Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

Thunder here. Now departed, so dogs are happier.

 

Off into work earlier - getting ready for the return to full routine. Then a meeting about statistics and analysis and the teaching thereof.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

A drop of rain earlier when I took Chris to work but warm at 16^oC. Forecast is for sunny periods and heavy showers with a thundering accompaniment.

Still aching all over so will take it a bit easier today. (Trainset beckons!) Only one grandchild (Gemma) visiting later - the other two are involved in after school activities.

Have a good one,

Slightly more cheerful of Sutton.

[Happy Hippo]

Wet and moist is the kindest description of today's weather in Shropshire.

 

This is what comes of threatening to do work on the garden railway infrastructure.

 

However, I earned extra grumpenpoyntz this morning by arising early and getting stuck into a pile of ironing...............about half a dozen items left to do.

 

I treated myself to a bacon sandwich, and am now set for the rest of the mornings rigours.

 

However, I have a pressing engagement to attend to first

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, and rather damp chez Fraggles.  Thunder and rain all night, makes NHN a grumpy boy!  Koi pond overflowing , lawn back to being a quagmire.  Funnily enough, our road name is Manx gaelic for 'white marsh'.  Wonder why......

 

Smiffy, 'International' brand yacht paint was the answer for us, when we had a house with wooden windows that were sou'west facing.  I couldn't remember the name yesterday.  Breathes too, very good stuff.  White and blue tin with a red little propeller logo.  Expensive but long lasting and a good gloss finish.  Mrs H, our resident painter swears by it.  I'm not allowed to paint, says I make a mess, suits me...  

[Smiffy2]

Cheers, Neil. Did you use the varnish on bare wood or over paint?

[New Haven Neil]

It's not varnish Dick, it is gloss paint designed for yacht hulls.

[Jock67B]

Morning all, few spits of rain earlier but now bright sunshine thankfully, otherwise that would have ruined today's task (and it would have been my fault!). Since Joanna (aka the 'boss') had her recent heart scare - I probably mentioned it in the past - she has had to change her life style radically. The biggest step has been to give up smoking after a life-time and so far, with the help of tablets, she is managing well. The down side is that the tablets, whilst dulling the nicotine craving, don't nullify the 'PMT' style moments! It really is like treading on egg-shells at times and I confess that as a non-smoker, I find it hard to understand - what an aggressive drug! Makes me glad I stuck to drink and the ladies! (Not necessary always in that order). Diet of course is also important and with my condition, I seem to do two different meals most evenings as she also has to beat the cholesterol. We are now a two-way support group for one-another which, I suppose, is what marriage should be like? The joys of the ageing process eh?

Have a good day all,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[Smiffy2]

It's not varnish Dick, it is gloss paint designed for yacht hulls.

Ah! I'll look for it. Many thanks.

[PhilJ W]

Strange thing this morning. Tried to open my Virgin Media inbox and all I got was an invite to sign up for Google, when I tried to get into my inbox it just said it was not available! I managed to get in to my inbox by opening a new page in Virgin media and finding a 'back door'. Why can't organisations like Google just accept NO for an answer.

[AndyB]

Morning all. Somewhat overcast here today.

Yesterday turned into a rather busy day as the NHS leapt into action to help mum. 

Not much else to report. The school trip sounds as if it is going well and the youngest who has been left behind is relishing the reduced hassling from his sibling. Speaking to other parents it sounds as if this is not just confined to our own household!

 

Meantime the garden continues to bloom, the garage needs the last wall painting and then I'll start thinking about baseboards. Still hope to have made enough progress to be able to sit in their in a couple of weeks on my birthday and perhaps start some modelling. 

 

Have a nice day everyone. Andy

[DDolfelin]

We had our full share of Debs's thunder and lightning and it's chucking it down as I write.

Saves watering the plants.

 

Assume Don still has computer problems.

[Tony_S]

As were leaving the Ford service place Aditi had a good idea. Instead of  having to catch a train and walk to collect her car this evening we will collect it tomorrow morning and she can then drive on to work. 

 

I'm not sure what I'm doing today. I will probably go out to the garage and glue a bit more grass onto my layout. I think I need to paint the backscene before too much scenery obscures it. I shall just paint it a very pale blue. 

 

Tony

[New Haven Neil]

We shared the blunder and lightning Debs described last night, it didn't seem to let up at all.  Torrential rain too, really stotting off the bedroom window - I suspect this is going to be a long day, I'm cream-crackered already.  All I need now is a stroppy staff moment and I'll either explode or walk out of the door!  It's fair to say my motivation has fallen through the floor this week, I suppose that's only natural at this stage.  I have heaps to do, and little enthusiasm to complete it.

[beast66606]

Tony,

 

My car, a Ford, is still collected and returned by the local dealership.

 

A lovely sunny morning so I decided I'd better get back into the walking habbit, so t-shirt and shorts on - check, boots on - check, off I go - and of course the paths have grown somewhat over the last few weeks so I now have tingling legs from the stings and scrapes but I did manage 2.2 miles, and it was tough going because of the overgrowth ! - tomorrow I'll stick to the lanes and start earlier.

 

Have a good day all.

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

We had the thunder etc here last night, too, as forecast. When feeding the dobbins about 2100 there were flashes in three or four different parts of the darkening sky, and before long we had the thunder rumbling about. Lasted a good couple of hours, although never directly overhead in fairness. Since our phone and electricity arrive on pole-routes, I share Debs's view on unplugging things, but restrict it to the modem, which we suspect got fried a few years back, and although it didn't cost anything for a replacement, the hassle and delay are most unwelcome.

