Early Risers.

[The Stationmaster]

7 hours ago, AndyID said:

The aforementioned Finnish Mower has been acquired. Unfortunately the telescoping drive-shaft only telescopes half as far as it should. On closer inspection it's also evident that some total twinky has attacked the splines with an angle grinder. I suspect the shaft has been bent or even twisted although it's hard to imagine how either could have happened. On the other hand, the mower doesn't seem to be in bad shape. Just needs a bit of TLC a few bits that I can make myself.

 

Tomorrow words will be exchanged with the retail emporium of agricultural equipment from which said mower was purchased. I hope I don't have to give the sales guy the shaft.

I wonder how he'll expline that lot?

[Simon G]

Morning (just!) all,

Cool and blustery here so far, but the sun has come out so there is hope for the day yet.  Overnight rain was useful to wet the garden.  This morning has been spent repairing the wagons donated to our MRC, and scanning some old paperwork prior to its disposal.  I probably dont need to keep copies of the paperwork, but experience has shown me that if I dont keep a copy, I will need it!

 

I will hopefully get some fresh air and exercise this afternoon.

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

Hmm - masks, so where do we get one if we have to wear one (yes, I'n m sure herself could knock up one or five of an evening.  But there's also amusement - a chap wrote to the local 'paper last week to ask how he could stop his glasses steaming up when wearing a surgical grade mask, the Good Doctor is interested to learn if he is the chap she saw in Waitrose the previous week wearing a mask upside down?

 

In terms of family we are lucky, in some respects, that at present both the offspring live with us; I stopped speaking to Mrs Stationmaster's sister many years ago because of the disgusting way in which she treated her mother (basically locking her out of her own home because said sister wanted to sell it so that she could move with her husband to his new job in Cornwall) and the closest  relatives I have are an aunt and her husband who we visit a few times each year plus their remaining son who, with his family, shares a house with them,  Otherwise it's down to friends and former colleagues plus various RMweb folk who it's great to meet at exhibitions etc (which is something I do miss).  That apart a large jungle garden, some pleasant neighbours, and well over 5,000 books in the house plus various other hobbies mean there's no overwhelming need to get out to meet family etc.  As 'The Q' said the lockdown is in many respects a sort of extended weekend, without occasional meals out and model railway exhibitions, and the ability to go where and when we want.  Bit of a shame to miss our week afloat but it has no doubt been beneficial to some aspects of my health to avoid three cooked meals a day and free wine with dinner.

 

In the n meanwhile it's currently sunnyish (although as I tryped that a cloud hid the sun!!) with more overnight half-hearted attempt at rain promised which is undoubtedly good for the veg patch as well as the weeds, we hope.  Next mission is to head for Waitrose and possibly also Tesco so it will be interesting to see how busy the town is.  Cycling I suspect is becoming increasingly dangerous as motor traffic increases massively, a neighbour suffered considerable injury last week following an unintended interface with a wall while out cycling although to be quite honest it's hardly a road I would ride a bike along with car traffic about as it's narrow in places with blind bends - and it's a 'bus route.   I think she'd have been safer going round the block here half a dozen times.

 

Have a good day everybody and take care to stay safe

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

13 hours ago, brianusa said:

 

I can sympathsise with you and admire your ability to peacefully control the situation.  I try and ease my wife's day by doing a lot of chores and cooking etc.  Seems to work out OK! Luckily we don't have to go to work next day so theres a lot of recovery time available.

The facial fungus may have to go though as it looks as though facial coverings are here to stay for a while.

      Brian.

     

We have always shared chores but on about an 80:20 split with me - the part-time worker - doing the greater share.  Since SWMBO was furloughed she took back a significant chunk and we have been at closer to 50:50 since then.  With her now WFH things have drifted back closer to where they were but not yet at that level.  I have to respect the fact that her bedroom is now her office and that when I arrive hime a cheery greeting called down the hallway might not be appropriate if she is in an online meeting.  She and numerous of her colleagues have experienced what a great many other workers around the world have also experienced namely random appearances of the cat in meetings and occasionally less-than-professional comments being overheard from "off-stage"   

 

The facial fungus has been with me for most of my adult life.  It came off for a few years but our wedding day was the most recent occasion on which I was fully clean-shaven and that was a gnat's wing shy of 25 years ago.  I have probably sported growth for over 40 of my 63 years now.  It's not coming off.  

