Month: August 2020

I would hate for any of you to miss out on a must  have new item on the market. Burberry have launched its first collection of designer face masks which is available in their signature beige check or if you prefer, blue check. Now hold on to your Burberry hat because the price will set you back £90. It does come with a pouch to keep it in when you store it in your Burberry bag and the company say that 20% will go to the Burberry Foundation Covid-19 community fund. Whatever that is.

Illegal nightclubs have been popping up in central London. Airbnb properties have been rented for short periods, usually over the weekend, and then turned into nightclubs charging an entrance fee. Bouncers are on the door collecting the money, there’s a bar selling drinks, a DJ sound system and at least 100 paying guests. I’m glad I’m not living nearby. There were a lot of reports at one time of luxury rental properties here on the Sandbanks peninsular being used for very noisy parties. The organisers of the nightclubs are making good use of the closure of legal clubs during the lockdown. There’s always someone ready to make a quick pound or two during a disaster. Lock ’em up, I say.

On the Costa Brava in Spain in a town called Platja d’Aro a local teenager who was snorkelling was stung by a poisonous fish and sadly died. I know this beach quite well, it is near where my son and his family go in the summer. I’ve been there several times and it’s very popular with Spanish families and visitors. You honestly couldn’t imagine worrying about going in the water there, lovely beaches and calm sea. Very tragic.

Lulworth Cove here in Dorset is in the news yet again. I’m sure most of England had never heard of it until recently, it’s such a tiny place. Anyway, the news is that a young man was swimming in a rather choppy sea there yesterday. It seems he was a strong swimmer but got into trouble when he was hit by an enormous wave and swept out. A man tried to go to his rescue but also got into difficulties so dozens of people rushed down to try to help. About twenty of them formed a human chain and gradually managed to grab the two men and pull them to safety. Happily no one was hurt and emergency services were not needed on this occasion.

In Cornwall a father and son had hired a boat to go fishing to celebrate the younger man’s 30th birthday. They managed to reel in a 9ft blue shark  and calculated its weight at 251 pounds. There was a great photo of them with the mammal and then they returned it to the water. It’s believed to be the largest ever caught but they can’t claim the record as they would have needed to take it to land to be verified. As this would have killed it they preferred to take some photos and let it swim on. They’re winners in my book. Good night everyone.😴💤😴

 

So, today was GCSE results day and all our 16 year olds were waiting with eager anticipation. Our one, Alice, did very well and passed with flying colours. She achieved all A or Bs although they don’t call it that any more it’s now all sixes and sevens. A rose by any other name is still a rose and lovely Alice will get into all the courses she wanted in sixth form to study her A levels. Upwards and onwards Alice.

It has been much commented on that BoJo has been hiding in the highlands or lowlands of Scotland while the exam fiasco has been boiling around the country. Of course, he has been on his summer UK holiday and supposedly sleeping under canvas. Newspapermen (or maybe women) tracked him down in a remote cottage (brick built, not canvas) on the coast of Scotland. The PM was spotted popping out to have a chat with his security team and a tent could be seen about 50 metres from the cottage. BoJo has been seen on a hiking trail with his fiancee, two security guards and a dog walker looking after their pooch. The holidaymaker said they were just like any other family on holiday. Yes, I always took my protection officers and dog walker with my when I went off on a family trip. As for the tent, maybe Miss Symonds isn’t sharing her marital boudoir with the PM. And judging by the photos I would definitely say that he needs to practice what he is preaching to the nation and get on a diet. He might then find he doesn’t need the tent. Just saying.

Following an underwater volcanic eruption in the Pacific Ocean a very large pumice stone raft was formed and floated towards Australia. Today, several months after the eruption it crashed into Australia’s coast. Scientists there said that the mass was made up of trillions of pieces of pumice and that, as it travelled towards its destination, each one became home to countless marine organisms which they are hoping will find a new home on their coral reefs. It is hoped that this will boost the reef ecosystems helping to mitigate the effects of climate change on the Great Barrier Reef.

