Jun 2008
Dear god no! Superstars is coming back!
23/06/08 18:59 Filed in: Personal
Right on the back of Gladiators coming back.. an even early variation on the theme returns. Yes, the 1970's classic SUPERSTARS is set to return to television. Even the 70's logo is there.
Thankfully, like Gladiators it's on a channel most people won't watch. Phew.. we are saved.
But it can't be much longer now until... It's a Knockout returns. I can't wait
Thankfully, like Gladiators it's on a channel most people won't watch. Phew.. we are saved.
But it can't be much longer now until... It's a Knockout returns. I can't wait
The northwind shall blow and we shall have....
23/06/08 18:54 Filed in: Personal
... A Tree In Your Trampoline
So, last night it was pretty windy in Manchester. Actually, it was pretty windy all over. But in the middle of the night something cracked outside and we all held our breath waiting for the inevitable crash. Except... it didn't come.
Because what happened is that the branch that snapped off landed in our kids trampoline!
Just to put this into some prospective. The trampoline has a diameter of 15" (4.5m)! So this isn't exactly a tiny little branch. How it managed to plonk itself right in the middle of the trampoline without damaging the netting is a mystery. OK.. it's not that much of a mystery, but it did make me laugh this morning.
M6 / M1 car park - TMC - Silent....
23/06/08 18:29 Filed in: Personal
What's impossible to convey is just how hot it got on the carriageway. With little breeze and being the height of the sun, some people did find it a little too much. Luckily, fellow drivers helped out with water. I say fellow drivers because despite being there for over three hours, we only ever saw police / traffic officers whizzing by in police cars. Nobody bothered to see how we were going on.
So far, I've been unable to find out what's happened. Whilst I can see that AA had it listed as an accident, and I personally saw the central barrier being damaged, quite why it took over three and a half hours to clear the carriageway is beyond explanation!
What's worse, in my mind at least is that the TMC (Traffic Message Channel) system didn't utter a peep. Nothing, nada, not a peep. Considering I paid an extra £30 of so for my TomTom One XL to have this kind of thing alerted to me. Amusingly, after the whole thing was over and we managed to get going... it started telling me about a 15 minute delay.
TRY THREE HOURS MATE!
23/06/08 18:14 Filed in: Personal
After hearing the call to arms from Leo Laporte. I've decided to have a little experiment with Twitter.
So I thought I'd have a go.
So I thought I'd have a go.
Did somebody take it too far?
22/06/08 00:15 Filed in: Personal
Whilst I was looking for reference pictures for my 'policeman done wrong' post, I stumbled across this little gem from 2005.
Did somebody take it all too seriously or went too far?
Only murder offer murder mystery packages for private and corporate entertainment. It appears to be ran by an ex-police officer. So it will probably have more authenticity than, say, Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap". Not that the Mousetrap is really much of a mystery in the first place. But I'll not say who the murderer is...... Hmmm... how annoying could I be right now?
Did somebody take it all too seriously or went too far?
Only murder offer murder mystery packages for private and corporate entertainment. It appears to be ran by an ex-police officer. So it will probably have more authenticity than, say, Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap". Not that the Mousetrap is really much of a mystery in the first place. But I'll not say who the murderer is...... Hmmm... how annoying could I be right now?
It's the law, when it suits them
21/06/08 23:17 Filed in: Personal
Hello all, it's nice to be able to find the time to actually post a blog entry.. after such a long delay in doing so.
As I've got something I want to get off my chest right away, I think I should do so. To be honest, it's two things.
It all sorted of started this morning around 1am. Our next door neighbours had been out for the night, only to find they had locked themselves out. Now they thought they have given us a set of keys, but as it turns out they hadn't. Two weeks ago they have the locks changed on their front door (key broke in lock) and got a whole new set; but totally forgot to give us a copy. It's that sort of neighbourhood. What can I say.
So as it was, I gave Anne and Neil a lift to Anne's son in Salford who just happened to have a copy of the correct set of keys.
All went very smoothly. But on the way back home along the M602 a white car came hammering behind me on the slip road as we joined the M60. He (or maybe she) then decided that to hurry me along (after all, I was only doing 70mph at the time) it would be best to tailgate me around the apex of the corner (which is in effect a bridge over the M60 that eventually lowers and joins the main carriageway). In fact at one point he got so close that his lights were obscured by the boot of my car.
But, I kept calm, didn't really mind. After all, we enter the motorway and more of less exit. So why should I care.
Except, here's the thing. The white car that was driving so dangerously and so aggressively. Well, it turned out to be a a sodding police car. The very sort of person you would expect to drive a lot better.
He (or she) then proceeded to blast out of the entry slot road (across the white marker lines) and hammer away at 100mph plus. All of which under NO safety guise of blue lights and siren.
What makes this worse in my mind is that it comes less than a day after a police van crashed into a car in Manchester, killing it's female driver.
Well, the two incidents have nothing in common and I wouldn't like to compare the two. But it really does show a complete lack of responsibility on the part of the police in this area. For more evidence, I've just taken these pictures (and this prompted the post).
We live a cul-de-sac close to a relatively busy road. The road at the top end of the junction is marked off with double yellow lines. For one very good reason. Tall conifers line the end of the cul-de-sac and people driving into the close find any view INTO the road obscured by the trees.
So imagine my annoyance and disgust when I spotted this police car reversing and parking into both the most blindest and most clearly marked NO PARKING ZONE.
