Early Risers.

[pH]

Went to a 100th birthday celebration this afternoon - the first I've ever been to. It was for a lady who used to be our next-door neighbour and now lives in a "care home" in the next town. She is quite remarkable, and has only started to lose some awareness in the last couple of years. She's still a lot more with it than a lot of people much younger. 

 

She and her late husband used to host a gathering each year between Christmas and the New Year, but (obviously) those haven't happened since she moved into the home. Many of the people that used to attend those gatherings were there today, and it was good to renew acquaintances. Talking to one guy, I found out for the first time that he had been a cleaner/passed cleaner at St. Margaret's shed in the 1950s.   

(Edit - the text posted multiple times. I've not had that happen here for a long time.)

Edited January 22, 2019 by pH

[45156]

Went to a 100th birthday celebration this afternoon - the first I've ever been to. It was for a lady who used to be our next-door neighbour and now lives in a "care home" in the next town. She is quite remarkable, and has only started to lose some awareness in the last couple of years. She's still a lot more with it than a lot of people much younger. 

 

The gentleman living across the road from us here reaches that milestone today, and he is still living in his bungalow, quite independently.  He still goes to the local art group every other Friday, though he does get a lift.  He still goes out almost every day on his mobility scooter, which he only got last year when he got rid of his car as he could no longer get insurance at a reasonable rate.

30747 needs a loft to work, so I'll be back later

[dseagull]

Morning all

 

Back to work today and feels like another cold one. Muggacoffee going down nicely. Hope all have a good day.

[TheQ]

my pc is playing up!!

Edited January 22, 2019 by TheQ

[TheQ]

it's still playing up

Edited January 22, 2019 by TheQ

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

 

4.5 Hours sleep in bed and another hour on the sofa, only needed a strepcil this morning as the raging headache has gone after nearly 36 hours,. I suppose I'm over the worst of this cold , but I wait to find out how long it will drag on.

 

SWMBO went to the Docs yesterday as her cough has lasted so long, the doc has sent her for a chest XRay. It seems for Xrays it's just walk in and join the queue at either the Norfolk and Norwich or Cromer hospitals, since the N&N is the wrong side of the city and has extortionate parking fees, where you spend most of the money driving round looking for a space, we are off to Cromer Monday. I had taken Monday off anyway... it's her birthday...

 

Driving home yesterday the fog got thicker and thicker, however I could spot the road was even deeper in mud and Carp yesterday, we had had more deliveries of Oh De Cowshed in the adjoining field. Even last nights heavy rain has not cleared the roads. It was chuckinitdarn when I got up but by the time of Ben the Border Collies patrol, it was down to a steady light drizzle.

 

Driving in just after I turned into the road, the works is on, I could feel the temperature drop (good heating in a landrover?) and as I parked I could see the skies had cleared. This would explain the road gritter splattering me as it left Norwich, as that was an hour and a half ago and it's still not yet dawn.

 

-99.99956mV about 66% of my spec or about 15% of the unit under tests uncertainty. which isn't bad for this reading on a new unit with not much to predict the reading... Next.. Unit now settling on the 8th reading /  measurement since I started typing..

 

 

Time to... take more readings..

 

It's worked properly this time the pC that is..

Edited January 22, 2019 by TheQ

[Coombe Barton]

The overnight rain has, under clear skies, turned a tad solid

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

It's been raining but seems to have stopped for now. Heard somebody scraping ice off their windscreen earlier. Forecast is for some sunshine followed by wintry showers.

Didn't get around to looking at sheds yesterday, not that there's a rush at the moment. Other things have to take precedence.

The Boss is meeting friends for lunch later so it will be fairly quiet here although Joe is coming for lunch at 1.30 so he'll have to put up with my offerings. Gemma won't be here until after school. It seems that they have decided they wish to continue visiting us old folk after school for a while so that's  great.

After all the food and drink intake since my birthday in December both my weight and waistline have increased quite a bit so yesterday I started a diet. No beer or wine for the first time in ages and also reduced portions of everything else and no snacking in between meals. More exercise is needed too.  The Boss doesn't think I will last long!

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited January 22, 2019 by grandadbob

[AndrewC]

Good moaning all from the boring borough. 

 

Quiet here but hives of activity on either side. The lovely Russian lady in the unlicensed HMO has moved out sadly. Talking to one of her housemates it appears the writing is on the wall for him and the only other remaining occupant. The council has stepped on the so called "manager" about occupancy, size of one of the rooms, no license, etc. Either she will have to get the landlord to spend a lot of £ to bring it up to standard (that won't happen) or she'll have to find a single family to occupy, or more likely she'll turn the place back to the landlord. Either way the place looks set for a change. On the other side, as mentioned yesterday it sounds like a building site. More furniture vanished into a van late last night. There is also very sad looking baby furniture in the back garden. 

