Monday 29 May: Billions are poured into HS2 while Britain’s roads sink into disrepair

Posted on by Geoff Graham

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548 thoughts on “Monday 29 May: Billions are poured into HS2 while Britain’s roads sink into disrepair”

  1. Good morrow, Gentlefolks, today’s story. Tinged with a bit of sadness,

    That Norse Legend

    So here we are in Valhalla, and the gods are awakening the night after a tremendous orgy.

    The god of thunder yawns, stretches himself, turns over and sees this pretty little Valkyrie sleeping next to him.

    Gently he shakes her awake. “Good morning,” he says, “I’m Thor.”

    “Tho am I,” she replies, “but I’m thatithfied!”

    1. Bye guys and gals, this may be your last story. Love and hugs to y’all.

      1. Tom – don’t go! We’ve all enjoyed your Funnies for years. I also downloaded your first book, which brought back memories of RAF Halton in the mid-50s. Please leave a link to your second book as I’d love to read it too.

        To cheer you up (I hope), here are a couple of stories that you may not have heard (though you probably have):

        The journalist from Woman’s Day was interviewing an elderly lady in the retirement home on her 100th birthday. She was still in excellent health.
        “Have you ever been bedridden?” Asked the journalist.
        ‘Many times!” she beamed. “But don’t put that in the magazine”.

        Keith, a sales representative was taking his client, Ron, for a day out on the golf course for a quick round.

        After playing a couple of holes, they were slowed down by two women players in front of them.
        “I’ll go and ask if we can play through,” said Keith.

        Keith returned, visibly shaken.
        “You won’t believe this, Ron, but the two women in front – one is my wife and one is my mistress!”.

        Ron looked at his watch impatiently and said, “You keep out of sight. I’ll go and talk to them.”
        A few minutes later, Ron returned.

        “You’re not going to believe this, Keith.” he started…..

        I almost forgot – Good Morning all.

        2. I wonder if the lady in the first story ever got to Banbury Cross?

      3. Dear Sir Jasper,

        I’ve just read your various posts in the early hours of this morning on last night’s NoTTL page and I can understand your frustration around getting a decent night’s sleep. You say that you have now turned to alcohol as a kind of last resort to get some sleep. I do hope that when you finally wake up things look better for you. My only suggestion is that you sleep when you can and find something to do to keep you occupied (read a book, watch a film, maybe do a bit of writing) when you can’t. And don’t worry about when your sleeping and waking occur during the 24 hours we are each given. We are all rooting for you, Tom, never forget that.

      4. Prepare yourself a nice breakfast Tom, preferably bacon and egg, a mushroom or two and some tomato. . The nice smell and taste will remind you of happier times , then brew yourself a cup of tea /coffee.. enjoy the flavour .. take your time .. deep breaths , and be grateful that you have had good memories , a few bad memories and that you are still here , when many don’t have that choice .. stop wallowing in self pity please .

      5. Tom, from reading your first book I believe I understood that your best times were in the Services (RAF).

        In 1951 I was taken by my parents to see a film: “Trio” which was a compilation of three short stories by W Somerset Maugham.
        It’s a super film and, for us older folks, is “of its time”.

        I looked it up this morning and behold: someone has uploaded it to YouTube here: https://youtu.be/SweR7qwEMxo

        ..and so you can watch it “for free” (that awful American expression).

        Have a look – you’ll either enjoy it or it will send you to sleep: both probably good outcomes in your present state.

        All the best, roughcommon.

        1. I read all William Somerset Maugham’ s short stories and novels when I was young and I still reread them from time to time.

          I also used to read them aloud to my classes from time to time. One way that I used some of his stories was for precis – I would read a story in class and then, for prep ask the pupils: i) to rewrite the story in 300 words; ii) to rewrite it 100 words; iii) rewrite it in 50 words and then iv) rewrite it in one sentence.

      6. Please stay with us.
        I don’t visit here so much but always look out for your stories. They can cheer me up on a down day.
        I see from Elsie’s comment below, that you are having great difficulty sleeping. A while ago, I was running on empty from insomnia. Constant mind turmoil over family problems over which I have no control.
        I found ‘new’ Nytol (I had tried this years ago but it was just the useless herbal version). Lloyds pharmacy, Boots, Superdrug do their own versions. Not sure if GPs are able to prescribe it, but it is quite cheap – certainly cheaper than alcohol.
        Please give it a try. It has made a difference to me.

      7. Stay with us Tom. Your friends ard here. Sleep during the day if you can’t sleep at night. Drink is a depressant and not your friend. Eat good food that you’ve cooked yourself. Try to go outside and get some fresh air.

  4. Billions are poured into HS2 while Britain’s roads sink into disrepair

    The potholes are there to put people off from driving, a traffic calming measure, I suppose.

    1. Building Top quality cycle lanes next to pot holed roads.
      We are run by small minded activists.

      1. Potholes
        From 1969 to 1970 I lived in Albany, the State Capital of New York. It was a dump – and the fierce winters from late October till March caused huge potholes in some of the roads. Some wag placed a pair of Freezer gloves reaching out of one of the potholes and submitted a photo to the local newspaper, causing much amusement.

      2. Potholes
        From 1969 to 1970 I lived in Albany, the State Capital of New York. It was a dump – and the fierce winters from late October till March caused huge potholes in some of the roads. Some wag placed a pair of Freezer gloves reaching out of one of the potholes and submitted a photo to the local newspaper, causing much amusement.

      3. Between our 2 nearby very small towns, there are 3 villages, and ours is in the middle.
        Our parish council is trying to get a path to link us to the villages north and south of here along the main A road. Those villages each have an old, very well used (by residents on foot or bike) footpath, no more than a couple of feet wide, connecting them to the nearby small towns. Apparently, a new footpath/cycleway connecting this village would have to be 3m (yes, you read that correctly, 3m) wide. Amongst other issues, this would entail completely rebuilding a bridge at vast expense.
        3m is much wider than the heavily used shared pathway/cycle lane round Rutland Water, and that functions very well.

        1. Vote them out andput real people in charge. Do not vot Tory labour Lib/dem green but real world people only.

          1. In the recent local elections, we had a choice of the regular 2 tory incumbents and, for the first time ever, a green to contest two local seats. For once there was no liebour candidate – they never get more than a few dozen votes anyway.
            All three were against a current local planning issue.
            Because the green is a young mother heavily involved in a campaign against this local issue, she had much support from all the parents at the school. I doubt many of those who supported her (purely because of the local campaign) would normally do anything but laugh at the greens.
            As a mother of young school children, and a babe-in-arms, how much time will she even have to give to her new role, not to mention the additional time for the campaign?
            She gained a seat from the young man who has held the seat for many years as chairman of the district council. After having a pointless ‘fact-finding’ jolly to the States, he deserved to lose his seat.

          3. Many years ago, another local woman got herself on the parish council purely to stop a set of much-needed traffic lights at a very dangerous crossing. As I recall, it wasn’t really known why she wanted to be on the parish council.
            There had been numerous vehicle collisions and many near misses, as well as several near accidents involving children crossing to/from school buses. Over 100 11-18 year olds cross daily to/from the school buses. Most people in the village strongly supported the need for these lights.
            She got elected then left the role once the lights had been refused.

          4. We need more local and national referendums like the Swiss do. They will never allow it as it means the people do have the FINAL say. and that would never do a they know best. Not.

          5. If only.
            TPB didn’t like the result of the Brexit referendum and have done everything they can to not implement the wishes of the electorate.

        2. Why metres rather than yards?

          Apparently several abattoirs in UK were put out of business when the UK was in the EU because some minimum measurements were 6 feet rather than 2 metres. The French, quite rightly, would have told the EU to piss off had the EU suggested that they should change their buildings to satisfy EU paperwork but the pen-pushing British civil servant has got mindless obsequious conformity down to a fine art.

          We all learnt as children the adage that rules are made for people rather than the other way round. The officials who wantonly destroyed perfectly functional good abattoirs were doubtless the sort of small-minded, insignificant people who love interfering when they should leave well alone.

          1. In this country, road signs are, thankfully, still in miles. There is no good reason why metres should be used but that is what the pettifogging, jobsworth. pen-pushers seem to use.
            The field behind our house was once the ‘holding’ field where the village butcher kept the animals before he slaughtered them for his shop. Back when slaughtering wasn’t confined to large, industrial plants ……. unless you are a roper wanting to practise savage non-stun methods, in which case nothing is done in case it offends & goes against their ‘culture’.

          2. How about their presence offending and going against our culture – that doesn’t count.

          3. Of course it doesn’t. In particular, I find their ‘letterbox’ garb extremely threatening and offensive. Face coverings should be completely outlawed outside their own homes.

          4. Yes, going around like black-dressed daleks does not give a good feel. I also feel for those that have to suffer their wailing from minarets . Plus, why are most of our slaughterhouses now halal, and so much of our food halal (well-hidden) when they (still) are a relatively small minority?

            Their backward culture is given priority over ours time and time again. Whose country is this? Not ours, any more, it seems, but then that it the Globalist Plan. Destroy one of the most successful, innovative and civilised countries in the history of the world – that’s a sound plan, isn’t it.

          5. Backward, sub-human, misogynistic, filthy, ray .cist, rap; ing, unwanted, over-breeding savages.

          6. Yes, going around like black-dressed daleks does not give a good feel. I also feel for those that have to suffer their wailing from minarets . Plus, why are most of our slaughterhouses now halal, and so much of our food halal (well-hidden) when they (still) are a relatively small minority?

            Their backward culture is given priority over ours time and time again. Whose country is this? Not ours, any more, it seems, but then that it the Globalist Plan. Destroy one of the most successful, innovative and civilised countries in the history of the world – that’s a sound plan, isn’t it.

