Late Night Visitor

Sadly these days we don't see too many of these fellow's in this neck of woods. A shame since they are very good at hunting down slugs and other undesirables.

The Future Is Here?

In a world first, on-line retailer Amazon has today announced they are to be given permission by the UK government to trial parcel delivery by remote Drone.

This is going to be in both rural and town/city locations. Amazon claim their devices will be able to deliver a parcel within half hour of ordering. The retailer proposes that a single operator might "fly" several Drones and probably won't have the benefit of line of sight control. At present each commercial Drone flown in the UK skies must have its own dedicated operator and always remain within view, so this is a huge leap of faith.

Already people have started questioning the safety, security, privacy and noise pollution issues associated with this idea. Obviously some have pointed out that our beloved Royal Mail might be put out of business, never mind all the other delivery services such as DPD or DHL.

My thought is more mundane: if I decide to buy a Drone from Amazon, how will it be delivered LOL?

Wilde About Oscar

Literature and history fans might be interested to know that the (former) Reading Gaol is to open to the public in the Autumn. A short run arts project celebrating Wilde and other artists and writers connected with the prison will feature readings and presentations by well known actors and musicians, as well as works using differing media. A link to the BBC News item about it can it be found here. Might take myself along.

93

Temperatures in the UK are predicted to reach 34 degrees Celsius (the low 90's degs F) today, phew! By the end of week, it is expected to be cooler again, shame.

May Day

Later today in the UK our second woman Prime Minister will take office. Read here from BBC News. Expections are that Theresa May will appoint a high proportion of women to senior positions within her cabinet. Something of a milestone if it happens, we'll see.

David Cameron, the current PM, will travel to Buckingham Palace this afternoon to seek permission of the Queen to resign. Shortly afterwards Mrs May will visit the monarch and will be invited to form a government. It's a very old fashioned and outdated practice but nevertheless one of the traditions that are unique to this land and help make this country great.

Meanwhile the Labour (with a U) party are still grappling with their leadship question following the Brexit vote last month. I do however find it odd that the party that claims to champion gender equality hasn't really yet had a female leader. Mrs Thatcher was a Conservative leader, as will be Theresa May.

A Word...

For anyone following British politics since our Brexit vote, there is one word that springs readily to mind: Farce.

Been to visit SM and Dad today. He's really not doing well.