Photo-a-Day  (Sunday, 14th April, 2024)

Thank you Poet for providing a splash of colour on what looks be never ending days of grey skies.
Just near the traffic lights at Standish I would not want to sit in this little oasis of flowers with the cars and trucks pumping out noxious fumes.

As I have said on previous p-a-d photos, I prefer Spring flowers to be higgledy-piggledy rather than in regimented rows. They remind me of Wordsworth's Daffodils, "tossing their heads in sprightly dance" on a breezy Spring day. Lovely photo, Poet.

A lovely colourful display to lift the spirits. The wind has played havoc with a lot of Spring flowers.

Lovely display, I can sit there all day with a cup of tea.
Talking about vehicle pumping out toxic fumes, we are cleaner than ever and I would never buy an electric vehicle because the costly problems and the infrastructure. This may surprise many people that when modern vehicles go for the annual MOT test, they read very little or no emissions from petrol and diesel. Many drivers are being brainwashed with all this nonsense advertising of electric vehicles. When I worked has a vehicle technician in the 1970s, yes petrol and diesel engines did pollute and were very smokey, noisy and struggling to start in bad cold weather. Today, with technology they are spot on, with no fumes at all, and that includes HGVs. That is my opinion with electric vehicles.

Fab shot Poet. I can't place where this is though.

Very colourful photo Poet, when the blossoms are out the wind does tend to blow, and waft off the petals even before the bees have had the chance of coming out to pollinate.

How lovely. Tulips and daffodils, my favourite flowers. Thank you Poet.

Peter W, personally I do not desire an electric car, there still seems to be more disadvantages than advantages.
That said if diesel and petrol vehicles are so clean, why was Greater Manchester trying to impose a Clean Air Zone and London drivers being financially penalised for having one?

Pollutants produced by vehicle exhausts include carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, particles, volatile organic compounds and sulfur dioxide. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides react with sunlight and warm temperatures to form ground-level ozone.
Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) is a colourless, reactive air pollutant, a major threat to human health, animal health and plant life.
These days you may not see these emission but they are killers.

Exactly Colin.

Despite Poets beautiful picture which is very much appreciated, Your Correspondent provides a fine endorsement for the clean air.
Are there any volunteers to join me on a warm sunny day for a picnic on the bench? I will bring smoked salmon and cheese bagels and chardonnay in abundance.
Dress code optional but face masks or respirators may be brought along at your discretion.
To accept my invitation, just one word of two letters in block capitals will suffice! RSVP.

Colin...its simple, they want to make MORE money out of drivers.

My nose tells me if gases or emissions are dangerous. We had factory's, smoking, steam engines on the railways smoking, houses smoking...all now disappeared and they keep on about climate change, what about China and India. for me it's a load of nonsense.
How much money can we make from the public, that's the real reason.

Is the garden at the end of Cross Street near the Library and going onto Market place? Lovely spring pic by the way Poet. If it is, not so much traffic passes. If it isn’t can someone say exactly where it is please.

Poet, I just took a walk past in the afternoon sunshine and the garden looks pretty as a picture and a credit to Busy Bees who I think maintain. I think they also do that stretch of spare land on Almond Brook Road near
St Marie's. Very commendable.

We should be talking and dealing dealing with our sewage services and not car emissions. The amount of sewage going in our rivers and streams is more alarming.

What about all the smoke and fires from these wars that's going on right now. That is real polluters.

Peter P, 100% agree Peter, that’s why we got rid of ours last year. Thank forgot Bus Passes and Senior Rail Cards.
We get out and about more these days than when we both had cars. We see more and stress less, all on the cheap!

I’m not familiar with the poisonous emissions but can imagine how dangerous they really are with the smell, especially in a traffic hold up, but as I don’t drive these days I don’t take too much notice. What worries me is how much rain we are having due to the warming of the ice- caps and the erosion of the coast lines. The climate must be ‘warming up’ for that to happen. Although we only seem to have a few days of hot spells. Unlike the summer of ‘76 remember that? Nearly a half century ago. It’s seems the hot countries are getting hotter but us up North not so much!

Veronica, that scorching summer of 76 gives me stories to tell and the then come November and December I was in Washington DC, Champagne Illinois, Chicago and Grand Rapids Michigan. Minus 20 and did not know what had hit me. Brilliant memories though and I have been back since.

If you want to know about poisonous emmisions Veronica you should have a word with the stray dog that occasionally takes up residence in my garden.
I had ambitions of hiring him out to a local Landlord for use at chucking out time. He could clear a medium sized Pub in 20 seconds flat, but the problem is that he “Lingers” if you know what I mean. Half an hour after he leaves he is still there in the form of a “ lingering” cloud of odorous unpleasantness.
Newcomers to a room he has been in begin accusing people already in the room of being the culprit on the basis of no intelligence at all.
If you take him for a walk in the countryside, after a few minutes all the cows in the field end up huddled together in the furthest corner away from him.
Having said all that I have to say, he is quite lovable and it’s not he’s fault that local bus drivers won’t stop if they see you standing with him waiting for a bus.

Ruth, it’s just around from Cross Street on Market Street at side of Copper Vine near the traffic lights for Preston Road.
Hope that helps.

I assumed as no town is mentioned that it's Market Street Wigan. But no - I've found it in Standish but sheer luck and trawling through Google and Google maps. Lovely photo but poor information Poet!

Veronica I remember 76 well it was to hot to spray a car of mine till later evening as it was baking the paint, was working outside no garage at that time.Colin maybe check your email.

Aw It sounds like your furry friend likes you and your garden Dtease. There’s a cat comes in my garden leaving a message now and then , perhaps I could hire him. But how do I get rid of the smell after?
Everybody remembers ‘76 Who can forget it….It was like living in a Mediterranean country without the sparkling blue sea. We still moaned though phew ‘’it ain’t ‘alf hot!”… How come global warming hasn’t hit us yet like it was in ‘76? That’s what I’d like to know.

Because its a big con, Veronica. There's no global warming at all. Yes July and August 1976 was very hot for six weeks, but it's not unusual to have weather like that, when did we have snow like 1963? Frek weather like 1976 and 1963 will come back and return, just like the eclipse of the moon.

Thanks Colin. I'll find it now.

But the ice caps are melting Peter making sea levels higher and more rain clouds. Also all this rain is supposedly affecting the sewage system as well…( so United Utilities claim…)

The eclipses of the moon and the sun are not like the climate, Peter - the re-occurence of eclipses has been constant down the ages and can be calculated accurately into the future, and they are relatively frequent (especially lunar eclipses). Cycles in the climate take place over thousands of years - not the mere 250 years since the industrial revolution began the process of humans polluting the atmosphere - and the acceleration over the past century is what has caused scientists to worry that we will soon reach a point where the trend will become irreversible.
You can choose not to believe it if you like - but I'd rather not gamble my grandchildren's world away.