Grumpy Owl

The police did say at the start that they believed she fell into the river, and that has turned out to be the case - so they were 'right'. Perhaps there is more to this story, or maybe there isn't? Perhaps all the media attention, the endless social media speculation, people obsessing and commenting on this, it really just was a massive distraction and psy-op.

Apparently Frogmore Cottage has issues with 'damp'. Shouldn't be a problem for Randy Andy though, as apparently he doesn't sweat/perspirate. Less moisture in the air = less damp/mould

Oh, more strikes... 'Entire West Midlands bus network to shut down' after drivers vote in favour of industrial action from https://www.expressandstar.com/news/local-hubs/birmingham/2023/03/02/entire-west-midlands-bus-network-to-shut-down-after-drivers-vote-in-favour-of-industrial-action/ On the same day that more rail strikes take place. Oh, and apparently schools will be striking on the same day too. How considerate. What does bother me though is the union's 'justification' for this: The figures being quoted refer to those of the entire National Express Group of companies, but the UK bus operation in the West Midlands has only a small involvement in this. It's typical communist/socialist 'spin'. National Express West Midlands did not make £197m in profits last year, the whole group did, which includes their more profitable ventures in countries outside the UK. (There are of course other bus operators in the West Midlands who will be operating as normal on the strike days) The timing of this to coincide with rail strikes is curious, as if the union wants to cause the most amount of disruption possible. I also think this is aimed at 'nudging' people to accept the inevitable bus franchising which is on the cards here, as has happened in Manchester and is happening in Liverpool. "Corporate renationalisation"

You've clearly never been anywhere near Birmingham. Both the Lickey Hills and Waseley Hills, as well as other 'country parks' in and around Birmingham, are free to enter and wander around. You only ever get 'stung financially' if you pop into one of the 'visitor centres' for a bite to eat.

In 2030, there will be two Ramadans... https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/ramadan-happen-twice-2030-reason-20296311# So we will have Christmas and Ramadan essentially occurring at the same time, or at least one following straight after the other. Muslims and Christians celebrating their holy days ("holidays") together. "Happy Holidays!" Significant, or just another one of those coincidences?

It's another story that keeps popping up in the Birmingham Mail, so I suspect like the Nicola Bulley story there'll be an element of social engineering behind it.

I must admit that I saw something this morning that made me feel a little bit sad about this... While on the bus to work this morning, we'd stopped in Sparkhill to pick up a load of passengers, and in the queue of traffic alongside us was some livestock-carrying truck. From my vantage point up on the top deck, I could see into this truck, owing to the open slats on the side, and I could see it was full of sheep... absolutely rammed I must add. Poor things were all stood up, squashed against each other - a bit like some of the buses I have travelled on recently! - and I did think it looked a bit inhumane. I don't know where they were ultimately heading towards, probably some halal slaughter house or other abbatoir is a good guess, or from where they had been transported, but I did feel sorry for the poor things. It hasn't changed my mind about eating meat, that is ultimately what these animals are bred and reared for, that is their 'purpose'. What I care most about is that these animals should be properly looked after and cared for during their short lives, and it was a bit undignifying to see them all cramped together like this.

As I mentioned in an earlier reply, our local Reach news rag has been running practically the same story for the last few weeks, about we're all going to be blanketed in snow in the next week or so, based on some 'forecasting' by some organisation called WXcharts. As for the Daily Express, I'm still waiting for the "100 days of snow" that they warned us about several years ago now. Looking at the 10-day forecast for Birmingham from The Weather Channel (usually pretty reliable), it looks like we might have a bit of snow next week, but I doubt it will cause much in the way of disruption. Personally I think once this bit of weather is out of the way - last vestiges of winter and all that - then we can start looking forward to the spring and the warmer weather, as well as all the histrionics about 'how hot it is'.

This used to be called "Economy7": Electric car owners urged to switch to EV-only energy tariff ahead of expected bill rise from: https://www.expressandstar.com/news/motors/2023/02/28/electric-car-owners-urged-to-switch-to-ev-only-energy-tariff-ahead-of-expected-bill-rise/ The article doesn't mention if a 'smart' meter is required to take advantage of this tariff, but you can bet that it is likely one of the 'conditions', and another way of 'nudging' people into smart meter uptake in order to 'save money'. Which sounds almost exactly the same way that Economy7 "dual phase" meters work, where you have a 'day rate' and a 'night rate' - the day rate is typically at a higher price than standard, but the night-rate is then lower. I used to have this at my old property, which had no mains gas supply, and had storage heaters for heating and an immersion heater for hot water. The storage heaters and immersion heater would come on during the night to take advantage of the cheaper night rates, and I did used to programme the washing machine to operate during those times. But I remember reading somewhere a while back that the plan was to phase out Economy7 tariffs, it sounds now like they just simply want to 'rebrand' it in order to suck in EV owners, yes it may end up slightly cheaper to recharge your expensive EV overnight, but you still end up paying a higher daytime rate for your regular electricity usage.