Apartment life can sometimes be difficult, depending on the residents. In Oregon a woman received some notes from her downstairs neighbour. The first one was asking her to keep the noise down for which she apologised. The next one suggested that she and her partner went on a diet and the writer said what she was really worried about was that one day she would see four fat legs and two arses coming through the ceiling. She then gave the number of weight watchers. Maybe it’s the wake up call the upstairs couple needs. At least my neighbour only complains about me watering my plants. I should be grateful and I am. Good night.😴💤😴

My friend Rosemary mentioned Ethel the emu today saying that she had escaped for a second time. I did a quick google search and am happy to report that a daily newspaper sent out a search party and then with the help of a horse box owner managed to coax her into it. She is now living with a lovely family who have several other strange pets and is very happy there. So thanks to The Mail from all nannyjune’s readers.

Berlin police say that three crashes caused by the same vehicle at different locations on a motorway were deliberate acts and probably an Islamic extremist attack. The driver later pulled over and placed a box on the roof of his vehicle and said that it contained a bomb. He then knelt on a prayer mat and started praying. A police officer of Arabic background spoke to him and managed to detain him. He is being investigated for attempted murder. It seems he suffers from psychological problems. Tell that to the people involved on the motorway.

In Russia and following an operation to remove an intestinal blockage an 81 year old grandmother was declared dead by a doctor and an anaesthetist and transferred to the morgue. Eight hours later a female employee was shocked to find the pensioner on the floor and that she had obviously come back to life. An ambulance driver overheard the commotion as the poor morgue worker said ‘grandma lie down, granny be quiet’ as the old lady tried to grab the worker’s hand. The paramedic covered her with blankets and she was returned to the hospital. It seems she had been declared dead after just 1 hour and 20 minutes instead of 2 hours. The grannie’s niece said she was glad her aunt was alive but that they will sue the hospital.

In another city in the Philippines a nurse was rushing off to work as she was running late. But, she stopped when she heard a cry for help and went to see where it came from. She found a pregnant woman about to give birth and stayed to deliver the baby. There was a video of the baby boy being born. The mother didn’t seem to make a sound as it all happened and the nurse asked some officials to take her and the baby to hospital. I felt quite sad when I found out that she was homeless. I was in the Philippines once and there were a lot of homeless women with small children living in very bad conditions and scavenging in the bins at night hoping to find food. I don’t foresee a good future for this mother and baby.

These stories remind me of a notice put up the the labour ward of a hospital. It was a reminder to all the staff there and said ‘Please remember the first few minutes of life are the most dangerous’. Someone scribbled underneath ‘the last few are pretty dodgy too’. Good night everyone.  😴💤😴

In July the Chancellor announced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme to encourage people to get out, in spite of the virus, and put some money into the economy. It means that customers can get 50% off the cost of their meal up to a maximum of £10. It’s only available Monday Tuesday and Wednesday during the month of August.  It seems, if reports are correct, that 35 million people have made use of the scheme in the first two weeks. This must mean that so far the government are giving restaurants 350 million pounds back. Although as places like McDonalds and Wetherspoons are participating I imagine that the refund won’t be the full ten quid.  That’s a lot of dosh though and we are only halfway there. I assume it will be calculated against their tax payable, I just hope it’s worth it.

Some restaurants across the nation say it isn’t and they are losing money presumably because customers are not showing up later on in the week. Also many restaurants are complaining that customers are rude and intolerant. The levels of staff are reduced due to social distancing, both in the kitchen and in the dining room. Customers are not willing to take this into consideration and do nothing but complain. Several places have decided to withdraw from the scheme. I went yesterday evening to Prezzo with some of my family. It was busy, the food was tasty and the service was great. No complaints from us.

A top disease expert has said that the new coronavirus strain may be a good thing as it’s more contagious but less deadly. Epidemiologists are not surprised as viruses tend to become less virulent as they mutate. So this is obviously good news as we go into Autumn and Winter when the virus may increase again. The problem after all isn’t catching a virus, it’s recovering from it and it seems we may have a better chance in the future.

