Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

Kept so quiet, no low flying Hippos or Bears arrived..

 

That's why it was kept quiet

[Barry O]

Spent half an hour chasing up where my prescription has gone. Checked the surgery pharmacy.. nope..

 

they checked and it had been sent to the now closed pharmacy.. so she then checked the old address and was redirected to another pharmacy - they have the prescription.. should be ready later today.. Result!!

 

and adverts wise I still see Oxfam ads and now one selling new houses and Fords...

 

Baz

 

[simontaylor484]

I had an ad earlier for some quie effective 3d looking t shirts and sweaters unfortunately i think my beer belly would spoil said effect.

[New Haven Neil]

I almost had a Baz moment, as my 'collect' prescription had been sent to the pharmacy by the new doctor, she didn't know they would be sent automatically unless marked specifically for collection.  As she sounded most pleasant on the phone I shall forgive her, but it meant a traipse over to Kirk Michael which wasn't the plan today.  I have given up with both the closer pharmacies as they are incapable of dispensing a script without making errors.

 

Adblock must be working as I only get white boxes to the right hand side now.  However - just what is the film show at the top actually about?  It annoys me constantly as it takes a couple of seconds to load (none of your fibre-fastness here in the sticks) and jigs the screen down just as I am about to click on something.  But tit doesn't advertise anything, bar some creatures and a Belgian barge....  It pi$$es me off mightily, I know that!

[The Stationmaster]

5 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Darwin Award candidate!

Having spent a bit of time bobbing up & down on that piece of sea, albeit on a rather 'heavy sea' day,  I'm surprised that he didn't actually get the Award.   And I think that bit can get quite choppy even on a good day.

 

Maybe a solution would be for the Manx Govt to pay for his fuel for his trip home on his jetski on the basis that there'd be a good chance he wouldn't be bothering anybody again after a second, probably successful, try for the Award?

 

5 hours ago, PeterBB said:

Hence why OS maps have the bearing printed on them related to the date of the map.  Geologically time wise the magnetic pole changes 'quite frequently'.  This to set your compass and make sure you are actually going in the right direction if you are in the wilds or plotting a route.

And it works.  On CCF Arduous Training one year we  were up above Blaenau Ffestiniog when a very thick fog descended and if we'd gone the wrong way we would have been trying to emulate the Wright Brothers without the aid of wings and an engine.   We marched out of the fog literally by using compass bearings on the nearest feature we could see and fortunately a couple of us understood how to adjust for magnetic variation - if we hadn't done that it would have been a different story as m non-geographers in our party didn't know about it.  Also we were using newish maps with an MoD over print so calculating differences was quick because we nly had to account fior a couple of years.

[The Stationmaster]

And now - Good Afternoon all,

 

Weather soggy but that is hardly news of any kind as our feeble excuse for winter continues its desultory meanderings towards the turn of the year.   The GD is on night from tonight so the slight later onset of sunset won't make much difference and by the time she's back on days she'll be getting a little bit of extra darkness for her trip to work.  

 

Over the years i must say one of the more interesting impacts of the change of the year and the seasons was when I was driving to & from work over a distance of about 8 largely rural miles where not only did the amount of light and the weather change but the nature of the agricultural traffic and what it left on the road surface also ran through the different parts of the farming year.  you didn't need to consult anything other than the road surface and hedgerows to know what season it was although muck spreading, ploughing, and hay making aren't really recognised seasons.  But overall far nicer than traipsing, on the train, into London through suburbia although it wasn't so bad going in the opposite direction as there was much more countryside to watch from the train window over the 40 odd miles from Reading to Swindon which was my daily commute for almost 9 years,   And that also included the interest of the micro climate effect around Didcot Power Station which was busily making its own clouds.

 

Thanks for the reminder re prescriptions - I must get an order in as I'm down to two weeks worth on a number of items.  And in a similar vein (sorry). the Good Count's daughter Kerry must have done a good job yesterday because the INR was well within the target range and not far removed from the ideal number.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe.

 

 

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 Also we were using newish maps with an MoD over print so calculating differences was quick because we nly had to account fior a couple of years.

