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A Pheasant pluckers` son ... the hesitant pondering waddle of a Pheasant across a road .. very deceiving at high speed, (trying to avoid tham that is). I dented the sharp front end of a very solid German car bonnet when a big male shot out of the side of the road enroute to Salisbury.

(Not Salisbury Rhodesia, as it was known in the past, you understand.) Wiltshire, a peaceful journey in the English countryside was rudely interrupted by being accosted by this bird. It bounced of the bonnet edge, onto the widscreen and over the roof. I know the contest was uneven and the car won, but just another warning that a (relatively) small object can do untold damage to a poor defenceless car !

By the way, the Sun has returned ... the grass is wet with dew ... Autumn is definately here and Microsofts portal seems to be rejuvinated as well.  Nice morning ..so far.

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Francis,
Yours may have been related to one in the lane near Sherston, early one Sunday when traveling to an antique show in Gloucester. I was driving a Honda Civic Tornado. It flew over a drystone wall into the road, did a 90 degree turn and aimed for my windscreen. (I could swear it had goggles, a flying helmet and a scarf!) Its beak nearly got through the glass, that was badly starred. My mate thought his last day had come as it hit the passenger side. I tease him that he tried to get in the glove box! My £1 per annum extra windscreen insurance paid out. £400 the fitter told me, as it was tinted,  if not insured. Darned pheasant was so stuffed with glass I did not fancy it. Kamikaze pheasants live in Witshire!

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Hellooooooooooooooo ......, Hellooooooooooooo !
The echo .. I think it is to do with certain Versions of Internet Explorer and the way that data is transferred to the Internet site.

I had exactly this problem (along with a few other people) in the past, my P.C. was sending 4 messages at once. What would happen is st the point of uploading the message, the computer would act as if the message hadn`t been sent .. or it would blank the page after tranmsission. I ditched the "old faithful" Windows N.T. 4 P.C. because I could not upgrade to a later version of Intenet Explorer (I was on Ver.5.5).

25.5 degrees celcius in the workroom today, despite the wind. ( And the wind is not from me, I might add!!)

Hope everyone is enjoying the "Indian Summer" (in the U.K. at least), looks like a busy outdoors weekend for many of us. Catch you soon, best regards.

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Thanks for the technical stuff Francis. There was me just thinking it was my empty skull! Not such a busy weekend as Stu but very pleasant. Kicked off with fish & chips (from Cleveland Bridge chippie) on Friday night with daughter & son-in-law as we picked up their cat  for cat sitting. They were stocking up real food as they headed to Nice the next day. Grand villa with pool (and sunshine) but no chippie! Chores on Saturday (I actually cleaned my car!!!) and then headed to Birmingham for an antique fair on Sunday. Was driven, the weather was sunny, the company as crazy as myself, and three more bits of rusty steel now await treatment before they are added to the hoard. Easy home trip (most of the lemmings that head back to London on Sundays were moving well on the M42, M5 & M4), although we saw convoys of old VW campers that must have had a meet at Malvern Show Grounds. Arrived home to a fine dinner and yet more Australian wine! What more could a mortal wish Sticky? You are always welcome in Biddestone. The Biddestone Arms was just awarded the 'Best Food Pub' title!

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Hi Stu, I was amazed to see VW campers from all over Europe. One original 'A' Reg we passed looked brand new! I attend two military shows a year at the same site at the Three Counties and always take a boot full of plastic bottles to collect my free Malvern water from one of the springs. At least my rusty relics take up less room than vehicles.
Nearly right it was the White Hart, and the White Horse still has the original name. Locally the former was the 'bottom pub' and the latter the 'top'.  This is next to the pond. Both are worth a visit, but the Biddestone Arms is the real food one. On Sundays there is a great carvery.
Off to Suffolk for a week on Saturday, but will be home by the end of the month.

Cheers
Graham

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