Early Risers.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[Ozexpatriate]

20 hours ago, polybear said:

And someone was lucky not to get this land on their bonce (scroll down):

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56141673

(And as it happened in the USA - with apologies to fellow ER'ers, I expect a number of claims from those starting huge compensation claims for damage, stress. personal injury, therapists costs etc etc after suffering life-long headaches and memory loss after being hit by a falling 16BA nut).

Fortunately no one was physically injured from 777 engine debris in this incident so I imagine that personal injury suits  related to physical harm will be non-existent.

 

A substantial number of videos have emerged today including doorbell cameras recording a large strut of some kind falling into a street. The front cowling appears to have significantly damaged the pick-up truck it may have fallen on before it came to rest and there is at least one home where debris broke through the roof and ceiling.

 

How United Airlines and perhaps Boeing and or Pratt and Whitney will deal with property damage in suburban Denver will be curious to watch. Additionally I can imagine many passengers being terrified by the visible engine fire and shattered housing. Their first thoughts probably weren't "It's OK, a 777 can fly and land safely on one engine".

 

While it is appropriate to let the NTSB investigate this accident, national news outlets have shown video stills where a broken fan blade on the 777 engine is quite visible, similar to the 2018, SWA-1380 737 fan blade failure which led to the death of a passenger seated in a window seat.

 

By the way, I know people who live in a city bordering on Broomfield, CO.

 

Two people in the vicinity of Meerssen (The Netherlands) were "slightly injured" by debris from a 747-400 freighter with some kind of engine failure today.

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

-7 and cloudy first thing, supposed to hit -1 and possibly some light snow later.

Based on the news I saw tonight I thought you are expecting a high of perhaps 5°C tomorrow! Certainly chilly but a respite from the deep freeze.

[pH]

The passengers on the United 777 that lost an engine over Denver were put on a replacement aircraft to Honolulu after they returned to Denver airport. I imagine they wouldn’t have been too happy to learn about the history of the replacement aircraft!
 

https://onemileatatime.com/ua328-aircraft-replacement/

 

 

[TheQ]

My I suggest that Combe Martin directs the owners of the chicken "road" in the direction of Wile E Coyote or his brother Reynard.

 

Also,  Servos.

 

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from The Charente. It is apparently  going to be rather damp today. Thus ironing is on the agenda this morning.  I did manage a couplevof hours in the shed yesterday and the frame for the gate has now been screwed back together. The slats have all bern cut and sanded and the hinges are now in primer.  

 

Not a lot else to report so I will wish youball a good day/night as appropriate.

 

Jamie

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It was great to meet so many ERs on Saturday evening, and put faces to names after so many years.

 

Back in the 90s, I wrote some software for the Boeing 777 - don't worry, it wasn't FADEC (Or indeed anything connected with engine control!) An interesting fact about the Boeing 777, is that the diameter of the engines is the same as the fuselage diameter of a 737.  That's pretty large stuff that was falling from the sky!

 

For those who commented about my visitor on Saturday evening, that was Parcifal (bottom).  His brother Picasso (top) was asleep the whole time!

 

 

Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

What will excite me in the week ahead?  A stroll to the end of the road this morning to buy my lottery tickets is the most immediate thrill in prospect.  This afternoon a batch of chicken in honey and mustard sauce will be stuck in the oven for however long the instructions tell me.  Tomorrow or the next day, and who can tell the difference, will see the fodder run.  On two evenings I will be in front of the laptop taking part in Zoom gatherings.  One is a slide show, the other more of a discussion.  This very morning I need to use the Stalag Surgery website to order another batch of meds, which, given a following wind, I shall collect from the pharmacy in a week's time.  Gentle readers have twigged that I'm not feeling at all positive ahead of the much leaked announcement later today from those who rule us about the slow march to freedom or whatever the headline writers want to call it.   Nevertheless I shall watch it later today with an unspecified degree of loathing.

 

As I type this I hear on the radio that Denbigh County Council have decided no longer to name roads after notable people.  Let this bright idea not spread to other councils.  I say this because, as some know, a road in Godmanchester, Cambridgeshire, was named after my late father.  He would not have expected it but would have been dead chuffed at the very thought.  While I'm harrumphing, what on earth is wrong with the Prince of Wales visiting his father in hospital?

