Early Risers.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is reasonably mild in this part of the world.  However, the forecast indicates colder weather later in the week.

 

There isn't a lot else to report, so I guess it is time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

There is still much to occupy me ahead of the festive season.  Tomorrow I have a dental check-up before taking Poorly Pal to the RCTS conclave in Hitchin, which is likely to have festive overtones.  On Wednesday I must stay in until the special delivery envelope arrives containing the paperwork for the Swiss trip.  That evening the Pitmatics play The Place.  I know them not but they could be worth a punt.  I shall attend despite the deterrent effect of the ticket webshite which will not let me download the ticket for which I have paid.  Imagine the ructions if they don’t let me in!  Thursday sees a return to Stevenage for some cooking and m*d*ll*ng.  The general election takes place that day, heaven help us.  On Friday there is a LGBT group meeting and, I imagine, much wailing and gnashing of teeth following the election result.

 

At this time of the year I usually pay little attention to the muzak in shops.  This year it includes a real blast from the past in the form of “Sleigh Ride” by the Ronettes, which has also been used for at least one commercial.  The 1963 album “A Christmas Gift For You”, from which it comes, was produced by Phil Spector and must have sold multi-millions in the past 56 years.  It had the less than promising start of being released on the day that President Kennedy was shot, which kind of affected sales.  I have two copies.  One is on CD and makes the odd guest appearance in the car.  The other is a vinyl LP which appears to be a 1963 pressing on the Philles label.  I’m guessing that it is worth a jolly sight more than I paid for it.  Gentle readers, pray amuse yourselves by nominating a couple of favourite festive tracks.  My other favourite is a 1963 single by Paddy Roberts, “Merry Christmas You Suckers”.  Let’s just say it has a cult following.

 

Today the super early bird tickets for Sidmouth Folk Festival go on sale.  Can I afford to book before I go to Switzerland?

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[NGT6 1315]

2 hours ago, BR60103 said:

For the tie down boys.

You talking bondage there? Well, whatever rocks your boat...

 

Mawnin‘ awl. Ian, may I add my best wishes for Alison!

 

Took a while to fall asleep last night (not surprising when you’re essentially resting all day) but slept reasonably well. Still noticeably short of breath, but then again, I wasn’t planning on any physical exercise anyway.

 

Be back later...

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the Charente.  Firstly best wishes to Dom and Alison. Ian I thought of you as I drove south last week and wondered how things were progressing. I do hope that you get over to the UK for Christmas. 

 

Much work was done yesterday. I assembled the new cupboard and installed the sink on top of it.  The sink came with a helpully provided cardboard template to make the necessary  cutout.  Meantime Beth was putting up and decorating the tree.  I eventually brought the cupboard across an have now measured up for the required plumbing alterations.  I am going to leave as much as possible untouched.

 

After tea I even managed to paint an assemblage of various components  that runs on parallel metal strips.

 

Mick, thanks for the mention. Wigglesworth is a name you don't often hear.

 

Fire now well alight, nurse due in 15 minutes for blood test then various phone calls to make after breakfast.

 

Jamie

 

 

[John M Upton]

Interesting choice of photo on the letters page of the Metro newspaper this morning.  Oban if I am not mistaken?

[TheQ]

Mooring awl Inner Temple Hare, 1091/682

 A reasonable sleep, of 4.5 in bed then after a struggle to find a comfortable position 3 on the sofa.

 

Ben the decisive Collie came with me to the back door this morning, Peered out and said no...

 

Marquee type Shelters.. Mine arrived with 4 screw in type tent pegs for the guide ropes in each corner, and 8 pathetic not much more than thick wire pegs for the sides. There is nothing that will stop tent pegs being given an upward pull out other than weight. my marquee has the ground frame set, so there is about 1/3 ton of sandbags, ie bags of sand as they come out of the big sheds around on top of the ground frame. I may yet add more.

Covers... There are many grades of covers ranging from 150Gram a square meter, to at least 750gsqM, mine is 500gsqM, as 750gsqM doubles the price..750gsqM is what is sold for things like giant pig stys in the middle of open fields or commercial "temporary " garages..

 

IIRC at one time the RAF kilts were hand made at the Montrose Air base, not as any direct MOD connection, but because the designer of the tartan Athur Mackie had his workshop in one of the workshop there.. Todays suppliers are https://www.mactartan.co.uk/

 

Must go..

Time to... Get on with this weeks major system.

[roundhouse]

Good morning.

 

A busy alcohlic weekend completed along with baseboard building before heading out each morning. All 8 boards assembled and left on a flat surface for the PVA to dry. This morning I will start drilling and screwing each joint then out to a friends to make use of his loco wheel puller.

 

Yesterdays event was in Borough Market with Andrew C and my other half at a ' Bottle Share'. First time The Rake has held one of these and it it turned out to be a great event with a number of Americans turning up with bottles / cans all the way from San Diego and environs, some breweries that we have not yet been able ot get to. One San Diegan chap said that there are now over 160 breweries in the area. We did visit a fair number of new ones last xmas but just lose track of all the new places.

