pilgrim

re the Yeti - have been up to Edinburgh airport today to pick the child up from Uganda via Istanbul- saw many yetis on the road and several on transporters - so they are available and seem to have quite a following!! yeti? - abdominal snowman?? although we hhave been looking at new ssanyong korandos and the Tivoli - already hhave as koranda and it is magic

as an aside - re the newspaper things about immigration camps in Calais and the threats involved -- I seem to recall there was a huge camp in Calais in the 1940's with lots of Mutti Merkel's relatives wanting to come across the ditch and populate our lands, for our benefit of course, and nothing happened then, and we didn't even have the same border controls!!! so it cant be that much of a threat!

1 hour ago, webtrekker said:

I hope your missus doesn't get too uptight when you bring up the subject of 'Extra Virgin!'

she is very understanding in many areas - and has to be to have put up with me for so long... although something in the back of my mind connects virgins with unicorns -- both a common sight in the shire - I recall seeing many of both outside the domino in the early hours of a weekend  er I fibbed there... (runs and hides....)

we have no worries about DIY for the olive harvest as we only seem to have about 60 of the things so far - but with many more flowers yet to bloom, so I am sure even we can cope with this copious and abundant harvest! having spent lots of time in both Italy and Portugal and indeed on a farm inFrance I am acquainted with continental working practises - i.e. sometime next week... 

that is easy - I listened to all the 'brexit' (again whatever that is) arguments and it seems that post leaving our allies across the water ((Azincourt, Crecy, those damn Huns (not including Her Maj of course) etc.) there will be no illegal immigrants (like them Roman types and those Normans and of course the Angles), no asylum seekers and of course no refugees, thus allowing the road hauliers association to dispense with having to smuggle people into the country and get back to their traditional ways of contraband booze and baccy hidden within secret compartments presently used for people. this would be a tremendous boost to the economy as you can pack booze and baccy into much smaller places!. You may say this would be a loss to the economy, but this would be offset by the fact that we would need no border control or immigration officers or their non working ever so expensive ships, thus saving millions. it would in fact boost the economy as folk would have more money to spend on important things like bingo and even larger screen televisions.
NOT forgetting the price of postage stamps these days, it means that all them Johhny foreigners are off the Christmas card list thus saving vast amounts!!!!

totally concur with the crunchy bacon chestnut thing - although in the light of ''brexit' whatever that is - this year we have put an olive tree in the orchard and it is bearing fruit (or whatever it is they grow) in case of impending shortfalls of the martini additives - promising so far they have the green things that look like olives but smaller. will update on their progress

spuggy - I am most impressed with your depth of awareness and perception.

being associated within various 'circles' over the years - one tends to take a slightly different attitude to 'news' and 'politics'.

my big worry is that - at the very time we need it least,  the UK has gone down a path of political destabilisation within both parties - and may allow the lunatic far right - and I don't mean politic - I mean the aftermath of the Versailles treaty and similar to bring on a 'summer of discontent' - anarchists are the last thing the UK needs at this time but the ground has been laid out for them. One can only hope that the bigotry and 'hatred of anyone not 'British' is scorned and stamped on very rapidly - we are a bastard nation = made up of interlopers over the centuries - but that is what makes us strong - a nation of many cultures and views and above all tolerance!

there are far too many who will take advantage of the present situation to the detriment of the country -among them the press!

it is a sad time when the news agencies make the news rather than report it.

I am British - with a capital B having served queen and country and at times having mixed with people I would rather not have -- SASF, Mossad, etc etc  biut I do not want the UK going down the route of post WW1 Germany.

we looked at the yeti 3 yrs ago when herself needed a new 4x4 -- 6 months waiting list!!!! - spoke to a mate who trades in the pacific circle and he said they were swamped because the vw drive train was much in demand in china and they had redirected the parts there! - we ended up with a ssanyong -- (Mercedes benz) at a quarter of the price and unlimited mileage free 5 yr servicing - which has saved us several thousand (its 3 yr old and has 65000 on the clock) and had no real problems with it)

I wondered about that? the weather forecast this am said today would be muggy .....but muggy was at the start of the week and then we had tuggy then weggy ang thuggy  making today er.....

we are at the Royal garden party at Holyrood on Tuesday - I'll let you know how Maj arrives!

knew Ian for many many years since the 70's - a very sad loss - one hopes his family are ok

10 was installed last year and has been ok up until now and its only affecting one user account -- seems to be a settings thing somewhere --will have to do some head scratching over it .

I do miss XP!! (although I recall the days of DOS - don't let them fool you - its all still DOS under there!)

the old pc failed and so got a new one with that appalling vista thing on it so bit the bullet and loaded the 'new' 10 - the one with a proper start menu. all was fine until for some reason one of the user accounts decided that it would not display the tiles from the blue windows logo and completely lost edge ??? so now back to IE version whatever and have a user account that runs very slowly in accessing  programmes from the start menu of windows but not from the sensible way of starting them - all other accounts are fine -since when did they become APPS???????????

