Early Risers.

[tigerburnie]

Morning, blazing sun but only 3 degrees, been to the Doc's for my second Oxford AZ, so if I get lost, Bill Gates will be able to find me.....................................

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

....

@iL Dottore for some people the cheap holiday abroad gets them out of their everyday hummy drummy existence. Lots of people who make a living supporting these holiday makers have little or no other income... and are facing major problems regarding food and survival.....
...What are the alternatives for joe public? Can they afford them ? We already see mental health issues as a problem..stopping all holidays won't help...

 

Baz, it’s unfortunate but in the travel business there are a very few people making an inordinately obscene amount of money on the backs of a huge workforce that gets paid very badly. The beardy-one springs to mind.

One thing that the pandemic has made very clear is that an awful lot of people in the travel and hospitality industries are making a pittance with a very few getting obscenely rich on their efforts. Should this change? Definitely! Will it change? Who knows, but probably not by much.

I certainly didn’t say, or meant to imply, that holidays should be stopped. But the question that has to be faced is “ must they be cheap AND abroad“?  Switzerland is already dealing with that question and over Easter, you couldn’t find accommodation (hotel or rental) in the mountains and Swiss hinterland for love or money, as all available beds had been snapped up by the Swiss. So inland holidays seem to be a growing industry, at least in Switzerland.

Unfortunately, the cheap package holiday in the UK has put paid to good quality, low-cost holidays in Britain. London is now eye wateringly expensive (my last five day long weekend in London cost me a little under £2000 for everything [flights, accommodation, meals, drinks, shopping and entertainment]) and outside of London is little better; furthermore, the sort of mass market holidays of the 50s and 60s-such as holiday camps  and boarding houses -  no longer cut the mustard (and at far too many levels) 

Finally, one must not forget the final nail in the coffin: the incredibly variable and sometimes unpleasant British weather.

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

I make a point of calling it a Christian name.

Of which my first is of a WW2 battle in Africa that few of heard of, and as far as I know I'm the only one in the world with it.

Battle of...
Sidi Barrani?
Hi Sid!

Tell el Aqqaqir?
Hi Tel!

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear is happy to perform a full, free technical appraisal of such a device - just post' em down.  Sadly the tests cannot be performed on a non-destructive basis though, so return isn't possible.  Hic...

 

 

Bear's sayin' now't......

 

Incidentally, Bear did Google "positive Wasserman";  now that would REALLY be an unfortunate name.....

1) Bad bear!
2) You don’t have to, a picture is worth 1000 words!

3) Apparently a true story (according to one of my American gynaecologist acquaintances). Most of the way through the last century until, I believe, the late 80s, many states required a Wasserman test to be done on all neonates as the disease it tests for (syphilis) can be passed from mother to child.  Primary syphilis can be overlooked (especially amongst, how can I put it, the slightly less intellectually gifted) and thus be transmittable to any offspring.

Anyway, according to the story told by my acquaintance, when the mother of this unfortunate baby was told that the baby tested positive apparently the mother replied that she would name the baby positive Wasserman because she had never passed a test in her life!

1 hour ago, jonny777 said:

 

Just you wait until Brenda dies. You have seen nothing yet....

That, Jonny, is the biggest understatement since Noah said “it looks like we might be in for a light shower“ I think when the Queen dies, or she finally steps down-whatever comes first-it will be interesting to see what will happen about the line of succession. There is a lot of disquiet in the establishment that actually runs the country, that Charles might be a bit too outspoken and passionate about inconvenient things to become King. I suspect that when he is on the throne (if that happens) then he will be a lot more interventional than the Queen has been. I wrote “if that happens“ because I have read a number of speculative articles suggesting that the throne should jump a generation and go directly to William. How this would be managed, I have not the faintest idea.

In regards to Tracey Emin, I am utterly appalled. Given that a lot of her extensive surgery was probably avoidable had she received effective treatment earlier had certain managers in certain parts of the NHS NOT made the unconscionable and indefensible panic-stricken decision to shut everything down even for life-threatening conditions like cancer and severe heart disease (some opinion writers have suggested that the death toll due to cancelled and deferred treatment for life threatening disease could be higher in the end than the death toll due to Covid).

 

Now I understand the ancient Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times“

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by iL Dottore

[Gwiwer]

Good morning all. 
 

A slower start to the day today being the weekend. Croissants and coffee were enjoyed for breakfast. 
 

