A couple of days ago, I got out some shoes I hadn't worn for a while - have had them some years, but no occasion to wear them in the last 18 months. Sadly, the moulded "rubber" - synthetic? - soles fell to pieces as I wore them. I asked about repairs but, as I thought, they can't be repaired. But I was told that, kept in the dark, shoes with these soles do this. It's happened to a couple of other pairs, but after about 15 years of heavy wear, and the uppers were going. Can anyone throw light on this?

We have been chosen to complete an Office for National Statistics study, and will be rewarded with a £10 voucher! Have you struck lucky?

"In the EU referendum and again in 2017 age was a new dividing line in British politics. The data indicates that little has changed on this front over the past two years, with Labour still winning a majority of younger voters and the Conservatives miles ahead among older Britons.

In fact, for every 10 years older a voter is, their chance of voting Tory increases by around nine points, and the chance of them voting Labour decreases by eight points.

The tipping point - the age at which a voter is more likely to have voted Conservative than Labour - is now 39, down from 47 at the last election." SOURCE > YOUGOV POLL.

Are you infected, diseased or don't care?

What about the Lib-Dems, Greens and Plaid and SNP?

Radio 4's Life Scientific today is about how Martin Sweeting made a satellite on his kitchen table and persuaded Nasa to launch it into space. Martin tells about his life and work.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000v7pb

Swiss women can now vote in federal elections and stand for parliament after a national referendum.

The official result shows 621,403 of the all-male electorate supported the vote for women and 323,596 were against.

The poll was almost a complete reversal of a previous referendum, when women were refused the federal vote by a 2-1 majority.

'Children, Church and Kitchen'

This time round, political pundits were expecting a repeat performance with the rural and traditionally more conservative German-speaking cantons resisting the proposal.

Even one women's group had argued against change. The Swiss Women Against Voting Rights Association campaigned on the grounds that women's responsibilities lie in the household."


Guess the year, and any comments welcome!

Two men were killed after a Tesla car crashed into a tree and caught fire in Texas, and police believe there was nobody present in the driver's seat at the time of the accident.

The 2019 Tesla Model S was travelling at a high speed when it failed to negotiate a curve on a winding road.

The victims, both in their 50s, were found in the front passenger seat and in the back of the vehicle.

Tesla did not respond immediately to the BBC's request for comment.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-56799749.amp

Out the garden today I saw 3 really huge wasps, not hornets but much bigger than wasps usually are. I assume they are queens.
Also saw a couple of the false black widow spiders on the fence.

Out of curiosity. is anyone taking this drug?
Do they think it’s safe for long term use and have they any side effects?

Considering buying a Sound bar for my TV to improve the sound level.
Under £100 preferred.

Do they have a power supply ? I do not want batteries.
From my web search they only have an HDMI connection and a handset ?

Has anybody got one of these and do they improve the TV speaker sound significantly ?

The Louvre has put its entire art collection online for free. This includes items in storage, and in the new art facility in Lievin in northern France. You can click to select a collection, or type in to the search box. There is an interactive map at the bottom of the page. All images can be downloaded, and some are shown in greater detail below the image: https://bit.ly/3glH3Xi

Very clever, but possible. Another good watch. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=259411679208818

In 2019 Facebook was hacked, and 533 million phone numbers were acquired. Shortly after, Facebook found and fixed the breach. 11.5 million of these were in the UK. Hackers have now made this information available for free on the Internet. If you have given your mobile phone number to Facebook, you can check to see if yours was included, by visiting https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and entering your phone number as follows: start with 44, then omit the zero at the beginning, then the rest of the number. Whilst you are there, you can also check to see if your email address has been acquired in a breach of any website you have given it to.

Wife of Damian Lewis just died, only 52, was battling cancer.

I want to know if it is legal for a company to rise prices on a 'fixed rate' contract because of the rise in the CPI

https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/environmental-activist-says-cheese-is-racist-dairy-shouldnt-be-served-in-schools/

What's next on the list...snow?

This had me in stitches, make sure you watch it with sound, it is in English. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=459539628471209

12.00 - Thursday 15/4
I would have thought that the BBC would have televised this event, but only Sky 1 lists a TV showing at 14.45 to 16.00.

There is now a Consultation about whether workers in care homes should have to have a Covid jab

https://consultations.dhsc.gov.uk/making-vaccination-a-condition-of-deployment-in-older-adult-care-homes

It does take a few minutes to fill in - but please have your say and pass the link on to as many people as possible.

are being seen in the Bromley/Chislehurst area. Anyone else seeing them.

