Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Mike glad you’ve got your cat back, must be traumatic not knowing where he/she’s gone.

Not really got much done today, I threatened the garden with the fork but that’s about it regarding anything constructive. Team won again without looking convincing but a win is a win.

Got Sydney for a sleepover and he doesn’t seem that well, some sort of gastrointestinal problem. I’ll not spoil your suppers with the details but I glad he’s not sleeping in the bedroom.

Tomorrow, probably a walk with mil as we haven’t seen her for a few days and then who knows?

Last weekend I was well in front with my work but now I’m only where I should be which is disappointing as I’ve got quite a bit of extra work coming up on the horizon.

Goodnight

Robert

[Tony_S]

1 minute ago, Gwiwer said:

Governments interfering with snag stalls???  What ever next???

There was something about a recent election in England where one party was going to offer sausages to voters but that was deemed illegal as offering refreshments to voters was banned a very long time ago. 

[Tony_S]

One of our local (in Vange, to be precise in case anyone has heard of it) DiY stores was rebranded as a Bunnings for a while complete with Saturday Sausage Sizzle. It went back to its original branding after a while. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Tony_S

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

always on offer outside Bunnings (the huge hardware warehouse chain in Oz), proffered at polling booths on election day and, as you say, universally the stuff of the backyard, neighbourhood or local community group bbq.

The main reason we had  to eliminate  COVID here was so that the Bunnings sausage sizzle could happen again,

 

Much rejoicing late last year when it came back.

 

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Saveloys are well known in Australia

 

Did they mention the Battered Sav?

 

A suspiciously pink sausage like thing on a stick dipped in batter then deep fried. Covered in tomato sauce and eaten at the Easter Show - would then violently reappear the way it went in shortly after you spent 3 minutes being whirled around violently on the Octopus or similar.

Edited March 6, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[The Stationmaster]

45 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

For those who don't have a full state pension entitlement (you need 35 years of NI contributions, or 30 years if you retired before April 2016) you can buy missing years; the cost is £795 per year, and this ups your state pension by £4-80 a week (so 250 quid a year).  So in just over 3 years you get your money back, and from then on you're laughing.  More here:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/savings/state-pensions/

I believe you can do it even after you've started receiving your state pension too.

 

For those who are (or were) in a pension scheme (company or private) that is/was "contracted it" then there's a pretty good chance that you may be short of enough qualifying years to earn a full state pension.  Bear's company scheme did just that some years back - it was decreed that it was a jolly good idea for the employees (as it would save us money?) but years later we realised that our qualifying NI years (and hence state pension) were shafted as a result.

We used to have a full-time "pensions lady" at work/on-site, which was a jolly good idea since you could get advice from her without trouble.  Then the Great Empire decided to run the whole lot remotely and she disappeared (no doubt with a nice little bunce).  For something that is so important (and pretty complex) it's a total bl00dy minefield for many employees - there are so many little angles that can be employed (some of which are time-critical) to boost your pension (and pension options) but yer average worker hasn't the foggiest idea that they even exist. 

 

In other news:

Bear spent the day hanging on a paintbrush - first when sealing the walls, then painting the doorframe (2 coats done now - it may well get a 3rd) and the pipework which feeds the washing machine was given a coat of primer too.  This evening was devoted to researching wall tiling - Bear may well do the kitchen splashback & upstands (about 3 sq.m in total), though I'll ask the floor tiler what he'll charge to do the job too.  I can pick up a leccy tile cutter for a little over forty quid now; the pattern and tiles that are currently in favour should be dead easy to do, and the walls have all been replastered.  Scope for saving some significant LDC tokens me thinks.

 

For those of us of a certain age it could also be amusing to remind the Pensions people in newcastle taht we had some credit frimn Graduated Pensions contributions.  th eother thing which was happening at one time was that iy you didn't have the full amount of years in you also got 5 years credit as a freebie.  And yes, Contracting Out can turn round and bite you in a sensitive place if your own scheme hasn't come up to scratch in delivering a decent pension but it can be a distinct bargain if you were in a decent final salary scheme.

 

Definitely a minefield and an area which needs careful advice from people who really understand what they are talking about but your fund (if you are in one) should advise you what the various options are and illustrate with real numbers what the two extremes amount to. (i.e. maximum pension vs maximum lump sum) and tell you how the numbers work converting amounts from one to the other.

