Early Risers.

[figworthy]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Often, when I get phone calls from a number I don’t recognise, I politely answer the phone by giving the name of my company. This usually puts them off, but for the intrepid few who want to go further I let them ramble on for about 30 seconds and then say, something along the lines of, “ Thank you for this information, but I will have to transfer you to corporate security on this matter, hold on“ this invariably causes a rapid hang up by the other party.

 

 

 

If I get a call from a number I don't recognise, I pick up but don't say anything.  Usually, after a moment the line goes dead.  If it is a real person, they will speak.  Every time this happens, I check the number online, and it always turns out to be a known dodgy number.

 

Adrian

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Everything went very well at ‘The Christie’ this morning. I turned up to find there was no queue to enter, my name WAS on the appointments list and I was seen on time, 8:30. In fact I was on my way home by 8:40, the NHS working at its best. I now await a phone call tomorrow morning from one of the team members giving me the results of all the various tests I’ve had over the last 6 weeks. 

 

Once home I made myself muggertea No2 and had a quick read before heading off to the workshop. Some more re-organising has been done. I’ve fitted a shelf above the window where the remote link for the WiFi now sits, as the shelf it was on before I think was a little too far as it kept dropping the link. Below the shelf I’ve fitted a long pole, on to which I’ve put a dozen different coloured roles of cable. These were previously stored in a cupboard and as is the norm, which ever one I wanted it was always at the back. But now I can access them much easier. The cupboard now stores all my paint, which is in a large box with multiple drawers in. 

 

Like a few others, I have caller display on my land line, if a call comes through for an unknown number, I don’t answer. If it’s important they’ll leave a message, if they don’t leave a message, I don’t call back. I generally answer my mobile as most hospitals and GP surgery’s go through a switch board, so show as an unknown number. But if it’s a crank or suspect call, I just cut them off!

 

Birthday greetings to Mrs GDB. 

 

Goodnight all. 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, figworthy said:

If I get a call from a number I don't recognise, I pick up but don't say anything.  Usually, after a moment the line goes dead.  If it is a real person, they will speak.  Every time this happens, I check the number online, and it always turns out to be a known dodgy number.

Adrian

I had a call this morning from area code 614 so I answered, I was asked if this were Dave and I responded very politely "Who is calling please?". There was no response and a I asked again with no response so I hung up. A little earlier this evening I looked the number up on Duck Duck Go (my default search engine) and found out that it is assigned to a trucking company in Columbus, Ohio! Who knows, I may just call them back tomorrow.

[BR60103]

20 hours ago, polybear said:

 

How's the freezer coping?

We have a device to check the freezer.  Half fill a plastic water bottle then freeze it standing upright.  Put it in the freezer on its side.  If you find the water has refrozen itself into the new position, chuck out everything.

We haven't had to do it yet.

 

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[BR60103]

I have just realized that yesterday (Sept 28) would have been my father's 100th birthday. He died two months before his 89th birthday.

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

There is news of the C*****mas and New Year trip to Switzerland - which is that the go/no go decision will be taken in late October.  It is good that there is hope of the tour running but there is no sign from where I am sitting of any mass removal of quarantine restrictions, or indeed of that ruddy virus.  The stay of execution at least gives me time to learn how to use the banking app on my mobile phone to move the money across to the current account in the event of the Ffestiniog Travel invoice arriving.

 

There were two bits of good news yesterday.  One is that I found not only the missing craft knife but another identical one about which I had completely forgotten.  Perhaps it is time to get a new and larger tool box.  The other concerns something that I have not yet shared with gentle readers.  On Monday of last week I was the victim of a crime near the bus station in Bedford.  The whole silly business was caught on CCTV.  The operator summoned the law and came to the bus station to brief the police.  Later a constable visited me at home and took a statement.  Yesterday afternoon she phoned to let me know that the perpetrator has been apprehended.  It remains to be seen whether I will get my day in court.  Thank you for watching, Big Brother.

 

Tonight will see another HMRS meeting via Zoom.  Those who manage the church hall where we meet in more normal times are still dithering about resuming hiring.  I had been looking forward to the resumption of RCTS meetings in Hitchin next month but it seems that the latest 'think of a number' exercise by those who rule us has scuppered that.

 

Best wishes to all and belated birthday greetings to the ladies concerned

 

Chris   

[jamie92208]

Good moaning. It's starting to get light here.  The fact that we are tied to Berlin time for purely political reasons is something  that we have to put up with. 

 

Commiserations to Dave. The mention of Telford and hospitals does not surprise me.  

 

I got more winterisation work done yesterday and indexed some more photos. Order is starting to appear from chaos. In the evening I actually spent time in the shed with a file in my hand working on something I can't mention.

