It’s Snowing in Manchester for a Change
Normally, it rains in Manchester, but tonight as I’m watching Manchester City play Fulham, it’s snowing.
Another disappointment for the Arabs, but at least it’s preferable to play in snow, than in forty degree heat, when they play the World Cup in Qatar.
Huhne Has Been Stupid
When it was first rumoured that Chris Huhne had got his wife to take some of his speeding points, I put up a post.
I said this.
It sounds to me that this case might end up with a more serious charge.
Whatever happened to the beloved criminal quote of “It’s a fair cop, officer!”
It now seems I was right too, as Chris Huhne has resigned with all sorts of consequences according to this report on the BBC.
If he’d taken his punishment at the time, he would now still be a member of the government.
The fact that he didn’t shows how naive he must be. After all, he must have realised that once the story got out he’d be finished, so why not cap the story at the time by losing his licence.
The Ways of Cowboy Builders
I’ve always found that the deeper I probe this house the more I find terrible examples of Jerry’s handiwork. I was talking at lunchtime, with the builder working on the house opposite and I happened to mention that there were no manuals for any of the appliances. He thought that typical, as if you can’t find where anything was bought, you can’t get back at him. I suppose it could almost mean that a lot of things fell of the back of a lorry. It also might mean, why we couldn’t find the serial number on the dish washer at first. I have now.
The Correct Term is a Light Engine
When you have just a railway engine travelling by itself, it is called a light engine!
One has caused chaos on the West Coast Main Line by getting itself derailed at Bletchley, as reported here on the BBC. But few reports have called it a light engine, most have called it a freight train, as it is owned by a company called Freightliner, although it is at present leased to Virgin Trains. So at least they can read, even if they don’t know the correct railway term.
The BBC report says this.
A spokesman for Network Rail said the Freightliner locomotive appeared to have approached a set of points at Bletchley south junction too fast.
This caused the tracks to buckle, damaged wooden sleepers and brought down some overhead cables.
There is as yet “no estimate for the completion of repairs and therefore it is not yet known whether services will continue to be affected on Sunday”, according to the National Rail Enquiries website.
As no-one seems to have been seriously hurt, but many have been seriously delayed and inconvenienced, this will turn out to be one of those stories that will run and run all the way to the Supreme Court. After all the engine wasn’t owned by Virgin Trains, but it was being run on their behalf.
So will Virgin Trains be suing themselves for all the compensation, they’ve paid out to passengers?
Incidentally, I usually go to see Ipswich at Coventry, but won’t be going today. I was going to go and get in by buying a ticket on the gate. But because of this light engine crash, I wouldn’t have been able to get to Coventry.
So should I add my case for compensation to the rest?
No! But, if I’d bought a ticket you could be rest ensured, I wouldn’t be a happy bunny, aif I’d been unable to get to Coventry!
What Do Fred Goodwin and Manchester City Have In Common?
They’ve both lost their title in the last couple of weeks.
Where is the Wunch Now?
So Fred Goodwin has got his comeuppance, but do you ever wonder where all the others, who are part of the same wunch of bankers as Fred, who got us into the financial mess are?
I am indebted to Citywire for the details.
It is interesting reading.
Mums Launch Student Home Swap Scheme
It’s all here on the BBC. And their web site is here at unihomeswap.co.uk.
As it says in the article it’s just returning to how it was done in the 1960’s, except that you didn’t actually swap.
For instance in my first year at Liverpool University, I was in digs at Huyton, which was quite a long bus ride to and from the City Centre. Students may moan about their lot these days, but we had a whole different set of moans and digs a long way from the University was one of them.
These days as I wander around London, it seems most students have their own room in a modern block, somewhere near their University or College. But then they are expensive.
Even when I got into Hall for the third year of my course, it was still a long way from the University.
Incidentally, C wasn’t very lucky with the digs she shared with a girl called Sandra and had terrible trouble finding something where they could stay. In one case, the landlord wasn’t a man, any sane father would let near his daughters.
I think it’s a good idea and I wish the designers of the site well.
The Anonymous Widower 