Now we await delivery of the new sofa which is so far (see what I did there?) on track for 11.00 - 11.30. 
 

Following that I shall assemble said beast, disassemble the old beast, clean and tidy the mess and put everything where it needs to go.  New sofa on carpet, old sofa on roadside*, recycling in skips and vacuum cleaner fluff in bin bag. 
 

If there’s any get-up-and-go left in me thrn the two parcels from Camborne which arrived yesterday require my attention. 
 

* The authorised location for a booked council collection. Not for use by wayside pixies, stray dogs or other curious passers-by. 
 

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Gwiwer

[JohnDMJ]

Good Morning,

 

Several good points raised in previous (well, they couldn't be later, could they?!) posts but I have chosen one on which to comment:

 

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

I make a point of calling it a Christian name.

 

As a confirmed agnostic, I despise this term and prefer, as has been hinted by others herein, forename, vorname, prénom, et alia.

 

Each to their own; I may be christian in my views but I am most emphatically NOT a Christian!

[Simon G]

Morning all,

Very bright and sunny here but also very cold this morning.  When I first ventured outside, it was barely above freezing, and I don’t expect it to warm up much today.  I can still enjoy some sunshine though.  Before that, decorating is being done.  The painting of the spare bedroom seems to have gone on forever, and we are still not half done yet.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend, half will be complete, and I can move all the furniture back and do the other half.

 

Our first grandchild is still showing no signs of wanting to enter into this world.  Now 10 days overdue and counting!

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon  from the Charente.   We managed quiteca bit yesterday. The oldvivy on the back of thevshed did notvwant to surrender. The secret weapon of a determined wife  armed with a hoe, was deployed and unconditional  surrenderbwas the result. The trailer was filled with the debris. At lunchtimevwe heard the sad but not not unexpected news from Windsor arrived.

 

He was my favourite Royal and I liked his approach to life.  I suspect that Princess Anne will inherit that niche. I will almost certainly watch the funeral as i would probably have gone over pre Covid. 

 

Anyway todaybstarted with our usual chat with Emily and her Mums. Her vocabulary is growing every week and she is great credit to her mums.   Then it was off to the tip to get rid of the ivy, then on to a DIY place to buy onebof the 1000l plastic cubes in a steel frame. This will hopefully harvest half of the rainwater from our house roof.  I now need to get the base prepared then put about 4 pallets on it so it's high enough to fill watering cans.

 

As to holidays, my brother has just booked a break in Padstow in July .  However  he was unable to get a reservation at any of the fancy eateries. Obviously staycations are in vogue.  This is despite the fact that as q retired BA pilot he could get very good flight deals.

 

Enough of my pratelling now.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Old man with Ladder, he say; No problem, Bungalow with low roof. 

 

Bear's Roofer (who converted Bear's lean-to style Conservatory to a "substantially glazed structure" six years ago by getting rid of the bl00dy awful plastic roof in favour of a lightweight tiled roof + insulation etc. - a highly recommended practice, Bear would add ) did the roof on this tower:

 

 

Incidentally, his dad was still going up on the roofs - despite being in his late 80's - his son admitted to being a little uneasy about it, and the team would keep a good eye on him and give him the easier (= safer) jobs

 

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

She now has a urostomy bag, which must be a nightmare - and she is only 57.

 

Which apparently can need emptying as often as every 20 minutes, which must be an absolute nightmare in real life.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Baz, it’s unfortunate London is now eye wateringly expensive (my last five day long weekend in London cost me a little under £2000 for everything [flights, accommodation, meals, drinks, shopping and entertainment]) and outside of London is little better; furthermore, the sort of mass market holidays of the 50s and 60s-such as holiday camps  and boarding houses -  no longer cut the mustard (and at far too many levels) 

 

 

One of Bear's neighbour's recently enquired about going to Butlins (2 + 2 kids I think).  That'll be eight hundred quid, sir.  For 3 days....

 

1 hour ago, JohnDMJ said:

As a confirmed agnostic, I despise this term and prefer, as has been hinted by others herein, forename, vorname, prénom, et alia.

 

Each to their own; I may be christian in my views but I am most emphatically NOT a Christian!

