Visit Cumbria in 2006! (Part One)

The Fox Tower Reporter would like to announce a project taking place within this online journal in 2006: Visit Cumbria!

Now I realise many readers reside in Cumbria, but for those of you outside our beautiful county, this project will furnish you with news, information and internet links of many destinations in Cumbria, confident you will follow up by visiting the featured destinations.

The first destination of the project, taking us into the New Year, is the historic city of CARLISLE, the Great Border City. Carlisle has many appealing features, beginning with the Castle, home of the King's Own Royal Border Regiment. Visitors are very welcome to the Castle, which has its own Museum charting the history of the monument. The Castle can be found to the north west of the city centre.

If you enjoy open spaces, just to the north of the Castle is Bitts Public Park, over the River Eden is the Cricket Ground, The Swifts Pitch & Putt to the east (behind the Sands Leisure Centre), over the Eden again (Memorial Bridge) to visit Rickerby Park. Over Memorial Bridge again then cross the bridge over the River Petteril to visit Stony Holme Golf Course. If you enjoy sport, the short tour just taken ends with a view to the south, taking in Carlisle Rugby Union Football Club on Warwick Road, with the impressive sight of Brunton Park Football Stadium, home of Carlisle United Football Club, only a couple of hundred feet away. To visit these clubs from the Golf Course, take St Aidan's Road, joining Victoria Place, follow the A69 to Warwick Road.

I hope this opening article of my project has been of interest, I hope you follow the link above and visit the city in the New Year (or even before!)

I'll have more ideas for Carlisle and the county very soon I'm sure.

Visit Cumbria - Visit soon!

A Cumbrian at Christmas

Meet the lovely Roxanne Pallett, whom you may recognise (if you watch a television) as Jo Styles of the soap 'Emmerdale'. Roxy is a local lass, spending Christmas at home in Currock, Carlisle, where she grew up. She has a website of her own at the News & Star and in the New Year, as well as appearing on 'Emmerdale', Rox will be appearing in 'Soapstar Superstar', the X-Factor contest for soap stars - All singing and dancing, also featuring the highly attractive Sammy Winward (Emmerdale's Katie Sugden).

So there you are, you learn a little about someone in the public eye and I get to place a picture of another attractive woman in this journal. It's a hard life sometimes...

Seasons Greetings

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas

Have a great day!

From the Radio to the Web

At the beginning of the month, I spent an evening or two beside my wireless, and here are the results.
On Monday 5 December, I listened to the Medium Wave band and on Saturday 10 December I listened to a programme on the Short Waves. Almost all have a link to their page in their station name, so please have a look at their sites.

Monday 5 December:

• 1161 kHz: Tentative reception of a broadcast from Ain - Salah, Algeria (No link here, sorry).
• 1170 kHz: Magic 1170, Stockton, Teeside.
• 1179 kHz: Radio Sweden, Stockholm, Sweden (English).
• 1197 kHz: Virgin Radio, broadcasts from London, various low power transmitters on this frequency.
• 1206 kHz: France Info, Bordeaux, France.

Saturday 10 December:

• 9655 kHz: Adventist World Radio, English language service to Africa via Meyerton transmitter site, South Africa.

And there you have my logs for Monday 5 December (Medium Wave) and Saturday 10 December (Short Wave).

I hope you enjoy the links, learning about radio broadcasts from the UK and Europe, indeed, the World.

Whilst I was browsing Google for the Radio Sweden site, I found "Thank You For The Music". Follow the link, I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

That's all, take care, good listening!

What I'd like for Christmas...

Hello Everyone...

Just a quick update to say Hello and that I'm fine... I'm sure by now you're fed up of clicking on here and seeing the 'Bonsai Kittens' at the top of the page, so thought I would write a couple of lines of 'trash' to keep the page ticking over... I do care, honest! I'll try my best to come back this weekend and write a few lines about some more radio stations I've been listening to, as well as the run up to Christmas - One week! Hope you're all ready....

See you all again soon!

Bonsai Kittens

If you do follow the link to the Bonsai Kitten website, then do prepare yourself.

'Bonsai Kitten' is, I hope, a passing 'fad' enjoyed by Chinese-Americans and the Far East, in which ten day old kittens are injected with a muscle relaxing drug then pressed into a bottle or jar, so as the kitten grows, its skeleton takes on the shape of the container, unable to move.

