Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Back again,

Once hosed off it was not broken but the rod had pulled out of the brass coupling. A new pack of 30ft of rodding has been ordered with another scraper as that will be needed to push the other assembly through. Just as I heard the gurgle and the sludge level dropped, is when I tried to pull the old assembly back and it failed

 

Before the disaster, I weighed the trailer and representative pieces of the commercial kit.

I was surprised how light the trailer chassis was, to my previous lifts, it felt heavier I must be getting old.. 16.2 kg at each wheel assembly, 59.9kg at the coupling.

So roughly, about 92kg. Add that to the loose and commercial bits and it's about 130kg, much less than I expected, I've got around 170kg spare for additional items, like guides for the Keel and hull so they go into place easily.

 

 After that, Shelf assembly didn't go well, , lots of adjustment needed, but two are up, just the top dust prevention shelf to be fitted on that section tomorrow.

 

After that walk Ben time, we'd only gone about 1/3 of the way, when the artillery opened up not far away , Ben the scaredy Collie really wanted home, so we did.

 

After that, metal bashing, the bigger piece was fettled, tested for fit ok, wire brushed off, then both pieces were zinc coated. Also various bits of commercial fittings such as adjustable boat supports were also coated, other commercial bits are buried in another shed, and will have to wait for their paint.

 

I've ordered and received plastic plugs for the ends of the tubes i've cut off, I don't want water collecting inside. Tried and fit ok.

 

 

 

'If tomorrow is my last day, it'll be a good one... I'll see everyone I've ever loved':

Captain Sir Tom Moore.

https://youtu.be/vUfoJhgbOMw

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

 

PS No activity beyond occasional smoking behind the bike shed and bys and girls were segregated during free time outdoors.  But one couple in my year reputedly managed to 'go all the way' on the lawn in front of the main building one dark evening

At an all-boys grammar school and with the girls school some miles away any activity “behind the bike sheds” usually involved nothing more than smoking. Usually. 
 

In the late 60s / early 70s any form of intimacy with a member of the same sex was usually frowned upon atvthe very least. There was one case of two lads being “caught in the act” which resulted in both receiving six of the best before being expelled.  
 

Then there was the Games Master. Having unrestricted access to the sight of younger lads changing and showering might have had something to do with his ways. BiL called him out once. Offered him outside. As in behind the bike sheds. He declined. 
 

The bike sheds were right in front of the main entrance so anything taking place would have been in full view. 
 

On the rare event of school dances the janitor patrolled the secluded area behind the gym but was easily “bought” with a couple of Woodbines. One couple known to me made use of that space on such an occasion which resulted in an unexpected addition to the population. 
 

 

[jamie92208]

I was at an all boys school and it sounds very much like Gwiwers in many ways. One or two of the staff  were certainly gay, Russell Harty was a house master (Carr)  but as far as I was aware nothing untoward happened between staff and boys. There were a couple of housemasters daughters, who were allegedly fairly 'enthusiastic'.  We did have an annual dance with Casterton, the girls boarding school about 20 miles away. That was fairly rigourously chaperoned but it was very easy to arrange rendevous' for the folowing Sunday, or so I am told.  Smoking was definitely banned and at least one contemporary was expelled. Corporal punishment was a normal part of life though I escaped that by the skin of my teeth.  Since it has gone coed the atmosphere has changed for the better.  I presume that each house no longer has to line up in the gym naked to be weighed and measured once more and that swimming costumes are now allowed in the swimming  bath. They were banned when I was there as many lads wore them under their rugby shorts and they got very muddy. 

 

Jamie

[laurenceb]

Poetic justice

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-56224144

[Barry O]

My infant school had no male teachers.. a lot of fairly elderly ladies who put up with no nonsense.