Rio Ferdinand has been banned from driving for six months having pleaded guilty to driving at 85mph last year (it’s only just got to court). He was also fined £822 which no doubt he can afford. I’m a bit surprised as I thought you had to exceed 100mph to lose your license and it seems that I was wrong. It’s probably a good thing that I don’t drive an Alpha Romeo or a BMW or I might have got caught myself. Although my Freelander probably would and maybe has done 85. Oh dear.

A servant to the queen has been arrested after several items had gone missing from the royal household including a medal which turned up on Ebay listed at £350. The medal was ‘The Companion of the Order of the Bath’ which belonged to the master of the household. Now, does anyone know if this medal is awarded for what it sounds like? Has the recipient performed duties in the royal bathroom? Just asking.  Good night everyone.😴💤😴

An Antiques Roadshow expert was today shown a blue patterned vase that was identified as a William de Morgan piece. The owner of the vase said her grandfather had purchased it in a junk shop in Shaftesbury many years ago. He was passing by when he spotted it and although he was ‘less than enthusiastic’ decided to buy it and paid just £1. It has been passed down through the family and the current owner was keen to learn its value. The expert told her she could expect to get between £3000 and £3100. Very nice too and an attractive vase but I can’t afford it.

While on the subject of collectibles I have a Gucci Jackie O Hobo bag that I bought at Rome airport on one of my trips with Sandy. Not quite sure why I purchased it as it’s tan canvas with leather trim and handle, not really a colour I go for. I’ve been looking at them recently on Ebay and they can go for anything from about £180 and up to five or six hundred. I’ve hardly ever used it but decided to take it when I went to dinner with family a week ago.  Sam said not to sell it but to buy an outfit to go with it. Elena agreed or said I could give it to her. Jack and Elizabeth thought it was cool and found that they now cost over £1000 in the Gucci shop. It seems they’ve just brought this style back so maybe it will go up in value. I’ll hang on to it for a bit longer.

Have you been to France or several other countries and just returned or will return in the near future? well, you will have to quarantine for two weeks. If you are caught breaking the quarantine you will be fined one thousand pounds. What I want to know is who and how they will monitor the quarantine. The authorities haven’t been able to monitor illegal immigrants, criminals on parole or even keep up with absent fathers who haven’t paid their child support. How on earth will they manage to monitor half a million (the expected number) of quarantined travellers?  Not a chance.

Our students have all had a terrible year. Those in university have had lecturers on strike for one term followed by closure due to the pandemic. They have had no refund on fees or accommodation. GCSE and A level students have not been able to sit exams and are having their results predicted by a very dubious algorithm. The way it works it favours small classes over large ones. which means that private school students are more likely to be upgraded while comprehensive students are more likely to be downgraded. Some universities will not accept A level students because of their grades which are unreliable. This travesty will follow them through life for many years. Someone needs to do something and quickly.  Goodnight everyone. 😴💤😴

So today was my granddaughter Alice’s birthday and yes, she became sweet sixteen. Never been kissed? she wasn’t letting on and I don’t blame her, a girl has to have some secrets. We all went round for dinner and Elena and Andrew had prepared a very delicious Mexican supper with tacos, fajitas and lots of fillings to choose from. All very tasty. Triple layer chocolate cake with heart marshmallows on top and clotted cream to help it down. That’s my diet out the window but it was a lovely evening.

Do you all remember Ethel the emu who had run away from the woods where she lived? Well she was on the run for five days before being caught and returned to her owner. It seems she either doesn’t like said owner or just enjoys more freedom as after just two days of being home she fled again. Maybe Ethel is just looking for a mate.

