hauxwell

You could buy grey squirrel meat at a shop not to far from me in Corbridge Northumberland, I don’t fancy it tho.

When I lived in Sheffield at Grenoside there was grey squirrels all over the place especially in the gardens, but since I’ve moved to Newcastle I have never seen one. I’ve had two quick sightings of red squirrels in the Newcastle area in places I never expected to see them. There use to be a phone number when I first moved to Newcastle asking you to report any sightings of the greys and if in your garden they wanted to put traps down to catch them, if caught they would be humanely destroyed, it was to protect the red squirrels in Northumberland. After watching a programme I haven’t got much sympathy for the Greys, they are extremely destructive at stripping bark from trees, and it’s not for food, the experts say they have no idea why but they need to be stopped because of damage to woodland ecosystems. The scientists are working on contraceptives for the greys to hopefully eradicate them in the UK and it’s showing good results.

Although I’m not religious and there are times when I wish I was, I would never say to a religious friend that religion is a load of old rubbish, life is hard at times, and if religion helps a person to cope with life’s problems than I would never criticise their faith.

I’m not religious and I don’t think I would convert to any religion it just wouldn’t feel right for me especially if I didn’t believe in it, what would be the point. When someone is deeply religious and trying to persuade their partner to convert to the same religion perhaps they are trying to save their soul for the afterlife so they can be with them eternally, and to prevent them being punished on the day of reckoning and sent to hell. However If someone has been in an unhappy marriage for many years they might prefer going to hell than an afterlife with their partner. It’s a funny thing religion, there are times when I am jealous of my religious friends and family because they do cope with death and life’s problems far better than me.

A joke Not sure if It will get removed but here it is. Time Machine Barak Obama and David Cameron, when both were leaders of there country, are shown a time machine which can see 100 years into the future. They both decide to test it by asking a question each. Obama goes first. “What will the USA be like in 100 years time he asks?” The machine whirs and beeps and goes into action and gives him a printout, he reads it out "The country is in good hands under the new president, crime is non-existent, there is no conflict, the economy is healthy. There are no worries” David thinks “It's not bad this time machine, I'll have a bit of that” so he asks: “What will the U.K. be like in 100 years time?” The machine whirs and beeps and goes into action, and he gets a printout. But he just stares at it. “Come on David” says Barak, “What does it say” David replies, “B*ggered if I know! It's all in Arabic!”

After the shenanigans of the Conservative party and all their prime ministers since 2010 is it time to reform the UKs constitution? Giving the prime minister more power or is that going down the road to a dictatorship? Strong leadership is what’s needed in a PM. I have a feeling we might see that from Starmer with his large majority of MPs. Starmer has the power to push through many changes, provided his backbenchers don’t rebel against him, as we have seen with the conservatives when in power. God help us tho.

I read Marilyn Monroe had a traumatic childhood and she was raped as a child. It must be hard for any woman to have a sexual relationship with a man after something so horrific.

I’m not sure if you are aloud to recite, Bill and Ben The Flower Pot Men?

I'm a big fan of Tom Hanks. Forgot to give Captain Phillips a score, I'll give it the same as yours echo 9/10. I have watched the film Sully a few times and it was another Hanks film I enjoyed. What a successful landing on the Hudson. Sully trusted his own instincts instead of technology. It must have been awful tho waiting for the investigation to see if it was pilot error and could he have done things differently. But I suppose it's all to do with the insurance.

Captain Phillips The film is based on a true story about the American ship, Maersk Alabama hijacking in 2009 by Somalian pirates. The main actor is Tom Hanks who is the Captain of the ship, brilliant acting from Hanks. I enjoyed this film about modern day piracy on the high seas. What the pirates did was wrong and it was for the money but you also get to know a bit about why they were doing it.

I thought that was funny.

Have you thought about taking pattricia through the small claims court to get your money back and poor service? Might be an idea you should consider after all of this time.

If prostitution was legalised and operated in a safe environment it would give some woman the option of better protection, goodness knows how many prostitutes are beating by their clients or pimps, I suspect it happens quite a lot. Also if they choose to work in a safer legalised environment they should be offered regular tests for sexual transmitted infections.

You certainly can't miss it walking along the Quayside. It's lovely inside with fantastic views of The Tyne Bridges.

I call it the Sage but I think it is also called The Glasshouse.

Forgot to say Yorkie only seen him on TV at the proms.

Yes I have seen him conducting at the Proms. He's a local lad from Gateshead who hasn't forgot his roots. I hope to go and see him again in the future at the Sage.

Conductor John Wilson at the Sage Gateshead. He was magnificent, it was an evening of Hollywood movie musicals, a 70 piece orchestra and guest singers.

DVDs which I think was series 1 to 3 of Downton Abbey. I had already watched it on tv and didn’t want to watch it again. Also I didn’t have a DVD player had I wanted to watch it. I took the DVDs to a charity shop in the new year.

Platform 7 Enjoyed watching this over two nights, I thought the last episode was brilliant. All four episodes of Platform 7 are on itvx.

I have already posted the benefits of popcorn on page one of this thread, but here it is again. You are right it has got nutritional value. Corn is a whole-grain and as such, high in fibre; whole-grains have been linked to a lower risk of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers. Most of us don’t eat enough fibre, which is important to support digestive health and to help slow the rate of digestion and absorption. Popcorn is also a good source of polyphenols, which are plant compounds with protective, antioxidant properties that have been linked to better blood circulation and digestive health, as well as a potentially lower risk of certain cancers. With a low-energy density, popcorn is a low-calorie snack, and being high in fibre it's also filling and, therefore, useful to include in a weight management diet. Taking all this into account when air-popped and served either plain, or flavoured with herbs or spices like cinnamon or paprika, popcorn is a healthy snack.

Unbelievable all those police for a carnival. I suppose the tax payer has to pay the astronomical police costs. The Mayor of London needs to look at holding it elsewhere and charging people to watch it so it can go towards policing it.

I was offered the flu vaccine in my thirties because I’m asthmatic. The first few years I was fine, then for two years running I had terrible side effects so I also don’t have the flu vaccination. Although the flu vaccine has been around for many years I was under the impression that a different flu vaccine is made each year because the flu virus changes, so how much testing is there on the tweaked virus each year? All I can say that there was something in the vaccine that my antibodies didn’t like. Thankfully most people don’t have a bad reaction to the vaccine so I don’t want to put people off having it.

Yes you are right. Still it put a smile on your face.

The Allotment Girls by Kate Thompson A grope of girls who work in a match stick factory during The Second World War persuade the owners of the factory to let them start an allotment on a piece of land in the factory as part of the Dig for Britain Campaign. From an abusive husband and dark family secrets the girls find the allotment as a place to escape and form community friendships. Not a bad read