An Australian Summer

TODAY'S EDITION OF 'FOX TOWER is all about Summer. Yes Summer is here at last! Well, at least if you're in the Southern Hemisphere, it is. Three - sorry, four - people enjoying the Summer in Sydney, Australia, are my feature today.

First is Mella, featured in the photograph on the left, in her role as the Prom Queen. Mella is a citizen of Sydney, a city she loves, as you will find in her MySpace webpage, which you can visit here.

Second is Miss Stine Slettemark, who is living in Sydney whilst she is studying a Tourism course at college in the city. Stine has her home in Oslo, Norway, a city which takes on a much different appearance to Sydney at this time of year, a fact not lost by Stine, as her blog on her Windows Live Space shows. Visit Miss Slettemark's webpage by clicking here.

Greetings to my cousin, Sarah Cowin and her partner Dave, who are also in Sydney. They have travelled from the cold, wet, UK, to Sydney, where, in a letter home recently, Sarah also found the summer weather a shock to the system, saying she kind of missed the cold and rain which is constant here in the UK at this time of year!! Sarah & Dave report they have secured accommodation and employment, close to the harbour, with views of the World-famous Opera House. After their stint in Sydney, Sarah & Dave plan to travel to Perth, Western Australia, but that is in the near future. This is Sarah's second visit to Australia, her previous visit was a decade ago, December 1996. How time passes...!

Wallpaper Of The Week

TODAY'S WALLPAPER is a photograph I took on the evening of April 10th 2006, as the Northern Rail evening service was passing Garsdale, heading north to Kirkby Stephen. Enjoy...

And Finally... An Eventful 2006...

Missed the chaos? Fat chance!

TRAFFIC was brought to a standstill after a wagon spilled cooking oil all over the road.

The lorry was driving along Marina Way, in Hartlepool, when its side door suddenly opened, causing several barrels to fall into the road. Traffic chaos quickly followed and at least two accidents were caused by cars skidding on the oil. The lorry driver, who did not wish to be named, said: “It’s just an accident. I didn’t mean for it to happen. “The clip on the side door has broken off, so the side door came up. “The first right hand turn I took, the barrels tipped out, and when I looked in my side mirror I could just see them coming out.” The driver of the Eden Valley Oils wagon was turning right into Middleton Road when the barrels full of used cooking oil spilled out. Two fire engines attended the scene at around 1.15pm yesterday and firefighters closed the road and worked to remove the oil. Watch manager at Stranton Fire Station Barry Waites said: “I believe there were a couple of minor bumps as a result. “Our job was to remove the oil from the road surface. “We use something called elcef fibres and we brush them into the road. It’s also used in petrol spillages as well. “We also used two tonnes of sand from the council.” The affected area was temporarily made a 20mph speed limit zone in a bid to prevent any further accidents. Buses, meanwhile, were diverted along Lancaster Road and Clarence Road.

16 November 2006, The Hartlepool Mail.
Nobody was hurt, so at least those of us in the know (no names!) can raise a smile, I guess...

If you would like to leave a comment, please do so below, or to take the opportunity to E-Mail me, click here.

Finally, finally, may I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy New Year and say if you make a wish this New Year, I hope your wish comes true!

God Save The Queen

1. God save our gracious Queen,

Long live our noble Queen,

God save the Queen!

Send her victorious,

Happy and glorious,

Long to reign over us;

God save the Queen!

2. O Lord our God arise,

Scatter her enemies

And make them fall;

Confound their politics,

Frustrate their knavish tricks,

On Thee our hopes we fix,

God save us all!

3. Thy choicest gifts in store

On her be pleased to pour;

Long may she reign;

May she defend our laws,

And ever give us cause

To sing with heart and voice,

God save the Queen!

4. Not in this land alone,

But be God's mercies known,

From shore to shore!

Lord make the nations see,

That men should brothers be,

And form one family,

The wide world over.

5. From every latent foe,

From the assassins blow,

God save the Queen!

O'er her thine arm extend,

For Britain's sake defend,

Our mother, prince, and friend,

God save the Queen!

6. Lord grant that Marshal Wade

May by thy mighty aid

Victory bring.

May he sedition hush,

And like a torrent rush,

Rebellious Scots to crush.

God save the King!

Want to go Digital? Play the game...

I MAY HAVE POSTED this before, but the boffins at BBC Research & Development have come up with a game, in which your challenge is to switch all the analogue main TV stations [transmitters] to digital. Do have a go, it's great fun (well, for a media anorak like I am, I think so).

To Download and play the Switchover Challenge Game, click here.

For the Game Instructions, click here.

Do let me know how you get on, leave a comment at the bottom of this post or email me.

A Cumbrian At Christmas


LAST CHRISTMAS was the first posting of 'A Cumbrian At Christmas', in which Reporting From The Fox Tower featured the Cumbrian television actress Roxanne Pallett (You can find the post in the archives, December 2005).