 

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Actually, a good mask is quite comfortable to wear. Numerous times during my career I had to regularly wear a mask, in theatre or in A&E, and it’s surprising how easy it is to get used to wearing them. “Facial fungus“, if neat and close trimmed, is not an impediment to wearing a mask (I currently have a goatee and moustache which prove no problem to wearing a mask when I have to). The surgeon who performed my recent patellary resurfacing also had a beard. However, I suspect that if your beard approaches Victorian Explorer/Millennial Hipster volume and dimensions you would indeed have a problem wearing a mask.

"Good mask" being the key here with the emphasis on "good".  Clearly it is not appropriate to invest in NHS-style PPE-wear.  That is for the health-care profession and a very few others who must have it for safe working.  The disposable paper masks are rated for around 20 minutes we are told.  There is a move - which I am very pleased to hear of - to ensure that customer-facing personnel use clear masks so that anyone harder of hearing can potentially lip-read their words.  With several hearing-impaired friends two of whom rely on implants and lip-reading this time has been a much greater challenge for these people.  Elasticated fabric masks seem to be popular but are hard to obtain because demand is exceeding supply.  We are encouraged to make our own or simply to use a scarf, bandana or even a clean handkerchief.   

 

Since we are being told that any form of face covering is of no more use than rocking-horse manure in the prevention of becoming infected and at best of minimal use in passing on the infection to others there have been questions asked around the need to mandate such a thing now (as opposed to much earlier) and the need to enforce them.  

 

Today it has emerged that face coverings will only be mandated whilst within or upon the mode of transport in question (applies to trains, trams, buses, ferries, aircraft and the London cable car but no word on taxis) and not whilst waiting at stops, on platforms or whilst moving around within places such as railway stations.  The reasoning is that most such places are "outside" (even the covered areas such as booking halls and footbridges / subways are mostly "outside" in many locations) and therefore present a much lower risk than being confined for above 15 minutes inside a public transport vehicle closely with other persons.  

 

We await clarification as to whether face coverings will be mandated whilst on duty.  Based upon the above clarification it appears they will not.  Currently about 30-40% of staff at my station choose to wear some form or another of facial covering, and about 15 - 20% of passengers.  

 

The facial hair thing may not be a big issue as it's always trimmed back to a grade 1 on a weekly basis and is definitely not in the "Victorian Explorer" nor the "Australian bushwhacker" league.

 

13 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I didn’t clean the car today

Curiously enough neither did I.  It has been around three years since I last cleaned the car.

It was left for sale in Australia (and has since been sold thanks to BiL) and we have never found a justifiable need to buy one since we came home.   

 

In other news it being Friday we shall celebrate Friday Drinks once SWMBO finishes her business agenda.  Followed by Thai takeaway for dinner which may well include a green curry for me and for her - usually - pad thai, both with chicken.  There was a distinctly up-beat mood at the House of Fun today with more than one staff member in a bright and breezy mood and demonstrating a few dance steps in quieter moments.  Of which there are still too many.  

 

More staff have been returned from furlough including the customer assistance team though they are working singly rather than in pairs as there is very little booked assistance being requested.  Booking office staff have been returned to full-time rosters where they had been on half-time though multi-staffed offices remain single-staffed for now.  Waterloo is an exception with up to three staff able to work at the extreme ends and centre of a long array of booking office windows.  

 

Back later for beer o'clock.  

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Several pages skipped, as again, I have been busy with the computer in other ways, also had to visit the well organised tip again, and have now managed to book a slot again for next week  Visit to Barclays resulted in my coming away empty handed, as their only statement printer is broken, and they are adamantly refusing to allow any non business transactions at the counter.   Also yesterday, I started to paint the front gate, and managed to change the white metal paint obtained in error (30747 picked it up in Lidl, but I was really at fault, as I had assumed that it was all black, and didn't check it before nuying) for black - the local Lidl didn't have and, but there is a branch near the tip, and luckily thsy had some - It is a very fiddly job indeed.