 

In other news, yesterday was the 14th anniversary of owning my Land Rover Freelander. It's the longest I've ever had a vehicle. More than double the time of any other. Also by far the most reliable. It was used when we got it and so has been on the road for 16 1/2 years. After the notices from its last MoT and increasing small niggles it has been decided to retire the old girl. A new replacement is my research task for this week. Most likely in the form of a Discovery Sport as the Evoque is too small for hauling a layout or modules. 

 

That's about all from here. Coffee time and another day of quietly productive work. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a rather damp and cool part of the Charente, however, at lest the dampness isn't turning solid. More progress was made in the shed yesterday, s described on the layout thread. This morning the boss has departed for the supermarket and I am home alone. This afternoon a friend from the village is coming round to look at the layout so as the cats away I suspect that I might play in the shed this morning, just to check that everything is working. Not a lot else on the agenda so I will wish you all well, especially the recent returners such as Kelly and Mick.

 

 

A bit late to the party but I was woken by one of the bin lorries this morning. We have communal bins in various locations in the village, ours are 10 feet from the front gate, how very convenient, a yellow topped one for recycling and a grey topped one for general waste or "Tout venant". The Mairie gives us free yellow plastic sacks for the recycling waste but we have to buy the sacks for the general waste. This morning the yellow bin was emptied and Friday is Grey bin day. Anything too large get slung in the trailer, and when it's full I head for the local dechetterie where it all gets sorted into various skips and containers.

 

 

Regards to all.

 

 

 

Jamie

Edited January 22, 2019 by jamie92208

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

Last nights rain is still falling, by the state of the back garden, it looks like it’s not stopped all night!

 

Sainsbury’s Grand Prix this morning, on my way I’ll drop Sheila of to have her hand therapy and manicure, I’ll probably be back before she is. Once I’ve packed away all the shopping I’ll make a start on a cheesecake for tomorrow night’s tea.

 

Back later

Edited January 22, 2019 by BSW01

[southern42]

' Morning all from red dragon land.

 

Woke up to a hailstone covered landscape. 

Over breakfast, I have been watching the cloud band move in and here it is, more wintry showers.

 

Now required to give a hand with moving the dining table.  Yes, I did say dining table not work bench.  

The old flooring (still in place after swapping the kitchen and dining areas around) is being replaced.  Looking smart!

 

Youngest coming home tomorrow after seeing the long titled lunar eclipse from Brazil.

 

Enjoy your day.

 

 

Edit typo

Edited January 22, 2019 by southern42

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Like others have pointed out last nights rain is now solid. That didn't stop two teenage lads with the usual teenage brain by-pass from attempting to ride two on a bike. Inevitably they came a cropper but apparently no serious injuries. Thats it for now, be back later.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I have my proper spectacles back. They are so light I keep thinking I am not wearing them. They were repaired under warranty which was nice.

It is very sunny but cold here. The car needed defrosting but the Evoque defrosts rapidly. I didn’t even have to press the defrost buttons as it seems the car,does it for me if it is cold enough.

 

Andrew. The Thamesiders modules I had from you just fitted in my Freelander 2, although slightly larger outside, it was about a couple of centimetres narrower inside! There is no way that those modules would fit in my Evoque. I had an off-road experience in a Disco Sport and it felt very similar to my Freelander 2 to drive . That was with the 2 litre Diesel engine. My Evoque had to go in for a minor paint job discovered on the day of purchase and the garage lent me a Disco Sport with the same petrol engine as mine. Not quite as nippy as the Evoque but nice to drive. The Discovery Sport with the rear seats down certainly looks to have more space than the Freelander. The front seats are really comfortable. The seats were the reason I first bought a Freelander. I could get in with backache and it would reduce as I drove!

 

Hope the day goes well for everyone.

 

Tony

Edited January 22, 2019 by Tony_S

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Firstly apologies to Chrisf as I only acquired the January issue of 'Bylines' yesterday (the Good Doctor went on a foraging trip) hence lack of earlier compliments on not only your excellent multipage spread but also thanks for your your thanks (you know what I refer to).  And Aus might be the best place to get a suitable hat - they don't all come with corks - but you definitely need to wear one.

