Evil Sid

that fox turned up again later on bold as brass. was good to see you again and a brief catch-up to compare ailments like us older people tend to do.... had a good game once that wind dropped and it warmed up to just under -10c or thereabouts...❄️ surprised this morning at the frost on the rooves around here didn't think it was that cold when i got in last night. (so much for global warming).

i must admit to struggling nowadays. the hip has forced a change in the way i deliver the bowl. more upright than when i first started when i was down on one knee almost. also struggling with getting the length as well especially on big greens and more so if it is raining. they say bowls is an old mans game but as i have grown older i have come to disbelieve that. still it is good exercise in the fresh air and gets me out of the house once a week to socialise or at least be around other human beings....

we are just there for a friendly game and to help get new players started. if we win it is a bonus. surprising how much bowling goes on during the summer. Monday/Wednesday league, Friday league, Thursday catholic league, Tuesday parks league all in the evening. then there is the the pensioners leagues in the afternoon as well as the ladies leagues and the mixed pairs league. if you were keen on you could be out bowling most of the time during the summer months.

being the 'c' team we have to play our home games on a Wednesday. I usually get there around six for a practice, weather permitting and the match starts at seven. will be there this Wednesday, 17th and after that it will be 19th June. there is a bar and if you don't feel like walking there is a large car park at the back. wear some thing warm as it can get a bit chilly towards the end of the match.

probably attract more of them bill....🤣 there is a stream running past the property, alford hall, so that will be an attraction as part of a foxes des res. "handy for the town. running water and the pick of any dustbin you can get into" said the sign in the estate agents window.

having done project planning it can be a nightmare with the logistics. it probably makes sense to clear each bit before moving onto the next and making sure that the site is not polluted at any stage. i did note that they are keeping the existing railway line just in case there is a future use for it. i do wonder if they have look to see if it could be utilised to remove the major debris from the site and save on costs of hiring trucks and drivers and also the green aspect of all the diesel fumes they produce. fill a dozen or so of train wagons and you only need one driver to remove it from site they could even borrow a steam engine to stop the environmentalists complaining....🤦‍♂️

if it had been china they would already have a hotel and a high-rise block of flats built on the site. given that half the towers have been demolished then demolishing the rest should just be a repeat performance, they know what is involved and all the relevant safety documentation would be almost the same just a different date and time. it always amuse me that people on face ache will put forward things like 'dust and pollution'. that i only of concern to the residents in a certain area around the site. i wonder if those same people who are 'concerned' drive electric cars or diesel/petrol? Fred Dibnah never worried about those things. just pile up the wood and chuck a match at it then wait for it to go. smoke and dust all over the place. i watched the last lot go down and there was very little dust in the air.

had a quick look at deterrents on the internet, range from the electronic devices that emit a high frequency blip when tripped to flashing lights. several recipes for odour based deterrents the favourite being garlick and chilli powder, not sure if it is to scare it away or to flavour it prior to cooking. have seen the odd one wandering along our street in the past having sankey valley on our doorstop it is not so surprising as it may seem.

last night 'Wednesday' was the first game of our teams bowling season. the green was fine apart from the fact that there were several craters dug in various places some of which had been filled, seeded and covered with a fibre paper to help them grow and keep the birds off. it turns out that the holes were not the result of vandalism but that of a fox which has taken up residence nearby. electronic counter measures are in place and more are planned in a effort to protect the green. talking to the secretary of the bowling section of the club was rather interesting as he had been doing research into how to deter the 'little critter'. (his actual words are not suitable for on here). to that end he is now almost a leading expert on foxes and what you can and cannot do to stay their nocturnal deeds. now for the best bit. during our game with about thirty people present what should come sauntering out of the bushes but the said fox. without even batting an eyelid it walk along and disappeared through a hole in the hedges only to reappear about five minutes later and saunter nonchalantly toward the main road. not once did it seem bothered by the presence of people which leads me to wonder if some local residents are in actual fact leaving food out for it. as a side note it was still light enough not to need the floodlights on for bowling possibly eight pm or round about that time.

perhaps if they sent every body over sixty to fight it might just make them think at least once, especially if it was compulsory with no exceptions.

even on my screen it is hard to make out and it is almost brand new, especially if i sit back a bit beyond the focus of my glasses. an older model laptop with the sun behind it and you wouldn't see it at all. when i am sorting out the bowls fixtures i have to do a couple of test prints to see what colour is best to highlight away matches, so far mid blue is favourite. this is only to make it easier for those team members who have many years of bowling experience, eg knocking on a bit, sadly like me these days....😭

sounds similar to my brush with the bailiffs. apparently i had illegally parked my Mercedes somewhere unpronounceable in wales and had not paid the fixed penalty so the bailiffs were going to come and collect. not only had i never heard of the place but i have never been in a Mercedes since my dad sold his thirty years previous.

as an avid reader of books black on a white or grey background is the norm, but when i read from my kindle i find it is better with white text on a black background. the letters stand out more and there is less glare from the screen. oddly enough i find the black text on white with a computer screen much better than the other way round. that may be just because of conditioning over the years. on a slightly similar note i spent half an hour yesterday trying to read the instructions to microwave a ready meal. mid blue background with black text and very small, jeweller loop came in handy.

