Rescheduled

On tonight at 8pm

Bidding room not on!

..

There was a thread about this but i can't find it [ thought it was from John H]

Yes I thinks so - I have posted things to give away for free on Freegle and FB but 3 times have been let down by people who said they wanted them, arranged when they would come but not turned up and no message sent.

Hi

If you're planning to buy anything on Amazon you might like to know about the following ways to get free or almost free gift vouchers. I've tried all of these and they all work.

If you're planning to spend over £50, rather than just paying at the checkout, top up your gift card balance by £50 and they'll give you an extra £6. You can only do this once.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=11301833031

If you stream a music track on Amazon Music Free for the first time you'll receive a £5 coupon against an eligible purchase of £20 or more which needs to be redeemed within 30 days of receipt

This promotion ends April 15th 2021

https://www.amazon.co.uk/b?ie=UTF8&node=22573875031

If you take out an Amazon Mastercard you get a £10 gift card as a welcome and then cashback in the form of Amazon gift vouchers. The percentage you get back depends on where you use the card and whether you have Amazon Prime or not, but it's at least half a percent. OK it's not much but it's better than nothing.

There are several phone apps which give you Amazon vouchers in exchange for scanning your shopping receipts.

Shopprize, Shoppix, Storewards and Huyu

These are all on Android - I don't know if there are equivalent apps for iPhones.
You can scan the same receipt into all four apps and you should earn an average of about 20p per receipt for the four apps combined.

You're only supposed to scan your own receipts but If you see a receipt lying around it's worth picking it up and scanning it. Doing so is known as Wombling.
There are limits on how many receipts you can scan (Typically 5 per day for each app, and they need to be dated within the last seven days.

Another one from the RAC newsletter (with permission to share)

31st Mar 2021

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Increased funding for highway maintenance isn’t enough to help local authorities in England and Wales reach target conditions, with more than £10 billion needed to get roads back in shape, a new Asphalt Industry Alliance (AIA) report reveals.

Despite a 15% increase in highway maintenance budgets, partly due to Government funding to repair potholes and support active travel, budgets are still lower than they were two years ago and road conditions have not significantly improved, the Annual Local Authority Road Maintenance (ALARM) survey highlights.

The RAC has also urged Scottish authorities to conduct “swift corrective maintenance” to damaged Highland roads in Scotland.

This includes the popular tourist route the North Coast 500 which The Scotsman reports to have “big holes in sections” as well as “suspension-destroying” potholes on the trail.

RAC spokesman Rod Dennis said: “This year, the colder winter we’ve had means potholes are likely to make driving some stretches of the route a lot less enjoyable, but they also risk causing expensive damage to vehicles.

“Without some swift corrective maintenance it looks as though the arrival of spring could coincide with many more drivers running into problems, including on the NC500 itself.”

A spokesperson for Highland Council said: “The recent severe weather between January and March has caused considerable damage to Highland roads. We have a process in place regarding potholes and defects, and all incidents that are reported are followed up.”

Between October and December last year, RAC patrols attended more than 1,400 breakdowns in the UK where potholes were most likely to be the cause.

Report a pothole and find out how to claim for damage

How to check your tyre pressure | Video guide

20 ways to make your car last longer

While there has been an increase in the number of potholes filled over the last 12 months – the equivalent of one every 19 seconds – the AIA states this shouldn’t necessarily be seen as a positive.

AIA chair Rick Green welcomed the increase in funding but said “using it to repeatedly fill in potholes is essentially a failure as it does nothing to improve the resilience of the network”.

The average frequency of road surfacing is now once every 68 years and it would take £10.24 billion over a decade to clear the backlog of maintenance on local roads in England and Wales.

Mr Green called for a longer-term approach to local road funding, similar to the five-year commitment given to motorways and major A roads.

This would allow local authority highway engineers to “plan ahead and implement a more proactive, sustainable and cost-effective whole life approach to maintaining the network”, he said.

“This commitment is vital to the nation’s post-pandemic reset in which we will rely on our local road network to support recovery and underpin active travel and levelling-up goals.”

