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personal - binhead blog

31st March 2006 15:40

The queen's visit

Well the queen visited our town today. It was to celebrate 800 years since King John gave the town a royal charter. The strange thing is, I drove 100's of miles to see Prince Charles and Camilla get married on a cold day and couldn't be bothered to get out of bed on my day off to go three miles down the road to see the queen meet and greet people. Go figure! So I am forced to rely on pictures and testimony from friends.

" Well - I've seen the Queen's hat. It was a very nice shade of pink. Market Square was packed. Could just about see the band and flag bearers. They walked past to go to County Buildings but we were about 10 people back from the front. Prince Phillip stopped to chat to the people at the front so got a good view of him. Emma (Birch) took some photos with the office camera so will see what we get from that. Going out again later - see if we get a better view as they leave County Buildings. Have a nice day. " Pauline Allen 31/03/06

"The Queen is the one in pink. Everybody was lined up opposite County Buildings - we were at the front - and they came out at the side and straight into the car. Drove past and looked the other way when they got to us!! Just before she came past PC Plod stood right in front of us and said 'I'm going to block your view now'" Pauline Allen (again)

BBC News report on Queen's visit

30th March 2006 18:25

Three penalty points confirmed

28th March 2006 11:22

Industrial Action

Well when you join a union that tells its members to take industrial action you have a decision to make. Disobey the union or obey it. Well for me there is no choice. I am on strike today. The industrial action is being taken because of what is called the 85 rule. Basically, at the moment, if someone years of service and years of contribution to the pension fun come to or exceed 85 then they can retire with a full pension. However the government are proposing to scrap this rule and make everyone work until they are 65. No I think in reality most people recognise that with so many people getting older , and living longer, there is unlikely to be sufficient money in the coffers to pay everyone's pension in years to come. I actually have no major problems with the notion of working to 65. HOWEVER, other workers - such as teachers and the police - have had agreement from the government that they can work until they are 60 and then retire. So the issue is about the lack of parity between different groups of workers. The same rule should apply to all and we public sector workers should not be treated as second class citizens!

26th March 2006 10:07

How to lose an hour!

Thank you very much daylight ruddy saving time. I woke up thinking it was 6:30, only to find it was an hour later than expected and all the plans I'd made for the day were totally blown out of the water. Deep breaths...ok. Rant over.

Read the rationale for Daylight Saving Time

23rd March 2006 18:20

Who will I marry?

Well, as an unmarried woman it is always good to have prior knowledge of the man who is to have the honour of being my significant other. I am aware that Irish folklore claims that if an apple is peeled into one continuous ribbon and thrown behind a woman's shoulder, it will land in the shape of the future husband's initials. Armed with this information, I delicately peeled my gala apple and threw it over my shoulder. The results were down right confusing. Which ever way I view  it, I can't make out a definitive letter. Does this mean I am destined to die an old maid?!? Or does this mean that this is all a load of antelope pooh pooh? Ummm personally I am inclined to believe the latter....although ever optimistic I may just spend a couple more hours trying to find that illusive letter!!!!!!

21st March 2006 21:00

Three penalty points

Well it had to come I suppose! I was driving on Sunday when I saw a camera flash twice behind me. Well today I have confirmation of that flash in the form of a penalty notice from the police. @)("@?:@!!

19th March 2006 17:01

Firefox

I've heard people go on and on AND ON about firefox. To be honest I have absolutely no problem using Internet Explorer. I quite like using Opera, Mozilla, and Netscape Navigator but I use them predominantly to check how my website looks in other browsers. However for one whole month it is going to be my default browser. Will tell you what I think in April.

18th March 2006 19:03

Boilers

If I never see another boiler again...it will be too soon. Old boilers...new boilers...working boilers...defunct boilers... it's all part of my job I know but as they say in this neck of the wood 'they're doin' me 'ed in!' At least I know my calorifiers from my water heaters, and my thermostatic mixer valves from my unprotected systems. Umm wonder if I could include all this terminology in a conversation out side work.

"Hello darling. Would you like a drink?"
" That would be lovely but you need to make sure that the water for that drink comes from a mains supply rather than a tank supply..."

Umm a bit of a passion killer as conversations go!

15th March 2006 22:10

Commonwealth Game

Well I have to say that I've been addicted to the Commonwealth games - in particular the weight-lifting and boxing. Very interesting. Didn't think i'd get so much out of it. The only negative is that it is on so late at night. Oh well...if they will hold it in Australia!

8th March 2006 09:44

Stem Cell treatment

My parents have been busy trying to establish whether the so-called PMC treatment clinic for neurological diseases really exists. These are the contact details that we have:

Niels van Gent,
Joost Banckertsplaats 24-29,
3012 HB Rotterdam,
Holland.

However the London branch seems to be an answer phone. At least no one answers the phone when we call. I hope this isn't a con.

7th March 2006 22:01

Tory Sleaze

I am getting sick and tired of people banging on about the so called Labour party sleaze. It's mainly Daily Mail reading toss**s who have conveniently forgotten what real sleaze is! People seem to have short memories so lets refresh those memories:

• Anyone remember Graham Riddick and David Tredinnick? No? Well these Tories got caught out - entrapped I think is the term used - in the cash for questions scandal.
• Tim Smith, a Tory minister admitted he'd received cash from Mohammad Al-Fayed to ask questions in the House of Commons and resigned.
• Neil Hamilton claimed that he had not taken cash from Mohammad Al-Fayed but was eventually forced to resign his position as Corporate Affairs Minister. He later lost a libel case against Mohammad Al-Fayed after the 11 jurors determined he had corruptly taken payments from Mobil.
• Jonathon Aitkin resigned his position as Chief Secretary to the Treasury to defend himself against accusations that whilst serving as for Defence Procurement he violated ministerial rules by allowing an Arab businessman to pay for his stay in the Paris Ritz. His libel case collapsed and he was then charged with perjury and perverting the course of justice, and in 1999 was jailed for 18 months (of which he served 7 months).
• Jeffrey Archer, the former deputy chairman of the Tories, sued a newspaper that had accused him of sleeping with a prostitute. He won. He was later sent to prison for perjury and for perverting the course of justice after the court heard that the alibi used to defend the libel case had been fabricated. He served two years of a four year sentence.

Don't talk to me about labour sleaze!

4th March 2006 07:31

Norton Troubles

Over the last couple of weeks I've received error messages stating that my Norton Antivirus has been tampered with. Now I am an overly suspicious person. This could be a genuine error message automatically generated by my antivirus software to notify me of a genuine fault. However I choose to believe that it's actually some attempt by some 'no-mark' to get me to remove my antivirus software, so that he/she or IT can access my data. So I am going to do nothing. The fact that Norton seems to be working ok now seems to be a validation of my position!

1st March 2006 23:10

Happy St. David's Day

I am embarrassed to say that I didn't even realise it was St. David's day today. Having said that, I'm not welsh so I guess I shouldn't beat myself up too much about my lack of awareness.