eastglosmog

He was my brother - Simon and Garfunkel

I suppose technically it is smarter than your average motorway, still seems rather dumb to me!

Driving down the M1 yesterday in pouring rain. Near Trowell services the overhead signs said "Salt spreading"!

Wouldn't defeat my cat - she is over a yard long and quite capable of jumping that high!

I have no complaint about people carrying an ID card if they want to. Very much object to somebody demanding that I do.

Lord of the Dance - Sydney Carter

Should also have mentioned Pope and Karau's Forest of Dean Branch, vols 1 and 2 (Wild Swan) which also have details of a number of collieries. Many of the Forest coal mines were pretty small.

If you want to try a Forest of Dean mine, try the Severn and Wye Railway books (Vols 2,3 and 4) which have detailed descriptions of many of the collieries. Archive magazine also has often had articles on collieries.

Been seeing lots of Ads for grammar checkers come up - its getting me paranoid that my missives are unintelligible!

Songs for our time - Flanders and Swann

Regarding the last two, whatever happened to the season of peace and goodwill!

Hydrogen Sulfide (sewer gas), a component of sulfurous gas emissions from volcanoes, is toxic and can be fatal (when it gets above the level you can smell it). Quite likely to accumulate in enclosed craters. I remain surprised people were allowed into the crater. Volcano hazard levels go from 0 (inactive) to 4 (erupting). This was only a very minor eruption, but still deadly if you are too close. I believe the USGS did their best to keep people away from the perceived danger areas around Mt St Helens (although the danger area proved bigger than they anticipated) and (so far as I know) no one was in the volcano crater at the time. Several of the fatalities were due to people ignoring USGS advice.

Very sad to see the deaths and injuries, but do people never pay any attention to how volcanoes behave and how unpredictable they can be? The crater of an active volcano that has recently started to become more active is no place to be. Zig-zaging round closed half barriers is more sensible.

The Manchester Rambler - Ewan McColl

Over the hills and far away - trad

Roses of Picardy - June Tabor

Oh, when I was in love with you - A. E. Housman (words) R. Vaughan Williams (music)

If I gave my dearest female friend underwear for Christmas, she would make a very catty remark. Like many felines, she much prefers a tin of Tuna!

Sorry to read of your loss, Jim. Maine C00ns are special and loosing them is a big wrench.

Could you form a 3 in thick by 6in wide concrete slab on the wall, rising up to about 1ft 6in above ground level? You could fix the keypad back plate to the concrete whilst the concrete is drying, to save on the drilling work, which can be quite a job (had to fix one to my mothers house recently). Operators will have to bend down a bit, though.

Sounding Brass - Flanders and Swann

It's still there - see Google Street view at 52.726987° -3.048066°, looking NE. driven past it many times going to Criggion Quarry, but never stopped to photograph it!

The Blaydon Races - Geordie Ridley

Bright College days - Tom Lehrer

Look into my eyes - Bryan Adams