Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I think it rained during the night. It was sunny earlier but there is more cloud now. Aditi had plans to to cut the grass but may not be able to do so if the forecast rain appears. 
Tony
 

[Gwiwer]

Good morning all. A slightly warmer start again today. 
 

The House of Fun welcomed @Chris116 who sought me out successfully whilst on his travels. Best wishes to Mrs. 116 who was unable to be with him.  A pleasant surprise meeting. 
 

The urge to revert to previous normality has reached far-flung parts. Monday evening will see the first “actual” meeting of a club I belong to - sat around tables of six separated by at least a metre - and Friend (Cornish) has reinstated her request to visit London with her 10 year-old lad as soon as can be managed. 
 

The Hill of Strawberries is to have a Zoomed meeting with the landlord this afternoon in an attempt to resolve issues caused by the young children rampaging through the grounds and in the landlord’s words “Destroying everything”. They repeatedly damage the ground lights, trample plants and leave toys randomly on lawns and communal paths without anything in the way of parental supervision. Nor do the parents respond to requests to clear up and supervise their offspring. 
 

There are cultural differences at work. We hope to set boundaries with which we are all comfortable and which are realistically manageable especially by those seemingly reluctant parents. 
 

I’ll let you know ....  

[Chris116]

It was very nice to meet @Gwiwer while waiting for my train to Littlehampton. Sadly my wife was unable to travel today but hopefully she will be able to join me going to Eastbourne on Thursday. When I suggested I did not go she insisted that I did so we have a day without each other, something that has not happened for around nine months! 

[Winslow Boy]

Well sat here in car outside the surgery awaiting return of patient. Weather can't seem to make it's mind up, again. One minute sunny next dark ominous clouds. Just keeping fingers crossed as washing is out. Anyway another exiting day awaits.

[tetsudofan]

Warm and sunny down here in the southeast corner, think its grass cutting day today.

 

I've never been in an Ikea store and probably never will. One thing I do know is that I won't order anything from Ikea online for home delivery.  The Parcelforce guy was trying to deliver this package to my neighbours (who were busy dealing with the birth of their first child):

 

 

Bits and pieces were falling out everywhere, the items were just wrapped in rather thin and easily tearable paper..... Could not believe it when I looked at the address label and saw who the shipper was Ikea.

 

Keith

[PhilJ W]

19 minutes ago, tetsudofan said:

Warm and sunny down here in the southeast corner, think its grass cutting day today.

 

I've never been in an Ikea store and probably never will. One thing I do know is that I won't order anything from Ikea online for home delivery.  The Parcelforce guy was trying to deliver this package to my neighbours (who were busy dealing with the birth of their first child):

 

 

Bits and pieces were falling out everywhere, the items were just wrapped in rather thin and easily tearable paper..... Could not believe it when I looked at the address label and saw who the shipper was Ikea.

 

Keith

I ordered a new TV remote from E-bay. It arrived in a flimsy plastic envelope with absolutely no padding. It was then posted through my letterbox falling three feet onto a concrete floor. I am waiting for a replacement.

[jonny777]

A showery day in North Somerset. A bit late because I have been having internet access problems with my new-ish iPhone. 

 

It is an 11 and has decreed that my home wifi is not secure enough for it to operate, despite my laptop, my wife's iPad, and an old iphone6, seeming happy enough with the security settings. So no internet in my iPhone - the computer says no. 

 

And this is progress, or so I am told. 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

The Hill of Strawberries is to have a Zoomed meeting with the landlord this afternoon in an attempt to resolve issues caused by the young children

Aforesaid meeting seemed to go well.  We presented the "staff side" and heard the "management side" to use a railway analogy.  

 

Basically the landlord's agent is unhappy with the need to continuously repair stuff damaged as soon as it is fixed and by the apparent apathy of the parents concerned.  Some tenants are frustrated that their efforts to enjoy a beautiful quiet garden area are negated by children behaving in an unruly manner.  They are old enough to know a bit better and young enough to be roundly told off.  But not by us - not in this day and age.  Time was when we could have given them a right ticking off and sent (or even taken) them home but attempt that today and we'd stand accused of all sorts of things.  

 

Dr. SWMBO has come up with a proposal.  We have identified a small patch of land not used for anything currently other than growing weeds.  It could become a children's garden under her tutelage and with her engaging with parents and overseeing activities with a professionally-knowing eye.  The proposal has been put to the landlord formally and we await their decision.  Suffice to say that the agent and several other tenants are delighted and see this as a Very Good Thing.  It is intended to both occupy the younger children and to teach them the value of gardening which is that planter beds are not for running through and trampling down but a food source for every living being.  Dr. SWMBO, who has run programs like this before and for very much larger numbers, assures me the children are the ideal age to start learning these things and hopefully will become interested.

 

In other news we also found another patch of ground to "bee bomb" for which we already have the seed.  Definitely "putting back" into the land then.  Net givers, not takers.  And hopefully passing on the skills and enthusiasm.  

