Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all.

 

I was trying to catch up but the task appears beyond me. I hope for better news from Light Engine as he recovers.

 

The weather here is warm but currently not oppressive. The train in was delayed by a fainter. I imagine the journey home will be unpleasant but it does at least feel like summer has arrived!

 

Younger Lurker has a school trip today - accompanied by Mrs Lurker. Tomorrow he has a food challenge at the Evelina.

Elder Lurker has an "activities" week at school, the main benefit of which appears to be that he didn't have to wear uniform.

 

Onwards and upwards!

[Happy Hippo]

The old Ikea TV cabinet has surrendered a large amount of timber that has been converted into strip ready for conversion to either sleeper or batten for the garden line.

 

Afterwards I vacuumed the sawdust off the drive with the old Dyson.  I think the passers by must think I'm a bit OCD, but it's much more efficient, and quicker than sweeping it up. 

 

I then manufactured another load of 'buddy burners' from commercial food tins.  these will be used this evening when the guides come around for their shooting and outdoors cooking session.

 

Before anyone asks, fresh wood pigeon and rabbit are not on the menu.

 

It is warm and still today, so an ideal opportunity to do some fall of shot comparisons between the gas ram and pcp rifles at 30 m.  It would be foolish not to do so since the range is all set up and is standing idle until this evening.

 

However, persuading the Obergrumpenfuhrer that this is scientific research, and not me just having fun, might will take some doing.

 

I shall wave the creocote pot  at some of the timber around the perimeter of the veg plot first, which gets me closer to the field..............I can sneak a rifle and my big zeroing target  up there when she is busy taking in the washing!

 

The timber is all pressure treated, but it looks and smells better with the brown stuff smeared all over it.

 

You should be quite clear that we are not talking about the brown stuff I was referring to a few days back!

Edited July 18, 2016 by Happy Hippo

[Wigan Wallgate OO Gauge]

Goodnight from New Zealand! May you all have a prosperous day

[45156]

Goodnight from New Zealand! May you all have a prosperous day

Thanks and nighty night.  And welcome to the friendly world of ERs.  Hope to hear from you all that distance away from time to time.

[roundhouse]

Just been talking about Pokemon Go.

 

There was bloke in the US wandering around someones back yard (garden) whilst trying to catch the virtual character. He got shot by owner who thought he had a burglar.

 

Another on the US news was a woman who got run over whilst playing Pokemon.

 

That led us onto Darwin awards!!

 

Good night New Zealand and good morning to those on the US West Coast

[AndyB]

Afternoon all. "Cor whatta scorcher" 

 

Quick drop in as I've been invited for an "informal chat" with a potential employer this week; I'm not planning on mistaking "informal" with "no need to prep carefully". So, appearances this week may be somewhat limited. Congratulations and sympathies to all in advance, therefore. 

 

Very sad to see the events in Turkey. I had the pleasure of studying there some 20 years ago. A more generous and welcoming bunch of folk you couldn't hope to meet. I wish them well. 

 

Meanwhile there was some kind of airshow in these parts last week. On occasion this offered an echelon of Red Arrows etc passing over my house, along with other, less glamorous, formations. 

 

 

Have a nice week everyone. 

[NGT6 1315]

Just been talking about Pokemon Go.

 

There was bloke in the US wandering around someones back yard (garden) whilst trying to catch the virtual character. He got shot by owner who thought he had a burglar.

 

Another on the US news was a woman who got run over whilst playing Pokemon.

 

That led us onto Darwin awards!!

I'm not at all surprised to be reading such reports! Almost had a Darwin Award candidate in head-down phone gawking mode last week myself and got close to pulling an emergency stop.

[trisonic]

The drama at IKEA in Reading made it onto US news. Much chortling from me because A) I hate the store and B) the IKEA in Elizabeth, NJ is still hard to get out of after about ten years since it opened.......

An interesting (or not really) thing about the Elizabeth store is that it is a good place to meet local NJ immigrants that hail from the Indian sub-continent.

 

I have still only been there twice in ten years (dragged kicking and screaming more like).

