Friendly chat

Sadly, I don't just get weather forecast wrong. A few weeks ago, our chapel piano stopped receiving midi signals, so in effect, was no longer a phantom piano. It still performed as a straight piano. Last evening, after completion of a service, our classical guitar player, decided to have a look around the piano, then said to me "Why does this changeover switch say receive USB"? It shouldn't, I had forgotten that switch existed. It gets worse. It was probably me who moved the switch whilst cleaning the piano. The switch is located under the piano keyboard. Who's a turnip then!

It seems good but no matter how it's feeling, it can't have a Cornetto. As for the weather, just put 'changeable' and you won't be wrong.

I'm having one of those days... That started about lunchtime yesterday with a flat tyre. I'm distinctly jinxy. You know that things come in threes? Well I'm up to six.

Never mind a flat tyre, the problem around here is pot holes. One of our daughters managed to lose both front suspensions at the sme time through pot holes . The other daughter has had to have two new wheels in the last 9 months due to pot holes. She tried to claim off the council, that was a waste of time, still waiting for a reply. Modern Britain!

Mick Strong, I do apologise if I have asked before? Was your Father the Goods In manager at E. Laxon & Company, wholesale grocers and provision merchants in Gas Street?

Hi Slash1. My dad was Stan Strong, who was based at Charter Ave. My mum also was at Charter Ave running the canteen. Think dad probably joined around 1965. Was there another Strong at Gas Street and did Laxons move from Gas Street to Charter Ave?

We have the same problems over here in Australia - thanks to a succession of floods. I wrote this little poem............ Pot Holes in the Road I guess it's all the rain we've had that's made the roads so very bad, but how are we to fix it? From time to time the Council blokes, prompted by complaining folks, come along and concrete readymix it. When it rains again, the concrete lifts, and thereupon the problem shifts, the pebbles in the concrete spray all over, And smash your headlights, wreck your paint, sympathetic the Insurance ain't, your precious Volvo or Historic Rover! Now, one poor bloke in a MiniMoke thought it'd be a funny joke to take a run at a hole and try to clear it. But sad to say, it went astray, he only made it just halfway; his cry of woe so loud we all could hear it! Then one bright spark thought it'd be a lark, when he watched the little Mini park; he brought some paint and a brush to sort it out. He painted white lines around the hole, erected signage on a pole, and the MiniMoke became a roundabout! Another local thought it lax that he paid the Council so much tax, and they wasted it on hospitals and schools. His journey to work a slalom course, quicker if he went by horse; so he went to the shed and gathered up his tools. He'd show those politicians how bad were these conditions, and he planted a huge gum tree in one pit, And this committed greenie, in a "Save the Koala" beenie, placed a fluffy little toy on top of it. Two young enterprising chaps went round collecting used hubcaps that came loose in these car-destroying craters. Another group who earned a bit filled some holes with soil and grit, and made a fortune selling fresh potaters. Your Council's really not to blame, roads everywhere are just the same; no wonder the repairs are incomplete. So when these potholes make you swear, don't merely leave the matter there, do something that would brighten up your street. Hope it brought a smile back to your face, Argon!

Well about time JW, brilliant if I may say so. I was beginning to think your pen had dried up

Ok, ok, pencils down. Pondering the huge dilemmas of life, how on earth does a hen lay a Scotch Egg,?

Trick question. Scotch hens are in fact alien birds from the planet Och Aye the Noo, where sporrans, tam o' shanters and bagpipes run wild.

Hold on, hold on, Meet my pet friends who might have something to say about this. Angus & Haggis.

I watched "Match of the day" last night and there was a squabble over the ball when a goal was scored late on by the team that was losing. I have never understood that when a goal is scored the person who scores always grabs the ball and runs back to the centre circle, I presume to rush the kick off. But it is not them that is kicking off, so the opposition can just take their time and stroll back at their leisure?

Hi all, Can anyone lend me a squirt of oil please? I'm enjoying some Marmite on toast, which is full of iron. If I go outside later, I will rust up!

I'd give you a squirt of my WD40 but my nozzle doesn't stretch that far.

Hi all, Just Blether. It's Friday evening. Who recalls for most folks the feel good characteristics of a Friday evening? Over half of Coventry workforce employed in manufacturing, which often meant a two day break from work routine before the dreaded Monday morning arrived. Not much use to the retail work sector, most working until the end of Saturday. My growing up home was a split. Dad manufacturing, whilst mum had shops to run. Takings for Saturday almost equalling the previous five days, so closing her shops on Saturday a huge No No! My plans always punctuated by trainspotting, until I became involved with piano playing. I'm sharing this because of a particular subject that's on my mind. The issues of Dementia & Alzheimer's. A million people suffer in the UK. It's galloping horses because in the next six years it's expected to rise to over 1.6 million. The first person that I became aware of with this condition was a lady called Ellen. I was in my early teens when my mum or dad (car owners) would sometime get a phone call to help search for Ellen, who lived in Foleshill but was brought up as a child in Bedworth. That's where she was always found, trying to get in her one time home in Wootton St, sometimes late at night. Now, I know of loads. In yattering here, I'm mixing two topics in effect. I wonder if there's a connection to explain the rapid increase. One of the therapies often tried is getting the sufferer to think outside of the box, helped by other family members of possible. Can we think out of the box?