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Thursday, March 1st, 2012
What happened to the pioneering spirit, the sense of pride hard work and accomplishment, that built these United States!
We became the Greatest Nation on this planet, by not being a Welfare State, by not holding our hands out for freebies all our lives, We became the Greatest Nation on Earth by hard work determination, and a sense of accomplishment! And from it, the pride and self respect that comes from setting goals and reaching them, by improving ones self! and ones position in Life!
Is the Welfare Check that’s handed out each month ones only incentive in life! Is accepting entitlements from Cradle to Grave ones only ambition! Should we allow ourselves to fall Victim to any Political Party that stifles individualism, and offers only dependency and dead end class oppression?? What we don’t seem to understand is the price we are paying for a Free Hand Out ! When one is given something for Free! your Obedience is usually required in return!! and that price and obedience is inevitably the erosion of our Rights Liberties and Freedoms!
It’s sad to see the desire to better ones self by individual work ethic being destroyed, by ones willingness to take what one can get from the system, without having contributed to it! Sure there are certainly those that Genuinely Need a Government Safety Net! but far too many Do Not!
Falling into this trap of taking and not giving! with total dependency on the system! will not only destroy ones self in the end, but ultimately the very system one is sucking from!
Nothing in this World is Free!! Someone is paying for the Free hand outs, Question is ? Is it you!!! And do you even care??
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Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
The River Thames contains over 80 islands ranging from the large estuarial marshlands of the Isle of Sheppey, Isle of Grain and Canvey Island to small tree-covered islets like Rose Isle in Oxfordshire and Headpile Eyot in Berkshire. Some of the largest inland islands — Formosa Island near Cookham and Andersey Island at Abingdon 
— were created naturally when the course of the river divided into separate streams, while Desborough Island, Ham Island at Old Windsor and Penton Hook Island were artificially created by lock cuts and navigation channels. Chiswick Eyot is a familiar landmark on the Boat Race course, while Glover’s Island forms the centrepiece of the spectacular view from Richmond Hill. Islands with a historical interest are Magna Carta Island at Runnymede, Fry’s Island at Reading and Pharaoh’s Island near Shepperton. In more recent times Platts Eyot at Hampton was the place where MTBs were built, Tagg’s Island near Molesey was associated with the impresario Fred Karno, and Eel Pie Island at Twickenham was the birthplace of the South East’s R&B music scene.
Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster (commonly known today as the Houses of Parliament) were built on Thorney Island which used to be an eyot.
The River Thames has served several roles in human history, being an economic resource, a water highway, a boundary, a fresh water source, also a source of food and more recently a leisure facility. In 1929 John Burns, one time MP for Battersea, responded to an American’s unfavourable comparison of the Thames with the Mississippi by coining the expression “The Thames is liquid history”.
In London there are many sightseeing tours in tourist boats, past the more famous riverside attractions such as the Houses of Parliament and the Tower of London as well as regular riverboat services co-ordinated by London River Services.
The river almost inevitably features in many books set in London. Most of Dickens’ other novels include some aspect of the Thames. Oliver Twist finishes in the slums and rookeries along its south bank. The Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle often visit riverside parts as in The Sign of Four. In Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, the serenity of the contemporary Thames is contrasted with the savagery of the Congo River, and with the wilderness of the Thames as it would have appeared to a Roman soldier posted to Britannia two thousand years before. Conrad also gives a description of the approach to London from the Thames Estuary in his essays The Mirror of the Sea (1906). Upriver, Henry James‘ Portrait of a Lady uses a large riverside mansion on the Thames as one of its key settings.
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Saturday, January 2nd, 2010
The British Bobby was organized in the late 1700’s, essentially becoming the first police force as we know them today. Until the start of the Industrial Revolution which brought thousands flocking into cities, most crime was combated by the local constabulary with the help of the occasional citizen patrol. As the cities became more crowded, organized police forces were established to protect business interests. In 
England, one of the most prominent organized police forces was the Thames River Police, created in 1798 to deter thefts along the London wharves.
