Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

8 hours ago, PeterBB said:

Reminds one of Edwina Currie and chicken eggs - she had it on her face but was absolutely correct ... you can see why politicians don't like telling the truth!

Edwina Currie, now there's a name from the past, and a Major talking point at the time.

[TheQ]

GROAN

[45156]

Morning All

 

I was a true ER this morning, as the washing machine delivery people texted to say between 07.00 and 10.00 - nad just had a phone call to say they are here in the next ten minutes.

 

Back later, but meantime - any fans of gypsy jazz out there - check this out - it's phenomenal - this lad and his mates just get better and better.  I've now been following him since he was about fourteen.

 

 

[AndrewC]

Greetings from the boring borough. 

Lost: one life mojo. Can't be ar$ed to offer a reward. 

 

Another day, another meh. Another certification exam tomorrow, so today I shall mostly be hiding from asshats in order to get some study time. 

 

Just a flying visit to wish you all a good day. 

[TheSignalEngineer]

14 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Edwina Currie, now there's a name from the past......

And currently trying to make a comeback in local politics, standing in the Derbyshire CC elections next month.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning. It's cold here, 2 degrees, but sunny.  The trip out forceye tests took most of the day yesterday. The centre was well organised and we all got tested in god order. A picnic in a seaside car park then followed. Some very nice home made food. Beth and her friend Tina had shared the preparation.  Then on the way home we called at the local opticians and the two ladies ordered new glasses. They are expensive over here. I could order a top end loco kit for that amount, though the insurance picks up half.  I didn't need new ones so might be cheeky and suggest a kit purchase. On the other hand I better not.

 

Shopping this morning then probably the G word, which has been mentioned.

 

Dave H, I hope that there is some better news from the hospital today.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

 

 

[PeterBB]

Not good to hear that Dave's Dad is in isolation - curtains round beds all the time ... diabolical - hope that Dave can see him soon as that is what he needs. 

Edited April 14, 2021 by PeterBB

[polybear]

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

There was another happy discovery on YouTube yesterday - a clip of the last movement of “Midnight Mushrumps” by Gryphon, recorded at the Union Chapel in Islington in May 2015. 

 

Bear could post a clip of his last movement - however I suspect AY would be less than impressed.....

 

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

I suspect that the single carriageway bits of the A303 can only feasibly be improved off-line, ie deviating from the present route, if significant property demolition is to be avoided.  In short, it is too difficult.

 

 

 

Judging by the number of years all and sundry have been arguing over the section past Stonehenge I suspect you could be right.  Why they just don't move the bl00dy stones a quarter of a mile sideways is beyond this Bear - a bit of surveying and landscaping and you'll never know the difference.  They're as boring as hell anyway.

Incoming....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

The joys of business travel!

Actually, I’ve been very lucky with my business travel over the years.  The companies I’ve worked for have been particularly generous with their business travel policies: business class long haul flights (where “long haul” is anything over three hours), first class train travel, taxis as and when needed and hotels were generally either boutique hotels (if I could get a good deal) or four-star properties. I preferred to have everything receipted, rather than get a cash sum for my travel expenses. Firstly, because I didn’t need to scrimp and save to make a few extra bob as I was more than adequately paid and secondly, because the daily rate for the destination was invariably two or three years out of date. 

Mind you, the generosity of the business travel policies was not out of the goodness of their hearts; when you are working in an industry that quite literally can spend hundreds of millions of pounds on projects, you don’t want your employees to be so discomfited by travel and accommodation that bad decisions are made from either exhaustion, jetlag or any of the myriad discomforts that economy travel and accommodation bring. The other factor in the generous business travel policy was that heavy travel demands were made of us. Not for us the once quarterly, every six months or once yearly business trip; when studies were starting up I would be doing as many as 15 business trips in a month (or a multi-continent itinerary of 4 to 6 weeks). I’m not sure that I have the stamina for that sort of travel any more, even with the comforts of business class travel and more than decent accommodation.

 

Travelling so much did allow me, through experience, to formulate travel guidelines that have served me well for pleasure as well as business.

