OneGuyFromBarlick

The Ash die back is looking more serious than anyone anticipated, 18 million trees at risk.

Same here....my car was broken into...less than £5 worth of parking meter money taken.
I discovered this when the passenger door suddenly swung open on leaving my driveway ( who had opened my passenger door?)

What really irks me is that I park my car within two inches of the house, and Febby parks so close up my tail that you would be lucky to get a cigarette paper between his nose and my tail. We have it millimetre perfect, as we have such a short driveway.
I wonder how many times these low life scum have tried to get into our cars at night.
(funny thing is that my 'loot' was all in small change, contained in a plastic snap-lock bag in the glove box...whereas Febby has gold coins in his parking meter stash in his car...if only they had known! They had to walk past his car to get to mine.)
Once upon a time, people respected that your front garden was private property..but even our tall wrought iron fence didn't stop these scumbags. I feel like electrifying my door handles.

Mischief night??

Stanley wrote:The Ash die back is looking more serious than anyone anticipated, 18 million trees at risk.

I heard on the news this morning that one forest owner is going to sue the government department responsible for monitoring and authorising action. He asked for permission to cut and burn back in March when a corner of the forest was infected Apparently he had been banging on at them for months for action. No permission was given until now and he now has to cut and burn the lot.

Among letters sent to The Times about ash tree disease there are two that I have to agree with, both asking why anyone would want to import ash trees into the UK. They grow as weeds across Britain and most people, especially in the countryside, will find them sprouting up in their garden. We are forever pulling out ash saplings. Unless you are the Forestry Commission there isn't much point in cultivating ash except that there must be some people who go into garden centres wanting to buy them. They could save money by asking neighbours to let them have any ash seedlings from their gardens! Also, ash grows very fast.

Ash grows very quickly, is useful as a resource in the form of canes, and also can be burnt.

Management can provide an effcetive screen that allows other species to also colonise an area.

They also have a habit of shedding smaller branches during storms.

Ash is very useful , ( need some cheap , curved , for a couple of motor car body re-builds ). Its silver birch that is a weeding pain.

The basic pay and bonuses of chief executives in the top 100 industrial companies has slowed to about the level of inflation. Good news? These rewards have been replaced by longer term share bonuses that don't hit the headlines but the effect is that the total remuneration of the same executives rose 27% in the last year. Cute Kiddies!
The American Signal crayfish has been found in the River Nith for the first time. The ash die-back arrived first by spores blown over from the continent and so was perhaps unavoidable anyway but how did the crayfish get here? Remember the Coypu?

Just noticed that if you put the mouse pointer on a name in the list at the bottom of a topic that tells you who has visited it the date and time of their visit comes up on the screen. Clever stuff.....

In case any of you got the wrong idea, I wasn't meaning to imply that ash trees aren't useful but rather that there is no need to import them because they reproduce and grow so easily and quickly throughout the UK; and anyone who wants a few ash trees in their garden could probably get saplings from someone else's garden rather than buying them in a nursery or garden centre. The route by which ash die off got into the UK isn't clear - spores could have blown over from the Continent but the fact that the most extensive infections have been in nurseries that imported their ash suggests that a lot came by that route.

This was on Radio 4 yesterday and it was brilliant. Three great thinkers who are also humorous, presenting their views on the state of the world. You can download the podcast from here to listen to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/stw

`Political Divide: Michael Ignatieff, Mary Robinson & Amos Oz 5th November 2012'
Mon, 5 Nov 12
Duration: 43 mins
"Start the Week is at BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival in Gateshead to debate whether the world is becoming a more divided place. Andrew Marr discusses the state of politics with the former President of Ireland Mary Robinson and the writer-turned-politician Michael Ignatieff, while the Israeli author Amos Oz asks whether entrenched ideas have increasingly polarised debate."

Amos Oz will also be on Radio 3 on 12th November:
`Free Thinking: Amos Oz'
"Amos Oz, one of Israel's most influential thinkers, gives a talk on the Middle East and the prospect of future co-existence between Israel and Palestine. Broadcast from the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival of Ideas at the Sage Gateshead. A bestselling novelist, essayist and journalist, Oz's work has been published in 41 languages, including Arabic, and he is known as a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Everything has been blanked out by the Obama win. I have had to turn the coverage on World Service off and listen to music instead.....