The Thames River Police, numbering about 80 full-time men, policed by establishing a patrol presence in the London port. The private police force was so effective that Parliament authorized money to add the men to the public payroll. The public was suspicious of waves of permanent police roaming the streets, but the plagues of urban ills brought on by surging immigration and mounting poverty began to weigh on Londoners.
It took the vision of 41-year old statesman Robert Peel, later a two-time Prime Minister of England, to establish the world’s first permanent police force. In 1829 Peel sponsored the Metropolitan Police Act which passed Parliament. As the founder of the police force, the men on patrol became known popularly as “peelers” or “bobbies.” The former nickname faded away and the moniker “bobbies” lives on today.
Much of which Peel created lives on today as well. He believed that the police force should operate from a centrally located headquarters which should be easily accessible to the public. Of prime importance would be recruitment, selection and training of the police force. All “bobbies” would be dressed in proper uniforms and be paid a full-time weekly wage. Peel established a system to determine crime rates to measure the effectiveness of the new force.
The police would be responsible only for crime detection and prevention which would be accomplished by the establishment of regular patrol areas, known as “beats.” Historically, police would only show up after a crime had been reported. Peel wanted his men to become familiar figures to the public within specific geographic zones. He reasoned that a conspicuous, known figure would be able to better elicit help from the citizenry in the event of a crime. By becoming familiar with the people and places on his beat, the “bobby” could readily recognize suspicious things out of place and help deter crime. The patrol concept would be universally adopted by police forces the world over. It was Robert Peel’s greatest innovation.
To maintain organization among his men on patrol, Peel adopted a paramilitary structure of command. Lacking such a line of command, it would be all too easy for the “bobbies” to lapse into the uncommitted ways of their watchmen predecessors. Peel’s men were to be patient, impersonal and, above all, professional.
The Metropolitan Police Act was initially limited to the outer parts of London and did not apply to the mile-square City of London. The “bobbies” were not immediately popular and were often jeered at on patrol. The preventive tactics proved successful, however, and the police force showed skill in handling erupting street riots. Crime prevention was not the only duty of the “bobbies.” They kept a lookout for fires. They lit streetlights as they walked the beat. They called out the time.
The Bobbies were issued with a wooden truncheon carried in a long pocket in the tail of their coat, a pair of handcuffs and a wooden rattle to raise the alarm. By the 1880s this rattle had been replaced by a whistle.
To be a Bobby the rules were quite strict. You had to be 6ft tall (or as near as possible), and have no history of any wrong-doings.
These men became the model for the creation of all the provincial forces; at first in the London Boroughs, and then into the counties and towns, after the passing of the County Police Act in 1839. An ironic point however; the Lancashire town of Bury, birthplace of Sir Robert, was the only major town which elected not to have its own separate police force. The town remained part of the Lancashire Constabulary until 1974.
Early Victorian police worked seven days a week, with only five days unpaid holiday a year for which they received the grand sum of £1 per week. Their lives were strictly controlled; they were not allowed to vote in elections and required permission to get married and even to share a meal with a civilian. To allay the public’s suspicion of being spied upon, officers were required to wear their uniforms both on and off duty.
The public was won over and the police began patrols in the City of London in 1839. Slowly the concept of the police force expanded to rural areas. In 1856 Parliament finally mandated that police forces be established in outlying provinces. By this time police departments were forming in the United States and the rest of the world based on Robert Peel’s model.
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Saturday, October 10th, 2009
In the summer of 2012, the London and the United Kingdom, UK, will come alive with the Olympic and Paralympic Games!
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXX Olympiad, are due to take place in London, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012. London will become the first city to officially host the modern Olympic Games three times having previously done so in 1908 and in 1948!
The logo for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics was unveiled in a star-studded ceremony in London in June 2007. The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the Games. The word London and the Olympic rings are included in the first two digits of the new logo.