 

[The Stationmaster]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

The main reason we had an incentive to eliminate  COVID here was so that the Bunnings sausage sizzle could happen again,

 

Much rejoicing late last year when it came back.

 

 

Did they mention the Battered Sav?

 

A suspiciously pink sausage like thing on a stick dipped in batter then deep fried. Covered in tomato sausage and eaten at the Easter Show - would then violently reappear the way it went in shortly after you spent 3 minutes being whirled around violently on the Octopus or similar.

In my past experience most 'sausages in batter' offered in the past in chippies here were in fact saveloys.  However they were a rarity in batter on fairgrounds - most fairground food needed to be stuff that could be very quickly brought up to serving temperature especially when demand was high.  In my experience - working on a hot dog stall at the fair here one year - as the evening went on  the punters tended to pay less and less attention to how thoroughly things, especially onion, had been cooked (that was back in the 1960s)/

[Coombe Barton]

... and news of car developments by Apple ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/03/06/wood-milk-and-curry/

 

 

[tigerburnie]

45 minutes ago, trisonic said:

I bet not many people here have heard of Harold Hill.................

Best, Pete.

Benny's brother wasn't he?.........................................

[andyram]

Evening all. Generic greetings including the relevant congrats and commiserations as appropriate. The recent late nights have caught up on me and I have been very tired all day. I did manage some modelling this afternoon and evening with more progress made (see Skaleby East thread).

 

Stay safe, stay sane.

 

Andy

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Gwiwer]

29 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

a recent election in England where one party was going to offer sausages to voters but that was deemed illegal

It was considered to be an inducement to vote (for a particular candidate) if I remember correctly.  Not a problem in Oz where your voting paper can be longer than your toilet roll  (and some might suggest slightly less useful  ) 

 

27 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

local  DiY stores was rebranded as a Bunnings for a while complete with Saturday Sausage Sizzle. It went back to its original branding after a while. 

Same here; Homebase became Bunnings with all the Aussie style and sausage sizzle.  No-one understood why they were selling sausages at the door - except me!  They reverted to Homebase after a few months when the Bunnings venture in the UK collapsed in a heap.  One problem was the removal of known and trusted brands and thier replacement with the cheap Chinese ones Bunnings import by the shipload.  Yes - shipload   Gone were Black & Decker tools and in their place were Ozito made from the softest metal they could find.  

 

26 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

The main reason we had  to eliminate  COVID here was so that the Bunnings sausage sizzle could happen again,

 

Much rejoicing late last year when it came back.

I am looking forward to a return visit to a "genuine" Bunnings for a genuine Aussie snag.  That will signify an end to travel restrictions (though not to the nastivirus itself) but will also be a very VERY expensive sausage!  Currently about £8000 return plus accommodation  

[simontaylor484]

I do remember reading about Bunnings snags and they may have to stop due to liability issues due to slip hazards of dropped onions. Our local Homebase never rebranded to Bunnings they shut it after the collapse i bought allsorts cheap including led lightbulb in bulk and more screws than I can possibly use ever they will form the main part of the kids inheritance as well as the last gas bill.

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Only a quarter of the bread pudding has been consumed so far, just not feeling hungry, no surprise really after a beef hot pot for dinner.

1 hour ago, trisonic said:

I bet not many people here have heard of Harold Hill.................

Best, Pete.

Because the Harold Hill estate at one time had a reputation and many residents claimed to be from Harold Wood. It was also the site of Londons first airport.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Things didn’t quite go as I’d have liked today, I never got round to testing everything. I got the test track set up in the cellar, there’s more room in there. I then removed the bridge from the turntable to take a little of the ends, as it kept binding a little. However, whilst I’d got the bridge off, I took the opportunity to add so lead underneath each end of the bridge to give it bit more weight, as i felt it was a little too light. That was the easy bit, putting it all back together afterwards was another matter, as I couldn’t get the tracks to line up with the bridge properly. Each of the 4 opto-interruptor PCBs has adjustment slots, but they just aren’t long enough. So this afternoon after I’d finished for the day, I sat and sketched a carrier plate to fit under the PCB. The PCB will be fixed to the plate and each will have longer slots so affording me a little more adjustment. This will probably mean I’ll have to adjust the height of the operating pin, but as that’s adjustable, so shouldn’t be too bad. It’s a little annoying having to reset it all up again, but I’d rather get these things sorted out now, whilst access to everything is easy, than to have fitted it to the layout and then find it isn’t working correctly. This way the turntable can be fitted into the layout in fully set up and working properly. Then hopefully I’ll be able to set it up again and then test it with the test track. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[brianusa]

2 hours ago, trisonic said:

I bet not many people here have heard of Harold Hill.................

