GRUMPY OLD MAN

REVISED SCHEDULE

I now have SIX blogs on the Internet and I am beginning find them a struggle to manage on a regular daily basis.

They are taking too much of my time away from other interests, so I have decided to cut down the frequency of posts.

My two personal favourites are http://poemsandprose.blog.co.uk/ and http://picturepost.blog.co.uk/ and they will continue on 5 days of the week, Monday to Friday.

The others will appear less frequently, as I find interesting things to add.

There will be no posts on any of the blogs at weekends.

I am extremely grateful to the small group of loyal followers who have added brilliant, witty and relevant comments over the past few years.

Please continue to do so.

Time is precious for us all and my re-scheduling may help you as well as me.

Thank you all for your continued support.

Colin (kendrive)

No, not like this:

But these:

These tankers have been parked off our shores for months, refusing to unload their oil until prices have risen even higher. The delay makes millions for speculators... and keeps your petrol costs soaring.

Laden with fuel, three oil tankers sit idly in Lyme Bay,off the Devon Coast, playing a waiting game that is driving up petrol prices for hard-pressed motorists.

They are part of a flotilla of ten vessels refusing to unload their cargo until market speculation has driven up its price to the level they want.

And as the value of that cargo is currently rising by over £1million a day, driven partly by profiteering traders and speculators, it is unlikely to see a petrol station any time soon.

With such tactics, it is not hard to see why prices at the pumps are forecast to have risen by 26 per cent in a year by this Christmas.

AA president Edmund King said: 'Traders and speculators seem to be storing up oil until the price rises. Drivers can expect more hikes in the pipeline. Motorists are paying the price of this at the pumps.'

Residents near Brixham in Devon have watched with growing anger as the tankers have anchored in Lyme Bay for the past two months.

The price of a barrel of oil has increased from $40 a barrel a year ago to $80, with the cost expected to soar even higher in the next few months.

Even from the start of the tankers' stay in Lyme Bay, the value of the oil they carry has risen from £313million to £378million - an increase of £65million, or more than £1million a day.

It means a 21 per cent profit for doing nothing more than simply watching and waiting.

Record amounts of fuel are now being stored in such a manner around the world - indirectly helping to push up petrol prices on the forecourt.

Oil pumped out of the ground by the major producers such as BP, Shell and Exxon goes by pipeline to tankers which then circle the globe.

In the course of their journey the oil may be bought and sold to different traders many times on the international commodity markets, often in just one day.

Some of these unidentified oil traders may be big-name players within the industry, but others could be the 'Arthur Daleys of the international oil world', say City experts.

The price drivers pay at a forecourt - currently touching 110p-alitre or £5-a-gallon - is largely determined when the oil reaches an onshore refinery, from where it takes two months to work its way through to the pumps.

But until it gets to the refinery speculators are free to drive up the price thanks to the age-old capitalist model of supply and demand.

(Based on an article in Mail Online)

I am grateful to Alan for sending me a series of cartoons about that modern day blessing (?) - the computer.

Here is the first.

Two lucky winners came forward yesterday to claim their share of a massive £90 million jackpot in Friday night's Euromillions draw.

The pair of ticketholders will receive more than £45.5million each when their tickets have been fully validated, Camelot said.

Their identities are yet to be revealed.

A lottery spokesman said: "No further details on the tickets or ticketholders will be released until the tickets have been fully validated and the prizes paid out."

The earliest this could take place would be Monday, it is understood.

If the ticketholders are individuals rather than syndicates they will be catapulted straight into the list of the nation's richest people.

Wealth of that magnitude would put them in the same league as DJ Chris Evans, celebrity chef Jamie Oliver and film star Sir Michael Caine, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.

Racing drivers David Coulthard and Jenson Button, supermodel Kate Moss, footballer Michael Owen and pop stars Pete Townshend and Sir Cliff Richard are also each worth between £40 million and £45 million, the list says.

Sunday Times Rich List compiler Philip Beresford said this would be the first time a British lottery winner had appeared in the list.

"It's extraordinary that in the years we've had the Lottery we haven't had anyone at this level," he told Sky News.

The winners would be best advised to keep quiet and get themselves sacked from their jobs, he added.

"If they've got any sense they'll keep very, very quiet about it or go and live in Monaco, where they can afford to, where they'll just be one of 1,000-odd millionaires," he said.

And when it came to leaving their job, he advised: "You've got to plan it very carefully and do it over the months. Get yourself sacked, that would be the best way."

The ticketholders can expect to end up with a £5 million house, £20 million in the bank and the rest in business and other property assets, he said.

They could also make around £2 million per year in interest payments on the sum.

He went on: "These people will be particularly rich and everybody will be after them because they've got it as liquid cash.

"They will be amongst the top 200 with cash, real cash, that they can use.

'Every bank, every hedge fund, everyone who wants an investment will be after them. They'll be queuing round the block trying to get to them."

Lottery winnings are tax free.

(From an article in Mail Online)

FRANTIC SEARCH FOR TWO LUCKY BRITONS

Two British lottery players are unaware they are sitting on a record-breaking £90 million ($149,500,000) fortune.

