Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71 Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 (edited) ...having sailed ignorantly and serenely past Black Friday this year, I'm still surprised at such a non-event getting a toe-hold on our calendar. Definitely a date on which to swerve well away from all retail outlets next year...if we have the misfortune to experience a repeat. Dave Edited November 29, 2014 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 29, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 29, 2014 Saw a huge curved TV yesterday for £250! On closer inspection it was £2,600+. The £250 was for the stand. Does watching your flat screen TV curled up on the sofa have the same effect as watching a curved screen sat up straight? Much cheaper. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
railsquid Posted November 29, 2014 Share Posted November 29, 2014 Had to look that one up.* Apparently it's an onomatopoeia. ERs can be so edukashunal. * the meal that is, not lunch with the in-laws. And here's the lunch itself. DIY boiling job in the pot visible on the left. Very tasty (Kobe beef). 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock67B Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Evening all, Another atheist here but I have to confess that we always have a large tree, decorated with the help of grand daughter and, for the first time this year, Freddie the great grandson. The joy that the little ones get from the event means a lot to Joanna and I! As a 'heathen' Scot, I must admit that I've tended to use the event as a practice run for the New Year celebration which always seemed more important when I lived in my homeland. I find that the great money making scramble, thinly disguised as a religious festival, rather disgusts me! Joanna has informed everyone on her Christmas card list that she won't be sending any this year - instead she has calculated the cost and doubled it as a gift to a charity such as Cancer Research or the Heart Foundation. No-one has complained so far! Beast, the 57s appeared on the RHTT again this afternoon and for once looked like they'd had a wash! Couldn't see the numbers from the garden, below the fence level, so I don't know if it was the same pair! Have a great Sunday folks, Kind regards, Jock. And not forgetting, G'night Pete! Edited November 30, 2014 by Jock67B 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Good evening all. No Christmas deccies here - as atheists, we aren't hypocrites! Don't mind other folk having them, each to their own, but at least wait until December, eh? It seems to take a quarter of a year nowadays. We have a 'non-denominational holiday period' instead, and have gone out in the car/campervan for a picnic for 25 years now on the big day, to escape turkey and over indulgence. I just think it is a shame that the whole thing has become so commercialised and greed laden. The Black Friday TV scenes were appalling, I was shocked to see the behaviours of some people. On a more train orientated note, guess who will have to dress up in Santa hats and things while firing at Groudle on the Santa trains - does that make me a hypocrite after all?? Just as well I can laugh at myself!! I don't quite follow your logic. A lot of christmas decorations are nothing to do with modern religions more to do with pagan traditions and worship of nature so far as I know. An excuse to brighten up a miserable time of year. Don ps no nativity scenes or angels though. Edited November 30, 2014 by Donw 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all, up and off to the last day of the course. Bill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 In the spirit of Black Friday weekend - special offer - 33% off Good mor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2014 Off to umpire today. I think a minutes silence is called for the two people who have died this week in cricket matches Stay safe and calm everyone! Baz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohmisterporter Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all. Update on my new drive; the builder stuck a new penny in the concrete but it will be covered by the block work when completed. I am fairly sure this is an old tradition in the building trade, certainly I have heard of it before, usually when items come to light during demolition. At work now, just had a wander across to a decorative tree that has appeared outside a nearby building. If I describe it as a conical shaped open framework of metal wire around ten feet tall planted pointy end upwards with white LED lights all around it I hope I do it justice. The lighting system starts off blanked out then the effect is of individual lights falling like snowflakes from the top and collecting at the bottom. Gradually the "snow" builds up until the whole tree is covered. Very effective in my opinion, somewhat spoiled by it then going into flashing strips alternating between running up and down and racing round and round. Can't please everybody all the time I suppose. Have a great day folks. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pH Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 In the spirit of Black Friday weekend - special offer - 33% off Good mor If you are including the space in your offering, then the stated reduction is, in fact, correct. However, if the space is not part of said offering, the stated reduction is incorrect, and you may be liable for penalties under 'Truth in advertising' regulations. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold BoD Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 I was actually calculating in Ems which us why I had to leave off the .3 recurring. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iL Dottore Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Saw a huge curved TV yesterday for £250! On closer inspection it was £2,600+. The £250 was for the stand. Heh, heh, heh - it's most amusing how retailers use such tricks to con the gullible and greedy. I am especially fond of the "£2.50 each, Now on special offer, 3 for £7.99" wheeze. Never fails to reel 'em in.... Good evening all. No Christmas deccies here - as atheists, we aren't hypocrites! Don't mind other folk having them, each to their own, but at least wait until December, eh? It seems to take a quarter of a year nowadays. We have a 'non-denominational holiday period' instead, and have gone out in the car/campervan for a picnic for 25 years now on the big day, to escape turkey and over indulgence... I'm an agnostic, but I do loathe how commercialized Christmas has become, it was bad enough when it was all about "Xmas" or "Chrimbo" (to my mind anyone using those ghastly terms should be shot), but now it's gone all PC (especially in the US and heading that way over here) with "Happy Holidays". Defiantly, I either send cards wishing the recipient a MERRY CHRISTMAS or, if feeling particularly evil-minded, I wish them a HAPPY SATURNALIA which is, according to historians, one of the major influences on our current festivities (although, quite frankly, I think that Prince Albert and Charles Dickens have a lot to answer for) ...having sailed ignorantly and serenely past Black Friday this year, I'm still surprised at such a non-event getting a toe-hold on our calendar. Definitely a date on which to swerve well away from all retail outlets next year...if we have the misfortune to experience a repeat. Dave Quite. Evening all, Another atheist here but I have to confess that we always have a large tree, decorated with the help of grand daughter and, for the first time this year, Freddie the great grandson. The joy that the little ones get from the event means a lot to Joanna and I!! Christmas should be a magical time for the tinies, but I fear the crass commercialism of today makes it hard to make the festivities magical, with December 25th becoming just another day in a 6 - 8 week o r g y of commercial hucksterism, naked greed, covetous envy and debt incurring "keeping up with the Jones". Furthermore, as a dog lover, I see that Christmas has turned into a "slaughter of the innocents" as puppies are bought for entirely the wrong reasons, many of whom end up in animal shelters (or worse) come the New Year (and let's not get started on the scum that run the "puppy mills"). Far from being a "Season of Joy", Christmas has - for me - become a reminder of how appalling humanity is... Roll on New Year, at least that remains (for now) an "honest" celebration. Grumpily, iD edited because the censoring software deems o r g y too shocking a word to be used in polite company Edited November 30, 2014 by iL Dottore 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelintrev Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Good morning all, and happy Sunday. I seem to have disturbed a small number of tiny ants that were scurrying around my key-board. Mind you apart from the elusive one on the screen the others are no more! Whatever your day brings - lets hope its fruitful? Trev. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordon s Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 (edited) Morning all. Our Anniversary today and Google celebrated St Andrews Day with the Flying Scotsman. First email was from the Lottery saying I'd won something. Expecting the usual, I found we had 5 of the 6 numbers which is as close as I've ever been. Shame they were on two lines, but £92 was a great start to the day. Noticed it was draw number 1976 which was the birth year of my son, Kieran who must have been looking down on us… Pure coincidence of course, but it made me think. I'm with the 'Christmas is time for friends and family fraternity' and steer away from the commercial bun fight it has now become. Peace and good health is all we need... Edited November 30, 2014 by gordon s 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium NGT6 1315 Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all. Dull outside, but warm inside, so happy enough! I personally (not being a believer in any specific faith either but maintaining that it is likely there may be planes of existence beyond the present range of our perception, and respecting the points of view of believers for as long as no vicious extremism is involved) see the Christmas season as a time for contemplation on what has been going on in the year that is about to end, and for spending that time in the presence of friends and families to lend each other advice and support over these matters if needed. Do enjoy your day, folks! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Purley Oaks Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Gabe (Mrs PO) and I popped up to the European Market yesterday to sample the wurst and beer and it was really packed (or rammed in the modern vernacular) - like the last Saturday before Christmas rather than the last in November. The same Saturday last year the market was half as full. This could be the BF (Black Friday) effect, I suppose. Bright here, looks set to be a good day, cooking roast lamb for family tea mmmm! Mal 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDolfelin Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Good comments from Fabio. It seems to have gone from 'give the kids a good time' to 'corruption of the innocents' in my lifetime. How parents are coping with the demands for the latest 'must have' (awful term) technology is a puzzle. No sooner have the children been given the iPad of their dreams than a new version arrives to plague their parents. Peer pressure can make some little ones' lives a misery. We already have the (Star Trek) 'Watch' on offer - brain implants next. Happy Sunday to all ERs! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Killybegs Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I think we are away for Christmas this year, off down to SiL in Kerry but I don't think I will get away with not having a tree. Decorations are fairly muted and all made by Steph. It's just getting light and I see that it is overcast. Relatively mild (7deg C) and no wind. I think this morning will involve housework before the boss gets back after lunch, I'm afraid I haven't even done last night's washing up, a major sin! I think I am also supposed to have groomed the dogs but they agreed that it wasn't that important. Now which is it to be first, washing up or walk the dogs. Decisions, decisions. A happy St. Andrews day to all our Scottish ER's. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all a bit of sun to start the day here. The last few days we have been busy erecting a small greenhouse. Enjoy the day if you can Don 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Donw Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 Some very interesting thoughts from John Gray on R4 this morning Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coombe Barton Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 St Andrew's Day. Would have been my parents 74th wedding anniversary. In the middle of an air raid in Plymouth. No photos were possible - "they didn't turn out because of the war" - but the air raid turned out to be a German reconnaissance plane taking pictures of the damage to the oil tanks at Turnchapel which had been destroyed a couple of nights beforehand. One of the pictured was published in a Dutch propaganda paper, and reproduced in Anthony Kingdom's OPC book on the Turnchapel branch. In that pic the church they were married in is in the very top left hand corner. Sunny here - but our usual park route with the dogs is hosting some sort of Fun Run, so somewhere else will have to be chosen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all Not much happening here, and a slight NE breeze is taking away the mist that was roundabouts but not actually here. I intend to finish the fencing for the dobbins' Winter quarters, and can then ask Richard to sort a moving day. Xmas cards are here awaiting writing and addressing, but require a bit of an exercise to see who was no longer responding in 2013. I certainly received fewer cards than had been the case, and a lot fewer than I sent. Partly anno domini, partly people who only knew Deb, I suspect. Don't blame them for that, especially as I'm overseas. Hope your day of rest lives up to that claim. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted November 30, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all, Another agnostic here but I do get a bit of enjoyment from Christmas although it's not the same without small children around. Our decorations don't go up until a day or two before Christmas Day and they remain in place until Twelth Night - I can't stand all the commercialised nonsense which starts well before Advent and comes ever earlier every year although we do enjoy having a look at a decent Christmas Market (York this year) as we try to make it a short break away as well. Log shifting and stacking seems to have brought on, or brought back, my chesty cold but that's about all on the wider (??) news front. Havea good day one and all. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all, The Christmas tree was put up and decorated yesterday - in deference to next week's pre-Christmas visit by the MiL. Personally I'd have left it until the day term breaks up. Whilst sorting out the decorations my youngest came across a small treasure trove of decorations given to him by a girl in his class about 2 years ago which included a plaster cast "heart" with "Love from Alice x" written on the back. Later on, a different little girl comes round to see him, from next door, and spots the aforementioned "love heart". Now it's fair to say that she set her cap at the lad for some time now, occasionally coming into the house saying "Is my boyfriend in?" They're 7 years old. Now, there's nothing wrong with her, it's just I feel she is a bit pushy fort the chap and that I think they could maybe wait till either they are teenagers, or better still till I'm dead! "CHARLIE! What's this?" "Ermm, well, it's not "love" as in "love" it's like when you sign a letter." "Harumph." Now, about half an hour later I was clearing the table for tea and happened across more of the treasure trove from "Alice" and accidentally swept them onto the floor next to the "girl next door". "To Charlie LOVE from Alice" was neatly written on the back of a home-made glitter star. "OMG. CHAAARLLLLLIEEEE!" Obviously "Alice" and "Charlie" are pseudonyms as they are now in the witness protection program. Have a nice day everyone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jock67B Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 Morning all from a dull and misty seaside, Happy St Andrew's Day to those to whom it matters! The 'Saltire', national flag of Scotland is in fact St Andrew's Cross. There are many who don't know that he is also patron saint of Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Greece. Today is also a 'feast day' in Germany and Austria but I don't know how it is celebrated there - perhaps our ex-pat member friends could enlighten us? Congratulations on your anniversary Gordon. Let's hope you have many more and, perhaps a bigger win on the lottery next time! DD, I do so agree about the 'corruption of the innocents' - Joanna and I were aghast at the cynical advertising, aimed squarely at the young, when we observed the children's TV programmes whilst baby-sitting our great grandchildren in the early morning some weeks back. They just about stop short of saying - 'tell mummy or daddy to get you this'! Of course, a lot of the success of the McDonald's empire was built on the early morning advertising of 'Happy Meals' which had children exhorting their parents to take them there for the next collectible toy/trash 'free' gift! We record Peppa Pig for the little ones when they visit, and the Christmas advertising has been going on for many weeks now - some of the price tags look very scary! The talk of logs for winter fires reminds me that today sees the anniversary of the razing of Crystal Palace in a massive inferno that could be seen for miles in 1936. I visited the remains, mainly massive foundations, quite often in the sixties/seventies as I raced bikes at the little circuit there, which also hosted some 'top name' motor races (F2, F3 and Saloon Championship) despite the 'Mickey Mouse' nature of the track. The 'Palace' would have been a fantastic tourist attraction had it lasted like the large glass houses at Kew. Have as good a Sunday as you can, Kind regards, Jock. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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