As GPS devices don’t need magnets to work do they show true north or are they corrected in software to show magnetic north? Probably doesn’t matter on car sat nav systems though!

[simontaylor484]

Talking of power station micro climates i think the combined heat emissions from Ferrybridge,Eggborough and Drax saved us from some really bad snowfall in the past. Be interesting to see what the effect of Ferrybridge anf Eggborough would have on any future snowfall 

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday, morning all.

 

Only thing happening yesterday apparently was that Joe Biden won the presidential election, according to that most peculiar of bodies the "Electoral College". Wow, who knew  - well, everyone except a  maniacal  few who probably continue to dispute it - oh well.

 

Life continues slowly here, we spent a large amount of time yesterday early evening working on the latest puzzle, so much so that we ended up having dinner more than an hour later than usual, we must've been enjoying ourselves

 

-11 overcast and a "bit nippy" getting the newspaper, -2 the expected high!

 

Enjoy the day.

[Ian Abel]

56 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

As GPS devices don’t need magnets to work do they show true north or are they corrected in software to show magnetic north? Probably doesn’t matter on car sat nav systems though!

They read/receive true north, but depending on the device and options/settings they can be set to show either true or magnetic north.

[TheQ]

Just back from visiting another of Drac's daughters, I spent longer standing outside in the cold than getting punctured. She also did my height and weight. I'm taller than last time?! But lighter..(not by enough)

 

I did observe from a notice board our practice has 8 doctors, two nurse practitioners, 8 nurses, a midwife, a health visitor, 10 dispensers of various grades. 9 check point Charlies, and about another half dozen clerical and managerial types.

 

Blood test results will follow by letter unless the doc wishes to speak to me. 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I received a reply from the (Essex) county councillor responsible for highways who I e-mailed about the ongoing local road 'improvements'. All it was was the usual politicians waffle about what they've done to inform residents what was going to be done but not addressing the fact that what they said would be done and should have been done hasn't. I've now passed the correspondence onto the media in the shape of the BBC local news.

[Coombe Barton]

Magnetic field flip

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/earths-magnetic-field-could-take-longer-flip-previously-thought-180972843/

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I received a reply from the (Essex) county councillor responsible for highways who I e-mailed about the ongoing local road 'improvements'. All it was was the usual politicians waffle about what they've done to inform residents what was going to be done but not addressing the fact that what they said would be done and should have been done hasn't. I've now passed the correspondence onto the media in the shape of the BBC local news.

Getting a response is quite good from Essex County Council. I got stuck in the “already reported “ box after requesting a streetlight repair. Everything went in circles. Then I found (may never be able to again!) a complaints department. A nice lady rang me back and said she had issued an order for Highways to respond within 7 days. A couple of days later a truck turned up and repaired the lamp. I thanked the nice lady.

Tony

[BoD]

Evening all.

 

I love maps and map reading. I think I would prefer a map on my wall rather than a painting or photograph.  They can themselves be beautiful works of art as well as many of them containing good (and sometimes not so good) memories.  I’m strange like that though.

 

One of the first things we learned to do in the Boy Sprouts and then on the ML course was to set your map. I suspect I would need to check the magnetic deviation data on some of my early maps which are priced in shillings and pence.

[pH]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

... although muck spreading, ploughing, and hay making aren't really recognised seasons.  

People joke that there are only two seasons in Winnipeg - “minus 40” and “mosquitos”.

[Ian Abel]

4 minutes ago, pH said:

People joke that there are only two seasons in Winnipeg - “minus 40” and “mosquitos”.

Ah yes, the refrain in Minnesota is "Winter" and "Road construction"...

[Tony_S]

11 minutes ago, BoD said:

I love maps and map reading

So does Aditi. However it was probably a good thing that Matthew was a human geography student. In the first year at Leicester there was mapping practical. The maps were on a computer monitor. He said he couldn’t distinguish the colours, everything looked the same. They knew he had colour vision deficiency. They fiddled  with the palette and contrast to no avail and told him not to worry, no need to do the test. He was quite annoyed when “don’t worry” turned out to be a fail grade. 

