Moan, moan, moan----get it off your chest or have a chat

[Tony Willis]

[/quote]

Anthony

Is it not Labour Day in the UK?   It is a holiday here, everything is closed and not even a newspaper today.

Do you have a Labour Day?  I suppose you don't have a Victoria Day there either!

johnw
[/quote]

Every day is a Labour day here until June next year!

[Maggi Young]

That is annoying Anthony... and somewhat puzzling.... here is what I found on the subject:
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/01/bankholidays

Scottish Bank Holidays '09
New Year's Day January 1
Second of January - January 2
Good Friday - April 10
Early May Bank Holiday - May 4
Spring Bank Holiday - May 25
Summer Bank Holiday - August 3
St Andrews Day - November 30
Christmas Day - December 25
Boxing Day - December 26

 No mention there of any September dates at all!  Ian has just gone to the Post Office... we'll see how that pans out here in Aberdeen!

 It is quite usual here, of course, for the banks to be open on local holidays when the shops may be closed and the schools, too, only to be closed when all the shops are open! This is because in Scotland Bank Holidays are seldom general Public Holidays as they are in England.

http://www.big-yoy.co.uk/spreadsheets/holiday/bank_holiday_dates.php   dates for 2010



June next year your retirement target, is it Tony? 

[Anthony Darby]

Quite so Maggi. School's always have a September weekend in Central Scotland, though different areas often choose different weekends. Clackmannanshire is next weekend, I think? Interesting to see if the new one (St Andrew's day) is given to us? When my grandfather ran a subpostoffice in Huddersfield, Good Friday was the only day that they closed so they could all go to the Post Office dance.

[Tony Willis]

June next year your retirement target, is it Tony?  

If only I was that young again!

[Maggi Young]

June next year your retirement target, is it Tony?  

If only I was that young again!

Ah!! Right... well in that case,  do I deduce correctly that you were making a comment on the date for a General Election?
(I'll get there in the end!)

[Tony Willis]

June next year your retirement target, is it Tony?  

If only I was that young again!

Ah!! Right... well in that case,  do I deduce correctly that you were making a comment on the date for a General Election?
(I'll get there in the end!)

I think you got there

[Anthony Darby]

Only 183 school days to go until the summer holidays.

[David Nicholson]

Only 183 school days to go until the summer holidays.

.... and you a professional educationalist Anthony

Glad to see you changed your avatar, the previous one made you look old(er)

[David Nicholson]

Every day is a Labour day here until June next year!

My money is in May Tony

[shelagh]

Have my glasses failed me?

Is it my computer?


The print size on the Forum has suddenly dropped to about 8.  I can hardly read it.  What has happened?

[David Nicholson]

Must be your specs Shelagh, mine's OK!!

[Michael J Campbell]

Shelagh,click on VIEW at the top of the screen and then click on zoom in. that should fix it.

[Rodger Whitlock]

Have my glasses failed me? Is it my computer? The print size on the Forum has suddenly dropped to about 8.  I can hardly read it.  What has happened?

I don't know about Internet Exploder (as it is referred to by its closest enemies), but Firefox allows you to zoom text both larger and smaller. Ctrl- to zoom out (make text smaller); Ctrl+ to zoom in (make text larger); Ctrl0 [zero key on the numeric keypad or the top row of the keyboard] to restore display to default. Perhaps you have zoomed out by accident? Try pressing CTRL then the zero key and see if that sets things to rights.

Incidentally, Firefox under View > Zoom has a selection "Zoom Text Only" which you can toggle on or off. If it's off, it zooms the entire webpage in and out. I only noticed this recently and am trying out zooming the entire webpage.

PS: those are the + and - keys on the numeric keypad that zoom you in and out.

[Maggi Young]

Suburban gardens 'play vital role'.... so says a Press Association report
1 hour 41 mins ago ; 

Suburban backyards play a vital role in preserving Britain's animals and plants, it has been claimed.

Researchers who surveyed 61 gardens in Sheffield between 1999 and 2002 discovered an "astonishing diversity" of flora and fauna.

And small gardens made as important a contribution as large ones, and contained a far richer range of life than modern farms.

The scientists identified 1,166 types of plants - equivalent to more than two thirds of native British flora - and 700 species of invertebrates.

On average, 42% of plants were home-grown British with many more originating from other countries including Asia and North America.

Dr Ken Thompson, from the University of Sheffield, who led the BUGS study, said: "If you are comparing gardens with an equivalent area of modern intensive farming, then gardens are much, much better in terms of everything you measure, whether it is spiders, bugs or birds.

"It's a slightly heretical thing to say, but most farmland would be improved by having a housing estate build on it, from a biodiversity perspective."

Speaking at the British Science Festival at the University of Surrey in Guildford, Dr Thompson gave a number of tips for improving a garden's wildlife habitability.

He said: "The top thing is to grow more, big shrubs and trees, which massively increase the volume of vegetation in your garden. A lot of vegetation means a lot of places to live and a lot of stuff to eat.

"Other things include dig a pond, don't be too tidy, don't be in a hurry to clear up everything when it stops flowering, and don't Hoover up the last leaf. Just leave a bit of stuff lying around."

Well, well, what a surprise.... who'd have guessed that, eh?   
I thought everyone knew that our gardens were valuable oases.... 

[Lesley Cox]

We don't have bank holidays as such but each province has its own anniversary day celebrating (?what). These are confusing because depending when it is, some provinces take that day off with schools, banks, POs etc closed and other tack their day onto Easter or something making THAT holiday almost interminable, especially when, like Anthony, I have packed several plants for posting and have to take them home and undo then repack them.