Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

 

I'd certainly be more than interested to know where the pressure has gone if our boiler dropped back to 0.3 bar when running and in fact we were asking exactly that question several years back when it did exactlty that.  we ended up with checking the underfloor pipes

Same here but for MiL. She had various people saying all sorts of things about her pressure loss most of which even I thought were ridiculous. The favourite one was low water pressure due to being on the top floor of flats. If the pressure was adequate to pressurise the system, if the pressure dropped it must be a leak or a defective component somewhere, however many plumbers/gas people insisted otherwise and blamed the boiler.   Since the pipes were replaced the pressure  hasn’t been an issue. 
Tony

Edited March 20, 2021 by Tony_S

[polybear]

Bear's new(ish) neighbours next door had been having all sorts of issues over some months with their new-ish boiler - loss of pressure, no heating etc etc.  Mrs Neighbour told me a couple of days ago that they've finally sorted the issue - all the radiators have been replaced and now no loss of pressure.

She also told me she's pregnant - due in June.  And before you all ask, no - Bear is innocent.....

 

A slow-ish day - Bear is limited in what can be done in the kitchen whilst the floor work is ongoing; I'm also waiting for paint for the walls.  Return of unwanted items to S/F, T/S and Wickes accomplished earlier, though Wickes wasn't without incident as I'd had the item over 30 days and they weren't going to refund (at one time they were ignoring this rule due to lockdowns) but it seems they've changed this now.  Fortunately one of the staff saw sense and a deal was done - they gave me a £25 quid gift card in lieu of the refund, which is far better than stashing it in the loft....

 

Other fun included the prep of another piece of wallpaper (to go behind the washing mashine) - not straightforward due to all the pipes in the way, followed by priming the wall ready for gluing the paper tomorrow.  Other fun included the prep of a scientific test involving a couple of brands of Decorators Caulk - many are reporting issues with the cracking of paint when caulk is over-painted; it can depend on the caulk brand and what type & make of paint is involved, apparently.  So I've used a couple of brands supposedly well regarded and will see what happens once the caulk has been given a couple of days to dry and then over-painted.

Apart from that, today is Saturday.....so......Chip Shop Day!!

 

[The White Rabbit]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I wonder if members of the ER constabulary can elucidate on the difference between “unlawful” and “illegal”. I am truly curious.

 

Unlawful is someone being a very naughty boy (or girl). Illegal is a sick bird. 

 

Hat, coat, anthems...

 

[simontaylor484]

Good Afternoon all 

Been able to have a thorough catch up of the last couple of days and now able to add a couple of points.

 

Snow in the South East of the Country far more likely than the Sw for 2 reasons the proximity to the colder continental landmass and distance from the influence of the Jetstream or North Atlantic drift current. 

If i didnt know better slaapwagon sounds like a mobile Miss Whiplash dominatrix dungeon.

 

£70 For a scarifier seems a good price to me im sure it will be cheaper than hiring one. I borrowed a black and decker lawn raker from one of Dads parishoners a couple of years ago the amount of thatch it brought out was unbelievable i then aereated the lawn with the tines of a garden fork and oversowed the area with a mix of compost and grass seed. The hire machines seemed big and heavy all right for larger gardens but a bit much for my postage stamp lawn.

 

Hawthorne the railway embankment near us is covered with it when the blossom is in full bloom it looks lovely and white but it brings on my hayfever which is a shame as well as blocking my view of the line.

 

I may be wrong but isnt the bulbous bow on a ship meant to give some crash protection as well especially for bulk oil tankers and the like.

 

Didnt Mr Alan Bond come up with a keel design that was a bit of a cheat for the Americas cup. Or some similar race.

Although the last bit of yahct racing  action i saw the hulls were out of water for most of the race they have a wing on either side of the hull.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by simontaylor484
Link found

[New Haven Neil]

The section behind the bulbous bow is usually a ballast tank anyway (then a full depth fuel tank on big ships), which kind of will be a crumple zone - but if you hit something hard in a big ship it ain't going to save much!  The prow would probably hit first anyway.  Its function is exactly as Q described, of setting up a 'counter-wave' to reduce losses in the creation of wake.  I never heard of it being referred to as for crash protection when studying naval architecture for my tickets.