 

Currently the son is shining and hopefully any solidified rain will be melting.  Laddo departed very early to Reading in order to catch the 06.24 to Manchester to visit some northern(ish) outpost of his employer's empire in the vicinity of Old Trafford and presumably the road to Reading was managed without serious problems; his travels won't be quite on the international scale this week as tomorrow his boss is popping over from Geneva to see him instead of the other way round.  Presumably my hoped for trip to Cardiff on Saturday will count as this week's international travel for the family and it might well come off as thus far this morning the cold is slightly better but the real test usually comes by evening, fingers are crossed.

 

No other plans for today but I'm allowed outdoors in order to get the rubbish bin round to the front ready for bin day tomorrow and it's also 'small electrical' recycling week if I can find a suitable sack for the bits & pieces recently collected.

 

Have a good day one and all and hopefully Rick's affliction by the dreaded cold and cough might also be showing improvement.  And John it is really good to hear that things are going well for Sandy.

[Tony_S]

ChrisF

Aditi wanted her Senior Railcard replacing recently (it had expired) and wasn’t sure it would arrive in time for a planned trip so she elected for a digital one and installed it on her phone. She also paid for it with Tesco Clubcard vouchers. We don’t shop at Tesco very often now but she still had enough and thinks there may be enough to get a Railcard for me or at least a discount.

[AndrewC]

Tony, I spent about half an hour @ Rockar in Stratford measuring the gate, width and length of every Land Rover and Range Rover model. The Evoque aka Ewok is as you say to small for my 4 full sized modules. My Freelander 1 is an exercise in frustration as far as the cargo area goes. The seats don't go flat but fold into the leg well of the back seats. That leaves less than 1200mm from the back door shelf to the back seat bulge. When transporting the current modules I actually remove the rear seats completely. They aren't designed to do that but it only takes 8 Torx bolts and about 5 minutes to get them out. That effectively gives me slightly more space than the Freelander 2. The other issue are the rear wheel wells intrude on the cargo area leaving a rather narrow space. The Disco Sport has about 1 1/2 times the space with the rear seats folding fully flat and a wider wheelbase. 

[AndrewC]

Duplicated duplicate posting. 

 

Just one question though. Why do people here describe their shopping trips as the Sainsbury Grand Prix? I find the supermarkets more like dodgems at the fun fair. 

Edited January 22, 2019 by AndrewC

[roundhouse]

Morning - just.

 

When I got up this morning it was raining but by time I got in car to drop other half at station the skies had cleared and the car windscreen was frozen. Luckily roads werent iced up . Then I was  mums straight from station and roads fine but by the time I departed mums at 9.30 the roads outside her place had iced up so due care had to be taken  coming home.

 

Our layout transporter is going into the garage tomorrow ot have the steering rack replaced. Going to be expensive but worth it hopefully despite car being 13 years old. To replace it with something similar size is probably going to be prohibitive so we may have to go for an estate and just transport the layout and two of us instead of the current four we can fit in aswell as a layout.

 

Our oldest car, a Ford Probe is now nearly 24 but I have my doubts it will pass the MOT this time so it may well only have a few months left. Used to be bale to fit a 18 foot layout in it surprisingly.

 

My other half prefers Tescos but it a 16 mile round trip[whereas Sainsburys is less than two. However Sainsburys often run out of things we use. Apparently they dont have enough staff to stack the shelves. My brothers other half also prefers tescos but thats probably due ot her working for them and gets staff discounts.

Edited January 22, 2019 by roundhouse

[TheQ]

The Problems with with car loading is why I've gone for a trailer. Ok the inside of a 110 landrover (van bodied) is huge, but the rear door is small.. The trailer is small enough that should we have to reduce to just a small car it, should be able to tow it. (750KG) 6ft by 4 ft..

 

PS if you go for such a trailer check the inside measurements, this one although marketed as 6ft by 4ft is actually 47 1/2 inches wide. by 6ft 3 inches

 

I've just been introduced to a vice president of the company, that will be the highest ranked person military or civilian I've ever spoken to. Mind you she makes me feel old, she's probably 15-20 years younger than me,,

 

Talking of higher ranks I was chatting to my boss, he's going to retire @ 63 to tie in with his wife. So instead of being 18 months after me, as I hope to go at 65, he'll be going 18 months before me, in just 2 years and a bit. (State pension for both of us is 66).

Edited January 22, 2019 by TheQ

[Tony_S]

Tony, I spent about half an hour @ Rockar in Stratford measuring the gate, width and length of every Land Rover and Range Rover model. The Evoque aka Ewok is as you say to small for my 4 full sized modules. My Freelander 1 is an exercise in frustration as far as the cargo area goes. The seats don't go flat but fold into the leg well of the back seats. That leaves less than 1200mm from the back door shelf to the back seat bulge. When transporting the current modules I actually remove the rear seats completely. They aren't designed to do that but it only takes 8 Torx bolts and about 5 minutes to get them out. That effectively gives me slightly more space than the Freelander 2. The other issue are the rear wheel wells intrude on the cargo area leaving a rather narrow space. The Disco Sport has about 1 1/2 times the space with the rear seats folding fully flat and a wider wheelbase.