 

Today the grass needs to be cut but first the winter cover must go on the pool. Apparently  we start 6 days of rain tomorrow. If all goes well I might even get some more shed time.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

9 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Four inches of water on the road? I. too, would proceed very slowly and cautiously through the flooded ares. There is no way of knowing if any serious obstacles are submerged; something fell of the back of a truck, new hole in the road, things like that.

The road is known for flooding at that point, the drivers can see the cars in front have proceeded through safely, but going down to an absolute crawl is ridiculous..

The tide has gone down and now all that's left is a big puddle, however with the forecast weather the water level may rise again..

 

Mooring awl Inner Temple Hare, 795 /497

4.5 hours plus some intermittent dozing, not enough sleep.

Not helped while the TV was on, most channels were two ancient  persons having some sort of argument, one I think should be sent to a home for the mentally deranged, the other sent home to play with his trains in gentle retirement..

 

Heavy rain on the way home last night, and to avoid the chaos cause by the afore mentioned 4 inches of water I took a country lane trip home, I was in the landrover  as much of the roads had very large puddles, wreakage of fallen trees on the verges where there were verges quite often it was hedges.. and under the Sheringham line there was a dip in the road where the water was about a foot deep, not unexpected, I wouldn't have gone that way in the car... 

 

Tonight said Land rover is off to the garage for it's annual service and MOT, I just hope I don't need it in the mean time.. I've brought the MOT forward as having it done in December was not a good idea, since one of it's purposes is to keep us mobile in bad weather, I've twice had to take to the fields to get home..

 

Today is also My online interview with the big manager from the USA, I've no Idea what he wants but he probably won't get the answers he will like.. 497 days to retirement I can afford to be truthful....

 

Time I went and did some work, this weeks major system was on cross check overnight...

[polybear]

9 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Four inches of water on the road? I. too, would proceed very slowly and cautiously through the flooded ares. There is no way of knowing if any serious obstacles are submerged; something fell of the back of a truck, new hole in the road, things like that.

 

Not to mention missing or misplaced drain or manhole covers......

The local Gip,  sorry, Metal Recycling Operatives once cleared a mile-long stretch of dual carriageway of drain covers near me.  Personally I'm amazed that some countries in Europe (Italy springs to mind) manage to hang onto guttering and downpipes, seemingly without issue - they appear to be made from copper.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

An excellent meal was had last night. Local lockdown restrictions were followed! (As they are as clear as mud it is difficult to make any sense of them).

Police incident (car accident with a car minus both doors on one side missing being winched onto a transporter).

 

@Dave Hunt.. I can understand your concerns. Why should they check your notes? The Key Performance Indicators will probably include speed of response to a service requirement....

 

If I end up talking to a real person on a cold call I switch into Russian.. that gets them concerned...

 

A day of housework followed by some muddling beckons as it predicted to be rainy here today.

 

British Gas engineer fixed the fault.. a stuck valve.. i now know which one to g give a sharp tap with a spanner iin the future!

 

Have a great day folls and I hope your telephone discussions with the Christie go well @BSW01

Baz

 

[AndrewC]

32 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Not to mention missing or misplaced drain or manhole covers......

The local Gip,  sorry, Metal Recycling Operatives once cleared a mile-long stretch of dual carriageway of drain covers near me.  Personally I'm amazed that some countries in Europe (Italy springs to mind) manage to hang onto guttering and downpipes, seemingly without issue - they appear to be made from copper.

Supply and demand. Around here the closure of 2 scrappies has led to a massive drop in the number of metal fairies. I put out some metal from the bbq after replacing the ancient cast grills and steel deflectors. Normally that would vanish in hours. Took 3 weeks for the fairies to visit. 

 

Once upon a time the boiler tech put the old one outside the front door while he went to get his van to load it. It vanished in those 5 minutes. I've mentioned before that during the renovations the builder put one of the old radiators outside. A nice older lady knocked and asked for it. Her massive offspring came up and hauled it away. After that we kept the other 6 aside for her. When the house next door was repossessed about 9 years ago, the estate agent left a window open to make the place breathable. (3 heavy chain smokers and no redecorating for at least 30 years. The place stank) On that one night with the window open, someone managed to get in, disconnect the boiler, and make off with 3 of the radiators.  

 

Morning all from the boring borough. Cool and damp today. The weather guessers have the same predicted for the next 10 days. Joy unbound. Little else of note, so I'll just say, enjoy the day. 

