Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

This is just a test transmission from a new computer. First though, I had to work out how to turn it on but i managed . As RMWeb works it must be ok.

Aditi got to the dentist at 1pm. The dentist was surprised. The receptionist hadn't entered the appointment  in the appointment book. He was very apologetic. New appointment booked for Monday evening  

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where the main excitement taking the car for its 2 year service. It has only done 7,500 miles, so reduced has our travel become during the last year. We're not heavy users of the car but I would have expected something around 12-14000 miles at this stage.

 

Languages; or rather accents: I have a generalised southern accent and pick up elements of wherever I am living. I have been told I sound like I went to Eton (in fact a friend strung this claim out for about 10 years ago before I spoiled his game by mentioning I'd gone to a state school). At that state school, it was clear I came from the downmarket village down the railway line and my former friends in the village teased me about needing elocution lessons; when I came home from Leeds I was told my accent had gone "all northern" and when I went back there it had gone all southern. I am sure I probably sounded Northamptonian when I lived there although I avoided referring to people as "mi duck".

 

Other than that I can't speak anything except some poor schoolboy French although I do try to at least learn a few phrases for each place I go so that I can at least say Hello and Please and Thank You. An advisor from Indonesia was very surprised (and I think temporarily alarmed) when I ended a call with Terima Kasih. I'd picked it up as a child from our Malay amah, and it had been reawakened by watching Steve Backshall and Will Millard conversing with the locals on expeditions in Indonesian part of New Guinea. (Indonesian and Malay are pretty much mutually intelligible - it's mainly modern borrowings from Dutch and English that are the distinctions.

 

 

[TheQ]

Bunny,  happy, I am.

I'd been discussing anti fouling on a boat forum, and of course the adverts started picking it up..

One was on eBay, so I went and had a look..

A 750mm tin for £25+ £5 delivery.. £30.. sounds a lot doesn't it..

 

But the RRP is £69.99 and it normally sells for £60...

 

The variety is International's "VC 17M extra" which works because it's full of teflon..and copper.

Tin ordered.. That variety had been on my list of possibles.

 

I hope the delivery works ok,  I've just had to send a "where is it" for some metal ordered via the house of strong ladies.

And of them, I had a multiple order in under "send with the least number of parcels" 7 items ordered 7 boxes arrived. All items unbreakable.. They're all now sitting in the biggest box with room to spare.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

This is just a test transmission from a new computer. First though, I had to work out how to turn it on but i managed . As RMWeb works it must be ok.

Aditi got to the dentist at 1pm. The dentist was surprised. The receptionist hadn't entered the appointment  in the appointment book. He was very apologetic. New appointment booked for Monday evening  

Don't you hate it when that happens.  At least the new appointment is not that far away.  

 

In other news I received a call from the hospital at 4pm today.  The same hospital who has managed to be utterly unobtainable for months now (and with good reason but the way they do it is not at all "user-friendly") and who cancelled today's appointment without actually telling me.  They only left a message on a third-party page.  Apparently they can in fact see me and it will be tomorrow at 4pm.  By video link - which again is fair enough under present circumstances - but it's funny what a swift phone call to the office of the ombudsperson can achieve, eh   

 

@Ian Abel wrote "Twitcher"

Sounds about right.  I know the rest of the world uses Twitter to communicate but I don't.  It tickled my sense of humour somewhat in the context of a bird-song item.  Also known as "Tickers" in Australia (and possibly elsewhere) from their habit of "ticking" birds in the book when sighted.  I wonder if anywhere refers to the foaming anorak brigade (sorry, the National Union of Train-Spotters, or NUTS for short) as "Underliners" 

[J. S. Bach]

10 hours ago, TheQ said:

Me thinks, Il Dottore is try to sugar the pill cake.

 

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare. 637/393

 

Sleep what's that? woke after half an hour, and just about every hour after that, no sleep after 03:00, ended up watching NZ winning the Americas cup.. That has not a lot to do with real sailing anymore, even more divorced from sailing than F1 Cars are from road cars, a Lot More divorced..  A boring course, boring boats of no sailing interest, though of some technical interest. ...snip...

There is a very interesting book called KEELHAULED (by Doug Riggs) about the Americas Cup.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went to Tess Coes just before lunch and they had bread pudding on sale yet again. Thats three times in one week! Not that I'm complaining as its not as addictive as LDC, or is it? I have now acquired a model railway layout in exchange for a number of modelling tokens. Now I have to find somewhere to store it this evening as at present it is sitting on the bed. I have found a corner of the spare room where it can stand on end.

Edited March 17, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Also known as "Tickers" in Australia (and possibly elsewhere) from their habit of "ticking" birds in the book when sighted.  I wonder if anywhere refers to the foaming anorak brigade

I think there is a subset of real ale drinkers called beer tickers. They like (allegedly) to tick off some ale from a list in a little book after consuming a very small sample. 

[J. S. Bach]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think there is a subset of real ale drinkers called beer tickers. They like (allegedly) to tick off some ale from a list in a little book after consuming a very small sample. 