i have to ask how many of the 4,000 were from people who's only language is English or regional variant thereof ?

amazing what you can get away with in the name of 'religion'. "we are in the right god is on our side" the war cry of every army ever. Take away the religious theme and you have power hungry Herbert's out to make a name for them selves with their 'people'.

so unless you know every language spoken in this country then how can you tell if you are being offended. for example somebody saying something in welsh could be calling you rotten or merely saying that the weather is rubbish today. unless you are fluent in welsh or have the translate app on your phone then how do you know? same goes for any language or dialects for that matter. my one comment would be "CRIVENS !!!", a feegle statement that can either mean "oh dear" or "you is going to get such a kickin ye scunner", or anything in between...

my first port of call in the morning to see what has been going on in warrington overnight or not as the case may be. pop back in the evening to see if anything has changed or there is new news to read. 25 years ago i still had hair on top of my head and could boogie with the best of them, or the worst depending on who you talked to. congratulations to all the team for an excellent service provided and good luck and fortune for the future.

having worked behind the counter i very rarely have a problem with scanning bar codes having come across just about every problem with them you can imagine at one time or another.( i did notice that aldi have installed self service tills now) i never pack at the till in a supermarket merely shovel the items back into the trolley and then pack them into bags either on the window ledge if at aldi or on the seating if any where else. that way i can pack at my leisure and not hold anybody up dividing chilled and such into separate bags and deciding how much heavy stuff i can comfortably fit in before i need a forklift to get it in and out the trolley. any items that have security tags i put so they are last to be scanned, this gives me a few extra seconds to clear any backlog into the trolley whilst they are being removed and also get my wallet out ready to pay. i don't mind shopping but do prefer to get it over and done with quickly. half an hour for a fortnights or more shopping is normal for me, even when they have had a change round as i very rarely impulse buy. internet is my friend there as any non - usual items i will look up before buying, also aldi special buys as well just in case they have anything that i might want or possibly find useful at some future date.

the one time i used self service i ended up with the woman who was there to help hovering around me. five items and before i even scanned one she had to come over to help. it was the i use my own bags bit on the screen, pressed that and put my bag on the side ready and all these alarms started going off. it seems that it does not recognise a rucksack as a bag so spat it's dummy out until she overrode it. oh and they don't like you trying to scan a 32" telly through the self service either as one guy last week found out. i try not to use it as i like to keep the checkout people in a job and also the supermarket people wont give me a discount for doing theirs for them. maybe i am getting more rebellious as i get older....

reading about it it seems the claim is being 'touted' by a legal firm who are encouraging people who live along the river and are affected by it to put a claim in. maybe their asylum business is drying up so they are venturing into the speculative 'no win no fee' area. found this on the law firms website. little mention of the river authorities or the environmental agency apart from to quote that the river was in decline and that those authorities knew about it.

career politicians now run all the parties, with possibly one or two exceptions. That being the case then the difference between the parties is practically zero as the politicians strive to get as much money as they can in their own pockets. or so it seems to a lot of people i have spoken to lately. Civil servants run the country with the politicians as at best an overseer at worst a figure head for the department, either way they are the ones thrown to the wolves when it goes belly up. the civil servants just carry on doing whatever it is they do without any of the consequences settling on them. The chancellor of the exchequer doesn't sit at home with his calculator working out what to tax or what to fund, he just presents what the civil servants in his department give him. he may have some input but only in a general sense as do probably the majority of politicians in all departments. they are just the 'public' voice for their department. That is possibly the galling thing about politicians, they resign from their job but are still employed as politicians in a different department at the same rate of pay. as the old joke says "how can you tell a politician is lying?" "their lips move".....

no doubt that the fact that it was electric and 'was unable to brake' will be the only things that matter to the anti electric car brigade. That it was a total fabrication will not even be mentioned by them on social media. I already know of at least one person who picked up on the original story and are citing it as an example of how unsafe electric cars are. i do wonder in light of new evidence if he will withdraw the story.....

send us the list bill and i will see what i can arrange... i will point out that there is a possible election looming so anything that 'blackens' some candidates name will be pushed to the fore no matter how long ago it happened or what the 'incident was. "oh he once shook hands with Hitler" type of thing, it doesn't matter that the guy was a greengrocer called Charlie Hitler and was receiving a best grocer award from the council.....

Given the stringent measures to contain pollution and add on new technology to monitor those levels that are produced then a gas fired generator should be almost pollution free. i wonder how many of these green activists have gas central heating boilers, petrol, diesel or hybrid cars. all will have mobile phones with access to the internet plus whatever tv and broadband available to them. i would guarantee that if there were blackouts like those during the miners strikes then they would soon be kicking up a fuss that they can't get a signal or charge the phone, access social media or watch the latest instalment of strictly....

can't say i have seen the particular photo but given the number of 'filtered' photo's on various social media sites and adult dating sites (not from personal experience i may add), a photoshopped picture of the 'royal family' is way down the list of things i need to know about. don't know why they didn't use the latest camera phone which lets you pick which face you want out of half a dozen pictures taken at the time. (think it is the galaxy one but not certain as i take little notice of adverts )