Craig Sawyers

Yeah - that is the way to do it. I have a box of different size centre drills depending on the final hole size. But since I don't have any NC malarky and only have a precision drill press it is important to mark the hole centres accurately. I use a digital height gauge with hardened spur to scribe lines in precisely the right place. I then use a magnifying glass to get a centrepunch right on the scribe marks. Then the centre drill and final drill size. Time consuming, but it sure is nice when everything fits together just right.

You need to watch this right to the end https://www.youtube.com/embed/_CwHrJt8Oz8?rel=0

Sting and Paul Simon in concert. 3h10m with no interval. Basically think of anything either of them have done from the year dot, and they played it - greatest hits writ large. A whole boxful of treats.

I just caught this. Yes - my reading is that he is running scared of the beasting he would get by Ian Hislop and Paul Merton.

I expect much more than mere sly comments - the panel were responsible for dealing the coup de grace to the long term host Angus Deaton. I think it will be quite a test for JC, and will be a must-watch.

Saw Death of a Salesman, RSC Stratford on Avon, today; Athony Sher and Harriet Walter, actors of the highest calibre. Awesome. http://www.rsc.org.uk/whats-on/death-of-a-salesman/ And while I'm on the actor thing, daughter has just nailed a three month tour as Titania and Helena in Midsummer Night's Dream and also as Mary Bennet in Pride and Prejudice. http://www.chapterhouse.org/

And here was me thinking far right

Alas poor Yorick, I knew him well Horatio - he was a man of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. Some sort of allegory on Hamlet, with Yorick's skull?

You're one stop shop in the UK is One Thing Audio. The One Thing they do is repair parts, including rebuilt panels, for Quad ESL's. http://www.onethingaudio.org/products.htmlnear Coventry.

http://www.derek-hasted.co.uk/assets/audio/derek-hasted/ten-tone.mp3

Happy birthday!

Happy Birthday!

I'm not sure the facts are out here. I've heard that the copter landed at the hotel; May had drunk a bottle of wine on the flight, but Hammond and Clarkson drank water only. They supposedly landed at 9:30pm, and checking the menus on the hotel website it looks like the restaurants close at 9:45. So it could well be that he was stone cold sober, and thew his toys out the pram. Mind you if I had been Oisin, had been verbally abused and then thumped, and told I was fired - I'd have grabbed a hold of Clarkson and laid into him. Actually if that had happened, Clarkson would probably have respected it and both of them would have ended up in the bar. But speculation is futile - he's gone.

Yeah - it was kind of inevitable alas. Clarkson does have something of a history of thumping people. In fairness he comes from Doncaster, where there is a good history of violence http://www.doncasterfreepress.co.uk/news/crime/town-named-hotspot-for-domestic-violence-1-5087311 But it will be interesting for sure to see what happens next. May is bemoaning on twitter that his house is surrounded by journalists.

Re-reading after many years The World According to Garp by John Irving (one of my all time favourite authors)

Excellent article on Sunday by Piers Morgan, a journalist and TV presenter, and another person Clarkson punched (3 times, hard - so hard he broke his finger and permanently scarred Morgan) http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/home/event/article-3002568/PIERS-MORGAN-Jeremy-Clarkson-like-50-angst-ridden-damaged-relationships-grieving-loved-ones-irritated-work-related-issues-battling-inner-demons.html

The pics of Le Mont St Michel off the Normandy coast reminded me of the Bayeux Tapestry (as it does - welcome to my weird brain). William (the conqueror) bogged down in the quicksand surrounding Le Mont St Michel (monte Michaelis) nearly 1000 years ago

Ha ha ha! Brilliant. On a more serious note, the Top Gear roadshows in Norway (3-off) which are sold out and paid for, have been postponed. The mess that is a mess gets messier.

Yeah - sorry: Rugby 7's is amazing to watch. First time I watched it was in the last Olympics, and I was totally won over.

At the moment they are both "Bring out your dead", so not so different

Ha! Well, the joke here is that cricket is a sport you watch after Sunday lunch to have a snooze. Second only to golf. But yes - we are not bathed in glory at the moment, for sure.

Today, the remains of Richard III will be reburied in Leicester Cathedral. His skeleton was found under a car park (!) a couple of years ago, along with evidence of his curved spine from scoliosis. The car park was on the site of the Greyfriars monastery five hundred years ago. Immortalised by Shakespeare in his play of that name: "Now is the winter of our disconent, made glorious summer by this Son of York..." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11488151/The-burial-of-Richard-III-viewers-guide.html

This is probably going to be minority interest, but the precursor to American Football is Rugby. Elliptical ball and two teams of enormous brutal guys (and now women too). Rules of play are more cryptic (much) than American Football, and there is no defensive gear at all - no padding, no helmets (other than a soft one to protect cauliflower ears). Lots of injuries - it is not uncommon for a player to go off bleeding profusely from a cut, have it stitched, and go back on again. The odd broken bone, the odd concussion. Everyone has had a broken nose at some point. There are two variants of Rugby - Union and League. The rules are different. League has more in common with American football, but only the 6 plays element - after which the ball goes to the opposing team. That is not the case in Union, where you retain possession of the ball until you lose it to the opposing team through interception, being turned over in a tackle, a scrum, a penalty or a lineout. There is a ten minute sin-bin for dangerous play, or being sent off entirely for the duration of the game. It is a big sport in the UK and Europe (mainly France and Italy), and worldwide. This year the Rugby World Cup is held in the UK http://hospitality.rugbyworldcup.com/hospitality_matches.aspxand should be brutal. Reason for posting this is yesterday was the culmination of the 6 nations championship. England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, France and Italy. It runs in the early spring. The three final matches were yesterday, and many records were broken. Started with Italy/Wales. At half time the score was a lacklustre 13 points to14. Yawn. But then Wales went on a rampage of epic proportions in the second half and the final score line was 20 points to 61. That monster score meant that in order to win the tournament, in the next match Ireland had to beat Scotland by at least 27 points and England had to beat France by at least 23 points - a really tough challenge. However another epic battle by Ireland saw them demolish Scotland by 40 points to 10. That raised the bar for England, who now had to beat France by at least 27 points. In a phenomenal match, England beat France by 55 points to 35 points - a margin of 20, and falling short by one converted try (7 points) of taking the champoinship, which went to Ireland. This is a day of Rugby which will go down in history. It is the first time in the final three matches that the total number of points scored has been as high as 221, by a large margin. It is the first time ever that a team has scored over 30 points (France) - and then lost. Since the competition (initially the five nations, minus Italy) started in 1910.

Well, I hold solder in my teeth to feed it as a third hand. Where are the pearly gates?

Have a great one Al - happy birthday!