Billhook

Would they not strip the bark further down> The top branches are a bit thin to support a grey squirrel

We seem to have several young Sycamores with similar symptoms to Ash dieback. Is this a well known phenomenon?

Yes such bravery, especially going off on two tours or more, was that 28 missions before you had relief. I said before that they needed people of pilot quality to operate the turret, the radar and the signalling device and this gentleman had done more hours as an instructor in Canada than the pilot of his Lancaster! But such was the anger at the bombing of our cities and the whole war , that they were determined to do their bit. The rear gunners were particularly vulnerable as the Germans would try to nail them first. Also they could not wear a parachute which was kept behind in the fuselage so imagine trying to go back, find it put it on and exit while the craft may be burning or spinning out of control It says on the web that the average life expectancy for a rear gunner early on in the war was five missions. In Phil's log book one of his missions was eleven hours.! Another thin he told me was that because they were isolated from the rest of the crew there was a real danger of frostbite, Therefore they had heated flying suits with heated gloves and heated boots. In the first part of the war before 1943 and Mustang escorts, they lost most of the bombers that went out. This was reversed later but still it was so terrifying to be a rear gunner that some deliberately took a boot off to get frostbite so that they could go off sick. This became a court martial offence for lack of moral fibre. One mission Phil, my friend, had a fault in his electric circuit and had the wonderful choice of a burnt foot or frostbite and court martial! In another incident I was told at East Kirkby by another veteran, that there was an airman who had just done his two tours, nerves rattled, but he thought that he would just watch the Lancs taxiing out that evening to wish them well. He stood in front of the latrines hut smoking a cigarette. The rear gunners would just exercise their turrets to check they were revolving correctly as the aircraft taxied however one of the rear gunners accidently caught the trigger and it took the whole of the roof of the latrine off. Did not do much good for his already shattered nerves!

Well done finding that. I had not heard of the name of the infra red Z equipment. Indeed when I took the gentleman to Coningsby, nobody there knew about it, The good men that they were kept it secret even well after the war. When we had looked around the Lancaster we went to have a coffee in the mess and a farmer had brought over a Dutchman who had been tending the war graves as a thank you. He was looking through the rear gunner's log book and saw that he had done a raid on Flushing Island (Vlissingen) "I vos zere! You did fantastic job and ze Germans made us work for weeks with bulldozers trying to repair ze damage" What was the chance of that encounter!

We had an old lorry driver who collected sugar beet for us and never occurred to us that he was a tail gunner in a Lancaster in WW2 . He actually was trained up as a pilot and instructor in Canada but on his return to UK he found that there were no positions for him as a pilot, but they needed people with a pilot’s capability to operate the new radar operated gun turrets which had to be rotated in a pattern to cover the sky behind. However this yawed the aircraft and made the crew feel sick so was unpopular. This system was well known but what was not so well known was the infrared signalling device to link with our own night fighters so that they did not shoot each other down I took him down to the Lancaster at Coningsby and we wedged him back in the rear turret. He was quite a large man. I did see a tear in his eye

Just Jane resides at East Kirkby, near Spilsby and the museum there is well worth a visit. You can book a taxi run in the Lancaster. There is a spooky old control tower restored to how it was in the war as well as a hangar full of aircraft bits from the war I went down there a few years ago to witness the sound of twelve Merlins as the BBMF Lanc and the Canadian one came over while Jane was taxiing

Just thought I would take the old girl out for a spin to practice my three point landings! And nobody is going to argue with my pair of Browning 303s!

I would suggest that because the ivy was so dead and dry that it burnt quickly enough not to damage the bark before running out of fuel. It was quite spectacular at night though!

We were cutting ivy off the trees in the wood which seemed to have been suffocated by it. On the tall trees we just severed the main stems and eventually it died but remained on the tree We had a small brash bonfire a couple of years later in the Winter, which must have been over fifty yards away and an ember flew into the dead ivy and the tree went up like a Roman candle. None of the other trees were affected but I thought that this tree may have had it However this year all seems well and it seems to have only been singed and has a full green canopy. I think we were lucky!

Following the phone alarm trial I found this

I am nearly seventy years old and still razor sharp!

