Good morning El Loro.
I finally managed to see Saturday's episode of Doctor Who (BBC1 was playing up on Saturday night) and I thought it was an excellent end to the series. I can't wait for the new series to start.

I'm going out with my eldest son and DiL to do some strawberry picking today, so I'll catch up with you later.

				UV	Pressure	Rain	Cloud	Dir	Speed	Weather
Mon 28 Jun	Morning	19 °c	20 °c	4	1021 mb	0.0 mm	36 %		3 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	22 °c	20 °c	8	1021 mb	2.2 mm	49 %		9 mph
	Evening	13 °c	13 °c	0	1019 mb	0.7 mm	95 %		7 mph
Tue 29 Jun	Morning	17 °c	17 °c	1	1020 mb	0.8 mm	100 %		7 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	22 °c	23 °c	5	1020 mb	0.2 mm	64 %		8 mph
	Evening	10 °c	10 °c	0	1020 mb	0.0 mm	94 %		2 mph
Wed 30 Jun	Morning	18 °c	19 °c	2	1019 mb	0.0 mm	96 %		3 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	22 °c	22 °c	5	1017 mb	0.0 mm	97 %		6 mph
	Evening	14 °c	13 °c	0	1014 mb	0.0 mm	53 %		6 mph
Thu 1 Jul	Morning	18 °c	17 °c	1	1010 mb	0.5 mm	100 %		10 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	18 °c	15 °c	2	1009 mb	3.8 mm	100 %		10 mph
	Evening	13 °c	13 °c	0	1007 mb	12.9 mm	100 %		6 mph
Fri 2 Jul	Morning	18 °c	18 °c	4	1011 mb	1.0 mm	4 %		7 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	20 °c	20 °c	6	1014 mb	0.0 mm	92 %		8 mph
	Evening	12 °c	12 °c	0	1019 mb	0.0 mm	98 %		3 mph
Sat 3 Jul	Morning	18 °c	19 °c	4	1023 mb	0.0 mm	2 %		4 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	21 °c	21 °c	8	1024 mb	0.0 mm	10 %		6 mph
	Evening	10 °c	10 °c	0	1025 mb	0.0 mm	74 %		3 mph
Sun 4 Jul	Morning	15 °c	14 °c	0	1024 mb	0.0 mm	100 %		6 mph
In Detail	Afternoon	18 °c	16 °c	1	1023 mb	1.5 mm	100 %		8 mph
	Evening	14 °c	14 °c	0	1022 mb	0.2 mm	88 %		5 mph
Mon 5 Jul	Morning	18 °c	18 °c	4	1020 mb	0.0 mm	63 %		7 mph

Quite a contrast in our region (North Devon) with some of those shown earlier, I prefer mine!

Good morning Yogi I thought it was good as well and quite clever in how it managed to tie in bits from previous episodes in. I saw it on BBC1 on the Saturday (I'd taped it and saw it after the Andy Murray match), and we had no problems in this part of the country. It's just as well you've got BBC3 to fall back on for the repeat.

Have a good strawberry picking time

Squiggle, I quite agree though my current forecast in Gloucester is now similar to yours apart from we don't have that wet Thursday. The web site we've been taking our postings is fairly accurate for the first 2 or 3 days but then it gets less reliable. If you notice, this site also gives you a forecast for the following week (when it's working) and frankly that is so unreliable that I would never trust it.

The site gets updated a few times each day and on both Saturday and yesterday the forecast late afternoon, say around 5) were the ones which showed absured wind speeds. So you may want to see what your local forecast is around that time just for a joke (if their bug is continuing). Yesterday's joke forecast had wind speeds in excess of 300 mph in our area throughout the day which is impossible (short of an end of the world apocalypse).Of course by the time of the next update the wind speeds had gone back down to normal.

Hi El Loro The website in question is, I find, somewhat less accurate than the BBC on weather in our region.  Often I have compared the 2 and found that the BBC is spot on with the other one way out.  The windspeeds would have been interesting to say the least if that had been down here I could have stepped outside with a brolly and been whisked over to The Gower Coast in no time provided that was the prevailing wind direction of course.  Incidentally the bit on coins earlier on on here have led me to eBay coins department and there is one lot in particular I have my eye on, aww threepenny bits, they have the whole of the pre-decimalisation coin range for a reasonable sum.  I have a bun penny here (somewhere ) I will have to go searching.  Would never part with them though, the bun penny was my husband's.

