Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

... The Mount invaded - 1473 ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/09/30/teaching/

[newbryford]

Evenin' all.

Congrats and commiserations to those that require. I hope I've ticked the requisite boxes.

 

HB Mrs' GDB and Baz.

 

It's been a bit busy around and about NB Towers since returning from points west of Brissel, hence the lack of posting.

 

I worked my first Saturday since the onset of CV-19 last weekend - that was a minor shock to the system.

Although made up for it having Monday off and only a 4-day week this week. 

The new work rota is a a 6on/2off/4on/2off and will take a few weeks to settle into.

 

MrsNB has just had her final salary payment today. That brings to and end of 40 years in the same establishment.

A statistic of the downfall of the hospitality industry over the last few months.

Having said that - she's pretty glad to be out of the place as the last couple of years before (and during the first couple of months of) CV-19 were extremely unenjoyable and very stressful.

She starts her new job next month - more of that in due course.

 

Junior NB has just started back after a complete cessation of her work during CV-19. She is a self-employed swimming teacher and her primary hours were schools, but also hoping to put in lots of time during the summer months with intensive swim courses. That all went by the wayside. As she only became self-employed in the latter half of 2019, she has been one of many who has received little support from the powers-that-be, but despite that, has remained pretty cheerful throughout the whole summer. Even taking up golf to accompany me as she has also been unable to even do her own swimming training that she would regularly do 2-3 times each week for exercise.

 

The heating is now under the "1 hour button as required" rule in our house.

It may not be too long beforeit goes onto regular timer control.

 

This usually coincides with the onset of the local rail "leaf-buster" train. That is slated as due to start tomorrow.

 

And on that note - I bid you all a happy second month of Autumn as of midnight.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[brianusa]

12 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Yippee were back on with some really good looking changes.

 

 Well done Andy Y and the Team.

 

Bit slow still, over here!

     Brian.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

We’d like to say a big thank you to all who have given supportive ‘ticks’ to this morning’s post, it is very humbling to know that so many of you care. 

 

After this morning’s phone call and after I’d spoken to all the kids, Sheila and sat down with a hot drink and discussed the results, both of us with huge smiles (of relief) on our faces and what the next treatment will be and the possible side effects. I’ve had hormone treatment before and I know what these are, they aren’t particularly arduous, but they can be unpleasant at times, but it could be a lot worse.

 

After that I decamped to the workshop and continued the re-organising, sorting out some of the cupboard drawers as one or two had stuff that had been put there to be looked at at a later date and were getting rather full. Progress was slow but steady and one has been almost emptied, I shall carry on tomorrow and hopefully get the last one sorted out. 

 

Goodnight all 

 

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

All I need to say this morning is that I am to have my flu jab this afternoon.  This is just as well as it has taken ages for the reply box to become active - bit like me, really.  Maybe it's just me but I can't see the pictures in some posts, there being white space instead.  Never mind, it will all be great when Andy has finished the upgrade.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[TheQ]

I'll come back later this keeps going 504 on me...

[45568]

Chris F. and other Koala Club members, this one is for you!!

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-10-01/koala-returned-to-bush-after-scaling-smoky-cape-lighthouse/12722034

 

Cheers from Oz,

Peter C.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I had the same problem as ChrisF this morning, slow response and blank spaces where some pics should be. However Andy must have put a bit more coal on the fire and it all seems OK now. Time to run a bath, be back later.

[AndrewC]

17 hours ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

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.

Having recently been there, done that I share your pain. Critters really do become part of the family. She will let you know when the time is right. 

If your finances allow, check out many of the vets and services that offer at home euthanasia. It is so much better than dragging the poor girl off to a vet with all the stress and discomfort. It is about double the normal cost but for us it was well worth it. The one we used does the less stress method of pre-sedating. Tiggr got to stay with his brother and in his favourite place, the garden. (oops, something in my eye) 

 

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a rather damp Charente.  Scatterred clouds and showers seems to be the order of the day.  The pool got it's winter cover on yesterday and some outside furniture got put away.  It made mowing the grass easier but by the law of s0d we will no doubt have a warm end to the month.  

