Early Risers.

[RhBBob]

Thirty years plus six days ago we travelled back with some friends from France on this ship. 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39116394

[Shedman5]

Morning, blue sky and sunshine at the moment but more importantly its not raining.

 

Our Hawthorn hedge is starting to flower, no gardening today as everything is soaked from the recent weather.

 

Not sure whats happening here  yet but

 

enjoy your day folks

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Although it isn't good as I have a broken tooth/filling so am off to the dental mechanic for repairs.

Bye for now.

Bob.

[Horsetan]

Good morning.

 

What do we think of the revival of the vinyl LP record? I find it bizarre. 

 

I see the Beatles LP's are being re-released as a part-work by D'Agostini. The first one (Abbey Road even though it wasn't) is a tenner, then £16 IIRC. When I was made redundant by ICI all those years ago I rushed out and spent what seemed like a large part of the money on all their LP's. I haven't played them for years, but it gives me a warm glow just having them on the shelf.

 

It was an absolute defining point in my life when my cousin bought Please Please me (who could afford LP's then?), brought it home and put it on Fathers Dansette which I remember had a key tied to the arm to stop it jumping. One two three four, a-one two three FOUR! Probably the one disc I would rescue from the waves....

My old man still keeps a box full of vinyl records, even though he threw out his Pioneer turntable and amplifier years ago. Most of his records are very very obscure - things like Trini Lopez and Golden Avatar - but he does have at least one Beatles album.

 

A schoolmate of mine spent his teenage years trailing through all the independent record shops in the West End collecting just about every Sex Pistols record he could find, including various bootleg discs. Some of them might be worth serious money now.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Slept like a log last night, woke up at 06:30 so just laid there for an hour. Those who survived the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster were very lucky to do so, if it hadn't capsized onto a sandbank the death toll would have been far higher. I got rid of my LP's many years ago, largely because many were played only a few times and then left in the cupboard. I still have my music centre, which as well as playing records played tapes and had a radio incorporated. It must be at least forty years old but AFAIK everything still works, I might try to sell it if I can find a record to play on it to test it out. Thats it for now, be back later.

[lightengine]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Slept like a log last night, woke up at 06:30 so just laid there for an hour. Those who survived the Herald of Free Enterprise disaster were very lucky to do so, if it hadn't capsized onto a sandbank the death toll would have been far higher. I got rid of my LP's many years ago, largely because many were played only a few times and then left in the cupboard. I still have my music centre, which as well as playing records played tapes and had a radio incorporated. It must be at least forty years old but AFAIK everything still works, I might try to sell it if I can find a record to play on it to test it out. Thats it for now, be back later.

The passenger lounge went from side to side of the ship. Just imagine a lounge full of passengers and furniture all sliding to the lowest point and with no way to climb up. Even 5 years later the forward ballast tank was still able to be used on the sister ship Pride of Bruges.

[Tony_S]

Good morning.

It is a pleasant morning too. No signs of budding on our hawthorn yet. Perhaps it is dead. All the blackthorn are doing nicely though. Rhubarb hasn't appeared yet. Perhaps that died too.

Not much happening today. Aditi was up a lot during the night. She couldn't sleep so went down and washed doormats and floors. She is asleep now. I won't disturb her. I think she had been a bit anxious about her Mum who has a cold. Last time MiL had a cold she had complications and ended up in hospital, I suspect this will be not so bad as she is at home this time not on holiday.

Tony

[Smiffy2]

Morning all.

 

Blues. Back in about 1964 I was working Saturdays in a record shop, and buying an LP a week. I had access to American imports, and my first two purchases were Sky Songs, by Bukka White, and an album by Mississippi Fred McDowell. I've now got them on MP3 and still listen to them. That led to other blues performers, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and others, and that tied in with an interest in the civil rights movement still led in those days by Dr King. It also fed straight into the British blues revival, and going regularly to see Peter Green play. What a tragic loss he was.

