grendel

just a heads up this morning there were signs saying night closures on the tunnel for the 29th and for the bridge on the 30th November. I did eventually find my email to change over to the new system, as it had been bulk emailed my kind service provider had relegated it to the spam folder as junk, this was strange as a while back I had turned off the spam filter because of the amount of genuine mail it had been filtering, it seems as though when BT changed their email system a few months back they had turned the spam filter back on. I prefer to be able to receive the spam and filter it in outlook as that way I don't miss any important emails that the provider thinks are spam (and point proven I think) Grendel

Just spotted as I came through the tunnel this morning they have a message saying night closure on the tunnel on the 29th and the bridge on the 30th, so be aware if coming back late on sunday. Grendel

books - swallows and amazons of course, John Wintons we joined the Navy, etc (you would never guess my dad went to sea- would you) Grendel

I was 18 before we had a TV, and was brought up on a diet of radio, Hancock, Goons, Navy Lark and round the horne (julian and sandy), plus all the radio plays and serialisations on the radio.so my current listening is a bit like going back to those years. Grendel

busy listening to the navy lark at the moment on my trips to and from work, I finished the goons the other week, and still have round the horne to go (about 430 programs in total- well 430 files on my mp3 player grendel)

being a great underwater swimmer has disadvantages, while at school my record was 55m underwater, one time though I got my teachers very worried - we were learning basic survival in canoes, the proper method of exiting a canoe after a capsize, roll canoe, slap bottom of canoe then exit. All went to plan until my turn, ok capsize canoe, wait for bubbles to clear, lazily reach round and drum fingers on canoe bottom, then exit, just in time to stop the two instructors diving into the water to rescue me, oops. Unfortunately the underwater swimming ability comes from the general inability to naturally float, they say everyone has inherent bouyancy, for me this means being in the water, relaxing and letting my body float, yes vertically with about the top 1/2 inch of my head above the surface (with a few weeks practice I can still manage 2 lengths of the local pool underwater, but maybe not more than twice in a swimming session, te rest of the time I will stick to single lengths or widths and try not to upset the lifeguards. Grendel

having watched MTB102 heading down the coast earlier this year, and then texting Griff to tell him she had vanished off the track (until they turned the system back on) I was also able to spot the spurious appearance of Broad Ambition just as they came to Tower Bridge, just for a moment. Grendel

my late uncle used to be a traffic cop and managed to catch the same guy 3 times in one day, when asked why on the last time he explaind that having been stopped twice already he was running late to all his appointments and his office had told him to catch up (my uncle let him off the last ticket) Grendel

Without fail I have always found Blackwall to be slower than queuing at the tunnel, its the congestion on the roads leading to it, even at 6am it is slow. Dont forget to check that your registration is registered for the new charge as it changes after Saturday night next weekend. Grendel

I know that leaking feeling, still trying to find the last few dribbles in the conservatory I put up over the summer, as of now we just have damp patches, not puddles, and only when it rains as hard and constant as it has all weekend. (south kent here). I hope you get them all sorted soon. Grendel

I have been there too on zero hour contracts, how can a company complain when you take a job with a competitor that is full time, when in 6 months they have given you just a few hours work, yet the one employing me did (they also said they had a lot of work for me coming up, I didnt believe that either) just 20 hours work a month would have paid the bills, but they couldnt even manage that. Grendel

incarceration (locking up). Grendel

Tim, I think what you may need is a bit of " Left hand Down a bit........." Grendel

I thought that the tax was only cheaper on fuel used for heating, if so a generator would not count surely, as I am sure my company pay full whack for diesel we use in generators (though you do get a discount when filling a 10,000 litre tank) Grendel

I run 2 cameras in the car, one forward facing one rearward, they record continuously while the ignition is on, storing to a 32Gb sd card, as they fill the card it overwrites the older files, thus requiring no attention unless something happens, in one instance I reviewed the recording, when turning left across a bus lane I nearly sideswiped a taxi I had not seen, on reviewing the video, in about 100 yards he had swung into the bus lane from 2 cars behind, and come alongside me, at the time I had been doing 30mph until I braked for the turn, so he had been speeding up the bus lane undertaking myself and the cars behind me, if I had hit him, I would have assumed the fault was all mine, but on reviewing the video, he played a large part in the process with his driving style. Thus I fully appreciate their presence, mine were very cheap (about £11 each, plus £12 for the 32Gb cards) but they show enough detail to apportion blame. Some systems you can get are a lot more sophisticated, and have gps tracking and record sudden changes in speed or direction too, but for the amount I paid I am happy they do the job. Grendel

if they had a stair gate with a lock (and not all stairs can be fitted with stair gates easily) would it still be a concern? a lot will depend upon the reason a lock is fitted, as mentioned it may be a concern for the safety of the child (from falling downstairs) in such a case it is as easily justified as a stair gate would be (in case of fire the two are just as much a barrier, in fact a shut door is a better barrier from fire as it gives extra time for a rescue to be attempted from outside (provided the room has no appreciable fire hazards inside)) if however it is to stop the child wandering into the parents room and disturbing them, a better suggestion would be a lock inside the parents door. If the child is otherwise well looked after I would not worry too much. I would think it no more illegal than a locked stair gate is. whether to call social services comes down to the motivation behind locking the door, first get the facts before making accusations I think. Grendel