A restaurant in Weymouth has been hit by a ‘dine and dash’ gang. A group of twelve people booked a table at the Les Enfants Terribles restaurant and asking to be seated outside. The group of adults and children ordered the most expensive items on the menu. The owner asked for a deposit which they were not happy about but did eventually provide a credit card. After they finished their meal they gradually left the table a couple at a time until no one was left to pay. The bill had come to nearly £500. The owner then found that the credit card didn’t work. The group were later caught in a fracas with some other customers who had filmed them and the police were called.  I just hope they were arrested. Lock ’em up I say.

A young man from Solihull who used to deliver pizzas to earn money while he was studying set up a sportswear company which has since been valued at over one billion pounds. While still working as a delivery boy Ben Frances  at the age of 19 set up Gymshark from his parent’s garage. He enlisted the help of his brother and a group of friends, who are still part of the business, and started making sportswear using a sewing machine and a screen printer. It took off and today they have nearly 500 staff and offices around the world. A US firm has just purchased a 21% stake which will allow Ben to expand internationally especially in the US where he has the majority of his customers. Ben’s share of the business is worth about £700 million.

A vice mayor from Florida was enjoying a drive out one morning in her bright red Tesla when she was involved in a rear end shunt. The police arrived on the scene and the vice mayor was found to be drunk and unable to speak without slurring. Three bottles of liquor were found in her possession, one open in the console and two in her handbag. She was arrested and charged with DUI and failing to give a breath test. Oh dear, lock ‘er up. And good night to you.😴💤😴

We’re damned if we do and we’re damned if we don’t. The government have received a lot of abuse for their tardiness in making changes at the beginning of the pandemic. Now, every time changes are announced as the experts try to keep up with developments around the world the government is again being slated. Anyone arriving from France, Netherlands, Monaco, Malta and a few other small countries from 04.00  Saturday morning will need to quarantine for two weeks. The Euro tunnel sold out with last minute bookings, flights increased their fares and are charging a fortune and the ferries have increased capacity. No one wants to go into isolation again but I wonder what will happen with all these people crowding together trying to get home. After all the virus is already in the countries they’re leaving, it’s not moving in at 4 am tomorrow morning.

Rudy Giuliani, an American attorney and politician, ex mayor of New York City, prosecutor of the city’s mafia and part of Trump’s legal team who has said he will do anything to protect Trump and help him get reelected. Meanwhile Rudy’s daughter Caroline is on the opposite side of the political camp and will do anything to stop Trump from being reelected. Father and daughter it seems are not falling out over their differing political opinions and have agreed to disagree. All very grown up but I’d love to be at their independence day family dinner.

Dreadful news about the train crash in Scotland after it turned back on receiving reports that there had been a landslip and then had the especially bad luck to hit another landslip just one mile back. One thing I can’t understand in this age of super technology is why there isn’t a permanent connection with the train driver. It’s been reported that a worker who was travelling on the train walked one mile to report the accident. Surely it’s an electric train, surely it should be possible for its location and status to be known at all times and didn’t anyone on the train have a phone to report their predicament? Just asking.

Fly tipping has become a real problem with rubbish being dumped in fields and verges everywhere. In Spain a man was made to retrieve a fridge he had dumped over a ravine as well as paying a forty five thousand euro fine. Here the fields used are often part of a farm and one fed up farmer took his revenge. He had installed a camera and caught a man tipping 400 old rubber tyres. He contacted the man and gave him three days to remove the tyres from his field. When nothing happened he had them loaded into a truck, drove to the tipper’s house and had them unloaded in his front garden. I would have loved to have seen his face when he opened his front door, always supposing he could open his front door of course.  Nighty night, sleep tight. 😴 😴 😴

 

Today 13th August is International Left-Handers Day and has been since 1976. Well, you could have fooled me because I’ve never heard of it before, I wonder how I managed to miss that among all the other special days that I don’t know about. I’ve had a quick google and find the Barack Obama, Winston Churchill and Prince William are amongst those famous people that are left handed. So if you are left handed I hope you enjoyed your day and people gifted you lots of left handed gadgets.