I am sure that there are very similar species in the wine-drinking world. They really do not care what it is as long as it is a new one for them.

[TheQ]

40 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

There is a very interesting book called KEELHAULED (by Doug Riggs) about the Americas Cup.

Thanks, copy ordered via Abe for a very little amount.

[Erichill16]

Early evening All,

Back to one of my favourite topics, language.

Korean Billy is a great laugh.

Please, please someone  post a link to his YouTube pages.

His tyke and Geordie as my favourites.

Robert 

[pgcroc]

13 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Early evening All,

Back to one of my favourite topics, language.

Korean Billy is a great laugh.

Please, please someone  post a link to his YouTube pages.

His tyke and Geordie as my favourites.

 

There you go.

 

 

https://youtu.be/Mac6Cqset5E

 

Pete

 

[Erichill16]

1 minute ago, pgcroc said:

 

There you go.

 

 

https://youtu.be/Mac6Cqset5E

 

Pete

 

Thanks very much Pete, I’ve tried myself but I’m hopeless with technology.

Robert

[New Haven Neil]

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Snip<

 

Yesterday, eye exam, actually REDUCED my prescription, seems my eyesight is getting a little better. Eye doctor said that's not uncommon - citing the AGE factor - and sometimes is a forerunner of cataracts. None visible at present, so roll along, will obtain a new pair of specs once the CEO can accompany me and approve any choices!

 

 

 

 

Exactly the conversation I had on Monday, although I wasn't expecting that.  A tiny 'hint-let' of things cataract wise starting so 6 monthly checks to make sure nothing further is happening, but he thought it was something that had started before my diabetes was diagnosed and is now in hand.  The improvement in sight over the last two tests had alerted my regular optician to make a referral to the hospital for me - glad she did!  Worrying though.

[Sir TophamHatt]

Good evening one and all.

 

What a day.

Master Topham Hatt had a weigh at the doctors. He was fine until it was time to get undressed. Haven't seen him so sad in ages - not upset, just really sad. Usually they only have a second on the scales but after putting him on, he just sat there crying. When dressed, it was like nothing had happened!

 

Tomorrow will be a better day.

A good night's sleep always does him well.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Early evening All,

Back to one of my favourite topics, language.

Korean Billy is a great laugh.

Please, please someone  post a link to his YouTube pages.

His tyke and Geordie as my favourites.

Robert 

My neighbor's sister lived in Scotland and her mate is Scottish; they came over to visit bringing their teen son. I could understand the father quite well but the son was almost totally unintelligible to me. I did have the father record a "ringtone" for me with his accent; I wish now that I had had the son do the same!

[J. S. Bach]

41 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

Good evening one and all.

 

What a day.

Master Topham Hatt had a weigh at the doctors. He was fine until it was time to get undressed. Haven't seen him so sad in ages - not upset, just really sad. Usually they only have a second on the scales but after putting him on, he just sat there crying. When dressed, it was like nothing had happened!

 

Tomorrow will be a better day.

A good night's sleep always does him well.

I presume that Master Topham Hatt is a very young baby? Maybe the scale was too cold for him. Just a thought.

[brianusa]

13 hours ago, chrisf said:

For those minded to celebrate, today is St Patrick's Day.  Last year the Irish government cancelled the celebrations in Dublin.

 

It certainly doesn't bother the locals celebrations.  Americans are quite happy to gather, covid or no covid, for the excuse to over indulge and some bars especially in light of the recent relaxation on the rules, are quite happy to oblige.  I've never been able to fathom the pleasure some derive to drink themselves silly and quite happily make fools of themselves only to regret it next morning!

      Brian.

[Ozexpatriate]

What pray tell is "LDC"? It seems to have stumped Google. I surmise, based on Flavio's post referencing C6H12O6, that it something related to artificial sweeteners.

 

Unrelatedly, I don't know why AndyY disabled the subscripts and superscripts in the editor with this latest incarnation of the forum. They are very useful.

 

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

I AM however extremely fluent/conversant in both spoken and written American, and have successfully conversed AND BEEN UNDERSTOOD by people in every state I've visited!

Lucky you. I find my accent* is confounded either by the total distortion circuits deployed at drive-throughs (which I avoid along with the businesses that employ them) or the (frequently) English-as-a-second-language speaker on the other end. 

 

* Which some know is a trans-Pacific, not very thick Australian accent blended with 30+ years of telephone conversations with US English speakers.

 

Despite applying myself to three years of French instruction at school, I never became conversant and am limited to a small set of phrases. Nor am I able to fluently read even a French newspaper. I do know that "Kippis!" means "cheers" in Finnish. It will take you far in Finland.

 

A Swedish colleague (whose name ended in "-berg") took the time to teach me how to pronounce it properly. It's emphatically not as in the English "iceberg". It is more like "berry" with a soft "r". I don't think I've ever heard an English-speaking broadcaster get this right.