• if you are travelling for pleasure, try to take the holiday on the seasonal. “shoulder” (i.e. just before the season properly starts or just at its’ end). At those times nothing is shut, unlike during the “off-season”, but the crowds are gone (having said that, places like Venice or Florence are only worth visiting nowadays in the depth of the off-season)
• the only reason for flying business class is the seat/space. Lie-flat seats take the agony out of long haul and allow you get some sleep. Economy on a decent airline (e.g. not on Ryanair or similar) is more than adequate for something like ZRH-LCY
• by flying via a third country (e.g. LHR-CDG-IAD) you can get business class tickets for not much more than full-fare economy
• the best seating on BA’s 747-400s (when they flew them) was the upper deck
• ”luxury” accommodation isn’t necessarily defined by the number of stars it has - I’ve stayed in some pretty dire, so-called “4-Star”, properties and some pretty amazing “boutique” hotels and B&Bs
• if you look up the layout of your accommodation ahead of time you can ask for a room that is nowhere near a) the lift, b] the outside air conditioning plant, c) the kitchen or d) the disco/all-night bar (I once spent a hellish night in Paris in an elderly 4-star hotel in a room right next to the lift shaft). If your like peace, quiet and an odourless room.
• it used to be that you couldn’t get a decent meal in a hotel restaurant and the breakfast was inevitably “industrial”. That has certainly changed, with chefs like Tom Kerridge opening great restaurants in hotels (but breakfasts remain dire). The best breakfasts are in “boutique” hotels and B&Bs
• when eating out abroad, go where the menu is only in the local language and where there are lots of locals
• avoid - like the plague - restaurants that have menus in multiple languages and (especially) has non-seasonal items on the menu (like asparagus in December), The deep-freeze, deep-fat fryer and microwave are their friends, not yours...

and finally

• in your carry-on always pack a spare set of the necessities (underwear, socks, shirt, tie, travel toothbrush and razor), ‘cos they often will misplace your luggage even if you travel First or Business Class.

Oh dear me, all that brings back memories....

 

Eventually countries will re-open and travel will re-start and when it does I have one or two final itineraries to enjoy: both involving both serious food and serious train journeys.

 

Happy humpday!

 

iD and Bear concur; the company daily rate went out of date about twenty years ago now (if it has risen then it'll only be by a tenner or so - the days of twenty quid-ish a night B&B's are long gone, sadly.  Bear has been lucky enough to fly long-haul business on numerous occasions in recent years (does wonders for the air miles account) - though I'd never pay my own hard-earned for such privileges (the cost difference being obscene) and stayed in some cracking places such as these:

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/south-korea/grand-hyatt-seoul/selrs?src=corp_lclb_gmb_seo_selrs

https://www.hyatt.com/en-US/hotel/malaysia/grand-hyatt-kuala-lumpur/kuagh

There's been a fair few dives over the years too....

As for packing a carry-on "survival kit" - Bear still does that; it's never happened, luckily, but one day it might.....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I’m saddened to hear about Dave Hunt’s Dad’s mental state. TBH, I think that this blanket no visitor policy when patients are distressed or in extremis is NHS bureaucracy at its unthinking worst. A properly masked and socially distanced visit by DH would do wonders for his dad and carry no risk to other patients and staff (but that would require a NHS bureaucrat to deviate from “official policy” and we can’t have that....)

I do hope that the paltry measures taken by the hospital, as DH describes, will benefit his dad...

 

I'm sure that a priority Covid test (the decent one, not the iffy one) on an authorised visitor would help too.

 

In other news:

Bear has all the joys of doin' the washin' today , coupled with some more progress on the kitchen - I think measuring and marking the walls for the cabinets being the order of the day.  Little details like making sure that the distance between the top of the base units (+worktop+upstand) and the undersides of the wall units is the same as the width of four wall tiles + spacers can make life so much easier - and the finished result so much better.  Hopefully.

 

Bl00dy hell, its 08-22 and Bear isn't dressed yet....

[leopardml2341]

Mornin' folks.

 

Bit grey here, but it looks like it might brighten up later.......

[jonny777]

Dry and bright in North Somerset this morning, and not too cold with a temperature of 6C. There are some areas of blue sky in the distance again, but we have a thin area of cloud over here at the moment which seems to be moving away only slowly. 

 

I had a spell yesterday lunchtime where everything seemed to happen at once; my summer bulbs arrived, followed by an Ocado delivery, and then a couple of plants from the online garden centre I have been using as our local one has only the popular choices, and often very few of even those. 