 

Here's one in use!  Our Lincolnshire, 32,000m3 LPG carrier, I was at the launch of this as a teenager in 1972, dad was 2/E/O on her.  I never sailed on this one, but she gave Bibby's good service, she was never sold but sailed for the company until scrapped in 2002.

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Same here but for MiL. She had various people saying all sorts of things about her pressure loss most of which even I thought were ridiculous. The favourite one was low water pressure due to being on the top floor of flats. If the pressure was adequate to pressurise the system, if the pressure dropped it must be a leak or a defective component somewhere, however many plumbers/gas people insisted otherwise and blamed the boiler.   Since the pipes were replaced the pressure  hasn’t been an issue. 
Tony

Most likely wanting to replace the boiler at great cost rather than spending time on their knees tracing the problem. Said by son of a trained gas engineer. We have the same system installed twenty years ago, despite several British Gas engineers trying to convince us that it needed to be replaced as it was 'old' and hence needed to be replaced.

[andyram]

Hello all and generic greetings, congrats and good wishes as appropriate.  I hope today finds you well. Sadly, what looked set to be a good start, turned rather sour. An early run up to Matlock Bath for three back to back click and collect shopping appointments started the day, arriving around 9.05am for the first appointment at 9.30am. Others followed at 10.00am and 10.15am. Then it was time to leave, returning to the car to find the local traffic warden applying a bl**** parking ticket. Admittedly, I was over the permitted hour of on-street parking by fifteen minutes so it was a fair cop in terms of the letter of the law. However, he knows I am a trader and had conveniently neglected the only other car parked on the street which was there when I arrived! The town was hardly busy and there were more spaces than parked cars. Frustrating and annoying most certainly, but the attitude of said warden was the most the annoying. Very rude, as he has been on the previous occasions I have encountered him when trying to report an inability to pay a car park fee due to the parking machines not working. He had better give me a wide berth in the future!

 

Some modelling was undertaken this afternoon whilst watching the latest non-performance by Rooney's Rams. Things are not looking good.

 

I am hoping that those two things will not be followed by a third - you know what they say about things happening in threes! Is that why anxiety levels are back at a high?

 

Stay safe all.

 

Andy

[polybear]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

If i didnt know better slaapwagon sounds like a mobile Miss Whiplash dominatrix dungeon.

 

We'll bow to your obvious specialist knowledge on that one....

 

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

£70 For a scarifier seems a good price to me im sure it will be cheaper than hiring one.

 

 

A s/h one from Ebay could be a plan - they'd often/usually be sold as "collection only" and so this greatly limits the competition from bidding on them.  Might need a little patience, but a bargain could be waiting.  Another option would be to ask for one via a "Wanted" ad on a site such as Freegle (Freecycle) - so a freebie.

 

53 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Most likely wanting to replace the boiler at great cost rather than spending time on their knees tracing the problem. Said by son of a trained gas engineer. We have the same system installed twenty years ago, despite several British Gas engineers trying to convince us that it needed to be replaced as it was 'old' and hence needed to be replaced.

 

BG are well known for such scaremongering - they told Bear's O/H that her Baxi Bermuda should be replaced because "you just can't get the parts anymore" (it didn't need any parts at the time - it was fine).  So I asked Baxi if this were true - the guy at the other end fell off his chair laughing, and explained they'd sold so many they were practically their pension scheme...

 

When Bear's Baxi Bermuda gives up the ghost (not for a looooong time yet I hope) I'll have a system boiler, not a combi - that way I get to keep the airing cupboard & H/W tank (and the option of using an immersion heater in the event of boiler problems).  Combi's also run at higher system pressure, so are more likely to find leaks on older pipework.

