#robertmcangus

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Wednesday 29th August 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  The week has reached the middle, and the slope towards the week end is almost here, but we have Wednesday to contend with first and the sea mist is back again, and I saw the temperature as I left the house indicating 22c with a high later in the day of 32c .. I’m sure this mist will burn off and the beaches will be full of people… but now as Bella and I walk the town is quiet, all we can hear is the sound of the street cleaners spraying water onto the sidewalk and the occasional sound of snoring emitting from an open bedroom window… we cross over the main boulevard and walk by the ocean for a moment, hardly a wave, a single fishing boat is pulling his nets in and in the distance a supertanker sails silently by heading towards the Middle East.. we turn, things to do, places to be and coffee to drink…

500+ PEOPLE ILL IN US AFTER EATING MCDONALD’S SALAD…. McDonald’s stopped the sale of salads at 3000 restaurants last month. Federal health officials say they have confirmed more than 500 cases of people who became sick with an intestinal illness after eating McDonald's salads. The illnesses reported earlier this year are linked to the cyclospora parasite, which can cause diarrhoea, intestinal pain, nausea or tiredness. The Food and Drug Administration said on Friday that 507 cases have been confirmed in 15 states and New York City. McDonald's stopped the sale of salads at 3000 restaurants last month until it could find a different supplier. The FDA says it is still investigating the supplier of romaine lettuce and carrots. States with cases include: Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Officials also said people sickened in Connecticut, Florida, New York City, Tennessee, and Virginia had travelled in Illinois and Kentucky.

NEW RESEARCH THROWS WATER ON DRINKING’S ‘HEALTH BENEFITS’…. While some studies in the past have found that “moderate” drinking can have positive health effects, a meta-analysis of nearly 1,300 sources and studies indicates that even one daily drink can increase risk of premature death, cancer and other conditions. Alcohol, the study found, was the leading risk factor for people between the ages of 15 and 49 and linked to 3 million deaths per year. “If everyone cut their consumption in half,” said lead author Max Griswold, “We could save one million lives globally.”

LAB-GROWN MEAT COULD MAKE IT TO MARKET…. Can they meat in the middle? Food technology firm Memphis Meats and the North American Meat Institute have asked the White House to settle a regulatory tussle and allow cell-cultured meat to finally reach the American market. Under the plan, the Department of Agriculture, favored by major meat industry groups, and the Food and Drug Administration, which also seeks jurisdiction, would jointly monitor the foodstuff grown from animal cells to avoid slaughter. But it’s unclear whether other industry leaders, which hate culturing firms’ “clean meat” label, will support the plan.

POPE TO BE OFFERED SODA BREAD ‘TASTE OF IRELAND’ ON FLIGHT HOME…. The Pope will be offered a final taste of Ireland if he samples soda bread on his flight home to Rome. Chefs for the Republic's flag-carrier airline Aer Lingus will provide a traditional menu on EI2408 from Dublin on Sunday evening. Even the mozzarella cheese will have an Irish twist as it is produced by Co Cork company Toons Bridge Dairy. The butter is also sourced from the southern-most county, from Glenilen farm. The pontiff can choose between baked smoked salmon with braised savoy cabbage or a more Mediterranean basil pesto risotto with summer vegetables. A passion fruit mousse will be offered for dessert. The papal delegation travelled to Ireland with Alitalia. Aer Lingus provided the quick hop from Dublin to Knock airport in Ireland's west, where the pontiff is visiting Knock shrine on Sunday. Altogether, 16 cabin crew will service the Aer Lingus flights, led by Joan O'Neill and Jackie Bailey, who joined the airline in 1979, the year it carried Pope John Paul II on his trip to Ireland. A papal coat of arms has been applied to the plane's exterior, divider curtains installed as well as loud speakers for an onboard press conference to be held on the fight back to Rome. The papal flag and Irish tricolour will be flown from the cockpit for push back and landing in Dublin and Knock. The papal and Italian flags will be flown upon arrival in Rome. Papal blessings will be made as the delegation enters new airspace. The flight will accommodate 126 guests, including key members of the Vatican, security staff and journalists. Aer Lingus will present Pope Francis with a model of the airline's first aircraft, a De Havilland DH84 Dragon EI-ABI, a replica of the Celtic Crucifix of Athlone, which was on board the aircraft which carried Pope John Paul II in 1979.

SPAIN APPROVES PLAN TO DIG UP FORMER DICTATOR FRANCO…. Spain's centre-left government says it has approved legal amendments ensuring the remains of former dictator General Francisco Franco will be dug up and removed from a controversial mausoleum. Deputy prime minister Carmen Calvo said the minority Socialist government is certain that parliament will endorse the decision, probably next month. The amendments to Spain's Historical Memory Law of 2007 grant the government power to exhume Franco's body. That change aims to thwart legal efforts by Franco's descendants and supporters to block the exhumation. Removing the remains from the Valley of the Fallen, a mausoleum Franco ordered built 30 miles north west of Madrid, would be a momentous event in Spain which still bears social and political scars from the 1936-39 civil war.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are suggesting you follow the yellow tulip road... wonder if there are any red slippers at the end?

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Wednesday 29th August 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Travel #Tulips #News #Estepona

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Saturday 29th September 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. The heavens are full of twinkling lights this morning.. Stars for as far as you can see, a thick belt much like a rope stretches across the sky, the "Milky Way" in all its glory... what an amazing sight.. I watch with awe as a meteor strikes the Earth's atmosphere at 35,000 mph and start to heat becoming incandescent as it descends towards the planet.. then as fast as it came, it vanishes from sight, burnt to nothing but gas  …..

NEW DOG CAFE SET TO OPEN IN EDINBURGH…. Cafe Voltaire, a hangout space part of Cabaret Voltaire on Blair Street, will host a new event on Sundays from 12pm-6pm aimed specifically at dogs, and their owners. Brainchild of dog-lover Abi Meek, the weekly Dug Cafe will welcome anyone who wants to relax in a carefree canine environment, with proceeds of special events going to charity, the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home. She said: “I am a dog owner myself and discovered that plenty of premises in Edinburgh are dog-friendly however, finding somewhere that is set up especially for dogs are few and far between. “Creating a relaxing environment for every breed of dog to socialise seemed perfect for Cafe Voltaire, which is an extremely cosy and quirky space serving up coffees, cake and cocktails.” Abi said the spacious cafe will be kitted out with relaxing areas full of toys and comfortable beanbags where people and dogs can lounge, play and even sleep. “As the venue is heavily music-orientated we will be playing soft soul and chill-out music to complete the vibe,” Abi explained. “Following on in the evening there will be live acoustic music being played until the late hours of the evening. A complete dog menu will also be on offer featuring pupacinos, dog beer, pupcakes and doggy pizza. Humans are well catered for with cakes, coffees, pizza and alcohol. “There will also be photo opportunities and dog competitions being held in order to raise money for the Edinburgh Dog and Cat Home as well as a pre-loved toy donation bucket so other dogs can enjoy them.”

NAVY VETERANS’ SHOCK AT BEING BOOTED OUT OF SCOTTISH WETHERSPOON’S…. A group of Royal Navy veterans were left disgusted after being kicked out of an Edinburgh Wetherspoon pub during a reunion event. Around 25 communication veterans who served around the world on HMS Ark Royal (RO9) travelled to the Capital from all corners of the UK to catch up with lost shipmates, some of whom have not seen one another for more than 40 years. The group decided to meet at The Standing Order on George Street for a day of reminiscing, food and drink with people arriving from lunchtime. But the veterans were astounded when security staff ordered them to leave the premises at around 10.30pm claiming one member of the team giving the reason that “you’ve been here a long time”. Meanwhile other members of the group were refused re-entry. Alan Willis, 62, who attended from south London, said: “We were all absolutely astounded. We are extremely disappointed we were ejected from the pub and the reasons still are not clear. “One bouncer stated ‘you have to leave because you’ve been here a long time’ while another guy said ‘you may have had too much to drink’. “At no time was there any rowdy behaviour, no drunkenness, no foul language, no abusive behaviour, no loud voices or shouting, no upset, anger or disagreements and certainly no complaints from other users of the pub. We are just a bunch of 60+ year-old veterans spending in excess of £100+ per round on drinks and food.” The baffled veterans, some serving in the Falklands and Northern Ireland, regrouped at a nearby pub and felt there was a lack of respect to those who fought for their country.

TOURISTS RISK ERODING ISLAND BEAUTY SPOTS AS THEY CREATE PERFECT INSTAGRAM PICTURES…. Tourists visiting island beauty spots are putting them at risk of erosion by building rock formations – so they can post snaps on Instagram, conservationists have said. Stacked pyramids of stones have appeared on Unesco-listed beaches on Orkney, and at the Fairy Glen on the Isle of Skye – which recently featured in the blockbuster film The BFG. Stone stacking, which enthusiasts describe as “meditative” and “artistic”, can also be seen on Iona, Inner Hebrides. The trend has prompted concerns by residents and environmentalists that they could speed up erosion and destroy the habitat of wildlife living on the islands. Dog-walker Claire Irons, 53, spotted at least 50 of the rock formations at the Fairy Glen on Uig, Isle of Skye. The area earned its name due to a distinctive group of round grassy hills, with ponds between them. It is just not right – people should go there just to see the surroundings, not to build a pile of stones. It is causing an erosion problem CLAIRE IRONS Concerned the rocks might topple and crush her Border terrier, Treacle, Mrs Irons confronted tourists and told them to stop – but was told she was spoiling their fun. Mrs Irons said: “It’s the first time I’ve noticed it, we don’t tend to go up that way in summer. “There’s normally so many tourists around. “When I went up on a dog walk, I was amazed – you couldn’t walk on the path. “It is tourists rather than locals who do it.” Having lived on the island for five years, Mrs Irons said she was concerned that the structure of stone walls was being destroyed by tour groups. Mrs Irons added: “It is causing an erosion problem, the rocks are being taken from the surroundings and being taken from walls. It is a whole geological area. “They tend to go to the coastal bit, that’s where the rock formations are. “It is just not right – people should go there just to see the surroundings, not to build a pile of stones. “It is on a croft, where sheep graze. “I could be a bit cynical and suggest they go in on minibus tours and they need something to do.” The dog owner was concerned that a rock could topple and hit her seven-and-a-half-year-old Border terrier. She said: “Since the BFG was filmed here it has been on the film trail. “People come to Skye and they have got a list of things to do – one of them is to follow the ‘Fairy Glen’. “It’s free, that’s why people go there. “It’s been promoted more – when I first came here it wasn’t on the map. “It has crept up in the past three years.” Founder of environmental campaign group Blue Planet Society, John Hourston, believes social media including Instagram and Facebook is fuelling the problem. Mr Hourston said: “When I saw the photograph I was astounded – this is a new level. For that to be on the Isle of Skye, which you associate with isolation, is absolutely shocking. Without a doubt it is having an impact on ecology. “The photo epitomises the desecration of the natural environment. “We are talking about a base of people, backpackers and adventurers, who should have a concept of ‘leave no trace’. “The overpowering urge is to prove they’ve been there on Instagram or social media.” He said the problem was not isolated to Skye but seemed to be prevalent in Scotland, including Orkney where new structures were popping up beside neolithic formations. The beach at Skara Brae, designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

