Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Quake !!!

Last night around 1am I was lay in bed playing on my Sony Psp as I felt restless, then the earth moved! No, my Psp doesn't have some virtual reality rumble device fitted, it was something more serious than that, it was Britains biggest earthquake in 25 years!

At first I thought it was the neighbour in the flat above starting some kind of massive machine up but then as the whole building shook I just lay there stunned. It lasted about 8 or 9 seconds in total with probably two rumbling bursts of 5 and 4 seconds respectively. It really was very surreal and scary, mainly because I had no idea what it was.

The epicentre was very near here, just over the border in Lincolnshire at Market Rasen. Gainsborough was hit pretty bad and has sustained a fair bit of damage, Newark has only cosmetic damage really. Below is a photo I took earlier today of a fallen chimney stack not too far from where I live, the car windscreen is cracked and there's other damage on the car too, hope they were insured!


Nottingham Eye

I went to see the Nottingham Eye yesterday as it's only there till next week. It's quite impressive and fills the market square. It costs £5 for a ride of 5 revolutions which are quite slow so you get chance to take in all the surrounding cityscape. I'm not going to say it was totally amazing as in truth Nottingham isn't a city of landmarks like London but then again it does have its own stadiums, churches and lots of other unique buildings with lots of history such as the castle (another blog there me thinks!). I know one thing, due to the biting wind it was bloody cold when you reached the top. Enjoy the photos, and there's even a short video of the eye too, though the sound shows how windy it was! thanks to my friend James and his phone for the video.



Opposite the market square and council house



Opposite the Council House clock and below some views of the city.


Saturday, February 23, 2008

Fitting Tribute

A statue of the great comedian Tommy Cooper has been unveiled in his home town of Caerphilly in Wales. Unveiled by the actor Sir Anthony Hopkins, himself a massive Tommy Cooper fan.

The full story can be found here

I've blogged about Tommy before, he'll always be my favourite comedian, just seeing him walk on stage makes me laugh.

Here's a classic bit of the great man himself performing the spoon / jar trick.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Great Night

I had a really good night at my local pub, the Fox and Crown last night. Music was provided by Leanne who also works at the Fox and there was also a Batemans Brewery promotion night with lots of games and give-aways.
There was also the Fox and Crown annual 'Dafta Awards' in which regulars received certificates for many weird and wonderful reason, I won 'Sports Personality' award for reasons I don't want to go into! I also won some free beer in the raffle. For any American or foreign readers viewing 'daft' is an English word for 'silly' and the Dafta Awards were anything but sensible. It was a cracking night and just the tonic I needed after my recent period of severe headaches, more about those in another blog perhaps.



Alice and Adam, the bar staff larking around behind the bar!

My 'Dafta' Award

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Gabriella Cilmi

I just can't get enough of this catchy song from new artist Gabriella Cilmi !

Here debut album is released early next month, and i've just found out i missed her gig in Nottingham, arrrghhh !!!



For more info go here and here .

Friday, February 15, 2008

Tailored to suit

A story ran in the Daily Express today about a nightclub that is Opening up in south Manchester purely for Polish people, now although this isn't a bad idea as it gives the Polish community a place to socialise it hardly encourages integration does it?
Another story ran in the press today about Sussex firemen learning rudimentary Polish when attending fires and accidents, again not a bad idea but once more it illustrates we are making provisions for them at every turn.
Estate agents and banks are now using signage in Polish and soon i'll wager road signs will be in Polish.
Whilst i'm all for any nationality keeping its identity there comes a point where this is all getting a bit absurd - as we lose our national identity for the sake of theirs.

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Lincoln.... again !

Here's some photos of my visit to Lincoln last week, a lovely winters day, more like spring day really apart from a cold wind. Enjoy!


Cathedral entrance

Just when you're driving along a piece of castle pops up in the road !


Descent of Steep Hill


Building over the river

Cathedral entrance closer up

Majestic cathedral

Brayford pool

Ye Olde Sweet Shop 'Goodies'

There's some more photos of a previous visit here just scroll down a bit to see them.

This rather excellent site also shows some good aerial and panoramic shots of Lincoln and other UK cities.

Migrants

Yesterdays Daily Express ran a story about the latest figures of Migrants coming into Britain, over 860 a day. Of course periodically there have been similar stories and different figures ran in the newspapers sporadically throughout the last couple of years. The truth is nobody is really sure on the exact figures and the reality is becoming evident in everyday life.

The government may have an idea on EU migrants but it has no idea on the amount of illegal migrants here, and let’s be honest, it’s not hard for them to get in. Latest figures estimate that 2.3 million immigrants have moved here since Labour took power in 1997, more than the entire population of West Yorkshire.

Overall figures for migration in 2006 according to the National Office for Statistics states that 191,000 came into Britain and 126,000 Britons left. Since Labour took power there has been a net inflow of 2,337,000 and an outflow of 715,000. Recent figures and estimates are quoted as saying that over 2 million homes will have to be built in the next 2 decades to cope with the influx, if you ask me, that’s shocking.

Now people are realising the social impact of so many migrants as stories come to the fore about migrants settling in large groups in the suburbs and upsetting the local communities. There is also continuing worries about strains on local services, hospitals and schools.

In my town we’ve have a large contingent of east Europeans, recent incidents have included local wildlife being killed that are delicacies in eastern Europe, stabbings and guy from Poland on the loose with a machete. You only have to look at their cars to see they don’t even bother with car tax.

In my view you just can’t have such a massive influx of different cultures and not expect tension. In my experience the recent influx of east Europeans don’t want to integrate, they don’t want to learn the language, they just want to do their own thing and take the money whilst reaping the best of our system, wages and national health etc. You have to bear in mind although they may do jobs we don’t want too, they pay the least tax and much of the money goes back home.

With recent concerns from the bank of England about the economy I have to ask myself what benefits migrants have given us? I wouldn’t mind so much if they actually wanted British citizenship and wanted to be proud of that fact. Whilst I’m sure some do want that and would be proud it’s clear most are here in a mercenary capacity and encouraging more of their kin to come over and reap the rewards here.

There are only so many jobs available in the UK and it would appear that the large numbers walking around town aren’t working, though they are working our benefits system for a guess. On a recent trip to Nottingham I was shocked how many east Europeans were just milling around ogling girls on street corners or huddled together on benches.

On a more shocking note whilst the government has hardly any control of who comes here from EU countries it can control the amount from non-EU states of which its estimated around 68% that came here in 2006 were from outside the EU.

Either way, figures or no figures its bloody obvious there’s lots here and tensions are rising, and rising fast in some areas.

Alarmingly France is building another Sangatte style camp close to Calais to home migrants seeking asylum in the UK. An estimated 67,000 migrants passed through the Sangatte camp into the UK before it closed in 2002. Ironically the new site isn’t too far from ferry terminals and is opposite a truck stop – great planning by our French friends – not!

This blog isn’t so much a swipe at migrants who want to better themselves more a blog on the practicalities now facing the UK under such a large influx of foreign peoples, we just aren’t that big a country and in the near future real problems will arise from such a large influx from the continent and further afield.