The 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games will use a mixture of new venues, existing and historic facilities, and temporary facilities, some of them in well-known locations such as Hyde Park and Horse Guards Parade. Some of the new facilities will be reused in their Olympic form, while others, including the 80,000 seat main stadium, will be reduced in size and several will be relocated elsewhere in the UK. The plans are part of the regeneration of Stratford in east London which will be the site of the Olympic Park, and of the neighbouring Lower Lea Valley.
Organizers estimate that some 7.7 million tickets would be available for the Olympic Games and 1.5 million tickets for the Paralympic Games. They will be going on sale in 2011; with at least 50% of these priced under £20. To reduce traffic, ticketholders would be entitled to free use of London’s public transportation network on the day of the event. It is estimated that 82% of available Olympic tickets and 63% of Paralympics tickets will be sold. There will also be free events: for example, the marathon, triathlon and road cycling.
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Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
Dartmoor is a stunningly beautiful area of moorland accented with wooded valleys and wind swept Tors (the old celtic
word for “tower”). A wide-open expanse covering 369 square miles (953 sq. km.), the area features some of the wildest and bleakest country in England. The setting for the Sherlock Holmes’ novel ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles,’ based upon a local legend, this isolated landscape with weather conditions (mist, rain and snow) that can change in minutes, creates a truly natural spectacle - ‘nature’ at its best.
Prehistoric remains are found all over the moor, though exact dates of many of them are often in dispute. Any walk across the moor is likely to lead you to the remains of old stone buildings from Dartmoor’s industrial past. Ancient clapper bridges - crossing streams and rivers, stone crosses; barrows, standing stones, circles, tumuli and cairns all contribute to the wealth features to be enjoyed on Dartmoor.
Dartmoor is a haunted and enchanting place, and can become very busy on the most popular routes during the summer months. The vagaries of the local weather, particularly the mist which can descend without warning mean that whenever you venture away from the roads that traverse the moor it is essential that you have a good map, appropriate clothing, compass and whistle.
Dartmoor was designated as one of the National Parks of England and Wales in 1951. The National Park is named after the River Dart, whose source rises on the moor, with the West and East Dart rivers merging to form the River Dart at Dartmeet.
Though the majority of the Dartmoor National Park lies over a granite plateau - 600m above sea level, rising to a height of 621m, the park also includes the some of the beautiful surrounding Devon countryside. Rich fertile lands to the north and south of the moor, known as the “Hams”, have been formed over older marine sediments and volcanic rocks from the Devonian and Carboniferous age; contrasting sharply with stark landscape of the upland granites.
There are many attractions to visit in the Park. English Heritage and the National Trust have many properties throughout the area, including the Finch Foundry, Castle Drogo and the dramatic Lydford Gorge. 
At Princetown, in the very centre of the moor, you will find Dartmoor’s most famous (infamous) building - the grim edifice of Dartmoor Prison. Princetown is also the home of the Dartmoor National Park High Moorland Visitor Centre. The Centre has a wealth of information.
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Sunday, August 2nd, 2009
The South West Way coastal footpath follows the entire coastline of Cornwall. It can be joined at points all around West Cornwall. The coastline between St Ives and Pendeen is particularly spectacular if you fancy a walk. For a spectacular introduction to the scenery of West Cornwall, try the following walks. They really are ‘off the beaten track’ and you’ll definitely avoid the crowds;
Meanabilly (41/2 miles)
Embarking from Fowey through Daphne DuMaurier country, this walk passes the light house at Gribben Head and follows the coast to Polkerris Cove, where you might enjoy a light repast at the Rashleigh Pub. If you time it right, you may even witness a pair of salt water swans take flight over the open ocean!
Hall Walk (4 miles)
Launching from Polruan by Fowey,to Boddinick you’ll follow the River Fowey a short way to Pont Creek, follow the creek through some remarkable and enchanting countryside, crossing over Pont Bridge on your way! You may even be accompanied by a cat or two making sure you don’t stray from the path!
Gurnard’s Head (2 miles)
Park at the Gurnard’s Head Hotel on the ‘main’ St Ives to St Just road (B3306) and follow the lane beside the pub into the small village of Treen. Take the path on the left next to the Coastguard house and follow it across several fields towards the sea. After 1/2 mile you will see the rugged promontory which is ‘Gurnard’s Head’. To the trained eye, the remains of a 2000 year old Iron age cliff castle can be discerned on the headland itself. The views along the coast from the headland are breathtaking. Great place to relax and have a secluded picnic.
Chun Castle (2 1/2 miles)
Short walk providing magnificent rural views over West Cornwall, a ruined Iron age hillfort and a bronze age burial chamber (c. 5000 years old). From Penzance bypass, take Heamoor road and follow road through Madron and on towards Morvah. 1/2 mile past Lanyon Farm take second road on left (signposted ‘Great Bosullow’). Follow road for a mile (ignoring the left turn which leads to Great Bosullow) and park at Bosullow Farm. Follow path (marked by white stones) up hill to hillfort. The inner part of the fort is a great place to relax in the sun and have a picnic. See if you can find the iron age well. After visiting the fort walk along the crest of the hill to the west until you reach the well-preserved Chun Quoit ancient burial chamber. Follow the same path back towards the car.
Porthgwarra - Land’s End (7 miles return)
Excellent coastal walk, with rugged cliffs, opportunities to see seals and sea-birds, a sheltered cove and the attractions of Land’s End. Take B3315 from Newlyn to St Levan. Take next left after Porthcurno turning signposted ‘Porthgwarra’. Park at Porthgwarra car park and walk up the hill towards the coastguard station. Follow coastal footpath from here to the west and keep on path until you reach Land’s End - you will be able to see the Land’s End Hotel in the distance. On the way you pass the huge cliffs of Gwennap Head, Cam Les Boel Iron age cliff castle, Nanjizal beach (see ‘Beaches’), the Armed Knight (arched rock in the sea) and Land’s End itself. The scenery is so good and peaceful that Land’s End almost seems an anticlimax. Note: This is a remote, unspoiled part of Cornwall with no amenities or shops until you reach Land’s End - please take drinks & food with you. The tiny shop at Porthgwarra sells soft drinks and good pasties.
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Saturday, June 6th, 2009
Fleet Street starts at The Strand and carries on up to Ludgate Hill.
It takes its name from the Fleet River, which used to run where Farringdon Road does today. It soon became a major thoroughfare, and attracted senior figures from the Catholic Church. Many major residences were built along its length, which in turn attracted the learned booksellers.
St. Bride’s church – the parish church of the nation’s papers – is on the right-hand side as you walk past the Temple. There are several memorials to journalists killed-in-action – most recently during the Gulf War of 2003. There is also a memorial tree for Reuter’s photographer Dan Eldon, whose diaries formed the cult book The Journey Is The Destination.
Archaeologists believe that the original building, burned down in the Great Fire of 1666, may have occupied the same spot as London’s first-ever church – built by St. Bridget i
n the sixth century AD. The crypt now contains a small museum with the rich history of printing, and relics of these previous buildings.
St. Dunstan’s is just 180 years old, but an earlier version dates from at least the 12th-century. It survived everything that history could throw at it but had become so dilapidated by the 1820s that it was demolished during the widening of Fleet Street.
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is the name of a 17th-century pub that still stands today. It is famous for the literary boozers that once propped up the bar – Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and Samuel Johnson are all said to have drank here at one time or another.
Other writers to supp from the pumps include Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Thackeray and James Boswell.
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Saturday, June 6th, 2009
In 1840 Rowland Hill suggested the idea of roadside letter boxes for Britain. Letter boxes of this kind were already being used in countries such as France, Belgium and Germany. However there were no roadside letter boxes in the British Isles until 1852, when the first pillar boxes were erected at St Hellier in Jersey at the recommendation of Anthony Trollope, who was working as a Surveyor’s Clerk for the Post Office. 
