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I have spent some time altering the background stuff to my blogs. I am hoping that the integration of blogs adverts data and the like is functioning correctly. Thank you for helping.

Apple operating system

There have been two recent updates to the operating system of Apple. We are now on version 13.6.1

This was a small update to fix.

A green tint on screen due to thermal management issues

Some system files not being deleted when the storage was low

Exposure notifications disabled for some users as it relates to apps that need it like the Covid -19 type.

I dont know the name of this plant?

To get updates which are set as automatic or to see which version you are on go to Settings/general/Software updates .

Here you will see the update version currently in use.

Updates are down overnight when you are plugged in to the mains. ( There is a fear that a disaster would happen if battery was flat during an update!)

 

This update refers to I pads and I phones.

Book work over winter

 I have stopped the writing of History of the Church in Scotland as there are so many things that have happened over the last few years that would really make it important to have a reworded document. I may pick this up again in due course.

However, I an in the proces of writing up a draft plan for a new book that will have Highland stories.

These will be short stories regarding people in the Highlands over the years. 

If you are interested in the final product then please indicate to me and I will take a note. Thanks.

Tesco update

I an getting feedback that Tesco staff who make up the orders do not follow the arrows round the shop because their app shows them the most direct route to the product. Does this need to change?  Why is it you instruct your customers to do one thing for safety and allow your staff to do the opposite and unmasked as they pass with in 2 metres of customers in the wrong direction?

Share if you find this strange or have come across similar situation.

Buy British Again!?

Recent comment on facebook regarding the economy is worth considering in light of the economic downturn.

Virus costs on overdraft

Right, first of all without being political any borrowing by the government will need to be repaid or at least, reduced by taxes or the ability to balance the books and repay the debt.

Thinking it through

We feel it for those in businesses who are picking up the threads of their time and energy and bring it back to a sustainable entity once again.

Those businesses, for whatever reason, that did not have a sutable "reserve policy" will have found the situation more challenging.

So what are the steps to have a vibrant economy and self sustaining business growing?

taken 10.30 14/5/2020 last six month trend

Speed of money circulating

One aspect is the " multiplier" effect.

This is the speed of money moving around the economy.

Now it still holds good even with electronic money rather than hard cash.

The speed at which we move money has an impact on the community.

I get paid,  I buy a loaf, the baker buys stationery for his buiness, the Office retailer buys meat from the butcher and the butcher buys a loaf of bread.

The speed of buying is controlled by lots of things.

Having the cash!, Assessing the need to buy now, quality quantity and price all come into the equation. Its the assessment of the buyer to part with money rather than have it holding for a rainy day or a lower borrowing.

Taken at 10.30 14/5/2020 Daily trend

So if the public are feeling secure and confident they are more likely to buy.

One observstions of the last major resession was that people tended to continue to eat out. This is unlikely after the current virus as people assess the risks of eating out. perhaps home decorating will take a lift. Or perhaps car purchases will regain as people refuse to go on public transport.

So if you think about it, if we are all buying then the sellers will buy and so on, which will in turn help the flow of cash and the "muliplier" will increase.

As an aside when there is a faster rate of sales the VAT for the government will increase ( pay the debt?)

So buying and keeping the money in the community is a good way if improving sustainability.

Buy British again

This is where the Buy British makes sense we buy "locally" and the benefit not only to the purchaser but the seller is all local. As the multiplier works, confidence continues revenue comes in- we pay the debt.

At some point we as a nation can consider the selling abroad as part of the medium trend but for present buy British makes sense. I appreciate that there are some items that we will need to import and we have businesses where all their revenue comes from abroad. (There is also the Brexit ramifications- Buy British will help?)

Please Share!
Thank you

Have Tesco got it right?

But first a Risk conversation

The Corona Virus has involved all of us in risk assessments.

How often should I go to the shops? Weekly shops are more common than monthly now.

Should I go for a paper every day?

How much distance should I give for runners and cyclist? More than 2 metres?

I remember the first time I had the opportunity to stand behind a shop till. It was a newsagent. I was a paper boy. An emergency took place and the shop manager said, "you cover the counter while I deal with this situation." Apart from the buzz for a child to be in control of a shop, I had never dealt with cash before, I was terrified.

But what of the lasting impression about that situation as I saw the shop from a different viewpoint.

Years of paper rounds delivering in the local village, leaning on the counter, several visits each day I had got used to seeing the shop from one side the customer side.

Now I was seeing the other side. It was strange.

If you have lived in the same house for a long time and you haven't been in the garden of next door then when you do go and visit -Its strange because you are seeing it from a different eye, a different perspective!