And to add insult to injury, in order to do this, the police driver actually drives up the pedestrian pavement to make it easier for them.
Here they are reversing onto the pavement, at this point they nose was 3 feet into the main road. You can see in the water reflection from the reversing lights the curved curb of the pavement they are mounting.
Lying in wait. You'll notice how light's of the car opposite the police car are silhouetting something to the left of the police car. It's a huge tree that will block any sign of the police car being there as you turn into our cul-de-sac. Until you hit it, of course. Good job they have their lights on.
He/she now decides to turn off their lights. Leaving only their red brake lights to illuminate the back of their car. Genius.
In this picture you get to see just how dark it is at the top of cul-de-sac and just how much of his police car is illegally bumped on the pavement. Note the huge canopy of foliage shown by the orange sodium street light. In the brake lights you can clearly see the parallel double yellow lines.
For reference, here is roughly the same patch in winter (2005). You can see the pavement and the trees. Of course, being winter.. they have no large amounts of leaves on them. Unlike right now. But you can get the general road layout. So in this picture, the police car's front end is in line with the last tree on the left. Note obvious yellow lines.
The car in the middle is in the correct place to exit the road. The police car, therefore, really is set well into the blind spot of the bend.
That some police officers are marginally better at preventing crime than they are complying with it.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not some anarchist of have a go type of bloke. But I just don't accept the 'do as we say, not as we do' attitude. I find it wholly unacceptable.
Imagine how this police officer's attitude would be towards a private motorist who had taken it upon themselves to park on a blind bend, on the pavement. I sure it would meet with the same level of approval as I am currently giving "MX06CWV".
MX06CWV, I've got your number mate.
As I've got something I want to get off my chest right away, I think I should do so. To be honest, it's two things.
It all sorted of started this morning around 1am. Our next door neighbours had been out for the night, only to find they had locked themselves out. Now they thought they have given us a set of keys, but as it turns out they hadn't. Two weeks ago they have the locks changed on their front door (key broke in lock) and got a whole new set; but totally forgot to give us a copy. It's that sort of neighbourhood. What can I say.
So as it was, I gave Anne and Neil a lift to Anne's son in Salford who just happened to have a copy of the correct set of keys.
All went very smoothly. But on the way back home along the M602 a white car came hammering behind me on the slip road as we joined the M60. He (or maybe she) then decided that to hurry me along (after all, I was only doing 70mph at the time) it would be best to tailgate me around the apex of the corner (which is in effect a bridge over the M60 that eventually lowers and joins the main carriageway). In fact at one point he got so close that his lights were obscured by the boot of my car.
But, I kept calm, didn't really mind. After all, we enter the motorway and more of less exit. So why should I care.
Except, here's the thing. The white car that was driving so dangerously and so aggressively. Well, it turned out to be a a sodding police car. The very sort of person you would expect to drive a lot better.
He (or she) then proceeded to blast out of the entry slot road (across the white marker lines) and hammer away at 100mph plus. All of which under NO safety guise of blue lights and siren.
What makes this worse in my mind is that it comes less than a day after a police van crashed into a car in Manchester, killing it's female driver.
Well, the two incidents have nothing in common and I wouldn't like to compare the two. But it really does show a complete lack of responsibility on the part of the police in this area. For more evidence, I've just taken these pictures (and this prompted the post).
We live a cul-de-sac close to a relatively busy road. The road at the top end of the junction is marked off with double yellow lines. For one very good reason. Tall conifers line the end of the cul-de-sac and people driving into the close find any view INTO the road obscured by the trees.
So imagine my annoyance and disgust when I spotted this police car reversing and parking into both the most blindest and most clearly marked NO PARKING ZONE.
And to add insult to injury, in order to do this, the police driver actually drives up the pedestrian pavement to make it easier for them.
Here they are reversing onto the pavement, at this point they nose was 3 feet into the main road. You can see in the water reflection from the reversing lights the curved curb of the pavement they are mounting.
Lying in wait. You'll notice how light's of the car opposite the police car are silhouetting something to the left of the police car. It's a huge tree that will block any sign of the police car being there as you turn into our cul-de-sac. Until you hit it, of course. Good job they have their lights on.
MX06CWV We know your number
He/she now decides to turn off their lights. Leaving only their red brake lights to illuminate the back of their car. Genius.
In this picture you get to see just how dark it is at the top of cul-de-sac and just how much of his police car is illegally bumped on the pavement. Note the huge canopy of foliage shown by the orange sodium street light. In the brake lights you can clearly see the parallel double yellow lines.
For reference, here is roughly the same patch in winter (2005). You can see the pavement and the trees. Of course, being winter.. they have no large amounts of leaves on them. Unlike right now. But you can get the general road layout. So in this picture, the police car's front end is in line with the last tree on the left. Note obvious yellow lines.
The car in the middle is in the correct place to exit the road. The police car, therefore, really is set well into the blind spot of the bend.
Conclusion
That some police officers are marginally better at preventing crime than they are complying with it.
Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not some anarchist of have a go type of bloke. But I just don't accept the 'do as we say, not as we do' attitude. I find it wholly unacceptable.
Imagine how this police officer's attitude would be towards a private motorist who had taken it upon themselves to park on a blind bend, on the pavement. I sure it would meet with the same level of approval as I am currently giving "MX06CWV".
MX06CWV, I've got your number mate.
