Early Risers.

[DDolfelin]

Good luck with feet and other bits that need attention.

 

Interesting story, Pete.

 

Dropped friends off at Manchester Airport yesterday.

They took the hint and flew off somewhere nice for a month (must remember to pick them up on return).

Suicidal motorcyclist popped out from behind a lorry and only popped back just in time.

Missed him by millimetres.

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Dull, overcast with drizzle likely at some stage, & not that warm, either.

 

Pete - not really my genre of music, but stories like that are pure gold. Keep 'em coming, please.

 

Don Bradley - in my experience, two matched feet is a comfortable minimum, so get it sorted pronto!

 

Hope everyone's week goes well.

[Gruffalo]

Good Monday Morning all,

 

Only thing I can seem to remember about Henly on Thames was that Stuart Turner (makers of kits for live steam stationary engines) had a shop there...(or is my memory playing tricks?)

 

What ever you are up to today, try and enjoy some of it!

 

 

Trev

Yes Trevor, Stuart Turner (makers of stationary live steam engines) were based in Henley. They also made a regenerative pump that is still in use boosting (mainly domestic) water systems and an interesting twin cylinder marine engine for small boats probably up to the early 1970's. This petrol fuelled device used the dynamo as a starter motor and it was quite a lump with around 10HP output.

[New Haven Neil]

Returned, theraped.  Some hope of discharge, physioterrorist-in-chief advises me that having met my targets, there are a whole load more in my future.  New ways of giving pain learned this morning, here we go again.  No discharge before August apparently.....eek.  I'll have legs like Charles Atlas by then....to go with my belly like Jim Royle. Ahem.  Not quite, but getting that way!  I SO need to get out and about more to get rid of it, roll on some decent weather and dumping the second crutch.

[Oldddudders]

dumping the second crutch.

Having a second one to scratch gives you an advantage over most men....

[beast66606]

Morning all.

 

Some of you may have noticed I've been AWOL.

 

Rewind to Friday ...

 

I ring home, no answer, not even the answer phone. I ring the boss, she's in the village, heading back. She gets back and sees some "engineers" clearing some shrubbery from the pole in our garden. She goes inside, no phone and no Internet. "Our phone and Internet aren't working" "Were they working earlier ?" "Err, Yes of course" "Ok we'll report it but we don't think it's us". They left.

We then mused how we were to know if the fault had been reported, the workers had said nothing and the phone and Internet were down so I found a number for reporting faults by mobile. Guess what ? - predictably the fault had not been reported so she reported it - she was warned it could cost us £100 if the fault was on our land - yeah, like you're getting that off us.

 

Saturday I stayed in, I'd managed to twist my ankle whilst chasing the flask train across the fields (I bet this appears elsewhere), so I decided to stay in and do some housework on my computer, disk drivers and network. Eventually I wandered out and found the fault with our line - it was hanging down with an obvious cut where the chain saw had massacred it. We still have to wait a few days for the repair as it's impossible to get beyond their automated systems, there's no option for "We caused your fault so we'll be out now to fix it", without it costing a fortune and we're not paying premium rates, but we will be asking for compensation when it's restored and we can ring for free.

 

So, to summarise, I can only access the Internet from work and my mobile at the moment - hence the peace and quiet.

 

My other ankle had better watch out, there's another flask train down the branch today, and I'll be out chasing it again later -  a big thanks to the DRS team for the video "effects".

 

Hope everyone is well.

 

Have a good day all.

 

PS - Warm but cloudy day down here, the wind is still on the bitter side but nowhere near as bad as last week.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Yes Trev - Stuarts are still in Henley but I think all their wonderful products of yesteryear are exactly that, all they appear to make nowadays is things like shower pumps and possibly small water pumps for fountains etc and, not surprisingly, they have been hit by the recession and had to reduce their staff a couple of years ago.  The shop/showroom has long passed out of their use (they might still own it?) as has the original entrance and they have a modern purpose built building which is entered from the other side of the block and can handle big artic rigs in the yard.  The row of cottages - opposite the site of my old infants school - that once seemed to house quite a number of their pensioners is still there but seem to have been sold off and are no longer rented out at half a crown a week (that's the cottages just down from the telephone exchange).  I believe these sort of changes are called 'progress'.

