A Sensible Solution To A Local Religious Problem
The Tour de France is creating a problem for the Jewish community in Leeds, as the synagogue is on one side of the route and the congregation general live on the other. So crossing the road twice is going to be difficult on the Sabbath.
Radio 5 have just had an interview with the local rabbi and it was amazing as he told how he dealt with all the problems and decided to have services on both sides of the route, in a synagogue and a school. He’s also timed everything to fit in with the race, so his congregation can also see the race, if they want to.
This interview should be played to all of those religious fanatics around the world, as a practical example of how to celebrate your religion, without imposing any limits on others.
Glasgow Gets Money For Infrastructure
After the announcement yesterday about investment in the rail route to Penzance, a story broke later yesterday about a large amount of money for infrastructure and City Deal status for Glasgow. Read about it here on the BBC. One major piece of infrastructure included is the Glasgow Airport Rail Link.
So what is a City Deal?
Under the section on Wikipedia for Local Enterprise Partnership, there is a small section on City Deals and several large cities like Liverpool, Leeds, Manchester and Sheffield have got them. Only Manchester seems to have a meaningful entry in Wikipedia.
Type “City Deal UK” into Google and you get all sorts of irrelevant rubbish like transfer deals involving football clubs with City in the name and Groupon.
It stikes me that whoever thought of the name City Deal dropped an enormous clanger.
I did eventually find a government web site, well down the page in Google.
the obvious URL; citydeal.co.uk, is owned by Groupon.
Never trust a politician to get the details and small print right.
Violence In The Middle East
David Aaronovitch in his piece in The Times today entitled, Moderate Muslims – It’s Time To Be Outraged, makes some very good points.
But this fact is telling.
In the Israel-Palestine conflict 10,000 have been killed in the past 25 years, compared to 100,000 in Syria in just three.
All are one too many!
But where are the moderate Muslims trying to sort this violent mess out?
Two Knives From Sheffield At John Lewis
My kitchen knives are rather elderly and blunt, despite proper sharpening, so I thought I’d treat myself to some new ones from John Lewis.
Two Knives From Sheffield At John Lewis
Made in Sheffield, as knives should be! Just like my Sheba cutlery was in the 1960s
Signposts In John Lewis
I saw this set of signposts in the floor of John Lewis today.
Signposts In John Lewis
It’s a good idea. But would a polished brass plate on the pavement attract the light-fingered with crowbars?
What No Flamingos!
John Lewis has opened a roof garden with a little coffee and sandwich hut, high above Oxford Street.
Depending on the weather, it could be a nice place to have a snack.
Sadly they don’t have any flamingos, as Derry and Toms did in their famous roof gardens in Kensington.
I Want One Of These!
I saw this tap in John Lewis today.
I Want One Of These!
I’m going to have one in my kitchen. It’s a Franke Belfast.
Does My Roof Make Me Ill?
Read this article on the BBC web site and then look at the pictures of the roof that Jerry built.
The BBC article says this.
He said there were simple measures anyone could take – whether living in a well-insulated home or not – to keep heat levels down, such as keeping windows closed during the day to trap cool air and opening them at night.
Fitting shutters to windows and painting exterior walls white – both common sights in Mediterranean countries – would also help, but were unlikely to be widely adopted in the UK due to the relative rarity of heatwaves.
Couple this advice with the actions of a friend, who lives in her house with a flat roof and gets it painted silver every few years.
My roof, is virtually matt black and is therefore a wonderful heat absorber, which it then just radiates into the house.
I will be doing two things.
In the first place, I’ll be getting the roof fixed and then painted in a reflective colour.
But the most radical thing I’ve going to do is put up a sunshade over all of the flat roofs. One roof is probably about 4 x 7 metres and the other is about 4 x 5 metres.
They will of course help to pay for their own installation, as they will be solar panels.
As the roof is flat and they will be invisible to everybody except the police helicopter or the Air Ambulance, I don’t think anyone has any grounds to object.
If the roof is making me ill, it should at least help to solve the problem.
Did Jerry Wear His Underpants Backwards?
A couple of days ago, I decided to fit a new lock on my bedroom door, as when I bought the house the keys were non-existent. It was then I noticed that the escutcheon was on the inside of the door.
Hence the title of this post!
My Poor Roof
Jerry wasn’t the best roofer, as these pictures show.
He also seems to have created a roof to absorb heat into my house, which probably explains why it gets so hot.
The man was an idiot.
The Anonymous Widower 