They each won £45,570,835.50 ($74,7050,000) in Friday's EuroMillions game, making them the nation's biggest ever lottery winners, but neither has come forward to claim their prize.

The most likely explanation is that they have yet to check their numbers. However, the delay raises the dreadful possibility that their tickets have been lost, which may prevent them from collecting their winnings.

The winning numbers

In 2005, a player from Doncaster failed to come forward before the six-month deadline and missed out on £9.4million.

Camelot, which operates the game in Britain, described the latest jackpot as 'fantastic news' but admitted it did not know the identity of the winners. It said the tickets were bought in Britain but could not say where.

'We have no valid claims so far,' added a spokesman. He said it was 'absolutely extraordinary' for two lottery players from the same country to share such a huge prize.

(Mail Online)

A South Korean woman is celebrating after passing the written exam for a driving licence - on her 950th attempt.

After four years of trying, 68-year-old Cha Sa-soon finally managed to secure the 60 out of 100 points needed to pass the test.

The grandmother has spent more than 5m won ($4,200, £2,600) on application fees for the test.

Now Mrs Cha, who lives in Jeonju, 130 miles (210km) south of Seoul, must pass the practical test to get on the road.

According to the Korean Driver's Licence Agency, the 50-minute written test consists of 50 multiple-choice questions on road regulations and car maintenance.

Mrs Cha had been trying to pass it since 13 April 2005, the Korea Times reported.

She wanted a licence so that she could use a vehicle to sell vegetables and other goods, the newspaper said.

Speaking in February - after her 775th failure - Mrs Cha had appeared
undaunted.

"I believe you can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it," she told Reuters news agency.

"So don't give up your dream, like me. Be strong and do your best."

(BBC)

Hitler, the German football coach and other historical 'facts' according to our schoolchildren

In a survey one in 20 children aged nine to 15 surveyed believed Adolf Hitler was a football coach, not the leader of the Nazi regime.

The same proportion thought the Holocaust was the celebration at the end of the war and one in ten said the SS was Enid Blyton's Secret Seven, not Hitler's personal bodyguards.

And one in 12 said The Blitz was a massive clean-up operation in Europe after World War Two.

2,000 children tested on their knowledge of facts of both world wars found that 40 per cent of them did not know that Remembrance Day falls on November 11.

Twelve per cent said the symbol of the day is the golden arches of McDonald's, rather than the poppy.

Some of the more disturbing results were that one in six children believed Auschwitz was a World War Two theme park.

Only half knew D-Day was the invasion of Normandy - a quarter believing it was 'Dooms Day' and one quarter thought a nuclear bomb was dropped on Pearl Harbour which spurred America's involvement.

The study was conducted by war veterans' charity Erskine in the run-up to Remembrance Day.

Major Jim Panton, chief executive of Erskine, said: 'Some of the answers to this poll have shocked us and it has shown that Erskine, amongst others, has a part to play, not just in caring for veterans but in educating society as a whole.

As we approach Remembrance Day it is hard to believe that 40 per cent of our children do not know when it is.

'There are also some positives to come out of this survey with the level of interest from children wishing to learn more at school about the World
Wars.

'Schoolchildren are the future of the country and it is important that we help them to learn about our history.'

The survey questioned the children on their knowledge of key World War triggers, events, people and dates.

A quarter admitted they don't stop to think about the soldiers who sacrificed their lives but just over half do know where their local war memorial is located.

(Mail Online)

Remember, remember the fifth of November,
The gunpowder treason and plot,
I know of no reason
Why the gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

(From the Times)

For many years I lived in Southampton, so it is of interest to me that the world's largest cruise ship, the 'Oasis of the Seas', is set to make a brief, but dramatic, appearance in the Solent today.

At 220,000 tons, she is 60,000 tons bigger than the previous record holder, 'Independence of the Seas which operates from Southampton.

The latest information is 'Oasis of the Seas' is expected to be in position close to Lee-on-Solent, any time between 3pm and 4pm.

She is making a brief diversion before beginning her transatlantic crossing to America to disembark hundreds of shipyard workers who have been putting the finishing touches to the monster-ship, which can accommodate more than 5,400 passengers.

The vessel is so big that she has been divided up into seven separate "neighbourhoods'' including one are called 'Central Park' which is open to the sky and features trees, grass lawns and flower-beds.

It is not yet carrying any paying passengers but when it goes into service next month, it will carry 6,300 of them, as well as its 2,100 crew.

To keep them busy, the ship has a 750-seat outdoor amphitheatre, an ice rink, golf course, an indoor theatre seating 1,300 people, volleyball and basketball courts, and several swimming pools.

Its manufacturers claim it will be the "most environmentally friendly cruise ship to date", discharging no sewage into the sea, reusing its waste water and consuming 25 per cent less power than similar, but smaller, cruise liners.

Despite its credentials, some have questioned the need for such ostentatious luxury with a lacklustre US economy and a worldwide downturn.

However, Royal Caribbean International has ordered a second ship of similar size, which will be called 'Allure of the Seas' and enter service in 2010.

(thisishampshire.net and the Daily Telegraph)

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Another trompe l'oeil painting by Janet Shearer