Best, Pete.

The Music Man!

       Brian.

[southern42]

‘ evening all from red dragon land.

A week must have gone past since I last posted, a week spent on the cakebox challenge TripTitch or rather on the laptop, since going round the corner to its real location to take photos is out of the question. So, I have been entertained and inspired by photos of others. I have done a little m*d*ll*ng as well & posting on the thread with more to come this week.

I’ve also been reading and enjoying the first in a series of books written by a former workmate. I never had the time when I was working with her which is a shame as it would have been great to have been able to talk more about her writing and artwork than we did.

Fitt  and  Elfie still pumping away.

 

Take care all and play safe.

’ night all and nos da.
————-

Best wishes

Polly

Edited March 7, 2021 by southern42

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Seems like things are getting going, so I'll be getting Elise to the maternity ward soon!

 

BBL...

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, trisonic said:

I bet not many people here have heard of Harold Hill

Only the one with 76 trombones.

 

(Looks like @brianusa got there first.)

 

Edited March 7, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[TheQ]

Good luck , NGT6 1315, and two important others. Have you bought a Thomas set yet?

 

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

6 3/4 hours of absolutely, solid sleep.. I needed that.

Though my back is annoying me at the moment..

 

Some time back I was getting the occasional letter from HMG to buy more years pension, I had spent some years in Saudi, and also my first pension scheme was contracted out. So It was projected I'd be  short by about  5 years.

However HMG then (2016) dropped the number of years required for a full entitlement, from 44 years for men and 39 years for women, to 35 years for both..  So the letters stopped and I'm glad I hadn't paid up by then. My intention had been to pay up around now, when the mortgage was cleared and I could afford to pay up.

 

Today's supposed to be somewhat cooler, so it's workshop first, many pilot holes to be drilled in the shelving, I forgot to do them before painting. Once done the shelves will be installed and I'll have to touch up the paintwork afterwards.

 

By then, it should have warmed up a bit. So it will be wire brushing the trailer.

 

I think I need a muggacoffee and pink pills,

 

Also I'm getting the stare from brown eyes.

 

Time to.. get up..

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Did they mention the Battered Sav?

Yes, aka Dagwood Dog, Pluto Pup and corn dog. A standard offering of the midway (sorry, sideshow alley*) - usually located conveniently next to the "tilt-a-whirl" / "tilt-N-hurl" or similar centrifugal regurgitator.

 

* Being the term down-under.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

I got off to a late start this morning, having found myself wide awake once again at 3 am for what seemed an age.  Fortunately the day ahead is not too demanding.  It will centre on roasting a chicken, which will be all the better for my having gone out yesterday to buy a parsnip.  To be strictly accurate, I bought half a dozen because the one stop shop at the end of the road only sells them in plastic bags.  I should have remembered to buy just the one I needed when I bought the chicken.  Perhaps I will be blessed with a shot of creativity when it comes to using the other five.

 

In the week ahead I am to have a visit on Tuesday from a lady employed by the fire and rescue service.  She will bring with her three smoke alarms to instal in my hitherto unprotected hovel.  This arises from a casual encounter with one of her colleagues while I was resting after my Covid jab.  No doubt I will be branded as a hoarder.  I'm not.  I'm just very untidy.  There are Zoom meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday evening for me to enjoy/endure.  The speaker on Wednesday is a university contemporary who is now an emeritus professor, not something I could have foreseen when we knew one another.

 

The knees still hurt.   In the week ahead I must subject myself to the ordeal of finding skilled help and advice at Stalag Surgery.  When I have finished catching up with RMweb I shall run a hot bath in the hope that the Radox which I shall add might soak away some of the pain.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris