Homely Charms.

Vancouver has imposed a 15% tax on foreign property buyers.  This is to try and cool the rapidly rising house price as locals are gradually being forced out of town.  I'm not sure if this will help long term, but sounds like it's a step in the right direction.  Most big cities are suffering from rampant house price inflation, which has always puzzled me, until I realised that the buyers are generally only buying as an investment, not to buy a home which is where my mindset is.
It brings it home (ha ha!) to me that we usually view events based on our own experiences like this one, thereby often missing the real reasons.  It also reminds me of the 'things are not quite what they seem' that was drummed into me on a management course once.  Fat lot of good that did!

Handout

Aldi, the 'low cost supermarket' have specific items on sale every Thursday (or at least so I am led to believe this happens).  This weeks it's cycling gear, a selection of clothing, tools and gels suitable for the average biking bloke/lass.  I snapped up a pair of winter gloves to see me through the winter, but I'm not sure the other gear was that much of a bargain.
That's the thing about these allegedly low cost outlets.  They purport to be much lower priced than the mainstream supermarkets, then throw in some novelty items not normally found in the high street (e.g. cycling stuff) and trade on their low price name.  Not that I'm saying they were expensive, but it looked to me that the majority of the items on sale could be found elsewhere for the same or lower price and (probably) better quality.  Mind you, my cloves seem to be a bargain so I'm not complaining.

Running Story.

Early start for me this morning as I biked the 37 miles to the office.  The wind was against me so it was not the quickest of rides in to work but I'm expecting a nice tailwind all the way home.
As a reasonably keen cyclist/runner I've made my mind up to join Ron Hill's 'run every day' campaign, which runs (ha ha!) throughout October - so not as bad/arduous as every day.  The great man himself has been running for over 50 years - allegedly every day over varying distances.  I wonder if it really has been every day, I mean I'm going to struggle with doing it for a month, so 50 years?!   Maybe when he got to aged 40 that he blurted out, '40, and I've been running every day since I was 17' (or similar) without actually being able to prove/disprove the statement and the rest just followed on.  Even if it's just the majority of 50 years it's still some achievement, and his tracksters are second to none for running in the Winter months.

Taxing Situation

In a previous life, the company I worked for brought natural gas onto the site via tankers that traversed the North Sea.  It didn't get a mention in the press, but today a tanker full of shale gas is getting headlines as it docks in Scotland.  This originated in the US where shale gas is so abundant they need to find an export market for it.
Surprisingly enough, I'm no expert on fracking and as usual we only hear the extremes of an arguement in the press, making it difficult to arrive at a measured opinion on the practice of fracking.  The Scottish government has banned fracking completely, yet has no problem allowing imports.  Politics eh?

Meanwhile, our cousins in the US were treated to a presidential TV debate between the two loveable candidates.  I'm not sure if these have any influence on the way people might vote, but it manages to keep the political analysts busy at the very least.

Back in the UK, the Labour party were unified for a few minutes on Saturday as Jeremy was re-installed as leader and gave a concillatory speech, but then the normal right versus left squabbles broke out in no time at all.  The shadow chancellor managed to keep things firmly on the left by promising a £10 per hour minimum wage, thereby reinforcing everyone's view of Labour as the party of tax and spend.  I really wish these good socialist policies would work, but it's highly unlikely.

Baited Breath

It's amazing how many clickbait headlines 'leave us speechless'.  In fact, it almost makes me speechless now as I contemplate why the heck I am sometimes drawn into what is obviously a brazen attempt to drag me into paying for some internet advertising.

The Fair Way.

When I was a boy, most seaside resorts in the UK seemed to have an Arnold Palmer Mini-golf course where we, as a family, used to struggle putting around windmill sails, over hump backed bridges and calculate impossible angles that had to be hit to get it round a 90 degree bend to get in the hole.  I think my dada probably hankered over being a golfer, and this was his Lytham St Annes.
I cannot remember seeing Arnold Palmer play golf, but he is supposedly the man who brought back golf into the American public's gaze as he won 7 majors (I think). 
..and sounds like he was a decent bloke.

In other golfing news (not a sport I usually devote much time to), Rory McIlroy manged to net 10 million dollars by winning the Fed-Ex cup.  This seems to be an inordinately large amunt of money for a game of golf, even if it was spread over the season, so I'll be staying away from Fed-Ex when I'm posting anything next, they're obviously too expensive if that can afford that sort of marketing budget.

Weighing It Up.

