Sheppey bridge pile up

Drivers Disregarding Road Conditions

The crash on the Sheppey Bridge, once again showed the carnage that can be created by drivers going too fast in adverse road conditions. One of the witnesses said visibility was down to about 10 -20 yards yet many drivers were driving without lights, and no doubt they were driving too fast for the road conditions. On the motorway I am always surprised how many people (my husband included) disregard the stopping distances required for safety. People tend to think it will never happen to them, the trouble is that when it does it affects many more lives than their own. This time it was lucky no one was killed, but such luck in crashes like that is a rare occurrence.

The operation

All trussed up like a turkey

Went to get the varicose veins in my legs done, since I had my right leg done a month ago under local anaesthetic it was an in and out job. Thought this would be the same, though I knew I had more vv,s on this leg. It was nothing of the sort I was knocked out, and then had to spend most of what seemed to be the last day of summer lying in a hospital bed looking out at the beautiful sunshine, then having the weather forecaster tell me this is probably the last of this and weather warnings from tomorrow. Well  just my luck, now I am going to try and get some sleep though sleeping with compression bandages are going to take some doing

car parts melted by a scyscraper

A believe it or not story

Sounds like something from sci fi doesn't it? but it happens to be true, and it is not the first time this sort of thing has happened, reflections from  the Walkie Talkie Building in London melted plastic parts of a jaguar.

According to experts it is due to the curved windows in the building, sunlight bounces off them and converges at one point, so concentrating the light at that point.

Thing is it is not the first time such an incident has happened, so why haven't architects learned this lesson?

Russia and the anti gay stance

Yelena Isinbayeva speaks out against homosexuality

1. I was deeply saddened to hear the views of Yelena Isinbayeva on homosexuality in an interview at the world Athletics Championships. She was also critical of her fellow athletes who painted their nails in support of gays and lesbians. She is quoted as saying  "We are very afraid about our nation because we consider ourselves normal, standard people,"  This sort of language sounds more like Government propaganda, rather than the views of an athlete who is highly respected on the global stage. Her views might have won popularity with the powerful men at the top of Russian society, unfortunately she has alienated the majority of the people in the international world who live in the twenty first century. 

Prince George of Cambridge

William and Kate have a son

While I wish William and Katherine and the new baby all the best, I do feel the press coverage has amounted to hysteria and it is ridiculous. Yes, the birth of this baby gives Monarchists a reason to celebrate, that the line of succession is safe, and sentimentalists a reason to coo, and it gives  anti- monarchists a reason to moan, the rest of us would like to get on with our lives. While the birth of a baby is a unique event for the parents, it is not a UNIQUE event in itself. So, maybe now the baby is here we know what sex he is and we know his name and title the Television  News Channels and media might decide to do their job and let us know what is happening in the rest of the world.

An Historic Day for Britain

Wimbledon Finals

Andy Murray with cup at Wimbledon

Britain has waited 71 years for this day, and it has finally arrived Andy Murray did Britain proud. It goes to prove that our sportsmen and women are as good as any in the world. It also vindicates our sportsmen of the past who claimed that their poor performances were due to underinvestment in British sport. This also coincides with the 60th Anniversary of the Queens Coronation, at her coronation she was able to celebrate Edmund Hillary's conquest of Mount Everest, and this year she has another great British achievement to celebrate.

A Sad Day

Goodbye Yoda

Yoda our black and white cat

Yesterday we had to put Yoda our old cat to sleep, a very upsetting experience. We have had many animals and since most have been rescue animals, who were finding it hard to find new homes because of age or illness we have had to make this decision frequently. People think that if you do such a thing often enough you are used to it and it is not painful anymore. Well all I can say is they couldn't be more wrong. Each animal has been an individual with their own personality, who have brought something special to the family of which they are part. If people can't think of animals as 'Family' then they should not have animals.

Yoda was a stray who originally belonged to my son and his partner, and when they split up, he came to live with us for 8 1/2 years. He considered himself indispensible when beds were being made, and tugged at sheets and lay in the middle of the bed as soon as the sheets were on, and it didn't seem to bother him when you threw the duvet over him.  As he got older he was just happy to spend evenings curled up on the settee with the family.