Author Archive
Listening to the BBC World service I heard of this strange feature of Catalan nativity scenes. Its the very necessary inclusion of a Caganer, pronounced Cack’an’ae in the nativity scene. Catalan nativity scenes are more than just the manger but a scene of Bethlehem with a Caganer usually partially hidden behind a bush or tree. Why? it’s a person in the act of defecating, with the produce of a bowel movement evident should you have any doubt.
This scatological squatting figure, now plastic, formally pottery as this is no new phenomenon, but dates from the 17th century, is now symbolised …
Dec 19th by Ian under Miscellaneous
I have a Skoda Octavia estate L & K, bought from Thompson and Potter in Burrelton. My wife has a Skoda Fabia SDI whose wipers packed in about the 8th of Dec, wipers are fiddly but can usually be DIY fixed. So what do you check first? the fuse, I downloaded the fuse box positions and they were the same as the Haynes manual. It is a 20 amp fuse not a mini blade, so I checked all the 20 amps, and they were OK. That in itself seems troublesome as it points to the motor or the relay. So …
Well if it is I would like you to listen to the link below
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/console/p00c4pmk/The_Climate_Connection_The_Climate_Connection_2010_Debate_Whats_Stopping_Us…
Dec 13th by Ian under Miscellaneous
Disturbingly I know exactly where the devils plantation is, I have driven past and cycled past it many times. The authoress, May Miles Thomas, a BAFTAÂ award winning one, says you will either get it or you wont. Mine is a work in progress, but I wanted to share the site and await your feedback, (if you get it, or not)
http://www.devilsplantation.co.uk/
this is my link to the devils plantation it is from Shereen Nanjiani’s Sunday news program on radio Scotland
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radioscotland/2010/12/shereen-may-miles-thomas.shtml…
SEPA are quite rightly concerned about water/river quality. I do wonder if winter quality river measurements in the melt period will result in SEPA bringing to court the maintenance contractors for trunk roads and the local councils for, excessive salt content in said waters ?
Interesting political and legal position…
Dec 7th by Ian under Travels, my Friends travels
What is it?
Transport Scotland,
more like Transport halted Scotland. The whole of the central belt ground to a halt yesterday through the major routes, one of which, the A80, is at least 10 years delayed in it’s bringing to construction. The usual professional tongue flappers started to blame, surprise weather, jack knifed trucks etc etc. Anyway the media allowed a voice to all those with an opinion and are the now non travelling public furious? you better believe it ! and furious at the excuses and comments like “first rate effort”. What did that fiasco cost yesterday to businesses …
Dec 3rd by Ian under Materials and Construction
What can you buy for 20p a kilo? well pine cones, with global 24/7 news you kinda feel you can grasp what’s going on. Well I never knew this and I never even thought about it.
What?
The hand collection of pine cones from Georgia whose seeds are the stock of the Nordman firs we buy as Christmas trees at about £40. This is pure exploitation of subsistence farmers who risk their lives 40 to 50 metres up trees collecting cones for a seed base. Their exploitation is made easier by their communist past, their former world was controlled by …
few pics from my brother, same Panasonic as I have.…
You would expect, if you lied on a post or your observations on a company or institution were way off the mark that said companies or institutions would take some legal action against you or at least robustly comment on the maligning words. Well given the recent reaction to one of my posts, some people are as sensitive as adolescent school girls.  It surely must be wrong to associate a personal post on a personal blog to the persons employer and apply pressure regarding one’s personal opinions. So here we are in Scottish / Burmese state where words must be constrained, not because they are wrong, …
Didn’t have to go far this year to see my first waxwing as it was feeding with starlings and blackies on rowan berries on a tree visible from my porch. That’s a first for our garden and I managed a pic with my compact Panasonic DMC FZ7. Strange that it was a lone waxwing as I have always seen them in flocks before. Just need some frost on the cotoneaster berries and the fieldfares and redwings will be on them.…
Nov 4th by Ian under Materials and Construction
Tags: bilfinger berger, edinburgh city council, TIE, trams
Well I have been biting my tongue for months, not like me ! the resignation of TIEs chief executive David Mackay was too much for a balanced view to withstand. I am not a Edinburgh tax payer, if I was I would be driven to protest. Bilfinger Berger are a construction company, they did not make the overly complicated bespoke contract that they signed up to. If it is exploitable it’s the fault of the spec makers, TIE. To state on resignation that a company who cannot legally reply, due to the contract, are delinquents, and lets take that in …
Oct 6th by Ian under Materials and Construction
I can see the searches people put in to reach my site, and a recurring one is “density of type 1 subbase”. So in my humble option you should use 2.1 / 2.2 t/M3 for aggregate that has a relative density of 2.7 / 2.8 t /M3. Limestone will be less in proportion to it’s relative density as will granite, and some igneous rocks will be more, such as from Hillhouse Quarries in Ayrshire whose relative density from memory is 2.9 t/M3. the lack of facts is we don’t routinely measure subbase density as a criteria so there is not …
I was working late today the 28th September, and stopped at the Sainsbury’s store in Kinross, it was dusk, about 7.00PM and rain clouds further darkened the sky. As I parked there were skeins of pinkfeet calling and heading for loch Leven, some 700 / 800 in view at a time, I was in the store for about 20mins, and when I came out they were still flying over ! OK it could have been the same ones having done a circle, but I doubt it, they knew were to go. Wish I could take tomorrow off and be at …
Swallows and martins usually overlap the geese by a week or two here in Tayside, I have been expecting geese since Wednesday 15th, due to the favourable winds. It wasn’t until the 18th I heard and saw a small flock of greylag geese flying over the house. Big skeins to follow, swallows and martins are still here but patchy, no longer lined up on the wires but feeding and moving south. I now look forward to crisp autumn days at Loch Leven, where I line up my imaginary gun to real cormorants, wonder what they taste like? Can’t be worse …
I have at last found a wing feather about the same size as the Tawny owl feather, I believe it is from a heron. The purpose was to demonstrate in the wing feathers, the difference from a nocturnal owl whose flight is silent and a normal diurnal bird. I hope you can see the softer upper surface of the tawny which seems to have extra coverings over the barbules, which you cannot see, where on the heron you can see the barbules locked together in the herring bone type pattern. The long “ridges” you can see are the barbs. Try …