Early Risers.

[AndrewC]

Greetings all from the boring borough. 

Another fun filled day ahead. <not> Yesterday's end to end demonstration demo was a total fustercluck as one of the gears in the cog changed some setting at the last minute and everything went bang. At least it showed off our component's resilience and error handling. <sigh> 

 

Our Disco-sport has stop/start and it has not done its thing more than a couple of times since March. Mostly I'm getting a low battery, start engine greeting when ever I get in and sit down. Hopefully a few medium distance runs next week will settle her down. I've mentioned before how crap European batteries seem to be compared to the ones we used in Canada. By comparison the ones here are wimpy and last about half as long. The old Freelander went through 3 in the span of 14 years. By comparison the Tercel we had in Canada still had its original battery until the day it went to the breaker. 21 years and over 600k km. As for the "Duster" I'm surprised about the name since Fiat is likely to still own the trademark from when it took over Chrysler. Then again both Ford and GM have/had vehicles called Sierra. 

 

Coffee awaits as does an endless stream of Teams meetings today. Enjoy your day. 

 

Lastly, a Happy Thanksgiving to ERs in the USA. 

 

 

The closing scene from the great turkey drop WKRP. 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

No walk, too cold, 4c and damp.  Lots of spooky mist coming out of the fields on the drive down to Ramsey with Mrs NHN.  

 

My i30 is an auto which does not have s/s, the manual version does.  I would have thought it a little odd in an auto, unless it only works in neutral, as Jamie says it can cause issues.

 

NHN has twisted his right wrist and aggravated an old injury, it is 'not nice' currently and causing a lot of bad language.  Wrist brace in use and hitting ibuprofen.  Makes typing very awkward!

[Dunsignalling]

Did my usual 07.30 Thursday provisioning run - needed both heated screen and seat today. Glorious Devon morning now the sun's properly up.

 

Off to deliver mum's share soon, then to the garage to book Abbi the Yeti in for new boots. 

 

A brisk (definitely, this morning)  two lengths of the prom beckon on the way home. Think I'll dig out some gloves!

 

John

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s a beautiful sunny day here in the northwest of England but a lot cooler than yesterday, but no frost currently 3C. I’ve been requested to be on standby for door answering duties (a package for Sheila not me) as Sheila will be ironing the bedding this morning. Man-handling a 6ft sq duvet is not something that can be stopped quickly if you’re in the middle of folding it etc, but it’s always a good idea to bag a few brownie points. 

 

So paint removal will be on hold today. I’ve got a few other quieter things I can be doing, but to be honest it’ll be a nice change and I don’t think my back (or knees) will complain about the rest. 

 

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

 

Brian

Edited November 26, 2020 by BSW01

[Barry O]

Our neighbour moves out at 12 noon today. At 8am a lorry arrives to deliver a load of building materials, then a bunch arrived to put up the scaffolding, then a guy to do some plumbing (!)  - followed by  a man with a digger.. could be we are going to have real problems with the new neighbours who want to enlarge the house before selling on in the next 6 months... Our neighbour is, understandably, very upset about it.. She has had to explain to the Council Planners that the person who has submitted plans doesn't own the house until 12 noon today.. the Council had written "The Occupier" a  stiff letter about the drawings submitted!

 

If she is as pushy with us the new owner may have a big problem with us...

 

 

Baz

[PeterBB]

12 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Is it that science is just too damn difficult for a Classicist with a 2:1 to understand? ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/11/25/third-wave/

Not a 'shadow of your former self'

 

Agree.  The problem as I see it are the people who have been ignoring 'the need'.  I also agree with Gwiver re the likelihood of crowded trains etc.  C*******s  will be the first time in many years will be on our own, as we have been basically since March.

Edited November 26, 2020 by PeterBB
Odd words corrected.

[AndrewC]

38 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Our neighbour moves out at 12 noon today. At 8am a lorry arrives to deliver a load of building materials, then a bunch arrived to put up the scaffolding, then a guy to do some plumbing (!)  - followed by  a man with a digger.. could be we are going to have real problems with the new neighbours who want to enlarge the house before selling on in the next 6 months... Our neighbour is, understandably, very upset about it.. She has had to explain to the Council Planners that the person who has submitted plans doesn't own the house until 12 noon today.. the Council had written "The Occupier" a  stiff letter about the drawings submitted!