 

Anyway greetings are as ever proferred to all ERs.

 

Back tomorrow (?)

Regards to All

Stewart

[Barry O]

Sunny now following a heavy hailstones shower. Lummy. .where has summer gone!

 

Spent my morning tidying up wires on the TV, shy box, dvd player and amplifier. CD player has been sent for recycling as it no longer functions.

 

Her indoors has bagged and frozen oat based crumble toppings . Excellent!

 

My sister drove into Oakham this morning. She is eating some of the butchers home made black pudding and home prepared bacon for tea. Pah!

 

I scored a point back by saying my home made pease pudding is nice! 

 

SM...where is the Groan button??

 

Muddling  time now.

 

CU Later!

Baz

Edited June 5, 2020 by Barry O

[J. S. Bach]

10 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I could not resist it

 

One one occasion I sent a long email to my work colleagues where I consistently referred to "United Airlines" as "Untidy Airlines". Only one person noticed it and that was a couple of days later.

I used to refer to them as Untied Airlines.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

masks, so where do we get one if we have to wear one (yes, I'n m sure herself could knock up one or five of an evening.  But there's also amusement - a chap wrote to the local 'paper last week to ask how he could stop his glasses steaming up

Very good question.  

 

The House of Fun has taken delivery of some 20,000 disposable paper masks, those of the alleged 20-minute life variety, and has made them available upon request to staff.  However I would prefer to have a fully elasticated one as I have seen a few others sporting if I am required to apply such a thing.  They can be found online but supply and demand is making them harder than it needs to be to obtain.  

 

They can also be made at home as per government advice and from simple patterns readily available online.  

 

Whether any would avoid the fogging of glasses is for me to discover.  Fogged glasses in my line of work are not an option.  Neither is no glasses.  So we shall see what happens.  

[Tony_S]

8 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

I used to refer to them as Untied Airlines.

I met my son at Houston airport after his only flight in United. He was not complimentary about the experience. Most irritating was the cabin crew person who every time he walked past insisted on doing a Dick van Dyke “cockerknee dance” and “cuppa tea mite” routine.  
Tony
 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a cloudy Sidcup where the temperature has fallen considerably since earlier in the week and rain has been spotted. 

 

Work coupled with Mrs Lurker working has restricted my chances to be here this week, and when i tried this morning, my internet connection fell over.

 

The school week seems to have gone OK; by the end of the week, the reception classhad largely "got" the new restrictions. Now they have 10 days off to forget it all again!.

 

We seem to be working from home for the foreseeable but Mrs Lurker has nevertheless ordered some face masks from Amazon - apparently they're black so won't conflict with what the NHS want. 

 

I grew up in Paddock Wood, which had considerable expansion in the 60s as a result of people like my parents moving down from London and tuning it in to a dormitory village. (a contrast to the annual influx from the East End of people dahn 'oppin, which coincidentally more or less ceased in the 60's). The village doubled if not quadrupled in size in that decade, and doubled again by the time I went off to university by which time it had declared itself a town. We were very much incomers and were no doubt regarded as dragging the place down. Maybe it's true; it's where I am from but not a place i have too much affection for. My parents are still there and now there is hardly anyone left who can think back far enough to regard them as incomers, although completely coincidentally I work with someone who is from one of the old Paddock Wood families.

 

And on to music.

 

number 9 in my list of influential albums is the Best of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. I first really started to like some of their work when they did a single with Kylie, which I have on cassette single somewhere! This album opened me to the wide range of their work, from the raw early work, very tortured and full of deep south and old testament imagery to their more recent work (at that time, the Boatman's call), which was heartfelt, confessional and sparsely instrumented. As well as getting into this band, it also opened my ears to artists such as P J Harvey and Johnny Cash (because he covered a Nick Cave song, "The Mercy Seat" on one of his American series of albums).

 

In drawing up my list of influential albums, I am actually finding it hard to pick a 10th which is influential on me in quite the same way; I will have to think more on it.

 

Have a good day and stay safe.

[J. S. Bach]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip... I have become very happy and very comfortable being alone with myself and with my thoughts. I can quite happily sit in complete silence, without radio or television, and either read ...snip...