ABERDONIANS CANNOT BOARD ABERDONIAN IN ABERDEEN…. Rail passengers in Aberdeen will not be able to board the Aberdonian steam train named after their city. A new service between Edinburgh and the city launches in March next year, but all journeys will start and finish in the capital. A new steam train service between Edinburgh and the North-east launches in March next year. Picture: Ian Georgeson North-east Labour MSP, Lewis Macdonaldsaid yesterday: “I am sure The Aberdonian steam train will be a great success, but it’s a pity that, under current plans, passengers can’t get on board in Aberdeen. I hope the operators of the new service will be able to issue single tickets both ways, as well as a return excursion from Edinburgh, so that Aberdonians can travel with The Aberdonian without having to go to Edinburgh first.” The A1 Steam Locomotive Trust, which will operate the services, admitted that anybody who wants to use the trains will have to make their way to Edinburgh to get on board. And once they have been on the return trip, they will have to make their way back to Aberdeen. Five trains will run in 2019, with the potential for expansion in the following years, and the scheme has the support of Network Rail. The initiative has been assisted by the installation of a new £86,000 turntable in Aberdeen by the Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust. But its chairman, Jon Tyler, admitted yesterday there was still plenty of work to be done before services could be run from the city. He said: “I suppose it’s just a case of demand. If a charter train could be linked into an existing itinerary, say for the proposed cruise ship visits [to the new Aberdeen Harbour], it might be possible to do it in the future. “What you have to remember is that all the main steam locomotives and rolling stock are based down south, so they would need to make extra journeys at the beginning and end if these were to start from Aberdeen.

EMPTY DUNDEE FACTORY SET TO BECOME NEW COMIC MUSEUM…. For more than a half a century it was where millions of Beano, Dandy, The Broons and Oor Wullie annuals were made. Now a vast empty printworks in Dundee is set to become home to a comic museum under plans for a £17.5 million transformation over the next decade. The present empty site where the comics and annuals were produced. Picture: Contributed Live music events, visual art exhibitions, theatre productions, festivals and conferences would also be staged in the historic West Ward Works. Work is set to get under way within months on the first phase of a project expected to create 1,100 jobs and boost Dundee’s economy by more than £50m over ten years. The project’s backers hope it will be one of the biggest cultural projects to benefit from support from a ‘Tay Cities Deal’ between the UK and Scottish governments, which is hoped to be approved within the next few months. Under a proposed timetable for the project, the first permanent occupants could be in by early next year and the first major phase of work completed by 2020. Workshops, studios and offices for artists, cultural organisations, videogame developers and other creative industries are planned as part of the development. It is thought up to 300 people could end up working in the building, which is close to both the Verdant Works – the award-winning attraction celebrating the city’s history of textile production – and Dundee University’s main campus. The two-storey comic museum at West Ward Works would showcase highlights from the archives of publishers DC Thomson, which still owns the building. Other permanent features would include a civic square, “monumental sculptures” and a permanent cafe-bar and restaurant. A charitable trust was set up last year to pursue the plans for West Ward Works, which operated from 1949 to 2010. Project director David Cook said: “The V&A is fantastic and has already had a huge impact on Dundee, but it’s the start, not the end of a process. This is really about what happens next and we hope it will be very much seen as something complementary to the V&A. We’ve spent the last year working on an architectural masterplan and a ten-year vision for the building. “The main focus of West Ward Works will be as a cultural hub. As well as the comic museum, one side of the building will have space for major exhibitions, live music, festivals, events and conferences. The other will be a working and making campus. “The comic centre would explore Dundee’s role in the story of the comic book, including the titles produced in the city and the people who worked on them. It was originally proposed for the waterfront, but this is now the preferred location.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Dogs enjoying their pupacinos at Edinburgh’s new dog café…. What’s that Bella You want to go….

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Saturday 29th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #News #Spain

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – Archeology News From Around The World

Friday 17th August 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  Well, the end of the week has rolled around and it’s the day the quite a few of you look forward to, Archeological Friday, where I attempt to stimulate your interest in all things old…No! I’m not talking about your Husband or Wife, I’m talking about things from the past, in the “Way back when” era .. so pour that coffee, tea or other favourite drink and pull up a chair and enjoy this Friday’s archeological discoveries…

ANCESTRAL PUEBLOANS MAY HAVE BRED SCARLET MACAWS…. STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA—According to a Smithsonian Magazine report, a new study of scarlet macaw bones unearthed in New Mexico suggests the birds were bred in captivity and raised with a great deal of specialized care and effort at a single, small aviary in what is now the southwestern United States or northwestern Mexico by ancestral Pueblo peoples between A.D. 850 and 1150. Richard George of Penn State University and his team extracted mitochondrial DNA from the remains of 14 macaws recovered from five different sites in Chaco Canyon and the Mimbres region of New Mexico. They found that all 14 birds shared a similar heritage, and more than 70 percent of them likely shared a maternal lineage. “This is important… not only the population history of macaws and human interaction, but also what was happening between groups of people,” George explained. Images of macaw chicks on Mimbres pottery also support the idea that the fast-growing birds were raised locally. It had been previously suggested that macaws in North America had been imported from the Paquimé aviary in Mexico, which was most active between A.D. 1250 and 1450. Such a long journey from Mexico to Chaco Canyon would have taken more than a month.

LOOTED ARTIFACTS RETURNED TO IRAQ…. LONDON, ENGLAND—According to a report in The Guardian, a collection of eight ancient artifacts seized by the London Metropolitan police from an antiquities dealer have been repatriated to Iraq, based upon an identification made by scholars at the British Museum. Cuneiform inscriptions on the 5,000-year-old ceramics named a Sumerian king, a temple, and a dedication, which indicated they had been taken from Iraq’s ancient city of Girsu. British Museum archaeologist Sebastian Rey and his Iraqi colleagues were able to find the holes in the Eninnu temple’s mudbrick walls that had held the objects, and broken pieces at the site that had been discarded by the looters. “This is a very happy outcome,” commented St. John Simpson, assistant keeper at the museum’s Middle East department, “nothing like this has happened for a very, very long time if ever.”

SECTION OF ROMAN-ERA STREET UNEARTHED IN BULGARIA…. PLOVDIV, BULGARIA—The Sofia Globe reports that archaeologists working in the eastern part of the agora in the ancient city of Philippopolis have uncovered a 30-foot stretch of the Cardo Maximus, or main street. They also unearthed large fragments of the main façade, columns, and architectural elements of the Odeon, which had three or four entrances and a portico. Fragments of a marble statue of a prominent citizen named Sozipatar were also recovered. Text on the fragments indicate Sozipatar was given the right to sit in the theater’s front row. The building, which had been originally used by Philippopolis’s city council, was destroyed by an earthquake in the medieval period.

CARVING TOOLS FROM EASTER ISLAND ANALYZED…. BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA—CNN reports that Dale Simpson, Jr., of the University of Queensland and colleagues think the idea that Easter Island’s Rapa Nui culture collapsed due to overuse of resources and competition to build the stone carvings known as moai may be overstated. Jo Anne Van Tilburg of the Easter Island Statue Project led a team that recently excavated four of Easter Island’s moai and uncovered more than 1,500 volcanic stone basalt carving tools. Chemical analysis of 17 of the recovered tools, which are known as toki, found that most of them came from one of three quarry complexes on the island. Simpson says this focused effort in one quarry points to craft specialization, information exchange, and cooperation among the Rapa Nui to produce the nearly one thousand statues, thought to represent important Rapa Nui ancestors. Van Tilburg cautions, however, that such focused labor may have been coerced, and more study is needed.

EXCAVATION OF ARTEMIS TEMPLE UNDERWAY IN CENTRAL GREECE…. EVIA, GREECE—A team of researchers led by Karl Reber of the Swiss Archaeological School in Greece and Amalia Karappaschalidou of the Evia Ephorate of Antiquities has uncovered a variety of artifacts at the sanctuary of Artemis near Amarynthos, according to The Greek Reporter. The site, discovered last year, was the end point of an annual procession from the ancient city of Eretria. The items include embossed tiles bearing the name “Artemis”; statue bases inscribed with dedications to Artemis, her brother Apollo, and their mother, Leto; and a copper and quartz object that may have been part of a larger statue. Scholars suggest the temple, which is thought to have been destroyed by a natural disaster in the first century B.C., and rebuilt in the second century A.D., helped to strengthen Eretria’s border. The excavation team also found evidence of earlier buildings at the site, dating back to the tenth century B.C.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the archeological news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are with coffee......

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 17th August 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Archeology #History #Greece #Australia

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Friday 29th June 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  from Estepona on the coast of Southern Spain where the continents of Europe and Africa collide, the morning sky is filled with a myriad of stars twinkling in the heavens, a warm wind blowing from the Sahara, and one can imagine too, the smells of Arabic foods cooking for breakfast… Which reminds me, I put the Colombian coffee on to brew before Bella and I set out for our constitutional walk this morning, so let’s take a look at what the archeological world has in the papers for us to discuss today…

2,000-YEAR-OLD GRAVE EXCAVATED IN SIBERIA…. ST PETERSBURG, RUSSIA—According to a report in The Siberian Times, archaeologists from the Russian Academy of Sciences have excavated a 2,000-year-old stone-lined grave containing the well-preserved burial of a woman wearing clothing made of silk and a beaded belt with a jet buckle, pottery vessels, and a birch bark box. “There was a funeral meal in the vessels, and on her chest a pouch with pine nuts,” said Natalya Solovieva. The birch bark box contained a Chinese mirror and had been placed near her head. The grave is located on the shore of the reservoir of Siberia’s Sayano-Shushenskaya dam on the Yenisei River, and has been covered with water at times since the dam's construction in the late twentieth century.

SHIPWRECK UNEARTHED IN DENMARK…. VORDINGBORG, DENMARK—According to a report in The Copenhagen Post, a well-preserved shipwreck has been found at a construction site near the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, in an area that had been under water up until the early twentieth century. The ship, made of oak some 500 years ago, was probably about 50 feet long and 20 feet wide. Archaeologists from the Museum Sydøstdanmark have recovered iron nails, caulking, and rope-work from the ship.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS INVESTIGATE WOODSTOCK CONCERT SITE…. BETHEL, NEW YORK—According to an Associated Press report, archaeologist Josh Anderson of Binghamton University and a team of researchers are investigating Max Yasgur’s farm, the site of the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the concert. Grading of the hillside in the late 1990s obscured the location of the stage where Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Janis Joplin, Joe Cocker, and others played to a crowd of more than 400,000 over a period of three days. So far, Anderson thinks his team has found a hole that marks a corner in the fence that kept the fans away from the stage. “This is a significant historic site in American culture, one of the few peaceful events that gets commemorated from the 1960s,” commented Wade Lawrence of the Museum at Bethel Woods. Boy! You know you are old, when archeologists start looking at things you were part of…..