 

Before I get any hotter under the collar I'd like to thank Monkeysarefun for posting the clip of a kangaroo playing the drums.  Would that it had been a koala.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris  

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Early riser... no tea or coffee..(fasting blood test this morning). Time to get myself ready for my trip to the LGI.

 

TTFN

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I'd like to thank Monkeysarefun for posting the clip of a kangaroo playing the drums

"Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" is well known to Australians of a certain age.

 

It was a television show along the lines of programmes like Lassie, Flipper and Gentle Ben where intelligent animals, befriended by young humans helped rescue people in trouble. 

 

"What's that Skip? Timmy's fallen down the well. I better tell Dad!"

[leopardml2341]

Mornin' all.

 

Time for work....

 

I suppose the e-postie's bag will be groaning under the weight of (mainly unnecessary) email correspondence - oh the joy that awaits.

 

Best wishes for the day, back later.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare,

3 hours sleep, long break, 2 hours sleep... Ben you're too early , One hours sleep.

 

Ben having wanted out earlier refused to go out to the dawn chorus again.. By the time I was arriving at work the street lights were beginning to go out..

 

Forepaws say rain, seaweed inspectors say not.. We shall see..

 

One branch of my family has a road named after them, it's a small close, on the site of one of the family coal yards.. 

 

While doing trial fits of a bit of trailer, I was able to get true measurements of the trailer as I had removed the last of the plant pots,, it proves my plan for towing the boat backwards on the trailer is the only solution.

I need to get several foundations blocks to raise the trailer up to work on it, then later those blocks will be used to raise the boat up higher to fit the keel.

 I was going to weigh the trailer by using the bathroom scales under each wheel in turn and then under the coupling, but found the scales had failed. They were in excess of 30 years old, so I've ordered the cheapest on line.. Which not only weighs you, but calculates body mass etc and gives you accusing numbers.

 

Also ordered a stack of lock nuts, and washers. After having a ferret around I found I have sufficient threaded rod to bolt the various different sections of trailer together, meaning they can all be tailor made to fit. Then going through various technical documents, I've found that the threaded rods, even if of the weakest grade, each have several times the strength required to hold the axle onto the trailer.

 

Well it's 

Time to head for the lab and work.. no majors systems this week so I'ts work i=on a lot of smaller Items in the back log.

 

[jamie92208]

41 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"Skippy the Bush Kangaroo" is well known to Australians of a certain age.

 

It was a television show along the lines of programmes like Lassie, Flipper and Gentle Ben where intelligent animals, befriended by young humans helped rescue people in trouble. 

 

"What's that Skip? Timmy's fallen down the well. I better tell Dad!"

I was aware of Skippy, however what I didn't want was a new earworm for today.  Guess what it is,  thanks to Monkeyesarefun.

 

Jamie

Edited February 22, 2021 by jamie92208

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

More time and energy was needed than I’d envisioned. In the process of moving them down the stairs we managed to knock the pendant light at the top of the landing and caused it to short and take out the circuit. Reset the switch and proceeded down the stairs and then did the same thing in the hall way. Bu88er. The bottom one has come off the ceiling completely, it looks as the two wires in their terminal blocks are the only thing holding  the weight of the shade. 

 

Bear thinks you have some iffy wiring there, on both lights.  As regards the bottom light there are usually strain relief tabs or similar to wrap the flex wires around before they exit the ceiling rose.

Bear recalls coming home one dark evening and seeing dross all over the kitchen floor; Bear thinks "What the f. 'ell is that??  Bear switches light on for a better view - no light.  Bear thinks bulb has blown and looks up to see no bulb and no glass shade either.  It looks like there was some form of fault with the bulb that meant it got so hot that the plastic bulb holder melted - luckily - and dropped the bulb and shade all over the floor.  Bear very pleased that bulb holder wasn't metal....

All replaced, as was the ceiling rose "just in case".  I did look for a makers name on the bulb remnants but could find nothing (I think, but am not sure it came from Wilko - not a market stool stall/ebay etc special).