 

No LDC for Bear - having to make do with Lemon Bakewell's instead.  Still pretty good though, but just not in the same league.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I was sitting cross-legged  doing the crossword earlier this afternoon but when I got up my legs went wobbly and I had an attack of pins and needles. I soon recovered but I did lose my balance and I stumbled against a pile of old magazines, one of several piles of old magazines that I am clearing out. Problem was that it set off a domino effect. I have just spent the best part of the afternoon picking up magazines. I can't find any evidence of leaks in the system and with a brand new boiler there should be no problems in that department. I did however bleed quite a bit of air from the system so I'll keep an eye on that.

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

English is also the language of the sea, unfortunately for the Americans we had a vessel named the 'Worcestershire'.  This was beyond their ability to pronounce!   Its sister, the Warwickshire, (nearly as bad for them to pronounce) was the ship I sailed on without a bulbous bow, she was a great old girl from when ships looked like ships.

I often find generalized observations about Americans to be quite inaccurate. This one however is very accurate. The majority of Americans do not seem able to pronounce Worcestershire. New Englanders are an exception and place names like Worcester, Leicester and Gloucester are very familiar to them.

 

The substitution of the sound 'sheer' for 'shire' when used as a suffix is foreign to Americans as well. Australians can pronounce 'Worcestershire', but will pronounce 'shire' (like 'ire') when referring to the local government jurisdiction. It is usually two words like "Tweed Shire" thus Tweed Shire Council rather than Tweedshire Council.

 

Americans can of course pronounce 'Lincoln', though many use a strange pronunciation for 'Colin'.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Didnt Mr Alan Bond come up with a keel design that was a bit of a cheat for the Americas cup.

An innovation that was entirely within the letter of the rules. "Lawful" in fact.   As were the Kiwis later with their catamaran.

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[tigerburnie]

Had a really good day, pleasant sort of weather, 7 miles cycle ride was had and even had energy for the "G" word and a walk round the village later, got my fishing ticket too though it was too windy for comfortable fly casting, maybe tomorrow. My wife thought she saw a White tailed Eagle near the village, but I couldn't find it, wich as it's nick named a flying barn door makes me suspect it was probably a Buzzard or an Osprey both of which are more common round here.

[The White Rabbit]

Evening all,

 

Well, another week sinks slowly into the primordial ooze of history. It's been a middling sort of early spring day, some sunshine, some cloud, the odd raindrop falling. Too much paperwork to attend to for comfort, it would have been nice to do some of the G word. And follow up with some brain lubricant applied internally. But hey ho, some progress made and I managed to knock off in time for a quick canter through ERs and other threads followed, then the rugby, while doing some preliminary sorting of miscellaneous items from my mother's. 

 

Best wishes to all ERs, several haven't posted for a while and I hope that's through choice and not ill fortune. Difficult times at the moment for many and I know there are days I don't feel terribly sociable, by the time the essentials have been dealt with, sometimes I either don't feel up to doing anything else or fear that being in that frame of mind, I'm not going to contribute anything good, so best stay clear and not post anything. As many may have heard, "My granny told me if I can't say anything nice, it's better to say nothing". (Is that Clint Eastwood's excuse?)

 

If the Russians refer to General Winter, what rank does spring hold? He (or she?) is certainly forcing the former into a retreat here. Daffodils in full bloom now and in happier times, I'd be thinking of the annual pilgrimage to York. More flowers are appearing and two woodpigeons have joined the sparrows and bluetits in nesting. They have been fluttering in and out of one of our trees bearing assorted twigs and dead plant material. Some of the seeds sown last weekend are already starting to sprout. 

 

Time for the Welsh match and see whether they can achieve a Grand Slam. 

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

did however bleed quite a bit of air from the system so I'll keep an eye on that.

If a radiator is corroding and “gassing” that can lead to lower pressures. Are the radiators new or old? Was the system flushed when the new boiler was fitted? How old is your inhibitor?