LIMBS OF WOUNDED CIVIL WAR SOLDIERS FOUND IN VIRGINIA…. MANASSAS, VIRGINIA—According to an NPR report, a burial pit containing amputated human limbs has been discovered at Manassas National Battlefield Park. The bones in the “limb pit” were first spotted by a utility crew in 2014, and are thought to have been buried by field surgeons after the three-day Battle of Second Manassas, which is also known as the Second Battle of Bull Run. In all, two complete skeletons, 11 limbs, bullet fragments, and buttons from Union uniforms have been recovered from the pit. All of the limbs bear evidence of wounds and amputation cuts. Physical anthropologist Doug Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution explained that the striations left on the bones by the surgeons’ saws reveal their skills—the doctors started slowly to set the saw teeth, cut quickly through the bone, and then slowed again as they finished the cut to avoid further damage to the patient. National Park Service archaeologist Brandon Bies thinks the soldiers whose limbs ended up in the pit were wounded during a charge up a ridge called the Deep Cut, where thousands of Confederate soldiers were waiting to fire on them with rifles and muskets. Medical records and isotopic analysis of the bones may allow researchers to identify the soldiers and the surgeons who operated on them.

LARGE-SCALE WHALING MAY DATE TO IRON AGE…. UPPSALA, SWEDEN—A report in New Historian states that the practice of large-scale whaling may be several centuries older than previously thought. Andreas Hennius of Uppsala University and his colleagues examined board-game pieces dating to the Late Iron Age in museum collections in Sweden, and found that most of them were made of whalebone dating to the mid-sixth century A.D. The large supply and standardized forms of the game pieces suggest the scale of production was beyond the whalebone supply available from the carcasses of beached whales. Analysis of the game pieces with ZooMS, or Zooarchaeology by Mass Spectrometer, showed they had all been made from the bones of the North Atlantic right whale, or Eubalaena glacialis, which swam slowly and close to shore, and floated after it was killed because it had so much blubber. In Norway, archaeologists have uncovered evidence of large boathouses and features for processing blubber that also date to the sixth century. The researchers think the game pieces may have been crafted in Norway and transported to Sweden.

EVIDENCE OF IRON AGE BEER FOUND IN SWEDEN…. LUND, SWEDEN—Archaeobotanist Mikael Larsson of Lund University and a team of researchers have found evidence of large-scale beer production at Uppåkra, an Iron-Age trade center in what is now Sweden, according to a New Historian report. Carbonized, germinated grains, dated to between A.D. 400 and 600, were found near several ovens in an area without living quarters, suggesting the people of the settlement reserved the space for the large-scale production of malt. The grains would have been soaked in water so that they would germinate and produce fermentable sugars, then dried at low temperatures in the ovens. Larsson says processing grains into malt in this way is indicative of beer brewing. The beer produced at Uppåkra may have been used for feasting and trade.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today is a profussion of Yellow and Purple...

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 29th June 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus

#Archeology #History #Tulips #news #blog

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Wednesday 12th September 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader…. Light rain is falling, shall we stay or shall we go is the question of the moment.. go is the answer, and Bella and I emerge in the very early morning, streets glistening with rain, light from the sodium street lamps casting a golden tone to the otherwise grey sidewalks… The soft sound of water running towards the ocean is our companion today, Bella elects for the semi dry, section under the trees to read the local information, I stand and wait, no rush on my behalf, she wanders around, and the walks back to me nuzzles my hand, and looks to home…..

HUGE GOLD-ENCRUSTED ROCKS UNEARTHED IN AUSTRALIA…. More than 2,400 ounces of gold were found in the largest rock, RNC Minerals says Miners in Western Australia say they have discovered two huge gold-encrusted rocks that are each estimated to be worth millions of dollars. The largest specimen, weighing 95 kg (210lb), was found to contain more than 2,400 ounces of gold, Canadian miner RNC Minerals said. The company said it had extracted gold worth about C$15m (£9m; $11m) from a mine near Kalgoorlie last week. One mining engineer described the finds as "exceedingly rare". "People do still record finding nuggets in the goldfields, but typically they are less than several ounces," said Prof Sam Spearing, director of the Western Australia School of Mines at Curtin University. The mining company valued the largest rock at about C$4m. It said the second-largest - a 63kg specimen with an estimated 1,600 ounces of gold - was worth C$2.6m.

SWISS NURTURE CANNABIS FOR MEDICINAL USE…. Mention Swiss farming and images of dairy cows spring to mind - not cannabis plants. But now the government says it wants to do more research into medicinal cannabis and make treatments with it more available. On a farm in lush green countryside, an hour from the capital Berne, Markus Lüdi proudly surveys his crop. It's almost harvest time, and this year, after the long hot summer, it's likely to be a good one. His plants are valuable - as shown by the high fence and electronic gate protecting them. Markus is actually a chemist, not a farmer, and his crop consists of hundreds of cannabis plants, which he uses to produce cannabis-based medicine. Switzerland has flirted with legalising cannabis for 25 years, without ever taking the plunge. Possession of the drug for recreational use has been decriminalised, but cultivating or selling large quantities of cannabis containing more than 1% of tetrahydrocannabinol or THC, the key psychoactive element in the plant, is a crime. Not so for Markus, however, as his plants are designated for medicinal use.

MEXICO VIOLENCE: REMAINS OF 166 FOUND IN VERACRUZ MASS GRAVE…. The skulls of at least 166 people have been found in a mass grave in Mexico's eastern state of Veracruz. State prosecutor Jorge Winckler said the skulls and other human remains had been there for at least two years. The exact location is not being disclosed for security reasons, he added. Drug traffickers have used Veracruz as a dumping ground for their victims for many years. In March 2017, 250 skulls were found in another mass grave there. Mr Winckler told reporters that investigators had also found about 200 items of clothing, more than 100 identity cards and other personal belongings. Officials are focusing on the skulls to work out the exact number of victims. Drones and ground-penetrating radar are helping to locate the remains and forensic experts are still working at the scene, officials added. Mr Winckler could not rule out finding more victims. Relatives of people who have disappeared in Mexico have long been campaigning for more to be done to help them find their loved ones. Drug-related violence in Mexico has soared since 2006 when the army was deployed to fight the powerful cartels. Since then more than 200,000 people have been killed, including a record 28,702 last year.

AUSTRALIAN POLICE FIND 'UP TO' FIVE BODIES IN A HOUSE IN PERTH…. Up to five bodies have been found in a house in suburb of Perth, according to police in Western Australia. The dead include women and children. Assistant commissioner Paul Steele said the incident was "tragic" but that there were no ongoing safety concerns. He said officers made the discovery on Coode Street in Bedford after a man attended a regional police station. The man, who is in his 20s, is in custody. It is not yet known if the victims were related. Mr Steele called the discovery "heartbreaking" and said the tragedy would send a ripple through the wider community. He said forensic teams were on the scene and investigators were trying to piece together a timeline of events. In July, a 19-year-old man was charged with the murders of two children and their mother in another Perth suburb, Ellenbrook. Two month before that, seven people were found dead at a rural property in a town of Osmington, 280km (170 miles) south of Perth. It was the country's worst mass shooting since 1996. Police treated it as a murder-suicide, saying resident Peter Miles killed himself and six relatives, including his four grandchildren.

HUNDREDS OF ROMAN COINS UNEARTHED IN ITALIAN THEATER…. Jackpot! The cache of perfectly preserved gold coins was discovered in the basement of a theater in the northern city of Como that was due to be demolished. Dating back to the 5th century, the coins are estimated to be worth millions of dollars. Experts will examine the coins in a restoration laboratory, while officials say work at the site — where a luxury residence was planned for construction — will be suspended for further excavation. Culture Minister Alberto Bonisoli called the area “a real treasure for our archaeology.”

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are being looked down on,

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Wednesday 12th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #Tulips #Bella #Coffee

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Tuesday 11th September 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  Can you picture Bella and I both standing at the balcony railing watching rain falling at 3:30am, well that’s what happened.. heavy rain pounding the streets and sidewalks of Estepona the town I call home… rain falling so hard it bounced back up 3 or 4 feet giving a mystical effect in the early morn… then the rain stopped, and Bella and I made for the streets glistening in the street lamp light, certainly no beach or hermitage this morning, just Bella’s ablutions to perform and then as quick as possible back home to the dry…Thunder rumbled in the far distance as a warning of the emanate approach of more rain.. we turned and arrived back to the safety of the house as nature washed the streets once again….

IS THE WORLD READY FOR A SMALLPOX REVIVAL?.... In 1796, Edward Jenner injected a milkmaid’s pus into a boy’s arm and made the discovery that eventually eliminated smallpox. Researchers have since learned the modern vaccine differs from Jenner’s original — and that could be problematic, especially if the disease, eradicated in 1980, were to resurface through terrorism or another route. Between 30 and 88 percent of people exposed to the virus can become infected, and a third who contract the disease would die. Scientists are trying to update the inoculation, using century-old vaccine samples from labs and even museums.

COULD EUROPE FINALLY GIVE AMERICA A RUN FOR ITS MONEY?.... It was OK when the U.S. was the friendly global financial gatekeeper. But now Washington is enforcing sanctions on Iran that Europe never asked for, sparking serious discussion of creating a new financial system not dominated by the almighty dollar. Top officials have even suggested that Europe, like rogue states, might try to conduct business with an eye toward evading sanctions. As one former U.S. Treasury official observed, “We may be at a point where our closest allies are working against us.”

MOTHER AND CHILD SURVIVE BAKER STREET TUBE TRACK FALL…. A mother and child who accidentally fell on to a Tube track moments before a train arrived escaped unhurt by moving into a pit under the track. Police said the woman was pushing a buggy along a platform at Baker Street station in London on Friday night as she checked the arrivals board. Distracted, she veered too close to the edge and fell down. The father jumped down to help and the three of them moved into a pit beneath the track as a train passed over them. None of them was seriously hurt, but they were taken to hospital for checks, British Transport Police (BTP) said. The incident happened on the Jubilee Line, on the southbound strip of platform nine, TfL said. BTP said an investigation was "continuing" into the exact circumstances of what happened.

SPAIN PARISHIONER BOTCHES JESUS AND MARY STATUE RESTORATION…. A set of 15th Century sculptures have been garishly repainted by a Spanish parishioner in the latest botched amateur restoration attempt to attract derision in the country. In one of the previously plain wooden statues, Jesus was given a bright green robe while Mary got a bright pink headscarf and eyeliner. Another statue showed St Peter, now dressed in deep red. They are in a chapel in a hamlet in northern Spain's Asturias region. One of the 28 residents of El Ranadoiro, Maria Luisa Menendez, was given permission from the local priest to paint the figurines, local newspaper El Comercio reported. "I'm not a professional, but I always liked to do it, and the figures really needed to be painted. So I painted them as I could, with the colours that looked good to me, and the neighbours liked it," she told the newspaper, quoted by AFP. However Asturias officials were less pleased, with the principality's Education Adviser Genaro Alonso describing it to Efe news agency as a "vengeance rather than a restoration".

