While there is a lot of trouble and sadness out there, Corona has at least brought out a lot of good jokes to counter this.  I'll post some here, and links to videos that I deem worthwhile.  Keep your eye on this post and I will update it from time to time when I get a chance.  These are unashamedly copied from elsewhere, but we all need this stuff. Keep smiling, and keep safe. Just heard that famous American actor John Travolta has been hospitalised with suspected corona virus. But doctors have now confirmed now that it’s only Saturday Night fever and have assured everyone that he’s staying alive. Apparently he had the chills and they were multiplying. _________ IT`S CONFIRMED !!! Fresh cow dung will stop COVID-19 spreading FAST. Dip hands in fresh cow dung before going out. This will ensure that:- (1) You will NOT touch your eyes,nose, ear or mouth. (2) No one will SHAKE hands. (3) No one will come NEAR you outside. (4)...

It has been a very busy week here, and I am fortunate enough to remain fully employed throughout this mess.  Others are less fortunate; many even having to take an enforced break, often without pay.  I don't envy those people living in crowded and cramped accommodation in Corona hot spots like London.  If that is you, you have my sympathies.  Still, at least the daylight hours are stretching, and the clocks change to summertime this weekend. If like us, you are lucky enough to have some outside space, then at least there should be an opportunity to use it. Free entertainment for kids and adults alike is becoming increasingly important because those expensive subscriptions to the likes of Netflix or Amazon may be unsustainable for many.  So, here's a plug.  I have received a few emails from archive.org recently.  They have a load of stuff on there from video games, to movies, to books, music, magazines and much more.  You could keep ...

It's becoming a strange world out there.  There were probably more buses in Belfast city centre this lunchtime than people (see the pictures).  We have been experimenting in work with letting vast numbers of people work from home via a bespoke VPN connection.  I and a few other unlucky 'volunteers' are still in the office to monitor the result.  It has been very busy. Better yet have been some of the very irrational things that our staff have done or queried.  Like the woman trying to keep in contact with the rest of her team via Skype.  When this didn't work, she called in angrily complaining.  Yet, a little questioning discovered that she was using her home PC, which had neither a camera, or speakers.  Skype didn't have a chance against this person. Then there was another staff member who could not connect.  Our questioning eventually revealed that although they had followed the connection instructions properly, they had switc...

Ok, it’s a serious subject, but don’t you just love some of the more weird and wonderful stories that have cropped up because of the Corona virus?   https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-51735367 A Chinese woman who believed that Garlic was a cure/ preventative ate 1.5kg of raw garlic, but then ended up in hospital because her throat was burned and inflamed as a result.   After eating that much garlic, I’m surprised that the doctors could get near enough to treat her.  I   mean, 1.5kg of Garlic!   That must be one hell of a lot of individual cloves.   Surely there must have been a point during what is bound to have been a long eating process where she questioned whether her actions were sound?   There are a few other ridiculous stories on there too about the crazy things that people are doing in their Corona related panics.   Most seem to be spread via social media.   The gullibility of some people never ceases to amaze me.  ...

I seem to have spent an inordinate amount of time recently getting nowhere.   While I should be getting on with some of my pending household tasks, or indeed with the resurrection of my poor old Triumph 5TA, I seem instead to have got into a time consuming conflict with a highly un-recommended tradesperson.   Let me explain. Last October our oil boiler developed a leak.   It was made by a local company (Warmflow), and is the second of their boilers to fail since we moved into our current house (20 odd years ago).   This is not a good record, and these devices aren’t cheap, so because of the failures I was unwilling to put yet another Warmflow boiler in as a replacement.   I contacted a few local fitters and went with one who could do the job reasonable quickly.   The boiler engineer that we had been using for the annual service was unfortunately on holiday, so did not respond to my initial search.   Since the weather was growing colder by the day,...