trace its origins, in an effort to produce a vaccine. Apparently the evidence points to fruit bats, which I believe was mentioned here as a possibility, can’t recall by whom, possibly Ed.
I can’t get Ed’s description of Chinese Wet Markets out of my head, but I recollect similar markets elsewhere in the Far East, on a smaller scale probably. Then I recall as a kid, working weekends for the local butcher, who also slaughtered, and his words to me: “Everybody wants to eat meat (well they did in the ’50’s and ’60’s) but nobody wants to know where it comes from!” I suspect those words are even more true nowadays.
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I'm out.Soon to be testing “Oatabix Flakes”, probably adding currants and whatever fruity bits are in the cupboard. Started adding raisins, but prefer currants. Our resident blackbird pair love raisins, so no waste involved. They also like the fatty bits I remove from cooked meats, and the crusts from my seeded Hovis. They eat very well here, but they breed every year and nest in a holly tree. Our reward is to be serenaded in season and I often have a “duelling whistles” contest with Mr. Blackbird, I have been able to speak fluent Blackbird and Thrush since childhood. Just wish I knew what I was saying to them…
Eccentric? Moi? Mais non, Je suis Anglais!
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I'm out.It’s one of the many Creedence tracks that are timeless!! Careful now, Lee, you’ll get Bob reminiscing!!😋🙃😋🙃
TOO LATE !
Lee, if you liked that, download “Creedence Clearwater Greatest Hits”. Listen to some great music, but especially “Run Through The Jungle”. That’s a song condemning America’s gun culture.
Then try a John Fogerty album, best I think is “Blue Moon Swamp”. John Fogerty founded CCR and has been recording and touring on his own ever since. Remember Quo’s “Rockin’ All Over The World”? Fogerty wrote it, and lots of other stuff recorded by others.
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I'm out.Why have we never made contact with another intelligent life form because we should have given the number of planets capable of supporting life? Is there some barrier – The Great Filter – beyond which intelligent life never manages to pass such as it to ever make contact with other intelligent life forms. The question is that if there is a Great Filter are we alone in ever managing to have passed it or is it still ahead of us?
IMHO it is certain that other life exists within our local galaxy, “given the number of planets capable of supporting life… ” If that life is intelligent, more advanced than humans and has had the means to follow the development of the human race over time, surely they would not want to initiate contact. Look at the history of humans on this planet: from earliest times, conflict. Wars of religion, in which another cultures beliefs are disputed, often to the point of genocide. The proliferation of nuclear and biological weapons, enough to destroy the planet and drive all life to extinction, many times over. A race that knows it is slowly destroying its own environment and driving other species into extinction. A race that is breeding itself into such numbers, that it may soon lack the capacity to feed itself. A race that lives on a planet that is 71% water, yet appears to be facing water shortages.
I believe that any intelligent life capable of surviving the effects of its its existence upon its own planet long enough to develop the technology to cross interstellar space, has become ‘civilised’. Whatever that means.
I think the Great Filter you speak of, is ourselves. It may be that another civilisation elsewhere, may be so advanced that humans would be incapable of understanding it. It is also true that another intelligence may be so different from ourselves, that we would not even recognise it as intelligent.
“The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than we can imagine.” – John Burdon Sanderson Haldane.
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I'm out.The thought had occurred to me that Asia is packed with dense populations: at my guess, around 1/3rd of the planet’s total human population. If the Corona virus gets really established there, those who believe that over population as the biggest problem that humanity faces may see it as a benefit.
Then I started thinking about European cities. London, for example, has many thousands of multi-occupation housing blocks, how many I don’t think anyone really knows, just as the authorities do not know the real extent of illegal immigration. This is also true of other UK cities besides London.
The world is a ticking time bomb and we should perhaps be grateful that Corona is not anywhere near as deadly as say, Yersinia pestis, the Black Death. The initial form, Bubonic Plague, is transmitted by rats and also by many other small animals and is bad enough. The second form of Yersinia, Pneumonic Plague, is much more infectious, being passed from person to person through breath, coughing and sneezing. The third form is a result of those infected being untreated or incorrectly treated: Septicaemic Plague. Both Pneumonic and Septicaemic Plague kill almost 100% of those infected.
During mediaeval times, Yersinia wiped out approximately 35% of Europe’s population. Figures for the rest of the world are unavailable, but may have been less in those areas where it had been endemic previously, meaning those who recovered and lived had developed immunity and passed that immunity to the next generations. The evidence for such a large number of mediaeval deaths is all around me in rural Lincolnshire. As I take my occasional exploratory drives around our beautiful county, I see churches standing ruined for centuries in deserted landscapes, where villages no longer exist due to whole congregations dying. Aerial photographs during the last few dry seasons show the outlines of village housing that once stood to delineate a village or hamlet, and in a religious age, there was a church at each one.
The last major outbreak happened in China in 1860, spread to the USA and was not finally eradicated until 1959. Different strains of the disease are still resident in small animals all over the world. There are cases in the USA every year.
Should be enough to scare us all. I could write a disaster movie script.
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I'm out.Going off topic, apologies. This is a real sooty fireplace:
No fire in this since around 1970, I believe. (we came here in 2003) It was ours in the bungalow and behind it was a solid fuel back boiler, which I discovered was dangerous and should have been removed when the landlord capped the chimney. It was behind a steel panel screwed to the wall and took 3 years of complaining until I contacted the Environment Agency, who forced the landlord to remove the whole fireplace, brick it up and seal it. There were some monster spiders behind there, you can see the webs. Only one was still alive but I managed to scoop her* up and escort her off the premises, unhurt. I don’t mind the spiders here, after seeing some of the specimens in the Far East and Middle East. But my SWMBO is terrified of them. And frogs, for some reason. Now I view both of those as helpful, as they eat insects: specifically flies. Being surrounded by farmland means flies. Big blue buggas.
*The big ones are always female. The males are either hiding between matings, or food for the females after mating.
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I'm out.Read what CNN is saying: http://tinyurl.com/tnat3ks
Scroll down to the video “Viral Hoaxes are spreading lies about new virus.”
The PRC has entered its normal totalitarian mode when faced with an internal crisis: (1) release no information that may reflect badly upon government agencies (2) release NO information. Result:
peopleignorant, self-important, self-deluded idiots take to social media with made up stories and fake news.When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.I have regular sneezing and phlegm issues, due to scarred lung lining and Barretts Oesophagus. Had one in the Close today as I got out of the car coming back from a very wet Mablethorpe. Our resident Close moron and professional village idiot: “Have you been to China?” Me: “No but I have a display cupboard full of it.”
Cue vacant expression on moron’s face, exit moron, stage right.
How am I to know if I get it anyway? I’m like that all the time. I would probably shrug it off as normal and survive because my body wouldn’t recognise it as anything out of the ordinary. On the basis of ‘ignore it, it will pass.’
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I'm out.Not a place I would recommend for your next foreign holiday Richard, no. However, what the book taught me about Honduras was interesting in several ways. Hondurans themselves are quite a racial mix of European and native Central American people, but the native stock is closer to the ancient Mayan than anywhere else but Guatemala next door, which has been significantly more “Europeanised”. The archaeological expedition came about after the author and his archaeologist companions heard an old folk tale, flew over the unexplored jungle areas with a Lidar set in the aircraft and deciphered the results. They found three separate sites which eventually turned out to have been cities, covering a vast area each, with inhabitants who were an ancient people, not Mayan or Aztec. Their ruins were different to Mayan in many ways and their language was also different, plus they had writing as hieroglyphics, which the Mayan did not. They completely disappeared within a very short time, not slowly faded away as the Mayan and Aztec cultures did. Scientists now believe that this was due to European diseases. Aztec and Mayan peoples had been exposed to the Spanish earlier and some had survived. The others just moved away from what they saw happening, disappeared into the jungle of Honduras: their cities were isolated because they had everything they needed and were surrounded by huge areas of jungle. This is true even today, Honduras has many impenetrable areas, although the rot of deforestation has set in, as farmers burn out the jungle. One of the last wilderness areas on the planet, untouched for centuries, will soon be gone.
As for diseases and their transmission: Honduras borders Guatemala and Belize, which was once a British dependency and is now fast becoming a tourist hotspot. Google Map of the area: http://tinyurl.com/v23wlot
The two “Reserva Biolgica‘s” and Patuca National Park, are the areas covered by the map. The Honduran government has sequestered these areas to stop deforestation, but only time will tell if that works. One problem is that the military are used to keep out the deforesters, but they have to be rotated as many of them contract Leishmaniasis. This damned book has got me interested in the country and its history and as is my wont, I have to follow that interest. But I do not intend to visit. After all, that’s what t’internet is for, isn’t it?😎😊
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I'm out.Very true Richard. Future proofing and fool proofing are both verging on the impossible. If we could be proof against the future, everyone would win the Lottery but the prize amounts would be tiny. If we could be proof against fools and their actions, human progress would be measured in something else besides bombs, bullets and failed governments.
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I'm out.Thanks Lee. Hope things improve for you soon.
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