Food Festival

It was fun today at the food and drink festival in Bolton, the Hairy Bikers were there and some other famous folk. A great atmosphere and the smells were gorgeous! We had German, Polish, French, Spanish, Turkish and many Eastern Countries with food on offer...but what about Scandanavia? In London, shops are opening called 'Totally Swedish' http://www.totallyswedish.com/en It would have been nice to see this represented at the food festival. We have IKEA after all!

Although I didn't drink anything is was great to have three different places to have a drink, German Beer, Cider Bar and Bank Top Brewery. I still want to have a pint of Bank Top beer!

I have to say this...Bolton and it's people is a wonderful place, but an international festival like this against backdrop of a town centre that is going down the plughole is not good. Today Bolton was vibrant, but how many buildings are empty and shops closed and derilict? Have you seen Bradshawgate? It is horrible!! Come on...lets get Bolton back on the map again like it was in the 1960's and 70's! I loved going to Bolton then on a Saturday afternoon it was always vibrant and loads of things to see and do. The Food and Drink Festival is a great idea...but what about next week? Sometimes I come home from town feeling depressed and wondering what has happened to our wonderful town. Have a look at Bury...they got it right!

Hayley Mills

When I was 7 years old I went to the cinema to watch 'In Search of the Castaways' I thought it was amazing. I loved Hayley Mills! My Uncle Eric bought me a book for my birthday called 'In Search of the Castaways' with lots of glossy photos of Hayley Mills. Later I remember watching on television 'Whistle Down the Wind' with Hayley and the guy who made her think that he was Jesus. The film was made near to Clitheroe and one of the children in the film was a friend of my wife Kathleen. In 1967 they made the film called 'The Family Way' which was all filmed in Bolton and about Bolton people. Hayley was in Bolton and also her Dad John Mills! Amazing! I remember the launch of the film at the Capital cinema on Churchgate. This film is everything I remember about life in Bolton...especially the tin bath when Hayley stands up in front of the fire! A wonderful film!

I never understood why Hayley married that old bloke, one of the Boulting brothers. She made quite a diverse number of films, from the early child film star to the rebel in another film that I remember very clearly, but can't find it again...I have never seen it on television again. I really like 'Parent Trap' very clever filming of Hayley playing both of the twins and much better than the new version. I'm not sure about 'Pollyanna' maybe that is because she spoke with an American accent and it kind of didn't match with a Bolton accent when she did Family Way.

The photo above is so strange, nothing has changed apart the fountains that has moved. I can still stand at the same place that Hayley and John Mills stands and the background wouldn't look any different.

Do you notice the technology in this photo? Microphones on trucks...all analogue...not a digit in sight!

Hi tech riots!

The last days and nights have been unbelievable! Young kids and youths running amock through our cities looting and smashing shops cars and buses. It is truly sickening to watch on television and listen to the reports coming in. Last night it kicked off in Manchester and Salford as well as Liverpool and Birmingham. Some of the images are shocking!
What turns young people like this into such greed and thuggery?
What part has digital technology played in this event?

Social networks like Twitter and Facebook has been used by the rioters to organise and communicate with each other. The Blackberry phone with its encripted instant messaging has also played a large part according to the media. Some of the top targets for the looters have been mobile phone shops, Curries, Argos and music stores. Many of the images seen on television show looters with mobile phone boxes, Large LCD and plasma Televisions, Guitars and Keyboards.
Social media is an amazing phenonimum, it is taking over our lives. While I am writing this I am reading messages coming in on Twitter about the current situation in the cities tonight. A million people have supported the police through twitter and others have organised clean-up campaigns through facebook and twitter.
Now some of the looters and rioters are being brought to justice through images from security cameras, television images and images and video captured by passers by on mobile phones. These are now being published on facebook, flickr and websites.
The two sides of digital technology in situations like this, love it or hate it, it is here to stay!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14471593

Ice Cream

Gosh...now I am looking back to the times when ice cream was fun!

"HAPPY times spent at an ice cream parlour which was a Bolton institution will be recalled later this month.
Sabini Brothers’ ice cream shop and cafe was a feature in Churchgate from the 1940s, until the family turned it into the Sandwich Inn in 1970.

