@El Loro posted 07/05/2020:

Everyone who does self-assessment tax returns will have received from HMRC a notice to complete a tax return. That happens every year in April.

Tucked away in the small print on the back page is this."Please note you'll no longer get a blank tax return from us in the post, and later this year we'll stop sending paper statements"

If they had done away with paper statements for the January 2021 tax bills, could have caused chaos and people not paying their tax. HMRC announced yesterday that they will be sending paper statements after all.
(don't know if that idea has been shelved or postponed).

From Kaki King's album "Modern Yesterday" released very recently.
Unusual, mimimlaistic experimental ambinent music.

I see that BBC Two are showing the Fred Astaire 1953 film "The Band Wagon" again on Saturday afternoon.

Highlights are "Triplets" which is rather funny , the sublime dance "Dancing in the Dark" and the finale "That's Entertainment" (that was written for the film and is the best known song from the film)

Good morning everyone it's another very wet day in prospect.

Enjoy your day everyone

Good morning everyone

Going to be a rather showery day here today.

By the way, if anyone saw something about Woolworths relaunching, that was a hoax.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-54706063

I hope everyone has a good day

Not a good evening for Cheltenham yesterday losing away for the first time in the league this season. One of those games where they didn't make the most of the chances they had. Port Vale 2 Cheltenham 1.

@El Loro posted 22/10/20:

One of the more unusual ways of raising money for charity
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-...cestershire-54624130

John Mynatt completed that Hadrian's Wall walk:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-...cestershire-54717401

Thoughougly wet morning here with frequent heavy showers. Looks as if they are easing off.
Still more rain forecast over the next few days. My local weather site has just reached 100mm for the month which is well above average for this part of the country.

Evening all

Heavy showers and chilly today.

Braved a trip to Morrison’s with hubby today - took all possible precautions.

Hope you’ve all had a good day.

Goodnight and sweet dreams, Ros

Hug for the night owls

night yogi everybody

Good morning everyone it's going to be another wet morning and the winds are supposed to pick up as well.

Enjoy your day everyone

Good morning everyone

Cloudy and more rain forecast here this morning.

Yogi, I hope going to Morrisons wasn't too stressful for you

I hope everyone has a good day

Moonie hasn't been on the forum for a week now Has anyone heard from him? I miss him when we don't hear from him.

@squiggle posted:

Moonie hasn't been on the forum for a week now Has anyone heard from him? I miss him when we don't hear from him.

Moonie did pop in on Sunday evening but not since.

@Moonie I hope all is well

I don't know if any of you have ever looked at the BBFC website (the film & video certifcate classifiers). They have a new website which replaced the old one yesterday.  You used to be able to see what films or videos had recently been classified. That's no longer possible. You can look up a film or video if you know what it's called but that's it. It's also riddled with errors. It seems that many television episodes or television boxsets have been classified as a film. For instance a search for Call the Midwife  results in 4 films and 4 TV shows.

I've sent the BBFC an email about this. I've also suggested that the search facility should allow a * to be able to find recent classifications. They've passed my suggestion on to their website team.

If any of you wanted to know what the very first horror film was, it's thought to be this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3fAZdC8vCVg
Made in 1896, is of poor quality, and if it had been made by anyone other than Georges Melies would probably have been lost.
Just over 3 minutes. The music added is an odd choice, particularlly the first piece which of course is Swan Lake.

The second oldest musical film is thought to be a 1928 film called "My Man" (The first one is quite famous - The Jazz Singer, the original one with Al Jolson).
"My Man" no longer exists in film but there is an audio soundtrack which is nearly complete. That's on Youtube in two parts. It starred Fanny Brice. If her name rings a bell, Barbra Streisand portrayed her on stage and film in "Funny Girl".

Evening all

It has been cold and rainy today.
Squiggle and El, Moonie is okay, he is just taking a little break from the forum.
Thanks El, I didn’t find the Morrison’s trip too stressful. Everyone was using the hand sanitiser, using antibac on their trolleys and wearing masks. I made sure I stayed well away from the other shoppers.

I hope you’ve all had a good day

Goodnight and sweet dreams, Ros

Hug for the night owls

night yogieverybody

Good morning everyone it's a windy wet and cold morning and set to stay that way all day. I don't think I'll be venturing far.

Enjoy your day everyone

Good morning everyone

Very cloudy and rainy here. Tomorrow is forecast to be wet and windy.

Yogi, I'm glad Moonie is okay and Morrisons wasn't too stressful

Squiggle, I hope your weather isn't too bad

Weather is set to become settled by Tuesday though not that warm particularly at night.

I hope everyone has a good day

Self driving car tests to begin in Oxford:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-...oxfordshire-54744656

Believed to be the first city in this country to start trials. The trials were described as a "landmark" moment by Oxbotica, an Oxford-based company pioneering self-driving technology in the UK. Part of a government backed research scheme called "Project Endeavour".