Heard a good talk on Radio 4 today https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_radio_fourfm My father inherited a large butterfly collection from a man in the village he grew up in . He was always around to this man’s house as a lad not even ten years old, enthralled by the collection of South American Morphos and other highly coloured beauties. He was very surprised when he was left the collection in his will in 1940. I was always amazed that such brightly coloured insects should survive predators but this morning’s talk showed why . I keep wondering what to do with them but at the moment I show them to people, especially children, who see them in a different and more intimate way than glass cases full of many other distractions. Certainly when I see the children sometimes many years later they often refer to the time they “ were allowed” to see the butterflies and moths, many of which are more beautiful and certainly more subtle in their colours

My wife is Danish and there are many words in the old Lincolnshire dialect that are similar. Not surprising as we were under Danelaw for so long (I still am!) This was interesting written in 1892 obviously Yorkshire was under Danelaw as well but a couple of words we use here every day are Gimme for ewe lamb and Clegg for Horsefly, Danish KLaeg GENUKI: YORKSHIRE FOLK TALK: Danish comparisons, Yorkshire WWW.GENUKI.ORG.UK YORKSHIRE FOLK TALK: Danish comparisons Yorkshire genealogy Yellow Hammer is another good example from Germany In German it is Gelb Ammer the Ammer part means finch By the way I have been introduced to an APP on my phone called Merlin which detects bird song and identifies. All of you probably have it already as I am always the last to hear about these things but it is brilliant

I bought the Dnepr 650 after visiting Ukraine in 1993. They copied the BMWs that the Germans left behind and I think made them out of recycled tank metal! The number plate cost nothing extra to any ordinary plate and the two Airedales loved the ride and would sit in calmly in the local town when I went shopping. I would return to find a crowd talking to them "Where ya off to duck" etc It would be quite a challenge to clone this plate to another Dnepr, I don't think it is possible to break any speed limits with one!

Had the boiler stove running up to the end of March and then only morning and evening in April. Been so long since I used the solar heating that I forgot about it until today! So heading for my first solar bath of the year, the two dozen tubes on the roof have heated the tank to 60 degrees C today

Here in Lincolnshire the first one today sheltering from a cold North East wind, probably wondering why he left the South African sunshine!

I don't geddit!

Father used to run a moth trap together with an old surgeon friend and they used to log their count each day. I think they sent the results eventually to the Norwich Natural History Museum. Yes there were more moths about and I rarely see them coming to the light at night. There may be other factors to take into account such as the increase in bat numbers. Same with insects on windscreens. Firstly there are so many more cars on the roads, secondly cars are more aerodynamic, and there is also the possibility that insects have evolved to avoid roads But yes, it is true that there has been a general vast decline, except at our lake which also ruins my bat theory as there are so many pipistrelles there!

I built a serious des res bat box a few years ago, thought I had picked the perfect site and orientation, but so far not a sign. However at the log cabin there is a lot of activity which I think is probably due to the insect life available on the lake. They also like spaces in the foam insulation in the roof of our old disused potato store brick building.

I know ,I know , I should be posting about hookaroons, but,but but it is Easter after all. I think I need to see a doctor!

Vladimir Presnyakov The night was moonless Quiet like at a churchyard I saw you cruising my way Surrounded by stars Oh, how young you were I lost my heart to your charms Stewardess named Jeanne I admire you, i desire you You are my angel from heaven Wherever i am, you are near Stewardess named Jeanne You are my angel from heaven Wherever i am, you are near Stewardess named Jeanne You are my fifth ocean, My wonder woman I want our heavenly affair To last forever No evil, no lies should touch us, No unexpected disasters Stewardess named Jeanne I admire you, i desire you You are my angel from heaven Wherever i am, you are near Stewardess named Jeanne I admire you, i desire you You are my angel from heaven Wherever i am, you are near I leave my worries behind, I forget all troubles When the stewardess of night Calls me to the everlasting flight I'm flying and the heavens sing As our plane goes higher and higher Stewardess named Jeanne I admire you, i desire you You are my angel from heaven Wherever i am, you are near Stewardess named Jeanne39 You are my angel from heaven Wherever i am, you are near Stewardess named Jeanne Stewardess named Jeanne Stewardess named Jeanne https://lyricstranslate.com

Earlier version