The Lurker

The protests about the link to the Channel Tunnel went back further than HS1; there were objections to the original planned route in the 70’s along the old SER mainline past Tonbridge and diverting towards London somewhere IIRC near Edenbridge. I remember my English teacher telling us that they’d used out-of-date maps when planning and so this route took it across a newly finished housing estate - the planners were embarrassed at a public meeting. I have vague memories of the plans being displayed in the church hall in Paddock Wood but probably was only there because I liked trains!

Good luck to Rick with the move…

I think our council will collect if you put the dead animal on the edge of your property and let them know. Bromley certainly do

Relived my student days at the Roundhouse last night, seeing The Sisters of Metcy. Ghost in the machine?

I doubt "sack" is used for sherry or madeira these days either. I am not sure I have heard much effort to pronounce champagne as anything other than "shampain". Certainly not "shampanya" as I assume the French do

It's a historic thing. the names of countries and cities have been anglicised for centuries; newer or less important places (historically) weren't familiar enough to get anglicised. Not just French place either; it would not surprise me if half the places in the old Hanseatic league have anglicised names. We certainly anglicised the pronunciation of places in WWI - the Wipers Times being a a famous example. And other words too; allegedly "plonk" came from "plink plonk" which in turn was from "vin blanc". As you say the French do it too with Londres and Douvres and Pay de Galle, L'Ecosse, Les Pays-Bas, l'Allemagne, amongst others.

according to HMRC if you are director, you are also an employee for PAYE purposes. this doesn't mean that you need to be paid; but it does mean any remuneration you get needs to be subjected to PAYE. There are a number of minor exceptions to this rule. This doesn't necessarily hold true for other countries, where main board directors are taxed as if they were self-employed professionals, Germany being a case in point.

American tax reforms are full of sunset clauses - when the benefits expire unless renewed - it’s all about getting a change through the houses while not falling foul of budget constraints.

There did seem to be a large gaggle of fresh dancing girls (and boys) when I drove to Younger Lurker to school this morning

I have to add that Younger Lurker has an almost complete aversion to potatoes in any form. He might pick at the odd chip but that’s about it. He gets pasta with black pepper and Parmesan with his steak instead of chips…

on Covid jabs, my parents, who live in a town of around 10,000 people are unable to get a covid jab in the town. But they are able to book a jab in a village of about 3,000 a few miles away. There's not a reliable bus service and in any case it would take my old man and his version of The Hip about 25 minutes to get to the bus stop. The bloke next door who gave them a lift in the past has now sadly died. So they're hoping the even older bloke over the road, who still drives, is also going to get a jab and can give them a lift too. Either that or they'll have to ask the famous actor* who lives over the road. Quite why the medical centre in the town can't do it is anybody's guess....they have offered the flu jab. * can't be that famous because he lives over the road from my parents in a 1960's housing estate. Still, he has been on The Bill and Waterloo Road, apparently.

Get well soon Baz.

Even since Brexit, unless you can get a preferential tariff it is not economically viable to import sugar into the UK. We do it rarely and then as importer of record for a small margin. Apart from organic sugars where the premium is better. on the water table front, London’s tube system is at risk from rising levels due to the general fall in industrial activity in the Thames Valley over the last 50 years

And the report says that most of the damage was in Liverpool- so perhaps that is what I recall from the News at the time. I have never been to Liverpool but I have been to Wrexham!

A quick google suggests it might have been the Llyn peninsula earthquake of 1984, magnitude 5.4. Maybe the same one as Hroth

I experienced one back in the 80s back home in Kent. It sounded like my Dad had run downstairs. It took me a while to click I was the only one in! The next day I found there had been one with an epicentre near Liverpool IIRC magnitude 3.5

Well she pleaded not guilty so perhaps she believes she didn’t murder them. and as PB says, she has a full life term so it is the only way she will ever get freedom.

I saw an MG 4 for the first time today. I thought someone had driven into the back of it; but then I realised it was designed that way…

I never watched it when it was a “serious” car show - I’m not much into cars - but somewhere along the line I got into it and both Lurker boys have had their moments enjoying it too

The 1948 challenge with Tornado The one where they try to cross the channel to beat Beardy Branson the motorhome one where Jeremy has a grand designs type car on the GT front, the very latest episode "Eurocrash" made me laugh a lot, as did the Colombia specials - and many others

I blame changing their name from Wilkinson to Wilko. 😜

The Crazy Frog?

But did they check pancreas “now”? Glad that they think it is not the Big C

I thought you were referring to the old Live TV show "The Weather In Norwegian".

WFH today - Younger Lurker's school is closed because it is being used as an exam centre for the out-of-borough kids taking the 11+. Yes it's 11+ time already. Cue memories from those of us either old enough to have done it or who lived in areas that retained it long after it was generally got rid of...the Boring Borough still has 4 grammar schools, with about 800 places a year between them. There were over 8,000 entrants last time around, and about 1500 actually passed. So there's quite a shortfall. although one assumes that quite a bit of this is filled by children from further afield - there are various admission criteria, but unless you're in the top 180 children, the main one is distance from the school (there are others that trump this). But there is no priority for Boring Borough pupils. the schools are nearer the southern side of the borough, so kids who live in the north of Bromley borough or even in Kent probably have a better chance than a bright spark in Thamesmead.