          7. Yes, going around like black-dressed daleks does not give a good feel. I also feel for those that have to suffer their wailing from minarets . Plus, why are most of our slaughterhouses now halal, and so much of our food halal (well-hidden) when they (still) are a relatively small minority?

            Their backward culture is given priority over ours time and time again. Whose country is this? Not ours, any more, it seems, but then that it the Globalist Plan. Destroy one of the most successful, innovative and civilised countries in the history of the world – that’s a sound plan, isn’t it.

          8. Not all specifications were changed in the manner you describe. For instance, the prescribed minimum width of a new single carriageway road in the UK is 7.3 metres, which is simply 24 feet converted. There are other examples (if I could be bothered to look them up) where the UK did not apply a new dimension but merely converted the existing one.

            After all the fuss of the Metric Martyrs case, ex-EU commissioner Günter Verheugen suggested the UK had overdone it a bit and all that was really required was clear labelling. The UK civil service has a lot to answer for.

            I never understood why making UK drivers buy petrol in litres rather than gallons was helpful to the EU economy…

          9. Making us buy petrol in litres rather than gallons disguised how much we were actually paying for our fuel. Putting a litre up by 5p seemed relatively insignificant compared with putting a gallon up 20p+.

    4. I’m not a badger fan – in a vote-off between old Brock and the hedgehogs the hogs would get my vote – but this amuses me.

      There is a badger set on the copse where i walk my old dog. It has been cordoned off so the badgers can do whatever they do without being disturbed by humans and their dogs. It turns out what these particular badgers do is tunnel under local roads. So now we are a road down while everyone argues who should pay to repair it.

      On a different note, I see they are going to shut Wandsworth Bridge for 10 weeks for repairs. This is while Hammersmith Bridge is still out of action.

      Perhaps instead of wasting billions on the white elephant that is HS2, or housing illegal immigrants, we could have some basic infrastructure?

  5. Looks to me that government is taking ( has taken) us back to running things pre Mrs Thatcher.
    More state control and interfearence in everything. what happened then is happening again, only we have no MrsThatchers to dig us out.

    P.S. Good mornng all.

    2. 372729+ up ticks,

      Morning JN,

      Maybe stop feeding the political OGRE just once
      could be tried, JUST ONCE.

  6. More than 12,000 Albanian migrants breach their bail conditions. 29 may 2023.

    Up to 12,800 Albanians who entered the UK illegally have broken their bail conditions, Home Office data shows.

    The figures, obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation, show 12,842 Albanians who had been allowed out of detention on immigration bail pending their deportation failed to report to officials at their designated time in breach of their conditions.

    These people have of course figured out that it is all a charade and that there is nothing to fear..

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/28/albanian-migrants-breach-bail-conditions-electronic-tags/

    1. Does this mean that the Government has stopped giving them taxpayers’ money?

      2. Lol! No I don’t think so Janet. That would infringe their Uman Rites!

  7. Good day all,

    Up with the lark to day. Sunny again 9℃ forecasting 16℃, wind still Nor’-East so a bit cooler.

    This is what is wrong with our body politic. Political parties take donations from wealthy individuals with an agenda.
    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2023/05/28/labour-donation-dale-vince-just-stop-oil-15m/

    It is well known that Blair met George Soros in New York before he became PM and Soros effectively bought the Climate Change Act.

    We should outlaw this sort of thing.

    1. Mr Vince, the founder of green energy firm Ecotricity, has given around £1.5 million to Labour over the past decade. He is said to be worth £100 million.

      Greg Hands urged Sir Keir Starmer to hand back the cash.

      His donations have included £20,000 to Sir Keir’s office and £10,000 to his deputy Angela Rayner, according to Electoral Commission data.

      There is no suggestion Mr Vince sought to influence Labour policy with the donations.

      Of course not!

      1. TBF – the Conservatives go along with this nonsense without being bribed.
        The Party of Principle. They actually believe in this guff.

      2. ‘Morning, Minty. At the risk of stating the bleedin’ obvious – when it comes to politics and money there is no such thing as altruism!

        By the way, I think the name of Vince’s company is Egotricity…

      3. How did Dale Vince go from being a homeless (apart from his van) traveller to being worth 100 million? Not by being altruistic that’s for sure.

      4. How did Dale Vince go from being a homeless (apart from his van) traveller to being worth 100 million? Not by being altruistic that’s for sure.

  8. ‘Morning All

    What could possibly go wrong…………

    John Kerry: Farmers Must Stop Growing Food to Meet ‘Net Zero’ Goals for ‘Emissions’

    During the Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) AIM for Climate Summit,

    Kerry told the audience that “we can’t get to net zero, we won’t get

    this job done, unless agriculture is front and center as part of the

    solution.”

    Kerry warned attendees that his and other world leaders’ “lives depend” on farmers ceasing their operations.

    Stopping farmers from growing food will lower agriculture “emissions,” Kerry insists.

    https://slaynews.com/news/john-kerry-farmers-stop-growing-food-meet-net-zero-goals-emissions/
    This dystopian agenda is spreading but one thing you can be sure of while it might be bugs and cancer meat for us it will still be fillet steak and out of season asparagus for them

    2. Hi, Rik. We’re on the same wavelength this morning!
      Dangerous times with evil intent all-around.

    3. These dangerous politicians and assorted hangers-on are clearly not very intelligent and must be certifiably insane. Do they have no clue as to how ridiculous they are?
      One big volcanic eruption spews out as much CO2 as humans ever have. Apart from which, CO2 is necessary for all life. In geological terms, levels are currently at a very low level.

  9. Putin is terrified of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. 29 May 2023.

    Putin is in a panic over the expected Ukrainian counteroffensive, which may already be in its preliminary “battlefield-shaping” stage. He doesn’t know, any more than the rest of us do, when the offensive will be launched, where it will strike or whether it will succeed. What he does know is that if it achieves significant success, his own days might be numbered, with fissures already opening inside the Kremlin and between its most important henchmen.

    He is? How does Mr Kemp know this?

    https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/28/putin-is-terrified-of-ukraines-counteroffensive/

    1. The Russians will have this war wrapped up by the autumn. Colonel Douglas McGregor says so.

      1. Can’t come soon enough for me. I’m fed up with the propaganda and lies in the press.

    2. If the Russians control the airspace over the contested areas then they will discover any concentrations of Ukrainian forces as they form up. Any ‘counteroffensive’ should not come as a surprise: this isn’t the Ardennes (Battle of the Bulge) of WWII in the depths of winter when flying was curtailed by very bad weather and technology was primitive by today’s standards.

    4. But .. but … if Putin is terminally ill with Parkinsons/cancer/ingrowing toenail why should he worry?

    5. There will be no counter offensive. The Ukrainian army chiefs have vanished and have been replaced by the propaganda chief.

      No one knows the whereabouts of Zelensky. Expect a lot of noise from Ukraine but believe none of it.

  10. Good morning, all. Bright, breezy and chilly here.

    Well, if anyone doubted that the ‘elites’ were out to cull us by any means possible, including fake vaccinations, here is proof that famine is high on their agenda.
    Sri Lanka moved to ‘green’ agriculture’ methods and starvation followed; the Netherlands, under Rutte, have started down the road to destroy their agricultural base; here the government has been offering financial deals for farmers to retire early, and on it goes.
    A hungry and cold population is a dangerous population for those pushing the agenda. Kerry, Gates, Biden, Sunak and Co should be very careful what they wish for.

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/8e507f252fb5c2b21a470cba533de2438b6176fc9524c68a56b42b954302ba67.png

    Kerry warned attendees that his and other world leaders’ “lives depend” on farmers ceasing their operations. Stopping farmers from growing food will lower agriculture “emissions,” Kerry insists. He continued by noting that he does not even call it climate change anymore.
    “It’s not change; it’s a crisis,” he declared.

    Slay News – John Kerry Farmers Need to Stop Growing Food

    1. 372729+ up ticks,

      Morning KtK,

      I do believe that the political finger betwixt neck and collar is becoming more in evidence.

    2. They may want to cull the dross of the world, but have their own escape routes lined up. The ultra elite have access to helicopters, ocean going yachts and long range jets. For example, the Bombardier models Global 7500 and Global 8000* have a cruising speed approaching 500 knots and and a range in excess of 8,000 nautical miles. Intercontinental: trouble starts in USA, let’s fly non-stop to Singapore.

      An aeroplane designed for billionaire globalists.
      * Minor differences to their range, payload, etc etc.

        1. Try New York to Switzerland. Or Turkey to Australia.

          The point is that if a globalist were ever stuck in a country where he happened to be at risk, a Global 7500 would take him somewhere safer. It’s not just a taxi for billionaires, it’s an escape pod.

          1. Just playing the Devil’s advocate. No, they run the world, unfortunately.

    3. They may want to cull the dross of the world, but have their own escape routes lined up. The ultra elite have access to helicopters, ocean going yachts and long range jets. For example, the Bombardier models Global 7500 and Global 8000* have a cruising speed approaching 500 knots and and a range in excess of 8,000 nautical miles. Intercontinental: trouble starts in USA, let’s fly non-stop to Singapore.

      An aeroplane designed for billionaire globalists.
      * Minor differences to their range, payload, etc etc.

    4. I thought of bringing up the Farming situation yesterday, with our friends from The Netherlands. But it didn’t seem appropriate for a happy family occasion.
      It’s hardly had a mention in our news….that speaks volumes in its self.

      1. For some reason the MSM want to gloss over the problems in the Netherlands.

    5. John Kerry – and his supporters – need to stop eating food.

      I suspect they’ll change their minds after about 3 weeks.

