ELVIS MURPHY

I don't know any more than what this poster tells you.

Its pretty cool though.

I wish I'd gone along to see it.

BOER WAR MEMORIAL WORCESTER CATHEDRAL

These is a photographs of a monument in the grounds of Worcester Cathedral dedicated to the men of Worcestershire who lost their lives in South Africa 1899-1902.

Its very common to see 1st and 2nd WW memorials up and down the country but a memorial of this size to those who died in the Boer War is much less common I reckon. Anyone else know of any others?

Double Red Lines??

In London the other day. Kings Cross to be precise. Saw double red lines on the road. What's all that about I thought.

Well good old Wikipedia as ever had the answer.

In the UK, red routes are major roads in urban areas, on which stopping (even to load or unload a vehicle) is prohibited or only allowed during very restricted periods at times displayed on nearby signs.

The intention is to enhance the flow of commuter traffic. The routes are marked with continuous red lines painted along the road adjacent to the kerb.

In London they are policed by "Red Route Patrols" and managed by London Streets, an arm of Transport for London.

Double red lines - Stopping is not permitted at any time (normally at important junctions, or at bus stops)

Single red lines - Stopping is not permitted except at the times indicated by the signs.

Red route clearway - Stopping is only permitted in lay-bys (red lines are only marked at junctions)

It doesn't seem right though does it?

When Saturday Comes

I don't know why this is but it is.

Did you know, and if you did you are exactly the sort of person that I expect to read blogs like this, that all crisps, and as far as I can tell other packeted snacks have Saturday as their expiry day.

In other words all best by or sell by dates on packets of crisps are a Saturday.

Why is that then?

Any ideas?

Plane Crazy

On a trip to Barrow in Cumbria yesterday I came across a cafe which announced itself as "the first aviation based cafe in the country". Well really!! I had to go in. Its a passion of the owner clearly but as you can see from the pictures it all adds up to a pretty bizarre affair.

The aeroplane which forms the centre piece of the cafe along with genuine seats and windows was a Shorts 360. The view from the windows was a video on a loop which was a film, taken by the cafe owner of a descent into Orlando Sandford airport.

Other delights included the front of a plane (a Sessna 310 in case you were wondering) looking like it had come through the wall and a real time digital radar screen showing aircraft currently flying over Barrow. All in all a fairly unusual place to have a cup of tea.

Clouding The Issue!

Tuesday 10th March.

Manchester.UK. 21.00 hours.

Saw a very large moon with some wierd cloud formations.

Long and very wispy below the moon. Just visible in pics.

Never seen anything like this before in the Manchester sky.

According to the BBC website these cirrus type formations might be caused by aircraft pollution. Follow the link here to find out how.

Mis-used Word Outrage!!

I am easily outraged by the way. I was in York in North Yorkshire the other day on Stonegate in the Shambles area of the city. There is a shop selling smelly stuff (soaps, perfume that sort of thing) called Crabtree and Evelyn. On its signage is the rather old fashioned word "comestibles" . Well I thought these are things that you eat, nothing to do with smelly stuff. And they don't sell things to eat.

Pomposity or outrageous disregard for the English language? You decide.

By the way Websters online dictionary gives the following definition:

"Comestibles - eatables, victuals, edibles, ingesta; grub, grubstake, prog, meat; bread, bread stuffs; cerealia; cereals; viands, cates, delicacy, dainty, creature comforts, contents of the larder, fleshpots; festal board; ambrosia; good cheer, good living."

Some good words in there as well I think. "Festal board" in particular...

Bonaparte? In Cornwall?

I came across the pictured monument in a village in Cornwall called Paul. Strange enough in it self but what caught my eye was the name Louis Lucien Bonaparte, who is cited on the monument as one of the two erectees.

The other being the Reverend John Garrett (but more of him and his submarine based antics in a later post).

The monument is erected in memory of Dolly Pentreath who is alleged to have been the last native speaker of the Cornish Language. The reason old Bonaparte has poked his tri-cornered hat in is because he was a famous linguist. Or as Wikipedia more eloquently puts it

"He is particularly noted for his scholarly work with regard to the Basque language his dialectical classification of which is still used today."

He was born in England by accident.

He was the nephew of the Bonaparte we have all heard of.

His Wikipedia entry is here

Clothes for Dogs

I once saw some clothes for dogs on sale in a shop. A proper shop not a dog shop. Heres some. Not the actual ones I saw but the same kind of thing, doggie fashion wise as it were.

Made me wonder about doing a blog which allowed me to put in the blogosphere those things which I come across which make me stop and think.

When I tell people about these things it usually gets a reaction that is a facial expression version of the thought "What's That Hacking? - Clothes for Dogs?....so here we are and here we go...