Looking at risks is to some extent looking from a different angle.

While you might have an insight the rest of the street or community might not!
To move forward in risk management there is a need to have everyone increase their awareness.

With change, like behaviour, it might take time, but as you carry on others will see this new perspective and what a benefit it could be. A disaster missed, a more efficient home or workplace, no loss or a catastrophe averted.  This virus still has the potential to be more than a Catastrophe if we do not act wisely.

So, what are risks?

Risk is the possibility of something bad happening.

Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environment), often focusing on negative, undesirable consequences. Many different definitions have been proposed. The international standard definition of risk for common understanding in different applications is “effect of uncertainty on objectives”.

How do we deal with risks?

We can try and reduce the risk, minimise the risk, eliminate the risk, insure against the risk.

One way to reduce risk is to put controls in place.

Examples might be :

Locks on doors!

£45.00 limit on card transactions without a PIN!

Eat your main course before you get sweet.

Wear protective clothing.

Safe distancing, “Social distancing” or as Radio four tried to adopt the term “Physical distancing”.

Other controls might be documented to help reduce the risk and formulate thinking and practice. A policy or procedure.

Examples:

Child protection policy

Fire procedures

Tesco

One of the first retail outlets to re shape the shopping experience was Tesco. They implemented restricted times. Times for care workers etc , a one-way system  2-metre markers and the use of a separate exit for customers who had completed their transactions. There installed splash screen to protect the staff. Trolleys being wiped down.

All these were controls to reduce the likely hood of virus spread.

But here is an observation.

The staff making up the customer orders on the face of it do not act with distancing aspects to themselves or customers.

Is this a weakness?

Then we have the pleasant door person holding the door, nice touch,  to let customers out the fire exit. No handles to touch. Good control.

But he is less than 2 meters, and he is near every person leaving the shop!

Is this a weakness?

As we all take stock and consider more so in the subconscious our responsibility in this period of Corona 19 virus we all need to take recognition of good controls.

If we feel 2 metres is not enough control we could implement our own control of 3 metres.

As we have seen in walking the streets as part of exercise people do change behaviour and are influenced by others’ actions. Those who are unaware or lack risk awareness or have a larger threshhold for what is acceptable risk will see hopefully why we act in a particular manner.

With all risks this is not static. Reviews need to be held regularly and be part of on-going practice.

I think Nicola Sturgeon was right to leave lock down in Scotland for a further period as the information was showing we had not reached the peak of the “first wave” of the virus.

I am sure she has had lots of risk conversations over the last two months.

Please Share from here or from where you game from. Thank you. 

Lockdown changes

Well over six weeks of lockdown and what have we been doing.
I for one have managed various outside painting jobs and a few house maintance things.

I have continued to speak by skype and Zoom to my fellow director about the Message Works Trust a Charity helping pastors and leaders on an ongoing basis in addition to fraterals and denomination leaders meetings. We are a strictly confidential "ear" for those who want to speak and share about their work and ministry and use us as a sounding board or even to get it off their chest moment. one of our activities is to pray with those we meet.

We hope to set up a few meetings in the furure to invite pastors to, in private an open discussion.

Maybe I will come back about this later. In the meantime if you  or others you are aware of might be helped or appreciate this ministry you could get in contact. We cover the whole of the UK.

View near Inveralmond take while on a  recent walk.

I have been looking in to family history over the last few weeks. I discovered my cousin 27 times removed is William the Conquorer. That was a blow. So now I am supposely related to Robert the(de) Bruce and William both from France so I am not as Viking as I thought.

Family history can be gripping and time consuming. Like most activities that can be all consuming, one should focus on key objectives.

One of my busiest posts was Barter books! So does this mean people are still reading as well as all the electronic viewing that is taking place? 

"I dont update my Apple or Windows software"

"I dont update my Apple and Windows Software" they said.

Update your versions not just for security -Apple and Windows

Its easy to forget that our software is by default on automatic update and not realise that the updates are not all at the same time. Versions or updated by the providers is on a rolling basis.

If you have an I phone or Pad the current operating version is 13.4.1

To check you simply press settings, then general, then software update.After a few moments it will tell you on the screen which version you are on.

if updating, say over night, the unit should be left plugged in to the mains for charging. Apple has a default not to update if not plugged in.

Windows operating system for 10 is 1909 with a build number in the uk of 18363.815.

By updating the software you, as well as having maximum security, will have access to the latest apps and services available through the software.

Old Gallows Road near Southton. Spring lambs.

Short Video near Old Gallows Road  Perth.

Walk Old Gallows Road a view to help you if you are in lock down.