US WOMAN JAILED FOR SMUGGLING COCAINE IN HIGH HEELS…. A US woman who said she was tricked by a fake internet suitor into smuggling drugs into Australia has been jailed. Denise Marie Woodrum, 51, was arrested at Sydney Airport last year after border officials found cocaine stuffed inside high heels and other belongings in her luggage. In January, she pleaded guilty to the illegal import but told the court she was a victim of an online romance scam. A judge found she had willingly participated in the operation. On Thursday, the New South Wales District Court sentenced Woodrum, from Missouri, to a maximum of seven-and-a-half years in jail. "I do not accept that she is genuinely contrite for her offending as opposed to being sorry for the situation she now finds herself caught in," said Judge Penelope Wass, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

GREAT YARMOUTH STRANDED MALAVIYA TWENTY SHIP PUT UP FOR SALE…. An Indian-registered ship impounded in an English port for more than two years is finally on the verge of being sold. The Malaviya Twenty has been stuck in Great Yarmouth in Norfolk since June 2016 due to legal wrangles and is now being sold by the Admiralty Marshal. Bids for the ship will open on Tuesday, with the proceeds going to pay debts including crew wages and port fees. Captain Nikesh Rastogi said he would breathe a "huge sigh of relief" at the prospect of going home to Mumbai. Capt Rastogi joined the already-marooned boat 18 months ago but has not been paid since late last year, along with his three crew members. They have been stuck aboard the boat, a supply vessel, in the town's port in the meantime. The Malaviya Twenty - estimated to be worth between £700,000 and £800,000 - was "arrested" by the Admiralty Marshal when the crew's lawyers secured a High Court order last month. The boat's owners went into liquidation in January. "There has to be a certain amount of resilience and fortitude," said Capt Rastogi. "We hope there's a suitable quote by the 11th when the tenders open and on the 12th we could be enjoying in-flight meals. "It would be a huge sigh of relief. The worst is over... the Marshal has been kind enough to arrest the vessel. "Once you leave this location... it will hit you that you are finally free." Capt Rastogi joked he had been away from India for so long he would have to read up on what his home country was like. He said he and the crew had stayed on the boat as they feared it could be deemed a derelict and taken over, meaning they would go unpaid.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today were caught in the rain....

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Tuesday 11th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #Tulips #Travel #Coffee

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – Historical and Archeological News From Scotland

Friday 7th September 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you….  The first thing I will ask you to do, is SHARE this edition of The Daily Thistle as Facebook has restricted me once again from sharing to groups I do not control or am an Admin of… so please SHARE the hell out of this post… on a more Happier note they have been digging up the Queens garden and finding all sorts of stuff and as I get more information I shall let you know.. so read on and enjoy.. I’m going to have another cup of coffee..

QUEEN'S EDINBURGH RESIDENCE YIELDS 800-YEAR-OLD ARTIFACTS…. EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND—According to a BBC report, archaeologists have uncovered artifacts going back 800 years at the Palace of Holyrood House, Queen Elizabeth II's official residence in Scotland. Discoveries include a twelfth-century jug fragment, a horse skeleton, and a medieval shoe, as well as a cache of oyster shells and wine bottles. The latter may provide insight into the diets of courtiers and ambassadors during the reigns of Mary, Queen of Scots, and James VI of Scotland, who became James I after being crowned king of England in 1603. Researchers also unearthed wine and spirit vessels, food remains, and fragments of children's games, which belonged to families living in nearby tenements during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. "The survey has provided a unique opportunity to understand more about the fascinating development of the Abbey Strand and its surroundings," says archaeologist Gordon Ewart, referring to the stretch of Edinburgh's Royal Mile that culminates at the palace, "and to explore how the site has been the historic and symbolic bridge between the palace and the city of Edinburgh for centuries."

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY…. This day in 1836 saw the birth of Henry Campbell Bannerman, the British Prime Minister. Born in Glasgow and educated at Glasgow and Cambridge, Bannerman became the Liberal MP for Stirling in 1868, a position he held until his death. He climbed the parliamentary ranks, serving as Secretary for Ireland during Gladstone's administration in 1884 and entering the cabinet as Secretary for War in 1886, before becoming leader of the Liberal Party in 1899. Bannerman became Prime Minister in 1905 following Balfour's resignation, and led his party to a landslide victory in the 1906 general election. His brilliant cabinet included Asquith, Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill. Ill health forced Bannerman to hand over the leadership to Asquith, and he died two weeks later in 1908.

GAVIN MAXWELL PASSED AWAY ON THIS DAY…. He lived from 15 July 1914 to 7 September 1969. He was a naturalist and author, best known for his work with otters. His most popular book was Ring of Bright Water, published in 1960. This described how he brought an otter back from Iraq and raised it in Scotland. The otter, Mijbil, was eventually identified as a previously unknown sub-species of the Smooth-coated Otter, since named after Maxwell: Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli. The book went on to sell over a million copies and was made into a film. The sub-species Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli may have fared less well: following extensive drainage of its natural environment in Iraq it is feared to be extinct… I must at this point tell you he had nothing to do with a Silver Hammer..

IN THIS WEEK…. The Shetland Isles were mortgaged to Scotland for 8,000 florins as part of the marriage agreement between the future James III and Princess Margrethe of Denmark.  For the most northerly railway in Britain, go to Thurso. For the "most northerly" of just about anything else, you need to come to Shetland. The name, sometimes in the past referred to as Zetland (hence the "ZE" beginning to postcodes), comes from the Norse name for the islands, Hjaltland. For accommodation in Shetland see the links in the "See and Stay" menu above. See the map below for an outline of Shetland and links to connecting areas. Because most maps of Scotland include Shetland in a box near the top right hand corner, not many people have a strong sense of where this archipelago of 100 islands and islets lies. It comes as a surprise to many to discover it is nearer Bergen than Aberdeen; that it is further north than Moscow or southern Greenland; and that Lerwick is as far as Milan from London. The population of Shetland is around 23,000. Shetland was Norse until 8 September 1468, when the islands were mortgaged to Scotland for 8,000 florins as part of the marriage agreement between the future James III and Princess Margrethe of Denmark. In 1472 the Scots annexed both Shetland and Orkney.

HUGH MACDIARMID PASSED AWAY THIS WEEK IN 1951….Hugh MacDiarmid, was the pen name of Christopher Murray Grieve, who lived from 11 August 1892 to 9 September 1978. He is widely regarded as the most important Scottish poet of the 20th Century. He moved with his wife to Biggar in 1951 and that was where died on 9th September 1978. In all Grieve/MacDiarmid published around 30 books and many shorter works and articles. The poetry he produced in his later life is often viewed as difficult and inaccessible, but brilliant. The two volume Complete Poems, published after Grieve's death, ran to 1500 pages.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of a peculiar nature or is that, nature at it's most peculiar...?

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 7th September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #News #Spain

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Saturday 1st September 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  Saturday, 3.30am and I can hear the beach calling already, so I think I know what I shall be doing when the sun comes up, and that’s laying on the sand, enjoying the wonderful weather… but first it’s a walk with Bella, so out the front door, turn right or turn left, none of that she wants to walk down through the old town, must be a smell that’s drawing her to that part.. down the narrow lanes we wander, brightly coloured pots fixed on the walls with a profusion of flowers spilling over the edges, purple bougainvillea, looking almost black in the sodium lighting, climbs the frame against the old walls of the museum, up the steps and past the excavations where they recently found a Roman villa, then twist and turn through the narrow alleyways and as if by magic, we are back home…… enjoy your week end…..

ENDANGERED OLIVE RIDLEY SEA TURTLES FOUND DEAD OFF MEXICO…. Fishermen in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca have found about 300 dead sea turtles entangled in fishing nets. The find comes just days after another 102 olive ridley turtles were found dead in neighbouring Chiapas state. Olive ridley turtles, which lay their eggs on the beaches of a number of Mexican states between May and September, are considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild. The cause of their death is still under investigation. It is not clear whether they got caught in the nets while still alive or were already dead when they became entangled. Experts say they could have been killed by harmful algae, fish hooks or could have suffocated while trapped in the nets. Mexico banned the capture of sea turtles in 1990 and there are stiff penalties for anyone killing them. A specialised federal attorney is investigating the case.

AUSTRALIAN WORKER OVERPAID BY A$500,000…. A worker in Australia has been paid more than 100 times their normal salary because of a decimal point in the wrong place. The worker was meant to get a salary of A$4,921.76 but instead found A$492,176 ($360,700; £280,250) in their account. The mistake was reported by the territory's auditor-general who put it down to human error. But the worker, based in a remote area of the Northern Territory, resisted temptation and returned the money. The auditor-general noted that the repayment was made four weeks later, but would have been made sooner if the worker had not been based in a remote area and had to travel to a bank. The report blamed two human errors - the incorrect data entry in the first place and then the failure to deal with a system-generated alert. It was one of 743 overpayments made by the Northern Territory's government departments between July 2017 and January 2018, said the report. Of that, $767,000 has still not been returned by the end of January. The Department of Corporate and Information Services said overpayments represented about 0.2% of the 1.2m payroll transactions it made in the NT each year. It said it had put in place several system enhancements to prevent such large overpayments from happening again.

HEADLESS CORPSE FOUND IN FISH TANK AT HOME OF MISSING MAN…. A headless corpse has been found inside a fish tank at the home of a man missing for several weeks, police in San Francisco say. Homeowner Brian Egg, 65, had been reported missing by his family and neighbours late last month. Neighbours later reported suspicious activity at the house and police searched it with dogs, eventually making the gruesome discovery. The body has not yet been positively identified, investigators added. Police Commander Greg McEachern told reporters on Tuesday that an autopsy was being carried out and that the missing person's case remained open. When Mr Egg's disappearance was first reported, officers called at his home in the South of Market district three times but received no response and saw no suspicious circumstances, a statement from San Francisco Police Department said. But on 14 August neighbours raised the alarm after seeing a "private crime-scene cleaning truck" outside the building along with a suspicious person. Police arrested the individual and entered the building. There was no sign of Mr Egg but investigators found evidence including cleaning products and "suspicious odours in the residence". The next day a more detailed search was carried out and human remains were found inside a fish tank in what Mr McEachern described as "a concealed area of the residence". Two suspects in the case were initially charged with homicide, fraud, theft, identity theft and elder abuse, but the charges were dismissed by prosecutors. One of those arrested remains in custody for a probation violation, officials said. In the meantime, police are asking for any businesses or individuals who were contacted by someone purporting to be Mr Egg to come forward.

BLIND DOG SAVED IN 'DRAMATIC' LEPE BEACH RESCUE…. A blind dog has been saved from the sea off Hampshire after it got into "grave difficulties". The small border collie, called Fly, had gone into the water at Lepe beach in the New Forest on Tuesday afternoon. Fly's owner Mark Cowing jumped in to try and save his pet but could not contend with strong currents and had to be helped to shore by a kayaker. A coastguard helicopter found the struggling dog 200m (656ft) offshore and directed an RNLI crew to his aid. Mr Cowing, 55, who is from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, and is on holiday in the area, said: "We were literally playing on the shoreline when all of a sudden he took it in his head to swim to the Isle of Wight. Mr Cowing praised the emergency services and wants to trace the kayaker, who said he had heart trouble, to thank him personally. The RNLI said the dog, which had lost its sight due to cataracts, was "in grave difficulties and the lifeboat arrived just in time" to carry out the "dramatic rescue".

