I saw this birthday card in the "humour" section in my newsagent shop.

Two weeks ago I called in at my bank and was told "we cannot make any transactions, our computer system has crashed."

We seem to rely on digital technology, but there is no "Plan B" for when electricity supply fails or computers stop working.


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On 12th April 2017 steam locomotive 60163 "Tornado" reached the speed of 100 mile per hour ( = 161 km per hour) during specially conducted speed tests ( Read more... )

I've mentioned before (May 4th) that public telephones are becoming redundant in UK now almost everyone has a cell phone (the reality being public telephones no longer make a profit). Many of the iconic kiosks have been retained and put to new use. While in Chichester, Sussex last week I spotted this one:


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I am old enough to just remember "steam rollers" working as a normal part of road repair team. They used their weight to compress the foundation and later the tarmac surface of roads and pathways. Today this function is carried out mostly by diesel engined machines.

Recently I attended the annual "Traction Engine Rally" held in the village of ( Read more... )

This huge single wind turbine dominates the landscape near the picturesque village of Kempley (pop 141), Gloucestershire. It is not possible to get a photo showing the right-hand side of the farm house, but the turbine is located in the farmyard about 100m it.


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The Air Balloon, Birdlip, Gloucestershire.


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Before cell phones public pay phones were popular and much used. The iconic red "telephone kiosk" or in every day language "phone box" was a very familiar sight on our streets, in busy towns often three or four in a row. They accepted coins, the coins needed to be collected, the kiosk needed to be cleaned and the equipment maintained, they ( Read more... )

In Britain more use is being made of photo-voltaic panels to generate electricity. Many private homes, including quite modest smaller houses, are having them installed on south facing roof areas. The electricity generated is used by the household and when not used or if excess is generated, it is distributed into the national grid and a ( Read more... )

After the Crimean War, October 1853 - March 1856, a total of 300 captured Russian cannon were shipped back to England. Some of these were distributed to towns and cities in the British Empire (including Australia, Canada, Gibraltar and New Zealand), others were requested by towns throughout Britain. Many of the cannon were melted down and made ( Read more... )

There was a report in yesterdays’ 40p “ i-paper” (the hardcopy abstract of the now wholly digital “Independent” ) that out of a standard 7.50 hour working day, a British office worker spends 2.50 hours wasting his employers time. Of those surveyed ( Read more... )