Nicholas Lyes, RAC head of roads policy, said: “The AIA’s report lays bare the pressure on local authorities who are grappling with crumbling road surfaces. On the one hand additional money allows them to fix potholes but the inconsistent nature of this funding often means they focus on short-term quick fixes rather than preventing them from occurring in the first place.

“Potholes are a nuisance and not only cause expensive vehicle damage but can also lead to serious injury or even worse. Without a long-term approach to local road maintenance funding, similar to what we already have for strategic roads, we face our roads remaining in a perpetually poor state.

“The Government must now change tack and ring-fence a small proportion of existing fuel duty revenues over a five-year period so that local authorities are able to plan routine maintenance properly and get our local roads up to a fit and proper standard.”

Help prevent food waste from local food suppliers.
Instead of them throwing food away at the end of the day, (or their service), get a bag full to consume at home and save your money as well as their waste.

I have had some excellent value from using their App.

More details here:
https://toogoodtogo.org/en

Once upon a time there was a female brain cell which by mistake happened to end up in a man's head.

She looked around nervously but it was all empty and quiet.

"Hello?" she cried, but no answer.

"Is there anyone here?" she cried a little louder, but still no answer.

Now the female brain cell started to feel alone and scared and yelled: "HELLO, IS THERE ANYONE HERE..?"

Then she heard a voice from far, far, far away: "Hellooooo, we're down here."

HAVE YOU GOT SEX INSURANCE ?

You can now get sex insurance in the UK so make sure you get correct insurance for the sex you are having . Please find a list of companies below catering for most tastes:

Sex with your wife - legal and general.

Sex on the telephone - direct line.

Sex with your partner -standard life .

Sex with someone different - go compare.

Sex with a lady of generous proportions -more than.

Sex on the back seat of a car - Sheila's wheels.

Sex with a prostitute - commercial Union .

Sex with your maid -employers liability.

Sex with an oap - saga .

Sex resulting in pregnancy - general accident .

Sex with animals - National Farmers Union.

Sex with a monk- Abbey Life

Sex with Navy Officers- Admiral Group.

AND FINALLY

Sex with a transvestite - confused. Com

Make sure you are adequately covered!!

https://www.wilko.com/face-mask-recycling

I was sorry to hear the news today but is it necessary to have nothing else on the TV this evening, on all the main channels? Surely they will be repeating the same films of Prince Philip's life over and over again!!

Received Bromley Council newsletter "Bromley joins national week of mourning" (I will post details in local news feed)

"It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

"His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle."
Source: BBC

A BIBLICAL STORY

A woman runs a red traffic light and crashes into a man's car. Both of their cars are demolished, but amazingly, neither of them is hurt.

After they crawl out of their cars, the woman says; "Wow, just look at our cars!

There's nothing left, but fortunately we are unhurt. This must be a sign from God that we should meet and be friends and live together in peace for the rest of our days."

The man replies, "I agree with you completely. This must be a sign from God!"

The woman continues, "And look at this, here's another miracle.

My car is completely demolished, but my bottle of wine didn't break. Surely God wants us to drink this wine and celebrate our good fortune." She then hands the bottle to the man.

The man nods his head in agreement, opens it, drinks half the bottle and then hands it back to the woman. The woman takes the bottle, immediately puts the cap back on and hands it back to the man.

The man asks, "Aren't you having any?"

The woman replies, "Nah. I think I'll just wait for the police."

Adam ate the apple, too.

Men will never learn...

If anyone receives a PM from Roseco (miss_kotchi2@yahoo.com) ignore it it's a well documented scam.

Yet again ☹

http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poem/i-opened-book/

Hope the link works!

click on

I have spent last 42 minutes waiting on phone for the surgery to enquire when I might be getting my second injection only to be told that they have no idea, it's out of their hands and to ring daily (even twice a day) to see if slot becomes available. Hearing of so many people who have had their second jab who had their first one later. Surgery have no idea if it's a location problem (site now only doing every other day) or vaccine problem. Twelve weeks up on Monday. When I rang last week was told that I should wait until I was contacted. Tomorrow is out as have a hospital appointment. Grrr!

