Order of the Bath

There are a lot of ways to write telephone numbers, plenty of “standards” to chose from so why do so many people get them wrong?

For national numbers the only essential requirement is a space between the local part and the area code: that is 0117 9123456 (NOT 01179) for Bristol and 020 84641234 (NOT 0208) for London. Parentheses, hyphens and extra spaces can be put in for readability and local custom but it is not essential. A typical US number would be written (918) 555 1212.

On the web, it is often better to use international numbers. These should be written with a plus at the start, a space between the country code and the area code and another before the local part: i.e. +44 117 9123456. The ITU-T E.123 standard recommends that only spaces are used for extra separation. A typical French number (in Strasbourg) would be +33 388 12 34 56.

Canal boat chase ends in capture after eight days. I am not 100% sure that this story is genuine, but it is very funny anyway. The gist is that they applied for permission to exceed the 4mph speed limit but found that the boat wouldn’t go any faster anyway—something I can confirm from experience, it is the depth of water that is the problem.

I’m sure everyone if familiar with the knobbly pavements put in so the blind can tell where the crossings are. Have you noticed that they are pink near lights controlled crossings and yellow elsewhere?

Why? I have conducted a blind test (boom! boom!) and he can’t tell the difference. The bumps are the same size, spacing and direction. Yet the official guidelines do specify that this is what has to be done.

Tactile paving, in the form of ‘blister’ paving should be red in colour at controlled pedestrian crossings (pelican, zebra, toucan and puffin crossings). But at uncontrolled crossings it should be buff in colour, to indicate the presence of a dropped kerb.

Access Group Resources

Even the partially sighted, who also benefit from these markings, would have trouble distinguishing the pale colours.

Do you suppose there is another Anglican church that commemorates a Wesley in a stained glass window? I have never seen one. Admittedly it is Charles not John but still pretty amazing.

It forms part of a set of four in our church (St. Matthew’s, Kingsdown, Bristol) with John Bunyon, William Tyndale and Thomas Cranmer. These were installed, we think, in the middle of the last century.

One of our super-bosses today, used the phrase “because diamonds last forever…” Is this true? I don’t think so. Diamond is said to be the hardest known substance naturally occurring, but that doesn’t mean that it is indestructible. They will shatter if treated roughly because they are brittle. They will also burn (with some difficulty) and dissolve in some substances. For this reason I suspect that they do also naturally decay by oxidation but very slowly due to the tight molecular bonds.

It is also to be noted that diamond is not the rareest or most expensive of the gem stones. Good sapphires, emeralds, garnets and rubies are much less common and fetch higher prices; particularly now that sythetic diamonds are getting to be so good.

The problem with joining any political party is that it is almost certain that you don’t agree with all of their policies. There is not much room for a Pro-Life Liberal or a Socialist who supports traditional marriage so inevitably you have to either compromise or abstain. I chose the former some years ago when I felt it was a duty to take a more active part in the running of the country and to make a small attempt to get views like mine recognised.

It was a pleasant surprise then to find a lobby group (not a party) with which I could agree with every one of their campaigns so far.

Who’s Watching Who? from Dean Whitbread on Vimeo.

I would encourage anyone who agrees with them (The Open Rights Group) to join.

I am told that a breadmaker can be found sitting on a shelf, unused, in every modern kitchen. It is too early yet to discover if my new one will join the waffle maker, yoghurt maker, fondue set, tin opener, knife sharpener and raclette, but the first results were 100% successful. A nice fluffy white loaf with a crispy crust greeted us for breakfast this morning and the idea is that I make one every Friday that we are home at the same time as I wring the oranges.

A tip I can pass on from friend Liz is worth noting. On both our Panasonic models, the instructions say put the yeast in first followed by the flour and other dry ingredients and last of all the water. The idea is to keep the wet away from the yeast until it is needed. In practice this doesn’t work because the water, being heavy, leaks past the flour down the edges and spoils the yeast. The best way to do it is exactly the reverse; first the water with the fat THEN the flour which floats on top and finally the yeast which stays nice and dry. She has been doing this for years and I can confirm that it works perfectly.

N.B. For sacristans who might worry about these things, Mary will make the communion buns in the old way by hand unless numbers increase dramatically.