Ding dong

Bishop's Castle is a pretty market town in Shropshire, close to the Welsh border in what is known as the Welsh Marches.  I've been there a few times - my wife had friends in Craven Arms and when we used to visit it was one of the places we would go to.  I can't say I remember the town hall clock but apparently it chimes every quarter-hour and this is now causing a bit of a local ruckus, with the town's main hotel asking that it be silenced during the night as it is disturbing its guests.  Seems reasonable to me, but in places like this tradition is very important, and the locals are queuing up to oppose such a move.  Given that the town depends heavily on tourism I would have thought that that should be the primary consideration - after all, most public chiming clocks are switched off between midnight and dawn.

Missing a trick?

As someone who is well aware than I drink more than is healthy for me, but who enjoys a bottle of wine, I was interested to hear that a couple of well-known wine makers are bringing out a range of 5.5% ABV (alcohol by volume) bottles of.....well, that's the problem - under EU law you can't call it wine unless it's at least 8.5% ABV. Mind you, I haven't tried any, mainly because it costs the same as the real stuff, and if I'm going to pay that price I might as well get maximum bangs for my buck.

Closing down - everything must go!!

"Was £750 - now only £350" - does anybody really take any notice of such adverts? Does anybody really think "Ooh, what a bargain - I can't pass that up!".  I find it difficult to believe, but the fact that the Office of Fair Trading is demanding that six (unnamed) high street stores justify these sort of statements, or stop using them, suggests that there are those who are taken in by them.  Surely the only question is - am I prepared to pay £350 for it (whatever it is).  What it may or may not have been on sale for previously is of no consequence.  This is the here and now.

Do they have an away strip?

We're used to the idea of football teams changing their kit every year as a money-making exercise, but it seems that schools are now getting in on the act. My local primary has advised parents that as from the new school year, their uniform will be changing, and all pupils must turn up in the new uniform or face disciplinary action. And of course it goes without saying that the uniform must be bought from the school's approved supplier, who just happens (surprise, surprise) to be the most expensive shop in town!  What a con!!

Somebody sure seems to have got it in for them.

I'm sorry to come back to the story of the teacher and the young girl who ran away together to France, but I think I must be missing something.  He is now in gaol, she is now 16, and clearly wishes to go on seeing him.  She has not, as far as I have been able to ascertain, been taken into care, and indeed it is difficult to see how there could be grounds for doing so, and yet the local authority have apparently decreed that she should not be allowed to see him until she is 18.  By what authority?? Like I say - am I missing something?

Beware crossing the bridge.

When is a troll not a troll?  I think a distinction can, and should be made between someone who is saying "I know this may upset you, but this is the way I see it.." and someone who is saying "I am saying this because I know it will upset you".  The second is a troll, but what about the first?  I've said before that in my opinion true freedom of speech must necessarily include the right to upset and offend, but where that becomes the primary objective then that is where I feel the line is crossed. Problem is that the line can at times be very vague and indistinct.

Bloody and unbowed.

I like a piece of steak - not that I can afford it that often today with the price of beef being what it is, but when I do have it, I like it rare.  As my wife would say I "like to see the blood following the knife".  But it seems that health inspectors are advising restaurants that they should not serve beef (or duck, or liver or kidney) pink because of the danger of food poisoning.  How have we managed to survive all these years?  What about steak tartare?  What sort of a wimpy, milksop society are we turning in to?  God, take me home - I've had enough of this.

R.I.P.

Marian McPartland - like George Shearing, born in England, went over to the US and made it as a top class jazz pianist.  I've said it before, but thank God for recording technology, which means that, although she is no longer with us, her music lives on.

Got it wrong?

Stonehenge in the news again following a court action taken by one King Arthur Pendragon, a Druid leader to have human remains which were excavated there re-interred.  It is of course less then two months ago that Druids and other assorted types gathered there to celebrate the summer solstice.  Leaving aside for the moment that any connection between Stonehenge and the Druids is tenuous to say the least, it always strikes me that if in fact the site was created as some sort of solar calendar, then they are celebrating the wrong solstice.  Think about it - if you are primitive man, you have experienced the way the days gets longer and warmer and then shorter and colder, but you have no understanding as to whether this pattern will continue - you just hope it will.  So which are you more likely to celebrate - that it's the middle of summer and the days will be getting shorter, or that it's the middle of winter and they will be getting longer?  No-brainer, isn't it? So if the site was in fact used in this way, I am confident that it would be the winter solstice that it would have been used to celebrate. Mind you, it's a bit chilly to be standing around in the middle of a field in December so perhaps that has something to do with the fact that modern Druids choose to gather there in mid-summer.

Aaaargh....!

Pub quiz question the other week - which film actor has died the most times in their movies?  Our team decided that the answer would most probably be someone who had made his name playing "baddies" in horror films - and Vincent Price was the name which sprang to mind. Wrong - but good guess apparently.  Price holds third place, but is beaten by another horror film actor of a previous generation - Bela Lugosi. Both of them however have to give way to John Hurt who has apparently "died" no less than 40 times in his films.