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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2019 13:48:52 GMT
I'm pretty sure that there is a dead mouse in my attic (I know the smell), but I can't find it. I still have a few traps upstairs but they are empty.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 5, 2019 14:02:15 GMT
Mice are small enough to desiccate completely before too long, especially in a hot (dry?) attic.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2019 14:36:02 GMT
I have found shrivelled mummified mice before, and that is fine. But once I found a bloated one covered with writhing maggots.
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Post by Kimby on Jun 5, 2019 14:45:33 GMT
(That might be the step before mummification.)
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2019 14:52:56 GMT
Yes, but if I hadn't found the bloated corpse, I might have found an attic full of flies a few days later.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 5, 2019 18:22:44 GMT
I just buried one of my cats. It was caught by a car some days ago whilst we were away. Smell and flies. And of course the earth is dry so it was like digging in concrete. Poor beast.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 5, 2019 19:07:43 GMT
Poor you. But I guess that when you have a lot of cats, it isn't as tragic as when you have only one. Although I suppose that you have favourites.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 8, 2019 10:57:32 GMT
She was a favorite. She had a way to push her head against your chin very cool. However I am always jealous of my wife in such circumstances. She can still cry over a cat. I could. I can't no more.
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Post by whatagain on Jun 12, 2019 15:48:01 GMT
Got to undergo some more minor surgery on my arm. Left one. The one I didn't damage when I fell from the ladder.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 12, 2019 15:53:48 GMT
How do they fix it? Tendons? Muscles? Bone?
Actually, I ran into an opening taxi door a few years ago on a Vélib, and my arm hurt for at least 3 months, so I probably should have seen a doctor. But I didn't and then things went back to normal, so at least I did not gouge the health system.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 12, 2019 17:53:56 GMT
I'm gutted. The gallery where I sell my dolls has closed. It was in the local paper at the weekend, quoting a fb post from a Leicester artists' group. My sister just rang to let me know! The gallery itself hasn't contacted me, and they haven't made an official announcement so I don't know the why and wherefore as yet. I'm in town on Friday so hopefully I'll find out more then. Got 5 dolls there atm but I dont suppose I'll get them back.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 12, 2019 18:11:05 GMT
OMG, you put them out of business! I think you'll get your dolls back... and that you will be able to contact a more solid gallery.
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Post by mossie on Jun 12, 2019 19:08:40 GMT
Amen to that
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Post by questa on Jun 12, 2019 22:43:03 GMT
Dear Cheery...what an awful thing to do to you. No warning or planning about your arrangements for their close-down. If they sell your dolls on a commission and you have not been paid for the ones in the gallery yet, then they are yours. Apply in writing for their return.
If they have already paid you for them, then they are counted as assets of the gallery. If you really want them back you may make an offer to buy them back at a negotiated price.
Now is the time to take action while they are busy with other things. if you wait until things "settle down", you might find the dolls have disappeared.
Sorry to be Auntie again but I would be so upset for you if you lost here.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 13, 2019 7:46:18 GMT
I suppose that I'm taking heart from the fact that there has been no official announcement made by the gallery. The owner is a really lovely woman and maybe has something up her sleeve. The gallery closed before about 10 years ago and they pulled something out of a hat and kept trading. It's the biggest independent gallery in the city and they showcase loads of work by local artists...so the community love the place. In the current economic climate I guess lots of small businesses are struggling tbf.
The gallery just take a small commission when they sell the work, they also buy in prints to sell and have a picture framing business.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 13, 2019 17:31:58 GMT
Had a very nice email from Dayle, the gallery owner. She apologised about the way I found out but as you can imagine she's been in a bit of a spin. The dolls are in a box at her home and she says that as soon as things die down a bit she will get them to me. No idea why the gallery has closed but I think that it will probably be due to financial pressures...business has been very slow. Lots of Leicester shops have gone out of business over the past couple of years...sadly.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 13, 2019 17:51:49 GMT
It's a real shame Cheery.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 13, 2019 18:24:54 GMT
The owner seems completely honest and very well knows that the items are not hers but were on consignment, so I'm sure you will get them back. But I hope that the gallery is able to reopen. Has crowdfunding been tried as a solution?
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 13, 2019 21:22:42 GMT
I don't know what's happening. I'm pretty sure that the local council is trying to oik up all the rents and rates, the gallery is in a really nice part of the town called The Lanes and for some reason the City Mayor wants everything turned over to coffee shops and expensive bars...for the (non existent) tourists that he hopes will flood into the city. Leicester is the poor relation of the Midlands, with Nottingham and Birmingham being the more affluent cities...something that our Mayor is determined to change.
