London Fire Brigade chiefs have ordered their firefighters not to enter smoky buildings.The officers have been banned from making appointed home visits to offer safety advice unless smokers stub out all cigarettes at least one hour beforehand and open their windows.If the home is felt to be too smoky the officer "is to provide general fire advice at the door" . If, of course, the house is burning down at the time then the rule is abrogated (unless, presumably, the fire has been caused by a householder who is smoking in bed )
George, an African Grey parrot with a crude vocabulary,has been provided with a wooden leg .His owner, Sheila Weare of Crewe,Cheshire,was being kept awake at night by her one-legged pet dozing off, falling off his perch and swearing "Bloody Hell!" very loudly. Dr Glyn Heath, of Lacerta (animal prosthetics), said "I've worked on dogs,rats and pandas but George was quite a challenge". He had to fix the new leg to the perch, not the bird. George will be trained to slot his injured limb,damaged in a fight with some intruding wild animal( ), into it for balance.Bloody hell!
In a plan to reduce smoking, a government 'think tank' has proposed licences to buy tobacco .The 10GBP (c 20 US dollars)licence would be shown before any purchase. Smokers gently pointed out that two packets of 20 cost about the same as the licence would, so the deterrence was approximately none. Another plan goes up in smoke !
When Harrow Borough Council fitted lie detectors to their benefit office phones, and advertised the fact, they found that a quarter of claimants,twice the normal number, volunteered a change in circumstances whereby they did not need as much in benefits .The Council is now believed to be thinking of saving money by lying about the existence of the lie detectors.Hmm.
Originally posted by honilov: LOL, only in Britain.
Are those really real, Fred?
Indeed they are, being fully reported and ilustrated in The Times and the Daily Mail over the last ten days. I did tease a bit about the lie detectors, hinting that the Council had hoaxed, but in fact is a absolutely true, as borne out by a lengthy piece in The Times.The trial scheme has been running for seven months.The Council say there's been a saving of £360,000 in overpayments.The machine cost them £65,000 .They prosecuted 43 cheats caught by this equipment and cautioned a further 70 . The caller is told of the equipment at the outset,so those were either disbelieving or gamblers .The big saving is in the deterrence; it's no coincidence that Harrow has suddenly become honest.
I liked the swearing, monopod parrot best. The bird suffered its injury when in an aviary, most likely being bitten by a rat.I bet he swears a lot when learning how to use the new support
MANCHESTER, England - An earthquake struck Britain early Wednesday and was felt across large parts of the country. Police reported some minor damage to homes but no injuries.
The British Geological Survey said it was a 5.3-magnitude quake but the U.S. Geological Survey earlier put the magnitude at 4.7. The temblor struck at about 1 a.m. and was centered about 125 miles north of London.
Posts: 16990 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
Just now a young woman interviewed on BBC News said that she was in bed with her partner at the time.She was awoken by the tremor and the bed then collapsed. "It was", she said knowingly," the only time the Earth's moved for me"
Originally posted by Jenny Roberts: Well the earth certainly moved for me! The wardrobe doors rattled for about 10 seconds. Anyone else over here feel it too?
Didn't feel anything but there was a faint booming noise from somewhere, a barn door banging perhaps.Disappointing, but nobody in this village reported thinking 'An earthquake!'
), into it for balance.Bloody hell! 
