Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

 

 

Good morning all.

 

Jamie-two questions. In the before and after pics it looks as though you have chopped down a grain silo. Is this right? And in the last one, is that a privy? I'm dead jealous.

 

Ed

No problem Ed, as Phil pointed out correctly it's just out of picture to the right.  However good we may be with a chainsaw I'm not sure the little electric one would cut through the reinforced concrete of what the locals refer to as the scud missile.   The privy does filter out waste but it's the house for the pump filter on the pool and houses all our cleaning equipment and the elctricak connections.  The pump is rawlbolted through the shed base to several concrete slabs so that the shed doesn't blow away in a gale.  The family call it the dog house as they think I'll end up there one day.

 

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Cold and frosty this morning but the sun beginning to shine through. I've got to wait in anyway as I'm expecting a delivery. The delivery I'm expecting is a stroller as my legs can no longer stand going around exhibitions and swap meets any more without taking a rest. I've chosen one with a seat and a small 'saddlebag' that when folded will fit in the car.

The 'after' pic was taken at a slightly different angle, the silo is only just out of shot, look at the round evergreen shrub on the right. I'm dead jealous as well, I was considering an overseas property buthouse one of the conditions of the equity release was that you couldn't use the money raised to purchase another property.

 

Phil, hope that the stroller works out for you. Beth has one that she uses when things get bad.   As to the house we took an interest only mortgage out on our house which we'll pay off when we sell up and move over there permanently.  I needed the help of a specialist mortgage broker but it worked out well in the end.

 

Gordon S I hope that the rest of the new year is better for you than the last couple of weeks

 

Jamie

Edited January 4, 2017 by jamie92208

[Ian Abel]

I am glad that we booked direct flights to and from the UK this trip with all the bad weather across the USA affecting many internal flights. Ours should be OK as it's just rain here.

Ian,

  Unfortunately, and I travelled to and from SFO regularly for 5 years so routinely saw this, SFO has issues with cloudy/rainy weather due to the runway configurations and its proximity to Oakland - airport right across the bay. 

 

Currently flightaware are showing SFO as the second "misery" spot in the country. I hope your flight out goes as expected...

 

 

Minneapolis (16th in the list!), as usual, isn't that much of a problem, it's only "cold", and the flights most affected are to locations that themselves are issue-prone, rather than this location itself causing a problem

Edited January 4, 2017 by Ian Abel

[gordon s]

Pleased to report the perpetrator of yesterday's raid is now home and feeling sorry for himself.  His 'brother' was not too pleased having to puke his stomach contents up when he was totally innocent, but no doubt they will sort out their differences in time....

 

He's just finished his charcoal dinner and as expected has scoffed the lot.  All we need to do now is wait for black poos to appear and then all should be fine.

 

I've had better jobs.....

 

 

Just had the results of our 2016 Golf Club Survey.  I will finish the whole document, but some of the answers/suggestions would rival any insurance questionaire.....

 

 

 

 

 

[NGT6 1315]

E'ning all. Can only second what you outlined, Vincent...

 

FYI: last night the "coupures" (openings in the dyke for roads etc) have been closed in the Delfzijl area (up way north near the German border) as the predicted tide was 3.6m above NAP. Last month another high tide reached 3.9m, which was critical as the dykes are about 4m high. They've now been reopened. The weather in Germany is atrocious, with snowdrifts predicted for the coming days. Even here, with the moderating sea climate, Friday sees warnings of black ice on the roads throughout the country   I think I'll do the fodder run tomorrow instead of Friday

 

Currently strong winds and heavy rain hail from a northerly direction.

...as a brief intermezzo of sunshine just before noon was quickly replaced with wind and snow showers...

 

 

...yielding this scenery as I came off my shift. I'll be curious as to how things will be tomorrow night during my route clearing shift as temperatures are predicted to plummet to below -10 in the lowlands and -20 in the mountains.

 

But now I shall wrap myself up in my duvet, so, nite-y, everyone...

[emt_911]

The roads today were surprisingly quiet with no hold ups. I wonder how long it will remain so.

 

A challenging job today means that I have only just got to my digs for the next 2 nights. At least it's comfortable and the food is good.

 

Gordon - I'm hoping that your turn of challenging events has come to an end

 

If I can keep my eyes open I may be back later

[edcayton]

YAY! Granddaughter born 21.09. All doing well.

 

Ed

[Coombe Barton]

YAY! Granddaughter born 21.09. All doing well.

 

Ed

 

Congratulations. All good wishes. Your main duty is to wet the baby's head.

[Barry O]

Sleep well all!

