Thank you Jean for your sound advice I am very fond of good music and have a catholic taste covering all ranges. I have just purchased the theme music from the film the Godfather which I find both soothing and beautiful.

Jenni, I’ve added your name to my buddy list but cant fathom out how to send a private message, any advice? Thanks.

Fil, some sad news from the Wirral this week. The developer who purchased Birkenhead dock land has decreed that there will be no future birth available for the historic warships museum. This includes the U-boat. The only solution would be a move across the river to the Albert or George’s dock in Liverpool but alas, space is at a premium at both docks. But I must tell you about the latest “Tin pot” suggestion forwarded by a local councillor that the U-boat be cut up into three sections with a ‘window to watch’ either end i.e. each section having a full size window covering the end of the submarine thus enabling people to look in at a warm cosy scene with possibly, a Christmas tree in December! Have you ever heard of such a daft idea?

Today sees the second annual international powerboat racing from the river Mersey between Liverpool and Birkenhead which it is hoped that will now become a permanent feature.
It was also announced yesterday that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr will be entertaining the crowds during next years Capital of Culture.

When it was announced that Britain would hold the Olympic Games in 2012 it was stated that a newly planned display by the Red Arrows would open the games. I therefore read with amazement that this has now been cancelled by the department of Culture, Media and Sport on the grounds that it is too British and too military. What a load of tripe. I sometimes cannot believe the ridiculous statements made by these people placed into a position without the appropriate qualification of common sense. The games will take place in Britain, this is Britain, we are British and the Red Arrows are RAF pilots who have performed on thousands of occasions worldwide entertaining everyone regardless of colour, class or creed. These people must believe we are based on remote island in the middle of nowhere i.e. Easter Island.

Ron.

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I therefore read with amazement that this has now been cancelled by the department of Culture, Media and Sport on the grounds that it is too British and too military

Ron -I don't know what is going on (other than there is an election looming and some hypocritical wooing is taking place!)but I signed the petition and the PMs office says that there had not been a decision not to use the Red Arrows - Oh Yeh! Cold feet somewhere when a petition arrives....?

Jenni -many thanks for the compliment - I am a bit of a hopeless case when faced with technology but will sit and 'fiddle' to see what happens.

Ron if we were Easter Island we would get a much greater say in things

and.. its funny I have never envisaged a U-Boat Commander in a warm and cosy scene. Obviously I must undergo a revisionist course........

I was really saddened when the Historic Ships collection closed. You'd think the Government or somebody would've shown some interest in saving a collection of not just national but international importance.

There's a war time X-Craft minature submarine I've seen given similar treatment. I can't remember if it was at the Submarine Museum at Gosport or the IWM's display at Duxford. Apart from the destructive element the glass rapidly becomes scratched and covered in grease so it's difficult to see anything anyway. With HMS Alliance and Holland 1 doors have been cut through the hull which is bad enough but better than slicing the things into bits.

There was never anything warm and cosy about U Boats, they were cold, dirty, cramped, smelly and downright dangerous. Even without the RN/RAF throwing heavy exploding things at them.

As far as I'm aware the Red Arrows story originated with the Sun (have you noticed it comes already coloured-in these days?) so I never took it seriously from the start. Is that "paper" still boycotted in Liverpool?

quote:

Originally posted by RonW:

Jenni, I’ve added your name to my buddy list but cant fathom out how to send a private message, any advice? Thanks.


Ron.

Ron, I know I'm not Jenni, but I hoped you wouldn't mind me making a comment about this. I'm not at all sure you can send a PM on this board, but if you want to register with the alternative, you will be able to. All you need to is search engine Time Team Friends Forum, and you will find us!

Lyn.

I posted earlier explaining that it has been confirmed to me by powers that be that although it looks like it's allowed, it's not allowed "for our own safety" (I'm not sure how they are the judge of that!).

However, that post managed to end up in the moderators' box and will presumably never see the light of day...

Phil. I read about the ‘Red Arrows’ in one of the local newspapers and as far as I am aware, ‘The Sun’ is still banned in Liverpool where it once masqueraded under the title ‘newspaper’ They offered a large sum of money to remove the ban. But no one was interested. At the time, even W H Smith. Withdrew it from open sales here.

Read a rather sad story this week appertaining towards a WW2 MTB anchored in Tynemouth harbour, South Devon.
It was owned by a retired ex naval officer who had served the war years out on this very boat. It was his boat. He commenced the war by raids on the German occupied French coast, then graduated to the Mediterranean sea. He loved his boat so much that at the end of hostilities, he bought it. Until his recent demise, he lived aboard and eked out a living catering for fishing and sailing parties. With the rest of his meagre assets, it was sold a few weeks ago to a group of boating enthusiast from London.