Same here, I do enjoy reading, mostly history and some historical novels.

 

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip... I have north of 4000 books. ...snip... According to one newspaper article the average British household contains 158 books - but a quarter have never been opened; whilst another article stated that 1 in 10 UK households contain no books or reading matter whatsoever (pretty scary statistics!) 
 

As the nefarious denizens of ER present themselves as quite a well informed and erudite bunch, I wonder what the average book count per ER member household would be.

Now off for a quick lunch followed by either a political history of WWII (book)

I only have a few hundred (mainly due to space limitations), including a lot of electrical-based technical publications, catalogs, etc,

 

Oddly, I, too, am reading  some WW2 era books; Roosevelt and Hopkins is a fascinating look into what went on behind the scenes between the US and the Allies.  Another is Churchill's one-volume history of WW2. Richard J. Evans' The Third Reich at War is mis-named in a way, but I will leave that alone. Another that I have put aside for a short time is Albert Speer's Inside the Third Reich, I need to get back to that one soon. William Manchester's three volume biography of Winston Churchill had also been waded through; I am part way through vol. 3 and have been reading them in the proper order. Trying to keep these books in a proper perspective (while interleaving a biography of J. Edgar Hoover) has been fun. At least I am not bored.

 

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

Miserable night's 'sleep' has resulted in a grumpy day, on my day off.  Pah!

 

Shopping morning spent with Mrs NHN in the big city was the lowlight and now it is blowing an absolute hoolie so outside isn't to be enjoyed.  Pah again.

 

Reading recently has been Churchill's World War 2 memoirs in 6 volumes as discussed a few weeks ago, I found the first 2 on a disc of thousands of Kindle books a friend gave me some time ago, and have just purchased the third.  Heavy going at times but interesting all the same.  

 

We're forever incomers here (despite my mum being Manx) singled out by our accents.  Geordie in my case and Cornish/Geordie/Channel Islands in Debs'.  

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

I used to refer to them as Untied Airlines.

This was the popular "Fly United" cartoon from way back, '70s-'80 as I recall

[TheQ]

Soggy afternoon awl, 

It was  bucketing down most of the afternoon,  though it's not at the moment. 

Our garden now does look like it's been watered. 

 

The peasants are revolting at the moment. 

Only half the production and service staff are working at the moment. 

Overtime is banned to save money,  but they are doing overtime,  building up time off in lieu. It's getting to the point people are going to have to take the time off,  which would leave some areas below minimum Manning. 

Higher management is now jumping up and down trying to get output up to meet targets... Targets based on last year's full production.  Their bonuses are depending on it.... 

They are now leaning on staff to do overtime for free,  nothing in writing of course, Not surprisingly the staff are not Happy... 

 

SWMBO does oat based crumble toppings,  very nice too

 

 

[Ian Abel]

POETS...

 

Plenty of work revisions going on as the hospital (Long Island client) needs to add/change and update all kinds of things to track COVID related revenue nd expenses...

 

Had an impromptu "happy-hour" with neighbors last evening, very enjoyable.

The weekend is shaping up as the past... however many have... although I do have to do and replace a closet light for Jemma before she gets back from her trip Sunday.

Maybe some muddeling if I'm lucky, with decent weather I may get to put down the last point and section of track for the garden railway

 

Cool 16 and sunny first thing, headed for 28 later.

 

Enjoy the day, POETS is you can

[pH]

7 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Of these, perhaps 100 have been started and not finished for one reason or another (including, believe it or not, Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was an enjoyable read, Lord of the Rings I found turgidly impassable),

Thank you for that! At least one other person shares my opinion of ‘Lord of the Rings’! I tried to read it once and managed about 60 pages before I gave up. I just couldn’t get to grips with the many unfamiliar names of people and places and kept having to check back to remind myself who or where they were. That completely broke up the flow of the book, plus I wasn’t finding it riveting reading anyway. Despite encouragement/mocking from many people, I never felt the need to try it again.

[New Haven Neil]

I got through it, but felt the same - by the time I finished it I had no idea what the beginning was like!

