Early Risers.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. C*******s lights have started going up hereabouts. Like some other ER's I'm the dishwasher, living on my own its not worth having one. The bread pudding has depleted 50% already. Bin day tomorrow, managed to put the bags out between showers though. Thats it for now, be back later.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BR60103]

We went to the local Basilica and Museum for 11:00.  There was a fly by from the Warbirds museum. One was a Harvard which was going over the cemetaries; the other 3 were going over the cenotaphs. The basilica started tolling its bell at 11 and (by our neighbour's watch) went on for 6 minutes.

My father said that when he was first at an airbase in England there was a huge noise overhead. The man with them said "It's either a Harvard or 16 Spitfires."  We could hear it from a couple of miles away.

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Several items on the radio have inspired me this morning.  I caught Mark Radcliffe's Folk Show last night, for the first time in ages.  It was devoted to songs of  war in honour of the Armistice and a proper job it was too.  Sam Sweeney's version of "Battle of the Somme" led me to punch the air in delight, Hamish Imlachs's rendition of "D Day Dodgers" hit the spot and the best was saved till last.   June Tabor first recorded Eric Bogle's peerless "No Man's Land" for a Peel session in 1977.  OMG I feel old.  Retitled "Green Fields of France" for reasons best known to the Fureys, it went to No. 1 in Ireland a few years later and has been mangled by many a singer since.  The programme put me in exactly the right frame of mind to crack on with writing my seasonal greetings cards.  Only one now remains to be done.  It is for someone special and something special needs to be written inside.

 

Earlier, The Archers had Ruaridh Donovan coming out as bisexual just before his 18th birthday.   It was nicely done and I'm not sure that I saw it coming.  This morning Louise Lear sneezed while she was reading the shipping forecast.   This is better than throwing up on air, like Tomasz Schafernaker did once.  Looking ahead, apparently the nation is to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee over a four day weekend in June 2022.  What could possibly go wrong?

 

PhilJW's continuing success in finding bread pudding on sale has made me infernally jealous.   Other deadly sins are available.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Still darkish but no rain at the moment.  There is the chance of a shower or two along with some sunny spells.

Boiler man couldn't make it yesterday afternoon for our annual service as he was held up on another job so is coming this morning.

Sainsbury's delivery is due about 8.00.. Already had an email advising us of only one sub and one item OOS (Nuts!  well Walnuts actually) ..

One bin lorry due shortly so this is all building up to be a very exciting day!  Oh yes.  

We bought our first dishwasher about 25 years ago after I'd had a nice Christmas bonus.  I decided it was "essential" after spending a long time washing up on Christmas day. Now on our 3rd one and it is used most days although there are only the two of here most of the time.

Talking of decorations ours normally go up on my birthday on the 1st of December which is when I declare Christmas officially "open."  As it's been such a crappy year we have decided to bring this forward and will probably start at the weekend.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited November 12, 2020 by grandadbob

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple hare, 752 /470.

A much better nights sleep helped by pink pills, 4 hours plus 2.5..

On awaking my hands reported rain, and there had been a lot..

 

Ben the demanding Collie wanted out this morning, he had a good charge around, but didn't stay out long... clear skies, cool, slight breeze  no fog, but everything dripping wet..

several flooded bits of road, as leaves block drains.. lots of bird sounds from a pine plantation about half a mile away.

 

I'm assuming the extra 2022 bank Holiday will be 2nd June, which means the 2022 3 Rivers Race will still happen the following weekend. We have had to move the race once when they moved the normal bank holiday..

 

I'm now 3/4 the way through the French owned Temperature Meter, I started off using it in French, but after a while, decided just to set it to English just for an easier life..

 

Poets day today again, Must remember to go via the orange shed for some hinges.. door construction tomorrow.

 

Time to go look at todays company spam..

 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

7 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I used to go into town Boxing day but that used to turn into the wild West and all the fun went with it.

 

Having worked several towns on Boxing day, including Ponty, I can concur with that.  It seems that many families can't cope with two days of celebrations without falling out. Boxing day was Domestic day.

 

We were encouraged not to go to the Cenotaph by the mayor so did jungle clearance instead.  The former mayor walked past to collect some bread from the machine so we had a good chat.  The jungle is definitely living on borrowed time, victory is in sight.

