Meatloaf - the REAL one!

Being big fans of Meatloaf my friend, Sharon, sent me a link to Meatloaf’s page on Facebook. It was well worth looking at and after I'd listened to the music I clicked on the Like button, as you do. Now here's the exciting bit - a few days later I got a message from the man himself. Meatloaf had posted a message on my Facebook page! Then, at the weekend, he sent me a really lovely picture of himself from his personal Blackberry.


The fantasy would have been complete had I not known that exactly the same thing was appearing on several thousand other Facebook pages, including Sharon’s!

My brush with the music biz didn’t end there either.

For the past couple of weeks my son, Paul, has been on Facebook raving about his friend, Stephen Jones’ radio programme on Rhondda Radio. It’s called ‘The Old Grey Beard Show’ and is broadcast on Tuesday night between 8 and 10pm. So, curious to know what it was all about, I tuned in and was seriously impressed.

Next morning I sent Stephen a message on Facebook to tell him how much I enjoyed the show and would be tuning in again next week. I also happened to mention that if he did requests ‘Two Out of Three Ain’ Bad’ by Meatloaf would be nice.

You can imagine my surprise when, an hour later, I got a reply from Stephen. He said if he’d known I was listening he’d have given me a mention and he was working on playing my request next week!

Can’t wait for Tuesday. Rhondda Radio is, of course, a local radio station which you probably won’t pick up unless you live in the Rhondda. You can, however, tune in on your PC as I did. The web site address is: www.rhonddaradio.com.  It's on 87.8fm if you want to give the radio a try.

If you like Rock, you’ll love The Old Grey Beard Show.

Oh yes, one other thing... Whilst all this excitement was happening I gave up smoking on Monday...

Passwords

Last week the Webmaster reminded me, rather sternly I felt, that I had not posted anything since February.  Having been duly reprimanded, I am now making amends.

Wherever you go on the web you have to enter a password.  Yes, that wonderful word which give you access to just about anything - provided the computer at the other end recognises your password!  And that's where the problems begin.  I shall explain...

Last Thursday I wanted to make an appointment at the doctor's and, having signed up to this facility, and having ordered repeat prescriptions without any problems, I accessed the website, put in my user name and the password, expecting to be logged in.  That's when my optimism left me.

Your user name or password has not been recognised.  From the flashing cursor and empty field it was the password which had not been recognised.  I tried again.  Your user name or password has not been recognised.  Several tries later it was obvious I wasn't going to get access however nice I tried to be.

Next morning I rang the surgery, and was given a new password.  No explanation as to why the old one hadn't worked.  While I was on the phone I made the appointment, which I felt somewhat defeated the purpose, but there you are.

This isn't the first time it's happened to me.  When shopping on-line Visa Verification sometimes comes into play and you have to enter a password.  On six separate occasions this wonderful system refused to accept my password and I had to create a new one.  Last time it happened I got stroppy and put in the password it had just refused to accept.  D'you know what it said: You have used this password before, choose a new one.  Now if it knew I'd used it before why did it need another one? 

We're told we must never write down our pin numbers or passwords in case someone steals them.  So if we mere mortals are expected to remember passwords, why can't computers? 

If anyone can explain why computers forget passwords, please let me know.  I'm fed up having to come up with a new one because some unseen computer is having a senior moment!

WE WON!

   By WE, I mean Skeffling!
   A few weeks ago we learned Skeffling had been entered for a Microgeneration Award which is sponsored by the Energy Saving Trust.  The awards were for local efforts to make the planet greener.  Then we learned we'd actually been nominated for one of the awards.
   That's when it started to get a bit exciting.  We received an invitation for two people from the Parish Council to represent the village and attend the dinner where the presentations would be made.  It was eventually decided that James Robinson and myself would go, although we didn't think we stood a chance of winning.
   Paul Hudson, the weathrman from Look North, was the speaker and also presented the awards.  When it came to our category and we saw the list of nominees, which included The National Trust, we really thought a big organisation would get it.  So you can imagine our shock and amazement when they announced SKEFFLING HAD WON!
   I have to say James looked totally stunned when he collected the award on behalf of Skeffling.  But what a wonderful endorsement for all our work at making Skeffling a greener village.  It wouldn't have happened without all the hard work done by everyone in the village.  Yet when you look back to the beginning of our campaign to 'go green' we have achieved a great deal.
  Most houses now have compost bins, all the revenue from the glass, paper and aluminium recycling has created a children's playground, the wind turbine and energy saving measures have made the Village Hall completely self-sufficient, and there are so many other things too numerous to mention.
   And the Skeffling community has done it all!
   So give yourselves a big pat on the back and be proud of your achievements.  Not only is Skeffling now firmly on the world map, all our hard work has been recognised by receiving a very prestigious award.
   Put simply, when it comes to being 'green' we're the best village in Yorkshire...
  