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, andyram said:

Hello all and generic greetings, congrats and good wishes as appropriate.  I hope today finds you well. Sadly, what looked set to be a good start, turned rather sour. An early run up to Matlock Bath for three back to back click and collect shopping appointments started the day, arriving around 9.05am for the first appointment at 9.30am. Others followed at 10.00am and 10.15am. Then it was time to leave, returning to the car to find the local traffic warden applying a bl**** parking ticket. Admittedly, I was over the permitted hour of on-street parking by fifteen minutes so it was a fair cop in terms of the letter of the law. However, he knows I am a trader and had conveniently neglected the only other car parked on the street which was there when I arrived! The town was hardly busy and there were more spaces than parked cars. Frustrating and annoying most certainly, but the attitude of said warden was the most the annoying. Very rude, as he has been on the previous occasions I have encountered him when trying to report an inability to pay a car park fee due to the parking machines not working. He had better give me a wide berth in the future!

 

Some modelling was undertaken this afternoon whilst watching the latest non-performance by Rooney's Rams. Things are not looking good.

 

I am hoping that those two things will not be followed by a third - you know what they say about things happening in threes! Is that why anxiety levels are back at a high?

 

Stay safe all.

 

Andy

It's probably a hassle but if he has been rude before report him. If no one reports incidents then he will carry on being rude. I know it's stressful job but they shouldn't be rude.

[New Haven Neil]

16 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I often find generalized observations about Americans to be quite inaccurate. This one however is very accurate. The majority of Americans do not seem able to pronounce Worcestershire. New Englanders are an exception and place names like Worcester, Leicester and Gloucester are very familiar to them.

 

The substitution of the sound 'sheer' for 'shire' when used as a suffix is foreign to Americans as well. Australians can pronounce 'Worcestershire', but will pronounce 'shire' (like 'ire') when referring to the local government jurisdiction. It is usually two words like "Tweed Shire" thus Tweed Shire Council rather than Tweedshire Council.

 

Americans can of course pronounce 'Lincoln', though many use a strange pronunciation for 'Colin'.

 

 

Us northern Brits also say 'shire' not 'sheer'.   The Worestershire was subject of a little comment in the house magazine, of the tale of a  US port authority finally giving up on the VHF trying to pronounce its name and just saying 'oh that British ship with the pink funnel' !!

 

The US is of course such a huge country ne should beware of generalisations, you are quite correct to say.

 

As a New Haven fan, I am also aware that the Greenwich in Connecticut is pronounced the 'British' way by natives of the area, as 'Grennich' not Gren-which'.  

 

 

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

If the Russians refer to General Winter, what rank does spring hold

As spring is for planting it would be Field Marshal.

Edited March 20, 2021 by Tony_S

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

"My granny told me if I can't say anything nice, it's better to say nothing". (Is that Clint Eastwood's excuse?)

"Thumper" from Bambi, if memory serves.

Quote

If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.

 

Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan was "You've gotta ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?"

[Tony_S]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"Thumper" from Bambi, if memory serves.

Thumper’s Mummy quoting his Daddy I think but it had been a while since I watched Bambi

[Winslow Boy]

37 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I was sitting cross-legged  doing the crossword earlier this afternoon but when I got up my legs went wobbly and I had an attack of pins and needles. I soon recovered but I did lose my balance and I stumbled against a pile of old magazines, one of several piles of old magazines that I am clearing out. Problem was that it set off a domino effect. I have just spent the best part of the afternoon picking up magazines. I can't find any evidence of leaks in the system and with a brand new boiler there should be no problems in that department. I did however bleed quite a bit of air from the system so I'll keep an eye on that.

Interesting so when you bled the 'system' where did the air go? Also did it help to return your balance? Only interested in case I have to do it as well.

[Gwiwer]

12 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I often find generalized observations about Americans to be quite inaccurate. This one however is very accurate. The majority of Americans do not seem able to pronounce Worcestershire

I worked with a chap in Australia who insisted on referring to "Worr-chester-shyre" Sauce.  Worr-sess-ter is not uncommon but his version was new to me.  The Americans get their own back with the likes of Arkansas and Yosemite.  Australinas just can't pronounce place names ending in -mouth in the English manner; it is always pronounced in full rather than excised to "mth"  Derby is Derr-bee where as any fan of the Midland Railway will tell you it should be Darr-bee.  And Perth in Western Australia is, oddly enough, Perth but in Scotland it is always "Pairth" 

 

In other news - well - that was an afternoon and some.  Four hours setting the settings for and then hosting a zoom meeting.  None of us has done it at that level before; some of us have used the basic "free" version of a handful of people for up to 40 minutes which lacks many of the features a fully licensed meeting offers.  I had people telling me to do this, do that, find the button down there, set up polls and all sorts.  At the end of the day we muddled through, I have a record (and indeed a recording though that will be deleted) of what is required and we were entertained to a most informative presentation on "After Eurostar" at Waterloo International Terminal.  