 

Still getting light here but another somewhat cloudy day is forecast. We will see, yesterday turned out quite nice and sunny. 

 

One great surprise yesterday.  News came through that we had to apply for post Brexit EH1C's. We were directed to the British Embassy website and 5 minutes later both applications had been completed online and acknowledgement emails received. That was a welcome surprise.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Her indoors off to moreasons.. as for me.. well once I have finished my mugatea I shall return to fitting an item into a model of something which runs on rails so that it makes suitable noises. Problem is...there ain't no space for the bits to go into.. bugggrrritt!

 

Festive cards are in line for writing.. stamps have been procurred.. and it takes ages to get cards out to friends in Oz..and if anyone thinks Royal Mail are slow.. Ozpost are really good at taking their time.

 

Time to Carpe Diem Thursday!

Stay safe!

Baz

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

After recent good news regarding a vaccine the chancellor is now considering ways of paying for the virus episode. As predictable as night follows day.
 

 

It does appear that Capital Gains Tax could be in for a good kicking:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-54908037

 

8 hours ago, BSW01 said:

After my mid afternoon muggertea I made a ‘Salted Caramel Upside Down Apple and Ginger Cake’. Sheila found the recipe on line and I printed off a copy this morning. It was a relatively easy cake to make, all of the ingredients, apart from fresh ginger (which I picked up on Monday) , I had in store so it was just a question of putting it all together. As there are just 2 of us,  I only used half the amounts listed, but it made quite a big cake, e had some tonight after tea and the remainder will last us another 2 meals. 

 

Goodnight all 

 

What a missed opportunity - if you'd left the amounts as-described it would've (a) avoided the need for any difficult sums, and (b) enabled you to pass on the remaining cake to someone a lttle Bear that has never even seen or sniffed a salted caramel upside down apple and ginger cake, let alone tasted one.....

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Don't worry Chris, I've missed the bread pudding delivery a few times myself. Yesterday it was only by chance that I was there at the right time. Normally I shop in Tesco's in the afternoon and had I done so yesterday I would have missed it. As it was I'd arranged to meet my friend at noon so I was there a bit earlier just in time before they all went. My friend avails himself of Tesco's free bus service which runs to where he lives twice a week. Arthur Itis kept me awake last night and seems to have discovered another joint to trouble, my ankle (gout?). Its been hiding behind the eczema which has been sore lately but I've realised that it is the joint. Problem is now that I can't apply the Voltarel gel because of the eczema. One thing that should help is a soak in a hot bath, be back later.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from the NHN family dishwasher.  I always wanted a dishwasher (for obvious reasons) but the layout of the kitchen drainage precluded it.  Now I am basically retired there's no point, I don't mind doing them now as I have plenty time!

 

Dry out now after a very wet and windy night.  Had my walk after dropping Debs off, still a stiff breeze on Mooragh prom, but not too cold at 9c. 2 miles/4k steps added to the exercise bank.

 

Phil, isn't there a type of arthritis that is associated with eczema - I don't recall the name of it at the moment.  An employee suffered with it, an ex-nurse so he understood about it.

 

Not sure what the day will bring, depends upon it staying dry or not.

[PhilJ W]

Thanks for that Neil. I've looked it up and it appears that it is so. Arthur Itis began many years ago but the eczema only started a few years ago. Its a complicated story involving medications for other complaints, Flavio might be able to explain it better than I can.

[AndrewC]

Greetings from the chilly outback of the boring borough. 

 

Another night of schitty non-sleep. Was very tempted to call in a sickie today, take some drugs and stay in bed, but here I am. <sigh>

 

In exciting less boring news, the virgins are delivering a new box that goes bzzzzt today. After they dug up half the pavements in the area over the past few months to upgrade their fibre, I will be getting their 1gb package. I can expense it so why not. 

 

A bit of muddling was enjoyed last evening. I've decided that I need more £££ to upgrade more locos to Loksound decoders. <ducks the awl of doom>

 

latte consumed, the siren's call of the pot of filter coffee is tempting. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

We could get rid of our alarm clocks and other wake up devices.  We seem to get a regular robo call informing us we have a problem with our internet service. Aditi informs me that swearing at robots is pointless. 
It looks like a nice day, it rained overnight. Shopping should be arriving later, I don’t think the message about missing items or substitutions has arrived yet.

