When I went into the sitting room last time it snowed I was surprised to find this!
Mark Pritchard MP for the Wrekin has signed EDM 251 to show his support of the PCS campaign to reach a negotiated settlement regarding the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.
4 Comments CherryPie on Mar 15th 2010
With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in men, than any other association of men.
Clarence Darrow
22 Comments CherryPie on Mar 14th 2010
Info from the V&A:
Thomas Banks 1735 – 1805
Thetis dipping Achilles in the River Styx
1790
Thetis, a sea nymph, dips her newly born son, Achilles into the River Styx. She hoped the sacred waters would protect him, but Achilles was eventually killed when an arrow struck his heel, the one part of his body left vulnerable. The heads of Thetis and Achilles are portraits of the client’s wife and baby.
London
Marble on the original mahogany plinth
Commissioned by Colonel Thomas Johnes for the conservatory of Hafod,
Cardiganshire
10 Comments CherryPie on Mar 14th 2010
For someone who doesn’t do mornings three in one week is just a bit much. This morning I had to get up very early to make my way to Clapham where PCS head office is located. It was time to go through the motions that had been submitted for our group conference in May.
I dislike using the London underground (especially on my own) so I carefully plotted my route to avoid it. When I was purchasing my ticket at the counter yesterday, I was very kindly provided with a little summery of the times of the trains I needed to do this. It turned out that it was a good job I picked that route because there had been an incident on the the track just before Euston and the tubes weren’t accessible without a diversion, which would have made me very late for the meeting.
Last time I arrived at Clapham Junction, the gap between the train and the platform was so great I actually had to leap off the train because my leg couldn’t reach the platform. So I was rather alarmed when I heard this announcement when we were approaching Clapham:
The train will shortly be arriving at Clapham Junction, mind the gap. Please be careful not to fall between the train and the platform because this will be extremely embarrassing for you and will result in the train being delayed from leaving the station.
The passengers looked at each other and fell about laughing. Thankfully the gap was much smaller than last time!!!
The meeting went well and we have the conference motions sorted out, so our work is done until the time of the conference.
The train journey back was going so well until I reached Birmingham. The train I was due to catch broke down in the tunnel. We knew there was something wrong because there was another train on the platform that was due to leave a couple of minutes after the one I was due to catch.
The staff from that train were all on the platform peering up the track expectantly, they had no more idea what the problem was than we did. Eventually there was an announcement to say there was a problem with the train and more details would be given shortly. Luckily I knew there was another train in 20 minutes so I wasn’t too worried but non regular travelers were left a bit bewildered because there was no proper announcement.
10 Comments CherryPie on Mar 12th 2010
34 Comments CherryPie on Mar 12th 2010
I spotted this during one of my recent visits. But where is it?
33 Comments CherryPie on Mar 11th 2010