In 1853 the first pillar box on the British mainland was erected at Botchergate, Carlise. A similar box from the same year still stands at Barnes Cross, Bishop’s Caundle in Dorset. It is the oldest pillar box still in use on the mainland. Most of the early boxes were similar in design to the Channel Island boxes, but there were some interesting variations. Only photos and a few odd parts remain of London’s first pillar box which was at the corner of Fleet Street and Farringdon Street. In 1856 Richard Redgrave of the Department of Science and Art designed an ornate pillar box for use in London and other large cities. An example of one of these boxes, which would have been painted bronze, is now at the Victoria and Albert Museum. A less ornate version was used in other towns and cities. In 1859 the design was improved by moving the aperture from the top to below the rim and this became the first National Standard pillar box. The one exception to this standard is the Liverpool Special of 1863.
Green was adopted as the standard colour for the early Victorian boxes. Between 1866 and 1879 the hexagonal Penfold became the standard design for pillar boxes and it was during this period that red was first adopted as the standard colour. The first boxes to be painted red were in London in July 1874, although it took 10 years before nearly all the boxes had been repainted.
In 1879 came the cylindrical design of pillar box, which apart from a few recent experiments has changed very little since. The early boxes had no royal cipher and are known as ‘anonymous’ boxes. This oversight was corrected from 1887 when the words POST OFFICE were also placed either side of the aperture.
The cylindrical boxes came in two sizes, ‘A’ (larger) and ‘B’ (smaller). The oval type ‘C’ boxes with separate apertures for town and country first appeared in London in 1899. Lamp boxes, for use in areas where the amount of post is small, first started to be used generally from around 1897. Although designed to be attached to a lamp post they may also be found attached to telegraph poles, their own post or even set in a wall. The first proper roadside wall boxes had been in use from about 1857. Ludlow boxes, named after the Birmingham manufacturer James Ludlow, were made for use at sub-post offices between 1885 and 1965. Manufactured from sheet metal and wood with distinctive enamel plates they were more prone to rot than cast iron boxes.
In 1924 oval signs showing the direction to the nearest post office were used on top of pillar boxes for the first time. It was also in 1924 that the first experimental Telephone Kiosk no. 4 was produced which incorporated a post box and stamp vending machine.
Pillar boxes for airmail letters were introduced in London in 1930. The first of these was sited outside the General Post Office in King Edward Street, London. Originally these were simply a type ‘B’ box painted blue with an oval sign saying AIR MAIL placed on top, but from 1932 they were produced with a double collection plate, one for collection times and one for air mail postage rates. This service lasted until 1938 when the first box to be erected was also the last to go.
During the short reign of Edward VIII in 1936 only a relatively small number letter boxes were made, with the larger type ‘A’ pillar box being much rarer than than the narrower type ‘B’. It is believed that there is only one surviving example of an Edward VIII Ludlow type letter box. In 1935, towards the end of the reign of George V, a new design of lamp box was introduced with a flatter roof. Another design, with a rectangular front, was introduced during the reign of George VI.
In 1954, after it had been pointed out that Elizabeth II of England was only the first Elizabeth to reign over Scotland, the EIIR cipher was not used in Scotland. Letter boxes were made with just a Scottish Crown on instead.
There was very little further change in the design of letter boxes until an experiment in 1968 with rectangular boxes (Type F). These were made from sheet steel and proved not to be very hard wearing and so a cast iron version, the Type G, was introduced.
For their next design in 1979 the Royal Mail went back to the cylindrical shape, this time without the familiar pillar box cap. This box is known as Type K. Finally, on modern postboxes the words POST OFFICE have been replaced by the words ROYAL MAIL.