 

The term "Christian" name will no doubt soon be declared racist and/or offensive.  Oh, hang on, eleven years too late:

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1258872/Police-banned-asking-someones-Christian-offend-faiths.html

 

1 hour ago, Simon G said:

Before that, decorating is being done.  The painting of the spare bedroom seems to have gone on forever, and we are still not half done yet.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend, half will be complete, and I can move all the furniture back and do the other half.

 

 

Bear feels your pain...

However, Bear has this very morning finished the last coat on the last walls   It feels rather good, too...

 

34 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Anyway today started with our usual chat with Emily and her Mums.

 

Bear confused - how many "Mums" does Emily have exactly?  Does iD have a story for The Lancet here?

 

In other news:

Bear will now play "Use By" Bingo, so it's Ravioli (Co-op pre-packed) and Pasta Sauce (out of a jar) for din dins, with some assorted small veg (frozen) thrown in for good measure.  Bear detects iD's horror from here - though with no kitchen any culinary excellence is decidedly limited.  A fine excuse that Bear is sticking to....

Edited April 10, 2021 by polybear

[Sir TophamHatt]

Good afternoon.

 

What started as a lovely morning has certainly clouded over now.

 

Shame as I have to over-seed the lawn and then net it.  Was my £60 on an aerator worth it?  Not so sure.  Will see after the seed grows.

Also have to order the new house aerial, send back the old one, start seriously thinking about a new TV and "chat" to TalkTalk who sent yet another bill yesterday.  Why my account isn't closed with them, I don't know.

All while soldering a different speaker to a loco, testing it and then testing the Hattons 66, which on it's preliminary test didn't do very well at all.

 

What a hullabaloo!

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone 

 

Late on parade this morning, mainly due to life and certain jobs getting in the way. It started off dull and there has been some rain, but  it much. Currently sat on the bench under the workshop window having a muggertea in the sunshine. 

 

Plans for the rest of the day are to rake over the area where the old path was and remove stones that will inevitably keep turning up. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian 

[jamie92208]

33 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bearr confused - how many "Mums" does Emily have exactly?  Does iD have a story for The Lancet here?

 

I

Oh dear the thought of a confused bear is not for mortal man to face with equanimity.  The answer is very simple. Our daughter Rachel is happily married to Laura and Emily is their daughter.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Afternoon all.

It is rather overcast and forecast to rain. It seemed colder out then the temperature suggested due to the breeze. I only went out to look for some phono leads in my “may be useful one day” box. I found some. I will need them for a new record player which is in order. The old one (mid 1970s) had just started to fail. I had checked everything but eventually decided to retire it. 
Aditi has mentioned getting out all the records her Dad bought for her when she was growing up. He wasn’t particularly keen on European classical music but he thought his daughters should be so bought lots of classic LP sets. Of course Aditi at the time was more keen on  The Beach Boys or Bob Dylan. 
There will be more dal for lunch today though I am well enough now to cope with a samosa too. Waitrose samosas, not homemade. We haven’t got the “right” flour.  It is available online but not in small size packs or if it is available it is at silly prices. Anyway I like the Waitrose samosas.

As for names, if anyone asks for my Christian name, I just reply with something like my first name is ... or my forename is ... rather than denouncing them for insensitivity. Aditi usually says something similar but even now gets the “what an unusual name, where is it from, what does it mean?”  Though when Aditi worked in her first college she was convinced there were staff and students who didn’t even know her surname! 
Tony

 

[PupCam]

Afternoon Awl.   Just to finally put this one to bed .....

 

Puppers was recently very fortunate to be given a long lost box of family treasures including family photographs from the last 100+ years and various artefacts which happened to include a copy of the official souvenir programme for the Queen's Coronation.

I think it's fair to assume that they got the spelling of HRH Prince Philip  (ie Philip Mountbatten) correct in said publication .....

 

14 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I do suspect that in the case of HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh it is the Greek spelling ( Φίλιππος ) that is influential. With one lambda, the translated result is one "L". I of course have no idea what is on his actual birth certificate / naturalization papers etc.

Looks like your theory was correct!

 

15 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Its the official announcement that is wrong, it should be two L's.

Time to put the spade down now ....

 

[jonny777]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

There will be more dal for lunch today though I am well enough now to cope with a samosa too. Waitrose samosas, not homemade. We haven’t got the “right” flour.  It is available online but not in small size packs or if it is available it is at silly prices. Anyway I like the Waitrose samosas.