He took us through a referendum then, when the vote didn't go his way, he walked away from his job.

Now he's (allegedly) been caught trying to make millions for himself by using his previous job contacts to get deals beneficial to his (then) employer. Apart from the fact that he has been caught, the company, he was lobbying on behalf of, no longer exists.

To me, he is a Mucky Man who makes Mucky decisions to feather his own nest. I have no time for the man and hope he gets clobbered to the utmost!

Rescheduled

On tonight at 8pm

Bidding room not on!

..

There was a thread about this but i can't find it [ thought it was from John H]

Yes I thinks so - I have posted things to give away for free on Freegle and FB but 3 times have been let down by people who said they wanted them, arranged when they would come but not turned up and no message sent.

Hi

If you're planning to buy anything on Amazon you might like to know about the following ways to get free or almost free gift vouchers. I've tried all of these and they all work.

If you're planning to spend over £50, rather than just paying at the checkout, top up your gift card balance by £50 and they'll give you an extra £6. You can only do this once.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=11301833031

If you stream a music track on Amazon Music Free for the first time you'll receive a £5 coupon against an eligible purchase of £20 or more which needs to be redeemed within 30 days of receipt

This promotion ends April 15th 2021

https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=22573875031

If you take out an Amazon Mastercard you get a £10 gift card as a welcome and then cashback in the form of Amazon gift vouchers. The percentage you get back depends on where you use the card and whether you have Amazon Prime or not, but it's at least half a percent. OK it's not much but it's better than nothing.

There are several phone apps which give you Amazon vouchers in exchange for scanning your shopping receipts.

Shopprize, Shoppix, Storewards and Huyu

These are all on Android - I don't know if there are equivalent apps for iPhones.
You can scan the same receipt into all four apps and you should earn an average of about 20p per receipt for the four apps combined.

You're only supposed to scan your own receipts but If you see a receipt lying around it's worth picking it up and scanning it. Doing so is known as Wombling.
There are limits on how many receipts you can scan (Typically 5 per day for each app, and they need to be dated within the last seven days.

Another one from the RAC newsletter (with permission to share)

31st Mar 2021

ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInEmail

Increased funding for highway maintenance isn’t enough to help local authorities in England and Wales reach target conditions, with more than £10 billion needed to get roads back in shape, a new Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) report reveals.

Despite a 15% increase in highway maintenance budgets, partly due to Government funding to repair potholes and support active travel, budgets are still lower than they were two years ago and road conditions have not significantly improved, the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey highlights.

The RAC has also urged Scottish authorities to conduct “swift corrective maintenance” to damaged Highland roads in Scotland.

This includes the popular tourist route the North Coast 500 which The Scotsman reports to have “big holes in sections” as well as “suspension-destroying” potholes on the trail.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “This year, the colder winter we’ve had means potholes are likely to make driving some stretches of the route a lot less enjoyable, but they also risk causing expensive damage to vehicles.

“Without some swift corrective maintenance it looks as though the arrival of spring could coincide with many more drivers running into problems, including on the NC500 itself.”

A spokesperson for Highland Council said: “The recent severe weather between January and March has caused considerable damage to Highland roads. We have a process in place regarding potholes and defects, and all incidents that are reported are followed up.”

Between October and December last year, RAC patrols attended more than 1,400 breakdowns in the UK where potholes were most likely to be the cause.

Report a pothole and find out how to claim for damage

How to check your tyre pressure | Video guide

20 ways to make your car last longer

While there has been an increase in the number of potholes filled over the last 12 months – the equivalent of one every 19 seconds – the AIA states this shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a positive.

AIA chair Rick Green welcomed the increase in funding but said “using it to repeatedly fill in potholes is essentially a failure as it does nothing to improve the resilience of the network”.

The average frequency of road surfacing is now once every 68 years and it would take £10.24 billion over a decade to clear the backlog of maintenance on local roads in England and Wales.

Mr Green called for a longer-term approach to local road funding, similar to the five-year commitment given to motorways and major A roads.

This would allow local authority highway engineers to “plan ahead and implement a more proactive, sustainable and cost-effective whole life approach to maintaining the network”, he said.

“This commitment is vital to the nation’s post-pandemic reset in which we will rely on our local road network to support recovery and underpin active travel and levelling-up goals.”

