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If, like me, you often have time to kill in strange places like hotels and airports wouldn't it be nice to meet up with a friend for a coffee and a natter just to help pass the time? Are you contemplating a visit to some far flung (or not so far flung, as the case may be), foreign country for holiday or for business? Maybe somebody here lives in that country, or has at least visited it, and would be able to offer tips and advice on local customs, food, or places to visit? Maybe you just want to ask a 'silly' question like do I need to bring my own toilet paper or maybe they would like to meet up just to get a bit of news from home or hear the North East 'twang' again? This could be the first stop for you! Post your travel plans, ask for advice on places to visit, things to do and things to see or simply arrange to hook up for a chat. This could even lead to a couch surfing network, who knows! As a starter, I'm at a relatively loose end in Bedlington, Tuesday and Wednesday (9-10 Feb) next week and will probably spend the evening in the Red Lion. It would be nice to meet any of you who are in the area. Do pop in and say hello if your passing that way. I'll Place a rolled up copy of an unmentionable newspaper on the table in front of me. Of course, there may be a chance , or a risk (depending on how you view things) that you encounter the odd intellectual discussion - this is the Red Lion and I am known for my enquiring mind! Favourite topics of conversation with me, just now, are: How many fish must there be before you can call it a shoal? How fast does a caravan go? Mickey Mouse: spherical or flat ears? Wednesday 11 feb, I have 3½ hours to kill in Amsterdam. Anybody about between 12 and 3 in the afternoon?

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DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Who WILL speak for England? By Daily Mail Comment Published: 00:24 GMT, 4 February 2016 | Updated: 08:04 GMT, 4 February 2016 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3430870/DAILY-MAIL-COMMENT-speak-England.html Cameron wants a better deal!!! I speak for myself and boast that I have a far better chance of winning the next grand national, sitting backward, riding side saddle on the old clothes horse we used to dry our clothes on in front of a NCB coal fire. Or riding a pit cuddy even. Had I the talent that “Symptoms” has. I would have pasted (Construed) an image of myself, riding both the old horse and the pit cuddy. Alas, and still full of pride of who I am and where I came from, Bedlington. ‘Spuggy’ is the son of a pit yakka. I’ve Skylarked through and around the Bedlington.co.uk and have enjoyed some of the written contributions on the site. Freedom of speech is a right to be practiced by all and that is a clear and unequivocal statement. My vision though, as seen through the "Oculus" of a Northern Goshawk has in time aged. I also say it would be a serious and very big mistake with consequences not conceivable in the average imagination to leave the EU. The EU like so many other things… It is in dire need of repair, no ‘Jim will fix it’! Democracy is the best starting block to use and to achieve… Without Caveats? Also a date & place to think about: Bavarian cellar bar “Hofbräuhaus München” Am 24. Februar 1920 On 19 September 1946, Winston Churchill, British Conservative leader, the man who was brought back to save the bacon in ‘England’s - Britain’s’ gravest hour of need, despite his crapping up in Gallipoli &c. He gave an address at the University of Zurich in which he identified Franco-German reconciliation and the establishment of a European organization as conditions for peace and liberty throughout the continent. Churchill said, ‘We must build a kind of United States of Europe.. The structure of the United States of Europe, if well and truly built, will be such as to make the material strength of a single state less important.. If at first all the States of Europe are not willing or able to join the Union, we must nevertheless proceed to assemble and combine those who will and those who can.’ In May 1948 Churchill said in the opening speech to the Congress of Europe in Holland, that the drive towards a United Europe, ’should be a movement of the people, not parties’. ‘We cannot aim at anything less than the Union of Europe as a whole, and we look forward with confidence to the day when that Union will be achieved.’ And Churchill went much further than the idea of the immediate and urgent creation of a United States of Europe. Looking boldly to the future he stated, ‘We must endeavour by patience and faithful service to prepare for the day when there will be an effective world government resting on the main groupings of mankind.’ “Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” Is it not time to endorse what he said, or are we too stupid (Delusioned)! (Use of the noun ‘delusion’ really jolted & rattled my brain cells while reading the contribution by pilgrim regarding “Moderator Approvall?” started by Keith Lockey. Thanks pilgrim, for the reminder of who we are… Don’t turn your back and walk away… Stand up and be counted… Get back out and begin to play. By the way pilgrim, try 'Braille' and feel the power of writing. There’s so much to do, sooooooo much to be done… How man, Ye knaa what ah mean leik! Who WILL speak for England.doc

