Over the years I've lost a lot of friends and relatives to assorted types of cancer, so for the last few years I've taken part in the Marsden March - a 15 mile sponsored walk to raise money for the Marsden cancer charity. I usually complete the walk in just over four hours.

The Marsden Hospital also cured a friend of mine's cancer.

The March takes place every year but last year's March was cancelled due to covid 19 which resulted in a massive gap in their funding.

The current plan is to hold the March on Sunday 23rd May 2021.

If the full event takes place it'll start near the near the Marsden Hospital in Chelsea and end at the Marsden Hospital in Sutton, passing along Fulham Road, down Putney High Street, over Wimbledon Common, on to Raynes Park and through King George’s Playing Fields. Then through Nonsuch Park and Belmont, to the hospital in Sutton.

If the event can't take place due to the continuing restrictions, then there will be a Marsden March At Home event where participants walk 15 miles in their local area. I've had a play on Bing Maps and I reckon that if I walk from home to the centre of Epsom, up to Epsom Downs, on to Burgh Heath and then head home via Cheam and Worcester Park that will add up to 15 miles.

I'd like to raise as much money as I can for the charity so I'm looking for sponsorship. In the past generous people on Streetlife, then Kahuti and hopefully now Scooploop have donated funds to help me reach the target. If you can spare some cash then a donation would be very much appreciated by the Marden Charity.

You can donate online at

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thebanhammarsdenmarch2020-tonylang

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Since 2011 the March has raised over £13 million pounds with every penny going towards funding state-of-the-art equipment, ground-breaking research, and creating the very best patient care.

This incredible amount has helped The Royal Marsden to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and improve the lives of people affected by cancer, across the UK and around the world.

This year the target is to raise £2 million for a very special cause - to help build the Oak Cancer Centre.

This brand-new centre in Sutton will help the Marsden to speed up the development of life-saving treatments and ensure they can be there for everyone who needs them.

The website of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity gives a lot of detail

about the march at

https://www.royalmarsden.org/support-us/marsden-march

Thanks in advance

Tony

As well as the usual slow and labourious ways to find an old post/comment, Scooploop provides a file you may not be aware of, that contains all of them, which you can then search using your browser's Find facility. This is a plain text file, which means that the links aren't clickable, but it will let you know what you said, and perhaps to whom. Then, depending on the circumstances, you can go to the appropriate group etc. The file is called 'My Scooploop Information' in Settings: https://www.scooploop.com/people/settings/my-scooploop-information/

Love the comment

Seen over Daggers last night - and there will be more different ones in the borough, part of the Glow festival.

.

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/following-tips-can-help-you-decrease-your-risk-of-spring-allergies

"Today marks the start of the whaling season in Norway, one of the world’s richest countries and often championed for its political correctness.

And yet again this oil and gas rich nation will ignore its growing number of critics worldwide to hunt and kill hundreds of minke whales"

In case you are looking at the calendar, please check the truth.

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/age-related-macular-degeneration-awareness-month

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2272406-some-rabbits-walk-on-their-front-feet-with-their-back-legs-in-the-air/#ixzz6qM9hRhBk

I'm not sexist with the male cyclist photos

Amazon shady activity. I recently purchased a kitchen timer valued some £13 from Amazon and paid by credit card. I noticed that for about 3 months £8 per month was charged to my card by Amazon. When I enquired what that was for I was told that is the monthly fee for my Amazon membership that I signed on when doing my purchase. I did not notice doing that which is a very sneaky way for Amazon to take money off people. I may not be very bright at age 87 but not quite stupid jet. So I decided not to go near Amazon ever again and advise you all my neighbours to do the same or be very careful when purchasing anything from Amazon.

From Daily Mail

"Abattoirs across France will undergo emergency inspections after latest shocking secret footage shows workers throwing sheep against a wall and quartering one while it is still alive.
Hidden camera caught abattoir abusing animals in south west France.
Footage filmed just before Easter sees cow's throats cut while still alive."

Also please note:
"It is an offence to sell or to supply to another person, meat that has not been slaughtered and health marked in a licensed abattoir. The owner of an animal may slaughter his animal on-farm, but it is an offence to supply the meat to any other person."

Isn't it common practice in rural communities for "home-killed" meat to be readily available?

Your views and information please.

.

How lovely is this??

This electrician’s firm dropped this round to a child in the home where they had been working for 6 weeks and the child had been regularly ‘helping!’

It’s just so heart warming.

As a young lad Paddy asked Grandpa Sullivan, "Grandpa, how did you ever get so old?" "Well," replies the grandfather, "every morning, I pour a teaspoon of gunpowder into my coffee, and I guess that's the reason." So the Paddy begins drinking coffee and doing the same. 90 years pass and Paddy finally dies having reached the age of 102. He left behind 5 kids, 18 grandkids, 43 great grandkids, several million dollars, and a 60 foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.