  11. 372729+ up ticks.

    Morning Each,

    Letters: Billions are poured into HS2 while Britain’s roads sink into disrepair

    The reality of reading the RESET agenda correctly, a scam with a
    purpose, autobahns tn steel, quickest route betwixt A/B, troop movements for future trouble hot spots.

    Todays voting pattern dictates that oxen WILL fetch top dollar to purchase or hire.

    I do believe that the WEF/NWOs ultimate aim is, in 15 minute cities, an infrastructure of foot tunnels similar to the sewer network for the worker units, who in the course of time will be recognised on the surface via their pale complexion, & twitching noses under which long facial whiskers will be seen to be protruding.

    Behold the wonders of the abuse of democracy via the polling booth.

    1. Why bother to repair potholes when there will be no cars on The Road to Net Zero.

      (Catchy title for a new film? Let’s exhume Bob Hope and Bing Crosby)

    2. Morning Bilty,
      Enough about your mood, what’s the weather like?
      Ba boom tish

  13. Morning all.There’s a letter today about horseshoes

    Horseshoe luck
    SIR – The picture illustrating Tina Simmens’s letter (May 26) about Rutland was interesting because most people hang horseshoes upside down. Any luck that a horseshoe can bring can only be achieved by hanging it with the ends pointing up.
    This is to present a holy arch through which the devil may not pass. The Worshipful Company of Farriers, with which I am connected, can confirm this.
    Lord Newall

    It reminded me of a story about Nils Bohr. A reporter visiting him at home noticed he had a horseshoe above his door. Curious about whether a Nobel Prize winning physicist believed in superstitions he asked about it and Bohr replied that he didn’t, but had been told that horseshoes bring you luck whether you believe in them or not.

    1. When I was a boy of 5 in St Mawes we had some horseshoes nailed to the wall of the shed in which the horse used to be stabled before I was born and where we then garaged our old Ford 8. The horse shoes were supposedly harbingers of good luck an ours were displayed points upwards to stop the luck running out.

      I mixed up my superstitions and, having heard that if you spilt salt you should throw it over your shoulder, I found a horseshoe on the ground and threw it over my shoulder. Had I been older and wiser I might have remembered the lines of Hilaire Belloc:

      Like many of the Upper Class
      He liked the Sound of Broken Glass.

      But not being Upper Class the sound of the back window of the old Ford shattering was terrifying to me and I dreaded what my mother would do to me. Fortunately she was very sympathetic.

      (A year or two later the dozen bottles of ginger beer I had been making and had left on the wide slate shelf in the larder exploded covering all the food in stickiness and thin shards of glass – my mother, bless her, was again understanding and refrained from giving me the thrashing I deserved.)

    2. There’s a horseshoe hanging on our shed. It’s one I’ve had since I was a child and came from the milkman’s horse. It’s brought me luck – good and not so good.

    3. Points up your luck stays in the bottom of the shoe, points down, the luck drains out.

  14. Morning all.There’s a letter today about horseshoes

    Horseshoe luck
    SIR – The picture illustrating Tina Simmens’s letter (May 26) about Rutland was interesting because most people hang horseshoes upside down. Any luck that a horseshoe can bring can only be achieved by hanging it with the ends pointing up.
    This is to present a holy arch through which the devil may not pass. The Worshipful Company of Farriers, with which I am connected, can confirm this.
    Lord Newall

    It reminded me of a story about Nils Bohr. A reporter visiting him at home noticed he had a horseshoe above his door. Curious about whether a Nobel Prize winning physicist believed in superstitions he asked about it and Bohr replied that he didn’t, but had been told that horseshoes bring you luck whether you believe in them or not.

  15. Good morning, chums. I was woken by my alarm clock at 6 am today, but there was such a plethora of emails to read and some which needed a reply so that here we are at around 7.55 am before I post this.

  17. Good morning all.
    Yet another bright sunny day with 5°C on the yard thermometer.
    I plan to finish refilling the last woodstack today. Note the word “plan”. I’ll see how far I get.

    Will be off in the van for a couple of days tomorrow, t’Lad’s bought something in Swindon and wants me to collect so I plan meandering down to pick up on Friday.

  18. But did the whale survive?

    SIR – Serving on HMS Chichester in the Far East, we were watching a film on the quarterdeck one evening when we were struck by a whale (Features, May 25). It hit our starboard propeller while we were travelling at cruising speed. This knocked the projector off its stand and damaged it. We were en route from Perth, Australia to Singapore and had been at sea for a day only.

    I was in charge of the sonar department and the captain asked me to investigate for anything unusual. I listened for a few minutes and reported the starboard propeller was making a loud clicking noise.

    On arrival in Singapore we entered the floating dock for examination and discovered the starboard propeller was damaged slightly but enough to cause my crews not to be able to operate the sonar correctly and submarines to identify us easily.

    Ultimately, we had to have a new propeller shipped from the UK, so it was an expensive collision.

    Ivan Johnston
    Dalston, Cumbria

          1. See also in this respect the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. (Nice to see that you’re up on your bible studies, Grizz.)

    3. Ivan, I’m afraid, makes a poor storyteller, it’s the way you tell ’em.

    4. Let’s imagine that the frigate HMS Chichester, diesel powered, was cruising at 16 knots and the unfortunate whale at 12 knots, and that they were moving at an angle to each other. Surely the ship’s bows ran across the whale. A glancing contact with whale flesh might not damage a hull, but by the time the starboard propeller (phosphor bronze?) hit the creature, bones might have been sticking out.

      HMS Chich displaced more than 2,000 tons and was 340 feet long.

    2. Normal people have to earn c£47,500 pa to take that home and I haven’t included pension deductions and NI in my calculation so in fact you’d need to be on £50k to take that home.

    2. Driving to Norfolk and back. We noticed yesterday the massive amount of new homes that are being built especially in parts of Cambridgeshire.
      The huge development that is immediately adjacent to the A1 M North of Stevenage.
      Looks complete. But difficult to see due to the huge barriers built along A1 perimeters.

  21. Morning all 🙂😉
    As it was most of yesterday at Burnham
    Market, sunny. Lovely day at the family BBQ yesterday. 12 of us in total. It turns out that we hadn’t seen some of them for ten years. Since my nieces wedding in Tilberg.
    Just a two hour drive, a long time since we’ve done that. Fairly boring really. But so many parts of our road surfaces are horrendous. And they were the A roads. And I doubt if we will ever find the need to use HS2. Yet something else our useless political classes didn’t get right.
    And what a strange coincidence, one of my nieces daughters was there with their year old son, she met her hubby at University, is married to the grandson of the then young teenage boy who lived opposite us were I grew up in North London.

      2. Being a Sunday it wasn’t too bad. Only a couple of holdups due to ongoing roadworks. Parking when we arrived was the difficulty. 5 or 6 cars upset one of the neighbours in the cul de sac.
        My wife insists on using the sat nav she drove home. Needless to say we got into a little bit of trouble. Which I sorted by turning it off 😉😊🤗

  22. Good morning everyone.

    Reading a BTL thread on Telegraph about the supposed Lockerbie bomber, suddenly I spot a comment saying ‘Phil Schofield’s *** is Matthew McGr** ….I can’t be the only one fed up with this pussyfooting…’
    Asterisks are mine, just in case there is some highpowered injunction. Google will fill in the blanks.

    1. Why all the fuss over Schofield? He cheated on his wife with a young man – is being gay (obvs. when you look at the man) so amazing in the luvvie industry? In any case, who is it that gives a shit? Enough already!

      1. I have never ever watched that ITV prog ..

        The photos of the grinning simian pair are ghastly .. That couple might be media celebrities .. but who are they really?

        1. I’ve never watched any morning telly programme. They are overpaid nobodies.

          2. It’s all part of the dumbing-down exercise on the public – and it seems to work.

        1. So he is a lying toad as well. Who’d have thunk it? It’s not as if we aren’t surrounded by lying toads in government (central and local), the press and anywhere else that is exposed to the public.

        2. Indeed, the man is a c**t, but does it need broadcast and written up many times a day?

    2. Google and Twitter and all the other platforms blanked my search .. I am surprised the DT comment wasn’t wiped as well, but it s still there .

      1. Apparently Everton is in Africa.
        I thought all African towns had ditched their colonialist associations.

        1. Sometimes I think we live in Africa due to the advertising on TV.
          What are these people actually trying to achieve ?

          1. The narrative that this country is black – so that eventually when the creep sets in they think we won’t notice.

          2. But, but in a thousand years or so, they’ll either have developed lighter skin to cope with the lack of sunshine or they’ll have died out ‘cause let’s face it, the northern hemisphere really isn’t getting any warmer.

          3. I don’t think it’ll take a thousand years – give it a hundred, maybe.

          5. I don’t think it’ll take a thousand years – give it a hundred, maybe.

          6. Probably cheating the tax man by money laundering .

            Rich landlords , Homes under the Hammer

            Africans sneaking money out of Africa .. look how money has drained out of once wealthy countries including Pakistan and India and elsewhere ..

            Those people are the Merc/ BMW/Audi drivers .. blacked out windows etc.

        2. There was an excellent West Indian creeketer called Everton Weekes…

          He were black as yer hat.

    2. How about this…..
      People have been complaining that the Horticulture show at Chelsea was predominantly white and too middle class.
      The way to look at that type of experience that is vastly enjoyed by thousands of visitors is, if white middle class people love and enjoy gardening and its development so much. What’s the problem.
      Except the obvious. Moan moan moan moan………

      1. People of colour have become too uppity here in the UK mothership

        Who do they think they are .. and what have they done that has benefitted mankind ?