 

Nowadays my music is played on a little Bose system, via Bluetooth from an ipad or iphone. How things have changed...

 

Not much going on, it's rainy and cold. Emailed the plumber to come and fix the dripping shower, seeking a couple of steres of firewood later. A bit dopey this am, not really up to conversations in French...

 

Have a good 'un, all.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Occasional sunshine, somewhat less occasional passing clouds (other brands were available for the smokers of yesteryear).

 

Herself and the Good Doctor are both off to see the chiropractors - the GD seemingly hurt her back at work recently and it 'froze' yesterday so she's going to try the chiropractor to see if he can apply suitable corrective measures.  

 

Have a good day one and all.

[trisonic]

Good morning one and all

 

Oh dear, I have heard of Otis Rush but am not familiar with his work.  I will see him and raise you Cyril Tawney once again:

 

Chris

 

The late Cyril Davies (is the only Cyril I know).

 

Mr. Davies is the only known Bluesman called Cyril - unless you know better.

 

Otis Rush is rather interesting because a lot of his songs relate to social issues as opposed to “My Woman dun up and left me” type subjects

 

Best, Pete.

Edited March 6, 2017 by trisonic

[AndyB]

Morning all,

 

Quick question about hearing aids, if I may?

 

Mum struggles with the NHS hearing aid she was given and really can't hear much. In particular phone conversations are better for her without the hearing aid. 

Whether it is her hearing or the gadget itself I don't know. 

 

She's keen to upgrade to a privately supplied one, either Specsavers or similar as this might work better.

I notice that there's quite a price range between different suppliers, for example Specsavers vs AgeConcern. 

The hearing aids themselves seem to be grouped into functionality, ranging from TV and Phone, 1-2-1 conversation, small groups, large groups in noisy places. 

 

Are there any real performance differences between these different suppliers across these categories?

 

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts or recommendations.  

[jamie92208]

Lots of expertise on that subject on here.

particularly loose ones.

 

Anyway, back from the hospital. The procedure seems to have gone well. It's some sort of long term pain relief that involves burning nerve fibres in her lower back whilst she is still fully awake and can give feedback. Not pleasant but the results seems to last for a couple of years till the nerves regenerate. Whilst this was going on I got to the clubrooms at 07.30 and got a good hour and a half of work done on various things such as fencing, stonework and roof slates. We're now safely back home and chilling till it's time for me to make lunch. Then back to the clubrooms for another session this afternoon, home to make tea then back for a talk this evening. Not a bad day so far.

 

The talk of Beatles albums is interesting. I still have a large vinyl collection and a player, all of which is going to go to France. The collection includes all the UK issued Beatles LP's and a couple of imports such as Hey Jude and Magical Mystery Tour. One extra is the Polydor re-issue to the Hamburg LP that includes My Bonny. Some years ago a young friend from El Salvador came to stay and he's a good guitarist with a good ear. After playing him a couple of DVD's one evening I put some vinyl on and he was blown away by the difference in the sound.

 

Regards to all from a very sunny village.

 

Jamie

[Purley Oaks]

Rings or chunks?

Reminds me of the Dunmore Pineapple folly - here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore_Pineapple

[Purley Oaks]

I think that someone questioned over whether we were talking about Ms Dick or Mr Dick her father. That was the she/he query.

I personally cannot see anything funny about her name.

The surname Dick is quite common in Scotland

[BoD]

Morning all,

 

Quick question about hearing aids, if I may?

 

Mum struggles with the NHS hearing aid she was given and really can't hear much. In particular phone conversations are better for her without the hearing aid. 

Whether it is her hearing or the gadget itself I don't know. 

 

She's keen to upgrade to a privately supplied one, either Specsavers or similar as this might work better.

I notice that there's quite a price range between different suppliers, for example Specsavers vs AgeConcern. 

The hearing aids themselves seem to be grouped into functionality, ranging from TV and Phone, 1-2-1 conversation, small groups, large groups in noisy places. 

 

Are there any real performance differences between these different suppliers across these categories?