Tony

 

 

You may have tried these people (if so - ignore this post), but I get a lot of my spices and non-wheat flour from them. They do seem to be quite good value compared with inflated prices charged for tiny amounts by supermarkets. 

 

https://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/GroundSpices-p1.html

[Tony_S]

32 minutes ago, PupCam said:

f HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh it is the Greek spelling ( Φίλιππος )

A capital P and two lower case p letters I think!
 

[simontaylor484]

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

I make a point of calling it a Christian name.

Of which my first is of a WW2 battle in Africa that few of heard of, and as far as I know I'm the only one in the world with it.

My second Christian name, is normally a Scottish surname, there used to be a web site with counts of the number of people with that Christian or surname.. There were 175 people in the UK with that name as a Christian one.

El Alamein McTavish ?

[simontaylor484]

The problem with UK Family holidays is the cost and the weather in my opinion. 

 

National holidays used to do hotel fillers by coach that were reasonable cost but more older end of the market.

 

A couple of years ago we looked at going to center parcs for a week for 4 of us it was a lot of money then you had to pay extra for a lot of activities.

 

We had a caravan for a bit we enjoyed it but you still had to do the cooking and the like.

 

But the main problem was the weather it could be hell with everything wet through 

 

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

 

You may have tried these people (if so - ignore this post), but I get a lot of my spices and non-wheat flour from them. They do seem to be quite good value compared with inflated prices charged for tiny amounts by supermarkets. 

 

https://www.spicesofindia.co.uk/acatalog/GroundSpices-p1.html

Thank you, that is one I had found before and they do seem to have more in stock now than earlier this year. If we were desperate we could get one of their 1kg packs and pay the postage charge. We don’t really want a 15kg small family pack. Once we are able to visit MiL again we will be able to get most Indian things as in addition to her Ocado delivery her cleaner brings her Indian grocery stuff. Her cleaner also comes one day a week now to help with cooking. Before Covid MiL would organise batches of chappati for us to bring home and freeze. 
Lots of recipes for samosa suggest various alternative flours but apparently do not taste right to certain people so chakki atta or nothing it seems. 
 

Edited April 10, 2021 by Tony_S

[Mike Bellamy]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

 Our daughter Rachel is happily married to Laura 

 

Our son Andrew is happily married to his husband Andy - although both having the same  Christian  first name does get a bit confusing at times !

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. On the subject of forenames one of my maternal grandmothers names was Alma, inherited from her mother and grandmother. It is derived from the battle of Alma during the Crimean war so being named after a battle is nothing new. Another naming tradition from Victorian times is the practice of using a surname, quite often the mothers maiden name as a second forename and sometimes as a first forename. My uncle had the second name of Gower and his uncle had it as a first name. When doing family history research I took a guess and entered it as a surname and I found that it had been a surname from a couple of generations further back as well as giving another branch of the family tree to investigate. The only way that Charles is not going to become king is if he dies before his mother. Over the past few years he has increasingly taken over many of the queens duties and in a few years time he will probably take over more of the duties and become king in all but name.

[jonny777]

38 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

The problem with UK Family holidays is the cost and the weather in my opinion. 

 

<snip>

 

We had a caravan for a bit we enjoyed it but you still had to do the cooking and the like.

 

But the main problem was the weather it could be hell with everything wet through 

 

 

I have contemplated the idea of a static caravan, which all the family could use if and when they fancied a break. However, some people quote site fees at around £5000 a year, which seems a bit steep. 

 

One could get a decent number of UK holidays for that outlay each year. 

[Andrew P]

I'm often called Peter, or Mr Andrews, even I look around to see who their talking to sometimes.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Apologies as ever for another prolonged absence.   Generic greetings are, as ever, all that I can offer.

 

Lily had her operation on Wednesday, and was home and feeling very sorry for herself - she had one of these elasticated suits like a baby-gro, but in preparation for the expected rejection of this, I had been phoning round all the vets locally, to try to get one of these inflatable buster collars, and got the only one in the entire Lancaster area from a vet in Carnforth.  It was 2am on Thursday morning when she managed (God knows how) to remove said onsie without assistance, and it was a very early blowing up of the collar, which she has been wearing ever since - see image below.