We departed at 4pm as our trip there took nearly two hours due to bus replacements for all trains out of Redhill. So, coming home was train to East Croydon then walk to the High street to pick up the normal service bus home as thats way quicker then the rail replacement whihc apparently was very sparse in the morning as people at Merstham got on our service bus saying they hadnt ssen any rail repalcment for over half hour. I pointed out that I had seen some but they just had a small printed destination in the windscreen but nothing stating it was a rail replacement.

 

We have now decided that we wont be going abroad between xmas and New year but have found soem good hotel deals in Brum so we shall see what we do.

 

EDIT

Trains up creek at Redhill due to (take your pick as ot which one or both are correct):

 

Points failure (nat. rail online)

Animals on the line (station announcements)

 

Luckily hers is running on time - so far

Edited December 9, 2019 by roundhouse

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary=Land. Up early this morning, fortunately my 'old' computer is behaving itself this morning, I remembered to switch the battery saver off before switching on the mains power. Switched the TV on and got the weather forecast (wet & windy, cold & windy and repeat) other than that there was not much else. That is except for the Whakaari (White Island) volcano eruption in New Zealand. One dead and at least twenty missing and conditions are too dangerous for any rescue attempts. Thats it for now, I'm off to bed for a bit more shut-eye.

Edited December 9, 2019 by PhilJ W

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Good sleep last night.. i needed it!

 

Lots to do today. A loco to de chip, parcel ans send off along with rearranging stock boxes. 

Herself is off into town..apparently "one or two presents are required "...

 

Enjoy your day if you can, positive thoughts to all who ail!

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Still breezy here but it might be a fine day with some sunshine.

Just for once I slept solidly all night and didn't wake until 6.00am. However The Hip is  now giving me a not so gentle reminder that it is unhappy.

Not much planned today apart from a collection from Argos after 4.00pm. This means I have no excuses for not visiting The Shed. Oh dear, that could spell trouble as The Knee has been behaving for a while but that could mean some kneeling is required.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited December 9, 2019 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

Duplicate post

Edited December 9, 2019 by grandadbob

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

‘tis sunny outside and no rain is forecast. Yesterday’s storm didn’t materialise and we ended up with a quite mild day. Breakfast has been consumed and I’m just waiting for Sheila to say she’s ready then we’re off to Wythington Hospital for her check up. 

 

Back later. 

Edited December 9, 2019 by BSW01

[jamie92208]

Good morning again. The good counts daughter has been and taken a donation.  I have also made various calls re affairs in the UK.

 

Rant mode on

 

Onebof the calls was to Royal Mail to change our redirection as our daughter has moved.  There was still 7 months left on the existing one.  The robbing bar stewards not only made me cancel the old contract, losing approx £40 in the process but wanted another £64 for the next 6 months.  I queried the cost and spoke to a very polite manager who said that all she could go on was their t' and c's.  I was polite to her and queried what the charges covered. She read out a long list.  I replied that I suspected that all those tasks would be done electronically by a central computer. She said that that was the cost.  I replied that I believed that as much as I believe a certain blond politician's promises.  I felt that I was being quite restrained.

 

Anyway the deed is done so rant off.

 

Now off to the chemists. The sun has come out and the countryside looks lovely. It is the funeral of our late friend from the village today so Beth and I are going to walk up to the church and light a candle in John's memory.  Farewell big man.

 

 

Ttfn.

 

Jamie

Edited December 9, 2019 by jamie92208

[Kingzance]

Morning, 

 

Blimey, up before the f@rts have cracked any sparrows for two consecutive days, this time to ensure a rather large and very expensive piece of Madam’s dining furniture was safely loaded onto a carrier’s van for transportation to somewhere in Cheshire. Digital newspaper has since been read, breakfast is being consumed and now to catch up on the more serious issues detailed in Wheeltappers....

 

Meh-ness hasn’t completely gone yet so today will be taken at a fairly gentle pace but there are many here in worse states than me. Spare a thought too for our Kiwi brethren, a country that suffers often from its location on The Ring Of Fire (and nothing vindaloo about that) but often their tribulations get forgotten amongst other “natural disasters” and they are left to cope with little global support - think two recent earthquakes in Christchurch!
 

ChrisF’s update reminded me of Paddy Roberts - an entertainer who took many a pop at various establishment ideas in the 60’s using a range of well targeted double-entendres - and whose ribald analysis of The Guide and Scout movements would even today have offended some District and County Commissioners not too far from other contributors to this forum. Ideas such as teenagers in adjacent campsites having secret liaisons in the hay described for example as “you do you semaphore whilst I tie my knots”. I’ll just run that up the flagpole and see what happens...
 

Ah well, can’t sit here all day, SWMBO’s list will never get done. Laters...

 

 

[45156]

Morning All

 

Have just caught up - this ERs business is getting a bit busy nowadays .  I remember when it was about three posts a day, now it's three pages, and by the time I get to post and comment, I've forgotten half of the posts I've read and want to comment on.  But Ian, I hope that all is OK, and that you get to be with Sherry for the festive season.  And of course, generic greetings to all, as nowadays, that seems to be the best I can offer.