 Tony

[TheQ]

Feeling a bit rough myself,, More sleep needed and I need to get used to this lack of carbs..

 

I don't need an alarm clock, I've got a Ben...

 

Now setting up for measuring current shunts..  Big ones, it will get a bit warmer in here... But not as much as if that Temperature meter cal went wrong... 

There might be a very big Bang in French Guiana.... I found the meter was for Ariane Group, once I got to doing the paper work.. 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

After lots of heavy rain overnight, but it’s currently sunny and 8C with very little wind. I don’t know how long it will last! I’ve got nothing planned for outside today, we were forecast rain so I was going to potter about in the cellar, but I’ll see if there are any jobs to do in the garden to take advantage of the sunshine, at this time of year there are always leaves to sweep up!

 

We got our first dishwasher sometime in the mid 80’s, we’ve been using one ever since, I think we’re on our 3rd or 4th one now. It gets used daily, we just use fresh cups, plates, cutlery etc throughout the day, pop it all in the dishwasher after they’ve been used and switch it on after tea! It’s usually only used once a day, but when we’ve had parties (remember them?) it could get used 2 or 3 times, depending on how many have been round!

 

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

 

Brian

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Morning all.

We could get rid of our alarm clocks and other wake up devices.  We seem to get a regular robo call informing us we have a problem with our internet service. Aditi informs me that swearing at robots is pointless. 
It looks like a nice day, it rained overnight. Shopping should be arriving later, I don’t think the message about missing items or substitutions has arrived yet.

 Tony

May I suggest a possible solution to your 'early morning wake up call' - something we have used to great effect. When the call comes through respond in the affirmative and wait then to be connected to an operator. At which point listen to what is said and then politely state that they are in breach of the telecommunications act 1998 and the data protection act 2018 and if your number is not removed within twenty fours ( other time frames are available) they will be reported to the information commissioner who can levy a fine. Then ask for the company details. If they refuse to give you them or argue then reiterate the above thank them and put the phone down. You may get a follow up call which you can either ignore or repeat the process. This will either scare the s..t out them and they'll hang up or they'll apologise and say that they will arrange for it to be done. We did this a few times and now don't get any calls. The other thing to do is to register on line with the telephone preference service. This ensures your number is barred from such calls.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

My friend avails himself of Tesco's free bus service which runs to where he lives twice a week.

 

Many, many years ago (Google tells me 1983) Tesco opened a new superstore about 3 miles away from the village where I live; some time afterwards a large M&S joined it.  Tesco laid on a free bus service to local areas, including our village - which of course did the local shops a heap of no good.  We had:

Two Butchers - both gone.  One is now a chippie (yippee) and the other an estate agent (cr@p)

Two newsagents - both gone.  One has been converted to flats and the other for extending the chemist, which is now owned by boots.

One greengrocer - gone.  That's now a small grocer's

A small grocer's - now a chinese takeaway.

A Hardware shop (yippee) - now gone (sob) and is some sort of nail bar kind of thingy (mystery to this bear) = cr@p

A Launderette - gone; now converted to flats.

An off-licence - gone; now an indian restaurant.

A post office - still there, amazingly - though a shadow of it's former self.  A bit shaky, I'd say.

The Co-op has survived, as has the Chemist.

 

Of course after decimating the local shops' trade Tesco went and pulled the free bus service......  B'stewards

 

Today's fun has been putting the green bin out the front, which included a quick garden tidy in the process (effin' leaves again...).  Also cutting up the old upvc kitchen window frame to make disposal easier, after first salvaging some of the hardware (locks especially) "just in case" one of the existing windows starts playing up.  Chances are I'll never need the bits and it'll just be more dross cluttering up the already chokka shed, but if I don't it's bound to get me back....

New batteries in the cat watch (certainly seems to help stop someone else's kitty from dumping in my front garden), then tea break.

 

Now I'll see if I can find the splinter from yesterday that I think is in my paw, then din dins time.  This afternoon I must insulate the outside tap in the back garden, then I think the last remaining wall cupboard in the kitchen might join it's friends in the lounge.

