Cartoon hits the mark!

Without wishing to be political, this cartoon in today's OBSERVER hits the bulls-eye fair and square! I will make no further comment!

Clean for the Queen in Aldborough Hatch - Saturday 27th February 2016

Clean for The Queen is a celebration of the Queen's 90th Birthday.
Some 30 volunteers took part in CLEAN FOR THE QUEEN organised by the Aldborough Hatch Defence Association on S aturday 27th February. The kitchen team prepared coffee, tea and biscuits and later hot soup and hot dogs. The lads and lasses set out on a bitterly cold morning with their litter-picks akimbo, their purple CLEAN FOR THE QUEEN sacks safely encased in the rubber rings and their smart yellow tabards (all courtesy of London Borough of Redbridge Recycling Team) and blue gloves (kindly supplied by Forest Farm Shop). And all Volunteers received a free REDBRIDGE bag to carry their shopping – again courtesy of the Borough. It should be noted that all the materials supplied by LBR were paid for from funding that was bid for LBR Recycling – and did not come out of Council Tax!

A total of 60 sacks were filled whilst we collected some car parts either discarded or the result of an accident a few hours earlier when a car hit a tree at the top of Aldborough Road North. We also found some mops and lots of Vodka bottles –so many Vodka bottles that one lady said that she had never seen so many in all her life! In fact we found bottles and cans of every size and variety including two unopened tins of Tuna!
One lady who spent all morning cleaning at the entrance to Benina Close (a private road where the residents appear to throw all their rubbish over the fence and are apparently happy to live on the edge of a rubbish tip!) asked if we could do this every month and seemed disappointed when I said we would do it annually!
One young man purchased - at his own expense - a long-handled pooper-scupper and a black bucket. He toured to roads on the east of Aldborough Road North (Applegarth Drive, etc) and found the pavements clean, but in Aldborough Road North and the pavements to the west (Roy Gardens, Oaks Lane) there was dog mess all over the pavements which filled his bucket.
One little girl who worked all morning with her mother told me that it had been the best day of her life!
So a BIG THANK YOU again to everyone. It was the community of Aldborough Hatch at its very best. Here’s to the next time, but if I see someone dropping litter I will tell them what for!

ILFORD RECORDER 25th February

I guess  these speak for themselves!

The ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Campaign Headquarters is fully open!

The Enough is Enough Campaign Headquarters is now fully operational as seen here with the Chairman wearing two of the new ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Button badges. T-shirts are next! If the ILFORD RECORDER says I am indefatigable, I will prove them right!

Overheard in Waitrose

Personally I am an Aldi shopper - but visit Sainsbury's once a month for two or three things Aldi do not stock. I was directed today to a Facebook page with conversations overhead in Waitrose. Here is a selection. They made me smile - and I guess one member of my family who only goes to Waitrose will smile too, for he has a sense of humour.

Overheard in Waitrose a couple of years ago; one woman to another: "This recession is really hitting hard. We've even had to stop drinking wine with dinner!"

 'I've just seen someone in the car park driving a Ford Focus. I do hope they're turning around'

Overheard in Waitrose Fulham on Sunday: 'I'm not going to lie Daddy, but I really prefer the Waitrose in Belgravia.'

Last weekend "It's Saturday, what do you mean you don't have any gorgonzola picanté?"

Two people having a heated argument at the front of local store.
One said 'I know I am right, I'm a solicitor' .To which the second calmly said 'So am I'
Boom!
 
Overheard in Waitrose:
Mum: Oh just watch my bag
Son: We're in Waitrose not Tesco
 
"Sebastian do stop sulking...they just don't sell pot noodles"
(Sebastian was about fifty!)

 "Did you know that that woman down the road votes Labour, and she's got an AGA!"

Lady looking at the reduced bread, "Oh look dear this will be perfect for the peacocks"

 "David, the hens only eat Waitrose kale and you know that."

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Campaign gains momentum!

The pressure is on with the ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Campaign against further sand and gravel extraction in Aldborough Hatch - within a few metres of the 153 year old St. Peter's Church, built without proper foundations.

Today’s ILFORD RECORDER carries two letters regarding the sand and gravel exhibition – see here! Well done Nicholas and the Lady – I know who you are and we are very grateful.

Also the EDITOR’S COMMENTS on the same page equate our campaign with two others in the Borough – the mobility card and the Kenneth More Theatre – with the Editor describing me (forgive my blushes!) as ‘indefatigable’. I had to look that word up in the dictionary to discover that the definition is “a person that cannot be tired out, unremitting’. Unsure if I ‘cannot be tired out’ for I am fairly weary with Brett Tarmac at present.

