Words To The Wise

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More about London Underground today! Yesterday it was ghosts and today it is phantom love making.

Passengers at West Ham station stood still in amazement as they heard the sounds of love making coming through the loud speaker system instead of the usual train announcements.

A spokesperson for London Underground said that the impromptu broadcast was most certainly not coming from any of its offices, the sounds were not from any of its staff, and the whole thing was nothing to do with London Transport.

He went on to say that someone, somewhere must have been broadcasting on the same frequency.

However, passengers interviewed at the time were adamant about what they had heard.

Now, who do you believe?

More details of this stories available: Ananova.com

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A wife carrying contest recently took place at Hereford Racecourse, in England. The fifty metres race was part of the annual Beer and Cider Day. The rules state that the wife may be carried anyway at all, upside down, in a fireman’s lift, or even piggy back style.

The winning couple had a combined weight of 336 pounds and they won their own weight in beer. How much beer is that? It is certainly a lot.

The lady winner commented: ‘I was terrified that he was going to drop me, but he didn’t’. Their chosen position was piggy back style and she just kept urging him on. It certainly paid off in the end.

Well, I do know that a pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter (back to basic junior school science) so let’s assume that beer weighs about the same. So that’s um....268.8 pints, or 33.6 gallons, according to my calculations.

Unless you know better, of course.

More on this story: Telegraph

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Walls’ Lincolnshire Sausages have been something of an English icon for many years. These thick pork sausages are known for taste and quality and many people would buy nothing else. Let’s buy British, we all thought.

What a disgrace!

Walls’ Lincolnshire Pork Sausages are being made with frozen German pork, instead of British meat. So we turn our attention to Tesco Lincolnshire Pork Sausages (after all Lincolnshire is a famous pig rearing county in England.) However, things start to get worse because we discover that Tesco Lincolnshire Pork Sausages are made with meat from all over Europe including Poland which is a thousand miles away.

So, despite the fact that these sausages are labelled as ‘Lincolnshire Sausages’, they are very far from it.

I for one will be examining the labelling very carefully in future and the only way I can see of getting British pork in my sausages is to buy locally from farmer’s markets.

Full story: Telegraph

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Children from Papa Westray which is small island in the Orkney Islands group at the far north of the UK, have become famous. They have to travel to school each day on the nearby island of Westray, which is just a short distance away.(Picture shows Westray from Papa Westray).

The ferry that usually takes them is temporarily out of service and they have to take what is being called the world’s shortest flight to school. It takes on avaerage just 96 seconds to fly between the two islands, but can reduce to 47 seconds on a good day.

The little island of Papa Westray has a population of just 70 so it has no school for the six children. Residents say that the sea is often very rough so the children will be enjoying the flights which will enable them to continue their schooling over the winter months.

Full story: Ananova

2000 British children were asked questions about the history of the Second World War by the veteran’s charity Erskine. The results have shocked educators and historians alike.

Apparently 5% thought that Adolf Hitler was a German football manager and 8% thought that the Blitz was a massive clean up in London after the end of the war. A shocking 40% had no idea what Remembrance Sunday is all about, or what poppies symbolise.

This is a shocking revelation about the poor state of our educational system and a sign of the rapid decline in national pride and the break down of tradition.

It is a scarey thought that the generations growing up now may be the last to even learn British history and heritage at school. Yes, it is important for them to learn about these things regardless of what the namby pamby state says about upsetting the little darlings. It is essential for them to know where they have come from if they ever hope to lead us wherever we might go in the future.

Bring back the old fashioned teaching of history to relatively young children, I say, and show them what their ancestors did, what worked and what didn’t. That’s the only way they have any hope for the future.

This time a buffalo is reported to have been abducted by a UFO. This was filmed from inside a window at 10.30pm by Derek Bridges from Basingstoke, Hampshire.

It certainly looks as though two bright lights hover and an animal seems to be dangling beneath them, then it disappears into them.

Personally I’m not convinced because when I first saw this video I thought the lights were the front of a fast moving vehicle that chased and caught the buffalo. It looked like cattle rustling to me and I could find no indication that this was happening up in the air.

I am not saying this is untrue and maybe I am wrong in my doubts. What do you think?


Full story available.

Well, now that I’ve had it, or got it, I can write with authority on the H1N1 virus, better know as swine flu.

Once I got a diagnosis from a doctor I feared the worst but I had already had the bug for three days and was unaware of it. I first sought medical advice because of pain in my joints.

I started feeling exhausted, shivery and aching all over about 5 days ago. The pain in my joints and muscles was really bad and I had difficulty in standing for any length of time. I had a high fever and seemed to swing from shivering and being unable to get warm to burning up and wanting to go out side for some cool air. (I didn’t though!)

This was followed by coughing, runny nose, terrific headache, earache and total loss of appetite. I have been existing on hot drinks and paracetamol. I was concerned because I am asthmatic but there turned out to be no problem there.

I was given a course of Tamiflu which is the anti-viral they are handing out here in UK but it simply upset my already delicate stomach.

Anyway, I am now into my 6th day and the headache has eased and the joint and muscle pains are just coming back now and again. I am still feeling quite fragile and weak and having to take things easy but once my appetite returns and I start a course of multi vitamins I will be fine again.

I’ve talked to others who have had this bug and they say that it wasn’t as bad as they thought it would be. I would agree with them. I think that the media coverage of the whole thing has created panic across the world and although it can be dangerous for those with underlying conditions, it could be, but probably will not be a serious illness.

I have read a lot about ‘swine flu’ and its symptoms and complications and it amazes me that many people do not know what to expect. Generally speaking it doesn’t seem to be anything to worry too much about as long as you look after yourself and report any worrying, or worsening symptoms to a doctor.

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A cat which went missing from the Isle of Wight in England turned up at the tourist resort of Whitby in Northern England which is more than three hundred miles away.

Geoffrey was not wearing a collar when he disappeared because his owners worried that he might get caught by it when climbed trees, which he did very often. He went down each day to the local cafe after he had eaten his breakfast, to see what titbits they had for him.

One day he just didn’t come back and his owners feared the worst. Then they got a call from Whitby to say that a local boy had found Geoffrey, cold and shivering in a field. He took the cat home to his mother and they nursed it back to health. After not being able to find his owner, they took Geoffrey to a vet who found that he had an identity chip.

Geoffrey was reunited with his family who think that he must have stowed away in the luggage compartment of a coach and travelled all that way before he realised he was lost. They were just so grateful that he had been chipped, or they would never have found him again.

This cat certainly used up one its nine lives!

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