 

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts or recommendations.

 

My hearing aids are NHS via specsavers (work that one out).

 

My first pair were only basic but when I was routinely retested I was given a different pair which has a button on the top of each one that can be used to select four different settings, loop, phone etc.  The initial audiologist didn't program these facilities but later on, a different one, asked if I wanted this facility setting up. It does make a difference.

 

It may be worth checking which type your mum has and if they have been set up correctly.

[jamie92208]

Reminds me of the Dunmore Pineapple folly - here - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunmore_Pineapple

And there was little me thinking that pineapples were what the brits threw at the Germans.

 

Jamie

[jamie92208]

My hearing aids are NHS via specsavers (work that one out).

 

My first pair were only basic but when I was routinely retested I was given a different pair which has a button on the top of each one that can be used to select four different settings, loop, phone etc.  The initial audiologist didn't program these facilities but later on, a different one, asked if I wanted this facility setting up. It does make a difference.

 

It may be worth checking which type your mum has and if they have been set up correctly.

A good friend of mine paid a considerable sum of money for private hearing aids and found them worse than the NHS ones. He eventually got his money back but it was a long fight.

 

Jamie

[lightengine]

The surname Dick is quite common in Scotland

I wonder if it is a derivation from the Scottish surname Dickey that features in the US part of my genealogy?

[trisonic]

. One extra is the Polydor re-issue to the Hamburg LP that includes My Bonny.

Regards to all from a very sunny village.

 

Jamie

 

I worked on that release at EMI - it’s the reason I spoke to Pete Best a couple or few times. Because the “rights” on it were, shall I say, difficult plus we thought it impacted on the George Martin produced/released recordings we eventually passed on it...

 

Early CD sounded harsh because most artists (like PF) insisted we used the EQ’ed Master for vinyl. Once we were allowed to “warm up” the EQ most people couldn’t tell the difference and the dynamic range of CDs was always about ten times greater than vinyl (and no pops squeaks, Wow and Flutter, jumps and scratchy noises) - although CDs were not entirely “perfect”. Most issues were caused by the hardware due to inferior D/A converters or poor tracking. I used Marantz gear in my office - particularly the cheaper Marantz CD player with the manually opened “lid”, it sounded better than the auto one. It also helps to use a pure Class A amp (because of the really fast transients response of CDs and which Marantz also supplied  me). Abbey Road was different, of course.... Preferred speakers were B&W for Classical and JBL’s for rock.

 

Certainly a million times better than Mp3 or Mp4s or music transmitted by Bluetooth - and so is vinyl.

 

Best, Pete.

Edited March 6, 2017 by trisonic

[Horsetan]

.....Back in about 1964 I was working Saturdays in a record shop, and buying an LP a week. I had access to American imports......Nowadays my music is played on a little Bose system, via Bluetooth from an ipad or iphone. How things have changed...

 

They certainly have in the West End. I don't think there are any independent record shops left in the areas of the West End (mostly North Soho, and also off Tottenham Court Road) that my schoolmate used to haunt. Even the original Virgin Megastore is long gone. I remember a favourite small shop he always went to - it didn't have a sign on the front, but everyone knew what it was, and it was filled with rack upon rack of vinyl; mostly bands and musicians I'd never heard of.

 

I still have a 7-inch single bought in those days which was by a band called "Chiefs of Relief". The A-side is a track called "Weekend" and it's not bad as soft rock goes, but I don't think it - or the band - really troubled the charts here:

 

http://youtu.be/qh_fvhhQqNg

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  Almost.

 

Not a great night, Mrs H disturbed too with the sniffles.  A lovely sunny day here, not that I can get out to enjoy it, Mrs H reported frost on the car when she left at 0730hrs so presumably it was clear all night.