Please make sure you attend the Exhibition to demonstrate to Brett Tarmac that we mean business – and will not go away. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!

I have been on this earth for 30,286 days! It's a fact!

My friend Margaret sent me the link to a website that tell;s you how many days and months you have been on this earth.

I discovered that:

You are 30286 days old.

Which is 4326 weeks and 4 days.
That's 82 years and 336 days, including 20 leap days,
or 82 years, 48 weeks and 0 days.
In other words, that's 994.97 months.
Therefore, you are 82.92 years old.
You were born on a Saturday, your last birthday was a Wednesday
and your next one will be on a Friday.

And - would you believe it - it is right! 

Here is the link: 

<http://www.korn19.ch/coding/days.php>

Try it! 

Spring arrives in Aldborough Hatch a month early!

Spring sunshine in my front garden, whilst Socks enjoys the warm bricks in the back garden beneath the hanging baskets. Spring is a month early this year!

Is someone trying to tell me something?

The above arrived inside my copy of THE GUARDIAN this morning – with a tear off slip to apply for this gadget. Is someone trying to tell me something?

Easter Cards - St. Peter's Aldborough Hatch

 Yes, Easter Cards are now on sale using photographs taken inside St. Peter's Church at Easter 2015. All in full colour, they retail at 60p a card or six for £3 complete with envelope. All profits will go to St. Peter's Church via my card stall at the Flower Festival at the end of June. Give me a call if you would like to see the selection. I see that I have printed out one shot twice. I am losing it! Yesterday I posted off two birthday cards - to my Daughter and her Husband - without stamps! Daft! Taht's me!

I have decided that I have lost the plot!

Yes, I have lost the plot - of that there is no doubt. It is merely a matter of time before two men in white coats come walking down the garden path.
You see, for some years now I have been buying two different types of A4 glossy paper for use with my Epson Stylus Photo P50 colour printer - which uses bottles of ink rather than cartridges and is, therefore, more economical. 
The first paper is high quality 150gsm gloss inket paper from Rymans at some £10 for 100 sheets - which works out at some 10p a sheet. I have kept this paper for special jobs - Christmas cards and notelets which I sell on my stall at the St. Peter's Flower Festivals and Christmas Market, and photographs for special occasions.
But for everyday printing jobs - posters and the like - I have used a 250gsm gloss paper purchased at Poundland, the Pound Shop in Ilford Town Centre or Romford Market if I happen to land there. Here I pay £1 - for it is a Pound Shop - for 10 sheets which also works out at - yes, you've guessed! -10p a sheet.
So, in fact, both papers cost exactly the same! And I seriously did think that the paper at Poundland was cheaper than Rymans.
And so I have been kidding myself that the paper I use for posters is cheap, whereas it ain't!
I will have to give very careful thought to the whole pound shop experience from now onwards - and that's a fact. I am aware that Aldi sell Green Pea and Mint Tinned Soup for 65p whereas tinned soups in the Pound Shops are - one pound! (And very good is the Green Pea and Mint Soup, I would have you know!)
How did all this come to light? Well, my printer started playing up whenever I wanted to print A4 glossy posters. Nicholas, my computer wizz-kid, called to sort me out - as he does very often when I send HELP signals over the road as my computer does things it should not do.  Nicholas has diagnosed that the problem is due to the heavier paper from Pondland slipping on the rollers. 
So I will now be giving away the four packs of 10 sheets from Poundland and using instead the Ryman papers. 
I think it is time for a lie down!

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Campain against sand and gravel in Aldborough Hatch takes off - again!

Yes, the campaign is in fuill swing again now that Brett tarmac have decided to stage an exhibition outside the are affected - these are the pieces in this week's ILFORD RECORDER!

Paul at Hampton Court

Now I am sure that all my friends will be delighted to hear that Paul Moynihan, former Deputy Editor of SCOUTING and now Master of Ceremonies at Westminster Cathedral, was present with the Cardinal at Hampton Court Palace on Shrove Tuesday (Pancake Day to you, Cedric) and may be seen at the Cardinal's hand in the shots at the below.
Well done, Paul. You are now part of history.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/catholicism

Sandwich board for ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Campaign

A good friend (thanks Martyn!) has sent the attached to give me some idea of what I might look like should I decide to parade in sandwich boards as part of the ENOUGH IS ENOUGH Campaign.

I must say I look pretty scary, but the jeans are not mine. I would never, ever, not in all my life wear such things. I had a pair once. Yvonne washed them to remove the stiffness. I wore then for an hour and then gave them to a charity shop. Jeans are not for me. I prefer to have good quality M & S trousers with a sharp crease, thank you very much (I have worn out one trouser press and the present one is reaching its use-by date very soon!).