Its 8.54 AM UK time and the sun is out. At least that is a bonus. Sad day today, we are going to say our farewells to one of our friends and drinking buddies, Paul Parker-Gray. Sadly passed away at the tender age of 49 from a heart attack. Paul was a genuinely nice guy and and under a rather crusty exterior was a real diamond. Perhaps misjudged by many who never took the time to know him, he will be sadly missed by us "the grumpy old men", who would sit at the bar in the Feathers Hotel in Budleigh Salterton and put the world to rights. I'll have a pint for you later on Paul, I hope that there is a "Feathers" upstairs somewhere and that you are sat at the bar. Dont take any shit from those angels and always order another half before your glass is a third empty.
Will miss your tales and lively banter...
Ian
Friday, October 21, 2005
Saturday, October 08, 2005
GREAT MYSTERIES OF O
GREAT MYSTERIES OF OUR TIME!!
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteriesare flat?Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know thereis not enough?Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billionstars, but check when you say the paint is wet?Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?Why do they use sterilised needles for death by lethal injection?Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when youthrow a revolver at him?Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?What is the speed of darkness?Are there specially reserved parking spaces for "normal" people at theSpecial Olympics?If you send someone 'Styrofoam', how do you pack it?If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice ascold tomorrow, how cold will it be?If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?If it's true that we are here to help others, what are the others doing here?Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seemlonger?If someone with a split personality threatens to commit suicide, is ita hostage situation?Can you cry under water?What level of importance must a person have , before they areconsidered assassinated instead of just murdered?If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?Why does a round pizza come in a square box?How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it wouldbe a good idea to put wheels on bigger suitcases? Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wakeup, like, every two hours?If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?Why do doctors, when they ask you to strip, leave the room or closethe cubicle curtain while you change? ... They're still going to seeyou naked anyway.
Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteriesare flat?Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know thereis not enough?Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billionstars, but check when you say the paint is wet?Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?Why do they use sterilised needles for death by lethal injection?Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when youthrow a revolver at him?Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?What is the speed of darkness?Are there specially reserved parking spaces for "normal" people at theSpecial Olympics?If you send someone 'Styrofoam', how do you pack it?If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice ascold tomorrow, how cold will it be?If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes?If it's true that we are here to help others, what are the others doing here?Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seemlonger?If someone with a split personality threatens to commit suicide, is ita hostage situation?Can you cry under water?What level of importance must a person have , before they areconsidered assassinated instead of just murdered?If money doesn't grow on trees then why do banks have branches?Why does a round pizza come in a square box?How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it wouldbe a good idea to put wheels on bigger suitcases? Why is it that people say they "slept like a baby" when babies wakeup, like, every two hours?If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing?Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground?Why do doctors, when they ask you to strip, leave the room or closethe cubicle curtain while you change? ... They're still going to seeyou naked anyway.
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Oh My God what a week!!!
It's been a realy fraught week so far, started a new job on Monday, back at a firm I worked for 6 years ago. The parent company chairman was "made redundant" on monday and several directors and the MD were demoted. it was like "the night of the long knives". Then to cap it all. my boss who lived with the chairmen resigned today and we had surveyors coming round the firm, measuring the buildings and office space. We await the next instalment with interest, what a way to start a new job!!
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Letters to the Editor
Been busy writing to the Exmouth Journal Editor again, the council at Budleigh seems hell bent on taking an honest living away from the local traders by allowing the local antiques and flea market to sell fresh produce and meat. Read my letter hear:
Dear Editor,
I felt obliged to comment after the article “Traders get a flea in their ear” in this weeks Journal. It never ceases to amaze me, how a group of people who are supposedly elected to support and work for their local constituents can score such “monumental home goals”. The reported comment from Councillor Kitson, “We are being bullied along by the retailers who do not want competition”, left me speechless. How is it possible for an elected officer of the council to make such a crass and ill judged comment? How can he classify a group of people from outside of the area, who pay no business rates to EDDC, employ no local staff, put nothing into the local economy and trade in a building whose running costs are partly funded from the rates of those they trade against be classed as “fair competition”. It was a shame that councillor Jones was a “lone voice in the wilderness” against the sale of fresh produce, yet how can the local council allow the sale of foodstuffs, especially meat, without all of the health and hygiene regimes being in place? Why should local traders be forced to comply with the complex and draconian rules and regulations that control their trading, whilst seeing the public hall used as a venue for outsiders to flout those self same rules? It seems to me, that Councillor Kitson’s “win, win, win situation” is one in which the Council wins and the traders lose. Why should any of the high street traders see products sold at the “flea market” in competition with their own goods? The flea market should be merely for antiques and bric a brac. Not food or new goods.
We see the same thing happening locally in Exmouth, with both the “Farmers Market” and the proliferation of “Charity Shops”, many now openly selling “new goods” whilst being afforded rating subsidies by the council.
Do we want the charm and diversity of Budleigh’s shopping environment to become the “sterile wasteland” that is shopping in Exmouth? Do we want any more empty shops in the high street? NO of course we don’t, so if we cannot knock sense into the local council, let us at least vote with our feet at the “flea market”, by all means let us go there and shop with those who sell the goods for which “flea markets” are renowned, but let us ignore the purveyors of goods we can buy from local trades people and support the high street. Yes it may be a fraction more expensive on occasion, but we must remember that the local traders are there for us, 52 weeks a year and they put their money back into the local economy, lets keep it that way and be there for them
I shall continue to publish interesting snippets from Budleigh in the near future....
Dear Editor,
I felt obliged to comment after the article “Traders get a flea in their ear” in this weeks Journal. It never ceases to amaze me, how a group of people who are supposedly elected to support and work for their local constituents can score such “monumental home goals”. The reported comment from Councillor Kitson, “We are being bullied along by the retailers who do not want competition”, left me speechless. How is it possible for an elected officer of the council to make such a crass and ill judged comment? How can he classify a group of people from outside of the area, who pay no business rates to EDDC, employ no local staff, put nothing into the local economy and trade in a building whose running costs are partly funded from the rates of those they trade against be classed as “fair competition”. It was a shame that councillor Jones was a “lone voice in the wilderness” against the sale of fresh produce, yet how can the local council allow the sale of foodstuffs, especially meat, without all of the health and hygiene regimes being in place? Why should local traders be forced to comply with the complex and draconian rules and regulations that control their trading, whilst seeing the public hall used as a venue for outsiders to flout those self same rules? It seems to me, that Councillor Kitson’s “win, win, win situation” is one in which the Council wins and the traders lose. Why should any of the high street traders see products sold at the “flea market” in competition with their own goods? The flea market should be merely for antiques and bric a brac. Not food or new goods.
We see the same thing happening locally in Exmouth, with both the “Farmers Market” and the proliferation of “Charity Shops”, many now openly selling “new goods” whilst being afforded rating subsidies by the council.
Do we want the charm and diversity of Budleigh’s shopping environment to become the “sterile wasteland” that is shopping in Exmouth? Do we want any more empty shops in the high street? NO of course we don’t, so if we cannot knock sense into the local council, let us at least vote with our feet at the “flea market”, by all means let us go there and shop with those who sell the goods for which “flea markets” are renowned, but let us ignore the purveyors of goods we can buy from local trades people and support the high street. Yes it may be a fraction more expensive on occasion, but we must remember that the local traders are there for us, 52 weeks a year and they put their money back into the local economy, lets keep it that way and be there for them
I shall continue to publish interesting snippets from Budleigh in the near future....
Dentists Today
Owwwwww! been to the dentists today, for the removal of two wisdom teeth. I was not looking forward to it at all, but thanks to a very profesional dentist (Mr Pagliero in cullompton) I sufferred no pain and cant imagine what i was worried about. The only down side is that I only have one wisdom tooth left, so once that has gone, I will be a bloody moron!!
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