Sorry I missed that! I would've also paid for the post-carriage to have it join my arsenal of shooting stuff. !'m still using my, T70, T90's, A1 & F1 New + Practica's Digital Photography is like MP3's & Co - No Back Up & It's All Gone..... 35mm is 35mm.........

Yep, I took it as sarcasm. Oh to be sitting in a pub, relaxing over liquid and enjoyng company. Company where you can see, normally, from their mannerisms, how honest, truthful, funny and sarcastic they are and where they get the opportunity to fully explain, one their beliefs; two regardless of their beliefs what they think is reality and three what they do regardless of their believes and reality. My comment on HPW's comment "Meks ye wonder whaats atween these folks lugs,ti interfere wi Nature,doesn't it?" was also sarcasm as HPW had replied to me questioning why people feed wild animals (and house dogs) and then as the thread of the subject continues that comment was contradicted (in my mind) with ......interfere wi Nature, doesn't it. There are many time I really hate the English language. There are too many words and most of the time ones words are interpreted differently to the meaning one was trying to give. I much prefer correctly worded questions where the answer is either YES or NO and until that simple answer is given the subsequent question has to wait it's turn. My attempt at my simple explanation within what has sprung up is this topic is :- Nature looks after it's animals. Humans look after themselves and other humans. I care about the world. I help humans. I even help animals BUT I don't have animals in my house. Only animals that appeal to humans are give help by humans. There is a current animal that I would assume all humans would like wiped out, the mosquito spreading the Zika virus. Would humans feed the an injured mosquito? Oh to be sitting in a pub!

Quicksand What it means to be a human being by Henning Mankell is published on the 4th February. Today in the guardian there is an article with some of his ideas on mortality , moments of intense fear, hope and happiness. Because we have been talking about our schooldays and the past , the article seems significant He says 'Children are extremely serious creatures. Not least when they reach the age when they slowly take the step that changes them into conscious human beings - conscious of the fact that they have an identity that cannot be changed. Over the years what one looks like in a mirror changes, but behind that mirror image is always the real you. ' My thought is that Bedlington helped produce the people we have become. For Canny Lass / in the article he talks about Gothenburg , Vallakra, Landskrona Varberg Laholm and Kungsbacka. This guy who died of cancer last autumn wrote Wallander.

I would have to disagree with Albert above as that does not apply to picking ones nose!!!

Interesting reply 3G. Not sure it is relevant to this book on life by the author of Wallander.. Maybe the offending word is Guardian. Looking at life has always been an issue when you reach a certain age or stage of decay. Utopia has always been controversial . We all maybe find that there is 'No Place ' like home. With or without a statue for controversy .

2013 - tried selling a Cannon T50, bought 1988 for approx £250, on ebay, no joy. Posted on local Gumtree, and eventually managed to get £15 for the carrying case! Had to persuade the buyer to take the camera etc.to the camera club she was a member of and ask if anyone wanted any of it. It was either that or the bin!

The golden years. Sadly unfulfilled expectations. I am not sure exactly where this bag came from but it says a lot and so very simply.

Short of there being a 'one issue' independant candidate (say, closure of a hopital) it's unlikely that a serious challenge could be mounted against somebody like Lavatory, unless ALL the rival parties united and put up a single candidate to fight the seat. Unlikely to happen, although all those fundamentalist godbothering Unionist parties in Belfast East did it and won the seat back from the Alliance party because they didn't split their vote.