 

Tree went up yesterday, which was a day of bits, and with which I won't bore you.

 

I didn't mention, as I was so frustrated, the incident of the  non working loo.  Our downstairs toilet stopped flushing on Thursday last, and I rang our usual builder, who spends a lot of his time nowadays working in London/Surrey/Sussex, but lives in Lancashire.  His phone was on voice mail, so message left.  By first thing Friday, no call, so rang again - voicemail.  We have plumbing cover with Homeserve, so decided to try them - appointment offered for next Thursday - not acceptable, so after escalation to a different team, appointment for PM on Friday, and paid the £50 excess which is part of the policy.  Spoke to my builder, as he rang me back, and explained didn't need him  Rushed to get 30747 home, and to her art group - which she cut short so I could walk Lily.  Rang Homeserve to check when plumber might arrive - was assured before 6.  By 6, still on plumber, so rang Homeserve and was on phone for 30 minutes, and was offered an inadequate excuse, and an appointment for Saturday morning.  Not acceptable, so decided to try our own builder again.  He was still driving from East Grinstead to Lancaster, but agreed to come on Saturday at a time to suit - arrived promptly at 1 as agreed, and repaired the toilet within about 30 minutes, and charged my £30.  Snotty e mail sent to Homeserve, but we will see what the outcome is.

 

Lily has to go to see a specialist vet this morning, and I just hope it all works out as there is traffic chaos in Lancaster today due to road closures right where the A6 and the A589 meet due to a "police incident".

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[tigerburnie]

Morning, off to St.Andrews today, so a quick pop in to try and catch up, first answer is there seems to be a lot more of Edzell left than at Montrose, my former employer rents some hangers at Edzell for storage, as I didn't live here when it was still in operation, I can't give a precise answer, I do remember people queuing to buy the former accommodation houses when they went up for sale. I didn't notice any reference at Montrose to kilt making in any of the displays, so cannot confirm that happened, but some of their displays were very good and the library of books seemed very extensive, the volunteers all seemed enthusiastic too. The displays of engines, in particular early ones was most interesting, I didn't take any photos as it was tipping it down and left my camera in the car.

[roundhouse]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

A loco to de chip,

That always sounds like a backwards step to me but had ot do that with one of my layouts that is currnetly on loan to a friend in Warrington - there are big holes in the back of the boards where the DCC sockets were! They may well go back in when he has finished with it.

 

Half the new boards now screwed. The other half to do later.

[PhilJ W]

Morning (yet again) from Estuary-Land. Sadly the death toll from the Whakaari eruption has risen to five with a number still missing including a group that were inside the crater when it erupted. New Zealand is the most geologically active place in the world, there was an earthquake only a day or so ago that cut a town off completely, whether its to do with the eruption I can't say.

[Happy Hippo]

8 hours ago, BR60103 said:

For the tie down boys.

I've seen a corkscrew shaped tent peg. I think I may have seen them in both tenting stores and pet stores (for larger dogs).

 

I've never had one as I think they might pull out in sandy areas.

 

 

I use 4 and some paracord strops to hold the hippolets garden swing down.

 

Using them to hold down the paddling pool was less than successful:  Perhaps putting them through the base was not a class act!

 

 

[Shedman5]

Morning, Dry and sunny here, a tad windy last night but no damage apart from the neighbours Xmas lights coming away from the fixings!

 

Went through the soon to be old pc deciding what to keep etc, vow to self don't save everything !

 

Did find my welcome email to RMweb dated 31/12/2007 blimey 12 years have flown by!

 

As the forecast shows rain every day this week and its nice and sunny we are off for a walk, a day in the shed beckons tomorrow as other half out all day.

 

Enjoy your day

 

Alan

 

[BoD]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

Half the new boards now screwed. 

 

Were they working alright before?

[TheQ]

The Kilt making was long after Montrose closed, the RAF tartan only being designed in 1984 and officially recognised in the 2002. The Tartan registration expired in 2014, so now kilts and the tartan can be bought elsewhere..

 

The wind has increased at Home, Weybourne weather station is reporting 60mph winds.. That will test my marquee..

Edited December 9, 2019 by TheQ

[45156]

Back from vet's - specialist wants Lily in next week to have a good look, ear flush, and hair clipping under anaesthetic, as she was only able to do a cursory examination - here we go again, I had the same path with Pawnee - at least this time the specialist comes to Lancaster and consults at our vet - the last time, we had to drive 50 odd  miles to St Helens - and of course, the insurance does not cover travel costs.

 

Off to pick up 30747 from work now - back later/tomorrow

[TheQ]

Could be soggy...

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from LBG where it is cold and windy.

 

The weekend passed all too quickly, the main event being the gearing up of the next potential battle with the LEA re Younger Lurker's schooling. He has been summoned to sit a banding test at a school to which we have not applied and to which we would have no intention of sending him, with a weekend's notice. And of course the LEA case officer was unobtainable. We don't want to appear uncooperative so he will have to go this evening after school.

 

Best wishes to Dom, and to Alison - I hope Olddudders gets back to Blighty as planned.