 

If she is as pushy with us the new owner may have a big problem with us...

 

 

Baz

I hope the current owner told the delivery, scaffolder, and digger operator where to go and how to get there in graphic detail. 

[polybear]

 

8 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

I hope the current owner told the delivery, scaffolder, and digger operator where to go and how to get there in graphic detail. 

 

Bear agrees - it could be really messy if something went wrong whilst the house was technically still hers....

 

I hear that there is apparently no reason why Trumpie cannot give himself a Presidential Pardon against prosecution - though it seems that he has stated there is no need to because "he hasn't done anything wrong".  I wonder if he did give himself a pardon does he have to list all crimes in detail, or does a global "I pardon myself of anything I've done wrong, whatever they might be" statement suffice?

[Barry O]

22 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

I hope the current owner told the delivery, scaffolder, and digger operator where to go and how to get there in graphic detail. 

She has done.. in a nice way.. and then they coughed up some dosh to "smooth things over".. 

 

Baz

 

ps  they have a very nice looking dog as well.. so I might forgive them at the moment!

[New Haven Neil]

We have difficult neighbours, many years of parties till all hours etc, police involved, all the drill.  He's OK till he gets beer (and other things?) on board then turns into a nightmare.  Finally a few years ago local bobby (don't have one now :-(  )  did a major number on him, then hid around the corner to catch his mates driving away - drunk - nicked them for DUI, and so on.  Brought a quieter time, and while he was.....busy....with his new girlfriend a baby thankfully came into the scene and things have been OK for 4 years now.

 

Unfortunately when the bobby retired they closed the village police station - while boasting about 'community policing'. Pah.

Edited November 26, 2020 by New Haven Neil

[tigerburnie]

Morning, some playing with things on parallel bits of metal may take place as the weather looks pants for doing much else. On the subject of smaller fuel tanks on cars, I would have struggled to get 10 mpg out of the old Aston, with a smaller fuel tank I would have not got very far down the road, as it was we had to stop at every other service station on the motorway.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. My I10 IIRC has a 30 litre fuel tank which is quite sufficient for my sort of driving and at 46 MPG with mixed driving and over 50 on long runs its quite big enough. I don't have stop/start and don't need it as I no longer commute and when I was commuting it was bangernomics where if it stopped you got another banger.

Edited November 26, 2020 by PhilJ W

[roundhouse]

Morning

 

I wonder if we can get to Cornwall with a full tank for a beer

 

 

[Tony_S]

I think it may be a good idea to put some fresh petrol in my car before its MoT in a couple of weeks. I am sure what is in dates from February. 
Tony

[PhilJ W]

Just been announced which tier each area is in. The whole of Essex is in tier 2 as is much of the rest of the country including London. Kent however is in tier 3 despite the major outbreak being confined to the  north of the county.

[iL Dottore]

7 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think it may be a good idea to put some fresh petrol in my car before its MoT in a couple of weeks. I am sure what is in dates from February. 
Tony

Your comment reminds of something I read about post-apocalyptic and zombie films /books/games. In such, survivors are often filling their vehicles tanks with petrol from abandoned cars/petrol stations - several years after the start of the zombie apocalypse. I didn’t think that was implausible (unlike much else in the genre) until a chemist acquaintance said that petrol degrades after a while (I don’t recall how long). So anyone surviving the zombie hordes by speeding away from them must either be a really good cyclist or have an electric car with solar panels on the top.

 

Whilst on the subject of zombies, I have a good-natured ongoing argument with my GP friend: he claims that once dead nothing in the body will work anymore (for various, good, biological and physiological reasons), whereas I claim that - theoretically at least - you could selectively destroy consciousness, many brain functions and drop the metabolism to the point where the body can function without an active respiratory or circulatory system and thus get - more or less - a zombie. My friend completely disagrees. But where we do agree is that should the improbable/impossible happen and there IS a zombie outbreak the causative agent will definitely be man made!

 

And on that note, I’m off to the workshop to work on my zombie decapitating device, just in case...