Whatever the fault was, it never tripped the RCD Consumer Unit

 

Quote

........also just finished a home made jam roll poly. Both very nice.

 

 

Thank you, that's very nice of you to say so

Oh, hang on, you meant the jam roly.....

 

Bear hopes to see the back of filling/sanding/filling/sanding....today, on the ceiling and coving at least.  Then it'll be painting....

(Just heard that Panorama may be worth a watch tonight - all about dumping/fly-tipping.  There was mention of a Council & BBC getting together to arrange for a licenced waste disposal company to collect and dispose of a garage full of rubbish.  The BBC had fitted trackers inside the rubbish.....).

 

Incidentally, whilst researching bits for the kitchen, Bear came across the fact that Bristan "Easy-Fit" taps are asking for trouble (they have since been modified but are still less than perfect apparently) - they can "blow- off" (no, not that sort of blow-off....) meaning both hot and cold water feeds rapidly fill your kitchen with water.  Plenty of mention of it on the 'net, including here:

 

- so be very careful if you have these taps installed.  Crossed-off Bear's shopping list........

 

Buddy next door has offered to help Bear dispose of an armchair to the local dump (I was expecting to have to get the council to collect it - £30 for one item).  He's confirmed it should fit in the back of their Honda CRV  (there are few times when Bear misses having a bigger car, but those few times are far outweighed by the practicality of a smaller car).  It's a leather recliner and has seen better days and not really saleable enough for a charity shop, sadly;  Bear also has another matching one in much better condition, as well as the 2-seater sofa that is nigh-on as-new, despite being probably 20+ years old (it very rarely gets sat on).  Bear has decided to go a little bit more minimalist (nothing silly - Bear has far too many "useful things" for that) but unused/un-needed furniture, ornaments etc. that Bear doesn't use or need are likely to start disappearing fairly soon.  If anything can be ebayed or go to charity then even better.  Some will include ornaments that were my mum's so that will take some thought - and courage - though; however they just sit in a display cabinet from one year to the next and never even get thought about or looked at - they're just a PITA when they do require dusting.  I'd much rather I have control to see them go to a (hopefully) good home now than for someone else to skip them in the event of Bear's demise (hopefully not imminently though ).

As for the sorting the shed....

Bit by bit, Bear......bit by bit......

Edited February 22, 2021 by polybear

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where there is a scattering of grey cloud in the sky but the air is mild. There is the doom and gloom of the "return" to school after half term (literally for Mrs Lurker, virtually from Younger Lurker) and the groundhog day of work in this room for me.

 

Happy birthday belatedly to Chris. I did try to post on the day but I could not post twice in quick succession and then my phone would not let me post at all. I am sure Chris coped without my greetings.

 

Have a good day all

[New Haven Neil]

MOrning, and a beautiful sunny one it is - pecky birds in full song, NHN thankfully not singing at all.

 

Spring is sproinging, however winter returns tomorrow apparently, according to you know who.  Whom, Lewis.....

 

The snowdrops are just about over now, the narcissii are flowering, crocii too, however the lawn is a swamp, 120mm rain the couple of days prior to yesterday, and the lawn needs mowing too (grows all year here) but that isn't likely.

 

 

[jonny777]

Another cloudy and damp morning in North Somerset. Light drizzly rain at the moment, but given how wet everything looks it must have been heavier at times overnight. 

 

I don't intend to do a lot today, but might get around to reading a few magazines which have been piling up waiting for a day when I can't be @rsed to do much else. 

[New Haven Neil]

9 hours ago, sixoh8sixoh said:

No, don’t think so... I did meet the minister at the time, who I believe is now the Chief Minister. 

 

Gary might have retired by then. His replacement wasn't involved with the B-I Council.