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Not a lot happening here. 
Have a good day. 
Tony

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I forgot about the update this morning and I had just started reading ER's when the plug was pulled. At least its not this problem:-

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54239180?SThisFB&fbclid=IwAR0V3DnEWwBOY7Qt3rQVoNAAGzsP_L5KUdU_74mME0EwVem92tVtDB9MklA 

New boiler is working well, not only is the water hotter out of the tap but the radiators heat up a lot quicker than with the old boiler. 

EDIT couldn't find the edit button at first, its in the three dots top right.

Edited September 30, 2020 by PhilJ W

[Andrew P]

Yippee were back on with some really good looking changes.

 

 Well done Andy Y and the Team.

[AndyB]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I forgot about the update this morning and I had just started reading ER's when the plug was pulled. At least its not this problem:-

 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-54239180?SThisFB&fbclid=IwAR0V3DnEWwBOY7Qt3rQVoNAAGzsP_L5KUdU_74mME0EwVem92tVtDB9MklA 

 

 

I saw an interview with the neighbours who reckoned the problem existed whether the couple had their telly on or not.

 

[The Stationmaster]

Good Morning all,

 

We're back but running a bit lumpy at present, some stuff is taking ages to load so I should probably say G'day as well as Good Morning.  Little to report apart from Charlie cat managing to partially dismantle the exhaust hose from one of the drying out machines.  herself will be visiting her follicle rearranger localy later today so she will also conduct a Waitrose raid and i will be called out to taxi her home.

 

Rain later - lots of rain according to the Exeter seaweed.

 

Have a good day folks and stay safe

 

[TheQ]

I see the Icons are appearing in a cartouche, do we now all reply in Egyptian?

 

I've failed the major system, it's now gone for repairs, which means more work for me, as when it comes back it will need calibrating again..

 

So onto a multi resistor unit...

 

 

 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good Afternoon everyone 

 

It's raining again, what a surprise! I had my phone consultation earlier this morning, the good news is that they didn't find any cancers in the scans I've recently had done, a huge relief for all the family. However, my PSA has gone up again, so I'm to go back on hormone treatment, The Christie will write to them and all I do is wait for a call from said GP, it will then start as soon as my GP organises it. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later.

 

Brian 

Edited September 30, 2020 by BSW01

[Gwiwer]

Greetings and Welcome to Woden's Day.  

 

In the Department of Good News we have:-

1.  Former Neighbour (Upstairs) has her Covidity test result and it's a dose of the flu without any hint of the Nastyvirus.  She remains in bed recovering.  

2.  I am upright and breathing despite the cat's attempt to prevent both during the early hours.  

3.  The site is back (again)

4.  I am advised that I am among the final ten candidates for a national customer service award; that qualifies me for a modest cheque and if I progress further the value of that cheque gets larger.  

5.  The flue shot is booked for tomorrow

6.  SWMBO is having a better day so far.  

 

Just waiting for Boris to Burst the Bubble ........  

 

 

 

[PeterBB]

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Yippee were back on with some really good looking changes.

 

 Well done Andy Y and the Team.

Still need to 'forget my password' to get on but 'content I follow' in terms of ER has multiple references. Last time round many of my followed topics 'disappeared' from my list and without he need to keep forgetting  ....  trying to remember what I was intending to write!

Edited September 30, 2020 by PeterBB
forgot to forget

[Sir TophamHatt]

Afternoon all.

 

Our girl cat has bone cancer .

 

She had some teeth removed a few weeks ago and they took samples then.

 

It'll be weeks rather than months as although she isn't in any pain (that we can see), she'll find it too difficult to eat.

 

She's my wife and I first cat and what a cat! She's so good and is more intelligent than other cats I see. For example, she knows when you're upset so will come and try and comfort you. Tried and tested many a time over the 12 years of her life.

 

I've also realised it's the first time I've had to deal with a lot of grief in my life. Only lost an uncle and grandparents - all of which lived a good few hours away from me, I saw them once every 2 or 3 years, sometimes more, plus I was younger so pretty "detached".

 

I know some may think "it's only a pet" but they really do become part of the family.

 

It'll be a great loss to us but she's had a brilliant life.

[Simon G]

This is my third attempt to get on here today, with the software update seemingly preventing me earlier.  Wet and windy here today, but the worst seems to have passed over and I can just about see Fraggle Rock from the living room window.

 

A very brief visit paid to the club rooms yesterday to read electricity and water meters.  In so doing, we decided to go slightly further afield for a walk, and went up Dent, which is a relatively small hill just outside Egremont, but with great views.  It was nice and sunny when we set off, but the clouds rolled in during the walk, so we were a bit chilly after a couple of hours walking.  The picture below shows the view from the top of Dent.  Scafell Pike is visible a third of the way from the right hand side, in the distance.