 

Junior School - all male teachers some of whom had fought in WW2. With 50 lads in each of the two class groups in my year discipline was strict.. Fail to get 20 out of 20 in Friday Algebra.. the cane.. failure to get 20 out of 20 in the spelling test (held after the algebra test)  more cane. I complained once to my father (he had been at school with my teacher).. 49 lads all lined up for the cane.. despite the fact that the teacher had managed to provide an incorrect answer in the spelling test (the other pupil was off sick that day). The response from Dad "yes he always made errors in English at school" .

 

Grammar School was co-ed. Everything was ok for most of the year (very few smokers in our school for some reason) but.. in December "PE lessons" became "dancing lessons".. this equated to a war.. the Girls (who seemed to be a lot bigger than the lads seeing it only fit to try to propel the lads into the wall bars of the gymnasium as a matter of delight.  The "highland Fling" was interpreted literally by some of the girls.

 

However, every year group had a disco at Christmas. Despite the Teachers and Prefects keeping an "eye" on things one or two pairs of lads and lasses would disappear into hidey holes in our school..in some cases the lads were "dragged" into the hidey holes. Great times!

 

Baz

 

 

 

 

[Sir TophamHatt]

Another boring day at work meaning I get loads of time to catch up with how everyone is doing

A bit disappointed to find if I wanted to go away later this year, I'm looking at about £100 a night near Windermere   I'm sure we'll find somewhere.  That's tomorrows task.

[Barry O]

And at Grammar School our houses were Red, Blue, Yellow and Green. Red was Spartans.. these were only used when we had inter house Sevens at Rugby or inter house Athletics in Summer. 

 

Baz 

[New Haven Neil]

Evening, after a beautiful day.

 

Buqqer - two covid cases in the community found this afternoon, no known links found (yet) to the 'steam packet' group.  There is a controlled batch of them who all got it via a member of the ferry crew, but that has been isolated well up until now.  It may be a link is found, in which case it'll be contract-traced and should be OK.  If not, we're heading for another circuit breaker. Pants.

 

A bobby I used to work with  was a really straight guy, good copper, nothing daft, really level headed - until it came to football.  He was a Manchester City supporter, season ticket holder (left the island every chance for home games), and should anyone so much as mention a team with a red strip would erupt!  He described it as a religion, not a sport, obviously he was a fundamentalist!  His wife, a sergeant, was exactly the same!  What a pair - it all goes ten feet over my motorsport-only head.

[Winslow Boy]

My father, who followers of this esteemed column will recall founded a football club, used to say that there were two sorts of football 'followers'  s. There are the followers these are the people who enjoy watching the game because of the comradeship and the fact that it allows them to be involved in something bigger than them. Then there are the supporters, these people were the ones who would turn out on Saturday afternoons and Sunday mornings in the pouring rain etc. Needless to say which my father was.

 

I won't tell you what he thought of some of bigger league clubs but suffice to say he wasn't enamored with them.

[pH]

Moon yesterday (Friday) about 3 hours before full:

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. There was still no sign of the item I ordered from Hong Kong before Christmas. According to the tracking it was still in Abu Dhabi. I contacted the trader a little while ago and he refunded me in full straight away. Only bugbear is that I was able to source a replacement from another trader (the first trader had sold out) but as it was ordered after the 1st. of January I had to pay 20% VAT. 

[brianusa]

5 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

At an all-boys grammar school and with the girls school some miles away any activity “behind the bike sheds” usually involved nothing more than smoking. Usually. 
 

In the late 60s / early 70s any form of intimacy with a member of the same sex was usually frowned upon atvthe very least. There was one case of two lads being “caught in the act” which resulted in both receiving six of the best before being expelled.  
 

Then there was the Games Master. Having unrestricted access to the sight of younger lads changing and showering might have had something to do with his ways. BiL called him out once. Offered him outside. As in behind the bike sheds. He declined. 
 

The bike sheds were right in front of the main entrance so anything taking place would have been in full view. 
 

On the rare event of school dances the janitor patrolled the secluded area behind the gym but was easily “bought” with a couple of Woodbines. One couple known to me made use of that space on such an occasion which resulted in an unexpected addition to the population. 
 