Here's our Nora a boisterous 6 year old cat we adopted in 2015 from the Junction Road branch of CPL. She jumped straight into my bag and then miaowed all the way home. Within a couple of hours she was tight-rope walking along the fence and still knew her way back to our house; I reckon she's a bright little cat!!!

This was a thread a little while ago, and having written to those in power to review the concerns of SL members, here is the political response.
Grant Shapps, our transport minister hasn't replied, as yet.
Ed Davey of the LibDems is my local MP and has sent his thoughts, so please read on.

Dear Jocelyn,

Thank you for your email.

I am sceptical about the safety of smart motorways – and believe you raise some valid points. I raised my concerns about smart motorways with the Transport Secretary, Grant Schapps, last year. I have copied my letter to Grant Schapps below and attach a copy of his response as a PDF.

As you may be aware, the Government commissioned a review of the evidence regarding smart motorways which you can view here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936811/smart-motorway-safety-evidence-stocktake-and-action-plan.pdf

The review made a number of recommendations to improve public confidence and safety and my party has been pressing the Government about the progress towards implementing these recommendations. I believe these recommendations are a step forward – but I’m concerned that they still may leave people vulnerable in certain circumstances. My party and I will continue to scrutinise the Government on this.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Davey

Rt Hon Sir Edward Davey MP

Kingston & Surbiton (Liberal Democrats)

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Dear Grant,

I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are extremely concerned at the safety implications of introducing smart motorways without a hard shoulder.

I have held back on sending this e mail due to the priority which it has been necessary to give to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, but feel that I cannot leave this matter any longer.

I appreciate that you had already announced a review into driver safety on smart motorways last October as concerns had already been raised then, and that you said then that none of the smart motorways currently proposed would be rolled out until that review had taken place. Now that the action plan to boost smart motorway safety has been published, I should be grateful for your clarification on a number of points.

1) As I understand it, there are currently around 200 miles of smart motorway currently in operation which continued to be in use while the review was in progress. Very few of the proposals set out in the review appear to have timescales set and, where they are, they appear to be unacceptably lengthy. For example, whilst the installation of signs within emergency areas giving information on what to do in an emergency "by the end of spring 2020" is helpful, a period of 36 months to install “stopped vehicle detection” technology is simply too long - we cannot have another three years of unsafe operation and the Government should return these stretches of road to hard shoulders again until radar is installed. Will the "end of spring 2020" deadline be met? Please explain what immediate steps you are taking to ensure the safety of drivers using the sections of smart motorway currently in operation.

2) My understanding is that safety lay-bys were originally envisaged to be every 600 metres, but you are now saying that they will be up to a maximum of one mile apart. Please explain the change in thinking on this.

3) A number of the commitments in the action plan are vague in the extreme; please would you clarify, for example, what actual action is to be taken when you say you are "considering a national programme", "investigating M6 Bromford viaduct …. we will look to make changes".

4) Please confirm that any new sections of smart motorway will only be rolled out after the targeted communication campaigns that you identify as being necessary have taken place and that these new sections will incorporate all the safety features identified in your action plan from the start.

5) At a time when we are increasingly looking to turn to electric cars as the cleaner option, what allowance is being made for the way in which they operate? In particular, as my colleague Baroness Randerson, Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson in the Lords pointed out in debate earlier this year: "when an electric vehicle ceases to function, it stops; it does not coast in the way that other vehicles do. Smart motorways are supposed to be the future, but the future is electric. Those vehicles stop very suddenly. They also cannot be towed; they have to be put on a low-loader, which is a much more complex and longer process that will put rescue teams in greater danger."

You state that "Overall, what the evidence shows is that in most ways, smart motorways are as safe as, or safer than, the conventional ones. But not in every way" and I am sure that you will have been aware of the allegations made in the Paronama programme at the end of January and the subsequent report by the all-party parliamentary group on roadside rescue and recovery, led by the former roads minister Mike Penning in preparing your action plan.

That report accused Highways England of “casually ignoring commitments” on safety and failing to implement the Stopped Vehicle Detection system. I and my constituents are alarmed at the failings there have been and I should like your assurance that you will personally be ensuring that Highways England will be required to take full account of the Panorama allegations and the all-party parliamentary group's findings in executing your action plan.

Steps need to be taken as a matter of urgency to ensure that no more lives are endangered on the existing smart motorways and that no more sections of motorway will be opened until the problems there have been have been fully resolved and the public can be completely satisfied that the removal of the hard shoulder is not creating any danger to road users.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Ed

Sent: 16 March 2021 10:37

To: DAVEY, Edward

Subject: Smart Motorways

Dear Mr. Davey,

please advise your thoughts on "Smart Motorways".

From what I can find, it appears they are marginally safer than the motorways they are replacing.

This is hard to believe.

I'd invite any MP to park on the inside lane of the M3, 2miles south of the M25 junction.

The night will be dark, wet and windy, and that section is unlit.

Any pet travelling with the driver must be left inside the vehicle, as instructed.

Then he/she driver will stand behind the crash barrier, for their own safety and observe what happens.

