WTF-Beta

Visiting us for 6-9 months, he's a bit edgy despite being called Poppy. Not let me touch so far

@Daniel said:

@AndyD said:

So I was browsing the charity shops of Durham City, and found that one is moving. Selling off stock, 10 books/cds for a pound, to eliminate moving costs. 10p a book!
This is the most lovely gardening book, though for the larger English garden, I guess it can be applied anywhere.
MrsA is our gardener, I prune the trees, hedge, lawn. This is an inspirational book however, beautifully painted plans to go with photos...

I wonder why England has the best gardens with maybe Italy a close second followed by France. Or maybe it's a matter of personal taste and I'm biased in favor of England because I'm a native English speaker. Who knows. Beautiful book. Congrats.

Could be partly taste; Japan has lovely gardens, with small stone bridges over water, and I love their stone lanterns.

@Daniel said:

Sounds beautiful!

I stopped and took a photo of some daffs.
The circular bed on the left is mainly tulips with hyacinths. Left of that just out of shot is an old bed with hyacinths still flowering through the grass.

Trumpy certainly makes daily life interesting for the first world. But reaching our age we know the fleeting nature of politics and the far more important things to us in our own lives.

Expressed for example by Keats in a personal thought:

How can I, that girl standing there,
My attention fix
On Roman or on Russian
Or on Spanish politics?
Yet here’s a travelled man that knows
What he talks about,
And there’s a politician
That has both read and thought,
And maybe what they say is true
Of war and war’s alarms,
But O that I were young again
And held her in my arms!

Trying to negotiate with a fanatical terrorist regime who murders tens of thousands of its people for the slightest protest and with any excuse, has, quelle surprise, proved fruitless. What to do?

Trumps actions are usually unexpected so who can predict what will actually happen on Tuesday?

In London last weekend I got these in an Oxfam bookshop

Today I trawled four charity shops in a nearby town and spent a colossal £5.50 for these (six are really nice, including one on watercolour for MrsA, an interesting flower ID-by-month when they flower; the one with Harold King is a Folio Society from 1973 on the Bayeux Tapestry with complete photography, though Shining Sands will be my first read)

We need to reign in our desire and look at terraced houses, they are a lot more affordable.
Usually

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/172925441#/?channel=RES_BUY

Diesel ️ seen at £1.99.9/litre
Thats nine quid a gallon.
Though much of London has it around 1.85.

Of more concern...I drove into a petrol station in Barking and only one pump out of the six had diesel remaining! People are filling their tanks.

Couple of other things came to mind depending on what you need:
•Wet room, so practical, where the whole bathroom floor is waterproofed for a shower.
•A larger shower tray, we have 900x1200 in the downstairs bathroom, bought to accommodate dogs washing but the space is really nice to use. Of course the tray is raised an inch up from the floor but you can easily access & sit.
•They advertise baths (usually being used by some glamorous woman with a bad back?) with door and in-built seat. I've never seen but would worry about leakage. And baths are awkward to get in and out for everyone at the best of times, never mind helping someone else who can't manage.

The company my family used is Stannah
https://www.stannah.com/our-homelifts

Their stairlifts are electric powered, have controls built into the seat, and come with two remotes to call & work the chair movement.

Never seen any Homelift. Guessing they are way more convenient to use for wheelchair bound people who simply roll in and out, but way more expensive and messy to install.
On the other hand the homelift appears discreet if you have the space. I feel the stairlifts mess up your stairs making them slightly awkward for able bodied. And there's the less than attractive chair.
Suppose it depends on the disability, your house, taste.

Nice houses. And bargains, I'll take three please.

Yes, it's been a while since some truly attention worthy news, this is a day that will long be remembered.
For me it shows what we are capable of, what we could achieve in an ideal world.

I'm going to find the live feed mentioned

What's the purpose? You mention detoxification in passing?

As I understand things in the UK, you are legally obliged not to support terrorist organisations such as Hamas, Hezbollah.
These have been investigated
by our government and judged to be and designated terrorist organisations because of their stated intention and their proven actions.
E.g. for Hamas: intention to kill all Israelis, action send 3000 men into Israel to kill 1200 infants children women men and take 300 hostage. Legally designated.
This does not mean you are not allowed to support the people of Gaza verbally or financially.

Wandering the streets of London yesterday I called in here:
https://www.knivesfromjapan.co.uk/

Super shop close to Oxford Circus tube, massive range of makers to try in hand, plus cutting boards, sharpening stones.
Kid in a candy store!

I came out with a tiny Global gsf-18 which has a lovely balance due I think to the forged handle

and a French made Laguiole pocket knife, bone handle, small 8cm blade

In London for a few days:


I think this front garden hedge will be bright yellow in a few days

And Germany posed no imminent threat to Britain, but we still declared war because it was the right thing to do. We could have sat on our hands rearming until our Pearl Harbour moment occurred.

Interesting that you are so confident knowing Trump's mind that he is so totally influenced by Israel. Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

It is surely naive to believe the Iranian regime is a peaceful one with no nuclear weapon ambition. Look how many types of missiles they have already amassed, look how they have fired them at all their neighbours, even at their supposed friend Yemen.
Look how they located their nuclear research, not openly above ground, but in the deepest caverns out of sight and reach.

An Iranian regime which terrorises its own people, kills them openly in thousands on the street when they protest at the imposed fanatical religious laws; a regime which publicly hangs homosexuals, a regime which stones to death women prisoners under the pretext of them having committed illicit relationships.

I'll happily support anyone with the morals or means or will to help the people of Iran, who after all is said, wish for the democratic freedoms, human rights, education and opportunity we enjoy.
The right to speak and protest and elect as you or I may.

Actually... 20% is all that's needed for nuclear reactors

A dozen US soldiers are reported injured on a US base overnight, so the bases aren't all abandoned.

Yemen fired a missile at us last night so they are fair game.

You can't negotiate reasonably with fanatical terrorists who have been chipping away at our democracies since 1979 and before. They don't care about anyone else, have nothing to lose except power.
Trump needs to learn this, and also the true meaning of obliterate.

Perhaps the time has come to give these murdering fanatics of Iran a fair warning and then go 'Bomber Harris' on their butts: You sink any one ship and we'll obliterate any one of your 140 cities, plus of course the area from which the missile was fired.
Operation Meetinghouse#2

I was thinking go take back the Embassy