 

Also on Wednesday we said goodbye to our neighbour Anne, who insisted to her daughter that we should attend her sending off - due to Lily's op that morning, we were running very late, and actually arrived at the church after Anne did - I'm sure she'd have understood that Lily's welfare was paramount - as Anne was Lily's greatest fan, and Lil was actually mentioned by name in the eulogy, as being one of the dogs whom anne loved greatly - well Lil had been visiting her from puppyhood to a few days before Anne passed away.  A lovely service, and the minister was not too religious, and struck a good balance - afterwards, we had to skip the crematorium, as we had to be on call in case there was any problem with Lil's surgery.  Anne's daughter came round after the funeral with two lovely boxes of food, as all those who attended the crem got one - and she wanted to be sure that we didn't miss out - a very nice touch indeed.

 

Then on Thursday I had my induction for a new volunteering role at the new Age UK furniture and electricals shop which opens on Monday - my role (surprise) is books  - as that is where my main skill lies.  While I was there, I saw a little chest freezer which is something that we have wanted here for a while - so I asked the manager, who is another 73119/30747 if she would mark it sold to me, and it will be delivered Wednesday.

 

Also on Wednesday, we have finally managed after several months to negotiate a new washing machine from Indesit to cover the one which they could not repair - new one is being delivered Wednesday.

 

So as the existing washing m/c will need to go in the garage, which is also where the freezer is going - guess what - the garage needed yet another tidy up.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

Edited April 10, 2021 by 45156
added text

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon all,

 

I suspect names will always be a minefield. Calling them christian names can cause offence to non-Christians. First names isn't always a 'safe' option either - some cultures put the 'family' name first. 'Given' name? I can't think of a problem with that - though I'm sure somebody would. I narrowly escaped being named 'Christian', much to my later relief. (Further comment would not be appropriate...). I've never been very fond of my 'given' names, most of my friends do not use them and call me something else. In a way, it's probably a throwback to the old custom of a child taking a new name (of their own choosing) on their maturity. Though those were the times when most people only had one name and if further clarification was needed, would say X 'of [a particular place/trade]'. See Ivor's 'Jones the Steam'. Or 'Jones Pandy Mill', 'Billy Twice' or 'Evans Above'...

 

Venturing out this morning for the usual obligations, I saw quite a few examples of vexillological ignorance. Contrary to popular belief, a flag at half-mast is not flown half-way up the flagpole. It should be a flag's depth down from the top. The Tower may become a touch overcrowded shortly... 

 

Well, for those following the electrical saga, it wasn't just me. The sparky was baffled too. He ran out of time this time but round two is booked, this time we mean business. 

 

I have been thinking about holidays a bit recently. None last year and this year, though booked, is looking very doubtful. I would agree that holidays in the UK tend to be very expensive. Some years ago, I lived next to a holiday caravan site for a couple of years and had my eyes opened to many of the 'practices' operated. It would have been far cheaper for the inmates (sorry, campers) to have taken cheap flights to Spain for a week on Costa Sunburn. I guess it depends what you want. If it's a week's sun, sand, alcohol and etc., then the way consumer society has developed, we fly those who choose this option out to resorts and let them indulge their passions. Which comes at a price (environmentally and otherwise) but it gives them some happiness. For those of us who (for whatever reasons) do not find this option attractive, we usually end up paying far more to holiday within the UK and get the type of holiday we want. Which can be a week or two of what we regard as 'Fun', but our version seems to be priced far higher and that grates. 

 

'Mr Grumpy'. 

[AndrewC]

Good day all. 

Since the world seems a bit gloomy at the moment I'm happy to share that after 2 1/2 years of prostate cancer treatment, FiL's PSA is down to 0.02. 

 

On the subject of first names etc, does anyone know the origin of people going by their middle names? Many of my older/elderly friends all go by their middle name instead of their first name. The only commonality between them is they all served, and all overseas. Just seems to common to be a coincidence. My dad had no middle name on his birth certificate, but did on all his Canadian immigration papers and his death certificate. A mystery that went to the grave with him. 

 

Shopping done. Mid day snooze done. Time to putter in the kitchen. Enjoy the rest of the day. 

[tigerburnie]

Sainsbugs delivered the goodies, only one item went back, there were 12 mistakes from Tesco's, I think they may have been binned for now.

We live 1 mile from the sea, half an hour from the Angus Glens and our daughter has a big farmhouse in Perthshire and our son has a decent sized abode darn sarf if we fancy a change. We like travel, but to be honest a holiday is unlikely to happen this year, we have a couple of nights still booked in Edinburgh to use up sometime.