[Sidecar Racer]

38 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 The other thing to do is to register on line with the telephone preference service. This ensures your number is barred from such calls.

 

 Oh no it does'nt .

 

When I moved here I went ex directory and TPS , got a call one day from a chap

offering me me a machine to plug in the system to , you've guessed it , block

unwanted calls .

 

The ( insert Andrew C  words here ) could'nt see the irony in what

he was doing .  

Edited November 12, 2020 by Sidecar Racer

[New Haven Neil]

TPS has worked for about 99% of calls here, only get the very occasional one, scams of course.

 

Still windy out but bright, may take a walk around the village to see if it is still there.  One Post Office/general store, one hairdresser, a pub, a church, that's your lot.  There was a branch of a local-ish butcher, but the lad running it had sticky fingers in the till too often so they pulled the plug.

[Erichill16]

Afternoon All,

Rant mode on.

Silly old woman across the road who refuses to wear face protection has got home hairdresser around. She arrived and sheepishly sneaked up the drive. Naughty,naughty. 
Shops abusing the ‘right to open’. Been reading  article on BBC website regarding shops opening to sell essential items. Would any ER suffer if shops like The Range closed for the month. I’ve been in a couple of times but not seen anything that I’d call essential and couldn’t get from the super next door. It’s really a struggle for the small independent traders. I’m sure GDB would manage to get his X...s decorations somewhere and manage without set of new towels.
You can switch back on, rant over.

Robert

ps feel another rant brewing regarding on line shops that have benefited from the current situation and don’t pay enough corporations tax.

[AndrewC]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

May I suggest a possible solution to your 'early morning wake up call' - something we have used to great effect. When the call comes through respond in the affirmative and wait then to be connected to an operator. At which point listen to what is said and then politely state that they are in breach of the telecommunications act 1998 and the data protection act 2018 and if your number is not removed within twenty fours ( other time frames are available) they will be reported to the information commissioner who can levy a fine. Then ask for the company details. If they refuse to give you them or argue then reiterate the above thank them and put the phone down. You may get a follow up call which you can either ignore or repeat the process. This will either scare the s..t out them and they'll hang up or they'll apologise and say that they will arrange for it to be done. We did this a few times and now don't get any calls. The other thing to do is to register on line with the telephone preference service. This ensures your number is barred from such calls.

Sadly, 99% of these sort of calls are offshore, spoofed number, and don't give a rat's ar$e that it is illegal or if you are on TPS. They sequence call in blocks. Once the spoofed number is closed off, they just spoof another. It is like a game of whack-a-mole. Until BT and other providers all get together and put an end to offshore spoofing, nothing will happen. This is down to cost v benefit. It would cost more to fix than the issue of having to field complaints. The consumer suffers. 

[TheQ]

We had a Tesco open in our nearest town (08:00 to  20:00), no free bus service since everyone had to go to that town for shopping anyway,

since then we have lost.

All 3 banks including the one on Bank street.

The Bakers on Bakers street.

Two of the 3 news agents but one in the last week has just reopened as an open all hours mini shop with a few newspapers.

One supermarket,

There are several other shops gone too, not because our Tesco competes against them, but because the foot fall in the high street dropped people just drive into the tesco car park and then leave not using the rest of town...

 

The survivors

The post office... it's the regional one from where all the mail is delivered from so it's doing OK.

The butchers, but only because half the shop is now doing roast meat Baguettes, they also do events... (Good Baguettes!!!)

The Chemists  (BOOTS)

The chip shop 

The two chinese,

The Two indian,

The Kebab shop

A small hardware store who wanted Tesco in the first place, but now hates it as the footfall isn't past his door..

 

[polybear]

22 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Afternoon All,

Rant mode on.

Silly old woman across the road who refuses to wear face protection has got home hairdresser around. She arrived and sheepishly sneaked up the drive. Naughty,naughty.

Robert

ps feel another rant brewing regarding on line shops that have benefited from the current situation and don’t pay enough corporations tax.

 

Rant away...

Sounds like a call to the plod is in order, along with a car registration number.  A word in her shell-like wouldn't go amiss....

As for on-line shops, I suspect Amazon are doing very nicely out of this, thank you very much.  As for how much tax they pay to the uk.......2/3rds of 3/5ths of f.all.