At 6-00 AM on October 1st, the quick thinking of my wife, saved my life. I had awakened, sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed.
That simple function resulted in the non function of 95% of my lungs. Though I wear a Oxygen nasal tube, it was ineffective. Awakened by instinct, my wife put a full face mask over me and gave me full pressure oxygen. It saved my life, taking 30 minutes to be able to speak again. This must have been my major crisis, because, since then, I have experienced nothing but vast and rapid improvement. A condition that I intend to consolidate. Therefore, with my family and friends such as you, how cold I possibly fail?

Ron.

Well Ron - men and babies have a lot in common -and women -they always instinctively know when the men in their family are in trouble.

I trust that you are obeying her every whim, please get up slowly next time.

You can but boats -but you can't buy the memories.....
no people are uninteresting, their fate is like the chronicle of the planets.

Nothing in them is very particular and planet is dissimilar from planet.

and if a man lived in obscurity, making his friends in obscurity, then obscurity is not uninteresting.

To each his world is private and in that world one excellent minute.
and in that world one tragic minute, These are private.

in any man who dies there dies with him
his first snow and kiss and fight. .........

... there are left books and bridges
and painted canvas and machinery
whose fate it is to survive.

But what has gone is also not nothing
by the rule of the game something has gone
Not people die but worlds die in them.

Whom we knew as faulty, the earth's creatures
of whom essentially what did we know?

Brother of a brother? Friend of friends?
Lover of lover?

We who knew our fathers
in everything, in nothing.

They perish
they cannot be brought back
The secret worlds are not regenerated.

And everytime AGAIN AND AGAIN
i MAKE MY LAMENT AGAINST DESTRUCTION
Yevgeny Yevgeshenko

Perhaps our politicians who send our youngsters off to war might care to read that?

Thank you Ann,for your sensitive words of deep thought and cogitation, well appreciated.

Ron.

This week, has seen the conclusion of the 11.5 million renovation of Birkenhead Park. The first public Park in the country(1847) it has been admired and copied since it’s first design by Joseph Paxton.
One very famous park to be modelled on Birkenhead is Central Park, New York.
Whilst walking through the latter, and being absorbed, I have mistakenly momentarily, believed that I was in the former!.
However, in conclusion to all this, the ‘Grand Finale’ will be staged this weekend, when a local team of Archaeologists, will commence a three day search endeavouring to unearth the ‘Spitfire’ that buried itself here after being shot down during the ‘Battle Of Britain’’ The B of B was not confined to the South Of England. Numerous ‘Dog Fights’ took place over the ‘Mersey’

Whilst our NHS is sometimes under unfair attack. I would like to counterbalance this from my own personal experience.
Anyone reading this thread will be aware of my ‘problem’ which has resulted in my requiring intensive nursing care over recent weeks. Not only has the care been supplied in abundance, I am tending to be ‘over nursed This has resulted in my politely requesting the McMillan and the Wisp nursed to leave me off their list until my situation requires a call. Even my GP has started to ‘drop’ in when passing.
I am being spoiled and I do appreciate it. I wish to thank all of them..

Ron.

quote:

am being spoiled and I do appreciate it.

Obviously you are a man that has got what it takes Ron.. that certain...you know what....!

If you've got it boy -flaunt it!

I wasn't around on Friday - my father's sister died the day before her 95th Birthday and I took Dad to the funeral. Reaching Beckenham from North Herts on a Friday afternoon was not my idea of fun..

Caused the usual confusion with non-family members. Dad is one of the youngest of 10 children and was already 42 by the time I came along. So when I introduced Dad as the deceased's brother, people would say "well that makes you Bill's first cousin..." and you'd see their brains start ticking. Well, Bill is in his 70s and I'm not THAT old! My first cousins have grandchildren starting university. I do seriously feel like a different generation from them most of the time!

Ron - don't forget that the MacMillan nurses are there for your wife and family as well as for you. They can offer support and experience and help lift some of your family's concerns at this difficult time. For yourself, take each day as it comes and I wish you well. x

quote:

Dad is one of the youngest of 10 children and was already 42 by the time I came along. So when I introduced Dad as the deceased's brother, people would say "well that makes you Bill's first cousin..." and you'd see their brains start ticking. Well, Bill is in his 70s and I'm not THAT old! My first cousins have grandchildren starting university. I do seriously feel like a different generation from them most of the time!

Know just where you are coming from Jenni - my father wasv38 and my mother 33 when I unexpectedly came along. My first cousins are old enough to be my mother. To make matters worse, on my mother's side my grandfather was the youngest by 20 years and so my great grandmother is in a mid-victorian crinoline. My grandaughters have great, great uncles and aunts on my husband's side.