Personally, I think this treatment of animals is an absolute disgrace, and as soon as it is stopped the better. Please voice your comments here or on the site, which has a guestbook in which - the cheek! - they say what they do is right! I don't think so some how!

I hope the RSPCA take a look... Must be stopped!

Take care...

Christmas shopping...

... in Carlisle today really was an experience. I don't think I've ever known the Great Border City to have been as choc-a-bloc as it was today. I sympathised with the staff at Past Times who were simply over run ... imagine what it must be like to work in a store as popular as PT was today, it was absolute mayhem!

I visited a couple of other stores, also heaving, had a nice pot of tea with jam doughnut (or two) at a store restaurant before heading up into an outdoor orientated store which, to be fair, was having a 'slow day'. Considering everyone else elsewhere were kicking each other's heads in to get in and out of the stores, this place was like heaven. I'm pleased I did find a place which didn't have the edge of disharmony to it, and so was a little less 'het up' as I made my way back to the Citadel Station to enjoy the train ride home (£3 return with a winter railcard - Beat that you car drivers!)

Don't let me hurry you but you only have 22 more days to endure the madness - then the new year sales! Have fun :0)

BBC sporty thingy ( no more after this, honest! )

After I may have had a slight poke at the BBC last night, re: BBC best sporty person award hall of fame whatsit, I'd just like to make a slight point towards a sportsperson deserving of the Overseas sports person of the year 2005, see picture on the right - yes I think Miss Sharapova should receive the award because, for a start, at least she even tries to succeed in her sport, she hasn't made it to the top by saying "Oh well, another game lost, let's see what else I can do", like a Miss Kournikova, who fell by the wayside in the tennis world - hey, at least she had a modelling contract and a marriage to Enrique Englesias to fall back on - Never short of a job or two then! ( Not too sarcastic, I hope ). Yes, the BBC panel should despatch the award to Maria asap and aspire all young people to take up sport and at least GET SOME EXERCISE!

As for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, I *exclusively* revealed yesterday the award is going to Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff, yet - lo and behold! - the annual sabotage has begun! Fans of Liverpool FC have been voting in their droves for Peter Crouch (eh?!) , yes, the same Mr Crouch who, today, has scored his first goal for the club. So if one goal every three months entitles an award, then Everton certainly are team of the year. Oh ok then, that was harsh on the 'Toffee men'. I meant Sunderland. That's more like it!

You asked me the result of the Test match in Lahore today - Goodness, is that the time? Really...

Over 'n' out...

The Best Ever

Does this qualify, BBC?

I see the BBC are heralding the arrival of their 'Sports Review of 2005' in a week or so, with the award of 'Sports Personality of the year' going to, say, Andrew Flintoff. Has that let the cat out of the bag, I wonder? So here am I, with a nice picture on the right, about to take a tongue - in - cheek look at what might just sneak through into the BBC review of the sporting year, and which sporty events we might see coming up in 2006 and beyond, especially here in England we have an Olympics to look forward to in 2012 ( London over Paris, a result even sweeter! ) and - who knows - maybe even hosting the football world cup finals in 2018! Those dates way seem such a long way off now, but the day will arrive and yes, we will be saying "Hasn't time flown"! And yes, you know you will be saying that too.

So let us allude to the picture in the right and see if El Presidente ( Formerly known as the Prime Minister Tony Blair, all seeing eye of good and evil for the electorate in the UK ) will induct a new award for the BBC peeps, namely the 'Still a sport but with a new name' award, for the example is a man with a pack of hounds who now is taking up 'Hound exercising', which I think is worthy of an award... 2006 could see the advent of 'Longest hound run' which - hey! - might even make a government have a rethink on policies!

The future is young sporting people, especially in the world of tennis, be it Scotland's Andy Murray or Russia's Maria Sharapova, more power to your elbow, young people! Oh but will Timmy Henman win anything in 2006... I'll let you decide that one.

That's the over ( Ashes England 2 - Aussies 1 Hah! ).

Welcome!

Through this online journal, may I extend a warm welcome to a group visiting Cumbria from Azerbaijan, as guests of Cumbria County Council. The group are visiting the county for three days, basing their stay in Carlisle but are also touring the north of Cumbria. If you should happen across our visitors, please welcome them and show them what friendly people we Cumbrians are!