Computer Probs!

  My New Year's resolution was to write a blog at least once a week.  Then my computer threw a strop and I had to relegate it to the bin!  Which meant buying a new one.  Ouch!
  Tom set it all up for me, and it worked OK, but the printer didn't and the internet connection was flaky.  Then my NEW computer decided to throw a few childish tantrums which needed more of Tom's expertise.  Still didn't have a printer.  It totally refused to recognise the new computer and obviously wanted the old one back.  They'd been friends for years!  Bless...
  Tom sorted that out, and the computer decided it really did like it here after all and settled down, finally making friends with the printer.  It now works and so does the printer.  Even the internet connection has decided life's not too bad after all and is working.
  Oh, the joys of modern technology.  Wonderful when it works, soul-destroying when it doesn't!
  All I can say is thank you Tom.  Thinking about it there are quite a lot of computers and laptops in Skeffling that Tom's expertise is keeping going!  In fact, quite a few of us would be lost without him.
  Maybe now I can get back to a normal routine, and, hopefully, it'll get warmer soon. 
  If I haven't said it before, Happy New Year everyone...

Tesco.com

If you've read Tom's latest blog on Skeffling Chatter you'll know he's given a big pat on the back to lots of people who keep our lives running during this dreadful weather.  I did add a comment he'd forgotten our Postie.  But there's someone else I forgot.  The lovely man from Tesco.com who's just delivered my shopping!

To be honest I'd find life very difficult without my regular shopping order.  Carrying heavy shopping on the bus is not an option these days.  I just can't do it.  So shopping online is the perfect answer, and they've never let me down in the 7 years I've been doing it.

So, once again a big Thank You to Tesco.com, and especially all those people who deliver our shopping in all sorts of miserable weather.  They're always on time, too. 

If you haven't tried getting your shopping this way yet, it's worth it...

Snow, Snow, Snow...

If you've looked at the Community Website Noticeboard, you'll see Skeffling News won't be arriving through your letterboxes this month.

Sorry about that, but it's a question of distribution.  It's not easy wading through all the snow in the freezing cold, so I'm opting out this month.  Hopefully the snow will have gone by next month and Skeff News will be back to normal.

Hopefully there'll be some news for the February issue.  If you've got a story, or want to share a particular viewpoint with other readers, please let me know.

HAPPY NEW YEAR

It's 2010!  From all of us at the Community Website hope you have a really good year. 

Last year brought more than its fair share of worries and problems to a lot of people in Skeffling.  Yet I firmly believe every cloud has a silver lining.  I'm not the only one either.  I've had loads of messages on Facebook today saying a heartfelt good riddance to 2009.  And now it's the 1st January, so lets make this year rock!

If you'd like to send New Year greetings to someone, or a list of New Year resolutions you're bound to break, put them on Skeffling Chatter.

One thing I would like to do is say a huge THANK YOU to all you readers of LOVE ZONE.  I do appreciate your support and I hope you keep coming back.

Another big THANK YOU to everyone who visits the Community Website.  It hasn't been going a year, but it's getting visits from all over the world. 

So what's waiting for us all in 2010.  Well first of all you've got to remember to put 2010 on your letters and cheques instead of 2009.  That'll take a few weeks.  And believe it or not our days really are getting longer!  Not long now until spring and all those beautiful flowers will be blooming again. 

There you go.  That's one resulution to start the New Year.  Be optimistic.  It's well worth a try...