Early Risers.

[southern42]

' Morning all from red dragon land.

 

A bit of very welcome sunshine this morning after a mostly cloudy day at Betws-y-coed.

 

Ticketing going well at West Shore with ticket office (al fresco table and chair) and some "Train Tickets" signs in place.  In the last couple of weeks we have acquired a long windbreak which goes up along the fence - just the job behind the ticket office!

I have printed off some more sheets of tickets.  I reckon another 1500 will do to see the season out - Anyone fancy cutting them up?   Don't worry!  I bought an A3 cutter - a lot better than my ruler type and it will do for cutting out card mock-ups for my m*d*lling later on.

 

I am still making efforts to engage with the garden with plus and minus degrees of success.  Potentilla and philadelphus snowbelle (rescued from the to-ditch stock at a diy store) heavily drooped a second time in a dry spell, were repotted, and the potentilla cut back hard.  Both are now doing well.  I also have several cuttings of my rose of Sharon in pots after one success which survived (just!) and is now doing ok planted out - better than ok, really, because it bloomed this year!   Yes!  

 

Ah well.  Tickets to cut up now...I may be some time*....  

 

Wishing you all well

______

Polly

 

* Do you ever get the feeling that someone is ...er...slightly exaggerating...?

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The bin wagons dawn chorus is in full swing, the one that requires lubrication was sqealing more than ever. I noticed that the car ABS warning light was on, it appears to have been on since the car was serviced and mot'd but is so dim its almost invisible in the sunlight, so I'll take it in later to see why, probably a loose wire. 

[PeterBB]

4 hours ago, chrisf said:

 

 

I’ve been learning how to answer my mobile phone.  It is one of those things that everyone assumes you know and no-one tells you unless you ask.  The other day I asked, in the phone shop, and felt such a fool.  I even searched the interweb for a video tutorial.  My simple brain thinks that when you see a round logo with a green handset on it you press it.  

Totally agree, why is it that everyone assumes that you know … I have a Doro that I can use for calls and emails - not even photographs and definitely not apps.  The other problem is when you do not have internet access and there is no telephone number to fall back on … give me paper every time bit not 12 pages for a simple bit of information.

 

Also filled-in a gov thing for EV charging points policy etc. but there were nearly 50 pages and yet at no stage was there any thought that if all cars were electric then we need a more stable 24/7 suitable and sufficient power supply that for me means nuclear.

 

Rant over.

 

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning from the Sunny Midlands!

 

Disappointed it was mostly sheet lightning the other night.  Have bought a Huawei  P30 Pro so was keen to test out the camera but only caught a small tiny bit of forking.

 

I'm also afraid I've become boring.

The Ice Cream van came down our road, as it does frequently but the jingle was so loud... it's REALLY loud!  I have wondered if I should/can report it.  But come on... that's an old man thing to do.  But it is super loud, even the wife thinks so.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

It continues to be hot here in the valley (or rather up one side of it) and the forecast for today is that it will hit 35 celsius degrees, which is 95 in real money.  However his ladship is today heading from Tangier via Tarifa to Cordoba and central Spain is forecast to hit 39 although it will no doubt come with a lot less humidity which is around the 40-50% mark here during the day rising to 80% at night.   No aircon here of course but I'm forever glad that when we built the house we put ceiling fans in all the bedrooms and the kitchen and we have a reasonable stock of portable fans - like the one currently wafting the air behind my chair.

 

So overall no plans for the day and no venturing into the garden before evening.  Yellow thunderstorms are promised but those showing on the forecast radar an hour or so ago now seem to have been promised to someone else.

 

Have a good day folks.

[PeterBB]

Ice-cream vans are allowed 7 seconds of music on arrival anywhere

 

[grandadbob]

It is now 32IS  (Irritability Scale) Red warning flags are being flown around GDB Towers and the message to everybody in the road (particularly builders and foreign students) is don't F##k with GDB today.

 

<Message ends>

[Stubby47]

3 hours ago, Stubby47 said:

Grey, dull and overcast down here in the southwest ( relatively speaking).

 

Should hopefully hear today about an internal job move, to a similar but hopefully more interesting role.

 

 

Happy to report the news is positive, and even includes a modest payrise.

 

Sunny with clouds here, so not too hot in the office.

[BSW01]

Currently 29C outside, I’m just enjoying muggertea No2 and will some filler sets on one of the workshop walls. Thankfully the area I’m working in is in the shade of a large sycamore tree, so it doesn’t feel as hot. Once the filler has set and been sanded, I’m hoping to give it all a touch of paint. 

