BBC under threat?

Who doesn’t love CBeebies? Kids love it, and so do parents. BBC children’s programmes, like CBeebies, allow us those precious few minutes in a day to make a cup of tea. And we can trust that our kids are watching quality TV.

But children's TV as we know it is under threat. It's being reported that the government plans to take money away from the BBC’s children’s programmes. They want to give money-making channels a chance to compete for children’s shows.

The government is expected to announce the cut to the BBC children's budget this Thursday. So a big petition, standing up for advert-free BBC children's television, will show that there's huge public opposition to the government's plans.

Please can you sign the petition to save BBC children's television?  See  http://38d.gs/21NJSjN

Personally  I have a problem with children being bombarded with adverts for things they do not need. The BBC is good as it is. There is a danger our government will ruin it.  Save it!

Corsican wind?

Years ago we spent a couple of great holidays on Corsica. My wife is trying to do a quiz in the paper and is stuck on a wind in north east Corsica with the second letter "i" and the last letter "t". I tried Googling to no avail. I thought I knew this, but obviously I don't.

American hotels and breakfast

One of my first surprises on trips to the USA was that few (no?) hotels offer breakfast. They expect you to get this down the road. Most have places to eat very nearby, but if you are not used to this it comes as a surprise. I have an old work colleague who is in Indiana for a conference and he was caught out.

Once, in eastern Canada, we stopped for breakfast at a roadside cafe. There were 6 fried eggs and lots more on the plate. It was huge. We did not go hungry!

Weather - settled spell ended

Yesterday we probably had the last warm and sunny day of the current spell, so we spent a lot of the afternoon in the garden with our son Tim. On the right is our ornamental cherry tree (full of blossom) and on the left our garden shed with the new bird-box just to the left of the shed window. It is probably too late this year but maybe it will be used next spring? Today it is dull and raining!

Next door's sumac tree is only just in leaf. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumac .

9th May 2016

Life on Mars?

See http://www.theworldweekly.com/reader/view/magazine/2014-12-18/there-may-be-life-on-mars-after-all/2909 .

Sunshine

Well, today we probably saw the last of our warm, sunny weather. Tomorrow rain is forecast. We have had very few settled period  this year with mostly low pressure systems and maybe a few sunny days. In the last few days we have had warmth and sunshine and the garden has really come on.

UPDATE 2220z:  It has been raining here now for several hours.  Ho hum - was that it? Spring and summer over?

Sepura Shares

Shares in my old company Sepura (SEPU) ended the day nearly 5% up. They fell heavily a few weeks ago.

See http://www.lse.co.uk/ShareChart.asp?chart=intraday&sharechart=SEPU&share=sepura .