Don't look down!

Truly scary Japanese suspension bridge.

And after the trick-or-treaters are tucked up in bed I'll be watching......

Nosferatu.....

Stay calm and stay in your homes

"A script written by the BBC and the government to be broadcast in the event of a nuclear attack has been published. The script, written in the 1970s and released by the National Archives, included instructions to "stay calm and stay in your own homes". It said communications had been disrupted, and the number of casualties and extent of damage were not known. Other papers reveal debates about how to ensure the person reading the script was authoritative and comforting. The script was discussed from 1973 to 1975, during the Cold War."

Read more, and download the transcript here

Giant Pool of Money

Promised Chris I would post a link to this radio programme. It explains the origins of the current credit crunch in a way that even I understood!

"A special program about the housing crisis produced in a special collaboration with NPR News. We explain it all to you. What does the housing crisis have to do with the turmoil on Wall Street? Why did banks make half-million dollar loans to people without jobs or income? And why is everyone talking so much about the 1930s? It all comes back to the Giant Pool of Money."

Link to listen online

Up on the roof of Durham Cathedral...fieldtrip

I won't bore you with the internal shots of venerable rafters made out of apparently whole trees...but suffice it to say, I'm covered in a fine layer of cathedral dust and I've stood in an awful lot of pidgeon shit this afternoon. The views were fantastic but the experience didn't do anything to improve my vertigo...that last shot looking down from the lantern gallery is surprisingly steady considering how much I was shaking at the time, it's a lot higher than it looks in the photograph.

Don't be a pleb Lucinda......

" Lucinda's tastes are so depraved
She likes to play and romp
With children poor and ill-behaved
Who boast no style or pomp

Their costumes are not quite correct
They have no pretty tricks
Lucinda! Pray be more select
In higher circles mix"

Check out the rest of the book (and beat your children into submission) here at the Rare Books and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress

B Movies Galore

Waste hours at B Movies.com It's a positive celebration of bad dubbing, weak story lines and jumpy editing. Watch online only....so broadband essential.

It's that time of year again

No, surely not! Less than a month to go and the excitement is rapidly building (???) Check out the latest hot news here (eg "Who will join Rodolfo Chikilicuatre on the plane to Belgrade?", now personally, I just can't wait to find out!) Watch the videos and read the press releases, dig out the tinsel and order in a case of Lambrini.

Previous winners can be viewed at Eurovision Winners (videos slow to load.....but you know it's worth it!)

And the wikipedia entry is.......................................................here

Personally, I don't think the UK has ever matched the heights reached by Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson with "Sing little birdie, sing" in 1959.....we were robbed, only scraped second place!

The Metro ain't so bad after all!

In Japan’s, oshiyas or "pushers" are employed to squeeze people onto trains....I feel pissed off when I can't get a seat (which only happens maybe half a dozen times a year)

A ghost story...The Grey Man of Bellister

Here's a story that Dad told nearly every time we were driving home from a visit to Haltwhistle when we were kids. This is the start of an early printed version (The Local Historian's Table Book of Remarkable Occurences, Historical Facts, Traditions....etc etc, 1846) I happened across at Google Books

"It was at the gray of the evening twilight, about half a century ago, that a stripling held his way towards the castle of Bellister, with the view of entering into service there. Having crossed the Tyne at Haltwhistle, he found the darkness increasing fast ; and although the distance he had to travel was not great, yet in those days, bad companions were more common than welcome on the unfrequented roads after nightfall. Leaving the Ferry, he passed a thicket of willow bushes, and then his route lay along a broken road, which he had been directed to follow, as that which would conduct him to the castle."....

Read the rest of the story here

And there's a more up-to-date version here (also the source of the moody picture)

Fast forward to the early years of the 20th Century when Granda could have been no more than a teenager. He and some friends decided that they would do a bit of ghost hunting and lie in wait for the Grey Man. They took fright at what was probably just a piece of paper blowing in the wind and hot-footed it across the bridge back into Haltwhistle, terrified out of their wits. When they got there they met with one of their original number who'd got there before them....and Sammy Teasedale was soaking wet. Apparently he'd been so scared he'd not bothered with the bridge and had 'gone streyt ower the watter'

Not in front of the children....

This post is prompted by reading an article in the Whitley Bay NewsGuardian, (Mortimer at Large) last weekend "Uncle Mac, the runaway train and all those bogus sofas exposed" In this erudite piece Mortimer bares his soul, reveals his childhood fears and debunks the received wisdom that a generation of children spent every early episode of Dr Who huddled behind the nation's sofas, whimpering. OK, so I can go along with most of his argument, but how on earth could he forget to mention Sparky's Magic Piano in his list of "most feared"....I can only presume he's blocked it out.

So, in an attempt to quell my inner demons (because it scared the shit out of me!) I've searched the soundtrack out......prepare to be very, very scared

PS....There's lots more 'tracks to scare the children with' salted away on cds....next time it could be 'Tubby the Tuba' or 'Itsy bitsy, tweeny weeny, yellow polkadot bikini' that comes to haunt your dreams!

Nah.....think I'll give it a miss!

Remember that scary footpath in China I linked to?

Here's another one, this time Caminito del Rey in Spain....and it's a video this time (WARNING...I don't recommend watching this immediately after eating!)

Not your normal, run-of-the-mill Sunday stroll....

I've been collecting links for gentle, local, scenic walks to post when the weather gets better. Found this (not so local) ramble that has since given me nightmares. Check out the step-by-step route here, with pictures, if you dare! Mount Huashan in China is described as "the most dangerous Tourist Hiking Trail in the world"....OK, so I'm persuaded!

Another failed dance craze

Found at PCL Linkdump

Ouch!.....one for the ladies

My legs are crossed and eyes watering at the very thought!

My 'source' had this to say......
"I'm a registered member of the male gender, so I can't truly empathize with the woman who followed this ad's instructions, but I can surely sympathize with them. I'm about to swoon, is what's about to happen. If these poor women didn't want a spectral doppelganger to sabotage their relationships, they were supposed to use a liquid that was a "concentrated germ-killer," but which was also supposedly wouldn't "harm delicate tissue." Which is why I always gargle with Paraquat and use battery acid to keep my eyes moist."

via Do What Now

The end (as in Eurovision) is nigh.....

This is for Daizy, possibly even Sarah...but definitely me...so a sad girlies evening is officially on the cards! But I know you want to join in on the dance moves on Saturday night....c'mon, get real, of course you do!

Blue Peter shows you how here

And the whole fantabadozy routine is here (repost)

PS.....those costumes might be getting a bit whiffy by now, and, hang on, would they be egg stains?....let's stay upwind!

Oooer....a scary lady invades your dreams!

Subliminal messages for the young from the late 50's/early 60's. Apparently you were supposed to play it to your kids as they went to sleep.....I'm not convinced! I'm adding the audio file to the box files (just click on the file to listen, BUT NOT WITH THE LIGHTS OUT!) But in case anyone wants to download it and try it out as a loop on their progeny (and, let's face it, you know who you are!) click here to link to the original post at the 365 day project ....it's the posting for 6th May