Friday news on Saturday.

 Friday News time. Yes, I am aware that it is Saturday! So, I am a day late. I have been busy and not 100% well and frankly my get up and go, got up and went around Tuesday. Still waiting for its return. It's 9.45pm and Simon is watching a film so I have come up to rest in bed.

Last week, I said that any future Friday News posts would be positive stories only. Happy, nice, uplifting stories. I have been looking around to see what I can find. So here goes.

International.

I am well aware that a big chunk of that country across the pond is suffering a terrible blizzard right now. Our news reports are full of it. Over 2 feet of snow in some places. It looks pretty horrendous. But it seems that there is one little guy who is loving it. Tian Tian, a giant panda who is a resident of Washington's National zoo is having the best fun ever. This video certainly put a smile on my face. Just watch him. That's pleasure right there.

UK.

Well! Did nothing good happen in the UK this week? No happy stories? I am sure there must have been plenty but after spending an hour searching the internet, I have come up with a zero. That is not good.

Local.

OK, nothing here either.

You know what? Those of you who said positive news would be hard to find were right! I have spent ages reading rubbish stuff and now I am feeling grotty so I am going to miss out Entertainment news altogether.

So I don't end up feeling depressed at my failure, I am going to watch Tian, Tian again. He is one happy panda.

They say the snow storm is headed here next week. If it gets as far as us, maybe I will go out and roll in the snow. Now that would be news worthy!

Friday News - 15th January

So it's Friday again and I am giving Wendy's Friday News another go. You may remember last week that I had trouble with the sport category as I simply don't “get” sport! This week I am scrapping sport in favour of UK news. This will be in addition to International. Let's go…….

International.

The international story which I have noticed today is that of the medical trials in France that have gone so badly wrong. Apparently the drug trial was in phase one which is where a tiny dose is given to healthy people to test for side effects. One man has been declared brain dead and 5 more have suffered permanent brain damage. It is being said that the drug being tested was derived from cannabis but it is not clear what the eventual drug would be used for.

This is truly horrible. I know that we need new drugs for all kinds of conditions and at some point they must run trials with real people but that means there is always going to be the potential for this kind of tragedy. For the record, I am totally against animal testing. Apart from the often cruel way the animals are treated and the pain and suffering they endure, I cannot see any logic in it at all. Every single animal is different to us so how testing on a mouse, or a dog, or a monkey has any bearing in what a drug will do to a human is beyond me.

UK.

Apparently we have a British astronaut in space! Who knew? Not me! He is called Tim Peake and today he was doing a space walk with another astronaut to repair an electrical box. Simon has the news on and this came up whilst I was typing. It would seem the space walk has had to end early as the American astronaut had water inside his helmet which is not a good thing it would seem.

Can you tell that I am not overly enthralled with space stuff? I guess some of it is interesting but I am afraid that I think we need to put our house in order here on Earth before we start worrying about what’s out there. So much money is spent that could be spent on better things. Just an opinion of course.

I commented to Simon just now that I had no idea that there was currently a Brit up there in space and he said how could you have missed that? Easily. I try really hard to not watch or listen to the news. It is so often depressing, half of it is totally fabricated, they only tell us what they want to tell us which is not always the truth, plus I simply do not have the time for anything that doesn't interest me.

Another cousin of mine, Pat, posted on her FB page today how sad she was at the death of Alan Rickman. I thought she had just lost a friend. It soon became apparent from the comments that this was not a friend but a celebrity. I had to ask her who he was and got told to wash my mouth out! I think she couldn't believe that I didn’t know. I hardly ever watch TV and haven't the patience to sit through a film, and I have zero interest in “celebrities” so consequently I never know who anyone is.

Local.

The local news buzzing around the nearby town of Bourne is that a well established and loved gift shop is to close to make way for a new pub. A Wetherspoon's pub, which is a big chain here in the UK. The general feeling seems to be that there are enough pubs in the town anyway and we don't need more and also that the big chain type establishments ruin the image of the country market town. I tend to agree. There is already a big chain pub as you enter the town but this new one would be right in the middle of the main high street. However, it could help bring more custom into the Three Counties Dog Rescue charity shop which is just a 100 yards or so further along. Now that would be good.

Entertainment.

I guess the big news story this week is the death of David Bowie. Yes I had heard of him! Not a fan though. I am continually surprised by how the death of a celebrity apparently causes so much distress to so many people. It is sad when anyone dies, particularly when that person is no great age, but I don't understand why it would cause such upset if you didn't know him personally. I am also rather taken aback by some of the tributes. I quote: “Singer David Bowie, one of the biggest stars and most influential musicians of his era, has died of cancer at the age of 69.” Was he really that big and that influential? Perhaps I missed something? He wasn't ever really on my radar. I was a teeny bopper and massive Donny Osmond fan.

Miscellaneous.

