John, George, Paul and Rin...err Jimmie!

      Careful, he really is a Beatle and at the height of their fame, When the Beatles needed a little "Help," a replacement stand-in for Ringo, who was ill at the start of their first world tour, they needed someone in a hurry and George Martin thought he knew the man to fill the breech.
      It was the summer of 1964 and Beatle's were on the verge of going on tour and Ringo was deemed to be too ill to travel. George Martin knew of a capable drummer who he'd seen playing around various clubs in Soho and doing session work and decided to give him a chance and managed to get the young Jimmie Nicol to the Abbey Road Studios and with the rest of the band, ran through a few of their well-known tracks. This was June 3 and the beginning of a fortnight which would transform Nicol into a worldwide music star. 
      The first stages of the tour were Denmark, Holland, Hong Kong and Australia, where they were welcomed by ten's of thousands of fanatical fans, relentless press, wild parties TV and Radio Shows. And in that time he played ten sold-out concerts and was given the celebrity as the Fifth Beatle.
      But fame can be a fickle friend and at the end of the fortnight, Ringo joined the tour to take his rightful place as the drummer and Jimmie Nicol found himself on a London bound plane, back to an uncomfortable reality. It was 15 June and his time was up, he was given a first class ticket, a gold watch and £500 in wages. Home to a tumultuous reception and feted by the press, he found himself being rushed into a record deal, in an attempt to capitalize upon his recent stardom, got himself a group, bought a Jaguar and immediately disappeared. Within a year his marriage had ended, his new bands discs had flopped and he was declared bankrupt with debts of £40 000. There followed some years living in Mexico and a second marriage, also ending in divorce, his present location is seemingly unknown.
      At least now, Nicol may taste the heights of stardom once again as a Hollywood film is being prepared about his life.

Been keeping me up at nights...

      Been keeping me up at nights, actually finished it in early 2016 but this, that and not a few complications Bury-My-Heart-Waterhead-Bay-ebook/dp/B06XG5387F/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1489335471&sr=1-3&keywords=kirk+w+smith

Old Sticks of Furnature

      Recently visited a house and contents sale in the deepest and the darkest, English Lake District, where I came upon three choice items, a Queen Anne Chest, a Victorian Card Table and a Lowboy, probably George lll Let me say I've got a great and particular fascination for Lowboys and any good chest of the right periods and the card table, well I'm looking out for one of a reasonably good quality.

      Of course you've always got to take a careful look at these things before you part with your cash and regrettably, the Lowboy, had been "got at" as they say and not in a very good way. Some items do need restoration, but preferably with great care and by someone whom knows what they're doing. The card table, also had a lot of faults, if you looked closely. And the chest, well this was pretty good, apart from the smallest of faults. I managed to purchase the chest with something of a struggle, but there always something good about having the readies, ready, as it is! 

Drax - Another Bio-mess!

     The Drax power station, vast and uncompromising power production plant of Yorkshire, coal powered, largest, cleanest and most efficient plant of it's kind, in Europe and supplying around 8% of the UK's energy requirement. Or at least this was the case, until the Green Monster reared it's head and the powers that be, determined Drax, should run more efficiently through Biomass energy.
      Around three years ago it was decided there would be a partial switch over to biomass energy production, in part due to a new government carbon-tax, which would make coal burning, seem almost totally uneconomic. 
      At the time biomass was a more or less recent innovation, seen as the brave new future of cheap energy and coupled with the government subsidy, Drax would be making more money through this subsidy than it could through burning the wood pellets.
      So at some considerable cost, said to be in the region of £700 million, Drax converted half of it's six coal-burning furnaces to burning millions of tons of specialist wood pellets, which had to be imported from America. And instrumental in this switch-over was an EU ruling which stated wood to be "carbon neutral" as any CO2 omitted, would eventually be recovered from the atmosphere, via new tree planting to replace those already cut down. All part of a dubious plan to save the planet.
      Of course serious points were raised to the effectiveness of this system and the momentous costs involved and it's only now with biomass fully working at the plant, is it realized that Drax hasn't been making any savings upon Co2 emissions whatsoever.
     There is the argument that wood can hardly be classed as carbon neutral, when it is felled and burnt and any replacement tree will take at least 300 years to reach maturity and be classed as fully grown. And that the burning of wood pellets is also a lot less energy efficient than coal. Also the processing and transportation of the pellets, about four thousand miles from North Carolina, to Yorkshire. Which come largely from some prized and wildlife rich virgin forests in the southern USA. Yet another global catastrophe just around the corner!          

Biomass Fuels A Nice Little Earner

      Biomass, the green energy fuel of the future, produced from wood chips, to power the new new-wave Biomass Boilers, meant to replace the old style traditional oil, gas and electricity systems and thereby saving fossil fuels and being generally more energy efficient.
      Regrettably, the entire process is more or less unworkable without government subsidy, running into many millions of pounds, not only for the producer, but the user as well. Initially there have been a number of takers for the process, but the systems are said to work best covering a number of buildings. Landowners and people with small estates of three or more buildings are encouraged to join the commercial RHI (renewable heat incentive) programme, guaranteeing benefits for at least 20 years, although installation can often cost up to £100k. The user then takes a three-monthly reading and is paid according to consumption, payments can easily run into tens of thousands of pounds, will cover installation and will last for the 20 year period and maybe longer. Landowners can find a multitude of uses for their heat, be it in other properties, rented properties and other outbuildings, including such things as swimming pools. Their is however a cap of 1,314 hours, to prevent over consumption by certain less than scrupulous persons, although payment is in full up to the limit and slightly less afterwards, yet still covers the cost of the system.
      At present there appears to be little concern regarding the number of trees which may need to be felled, to keep the whole process in operation.