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Post by bjd on Jun 14, 2019 7:28:14 GMT
Didn't they make anything of the finding of Richard 111 under the parking lot to boost tourism?
It does strike me when I see pictures of British towns how many shops are either shuttered, charity shops or else take-out food places. It looks rather depressing.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 14, 2019 8:17:04 GMT
That pretty much sums up my town, Ware.
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Post by mossie on Jun 14, 2019 15:13:04 GMT
It is much the same all over, blame business rates, which is a tax on business premises, and greedy landlords. Plus that traditional shops face very strong competition from online shopping which is not burdened with the same level of taxes.
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Post by questa on Jun 15, 2019 23:53:19 GMT
The rich get rich and the poor get poorer. And the greedy multi-national corporations go off shore to evade their booty being taxed. There seems to be more morality in the Mafia.
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Post by lagatta on Jun 16, 2019 0:14:20 GMT
There was (not downplaying the Mafia's horrible actions) but it seems that the old "code of honour" has fallen by the wayside as the Mob (Mafia and others) are adapting to cutthroat capitalism. Here too, the online "shops" don't pay local taxes.
I don't see how a town centre composed only of trendy cafés and bars can attract tourists. There are so many in my neighbourhood now, and I don't even know who patronises them. There was a tiki bar, which bore no relation whatsoever to the historical populations in the area. I confess to being happy that it shut down.
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jun 16, 2019 8:21:01 GMT
We have the Richard III centre and his tomb in the cathedral. The cathedral itself is small, but pretty. We have three museums, a few medieval buildings, a Roman bath house and villa remains...a 'national space centre' which is,like a second rate science museum but an interesting building. The grand union canal runs through the city...we have some pretty beautiful parks, an old fashioned steam railway line with proper chuffer trains, the remains of a city wall and a Saxon church or three...a lot of the attractions aren't central. Most British cities have similar buildings and attractions tbf.
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Post by questa on Jun 16, 2019 12:18:59 GMT
What....no Disney Land? Cheery your city sounds like a tourist's dream. Lots of variety and things you may not see somewhere else. Maybe your officials should put some money into promotions and things tourists want. These include plenty of easily read signposts, clean and plentiful toilets, Cafes and food courts that are ritzy as well as budget ones. Most of all... local people to smile and nod to tourists and make them feel welcome, not another nuisance.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 16, 2019 14:07:23 GMT
If what Cheery wrote was publicized correctly, it would start a run of tourism on the city, as Questa points out. But courting tourism is a slippery slope, as anyone who has ever lived in a tourist city knows well. One argument is that "it provides jobs!" Well, yes it does, and in an already thriving city it provides more jobs. But you don't want a situation where it provides THE jobs, because it's essentially the only industry. When Oaxaca's political situation heated up in 2006, there was much whining about "they've scared away the tourists". Okay, admittedly it affected the economy in other ways, but the bottom line was that it highlighted the fact that tourism was the only industry. Pay is crap here and there aren't enough jobs, certainly not jobs in the fields people have prepared themselves for. It's flattering that people want to come from afar to see what your city has that makes it unique. But it is far more important for there to be sufficient non-polluting industries and businesses so that the resident populace make decent wages working in their chosen fields. Workers pay taxes and taxes support infrastructure. Workers with at least some disposable income are much happier people who are less likely to be resentful about paying those taxes and more likely to want to support and love their town. With lots of happy, properly paid workers, it makes sense to help out a declining town center in a way that would attract residents, without turning that downtown into purely an entertainment district. Sure, bring on the tourists, but address the needs of the resident population first.
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Post by bjd on Jun 16, 2019 15:28:59 GMT
Whatagain, you seem to be having a run of bad luck with your health! Fortunately you had some good medical and wifely advice. I hope this is the last of your health issues.
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Post by kerouac2 on Jun 16, 2019 15:49:58 GMT
I hate the way card keys work.
Finding a melanoma is actually good news in a way, because it can be controlled very well when diagnosed in time. It basically just means getting checked every six months. I actually had a skin cancer item many years ago, which a doctor found when I was being treated for something else. But it was quite isolated so I wasn't even told to keep checking.
However, my biological father died of melanoma (at age 62, I think) after greatly abusing his body in the sun. So I do go to a dermatologist every few years to get inspected, and I also stay out of the sun as much as possible.
Your body is even paler than mine, so you are even more at risk.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 16, 2019 17:25:48 GMT
I had a skin cancer. They chopped a bit of my ear off. It was done quite artistically.
Caused by many years of cricket.
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