[laurenceb]

Congratulations Ed

Night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

The roads today were fairly quiet, although it was a bit slow on the M60 clockwise as I headed towards Simister Island, due to a broken down coach in the road works. Only met 1 Cockwomble, or should it be henwobble? Every time a lorry was coming the other way she applied the brakes, she constantly drove at about 10mph less than the road speed limit, and left very little room for overtaking. There's always one isn't there? Mind you, I was driving along the A666!

 

Gordon. I hope your MiL improves soon.

 

Ed. congratulations on the birth of your granddaughter.

 

Goodnight all.

[emt_911]

Congratulations Ed

 

Night all

[andyram]

Good evening all. Gordon I hope your MiL improves. Congratulations to Ed on the new arrival. It is looking very cold out there tonight so please take care when out and about in the morning.

Two days back at work. Not gone well. I am not going to comment on what happened at present, but I will say that I have not stopped looking through the job pages. Meanwhile Sarah has had a visit from the local Avon area manager. She is trying to encourage Sarah to take on a more senior role as a sales leader. It may mean more work for her, but may reduce my contribution slightly. Apparently some successful sales leaders have earnt up to £36,000 per year. I joked that if she could reach that sort of figure I could retire!

The saga of the Peckett continues. Due to arrive today via Yodel. They tried to deliver it whilst Sarah was out and left a card. Nothing written on the card so no clue as to where the package was. I phoned their help line but they had no record of the card number nor our address. Finally they found us via the tracking number given by Hattons. The result - the package is still with the courier and I was I given their number and told to contact the courier direct. I would need to confirm the address because it was not on their system (despite today's attempted delivery!) Naturally there was no answer from the courier so who knows what will happen next.

[Gwiwer]

Good morning.  Good evening.  Good grief Gordon - how much can a koala bear?  I do hope things settle satisfactorily sometime soon.  

 

Best wishes to those enduring weather-related woes.  It is rather warm here at 33C with the next four days promising only a slight increase.  Sun is expected to give way to "severe thunderstorms with large hail" according to the seaweed-wranglers' website.  Large hail can mean about cricket-ball size.  We might or might not be in the danger zone.  Cars are parked under the port.

 

Last evening's Attendance enlivened by an attempted bash-and-robbery as a woman at the ticket machine, purse in hand, was rushed by a chap brandishing a large glass bottle full of something raised above her head and grabbed her by the shoulder.  The presence of numerous other people, self included, and her immediate screams and movement probably saved the moment.  Offender ran off as quickly as he arrived and with nothing more than he started with.  Ticket-purchaser, a couple of witnesses and myself then spent an hour in the police booth exchanging details and writing reports.  She finally went on her way shaken but not stirred after we made sure she would be met at her destination.

 

In other news a plumber has been appointed.  The shower base needs replacing which will mean disturbance to the tiles and while he (plumbers of opposite sex are available) is here there's a few tap washes in need of exchanges.  The first of the maintenance tasks required before we vacate is organised.  Most of the rest will require the application of paint by me.

 

Sleep well, have a good day, avoid catastrophe and Baz - thanks, I heard you loud and clear!

Edited January 4, 2017 by Gwiwer

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Congratulations Ed.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Gwiwer]

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all, Happy 2017 and congratulations to Grandpa Ed.

 

It's nice to be back!  I had a good time in Switzerland, tempered as with most of my fellow travellers by a rotten cold.  There is much to catch up - too much laundry, 283 e-mails, 61 pages of new posts on RMweb and some favourite TV programmes.  Predictably, the digi box froze on Christmas Day so it's a case of exploring BBC i-player and All4.  Unpredictably, the delivery brat returned to the equivalent of action and left me two editions of the local rag.  Today I need to trudge to the sorting office to fetch whatever it was that Postie tried to deliver on 23rd December.

 

There is much to tell of the holiday and, given a few days, I will tell some of it.  Enough happened on the day of outward travel for me not to keep it from you.  The Eurostar left St Pancras 4 minutes late and arrived in Paris 20 minutes down after waiting a path through the Chunnel and trundling in other places where trundling was not appropriate.  In Paris a fleet of taxis took up to 35 minutes to take those who chose to ride in them from Gare du Nord to Gare de l'Est, which compared with the 15 minutes that it took some of us to walk.  Later, near Basel, SNCF terminated our train at St Louis in a rare attempt to correct late running.  A following train would take us the few remaining miles to our destination but, oh dear, I will be late for dinner with Flavio.  Out came the mobile phone.  I could not hear Flavio, he could not hear me and I could not hear his voice mail.  We resorted to texts.  So did various mobile phone providers: "Welcome to Germany" when in France was doubtless well intentioned.  Eventually we got to the hotel, Flavio arrived, we went for dinner and eventually found somewhere to eat which was not full and noisy.

