Gavin McLelland

Hey @tfl I reported a flooded underpass on the A3 on the 30th March. Report number FMS9197490. It’s still flooded today blocking kids getting to school. “Every journey matters” but not if you’re a pedestrian

@adbrora @northumbriana There is still cricket teams deep in the Scottish Borders brought by weavers from Yorkshire

@northumbriana I’ve been told Lanarkshire - steelworks and pits county - had a large summer cricket league up until few decades ago. I put it down to the armed forces encouraging the game and men getting a tastes for it and bringing it back home from National Service.

Most pit villages in the North East had their own cricket teams. The preeminent summer game in the coalfields.

@bswud @edwest If you have enough money to pay £135 you can gain unlimited access to all four royal palaces for your family for a year.

I don't know if the Tower of London should be allowed to impose implicit tax rates on the public like this. It certainly shouldn't be encouraged to.

@JonoCC @RespectIsVital The pier at Invergorden is called the admiralty pier. There was however a mutiny there in the 30’s that caused a run in the pound

@RespectIsVital Also worth pointing out for those not familiar with their Naval history that the Cromarty Firth was a key deep water anchorage during both World Wars, it has the space, it has the depth and is very defensible.

Most of Britain's naval bases capable of docking warships safely are in the South of England. HMS St Albans docked in Invergordon last month. We now know she was on her way to monitor Russian submarine activity over UK undersea cables. HMS Queen Elizabeth has called twice to Invergordon in recent years. Including once to be repaired by local ship workers. HMS Spey had her commissioning ceremony in Invergordon in 2022. It's nonsensical we have no purpose built naval infrastructure here for ships patrolling the North Sea. If, as Defence Secretary @JohnHealey_MP says, there will likrly be increased Russian activity in the northern UK EEZ waters, it would be nice if the ports supporting the @RoyalNavy on an increasingly frequent basis, such as Invergordon, got some financial support and purpose built infrastructure instead of the hotch potch of ideas they come up with when a ship does call. @CromartyFirth @Jamie4North

@CptHastings1916 I saw this on the wall of a Victorian school museum in Northern Ireland- it doesn’t mention god which is a little odd and drifts a bit at the end but I do like the first couple of lines

Everyone dunks on the Church Of Nice but kindness, patience, and self-control are specifically named as virtues in the NT. The need to be pleasant in your personal interactions is not some kind of modernist imposition.

This quotation from EW does the rounds quite often but I've always found it rather unsatisfactory as an excuse for personal unpleasantness. Being irritable & unpredictable & making everyone nervous around you is a huge fault, not some loveable curmudgeonly foible.

@hjwakerley We ended up buying an Octavia but we did test drive a Mazda 6 and it was really nice, a better looking car as well in my opinion

What’s the best £5–7k manual car for an old-school dad? Needs to be reliable, simple, and properly solid. He’s had a 2008 A6 Avant since 2012… and not keen on anything that will beep at him. Genuine request.

@CptHastings1916 I preferred his magical realist South American trilogy

Tbf I think I quite liked Captain Corelli's Mandarin when I read it. But that was 25 years ago or more.

As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen.

@HiddenHistoryYT HMS Oak, An Acheron Class destroyer built by Yarrows capable of 35knots. A small ship but they could have probably kept her running. Imagine a trip out on board, travelling at 35 knots, powered by steam turbines

If you could stop 1 ship from being scrapped, what would it be?

@WonPeople I saw one with illuminated trim around the “radiator “ panels and it looked like bugs bunny’s big buck teeth stuck on the front

These should be charged £100k a year Offensive Tax.

@elnathan_john If the guy behind Radio Genoa had actually been to Italy he’d know most Italian museums have cabinets filled with Roman penis’s

“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.” ― Toni Morrison

@Mikey_Clarkie @stjohnsphoto The photographer was famous for “introducing” aircraft into his aerial photographs to add drama. It’s highly likely that the aircraft was added in in the darkroom

@stjohnsphoto It is a fantastic photo. No photoshop or AI involved.

Alfred Buckham #photography Edinburgh, c1920

@planfromspace There are four genealogists/historians who work full time for the British commonwealth war graves commission researching any British bodies found to identify the soldier and any living family who are invited to the re-internment

Europe spent an entire decade after WW1 digging up the bodies. Today, over 100 years later, when new bodies are discovered they are exhumed and reburied with full honors. I try so hard to stay out of politics but I am so tired of these maga clowns and their slop takes on Europe.

@hiltonholloway Yes every block has off street parking and the abundance of options allows people to choose what’s best for that journey or task. Did you notice the amount of time you get as a pedestrian at the crossings - it’s the same as the road traffic

@gmac7000 Am here. There is transport of all kinds. I'm surprised at the amount of parking hidden away on the narrow lanes. Houses have a BMW parked outside and an old school bike or scooter. Abundance of choice.

Sunday evening in centralish Kyoto. Six-Lane highway, empty. Super-wide pavements. Tubes, buses, old-school push bikes. And expressways. Abundance. Compare and contrast with the utter poverty of London lycraists and their road narrowing and decking boxes.

@SeverusChud The first location in your montage is not England - it’s Princes street Gardens in Edinburgh, Scotland. Keep your jingoism where it belongs

There's something really tragic about watching old footage of England and realising your entire civilisation has been stolen from you.

@CptHastings1916 I got this book out as well- ended up a Naval Architect

Does anyone know what book this cross-section is taken from? I feel like I might have come across it in a school library back in the day but I need a copy.

@HistorylandHQ She had a lovely chateau and is buried in the Pantheon

Dancer/Actress/Spy/war hero Josephine baker posing with Ukranian ballet dancer Serge Lifar at the beach, 1930s.

@NCL_Uncovered Scotch if I was feeling poor

Saturday night in your favourite Newcastle pub back in the 1990s/early 00s. What drink are you choosing and which pub would it be? 🤔

@ElizabethMistry @Psychologicsal christiancaremerton.org.uk/projects.html - but I see they aren’t accepting furniture donations

@gmac7000 @Psychologicsal Thank you. Could you share the name of the charity please ?

Once upon a time I was homeless, living in a hostel with my 3 sons aged 8 & 6 yrs & 7 months old. We were offered unfurnished accommodation which I gratefully accepted. The case workers helped me to apply for a #DWP Crisis Loan as we had nothing. 1/n