Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday moaning...

Nothing (truly NOTHING) of note yesterday <yawn>

 

Taxi service for the Mrs and walked Whitney, that's all she wrote

 

6 and light rain/drizzle first thing, 14 the expected high with rain on and off all day.

 

Carry on.

[The Stationmaster]

37 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Looks like a scam to me.

A blindingly obvious scan. Like that metal mickey clown from AAAA - mah - zonn who frequently calls me a bout the laptop I am supposed to have purchased and was it really me and please press button whatever to transfer iumpteen hundred quid to him beg fore I cvan blink.

 

Any Afternoon all,

 

This mkorning's delivery from Jewson hasn't arrived yet - pah.  and someone in teh office has just told me that they don't say a.m. or p.m. for deliveries so I told him that his man did (and I have a witness as teh GD was with me in theiur branch when I placed the order.  Curremt excuse - they're waiting delivery to their depot of sharp sand, looks like their stock system isn't (a system).

 

The Good Count's daughter was visited this morning and Kerry did the job in her usual efficient manner;  I shall request her again next time I think..  That was preceded by a visit to WHS to purchase essentials, i.e the newspaper, the "Radio Times' amd MRJ.   Cold quiche for lunch.   On the horror story front the particulate filter on the car has given up the coast and will not respond to the recommended low cst treatment (a blast down the MR 4).  Replacement is big bucks, minimum £500, could be over $ £800 depending on the exact model - treble pah.

 

So not the cheeriest day of the week but all 1st world problems and it's only money so nowhere near the end of the world although Jewsons running late id s a blasted nuisance and has upset my planning for the job..  And a very pleasing piece on R4 today because on 'You & Yours' instead of having a Covid moan fest they had folk 'phoning in to talk about the good things that Covid and lockdown has done for them.  Made a nice positive change from a litany of moans coming over the airwaves.  And even the weather isn't too bad although not so sunny as yesterday but I did walk back from the surgery without a jacket on which suggests the temperature really had begun to rise somewhere above the overnight 'it's frosty' numbers.

 

Enjpy the rest of your day folks and stay safe - unlike at least 50% of the local pedestrian population who are clearly brain dead clowns who have not heard of social distancing.  Should we therefore not be surprised that the local rate of Covid infection has shown a slight upturn?

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

Back from the dentist. He initially wondered about delaying the extraction as I still had some pain. However I said it only hurt when he prodded it with a pointy thing. I got a double dose of anaesthetic and he removed the tooth. A bit stayed behind but after a bit of a rest he got that too. Aditi had walked down to collect me but the dentist didn’t want me to walk home so drove us home. It isn’t far but he seemed very concerned about me. Gave us his home phone number too. I think with my medication he was really worried about a big bleed but there was hardly any. I am very relieved the tooth is out. It has been a bit irritating and distracting recently. 
No food today and only sips of water but I had a good lunch before the dental visit. 
Tony

[The Lurker]

I am glad to hear that Tony is home safe and sound from the dentist. I hope it is not too sore when the anaesthetic wears off.

[simontaylor484]

20 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

A blindingly obvious scan. Like that metal mickey clown from AAAA - mah - zonn who frequently calls me a bout the laptop I am supposed to have purchased and was it really me and please press button whatever to transfer iumpteen hundred quid to him beg fore I cvan blink.

 

Any Afternoon all,

 

This mkorning's delivery from Jewson hasn't arrived yet - pah.  and someone in teh office has just told me that they don't say a.m. or p.m. for deliveries so I told him that his man did (and I have a witness as teh GD was with me in theiur branch when I placed the order.  Curremt excuse - they're waiting delivery to their depot of sharp sand, looks like their stock system isn't (a system).