Plays tunes on wine glasses as it goes - its very impressive
https://fb.watch/4HjsDP_es4/

If you are a Firefox user, there is an add-on that will show the location of the website you are on. You may be surprised where some sites are located. This can be useful if you are making a purchase, because the law in that country may apply. The add-on places the nation's flag at the end of the address bar, and gives access to other information. You'll never guess where Sainsbury's is. https://mzl.la/3cOaI9o

.Edit: After installing, the add-on will be added to your right-click menu, and gives several options, including scanning the website for viruses.

.

.

Yes or no? Will they work?

If press reports are accurate, EU politicians have approached Russia for potential vaccine supply?
Would you like a shot in the arm from there?

Over the years I've lost a lot of friends and relatives to assorted types of cancer, so for the last few years I've taken part in the Marsden March - a 15 mile sponsored walk to raise money for the Marsden cancer charity. I usually complete the walk in just over four hours.

The Marsden Hospital also cured a friend of mine's cancer.

The March takes place every year but last year's March was cancelled due to covid 19 which resulted in a massive gap in their funding.

The current plan is to hold the March on Sunday 23rd May 2021.

If the full event takes place it'll start near the near the Marsden Hospital in Chelsea and end at the Marsden Hospital in Sutton, passing along Fulham Road, down Putney High Street, over Wimbledon Common, on to Raynes Park and through King George’s Playing Fields. Then through Nonsuch Park and Belmont, to the hospital in Sutton.

If the event can't take place due to the continuing restrictions, then there will be a Marsden March At Home event where participants walk 15 miles in their local area. I've had a play on Bing Maps and I reckon that if I walk from home to the centre of Epsom, up to Epsom Downs, on to Burgh Heath and then head home via Cheam and Worcester Park that will add up to 15 miles.

I'd like to raise as much money as I can for the charity so I'm looking for sponsorship. In the past generous people on Streetlife, then Kahuti and hopefully now Scooploop have donated funds to help me reach the target. If you can spare some cash then a donation would be very much appreciated by the Marden Charity.

You can donate online at

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/thebanhammarsdenmarch2020-tonylang

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving - they'll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they'll send your money directly to the charity. So it's the most efficient way to donate - saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

Since 2011 the March has raised over £13 million pounds with every penny going towards funding state-of-the-art equipment, ground-breaking research, and creating the very best patient care.

This incredible amount has helped The Royal Marsden to revolutionise the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and improve the lives of people affected by cancer, across the UK and around the world.

This year the target is to raise £2 million for a very special cause - to help build the Oak Cancer Centre.

This brand-new centre in Sutton will help the Marsden to speed up the development of life-saving treatments and ensure they can be there for everyone who needs them.

The website of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity gives a lot of detail

about the march at

https://www.royalmarsden.org/support-us/marsden-march

Thanks in advance

Tony

As well as the usual slow and labourious ways to find an old post/comment, Scooploop provides a file you may not be aware of, that contains all of them, which you can then search using your browser's Find facility. This is a plain text file, which means that the links aren't clickable, but it will let you know what you said, and perhaps to whom. Then, depending on the circumstances, you can go to the appropriate group etc. The file is called 'My Scooploop Information' in Settings: https://www.scooploop.com/people/settings/my-scooploop-information/

Love the comment

Seen over Daggers last night - and there will be more different ones in the borough, part of the Glow festival.

.

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/following-tips-can-help-you-decrease-your-risk-of-spring-allergies

"Today marks the start of the whaling season in Norway, one of the world’s richest countries and often championed for its political correctness.

And yet again this oil and gas rich nation will ignore its growing number of critics worldwide to hunt and kill hundreds of minke whales"

In case you are looking at the calendar, please check the truth.