 

At the same time the washing finished, but on trying to open up the rotary dryer I discovered the threaded lines were too tight for it to reach the required height and sit on the retaining clip. I suspect SWMBO had been fiddling with the line adjuster without bothering to open up the whole dryer. Anyway I moaned, and said I couldn't do anything with it, and she went outside and fixed it rather smartly - which to me indicated her guilt. 

 

After all that, plus finally hanging out the washing, and also planting the new arrivals.... and putting away the delivered groceries while SWMBO chatted quite happily on the phone to daughter, I decided I had done enough for the time being and so watched Judgement Day Part1 (the last round of qualifying for the snooker World Champs). These events start slowly on 8 tables, but rise to a climax as each best of 19 match nears a result, and the excellent Rob Walker switches the view from table to table to try and cover all the excitement; ably assisted this year by Ken Doherty. 

 

Day 2 is today from 11am on Facebook and Eurosport Player, so I might treat myself again. Non-snooker fans can ignore all this. The best of the lineups today is Stuart Bingham vs Luca Brecel - and this is just to get to the first round draw, for the Crucible bunfight starting on Saturday. I bet there are a few top 16 players not relishing getting the winner of that match in the first round. 

Edited April 14, 2021 by jonny777
idiot spellchecker

[Erichill16]

24 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

Judging by the number of years all and sundry have been arguing over the section past Stonehenge I suspect you could be right.  Why they just don't move the bl00dy stones a quarter of a mile sideways is beyond this Bear - a bit of surveying and landscaping and you'll never know the difference.  They're as boring as hell anyway.

Incoming......

Why bother, just but them in the crusher and use what comes out as hardcore. 
Incoming...........

Anne Onymous

[Andrew P]

55 minutes ago, PeterBB said:

Not good to hear that Dave's Dad is in isolation - curtains round beds all the time ... diabolical - hope that Dave can see him soon as that is what he needs. 

Totally agree Peter, the best medicine is FAMILY for Dave's Dad.

[45156]

Back again

 

Dave - hope things improve for your dad - isolation does not sound like the best option to me.

 

Whisky lovers - a find - it's a blended malt with peat - appears to be a blend of highland and speyside malts with some being peated varieties - it's called Abrachan, and it's sold as an own brand in Lidl - at £15.99 a pop, it's very reasonable, and it does taste pretty good for the price.

 

Generic greetings are, as ever on offer from me to all fellow ERs

 

Washing machine arrived about five minutes after I last posted, and was installed, and the old one moved to the garage, and they were gone by 8am.  Now awaiting a call to advise that the freezer which I bought in Age UK before the shop even opened is on the van for today's delivery run.

 

And finally - I got round to taking some decent pictures of the doll's house, and a couple are posted below.  It really is the most superb workmanship - I could never make anything so beautiful and detailed.

 

And with that it's

Regards to All

Stewart

[45156]

Oh and I forgot,

 

Lily had her operation revisited yesterday and was in for most of the day.  She really did some damage, she really did.  Her 2" scar is now double the size, and is running the other way to relieve the stress on the wound, and she also had to have a drain put in.  Thank God for pet insurance.

 

[Coombe Barton]

10 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

May I enquire as to what an 'estate system' is?

A property management system, in this case for a country estate rather than domestic or industrial estates.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A dull start to the day here in England’s northwest, the sun is trying to shine but the clouds keep getting in the way, temperature is currently 4C which is a little higher than over the last few days. 

 

Today will see me (hopefully) applying t6e final coat of paint to the 2 dining chairs currently sat in the cellar. After that, I’ll get the box containing the dust sheets etc out, ready for use tomorrow. I may get an hour in the workshop, but only for depositing tools, work benches etc. that I want to remove from the cellar. 

 

I hope something can can be sorted out for Dave Dad, seeing family members at times like this is essential. 

 

Chrisf, just because the exercises are for arthritis suffers doesn’t necessarily imply you have it, but that they may be of use to you particular ache. I’d strongly advice doing them. I’ve had operations on both of my shoulders and each time I was given exercises to do, which I did and the end result was I had more and better movement than the surgeon got whilst carrying out the operations!