 

The Good Count's daughter was visited this morning and Kerry did the job in her usual efficient manner;  I shall request her again next time I think..  That was preceded by a visit to WHS to purchase essentials, i.e the newspaper, the "Radio Times' amd MRJ.   Cold quiche for lunch.   On the horror story front the particulate filter on the car has given up the coast and will not respond to the recommended low cst treatment (a blast down the MR 4).  Replacement is big bucks, minimum £500, could be over $ £800 depending on the exact model - treble pah.

 

So not the cheeriest day of the week but all 1st world problems and it's only money so nowhere near the end of the world although Jewsons running late id s a blasted nuisance and has upset my planning for the job..  And a very pleasing piece on R4 today because on 'You & Yours' instead of having a Covid moan fest they had folk 'phoning in to talk about the good things that Covid and lockdown has done for them.  Made a nice positive change from a litany of moans coming over the airwaves.  And even the weather isn't too bad although not so sunny as yesterday but I did walk back from the surgery without a jacket on which suggests the temperature really had begun to rise somewhere above the overnight 'it's frosty' numbers.

 

Enjpy the rest of your day folks and stay safe - unlike at least 50% of the local pedestrian population who are clearly brain dead clowns who have not heard of social distancing.  Should we therefore not be surprised that the local rate of Covid infection has shown a slight upturn?

Would it be worth trying a dpf cleaning service such as Terraclean ?

[jonny777]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just had a phone call "All BT lines will be disconnected in the next few hours."  An obvious scam as I'm not even with BT. I dialled 1471 to be told the call was from a network "That does not transmit numbers." Its about time that if a network doesn't transmit numbers the whole network is blocked.

 

The problem with that approach, is that anyone with a switchboard extension (to a genuine number) will find all their outgoing calls will be blocked. 

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Looks like a scam to me.

Indeed it is, just like the one from last week where a nice lady phoned me twice on a mobile from "BT"  to tell me that there were lots of people abusing my internet connection and that she would should show me how if I was sitting in front of my device ......  

 

One slightly scary aspect was that she said she would (and she did!) send a verification code to my mobile.    I didn't tell her what my mobile number was, it's obviously been harvested from the internet or flogged on by some lower forms of life.    Just shows you, you've got to have your wits about you.

 

Anyway, I declined her kind offer of help, how very rude of me!

 

Oh yes, apparently I bought an iPhone off of Amazon a couple of weeks ago too

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by PupCam

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all,

 

A cooler and greyer day Upon the Hill of Strawberries until the past hour when a large yellowy thing reappeared and obligingly turned the heater on.  Heliopaws Theofrastus Pussycat has been taken for a sniff / roll / widdle / expotition around the grounds a little farther than he has been hitherto.  He remains a house cat and will not be allowed to roam freely without supervision.  The local bird population is safe and so is our little furry boss.  

 

I completely missed the minute's outage at midday as I had just arrived home and was dealing with an abundance of messages and some junk mail.  Five missed calls from mobile numbers not in my Contacts list and no messages left.  I never answer those.  If they want me they can leave a message.  Anyone who knows me knows I cannot take calls during working hours.  Anyone who does not have inbound services blocked will receive an auto-generated message advising as much.  If they do go to the voicemail it currently alerts them to the "fact" that they have called the "International Scam Detection Service" who are recording and tracing their call.  Nothing wrong with playing the nasty people at their own game eh?   

 

I doubt I shall be on the doorstep at 20 o'clock either.  My feelings about how matters have been dealt with by Westminster this past year would have me permanently banished from this place.  I offer my sympathies to all who have suffered loss, distress or other trauma caused by this ruddivirus and I am deeply sorry that we have the "Leader" we do.  Nuff said.  

 

It being suitably warm and sunny I shall take the control panel outside for more wiring in good daylight.  I may attract the attention of The Awl.  

 

[New Haven Neil]

Phizered again.  Lovely blondie nurse says I have 'thick skin' as she poked the needle in.  Never heard that before, thick yes, but not the skin.....ahem.  All very efficient, although some folk's idea of 15 minutes wait didn't much agree with the clock on the wall.  I'm in group 4 but there seemed to be a lot of group 6 sort of folk in there, they will be getting their first ones I suppose.  