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon. Ikea,, or rather their delivery agents have fuly delivered the 3 beds, all well wrapped and packaged. I only had 2.5 hours sitting waiting so took some pie down and tested out the oven by warming it up.  Coffee has now been consumed.  

 

If you need amusement, Mike (SM) and I have both contributed to the thread about Hitachi's problems. It's had some utterley stupid and crass comments as well as some very informative and intelligent ones from people who know what they are talking about.  It seems to have been like what I imagine the threads about new unmentionables in red and blue boxes are like.

 

Jamie

Edited May 11, 2021 by jamie92208

[Compound2632]

12 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

If you need amusement, Mike (SM) and I have both contributed to the thread about Hitachi's problems. It's had some utterley stupid and crass comments as well as some very informative and intelligent ones from people who know what they are talking about.  It seems to have been like what I imagine the threads about new unmentionables in red and blue boxes are like.

 

Par for the course. Too many people who seem to imagine we are still living in the 1960s - the root of many of our problems.

Edited May 11, 2021 by Compound2632

[TheSignalEngineer]

38 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Dr. SWMBO, who has run programs like this before and for very much larger numbers, assures me the children are the ideal age to start learning these things and hopefully will become interested.

Our youngest grandson who is now just 9 is well into gardening and growing food. He started to take a real interest when SiL took on an allotment plot about three years ago. Last year grandson won a prize of about £50 worth of seeds from the national allotment society for his lockdown gardening presentation.

 

My plot is slow going this year because of the cold weather we have been experiencing. This morning was good enough to get the grass cutting at home done but now turning wet yet again. Doesn't bode well for Anne's tennis match tonight. 

 

Yesterday we almost managed one of our regular MTB rides, being stopped by two thunderstorms and having to modify the route a little. It was the toughest one we had done so far this season encompassing Rivington Pike. The morning loop included the road climb known as Anglezarke Hill which rises 300ft in three quarters of a mile. We were pleased that our time round the loop was our second fastest in about 20 trips probably helped by doing the last half mile in two minutes to get out of a hail and thunder storm.  In the afternoon the route was made up as we went along due to the incoming storms of which we only got caught by one. It included a one mile continuous climb rising 500 feet on rocky roads which we managed to do. 

 

Rain has stopped and sun come out so off to make the most of it before the next lot hits at about 5.30.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis started grumbling about an hour ago but has now quietened down. The California lilac is in full flower but still no sign of the bees that are normally swarming all over it by now. Hopefully its just a delay caused by the recent cold weather and they'll be out in a couple of days. Still a bit blustery which might also be keeping the bees away. Tea has brewed so its be back later.

[simontaylor484]

Well I think I have cursed Baz s cricket match.   Pah

 

 

[simontaylor484]

According to BBC news Gloucstershire police are searching a cafe for a victim of Fred West after a film crew have been filming there and allegedly found evidence of a burial 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-57070279

[Sir TophamHatt]

Raining, sunny, raining, sunny, raining, sunny again...  I wish it could make up it's mind!

However, all lupins, sunflowers and daisies potted up to the next stage, so that's nice.

 

Have also made Mrs Topham Hatt a care basket of sweets and crisps.  While she's trying to lose weight, I included some flowers and a note to say eat them slowly over a few weeks - I can always help her!

[Two_sugars]

YABBA DABBA TWOOOOOOO . . . . . . 

Text from sugary saying "come in Tuesday, same time, instead of Wednesday . . . . . . 

 

So . . .Wuz jabbed a day early . . . I'm happy . . . .except for't weather . . . . . Just about to coup de gras . . when rain started . . 

 

Have a guddun, all . . .

 

John

[Ian Abel]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

I'm sure its no where near as bad as the movies and the news makes out but there seems to be way too many guns in the US for me to have got out and had a polite word with a carload of strangers.

In the words of Dr. Watson (not really but you get it) "No SH!T SHERLOCK"!!

I'm fairly outspoken on those sorts of issues and mask wearing etc., but the enormous uptick in gun ownership here and nut-jobs shooting anyone for looking sideways at them has had me rein in ANY attempts to "help folks understand"...

 

To add a highlight to the situation, though hopefully NOT scare folks away from visiting the US when it's once again possible, at the cabin this weekend we needed some various plumbing and boat related items, and the nearest, and honestly a pretty good store overall is one called Fleet Farm. It's an upper mid-west store typically in out-state locations and is rather a combination of a B&Q, ALDI, and fishing, hunting and boating supply store, all in one! Groceries to guns and everything in between.

We had to traverse the Guns & Ammo section to get various boating and plumbing supplies, and the shelving - this is a TWENTY FOOT LONG section with FOUR levels of shelves about a foot deep for HANDGUN AMMO - was empty with a sign saying "We're sorry but at present there is a shortage of handgun ammunition!" 

 

The sign at the entry to the store says "FACE MASKS ARE REQUIRED INSIDE THE STORE", I decided the half-dozen folks wandering around the guns/ammo and crossbows section WITHOUT MASKS were best NOT mentioning it to! 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by Ian Abel

[jonny777]

3 hours ago, jonny777 said:

A showery day in North Somerset. A bit late because I have been having internet access problems with my new-ish iPhone. 

