General Blog About Everything

Britain’s annual festival of futile motoring is held tomorrow on its traditional date of the late May bank holiday. Just over half the nation’s 35 million cars are expected to be on the road, completing weekend journeys that average 304 miles, not all of which go as planned. By Tuesday morning, the AA and RAC will have attended around 85,000 breakdowns. And this holiday, just to add to the gaiety of it all, fuel prices are increasing almost daily. Tomorrow, filling the tank of a Renault Espace diesel will cost £103.09 – £22.75 more than a year ago.

Kew Gardens has unveiled a multimillion pound walkway which allows visitors to stroll through the treetops of some of the garden’s oldest and most spectacular trees at a vertigo-inducing height of nearly 60ft.

Britain’s economic woes are forcing people to abandon animals in unprecedented
numbers as desperate families struggle to cut costs by dumping their pets.
Animal sanctuaries say they have been overwhelmed by the number of animals
delivered to them in recent months as the credit crunch continues to bite
and the cost of living rises sharply. They fear that the situation could
become unmanageable if the downturn continues.

Carol Rothery may be 46 years old, but she remembers exactly what it felt like
to be a child. "I was very volatile in my adolescent years and felt
that nobody understood me," she recalls. "In particular, I can
remember trying to talk to my mum, who just didn’t have a clue. I made a
conscious decision to remember how it felt to be that young and I stuck to
it. I think it’s one of the main reasons I was interested in fostering."

As last week seemed to herald the beginning of the English summer, so this
Thursday – the opening day of the first Test at Lord’s – brings the start of "the
Season", the loosely grouped chain of events in which sport, opera and
gardening have traditionally met social snobbery, hidebound dress codes and
British and international royalty.

You know the Angel of the North. Now imagine the Colossus of the South. It will stand near Ebbsfleet International station, to amaze Eurostar passengers as they travel through Kent. It will cost £2m and stand 50 metres high.

The Happy List was compiled with advice and nominations from the following
organisations: Institute for Philanthropy, National Council for Voluntary
Organisations, Association of Charitable Foundations, Muslim Council, the
Beacon Fellowship, the Department for Culture and Media, Impetus Trust,
Dreams Come True, the National Lottery, the Church of England, the Community
Channel, Institute of Fundraising, the Carnegie Trust, National Trust, the
Charity Commision, British Association of Social Workers, various national
and community award schemes (from Pride of Britain to Harrow Heroes), Oxfam,
Cancer Research UK and Greenpeace. Special thanks are due to Joanna Bale
from the Local Government Association and Musa Okwonga from the Institute of
Philanthropy.