And may I welcome you all to my online journal, many thanks for all your visits and page views so far, I hope you shall continue to read and enjoy this journal. Please feel free to visit the guestmap (link in the sidebar on the left) and place your pin, and / or post a comment below this or any other post. Please feel free to let me know where in the world you all are, many thanks now and always!

Take it easy! :)

George Best, 1946-2005

"I spent all my money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest of my money... I squandered it"

In memory of George Best, who passed away today, Friday 25 November 2005, aged 59.
George was an amazingly talented football player with Manchester United and Northern Ireland and seeing the footage of how he played the game in the 1960's for Manchester United with Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, I fear we will not see the like again.

All football grounds in England are holding a one minute silence in memory of George this weekend, if you are a spectator at the football this weekend, please be silent and show your respect for one of the greatest players who will now be sorely missed.

Rest In Peace.

Are You Listening...?

For all you Cumbrian / Lancastrian fans of the radio in Kirkby Lonsdale, some news for you!

LVR FM ( Lune Valley Radio)
Contact: Paul Broadbent
LVR FM, 9 Market Street, Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria LA6 2AU
Tel: 015242 71294
email: paul@lakelandtoday.com
LVR will serve the semi-rural community within the Lune Valley area, and centred on the market town of Kirkby Lonsdale.

As far as I am aware, LVR has just been awarded the licence to broadcast, so if you're interested, it may be of use to use the contact details above.

My previous post leaned towards station links for the programmes I heard those days, so here they are:

• TalkSport
• Denmark Radio
• Magic 1152 Newcastle
• BBC Five Live
• Vatican Radio
• Radio Netherlands (Dutch)
• Radio Slovakia International
• Deutsche Welle (Germany)
• Radio Osterreich 1 International (Austria in English)
• Reflections Europe (Surrey Electronics)
• Radio Exterior de Espana (Spain)
• Radio Netherlands (English)

Hope that little lot isn't too tiring... as for other matters, tea and sympathy please as I have a spot of Gastritis.

Gastritis (inflammation of the stomach) is caused by stress so don't stress me out, cheers.

One Man & His Wireless

The last two Sundays, October 30 and November 6, I've enjoyed listening to the Medium Wave and Short Wave bands on my Roberts Radio, enjoying considerable success despite the conditions on the days, namely the weather which affects the signals.

Here's a run down of the stations received on the days (Frequency, Station):

October 30 (Medium Wave):
1053 kHz, TalkSport
1062 kHz, Denmark Radio P3 Network
1071 kHz, TalkSport (Newcastle transmitter)
1089 kHz, TalkSport
1107 kHz, TalkSport (weak signal)
1152 kHz, Magic 1152 (Newcastle commercial station)
693 kHz, BBC Radio Five Live (Julian Worricker live from Warwick Road, Carlisle).

November 6 (Short Wave):
5885 kHz, Vatican Radio (French broadcast to Europe)
5955 kHz, Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (Dutch broadcast to Europe)
6005 kHz, Deutschland Radio (German broadcast to Europe)
6055 kHz, Radio Slovakia International (German to West Europe)
6075 kHz, Deutsche Welle (German to Europe)
6140 kHz, Deutsche Welle (English to Europe)
6155 kHz, Radio Osterreich 1 International (Austria - German to Europe)
6295 kHz, Reflections Europe (Religious broadcasts: Jack Van Impe Ministries / Gospel Crusade Ministries)
7275 kHz, Radio Exterior de Espana (Spanish sports broadcast to Europe)
7345 kHz, Radio Slovakia International (German to West Europe)
11655kHz, Radio Netherlands (English to Africa)

Details are quite scarce here, for more details follow the link to the British DX Club on the sidebar at the left and I'll try to put some links to the above broadcasters on here . . . sometime!

Switch your radio on - Good Listening!

Would you believe it....!