Come on now, its a worthy attempt, I guess we all had to start somewhere, a few learning points - sure, but at least they tried, we cant all be as good as Robin, that takes a natural skill and practice. much better to give constructive criticism, such as slow panning so that the lesson can be learned for next time, than put someone off giving it a go. Grendel

a work colleague took his wifes surname when he married, his surname used to be Hore (like the frost) but for some reason his wife would not take his surname when they married. Grendel

last night we had the usual neighbours, fireworks, pause for 20 minutes, Fireworks, pause for 20 minutes, Fireworks, pause etc- for about 3 hours. we finally figured it out, the nearest supermarket is about 15 minutes walk (there and back). Unfortunately at 1am there were still the occasional whizz bang going off, but they had stopped when I got up just before 6am for work. Grendel

As someone who was in the same position a couple of years back as you are now SGWilco, I wish you all the best, I was lucky and unlucky, lucky in as much as the redundancy payment paid the mortgage, the pension scheme I was on, paid a pension at age 50+ if you were made redundant, unfortunately we couldnt cut the outgoings to manage on that, and I had 3 months with no job, I then got a job, on a zero hours contract, where they sent me minimal work, after 1 hours work in 6 months I had to find another job, this time I struck gold, a job doing what I do best that I really enjoy, the only down side was the travel, at first it was 160 miles a day, while I learned the procedures and processes, after that they moved me to the depot closest to my home, still 100 miles a day, but dartford tunnel willing, just over an hours journey each way. All I can say is look for a job that you will enjoy, many companies are falling over themselves to get experienced workers, so good luck finding that perfect job. Grendel

Alan, most diet cokes (non coca cola brand or pepsi) use sucralose, this is supposed to be a substance made from sugar, but without the calories as the body doesn't absorb it, for most people this is a better choice, but for me anything with sucralose causes me to get acid reflux (I am currently on a medicine to reduce this anyway) with sucralose I would need to double the daily dose of the medicine I take, just to reduce the acid reflux to a tolerable level (I am a miserable git when my acid reflux is playing up). aspartame doesn't have this effect on me. It may not be the sucralose as such, it may be a by product remaining in trace amounts from the process they use to get sucralose from sugar, and while I agree that sugar would be a better choice, I don't need those extra calories (how many teaspoons of sugar in a can of coke???) if you look online you can see similar stories saying that aspartame is bad for you, sucralose is bad for you, in fact all of these things are artificially manufactured using chemical processes, you just have to weigh up the balance for what is going to kill you first, I am a non smoker so hopefully should be safer from that aspect. The fact is that when Britain was on rationing during the war, the country as a whole was far healthier than it is nowadays. Grendel

I thought you were going to say scarecrow Tim. Grendel

Griff - I have, its just that the alternatives have a physically worse effect on me, and I dont want to drink the full sugar alternatives. Grendel

when we get the religious doorstep visitors, I pointedly go to the bookshelf beside the front door, and grab the handful of books specially left there, there is a bible, the book of mormon, the jehovahs witnesses book, one that was given out by the ones in orange robes, and a copy of chariots of the gods, and ezekiels spaceship, I then make a point of going through to find the right book, plus further down the doorstep experience will grab a relevant book, and compare the point they are trying to make in the different religions, or if they provide the opening I will catch them with chariots, or ezekiels spaceship, apart from one jehovahs witness (who is a really nice guy and always asks if you have time to talk, and if you are busy will excuse himself and leave) I dont ever get the same lot around twice (having a tame JW is also a good way to turn away other JW's, just say oh x was just here last week and they retreat, not wanting to poach on anothers territory.) Grendel

Coca Cola is another good case in point, a while back it came in 2l bottles, then the 4 packs were suddenly 1.5 litre bottles, then they shelved the 2l and it became 1.75 litres, now the other day I saw they have put out a 2.25 litre bottle, now the individual price is always around the £2 a bottle mark, but then of course they sweeten the deal, 2 bottles for £3, 2 for £2.50, or even 2 for £2, so with all the new sizes and the offers how on earth are you supposed to be able to figure the cheapest way to buy the stuff. (short of taking tha abacus with you to the shops. (at this point I will explain, the reason I can only drink the real diet coke is due to an intolerance with the sweeteners they have changed to in all the rest of the diet coke brands, aspartame is one of the few sweeteners I can tolerate without getting chronic acid - most of the rest have now transferred to sucralose, which gives me bucket loads of grief). Grendel