GOAT SETS 30 EXOTIC BIRDS LOOSE IN CARDIGAN WITH HEADBUTT…. A pet goat set more than 30 exotic birds loose when it headbutted their aviary door open. Vicky Richards-Barton found more than half of her cockatiels and budgies gone and the aviary door lock broken on Wednesday - suspecting her goat Udupi. Eight birds have returned home, but at least two dozen are still on the loose in Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire. Ms Barton-Richards guessed Udupi broke through the lock in an attempt to treat himself to some bird feed. She said she fed her birds at about 20:00 BST before going out for a walk with her husband. By the time she returned two hours later, the birds had gone. "I was feeding the birds and one of my goats came in behind me into the aviary and decided to eat some of the bird seed," Ms Barton-Richards said. "I imagine he headbutted the clip, which was in two pieces, and the bolt was open." Eight birds, including these cockatiels, have returned home. Ms Barton-Richards estimates she has about 50 birds, with more than 30 flying away after the door was broken. She has been helped by a friend, who runs a pet shop, handing out millet to people in an attempt to entice the birds into gardens, while some flew back on their own. But one man got more than he bargained for when rescuing one of the birds. "One bird was found in St Dogmaels, about three miles away, and she bit the man really, really hard. She was our matriarch so we're pleased to have her back," she added. She says the birds recognise her clothes and voice, and hopes as many as possible can be recovered, but worries predators such as Sparrowhawks and Red Kites may catch some.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are certainly colourful.....

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Saturday 1st September 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #Tulips #Travel #Coffee

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Monday 27th August 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  I hope you slept well and have woken full of the joys of summer… The meteors are quite beautiful this morning, I stood and watched with Bella as streaks of fire zipped across the night sky, then together we walked back to the house, Bella thinking about the cookie I promised her and me looking forward to the fresh Colombian Coffee that was brewing while we walked, it’s 3 years ago that we lost Sadie and almost 5 years since Mackie left us, but I believe they still walk the town with us in the mornings……So before I start getting all maudlin on us, let’s take a look at what’s happened in this mixed up world we call Earth….

DRUG TUNNEL RAN FROM OLD KFC IN ARIZONA TO MEXICO BEDROOM…. US authorities have found a secret drug tunnel stretching from a former KFC in the state of Arizona to Mexico. The 600ft (180m) passageway was in the basement of the old restaurant in San Luis, leading under the border to a home in San Luis Rio Colorado. Authorities made the discovery last week and have arrested the southern Arizona building's owner. They were alerted to the tunnel after the suspect, Ivan Lopez, was pulled over, according to KYMA News. During the traffic stop, police dogs reportedly led officers to two containers of hard narcotics with a street value of more than $1m in Lopez's vehicle. Investigators say the containers held 118kg (260lb) of methamphetamine, six grams of cocaine, 3kg of fentanyl, and 21kg of heroin. Agents searched Lopez's home and his old KFC, discovering the tunnel's entrance in the kitchen of the former fast-food joint. The passageway was 22ft deep, 5ft tall and 3ft wide, and ended at a trap door under a bed in a home in Mexico, said US officials. The drugs are believed to have been pulled up through the tunnel with a rope. This is not the first such discovery - two years ago a 2,600ft tunnel was found by authorities in San Diego, California. Authorities said it was one of the longest such drug tunnels ever discovered, used to transport an "unprecedented cache" of cocaine and marijuana. In July alone, US Border Patrol seized 15kg of heroin, 24lbs of cocaine, 327kg of methamphetamine and 1,900kg of marijuana at border checkpoints nationwide… Comment: Now we know what the “Secret” ingredient is in the Col’s recipe…..

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION 'CONSIDERS FUNDING GUNS IN SCHOOLS'…. The Trump administration is considering allowing schools to access federal education funding to purchase guns for teachers, US media report. The Department of Education (DoE) is looking at allowing states to use academic enrichment funds for firearms, the New York Times first reported. The federal grant being considered for this purpose is one that does not specifically prohibit buying weapons. Congress forbids using federal funds for school safety to purchase weapons. DoE spokeswoman Elizabeth Hill told CBS News: "The department is constantly considering and evaluating policy issues, particularly issues related to school safety." "The secretary nor the department issues opinions on hypothetical scenarios," she added… Comment: I cannot think of a more irresponsible action on behalf of a government…

AUSTRIA REJECTS 'GIRLISH' IRAQI ASYLUM SEEKER…. Austrian officials rejected an Iraqi migrant's asylum application because he was too "girlish", local media say. The 27-year-old's claim to be gay was deemed "unbelievable", in part due to his behaviour, according to reports. He can appeal against the decision. It comes just days after Amnesty International criticised Austria's asylum processes as "dubious". The government has hit back at the criticism, saying its asylum officials work appropriately. In the latest case, the Iraqi asylum seeker was felt to exhibit "stereotypical, in any case excessive 'girlish' behaviour (expressions, gestures)", which seemed fake, Austria's Kurier newspaper reported. Said to be an active member in local LGBT groups, he is understood to have fled Iraq in 2015, fearing for his life. However a spokesman for Austria's asylum office said the decision had been reviewed, and rejected the accusation it contained any "clichéd phrasing" by officials in Styria state, Kurier added. It is the second controversial asylum case in recent days. Last week, activists said that an 18-year-old Afghan asylum seeker had his application rejected because he did not "act or dress" like a homosexual. "The inhuman language in asylum claims does not conform with the requirements of a fair, rule-of-law procedure," Amnesty International said in a report. Interior Ministry spokesman Christoph Poelzl also rejected the accusation officials used "inhuman" language, telling news agency AFP that all employees who assess asylum claims receive training. However, the official involved in the Afghan asylum seeker's case is no longer involved in assessing applications, he added. Austria is currently run by a coalition of the conservative People's Party and the far-right Freedom Party, which came to power following an election dominated by Europe's migrant crisis last year. Comment: Immigration should not be based on “Sexual Preference” especially when determined by the “Far Right” party…

CHINA ARRESTS OVER TANG DYNASTY RELIC THEFTS…. Chinese police have arrested 26 people suspected of stealing relics from an ancient burial site. The gang allegedly seized almost 650 objects, including gold and silver cutlery and jewellery, from the Dulan Tombs, which lie on the ancient Silk Road in northwest China. The stolen items date back to the 7th Century, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. The suspects allegedly tried to sell them for about $11m (£7.8m). The objects were said to have been illegally excavated from the tombs, located in the north-western province of Qinghai. Silk, gold, silver, bronze ware and other items have been unearthed at the tombs, of which there are more than 2,000, since 1982. Experts believe that many of the items are of huge historical value as they show cultural exchanges and interactions between East and West during the early Tang Dynasty (618-907). Following the arrests, police will increase their crackdown on cultural relics crimes to better protect the country's cultural heritage, the Chinese government said. (See photographs at https://www.facebook.com/groups/OurPastBeneathOurFeet/ )

INDIA'S 'BIGGEST' PET RESCUE OPERATION IN KERALA FLOODS….  When rescuers in India's flood-ravaged southern state of Kerala reached a flooded hut in the city of Thrissur, the couple living there refused to leave without their 25 dogs. The water was rising, and the dogs were huddled on a single bed. The rescue workers had arrived on boats, and Sunitha, who uses only one name, flatly told them she and her husband would not leave without their stray and abandoned pets. "Our neighbours had been moved to schools and camps nearby. Rescue workers said that we could not bring our dogs to the relief camp," she said. So the workers went back and got in touch with an animal rescue group. Sally Varma of Humane Society International told the BBC that their volunteers arrived soon, and arranged for the dogs to be taken to a special shelter for affected animals. Ms Varma said she has started a fundraiser for the family and its pets so a kennel could be built at their home after the floods recede. Nearly 400 people have died in the worst flooding Kerala has witnessed in a century. Thousands remain stranded. More than one million people have been displaced, with many of them taking shelter in thousands of relief camps across the state. But what is striking is how hundreds of animals are being rescued in the affected areas. In what appears to be one of the biggest animal rescue operations during a natural calamity in India, hundreds of volunteers and animal rescue workers have travelled to flood-affected areas. Social media is awash with dramatic rescue videos: a rescuer removing his life jacket and putting it on a Labrador to help it swim to higher ground; drenched dogs being taken out of flooded homes and kennels; and country boats and inflatable rafts carrying dogs, goats and cats to safety. Rescuers have waded through water, and travelled on boats and rafts to treat, feed and rescue hundreds of animals - dogs, cats, goats, cows, cattle, ducks, and even snakes - as the waters have begun receding. Trucks with animal feed and medicines are reaching affected districts. Some animals have been moved to shelter camps, and others to higher ground. A number of animal rescue help lines have been set up, and rescuers are using WhatsApp and social media to respond to calls. "We are getting more than 100 calls a day on our helpline. The number of animals that have been moved to higher ground and rescued must be in hundreds," Anand Shiva of Kerala Animal Rescue said.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are from India, where the Tulip garden with the backdrop of the mighty Zabarwan range of mountains was thrown open for the public, on Sunday by Minister for Floriculture Javid Mustafa Mir.

Asia’s largest tulip garden, which has about 12.5 lakh tulips of 50 varieties in its lap on the banks of world famous Dal Lake in the summer capital, Srinagar, marked the beginning of new tourism season in the Valley.

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Monday 27th August 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Spain #India #China #USA #Bella

[euroman1945-blog]

My Thought For The Day....

And The Silence... I sat on a large boulder, by the side of a small stream, whose sound broke the silence of the late afternoon, as the water tumbled over the stones and rocks.. leaves had gathered at the bank of the fast flowing water, some falling in and being whisked away down the streams course, to, I know not where.. I made myself comfortable, and opened the flask, pouring a hot coffee, that the lady at the hotel had made before I set out on my adventure earlier today..unwrapped the sandwich, and enjoyed the silence as Autumn beech leaves gathered around a stream near Bracklinn falls in the Trossachs in the late afternoon.. Robert McAngus Wednesday 22nd August 2018

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – Archeological News From Scotland

Friday 20th July 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Friday, our chance to see what has been discovered this week in Scotland, or more to the point, what archeologists have released for us, mere mortals to read about…  I know I have spoken about it before, but let me explain again as several people have writain to me asking” Why does it take so long from discovery to publication?” the answers always the same, dating of the object, proving it really is a “Roman” “Viking” Pict” item, in some cases it takes years to prove the age, provenance etc., of an object… but enough of me, go read and enjoy… and the next time you are walking, take care of what you kick, it may be a Roman Pot…..

IRON-AGE WOODEN BOWL FOUND IN SCOTLAND…. SOUTH RONALDSAY, SCOTLAND—A 2,000-year-old wooden bowl has been found in a chamber accessed with a series of stone-cut steps beneath Cairns Broch, a round tower at an Iron-Age village site on South Ronaldsay, one of Scotland’s Orkney Islands, according to a report in The Independent. Researchers led by Martin Carruthers of the University of the Highlands and Islands think the bowl may have been placed there before the broch was sealed and abandoned. “In appearance, the bowl is similar in shape to certain of the pottery vessels of the period,” Carruthers said. The bowl’s round base suggests it may have been passed from person to person, similar to the way a traditional alcoholic drink is passed in a wooden vessel at weddings in Orkney today. The excavation of the chamber also uncovered what could be woven plant fibers, and two other wooden objects that look like pegs or stakes.