An Italian lawyer is trying to get compensation for being sat next to a 'person of size' for a 9 hr flight.  He wants his money back plus a bit of compensation.  He says he had to stand for most of the flight so I guess he has some sort of arguement, but the way airlines treat people with who cannot fit into one of their seats is a difficult one.
I can buy the 'pay more if you weigh more' arguements, but even that is not as strightforard as it sounds e.g. how about the short fat bloke versus the tall gangley fellow who weighs the same?  There has to be some sort of measure and I think some airlines insist on the larger passenger buying an additional seat for their lard.  This seems to be reasonable, but I'm not sure it's enforceable without  quantifying it.
Baggage weights are (usually) very strict and if we accept that weight = more expensive due to the cost of fuel then some sort of weighing factor with people should be introduced somewhere.  I spend a long time getting my hold luggage at the correct weight, although getting down to 15 stone (or whatever the threshold should be) might take a bit longer for some people. 
Unfortunately, I cannot see any airline sticking their necks out and demanding that each passenger is weighed before boarding so we will have to put up with it until someone invents a home based scanner app that assesses the passengers mass and calculates the price before they arrive at the airport.

Topping

The Labour leadership vote closed a couple of days ago and we have to wait until Saturday for the result.  I find that a bit odd given that we have some general election results within a hours at most with the remainder easily within 24hrs.  Anyway, at least we don't have to stay up late for this one.

If, as is widely expected, Mr Corbyn retains the leadership we should have some more entertaining rhetoric from his detractors and supporters, and as we get near the next election (a fair way off yet admittedly) it will get very interesting indeed with the 'New Labour' old guard trying to keep the pushy leftists at bay.

Meanwhile, top news on the BBC website is that Mary is staying but Paul will go.  Is this a Peter, Paul and Mary story about their comeback tour?  Now that would be news given that Mary died in 2009, but sadly it's not, it's a Great British Bake Off story.

Futureworld.

'A daft idea is not necessarily art'.  That was one of the messages from last night's Conceptual Art program.  I tend to agree with that but there seems to be many that disagree with my view, and there are countless examples to back that up.  Tracey Emin's bed; Damian Hirst's cow in formaldehyde to name but two.  Sometimes, it seems that the dafter the idea, the more 'artful' it is as it gets hyped up.
I have created hundreds of works of art, just before they went to the rubbish dump.

Some days, I need the weather forecast to be spot on - do I bike in to work on Tuesday? .. or leave it until Thursday?  Such was my quandary last night, knowing that I have my mother to visit on Wednesday (it's her birthday) whilst at the same time keen to get some biking miles in for national cycle month.  Usually, the Met Office provides a very good service; accurate within reason and updated on a regular basis.  However, although the 'Light rain at 07:00' was true, the shower at 06:00 followed by constant drizzly rain until I arrived at work at 7:40 was not mentioned. 
Suffice to say I was wet when I arrived, leaving soggy footprints between my desk and the shower.

Bullet Points.

The sad case of Michael Schumacher keeps reappearing in the press, and this time it's a court case where a German magazine allegedly reported that he can walk a couple steps when it is stated that this is untrue.  I can't really understand why this would need a court to take action, even if it was untrue.  If we had to resort to a court to clear up any misrepresentations in the press we would need more judges I'm sure.

Meanwhile, in the wild west, it seems that there are more guns held by fewer people, thereby making the nutters even more dangerous. 

Political Leanings.

The UKIP party will announce their new leader today after Nigel Farage stops down.  He is remaining as an MEP, because he likes the Europeans so much.  In his closing speech, the main thrust was along the lines of 'I got the job done' and that well worn ridiculous phrase 'we got our country back'.  I guess they will fade away into obscurity now with barely a whimper, not so if Mr Farage was still in charge.

In other political news, Hillary is back on the campaign trail after her recent pneumonia.  It looks like she only took 3 or 4 days off, so let's hope she's back to full fitness otherwise Mr Trump is going to be getting very excited indeed.

The Price Is Right.

It never ceases to amaze me how empty a packet of crisps are when they are opened.  Happily for me, I spotted a multi-pack for 1 English pound after I had turned down the opportunity to purchase 1 bag for 71p.  If I had paid 72p for a few crumbs of deep fried potato flavoured with essence of chicken, then I would not have been impressed.  As it was, I paid just over 16.6p for my bag and I've not got 5 more to complain about for the rest of the week.

A taste test of cheapo supermarket colas reveal that they are nowhere as good as 'the real thing' - Coca Cola.  Mind you, they are a fraction of the price so I'll keep on buying my 2 for 90p tesco version at well less then half price the real thing and put up with the 'watery and weak' liquid.

No News is What??

Mel and Sue will not be going to Channel 4 with the Great British Bake Off next year, with some people suggesting they by refusing to go, they have made 'a stance'.  I figure there's more to it than that, a bit like the time I wasn't invited to a party and decided that 'I didn't want to go anyway!'.  Yeah, right.  An article in The Guardian kindly informs me that social media didn't make much of this affair Mela and Sue, not my non-party) as if this was news in it's own right.  No news is news - that can't be right can it?

