Snow Hill

It took me almost 4 and half hours to get to Prestatyn yesterday, a journey on a normal day that would take under 2, drove through a number of flooded roads most passable with care. Never have I seen so much water cascading down hillsides as I did yesterday, much debris being washed of fields onto roads thus adding to problems with drains that are overwhelmed with the sheer volume of water. Looking at community pages in my area, many people seeing flooding in areas not normally affected, plus I never knew given the various comments that we had so many drains and river dredging experts in the town! One such “expert” suggesting that the River Severn should be dredged its whole length by removing 12ft of the riverbed along its whole length to remove flooding completely for years ahead. Yes the keyboard warriors were out in force yesterday.

Spoke with my brother earlier, he lives in Prestatyn, said there is Yellow Warning for rain tomorrow, the weekend I am visiting him, typical! I was in Worcester this after, although cloudy & mainly dry, temperature was 19C, ridiculous for late October.

Wrong post & deliveries that’s nothing what about wrong address for scaffolding. We we having external insulation on the house 8 years ago, one day I got a call from the installers to say they would be starting on Thursday now the scaffolding has been erected, I said what scaffolding? Cue a panic at the other end of the line, 45 mins later owner of scaffolding company turns up and agrees we should have scaffolding because job is listed as complete on the system, the question was where had it been erected. Tried to contact scaffolders who by 6:30 in evening had gone home, eventually at 7:30 he returned to say they had tracked it down same house number, same street name, similar postcode, appears owner of that house had returned from work to find scaffolding around his property. Made an irate call to scaffolding company, owner of the firm had to apologise profusely in person and then get the scaffolding removed next morning and erected at correct address.

The point is the airlines are using them to seek advantage over each other from an SEO by cutting the headline price and giving the impression they are cheap fares, but when the hidden costs are unavoidable then this is being deemed as not in the internet of the consumer. Spanish government consumer protection is in the process of prosecuting a number of airlines for breach of Spanish Law. https://www.surinenglish.com/spain/spain-opens-case-against-lowcost-airline-hand-20230804122139-nt.html

The EU and USA are looking to act on such charges as seat allocation and hand luggage charges, which are often billed as optional, as both believe airlines are using them to advertise the lowest fares online.

Personally I would have told them to stuff it and gone elsewhere, this response of “computer says no” needs to resolved. It’s stressful enough having a 6 month old baby to care for without having to sort all these issues out on board as well. If P&O wish to attract a younger clientele then they need to address these issue PDQ.

If you like crime and historical novels, then have you read C J Sansom’s Shardlake books set in the Tudor period, there are 7 in the series to date. https://pages.panmacmillan.com/c-j-sansom/

A cloudy & overcast morning here 9C, showers expected later. I am going through a non-fiction phase at the moment, just finished A Promised Land by Barack Obama, a weighty book, now reading Powers and Thrones a History of the Middle Ages by Dan Jones, then Michel Barnier’s book to follow. Then it will be back to the fiction with Ken Follett’s The Evening and The Morning, with 2 books my wife has been reading by Kate Mosse, The Burning Chambers and The City of Tears, the latter 2 set in Carcassonne, one of my favourite parts of France. All of the books above have one thing in common, they are a long read and quite weighty.

Cruise ships are not covered by the Equality Act 2010 https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/legal-work-scotland/ship-called-dignity#:~:text=But while services on ferries,at ports and ferry terminals. Airlines are a different matter, but whether it would extend to PE is unclear https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/advice-and-guidance-faq/air-travel-faqs#:~:text=The new law states that,the necessary staff and equipment'.

I know booking ahead can get you what you want, but booking 202 years ahead😂

I was a local councillor for 10 years, some of that time spent on planning committee, unfortunately wrong decisions can be made by officers, but sometimes they are mislead by the agents of the applicant who get creative with location plans, I have seen some interesting examples in my time. Unfortunately officers don’t have the time for site visits for every application, which is why planning notices are issue to neighbours who can raise issue either direct to the planning office or via local councillor. In my time as a councillor probably around 30% of issues raised with me relating to planning, most could be resolved by conversations with the applicant (no brown envelopes involved), others would need to be called in for a fuller debate by the planning committee. To this day I still receive notices of planning applications in my area, as any local resident can, so I can be aware of what is happening in my area. I am glad your situation was resolved thanks to you local councillor get involved and someone with experience speaking on your behalf.