 

Despite advances (primarily for mobile telephones) mandated by Federal legislation to label spam telephone calls, the spoofing of numbers when telemarketing autodiallers call land-lines continues unabated. I had one yesterday that showed up on caller ID as "RIVER CITY PIZZ" with a local telephone number. The person on the other end advised me he represented a mortgage broker. He got p!ssed off with me when I asked him why he was masquerading with someone else's number. He eventually hung up on me.

 

Using a reverse lookup the number belonged to a woman's mobile telephone and the only River City Pizza I could identify was a chain based in Spokane and none of their numbers were even close. It makes me wonder how much of the VOIP-based spoofing is possible in terms of numbers and caller ID.

 

For some reason, there's a lot of people selling solar power panels right now. Two sets of young women recently knocked on my front door and yesterday someone telephoned who called himself "John" (but sounded much more like Rajiv) all flogging solar. I do like the idea of solar power, but I'm not in the market, either financially or for a slew of architectural reasons.

[Gwiwer]

Evening all,

 

No particular celebrations here for St. Patrick's Day.  Very few folk dressed in green around the House of Fun or local streets today so the one or two who bothered really stood out.  A blessing of sorts will be the absence of hordes of inebriated "Irish" many of whom would only be Irish by intent for the day.  

 

It is the anniversary of the passing of a dear friend, aged just 28, who failed to wake one morning following an epileptic seizure in her sleep.  Her young son was unable to wake her; his father was a fisherman and out at sea overnight.  A truly tragic turn of events 12 years ago now.  I remain close friends with her twin sister; we were all drinking buddies when I still lived in Cornwall.  

 

A glass was raised in her memory earlier.  As a true party girl who loved St. Pat's Day it seems appropriate that I unwind to Davy Carton's choice of Saw Doctors tracks on Spotify.  

 

had the great good fortune to see the Saw Doctors when they toured Australia a few years back.  Two barnstorming sets took the Port Fairy Folk Festival by the short and curlies and hurled in into the mosh-pit era much to the surprise and alarm of the two (just two) stewards on duty in a tent holding (officially) 1000 or so.  I suspect many more than that packed in and with as many outside.  Anyone familiar with the live albums from this band will get the picture.  Their studio sets never did them justice.  I also saw them in Falmouth quite a few years ago making them one of very few acts I have seen live in both hemispheres.   The earthy irreverence of "Bless Me, Father" and "I Useta Lover" plus the crowd-participation "Tommy K" have stuck with me as long-term good-times favourites.  "Clare Island" is a great summer love song while "Darkness Tonight" works at any time of year.  These lads can lift me out of some of the darkest times.  As Leo Moran said at Port Fairy "We've a few songs and they have served us very, very well"  

 

Very well indeed.  RIP Julia.  G'night all.  Sleep safe and sound.  

 

 

[polybear]

19 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What pray tell is "LDC"? It seems to have stumped Google. I surmise, based on Flavio's post referencing C6H12O6, that it something related to artificial sweeteners.

 

 

Bear knows this.....Bear knows this....

 

Lemon Drizzle Cake!! 

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The new layout has been duly stored away, behind the door in the spare room (suitably protected by some bubble wrap. Only problem is the useful one day items rubbish displaced has to go somewhere. At the moment it is occupying some space in the brick shed preventing any progress there.

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Exactly the conversation I had on Monday, although I wasn't expecting that.  A tiny 'hint-let' of things cataract wise starting so 6 monthly checks to make sure nothing further is happening, but he thought it was something that had started before my diabetes was diagnosed and is now in hand.  The improvement in sight over the last two tests had alerted my regular optician to make a referral to the hospital for me - glad she did!  Worrying though.

I was told five or six years ago that I have cataracts but in those five years there has been no change, in fact I am still wearing the same distance glasses that I had four years ago. One thing the optician told me last time was cataracts can be caused by bright sunshine and recommended wearing sun glasses if the sun was bright.

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What pray tell is "LDC"? It seems to have stumped Google. I surmise, based on Flavio's post referencing C6H12O6, that it something related to artificial sweeteners.

.

Eric knows this one, (but doesn’t know how to do big letters)
C6H12O6 could be quite a large number of different molecules. But I think in this case he’s referring to glucose or fructose. They have the same chemical formula but their structure (the way the atoms are joined to each other) is different. Both are naturally occurring sugars.

Robert

Edited March 17, 2021 by Erichill16

[Tony_S]

53 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear knows this.....Bear knows this....

 

Lemon Drizzle Cake!! 

 

We used to have lemon drizzle cake most weekends about 40 years ago. We used to see Aditi’s sister frequently and LDC from the Evelyn Rose cookbook was something both sisters liked to serve. All the Indian family members drop very unsubtle hints about how they love  the scones Aditi makes so no more LDC!

 

[PeterBB]

22 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

In addition the Australian government has sent an urgent request to the EU to send  the next 1 million AZ doses intended for here to New Guinea instead at the  highest priority. Given that the EU is not using the doses themselves  at the moment I'm sure they'll do all they can to help.

Pigs might fly ...

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz