Mike Bellamy

Not always the case as the following two links show. This is on a roundabout near home which was installed to serve the new houses on the right. I lost count of the number of times the single chevron sign was demolished by cars going straight over the kerb, across the grass and rejoining the carriageway on the other side. This is in a 70mph zone. https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.9007669,-1.5563601,3a,75y,266.57h,85.15t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s-Y0hBFpeGpvc1JNkb2foBA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu Compare that with the second view showing another (larger) roundabout in an area that I regularly drive through - here the dual carriageway limit has been reduced to 40mph from 70mph (sign just behind the camera) and there are nine chevron signs - but even then I have seen evidence of drivers crashing into them ! https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@52.8966026,-1.198558,3a,75y,58.55h,80.97t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sP45ZQr_to0TEY_BO8aLdBA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en&entry=ttu .

Allow me to introduce you to an alternative image - A 25ft high "Dapper" sheep, dressed in an alternative style wool jacket. . . . . . . https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-68684297 .

A few years ago, when our local show still offered a pensioners' discount, I was on the door selling tickets when an old guy came down the corridor saying loudly "Bus Pass - Bus Pass" and waving his pass in the air. 'Thank you Sir, that will be £x' (can't remember prices but it was a kids rate so probably £2). He then spent several minutes building up a queue while he went into every pocket looking for his cash - how strange that he knew exactly where his bus pass was but didn't have any money ready. The next year we dropped the concessions and made kids free so everyone over 18 paid the same. .

Or does he build Airfix kits in his spare time - or has a Scalextric set up in the loft . . . we need to keep reminding ourselves that Hornby is not just about model railways. .

HMS Vengeance has just returned to Faslane after 201 days at sea - in fact 201 days under the sea if news reports are to be believed - said to be the second longest underwater deployment of a nuclear submarine - presumably with no support or logistics as that could / would give away their position. Not the sort of job I could do ! .

As shown in a Channel Five programme last year. Link to Army News and TV below https://www.army.mod.uk/news-and-events/news/2023/08/military-justice-on-the-small-screen/ https://www.channel5.com/show/court-martial-soldiers-behind-bars .

What an amazing garden they have created there - so much more than you would expect from a 'Vicarage' - but even the house is so much bigger than the average rural vicarage. Must wind up the I-Player later to watch the programme Glorious Gardens from Above which was on BBC2 earlier this morning. https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04t6tdz/glorious-gardens-from-above-13-norfolk Link below to East Ruston for anyone visiting Mr Q's part of East Norfolk. Looking at the map I would therefore guess that Ben (and TheQ) live somewhere in an overgrown garden between Happisburgh and Sea Palling - perhaps near Eccles - in which case several ERs enjoy your cakes !!😃 https://eastrustonoldvicarage.co.uk/ EDIT - changed the BBC link - which also includes Bressingham and the Broads so even more reasons to watch it as we plan to be in that area sometime over the summer. .

Last year I went to a small railway/museum which had a gala with a visiting loco as well as their own stock being used. For £3 more than the gala ticket, I joined the Society and got free admission for the rest of the year, discount in the shop and a magazine each quarter. .

If he's with Hurtigruten, then the most northerly port is Kirkenes where you can get an excursion to the Russian border. Interesting to see that Germany posted 100,000 troops there, and that after Malta it was the most bombed town during WW2 with 320 raids from USSR. We will be there mid April celebrating my "Three Score Years and Ten" but I'll keep well away from the border. https://www.hurtigruten.co.uk/ports/kirkenes/ .

I don't want to get you (or me) into more trouble by talking about unmentionables but I can't help but wonder about your comment "solid resin body" - is that really correct ? If it's a big as an A4 sheet, why not make it hollow and save the cost of an unnecessary amount of material ? .

Thanks - I blame the BBC as it's obvious that they got the info from Wikipedia and seem to have missed the fact that the private investor (Moorcroft Capital) was actually owned by another of the Douglas-Miller family and so still a descendant of Charles Jenner . . . . . . . BBC The new building opened in 1895 and was extended in 1903. Further extensions were added in the 1950s and 1960s. The building was sold to private investors in 2005 after House of Fraser bought the Jenners brand and property. It was then bought by Anders Holch Povlsen in 2017 for a reported £53m. WIKIPEDIA The lease of the building remained with the Jenners holding company JPSE Ltd, owned by the Douglas-Miller family. In August 2005 it was sold to Moorcroft Capital Management, owned by Jenners' former chief executive Robbie Douglas-Miller. In 2017 the building was bought by Danish billionaire fashion retailer and landowner in Scotland Anders Holch Povlsen, reportedly for £53 million. .

In my case, it's a right angle scar on the tip of the left index finger - caused by the corner of a corned-beef tin I was trying to open at a scout camp 55 years ago. I can still feel it tingling at times. .

40 years later (or thereabouts) I'm still Treasurer collecting cash - and we're going to Mablethorpe at Easter to visit No 1 son !! .

I always remember that we knew you as "Cash-me-a-Cheque" . . . . . . . . . That's how I feel as well . . . . . but as I will be "Three Score Years and Ten" next month, Mrs B insisted that we must have a special holiday and so we are going on the "Coastal Express" with Hurtigruten up and down the coast of Norway - stopping at 34 ports on the way up to beyond North Cape, and then all the way back again. This is a regular service and 24 hours ahead of you is another ship doing the same journey and one 24 hours behind you. Some of the stops are just for 20 minutes in the middle of the night but you might see the same port in daylight on the way back. Not a formal cruise as some passengers are just hopping from one fiord to another for work or family visits. Maximum number of passengers around 600 and during longer stops at larger ports such as Tromso and Trondheim there are excursions available as extras. I must admit that we were very lucky to see a "Black Friday" promotion and so got the actual cruise for half price . . . . . . . and despite my initial reservations, I'm now looking forward to the trip. https://www.hurtigruten.co.uk/destinations/norway/classic-round-voyage-bergen-kirkenes-bergen/#key-info .

@AY Mod he lived at Rangemore, near Burton upon Trent. @New Haven Neil he bought a Royal Enfield at the local bike shop in Burton Info from local news report in link below. https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/celebs-tv/shopkeepers-who-knew-bbc-hairy-9132815 I was rather surprised to learn of his former life as a make-up artist at the BBC for 23 years and that's where he met Si who was a director .