 

Fingers crossed for the foot Don - hope it's quickly sorted.

 

High cloud here and judging by a lad who walked past a while back it's either a bit on the cold side or he is into anonymity under his hood.

[DDolfelin]

Can you 'twist' the wires together, Beasty?

[BoD]

Morning all

 

Another 'late' riser this morning. I have had a strange cold. It bypassed the runny nose/head achy/sneezy stage and went straight onto my chest. If it was one of my normal colds this phase lasts a day at the most. I have had four nights of constant coughing and so very little sleep. It's much worse when I lie down so I have been sleeping in the recliner to try and ease it a bit, but mainly not to keep Mrs Bod awake too.

At the moment I am thoroughly cheesed off and (apparently) behaving like a bear with a sore head. Hopefully it won't last much longer.

 

Still, not nearly as bad as some others' worries. Take care all.

[DDolfelin]

GWS BoD.

[Happy Hippo]

A bit grey today with no sign of the sun.

 

Gardening is now firmly on the agenda this week.

 

Yesterday was having to power wash the greenhouse inside and out. When you are inside the greenhouse the sensation is not dissimilar to working on the foredeck of a yacht in a force 8, except the floor is not going up/down and side to side.

 

A family of thistles were evicted from the lawn, and the residual fallen leaves that had overwintered around the vegetable beds were moved on.

 

Today the garden tasking will be to shift the compost to the next bed, and to tidy up the burning zone. (I do enjoy small frequent bonfires: It must be I'm a closet pyromaniac!)

 

When all this is done, the way looks clear for the marking out of the new trackbed to replace the old raised level line.

 

Now this is the type of gardening I really enjoy. (I'm going to regret saying that!)

 

Regards

 

Richard

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all.  Plumber due for the shower this afternoon (fingers crossed). Hoping I'll have time to pop and buy The Hobbit Blu-Ray on my way back home - thankfully my local branch of HMV has remained open, despite being one of those originally scheduled for closure - it's been permanently reprieved.

 

Good luck to Don with the foot repairs...

 

Hazy sunshine in Edinburgh this morning and not too cold for a change.

[sixoh8sixoh]

I suspect if I tried this in my parents' greenhouse, the sensation would not be dissimilar to being stabbed with thousands of tiny daggers of glass...

 

Yesterday was having to power wash the greenhouse inside and out. When you are inside the greenhouse the sensation is not dissimilar to working on the foredeck of a yacht in a force 8, except the floor is not going up/down and side to side.

[grandadbob]

Good Morning All,

 

Dry & 5^oC but will probably stay cloudy all day.

 

Hectic weekend full of eating, drinking & generally having a good time. Also found time to make a start on the garden yesterday & the lawn is now cut & some general tidying has begun but lots more to do yet. (my back is now doing the usual thing & telling me that I overdid it!)

 

Following on from last week's dentistry tales I managed to bite on something hard & appear to have damaged 2 teeth/fillings so am off to the dentist this afternoon. I knew I should've kept my mouth shut!

 

Bob.

 

 

[DonBradley]

Thanks for all the good wishes.

Now back from the doctor with long prescription list.

Not as bad as it sounds. My six months of repeats for the chronic meds had expired so this was just a new 6 months repeat script with an anti-biotic added for the foot with only one repeat.

The hole in my foot had closed, not by normal growth but by a corn with a crack in it which allowed entry of whatever caused the infection.

He's happy with my blood pressure and blood sugar level, so no change to diet required and just the doubling of strength of one of the

blood-sugar pills.