I'm pleased and relieved he's won. He might not be the best but he's a damn sight safer that Willard would have been. I had visions of avenging angels leading the US Marines into Syria and Iran. Nolic

Sigh of relief on hearing Obama's acceptance speech on radio...

It has taken over 2 years to fix the street lighting in Valley Gardens because of an "its not my job" spat between County and Borough.

How about we fix it, so that things improve in the park, and then worry about who pays for it afterwards...it's all rate payers money and stop arguing about who's demarcated desk it goes across.

Security first, look after the people of the town

Get rid of Pendle's involvement and sort it out

We see the rural version of that problem - the willow trees need pollarding along the country lanes, otherwise they block passage of vehicles and shed their heavy branches onto pedestrians and the leaves block drains and cause floods. But Highways Dept will only cut the ones on the verge, those growing on the sides of ditches they leave for the Environment Agency, who refuse and say it's Highway's responsibility unless they are in the bottom of the ditch. Then there's a similar argument between EA and landowners on the other slope of the ditch. Meanwhile the trees get bigger and bigger and so does the risk of injury and inconvenience. The ones opposite our house I have pollarded since we came here because no-one else would do it - but apparently I could get into trouble for doing it. If I disappear from OGFB it will be because I'm in jail for having trimmed the Council's trees for them!

Tardis wrote:Get rid of Pendle's involvement and sort it out

Fine.

It's an LCC job, let's see them get it done.

Whilst they're at it, perhaps they'd care to fix the lights on Kelbrook Road which have been out for six months and counting. (Potentially, a much more dangerous location and one fairly and squarely in the county's corner.)

I heard that you were on 2BR today.

Got it in for the County, or just running a long election campaign?

Are the lights on Kelbrook road actually broken or just switched off as part of the money saving? I heard it was the latter, would it stop the story? Far easier to actually change the street lights so that they actually consume and polute less.

As you admitted last night the lights in the park are not LCC's so Pendle needs to regularise the problem, or fix them. Fairly simple really, although it does mean pushing them off someone's desk. Just need a bit of will. Surprised that after over 2 years a man of your supposed belicose nature hasn't already sorted a simple thing like a light to protect people's security.

When I rang LCC about the street light being on 24/7 outside my house the men were in the street the next day repairing it. So the difference in Valley Gardens is Pendle as I have reported it on numerous occasions. You're a Pendle Borough Cllr, so maybe you could get it fixed permanently.

Tardis wrote:Got it in for the County

Yes. I think the remote tier of Preston centric so called 'local' government should be abolished.

The fact that they are poor at repairing street lights, and can't even manage to submit a valid planning application for a major new development, doesn't help!

Tardis wrote:Are the lights on Kelbrook road actually broken or just switched off as part of the money saving?

If they're switched off to save money, it's at the risk of costing lives. Don't forget that this stretch of road has a horrible accident record. I'm told the problem is an electrical supply fault which hasn't been fixed.

Tardis wrote:As you admitted last night the lights in the park are not LCC's

No. I said that LCC had failed to fix them. LCC is the authority responsible for looking after street lights.

Tardis wrote:
Fairly simple really

Well, you seem a pretty clever guy, time traveller. How about coming up with a few answers then, instead of all the questions?

Tardis, I suppose the site members who live in Barnoldswick know who you are and what your involvement is with local politics, but to many of us you are anonymous. Perhaps you could come out from behind your avatar and explain to the rest of us who you are?

Good point Wendy, anonymity doesn't help credibility.
My US friends tell me that Todd Akin, Romney's running mate, lost his seat. Good, he sounded terrible! Forget the magnanimity of the acceptance speeches, there will be a lot of in-fighting in the Republican Partyu after all that money and kudos was poured down the drain.

I live in Barlick and I agree with the last two posts. Mystery is one thing, stealth is another matter. There is an interactive road sign down here that died from overwork 3 months ago! not that it was ever respected in the first place, the speed and volume of traffic now using Bracewell "Lane" is beyond credibility, cracks are appearing in our house!!

Stanley wrote:after all that money and kudos was poured down the drain.

http://forward.com/articles/165546/toug ... n-adelson/

Wendyf wrote:Tardis, I suppose the site members who live in Barnoldswick know who you are and what your involvement is with local politics, but to many of us you are anonymous. Perhaps you could come out from behind your avatar and explain to the rest of us who you are?

Other than going to local council meetings, I have no political involvement

I am a member of no political party

I am as anonymous as anyone else

There has been a bad accident at the Stone Trough this morning, blocking the road