Man Hunt
I’ve been wanting to catch this episode of Dad’s Army for some years. I can only ever remember seeing it once with C and that would have probably been in the 1990s. I can also remember her roaring with laughter, when our intrepid heroes acquired a tracker dog, which suitably for them was an English Setter. Two of the English setters, we had are shown in this post, which makes the episode even funnier for me. Some dogs are comedians, but English setters are almost the most natural straight-men of the dog world.
I found this on a page of English setter trivia.
English Setters are excellent with children. They make very good family dogs. However, they make terrible watchdogs . They are almost excessively friendly and will wag their tails and try to make friends with anyone who comes to your house. They may sleep through someone trying to break in. This is not the dog to get if you are looking for protection.
It sums the breed up well. I always remember the time, we mated our dog, Charlotte. Her husband-to-be had a very grand pedigree, but the two of them had no idea, what they were supposed to be doing, bringing this statement from the Brummie lady, who owned the dog.
If it hadn’t been for humans, English setters, would have died out years ago.
They were playing the straight-dog again, which is exactly what the dog called, Bran, did in Dad’s Army tonight. You should be able to catch it on iPlayer for a few weeks.
Two Chariots of Fire
I’m off in a minute or so to see the new stage play of Chariots of Fire.
Then hopefully, it’ll be to the cinema to see the newly-re-released film.
What a way to tee-up the Olympics! Sadly alone!
I did run out of time as the play was longer than I thought. So it was either go hungry and rush half-way across London or come home and eat and see the film tomorrow or later in the week.
I chose the latter, especially as that allowed me to have a soaking in my dreadful bath.
The Times Calls For Summer
The Times in its third leader makes a passionate and heartfelt appeal for summer. Here’s the last couple of sentences.
Let us make our position crystal clear: we are against this weather. It must stop raining, and soon. The British climate is supposed to be unpredictable. At the moment, it is anything but. If sustained sunshine is too much to ask for, most of us would settle for a little bit of fickle.
Let’s hope it’s campaign is as successful as the one it had recently to change the adoption laws. But does the jetstream have a subscription to the paper?
On the other hand, at least most of us can still laugh at the weather.
Midland Main Line To Be Electrified
It is being reported this morning, that the Midlands Main Line from St. Pancras station to Sheffield is going to be electrified. At present it only goes as far as Bedford, which must be one of the most stupid planning decisions by Railtrack and its predecessors.
But then there are several cases, where electrification stopped in the UK, rather than continue to its logical conclusion. I remember as a teenager, that the original plans for electrification in East Anglia included the branch line to Felixstowe. It should probably have included Ely to Norwich and Norwich to Yarmouth as well. Now there is a strong case to electrify Ipswich to Peterborough to haul all that freight from Felixstowe. Although the last bit would be difficult due to the number of bridges on the line, but hopefully when the line was upgraded for larger containers, they did it to allow for electric wires as well. But knowing the muppets in the Department of Transport, that like to think it’s their railway, deliberately didn’t, so that electrification would stay in the sidings.
This is what surprises me about Midland Main Line electrification being announced. Logically, it should be done before the Great Western, as it is a smaller scheme, doesn’t have a difficult tunnel like the Severn Tunnel and many of the current trains can be converted to electric operation, as I posted here. I think it is mostly three track too, which helps with the engineering.
But when do governments do things logically?
Have they seen sense or does Justine Greening read the railway press?
It will be interesting what is said on Monday.
Thinking about this more, we have to take into account the fact that a spur into Heathrow from the west has also been announced. Putting my old project management hat back on, I can’t help feeling that underneath all this is some very good project management. Three electrification projects on the go at the same time, all relatively close together mean that the expensive electreification train that Railtrack has bought can be fully utilised.
Kim Jong-un Declares War on Disney
Well not really, but Disney do take copyright infringement very seriously and it seems that Kim Jong-un’s actions may result in Disney getting serious annoyed. Here’s an extract from this report on the BBC.
When North Korea’s state news agency published photos of the country’s leader Kim Jong-un at a concert recently, the first face to catch the attention was on stage.
Amid the dancers and North Korean pop starlets, were a selection of Disney characters – among them Mickey and Minnie Mouse.
And no, the news agencies here in Seoul reported, the North Korean regime had NOT cleared copyright with the Disney Corporation.
The report is also about a mystery woman with the odious dictator. Why does she hang around with such a clot? Shades of Mrs. Merton’s famous question to Debbie McGee.
It Looks Like Another Rainy Day
Does the weather ever do anything else?
The Anonymous Widower 