It is possible to collect real letter boxes but there are many smaller letter box related items that can be acquired. These include:
money boxes - models - fridge magnets - biscuit jars - teapots - sweet boxes - badges - key rings - salt & pepper pots - thimbles - postcards - toys - Christmas and birthday cards - wrapping paper - games - etc.
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Saturday, June 6th, 2009
The first standard public telephone kiosk introduced by the United Kingdom Post Office was produced in concrete in 1920 and was designated K1 (Kiosk No.1). This design was not of the same family as the familiar red telephone boxes.
The red telephone box was the result of a competition in 1924 to design a kiosk that would be acceptable to the London Metropolitan Boroughs which had hitherto resisted the Post Office’s effort to erect K1 kiosks on their streets.
The Royal Fine Art Commission was instrumental in the choice of the British standard kiosk. Because of widespread dissatisfaction with the GPO’s design, the Metropolitan Boroughs Joint Standing Committee organised a competition for a superior one in 1923, but the results were disappointing. The Birmingham Civic Society then produced a design of its own — in reinforced concrete — but it was informed by the Director of Telephones that the design produced by the Office of the Engineer-in-Chief was preferred; as the Architects’ Journal commented, ‘no one with any knowledge of design could feel anything but indignation with the pattern that seems to satisfy the official mind.’ The Birmingham Civic Society did not give up and, with additional pressure from the Royal Institute of British Architects, the Town Planning Institute and the Royal Academy, the Postmaster General was forced to think again; and the result was that the RFAC organised a limited competition.
The organisers invited entries from three respected architects and, along with the designs from the Post Office and from The Birmingham Civic Society, the Fine Arts Commission judged the competition and selected the design submitted by Giles Gilbert Scott. The invitation had come at the time when Scott had been made a trustee of Sir John Soane’s Museum — his design for the competition was in the classical style, but topped with a dome reminiscent of Soane’s self-designed mausoleum in St Pancras’ Old Churchyard, London. (The original wooden prototypes of the entries were later put into public service at under-cover sites around London. That of Scott’s design is the only one known to survive and is still where it was placed all those years ago, in the entrance arch to the Royal Academy.)
The Post Office chose to make Scott’s winning design in cast iron (Scott had suggested mild steel) and to paint it red (Scott had suggested silver, with a “greeny-blue” interior) and, with other minor changes of detail, it was brought into service as the Kiosk No.2 or K2. From 1926 K2 was deployed in and around London and the K1 continued to be erected elsewhere.
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Thursday, March 26th, 2009
In England around 12 eight-sailers, more than 50 six- and 50 five-sailers were built in the late 18th and 19th centuries, half of them in Lincolnshire. Of the eight sailed mills only Pocklington’s Mill in Heckington survived in fully functional state. A few of the other ones exist as four-sailed mills (Old Buckenham), as residences (Diss Button’s Mill), as ruins (Leach’s Windmill, Wisbech), or have been dismantled (Holbeach Mill; Skirbeck Mill, Boston). In Lincolnshire some of the six-sailed (Sibsey Trader Mill, Waltham Windmill) and five-sailed (Dobson’s Mill in Burgh le Marsh, Maud Foster Windmill in Boston, Hoyle’s Mill in Alford) slender (mostly tarred) tower mills with their white onion-shaped cap and a huge fantail are still there and working today. Other former five- and six-sailed Lincolnshire and Yorkshire tower mills now without sails and partly without cap are LeTall’s Mill in Lincoln, Holgate Windmill in Holgate, York 
(momentarily undergoing a restoration programme), Black, Cliff, or Whiting’s Mill (a seven-storeyed chalk mill) in Hessle and (with originally six sails) Barton-upon-Humber Tower mill, Brunswick Mill in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire, Metheringham Windmill, Penny Hill Windmill in Holbeach, Wragby Mill (built by E. Ingledew in 1831, millwright of Heckington Mill in 1830), and Wellingore Tower Mill. Another fine six-sailer can be found in Derbyshire - England’s only sandstone towered windmill at Heage of 1791.
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