 

Best wishes, comme d'habitude, to the lonely and depressed, to all travellers [you can see why I say that now] and to the ailing, recovering, supporting, grieving and missing.

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Sorry to hear about your dog, Gordon.  The most important thing is that it looks as if everything will be fine.

 

I hope that your MiL also makes a good recovery after her rest.  I'll keep my fingers crossed that your luck changes now!

 

We have a rather mixed bag weather wise.  It was incredibly icy at home because it rained during the evening and then froze overnight.  Fortunately, although the roads were icy in places, by and large they had been well gritted and we got to work without any problems.

 

Time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Barry O]

Hey up!

Time for me to brave the M1, M42 and the M5 plus the roads through Leeds and Oldbury.

 

I hope to be back tonight.

Baz

[emt_911]

Morning all. It seems that the -2 degrees here is on the warm side.

 

Time to find out what challenges today is going to throw at me, but first, another coffee

 

Have a good day everyone

[TheQ]

Morning Awl,

I had a good nights sleep

There have been no reports of overnight major flooding, so probably only a few fields got it, The Reedham  river level sensor was well over it's previously recorded highest last night, But the river Bure Sensor at Hoveton seemed to flatten off and didn't reach it's predicted level, It's not just a question of river levels and the tides at Great Yarmouth but the tide takes about 5 hours to reach Hoveton, 4 hours at Horning but only an hour to Reedham.

So it's a combination of when the surge hits GY, the tide arrives at GY, the Delay for the tide to reach where you are, and to the least amount how much rain you have had.#

 

The wind  blew round the house last night and you could here the roar of the sea hitting the beach and sea defences. so some of the wet roads when I set off this morning will be due to the slightly salty spray that reaches well inland when the wind is in this direction..

 

 I Read JH Aherns landscape book last night, I recently bought an old copy off of Abebooks to complete my set. An interesting book but these days getting more for historical purposes. it often refers to company addresses which may have been valid in 1955, but are now long gone.

also the recommendations of materials

Eastonite (? spelling) which is not something I'd heard of.

Pyruma, Not seen that around for years but I see on the internet it is still around

Distemper, I can remember Dad painting the ceiling with it.

Casco glue, I'm guessing is a variation of cascomite glue which used to be used in boat building, although Casco company are still around on the net but I've never seen it for sale anywhere.

 

Also the recommendation that you write to head office to obtain materials, is now history with the internet. Does a big company have any secretaries to answer letters any more? We don't, you have to do your own typing, there is no one to answer the door, you have to phone from the desk at the door, to the department you wish to speak to, someone from there, will come through the secure doors and get you.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Frosty here. Recycling bags deposited.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Tony

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

It's a frosty start to the day this morning, so I'll have to defrost the car before I set off for Preston, where I only have 2 sites to visit, but each job will take a few hours, still the physical activities will keep me warm, hopefully!

 

Back later.

 

Have a good day.

[Robert]

I Read JH Aherns landscape book last night, I recently bought an old copy off of Abebooks to complete my set. An interesting book but these days getting more for historical purposes. it often refers to company addresses which may have been valid in 1955, but are now long gone.

also the recommendations of materials

Eastonite (? spelling) which is not something I'd heard of.

Pyruma, Not seen that around for years but I see on the internet it is still around

Distemper, I can remember Dad painting the ceiling with it.

Casco glue, I'm guessing is a variation of cascomite glue which used to be used in boat building, although Casco company are still around on the net but I've never seen it for sale anywhere.

 

Also the recommendation that you write to head office to obtain materials, is now history with the internet. Does a big company have any secretaries to answer letters any more? We don't, you have to do your own typing, there is no one to answer the door, you have to phone from the desk at the door, to the department you wish to speak to, someone from there, will come through the secure doors and get you.

That is quite interesting.  I have not heard of Casco glue - but having asked Google, it appears to be a Caesin based substance.

 

Distemper is a bu99er to remove as I remember.  Being a mixture of chalk and water it produces a powdery finish which nothing will subsequently stick to!

 

Pyruma - When I was a lad, we had solid fuel heating until gas was installed in the 80s.  I remember my Dad using this to repair/seal the firebricks in the Rayburn.  I shouldn't think there is much call for it these days given that the firebricks in modern ovens are usually formed to fit together.

 

No idea with Eastonite - I have heard of Eternit which is a form of asbestos free fibre board.

 

What is interesting is how many of these products are organic - from before the era when we had so much reliance on oil based products.