[JohnDMJ]

Good evening,

 

Another POTS (comments observed, iL Dottore!) day over and two day's respite before the mayhem starts again. I just don't understand the number (well into double figures) of calls asking if the shop is open! We've even had callers coming to the loading bay door to enquire! We're not even doing click & collect! The shop is currently an extension of the warehouse with stock (safely) stored in the aisles.

 

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Soggy afternoon awl, 

It was  bucketing down most of the afternoon,  though it's not at the moment. 

Our garden now does look like it's been watered. 

 

The peasants are revolting at the moment. 

Only half the production and service staff are working at the moment. 

Overtime is banned to save money,  but they are doing overtime,  building up time off in lieu. It's getting to the point people are going to have to take the time off,  which would leave some areas below minimum Manning. 

Higher management is now jumping up and down trying to get output up to meet targets... Targets based on last year's full production.  Their bonuses are depending on it.... 

They are now leaning on staff to do overtime for free,  nothing in writing of course, Not surprisingly the staff are not Happy... 

 

SWMBO does oat based crumble toppings,  very nice too

 

My colleague and myself have, in the past 11 or so weeks, accumulated enough flexitime for more than a week off. (Contentious point here, in that as flexi is, in effect, in lieu of being paid overtime, whereas an hour of paid overtime might be paid at, say, time and a quarter, i.e. 1.25hours, should flexitime in lieu thus be similarly rated, i.e. 1 hour claimed as flexi = 1.25 hours off?)

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I met my son at Houston airport after his only flight in United. He was not complimentary about the experience. Most irritating was the cabin crew person who every time he walked past insisted on doing a Dick van Dyke “cockerknee dance” and “cuppa tea mite” routine.  
Tony
 

 

[jamie92208]

I put off reading LOTR as everyone was raving about it in 1970. However in 72 I started it and once I got into it couldn't put it down. I loved ut but skipped the poetry.  Since then I have re read it several times and still get more out of it every time. I also like the Churchill books and have the four volumesvof the History of the English Speaking People's as well as the full 6 volume WW2 set. I've read two volumes of the William Manchester biography and would like to read all three.

 

Jamie

[Rugd1022]

Our esteemed ER J.S.Bach mentioned the books he was reading or has lined up to read further up the thread, it's a long while since I've read anything WWII related but a new arrival from Amazon is something I'm really looking forward to diving into asap - Ermanno Cozza's 'Maserati At Heart', a book which I've had my eye on for a while. At 500 pages, it's the story of Snr.Cozza's career at the Maserati factory which began back in 1951 where he started as a fitter before moving on to the Experimental Departmant, the Technical Department and finally the Commercial Department. Much like ace test driver Valentino Balboni at Lamborghini, he is still an ambassador for Maserati and turns up at all sorts of events and races to keep the spirit of the trident well and truly alive. Smoke me a kipper for breakfast, I'm going in.... 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Popped down to Tess Coe's this afternoon for a few essentials such as bread, still not enough for a bread pudding though. Haven't done any more clearing of the storage box because its too wet. The rain has washed some of the muck off of the car though including the bird poop. The forecast is for more rain tomorrow but very little Sunday so I should be able to get things finished.

[Barry O]

4 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

I got through it, but felt the same - by the time I finished it I had no idea what the beginning was like!

Try reading the "Gulag Archipelago" or any Russian Novel.. I like them but boy are the characters hard to keep a track of... Lord of the Rings is excellent.. notice the key person was omitted from the films.. step forward Tom Bombadil!

 

Baz

 

Edited June 5, 2020 by Barry O
Spellung

[Barry O]

Mick

 

NEVER, EVER start a new topic on Rubbish ever again!!

 

Baz

[TheQ]

Just had a huge squall blow through,  trees swaying horizontal rain. 

Ben and me ran back from The MhRC during  a slight lull.  ( run for me, Ben kept stopping to wait for me) 

 

He knew it was Friday,  and MRC night,  at 15minutes before departure time he came sat on my lap staring at me,  and then moved off to the door and sat bolt upright giving me the big stare,  time to go.. 

 

Ben is not himself today,  seeming quite sad,  though his paw doesn't seem to be irritating him. 

 

Tiny radar, advances,  aerial curves to dish,  marked up,  cut and sanded. 

I'm out of fine filler,  time to go look for some.