The Anonymous Widower

Thoughts of Angel on the Drought

I’ve posted before about Thoughts of Angel at Angel station on the Northern line.

Thoughts of Angel on the Drought

This was their comment on the drought.

April 7, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , , , | Leave a comment

Where’s The Mosquito?

The extraordinary obituary of Ted Sismore in the Telegraph is also a catalogue of the amazing exploits of the most versatile aircraft of the Second World War; the de Havilland Mosquito. The Times describes the Mosquito as Britain’s first multi-role combat aircraft, but some of its exploits weren’t actually in combat. The aircraft flew in US Air Force colours to perform high-altitude weather research and also as an airliner to bring valuable cargoes, as varied as ball bearings, the physicist Neils Bohr and Marshall Zhukov across the North Sea to the UK.

In 1962, Queen Elizabeth awarded the Order of Merit to the Mosquito’s designer; Sir Geoffrey de Havilland. He is the only aircraft designer to receive the award, which is a personal gift of the sovereign.

So as we come to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, it would be fitting that one of de Havilland’s wooden wonders should be in the fly-past to mark the event. But it won’t be as there are no flyable examples left in the UK. The non-flying prototype sits in splendour at the de Havilland Aircraft Heritage Centre in the hangar where it was built.

But then the RAF had no policy on the preservation of historic aircraft.

April 6, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , , , , | Leave a comment

Uncovering The Tiles

The shop opposite me used to be a dairy or something similar and it is being restored.

I suspect that the crass idiot who overpainted the tiles was a relation of the Gerry, who built my house.

It’s proving to be a hard job removing the paint. But it’s one of those jobs, that when it’s finished will be worth it.

April 5, 2012 Posted by | World | , | 1 Comment

Dentists

Why does the media ratchet up this fear of the dentist? Children watching BBC Breakfast this morning will have had their fears increased.

My current and previous dentists would be unable to frighten anybody.

I must admit, I’ve had some painful times in the dentist, like when I had my last tooth out.  But you have to take it in your stride.

April 4, 2012 Posted by | Health, World | | Leave a comment

The Brave Little Humidifier is Winning

Finally after a couple of weeks, my brave little humidifier is finally getting towards the temperature/humidity point, at which the house should be.

My Little Humidifier

This morning, the hygrometer  showed a figure of 50% and a temperature of 21°

April 4, 2012 Posted by | World | | 1 Comment

Stonewall’s Bus Adverts

It would appear that the hated Wonga adverts seem to have all but disappeared, but another group has replaced them from Stonewall.

Stonewall’s Bus Advert

I have no objection, as being gay is just another facet of our many-faceted society, especially as I think that they are promoting same sex marriage in the adverts.  I was lucky enough to have a very good marriage, that lasted nearly forty years, so who am I to deny anybody the same happiness, just because their sexuality is different from mine.

I should say that I was only intending to take a picture of the bus on the right, but when your eyesight is dodgy, pictures don’t turn out how you expect them!

April 3, 2012 Posted by | Transport/Travel, World | , , , , | 2 Comments

Another Mass Shooting In the United States

Sadly, there is has been another mass shooting in the United States, this time in Oakland.

When is the country going to get the simple relation, that guns kill people?

They send an awful message to the rest of the world. Look at the latest film from Hollywood; The Hunger Games.  Quite frankly it is sick. Why has it been given a certificate in the UK?

April 3, 2012 Posted by | World | , , , | 2 Comments

The Falklands Legacy

I have the view that the Falklands War had a much greater effect on the thirty years since Argentina invaded, than we generally think.

I travelled in Europe both before and after the war and it brought a great change to the way Europe thought about the Russian menace.  Not about the threat of nuclear war, but a lot of our forces atb the time were lined up with the Germans, the French, the Americans and others to fight the Russian tanks, when they were ordered to attack. But after the Falklands War, it was now apparent that a well-trained volunteer army, could always outfight a conscript one, who wanted to be elsewhere and I think this gave Europe a much stronger backbone against a Soviet invasion.

It wasn’t the sole reason obviously, but it helped to break-up the Soviet Union and release their stranglehold on the satellites.  Remember most Soviet commanders at the time had very deep knowledge of the very brutal Second World War they had fought and from what I have read and heard, wouldn’t have really wanted to do it again.  After all, when there was the coup later againt Boris Yeltzin, the Army stayed loyal.

I also wonder what would have happened, if we hadn’t regained the Islands by force.

I suspect that Guatemala would have done what they have wanted to do for years and absorbed Belize.

And would we have gone to regain Kuwait from Saddam in the First Gulf War? The Americans might have gone, because they needed the oil.

The Falklands War sent a powerful message in terms of democracy.  But it was a tragic, that a bunch of geriatric dictators, decided to invade, in a vain effort to cling to power.

April 2, 2012 Posted by | World | , , , , | 4 Comments

Simon Weston on the Falklands

Simon Weston appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning talking eloquently about  not only the war, but Argentina’s reasons for going to war.

It was a better analysis than anything I’ve heard from a politician or a pundit.

He is a true inspiration to those who have suffered a few tragedies in their lives. And long may he be so!

April 2, 2012 Posted by | News, World | , | Leave a comment

Are Blackberries the Cause of the World’s Ills?

I have said that to me, as a very experienced keyboard user, that the Blackberry is a piece of very bad design.

But it is loved by the great and good in politics and business, from Barack Obama downwards.

So if they choose such an obscure device can we trust them to make the proper decisions, that affect us all?

April 1, 2012 Posted by | Computing, World | , , | 1 Comment