[pH]

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

Filling.. fixed.. i want some of that uv setting stuff they use.. too expensive to let me borrow some though! Pah!

I don’t know how much you want, but it is available to buy. Google “Bondic”.

[Winslow Boy]

11 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Getting a response is quite good from Essex County Council. I got stuck in the “already reported “ box after requesting a streetlight repair. Everything went in circles. Then I found (may never be able to again!) a complaints department. A nice lady rang me back and said she had issued an order for Highways to respond within 7 days. A couple of days later a truck turned up and repaired the lamp. I thanked the nice lady.

Tony

Good heaven's a council actually responding to a 'customer' other epithets are available such as; idiot, money cow and ratepayer. The women will not last, she must have been new and not have gone on  the induction/indoctrination training.

[simontaylor484]

We used to get jobs in from residents on a daily basis when i worked for the council we usually had a couple of days to do them. On our round we used to try to do them the day we got them if possible. A few we couldn't do because it wasnt council land. We prioritized stuff like discarded needles broken glass and dog muck and dead animals first.

 

If we got a job for a dead cat by the time we got there they had already gone. 

The procedure was to take it back to the yard scan for microchip and tgen place in the freezer for later collection by the owner or disposal if unclaimed.

 

Not so long back a team broughtin  a dead moggie duly scanned it was chipped. Somebody in the office paid way beyond their worth to humanity rang the owner and told them their cat had been found.

    The problem was they hadnt informed them that Puss was dead. They duly turnedup with cat carrier and were rightly heartbroken when they found puss was dead. 

Legend has it that the person who made the call found it amusing they had turned up expecting puss alive.and was sniggering in the back office

 

You couldnt write what went off  there are more tales to tell happen there is a book in it 

[BokStein]

Good Evening,

 

6 hours ago, BSW01 said:

I've said it before, there's no cure for idiot. 

 

It is attempted to make things ""Idiot Proof""!

 

However, better Idiots are developing faster!

[polybear]

 

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

New dentist so it took some time to understand that I am heavily not into pain. She understands that now.

 

 

Was it the whack round the bonce with a fire extinguisher that explained it to her?

 

7 hours ago, TheQ said:

I've just had

cake!!!

Chocolate....

Cake supplied the company, my bosses 25th anniversary of working here.. 

He didn't know it was happening and neither did anyone else till we got quietly summoned  to the engineering area..

Kept so quiet, no low flying Hippos or Bears arrived..

 

Oh, so wrong....

There were several cakes before the "do" started.  Chrimbo spirit suggested it would've been churlish to scoff the lot....

 

In other news:

The plasterer arrived as promised, and on time, and wearing a mask.  He made all the right noises, came up with things he'd do before I could suggest them, and when I mentioned I'd be arranging a delivery of EML mesh to secure to the wall (it comes in 8x2 sheets, and is most certainly not the sort of stuff you want to carry in your car if you value the trim in any way) he said not to bother as he'll drop off four sheets to me at the weekend

All I hope now is that the quote is ok - I'll find out on thursday.

 

Apart from that it's been general dross jobs, but all achieved something so not a wasted day.  Charity drop-off tomorrow, followed by toolstation collection, a visit to Magnet Trade Counter to look at kitchen units - again, haircut and then Tesco delivery.....

[polybear]

14 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Not so long back a team broughtin  a dead moggie duly scanned it was chipped. Somebody in the office paid way beyond their worth to humanity rang the owner and told them their cat had been found.

    The problem was they hadnt informed them that Puss was dead. They duly turnedup with cat carrier and were rightly heartbroken when they found puss was dead. 

Legend has it that the person who made the call found it amusing they had turned up expecting puss alive.and was sniggering in the back office

 

 

Sounds like just the sort of person that needs tying by the ankles to the back of a dustcart and taken for a drag round the streets on the next bin day.

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

Was it the whack round the bonce with a fire extinguisher that explained it to her?

My dentist is very reluctant to cause pain. On one occasion he said he thought  the injection would probably hurt more than the filling so how did I feel about not having a local anaesthetic. I said I was happy to go with his decision but would he be upset if I bit him if it hurt. He opted for the injection. 
Tony