Warm and calm yet again at the Castle this morn, the garden
is in need of a medium fettle-if the grass ever dries out, the Honda is covered
in dust and I need to get the hose out.
Passengers
donated bottles of drinking water to get their train working again after it
broke down because of the heat wave.
The National
Express East Anglia train ground to a halt under the baking midday sun outside
Ipswich, in Suffolk, after coolant levels dropped causing the engine to cut
out.
Bemused
passengers sitting in the stuffy carriages heard a desperate plea over the
tannoy from the driver for bottled
water as temperatures “soared” over 21 degrees (70f).
One passenger
reported the message as: ''Has anyone got any bottles of water we can use to
get the train going again?''
The water was
collected and fed into the coolant before the train restarted to finish the
journey at around 12.30pm on Tuesday.
When the train
returned to Ipswich there was found to be a leak in a pipe which was fixed by a
technician to return the train to normal service.
Shame “they” didn’t
inspect the train before it set out....
Sick and disabled
benefit claimants took to the streets nationwide on Friday to protest against
welfare privateers Atos Healthcare.
Activists
picketed outside Atos offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Chatham, Chester,
Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth,
Sheffield and York, condemning the company's controversial business model.
The £100
million-a-year scheme, which began trials late last year, pays private
contractor Atos Origin to examine claimants using a computerised points-based
programme.
Those awarded less
than 15 points are automatically deemed "fit for work" and lose their
right to incapacity benefit.
The trials have
seen a 70 per cent drop in full benefits paid and a 30 per cent drop in
"unfit for work" assessments.
Demonstrators in London rallied outside the British Medical
Association annual recruitment fair, where Atos reps were busy hiring their
controversial "disability assessors."
A block of public toilets is on the market for a
whopping £150,000 – chain-free.
The brick building, at Ventnor, is one of five council loos being sold off on the Isle of Wight. It comes with planning permission for conversion to six two-bedroom flats.
Gavin Chambers,
of Gully Howard estate agents, said: “We’ve had a lot of interest.”
Mainly from people bursting for a pee...
A council is
spending £100,000 to send congratulatory text messages and "interesting
recycling facts" to people who put their bins out on the right day.
The scheme by
Bolton Council has been branded 'patronising' and 'preaching to the converted' as the
messages, designed to improve recycling rates, are being sent to people who do
it anyway.
However the
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), which has paid for the scheme, praises it as
'innovative'.
Bolton have been
given £110,000, a fifth of what was available from a national pot, when more
than 70 local authorities applied for a share.
The borough-wide
project will send texts or emails to residents who regularly put out their
recycling bins on the right day.
As well as
reminders and positive reinforcement, people will also be sent information by
text about what can and cannot be recycled as well as "interesting
recycling facts".
And finally:
Some “Interesting
snaps”
That’s it: I’m orf to have a frack in
Wales.
And today’s
thought: "Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from
overseas." - Keppel Enderbery
Angus