Here is a view of part of a walk down at the end of Old Gallows Road Perth. It is near where the Battle of Tibbermore took place.

Please subscribe and share with those who might like a Spring view.

Cap outs Lifters and Perth congregationalists

Cap outs, Lifters and Perth congregationalists The Congregational Church in Perth has few written documents on its early history, yet their claim is that some thinking men became Congregationalists as early as 1794. They purchased Paul Street Chapel about that time. Having called the preacher James Garie to their Church in that year, they were forced into a situation which they would have preferred to avoid. Garie wished to make the Chapel a Place of Ease * for those in the Church of Scotland. This was not acceptable to the trustees of the building and, after 18 months, Garie left to take up ministry with the Church of Scotland. This, however, was also unsuccessful. The chapel was put up for sale and was then repurchased by some of the Church and was advertised for use with the "returned Mr Garie and the congregation of Christian people" in 1798. They and the proprietors of the building not Garie, were keen to have an independent church. Garie tried to be admitted to the Church of Scotland but was refused. Shortly before this, in 1790, a schism arose among other Seceders. It was based around the dispensing of the elements at the Lord's Supper. The new group were called "Cap outs" and they built a chapel at Thimblerow. Their numbers reduced quickly, and the building was offered to the Presbytery as a Chapel of Ease. This offer was rejected but the Missionaries (Congregationalists) bought it. (Who are they?) The next minister of the “Garie’s church “was James Colquhoun, minister of the Relief Church Campsie. He had been invited 9 years earlier to minister in Perth at the East (Relief) Church and had declined.  The Church had grown and on “the better of the break-up of the “lifters” in 1793”. This was in connection with the Communion where the lifters required the minister to lift the bread and wine before serving to the congregation. Colquhoun ministered till around October 1801 when he left to take up a dissenting Presbyterian congregation in North Shields. At some point some of the congregation of Colquhoun’s Church (Old friends of Garie!)invite Garie back to Perth. They bought Paul Street. We do not know much about the Congregational church post Garie indeed we do not know where they worshipped but Garie’s friends were able to buy their former building. 1798 the now Garie group worshipping in the former Congregational church now owned by “the friends” join the group in South Street at the tabernacle supported by Robert Haldane.

This period was one of growth for the Congregational Church with many new Churches developing from the work of the Haldane brothers. The Perth Congregational Church has a plate with the inscription "Perth Union Church, 1798", but whether this was the original name or not is unclear. (Uncertainty exists also regarding the matter of the parties who became the "Union"). The title Congregational Church, Perth, was the new name taken in that same year. Shortly before Garie's death he wrote to a prominent lady and in this letter, he stated that "within two weeks back, I have received 17 out of 21 applicants for Church membership. Mostly young people and recently awakened". He added "Last week a young man received his first impressions under a sermon preached by James Haldane, in the mill at Inver". Robert Haldane built a "tabernacle" in South Street, where the Congregational Church met after they sold the Paul Street building around 1799/1800. William Orme, along with two other pastors led the Church for some time until the Haldanes adopted Baptist principles around 1809. The two pastors followed in the way of the Haldanes. Orme and those who did not adopt this new principle on Believers Baptism were evicted by Robert Haldane. The evicted members of the Congregational Church spent a considerable time finding a suitable place in which to worship. By 1810 they were meeting in a hired hall but still wished to build a new chapel. The upper part of a tenement in Canal Crescent became home to them for some time and as numbers grew, they, by 1824, were worshipping in Mill Street. Many years later in 1851, the Mill Street congregation transferred to a new place of worship in Canal Crescent. It closed 21 years later. The year 1855 saw a Morisonian gathering, which at some time met in High Street where Perth Theatre is now situated. They were followers of James Morison of Kilmarnock who was deposed from his place in the United Secession Church by the Synod (New Lights). The reason for this action was that he taught the doctrine of "The Universal love of God" which was shunned by the Church. Unsolved questions 1 Where did the Congregational Church worship before they joined others in the “Union” and after the old friends bought their church? South Street? 2 Was the Congregational Church the same group that bought Thimblerow from Seceders? (the cap-outs) 3 What groups were joined in the Union of 1798? The church had a pewter plate inscribed “Perth Union Chapel 1798” and another “Perth Congregational Church 1798” 4 Is the Perth Union Chapel the Garie group? As we know that the new combined Church was called Perth Congregational Church from 1798.

* Places of Ease were commonplace throughout the country currently. By 1784 there were places in Perth. They were buildings designated for meetings by Christians from different Churches and were originally instigated through the Church of Scotland for the poor and needy. These buildings were used for accommodation as well as for worship.