 

New Neighbours have moved across from their first-floor flat to become Next Door.  We shall see how that goes with two very young children and a mother who seems to speak no English and has different cultural expectations to the rest of us here.  We have to impress upon her that SWMBO remains clinically vulnerable and is not prepared to have young children who freely associate with others run up to her - which they might naturally do.  The same applies to me - anyone approaching me can theoretically transmit the virus which I then pass on.  SWMBO remains of the opinion that she is unwilling to engage more closely than a 2m distance with anyone until three weeks after her second jab.  

 

On the other hand she has been out and about a little more these past couple of days albeit very careful with her social distancing.  She has accepted the voluntary role of Environmental Officer to the resident's association Upon the Hill of Strawberries and was asked to meet the other officers outdoors yesterday which she did.  She has taken the reins in both hands and by this afternoon had presented them with an Environmental Statement of Intent.  We shall see what happens with that.  

 

She has also been head-hunted by the National Trust for a very senior national role which she intends to follow up on.  As with her appointment to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew it is her LinkedIn profile and very public work record which has attracted attention.  Having Sir David Attenborough single you out for accolades and achieving a PhD in Environmental History is clearly having an effect.  As indeed it should.  

 

And now - Red Laughing Water.  Because it's Saturday night and because I can.  

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

Thumper’s Mummy quoting his Daddy I think but it had been a while since I watched Bambi

I looked it up:

Quote

Thumper: He doesn't walk very good, does he?

Mrs. Rabbit: Thumper!

Thumper: Yes, mama?

Mrs. Rabbit: What did your father tell you this morning?

Thumper: If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all.

 

[brianusa]

13 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The standard schoolbag was a wartime gas mask bag. 

 At 5 yrs old, I went to scool in 1939 prepared for action with a gas mask in a tubular cream coloured metal case which turned into a handy weapon!  As the threat of gas subsided the masks were tossed but we always had a standard school satchel for homework and to carry Dinky Toys to show when they first showed up in 1945!

      Brian.

[Ozexpatriate]

26 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 The Americans get their own back with the likes of Arkansas and Yosemite.

Curiously, pronunciations for the Arkansas River vary.

 

Infamously, some Americans can't pronounce Yosemite either. (To spare you all I shan't provide a link.)

 

Anglicizations of words derived from indigenous languages can be notoriously difficult. When presented with the name of the town where I live, most Americans don't get it right. At one point Queensland Government Railways and the Postmaster General disagreed over the spelling of Woolloongabba. (The railways had dropped an 'l'.) The post office won in the end.

 

A pet peeve is a common American pronunciation of "emu" which sounds like ee-moo rather than ee-mew. It doesn't help that it is in constant rotation in a television commercial where "limu" the emu is mascot for an insurance company (Liberty Mutual).

 

They often struggle with many Australian place names where instead of the standard Australian contraction one hears: mel-born, briss-bane and can-berrah. "Cairns" can send some into a tailspin. How hard is 'canz'?

 

Edited March 20, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

50 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

If a radiator is corroding and “gassing” that can lead to lower pressures. Are the radiators new or old? Was the system flushed when the new boiler was fitted? How old is your inhibitor?

The radiators upstairs are only seven years old but the downstairs ones must be getting on for thirty years old. There is no evidence of leakage around either of them. However there is sometimes a noise coming from the pipes that sounds like rust or limescale going through. The system was flushed when the new boiler was installed so I assume the inhibitor was added at the same time. I'll keep an eye on it, luckily the two oldest radiators are easily accessible and can be easily replaced if necessary.