 

iD

p.s. My friend also pooh-poohs the notion of silicon based life forms - that’s metabolism-ism and Earth-Centric bias that is

[TheQ]

5 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

iD

p.s. My friend also pooh-poohs the notion of silicon based life forms - that’s metabolism-ism and Earth-Centric bias that is

So how does Winnie the Pooh's metabolic system work then?

[TheQ]

Norfolk Tier 2, So sailing can return, but the MRC can't.

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, TheQ said:

So how does Winnie the Pooh's metabolic system work then?

 

Hunny.  Lots of it.

[The Lurker]

4 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning.

 

 

 

My i30 is an auto which does not have s/s, the manual version does.  I would have thought it a little odd in an auto, unless it only works in neutral, as Jamie says it can cause issues.

 

Our 4 series BMW is an automatic and fad stop/start which engages when you fully stop the car even in drive. It works reasonably well and has cut my tendency to dry steer!

 

it also has a petrol tank that is a few litres smaller than the previous 3 series. 

 

it’s had a special adaptation - working indicators!

[New Haven Neil]

7 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

Our 4 series BMW is an automatic and fad stop/start which engages when you fully stop the car even in drive. It works reasonably well and has cut my tendency to dry steer!

 

it also has a petrol tank that is a few litres smaller than the previous 3 series. 

 

it’s had a special adaptation - working indicators!

 

Living in a hilly place, and having driven an auto long enough now to become complacent, it would un-nerve me if it shut off while holding on a hill at a junction!  Yes, I know I shouldn't be so lazy and use the handbrake not the drag on the converter.....

[PeterBB]

The snag is that a lot of these 'modern' cars have no mechanical handbrake and I am not happy with that although they say you get used to them.

On the subject of fuel tanks I think that small one are a ridiculous idea as also the small spare wheel ... especially since having ton use one on the motorway and the 'problems' of only travelling at 50 mph.  

Stop/start  - only works when the battery is above 73% on mine - a Peugeot 308 and quite honestly it has been of no use where it would be most effective viz traffic jams.

[skipepsi]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Our neighbour moves out at 12 noon today. At 8am a lorry arrives to deliver a load of building materials, then a bunch arrived to put up the scaffolding, then a guy to do some plumbing (!)  - followed by  a man with a digger.. could be we are going to have real problems with the new neighbours who want to enlarge the house before selling on in the next 6 months... Our neighbour is, understandably, very upset about it.. She has had to explain to the Council Planners that the person who has submitted plans doesn't own the house until 12 noon today.. the Council had written "The Occupier" a  stiff letter about the drawings submitted!

 

If she is as pushy with us the new owner may have a big problem with us...

 

 

Baz

Just verbally point out that if you have to resort to law it will reduce the selling price of the house or affect the sale completing...

[rockershovel]

12 minutes ago, skipepsi said:

Just verbally point out that if you have to resort to law it will reduce the selling price of the house or affect the sale completing...

 

Spec developers, mostly converting family homes into HMO have been a plague around here for some time. My daughter is trying to sell her house, if she gets the right offer anyway, and reckons they are the main buyers around at present. 

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Car needs a run vfot r about an hour to give the battery a decent boost - slightly hesitant for a cold start this morning.  The engine seemingly only stops when I turn off the ignition or stall and then starts on the ignition key - that is good enough for me.  And it has a 67 litre fuel tank according to the manuel so I suspect the UK version has that sort of capacity or more - it will officially do east Cornwall and back on a tank full according to the trip 'puter thingy.  I reckon the small fuel tank idea is to get folk used to electric cars and having to stop to wind it up or connect to a windmill or whatever every 150 miles or so.  After all I bet the average battery in an electreacle propelled car is a darn sight heavier than a plastic 50 litre fuel tank.  

 

As the bank was, as usual, not open when wanted herself paid in a cheque at the Nationwide which - after instruction from a helpful young man - means we've actually found a use for a Nationwide card (she won't let me have one in case I try to take out money so whenever a new one arrives for me it is hidden).   Talking of money I had a new variant on a scam call this morning when 'Kevin' from somewhere in the sub-continent called to kindly inform me that I was due a refund on my SKY account.  As I don't pay for the sky I'm not at all sure what he was on about but part of it was a nice shade of blue without any clouds earlier on (it didn't last).

 

Tea finished, time to depart draws near I wonder if the Crazy Bear farm shop might be a suitable destination?

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe