Diary summary week ending 31st March 2024

[Viktoria]

Jebber, we were taught that it was improper and an insult to fly our flag upside down, I have googled and yes it is .

Nothing about a distress signal.on that site but another does say it can be a distress signal at sea.I checked and have now modified my post .
These things are not taught these days, but I speak of the 1940’s .
Lots of patriotism in those days just after the war.
Then The Queen’s Coronation ,so many flags flying and I can remember it being mentioned on the radio,we did not have TV in 1953.

Viktoria.

[jimbo50]

Boat Race tomorrow,given the disgusting state of The Thames — sewage etc in a report this week , I am surprised it has not been cancelled.
Viktoria.

Do you think that this dangerous increase in E-Coli in the Thames is due to the reduction in industrial and agricultural chemicals which were pouring in in the 1960s and 70s ? Did they keep diseases down ?
Nobody ever mentioned the water quality then. Oh yes ! it was a national industry so it was OK for the public to swim in it.

[Gillg]

I don't think we really worried too much about the water quality back in the day, but maybe the demand on the sewerage system was not as great then as it is  now.  Living in Devon, we are very much aware of our filthy sea and rivers.   https://www.sas.org.uk/

[Viktoria]

It was in the TV news yesterday,the reporter spoke with Uni rowers who said how filthy it was,a spokesperson mentioned the heavy rains there have been and how the land is waterlogged and is draining into rivers, complete with animal dung and the sewage tanks are also overflowing ,even the seas are
filthy as rivers flow to the seas.

What a mess - literally.

Viktoria.

[Rena]

Quite a lot of anger re the blue !
A radio programme where people could phone in to join a discussion was a real eye opener —- so many people thought the Cross of St. George was only connected to the England team !
Had no idea it was The English part of The Union Flag.
It was a revelation.
We were always taught that to deface The Union Flag was tantamount to treason!
That the broad white diagonal stripe must be at the top nearest the flagpole ,otherwise it was an insult !

I remember be horrified to see Prince William wearing a Union Flag waistcoat years back.

I don’t know about the broad white stripe being an insult if not next to the flag pole, it would mean the flag is upside down, therefore flying a distress signal.

Yes, I was taught by my school and by girl guides, that if the Union Jack is flown upside down it is a distress signal.  Very pertinent during and shortly after WwII.

From comments, it seems schools have stopped educating children on the flags of the United Kingdom, such as:-The flag combines aspects of three older national flags:

the red cross on a white background of St George for the Kingdom of England,
the white saltire of St Andrew  on a blue background for Scotland
and the red saltire on a white background  of St Patrick to represent Ireland.

As Wales, the land of song, is considered to be a principality and not a kingdom, it is not represented on the Union Jack it has its own very distinctive red dragon on a white and green background.

When I was at school in the 1940s and 1950s paper and printing ink was scarce, thus we pupils  had to draw flags, countries and include major rivers and towns, etc.

[rosie99]

Do you think that this dangerous increase in E-Coli in the Thames is due to the reduction in industrial and agricultural chemicals which were pouring in in the 1960s and 70s ? Did they keep diseases down ?
Nobody ever mentioned the water quality then. Oh yes ! it was a national industry so it was OK for the public to swim in it.

I remember in the 1970's that there were Salmon in the Thames 

Just found this using search engine

After previous unsuccessful attempts to restore salmon to the Thames, in 1974 a lone salmon was caught downstream of London, following significant improvements in water quality. This discovery acted as a primer for restoring salmon to the Thames and stocking of juveniles began in 1975.

[Rena]

Do you think that this dangerous increase in E-Coli in the Thames is due to the reduction in industrial and agricultural chemicals which were pouring in in the 1960s and 70s ? Did they keep diseases down ?
Nobody ever mentioned the water quality then. Oh yes ! it was a national industry so it was OK for the public to swim in it.

< coli in our waterways in three ways: It enters streams through agricultural runoff, it comes in from leaking sewer or septic infrastructure>

I think there is a law in place that states what farmers have to do to stop animals polluting nearby waterways.

I remember in the 1970's that there were Salmon in the Thames 

Just found this using search engine

After previous unsuccessful attempts to restore salmon to the Thames, in 1974 a lone salmon was caught downstream of London, following significant improvements in water quality. This discovery acted as a primer for restoring salmon to the Thames and stocking of juveniles began in 1975.

I can't recall the exact reasons but I do recall during the Blair/Brown years that sheep were found to have "blue tongue" ,which occurred in wet muddy weather and biting midges were usually found flying over puddles and muddy ground. 

Years ago I saw a TV programme about a couple who lived out in the sticks where there were no connections to sewage plants.  They cleaned their sewage by making ponds of reed beds.  Bacteria in the water "ate" sewage.   To demonstrate how clean and clear their water was the man drank a glass full from one of the reed beds.

https://www.stservices.co.uk/2022/03/23/not-just-a-bed-of-roses/

I used to live about two miles from a north east sewage plant and the smell was awful.  The local authority once called a meeting with the waterboard and the residents.  The waterboard apologised and said they would try to put stronger perfume in their plant.

Personally, I think every part of the UK should have a list of boxes to tick; such as:   whether the sewage plants can cope with influx of people, sufficient, schools, houses, hospital beds, etc.

***
United Kingdom: Population - approx. 67 million, Density - around 710 people per square mile.
France: Population - around 67 million, Density - approximately 309 people per square mile.

[Jebber]

Hopefully, with the completion of the new sewerage tunnel this week, once it is starts working, there should be a dramatic improvement of the state of the Thames.

We need a lot of work done to improve the state of most of our rivers, the situation is now very bad, We seem to have slipped backwards to how things were in the old days.

[louisa maud]

Just to change the subject  folks, I went to Chelmsford Catherdral today for the chrism  service, always very nice, went by bus and it took me 2 3/4   hours, whilst there I sat next to an up and coming curate telling  her about what church I came from, after the service the woman in  front asked me was I talking about a  such and such a place, anyway to cut a long story short her forebears worshipped  at the church I attend,  she wanted to come back for a blessing for  her 50th anniversary this year, I spotted my priest and I said we should speak to him, I asked her what her surname was, would you believe  it was the same as my surname,  we were both astonished, but I knew the name as we have one of her family on a memorial, so I took her to meet my priest and they will be in touch, my 93 year old friend knew this family ,  I am going  to try to persuade her to come to our church to show her pictures of her family we have at the chuch, what a coincidence?

LM