 

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

 

Brian

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Dry but a bit chilly out at the moment. Best wishes to Daves dad and I hope that he can have visitors soon. Still the stiff joints in the morning but little pain that is easily dealt with by paracetamol. Muggatee awaits so its be back later.

[Tony_S]

Hello, good morning.

Bin day here. I wasn’t awake for the trip to the kerb with our non recyclables but Aditi was. She is now off to the dentist for a routine check. The art and design society she belongs to is having a webinar soon.  I am supposed to log in so I can tell her what she has missed.

Tony

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, bit late getting on today.  I was having a lazy lie in for only the second time in living memory after a couple of rough nights, when a pal rang to say he was in the area and could we meet for a cuppa in the garden - we're allowed outside visitors here currently with 2m spacing.  As he's about to have some nasty treatment (the chap I was talking about last week) it was good to see him, but a bit of a rush to get myself presentable!

 

12c out but overcast with odd bright periods, so not too bad, we put our respective worlds to rights.

 

Best wishes to Dave's dad too, they seem to not be considering an aged gent's wellbeing in total, just the medical bits.  Not good enough.

 

I used to fly quite a bit when in the merch, arriving on one ship with no luggage was a bit of a pest - no uniform etc, which was an issue in the snooty and disciplined company  worked for.  My case then followed me around the world for a few weeks, got it eventually!

 

Now to decide what the day will bring.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Why bother, just but them in the crusher and use what comes out as hardcore. 
Incoming...........

Anne Onymous

 

Bear recalls a TV programme following the exploits of some U.S. Tourists in the UK; they had the choice of a day spent in London or a coach trip to Stonehenge.  I thought "Boy, are YOU gonna be disappointed....."

 

1 hour ago, 45156 said:

Thank God for pet insurance.

 

 

Bear's work buddy has a King Charles Cavalier; when not very old it had to have a hip replacement - the bill was £8K, picked up by the insurance company.  It may have to have the other one done at some point in it's lifetime too.

 

In other news:

Washing almost done, decorator's sealant applied to a small area of kitchen ceiling (the original stuff crazed when it was painted - so a different brand is being tried, plus a week to dry out - none of this "Overpaintable is One Hour" rollox - one of decorating's Great Lies apparently).  Car battery on charge (one of those smart chargers that's supposedly very clever - I must've bought it 6+ months ago and this is the first time I've used it) - it reported that the battery voltage was 12.4v when first hooked up, which may be why the stop/start isn't playing at the moment.

[PhilJ W]

Back to the A303/Stonehenge. They are starting to build a tunnel for the A303 where it passes Stonehenge. Some are still complaining about that, they want the road closed altogether, some hope. 

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, polybear said:

which may be why the stop/start isn't playing at the moment.

Almost certainly the reason from my experience of such a feature. 

[PupCam]

13 hours ago, polybear said:

One of Bear's work friends (a really nice guy) recently lost his wife - it seems there is a belief that one of the children passed it to her

Oh dear, sorry to hear that.    Anyone I know?

 

53 minutes ago, polybear said:

why the stop/start isn't playing at the moment

Ah a positive benefit I would have thought!   (I hate auto stop/start, thank heavens I no longer have to drive hire cars OCS!)

 

 

Edited April 14, 2021 by PupCam
Added second point

[TheQ]

22 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Back to the A303/Stonehenge. They are starting to build a tunnel for the A303 where it passes Stonehenge. Some are still complaining about that, they want the road closed altogether, some hope. 

Where would the traffic go?  Through Larkhyill and past them thar tanks to  the north, or south down the A338 past old Sarum to Salisbury. Salisbury has been in dire need on a bypass for years, but has no chance because either it's a "Site of Special scientific Interest" of there's historic monuments in the way..

 

PS going via Larkhill and dropping down to the 303 before Sherwton is a good way of bypassing the Stonehenge  problems.. (or used to be some time ago I ain't tried it lately.)

Edited April 14, 2021 by TheQ

[PupCam]

3 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Where would the traffic go?  Through Larkhyill and past them thar tanks

Ah!  The traffic becomes a source of targets!  

 

Double Whammy  benefits then! 

      Free targets for our friends in the Army

     An overall reduction in traffic volume (once the smouldering wrecks have been removed)