 

Off to see the top bone doctor late afternoon, so we will know more about the long term prognosis hopefully.  I also hope the stiches come out of the two long cuts on the top of my foot as they are beginning to really pull now.  The cuts run from the base of the toes almost to the ankle - eeuuww.  I suppose they needed to re-arrange all the internals ie metatarsals, in that part of the foot as I had managed not only to break them into little bits, but displace them all to the side. Careless of me.

[AndyB]

Thanks for the hearing aid thoughts. 

The current ones are basic with non-functional rocker switches on each hearing aid. I suspect that if enabled these would facilitate either an increase in volume, or more likely the features that BoD mentions. In all honesty she does struggle even with putting the device in her ears so adding more options to it that she would need to select manually may not be the way forward.

For whatever reason on her last stay in hospital she declined a visit to the audiologist and expressed a preference to go private. 

[Donw]

I worked on that release at EMI - it’s the reason I spoke to Pete Best a couple or few times. Because the “rights” on it were, shall I say, difficult plus we thought it impacted on the George Martin produced/released recordings we eventually passed on it...

 

Early CD sounded harsh because most artists (like PF) insisted we used the EQ’ed Master for vinyl. Once we were allowed to “warm up” the EQ most people couldn’t tell the difference and the dynamic range of CDs was always about ten times greater than vinyl (and no pops squeaks, Wow and Flutter, jumps and scratchy noises) - although CDs were not entirely “perfect”. Most issues were caused by the hardware due to inferior D/A converters or poor tracking. I used Marantz gear in my office - particularly the cheaper Marantz CD player with the manually opened “lid”, it sounded better than the auto one. It also helps to use a pure Class A amp (which Marantz also supplied to me). Abbey Road was different, of course.... Preferred speakers were B&W for Classical and JBL’s for rock.

 

Certainly a million times better than Mp3 or Mp4s or music transmitted by Bluetooth - and so is vinyl.

 

Best, Pete.

 

I thought that CDs were supposed to have a greater dynamic range. My Uncle had two cone speakers which went from floor to close to the ceiling in a high ceilinged room fantastic sound far better than the woolly sound of many speakers then. I think they were called Megaphone speakers. He made us a pair of what he called reverse cone megaphone speakers which were brilliant and very loud.

I remember one record I think it would have been Deflecting |Grey by the Pretty Things which had quite a low note you could see the waggle in the groove on vinyl.

Isn't one of the problems with vinyl that the wear knocks off some of the sound quality if played a lot.

Don

[Purley Oaks]

 

Interesting discussion about education, standards, abilities and the lack thereof. Very bluntly, I am of the opinion that many of my younger colleagues are well trained but poorly educated. Perhaps I am an anomaly (no sniggering, please) but I think that one should read as widely as possible so that one can ask intelligent questions about diverse topics AND understand the answers.

Afternoon all

 

Yes, like Flavio I think there is a lack of what we used to call general knowledge - certainly the training is better today than decades ago, though.

 

Daffodils in a very sheltered part of our garden came into bloom a couple of weeks ago and cheer us up. Crocuses/croci are in bloom across Edinburgh parks which look great, too.

 

I know that there are some keen cyclists and some keen Tramadol users on here - now I note that British Cycling is being asked about the use of Tramadol to improve performance. So, Neil, no need to be slumbering around, your performance should be way up there by now!

 

Finally onto the England-Scotland rugby this weekend, objectively, I hope. Gabe has put £5 on Scotland to win each of its matches so far and has won two out of three and is £3.80 up. The odds for a Scotland win this weekend are 4/1 and 11/2 on for England. I reckon that Scotland stand a chance to beat England this weekend. However, England have their long unbeaten run and also Scotland haven't won at Twickenham since 1983.

 

Does anyone else here reckon that Scotland has a chance this year? England are a very good team, though. What do you rugby fans think?

 

Have a good day

 

Mal

[BoD]

Neil, I wonder if your surgeon would help with a jigsaw I am struggling with.

 

<rant mode on>

A fixed term investment is coming to the end of its term and I am looking for somewhere to re-invest it. Current interest rate means my savings are well and truly .......

<rant mode off>