 

Just starting a touch of a headache now and achey joints, same as last time.  Fish n chippy tea night so that will help with the pain.  It was odd to see the Big City so quiet, I didn't go in there during previous lockdowns, it seems so un-natural.  Of the folk out and about 30% with no masks on I'd say.  Morons.  13 new cases today, 3 from untraced sources - we can't get out of lockdown until these stop, but if they won't wear masks in public #sigh#

[PeterBB]

1 hour ago, jonny777 said:

 

The problem with that approach, is that anyone with a switchboard extension (to a genuine number) will find all their outgoing calls will be blocked. 

Which Magazine has had its own number 'spoofed' in the not too distant past so agree that this could potentially happen.

 

Hope Tony fares well and that PolyBear's 'chew some' delivery arrives soon.  Nice to hear that the dentist took Tony home. 

 

HNH finally reminded me that I too went to the dentist yesterday ... said the missing fillings were OK then asked the receptionist how soon could he make an appointment to 'sort them out'   The reminder - Apart from the cancelled dental specifically arranged replacement appointment following the fall-put fillings appointment that was not notified until I arrived at the surgery in September I had not been into Burton for a year - never seen it so empty with so many shops closed (some permanently) yet lots of people queuing to get into banks and some, as NHN states in his 'big city' without masks and with the roadworks social distancing not always possible.

 

BiL had one of the 'BT' calls.  It worried him so he rang SWMBO to sort it out for him - took some time to find out it was a scam.

Edited March 23, 2021 by PeterBB
typos then addition.

[New Haven Neil]

I see elsewhere on the forum someone did his own tooth extraction.  Eeek!

[pH]

4 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I believe there is the California bottle bill that puts a deposit on bottles and the deposit varies on the size of the bottle

Our bottle/can deposit rates, which had been in effect for decades, changed recently. Instead of different rates for different sizes/materials, it’s now ‘one price for all’ - some rates went up, some down. It makes calculation much easier if returning a mixed collection. (The big bottle return depots still record the types of containers, presumably the stats are useful.)

 

Container deposits are a great idea. It is very seldom you see a returnable container discarded (or, at least, discarded for long).

[Barry O]

more rubble dumped by next door.. more top soil removed... Looks like they will fill the garden with rubble then put loose pebbles on top. They just don't like gardens and are very wasteful  of the greenery around them.. next up is the "maximum sized extension" to the rear of the property.. means even less garden/greenery... and they don't use the recycling bin ...

 

Now when I was nowt but a lad, we had deposits on our pop bottles, if it wasn't in a bottle it was in an aluminium tin which was deposited in a bin at school for metal reuse, milk came in a returnable glass bottle (as our does today), bacon was sliced and also wrapped in paper, biscuits came out of big time and was handed to you in a brown paper bag,  we used hessian bags for transporting fruit, veg and other groceries in, cheese was cut in the shop ( I was shown how to do that)  and wrapped in paper.. why even fish and chips came in used newspaper.. of course the world has "improved" a lot since then... and there is a whole industry out there selling... packaging...

 

PAH!

baz 

 

 

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

 

 

Oh yes, apparently I bought an iPhone off of Amazon a couple of weeks ago too

 

me too, an i-phone 7 for £329. I didn't stop to listen to any more

[PupCam]

19 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Now when I was nowt but a lad, we had deposits on our pop bottles, if it wasn't in a bottle it was in an aluminium tin which was deposited in a bin at school for metal reuse, milk came in a returnable glass bottle (as our does today), bacon was sliced and also wrapped in paper, biscuits came out of big time and was handed to you in a brown paper bag,  we used hessian bags for transporting fruit, veg and other groceries in, cheese was cut in the shop ( I was shown how to do that)  and wrapped in paper.. why even fish and chips came in used newspaper.. of course the world has "improved" a lot since then... and there is a whole industry out there selling... packaging...