Hot Potatoes

There are 10 things I need to know about the latest iPhone software update.  So said a quite prominent headline in today's Guardian.  Well, I had a quick glance at these 10 things I needed to know, and I must say I failed to see why I deeded to know about them.
I should have known better really, it managed to lure me in using a combination of 'popular' (iPhone) and 'easy to digest' (10 things...).  Note to self, don't be fooled again.  I'll put that on my popular list.

In media land, the world has imploded with the news that The Great British Bake Off is moving to Channel 4 because the tight fisted BBC wouldn't go up another 10 million quids.  Cue lots of praise for GBBO, lots of vitriol for the BBC.  Just proves you can't have your cake and eat it.

Rain on me.

Infuriatingly, I thought of a really good subject to blog about yesterday but can't for the life of me remember what it was.  This is not the first time it has happened so should I be worried?

Anyway, something I can talk about is my triathlon at the weekend.  It was the 'Vitruvian', a bit less than a half iron distance at Rutland Water.  The highlight was the rain - lots of it.  It was drizzling a bit when we arrived in the dark at 05:15 and gradually got worse as we set the transition gear up with full on hard rain as we got in the wetsuits.  It didn't let up all day, meaning the bike leg was not very pleasant but made the run a bit easier.  I finished in the top 3rd so not too bad for an old git in my humble, unbiased opinion.

Bad Grammer

Grammar schools are back in the UK, but not without a few caveats to appease the doubters - although they will probably get lost in the midst of time and we'll be back to the old 2 tier system. 
I have no fundamental problem with a 2 tier schooling system, all schools carry out some sort of streaming, but what has worried me since the 80s is the politicalisation of education.  It started with Mrs Thatcher, then Messrs Blair and Brown ramped it up, followed by some others I forget and then Mr Gove under Mr Cameron.  What a motley crew!  We just don't seem to be able to leave the system alone long enough for it to prove/disprove itself.

Meanwhile, the weather forecast for tomorrow is dire, with rain expected all day from very early on.  The early comment is because I'm due to take part in a half iron-distance triathlon that kicks off at 06:25 which means setting up my bike etc. from about 5:30 or so (registration queue pending).  OK, granted I will probably get wet in the swim, but normally gradually dry out on the bike culminating in a sweaty run.  Tomorrow I'll be wet all day, worried about slipping off on my bike and probably feeling wet and cold on the run.  Must remember to pack some nice warm clothes to travel home in.

It's for you....

Read All About It!!  New phone available to buy!
Today's news is all about the new Apple iPhone, and proves that the smartphone is still worth talking about in some journalists's eyes some years after the novelty peaked.  This new model is obviously an improvement on the old one, and would be really worth reporting on if it wasn't.  I don't know if this is right, but methinks the journos are desperate to review it, and therefore have to talk it up for their senior editor to buy one for them.

Sustainable Transport

There's good news for cyclists in Wales, where a new law requires councils to ask the populace where they want cycle lanes etc.  A very commendable idea, but the proof will be in the lane building as they say.

Meanwhile, in the slightly faster world of Formula 1 Bernie Ecclestone and his media chums are selling up for 6.4 billion pounds, not an inconsiderate sum.  You could build a few cycle highways with that I would imagine.  This will but the commercial rights to F1 which has been an extraordinary financial success story.  Whether that is good for the sport is another question, and one that would probably bring a resounding 'no' from most others in the F1 world.  Very few sports seem to be able to balance commercial demands against all the others, with commercial always coming out on top.

Angry Birds

How do you handle unruly children?  Answers on a postcard please.
An article states that there has been a rise in anger management courses amongst the parenting classes - thereby assuming that children are getting more difficult to handle and sending their parents up the wall.  They attribute this to them being 'bored with real life', but I'm not so sure it's that straightforward.  Children have always been unruly in the eyes of their parents, so I reckon it's more to do with parents being unable to cope, or maybe they are now able to go to anger management classes.  I don't remember there being many of those classes available when my children were growing up.

Flypast.

Wingsuit fliers are wondering why there have been so many deaths this year.  I don't think they will have to look far to find out why - jumping off a mountain and trying to emulate a flying squirrel does not sound like a very safe pastime to me.  Evidently those that have been killed have been 'pushing the envelope'.  Maybe they should have been more attentive rather than sorting out their mail.
I was drawn into viewing a wingsuit flier's video a few weeks ago and I must say it was quite breathtaking, but what struck me is that there appeared to be very little margin for error as they sped past rocky outcrops and skimmed treetops at amazing speeds.
If they want to reduce deaths, they should make it look a little less spectacular, and more difficult.

Deathly Silence

An article in The Guardian reports on a survey of 200 funeral directors who have listed the top music played at funerals.  Evidently church music is gradually going out to be replaced with classics such as 'My Way' - up to 4th spot whilst All Things Bright And Beautiful slips to 7th.
For me, you can't beat a classic church tune such as Abide With Me, but I'm thinking that 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters would suffice at mine.
Mind you, is it that important really?  Apart from the following few hours I don't think anyone will be remembering it for long.