EXCAVATIONS AT NEWCRAIGHALL SHOW A LANDSCAPE OF CHANGE…. EDINBURGH-- Archaeological investigations coupled with historical research of Newcraighall on the south-east edge of Edinburgh reveal a complex story of land use changes from prehistory to the present day. Between 2011 and 2016, GUARD Archaeology teams led by Alan Hunter Blair undertook a series of surveys and excavations across land that had previously been part of the policies of Brunstane House and and Newhailes House. While the earliest activity encountered comprised groups of pits dating to the late Mesolithic/early Neolithic, late Neolithic and Bronze Age, the majority of features dated from the medieval and post-medieval periods through to modern times. These included various sized coal pits or shafts, and the foundations of four colliery buildings, arranged around a now infilled mineshaft on the southern site. Elements of a designed landscape associated with Brunstane House included a ha-ha that traversed the northern site. The presence of several large culverts may also have connections with both landscape alterations and the coal-mining industry. Fragments of curved and linear ditches appear to be remnants of earlier field systems dating from the medieval and post-medieval periods and associated with extensive remnants of broad rig cultivation found across the two areas.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO SEARCH FOR LOST JACOBITE ARMY CAMP NEAR STIRLING…. The first survey of a potential site for the Jacobite army camp shortly before the battles of Falkirk and Culloden is planned for this August. In January 1746, while pursuing the last siege of Stirling Castle, Bonnie Prince Charlie stayed at Bannockburn House, owned by local Jacobite supporters, and it is thought that some of his troops camped in the grounds. The House itself became forfeit following the defeat of the Jacobite army at Culloden later in 1746. The niece of the owner, Hugh Paterson, was the mother, Clementina, of the Prince’s only recognised child, Charlotte. For the first time an organised archaeological survey is planned, by the Community Trust that bought the 17th-century house and its grounds in late 2017.  Willie McEwan, vice-chair of Bannockburn House Trust, said: ‘We hope to establish the location of the camp and to find examples of both daily camp life such as cooking utensils and of the equipment men and horses would have used in battle.' Archaeologists from GUARD Archaeology Ltd will guide metal detectorists and diggers in carrying out the archaeological investigations. Volunteers are invited to come along and help with the archaeological survey of this site, which is adjacent to Bannockburn House. Details and how to apply for a place or to support the work can be found here and here and here. ‘This is a unique and exciting opportunity to try and resolve the mystery of where the Jacobite army camped in January 1746 before marching to the battles of Falkirk and Culloden,’ said John Atkinson of GUARD Archaeology Ltd. The last great Jacobite Rising, the ’45 is one of the key events in British history. It finally settled years of conflict and features both the last siege of Stirling Castle and the last battle on British soil (Culloden). It resulted in the banning of tartan and the suppression of Gaelic culture across Highland Scotland.

COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY DIG UNCOVERS WHAT MAY BE THE REMAINS OF A PREVIOUSLY UNKNOWN PREHISTORIC SETTLEMENT…. CAITHNESS-- Volunteers at a 'hands-on' archaeology dig organised by the Caithness Broch Project have uncovered remains which may turn out to be part of a previously unknown prehistoric settlement. More than 40 people attended the event organised by Caithness Broch Project and experienced ‘hands on archaeology’ in a series of trial trenches at Thusater Burn near Thurso in the north of Scotland. In fact, so many people turned up that an additional trench had to be opened. This trench was soon commandeered by the children of the volunteers who under supervision from the ORCA team started to develop their excavation skills at a pace! All three excavated trenches soon revealed archaeological features consistent with that anticipated by a previous geophysical survey conducted by the ORCA team several weeks ago. Rubble and stony deposits containing cultural material were encountered, although perhaps the most exciting structural find was a perfectly preserved hearth constructed of orthostats, a base slab and packing stones. Under the blazing sun, the team’s hard work was also rewarded by finding a hammer stone and possible striking stone used for starting fires and a wonderfully preserved pigs tooth. The latter find is usually associated with high status sites. The investigation raised the possibility of the mound containing prehistoric structural remains although more research is needed to confirm their extent and the actual period of occupation. The hearth, together with the finds point to domestic use – perhaps a ‘wag’ or, even more excitingly for the Caithness Broch Project, the remains of a broch.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO SEARCH FOR 'LOST' MONASTERY AT COLDINGHAM THIS SUMMER…. COLDINGHAM PRIORY, BERWICHSHIRE, A team of archaeologists are to begin searching for the ancient monastery established by King Oswald’s sister near Coldingham. Somewhere near the village of Coldingham in Berwickshire lie the remains of an ancient monastery founded by Princess Æbbe nearly 1,400 years ago. Its location has eluded archaeologists for decades, but now a team armed with new evidence is asking for help from the public to reignite the search. Oswald is perhaps best known as the King of Northumbria who returned from exile to reclaim the family throne and founded a small monastery on Lindisfarne in AD 635. Famous for being where the place where the Lindisfarne Gospels were created, and the first place in the British Isles to be targeted by the Vikings, the monastery is now one of England’s best known historic sites Meanwhile, the monastery at Coldingham founded by his sister Æbbe remains much less well known. Now separated by a border, they were once part of the same kingdom, and both were influential in the spread of early medieval Christianity. DigVentures archaeologist Brendon Wilkins explained the background to the dig, which will start later this month: 'Despite Coldingham’s significance, compared to Lindisfarne, much less is known about it. This project aims to change that and reveal Æbbe’s side of the story in Scotland.  'Although previous attempts to locate the remains of the original monastery based on historical sources have come up largely empty handed, we’re working with a new set of geophysics results that have revealed a number of possible Anglo-Saxon structures at a slightly different location. Now, we just need to excavate and see if it’s really there.' Historical sources indicate that Æbbe’s monastery burnt down soon after she died, was abandoned for a short while, rebuilt and continued to thrive until AD 870 when it was destroyed once and for all by a devastating Viking attack – just like Oswald’s Lindisfarne. The team ran a small trial excavation in November, and collaborated with the community to help decide where to dig during the upcoming excavation.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is a "Flying Scotsman" post from the 1930's a piece of archeological art.....

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 20th July 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #Archeology #History #Edinburgh #Coffee #Bella

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Friday 10th August 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. For the life of me, I couldn’t find anything that had been discovered in Scotland this week, so I thought I would just give you the normal news, but as most of you know by now, there is nothing normal about me, So, I thought I would give you things that happened this week, back through the centuries, some almost recent, well put it this way, I was alive when it happened, and some.. Well, my great Grandfather wasn’t even a twinkle in his Grandfathers eye…. So I hope you enjoy

THE MAID OF THE LOCH PADDLE STEAMER WAS LAUNCHED…. On 5 March 1953 the Maid of the Loch paddle steamer was launched, the largest ever vessel to be built for an inland waterway in Britain, and the last in a long line of steamers to sail on Loch Lomond, dating back to 1818. The steamer was built to replace the older ships Princess May and Prince Edward and was so large that after being built at A & J Inglis in Glasgow she was dismantled and re-assembled at the loch. The ship can be visited at Balloch Pier and enthusiasts hope to restore her to her former status as a passenger carrying steamer.

KING JAMES IV MARRIED MARGARET TUDOR…. King James IV of Scotland married Margaret Tudor on 8 August 1503 in a union described as the marriage of the thistle and the rose, which, it was planned, would unite the kingdoms of Scotland and England. Margaret, who was the daughter of King Henry VII of England, was fourteen years old at the time of the marriage, whilst her husband was aged thirty. Before the wedding, James IV gifted Margaret several properties including Stirling Castle, Linlithgow Palace and Doune Castle. The wedding took place at Holyrood Abbey and the union inspired William Dunbar's poem The Thistle and the Rose. James IV and Margaret had six children, including the future King James V, the only one of their children to reach adulthood. Margaret died at Methven Castle on 18 October 1541.

LORD KITCHENER BEGAN HIS WORLD WAR I RECRUITMENT DRIVE …. Lord Kitchener began a huge recruitment across Scotland and the rest of the UK on 7 August 1914, three days after the country entered World War I. Patriotic fervour at the start of the war (which many believed would be over by Christmas 1914) was such that over 30,000 men aged between nineteen and 35 were joining up each day in Britain. Scotland helped lead the field, with the entire Hearts Football Club enlisting. By the end of the war, more than 145,000 Scots had been killed - a fifth of Britain's war dead from a country which made up ten percent of Britain's population. Kitchener was killed halfway through World War I, at the age of 65, on 5 June 1916, when a warship carrying him to Russia was sunk by a German mine after leaving Scapa Flow. His death became the centre of a number of conspiracy theories, with some witnesses claiming to have seen him being rescued from the ship.

SIR HARRY LAUDER WAS BORN…. Scottish entertainer Sir Harry Lauder was born on 4 August 1870 in Portobello. Sir Harry's career in entertainment began when he sang whilst working in the coal mines, to entertain himself and his fellow workers. Before long, his workmates encouraged him to sing at local clubs and he began to earn money, leaving the coal mines to take a panto role at Glasgow's Theatre Royal. Sir Harry was a big charity fundraiser and also did much to contribute to recruitment drives during World War One, at one point paying a band of bagpipers to march in order to persuade young men to sign up to the armed forces. He raised over £1 million to help injured servicemen and was knighted for this work in 1919. Among Sir Harry Lauder's best known songs are Roamin in the Gloamin' and Keep Right on to the End of the Road, written after his only son was killed in World War One. Harry himself died in 1950 at the age of 79.

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of the Scott Monument photographed by Kris Bird ... What a great picture...

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Friday 10th August 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Scotland #News #Spain

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Tuesday 31st July 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  My day to go to Malaga so up earlier than usual, in an attempt to get everything that need’s doing.. Done…Today, I’m going to relax on the beach while I wait for Sandra to finish the cataracts operations, just me and the sound of the waves washing lazily against the shore, I don’t even bother with music, just the soft sound of the waves is enough while I recharge the batteries, what about Bella I hear you ask, she’s at home with my son David, who will take good care of her till I get home…

EGYPT ZOO ACCUSED OF PAINTING DONKEY TO LOOK LIKE A ZEBRA…. A zoo in Egypt has denied painting black stripes on a donkey to make it look like a zebra after a photo of the animal appeared online. Student Mahmoud Sarhan put the images on Facebook after visiting Cairo's International Garden municipal park. Aside from its small size and pointy ears, there were also black smudges on its face. The pictures quickly went viral, with experts weighing in on the species of the animal. A vet contacted by local news group Extranews.tv said that a zebra's snout is black, while its stripes are more consistent and parallel. Mr Sarhan told Extranews that the enclosure contained two animals and that both had been painted. When contacted by local radio station Nogoum FM, zoo director Mohamed Sultan insisted the animal was not a fake. This is not the first time that a zoo has been accused of trying to fool its audience. Unable to find a way around the Israeli blockade, a zoo in Gaza painted two donkeys to look like zebras in 2009. Another Gaza zoo put stuffed animals on display in 2012 because of the shortages of animals.

