Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Ozexpatriate]

Just back from trolley dodgems at the supermarket. I caught the transition between mothers with their broods running errands between the end of school and dinner time and workers heading to the shop on the way home. I wasn't there long but it got busier and busier while there. The checkouts were swamped, even though extra lanes were opened while I was waiting. 

 

Before I left I realized that I have mislaid my computer/reading bifocals. They are here at the house *somewhere*. I'm sure they will turn up - so long as I don't stand or sit on them.

 

Apparently Kirk Douglas has died at 103. Quite an innings. "I am Spartacus!"

[BR60103]

22 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Did you then fly out of Buffalo, NY? (Instead of Toronto?)

No. Actually the very small Niagara Falls airport.

 

[J. S. Bach]

5 hours ago, brianusa said:

As was my grandfather who served in the Royal Navy in both wars and was on HMS Adventure when she was sunk in the Thames estuary early in WW2.

        Brian.

The neighbor behind me in Florida was one of the soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk. Unfortunately he would never talk about it other than to say that he was there,

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Just back from trolley dodgems at the supermarket.

 

Trolley!? I presume you are referring to a shopping cart.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Just back from trolley dodgems at the supermarket.

Trolley? They have trolleys in a supermarket??

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

The neighbor behind me in Florida was one of the soldiers evacuated from Dunkirk. Unfortunately he would never talk about it other than to say that he was there,

 

MrsID's dad went over after D-Day and came back PDQ with a serious leg injury. We were never able to get him to tell us anything about what happened.

 

Uncle Bobby, my mum's brother, was in the RAF and he was killed quite early in the war. Mum never talked about what happened and we never asked. My brother eventually did some research and it turned out he was killed when some yahoo pilot decided to perform a low-flying stunt on a training exercise.

 

Uncle Jim was in Burma and contracted malaria but he made it back in one piece.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

Trolley!? I presume you are referring to a shopping cart.

Indeed so!

 

One of the trickiest to dodge was a family of three young girls at least two of which were in their Girl Scout / Girl Guide / Brownie* uniforms, each of which had carts in various sizes.

 

* I don't keep up with the whole Scouting / Guiding organization and couldn't tell you for sure.

 

Edited February 6, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Barry O]

Ey up! Tea time here. (Or beer time!)

 

Had a busy day. Long queues on the road as a hire camper van had totalled a moror cycle rider. Lots of motor bikes here due to a big meet up/festivity ininvercargill

 

 

Time for food!

Baz

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

* I don't keep up with the whole Scouting / Guiding organization and couldn't tell you for sure.

 

 

Yeah, right. But I bet you keep an eye out for a Brown Owl.

[Ozexpatriate]

13 minutes ago, AndyID said:

I bet you keep an eye out for a Brown Owl.

Right now I'm keeping an eye out for my computer/reading bifocals. I was using them on the sofa with my laptop hours ago, before I went to the supermarket. I've torn the couch apart and looked under all the cushions and on the floor and retraced my steps everywhere I went during the middle of the day. They seem to have disappeared without a trace. It's maddening.

 

And no, they're not on the top of my head. I checked. 

 

I'm sure they'll be in the last place I look. I'd like to know where that will be.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

The lurgi struck back yesterday.  I spent nearly all day coughing and found it very difficult to concentrate on what I was supposed to be doing.  One thing my wandering mind found was a lot of stuff on YouTube about the dreadful koala massacre in Victoria – denials, half-truths and allegations mostly.  It appears that it is being taken very seriously at the highest level.  So I should think!  If there is any justice at all, that atrocity should cost the perpetrator dearly.  While my mind was wandering it made me wonder whether I should take a placard with me to Dublin Pride proclaiming “Save the Koala”. It will not stand out amid 60,000 other marchers but every little helps.

 

Matters arising: my ugly mug has been seen on TV a few times.  Circa 1982 I was in shot on a BBC2 documentary “The Sidmouth Invasion” and about four years before that I was seen on the 9 o’clock news walking briskly towards some policemen to invite them to restore order at a motorway inquiry.  The consensus is that I have a ‘not bad’ face for radio.  As for serving ones country abroad, my late father’s finest contribution to the war effort was to put his foot in a hot spring in Iceland.

 

Tonight sees the first of the events in Bedford marking LGBT History Month.  How closely it relates to the overall theme is anyone’s guess but there is only one way to find out and that is to attend.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[AndyID]

5 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Right now I'm keeping an eye out for my computer/reading bifocals. I was using them on the sofa with my laptop hours ago, before I went to the supermarket. I've torn the couch apart and looked under all the cushions and on the floor and retraced my steps everywhere I went during the middle of the day. They seem to have disappeared without a trace. It's maddening.

 

And no, they're not on the top of my head. I checked. 

 

I'm sure they'll be in the last place I look. I'd like to know where that will be.

 

Excuses, excuses, excuses

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, chrisf said:

While my mind was wandering it made me wonder whether I should take a placard with me to Dublin Pride proclaiming “Save the Koala”. It will not stand out amid 60,000 other marchers but every little helps.

The biggest long-term threat to koalas (besides ongoing, cumulative, development-related habitat loss) is probably their chlamydia epidemic. It is not being ignored.

[Joseph_Pestell]

12 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Right now I'm keeping an eye out for my computer/reading bifocals. I was using them on the sofa with my laptop hours ago, before I went to the supermarket. I've torn the couch apart and looked under all the cushions and on the floor and retraced my steps everywhere I went during the middle of the day. They seem to have disappeared without a trace. It's maddening.

