C Would Have Been Very Happy Tonight!
C did many divorces and in quite a few, she was acting for a wife, whose husband had hidden most of their joint assets in companies, overseas or other inaccessible places. After those cases, she generally came home angry.
But now after the case in this BBC story, things should be different.
And rightly so!
Famous Cambridge Stunt Recreated
The BBC web site gives a few details here about how Cambridge students put an Austin Seven van on the roof of Senate House in 1958.
The story is actually on the web, but in their archives the BBC should have a recording of Tonight, where the whole stunt was explained to Cliff Michelmore. But then the BBC used to habitually reuse videotapes, so I suppose it’s gone.
Hollande In Cloud-Cuckoo Land
This story from the BBC is entitled, “Euro crisis is over, says France’s Francois Hollande”
I can hear Bud Flanagan singing a new version of the Dad’s Army theme song call “Who do you think you are kidding Mr. Hollande?”
It might be true to say that the crisis with the Euro is over, But the crisis with some of the countries in the Euro-zone certainly isn’t!
Dory Previn To Be Remembered
I wish I could get to New York for this concert.
A group of gifted artists have been added to the lineup of VINEYARD CELEBRATES THE SONGS OF Dory Previn, a special, one-night-only benefit concert featuring the brilliant and iconic work of the legendary singer and songwriter on Monday, June 17, 2013 at 7:00 PM at The Vineyard (108 E. 15 St., between Irving Place and Union Square East)
But I am elsewhere on that day.
Soldiers In The Classroom
There has been some discussion about whether ex- soldiers should be fast-tracked as teachers. The story is here on the BBC. Here’s the first bit.
Former armed forces personnel without degrees will be fast-tracked into teaching in England under a new government programme.
The Troops to Teachers scheme will help “highly skilled” former military personnel become teachers within two years.
As someone, who was at school in London in the 1950s and 1960s, a lot of our teachers had either fought in the Second World War or suffered air-raids. I think these experiences made them better teachers,as they would always add anecdotes and stories into lessons.
So I’m very much in favour of the Troops to Teachers scheme, provided that the right soldiers are re-trained.
An Acadian Hero
Lyse Doucet is one of my favourite broadcasters and in some ways a bit of a hero, as she seems so unfazed of all the horrors she has faced, just being the total professional.
Like many I suppose, I’d always assumed she was from Quebec, due to her French name and her accent. But she is actually an Acadian, a group, who I knew little of until I looked Lyse up last night. Wikipedia says this.
Although today most of the Acadians and Québécois are French speaking (francophone) Canadians, Acadia was a distinct colony of New France, and was geographically and administratively separate from the French colony of Canada (modern day Quebec), which led to Acadians and Québécois developing two rather distinct histories and cultures.
I first became aware of Lyse, when she was reporting from Iran. In one report for From Our Own Correspondent, she described how the Russian Ambassador at a news conference, had started chatting her up, and was totally surprised, when he found the lady in the burkha was Canadian.
I do find it strange that two of my heroes are called Lyse or Lise. The other is of course Lise Meitner.
Theft At Cash Machines On The Rise
This story says that thefts at cash machines are on the rise. I’ve never been targeted and I usually make sure I get my money out at machines I know well and often in the morning, as prejudice says that criminals always lie in bed as they drunk too much last night. I also often use a machine inside a branch of Nationwide, because there are comfortable seats there to sit down, whilst I sort it all out. This paragraph from the article is telling and shows how to use a stolen card to get cash.
The perpetrators used the card to lay £400 in bets at Ladbrokes and withdrew £240 in cash.
As someone, who once held a licence for a betting shop, I know the fiddles that go on in these places.
Incidentally, a fraud expect told me, that he’d analysed card thefts and subsequent withdrawals. He felt that if customers used an easy pin like 1234, it was more likely to be discovered. My pin jumps about all over the place, so I hope if someone watches they can’t get it.
I have said before in this post, that I wish my bank statement gave me more information about my withdrawals, with perhaps the location of the cash machine. I think, if this was done, it would alert customers, that perhaps their card had been skimmed.
Why Was This Idiot Allowed To Drive?
When I had my stroke, I was not allowed to drive until I’d proved I was safe. As my eyesight never returned to 20/20, I decided that it was probably best to give up trying to drive again. I suspect now, that I might be able to drive without any problems, but I couldn’t live with perhaps knocking someone over, even if it was impossible for it to have been my fault.
On the other hand, the idiot driver of the van shown in this report from the BBC, was a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, who went on to kill a young mother and injure thirteen others. In other words he was a worse killer than the two who are accused of murdering Lee Rigby.
What doctor allowed him to drive after the diagnosis? He should be struck off at the least.
Drivers Are Being Persecuted
That’ll be the call that goes up after the government crackdown on bad driving. It’s reported here on the BBC.
Obviously, as a pedestrian, it doesn’t affect me.
But bad driving does!
I regularly cross the road at the junction of the Balls Pond Road and Southgate Road. several times, whilst crossing on the green pedestrian light, I have nearly been run over by someone turning right illegally out of Mildmay Park. Only buses are allowed to do this, but do it only rarely.
I also get very annoyed with drivers, who disobey Rule 170 of the Highway Code. This is the relevant advice to drivers.
Watch out for pedestrians crossing a road into which you are turning. If they have started to cross they have priority, so give way.
Many don’t. Especially on one junction near me, where drivers think they are clever to take it as if they are entering the pits at Silverstone. Luckily, I now know the driving habits at that junction and check carefully, but quite a few drivers, don’t have the courtesy to use their indicators, so I have to wait to see their intentions.
So let’s persecute bad drivers and use the fines to improve driver education, public transport and walking routes.
George Clooney And Matt Damon Relax In Cambridge
Usually, when a story about celebrities relaxing ends up in the media, it usually concerns something like alcohol, drugs or bad behaviour.
But not this story from Cambridge, where George Clooney and Matt Damon are making a film. Here’s the final paragraphs.
Damon turned up with Clooney and two other men, and spent the hour “shooting hoops”, before Miss Shadrack said she had to inform them their time was up as others were waiting to use the court.
“They were very nice, such lovely people, and they posed for some pictures and chatted with people, but they didn’t say anything about the film they were making,” she said.
It looks like a good time was had by all!
The Anonymous Widower 