Cockington Fayre

Wednesday 1 August is Cockington Fayre Day.

We will either be dead busy (Yes please) if the weather isn't too bad or dead quiet (please no) if it rains all day. The forecast isn't too bad but some light rain in the morning.

Catch the 50 from Torbay Rd Paignton, we will have two buses running. And if you are coming from Torquay catch the 62 from the Strand. Don't come by car as parking is limited. If you do come by car don't park anywhere except the car parks or you will have to pay 35 quid for the privilege and remember Cockington Lane is one way for the day. Watch out for the horse and carriage.

Also, well done to Stagecoach in removing the burnt out buses so quickly. You would hardly know there had been a fire in the Bus Station by lunch time today.

Buses Go Up in Flames

Some time this morning, in the early hours, someone set fire to 3 Stagecoach buses parked in Paignton Bus Station. Two deckers and a single decker were completely burnt out. Stagecoach are confident that services will not be affected by this. I expect they might be beefing up their security following this attack.

Bus fleet numbers were 16064, 16775 both 20 year old Olympians and an 8 year old Solo WA04TXX fleet number 47106.

E Mail Blogging Back On Line.

It would appear that email blogging is back on line, and I thought it was just me. Thanks for those who emailed me to let me know there was a big problem and it wasn't just me going gag gag in my middle age.

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this is a test. I am having a problem posting via email and I don't know why.

Torquay Pedal Car Grand Prix

Never mind the Olympics, here in Torquay we have the Annual Pedal Car Grand Prix. Ten teams race for two hours round a track on Torre Abbey Green in a desperate attempt to prove they are the best. I have no Idea who won but it was all good fun. We had a bad start to the day with the usual rain threatening to put a damper on the whole affair but the sun came out and a fun day was had by all.

 

Hope the weather is just as nice for Cockington Fayre on Wednesday, remember, 62 bus from Torquay Strand and 50 bus from Torbay Rd Paignton.

The Games Are Here At Last

The best part of the Olympics is over. The Torch Relay has finished. For me this is the best part of the Olympics. Millions of people have turned out through out the country to watch the Flame go by and all for free. Where ever it went ordinary people made an effort to see it pass. So well done to everyone involved, the Torch bearers, those that ran to escort them, the drivers of the support vehicles, the broadcasters who reported it's passing and those who stood at the side of the road to watch it pass in a few moments. Not matter what the opening do is like tonight this will be the high light for me. A bit like the Tour De France, an event for everyone to take part in.

The next best part is this evening, the opening ceremony. A chance for London and the country to show of to the world, a billion people are expected to watch, that's one in every seven of us, and I am sure we will not be disappointed. (Mitt Romley can go back to America now as far as I am concerned.) ( Hope he loses in November.) ( Sure he will.)

After that we have the actual athletics. I'm not all that bothered how they go but it will be nice if the UK win lots of Gold, fingers crossed. Hopefully the nice weather will continue for the next few weeks and everyone who is in anyway connected to the Games will say it was the best ever.

PS. It's Cockington Fayre on Wednesday August 1. If you can tear yourself away from the TV get down there, we will be running two buses all day long to get as many people to enjoy beautiful Cockington as possible so leave your car at home and enjoy a relaxing bus ride to the show.

Blind Justice.

I was going to spend this post describing my rather frustrating week caused by the failure of the 08:15 12A to run from Torquay to Paignton several times, the malfunction of some traffic lights at the Pelican crossing on Esplanade Rd which caused long delays and constantly meeting the 62 coming out of Cockington. That bus is normally on Optre but this week a longer Dart has been used. Frustrating true; but I then heard the news that once again justice has failed.
Personally I would like to force the 12 members of the jury to each visit the family of deceased newsvendor Ian Tomlinson, and explain how they managed to watch the video we have all seen and decide that the police office used resonable force. and then return a not guilty verdict. Policeman Simon Harwood first struck Mr Thomlinson with a baton from behind and then violently pushed to the ground, also from behind a man who was offering no threat to anyone. Had the police officer been out of uniform and in full view of other police officers and committed this attack he would rightly have been arrested instantly.
The family are now faced with the prospect of taking the matter through a civil court in order to get any sort of justice.
Other news that emerged after the trial was over concerning the record of this police officer's past record makes a mockery of safety checks that are carried out against people working as security guards or with children. If the Met police can not even get their house in order when carrying out checks on people who work as police officers why should we expect or believe they can get any other checks right?

Old Cars

There were lots of old cars and other vehicles driving round the Bay yesterday. Unfortunately these were the only two that went past while I was waiting time on the stop. There were some other, even more exotic vehicles that I wish I could have got pictures of but one has to be so careful these days.

I wish it would stop raining and remember it is suppossed to be summer. I don't expect writing to that nice Mr Cameron and asking him and that other nice guy, forgotton his name for the minute, you know, his deputy, if they can do something about the weather.

 

Super Car Show

If expensive super cars and motor bikes turn you on then Princess Gardens is the place to be on Saturday and Sunday. As well as the French market there is a big motor show. I believe it was due to be down at Abbey Gardens but they are flooded. Workmen were down there trying to clear the flood waters but it's pretty wet down there. I won't be at the show, I'm working this weekend. Hopefully the sun will make an appearance and crowds of people will decide on the quiet of Cockington to the noise and bustle of the car show.