 

Today Beth has an MRI scan on her lower back at Niort at 6pm. It's an hour away so makes Beth's eating/insulin regime a bit awkward. PlannA has now emerged. Fish and Chips at 1pm in another town then browse a big charity shop. Then on to Niort and raid C&A and various other shops. Visit a cafe then head for the hospital.  Sounds like a plan but will it survive.

 

The newcsoftware is rather slow and like Dave above I'm getting white space instead of pictures. No doubt things will improve.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

Checked in earlier and wondered why there weren’t many new posts here.  After a few minutes of advanced thumb twiddling I gave up waiting. I think Andy Y may have forgotten to put a shilling in the meter. Here’s hoping he can sort it out.

 

Have a good day.

[Simon G]

Morning all, supposed to be dry here today, but just as I stepped outside, the heavens opened with a brief but heavy shower.  I had decided to use some of the water I have accumulated in the old oil tank to pressure wash the concrete path around the house, which is partly covered in unsightly moss.  Plumbing parts drawer has been raided and I found the necessary bits to allow a water hose to be connected, via an old radiator valve.  I am hoping that there is sufficient head of water in the tank to feed the pressure washer - one way to find out!

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Shopping day today. This doesn’t require going anywhere except to open the front door. Perhaps the expected Amazon and Royal Mail deliveries will arrive at the same time to add to the excitement. 
Tony

[tigerburnie]

Morning, proper Dreich up here today, site seems to be working quite well north of Hadrians Wall, have a noice day all......................................

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s currently very bright and sunny, but by the look of the patio, there’s been a lot of overnight rain. The plans for today are pretty much what I’ve been doing the last couple of days, namely tidying and re-organising the storage and working areas of the workshop. It’s getting there, I'm hoping that today will see the end of it all. 

 

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

 

Brian 

[PeterBB]

Oh what joy to be able to access without the forgetful regime.

Managed to get rid of the picture this morning - the 3 buttons work and is a great improvement.

 

Agree with others that this morning it has been slow but to be able to get onto the site directly is a great improvement so thank you Andy Y.

 

Hope Mrs NB's new job makes it a pleasure to get up in the morning but to be made redundant after 40 years does not speak well of the recent management.  Hope Junior NB is able to get back into work/training asap.

 

BSW01 - really great news from the Christie.

 

Jamie, best wishes to Beth for her scan.

Edited October 1, 2020 by PeterBB
Spelling corrections

[TheQ]

Ok Now I'm not happy, it came up that someone had commented on previous text, so I scrolled up and when I scrolled down again all the text in this missive had gone..

 

The 504s had gone, but first coming onto the site took some time, though it seems to operate at normal speed now..

 

Mooring awl, Inner temple Hare,

4.5 hours sleep plus undocumented dozing not enough really..

 

Heavy rain this morning while getting ready, but it stopped during Ben the I want out Collie's patrol, though it was a splash and dash.. Straight back in the house and to his bed..

 

Heavy rain on the way in too, the tide was back in, in Wroxham, and it will get deeper too, Storm Alex is on it's way in. yesterdays papers called it storm Adrian (the next on the UK list), but the French Met office got there first and Called it Storm Alex.

 

This weeks major system has been repaired and it's now being semi Automatically adjusted because all the values have changed. This is not something we normally do as it destroys the history, So I'm now creating the new replacement history file.. After a week of repeated Cross check programme running, to check if it's stable, I will have to recalibrate it from Scratch using the new files.

 

Yesterdays Chat via "teams" went well with the boss in the USA, careful questions, from him to get the right answers, though he kept asking if I needed new equipment. But since I work with resistors, current shunts, voltage sources etc, there is nothing that I use that reasonably could be changed.. except more man power and that ain't goin to happen..

 

AH the adjustment has finished,

 

Time to put it back in it's rack and start that first cross check...

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, on a much faster forum than last night when the 504's sent me to bed.

 

Q, do you think they were wanting you to ask for loads of gear so they can say the place costs too much to run, etc...?  Maybe not for answer in public now I think about it.

 

Moving on with all the legalese to wind up the business, almost there now, it is such a faff, and costs a fortune.  Like we had any money left anyway.....

 

Sorry to hear the NB news, but as Mrs seems to have a new job then all should be well hopefully.

 

As for pets, we were so cut up when our last one went to the great whiskas bowl in the sky  we can't face it again currently, much as we like our cats.

