Our Phili-Pam

Hi Mickw, They are suckers. Most of the time they are docile, but have an enormous turn of speed when needed. 0-60 in half a second. Occasionally they have a mad few minutes, uprooting everything, and can cause injury to any fish that get in their way. As said, we had them back in 1997, and have outlived the previous tank. As new they were a fraction of an inch. They are so hardy, surviving a heater failure and almost impossible to catch as was our experience when we bought this tank in 2007.

You're right about them being a hardy fish, Philip. Our suckers were the only two fish to last the full duration of our aquarium. I gave them to a neighbour when we moved as they were the only two fish left after our angel fish died, one of which was one of the first fish we bought after the suckers. My daughter named him George as we wouldn't let her call him Jaws. I do miss sitting watching the fish, it was very relaxing. Mind you, two of my daughters have aquariums so I can always watch theirs.

Hi all I have just discovered a post by someone on another website, talking about me. "Readers have been writing in to tell us of their experiences at the old children's orthopaedic hospital, which withstood air raids during the Blitz. . . . in 1946 I was born with club feet, so I started my life seeing Dr Penrose at the Paybody Hospital. By the age of nine, I had had five operations on my feet in order to get my feet to point the right way. My recollections of these operations, was always to wake up 'plastered', and, as we lived in Binley Woods, the long journey my parents had to make in order to visit me. I remember distinctly having to go to the Paybody's clinic; I think this was situated in the Lower Holyhead Road, in order to receive exercise on my feet, and to receive more plaster from Nurse Bailey. Other memories are of going to Trueform's for new boots, and then going back to the clinic, in order to have the soles built up. After 16 years of seeing Dr Penrose, he finally discharged me, only for me to injure my knee six weeks later playing football. This resulted in me being referred back to Dr Penrose, and then back to Paybody's for an operation on my knee - this was in January 1962. I was in there for six weeks. One guy had been in there for 22 months, with both legs in plaster, with a bar running between them, in order for him to hopefully walk correctly. I was allowed to go home early, because the hospital was going to change to the eye hospital. Others were transferred to the Coventry & Warwick Hospital Don Inwood, Handleys Close, Ryton on Dunsmore." He is talking about me!!!!! What a pip! I was looking for the address of the Dover Street clinic to see if I could help with Janey's post & have come across this. " . . . One guy had been in there for 22 months, with both legs in plaster, with a bar running between them, in order for him to hopefully walk correctly." That was me, he is talking about!!!!! I wish I could make contact with him if he is still alive, but no links in the directories.

How lovely for you to find yourself mentioned in someone's reminiscences, Philip. Hope you can find contact with him.

Hello & thank you Mayjan.

Hi all In many ways, it is my volunteer activities, over forty odd years or more, that have shaped me more than anything else in life. Even as we as a family are going through the mill a bit just now, I don't have to look back far to see folk in all kinds of situations and dilemmas. That I am sure helps me to see, over a situation, without being tunnel-blinded by it, as indeed so many are. In particular, those closest to the crisis. I do try to see right from wrong, but part of the understanding is just that, being able to understand. My days with Coventry Mind were a real eye-opener. That brought me into direct contact with every conceivable kind of life activity, including a murder. A big over six-foot man that murdered his less than five foot tiny wife, leaving her body in a layby out Nuneaton way. How do I come to terms with that, even though it was nearly twenty years ago? I was talking with the deceased only three days prior to her being murdered. Thankfully, most events were nothing as traumatic as that. The biggest challenge was recognising folk's innocent lifestyles, learning not to be judgmental, however odd to me an activity or lifestyle might have been. I tell you, of all the activities that I have seen, fifteen rugby players, dressed as little children, doing a set McDonalds party time, complete with the cakes, trifles and games, takes some beating. Goodnight all.

Hello all, The bacon butty at the Belgrade was ace, as usual. On the way home I sought permission to record this picture of an enthusiast, restoring motorcycles.

Hi all Whilst out & about yesterday, I heard and then saw a cuckoo, whilst waiting for a train at Berkswell. A first for me since I think 2009. I was visiting a friend Timothy, Timothy Taylor. A pint size chap, served at the nearby pub. It's my favourite draught at present. My sighting of the cuckoo was confirmed and had nothing to do with Timothy Taylor, or cuckoo clocks.

Hi all I returned to Berkswell early this morning, in a vain attempt to hear the cuckoo once again. The consolation was a hearty breakfast at the local pub. Several folk confirmed hearing the male cuckoo during the week, so I know that it was not my Timothy Taylor that was causing hallucinations, when I heard it last Thursday.

Hi all I haven't the faintest idea how I come to be always associated with food, or to be more accurate the consumption of it. Whatever the facts, it is at least the one subject that has punctuated my existence throughout nearly three score years + ten of living. Quite a surprise really, considering all of the food stuffs that I have consumed in generous quantities over those years, most of which at sometime or other have been the subject of "white-coat-men" notions of not being good for us. Do you remember "going to work on an egg", then later to be told we could be dead in an hour if we ate more than one in a week (might be a bit of an exaggeration there). That was before the virus scare involving Edwina. Woe betide if we eat fatty meat, sausages or bacon. Now a report is suggesting that notion may be a dippy idea & that it is now sugar which is the villain in our larders, in current "white-coat-men" thinking. I suppose that the real villain is the quantity consumed in most of these scares. Sugar is probably the finest natural preserving agent, that for generations where refrigeration processes were non-existent, meant that folk at least got a dose of vitamin C from bottled/canned fruit and jams, that otherwise would have contracted rickets. I do admit that a couple of years ago, as the result of a bacon butty morning jest, I stopped adding sugar to all of my drinks. I now dislike sugar being added to my teas or coffee, well aware that most bottled drinks contain vast amounts, but funnily, I am now drinking more tea and coffee than I can remember. Sugar appeared to be masking the taste of my coffee and teas, which I now look forward to enjoying more than ever. It also means that I am a little more fussy about what tea or coffee that I am drinking. Just on a final thought, who has been paying these folk that tell us that what we are eating will write us off? Only a thought.

Hi all Todays lesson in gardening. Whether you like pussy-willow or just plain pussy, here is the result of good quality gardening. Water well between meals. Pussy likes watching "Spring-Watch".

One from today for "our" Philip

Hi all, and thank you, MR. "Brill"

Hi all I promised my forumite friends that I would post a pic from my distant dark days of trafficking.

Hi all The last of our outdoor tomatoes. Just two "big" pot plants have kept us supplied with toms since June.