So why all the empty seats?

Many fans couldn't buy a ticket for Wembly for love nor money. So why were there so many empty seats in the stadium?

Southampton fans had to sneak into the Carlisle end as they quickly used up their 44,000 seats. Carlisle managed a respectable 25,000 seats but the Football League wouldn't allow any rearrangement of the seating to use up... [more] (1 comment)

Glossing over Saints' win

A poor game but a great day out at Wembley.

OK, so Carlisle didn't win on Sunday but they and their fans did the game proud. It was a grand weekend in the Big Smoke for everyone - well, except those caught up in the nightmare of trying to get there by train. I'm with Private Eye's oft-quoted sentiment: British Rail should only be used... [more]

Lucky escape

The top ten caravan sites in the UK have been named.

Practical caravan magazine have listed the top ten UK caravan sites in the UK. And there's not one in Cumbria - phew! The winning site was  Ross Park Hill Farm, Ipplepen, Newton Abbot, Devon. [more]

Why are pet cats banned in Iran?

Another day, another mystery to solve...

A THROWAWAY line in The Guardian revealed to me that pet cats are banned in Iran. I can think of many 'evils' an Islamic republic might wish to wage war on  - but cute little cuddly cats? C'mon guys! It seems pet cats - and dogs - are considered unclean and having one is too much like... [more]

Why do the British have plastic bowls in their sinks?

Alan Cleaver gets to the bottom of one of life's great mysteries

Why do the British have plastic bowls in their sinks? - so said a quezi.com  ("Now you know...") entry using one of my stock pictures of a kitchen sink. It had never occurred to me that this was such a great mystery to the rest of the world, although I had... [more]

Trials and tribulations

Sex and politics - just another day in the office for deputy editor Alan Cleaver

I've been trying to email our local record office details of a story from our archives about a man who, on his death, turned out to be a woman (I've got your interest now haven't I so take a look at the story here). Unfortunately, the email won't go through... [more]

The mysterious Wasdale 'Head'

A reader has photographed a mysterious 'head' in the rocks at Wasdale

Cue spooky X-Files music as I tell you about reader Joyce Wilson of Bigrigg who was walking in Wasdale when she looked up and noticed the head of a woman lying in the rocks. Not some grisly murder scene but just the way the snow had fallen on the rocks leaving the... [more]

Shedding light on streetlamps

Alan Cleaver wanders down the dark and twisted lanes to getting a street lamp fixed.

It's always struck me that there's no need for audit commissions or independent inspectors when it comes to councils. Just ask them to repair a street lamp and see how long it takes. So it was nice to see someone in our paper two weeks ago praising the... [more]

Bringing me sunshine

Eric Morecambe returns to Whitehaven!

WHAT a fantastic show at Rosehill Theatre last night. Bob Golding was starring in the bioplay about Eric Morecambe and it was a fantastic chance to relive many golden Morecambe & Wise moments. The theatre was packed - great news for Rosehill but not such good news for the inlaws who I'd taken... [more]

I rest my case!

All I've been saying about waiting rooms has just been proved right

I watched the BBC News at lunchtime and there was a report on the new Circle Bath hospital and it repeated almost everything I had been saying about waiting rooms. They even said the architects had been briefed to make a hospital that didn't look like a hospital!... [more]

Who said jargon was dead and buried

Alan Cleaver discovers jargon that even baffles him!

Firstly, it seems our new blogging software on this website can only handle one picture at a time so attached to this blog is the second proposed 'more cheerful' poster for a waiting room.

As a sub-editor, I have to keep an eye out for jargon that is heading the public's way. It's... [more]

Some cheery posters

The Whitehaven community responds to some cheery posters for waiting rooms.

I am grateful to the Whitehaven Snappers and others who have volunteered some cheerful pictures with which to create posters for waiting rooms. I've drawn the first two up so you can have a look.

In addition to cheering up the posters, I've been chatting... [more]

Something to shout about

Hospital waiting rooms needn't just shout about all the horrible things in life - there's plenty of positives to proclaim

I shall be working on revised posters for waiting rooms this weekend! It strikes me there are a lot of positive messages to send out instead of the "you're going to die a horrible death" messages currently... [more]

So what should a waiting room look like

Alan Cleaver has had a radical idea: actually make waiting rooms nice and welcoming places.

It's all very well criticising the design and decor of waiting rooms but if they shouldn't look like they normally do, what should they look like? My first thought was that it should look like your lounge at home - warm, comfortable and... [more]

Jimmy Savile can fix it

My campaign to cheer up waiting rooms reminds me of the good work of Jimmy Savile at Stoke Mandeville Hospital

TO recap, I'm campaigning for cheerier waiting rooms. I'd settle for just one waiting room in West Cumbria being transformed into somewhere it is actually nice to sit and wait. Having surfed the web, it's clear that there are... [more]

Why are waiting rooms so awful

Alan Cleaver is on a mission - to come up with a nice waiting room! And he needs your help.

I SPENT two hours in the waiting room of West Cumbria Hospital's A&E Department on Sunday morning. Yes, the staff were wonderful. Yes, the service was excellent. But oh my goodness - that boring, depressing, mind-numbing nightmare that is the... [more] (1 comment)