In which instance the common sense policy will swiftly become apparent.

Would it be more sensible for Motorways to retain a hard shoulder, and the maximum speed limit to be reduced to 60mph.

it that means slower journeys and more congestion, so be it.

Please note the following statement.

Transport Minister Baroness Vere said that she was ‘astonished’ to learn that electric cars slow to a stop comparatively quickly, rather than coasting to a stop like a normal car. There are also concerns that electric cars are more difficult, and therefore slower, to remove.

Smart motorways are supposed to be the future, but the future is electric. Those vehicles stop very suddenly. They also cannot be towed; they have to be put on a low-loader, which is a much more complex and longer process that will put rescue teams in greater danger."

I look forward to your reply.

So upset to see that the Japanese owned 220,000 ton tanker above has many livestock in there, sheep for sure, and because of the delays it has affected other ships going through also carrying livestock...so in all around 130,000 animals are being held in confined conditions, very hot and caged.
Why are countries allowed to cram livestock for days on end anyway...even in lorries is bad enough which I thought we are supposed to have stopped now. Why can’t they just breed their own animals? Can’t be too hard to breed some sheep surely. I have some sheep near me growing up, all peaceful together, minding their own business...not knowing what’s around the corner.

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/can-anyone-help-2

For all of you clever people out there- I have some prints I want to print out for wall art- what is the best paper to use? Helpppp

,

.

The corrupt military have taken power back into their own hands,
They have vested interests in controlling the country and economy.

They protect this by the massacre of anyone who protests.
[we can see it, however hard they try to prevent it]

What should the free world be doing to end this barbarism?

Hopefully more normal times are ahead. I'm looking forward to getting a large dose of vitamin D when our club's cricket team gets back out on the pitch. Unfortunately, our last match was spoilt by an outrageous event. This was captured on the club's camera, and can be viewed here: https://1drv.ms/v/s!AtxiPFXpEKB_gdcYeWg6USGVyfq9jg?e=WxojMa

.

Watching Keeping Faith reminded me of something and made me look at a photo that just sits on the shelf gathering dust normally.
The photo has started to peel and got patches on but only on the face - nowhere else, if I hadn't seen that programme i wouldn't have noticed until too late and the whole face would be gone.

.....

I have a photo ( print) that seems to be peeling, leaving white patches - would a professional be able to do anything to save it ?

Now we are into spring, some of you may be thinking about gardening. If you buy compost, don’t forget to check it is peat-free.

Our peatlands store more carbon than the forests of the UK, France and Germany combined, they provide clean drinking water and are habitats for some of our rarest species. It takes ten years to create one centimetre of peat which is being consumed 200 times faster than it forms. As a result, we have lost 94% of our lowland bogs in the UK and there are just 6,000 hectares left in good condition. Yet, every month gardeners in the UK use enough peat to fill 69 Olympic swimming pools.

This video shows just how many brands of compost contain peat. You may be buying peat without being aware of it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saPh5-Z5VNM

Take the peat-free pledge. https://seedball.co.uk/conservation/peat-free-pledge/

Call on the Government to ban the use of peat in horticulture and all growing media by 2023.
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/562054

.

.

.....

of many of us

Thank you Eilish for this

Have put this on 3 Groups as just think so adorable.🥰🥰

Seal mauled by barristers loose dog

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/24/owner-of-dog-that-attacked-freddie-the-thames-seal-says-she-is-heartbroken

Has anyone had their pension breakdown for this year ?
I haven't but usually have by now - it starts April 6th (albeit paid 4 weeks in arrears).

Brought over from MSL

Someone posted the photo below on Facebook for the purposes of identifying the uniform (this has been done), and someone demonstrated what can be done with still images: http://bit.ly/3senbbS If you want to try it for yourself, you will have to sign up for a free trial.

What is woke?
If you know please advise, and offer your thoughts on wokefulness.

https://tinyurl.com/27e2tfct

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-the-60-card-and-freedom-pass?bucket=&source=messenger-share-button&utm_campaign=&utm_medium=socialshare&utm_source=messenger&share=956c51cc-a833-4907-a26b-35b0f327ecf3&fbclid=IwAR3nceKgrCjvd87N4p2cRZ6pt_b6cXsA6rF51OHH-nG5hr6gkbvLsOf5344

My laptop is now in laptop hospital so I am relying on my tablet which is a bit limiting - please forgive any errors for a while.

This site may be of use to you...
https://olderdriversforum.com/?utm_source=Facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=Orlo

Note-no one got it ALL right! You will argue some got more right than others.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56455030

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-56254309

28 Mar 2021 - Daylight Saving Time Starts

When local standard time is about to reach

Sunday, 28 March 2021, 01:00:00 clocks are turned forward 1 hour to

Sunday, 28 March 2021, 02:00:00 local daylight time instead.

Sunrise and sunset will be about 1 hour later on 28 Mar 2021 than the day before. There will be more light in the evening.

Hope you have all filled it in or are filling it in today