Symptoms

Beat you to it Smudge with: "We must remember Yekaterinburg."

Official ... more top quacks agree with Sym. Being a porker is all down to bad diet rather than the lack of exercise. I say, "fatties, throw away (or drop if you can't throw) the Ginsters now!" http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/apr/22/obesity-owes-more-to-bad-diet-than-lack-of-exercise-say-doctors

Wilma - I've just had a look through your interesting snaps on Photostream. A couple of observations ... how untidy everthing seems to be with discarded tackle everywhere; it must have added to the dangers especially if the only working lights you had were the lamps on your helmets. Was using a flash on the camera not dangerous (causing an possible explosion)?

Maggs wrote: "Well it appeared and now is gone. I signed out and Ukip appeared. Not sure why!" Subliminal messaging perhaps ... you know they'll stop at nothing to get their message across. Expect bright lights and rubber truncheons next.

Wilma & Vic ... my Mum used to talk about the experiences of her Dad down the pit (Sherburn, Co.Durham). I've posted before about him and his exploits during WW1 when he was in the Northumberland Hussars but when he was demobbed he became a miner for the rest of his working life. During WW2 he attempted to join the army again to fight the Hun but was knocked back as being too old (and being in a 'reserved occupation') so had to be satisfied with the Home Guard. Anyway, at the height of WW2 he was working double shifts (Government orders to increase production for the war effort) when he was caught under a roof fall and pinned by the leg by a massive stone (it broke his leg). The first my Grandma knew about it was a knock on the door in the middle of the night and an ambulance parked in the street. They brought him in and left him in her care ... his leg had been plastered at the pit (no Xrays!!); the local Doctor came to the house the following day to check-up on him and my Grandma had to pay him 2/6p* as this was before NHS free health care. Oh, and while he was off his pay was reduced by half. When his leg got better he went back to work and his Home Guard duties; he died in 1950 and was one of the first miners to be officially diagnosed with 'black lung' (pneumoconiosis) by the new NCB medics and my Grandma was one of the first widows to get proper compensation. During the roof fall episode he heard the wooden props creaking and splintering and that gave him enough warning to make his escape ... he would have been killed without that 'early warning'. He told of lying on his side in 18" seams with water halfway up his chest hacking away at the coal - I don't know how long shifts were in those days. *for our younger viewers that was two shillings and six pence

But wasn't Georgieboy born a Turkish Arab? Nice to see us Brits embracing a guy from the Middle East.

Maggs ... as the putlogs were disconnected and moved upwards there was nothing for the masons to stand on to fill the holes, that's why they remain 'open' to this day in most of these old buildings, I also suspect there was no need to close them as the walls were so thick and the holes shallow by comparison. I probably got this info from the same Fred Dibnah show that Smudge mentions (I love watching Fred's shows) ... there was also a Beeb series recently about re-building a French castle that looked at all this medieval building technology.

Wilma - that last post #5 was very evocative ... it really did bring the underground scene to life.

I think with ggg's snap of the wonderful Nicola above it should be "Hail to the the Chief". Just like the Yankees croak to their topman or with a bit of luck to Hilary in a year of two.

I made the arguement earlier that the alternative is something like wall-to-wall ITV3; I was wrong, it'll be type of wall-to-wall Fox ... the natural home for the Yankee Tea Party and nutty right wing fellow travellers.

It would probably contravene Stove Building Regulations - Document J. The flue arrangement would need to be modified.

Well, this kind of stuff is what keeps Charlie Saxe-Coburg and Gotha looking so well ... we all know how he promotes this dodgy alternative stuff. Oh, and maybe he's like that because he's never done an honest days work in his life, never had to bend down to tie his own shoelaces, never hand to wipe his own arse, only ever eaten the finest grub supplied by Fortnum and Mason. We must remember Yekaterinburg.

I'm not sure any right thinking person should ever vote for those LD b*******s again. Just consider what they did last time, all done to enhance that liar Clegg a place at the 'top table'.

Usually, these square/rectangular holes found in very old stone buildings are known as putlog holes. Putlogs were a type of scaffolding that inched up the building as it was built. Baulk of dressed timber would be inserted horizontally into these holes and supported below by angled timber braces, deck boards (similar to modern scaffold boards) would then be laid over the horizontal pieces to form a working platform. Clearly, as the building progressed upwards all this putlog tackle would be disconnected and moved upwards.

Cookie ... try Google - "photos of Cambois" or "images of Cambois". There's quite a few on there - I've just tried.

McAlpine had very, very good (aggressive) lawyers.

So far it's GGG's BLOCK VOTE of 3 against 4 INDIVIDUAL MEMBER VOTES and 1 UNDECIDED (merc). Me thinks that GGG is behaving like one of his favourite Trade Union Barons. Syms says, "One person, one vote".

If gggg's buzzboy shoots video why not send it up Hartford Road, down Front St but stopping at the Market Place Club to nod in wonder, then continue down to the river?

"Sounds, looks, acts like a North London Jew, and even talks about North London Jews. What's he selling?" Oh dear!

I take the opposite view to GGG regarding our sacred Auntie. Yep, she may have her faults but just look at the alternative ... wall-to-wall ITV3 type offer all in hock to big advertisers. I'd urge all reasonable folks here not to vote in this daft petition.

What about 'Politician' by Cream? "Hey now baby, get into my big black car" ... just about sums up the behaviour of those kiddie-fiddling politicos enroute to Dolphin Square. My bet is that nothing has changed since Leon Brittan, Peter Morrison and Greville Janner (all allegedly - a note to our learned friends). I wonder if Janner is operating the successful 'Ernest Saunders' defense tactic of playing bonkers then going to Lourdes to be miraculously cured.

Consider using Alt-codes for those hard to find letters & symbols, including foreign Johnnies. You could start here: http://symbolcodes.tlt.psu.edu/accents/codealt.html but there are lots of these ... try Googling "Alt codes". Those who've been around computers since the 'beginning of time' will recall all those numerous thick manuals that came with the tackle; there was always a chapter of Alt codes in chart form to allow us pioneers to produce copy. For those that don't know ... when you want to add a particular letter or symbol in a word you press the alt key on the keyboard in conjunction with the code number from the list, and hey presto the letter/symbol appears ... no need to cut and paste. Tip: create a crib sheet with all the ones you'll commonly use and print it out.

It's difficult for this exile to orientate the snap due to all the new houses but is the field centre left 20 acres? Resist the temptation to over-fly all those lying by their pools during the hot summer.

HPW ... after living amongst the weak-kneed, yellow-bellied softie Cockney hordes for the best part of 40 years some of their vile turns of phrase have been melded into Sym's larynx ... bastards! Mind you, when talking to MrsSym* I sometimes wind her up by slipping in the odd pitmatic word or phrase ... much to her chagrin; this ALWAYS results in her calling me something like "a rough Geordie git" - but uttered with affection. *MrsSym is not from the North East

Now this is an interesting EU story - Nige being 'called-out' by a Polish prince to a duel in Hyde Park. I'd pay good money to watch ... perhaps those folks at Auntie could bid for the telly rights and beam it worldwide. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-32318250