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Bob Geldof's Brexit U-turn Has he apologised to the fishermen he insulted and derided on the Thames though?

Poor old Bob, I suppose when you aint had a hit in a while any sort of publicity is welcome, he must be taking a leaf out of Sharon Osbournes book

It's quite easy to explain this one. Current weather conditions in Bedlington along with a 3 day forecast will now show in the site sidebar.

Well I told you that when you enabled it a couple of years ago!

2016 - xmas cracker jokes and one liners:- Q. What do workers at Sports Direct get for Christmas dinner? A. About 5 mins. Q. How do you recognise a Christmas tree from BHS? A. All the branches have gone. Q. What’s David Cameron’s favourite Christmas song? A. All I want for christmas is EU. Q. Why didn’t Roy Hodgson go to visit Santa at The North Pole? A. He couldn't get past Iceland. Q. What do you get if you cross Donald Trump with a Christmas Carol? A. O Comb Over Ye Faithful. Q. Which parent is likely to do the Christmas shop at Tesco this year? A. Dad might, Marmite not. Q. Why can’t the England football team play Yahtzee this Christmas? A. Because they got rid of Allardyce. Q. What does Nigel Farage do to the hall with boughs of holly? A. He Dexit. Q. What’s Donald Trump’s favourite type of ice cream? A. Wall’s. Q. How do snowmen leave the EU? A. They trigger Icicle 50. I bought my mum Mary Berry’s cookbook for Christmas, I tried to get Paul Hollywood’s but he’d sold out. Philip looks out of the window on Christmas Eve: ‘That’s some reindeer’ he says. The Queen replies: ’63 years. Yes, that is a lot.’

Very plausible, but there's an alternative theory: he only wants to shake Nigel's hand because traces of Trump "populism" will rub off. I think that's a sort of orangey colour; though... maybe Bob needs to restyle his hair too?

I am still in touch with Phil Joisce and will ask about the joistripper, his father held the patent for it and made all the parts himself in a workshop attached to the house on the lane leading between the police station and the masonic hall towards the reservoir. (that included casting the parts in alloy) I saw it being used - you selected the correct size for the cable on the barrel part and moved the barrel round to the cutter - the cable went in and you held it with a pair of pliers and wound the cutter down to the pliers and it cut the outer and trimmed it off. They bought the pit head buildings and yard at Widdrington drift and converted them into a house and workshop, it is interesting to see that the stripper is still being made and sold!

HPW, MICC Pyrotenax, Mineral (chalk) Insulated copper cable. Most commonly used for fire alarms systems and explosive atmospheres , (usually orange plastic covered) It wasn't very flexible so only used in permanent installations, never heard of it being used underground but used extensively in industrial and commercial applications where fire may damage and cause the equipment to fail, the copper sheath was stripped (using the said stripping tool) to expose the copper conductors, a pot was then screwed onto the sheath then filled with an insulating putty (thermocouples would be filled with a melted glass) a seal would then be crimped sealing it. After both ends were sealed a 500v-1000v meggar was used for testing and identifying the conductors, I haven't seen any over here so the last terminations I did would be over 40 years ago! I remember doing thousands on the soot blowers at the (late) power station and at Alcan Smelter. The largest size I ever used was at the WOOLCO Kilingworth on the roof mounted AC units. Right on with the P.I.L.S.D.W.A. wrestled with that a few times.. now you have me rambling on...

