A sorry tale about a shed on its last legs

Sadly, at the tender age of 15 years, I have to report that my friend's shed has now passed on. Tears have been shed! The aforementioned has given my friend untold pleasure and provided a roof over her head when her parents threw her out for snoring on at least one occasion. She was often found reading (some dirty magazine or book?) when her parents thought she'd gone shopping and she has been known to throw wild parties that lasted well past 11 o'clock. I think she should be in the Guinness Book of Records for getting 30 adults in a 8'x6' shed. (I didn't know she had that many friends!) Only afew weeks ago I saw her on top of the shed fixing leaks with insulating tape - not a pretty sight. This made the leaks worse. She invited the same 30 people back for a Farewell My Shed Party, which made the shed collapse. My friend told me the good news that the replacement is an 8'x8' Summerhouse and she's throwing another Party for her 30 friends who can now bring a guest each. She has also invited a local celebrity to officiate at the grand opening of The Lodge where she intends to spend quality time on her own (providing The Lodge is still standing after 60 people cramb in.)

Steam Railway Preservation

This photo was taken at Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, West Yorkshire. The Railway Children (1970) was filmed at Oakworth Station and the Paper Chase sequence was filmed at one of the tunnels near Haworth as well as the Landslide disaster. The Family House 'Treetops' stands on the moors not far from Oakworth. This photo shows Keighley Station which was used in 'Yanks', starring Richard Gere and other US soldiers during WW2. 'Born & Bred' used Damems Station (the smallest station in the UK) and Poirot walked up the cobbled hill alongside that station accompanied by Hastings and Japp (in The Hunters Lodge Mystery.) Quite a surprising number of series and films have used this preserved railway as an integral part of their stories. I will post many more steam railway photos as I am mad about steam engines, carriages and the preservation movement. I STILL want to drive a steam engine just like when I was a child!

I'm suffering from repeats

Today, between 10am and 10pm, there were 27 repeats on the 5 terrestial chanels on tv. That didn't include old films and old news. I pay £135.50 a year for the BBC licence for programmes I neither watch nor have any interest in. I get more information and entertainment from my computer so the tv is switched off most evenings. As it is a 'service industry' and viewers are the paying customers, why don't we get the good service we deserve? Digital chanels are worse and we will all have to go digital soon and be force-fed repeats of repeats of repeats (ad infinitum.) What happened to customer service? I don't want 'tugging of forelocks, bowing, scraping and being called Madam.' All I want is value for my money and family entertainment like it used to be many years ago. Old films have plenty to offer compared to recent, megabucks movies. Modern movie 'stars' look tarnished, second-hand, second-rate and untrained unlike their former counterparts who exuded charm, style, polish and skill. Megabucks movies create megabucks lifestyles but without an education to match their outfits. Variety was the password for mainstream tv. A diet of sameness produces bland clones of what has gone before and mental stagnation. Variety should still be the spice of life. The next generation is growing up into colourless stereotypes before our eyes just like tv. programmes. People on low incomes can't afford Set Top Boxes, Subscriptions, Aerial Upgrades or to replace their analogue tvs. with digital tvs. Who will finance their costs to change to digital? What! Isn't anyone going to offer a helping hand to people living below the Poverty Level? When the world does, finally, go digital I won't be the only one suffering from repeats, repeats, repeats, repeats.

whether to weather the weather or not

What weather! I was supposed to collect my friend from North Leeds. I even endured roads flooded, drains gushing 18" fountains, being sprayed through my open window and traffic that slowed to a standstill. The trip normally takes 25-30mins. Not today. I'd only travelled 1/4 of the distance and nothing was moving AND it had taken 50mins. I did a 'Thatcher U-turn' and rang my friend; she'd have to get the bus after all. Why can't traffic police inform motorists what is causing jams? I could have made a reasoned judgment earlier and headed for home, along with other sensible drivers. Was it flooding, jack-knifed lorry, swimming ducks on the road or unnecessary roadworks? I'll never know. Next time I'll think twice about doing a good turn (or a U-turn.) Looking on the bright side, my car had a thorough wash.





As this is my first attempt at blogging, you'll have to overlook any errors. I have a personal website (having suffered a very steep learning curve-which I fell off many times and gave myself a terrible headache) but the program I used to create it crashed and lost styles, text, photos, the lot. So I'm going to uninstall it after writing this.