Yes......Lula is indeed good news - if he lasts!
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This cheered up my morning
Good to know that journalism may still have a purpose and that individuals are still capable of doing good things.Comment
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Bolsonario defeated, Trump badly bruised in the recent elections and Putin humiliated as he flees Kherson with feeble squawks that it's not really a retreat. It's hardly time to cheer in the streets, but perhaps we can allow ourselves a very cautious optimism as we raise a cup of tea/glass of wine on this Friday evening.Comment
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More a sigh of cautious relief in my case. Lula's fortunes rest on his opponent's not taking advantage of their greater fire power; Trump looks likely to be replaced by someone at least as economically right-wing in his thinking and even more socially conservative; and as far as Putin's occupying forces are concerned they appear to have retrreated, but to much more impregnable positions. Catching up just now on two Radio 4 discussion programmes about economics from last Tuesday evening left me no more assured that the wall of imperviousness separating the different disciplines urgently in need of harnessing into a coherent line capable of sorting intractable divisions Cop 27 is within the sight of anyone with a shred of insight into the issues involved let alone power to bring about change.Originally posted by Bella Kemp View PostComment
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There is a story about crimes against birds of prey in NI and elsewhere. This is not that story, I'm glad to say:
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Fixing factories
Right now starting up in parts of London, and, hopefully, set to spread around the capital then nationwide, these enterprises are a timely answer to the throwaway society's resort to the rubbish bin and council dump, and somewhere good to learn vital skills. And you only need pay what you can and if you can. This is the best thing I've seen on telly since The Repair Shop.
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The movement has been gathering ground for a while.
This one's been around for some time https://www.repaircafe.org/en/about/ and the Men's Shed groups often have repairing and teaching others how to as part of their activities. Community groups involved with waste reduction and reuse of unwanted items may have repair workshops as part of their offering.
It's the kind of thing that council waste management would/should be supporting if local authority funding hadn't been eviscerated.Comment
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Originally posted by oddoneout View Post
We have become progressively de-skilled, and that is not a position of strength.
We have a similar group in our village. Not sure how it is doing, but it seems to survive.I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I am not a number, I am a free man.Comment
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The de-skilling is exacerbated by the fact that the goods we have are no longer designed to be fixed. Very small moves are being made to address that (Right to repair regulations) but manufacturers can find ways round them.Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
We have become progressively de-skilled, and that is not a position of strength.
We have a similar group in our village. Not sure how it is doing, but it seems to survive.Comment
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Thames Water has just emailed announcing that their hosepipe ban is now ended. Just at a time when everyone is just gagging to water their gardens!Comment
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Today's good personal news is that I have just been and collected my bike from the repair shop, and the guy there has done a great job on it, completely replacing the damaged derailleur, but in addition fixing the gear cable that switches the chain to the larger of the two cogs, giving me back access to the top five gears, which I have not been able to use for the past couple of years; adjusting the brakes, and pumping up the tyres to optimal pressure levels to allow faster less effortful speed. All for £52, which I thought was pretty good. He had even cleaned the chain and the gear sprocket grooves. Before leaving he told me he didn't think much of the bike: "It's very badly set up", he said, "The gear change handles would be on the handlebars today, not there where you have to reach down to change gear, putting your balance at risk. That wouldn't be seen as safe on a modern model" "My previous bike had additional brake handles within easy reach so you didn't have to stoop down for that as well" I said. "Oh that would also be unsafe by today's standards as not enough pressure can be applied to the brake pads", he said!Comment
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That is good news SA and I imagine you are happy to have your rejuvenated steed back. The comments about the tyres and gear levers took me back to my beloved Dawes Celeste with its 27" skinny tyres and the low mounted gear change(but I only had a single gear set). I never found it affected stability - looking behind and then signaling was more likely to do that! The tyres were not common on ordinary road bikes at that time and I was told many times I would be for ever fixing punctures; happily they were wrong.Originally posted by Serial_Apologist View PostComment
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This brought a bit of cheer to the currently grey afternoon. Some forumites may know the area in question?
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Went to pay for some groceries at my local corner shop today, and the lady asked me, "Have you lost your travel card? I have one here that might be yours". It was, and I was overjoyed - it was a good two weeks since I'd visited that shop, and they'd gone to the trouble of keeping that card safe for me - along with a number of others, clipped together. "That's the best Christmas present I've had", I told her.
Having reported it missing and applied for a replacement, I shall check if still valid by tapping on at the local station tomorrow. They do instruct to destroy old ones on receipt of a replacement. I did not include a postage stamp when applying with enclosed identification documents, and have still had no acknowledgement online or by post from the dept concerned.Comment
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