Heh heh!....LBJ,when she looks at me wi them soft brown gorgeous eyes....i'm her slave!! Noo,where was I?....right!,considering that aam just a youngin,this tool might have been afore my time,cos every cable used doon thi pits,were armoured...that right Vic? The abbreviation..."P.I.L.S.D.W.A" ,comes ti mind from my Deputy's training course,[Electrical Engineering ],which stood for .."Paper-insulated,lead-sheathed,double-wire-armoured..",and is a fitting description of the main feed power cables,which used to be covered with pitch-impregnated braided fibre's,loosely referred to as "tarry-toot".[owt wi pitch in was called tarry-toot!This covering was a sod ti peel off,then it was a hacksaw job ti cut through the two layers of wire armour,which was tough stuff!....hacksaw again,ti cut through the lead sheath,then the knife ti cut back the waxed paper insulation which covered each of the three phase conductors. It was more than a two-hour job,underground,for the electrician to cut a Pummel-end,[plug] off the H.T. cable,and put a new one on,inluding the cold-pour pitch which had to be poured into the plug itself,to provide waterproofing capabilities. A can still see aal this,clear as a bell,the sparky,mebbe Eddie Hagerty,or ? Cadwallendar..,or Jimmy Haley,peeling aal thi wire armouring back,aal neatly spaced apart,ti put the gland washers and nuts on,before putting the copper pins in,and boxing the job up....and aam harking back ti when aa was 16 yrs aad![1960] Obviously,the smaller the cable,the armour was appropriately chosen for that cable. The first time a ever heard of Pyrotenax cable,was maybe in the early 1970's,[maybe a bit earlier],when my Brother was helping his good friend,Jimmy Nicholson,who ran the telly/radio shop in the Market place,alang from Carricks,when Jimmy got the contract to re-wire St. Cuthbert's Church,in Bedlington. Me Brother brought a small piece doon ti my hoose ti show me,cos he had nivvor seen any either,and he is three years aulder than me,and worked at the auld pit in Bedlington. A somehoo divvent think it would have complied with the Mines and Quarries act 1954,for underground use,in the presence of a potentially explosive gaseous atmosphere,but that's checkable. Aal aam saying is,in a pit like Choppington High Pit,where they still had machines,conveyor belts,haulers,which were so ancient,they were there in 1929 when my Father was a 14 year old kid!,aal the aad cabling was still in place,including huge variable resistors,to start the big overhead main and tail hauler,and which used to glow red hot,inside the cage they were enclosed in!This was at the shaft-bottom area,and in freezing cold conditions,so the shaft lads and onsetters used to put pies on top of the resistor pack,keep the brakes on the hauler,and switch the hauler onto low start speed..the motor used to hum like hell,and everybody stood aroond the resistor pack ti feel a bit of heat!!!...nea overload safety interlock!![the pack stood aboot 3feet high,and aboot four feet lang,each resistor being aboot as thick as an average thermos flask.] Aam really intrigued aboot the Joystripper,cos it was obviously used for thi job it was invented for,but a can honestly say,never in the four pits that aa worked at,ti my knowledge,mind,that's my disclaimer for being an ignorant aad sod........!...not to my knowledge.! Somebody please enlighten me,maybe they were used in the workshops,at the pit on bank? I used ti trail 100 yard lengths of H.T. cable through rough,wet conditions,using two ponies hung on in front of one another,by hanging their tracing chain hooks into the spaces where the gland bolts secured the pummel-end plug onto the cable,and trailing the cable uphill,undulating,around right-angle bends from one roadway into another,and the armouring and tarry-toot covering used ti hold fast,and never pull the plug off the cable-end,they were so securely fitted in place. Noo flexible rubber armoured coalcutter cables had a different type of armour,which was flexible twisted thin steel wires,surrounding the cores. Aav got a pair of car jump-leads,which a made in 1972-ish[aroond that time...give a year or two!],from the cores of a buggered cutter cable,and mind...ye couldn't buy a set like them!!...Vic will remember how thick and strong they were!! In the latter years,from the '70's,at Bates,we had a main feed of 6'600 volts,knocked doon ti 1100 volts ti run thi shearers,and they used ti shear coal at 200 amps continuous! Noo,if ye saw the cables for the main feeds,we called them "the elephants trunk's",cos they were flexible pvc covered,and aboot six inches thick,and weighed an absoloute TON!! It was every man a yard apart when it came to carrying any of that cable in to the face,periodically,as the face advanced.

When my family lived in Storey's Buildings,next to the Willow Bridge,Doctor Hickey's surgery was hardly a hundred yards away up the bank towards Scotland Gate,and all three of the Doctor's,[ie Hickey, Robertson, and Ivory..],would call in noo and again ti see me Parents,and ask if the kids were all right,and we aalwis got a sweetie!! [only sweeties we ever got cos me Mother used ti swap her sweet rations for tea and sugar and bread,etc..]. Even when we moved ti Hollymount Square,they still called in if they were in the vicinity on their rounds. In those days,all these Doctors had to get their caplamps and pit byeuts on and go doon thi pit,ti attend accidents where a doctor was called for,usually an amputation,or a morphia injection,[until the pit Deputies and Overman were trained and authorised in the administration of Morphia,when requested by an accident victim.] Dr Carr,at Blyth,was one of the most respected Docs,being a Miners Compensation Advisor,in disputes between the Coal authority's and the Miner's Union..and also a member of the Blyth Lifeboat crew.[I stand to be corrected on the use of the word "member",at least he frequently went out on rescue missions with the crews]. I forget which Doc it was who had to go down the Bedlingon A pit shaft,to treat a shaftsman who was trapped between the cage and the shaft side,[halfway down the shaft!...a heroic effort...if ye have ever been in a cage half way doon a shaft,at a standstill,ye wud understand,bad enough hanging there,but ti be on TOP of thi cage.....shiver me timbers!!] Aye,thi Docs in them days browt many a bairn inti thi world!

