Snow Hill

Well that was an interesting training day, 30 mins we get a power cut, the National Grid website give a back on time of 3:30pm. Some one had the idea of emailing the presentation to us so we could follow on our phones, which we did, made for an interesting presentation. Then moved on site to put what we had learnt into practice, halfway through a small tree next to the site was blown down, it was a wooded area so no danger, but the noise did startle us. Despite the power cut a worthwhile training exercise.

My wife does the same in respect of Motsi, she was annoyed last night when Krishna’s went out as she thought he performed better. While she was watching strictly on Saturday I was catching up on a couple of Archeology programs I had recorded via my iPad.

If I am booking anything of significant cost I record the calls on my mobile, I then have my own copy in case the one of the “supplier” mysteriously vanished. I also ensure by a series of confirmation questions that I get confirmation of everything agreed. I destroy the recordings once the purchase has been satisfactory, I also advise I am also recording the call, especially if they are recording mine.

My father was conscripted in 1942 when he was 18, I know this from my cousin, however that is all I know, my parents separated when I was 10, and have not seen him since Christmas Day 1963, no idea where he is or whether still alive, he would be 99, but I have not found any death registration for him in England & Wales. One of my cousins thinks he may have emigrated but we don’t know where. My paternal grandfather was a sergeant in the Machine Gun Corps and given the high rate of casualties was lucky to survive the war, he died in 1956 in his early 70s, I was 4 at the time.. My maternal great grandfather was in theory too old to join up he was 40 at the outbreak of WW1, a husband and father to 7 children, yet he joined up saying he was 36. He was a miner and thus exempt from conscription, however he volunteered saying he was a groom, he worked with the pit ponies in the mine. After training he was quickly assigned to groom duties in loading horses on to ships for the front in France and unloading at the other end. His war record shows numerous cross channel trips. All this came to an end in 1917 when he was kicked by a horse and sent back home for treatment, where they then found out he was 43, he was then discharged as physically unfit and over age.

The DDA was replaced by the Equality Act in 2010, which covers all forms of discrimination.

Currently pouring with rain here, temp around 4C, a few hardly souls have been going past for the service at local war memorial, not a pleasant morning after yesterday’s sunshine. Just had a weather warning for strong winds tomorrow as a result of Storm Debi, 45 mph gusts tomorrow afternoon, looks dry though, which is good as I am on a training course tomorrow to teach us how to identify and record structural issues at the site I volunteer at. We have had some minor masonry issues of late and our Volunteer Manager thought it would be a good idea to train the volunteers to look for early signs of structural problems, so the estates team have arranged for that training, should have happened in early October, but a number of the team went down with it that can’t be named.

It would seem they were planning to use biocidal fogging of some description in order to kill the virus if it was lurking on carpets, curtains etc, where it can survive for a long period. My brother who owns and runs a cleaning business has often said you can’t clean a cruise ship infected with Norovirus in a few hours, to to do it properly would take more than a day and effectively require completely evacuating a ship.

An astronomer I follow on SM said the aurora should be better to tomorrow as the full effect of the solar storm has not yet reached Earth.

Some dispute over whether the pollution increase claim is true, NICE disagree with the claim. One of the roads close to me has speed cushions installed at the request of people living there as the road was notorious for accidents due to excess speed. The cushions and other traffic calming measures have reduced speeds and number of accidents. The air quality monitor showed no increase in air pollution.

Had a few of those during our many visits to France, both savoury and sweet, one favourite being the the Almond & Raspberry Pithivier.

I think ship designers use a fully loaded container ship as a design template, the containers on a cruise ship being containers for people. I have often mistaken one of these modern cruise ships on the horizon as a container ship, only to find when got closer it was actually a cruise ship.

Tesco slot booked couldn’t believe how quick I got in, all completed by 6:05, will add more items in coming weeks.

Heard on the radio this afternoon that the Rolling Stones new album Hackney Diamonds is at No 1 and the Beatles new single Now & Then will be No 1 in singles chart on Friday. Never thought that would happen again.

I see my ex hygienist when I wake up every morning. 😬

We have only ever driven once on the day, never again, an accident on the motorway delayed us for over 2 hours , then we face a traffic jam on the approach to the docks, fortunately we made it just in time, never again would we go the same day, same with flights and crossing the channel, we always stay close by the night before.

Very few back garden firework displays this year, Friday we had the local sports & social club display, lasted 15 mins, Saturday there was a display at a pub about a mile away, could see but not hear, then last night local pub had a 10 minute delay. My neighbours Alsatian dog watched the displays quite unfazed. Three large local organised displays over the weekend were sold out over a week ago, I think more people are attending these and not buying fireworks for home use.

Thanks to @yorkshirephil and @9265359 for you insight into Lanzarote, will have a think about what was said.

Currently looking at a possible break in Lanzarote in March, apart from a cruise stop at Arrecife, not visited the island. I know it had a reputation of being called “Lanzagrotte” but what is it really like and is there enough to see and do for 2 weeks?

I have a few of their albums on vinyl, Deja Vu I played to death when I first purchased, I have recently purchased a Bluetooth turntable so I can enjoy my vinyl collection again. Sad to say that Dave Crosby died in January this year. Graham Nash (81) Stephen Stills (78) and Neil Young (77) still going strong.

Rather noisy here this evening, Sports club up the road has its firework display this evening, a 15 min display from 7pm. Guess it will be the first of a number of noisy evenings over next few days.

Morning. Just got up, very misty outside, possibly due to being on a hill, raining and very damp out there, forecast for heavy rain until 8pm, with wind increasing to gusts of up to 40mph, which are far less than the coastal gusts thank goodness. I hear that a tornado watch has been issued for south of England this morning, don’t recall that ever happening previously. Don’t think we will be going anywhere today.

Morning. 12C here, with sunny spells, relatively dry day ahead according to forecast, will see, this evening it’s meant to rain and it’s a wet day tomorrow, we appear to have no weather warnings and strongest gusts forecast to be 35 mph.

Everywhere in the EU, but not everywhere in Europe, not available in Switzerland for example. Watch your data doesn’t go over 5GB or you will be charged, one of my volunteer colleagues just got caught out by that, he didn’t see the warning text.

We never get trick or treaters, partly due to the steep steeps to the front door which seems to put them off along with the Jehovah’s Witnesses and some other cold callers.

That is indicated on the P&O website that the essentials packages excludes videos, which would stop YouTube and other similar sites. I also note that VPNs may not work, as maybe caught by the proxy avoidance blocking also listed on website. I use a VPN on my phone, laptop and tablet when connecting to a public network as its is the recommended for security reasons. In all the cruises I have done I have only once purchased an internet package, usually I will wait until near land or ashore before I go online. Most cruises we chose have very few sea days so not an issue, we don’t see the need for streaming either, if we want to watch a film we will have already downloaded it to the tablet.