Hi squiggle I didn't print the windspeeds for the Sunday rubbish forecast which showed speeds for most of the time next weekend in excess of 300 mph. The fastest speed ever recorded on this planet is 301 mph for 3 seconds in a tornado in Oklahoma. If we ever did have windspeeds over 300 mph for hours on end, there would be nothing left above the rocks beneath the surface of the earth. The only way to survive would be to be underground in caves, and that would only be if you were well above sea level. I didn't post those figures because they could have terrified people.

Maybe your bun penny and my bun penny have run away together which is why we can't find them. In due course they could produce lots of little bun farthings

Awww what do you want to be when you grow up?  A bun half-penny

Today's weather forecast:for this area

Day	From	Until	Temp	Feels	UV	Rain	Cloud	Dir	Speed	Gust	Weather
Tue 29 Jun	7:00	9:59	21 °c	21 °c	3	0.0 mm	63 %		10 mph	12 mph
	10:00	12:59	229 °c	573 °c	5	1038.7 mm	100 %		593 mph	672 mph
	13:00	15:59	22 °c	23 °c	7	0.7 mm	51 %		7 mph	9 mph
	16:00	18:59	22 °c	22 °c	6	1.0 mm	65 %		5 mph	6 mph
	19:00	21:59	21 °c	16 °c	0	0.0 mm	100 %		5 mph	6 mph
	22:00	0:59	12 °c	11 °c	0	0.0 mm	67 %		4 mph	5 mph

I'm a little bit concerned about this morning though

(Though it's just possible I might have been a bit creative

From time to time I have a quick look at this forum's list of members to see how many points I have (not that it means anything). This is a snapshot I have just taken.


This is genuine and I have not doctored it in anyway. It is impossible for this to be anything other than one of the most extraordinary coincidences of all time.
Check it out for yourselves - it's on page 6, but of course as the number of points is changing all the time so this coincidence can only be temporary.

I've just returned in my car from doing a bit of local shopping about a mile away and there were 4 distractions/obstacles on the way.
The second was a slow moving council cleaning vehicle so I took a different route. I went about 100 yards.
Then came to the third which was an even larger slow moving cleaning vehicle so I took a detour and drove on, and then turned left.
Then I came to the fourth which was a combine harvester (what it was doing there I don't know because I am in the suburbs) and so I was stuck behind that until it went right so I went left, came to the crossroads and turned right. I had timed it just right because that cleaning vehicle was waiting to come and I got in front of it.

You probably noticed I hadn't mentioned the first distraction and what a distraction it was! It's just aw well that I hadn't got to my car yet though as in front of me looking through a car window at her boyfriend was a young woman not wearing a lot. If I mention that famous poster of a tennis player, you'll get the idea. Of course being a gentleman I just walked passed without looking or saying anything so as not to embarrass her, and a few seconds later when I came passed in the car she and the car had gone.

You still with us El Loro, those winds were pretty fierce

I think I know the poster you mean. What a real gentleman you are.

Yes, I'm still here - just before 10 I flew straight up into the sky, and rested on a nice comfy cloud until it was calm below, and then I came down again. That's the advantage of being a parrot. Of course I was able to continue working whilst I was on the cloud. Cloud computing is quite popular nowadays. Of course unless you have a laptop, you need a really long lead.

It was just as well I had done all that work to my house over the last few months, because it survived the 600 miles an hour winds without a scratch.

Yes, it's that one Wikipedia even has an article (Tennis Girl) on the poster.

Good afternoon

I see that Ray Harryhause, the man behind the special effects for many films during the 1950s onwards like the various Sinbad films and the original Clash of the Titans is donating his life's work to the National Media Museum in Bradford, if the museum can find the funds to preserve the work. This would be quite a coup for the museum considering that Harryhausen is American.

This BBC article has more.

Today's major news which will shake the world is that Wonder Woman has changed her outfit. This is the new image. But then she has been wearing the same outfit since 1941. I wonder what Lynda Carter would have to say about this.

Hello El Loro
I think I prefer Lynda Carter's outfit to the new one.

Hello Yogi I agree with you. Apparently the people behind the comic want to give Wonder Woman a tougher and more modern appearance, though if the readers of the comic get upset, they may have to go back to the way she was.