More Christmas-past authenticity! British Airways cabin crew vote to strike in latest UK industrial action 'Tis the season to be striking - tra la la - tra la la - laa laa laaa!

Hi Eggy. I'm just sharing the news as it is available. There is no further info from Active Northumberland. I'll update the article if I hear more.

I visited my mother today - she was 88 yesterday- she can recall some things but many things are now lost due to the stroke. we did speak about Choppington station and she confirmed that Tommy Williams was the club steward, tommy Henderson had the post office etc. Station Terrace at that time - no 1 had been owned by Fenwick Redpath, no2 a woman called Olive, no 3 Mrs Syrett who had golden retrievers and a lodger called John Latimer - who was disabled and worked at remploy and had one of those blue 3 wheel cars. no 4 was George Barnfather, and no 5 was Teeny and George Rice. The station masters house was occupied by a man called Clifford who may have been Welsh - and seems to recall his wife was not in the best of mental health. there was a house behind the station masters house which I recall was occupied by an old gent, who I only knew as 'old army'. the access to the upstairs was via a ladder and he had paintings of his time in what I think must have been the Boer Wars due to the uniforms (white helmets and scarlet tunics) She did recall Phill Joiscies father who had the house behind the masonic hall aside the red lion and was an engineer and invented the 'Joystripper' - a simple hand tool for stripping the outer from the metal sheathed and powder? filled fireproof pit cables (HPW- can you enlighten us?) he moved to widdrington and made his workshop and house out of the widdrington drift buildings. I recall having great fun thrashing around the pit yard with Phil in a bond bug - --kick start under the bonnet and no reverse!!! Phil is now a lawyer down south. and of course Mr Hall with the Pyrenean mountain dog! my mother was manageress of Carrick's in the Market Place for many a year, so most of you prob know her.

A man and a woman are sitting in a pub discussing their forthcoming marriage. They have been ‘saving themselves’ for each other and have never seen each other naked. The woman doesn’t want any unpleasant surprises – for either of them – on the wedding night so she says to her intended, “I’m as flat as a pancake up top”. “That’s OK”, he replies, “I’m equipped like a new born baby down below”. The wedding night arrives and both undress, somewhat nervously. The woman removes her bra and says, “See, I’m as flat as a pancake”. The man removes his underpants and the woman faints. After a couple of minutes she rallies round and says, “You swine! You told me you were equipped like a new born baby”. “Exactly”, says the man, “47 centimetres long, 3.865 gram”.

Little old lady: I’m 86 years old. Barrister: tell the court now in your own words what happened on the evening of April 1st this year. Little old lady: I was sitting on my veranda when the young man from next door came and sat down beside me. Barrister: Did you know this man? Little old lady: Only a little bit. As I said – he’s a neighbour and appears pleasant enough. Barrister: What happened after he sat down? Little old lady: he told me that he liked older women and that he thought I was very sexy. Barrister: Please tell the court what happened next. Little old lady: He started to stroke my thigh. Barrister: Did you try to stop him? Little old lady: No I didn’t. It felt so nice and nobody’s done that since my Albert passed away 30 years ago. Barrister: And then? Little old lady: He put his hand inside my blouse. Barrister: Did you try to stop him? Little old lady: No I didn’t. It made me so warm and tingly. I haven’t felt that good in years. Barrister: And then what happened? Little old lady: I felt so excited that I just lay down and said “Take me young man, take me!” Barrister: And did he …………. take you? Little old lady: Like Hell he did! He just screamed “April fool, April fool” and that’s when I shot the b@#tard!!

Perhaps you should try this Eggy ... A woman is frying eggs for breakfast. Suddenly her hubby appears in the kitchen and screams: -Be careful! Put some more margarine in the pan! You have too many in the pan at once. TOO MANY! Turn them over! TURN THEM OVER NOW! MORE MARGARINE! They’ll stick to the pan! Be careful! I said CAREFUL! You never listen to me when you’re cooking! NEVER! Turn them over! Hurry up! And, don’t forget to put salt on them. You know you always forget it! Put salt on them! SALT! His wife stares at him -What’s the matter with you? Do you think I’ve never fried an egg before? Hubby replies quietly: -I just wanted you to see how it feels when I’m driving.