29/12/2008 by admin.

Today, I returned to Ratherheath Tarn, this time with my wife, my brother, his wife,  his two daughters, our two dogs and his dog. I’m ashamed to say that I felt comforted that the lake was frozen and we were unlikely to meet any  fishermen.

It was wrong of me.

In fact, I should have the courage to seek out the anglers to challenge their right to claim this land as their own to practice their vile sport.

Perhaps I should oraganise an occupation on a summer afternoon…. 

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24/12/2008 by admin.

The saddest Christmas scene at Booth’s supermarket on Christmas Eve:

It is busy with well-heeled shoppers. Most members of staff are wearing santa hats but one man, obviously the store dickhead, has gone too far. He is wearing a dress with mellons stuffed down the front to represent bossoms.

“Would you like to feel my melons?” he asks a woman supervisor. “I just thought we’d have a bit of fun!”

Her face drops and he begins to realise that not everyone thinks he’s great.

He is marched off to the manager’s office as she asks: “Well, have you had permission?”

We next see him replacing the melons on the fruit counter (thankfully, we had already chosen ours) and stomping off, muttering and seeking sympathy from his colleagues. Whether they felt it or not, I don’t know but it was a true David Brent moment and seeing someone so humiliated was really quite sad. 

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20/12/2008 by admin.

The even-tempered Sir Howard Bernstein showed uncharactistic ire at ITV for pulling the Transport  Innovation Fund referendum advert after complaints that it was unbalanced.

Explaining to council leaders at a meeting of the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities that compensation was to be sought  for the disappearance of the £230,000 commercial, he said: “This has been a very negative experience.”

Now that’s angry!

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15/12/2008 by admin.

Having got over the shock of getting it so wrong I think it is time to ask for some reward from the government for making ourselves look so stupid. How’s this? Give us all the money and we’ll run a volunteer scheme….with the volunteers repaid a proportion of their road tax….

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13/12/2008 by admin.

10 boroughs, 10 resounding NO results.

And amid all the analysis, the wisest words came from Graham Stringer MP:

“If you want to get people to accept congestion charging, you have got to reduce their road taxes.”

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11/12/2008 by admin.

On the eve of the result of Manchester’s congestion charge referendum, it emerges that a new type of road which generates electricity as traffic drives over it could mean British motorists will one day become a source of cheap power, according to green breakdown provider, the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

The Israeli engineers behind the project claim that a 1km stretch of the power-generating asphalt will generate 400 kilowatts - enough power to run 8 small cars.

If the system was installed on every stretch of British motorway, it would generate enough energy to run 34,500 small cars.

Director at the ETA, Andrew Davis said: “The government predicts a massive shift to electric cars, and it may be that roads themselves will provide some of the new fuel - certain vehicles could be powered entirely by the roads on which they drive.”

“If these electric roads can be put in place without harm to the environment they would be a silver lining to the problem of heavy traffic.”

The new ‘electric road’ will be tested next month when engineers in Israel drive over a road embedded with tiny crystals that produce energy when ’squeezed’ by passing vehicles.

So hang on, then we will need MORE cars on the road. So why did I vote YES?

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07/12/2008 by admin.

It seems the votes are not pouring in for the congestion charge referendum.

God forbid that it is won or lost on the whim of those who can’e be bothered to walk to the post box.

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05/12/2008 by admin.

I’ve only just realised how good I am.

Looking among some old cuttings for a reference to a train story I am writing, I came across an old M.E.N. front page. “PAY-TO-DRIVE ON THE WAY”, it said.

Exclusive by Alan Salter, it added. The date? Monday, February 17, 2003!

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01/12/2008 by admin.

Took a turn with the dogs round Ratherheath Tarn, near Staveley, in the Lakes, ignoring the notices forbidding access to anyone other than members of the Windermere Angling Association.

I knew that I was safe from challenge by those who get their fun from aquatic torture because it was so cold that the water was frozen and the fish, for once were left unmolested.

And while we wandered around this beautiful spot, with only the squirrels and pheasants for company, I began to wonder how it could be reserved for the guilty pleasures of anglers.

So I challenge Windermere Anglers Association to sue me.

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