Doorbell rang just after 8:30 this morning I had not long got up to make a couple of cups of tea, looking at video alert on phone could see it was Royal Mail. I opened door and said I thought it was Sunday and you didn’t deliver in a Sunday, He said we do from late September as the Christmas rush starts and now more people shop online the amount of parcels rockets. He had been at work since 5:00 am and out on the round at 8 would finish delivering around 2 this afternoon.

But if you are doing a land based holiday to any of those countries it will affect you,

It’s been announced as from 2025 that ETIAS will be extended to EFTA & Non-Schengen Countries as well, so one will be needed for Norway, Switzerland, Iceland & Liechtenstein, plus non-Schengen countries of Romania, Bulgaria & Cyprus. Ireland is exempt for U.K. travellers currently due to Common Travel Agreement.

I have 2 compost bins, one for hot composting the other standard composting both are full or nearly full, so have been using the green bin more as of late. However just replace my shredder, so will be shredding the branches and twigs and using as a mulch on borders. The mulch will keep weeds down so less for the bin. I used the leaf mould I started off two ears ago in my large planters this year mixed in with the multi purpose compost, plants have done well this year as result.

I have been toying with the idea of fixing although more than current price cap, will give some stability in costs for a year, we are currently £500 in credit, a deliberate action for the winter.

Ours is based solely on numbers of items 1 - 3 items £15 4 - 6 items £28 7 - 9 items £43 10 - 12 items £56 There is a list of items that they won’t collect mainly related in garden, building or household waste, but curiously includes pianos. Those aged 80 and over get 2 free bulk collection of 1-6 items per year, those 65-79 get 1 free collection as do those with a long standing illness or disability. Those on Housing Benefit or CT support get 50% reduction on 2 bulk collections, whist those with Council loyalty card get a 10% discount. All scrap metal dealers etc have to have a licence, those without are liable to prosecution, as for fly tipping there have been a number of prosecutions this year, both the tipper and the householder who engaged them.

I see the same pouring with rain this morning here, seen children walking to local secondary school in their blazers, as they have to wear them in class at this school, I can’t imagine sitting in a soaking wet blazer all day is a good idea 🤷‍♂️

In the purple topped bin, I missed it off initially and too late to edit.

The green waste here is composted and reused on council owned parks, gardens etc.The opposition party did plan to charge for the service, but lost the subsequent elections and the plan was scrapped.

We have a service contract with a local company, covers service, parts and call-outs, cost use £22 a month, but was worth it when our old boiler broke down and spare part cost £230 plus labour. The plan covers the boilers, radiators and gas fire.

We have a red top bin for non recyclables, a purple topped bid for glass & plastic, a blue bag for paper & cardboard, a green bin for garden waste, and a small grey container for food waste. The Purple Bin, Green Bin and Blue bag are collected every fortnight as is the Red topped bin, the food waste is collected every week. We find out Red top bin only has one bag of waste as we recycle as much as we can. If item is too big for bin or not collected at kerbside we just take it to recycling centre or book a bulk collection. We are lucky to have a very efficient system, no additional fees, except for bulk collection’s which if over 65 or disabled are at a reduced cost, with one free collections year.

We found that place when we were in Arrecife a few years back, even though it was late December was still very warm, the gelato was very welcome.

If using LF tests from 2 years ago possible may not show up the new strain. I was testing negative in August, but someone I was at a meeting at was positive, difference she had purchased tests recently. Mine were from 2021 with Jan 2024 expiry date. We have ordered some new ones given my MiL has a weak immune system at aged 89 and we visit her on a weekly basis.

Postponed until 2025 partly due to delays in rolling out the Entry/Exit System (EES) and the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. EES going live is a precursor to ETIAS going live, so until that happens there will be a delay.In theory once biometric data is collected it should speed up travel to EU countries.