 

It is an 11 and has decreed that my home wifi is not secure enough for it to operate, despite my laptop, my wife's iPad, and an old iphone6, seeming happy enough with the security settings. So no internet in my iPhone - the computer says no. 

 

And this is progress, or so I am told. 

 

 

 

I spent an hour online with an Apple support technician, who decided my phone needs to be taken to a service centre. 

 

I'm not sure why, but obviously they have no idea what has happened. My phone will not access the internet either via wifi or 4G. If I go onto the wiseguy fixit sites via my laptop, they say "in the last resort, restore your phone to factory settings". Yeah right. 

 

They probably have never really tried that process, which involves sending the Apple ID password over the internet. The internet which the phone is refusing to connect to. 

 

I have only had this thing about 3 weeks.

 

[simontaylor484]

I have had a look at the Hitachi thread yes there is some cow maure from frothers but some intelligent informative comments from professional s of retired professionals.

 

 

 

[Ian Abel]

Morning - only just! Oh well.

 

Not a lot to report from yesterday, highlight was another walk around the Japanese/Peace Garden late afternoon with Whitney.

It's become her favorite location and a very nice place to walk around, over by one of the area/city lakes. It's adjacent to a bird sanctuary (no dogs allowed in there) but as a result there are plenty of birds in the area to watch while we walk.

 

Mrs working today, then more dog walking I suspect, Whitney says "Yes for sure!".

 

Freezing first thing, aka ZERO, sunny and heading for 16 later.

 

ENjoy the day.

[TheQ]

I suspect Hitachi have been buying parts from Hornby.. in particular...

 

Mazak...

[simontaylor484]

I can also see some rapid rewriting of depot lifting instructions for the 800 class been sent from Hitachi

 

 

 

[JohnDMJ]

Good Evening from an overcast part of West Suffix.

 

7 hours ago, Chris116 said:

It was very nice to meet @Gwiwer while waiting for my train to Littlehampton. Sadly my wife was unable to travel today but hopefully she will be able to join me going to Eastbourne on Thursday. When I suggested I did not go she insisted that I did so we have a day without each other, something that has not happened for around nine months! 

 

A day trip to Littlehampton (Downtown LA) - there must have been a very good reason!! Surely, not many go there by choice :jester:

 

Quiet evening planned; will it materialise? Time will tell!

 

Deciding on supper first so let's see what happens!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 11, 2021 by JohnDMJ

[polybear]

11 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Think he'll have gone by the time they get there PB. You could try a ICBM strike or would that be overkill.

 

For those guilty of grassing up Bears (or, for that matter Hippo's) then believe me, NOTHING is considered overkill....

 

24 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I can also see some rapid rewriting of depot lifting instructions for the 800 class been sent from Hitachi

 

 

 

 

Bear has stayed well away from such threads; do I detect a possibility that depots have been lifting incorrectly?

Reminds me of the time when 3(?) Lynx Helicopters were given (sold?) by HMG to Pakistan.  Now the correct way to lift such a beast is by use of special lifting beam attached the the rotor head.  Sadly the bright sparks decided that the (tie-down) shackles on the nose and main undercarriage sponsons would be ideal lifting attachment points in the absence of the special lifting beam.

The result:  A very quick lesson in how to write off an airframe you've only just received....

 

In other news:

Bear spent a fun day considering sink size options and choice; the sink unit is only 500mm wide so I need to be absolutely sure that the chosen sink will enable useful activities to be carried out, such as fitting (and removing) a  tap assembly once the sink is in position, and being able to actually hook up the plumbing as required.  A bl00dy nightmare job trying to balance all the angles.  I've also discovered that the horizontal frame brace fitted at the top & front of the sink base unit will need to be all but cut away in order for the sink to be fitted.  Luckily Bear chose a unit that has a dummy drawer front above the door - so I can fit a vertical frame brace behind it and so restore much of the rigidity to the base unit.  Another job to do....  Then it was establishing the position of a rectangular slot to be cut in the floor of the base unit to allow the pipework from the dishwasher to be hooked up to the sink drain and cold supply.  But to cut this slot I first had to remove the back panel...which had been stapled in....

Final finishing of the hole (after cutting with a jigsaw) was using Bear's trusty Powerfile; unfortunately the sanding belts appeared to have a life expectancy measured in seconds - good job I had plenty, as I must've got thru' half a dozen at least.  Maybe they had degraded in storage - they were a few years old?

[simontaylor484]

It is lifting blocks that are damaged i am led to believe, so I would expect something along those lines. 

 

I once had to write instructions for a torque wrench.

 

At Bison s Iver factory loading was done unattended we had some step frame trailers for a special job from Bison Lichfield to Newcastle Fc. Anyway one or 2 got backloaded towards London and therefore ended in Iver. 

 

Anyhow the idiots tried loading a rediculas amount of concrete on the swan neck of the trailer ,and then they wondered why the swan neck snapped off.

 

 

Contemplating ringing Gloucestershire police and telling them Fred West did my decking a couple of planks are life expired