My misc news is that today is my little grandson, Jackson's 3^rd birthday. 3 years ago today he was born at just 28 weeks and he lay in an incubator whilst we stood by helplessly. He has come such a long way since then and today he was going bowling with Mummy and Daddy. So very, very proud of him. Happy 3^rd birthday Jackson.

Here is a photo of me and Jackson.

Well those are my 5 bits of news. I said earlier that I find the news depressing. If I do this next week, I am going to seek out positive, happy stories. Maybe I can even find something that really interest me!

Friday news was the idea of my cousin Wendy.  Why not join in. It would be very interesting to read what is going on in your area and maybe we could open discussions on some of the topics. 

Friday Five - In the news

I needed inspiration so I am copying Wendy's idea which is to choose 5 news stories that have caught my eye this week.  There are 5 categories.  You'll get the idea.

The only problem with this is that I try very hard to avoid the news!  We do not get a newspaper and I do not watch it on the TV if I can help it.  I see snippets whist I am on the Internet.

International.

Not sure if Scotland counts as International?  They are independent of us and you do cross a border to enter Scotland albeit just a sign on the road side. (No men in kilts playing bagpipes)!
Anyway, this is the story that I first heard this morning and it is all over our news.  Yet another river has burst its banks causing terrible destruction and misery.  This time it is the river Don in Aberdeenshire which broke its banks overnight. Many residents had to be evacuated from their homes.

I can only try to imagine what it must be like to be in this situation.  It must be very scary to watch as the water gets higher and higher and finally enters your home. The damage and mess left behind once the water recedes is devastating.

We seem to be seeing these scenes more and more here in the UK. It seems that it is getting wetter here. We could debate all day on why that maybe.  Global warming?  Who really knows?  It is a solution that everyone is more interested in.  Well we can't stop it raining, if only!  So we have to do something to stop the flooding.  There is much talk about our flood defences and river dredging and the like.  I don't know too much about it.  What I do know is permission is still regularly granted for new homes to be built on flood plain land and that can't help can it?

Fortunately for me,  although we live in the Fens, most of which is at or below sea level; our house is slightly uphill so it would be very unlikely to flood.  That said if there was to be a massive tidal surge on the coast.......  In fact Lincolnshire County Council has recently spent a ton of money erecting escape route signs!

It was quite funny actually as they erected all the signs before telling people what they mean so much guessing was going on! This is the sign.   They are designed to lead people away from the lower coastal towns to the higher ground of the Lincolnshire Wolds.  Spalding which is about 15 miles from us is at particular risk of tidal flooding.  It is inland but the river  runs out to the Sea on the East coast.

Local.

There doesn't seem to be anything happening in my village this week or even in the nearby town of Bourne.  There is an interesting story for Stamford though.  (Stamford is about 15 miles away so at least the Merikans will think it is local)!  They are reviving the ancient tradition of Wassailing.  This originated in the British cider making districts and traditionally took place on the 17th of January (the old 12th night). The purpose of wassailing is to awaken the apple trees and by scaring away the evil spirits, encourage the tress to fruit well in the coming year. Stamford is holding a Wassail this Saturday at the community orchard.  Perhaps I should do the same here to see if I can encourage my one apple tree!

Sport.
I have no interest in sport at all so any news simply won't be on my radar.  I shall scrap this category next week if I do Friday News again.  For today my sport news is...... drum roll please..... Fitbit have a new fitness tracker coming out!  The Fitness Blaze is due for release in March and I want one!  I  currently have a Fitbit Charge which is brilliant and it has got me moving.  The Fitbit Blaze has a colour screen and measures exercise too.  Plus it comes in purple and you can make the screen pink!!! Need I say more?

Entertainment.

The BBC "The Voice" programme starts again this Saturday.  I know this because there are constant trailers for it on the BBC.  I have never watched this as I am not really into these talent show things.  If you don't know "The Voice", it has a slightly different format to begin with as the judges can't see the contestants so they base their decision on the voice alone and not on appearances.  That has to be a good thing?  Remember the Susan Boyle story?  That was Britain's Got Talent. All 4 judges and the audience were discarding her the minute she walked on to the stage.......until she opened her mouth. Simon Cowell's shock was visible.  Trouble is with these sort of programmes is they seem to offer nothing more than a few minutes of fame.  Very few of the contestants or even winners go on to be stars.

Miscellaneous.

Apparently our government have had a review on alcohol consumption and are about to revise the guidelines on safe drinking limits. They are basically saying that there is NO safe limit and that you should always have 2 alcohol free days a week and no more than 1 unit for women and 3 for men.  So, what happened to the claim that red wine is good for you? HMMM.

There 5 bits of news. If I do this next week, I am going to scrap sport.  I shall have International, UK, Local, entertainment and Misc.

Friday news was the idea of my cousin Wendy.  Why not join in. It would be very interesting to read what is going on in your area and maybe we could open discussions on some of the topics.  I would love to know what you think is the cause of the change in our weather.  Now if only I could  get blogger to let me comment.  Stupid thing.