Vauxhall were the first car maker to use thinner plate for the bodywork and 'the rot set in then' you never seem to see rusty cars these days!!

On a lighter note - this brought back memories of being off to the lakes on the old triumph 6T thunderbird with side car. Some sausage and bacon well wrapped in foil and wired to the cylinder head and by the time you got to Alston it was cooked! Mind you, you had all the upper cylinder lubricant you could wish for and the aroma was with you all the way (and the bike never rusted)

many interesting points listed above

perhaps the most important was a system mooted many years ago to prevent cars -with drivers - being to close to the car in front!!! on a lighter note re the opening of parliament we know the equerry to ER Maj that hands her the cap on maintenance -- also referred to as the bag of shite..... a bit like the speech..

and a goal scored by a 45 yr old 2 yrs after heart op!!

takes me back to the 70's when the rugby club did so well

I recall many years ago that the vw was one of the first to have a 'diagnostic' plug fitted and an article in the press at that time said that electronic management systems were the start of the demise of the local garage due to the requirement to invest in expensive equipment just to say what was wrong, or even to do anything with the car!

Audi were the pioneers of ABS and I recall talking to an audi  development engineer who said it works but no-one presses the brake hard enough to make it work properly!

Over the years I have had engine warning lights come on screaming of impending doom and self-destruction and possibly Armageddon, and when the machine was plugged in it invoked a general scratching of the head and usually -' not seen that one before' or 'there is nowt wrong with the damn thing!' but a nice earner for some garages at £100 an hour labour and all they do is reset the diagnostic (why is the spell chucker insisting on hyphens??? - or is that a hint about the subject matter? ((agnostic - as in blind))  - fuse 13 on BMW used to reset the damn things. Luckily our local garage doesn't charge us to plug the machine in and the first thing to do is CHANGE THE SENSOR. I do miss the days of proper carburettors and vacuum gauges etc.  BUT life moves on and you can't fiddle emission levels with a carb!!!!!!

13 hours ago, Eggy1948 said:

Congratulations Malcolm - do you get your own tricorn ?

it will go with the unicorn you get to ride on at county hall....

does that post come with feudal rights??? was thinking of droit de seigneur.....(jus primae noctus - as though you would want to !)...... say no more (as long as you don't claim expenses for that!!)

oh and the scent of Castrol R single weight oil l!!

mercury -- its somewhere down sowf apparently..

but was wondering if the 'cross' was made to represent something else if it really is old? the visit of King john? or just a 'folly'

the six t media site gives a relocation date of the 'Cross' as 1782 but doesn't have the reference to its origin.(or a citation to source of that information)

the reference to the terrier was rather outlandish but threw it in as a bit of fun!! forgive me.

 if it was re- erected in its present location in 1782 - where was it before? and it isn't a cross? when was the church refurbished? could it either have been in the grounds and got in the way? or been looked on as something pagan and not right or indeed could it have been a market designator?

or perhaps it is older and celebrates some previous event.

http://holylamb.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24&Itemid=22

I think this tips it for me -- its not a market cross - its the start of the Bedlington terrier - which makes it all the more valuable as a bit of local history except it appears that the accreditation is attributed to Bedlington in Northamptonshire??

er   - found a reference that the Bedlington terrier dog can be traced back in pedigree to 1782 -- suspicious or what??

Originally known as the Rothbury or Rodbury Terrier, the name Bedlington Terrier was not applied to the breed until 1825, but some dogs have pedigrees that can be traced back as far as 1782. The first dog shows with a class for Bedlington Terriers was held in 1870 at Bedlington. Bedlington Terriers shown at early shows were frequently dyed to improve the look of their fur. In 1948, a Bedlington Terrier known as Rock Ridge Night Rocket won best in show at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. The breed has a high instance of copper toxicosis, but with the exception of eye problems, it is mostly free from health complaints. (is it a monument to the small wooly wagger??)

citing - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bedlington_Terrier

also http://www.sixtownships.org.uk/bedlington-time-line.html

and-

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=OOE9AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA354&lpg=PA354&dq=bedlington+1782&source=bl&ots=IJROBSZ1fv&sig=_3N_Etj_rXI5jqVEbkbaPCjVqBU&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnq9-o_NLMAhXGKsAKHez2DTsQ6AEINzAF#v=onepage&q=bedlington%201782&f=false

a  very small population of about 800 in 1782 - makes you wonder??

late entry ..

http://wikimapia.org/27082098/Bedlington-Market-Cross

The cross was erected in 1782. A Grade II listed structure standing in the market square.

also

http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-235941-the-cross-west-bedlington-#.VzOjqY-cGM8

so who was around in 1782 to pay for it and why??? its very early for the origins of the town in the modern times - seems to fall between two stools - well after the early origins and before the coal and iron boom - what was going on ??