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dull, dismal but dry after all the heavy rain yesterday and last night.  Sunny spells are forecast along with scattered showers.

Looked in yesterday but picked the wrong times so very slow catching up, same thing earlier this morning but now all seems fine (All digits now being crossed)

Many thanks  to all who wished The Boss happy birthday.  I'm glad to report that she greatly enjoyed the day, food, drink and Facetimes from missing grandchildren.  Joe has had his first lectures, all online at the moment but he has a face to face next week.  Apparently 3 of his 5 flatmates are doing the same course as him which has pleased him.  They are all being sensible and have only ventured out for essential shopping and keeping within their flat bubble.  

Bin men are late today but can be heard in the distance. have just arrived.

Sainsbury's delivered on time, in fact 3 minutes early and all items were on board although a jar of mayonnaise was reduced in size.  Needless to say once again we will be visiting the store tomorrow or Saturday for something "we didn't think about at the time of ordering" but have now decided "we" would rather like.  

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2020 by grandadbob
Omissions

[TheQ]

32 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning, on a much faster forum than last night when the 504's sent me to bed.

 

Q, do you think they were wanting you to ask for loads of gear so they can say the place costs too much to run, etc...?  Maybe not for answer in public now I think about it.

 

 

 

 

 

I'm not worried about saying so,

But I think I mentioned before I think this place is on it's way out in it's current form. Just about each design engineer now reports to a different boss in the USA. Unless that  boss likes many hours flying from the USA to here, then as each job comes up for replacement, then the job will disappear to the USA.

As you say  my boss asking for what equipment we would like, would put our costs up, making it more difficult to justify this place's existence..

 

Due to Brexit we'll loose a lot of Service work to our sites on the continent, as they'll want an accredited calibration for an EU country. There are fairly empty shelves out there now..

 

And as for Production, we all know there's a big recession on it's way in partly due to covid, so you can guarantee, production work will be withdrawn to the states as work dries up, unless we are vastly cheaper..

[Barry O]

White Rabbits!   Sorry for there late arrival but while i could log on.. that was it. Now seeing a double picture of everyone's' Avatars!

 

Parcel sent, washing done.. 

 

her indoors was a really unhappy bunny on her return from moreasons... staff deliberately avoiding serving everyone.. new "queues" in place - but not signs posted.. PAH!

 

Now .. time to getonwithit!

 

Baz

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

I agree so very, very much with Andrew C's point about saying that last goodbye at home - so much more settling for our four legged friends than even accompanying them to the surgery.  Henry was dealt with at home, held by the Good Doctor (his favoured two-legged human) and wrapped in his favourite towel and it was so much more dignified.  And s*d the extra cost, even if you have to live on baked beans for a week or two.

 

There' some sunshine outside but as herself is putting out the washing it probably won't last,  and it definitely won't be with us tomorrow and Saturday as Exeter's seaweed is promising continuous heavy rain.  Indoors the site seems a bit behaved so far this morning and all my posts have so far worked - unlike yesterday where several never made it after pressing the  submit button.  In fact I got one fall, with a 5Xx page, but did manage most submissions although one idiot post by somebody spluttering nonsense went uncriticised although I partially rectified that today and sorted out some slightly more widespread questioning of how things really worked in the (to me) not too distant past.  Why people can't check facts or ask the simple questions before putting finger to keyboard remains one of RMweb's deeper mysteries as far as I'm concerned.

 

Anyway the management has just checked the garden and greenhouse producing several tomatoes, one capsicum pepper and a good handful of runner beans.  I consumed part of the recent picking of rhubarb yesterday evening but it is clear that has nearly run its edible course even if  there is still some there to harvest.  Today sees the GD and myself making visits to the chiropractor's establishment while herself is attending Tesco pharmacy for a flu jab - much preferring that option to a major wrinklies bunfight at the surgery. 

 

Have a good day one and all

[The Stationmaster]

2 minutes ago, Barry O said:

 Now seeing a double picture of everyone's' Avatars!

 

Baz

 

 

Excellent - two 'Castles' obviously better than one, and even better value than two panneers

 

If you wanna see something different just hover your mouse pointer over my s/n and wait for the image to appear, then click on the coloured image - a nice touch of downunder for you