        1. “The white man tried to civilise the black man’s land in Africa; native Africans not only reversed what the white man did in Africa but then tried to uncivilise the white man’s lands in Europe.” Discuss.

          An essay title for a Sixth Form General Paper in the 1960s?

        2. Absolutely TB.
          They never stop moaning. They expect privileges at every opportunity and on all occasions.
          When they don’t get what they want the race card is deployed.

          1. What some of them want is for us to work, invent, administer , PAY TAXES etc. for them to benefit without any effort on their part. We owe it to them, dontchaknow.

    4. I’ve just has a look at Everton’s details. They have a listed first-team squad of 35 (!) of which seven are out on loan. Ten are white British (eight English, one Scottish, one Irish), seven are black or mixed race British and eight are black foreigners. There are also some Europeans, white and black.

      PS The countries for which they are qualified are not always those in which they are born!

      1. Not really. There is more moss than grass at present (due to a damp winter followed by a very warm and dry spring) It is not growing right now as a result of the lack of rainfall.

        1. I gave up after many years of battling moss and ground elder. I now have slate which changes colour with the weather.

          2. The piece of ground that the previous owners of our cottage used to refer to as a “lawn” is currently waist high and full of meadow flowers. It starts in February with snowdrops, crocuses, violets etc, then tulips, milkmaids, dandelions, blue spikes, speedwell etc and now we are into early summer flowers. In a few weeks, I will cut it and it will stay short until the show starts again next year.
            https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/4f697edfeae0309884a84ebe662b4a5df8655f877c9a98d3ce0a4d7ee2644011.jpg

        1. ‘Morning, N. These were planted by the previous owner, but we only found the plants when we cleared the surrounding jungle two years ago. Although the blooms don’t last very long, we always save plenty of seeds from mature plants (six varieties found so far) and sprinkle them on any bare patches in early Spring. They are so easy to grow. Last year we made our usual visit to Great Dixter and bought some seeds for two more varieties – the bee and opium poppies. They have all germinated very well, so we could be making good use of the latter later next year!

    4. There’s a conservation area nearby. It’s smaller than your front garden!

      I don’t understand the mindset of people who having gone there, had a barbecue and threw their rubbish on the floor, all around the seating area.

  26. 372729+ up ticks,

    Egyptian archaeologists discover biggest ever mummification workshop
    The buildings where the complicated process was carried out on humans and sacred animals is more than 2,400 years old

    They are using foreign locations / peoples to protect the guilty parties in westminster who are running a covert operation under the cover name PAXO.

    For verification and end results get a day pass and check out the house of lords.

    1. She seems to have done well enough for someone with no education because she was confined on a boat.

  28. Rant of the day. I am catching up on my emails and have one from the Institute of Advanced Motorists, of which I am a member.

    I am informed that “June is Pride month in the UK and for the first time ever we will be doing a logo takeover. We’ve created a suite of assets that we would like to encourage all groups to adopt…”

    Well i’ve written to them to tell them what i think of this.

    Last year i had to suffer a month at work of being assaulted by the flag throughout the building where i work.

    Am i the only one who loathes this patronising guff?

    I foresee i am in for a grumpy month next month (normally June is my favourite month, for obvious reasons but it is now completely ruined for me).

    1. Am I the only one who loathes this patronising guff?

      Nope. And you can add Black History Month to the list.

      2. When do we get a month for the segment of humanity that created the realtively civilised lifestyle we have, and the money to go with it? Let’s hear it for white folk!

        2. Lefties actually argue ‘that’s the rest of the year!’

          Which makes quiet struggle, paying bills, working hard, without favour, notice, recognition or special reward the hallmark of white lives.

    2. I am fed up with having all the rainbow nonsense rammed down my throat everywhere I turn. If people want to be ‘different’ in their private lives, nothing is stopping them, it isn’t illegal. I do feel uncomfortable with seeing them ram their tongues down their partners’ throats in public but I doubt I’m the only one.
      It’s the same with having assorted effnics pushed in our faces in excess of their actual proportions in this country.

    3. My workplace will also be draped in rainbow flags. The central atrium, open from basement to top floor with a spiral staircase running through it, will be lined with rainbow colours. It’s visually quite attractive but the political message is crude and annoying.

      1. A couple of lines from a poem by W.B. Yeats

        But Love has pitched his mansion in
        The place of excrement;

        Somehow homosexual intercourse strikes me as being rather more excremental!

    4. No – you’re not alone. I’m glad I’m not still at work. We had gay people there and they were just normal. What is all this ridiculous propaganda for? Fortunately I can just ignore it all.

      1. Nobody has an issue with gay people who just go about their lives without all the fuss.

        1. Exactly – when I was a child (some 55 years ago) a homos£xual couple lived in a flat in our block of flats. While this was unusual, they were both charming people, and jolly good neighbours. Nobody cared what their preferences were – why should they?

        2. Mother-in-law used to work surrounded by gay men, who universally were appalled by the Gay Pride and all the other grandstanding – they just wanted to get on with their lives and be with the person they loved.

        3. “Miss Buss and Miss Beale
          Cupid’s darts do not feel.
          How different from us
          Miss Beale and Miss Buss.”

          1. Dare to be even a little bit different…
            Everyone trying hard to find fault.
            A few years ago, Mother got snarky over that we served her tea made from a teabag with a string and a label – how posh can we get?
            Teabags without labels and strings are not available in Norway, so it was just tea, no social superiority statement about it.

      2. Support for a minority group (in this case the propaganda and all that goes with that, the flags, road paintings and the rest) dilutes and undermines the majority group, especially when it is at the expense of that majority. All part of the cultural marxism which has been visited upon us for the last six decades.

    5. I shall take pride in ignoring it. These silly coloured pedestrian crossings irk me, why on earth do these deviants have to shout so much.

      1. I ignore it as much as possible.
        Avoid Sainsbury’s and other businesses that shove it in my face.
        I do not of course wish to disrespect the pride flag by wiping my feet on it, therefore I cross the road at another point.

    6. Logo takeover. Sums up the issue really, doesn’t it? Why can’t they just shut up and keep quiet about their proclivities?

      Do they not eralise that the more noise they make, the more disgusting they are?

  29. GBNews have done me a favour over the last few days. By obsessing over trivial sex scandals because OfCom presumably won’t allow them to obsess over serious stuff, they’ve driven me back to Talking Pictures.

    Instead of Mark Dolan on Saturday night I caught an hour or so of Chimes at Midnight. Orson Welles as Falstaff and John Gielgud as Henry IV, with dialogue selectively pinched from Shakespeare. Shot in black and white on location in Spain.

    The locations were very convincing and the period costumes were very good. Problem is, the ladies wore modern makeup and everyone was clean and healthy with bright eyes and shiny hair. 14th century realism requires a bit of scabby and flea ridden, at least among the peasants?

      1. From what I remember of my youth, bad teeth were still a problem.
        Something that has disappeared is Essex Teeth – think of Bugs Bunny. Many women is particular were blighted by it.
        Their parents usually had good old vulcanite dentures with glow-in-the dark porcelain teeth..

  30. Just read and replied to Tom’s desperate sounding comments on last night’s page. What can we do to help him? He’s so desperately depressed. I feel helpless here and not sure contacting his ex girlfriend is a good idea.

    1. Unfair that he has threatened to end it all .. he is a hoist to his own petard .

      The flat he lives in is in an RAF owned communal block of flats , so I am led to believe .

      His position might be jeopardised, as it was so with his previous partner .

      Don’t do anything , the alcohol is talking again .

      Bank holiday’s are full of emergencies.

      Drinking is his demon , and it drains the life out of one’s system .

      If some one has his phone number , perhaps a message might be comforting ?

      1. I told him not to rely on drink. He should try talking with some of his neighbours but he won’t. Not sure if I have his number but Sue probably has.

          1. This whole business could jeopardise his entitlement to his accommodation

        1. Possibly sleeping now. His sleep/waking pattern seems to’ve completely flipped.

      3. I think it’s owned and run by the RAF Benevolent Fund who could well boot him out if they find out his problem

    2. In my lurking days I followed Tom’s previous events and how this community helped him. TB’s suggestion to do nothing may be the best way. We have to feel sorry for him but realistically only he can sort out his situation. Living alone myself I know at times it can be a bit lonely – fortunately I have plenty of friends but certainly during the dark days of lockdown there were some dark days here as well. It can get to all of us.

      If you are reading this Tom keep smiling and remember we are all your friends even though we have never met.

      1. His crises and calls for help are becoming more frequent. Eventually he will fall once too often and there will be no response.

      2. Firstborn was lonely – he got a cat. That perked him up no end – someone to look after and be cuddled by.

        2. I forgot to say that I get at least two local walks a day and once a week go for a long walk in parts of London (ending in a pub lunch). Getting out and enjoying the world is an important thing when you live alone. I also visit my local Tesco at least once a day – I always use a real checkout, used to say that the woman in the self service ones never smiles at me but they seem to have changed that to a bloke these days.

    3. Morning Ndovu. I’m not unsympathetic. I’ve had Depression and I know what a Soul Crushing experience it is. I wrote to Tom once and he ignored it. It is not Rocket Science! You cannot snooze all day and then whinge about not sleeping at night. Alcohol is a depressant and the worst possible thing for Depression. If you want to get out from underneath it you have to make some effort. No one else can do it for you!

      1. Yet oftentimes you can’t. It’s like being in the back of a cart bring pulled by other people. You’re still alive, but not part of the journey and walking for yourself means you’ll be left behind.