A man who built a house made from bales of straw in the Forest of Dean has been allowed to keep his house even though he never got planning permission for residential use, just for temporary educational purposes. But any outbuildings will have to be demolished.

Is that house really made from bales of straw? It looks a lot better than many houses built from conventional materials.
I'm glad the planners have given him a reprieve, it would have been a real shame if he'd had to demolish it.

That's what I read - I think he must have coated the outside walls though, because I don't think you get pink straw. You can see that the roof is made of straw from the photo. Unfortunately that's the only photo I saw and as it's small we can't see much detail.

I've just had a frustrating phone call with someone who I did his tax returns a few years ago. He and his wife want to sell their shares and wanted me to work out what capital gains tax would be payable. Although he only has about 4 different lots of shares, his wife has over 20, and these shares were bought years ago.

I said that to work out the tax they would need to let me know for each shareholding what they cost, when were they bought, and roughly what was the current market value (what are they now worth).

My frustatration was that he is incapable of understanding what I've just said, I tried several times over half an hour to explain this, but he admitted that he did not understand this. He even asked me to put in writing so that he could study it over a few days to see if he could understand it. I had got to the point when I said that I wouldn't write because if he couldn't understand the the lines above over the phone, he wouldn't be able to in writing because I couldn't explain it any more simply. I told him that I was unable to help him and to find someone else that he could undertstand. (We are both English, so there's no possibility of him not being fluent in Englsih).

In 40 years of being an accountant, this is only the second time I have found myself in not being able to make a client explain what it was I needed, and the other time was very complicated.

Do you think I was being unreasonable or that what I needed was too complicated to understand?

Per this BBC news item, American scientists are expecting to be able to launch a car next year which blind people will be able to drive independently. The car will be fitted with a variety of non-visual aids to for instance detect curves in the road or obstacles.

The prototype is expected be be publicly tested by a blind driver on the Daytona race track in Florida next January.

Even if such a car materialises and is passed as legal to drive on public roads, I would have thought the cost would be huge.

I don't think you were being unreasonable and I understood what you were telling him.
I've read your post to hubby, and he said it all sounded perfectly simple to him too.

Do you think they would ever be permitted to sell cars which would be driven by blind people, El Loro?

Thanks for that reassurance  - I have since emailed that client to say why I was unable to help him because if he doesn't understand what I said, he won't be able to get the information or worse he would give me the wrong figures resulting in me giving him the wrong amount of tax say £2000 and him then going ballistic in a year's time when the right figures are used and he land up by paying say £20000. Guess who he would expect to cough up the difference.

I went shopping in M&S this morning and bumped into a woman who works in an accountants office, and I told her the same story. She totally agreed with me - I jokingly said that I had given the client her number so she could expect a call on Monday - she knew I was joking.

When I emailed the client I suggested to him that he should talk to another financial advisor about whether it was a good idea to sell the shares and reinvest in other shares. The reason he wants to sell is that they fallen in value. The client doesn't have the intelligence to realise that if he sells the existing shares, then what is at present a possibly temporary loss on paper becomes an actual real loss, and of course the chances are that the advisor he's got would be getting a nice fat commission out of the deal if it goes ahead. I am not legally allowed to give advice on shares to people as I would have to be registered with the Financial Services people, so I am not allowed to tell him this, but hopefully someone can point this out to him. The vast majority of my clients are fine, but this one is a bit of a liability.

I think the authorities in this country would be ultra cautious about this - I think at the very least they would have to insist on an incredibly tough driving test. But what about someone who has come here from abroad with one of these cars?

I would feel a bit more relaxed about cars where the driving was automated by computers - VW have been working on this in Germany - shadows of Kitt from Knight Rider.

I've just realised that there is a way to leave messages for Figtree to look at when she comes back. It's so obvious that I could kick myself for not having thought of it for the 23rd June. For those who wish to why not leave a message for her on her wall. Click here to go straight to her wall. I've posted this here rather than on Freddie Fanclub becuase that is closed and should remain closed.

I've put a little message on her wall and also included a link there direct to the page on Freddie Fanclub where our birthday messages are.