Easy to spot the cars as they have "endeavour" in large letters on the sides.

And no mention of Endeavour Morse in the article and the cars aren't Mark 2 Jaguars

Forest Green Rovers football club is known as being for numerous eco-friendly innovations and became the world's first vegan football club back in 2015. The chairman is the environmentalist Dale Vince. One of his many companies has announced a new process which pulls carbon out of the air, uses wind and sun for the energy used in the process, and reuses collected rain water.

CBBC article about this process:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/54734306

What does this process do?

It makes eco-friendly diamonds, identical to those mined

Evening all

A breezy day, with heavy rain due overnight.

El, I have reservations about self driving cars - just seems like a crazy idea.

Hope you’ve all had a good day

Goodnight and sweet dreams, Ros

Hug for the night owls

@El Loro posted:

Self driving car tests to begin in Oxford:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-...oxfordshire-54744656

Believed to be the first city in this country to start trials. The trials were described as a "landmark" moment by Oxbotica, an Oxford-based company pioneering self-driving technology in the UK. Part of a government backed research scheme called "Project Endeavour".

Easy to spot the cars as they have "endeavour" in large letters on the sides.

And no mention of Endeavour Morse in the article and the cars aren't Mark 2 Jaguars

selfdriving cars sound a night mare EL - could never relax in one-I would still drive it  silently

night yogi velvet summer if you pop in moonsie -miss you

Good morning everyone, very strong winds and heavy rain this morning with the wind getting stronger until mid afternoon. Then repeat until Wednesday. Stay safe and dry everyone.

Enjoy your day everyone

Good morning everyone

Cloudy here and this morning is forecast to become very windy and some heavy rain for a time. Afternoon forecast to be better. Tomorrow's forecast isn't great. Better for Monday and Tuesday, less windy and some showers mainly in the morning.

Yogi and Ros, I think many people have reservations about self-driving cars. Those cars being tested in Oxford will have a safety driver. There are different levels of these cars. Level 5 are those wihich are fully automated. These are level 4 cars.

I hope everyone has a good day

Good morning everyone

It’s a cold, wet and windy day here. More to come too according to the weather forecast

A family problem has kept me away but all is okay now

It is not my intention to go out so a weekend of sport for me, not much change there then?

Have a great weekend everyone. If you have to go out take great care and stay safe

It’s raining 🐈🐈 and 🐕🐕 here

There is some Gaelic football on the television. It’s very strange. It’s football but you can pick the ball up, which is round, run with it, as long as you kick it up into your hands or bounce it every now and again. The goals are like ordinary normal football goals but placed in rugby posts. Apparently you score by kick the ball between the posts of by actually kicking the ball into the ‘normal’ goal.

I hope that makes sense to someone

It seems you have kick the ball to hand then bounce it, every few steps. You pass the ball either by kicking it or by hitting with a closed hand or by throwing it.

It looks to me like a cross between soccer, Aussie rules football and rugby

Welcome back Moonie and I'm glad that all is okay now

Did my shopping this morning. Weather was not too bad going. When I came out of the shop it was torrential. Couldn't stay at the shop entrance/exit as that would quickly get very crowded. So I had to walk to the car even though it was pouring. Not nice weather at all. It was raining 🐈🐈 and 🐕🐕

Moonie, I have seen some Gaelic football before. Can be quite exciting. Your summary of the way it's played is what I thought though I'm no expert. The size of the pitch is larger than for a football or rugby pitch (they are closer in size - a Gaelic football pitch is about 30% longer and wider).

Thanks El

Sorry you did manage to get your shopping done.

I think the weather is dire everywhere today. More 🐈🐈 and more 🐕🐕 on their way too

It looks like the weather is travelling west to east according to the weather radar

I have to say the pitch did look enormous
There is a live Ulster Senior Championship Gaelic Football match Sky Sp Mix at 12-15 but I will be watching Sheffield United v Manchester City at 12-30

I just learned something new. The world’s first black professional player was one Arthur Wharton, born October 1865, died December 1930.

He was also a professional cricketer, cycling champion, rugby player and the world’s first official sprint champion

Quite amazing

@Moonie posted:

I just learned something new. The world’s first black professional player was one Arthur Wharton, born October 1865, died December 1930.

He was also a professional cricketer, cycling champion, rugby player and the world’s first official sprint champion

Quite amazing

A remarkable man. Sad end to his life though, an unmarked pauper's grave. After a campaign, a gravestone was placed there in 1997. Since then statues have been erected and a mural created in Darlington in the last few days.

@El Loro posted:

A remarkable man. Sad end to his life though, an unmarked pauper's grave. After a campaign, a gravestone was placed there in 1997. Since then statues have been erected and a mural created in Darlington in the last few days.

It was a sad end but well done to Darlington and the people who contributed to the statues and mural