Category: Uncategorized

Flerfers

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For some reason some people still believe in a flat earth theory. I try not to argue with them, but some times they come up with such deranged arguments I have to answer back!

Excuse this diatribe I replied with after reading several hundred words of what I called drivel. Perhaps I was too rude. I would like to talk to the correspondent in a balanced way, but I want to pull my hair out!

Here’s what I wrote : Sir you are not explaining science, but using psudo science. Unless I completely misunderstood your unsubstantiated arguments. For instance why is an oblate spheroidal earth unimaginable to you. Why, when planets are visible and are clearly globes, and rotate so you can see their full surfaces, can you not accept the earth is a globe too. If the sun was local it would diminish in size as it moved closer to the horizon. The same with the moon. And in an eclipse why doesn’t the local moon shrink and not completely cover the sun in some circumstances? Maybe your world view is different to mine, and we can agree to disagree, but I can find many more things that are worth talking about, like the state of the world today. I think flerfbots are just trying to distract from wars and politics.

Painting a model.

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A snowy cottage (with led lights) and a flowerbed for cut flowers. Made by a craft group I’m  in. The wooden  model was  mostly painted with white acrylic to replicate snow. I added dark outlines to indicate bricks, stone and tiles.

This is not a good photo, but it gives you an idea of it’s size. At least it feels like I did something artistic last week.

I appreciate the NHS!

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What a day!

Showered, then out for my podiatry appointment. I’d stubbed my toe last week and had a blood blister on my big toe.

Whilst being examined I told the podiatrist about my left leg. I have problems with the skin and when I showered it got very red and sore.

The podiatrist sent me off to my General Practitioner and said she would email them photos of my leg.

I got to the GPS, but they had no appointments, so they sent me off to a Walk in Centre that looks after more serious patients. When I got there I was triaged, then seen. By then my blood pressure was skyrocketing. We are going through a severe storm and it was very frightening, no wonder I was worked up.

They decided I needed to see a doctor but as the Walk in Centre was nurse led I would have to go to Accident and Emergency. That is near where I live, and I know the parking situation is terrible!

I was just getting in my car when the phone rang. The GP has given me an appointment in the morning. I didn’t need to go to A+E.

What I’m explaining is that all this was done in one day. I didn’t have to pay, because we all contribute to the health services in out general taxes. No massive premiums to be treated. Yes there is some private medicine, and there are sometimes problems, but we are very lucky to have the NHS!

Roofing

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I just had someone who is working next door offer to clear the gutter. He went up to have a look and bought down two tiles which he said were in the gutter I had a look and they are from about a third of the way up. He said he would have to batten and refelt it and do four rows of tiles. I asked for a quote and he said £6000. I don’t have that kind of money and told him. According to his figures the whole roof would cost tens of thousands!
Then, a roofer who came round a few days ago came back and said he would clear the gutters, replace the few loose tiles, remove the ivy and point the ridge tiles for £800..im letting them do it… Am I making a mistake?

He says it will take a couple of hours. I think I’m being conned, maybe the other offer came round to scare me into having the work done today. But they are getting rid of a lot of ivy that’s got up to the roof…

Oh hell….

Quarter of a large ammonite on a beach

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What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found (and kept)?

From near Whitby.

The blue lias cliffs near Whitby in North East Yorkshire are full of fossils. The cliffs are very crumbly and made of a grey clay peppered with rocks and stones and things like Whitby Jet (fossilised Monkey Puzzle Tree).

One year we were on holiday and decided to walk along the pebbly beach. But parts of the cliffs had crumbled following winter storms and the debris was about 10 foot high and had fallen in large piles onto the stone and rock below.

On the first pile slightly embedded in the clay was a large rock about a12 to 18 inches across. It was roughly the size of a large quarter of a pie, and on its surface was the ribbed outline of a large ammonite.

We hid it under a bush and headed along the beach over the temporary headlands of clay. Walking up and over the landslips we managed to go about half a mile when we decided to climb up onto the coastal path because the tide was coming in!

I was quite scared, I’m not a climber, and as I looked down into the cracked surface I could see down into the interior of the material. Some cracks went all the way down to the beach. But I slowly got up the the top and then we walked back.

We found the ammonite again undisturbed. I took it home. I have other fossils but this is my favourite.

Roadworks

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It took me half an hour to drive 500 yards and park near my house tonight.

I went out at 6pm and everything was fine. Three hours later I drove down my hill, only to find a toad closed sign about 200 yards from my house. At the bottom of the hill a large truck was parked across the junction preventing any entrance or exit from the street.

So I turned down a rutted unadopted road to get into the next street on along from mine. There was a road closed sign there too. But at least my house was only 50 yards away now.

I decided to ask one of the, workmen, but all he could say was sorry for the inconvenience. I walked a bit further and asked another workman. He, was much more sympathetic. If I went back and got my car he would move one of the cones that were in my way.

I finally managed to drive round, I couldn’t park directly in front of my house, but now I’m only about 10 yards away. If anyone moves I’ll try and shift my car later. The roadworks are going for another two days!

Arthur Berry

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Who is the most famous or infamous person you have ever met?

Arthur Berry was an artist, author, poet and playwright from Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.

One of Arthur’s portraits.

Arthur was also one of my tutors at college and I was really happy when he said my paintings had a bit of something about them. He always seemed to wear a flat cap and tweed jacket. He was a well built man but had a withered arm. His voice sometimes boomed with emotion and joy.

His art is distinctive, charcoal and pastels, oils, mixed media. Often called the Potteries Lowry, he depicted local people and the interior and exterior landscape of the industrial north Midlands city of Stoke-on-Trent.

The works are semi abstract and strongly atmospheric. The portraits show emotions and feelings, aging couples kissing. The titles are often amusing.

Arthur wrote a series of intriguing plays, darkly comic. Set in old libraries or local pubs. They depict everyday life in the 6 towns of  potteries, Grit, Grime and Clay. I saw several of them in the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill. This was replaced by the New Victoria Theatre in Newcastle under Lyme.

Arthur’s poems were funny and about his life and surroundings. His “ode to the oatcake” celebrating a local food delicacy which he once described as the potteries papadum

He really was someone worth knowing.

Cats calm me

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What is good about having a pet?

Cats calm me,

Relax me..

But they trip me up

Knead my stomach

Paw my face

Insist on tasting my food…

But they make me laugh

Purr at me

But then they jump up

On cupboards

Climb up trees

Lie on the stairs

Entertain me,

Keep me company

Cost too much at the vets

Give me love. X