AIR INDIA BLAMES WEATHER FOR BED BUGS INFESTATION…. India's national carrier, Air India, has blamed the weather for a bed bug infestation on one of its recent flights from New York to the western city of Mumbai. Photos of a few business class passengers bitten by bed bugs were widely shared online in the past week. Air India has since apologised and ordered an inquiry. It also promised to "rigorously fumigate" the plane. Adding to its woes, the company has lost market share to new entrants and suffers a bad reputation of having poor service and cancelling flights. A few years ago, an Air India plane travelling from Mumbai to London was forced to turn back mid-flight after a rat was spotted on board.

IRAN GENERAL WARNS TRUMP WAR WOULD 'DESTROY ALL YOU POSSESS'…. An Iranian special forces commander has warned President Donald Trump if the US attacks Iran it "will destroy all that you possess". Major General Qassem Soleimani vowed that if Mr Trump started a war, the Islamic Republic would end it, Iranian news agency Tasnim reported. It follows Mr Trump's all-caps-lock tweet warning Iran's president to "never, ever" threaten the US. Tensions have risen since the US withdrew from the 2015 Iran deal. Maj Gen Soleimani - who leads the Quds Force of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards - was quoted on Thursday as saying: "As a soldier, it is my duty to respond to your threats. "Talk to me, not to the president [Hassan Rouhani]. It is not in our president's dignity to respond to you. "We are near you, where you can't even imagine. Come. We are ready. "If you begin the war, we will end the war. You know that this war will destroy all that you possess." He also accused the US president of using the language of "night clubs and gambling halls".

DUTCH GRITTERS SALT ROADS TO STOP ASPHALT MELTING….The Netherlands is going through a heatwave this week, like much of northwestern Europe, and several councils have chosen a novel way to stop roads from melting in the scorching sun - they've called the gritter lorries out. Road-users in Arnhem were surprised to see the gritters scattering salt at busy junctions this week, but it seems that salt can be used not only to provide traction in freezing conditions but also to stop asphalt from melting, according to the Algemeen Dagblad newspaper. The winter visitors have also been seen on the roads of Groningen, Hoorn and Geldermalsen in the last two days, especially at roundabouts where heavy traffic tears the softened asphalt from the road surface. The councils say salt helps by attracting moisture from the ambient air and cooling the asphalt. It also removes excess moisture from the asphalt, making it less sticky. Arnhem council has been monitoring the road-surface temperature with sensors, and decided that when it reached 50 degrees Celsius the moment had come to act. "That's the time for us to start spreading the salt. And if the heatwave continues, the gritters will be out and about more often", a council spokesman told the ANP news agency.

JAPANESE FIRM TO LAUNCH WEDDING PLAQUES INTO SPACE…. A Japanese company is offering newlyweds a novel way of showing that their love is eternal: by blasting wedding plaques with their names on into space. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper, the Warpspace start-up in the city of Tsukuba is working with Kibo, Japan's orbital science module, to launch wedding plaques from the International Space Station. The company, which is largely staffed by faculty members from the University of Tsubuka, says that it will engrave couples' names, messages, and other information on titanium plaques, measuring some 16 millimetres by eight millimetres. The plaques will then be loaded onto miniature cubic satellites, which can hold several hundred plaques, and be released into orbit. They will join the tens of thousands of satellites, man-made objects and space junk already orbiting the Earth. Astronauts will take photos of the plaques being released and send them to the couples. Explaining the reason behind the company, Warpspace's president Toshihiro Kameda tells Yomiuri Shimbun: "I hope couples will think about space and pledge their infinite love to each other." Warpspace says it will carry out its first launch in 2019. The cost of the service is 30,000 Japanese Yen (£205; $270) and is exclusively offered to couples who marry at Tsukuba's Okura Frontier Hotel.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are wrapped and ready to go....

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Tuesday 31st July 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus #Tulips #Spain #Bella #Iran #Trump

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Thistle

The Daily Thistle – News From Scotland

Thursday 26th July 2018

"Madainn Mhath” …Fellow Scot, I hope the day brings joy to you…. Hot, Hot, Hot night, winds blowing in from Africa, bringing with it yellow Sahara sand, that crunches under your feet when you walk and covers the cars parked in the street, Bella is impervious to all this as she sniff’s her way through the streets, treating them like the daily newspaper, some to stay and read again, some to discard and look for more interesting topics… paper finished we turn for the comfort of home…

BANANARAMA EXCEL IN FIRST EVER OUTDOOR GIG AT EDINBURGH CASTLE…. For their first ever outdoor gig, Bananarama could scarcely have chosen a more glorious setting. Edinburgh Castle does take some beating as a backdrop and as the threatened rain stayed away, there was no need to reach for Cruel Summer references. Ably supported tonight by the pixie of pop ©, Clare Grogan and her all-female Altered Images and a mostly male Bluebells, the trio of Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward are on what looks to be a last live tour for their unashamedly dance round a handbag pop oeuvre. Clare and co are great fun and the main wee lassie barely stops moving, despite sporting six inch heels, maybe to keep warm to be fair. The Bluebells run through their set at fiddle arm speed, finishing on Young at Heart, perhaps appropriately given the demographic out front. In celebration of the main act, there’s a decent smattering of pink leg-warmers and head scarves as well as many inflatable bananas in the mostly female crowd. Given their vintage, there’s a slew of age references, brown hair being the new grey being one throwaway comment but quite frankly, there’s no shortage of energy on stage, on or off for that matter. Love, Truth and Honesty gets a rare outing “sorry if this is a bit rusty” (it wasn’t) and then into full-on retro-jukebox mode with Really Saying Something and then Venus, the girls walking, the crowd through the arm moves. Another two pop classics to close with Love in the 1 st Degree and Na Na Na, Kiss Him Goodbye and then off they went, for some much deserved gin and wine. An excellent night all round, plenty of mum-dancing and smuggled in wine in evidence (shock, horror) but Altered Images may have stolen the show early on.

NEW ELECTRIC TRAINS TO START RUNNING NEXT WEEK…. The first of a new batch of electric trains will start running between Glasgow and Edinburgh next week, ScotRail has announced. The new class 385 trains were expected to enter service in March, but drivers raised concerns about the windscreen design. ScotRail is now satisfied the trains are safe and the first trains will run from Tuesday. Hitachi is building a total of 70 class 385 trains for ScotRail. The remainder of the new trains for that route (Queen Street to Waverley via Falkirk High) will be phased in over the coming months, before the rollout is extended to other central belt routes. ScotRail said the trains are part of its £475m investment in rolling stock, following the £858m electrification of the line between the two cities by Network Rail Scotland. Karen Boswell, managing director of Hitachi Rail Europe, said: "When passengers step on board this first train they'll find it light, spacious and modern with loads more seats - up to 130 extra compared to the existing diesel trains. "And there is more to come. Our UK factory is working tirelessly to deliver the rest of the fleet, which will allow the current 51-minute journey time from Edinburgh and Glasgow to be cut by up to a fifth.

BARCLAYS PLANS 2,500 NEW JOBS IN GLASGOW…. Barclays has unveiled plans to create up to 2,500 jobs at a new hub in Glasgow, in a major boost to Scotland's financial services sector. The bank will house its technology, functions and operations teams at a campus at the planned Buchanan Wharf development on the banks of the Clyde. Barclays said it would "play a pivotal role" in its "long-term strategic priorities". The move would double Barclays' current workforce in Scotland. Barclays has agreed to purchase the campus development from Drum Property Group and is currently finalising the design of the new facility as part of the wider Buchanan Wharf development. The bank's existing Scottish operations are expected to start transferring to the new campus from 2021.

MASS BRAWL AFTER CARS RAM INTO EACH OTHER IN FIFE…. About 20 men were involved in a mass brawl after two cars deliberately rammed into each other in Fife. The large-scale fight was reported to have broken out in Balbeggie Avenue, Thornton, shortly after a silver Audi A4 and a silver Honda Civic collided at Redhouse Roundabout on Friday at 20:00. A few minutes later a silver BMW was involved in a collision with a silver Hyundai car on Main Street in Thornton. A number of men then fled from the BMW on foot across fields towards the A92. Police believe they had weapons, and are urging witnesses to come forward. Det Ch Insp John Anderson, from Glenrothes Police Station, said: ""This was a large-scale disturbance involving a number of individuals who we believe to be known to each other. "A number of specialist Police Scotland resources were deployed to the Thornton area on Friday night and we are asking for the public's help to identify and trace those involved. "Officers recovered the silver Audi A4 vehicle burnt out a short time later, along with the damaged Honda and BMW vehicles. "We are now keen to establish their movements before these incidents were reported." He added: "We suspect that a number of additional vehicles will have been in the area containing others involved in these incidents at the time that these took place, and we are eager to trace them as soon as possible."

STREET PERFORMERS TO TAKE CONTACTLESS TIPS AT EDINBURGH FRINGE….  The Edinburgh Fringe is to become the first festival to allow people to use contactless technology to tip street performers. Artists entertaining at specific spaces along the Royal Mile will be equipped with special readers to take fixed-amount payments. It comes after feedback which noted a drop in the number of people carrying cash. The 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe will run from 3-27 August. Street performer Scott Hutchison said: "Until now, I've relied on cash contributions from audiences and I have definitely noticed a dip as the number of people carrying cash has decreased. "The introduction of iZettle Readers at the Fringe is really exciting, future-proofing street performance and offering audiences an additional method of payment when showing their appreciation."

On that note I will say that I hope you have enjoyed the news from Scotland today,

Our look at Scotland today is of Broomhill Drive in Glasgow, caught by Rob Cartwright...

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Thursday 26th July 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Thursday 26th July 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  where ever you are in the world on this little blue planet that’s spinning though the milky way surrounded by twinkling stars and planets waiting for the first contact from other world… Not a cloud in the sky this morning and record temperatures are expected today on the Costa del Sol, and an Orange alert as the heat index will be through the roof today as the forecast is 38c and humid in Malaga not so hot in Estepona and as we are close to the Straights of Gibraltar we have more breezes to remove the humidity…But nevertheless Bella enjoyed her walk this morning and is now recumbent at my feet, so with coffee in hand let’s take a look at what has happened or about to on this little blue plant we call home….

BEACH UMBRELLA IMPALES WOMAN IN CHEST IN OCEAN CITY, MARYLAND…. A woman has been injured by a beach umbrella that flew through the air and impaled her chest in the US state of Maryland, officials say. The 46-year-old woman, who was sitting in a chair on the beach in the resort town of Ocean City, had to be flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital. The victim, from Pennsylvania, is expected to make a full recovery. Last week a British woman was injured when a parasol pierced her leg on a beach in New Jersey. In the latest incident, the victim was struck in her upper chest after a rental umbrella that was left unattended was carried by the wind. The pole of the umbrella had to be cut in half by a fire crew in order to be removed, local media report.

