Formula One

I am very disappointed with Lewis Hamilton who is to move next season from McLaren to Mercedes.  I feel very much as I remember feeling when Wayne Rooney left Everton to go to Manchester United - whatever happened to loyalty?  Rooney had been nurtured by Everton, just as Hamilton has been by McLaren.  Am I old-fashioned in thinking that both owed a debt to those who had made them what they are - a debt which both of them in their way have conspicuously failed to honour.

To Sir, with love

15-year-old schoolgirl runs off to France (willingly as it appears) with her 30-year-old married maths teacher.  Has any offence been committed?  The police clearly think so, as they have issued an international arrest warrant against the teacher, and in fact he has now been arrested in France under its authority.  So why?  Well the warrant cites "child abduction".  OK, as she is 15, the girl is legally a minor, but abduction?  It seems to be accepted that she went with him willingly, so how can there be any question of abduction?  And when they get back to this country, what then?  They will presumably want to continue seeing each other - is the law going to try and stop them?  Unless there are things we are not being told, the authorities seem to have chosen a very heavy-handed approach which I feel is only going to make a difficult situation worse.

Cheers!

Halfpenny Green - near Wolverhampton - has traditionally been known for its airport, but is now becoming famous for its vineyard.  They've been making wine there for many years, but apparently the weather last autumn was perfect for grape production, and they've come up with a stunning red wine made from Rondo grapes and with an ABV of 15% which is getting rave reviews.  Mind you, at £15 a bottle, I'm afraid it's outside my price range!  One other thing - I've always pronounced it Hayp'ny Green, like the coin, but some presenters on the TV  news - including the local news - are pronouncing it as written.  How do the inhabitants say it?

Sorry Sir, your car has failed the breathalyser!

A couple of years ago I posted about a Scottish distillery which had come up with a way of turning their waste product into methane gas, which could then be used to power their machinery.  Now we have a story of another distillery up there which has entered into a partnership to convert their useless byproducts into butanol, which can be used to fuel cars.  What struck me most forcibly is that apparently 90%  of what a distillery produces is of no use and normally thrown away.  What a waste!

Further update

Well, I've had my Kindle for nearly two years now, and I certainly wouldn't be without it.  I still buy the occasional paperback when there's a good offer on, but where the Kindle has really come into its own is when I go on holiday - instead of weighing down my case with around half a dozen paperbacks to last me a fortnight, I just load up the Kindle with more than enough books to keep me going.  I always think the acid test of any gadget is - if it broke, would I replace it?  And as far as the Kindle is concerned, the answer is a definite yes.

Well I never!

The Government has spent something like a couple of million quid on a survey to find out what makes people happy, and the answer, surprise surprise, appears to be money!  The better off are happier, and the poorer are unhappier.  This is not, I suspect, the result the Government were hoping for, but I think most of us could have told 'em that for nowt!  You remember that old saying - money can't buy you happiness, but it sure takes the edge off being miserable.

The story continues...

This Andrew Mitchell business (see last Saturday's post) won't go away, will it?  As is so often the case, I think the most pertinent question is not being asked (or if it is, I've missed it) and that is, why did the police refuse to allow him to ride his bike out of the main gates, as apparently he was used to doing?  An approach I find useful when trying to get to the bottom of something, is to think in terms of a domino race - you know, where each domino knocks the next in line down.  And what you look for is the first domino - the one that starts the whole thing off - and here, that clearly was the decision of the police to not allow him to use the main gate.  Everything followed from that.  So why?  After all, the Chief Whip is one of only three members of the government to have offices in Downing Street, and I hardly think they would have refused to let the Prime Minister or the Chancellor (if in fact he rides a bike) go through the main gate.  So was this in fact just a matter of mistaken identity?  After all, he's only been in post a week or two and maybe he wasn't recognised?  In which case, I would think apologies are due from both sides.

Be careful what you wish for...

I should keep my big mouth shut!  Just the other day I was musing about whether BT would be putting their charges up to help pay for the money they have had to outlay to get the rights to show premiership rugby, and now I've had my quarterly bill with a little flyer which tells me - you've guessed it - that they are increasing their prices from next January.  Nice one!!

So what?

The Government Chief Whip, Andrew Mitchell, is apparently facing calls for him to resign, following an altercation he had with police manning the gates to Downing Street the other evening.  Can you see a connection, 'cause I'm blowed if I can? Presumably the Prime Minister appointed him as Chief Whip because he considered he had the characteristics necessary for the job, and I'm sure that good relations with the police never came into it.  How does the fact that he bad-mouthed a policemen make him any more or less fit to hold his post?  The opposition of course are out to make trouble, as is their wont - you might even say their job - but the only question relevant to him staying in his job is - is he good at it?  And, given the nature of the post you might think that a tendency to fly off the handle is a plus point rather than a minus one.

Nostalgia

A story about a shop in Warwick which had remained virtually unchanged for over 100 years going out of business because it could not compete in the modern world brought to mind a name which I am sure will ring a bell with many in my neck of the woods - Snapes of Wolverhampton.  This was a tea and coffee shop in Queen Street which had been trading there since the end of the 19th century and its charm was that the fixtures and fittings were basically still as they were all that time ago.  All the teas and coffees were sold loose and kept in jars and drawers behind the counter and your purchase would be wrapped in paper and tied with string which hung down from a ball in the ceiling - this in itself was a work of art, and people would come miles for the experience.  Sadly for various reasons, there was nobody to take it over when the last tenants retired, and in 2002 it closed and the contents were sold at auction.  Nothing remains but the memory.