 

 Howard Quayle has done a good job this last year as CM, despite what the keyboard warriors say!  I bet he didn't expect to be dealing with this situation.  I understand he isn't going to stand in the autumn, a shame.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Slightly hazy here but not at all cold. 
As it isn’t too cold I will have a rummage round in the garage to find a few parts to make a replacement part for the diesel Aditi’s brother sent me to repair. It works now but needs some body parts. 
I have some items, “decals” (not for trains!) coming from the US. Postage is $3. The manufacturer mentions I could pay $15 but he said it won’t get here any quicker. Last time I used them I paid for the $3 and the package arrived quickly. 
Tony

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear thinks you have some iffy wiring there, on both lights.  As regards the bottom light there are usually strain relief tabs or similar to wrap the flex wires around before they exit the ceiling rose

 

Bit by bit, Bear......bit by bit......

The issue is not with the ceiling rose. The wires come down a hollow piece of wood from the rose and then into the baker lite housing for the bulb onto which the shade is attached. This lower section appears, at first glance to be held only by the ends of the wiring.

It’s a real PIA as Mums is wanting to stay down Newark and will probably sell the house when I move business addresses but I think she needs to spend time up here sorting things out so will need the lights sorting. If she was stopping long term I’d replace the lights but get the feeling the the job would escalate out of control and my abilities. The house was built in the sixties and hasn’t been rewired and when I asked an electrician to do a minor job he said he couldn’t without rewiring the whole whole house. Something to ponder.

Mum (and SWMBO and myself through association) will shortly be in a similar position, trying to decide what to do with ‘stuff’. It was a real eye opener yesterday  seeing what mums still got hanging around. In particular theres my Dads snooker cue propped  up by the back door and he passed away in 2004!

Better get a move on,

Robert

[tigerburnie]

18 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

The issue is not with the ceiling rose. The wires come down a hollow piece of wood from the rose and then into the baker lite housing for the bulb onto which the shade is attached. This lower section appears, at first glance to be held only by the ends of the wiring.

It’s a real PIA as Mums is wanting to stay down Newark and will probably sell the house when I move business addresses but I think she needs to spend time up here sorting things out so will need the lights sorting. If she was stopping long term I’d replace the lights but get the feeling the the job would escalate out of control and my abilities. The house was built in the sixties and hasn’t been rewired and when I asked an electrician to do a minor job he said he couldn’t without rewiring the whole whole house. Something to ponder.

Mum (and SWMBO and myself through association) will shortly be in a similar position, trying to decide what to do with ‘stuff’. It was a real eye opener yesterday  seeing what mums still got hanging around. In particular theres my Dads snooker cue propped  up by the back door and he passed away in 2004!

Better get a move on,

Robert

You may find the house difficult to sell if the wiring is that old, a new consumer unit will also be required no doubt, if there's Bakelite fittings there's a chance the wiring will be rubber insulated, if so that has possibly perished causing a real fire risk.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It appears that we’ve had quite a bit of overnight rain going on how wet the garden looks. The plans for today are to do some light work in the cellar, possibly sorting out some magazines and getting rid of those I no longer want, I will remove some articles that I think will be useful in the future but the rest will be recycled, giving me more space on the book shelves. But this may well take some time, so occasionally I’ll take a break and ‘play’ with a few control items  for the unmentionable items that run and parallel tracks. 

 

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

 

Brian 

[Erichill16]

5 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

You may find the house difficult to sell if the wiring is that old, a new consumer unit will also be required no doubt, if there's Bakelite fittings there's a chance the wiring will be rubber insulated, if so that has possibly perished causing a real fire risk.

I think the house would be sold as a ‘renervation’ project rather than a house to live in straight away. It’s actually got a new(ish) consumer unit. Not sure quite what the bulb holder is made from but of 60s origin. I’m hoping that perhaps she’ll not sleep in the house again but there is a lot of stuff to move and it wouldn’t be practical for her to drive up from Newark day after day to sort stuff out.

thanks,

Robert.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. 

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

 I was going to weigh the trailer by using the bathroom scales under each wheel in turn and then under the coupling, but found the scales had failed. They were in excess of 30 years old, so I've ordered the cheapest on line.. Which not only weighs you, but calculates body mass etc and gives you accusing numbers.

 

Those scales will not be able to weigh your trailer. They are solid state, they work by passing a small electric current through your body (thats why you have to stand on them in your bare feet). It was from using one of these scales not set up properly that someone got a four figure BMI. I would suggest using a spring balance if you have somewhere to hang it from and enough space.