    4. Early morning after no sleep is not the time one feels at one’s most positive.
      Alcohol before lunch doesn’t help. Sleeping all day neither. Maybe some getting exercise by going out and conversing with people would perk him up some? Especially if sunny. Mother was outside in the home garden on Wednesday when I called, and she sounded so much more compos mentis, you’d not believe she had dementia. Sunlight has a beneficial effect on pretty well everything except expensive textiles, nice wood, and cheap plastic.

      1. I was probably helped by still working at the time Oberst, though it didn’t feel like it. I also made myself act even though it was a form of purgatory. I took up swimming and the gym. It was a tremendous effort just to attend these things let alone do them. It took over two years and I was never the same person that I was before. It robbed me of part of myself. The better part I sometimes think!

        1. It’s hard work. Good on you for having the strength to sort yourself out.
          I don’t know whether it helps, but I realised quite a few years ago that everybody is broken in some way or other, by one or more events. Most conceal it well, some seem unbroken, but everybody is.

          1. I don’t even like to think about it! I’ve only dredged it up here because of Tom. There is always the thought that it might return!

          2. The only thing to do is to try to be strong enough to handle whatever comes one’s way, because it’s 100% certain that bad stuff will happen.

          3. Once one has suffered from depression, that gate is never locked, the slightest push will open it.

          4. I agree; I have to be very careful to manage my stress levels – too much and I can feel myself sliding down again and need to step back. One good thing is that I now know that I can climb back out of the trough at some time in the future.

        2. I am just two years younger than Tom but I am still helping Caroline run our business which has somehow recovered from Covid Nonsense and I am busy with odd jobs in the garden even though I am no gardener as Bill, Grizzly and several other Nottlers are.

          1. I’m glad your business survived, Rastus. Was quite concerned there.

      2. He’s drowning in self-pity unfortunately. He won’t go out and talk to his neighbours. He’s drinking himself to death. Very sad after the full life he led.

        1. They’re all sharing a drink they call loneliness – but it’s better than drinking alone.

          (Billy Joel)

        2. My mother is medicating herself the same way. There’s only so much that can be done.

          I remember after i had lost my job, my fiancee had left me sitting in my window on my birthday falling apart and wondering what it would be like to fall those 40 feet to the ground. Then came a bark from somewhere outside and the next day I set about getting Wiggy and I’m sure he saw a fair few tears himself but we carried on together.

    5. What Tom has to do is make human contact. He does this by contacting and talking on a help line if there is no one else. Having been subjected to two suicides in my life, I wrote of one the other day, I understand it to be an act of supreme selfishness. The person is so wrapped in his own pain he has no consideration for the pain of others, as if his pain was so so special, much more than anyone else’s pain. Fact is it is only special, only unendurable because, being wrapped up in himself, totally absorbed, he care’s not for others pain, his pain is special, because he ignores others wrapped in his cocoon of self indulgent suffering. It is his special ego that is in pain and that is far more important than anyone else’s on earth, it is the ultimate form of self indulgence. there are always people who are in far greater pain than you and need your help. But the person threatening suicide wont look at that because other peoples suffering is nothing important compared with special them. Other people can’t possibly be suffering more than me! If you look at others, then you realize your behaviour is an act of cowardness and the ultimate form of self indulgence. The world does not revolve around you but, in pretending that it does, you make your ego the ultimate issue and damn anyone else. Suicide is the ultimate act of revenge: “Look here, see what you have made me do — I hope you all suffer for the rest of your lives because of the guilt my actions have imposed upon you.

      Instead of offing oneself, you can learn and turn your attention to the pain of others and help alleviate their troubles. Do something useful and worthwhile with your suffering, help others out of theirs, you be the person on the hotline talking to the despair and loneliness that comes down the line at you and in turn you offer hope. Use your suffering to contribute to mankind instead of indulging in an act of pointless nihilism that simply adds to the sum total of misery in the world.

      1. Unfortunately he won’t talk face to face with other people. He has a captive audience here and we are all kind and concerned. But there is nothing more that we can do – his salvation is in his own hands. He can stop drinking, stop the self-pity and just speak to someone. He won’t though.

        I’ve have always thought that suicide is the ultimate in self-harming selfishness and those who indulge in it care nothing for the harm it does to the people who are closest – family, friends, etc.

        Many years ago I was very depressed – it was the thought that my very young children wouldn’t remember me that stopped me and brought me to my senses.

        1. I remember my absolute distress when my Father died, and when my beautiful friend, Elaine, killed herself, that I decided I would never do that to anybody.

          1. At the time my mother died, my then husband was having an affair with my so-called best friend. I got through it somehow.

          3. “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”. I ditched the friend and eventually divorced the ex. I changed my job and life improved over the next couple of years. Eventually I married my current husband and we’ve been very happy.

      2. The very reason depression is so destructive is because it shuts off the logical part of your brain and lets only the emotional work. You can’t control a chemical reaction except through drugs – which often leave you a zombie.

        When the warqueen had Junior she fell into dreadful post natal depressoin and came close to smothering him. She needed help and support because she could not cope with what had happened to her life. I don’t believe Tom is trying to hurt anyone but himself because he cannot cope. He cannot see the way out.

        I went back through my posts and I see only rage. An angry, bitter man. Some is justified, much is simply having no other practical outlet which is why I’m trying to do something positive about it in some financial planning, to separate the emotional difficulty of a miserable world from the day to day reality. It’s not personal but one thing we did at work to mitigate the dreadful rise in fuel costs is lower our video support rates and massively hike our on site rates. It gave us a measure of control over our – my – time.

        When you’re depressed that feeling of control is lost. All sense of perspective is lost and all that’s left is pain.

        1. He tries to numb the pain with drink and of course that makes it worse. He needs help but I don’t know what more we can do to help him.

        2. You did go through a phase of very angry posts and somehow you managed to alleviate the stress that was causing your anger. However, Tom is old and ill, and has no family with him. I wonder if his daughter realises how ill he is.

        3. For me there has always been one more thought:”This to will end.” You have to do nothing else than wait.

      3. Trouble is, when you are at the bottom of the trough you can’t think straight. I agree, suicide is ultimately selfish (I lost a close friend to suicide and it still distresses me today that I couldn’t do anything to help, but she deliberately shut herself off).

      4. Trouble is, when you are at the bottom of the trough you can’t think straight. I agree, suicide is ultimately selfish (I lost a close friend to suicide and it still distresses me today that I couldn’t do anything to help, but she deliberately shut herself off).

      5. Fear not, I won’t do intentional suicide, as I do believe in re-incarnation, i.e., if you duck out of this life, you will only have to do the lesson over again.

        I’m just lonely, isolated and depressed, hence diving into the bottle. If I could return to my previous life in Suffolk with Judy, there would be no more whisky.

        1. Well you can’t return to your previous life that is not how it works. Your behaviour is nothing more than emotional blackmail. the equivalent of a toddler holding its breath until it gets what it wants. Further more you can’t live on “If’s”. I have lost everything that is of value to me in my life. I simply accept that is how it is and continue. With the closing of the past the future opens up. It is your choice how it evolves for you. But a nihilistic attitude will get you nowhere at all.

          1. I’m not a nihilistic toddler, Jonathan but having lived a pretty full 79 years, I feel that the time has come to put that aside and see what another life might offer. But God help us, that future looks pretty bleak but I may be able to change it. Who knows?

    6. Depression causes its own circle of isolation. I have never been seriously depressed but have come close a few times. Life can be tough and shit happens. It’s not always easy to handle.
      One time in NC I was so despondent that I emailed the Samaritans….thank god I rallied because they were no use at all.

      1. He’s desperately lonely as well, but we seem to be his only friends here. He dismissed the old ladies who live in the block and won’t talk to anyone face to face.

        1. There’s no need to be lonely – there must be loads of activities in his area. Keeping oneself occupied (particularly the mind) can push negative thoughts out of your mind
          So far today I have cooked my breakfast, done the DT crossword, made a loaf , pressure washed the front patio and moderated a couple of music sites and had lunch. I’m now off to trim the hedge lining my drive, after which I will get the bike out and cycle a couple of miles as it’s warm and sunny. If the weather had been bad I’d have done a couple of miles on my treadmill. Then it’s cook the tea and then a couple of hours TV before going to bed and reading for an hour or so – at the moment I’m reading Tornado Down by John Nicole, the story of the 2 Tornado crew shot down over Iraq and their subsequent capture and torture. If I have time I might get in 1/2 hour on the keyboard at some time. Keep busy is the answer

          1. It certainly is – but you have to be in the right mindframe as well, and sadly, he isn’t.

          2. Very true – the problem he has is getting into another frame of mind when that door is locked with drink

          4. Alcohol is the first problem to solve. It is a depressive and affects problems with sleep.

      2. Been there too but then I look around me and realise I’m not so badly off after all and there are others who are ten times worse off so I’m thankful for what I have, I rely more on friends as family are so far away

        1. You’ve also kept busy – driving that breakdown truck till recently, doing your music and visiting care homes – it was hard for you when Barbara was ill, and then when she died, but you’ve kept going.

          1. That’s it in a nutshell Jules
            Edit – and I’m still healthy which helps

        2. I’ve been there, too (clinical depression due to stress at work and also stress when MOH was suffering from dementia). It isn’t a case that you can just pull yourself together.

    7. So sad, it seems like his depression has robbed him of his ability to help himself, and alcohol, probably causing lack of sleep, is not helping.

      1. I thought it was only women capable of multiple groanisms.

        Morning folks.

    4. I think that somebody smuggled some English cheese into the factory which they called évêque puant.

  32. That’s me for today. Totally knackered after pounding fenceposts to support the blackberry vines. Fortunately, you can get an adapter that fits the new demolition hammer, but it still involves lifting 50kg or so to head height to stand on the post. Then pull the trigger and RATTLY RATTLY RATTLY, the post sinks into the ground. Proper job! Much quicker and easier than using a sledge.

  34. This Morning goes into meltdown. 29 May 2023.

    Guests are turning down offers to appear on This Morning and ITV has lost millions of pounds in sponsorship deals amid the fallout from the affair scandal surrounding Phillip Schofield.

    Car dealer Arnold Clark, the show’s biggest sponsor, has announced it will not be renewing its existing multi-million-pound deal with the channel in autumn as planned.

    Once ITV’s ‘jewel in the crown’, the Mail understands some people are now also refusing offers to appear as guests on the show.

    Ooooh! I say!

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12135507/This-Morning-goes-meltdown-Guests-refuse-appear-ITV-loses-2m-contracts.html

    1. Forgive me for being out of touch (again) but I have never looked at this programme and had never heard of either of the “stars” until the bloke’s mug was plastered over the papers some years ago – when he admitted cheating on his wife and was gay. The woman just looks vacant.

      So quite why is all this dross “news”??

      2. Because he was grooming an under age child.

        Various newspaper reports give the child’s age between 12 and 15 when the grooming commenced.

        Fortunately for him and Jimmy Savile the Police are not interested in law breaking by celebs.

      3. Morning Bill. I was being facetious. I wouldn’t be caught dead watching this tripe!

      4. Way back in the 1980s, Philip Schofield was a childrens presenter, with a sock puppet called “Gordon the Gopher”. As a 20-something, I used to enjoy those programmes, as light relief to the grind of completing my Ph.D.
        I’m sad to see how he turned out, but see absolutely no reason why there’s so much fuss over who he sticks it in. He cheated on his wife, but that’s a) not a crime, and b)he’s not the first, so why the fuss?

        1. It’s not a crime but it is a sin. I don’t know why all the fuss – maybe because people have nothing better to occupy their tiny minds.

        1. I went TV and Licence-free in 2005. Since then, I have noted how many casual (pub) conversations begin with: “Did you see xxx on TV last night?” with the assumption that I would be familiar with whatever dross is on the goggle box.
          The only time I see any TV is in the club where I am a member. It appears to consist of whooping audiences, flash sets and dumbed down content. I do not miss it.

      6. Don’t forget they jumped the queue at the Queen’s funeral too.

        It is a magazine style program. Not worth watching any day time TV.

          1. Press tickets okay if they were making a program but they weren’t were they…

        2. I never have. It’s just opium for the unthinking masses. My mother never had a telly all her life and I could happily live without it.

          1. We use a Chromecast to watch YouTube and other internet Tv channels on the main TV. Rately broadcast TV.

          2. We’re still paying the telly tax because OH likes watching sports and a few other things.

          3. Stop paying your licence fee and watch anything you want on Catch-up (no licence required)

          6. But sometimes there are things we would watch, such as the Scandi dramas, which we can pick up on iplayer. As we’re paying the tax, we might as well make use of it. If I were on my own I would drop it.

      7. For better or for worse it is in the news because the ‘star’ allegedly ‘groomed’ a young gay man and offered him work with the production company. Age gap circa 35 years. Selective blindness, again.

  35. Indiana Jones and the college graduate! Harrison Ford (80) beams with pride alongside wife Calista Flockhart (58) as they attend son Liam’s (22) university graduation
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12134321/Harrison-Ford-Calista-Flockhart-look-stylish-watch-son-Liam-graduate-college.html

    I was in my late 60s or early 70s when my two sons graduated while their mother was in her 50s.

    This BTL was doubtless mockingly ironic!

    Funny how some fathers are better looking than their sons. My very dear sons have this problem.

  36. My thoughts exactly! Mr Selves is spot on:

    Martin Selves
    3 HRS AGO
    Boris Johnson is going through a hard time, and he is still under investigation. I never though Party Gate was worth a row of beans, but I was pleased he moved out of No.10.
    I do feel some sympathy with him because the Blob are his tail, they want to cut it off, and the honest Woman who led the Investigation has been outed as a Labour supporter and talked behind the governments back.
    He has a point, but I am glad he has gone because a lot of the mess the Conservatives and the Country is in right now is due to him. He could have got fracking moving, he could have put the breaks on Net Zero, he could have started Brexit in an energetic way, he could have started the rejuvenation of our Fishing Industry, he could have made NI a part of the UK and not the EU. He could have done so much more, but he didn’t, and for that he should be sent down as a fool.

    * * *

    Despite the intervention of Covid, never in the field of British politics has such a healthy majority been wasted so thoroughly by so few. And that is down to a PM who is basically lazy and who preferred endless factory and building site visits to massage his vanity and sense of entitlement with pathetic photo-ops.

    1. “could have put the breaks on Net Zero”
      Don’t think much of his spelling.
      As for sending Johnson down as a fool, no, he wasn’t a fool, just another politician with an agenda that differs from the welfare of this country.

      1. I think he was fairly well undone before he met her, she finished off the process.

  38. Them: So, you have autism? Does that mean you take everything literally?
    Me: No, that’s kleptomaniacs.

    1. There were rumours at the time and still in biographies etc that Queen Mary, relict of George V was a kleptomaniac. Many things apparently found their way into her handbag when she visited various homes. These items were discreetly returned by her staff. So it is said and if it is true.

      1. No, Queen Mary was a well known collector of objets de vertu; she asked or hinted.

          1. QM collected Fabergé; easy enough for country house owners to lock their stock up if she was intending to honour them with a visit.

  39. My landlord wanted to talk about the high heating bills.
    I told him, “My door is always open”!

  41. A request!

    I have had a sore thumb joint since October. An X-ray in January showed beginning rizarthrosis (or trapeziometacarpal osteoarthritis, as it’s also known in English). So far, the treatment has been anti-inflammatory medication (which dulls the pain but does not remove it, and it comes back when I stop the treatment). A friend recommended acupuncture, which did no good at all, even though I have had acupuncture in the past for my hay fever and it works a treat. I have also seen an osteopath who said that the pain could well be coming from my neck (lots of arthritis there, with past episodes of pain in my shoulder and elbow caused by disc herniation), but while a number of sessions with him have relieved the pain a little, and certainly given me more mobility in my thumb, the problem is far from over.

    The next step in treatment is rather freaking me out: an injection of steroids deep into the thumb joint. I have been told it may or may not work; at best, I will have no pain for a few years, at worst, it will make little or no difference.

    Before I reach for the phone to make an appointment, I wonder if anybody has any experience of this? Have any of you had any other, less invasive, treatments for this or similar conditions?

    1. It sounds horrible.
      Have you checked your diet out for possible inflammatory agents?
      Soy, spinach, strawberries etc.

    2. You should not be overly concerned about a steroid injection. My neighbour has one every six months for shoulder pain and is okay with it.

      Is it the needle/injection itself you are concerned about?

      1. “Is it the needle/injection itself you are concerned about?”

        She might be. I had an injection in my elbow 30 years ago. It was excruciating. If you’ve ever had a dental injection in your upper jaw under your nose you’ll have some idea.

        However, it certainly cured the problem of the elbow strain.

        1. I had to have three separate injections in the roof of my mouth for an op. I have a good dentist.

      2. Both!

        The idea of the needle going right inside a joint is ghastly and I suspect the doctor would have to tie me down. But I’m sure he’s used to dealing with scaredy-cats like me so I’m sure he would do whatever is required to reassure me.

        What worries me more is the medical treadmill that I might be embarking upon of more and more injections being required, knowing that the treatment can make the condition itself worse in the long term.

        1. When done by an expert you really shouldn’t feel any pain. Perhaps a mild discomfort for a short time.

    4. Are you on any other medication apart from the anti-inflammatories? So many medications give rise to unwanted side effects.

      1. It’s not rheumatoid, apparently. Propolis might be an option, but I have a lot of anti-inflammatory turmeric as part of my hay fever treatment (anti histamines work like sleeping tablets with me!) and that makes no difference to my thumb.

        1. You could try rosehip. It works for me on my osteoarthritis whereas turmuric does nothing.

    6. Mrs N had a similar problem with her shoulder. She had the injection and a total cure.

      1. We have not had any Covid injections at all so we are not anti or pro vax.

      2. Richard had an injection into his hip joint to tide him over until his hip operation. It worked well. But I’ve been told that for my thumb it would not be total cure, and that’s the problem.

    7. I’ve had the steroid injection and it worked perfectly. An inflamed tendon was making my left thumb painful and immobile. I’m left handed so it was a problem. I refused to live on ibuprofen.

      1. Very sensible, Our Susan – ibuprofen (the “miracle drug”) causes substantial kidney damage….

      2. That is most encouraging, thank you. The osteopath was astonished at how painful my thumb was considering that the arthritis is only beginning, so maybe there is an inflamed tendon there as well. The pain is constant apart from a few blissful minutes when I wake up.

      3. I have a lump on my right thumb joint, but as it causes no pain (yet) I’ve ignored it.

    8. I had exactly the same, oooh, 47 years ago. It was treated with ibuprofen for months, with no relief of the pain. I persuaded my gp to send me off to Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge. To cut a long story short, a hypodermic syringe with a needle the *size of a knitting needle was produced and the offending, painful joint was injected with hydrocortisone. Result – 24 hours later the pain was vastly, vastly reduced, then disappeared and in nearly five decades the pain has not returned.

      * In the intervening years the size of said needle has perhaps reduced, but even so it was not particularly painful.

    9. I have had a steroid injection in my sacroiliac joint. It worked well and I was pain-free (until I followed my doctor’s instructions and restarted the physio!).

      2. It’s like an interior mirror in a car – you can see where you’ve been

    2. A much less expensive way of viewing the ‘outcome’ of humans would be similar to glass bottom boats. Glass top manhole covers. Probably better than watching the bbc and chanel 4 news.
      Unless your having a day by the river or the beach of course.

    1. Why, suddenly, are they releasing the information on adverse events being created by this muck? It’s always been, “Safe and effective,” so what has driven/is driving this change?

        1. The people responsible for this outrage have batted away the accusations of the “vaccine” being responsible for adverse effects, including death, but have put their hand up, albeit only halfway, for this effect.
          Is this outcome unexpected and is it going to be widespread such as it will not be easy to deny its existence and its direct relationship to the “vaccine”? After administering several billion doses it would be a bit of a stretch at this late date, and admitting there was a signal early on, to try the old ‘mea culpa’ but we published the data to let people know, get out of jail card.

  45. BBC Scotland has its own version of Countryfile, Landward. Its virtue is that it’s only half-an-hour long and generally rather less patronising. Here’s one of the presenters, Cammie Wilson, who starts the report from which this still is taken by saying “There’s something wrong here…”

    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/3cb6ad89e5baf2498c93b1ecd562aa1dd50d524a149b87b638905708233407e1.jpg

    Too right, Cammy. Not a single sheep – and hardly any hedges or trees for miles either. This is sheep and cattle country near Hawick and bleak and sterile it looks too. The report was about a former sheep farmer who’d sold his flock and turned to much more profitable deer. These creatures, however, require a lot of expensive fencing to contain them.

    An earlier edition of the programme reported on attempts to restore the Caledonian forest on the eastern side of the Cairngorms. Here, wild deer were the problem and, without mentioning it explicitly, required a different form of control. Here replanting of native species was underway – juniper, holly, birch, hazel, rowan and, of course, Scots pine were all mentioned. The term rewilding was used, incorrectly I thought. This was not agricultural land being taken out of use but a deforested area being reforested. Naturally, ‘carbon sequestration’ got a mention.

    And so to the programme we all love to hate. Last night’s edition included 97-year-old botanist Dr Margaret Bradshaw. In the 1960s she was involved in an unsuccessful campaign to stop the building of a reservoir on a site in Upper Teesdale which included many rare Arctic and alpine flora. Despite that failure, much of the area remained a valuable reserve until misguided conservation attempts damaged it. Conventional wisdom was that overgrazing by sheep was damaging yet removing them and letting the grass grow long had crowded out the subject plants, which were small and low-growing. Carefully managed grazing (and, it was intimated, a culling of rabbits) might rescue the situation.

    Apart from Tom Heap aerating about broiler chicken production, this was a rare edition in which my hackles were hardly raised and in which the balancing of production and conservation were dealt with in a much less hectoring tone than usual.

    1. I wonder what the general reaction was in Scotland.
      Talking of Mr Heap (aptly named)
      It made me laugh when he stood in front of the camera blamed an invented pack of domestic dogs when a some sheep were found half eaten mauled to death. And it was out of season for ramadan.
      Close to an area where it had been proudly announced that wild boar had successfully been reintroduced.
      What a plonker he is.

    2. The old Langleeford and Common Burn sheep farms have also been de-sheeped up near Wooler, only this is to allow for grouse shooting.

    3. Yes lets not worry about what the people are going to eat. Wilding is much more important to the ignorant.

  46. Did the last bit of sawing and stacking of the few logs in front of the carport done and got the sawhorse & axes up the “garden” ready the next lot lot of sawing, chopping etc.
    So after my 3rd mug of tea went up to carry on.
    Four large builder’s buckets of sawn and chopped logs later, it’s not a bit too hot for heavy work, so I’m having a mug of tea and preparing some leftovers for lunch!

    1. Hot? I’m wearing two pullovers and the stove is going. Fake and deceptive sunshine…

          1. Don’t be a silly Billy. I have my usual jeans on and my summer flip flops.

  48. I think it is time we were treated to “Robert’s Fortress – the Video.”

  49. Bluss – it is cold out.

    This ceaseless easterly wind keeps the rain away – the temp down (it’s about 13ºC) AND dries the garden out. Just spent half an hour watering. At least carrying the watering cans kept me less cold!!

    2. No rain in our part of Northants for 18 days and none in the forecast for the next week.

    3. There’s a cold wind here in The Bush but I’ve been up to Oxford Street and it’s warmer there. More sheltered, I guess.

    1. Neat one, I thought. Of course, in the UK, the cameraman would be prosecuted for ABH – and sued for damages, as well.

  52. At Devizes Wharf the general rule is mooring is allowed for 3 days. A local told me that one boat has been moored there since December and the boat opposite where I was moored three weeks. The numerous occupants of said boat appear to subsist on largar and fags. When more of the tribe appeared an hour or so ago bearing more supplies I decided it was time to up pins and move a couple of hundred yards along the towpath, where I’m pleased to report it is much much quieter.

    Afternoon tea yesterday was splendid. On the short walk to inspect the Caen Hill flight a couple of chaps complimented Ashes on the choice of attire. I now have a good idea of what Wibble’s Newfoundland hound looks like when drooling…

    1. Photographs, please.

      I hope she reported the men who were complimentary. Worth thousands in damages – such sexist remarks!!

    2. Oi!! I did *not* drool!!

      Well, OK; maybe a little, but the afternoon tea was glorious enough to excuse that… 😉

    4. I tried to get one of him next to his girlfriend, Lisa the Labrador but she wasn’t interested and he looked so hard done by I had to give him a fuss.

      Ruddy wimmin!

  53. An Exquisite Eagle today!

    Wordle 709 2/6
    ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
    🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    1. Well done! Par four here.

      Wordle 709 4/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨
      🟨🟨⬜🟨🟨
      ⬜🟩🟩🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    2. Well done, birdie here.
      Wordle 709 3/6

      ⬜⬜⬜🟩🟩
      ⬜⬜🟨🟩🟩
      🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

    4. Someone has to bring up the rear with a par and here I am..

      That was quite a leap from the last two letters.

    1. More specifically, white men have disappeared from TV adverts. A family now consists of black man, white woman, mixed-race children.

    2. “Where are the English people?”

      There’s one at the end of the clip clearing up the crap…

  55. The Piccadilly Line is closed between Acton and Heathrow for the Bank Holiday weekend. Another unsubtle hint to the plebs?

    1. Well, there is always the Elizabeth Line – and the Heathrow Express (for the wealthy) and, natch – the completely useless “replacement bus service…”

      1. The N9 bus used to run from Hammersmith to Heathrow during the night. I used it once. An old bone shaker of a vehicle that would never be used on a daytime service and it took 55 minutes – but it was cheap and got me there at 5 am.

        1. Bit like the Night Bus in Harry Potter? 😉
          In sarf London, the 176 was supposed to run all night but I was not out that late to find out.
          My curfew was the 11.05 from London Bridge- miss that and you’d be on a station bench all night.

      2. We arrived at Heathrow on Christmas day one year. The only service running was the “replacement bus service”.

        Underground and Heathrow express were all closed for maintenance.

    2. Think Australia .. no one can emigrate there unless they have something to offer skill wise .

      Why are we allowing this to happen here .

  57. That’s me for yet another cold, miserable, unwelcoming day. And so it goes on. I have been feeling a bit low the last 36 hours and realised (with relief) that I have a COLD!! Now, were I to be one of our neighbours, I would have tested myself for the Plague AND gone into 14 day voluntary isolation. So I am taking regular medicine and will have a “special” one at bedtime!!

    Anyway – have a jolly evening watching Paxo’s Last Stand.

    A demain

    1. Feel better tomorow I hope, Bill – but didn’t you have a cold quite recently?

    1. The disruptive climate activists of Letzte Generation are thinly veiled agents of the state, who have received a broad license to disrupt and vandalise in furtherance of the Green agenda

      Yep, glad to have what we have all been thinking confirmed.

      1. Which is what I believe is behind the inaction of the police to do anything about these protesters- they have the government’s backing to encourage these stupid sods to promote the net zero nonsense.
        Just wait until some bloody vegan tries to stop me getting to the meat in the supermarket!!!!

        1. I strongly suspect that Vegan’s only taste of shit, so eating one might not be a good idea.

          1. Not planning on eating one- will just run my cart over them and give them a good bashing with me stick

      2. The question to ask of every leftist protest, is not why nobody is stopping it, but whose interests it serves.

        Yep

        1. If you want proof that a protest is establishment backed all you need to do is wait to see if the MSM actively reports it.

  59. An interesting and readable post from the Mid-western Doctor on vaccine injuries including shingles. Some of his posts are a bit dense with medical stuff but this one is easy to understand and quite enlightening. I’m beginning to think my non-reaction to the AZ jabs was due to my taking Vit D3 for the whole of the winter prior to receiving the jabs in February and April 2021.

    https://amidwesterndoctor.substack.com/p/what-can-the-us-senate-teach-us-about?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&action=restack-comment

        1. Dunno. But his self-description includes “Transpalestinian. Neurodivergent. Pronouns: clam/clamself Save the island of Ydorap”. Read the last word backwards.

    4. Within the spoof is a serious point, namely the sensationalisation of weather. Chilly is bitterly cold and warm is blisteringly hot, the latter with colours to match as illustrated.

      2. 372729+ up ticks,

        Evening N,

        Treacherous, a subdivision of the
        tory (ino) party, proven beyond doubt.

    6. Those red & orange patches look remarkably loke clouds – especially over the North Sea.

    7. Hell I wish someone had warned me about this. It is a sunny 25C here today and now I read that I should have sheltered indoors instead of golfing.