But you tell that to the kids of today and they'll not believe you (or me) .....

 

 

[Barry O]

14 minutes ago, PupCam said:

But you tell that to the kids of today and they'll not believe you (or me) .....

 

 

 

Aye, nut back then I was in the true best county in the world.. County Durham...

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

The problem with that approach, is that anyone with a switchboard extension (to a genuine number) will find all their outgoing calls will be blocked. 

That happenned when I was working as none of the forces outgoing calls carried a number with them. They had to install special lines in all the comms rooms to enable operators to make essential outgoing calls.

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

One for the Q.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I was sorting out the pile of magazines when I came across a copy of the GW Journal. That put paid to any more sorting as I sat down to read it. I've decided on chicken tandori for tonights dinner, toad in the hole can wait until tomorrow.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, pH said:

Container deposits are a great idea. It is very seldom you see a returnable container discarded (or, at least, discarded for long).

 

As kids it was a real find if we found a pop bottle that we could take back for the deposit.  I very much doubt that kids in all but the deprived areas would bother nowadays.

 

Kitchen is now tiled - a small area just off the kitchen remains - nine tiles worth, plus some cut pieces.  That's tomorrow's job - some grouting may also take place, though I've a feeling that this will happen on Thursday morning in one hit.  One particularly wonky area of kitchen floor was flagged up by Bear at the start of the job as needing to be level, since the fridge freezer stands on it and the wheels at the back can't be height adjusted - this has previously had packing pieces beneath one wheel in order to stop it leaning sideways.  Tiler was happy that his spirit level indicated a level surface today, in two planes; Bear then produced a Clinometer and checked again, purely for fun - level to less than 0.1 degrees in both planes.  You can't ask better than that.  Bear and Tiler very happy - it seems to have become a bit of a challenge job for him, and a matter of pride.  Could do with a few more traders like him.

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

America has a terrible record for environmental protection. There are some states that are 'supposed' to be quite progressive, California being the most well known but compared to us and Europe they are so far behind its unbelievable.

 

One of the factors is that because of country being so big there is a tendency to move away from the problem rather than stay put and reuse. There was a fascinating documentary a few years ago about how they get rid of their waste mainly by land fill as they just don't recycle.

I made an observation the other day about generalizations of the United States.

 

I'm not going to bother to try to refute your assumptions point by point. To do so would involve politics which is out of bounds here.

 

Oregon was the first state to introduce a "bottle bill" in 1972. Essentially every* single serve, glass, metal or plastic beverage container is mandated to be recycled and the consumer pays a deposit fee that can be recouped when the container is empty.

 

* There are some exceptions, like wine, spirits, milk, etc.

 

The Oregon bottle bill was introduced to reduce highway litter, worked exceptionally well, and been copied by many states. It's not without issues, particularly lately when drop off points were closed with the excuse of social distancing during the pandemic.

 

Like most places in US cities, I have three wheelie bins and a crate to leave out on bin day. The wheelie bins are for yard waste, paper, metal and plastics recycling, and general refuse. The crate is for glass recycling. There are rules like lids must be removed from all containers and are not recyclable.

 

Oregon banned single use plastic bags beginning on January 1, 2020. Sadly, with the pandemic, (after selling reusable bags) grocery stores refused to handle customers' bags, resulting in even more plastics being produced since customers are now sent home with durable, multi-use plastic bags.

 

With the exception of PETE (1) and HDPE (2), plastics recycling is sadly wishful thinking. Until 2018 many western countries shipped their "recyclable" plastic to China riding in the return journey of otherwise empty containers that left China full of Chinese manufactured goods. These days it ends up in vast piles in places like Malaysia and Indonesia where it is often burned.

 

Recycling of any plastic beyond PETE and HDPE is vastly more expensive than using raw materials. Certainly some countries (not the US) have mandated that the cost be borne by packaging manufacturers with so-called "EPR" extended producer responsibility legislation. The US is behind here and politics restrains me from discussing it further.