 

So all you need to do now is choose a trim level and engine! I am sure if you like the Freelander you will like a Disco Sport.

[Kelly]

And the best shot I could get of the super blood wolf moon:

 

 

 

The camera didn't much like trying to focus at that distance.

 

 That is a very nice photo of the moon.

 

Good moaning all from the boring borough. 

 

Quiet here but hives of activity on either side. The lovely Russian lady in the unlicensed HMO has moved out sadly. Talking to one of her housemates it appears the writing is on the wall for him and the only other remaining occupant. The council has stepped on the so called "manager" about occupancy, size of one of the rooms, no license, etc. Either she will have to get the landlord to spend a lot of £ to bring it up to standard (that won't happen) or she'll have to find a single family to occupy, or more likely she'll turn the place back to the landlord. Either way the place looks set for a change. On the other side, as mentioned yesterday it sounds like a building site. More furniture vanished into a van late last night. There is also very sad looking baby furniture in the back garden. 

 

In other news, yesterday was the 14th anniversary of owning my Land Rover Freelander. It's the longest I've ever had a vehicle. More than double the time of any other. Also by far the most reliable. It was used when we got it and so has been on the road for 16 1/2 years. After the notices from its last MoT and increasing small niggles it has been decided to retire the old girl. A new replacement is my research task for this week. Most likely in the form of a Discovery Sport as the Evoque is too small for hauling a layout or modules. 

 

That's about all from here. Coffee time and another day of quietly productive work. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

 

When I got my Mondeo estate a few years ago about 5 years ago (realised I have had it longer than I thought), I was looking at a SUV type body car as well as the Galaxy. The Mondeo won out in the end for a) being able to fit mobility scooter and allow room for passengers and extra shopping/luggage still, and b) much better fuel economy compared to similar sized/powered SUV/Galaxies (almost double over the Galaxy or better) from a 2.0 TDCi engine.

 

Now I have a smaller mobility scooter and have been able to get 6 layout boards (admittedly blank), a society stand boards/banner and associated items (and stuff to do on said stand in several boxes), plus overnight luggage for two in it. It keeps going, but not sure for how much longer, but my baseboards for all layouts being slowly planned/built have been kept to 3ftx2ft max to allow them to fit into the Mondeo with the seats down and the scooter disasembled and put on the folded back seats (it will also mean that when I move into my other halfs at some point, the boards will fit through the loft hatch!). I expect the next big fail on an MoT will be the end of it though, though for a diesel (14 years old) it is barely run in at 121k miles on the clock.

[Kelly]

Afternoon all. Hope all are well?

 

I'm just about awake after a poor nights sleep. My other half let me sleep in before taking Poppy out for her walk necessitated opening the door, where I got thoroughly licked and massaged by a rather excited Poppy.

 

Were meant to tidy the bedroom yesterday, but after taking Poppy for a long walk around Memorial Park, we were all too tired to contemplate it (I'd not slept well anyway either). Today hopefully something can be managed.

[Ian Abel]

Morning.

Gave up trying to post yesterday, the changes taking place seemed to hamper any attempts to access easily! Will have to go back and review the posts I've missed.

 

Sunday Martin Luther King concert was great, the choir were given many accolades for their support of the artists.

 

Yesterday went to see the ENT Dr.

Not that excited about having a camera shoved up my nose! Thought the other orifices that happens with were bad enough, but it was the strangest itchy/makes you want to sneeze feeling ever!

Dr decided after much probing that I'm to be on a steroid for six days and antibiotic for 10. If that doesn't sort it I get to have a CAT scan and see what that shows up.

 

Celebrated a couple of birthdays, both our travelling companions, yesterday evening with a great meal out followed by cake and Baileys at their place.

 

Yesterdays weather report was a startling -17, today only -13 headed for -6 as the high and some snow expected.

 

Hope the week is starting out well for all.

[Tony_S]

Duplicated duplicate posting. 

 

Just one question though. Why do people here describe their shopping trips as the Sainsbury Grand Prix? I find the supermarkets more like dodgems at the fun fair.

 

Elsewhere on this forum I got told off for mentioning that the scariest car park I had experienced was B&Q on a “Diamond Discount” day. I was very nearly run over on a zebra crossing by a driver who seemed to be getting steering instructions from his partner. Apparently someone felt I was being disrespectful to older persons.