A further complication is that my grandmother and her sister married my grandather and his brother -so most of my cousins are double related (happily none of us wished to marry within the family or the consequences might have been too 'orrible to think about)

sorry Jenni -forgot to say sorry about your aunt.

My aunts were always great to me (I discovered after they died that at least two of them considered me to be rather neglected in the attention stakes as an older sister resented my arrival)

Thanks Ann. Have you tried doing genealogical research - I find it hard enough trying to trace my family because the usual assumptions about dates of birth based on marriage dates etc falls to pot!

My aunt was also my godmother. She emigrated to Canada when I was too young to remember her and visited about twice before coming back this century after being widowed. I guess that's why I am so lacking in religious tuition and adherence!

Because my grandparents had parenting issues (as we would say nowadays! but in fact it generally had more to do with an attraction to the bottle ) my aunt took on a great deal of responsibility for raising her younger siblings and I do think my Dad does feel her loss quite badly.

quote:

my aunt took on a great deal of responsibility for raising her younger siblings and I do think my Dad does feel her loss quite badly.

Yes, am with you there also - my father was mainly brought up by his older sister because my grandmother took it upon herself to pay off the debts her father left when he died. He, my father (who died 42 years ago yesterday at a young 63) was heartbroken when his sister died.

Re family tree -I am a member of the West Family so on that side I have my tree back to 1600.

When still a young thing, I was working in a laboratory where also worked the father of some young man I knew as part of 'our crowd'.

He, the father said he was about to celebrate his Silver wedding. 'Sorry, I said, in all innocence, 'but you are one more than that, its not Silver but something else'. 'I know what year I was married', he said. 'But', I heard my big mouth say, 'It must be 26 years because S is 26. Whoop.........s. Did the floor open up and swallow me -no it did not!

I thought it was quite the "in thing" to have your offspring as bridesmaid/page boys at your wedding!

quote:

Posted 08-10-07 16:49 Hide Post
I thought it was quite the "in thing

I once attended a wedding (I was a guest of the vicar) where the offspring were not only bridesmaids but afterwards were baptised and the adult bridesmaid was Godmother!

I was accompanying an elderly nun who was heard to mutter, 'how very interesting, I have never experienced this before' ... no sister neither have I before or since!

The 3 day Spitfire salvage dig in Birkenhead park, proved quite successful, with 80% of the original aircraft, including the R/R Merlin engine, being recovered.
A study group has already been established regarding the feasibility of a rebuilding programme and the cost involved.

Ever since I first read about her in the National press, I have admired the courage of the late Jane Tomlinson. It appears that her untimely death was unnecessary, with a new drug now available, she could have lived a further 8-12 months.
The cost of the new drug is £6,700 . Her Health Authority stated that a ‘one off’ was no problem, unfortunately, this was not the case. Because of the many Cancer sufferers now entering the country and requiring medication, the gross cost had become impossible. I can understand their dilemma and sympathise with them.
However, brave to the last. When Nottingham H A offered to pay the cost on her behalf, she declined, insisting upon taking her turn. A very brave lady.

Ron.

I have a great dilemma about this. A drug that can extend life by 8-12 months sounds a good idea, but the problem for me is what is the quality of life it is extending? I realise that it's each individual's choice in their own circumstances, but I so often feel that a "last chance" treatment comes too late for life to be sustained at what for me would constitute a reasonable quality.

But I fully realise that if I or a loved one were in that situation, I might feel very different .

But then my own consolation is that I believe that what waits for me on the other side is to be welcomed and not postponed just to gain a few extra days/weeks/months on this side .

Jenni, you hit the nail on the head. Living at what cost? I, myself, being a believer in the power of termination as opposed to being a throbbing jelly or cabbage, would seriously cogitate over a situation as above rather than survive for survivals sake. The new drug which would have been suitable for Jane Tomlison, has been passed in 5 US States for general use and it’s claim is that within reason, normal life can continue.
My case is somewhat different. As one of my French doctors explained when he ‘phoned to see how I was—I have Cancer of the lung, also, Asbestosis and finally Emphysema.(who was that guy that said “I’ll Do It My Way”)
I am therefore, having to fight on several fronts at once, which restricts breathing space( is that the appropriate terminology?)
I take 25 various tablets each day, plus Morphine when or if required, and having managed to fracture a rib, now, more than before.
However, I am on 24 hour oxygen, via a nasal tube, and except for the sometimes acute shortage of breath, I get around quite normally, and sod Davy Jones!

Ron.

Well said Ron!
I am going to be away for the enxt couple of weeks, I will catch up with your doings when I get back. Hope you keep well while I am away.

I did of course mean 'next' not 'enxt' - pesky non-editing software

Oh Ron, you don't do things by half, do you!