 

Earlier I had managed to do some garden shredding, and, in a rare moment of joined-up-thinking, realised that it would be possible to position the shredder next to the bed where the shred was required! So that saved a bit of faffing about, since the shredder output emerges only about 15" above the ground, and getting a container etc to adequately collect the shred is a pain. After a bit of tea I then spent an hour strimming - in a bid to beat the rain, and so things look a bit tidier, as Alison remarked on arrival. She has spent some time in the drizzle this morning picking out weeds under the photinias, is back tonight for a couple of hours social visit, although she won't drink when driving. She needs to be out on a Tuesday night because the estranged partner is there under the impression that she goes dancing every Tuesday, rather than every other Tuesday, and her company is pleasant enough if a little wearing at times.

 

Smiffy - French paint is crap and expensive. I attribute this view to my UK perspective on such substances, but the UK has had North Sea Oil, and the by-products of that boom include paint, of course. But I do wonder whether even B&Q now sell the sort of cheap-and-cheerful supplies of creosote stuff that we used to slap on fences. I fear paint technology has enabled them to sell us higher-tech stuff at higher prices. The word "microporous" comes to mind.

 

Our week still looks to be stormy and drizzly, hope your outlook is better.

[Barry O]

door repainted (still not particularly glossy.. time for ICI to reappear(!)

 

Eye inspection complete with eye pressures lower - may be linked to my walk a lot more campaign and my tablets?

Still a bit drab here but I hear  the call of weathering so - time to earn a crust.

 

Baz

[New Haven Neil]

Ian, 'real' creosote isn't allowed in the nanny state British Isles now.....but we get some watered down stuff instead, or water based thin washes in pretty colours.  So we are forever painting fences hereabouts!  Of course it's more expensive and doesn't last as long either, but we're 'safe'.

 

Harumph.

 

Grumpy of Andreas.

[trisonic]

Appalled, again by Joss Stone case appeal verdict. Sentences reduced due to getting lucky and stopping their plans first? Ms. Stone could have ended seriously injured or worse. Back later when not angry...

 

Best, Pete.

[Robert]

German paint is expensive and crap, or very expensive and halfway decent.

 

As for creosote - the last time I needed something to paint a fence I ended up with something that didn't last five minutes. 

 

One chap I knew in the UK used to paint his wooden house with a mixture of diesel and engine oil once creosote became harder to get hold of.

 

Sadolin used to be pretty good, but I am not sure what it is like these days.

[gordon s]

Seems the north/south divide is still working…:-)

 

Very warm, although cloudy and I'm still in shorts.  Had a golf lesson this morning, so been doing my homework on the range this afternoon.  How on earth can such a simple thing be so bloomin' complicated.  A few degrees out of square and your b*ggered.  Trouble is I have 30 years of muscle memory to try and correct...

 

I see a few heated arguments have made a guest appearance again.  I can see both sides when sitting outside the battle, but fully understand how logic and empathy go out the window in the heat of the argument.

 

Got our Wembley tickets for Sunday to see Rotherham do battle against Leyton Orient.  I thought they might be reasonable, but £82 each!  The only pleasant surprise was a 50% discount for the over 60's, so at least that brought it down to a more reasonable figure.  Maybe old age does have a few blessings.

 

Just for Ashers, there's a car round here with the reg AGE 64.  Can't help bursting into song every time I see it parked outside the owners house.

Edited May 20, 2014 by gordon s

[AndyB]

So, if I hadn't switched my phone to silent whilst in the hospital this morning I might have picked up the phone message telling me that a bed had been found for my mum whilst we actually there on a different errand! Grrr.

Now got to get her back out of the house and back to the hospital. 

Tricky to work with all this going on. 

Andy

[NGT6 1315]

Afternoon. Deflated.

[Shedman5]

Seems the north/south divide is still working…:-)

 

Very warm, although cloudy and I'm still in shorts. 

 

Afternoon, played tennis (outdoors) yesterday evening till 9ish , no thunder or rain and I am some 30 miles north of Debs as the crow flies.

No rain today so far and I'm in shorts and have just come in from some gardening tasks so weather wise its been fine here.

 

Its has gone a bit muggy though so maybe we will get a shower this evening.

 

Don't have golf lessons but can resonate with the comments about it being complicated, I find when I have had an hours tennis lesson not only is my body aching ( I expect that) but my head is swirling with the instructions/guidance I have received, sounds simple to change your grip to play an appropriate return but that comes along with spotting which side of you the ball is heading, deciding which type of stroke to play adjusting ones hands to suit.

Only problem is the ball is heading to you at around 70 miles an hour at my level lol! Split second decisions ah well its all fun as they say but makes you appreciate how talented the professionals are.

 

Enjoy whats left of the day

[gordon s]

Absolutely spot on.  Different game, but the same issues with almost 'swing thought' overload.  I almost got to the point of having the yips, with so many thoughts of what I had to do going round my head that I could barely take the club back.  After years of little or no progress, something had to be done to gain consistency and improve, so it was right back to basics and start again.  A bit like my layout building…:-)

 

Pleased to say it's still dry here although a storm could be on its way..

[Debs.]

.........there's a car round here with the reg AGE 64.........

 

Is it a Beetle?