      We’re all going to die.

  61. For Gawd’s sake, the sooner we get a Cursed Harmer government the better. This death by a thousand cuts is torture.

    Savers hit by shock £2BILLION tax raid: Up to 1million Britons face paying bills for dividends and capital gains after Chancellor Jeremy Hunt slashes allowances under new rules

    https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/article-12136663/Up-1-million-Britons-face-paying-bills-dividends-capital-gains.html?ico=mol_desktop_home-newtab&molReferrerUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymail.co.uk%2Fhome%2Findex.html&_gl=1*1moqane*_ga*MzE3MTI1OTEuMTY2NDc0MjI2MA..*_ga_XE0XLFFF16*MTY4NTM4MTUwOS42Mi4xLjE2ODUzODE1NjkuMC4wLjA.&_ga=2.118264777.1390932370.1683183994-31712591.1664742260

    1. For 10 years we’ve had virtually zero interest on savings so it will certainly come as a shock if I get £1000 interest.

  62. I will apologise in advance for any intemperate language tonight. My mush is absolutely killing me – so please bear with.
    Going to cook some dinner soon, cod loin and chips. Beans for his nibs but I think that will do me.

          1. I got that from Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee. The Headteacher at the primary school asked the pupils, “Which is the biggest room?”
            The room for improvement they chanted back.
            “And what is the smallest room?”
            A mushroom!
            Written in the days when an indoor loo was unheard of- unless one was tres posh.

          2. I don’t remember that.
            I enjoyed Cider with Rosie at the time, but can’t recall any of it now, other than the fact I enjoyed it.
            Weird.

          3. Sos, it’s one of my favourite books but I have a memory for quotes and historical stuff. Drive my husband nuts!

    2. Lotl

      Mush is a Southampton expression , lots of things you have written sound as if they come from that area ..

      Moh is Southampton born and bred .. his mother used words like yours .

  63. “Keir shuts down Oil and and Gas.”

    No: Keir will destroy all prospects of British manufacturing industrial success and economic growth.

    1. I note that Springwatch is in your general area, will they be filming this nest?

  65. Another black wazzock talking about slavery on the TV.
    Sorry pal, but if your ancestors hadn’t been enslaved the probability is that you wouldn’t be here.
    As a slave your ancestor was worth more than he was as meat.

    1. A local matter of political corruption or another episode in a 650-year enmity?

      1. More probably the EU Army.

        You will undoubtedly remember that the EU Army was invited to “manoeuvres” in Britain by Teresa May.

  67. A splendid section on insects on Springwatch.
    I prefer looking at the bits that are not so “obvious” to the nature lover.

    1. Here we are quite near to heathland but our garden is a garden away from agricultural acres of fields .

      When we arrived here in this village from our previous home in East Dorset , we were greeted with an aircraft spraying chemicals on the fields .. we were distraught .

      We see very few insects .. moths and butterflies .. Not a sign of swallows , swifts and housemartins . Many people are very worried .

      1. Overuse of pesticides leads to a sterile environment. It’s no wonder you have so few insects and birds.

        1. My late father was an excellent vegetable gardener. He would take the large potty under the bed, in which he had peed, along with the fag ends from his un-tipped Woodbines discarded into it and deploy the brew on the black fly or greenfly on his runner beans.

          It worked.

          1. It’s the nicotine. Neonicotinoid pesticides are banned but as your father did you can make you own. The urine would have helped the plants grow with nitrogen and phospuros.

      2. I know I’m getting boring over it, but in my six acres I put Springwatch to shame.
        I like to think that it’s down to the way I have “managed” the garden to encourage every sort of wildlife and plant life that I can, whilst discouraging things such as wild boar, deer, cats etc that over root/graze/predate.

          1. I do, but VERY specifically: the odd slug killer, Bordeaux mixture, ant killer, Asian hornet killer when I find nests etc.
            BUT, only very near the house or on the vegetable patch itself, and even there I try to import predators of things that eat my vegetables.

      3. Did you watch Springwatch? From your neck of the woods. And Michaela was very excited by the Ospreys.

  68. Why have we got an unelected Prime Minister and a Chancellor of the Exchequer that are pursuing FAILED price controls?

    Were they at primary school during the ‘Seventies fiasco’?

        1. You’re a crocodile, she’d be mad to get anywhere near your lips, and speaking of which; how’s Plum, enjoying the French Open I hope.

          1. Never smile at a crocodile
            No you can’t get friendly with a crocodile,
            Don’t be taken in by his welcome grin
            He’s imagining how well you’d fit inside his skin……

    2. Rishi Sunak is NOT the UK Prime Minister because we no longer have a Prime Minister.
      In reality, he is the Regional Manager of UK Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the World Economic Forum.

      1. Bob: would you consider standing as leader of the ‘New Conservative Chain Gang?

    1. 372729 + up ticks,

      Evening S,
      Taking ? many of us are giving it freely via consenting through the ballot booth.

      1. I hope he’s getting much needed rest and that his sleep patterns may eventually normalise.

        1. If he’s been asleep all day he won’t be able to sleep tonight. I’ve got a bad feeling about him.

          1. If, and it’s a big if, the cycle is turning by even an hour and he’s able to be disciplined, another big if, he could get it into a reasonable cycle.
            I knew of a chap who had a 25 hour cycle, most of the time he was in kilter but the rest, nope!
            Not good until he accepted that not everyone is the same and then he was much more content

          2. I think his problems are more complex than just lack of sleep. He’s lonely, depressed and drinking. Add in his ill health and disabilities and it’s an impending disaster.

          3. And in a somewhat alien environment also. I know he’s been all over the place but I don’t think he feels comfortable in Moffat.

          4. He’s not at all happy there, and still hankering afer Judy, who kicked him out, and made sure he settled well away from her.

          5. It was plain to see the decline in that relationship, and the reason behind the problems. Tom has had much support here but I agree that he needs to interact with real people at some time whether they are good or bad. Its the human element that is important and you can absorb real time responses to your issues and try and put things in perspective. Trying to rekindle old relationships is not usually sucessful. I hope that he is OK, particularly that I am a member of the same Service, but taking to alcohol is definately not the answer.

          6. I slurp some Pinot in the evenings to deaden the pain in my face. It relaxes me but is not a solution. I am lucky in that I have my husband and he has me and, thus, we support each other.
            Life ain’t easy and gets less easy as you age.

          7. I love a beer but more than a few and it destroys my sleep and I wake up wrecked, not a hangover, just tired.

          8. I expect most of us here enjoy a drink, or wine with a meal, but know that too much is not a good thing. Especially if you are on your own.

          9. Yes, but perhaps start with the one that seems to be of most concern to him and build from there?

          10. He has to be the one who takes charge of his situation, there’s a limit to what we can do for him from here.

      2. I thought I had written down a phone number for him but can’t find it. And selfishly, I have enough to cope with here. Tom is a grown man and must learn to cope as best he can.
        I share everyone’s concern but our help, as such, must be limited because we are an online forum and many of us prefer to be private.

        1. Quite. I’m happy to email, but I don’t do phone calls. And i have a husband not in the best of health.

    1. Meanwhile there’s been a huge explosion in a French cheese factory.
      The only thing that was left that’s recognisable is debris.

  73. Gosh, who’da-thunkit?
    An all new and improved we’re all gonna die.
    Again
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-12136743/Fungal-outbreak-Mexico-declared-international-emergency-World-Health-Organization.html

    Fungal outbreak linked to cut-price Mexico plastic surgery clinics could be declared an international health emergency by the World Health Organization – with two Americans dead and hundreds feared to be infected
    A WHO committee may be formed to declare a public health emergency
    The CDC urged people to cancel upcoming Mexico procedures with epidurals
    READ MORE: Two Texans die from fungal BRAIN infection from plastic surgeries

    1. Might give the WHO something more useful to do than laying down the law for everyone.

  74. It’s too bright for this time of day! Bring back GMT!
    I’m off to bed.
    G’night all!

  75. Another lovely family day, although number one is on holiday in Cornwall with his family and in laws. Number two his wife and their little lad and number three and his lady came for a bbq.
    I’m glad I didn’t have to cook it. It was very tasty if not a tad smokey and not at all warm out of the sun today. The fakery known as Glow ball warming has really taken precedence. (sarc)
    I think I’ll slide off as well.
    Good night to all.

  76. Evening, all. It’s no surprise that the PTB are wasting money on HS2 while the roads go to pot (holes); HS2 is part of the EU TEN-T network. Our roads are our own.

  77. I am going to go to bed, I am so tired and I think the face thing is draining me.
    Hope that Tom is OK and I also hope that Y’all have a goon night. Long live the Goons.

  78. Good night, chums. A little disappointed tonight with Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 film HOUR OF THE WOLF. Tomorrow’s film is George A. Romero’s 1968 film NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Fingers crossed that I enjoy it more than tonight’s.

      1. Morning Tom. Don’t quote me but i think it was Talking Pictures or Talking Movies which on my TV is down on one of the channels in the 70s snd 80s

      2. Good morning, Sir Jasper. Good to see you back on the NoTTLe site. I watch most of my films on YouTube if they are not already in my extensive DVD collection. Having said that, films by Ingmar Bergman are not the best to watch when in a low mood. I suggest you search for “Film Noir” thrillers which are usually gripping and often have a great twist at the end to set yourself thinking “Why didn’t I see that coming?”. I hope you have a reasonably relaxed day.

      1. Fair enough, Sos, it is now clear to me that many suspect the standing down of the 3rd party in the initial voting in favour of Erdrogan was a way of “fixing” the result of the second vote.

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