 

And no, they're not on the top of my head. I checked. 

 

I'm sure they'll be in the last place I look. I'd like to know where that will be.

 

I had a similar experience yesterday. Used a tape measure and Stanley knife to cut a piece of plasterboard.

 

Went to cut next piece of studwork and could not find the tape measure. Got round that for a while by using other pieces of timber as a measure. That worked rather well until I needed to cut another sheet of plasterboard. Knife missing! So clearly they are together but I can't find them.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl , Inner temple Hare, 1032 / 645

I had a terrible nights sleep, just couldn't get comfortable... Ben the Snoring Collie had a good nights sleep.

 

There are double lucky villages, I suppose we are a double lucky family.

The 7 Boys of both sets of grand parents generation survived, and the 3 boys that fought in WW2 of my Dads generation all survived.

When you consider Granddad was at Dunkirk and the western deserts, , one of his brothers a Spitfire pilot, another on the Arctic convoys. and an Uncle in Burma we were very lucky..

 

Proper Ice cube weather this morning, car started so as to de-ice before taking Ben on patrol..

 

I've to redo about half of the calibration on the extra major system now the fault has been fixed... So that's my work for today...

 

Time to wander to the lab.

[TheQ]

15 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I had a similar experience yesterday. Used a tape measure and Stanley knife to cut a piece of plasterboard.

 

Went to cut next piece of studwork and could not find the tape measure. Got round that for a while by using other pieces of timber as a measure. That worked rather well until I needed to cut another sheet of plasterboard. Knife missing! So clearly they are together but I can't find them.

on the cross batton behind the now fitted first piece of plasterboard? I bet there are many inside house walls...

[Joseph_Pestell]

16 minutes ago, TheQ said:

on the cross batton behind the now fitted first piece of plasterboard? I bet there are many inside house walls...

 

Unlikely. I often put things down in just this way but in this case I was doing the cutting in another room.

 

I shall find them today, just after I return from B&Q with a new knife and new tape measure.

[jamie92208]

20 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Unlikely. I often put things down in just this way but in this case I was doing the cutting in another room.

 

I shall find them today, just after I return from B&Q with a new knife and new tape measure.

I usually find missing tools to be where I put them down when I picked up the next tool I used.

 

Jamie

Edited February 6, 2020 by jamie92208

[roundhouse]

Morning and another chilly one so car glass required scraping.

 

Due to overhead wire issues on the St Pancras to Bedford half of our trains are cancelled. Luckily my other halfs normal train ran but it was wedged after the net stop. her journey home will not be as easy as the wires wont be fixed till tonight. I must do her delay repay  for Monday but might wait till tonight. How I hate Thameslink - it needs changing to improve reliability when theres a problem the one side of London so it doesnt mess up other parts of the South east.

 

At least I am WFS again finishing off the next batch of On30 locos so they can be dropped off tomorrow and next batch collected.

 

Saturday will be using buses rather than the trains to get to Croydon.

 

Brother has sent a photo of his other half wearing a mask in HK. He says this virus has some advantages but he can still hear her -good job that she has a good sense of humour or patience with him.

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 minute ago, jamie92208 said:

I usually fi d missing tools to be where I put them down when I picked up the next tool I used.

 

Jamie

 

Yes, that's where they should be. Next to the stack of plasterboard. I could not have picked them up at the same time as an 8' x 3' piece of board.

 

But they are not. Or were not yesterday. Perhaps they are back there this morning? 

[Dave Hunt]

My FiL was at Dunkirk with the Lancashire Fusiliers and didn't want to talk about it but did just once when he told me that the men either side of him were killed when they were wading out to get on a boat. "I think I must have been too skinny for them to hit me," he said. He was only about 5ft 6in or so and eight stone wringing wet. 

 

Have a good day everyone with commiserations to those struck with the lurgy.

 

Dave

 

PS - anyone seen my glasses?

Edited February 6, 2020 by Dave Hunt

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the former pit village.  Lurgi still in retreat but despite that we had a very good evening out with the step dragon in law last night.  Today Beth is going out with a friend so I am being taken to a railway station by daughter and granddaughter  to be left to my own devices.  Not a bad plan for the day methinks.

 

As to TV appearances. I did a few when I was in the job about incidents. However on Cristmas Day 1976 the nation was no doubt traumatised by my appearance, in uniform, on Sale of The Century. They did a special emergency  services edition with a nurse from Great Ormond Street and a fireman from Glasgow. By various nefarious means I was chosen as the orficer of the law. I enjoyed 2 days special leave, a night in a hotel in Norwich and was allowed to keep all my prizes, one of which was 6 dozen bittles of wine.  Somewhere I have some photos of me with my arms round Angela Daniels and Linda Hooks.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie.

[Kingzance]

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

While I was having a bit of fun, I hope I did not come across as being annoyingly pedantic. The Arctic is certainly an ocean, but is not a continent. Australians are proud of their landmass being considered the seventh continent, rather than a mere island. They will rankle at the suggestion that it is an island, though do see themselves as part of an Australasian economic zone.

 

Oceania is indeed a vague term. Depending on context, the Commonweath of Australia (as distinct from the geological, continental landmass) is often lumped into it, particularly in histogram charts where some quantity is calculated according to a regional distribution. Even the continental landmass is included in this definition. Curiously, Orwell includes the fictional nation state defined by IncSoc as being Oceania.

 

Sorry for not taking the response in the spirit it was intended Michael!