[The Lurker]

Cracking the flags here at LBG. Weather app says 35, it felt hotter in Tooley Street, and hotter still under the glass roof of the concourse in LBG station. It will be horrendous on the way home, although Southeastern did give me an electric handheld fan this morning at the station. I think the idea is that I put water in a container and that cools the air down. Hopefully the train on the way home is not so crowded that I can't use it!

 

I have checked in for our flight tomorrow. I was able to print out boarding passes for the family but not for me although I have successfully checked in, No idea why that might be and I can't get through on the phone, I guess I will just find out tomorrow what it means!

 

So best wishes to all, especially John and Sandy and see you in a few weeks time!

[Tony_S]

I noticed on Twitter that LNWR issued straw hats to all their staff in a 1901 heatwave. I hope Rick gets some suitable headwear for his station from his company.

I went the barbers and the pharmacy today. Both establishments had air con working. 

I will finish the painting today.

Aditi asked me to assure all the people who sent kind thoughts about her injury that she is fine and isn’t in any pain. She attends the fracture clinic tomorrow. 

Tony 

[TheQ]

The white ventilated box out on Norwich Airport says it's now 33C out there.

 

 Though the temperature in here has dropped, the failing AC is now in the shade instead of having the sun bearing down on It. I was measuring some current shunts earlier as the temperature in here went up to 26C. But I've run out of anything that's safe to measure in these temps. So in a minute or two I'll start setting up the spreadsheets for next weeks work,,

 

At least I remembered to leave the car windows open, though I might still have to put my gloves on to grip the hot steering wheel like yesterday..

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, PeterBB said:

… I have a Doro

MiL wanted a phone she could receive photos on. We got her the Doro smartphone at Christmas and she is very happy. Apart from one tiny problem when she thought she was making WhatsApp voice calls to Delhi and California when they were normal phone calls all has been well. One good feature is that it works with her hearing aids so less confusing calls.   

Edited July 25, 2019 by Tony_S
Too many words...

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

At least I remembered to leave the car windows open, though I might still have to put my gloves on to grip the hot steering wheel like yesterday..

You will be pleased to know that Land Rover learn from previous versions,of their vehicles and now fit athermic windscreens. The downside of this is my photochromic spectacles don’t darken. 

[Ian Abel]

Morning, and BIN day at the new place. Well, it wasn't supposed to be, but seems it is - confused, yes, so are we

The Mrs deliberately didn't switch the service address (or so she thought) since we'll have a lot of trash whilst cleaning out the old place. Figured it's easier to haul the minimal stuff we create to the old place for a few weeks - recycling is picked up by the city at all residences so that's nothing that has to be changed.

BIN man was here and dropped off new BINs with a friendly wave this AM - seems the Mrs didn't QUITE manage to back out of the online address change like she thought she had  

 

Update on "the move", now I'm back and connected;

Overall weather was very acceptable, there was rain on Friday, but the days we had the truck, Saturday through Monday, the weather was quite bearable with no precipitation. Plenty of help from the kids and significant others.

Damage to property - None

Damage to yours truly (emulating GDB apparently) - Gashed left shin, smashed/stubbed right big toe, pranged right knee, significant bash on top of head requiring 10 minute rest demanded by family in case I'd "really done a number on myself", last but not least tripped and fell down bottom half of stairs into the basement and generally bruised many body parts. Admonished by all that I should "take it easy, you're not as young as you think you are!"

 

Surprising update from Long Island client - the Director of Finance, basically my primary contact/work assigner for all this carp, has quit, last day Aug 23rd!

His boss, the lady I also deal with, is in a bit of a panic mode and want's to be SURE I'm out there at least twice more before he leaves.

Interesting development since he was starting to get a handle on being able to make minor changes to stuff and I was hoping he'd potentially, along with some distant new hire, relieve me of the assignment. Looks like I'll be there a while longer...

 

No trains yesterday so no picture to provide of the new office railway view...

 

Tonight we're off to see "Jeff Lynne's ELO", really looking forward to it.

 

20 getting the newspaper, will HAVE to call the delivery service, idiot is dropping it about as far away as possible from the door!

Forecast high of 27 partly cloudy.

 

Carry on.

[lightengine]

Just got rid of nearly all Dad's woodworking tools and a lathe. They will go to a charity in north Devon who teach Ugandans life skills. Some of the tools were 3rd or 4th hand with previous owners names stamped on them, but still in excellent condition.

 

I like the sound of a panhandle. Also like the word boondocks but maybe thats not so good.

 

Quite warm here even with the fridge door left open.

 

 

[lightengine]

Just a heads up for any family historians amongst us. 

Gov.uk has reduced the price of wills to £1.50.