Wow, bloody hell! Carlisle United STUFFED Stockport County by a massive SIX goals to nil at Brunton Park! And I missed it! Stupid headaches... I was sleepy at home all day, back to my bed, rising to listen to the game at home when I should have been at the game... I was chuffed when Karl Hawley hit the first, even more so when Derek Holmes made it two shortly after, when Paul Arnison sent the ball goalwards only for the Stockport 'keeper to punch the ball into his own net I started to rue my luck... then the fourth went in(Karl Hawley), I was cursing being at home in my dressing gown - damn you headache! 4-0 at half time, I was wondering if there would be any more goals second half from Carlisle, or would The Blues give a couple away? Derek Holmes got his second to make it 5-0 then Karl Hawley got the hat trick to give the final result the 6-0 finish. Not only did Carlisle triumph in style, Darlington LOST to Wrexham (try not to laugh too much!) and the icing really was slabbed on thick when Middlesbrough beat Man U 4-0 (ok it was 4-1 but since that Manc chav team scored so late in stoppage time I reckon they don't deserve the goal on the records). Champagne for Wigan Athletic who are second behind Chelsea tonight... Happy days! Man U and Arsenal... hate 'em, I really do... just goes to show, you really should support your home team!

Wednesday waffle

Just a few notes this Wednesday night with a look forward to the weekend...

In my previous post (football section), I left out the result and some forthcoming games for Carlisle United - The Blues were down at Notts County (Meadow Lane) and played out a 0-0 draw. United's next game is at home to Stockport County, Saturday 29 October. I will be attending the game, courtesy of a free bus! (See entry for Saturday 15 October). Last Saturday the draws for the FA Cup First Round and the LDV Cup Second Round were made, on Saturday 5 November Carlisle visit Cheltenham Town for the FA Cup 1st Round, Carlisle played at Cheltenham on September 17 and United beat them 3-2... I hope that's a good omen for the forthcoming FA Cup match! Also in November, Blackpool visit Brunton Park for the Second Round of the LDV Trophy (or whatever it's official name is... D'uh!)

The above shows I'm visiting Brunton Park on Saturday, whilst on Sunday I plan to enjoy listening to the Medium Wave band on my portable radio, to do some DXing - Hearing stations from near and far on the band, be they BBC local, BBC national, ILR local, ILR national, or our friends from Europe. To learn more about DXing, visit the British DX Club (BDXC) Web site, follow the link in the sidebar.

Take care!

That was the week that was

So Sunday evening has come around once again, 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon' on television, whilst I type up a few thoughts of the week just gone, with emphasis of the high points, obviously!

Tuesday evening and The Blues were down at Oldham Athletic (League One opposition!) for the first round of the LDV Trophy competition, a competition which has been good to Carlisle down the years... Karl Hawley scored on five minutes and Carlisle held the lead up to well in the second half when Oldham equalised through determination and I guess a spot of luck (ie Kev Gray's injury) from a penalty.
This being a cup game meant it had to be completed on the night. Extra time came and went, all resting on the penalty kicks. So the roll call of honour is Chris Lumsden, Karl Hawley, Peter Murphy, Simon Grand, Zigor Aranalde and Jamie McClen, as Carlisle ran out 6-5 winners on the night (complementing their 1-0 win over Mansfield at Brunton Park the Saturday before this game).

I received a couple of items of mail linked to my radio listening hobby this week and if you enjoy Evangelical Christian radio broadcasts, then this is for you. Many thanks to Trans World Radio and Feba Radio for their mailings, even though I haven't heard their broadcasts for a long while and I'd just like to say this isn't a plug for their broadcasts, honest!

I do enjoy listening to BBC Radio Cumbria as I'm a local boy, but I also enjoy our other local station on medium wave, Fresh Radio, especially for the great, great music played during a half hour period this morning: ABBA, Status Quo, The Clash, Elvis ... Fresh Radio started out in the late 90's as Yorkshire Dales Radio, becoming Fresh AM then Fresh Radio. Enjoy the link provided! (Yes, that one WAS a plug.)

Finally, I hope whilst you are here you enjoy my ramblings, please leave a comment at the bottom of the posts and place a pin in the guestmap, link on the left hand of the page.

Me, on 'here'.

I knew it would happen, sooner or later. Self doubt about running a blog crept in big time at the weekend, mainly Saturday night, after I had been messing with the template trying to type in HTML to create my Links Column on the left hand side of the page. Success! I created the Links column, but in doing so, I somehow made the text in the main page go LARGE, which I didn't really like, hence the doubts. I've come round to it now though, I quite like the large text, I will see how this article looks when it has been published.