The road tax on the Bentley cost £815, the car it's self probably cost more than a medium sized house. No sign of a recession here.

Work Starts on the Palm Court Site, at last.

The sun finally came out here in Torquay this afternoon so I went for a walk along the seafront. Work has been going on for a few days at the Palm Court clearing the site. Nothing has been knocked down yet but there are a couple of earth movers and 4 or 5 men working down there. I'm wondering about access to the site with the main road passing so close. There doesn't appear to be any other way in or out except the gate where the man in the orange jacket is standing, so I expect there will be the odd delay for traffic over the coming months. Watch this space for developments. I don't suppose the weather is on the side of the demolition team from Wring.

Circumcision

Imagine, if you can, the situation about 3 or 4 thousand years ago somewhere in the Middle East. Some bloke wakes up after a night of heavy drinking and gets up and demands to speak to the town council. Well the town council didn't have much on that day so they agreed to hear what this bloke has to say. So he walks in the to town hall and tells the councillors that god had a word with him in the night, no sorry there were no witnesses. Any way, he tells them that god has told him that he, god, has ruled that all boy children, as a mark of their faith in god have to have the skin around the end of their penises cut off when they are a week old. Now for some strange reason the town council agree that if this is what god wants then god being god gets what he wants. And nobody raised their voices against this madness. Some people went even further and said why stop at boys. What's good for boys should be good for girls. So millions, posibly billions of children without being asked have been mutilated down through the centuries. And it's still happening.

Finally someone had stood up and said STOP.

A German regional court ruled it amounted to bodily harm.

Good for that German regional court. Where they lead others must surly follow.

And Germany's Medical Association has followed, it's told doctors not to perform circumcisions.

Who will be next, not Israel I guess.

European Jewish and Muslim groups have joined forces to defend circumcision for young boys on religious grounds.

The unusual joint statement was signed by leaders of groups including the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, the European Jewish Parliament, the European Jewish Association, Germany's Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs and the Islamic Centre Brussels.

"We consider this to be an affront to our basic religious and human rights," it said. What about the children's rights to be able to decide if they want to have part of the most sensitive part of their body cut off without being consulted and no possibility off having it put back on if at some stage in their life they decide that the bloke I mentioned at the start of this post was completely off his head. I mean why did god give us foreskins if he intended then to be cut off a week after we were born. Not that god did give us foreskins, evolution did.

I'm kind of glad the religius ritual preformed on me as a baby only involved water being poured on my head. I can live with that.

Second picture today from beautiful sunny Torquay

This guy was in Fleet St playing his bagpipes. Personally I think the playing of bagpipes anywhere outside of Scotland should be illegal. Now I expect this bagpipe player is trying to earn a bit of extra cash by tormenting us all with this grullsome noise, not a good stratagy I don't think. Anyway as soon as I pointed the camera at him he turned round, either because secretly he is ashamed at making such an awful noise in public and didn't want his face on Facebook, or he used to work for Barclay's Bank and left last week as a matter of principle but hasn't told his wife yet.

Not a care in the world

and prefectly safe too.

Bird Spikes Are Wonderful

We've had a bit of a problem with Gordon the Gull recently. We have lived in this house for over 14 years and this summer (what am I saying, summer?) Gordon has started pecking at the window at the top of the stairs. Now this window is 12 feet above the landing and doesn't open so I can't open it, reach out, grab him and strangle him. Not that I would do him such harm, I happen to like gulls though Gordon is beginning to try my patience. Anyway outside the window there is a small area of flat roof where Gordon stands to peck the window. He must think, if gulls do think, that it is an other gull challenging him for his lady, or more likely food. So I bought some anti bird spikes and positioned them so the little sod couldn't peck the window. It was either that or leave Basil the cat up there all the time. Actually Basil, quiet rightly, is scared of the gulls, they are bigger than him and have a big sharp beak.
Well the anti bird spikes have done the trick. No more banging on the window which is a good thing as he used to do it 5 minutes after the sun came up and it was very loud. The first time it happened I though the drug squad were hammering on the front door, not that the drug squad have ever hammered on the front door but I do watch Police File on the TV when there is nothing else on.
PS. I don't call the gull Gordon after our elected mayor even though they are similar in their single minded determination to do persistent and stupid things, Gordon pecking endlessly on the window and Gordon Oliver, the mayor, planning to spend £600 000 on a feasibility study to see if he can then go on to spend up to £175 million to build a 3rd harbour here in Torquay to attract cruise ships to dock here. He, the mayor that is, not the gull, says it will benefit the local economy having cruise ship passengers visit here. Well cruise ships do come to Torquay now and then and most of the few passengers that do come ashore immediately board waiting coaches to travel to Exeter, Plymouth or Dartmoor. Very few make it to the vast number of boarded up shops in Fleet St and Union St. So, coach companies, Exeter, Plymouth and Dartmoor will benefit but that isn't what I would call the local economy. I have managed to stop one Gordon but it will take more than a few spikes to stop the other Gordon.