 

Best, Pete.

Edited July 18, 2016 by trisonic

[Ian Abel]

... If any of you IT types ever get stuck on a project that is being run as "Agile" its a joke. I'm old school so spent far longer on fleshing out my bits of work with proper designs instead of those idiotic "stories" and minimal specifications...

Agreed Andrew. A few years back a the beginning of the Agile carp, I commented that it seemed the only thing "agile" about the concept was the speed with which projects went down the toilet in a flurry of meaningless banter without accomplishing anything worthwhile on a project. Not been proven wrong yet

 

Just been talking about Pokemon Go.

 

There was bloke in the US wandering around someones back yard (garden) whilst trying to catch the virtual character. He got shot by owner who thought he had a burglar.

 

Another on the US news was a woman who got run over whilst playing Pokemon.

 

That led us onto Darwin awards!!

 

Good night New Zealand and good morning to those on the US West Coast

Let's not forget the two guys in Encinitas CA that ignored a fence, climbing through/over it, warnings signs about NOT going to close to the edge of THE CLIFF and ended up one 80ft below on the beach, and one stuck about 50ft down. Both hospitalized. Jackasses...

 

 

and a good morning from me.

 

Saturday a false start to the cabin, apparently (this is the second time it's happened) Bob has become a casualty of travel/car sickness. We got part way there and had to return with him. Leaving him home instead. Guess his days at the cabin are over, not that he cared either way actually.

So, late to the cabin, just in time for an evening shower, followed by a lovely sunset;

 

 

 

Severe thunderstorm overnight, but lovely day Sunday. Managed some minor fence repair - there's ALWAYS that sort of work when you really just want to sit and relax it seems.

Also installed a window air conditioner in anticipation of next weekend. Mrs and a friend heading up there Thursday, with my and the "other half" of the friends' working then heading up Friday evening. Reason for a/c unit - severe heat index warnings for late in the week, highs expected to reach/exceed 37 on Thursday and 36 on Friday, lows only in the 26-27 range.

Highs here expected to remain in the 30's for nearly two weeks but we may see 19 for a low a few days. All the weather expected to include thunderstorms and high humidity!

 

Right now 23 and sunny, expecting 30

 

Enjoy flaming July, June apparently passed on the experience.

[Donw]

It has been very hot here (no thermometer available) and I have been dripping not really a good day for removing bricks. The trouble with knocking down brickwork it takes longer to move them out of the way than to loosen them you have to keep stopping when they are piled all around to move them somewhere else. As we are planning to reuse some of them (including for a workshop) Marion is cleaning the mortar off a bit of a soul destroying job no sooner does she get the pile going down than I start piling more on again.

 

Pokemon go appears to be a treasure hunt which sounds fun but as you can only see it on the screen people are visiting all these places glued to the screen. Welcome to the world of virtual reality but don't forget the car heading straight towards you may not be on your screen but there will be nothing virtual if it hits you.

 

Don

[jamie92208]

Afternoon all from a sunny village that stubbornly, despite me being absent for 5 weeks, is still north of Ikea.

LE I do hope that your standard of basic nursing care improves.

Dave( TG) I hope that your loft clearance goes well without too much stress. It's a thankless task and with such potential for the sudden onset of emotions triggered by odd things such as the smell of something or a memory.

 

Thanks for the wishes for a sae journey. We made it home for 1.30 this afternoon and have unpacked the car. Passing through the Sarthe the temp was in the id 30's and the Air con was struggling. Today started badly with the usual traffic jams on the M27/M3 but the rest of the journey was fine. The mists in the valley at Didcot meant tat I only saw the middle bit of the chimney and nothing of the now demolished boiler house.

 

Anyway Model Railway club beckons tonight but first I have the arduous job of going to the Coop for some cream as we came home to a big strawberry crop.

 

Jamie

[The Stationmaster]

My word - it takes a bloke on the other side of a whopping great ocean to tell me all about major traffic fun & games less than 20 miles away from where I'm sitting; the power of the internet   While I doubt we will be going to IKEA anyway (went once before, to one on the North Circular - that was quite enough thank you) I do hope it doesn't interfere with our occasional visit to the nearby Dunelm Mill emporium although we do go there on weekdays.  