[NGT6 1315]

41 minutes ago, lightengine said:

Just got rid of nearly all Dad's woodworking tools and a lathe. They will go to a charity in north Devon who teach Ugandans life skills. Some of the tools were 3rd or 4th hand with previous owners names stamped on them, but still in excellent condition.

 

My dad's workshop comprises quite a lot of tools originally procured, and in some cases indeed made, by my grandpa, who was a technician at the Oberursel Motor Works, as they'd been known colloquially. Aside from having used his skills to fabricate a number of tools himself, he had also been able to obtain a sizeable range of surplus tools over the years.

 

As this was invariably industrial quality stuff, most of it has indeed survived the decades till this day, so I can certainly relate to the clearout you did bringing back memories. At least that's how I read your comment!

 

A'noon all, lest I forget my manners! Scorchio is the motto of the day, again and again and again...

 

 

 

Nuff said…

 

[roundhouse]

36 degrees here today aswell.

 

As half the Thameslink services have been cancelled this afternoon my other half came home early. Good job she did as hers was half hour late and with the meltdown of services towards Luton they are getting far worse around here now.

 

Interesting journey driving back home after picking her up, half a dozen moped riders with L plates nearly got themselves squashed as they weaved around us and the car infront with one of them using his mobile at the time. I doubt they will live long riding like that.

 

Back home and sitting under the ceiling fan in the living room.

[AndyID]

Gratings from the ID Panhandle (not to be confused with ID panhandlers).

 

Speaking of cowboy builders, there's a new house being built on the lakefront. The previous house there was demolished. It's connected to our community water system. I noticed that they were installing underground irrigation plumbing. Our rules do not allow irrigation to be connected to the potable water system so I asked them where the water was coming from. I was hoping they would tell me it's coming from the lake but after a long delay I finally got an answer last night.

 

The idiots connected it to the potable water system.

 

Now there is going to be a fight. The system does not have the capacity to serve irrigation to all the customers and underground irrigation greatly increases the risk of contamination. The water is not chlorinated and we'd like to keep it that way.

 

Even if I thought it was OK for them to use it for irrigation I can't make that decision without the approval of the other owners. This is going to turn into a major PITA.

 

I will contact Panhandle Health. I'm hoping they will say it's completely outlawed.

Edited July 25, 2019 by AndyID
fat fingers

[Ian Abel]

Yay! A train today

 

Also, Jemma got her training date with Delta, Aug. 19th.

 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, lightengine said:

Just a heads up for any family historians amongst us. 

Gov.uk has reduced the price of wills to £1.50.

I thought that's what they wanted to lower the IHT threshold to!

[Ozexpatriate]

22 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I noticed that they were installing underground irrigation plumbing. Our rules do not allow irrigation to be connected to the potable water system so I asked them where the water was coming from. I was hoping they would tell me it's coming from the lake but after a long delay I finally got an answer last night.

 

The idiots connected it to the potable water system.

I assume they installed the customary back flow valves. This will protect the potable water from ground contamination - it is standard practice in the suburbs to do this. There is a mandatory inspection every spring to make sure the back flow valves are in good working order.

 

Irrespective of back-flow valves, your well supply would be overstretched if everyone wanted to irrigate. Even with my drip feed irrigation on alternating days, my water consumption increases dramatically when I turn the irrigation on. I wanted to include a large rainfall collection system when I had my house built. From the confusion in discussing it with the builder it was evident they had never done this before and I opted not to be a guinea pig with anything hydraulic near my foundations.

 

While that was a sensible decision (I think) it still galls a bit to waste all the rooftop rainwater for half the year and then use good potable water in the garden for the other half.

[AndyID]

22 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I assume they installed the customary back flow valves. This will protect the potable water from ground contamination - it is standard practice in the suburbs to do this. There is a mandatory inspection every spring to make sure the back flow valves are in good working order.

 

Irrespective of back-flow valves, your well supply would be overstretched if everyone wanted to irrigate. Even with my drip feed irrigation on alternating days, my water consumption increases dramatically when I turn the irrigation on. I wanted to include a large rainfall collection system when I had my house built. From the confusion in discussing it with the builder it was evident they had never done this before and I opted not to be a guinea pig with anything hydraulic near my foundations.

 

While that was a sensible decision (I think) it still galls a bit to waste all the rooftop rainwater for half the year and then use good potable water in the garden for the other half.

 

I'm hoping I can persuade them to use lake water. I understand the previous owner did.

 

Even with anti-siphon valves I would not be happy about it. The irrigation lines are adjacent to or possibly on the septic drain field and the water is not chlorinated. I'd rather not be held liable if someone comes down with typhoid.

[AndyID]

My appointment with the knee doc is set for early September. That's about what I expected. Can't complain - it could have been much longer.