Nearly time for the pre-prandial brandy!

Excuse me whilst I pour it.

My heart bleeds every time Gordon says he's still on the wagon!

[beast66606]

Can you 'twist' the wires together, Beasty?

 

I would if I had leg irons or similar to get me up the post.

 

It's only two wires. (Or is that just DCC ?)

[45156]

Morning All

 

Got a few minutes before I start work today, so caught up with the drivel again.

 

Pete - you must have enough anecdotes about the music business to write a book - and I for one would buy it.  You'd probably be able to get a publisher as well - but as what you've seen might be libellous (in some eyes) so it might need to be the bowdlerised version.

 

Beast 66606 all faults advisors are obliged to mention the callout charge, in case the fault turns out ot be beyond the master socket, and they also have to tick a box to say that the end user has been advised of possible charges.  This is because a lot of faults reported turn out to be due to internal wiring - also third party damage caused to the network by builders, tree surgeons and the like as the fault is not then a direct result of Openreach (the phone network supplier).  If the work to clear the vegetation was being done by or on behapf of Openreach, then the repair should be free of charge.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[NGT6 1315]

Good to hear those news, Don!

[Shedman5]

Morning, quite a nice day, well it would be if we had no wind!!!

 

Good to hear your news Don

 

Now a question for the "jazz experts" I was recently bought a CD by Miles Davis -Kind of Blue. This is my first jazz CD and I have enjoyed it, so what should be my next purchase?

 

Enjoy your day all.

[New Haven Neil]

Having a second one to scratch gives you an advantage over most men....

 

I was awful worried at the hospital where I had the operation though - choosing the correct leg was an issue..... 

[trisonic]

Morning, quite a nice day, well it would be if we had no wind!!!

 

Good to hear your news Don

 

Now a question for the "jazz experts" I was recently bought a CD by Miles Davis -Kind of Blue. This is my first jazz CD and I have enjoyed it, so what should be my next purchase?

 

Enjoy your day all.

I'll leave that one to Ian and Debs. I'm a rock guy that just tinkers with Jazz.... If you like that Miles album you might want to try "Sketches of Spain" by him, another is: Horace Silver "Song for my Father".

Best, Pete.

Edited April 8, 2013 by trisonic

[Gruffalo]

I was awful worried at the hospital where I had the operation though - choosing the correct leg was an issue..... 

In four visits for surgery between members of my family, I am aware of everyone having indellible felt-tip markers annotating their "relevant parts" prior to surgery. My son's knee surgery was a case where no marking could have been a problem but my wife had two feet operated upon concurrently and they were both marked! I had some abdominal wall surgery on my centreline - I suppose the marks in that case prevented someone making belly-pork out of me. With my coronary event, I was marked up but I cannot understand why. Clearly the end result has been good (at least in my opinion) as I am still here to tell the tale and post nonsense on this forum!

[Gruffalo]

Morning, quite a nice day, well it would be if we had no wind!!!

 

Good to hear your news Don

 

Now a question for the "jazz experts" I was recently bought a CD by Miles Davis -Kind of Blue. This is my first jazz CD and I have enjoyed it, so what should be my next purchase?

 

Enjoy your day all.

I am no expert but I find that particular disc an absolute gem although later stuff became more psychodelic. Try Milestones by the same artist for similar style. A Love Supreme is by John Coltrane (who features on Kind of Blue) and is of a similarly relaxed style. Somewhat faster would be stuff by Dave Brubeck. Try also Sinatra with Nelson Riddle such as Songs for Swinging Lovers and a bit of Ella Fitzgerald. How long is a piecve of string?

[Shedman5]

Thank you for your suggestions, a new musical arena for me beckons!

 

 

Alan

[sixoh8sixoh]

Alan, I'd also suggest The Vision's Tale by Courtney Pine. I'm a jazz dabbler too but that's a cracking album, In A Mellow Tone and Skylark being two stand out tracks for me.