Month: October 2012

Pensioners Revenge – Thanks Den


Didn’t like shopping there anyway.

Yesterday I was at my local TESCO’s store buying a large bag of Winalot dog food for my loyal pet, and was in the checkout queue, when a woman behind me asked if I had a dog.

What did she think I had, an elephant?

So, since I’m retired and have little to do, on impulse I told her that no, I didn’t have a dog, I was starting the Winalot Diet again. I added that I probably shouldn’t, because I ended up in hospital last time, but I’d lost 2 stone before I woke up in intensive care with tubes coming out of most of my orifices and IVs in both arms.

I told her that it was essentially a perfect diet and that the way that it works is to load your pockets with Winalot nuggets and simply eat one or two every time you feel hungry. The food is nutritionally complete so it works well and I was going to try it again.

(I have to mention here that practically everyone in queue was now enthralled with my story.)

Horrified, she asked me if I ended up in intensive care because the dog food poisoned me.

I told her no, I stepped off the kerb to sniff an Irish Setter’s arse and a car hit me.

I thought the guy behind her was going to have a heart attack he was laughing so hard.

I’m now banned from TESCO’s.

Better watch what you ask retired people, they have all the time in the world to think of daft things to say.


Looks like my many friends and colleagues in the US are about to get a beating. Good luck folks.

Watts Up With That?

UPDATE: The NWS in Mt. Holly NJ has put out an extraordinary statement, dropping the typical “gov speak” and pleading to people in direct language. See below.

GOES-14 has been brought into service again on October 25th, 2012 for SRSOR imaging of Hurricane Sandy. (h/t to Al Lipton) Here’s a super high resolution visible light image of Sandy from today at 19:41UTC:

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Proposed 2 Tier Road Tax – Unacceptable


According to The Sunday Times Whitehall officials are investigating changes to the UK road tax system.

Under the new proposal the tax could be split into two tiers – all drivers would pay the first charge. This would  allow them to use local roads and A-roads but then motorists wanting to travel on motorways and major A-roads would fork out for a second charge.

I can see how this might swell the governments coffers but ultimately this will be an unfair tax. Forcing those who cannot afford the additional taxation onto the minor roads. This in turn will increase congestion and cause delays and lengthen journey times.

My understanding is that road taxes do not currently pay for the UK road system, rather it is paid for by our general taxation. If that is true then we have all contributed to our road systems and should have the right to use any part of it.

If the government wants to introduce a taxation scheme that is variable but fair then they should scrap the road tax system and collect their taxes purely through the levy on fuel. In that way the heaviest road users would pay the most taxes.

Watch this space.

Staunton Park


Saturday and we had blue skies and sunshine following several days of mist and murk. We paid the price of course with a chill wind blowing strongly.

I have my grandson over from Australia for a few weeks and he has a new camera to play with for the trip so we took the opportunity to get out and visited Staunton Park situated between Leigh Park and Rowlands Castle, near Havant.

We were hoping that the trees would be showing their autumn colours but we were somewhat disappointed. I think we were too early. However, we did enjoy the walk and took some photo’s.

A selection of snaps follows for your delectation, the first of which is a view over Leigh Lake.

Leigh Lake viewed from the site of William Henry Stone’s house.

The following photo shows part of the countryside that will over the next few years, planning consents permitting, become a fairly large reservoir
Although Stones house has long since been demolished there are many signs remaining of the old buildings. Not the least of which are the arches below.

Underneath The Arches

Of course the main reason we were there was to partake of the natural beauty. One aspect of the natural world which offers so much variety is that of the fungi.

Fungus
Grey Fungus

These cattle make for a quite peaceful scene even though the wind was blowing quite hard.

Longhorn Cattle

The following photo is of part of land which will eventually end up under water as part of a proposed new reservoir.

Site Of Future Reservoir

In the woodlands there are a number of items which are I believe intended as both art and education for children. There is no description near this but I believe that it is intended to let children hear magnified sounds of the woodland. It can be rotated through 360 degrees. I, for want of an alternative christened it “The Mukkinese Battle Horn” after the famous short film featuring Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. Nearby there was another item which is a concave / convex mirror. We had much fun with it which I am sure the children would too.

Mukkinese Battle Horn ?
On Reflection

And to finish our walk, as we returned to the car park, this chap came to see us off. It was a shame that he was disappointed by the fact that we had no food to offer him. This is probably why he didn’t display his tail feathers.

Peacock

When Mr and Mrs Is No Longer Politically Correct


Apparently Brighton and Hove City Council is proposing to ban formal titles such as Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms from their official letters and documents.

Why ?

In case they offend the transgender community !!!

It seems that the Brighton councillors are actually going to waste time and have a vote on this proposal. It is said that there have been complaints that the use of traditional titles on council paperwork “forces people to ‘choose between genders'”.

I wonder what percentage of the Brighton and Hove population is made up of “transgender” folks. I’m sure that the number doesn’t warrant such a change. Certainly I am in agreement with the opposition councillors who have branded this proposal as ‘political correctness gone too far’ and that the idea is ‘ludicrous’.

They, the council, already have the ability to differentiate between male and female to determine Mr, Mrs, Miss and Ms. Surely it isn’t beyond the wit of their staff to also determine how transgender residents wish to be addressed. They could do this by asking their resident population to let them know how they would like to be addressed.

Then it would be down to the individual and there would be no reason for anyone to get bent out of shape.

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