We hear of large companies having gigantic deficits on their employees pensions funds. Diageo have come up with a rather unusual idea of plugging their pension fund deficit. They are going to transfer millions in poinds worth of their maturing whisky into the pension funds. By the time the whisky has matured, it will be worth a lot more so the pension funds will be able to sell it on at a substantial profit, thus plugging the gap.

Of course, the success of this will depend on those looking after the whisky not being tempted to "sample" the stock.

Yesterday my broadband connection failed totally all day long. But I've been able to get it back today at least for the time being. At least I've been able to get my emails.

My next door neighbours have just had a big flare up with breakfast crockery flying The wife has a red hot temper and she had got into her car and driven off with her daughter. I'm not sure she should be driving whilst she is still in a rage as she'll have so much adrenaline and anger pouring through her that she won't be concentrating.

It's not the first time this has happened - I keep out of it because as far as I know it's just a verbal slanging match rather than fists flying.

This is the post I had intended to post on Monday.

On Sunday evening I saw a film "Be Kind Rewind" which was on channel 5. Being an Amercian comedy made in the last few years and being shown late evening on Channel 5 I wasn't expecting much. However, although the film seems to be a bit round the bend to start off with as the film progresses I got more and more drawn into it. And I thoroughly enjoyed the film and think it is one of the best comedies from the States in many many years.

It is one of those rare films which leaves you feeling happy and there is a real sense of community spirit which reminded me of some of the classic Frank Capra films (such as It's a Wonderful Life) and Ealing comedies such as Passport to Pimlico. And also there's nothing offensive in the film.

So if you get a chance to see this film, watch it - it's a gem. And even if you find the film slightly offputting to start with, give it a chance.

Your neighbours sound a bit volatile, El Loro.
However, if their rows are verbal rather than physical, you are probably right to stay out of it.
I agree, the wife really shouldn't be driving when she is in a rage, especially with her daughter in the car.

I didn't see the fim on CH5 but I will look out for it.

I've never fancied that film El Loro, sounds silly to me, but if you say so.

It's the wife who has the red hot temper, and I know from personal experience of her that it doesn't take much. At least they seem to make up afterwards fairly quickly.

I agree that the basic plot of the film is very silly, and it took me some time to get into the film. But after the first section, once they start making their "sweded" films it becomes delightful and there is a genuine warmth and affection in the film which is so rare in modern films. Of course it helps if you have seen some of the films they re-create - the first being Ghostbusters.

I hope you sent her on her way.

Following on from some talk about old currency that we had in here I have bought some old pre-decimal currency from eBay.  It came this morning. Now this is real money.  It is so so satisfying a real weight to it.  Its lovely to see threepenny bits again and half-crowns.  I had forgotten how lovely sixpences were.  Forgive the ravings of an old fool but it is lovely to have these in my possession again.  I should have held on to some.  I wonder what other things we regret not hanging onto.

I know I have posted this before somewhere but can't remember which thread.

Almost 40 years ago I was in a science fiction book shop in Bristol. The owners told me about this local writer who had just published his first book and they recommended it. So I bought it, but when I read it I thought it was rubbish and gave it away.

It was the Colour of Magic by Terry Pratchett - first edition, now worth up to £5000.

Just to let you know that film Be Kind Rewind is being shown again this afternoon at 5.20 on Channel 5.

Thank you El Loro, I will record it and watch it later.

A British composer Michael Zev Gordon has written a choral work called Allele. The singers sing notes based on the human genome. This is a link to a BBC article where you can listen to them rehearsing.

Frankly I think it's a waste of time and effort - to me, but then I'm only a parrot, it sounds like caterwauling.

This is possible the most unbelievable post I've made in this thread, outdoing my strange weather forecasts.

Madonna is going to direct a film which she has co-written called "W.E." It's about Edward VIII's wife Wallis Simpson. The cast includes the likes of James Fox, his son Laurence Fox who appears in Lewis and James D'Arcy. Andrea Riseborough, best known for playing former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in BBC drama The Long Walk to Finchley, will play Simpson.

I don't think Madonna will appear in the film, and the first assistant director has got some pedigree being involved with films such as Pride and Prejudice and Miss Potter, and more recently the Cranford television series so he would seem to be a sensible choice.

If this was being directed by an established director, I would assume that this could have the potential for another British modern classic, but Madonna is going to have to go some way to convince the critics and the public. I'm glad I'm not an angel (the name for a film financier) for this film.