 

Having gone through the  British system, it was a revelation to come to the US where boys and girls actually were allowed together in class.  I remember well the separation of the sexes in the UK in the fifties and sixties and thought it ridiculous at the time even then.  Goodness knows what effect this had on some  and as one commenter mentioned had to get six of the best, as though that was going to make a difference in a lifetime.  Such was the thinking by some in those days and I met a few!

     Brian.

[BoD]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

My infant school had no male teachers.. a lot of fairly elderly ladies who put up with no nonsense.

 

Junior School - all male teachers some of whom had fought in WW2.

All of the lady teachers at my Infant school had fought in WW2.
In the SS.

And were now nuns.

There was one male teacher.

He was also a nun.

Edited February 27, 2021 by BoD

[Tony_S]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

E-bay now automatically add 20% VAT to items coming from abroad on behalf of HMRC.

My package is not from eBay, it is direct from the manufacturers website. So it will be interesting to see what happens. The Correos Post tracking number had appeared in my Royal Mail tracking app. I ordered the bits on Thursday night, they were despatched Friday morning and have left Spain today. 

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, BoD said:

In the SS.

Our German teacher had been a war dog trainer for the Waffen SS. She was Italian but from one of the German speaking areas. She had met and married a Welsh chap after hostilities ceased. She was a very unpleasant person. She had our class reprimanded by the deputy head (also a teacher of German) as someone giggled when she told us the words for father (Vater, Vati). She actually said her teenage son and husband had never heard such rude words and our class were degenerate. How the Deputy Head kept a straight face must have been an effort. She retired at the end of the year to breed Dachshunds. 

[Ozexpatriate]

On football fans, I understand the word is derived from fanatic.

 

A nice definition of fanatic, often attributed to Churchill but with a complicated history, is:

Quote

A fanatic is someone who can't change his mind, and won't change the subject

(This version might belong to Ambrose Bierce or Evan Esar in 1943.)

 

Of course it's relevant to other topics, like one's favourite grouping-era railway, or politics, or many other subjects people can feel passionate about.

 

My school had houses as well, along with names they were designated colours (red, yellow, green and blue) and had simple heraldic shields that appeared no where other than being hung up in a large multi-purpose room. Their sole relevance was at the annual swimming and 'athletics' (track and field) carnivals, (which in the US would be called intramurals) where we were expected to compete for our house. In day-to-day school life, the houses were almost meaningless. 

 

I duly did my best to swim in 50m races without swallowing half the pool and run around the running track (which encircled the cricket oval, and therefore was grassy and a very slippery surface without wearing spikes). Even in the random heats, I rarely placed. The good news was that once my race was done, my duty to compete was discharged for the rest of the day.

 

Edited February 27, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Gwiwer]

32 minutes ago, brianusa said:

Having gone through the  British system, it was a revelation to come to the US where boys and girls actually were allowed together in class.  I remember well the separation of the sexes in the UK in the fifties and sixties and thought it ridiculous at the time even then.  Goodness knows what effect this had on some  and as one commenter mentioned had to get six of the best, as though that was going to make a difference in a lifetime.  Such was the thinking by some in those days and I met a few!

     Brian.

Even my Cornish primary school had separate play yards for boys and girls, had separate entrances for them too but we were at least in mixed classes.  As a village school of just four classes (taught by just three teachers somehow) we couldn't really be split indoors.  We had a lunch room which was also separated with girls one side boys the other but there was just a single sitting with us all in together.  

[Northroader]

28 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

She retired at the end of the year to breed Dachshunds. 

 

I hope she had short legs.

[TheQ]

First primary school I don't remember much of 

Second primary school, separate boys and girls entrances, with white line down the middle of the playground to keep us apart, the line ended at the outside, mostly unroofed toilets.

But in class we were sat a boy and girl at each paired  table in total silence, unless asked a question .

 

First secondary school boys only, out in fields between the three villages contributing pupils, behind the bike sheds was smokers territory., You weren't allowed in the building during playtime whatever the weather. Girls school was almost opposite our house, by the time you got back the local girls had gone home and the other villages girls bussed away.