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/age-related-macular-degeneration-awareness-month

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2272406-some-rabbits-walk-on-their-front-feet-with-their-back-legs-in-the-air/#ixzz6qM9hRhBk

I'm not sexist with the male cyclist photos

Amazon shady activity. I recently purchased a kitchen timer valued some £13 from Amazon and paid by credit card. I noticed that for about 3 months £8 per month was charged to my card by Amazon. When I enquired what that was for I was told that is the monthly fee for my Amazon membership that I signed on when doing my purchase. I did not notice doing that which is a very sneaky way for Amazon to take money off people. I may not be very bright at age 87 but not quite stupid jet. So I decided not to go near Amazon ever again and advise you all my neighbours to do the same or be very careful when purchasing anything from Amazon.

From Daily Mail

"Abattoirs across France will undergo emergency inspections after latest shocking secret footage shows workers throwing sheep against a wall and quartering one while it is still alive.
Hidden camera caught abattoir abusing animals in south west France.
Footage filmed just before Easter sees cow's throats cut while still alive."

Also please note:
"It is an offence to sell or to supply to another person, meat that has not been slaughtered and health marked in a licensed abattoir. The owner of an animal may slaughter his animal on-farm, but it is an offence to supply the meat to any other person."

Isn't it common practice in rural communities for "home-killed" meat to be readily available?

Your views and information please.

.

How lovely is this??

This electrician’s firm dropped this round to a child in the home where they had been working for 6 weeks and the child had been regularly ‘helping!’

It’s just so heart warming.

As a young lad Paddy asked Grandpa Sullivan, "Grandpa, how did you ever get so old?" "Well," replies the grandfather, "every morning, I pour a teaspoon of gunpowder into my coffee, and I guess that's the reason." So the Paddy begins drinking coffee and doing the same. 90 years pass and Paddy finally dies having reached the age of 102. He left behind 5 kids, 18 grandkids, 43 great grandkids, several million dollars, and a 60 foot hole in the wall of the crematorium.

Here's our Nora a boisterous 6 year old cat we adopted in 2015 from the Junction Road branch of CPL. She jumped straight into my bag and then miaowed all the way home. Within a couple of hours she was tight-rope walking along the fence and still knew her way back to our house; I reckon she's a bright little cat!!!

This was a thread a little while ago, and having written to those in power to review the concerns of SL members, here is the political response.
Grant Shapps, our transport minister hasn't replied, as yet.
Ed Davey of the LibDems is my local MP and has sent his thoughts, so please read on.

Dear Jocelyn,

Thank you for your email.

I am sceptical about the safety of smart motorways – and believe you raise some valid points. I raised my concerns about smart motorways with the Transport Secretary, Grant Schapps, last year. I have copied my letter to Grant Schapps below and attach a copy of his response as a PDF.

As you may be aware, the Government commissioned a review of the evidence regarding smart motorways which you can view here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/936811/smart-motorway-safety-evidence-stocktake-and-action-plan.pdf

The review made a number of recommendations to improve public confidence and safety and my party has been pressing the Government about the progress towards implementing these recommendations. I believe these recommendations are a step forward – but I’m concerned that they still may leave people vulnerable in certain circumstances. My party and I will continue to scrutinise the Government on this.

Yours sincerely,

Ed Davey

Rt Hon Sir Edward Davey MP

Kingston & Surbiton (Liberal Democrats)

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

Dear Grant,

I have been contacted by a number of my constituents who are extremely concerned at the safety implications of introducing smart motorways without a hard shoulder.

I have held back on sending this e mail due to the priority which it has been necessary to give to dealing with the coronavirus pandemic, but feel that I cannot leave this matter any longer.

I appreciate that you had already announced a review into driver safety on smart motorways last October as concerns had already been raised then, and that you said then that none of the smart motorways currently proposed would be rolled out until that review had taken place. Now that the action plan to boost smart motorway safety has been published, I should be grateful for your clarification on a number of points.

1) As I understand it, there are currently around 200 miles of smart motorway currently in operation which continued to be in use while the review was in progress. Very few of the proposals set out in the review appear to have timescales set and, where they are, they appear to be unacceptably lengthy. For example, whilst the installation of signs within emergency areas giving information on what to do in an emergency "by the end of spring 2020" is helpful, a period of 36 months to install “stopped vehicle detection” technology is simply too long - we cannot have another three years of unsafe operation and the Government should return these stretches of road to hard shoulders again until radar is installed. Will the "end of spring 2020" deadline be met? Please explain what immediate steps you are taking to ensure the safety of drivers using the sections of smart motorway currently in operation.