Nicholas Lyes, RAC head of roads policy, said: “The AIA’s report lays bare the pressure on local authorities who are grappling with crumbling road surfaces. On the one hand additional money allows them to fix potholes but the inconsistent nature of this funding often means they focus on short-term quick fixes rather than preventing them from occurring in the first place.

“Potholes are a nuisance and not only cause expensive vehicle damage but can also lead to serious injury or even worse. Without a long-term approach to local road maintenance funding, similar to what we already have for strategic roads, we face our roads remaining in a perpetually poor state.

“The Government must now change tack and ring-fence a small proportion of existing fuel duty revenues over a five-year period so that local authorities are able to plan routine maintenance properly and get our local roads up to a fit and proper standard.”

Help prevent food waste from local food suppliers.
Instead of them throwing food away at the end of the day, (or their service), get a bag full to consume at home and save your money as well as their waste.

I have had some excellent value from using their App.

More details here:
https://toogoodtogo.org/en

Once upon a time there was a female brain cell which by mistake happened to end up in a man's head.

She looked around nervously but it was all empty and quiet.

"Hello?" she cried, but no answer.

"Is there anyone here?" she cried a little louder, but still no answer.

Now the female brain cell started to feel alone and scared and yelled: "HELLO, IS THERE ANYONE HERE..?"

Then she heard a voice from far, far, far away: "Hellooooo, we're down here."

HAVE YOU GOT SEX INSURANCE ?

You can now get sex insurance in the UK so make sure you get correct insurance for the sex you are having . Please find a list of companies below catering for most tastes:

Sex with your wife - legal and general.

Sex on the telephone - direct line.

Sex with your partner -standard life .

Sex with someone different - go compare.

Sex with a lady of generous proportions -more than.

Sex on the back seat of a car - Sheila's wheels.

Sex with a prostitute - commercial Union .

Sex with your maid -employers liability.

Sex with an oap - saga .

Sex resulting in pregnancy - general accident .

Sex with animals - National Farmers Union.

Sex with a monk- Abbey Life

Sex with Navy Officers- Admiral Group.

AND FINALLY

Sex with a transvestite - confused. Com

Make sure you are adequately covered!!

https://www.wilko.com/face-mask-recycling

I was sorry to hear the news today but is it necessary to have nothing else on the TV this evening, on all the main channels? Surely they will be repeating the same films of Prince Philip's life over and over again!!

Received Bromley Council newsletter "Bromley joins national week of mourning" (I will post details in local news feed)

"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

"His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle."
Source: BBC

A BIBLICAL STORY

A woman runs a red traffic light and crashes into a man's car. Both of their cars are demolished, but amazingly, neither of them is hurt.

After they crawl out of their cars, the woman says; "Wow, just look at our cars!

There's nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days."

The man replies, "I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God!"

The woman continues, "And look at this, here's another miracle.

My car is completely demolished, but my bottle of wine didn't break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune." She then hands the bottle to the man.

The man nods his head in agreement, opens it, drinks half the bottle and then hands it back to the woman. The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on and hands it back to the man.

The man asks, "Aren't you having any?"

The woman replies, "Nah. I think I'll just wait for the police."

Adam ate the apple, too.

Men will never learn...

If anyone receives a PM from Roseco (miss_kotchi2@yahoo.com) ignore it it's a well documented scam.

Yet again ☹

http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/i-opened-book/

Hope the link works!

click on

I have spent last 42 minutes waiting on phone for the surgery to enquire when I might be getting my second injection only to be told that they have no idea, it's out of their hands and to ring daily (even twice a day) to see if slot becomes available. Hearing of so many people who have had their second jab who had their first one later. Surgery have no idea if it's a location problem (site now only doing every other day) or vaccine problem. Twelve weeks up on Monday. When I rang last week was told that I should wait until I was contacted. Tomorrow is out as have a hospital appointment. Grrr!

Plays tunes on wine glasses as it goes - its very impressive
https://fb.watch/4HjsDP_es4/

If you are a Firefox user, there is an add-on that will show the location of the website you are on. You may be surprised where some sites are located. This can be useful if you are making a purchase, because the law in that country may apply. The add-on places the nation's flag at the end of the address bar, and gives access to other information. You'll never guess where Sainsbury's is. https://mzl.la/3cOaI9o

.Edit: After installing, the add-on will be added to your right-click menu, and gives several options, including scanning the website for viruses.

.

.

Yes or no? Will they work?

If press reports are accurate, EU politicians have approached Russia for potential vaccine supply?
Would you like a shot in the arm from there?