Snow and cold weather in February/March...

"The Adam And Eve Story" by Chan Thomas has been covered in other threads in this forum before. There's a version available to download in this article on my website: https://thegrumpyowl.co.uk/2020/08/22/global-cataclysm-coming-soon/

I've actually read his book "Enemy Of The State" and I found it fascinating reading. You do get an insight into where he came from, and why he originally did what he did, and why he founded the EDL. I can equally believe his reasons for leaving and distancing himself from the EDL, because he found it becoming 'hijacked' by people with ulterior motives. There's also some allegations in there about how certain people/groups tried to 'manipulate' him for their own ends. I can believe that up until a certain point, he was the 'real deal'. But the book only told a story up until this point, and it is my belief that he has since then become compromised, and was recruited by people such as Rebel Media in order to further their own divisive agendas. His trying to become involved with UKIP was also a major 'red flag' for me, and from what I saw as a UKIP member at the time, also contributed to destroying any credibility that UKIP had gathered under the helm of Nigel Farage. Yes, I do think he has a very 'myopic focus' on Islam, I think he is right to call out 'Muslim grooming gangs', but yet he says nothing about child abuse being carried out by members of other religious groups, or even political/Establishment groups.

I doubt that very much. There's a guy works down the chip shop who swears he's Elvis. I doubt that too.

It'll end up becoming another way of 'softening up' public opinion, and it is surely no coincidence that this happened around the same time our Government announced it is basically planning a 'free for all' regarding asylum seekers. After all, you can't be referring to these people as 'illegal immigrants' if they are being welcomed into the country 'legally'. Expect to see more virtue-signallers waving their 'refugees welcome' banners again who have absolutely no idea how they are being scammed.

That must be this fella: Nicola Bulley TikTok ghoul sparks dismay at social media chase for 'likes' From: https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/nicola-bulley-tiktok-ghoul-sparks-26344951 Now while I agree with the sentiments about social media 'content creators' and the depths they will sink to in order to get 'likes' and comments, I find it completely hypocritical of media outlets such as those run by Reach Plc, who have spent the last few weeks posting numerous 'news articles' on their sites, which are nothing more than lazy click-bait journalism, designed to get people to view articles so the website can make money from advertising revenue. In case my comment there gets 'deactivated', here it is here:

It's a load of bullshit really, especially blaming 'climate change'. As I have repeatedly stated here in this forum, it is a failure of our own Government to 'plan ahead' following the EU referendum result, and to support our farmers to 'get them growing again', after years of being subsidised by the EU to limit their production. Instead, because of 'climate change', our Government thought it better to encourage farmers to have solar panels and wind turbines built on their land instead. "Narrative enforcing" at its finest. The 'energy price inflation' was caused by Governments imposing sanctions on Russia. It's been "very hot" in Britain during the summer for several years before this. Perhaps in the UK we should start making the most of this 'climate change' and start growing produce we'd normally have to import from 'warmer countries'? It's just excuse after excuse with these people, its always "somebody elses fault" rather than our own.

The barcodes on stamps work the same way as the QR codes that appear on the address label if you buy postage online and print at home. If you take an item to a Post Office and buy postage there, they won't use stamps but print off a small label which also has a QR code. Every letter or parcel gets scanned on delivery - its not so much about preventing reusing of stamps, but reducing fraudulent claims for non-delivery.

Has been going on for years. I watched this documentary a few years ago now:

I'm not banned from McDonalds, but it is my choice not to grace any of their 'restaurants' with my presence, because I'd rather eat food elsewhere that is not toxic shit.

Because this is all part of the divisive/"us vs them" tactics being played out psychologically on us all.

It's always about "possibilities" with the media - "could" / "maybe" / "possibility" etc

I'm biased because I don't drive and have never owned any car. But really there is no need for motorists to be racing around everywhere and trying to 'compete' with others. (The only people who do that are what I call 'pricks') Anyway, from what I gather with electric vehicles, there is a certain driving style that has to be adopted, in order to maintain the battery charge for longer. Tesla acceleration figures might be 'impressive' but still, these vehicles are designed for 'steady' driving, and your battery will soon be depleted if you're 'razzing off' from the traffic lights like you're starting a Formula 1 Grand Prix.

Many things that we eat and drink contain toxins. The point though is "everything in moderation".

Only watched the first two parts so far of this... I'm not sure about Dr Nick Kollerstrom, but it is interesting that he has also apparently been on the receiving end of being 'misrepresented' by the BBC. Regarding the 'conflict' in Ukraine, his researched opinions and thoughts are pretty compelling, a lot of what he says concurs with things I have read about and pondered on. The media portrays Ukraine as a 'plucky little country', but everyone seems to have forgotten what happened in the eight years leading up to this 'war'.

I found this 'interesting' from the Twitter thread posted earlier: (took a screenshot as I couldn't embed just that tweet on its own) So there you go, if your social credit score is 'too low', then you have the option of paying money to the government to have it 'raised'. It ends up becoming another form of taxation (or extortion if you like).