Another attempt to spot a 70 year old comic book this evening. I Dan Dare to hope we'll see the Comet. That would be Dandy. If the harvest moon comes up at around the same time we'll have a Beano.
A sobering day today. 58 years ago, 116 Welsh children went to school, never to return home, not to mention the other 28 lives lost. My dad was one of many volunteers who helped with the clear up. I was only 2, but many years later I learned how much it upset him. As a kid my parents took me to the cemetery in Aberfan. A sad sight.
Walking the dogs and passed the time of day with a guy in his garden who's just moved in. It's the first time I've spoken to him and asked him how it was going. "Shy got my doin the creestmas loyts" he said. I thought for a moment and it clicked - they're not from around here.
Think more like the place that bloke with big calves (not remote ) comes from and plays with his socks down.
Before strong man became a profession, athletes from power sports saw it as a side line and dominated. Sadly, former shot putter and twice world strongman champion, Jeff Capes passed away today.
Just saw that on BBC News. An absolute character of his time. And he bred budgerigars. Only 75. I thought he was 80+ at least. RIP Geoff.
This reminds me, a hospitalised friend once sent me down to the newsagents to buy Tottenham Hotspur magazine for him. Thank goodness they had porn mags to hide it in.
WoL article, cow gives birth to 4 calves in Powys. Virtually unheard of, and they survived and are doing well. Again very rare for multiple births. Your views on this Remote?
Not a cow person really. We've only ever had one set of quads with sheep. Didn't end happily. Interestingly, your more likely to get multiple births with sheep than with cows, yet sheep only have 2 teats, while cows have 4. I'll find the article for a read.
My son works for an organisation called Office For Students, they work alongside Uni's and Colleges etc on standards etc. He was out on a visit to an agricultural college up north somewhere and he was saying that they have developed equipment now so cows can "self milk" (steady there Masky!!). By all accounts cows when left to their own devices will milk themselves more on average than the traditional twice a day AND generally produce a higher yield each time too. Absolutely crazy but fascinating.
Yes, robots. Cows walk into the parlour, find an empty bay and robots clean teats and attach cups. The cows all have transponders in their collars so a computer can monitor milk production by cow and deposit the correct amount of feed for that cow. One of our neighbours uses them.
Talking of nightclubs (and similar) - here's a true story. Went to an end of year contractors do for a major developer back in the 80's. It was held in The Angel in Cardiff and Frankie Howard was booked that evening as the "turn". This was after Frankie's huge success with Up Pompeii on the TV but he was still a big pull on the "after dinner" circuit. Got a lift up to Cardiff with another contractor from Bridgend who also took his wife We all had dinner and Frankie arrived with his "friend" - all of 20 years of age - and parked him on a table at the front reserved for him whilst he did his turn - he was really hilarious. The usual meet and greet with the invited guests followed and given it was an open bar, everyone tried to empty it before it shut. This lead to mayhem amongst the various contractors who started a competition to see who could jump the most tables set out in the middle of the large function room. I'd had enough and asked my chauffeur if he was ready to go. His wife butted in and said he was going nowhere in that state and she'd booked themselves a room there for the night. thanks very much! I thought this is bloody great - my wife was expecting me back and I didn't have a lift. Option 1 was to ring her to get here to come and collect me - this was well after midnight and I wasn't going to risk a week of sulking, so I went for option 2 - a taxi. Went down to the foyer and asked the consierge to call me one. Frankie and his "friend" were there and heard me. We'd met and had a chat earlier in the "meet and greet" - he was a really nice bloke behind the facade. He asked where I was going and told him Porthcawl about 25 miles away. He said "dear boy, we're booked into suite you could stay here", but he had his hand on my arm at the time. I was probably about 30 then and a bit old for him, but I didn't want to take a chance. The taxi guy came in and called my name. He said where to? I said Porthcawl. He said fck me, that's going to cost you. I asked how much and he said how about 25? Conundrum - 25 quid or a night with Frankie and friend? The driver got his 25 quid and I got a good night's sleep.
Like that. Discretion was the better part of valour. I can just see the headlines: - Sparkey spit roasted!!! On one of my several retirement does from Barclays in 2004 I drunkenly got a taxi from Cardiff to Bridgend, dropping a colleague at Barry on the way. £45. I was very, very drunk.
I can't believe what you people have got up to in the past. Having had a very sheltered life, I'm quite shocked by it all.
For those who missed it on the weekend. Today is National Hug A Sheep Day. "Everyday is a good day to hug a sheep, but the last Saturday in October is always extra special". A history of sheep in Wales; Wales' mountains and highlands combined with its mild, wet climate that produces the natural green pastures that are well suited to grazing animals such as sheep. There are in excess of 11 million sheep in Wales and sheep farming accounted for 80% of Wales' agriculture in 2011. Evidence of sheep farming goes back to the Iron Age where dark-fleeced native sheep were raised mainly for wool production and only butchered for meat at a mature age. The Romans probably introduced the white sheep that when interbred with native types produced the different types of Welsh Mountain sheep. Large scale sheep-farming, again largely for wool, was established by the Cistercian monks, following their arrival into medieval Wales in the 11oo's. By 1660 Wales' woollen industry had become a major contributor to the country's economy, accounting for 60% of its exports. Welsh mutton was also popular, particularly as an ingredient in cawl (the national dish). In recent years, however, sheep farming in Wales has become less profitable. This is due to many factors including cheaper competition from abroad, its labour intensity, climate change and the threatened loss of EU subsidies. https://www.facebook.com/National-Hug-A-Sheep-Day-371004446357846/
Piscator non solum piscatur There is more to fishing than catching fish. Our club still water looking resplendent in its autumn livery. Also spotted a few flashes of electric blue as Kingfishers darted past. Too quick for a piccy.