This year, Reporting From The Fox Tower would like to present Cumbrian singer Amanda Tinkler.

Amanda began singing at events around the Eden area, before applying to compete on the television programme 'Stars In Their Eyes : Kids 2002'. Amanda took part in the show, singing "I'm Like A Bird" by Nelly Furtado. The other contestants on the show that day (September 2002) were performing songs by Annie Oakley, Richie Valens, Charlotte Church and Lulu. A vote taken by the studio audience saw Amanda come out on top, winning her a place in the programme Final, which went on air November 2002. All the contestants had a video of support from their friends aired on the show prior to their performance, Amanda's video featured her friends Lesley Davidson and Stephanie Guy.

In the 'Stars In Their Eyes : Kids Live Final 2002', Amanda once again performed as Nelly Furtado, competing against performers singing songs by Donny Osmond, Irene Cara, Eva Cassidy, Millie and Robbie Williams. The competition was open to a public vote, which saw Amanda receive 55 638 votes, placing her fourth in the final results. The final was won by Charlotte Gethin, of Staffordshire, performing as Eva Cassidy singing"Over The Rainbow", for which she received 282 422 votes.

Following her appearances on television, Amanda's bookings for performances began to rise, which included her appearing at events as diverse at the Carlisle Sands Centre Senior Citizens Christmas Party and the switching on of the Christmas lights in Kirkby Stephen, both 2002. In 2004 Amanda appeared on the bill at the inaugural 'Pop2ThePark', an all-day music concert at Bitts Park, Carlisle (featured picture).

Most recently, Amanda has performed at the 2005 Whitehaven Maritime Festival and in 2006 featured on the panel of judges for a talent search sponsored by Eddie Stobart, called 'The Stobart Factor'. Amanda's performance highlight of 2006 was when she was on the bill for an inaugural music concert at Brunton Park, Carlisle, sharing the stage with Lulu and Tony Christie at 'Party On The Pitch'.

Wallpaper of the week

Another inauguration for Reporting From The Fox Tower: I'd like to share with you some of my favourite photography, which makes wonderful desktop wallpaper.

I hope you like the following image of Cardiff, a photograph I took April 2006. If you would like to use the image as wallpaper, click on the image below, which will open up to a full size image, save on your computer and then post as your wallpaper. Enjoy!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, have a good one!

711kHz - 837kHz December Medium Wave Round Up

ON SATURDAY 2nd DECEMBER, I spent the late afternoon and evening listening to the Medium Wave band on my Roberts R881 radio, here are the results:

711 kHz 1645 GMT : France - Rennes transmitter, France Info / France Bleu.

720 kHz 1657 GMT : BBC Radio 4 via Lisnagarvey transmitter, Northern Ireland. On the air: 'Weekend Woman's Hour'. Programme webpage - Click here.

729 kHz 1709 GMT : RTE Radio 1 via Cork transmitter, Ireland. RTE webpage - Click here.

738 kHz 1720 GMT : RNE 1 via Barcelona transmitter, Spain. Listen Live to RNE 1 by clicking here. Saturday night is best - Live La Liga football!

747 kHz 1735 GMT : Radio 5 (ex- Radio 747 AM) via Flevoland transmitter, Holland. Webpage - Click here.

756 kHz 1746 GMT : BBC Radio Cumbria via Carlisle transmitter. On the air: 'Saturday Sport'. Webpage - Click here.

756 kHz 1828 GMT : Deutschlandfunk (DLF), Germany. Coverage of the Bundesliga (football). Webpage - Click here.

765 kHz 1953 GMT : Option Musique via Sottens transmitter, Switzerland. Webpage - Click here.

774 kHz 2006 GMT : RNE 1, Spain.

783 kHz 2021 GMT : Radio Mirimar via Barcelona transmitter, Spain. Information webpage - Click here.

783 kHz 2031 GMT : MDR Info via Leipzig transmitter, Germany. Webpage - Click here.

792 kHz 2045 GMT : France Info via Limoges transmitter, France. Webpage - Click here.

792 kHz 2057 GMT : BBC Radio Foyle via Londonderry transmitter, Northern Ireland. Webpage - Click here.

801 kHz 2110 GMT : Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR, Bayern) via Munich transmitter, Germany. Webpage - Click here.

801 kHz 2122 GMT : BBC Radio Devon via Barnstaple transmitter. On the air: David Lowe 'As Time Goes By'. David Lowe webpage - Click here.

801 kHz 2220 GMT : RNE 1, Spain.

810 kHz 2230 GMT : BBC Radio Scotland via Burghead / Westerglen transmitter. Webpage - Click here.

837 kHz 2252 GMT : BBC Radio Cumbria via Barrow in Furness transmitter. On the air: John Caine 'The Rock Show'. John Caine webpage - Click here.

837 kHz 2305 GMT : France Info via Nancy transmitter, France.

Well that's all the radio had to offer on that day, I hope you find it of interest. If so, please leave a comment below, or email me.

Cheers!