 

Second secondary school mixed, Catholics from South Uist, Free Church of Scotland from North Uist, us foreigners from Benbecula in the middle keeping our heads down between Rangers and Celtic..

 

Third Secondary school, mixed, a huge school, playtime was spent walking from class to class. Lots of portacabin extra classrooms, behind which the smokers and various assignations took place. However the girls weren't interested in the borders in the school single sex hostels , as we were imprisoned, for but all 3 hours Saturday morning and 3 hours Saturday afternoon.

[tetsudofan]

14 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

Saw our next door neighbour yesterday. They have a 4 month old American Akita pup. He is already large but neighbour reckoned that he will stay small..yeh! Right!

 

 

 

I had an Akita (a real Japanese one) when I was living in Japan and when I got home his front paws reached to my chest when he jumped up to greet me.

 

They are big dogs!!

 

Keith

[andyram]

Evening all. I hope today finds you well. Beautiful weather here in South Derbyshire has been enjoyed with a walk along the footpath which borders out estate and the Midland Mainline. It ends by the balancing pond which has become a haven for wildlife. Plenty of bird species can be spotted in addition to the resident moorhens, mallards and coots. In the first lockdown we had a pair of nesting swans. It became a daily pilgrimage to check on progress of the eggs and then the three cygnets. Sadly, in June, some moron deposited cooking oil down the drain and it ran into the pond. The RSPCA came and removed all the birds. This year the pond is regaining its wildlife and we have a pair of swans again. Fingers crossed for a happier outcome this time.

This afternoon was spent doing some railway modelling with Amber (see Skaleby East thread if interested).

 

This evening the vaccine side effects have kicked in with the shakes and general tiredness. I type this having headed to bed early. Night all.

 

Andy

[jamie92208]

6 minutes ago, tetsudofan said:

 

I had an Akita (a real Japanese one) when I was living in Japan and when I got home his front paws reached to my chest when he jumped up to greet me.

 

They are big dogs!!

 

Keith

I have a vague memory that Akitas are meant to be controlled like pit bulls under the Dangerous dogs act, bu that may have changed since I retired.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

... and a wall with plenty of holes ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/02/27/science-and-arrogance/

[PeterBB]

NHN triggered a DNA appointment.

I had one and being very unhappy about it wrote a letter of complaint.  The gist, more or less the actual wording, was that I would be very happy to attend for an appointment - all I needed was an invitation.  I was very surprised at the response.  The consultant came down to the lab to apologise and arranged to see me personally.  This was great as for years it had been 'a check-up' and proved to be phenomenal.  I had had an unknown hearing defect from childhood following an ear infection.  The effect of the consultant visit (I was the lab manager) led to a further operation and some hearing restored (still problem but if someone looks at me in an initial address it helps).  The good news was that he also said the the early 50s operation was good one and enabled a 'clean up' that gave hearing.

 

School houses.  Primary schools not houses just red, green, blue and yellow tees and in both cases points were scored and occasionally deducted.  Secondary school, Rutlish, from monies invested by William Rutlish court embroiderer to King Charles II and John Innes (Chair of the trustees who spent it wisely,, 8 houses - Argonauts, Crusaders, Kelts, Parthians, Romans, Spartans, Trojans, and Vikings.  It was very competitive both academically and sports.

John Innes also built a new Manor House in the horticultural gardens (the old one now long gone) that just after the war became my 'first' school (nursery) and in which I also ended my school days as the replacement building was also in the then former horticultural land.

 

In 1948 an 'old boy' won an Olympic Gold and other masters were former Olympians and two were Olympic timekeepers of which Harry Hathaway was a maths wizard, remained single, and even after retirement still came to school every day travelling from one end of the Northern Line to the other until too ill do so by which time he was in his 80s and died soon after.  In his GCE class I was near bottom in maths but still gained an average of 77% and many of his A-level students gained 100%.

[laurenceb]

Night awl