2) My understanding is that safety lay-bys were originally envisaged to be every 600 metres, but you are now saying that they will be up to a maximum of one mile apart. Please explain the change in thinking on this.

3) A number of the commitments in the action plan are vague in the extreme; please would you clarify, for example, what actual action is to be taken when you say you are "considering a national programme", "investigating M6 Bromford viaduct …. we will look to make changes".

4) Please confirm that any new sections of smart motorway will only be rolled out after the targeted communication campaigns that you identify as being necessary have taken place and that these new sections will incorporate all the safety features identified in your action plan from the start.

5) At a time when we are increasingly looking to turn to electric cars as the cleaner option, what allowance is being made for the way in which they operate? In particular, as my colleague Baroness Randerson, Liberal Democrat transport spokesperson in the Lords pointed out in debate earlier this year: "when an electric vehicle ceases to function, it stops; it does not coast in the way that other vehicles do. Smart motorways are supposed to be the future, but the future is electric. Those vehicles stop very suddenly. They also cannot be towed; they have to be put on a low-loader, which is a much more complex and longer process that will put rescue teams in greater danger."

You state that "Overall, what the evidence shows is that in most ways, smart motorways are as safe as, or safer than, the conventional ones. But not in every way" and I am sure that you will have been aware of the allegations made in the Paronama programme at the end of January and the subsequent report by the all-party parliamentary group on roadside rescue and recovery, led by the former roads minister Mike Penning in preparing your action plan.

That report accused Highways England of “casually ignoring commitments” on safety and failing to implement the Stopped Vehicle Detection system. I and my constituents are alarmed at the failings there have been and I should like your assurance that you will personally be ensuring that Highways England will be required to take full account of the Panorama allegations and the all-party parliamentary group's findings in executing your action plan.

Steps need to be taken as a matter of urgency to ensure that no more lives are endangered on the existing smart motorways and that no more sections of motorway will be opened until the problems there have been have been fully resolved and the public can be completely satisfied that the removal of the hard shoulder is not creating any danger to road users.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Ed

Sent: 16 March 2021 10:37

To: DAVEY, Edward

Subject: Smart Motorways

Dear Mr. Davey,

please advise your thoughts on "Smart Motorways".

From what I can find, it appears they are marginally safer than the motorways they are replacing.

This is hard to believe.

I'd invite any MP to park on the inside lane of the M3, 2miles south of the M25 junction.

The night will be dark, wet and windy, and that section is unlit.

Any pet travelling with the driver must be left inside the vehicle, as instructed.

Then he/she driver will stand behind the crash barrier, for their own safety and observe what happens.

In which instance the common sense policy will swiftly become apparent.

Would it be more sensible for Motorways to retain a hard shoulder, and the maximum speed limit to be reduced to 60mph.

it that means slower journeys and more congestion, so be it.

Please note the following statement.

Transport Minister Baroness Vere said that she was ‘astonished’ to learn that electric cars slow to a stop comparatively quickly, rather than coasting to a stop like a normal car. There are also concerns that electric cars are more difficult, and therefore slower, to remove.

Smart motorways are supposed to be the future, but the future is electric. Those vehicles stop very suddenly. They also cannot be towed; they have to be put on a low-loader, which is a much more complex and longer process that will put rescue teams in greater danger."

I look forward to your reply.

So upset to see that the Japanese owned 220,000 ton tanker above has many livestock in there, sheep for sure, and because of the delays it has affected other ships going through also carrying livestock...so in all around 130,000 animals are being held in confined conditions, very hot and caged.
Why are countries allowed to cram livestock for days on end anyway...even in lorries is bad enough which I thought we are supposed to have stopped now. Why can’t they just breed their own animals? Can’t be too hard to breed some sheep surely. I have some sheep near me growing up, all peaceful together, minding their own business...not knowing what’s around the corner.

https://www.scooploop.com/thread/can-anyone-help-2