Did you know that groups of flamingos are known as flamboyances and each group can contain up to ten thousand birds. Now we know where the word flamboyant came from. Anyway last week migrating birds landed on the salt marshes in the south of France with a flamboyance of fifty thousand adult and twelve thousand baby flamingos making it one of the largest recorded migrations. The birds are on their way to warmer climes in Spain, Italy and North Africa to spend the winter. I’ve seen one of these flamboyances (I’m loving this new word) in Spain, I think it was near Alicante but can’t be sure.

A report of a strange theft has appeared in the Spanish press and repeated here in the UK. It seems that over there the residents and businesses are rather good at recycling and this is where the theft takes place. Cardboard is being targeted mainly by Romanian thieves who creep out after dark and raid the recycling bins for the cardboard or beige gold as it is known. They sell it on and are able to make a small fortune doing so. During lockdown more people have been buying online and as we know deliveries come in nice clean cardboard cartons. The thieves have stolen and sold more than 67,000 tons a year of the stuff at a value of ten million euros for the last five years. That’s a lot of dosh, I’m going to keep my eye on the recycling bin downstairs.

The Markles might have run away to LaLa land but they still appear daily in the headlines here. I’m sick and tired of hearing about the freedom book which I hope nobody paid good money for as it can only be based on rumour, conspiracy theories or one sided monologues. Now we are hearing about their purchase of a mansion in Santa Barbara County. I think they are opening a hotel as it has several bedrooms and even more bathrooms as well as the obligatory pool. Once lockdown is over we might all be able to pop over and spend a few days there. Rumour has it that Prince Charlie helped finance it to the tune of a few thousand pounds. So while people here are struggling with a recession they are given another overpriced property. I wonder if this one also need revamping?. It’s all really too much, I’m going to bed. Nighty night. 😴 😴 😴

We have a new bunker boy and this time he’s British. It’s our very own Mayor of London who has received an open letter from top chefs and restauranteurs asking him to ‘come out of his bunker’ and help the economy in the capital. The writers want him to welcome visitors back into the city by dropping the congestion charge and encouraging use of public transport. They said they would do their part by making the visitors as safe as possible but that something has to be done to bring back consumer confidence. Maybe I’ll do my bit and take a train ride to the city.

The coronavirus death toll has dropped today by over five thousand in England. One might think that the health ministers have suddenly acquired divine powers, but no, just a new way of counting. It seems that until now anyone who died having ever tested positive for the virus at any time was counted in the number of coronavirus deaths. Some of these might have died from other causes but due to the test result they were still included in the count. Scotland and Wales only counted those who had tested positive in the last 28 days prior to death and so England will now be following suit. Other health officials would like to see only those who had tested positive in the last 21 days being included so it could come down again..

This summer one of the attractions for locals and tourists has been the number of cruise ships anchored all along the Dorset coast. We have all wondered how many staff remain on board, are they allowed to disembark and how long will they stay and why? Well it seems that Southampton docks doesn’t have room for all the stray ships and as far as the shipping companies are concerned, it’s by far cheaper to just hang around off the coast. Now a local entrepreneur and small ferry owner has started to run sightseeing tours around the ships. He takes visitors on a two and half hour trip and at least one of the captains has started waving a six foot long wooden hand as he passes by. He said all of his passengers seem to be really happy with the mini, mini cruise.

In Russia the health authority is vaccinating people against bubonic plague. The area being targeted is Siberia which shares a border with Mongolia which has seen at least two recent cases of the disease. Apart from the vaccinations Russia is spraying large areas to kill fleas which are known to spread the disease. Meanwhile in New Mexico a man has died from septicemic plague which again is carried by fleas on rodents. In the same state but in Santa Fe County a man was diagnosed with bubonic plague. Might be a good idea not to visit at the moment.

Anyone who has bought a lotto ticket in Ayshire for the March 17th draw should check their ticket. There is an unclaimed prize of nearly sixty million pounds which must be collected by September 13. Might keep me awake. Good night. 😴😴😴