CWMBRAN WALES DRINK-DRIVER STOLE MINIBUS WITH PASSENGERS ON….A "completely drunk" driver has been jailed for stealing a minibus with three passengers on board. James Powell, 30, jumped into the bus at Cwmbran train station in January while its driver was unloading luggage. He then drove at "dangerous speeds" with three women on board, running a red light and "lurching from side to side". When the passengers begged him to stop he "simply laughed", Newport Crown Court heard. Powell, from Thornhill, Cwmbran, admitted three counts of false imprisonment. He also pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicle taking, dangerous driving while under the influence of alcohol and driving with no insurance. He was jailed for 10 months and disqualified from driving for two years.

MEXICAN PRISONERS FLEE SINALOA JAIL DISGUISED AS GUARDS…. Two prisoners have escaped from a jail in Mexico's northern Sinaloa state by disguising themselves as prison guards. The two walked out of the prison's main gate in Culiacán wearing uniforms. They were escorted by two guards believed to have been in their pay who also drove the getaway cars. Officials said Carlos Salmón and Julián Grimaldi were considered "highly dangerous" inmates and had been held in special cells to prevent them from escaping. They had originally been held in federal prisons, which have higher levels of security, but were returned to the Aguaruto prison in Culiacán after they had successfully appealed against the order to hold them in federal penitentiaries. Grimaldi was arrested in February and is accused of being a financial operator for the Sinaloa cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organisations in Mexico. He is also suspected of having taken part in an ambush in September 2016 during which five soldiers were killed. Salmón was arrested two years ago on suspicion of being the leader of a gang of hit men. He is accused of carrying out an attack on a police convoy in 2012 in which seven officers were shot dead. The two prisoners managed to sneak past six security checks during their escape. There have been a number of high-profile prison escapes in Mexico in past years, the most famous being that of the leader of the Sinaloa cartel, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán. Guzmán escaped from a maximum security prison near Mexico through a tunnel in 2015. He was recaptured six months later and has since been extradited to the US.

AFGHAN AIRPORT BLAST: VP GEN DOSTUM UNHURT AS KABUL BOMB KILLS 14…. Fourteen people have died in a blast which rocked Kabul airport shortly after Afghan Vice-President Abdul Rashid Dostum returned from self-imposed exile, according to police. Gen Dostum was unhurt in the attack on a square he had just passed through. He left for Turkey more than a year ago, after he was accused of ordering his men to kidnap and rape a political rival - accusations he denies. Militant group Islamic State has said it carried out the attack. Hashmat Estankzai, of Kabul police, said nine security forces members and traffic officers were among the 14 who had died, while another 60 people had been injured, according to news agency AFP.

DE BEERS MOVES 200 ELEPHANTS FROM SOUTH AFRICA TO MOZAMBIQUE…. Diamond producer De Beers says it has started an operation to move 200 elephants from its game reserve in South Africa to Mozambique. The elephant population at the private Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve was too high, and risked causing extensive damage to the ecosystem, the firm said. The relocation of the 200 animals would boost elephant numbers in neighbouring Mozambique, it added. Elephants in Mozambique are threatened with extinction because of poaching. Mozambique suffers from some of the highest rates of poaching for ivory. More than half of its elephant population it thought to have been lost in the last five years because of poaching, according to campaign group Fauna and Flora International. At one park, the Niassa National Reserve, poachers killed nearly 11,000 elephants since 2007, reducing their numbers to about 1,500. De Beers, the world's leading diamond producer, said it would transport 60 elephants to the state-owned Zinave National Park in July and August. The remaining 140 would be moved to parks, which had enough space to accommodate them, from 2019, it added in a statement. De Beers would donate $500,000 (£380,000) over five years to the Peace Parks Foundation conservation group to combat poaching in Mozambique, the company said. Its Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve in South Africa could support around 60 elephants but now had 270 as a result of natural population growth, De Beers said. There was "no greater symbol of Africa than the majestic elephant", and the relocation would help secure their future in Mozambique, the firm added. It would also ensure that other species could flourish at the 32,000-hectare (80,000-acre) Venetia Limpopo Nature Reserve, it said. The park's elephant population had been decimated during Mozambique's 16-year civil war, which ended in 1992. Peace Parks Foundation CEO Werner Myburgh welcomed the relocation, saying it would "bring us one step closer to achieving our dream of restoring the landscape" at the Zinave National Park.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulips today are rather special…being shown at the Albany Flower Festival New York..

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Thursday 26th July 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus

[euroman1945-blog]

The Daily Tulip

The Daily Tulip – News From Around The World

Wednesday 25th July 2018

Good Morning Gentle Reader….  on this beautiful morning on the Costa del Sol, clear skies, and cool breeze blowing in from the Mediterranean, quite refreshing for a change… Bella say good morning, having drunk her water and now sleeping on my foot, and I’m enjoying the just brewed coffee, so let’s have a look at what I’ve found so far…

STRANDED BRIDE GETS POLICE CAR LIFT TO WEDDING IN BIBURY GLOSTERSHIRE ENGLAND…. A bride was given a lift to her wedding in a police car after her wedding car broke down. The gift of "something borrowed and something blue" arrived in the shape of two Cirencester officers who came to the rescue and picked her up from home. PC Mark Weedon said: "When we first walked in to all the bridesmaids downstairs, we had the usual, 'are you strippers?' which we said we weren't." The driver was unable to contact the bride as the mobile signal was poor. The bridal car broke down in Crickley Hill, Birdlip, about 14 miles from the bride's home in Barnsley, near Cirencester, Gloucestershire. PC Weedon said: "The bride's mum came down and thought there was an issue with the cars parked outside, but once they realised we were police officers and not strippers and we were there because their's had broken down, the bride was cool as a cucumber. "She took it all in her stride, she had a smile on her face and she didn't seem fazed." PC Weedon and Sgt Andy Wood, stepped in to take the bridal party to Cripps Barn after being alerted about the situation from the local road policing unit which was dealing with the broken down car.

TANZANIA HUNT FOR TOP IVORY-SNIFFING DOG….Police officers in Tanzania are hunting for a talented sniffer dog who has been missing for two days. Hobby is able to catch smugglers at the busy port of Dar es Salaam by sniffing out guns, ivory and drugs. Home Affairs Minister Kangi Lugola gave the police a day to find the dog, but they have so far failed to do so. The minister said Hobby may have been deliberately taken away from the port, where there are only three other sniffer dogs now on duty. "What I have heard about these dogs is quite unpleasant. I'm told some are rented for other uses. I am really saddened by these reports because these dogs are police officers," The Citizen newspaper quoted the minister as saying. In 2016, the US gave Tanzania four dogs trained to detect illegal drugs and ivory at the country's main port and airport. It's unclear if Hobby was one of them.

ARCTIC WILD GOOSE CHASE THREATENS CHICKS AS TEMPERATURES RISE…. Rising temperatures in the Arctic are encouraging Barnacle geese to speed up their migration journeys north every spring, says a new study. But their efforts to go faster are leaving them too drained to lay their eggs early when they arrive. This is bad news for the species as their chicks are hatched too late to take advantage of the best food, so fewer are surviving. The scientists involved say the birds will have to adapt and migrate earlier. Every spring these geese set out from their temperate wintering grounds in the North Sea, often stopping off in the Baltic to rest on their way to their breeding areas in the Russian Arctic. However climate change is seeing spring arrive earlier in the Arctic, something the geese are blissfully unaware of, until about half way through their journeys. "The greening of vegetation as they fly probably gives them information about the earlier spring - as they see things more green that's a cue for them to hurry up, that's what we think," author Bart Nolet from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology told BBC News. One possibility might be moonlight grazing. "They could be able to do that if they forage on moonlit nights as they sometimes do," said Prof Nolet. "They would then be able to fuel up earlier and depart earlier and that would solve the problem of arriving too late," he said. The study has been published in the journal, Current Biology.

MELANOMA BLOOD TEST: SCIENTISTS UNVEIL 'WORLD-FIRST' RESEARCH…. Australian scientists say they have developed a blood test to detect melanoma in its early stages. The test, billed as a world first, is designed to make it easier to spot the skin cancer before it becomes fatal, according to researchers. Currently, doctors rely on skin examinations and biopsies to detect melanoma, which can spread quickly. Researchers say the blood test could provide more accurate results than the human eye, and save many lives. Developed by scientists at Edith Cowan University, the test picks up melanoma by recognising auto-antibodies produced by the body to combat the cancer's early growth. In a trial involving about 200 people - half of whom had the cancer - the test was successful in 81.5% of cases. It will now undergo clinical trials, to take place within three years, in a bid to improve its accuracy to 90%. Researchers hope it could be approved for use within five years. Malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, is mainly caused by exposure to UV radiation. It often starts with a change in a mole or a new growth on skin. While specialists are well-trained to spot melanoma, Prof Mel Ziman, head of the research team, said the blood test could hasten diagnosis. "Often in routine clinical practice, it can be a little difficult to tell an early stage melanoma from a mole," she told The Daily Tulip. "This blood test will fit in when the patient goes to the clinic to determine whether the lesion is a melanoma. The physician could do the test first before feeling like they have to do a biopsy." The study initially examined 1,627 functional proteins. After analysis, researchers identified 10 auto-antibodies that best indicated the presence of melanoma. Prof Ziman said detecting melanoma early was critical. "If we can remove the melanoma when it is less than 1mm thick, you have a 98-99% chance of survival," she said. "As soon as it spreads further into the skin, survival rates drop dramatically." In Australia, where incidence rates are highest, about 1,500 people die from melanoma each year. The research was published in the journal Oncotarget.

ARGENTINA ROCKER CRISTIAN PITY ÁLVAREZ ACCUSED OF MURDER…. An Argentine rock star, Cristian "Pity" Álvarez, has been charged with murdering a man outside a flat in Buenos Aires last week. According to the judge's report, the rocker shot the man four times after having a row with him. The victim, Cristian Diaz, has been described as an acquaintance of "Pity" Álvarez. The lead singer with bands Viejas Locas and Intoxicados said he shot him in self-defence. "I killed him because it was either him or me. Any animal would do the same", "Pity" Álvarez told reporters. After the fatal shooting, he fled and got rid of the gun, which was later found in a sewer. Cristian Álvarez handed himself in to the police a few hours after the crime. His lawyer said he had had drug problems, but judge Martín Yadarola said he believed the musician knew what he was doing when he committed the crime. He ruled that he undergo a drug addiction programme, but ordered that he must remain under arrest. "Pity" Álvarez left the band Viejas Locas in 2000 to found Intoxicados, but has since performed in both bands. They have released several successful albums in Argentina.

Well Gentle Reader I hope you enjoyed our look at the news from around the world this, morning… …

Our Tulip today is very modern.. and I love it!

A Sincere Thank You for your company and Thank You for your likes and comments I love them and always try to reply, so please keep them coming, it's always good fun, As is my custom, I will go and get myself another mug of "Colombian" Coffee and wish you a safe Wednesday 25th July 2018 from my home on the southern coast of Spain, where the blue waters of the Alboran Sea washes the coast of Africa and Europe and the smell of the night blooming Jasmine and Honeysuckle fills the air…and a crazy old guy and his dog Bella go out for a walk at 4:00 am…on the streets of Estepona…

All good stuff....But remember it’s a dangerous world we live in

Be safe out there…

Robert McAngus