 

While that Pincents Lane site chosen by IKEA has plenty of space to build a retail warehouse it's rather ludicrous from a traffic viewpoint as its accessed through a pair of roundabouts which also serve the busy Sajnsburys Savacentre (where we occasionally stock up on items we can get elsewhere although the availability of Yorkshire Gold has fortunately improved considerably in our local branch of Tesco.

[Killybegs]

Well that's it for the day. Grass mown or strimmed as appropriate, all the hedges trimmed and everything tidied away. Maxed at a sultry 24 deg C, vast quantities of water consumed. Looking forward to a quiet evening.

 

Has creosote been given the all clear again. I heard that it was banned here a while back (as was the sale of creosoted sleepers) but apparently it's back in the builders merchants again. Academic at the moment as we have large quantities of green fence preserver in the shed. Slightly less now as Steph gave the summerhouse a coat this morning. It will need another one tomorrow.

[Donw]

My word - it takes a bloke on the other side of a whopping great ocean to tell me all about major traffic fun & games less than 20 miles away from where I'm sitting; the power of the internet   While I doubt we will be going to IKEA anyway (went once before, to one on the North Circular - that was quite enough thank you) I do hope it doesn't interfere with our occasional visit to the nearby Dunelm Mill emporium although we do go there on weekdays.  

 

While that Pincents Lane site chosen by IKEA has plenty of space to build a retail warehouse it's rather ludicrous from a traffic viewpoint as its accessed through a pair of roundabouts which also serve the busy Sajnsburys Savacentre (where we occasionally stock up on items we can get elsewhere although the availability of Yorkshire Gold has fortunately improved considerably in our local branch of Tesco.

 

Aren't traffic fun and games normal for Reading?

Don

[45156]

Back for a quick check in, from a now very sunny North Lancashire.  So far here, it's been a summer of evenings, as almost every day where sun has been promised, it has not turned up until around 5.

 

Good to hear that Jamie has got home from Charente safely, and without too much incident.  It's quite a drive.  Home, then unpacking, and then a session at the modelling club seems a bit of a heavy session, but it beats doing the garden which apart from the crop of strawberries, probably appears to be a bit of a wilderness after the weather which we've had here over the last few weeks.

 

I went to Ikea once, when we lived in Croydon, and have, luckily managed to avoid the experience ever since.  Then, the traffic jams were largely in store as it was nearly impossible to find the way out.

 

Signing off for the night now, as I need to start the dinner to allow for 30747's return from her training session within the hour.

[roundhouse]

Well so much for being back home, well not actually hone as we now have a hay trick with the trains despite only being back off holiday one day. No trains for us from LBG due to a sink hole at Forest Hill.

Decided to go from Cannon St to Elmers End thrn Tramlink and maybe he's hone. However Cannon St is solid due to signal failures on South Eastern.

So already broken my no beer till Saturday plan as sitting under Cannon St in thr Pelt Trader trying to work a route out to get home. Even Vic is grinding to a halt due to crew being out of position. Imagine when LBG Rebuilding us complete with all those shiny new Thameslink trains stuck.

[andyram]

Mawnin' awl. Coffee intake being ensured right now with more likely to follow. A fairly quiet shift pulled yesterday, so let's see how today's will go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Andy, I just thought I should pick up on your posting as it made me think of how frequently people with no actual insight into teaching but a lot of prejudice will off-handedly accuse teachers of being well-pampered lazy boogers who don't know what a "real working life" is like. It would be such a satisfying experience if such people were made to swap places with teachers for, say, a month, and challenged do at least as good as they do. It should, I believe, be a real eye-opener of how this is really not an easy-peasy job…

 

 

Best wishes to everyone!

After posts like this I wish I could add multiple ratings as I would rate it "agree" and "thanks" at the same time. There are many people out there who have this blissful misconception that teachers arrive at school at 8.45, then leave at 3.45 - doing nothing until the following day. Oh and don't forget the 13 weeks holiday per year. I really would like to put some of these people in the classroom and watch them drown in the whirlpool that is the life of a modern teacher.