 

I'll also note that rarely does any analysis of recycling factor transport, sort, energy, water and carbon footprint into the equation. Does recycling consume more resources than original manufacture? Additionally, full cycle plastics recycling (like plastic bottle » plastic bottle) is rare anywhere.  More often it is one-time, "down-cycling" (like plastic bottle » park bench / synthetic decking). Better than nothing I grant you but not quite the "promise" of recycling.

 

I could go on. I'll spare you all and stop.

[Tony_S]

I certainly didn’t feel a thing at the dentist. Everything seemed fine when I got home but the local anaesthetic stopped working quite suddenly after about 3  hours. Paracetamol and codeine has fortunately worked quite well. The dentist wanted me to start another course of antibiotics too so I took one of those. Aditi has a dental appointment tomorrow but hopefully nothing painful. I thought the dentist would cancel my routine 6 month appointment next week but he wants to see me “just to follow up”. 
I have a quite a series over the last year and considering the Covid outbreak a the same time I have been so well cared for and treated . I know there are regional differences in NHS provision but I have nothing but praise. We get a bit of a break from routine medical appointments and will continue to do our best to avoid A&E, though I have treated myself to a new cordless Dremel which has many sharp pointy bits capable of damaging me. 
Tony

Edited March 23, 2021 by Tony_S

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, pH said:

Container deposits are a great idea. It is very seldom you see a returnable container discarded (or, at least, discarded for long).

And the programs have legislated reporting on effectiveness, including redemption rates.

 

You can see a summary of the California bottle bill here. For the last year documented (2013) the redemption rate of aluminium cans was 92% which is pretty good. On this site, the Oregon data was not as good with 77% redemption rate of metal in 2012.

 

Looking at data directly from the state, Oregon redemption rate of metal cans in 2019 was 91.16%.

[Ian Abel]

As @Ozexpatriate already noted, generalizations are, at best, wildly inaccurate/incorrect.

I can only address my location/state (Minneapolis and Minnesota), and won't go into historical details, but simply explain that, IN FACT, we recycle a significant amount of items and have done so for many years (15-20). We had curbside recycling pickup even when my brother in Oxford and then Lewes was "optionally" taking bottles and paper to bottle-banks etc., for recycling and therefore, deemed it too much trouble to haul the stuff all over town and just chucked it away!

 

Here, all locales have household recycling bin(s), some separate glass/paper/metal at pickup point, some separate at the recycle location, our metro area even has compostable recycling, both for households and commercial locations. Many of the food services/restaurants now use compostable containers for food to add to the recycling possibilities.

We recycle "everything possible" including plastic bags, a separate category, with a specific pickup service.

 

Our household, as a result, has a very small garbage/rubbish amount each week, as more than probably 70% of what we dispose of is recycled in one category or another.

I CANNOT attest to how well the recycle plants actually process what they receive, that's way beyond my pay-grade, but in terms of what we "seem" to be able to recycle, the local area I'm in does an extremely good job of providing for the ability to separate garbage from recyclables of all types.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Ian Abel

[Gwiwer]

In other news there is an echo in the editor again 

 

In other news there is an echo in the editor again

 

The “click-clack” sofabed which has served us well in both its capacities for many years has reached the end of its useful life. Investment was made this evening in a replacement fixed sofa which arrives in a couple of weeks’ time. 
 

We considered a direct replacement but felt those available were not to our liking and/or looked a little “lightweight”. We also have a single “zed-bed” chair which, once the ruddivirus restrictions ease, will be perfectly adequate for a solo overnight guest. Only once in all the years have two people stayed over requiring deployment of the “click-clack” 

 

His Pawship will miss it; it has at times been a favoured scratching post. He has a perfectly good one of those anyway but cat people know how cats are with furniture    

 

And thus was Tuesday. Sleep well stay safe.