On to happier things! Yes! Carlisle United won 1-0 against Mansfield Town on Saturday, The Blues are now 9th in the League 2 table. Please reaffirm my geography, and confirm to me that Mansfield is in Nottinghamshire, isn't it? (Or have I made a 'Big Brother' style blooper?)

Finally, Birthday cake all round, Mark is 27 on October 18th (My Brother), my friend Claire also celebrates her Birthday same day! (You never reveal the age of a Lady, first rule a man must learn).

I have also updated my profile, so please take a look, you might find you and I have something in common. At this point, may I also plug the book I am reading at present: 'Heart Of Darkness' by Joseph Conrad. I highly recommend this read!

Take it easy!

Links, Comments and Times

Please take a look at the Links I've included below left, the first for BBC Cumbria, from where you can learn so much about Cumbria and listen live to BBC Radio Cumbria, you can also navigate to the BBC site from there too.
Second, Carlisle United Football Club - The Blues! Currently in Coca Cola League Two but progressing up through the leagues.
Third, a man who is an absolute living Legend, DEREK LACEY - This link plays some of the most memorable football commentaries ever (RealPlayer Required)!

Many thanks for the comments so far on this blog, this blog is only a baby, a week old, so your feedback is welcomed always.

Finally, I've actually got the time link for the bottom of these entries sorted, the time below will now read as UTC (GMT), which is 0 hours (or 1 hour behind British Summer Time). This way the time will always be constant, not LA time as before, and means I don't have to keep changing the times during winter and summer ;)

Take care, have a good weekend!

On a lighter note...

I have a long standing interest in radio broadcasts, be they domestic broadcasts or from around Europe on Medium Wave, or from all over the world on Short Wave.
So may I say many thanks to China Radio International for their nice letter I received today, please follow the link on their station name and have a look at their site, it's very good.
(Not a plug, honest!)

The World Around Us

We have all seen the pictures of the results of the earthquake on TV, so here's how we can help.
Visit the Disasters Emergency Committee for the latest update and make a donation there.
Also visit UNICEF who are working out there to give the kids a chance of survival.
As always, BBC News have reports from the region which will show how our help will be helping the people out in Pakistan.

Saturday 15 October 2005

For those of you lucky enough to be at a loose end this coming Saturday, here's a few things you may be interested in:

• Jump on a free bus! which will take you to Brunton Park, home of Carlisle United, to see the Blues take on Mansfield in a League Two match. The bus sets off from The Golden Fleece, Brough at around 12:45pm. Contact Gary at the 'Fleece for all the details.

• Fancy a bit of Fell Feeling? Get yourself round to Patterdale or Ravenstonedale (or both!) and have a really good day 'up the tops'.

• If you're still stuck for an idea of what to do, Kirkby Stephen Fire Brigade are holding a demonstration of how NOT to deal with a chip pan fire as part of their 'chip pan amnesty' in Brough at around 2pm. You can go along and hand in your dirty old pan and they will give you a band new deep fat fryer for F R E E !

And one more thing for this coming Saturday, Happy Birthday Emma! (Better remember Adam here too, Happy Birthday for ... today!)

Go enjoy!

Christmas starts here...

On a visit to a local supermarket today, the doorway greets customers with advent calendars for the festive season, whilst further in the store can be found the Christmas mince pies (best before date well before December, obviously) and various other little treats, including wrapping paper!

I was reminded by a friend later today the number of days remaining until Christmas Day is 77, but at least the festive adverts haven't started on television yet... but one has already been heard on the radio!

Have you got your cards written yet? Only 77 days left, soon be here...

All Roads Lead To Argos (as well as every other retailer)

From my location in the Eden Valley, the road known as the A66 passes close by. It has come to my notice that said road carries alot of traffic for a well known catalogue store known as Argos. I am in no way endorsing their products over other retailers, but it seems every other vehicle on the A66 is a heavy goods vehicle making sure the catalogue store never runs low on stock. The A66 carries vehicles from all corners of this great world of ours, and every time I view 'Route 66', the blue livery of the catalogue store passes by ... yup, there goes another one.

So if you ever find yourself travelling the A66, look out for our friends in the sky blue HGV and don't forget to tell your friends back home about the legendary road with it's own mobile catalogue store.