The family firm served lunch to shoppers and town centre workers until 2002, when the business finally closed and the building was taken over by the Edwards estate agents.
Now the family plan to decorate the former shop front with photographs dating back to when the three Sabini brother’s first took over the site, in the 1930s.
The display is scheduled for the Midsummer festival from June 19 to 28, in and around Bolton Parish Church and Churchgate.

Dorina Green is Valentino Sabini’s daughter. She used to run the Sandwich Inn with husband Peter and brother Bruno Sabini.
She said: “I’ve always kept scrapbooks and diaries since I was a child. I’ve got quite a few old photographs so I thought I’d put them on display for people to enjoy when they go to the festival.”

Mr Green added: “We were keen to take part in the festival because Sabini’s was at the heart of this area for a very long time and during the heyday of Churchgate. We are really looking forward to it.”
The trio still live above the old shop.
The Sabini brothers came to Bolton before the First World War and started an ice-cream business in Little Lever.
They moved the business to Churchgate in the 1930s, running No 33 as an American Temperance Bar."

Summer Daze!

The one thing that digital technology has not changed...the ice cream van!

Hot sunny days sitting in the garden sipping on an ice cold beer and listening to that AWFUL sound of ice cream vans!! When I was little the ice cream van was a lovely sight, the sound of that soft jingling told you to go and ask mum for some money. In my street, I remember two ice cream vans...Manfredi's and Mr Softee, I like Manfredi's best! But they only came around once, usually about tea time.

Nowadays we have 120dB distorted square waves sounding out all day long!! The same tune playing over and over again that can be heard over a mile away. I'm sure there must be a law that limits this noise. In my daughter's street there are a lot of children that live there...result...ice cream vans twenty times a day and sometimes two in the street...not one of them are Italian, or English....and they are all called Mr Softee! Surely in the days of digital technology there must be a better way of selling ice cream?

How about ordering on-line, or order by phone? Get rid of this awful din that drives us all mad during those Summer days!

I remember the happy days of ice cream parlours in Bolton...Sabini's Manfredi's and Tognorelli's...them were the days!

70cms Portable Operation

Last Tuesday evening was the 70cm UK contest. So guess what I did?

After years of lying in my shack I unplugged my Yaesu FT817 and decided to go portable! All I needed now was a suitable 12 volt connector to plug into the car...surely I must have on somewhere. After scrapping around in the attic on my hands and knees I finally found one that I could use. I brought down my multi-band vertical from the attic as well. Next I connected it all up in the car and listened to the contest...

Then I thought that I would go up to Matchmoor Lane on Winter Hill and try it out up there, maybe work a few stations...so off I went!

I was amazed at how many stations that I could hear on 70cms with just the multi-band vertical!

My only disappointment was when I tried to work some stations, when I pressed the PTT the radio turned itself off...why was this? I then realised that the power adapter was originally from a mobile phone charger and possibly had overcurrent protection built in. I was right! When I came home I managed to find another adaptor with a direct connection, this one worked a treat!

Gosh...its a long time since I took some equipment out for some portable work, now I want to make some beams for portable use along with my existing HB9CV for 2m.

Record Deck

Yesterday I had a JVC Record Deck delivered. I bought it from e-bay at just £15! Now I can listen again to my old vinyl LPs and singles. A nice deck...magnetic cartridge, anti-skate, cue lever and pretty solid metal turntable. I'm sure that people like me are now beginning to think about their 'vinyl' past. My LPs are all in plastic covers and like new...I am proud of them!

Also yesterday I received the CD I ordered 'The Old Grey Whistle Test - 40th Anniversary' It came in a cheap and nasty cardboard case and actually looked 40 years old! The songs are great, but the thing I bought has no value to me at all. I loved buying LPs, you felt like you had bought something special, great artwork, nice and big to hold and even lyrics that were big enough to read. CDs have no personal value, I have lots, but I don't have anything attached to any of them.

Today I looked through my LPs and each one had a personal memory, I even remember saving up and going to the shop to buy them!

What will the kids of today look back on? Do they have anything personal to music or are they just digital memories!