As for today I managed to wing it successfully and the children produced some good work. After our recent geography work about Whitby, the children were tasked with writing some persuasive sentences and producing some tourist guides for the town. They wrote some good stuff this morning and were managing to ignore the heat and get stuck into the design work on publisher. None of them finished so that is part of tomorrow sorted.

Tonight I have around 120 sports certificates to write out. Sarah is off to a playgroup committee meeting so hopefully Amber will sleep so I can get the work done!

[AndrewC]

Well so much for being back home, well not actually hone as we now have a hay trick with the trains despite only being back off holiday one day. No trains for us from LBG due to a sink hole at Forest Hill.

Decided to go from Cannon St to Elmers End thrn Tramlink and maybe he's hone. However Cannon St is solid due to signal failures on South Eastern.

So already broken my no beer till Saturday plan as sitting under Cannon St in thr Pelt Trader trying to work a route out to get home. Even Vic is grinding to a halt due to crew being out of position. Imagine when LBG Rebuilding us complete with all those shiny new Thameslink trains stuck.

CST is double b*ggered. Signalling at Lewisham AGAIN!!! Failed train @ Sidcup

[New Haven Neil]

Evening.

 

25c in northern Fraggle Rock, this equates to about 50 in a normal place!  Not often we get real heat, tomorrow is forecast hotter.  Our bedroom faces west and we forgot to close the blinds - it's scorching in there!

 

Risking the wrath of the good Lady of the Collies with train photos is a fact of life for me, as I don't really post anywhere else and it seems appropriate to chat about the with friends on here - I talk about all sorts of other rubbish too!  I'm sure she doesn't really mind that much.  Maybe.  Hopefully.  Pretty please.

[The Stationmaster]

Well that's it for the day. Grass mown or strimmed as appropriate, all the hedges trimmed and everything tidied away. Maxed at a sultry 24 deg C, vast quantities of water consumed. Looking forward to a quiet evening.

 

Has creosote been given the all clear again. I heard that it was banned here a while back (as was the sale of creosoted sleepers) but apparently it's back in the builders merchants again. Academic at the moment as we have large quantities of green fence preserver in the shed. Slightly less now as Steph gave the summerhouse a coat this morning. It will need another one tomorrow.

 

Still illegal under EU rules I understand.  The stuff they nowadays call 'creosote' bears about as much resemblance to the real stuff as a bucket of water with some added colouring (and is probably about as effective).

[28XX]

Is CreoCote the thin brown emulsion to which you refer?

[emt_911]

Very envious! It's the coldest part of winter here, wanna swap?

Definitely not. Even though it was far too hot to want to drive through London in a van without aircon  

[roundhouse]

CST is double b*ggered. Signalling at Lewisham AGAIN!!! Failed train @ Sidcup

We were going via Waterloo and Clapham Junction till we headed that some of our trains weren't stopping at Clapham Junction so went to Vic. All platforms full and no trains Leaving for some while.

 

Finally announce a train calling at Redhill but thrn stood by the doors for 15 minutes as no crew whilst other trains departed. Total fubar.

[Donw]

Well so much for being back home, well not actually hone as we now have a hay trick with the trains despite only being back off holiday one day. No trains for us from LBG due to a sink hole at Forest Hill.

Decided to go from Cannon St to Elmers End thrn Tramlink and maybe he's hone. However Cannon St is solid due to signal failures on South Eastern.

So already broken my no beer till Saturday plan as sitting under Cannon St in thr Pelt Trader trying to work a route out to get home. Even Vic is grinding to a halt due to crew being out of position. Imagine when LBG Rebuilding us complete with all those shiny new Thameslink trains stuck.

 

Never mind Chris Grayling says it's his top priority. Which is quite often government speak for 'Oh bu99er'

 

Don 

[Ohmisterporter]

Managed to get the lawns mowed this afternoon but out of breath by the end. The edge trimming can wait until tomorrow. Only Connect starts again at half past eight yippee!