Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

... looked at the reviews. Most seem to reckon that they're carp ...

One of the dangers of online reviews. They may be representative / accurate. It's hard to tell.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[zarniwhoop]

After the comments on jabs and resulting effects, (my reading for coronavirus is that AZ can give you a sore shoulder, which matches my experience on both my 2 jabs, and that people suffer more with the Pfizer) I'll mention my flu jab. I normally have these every year coz I'm type 1 diabetic, and one year a long time ago it felt as if I'd got mild flu. But I'm now just into the 65+ category. Had a jab last Saturday lunchtime, within about 14 hours I started to get a soreish throat, and by the next day I was coughing a lot more than normal. That all cleared up after a couple of days, so I'm hoping this was just side-effects and that what is being injected is a bit stronger or wider-ranging this time.

 

I normally cough from time to time - I've been catarrhal all my life and I guess dust (even dust from paper) can make me cough in the evenings. And when I've had colds, or flu, or man flu in recent years I've often ended up with a week or more of coughing after the cold/flu has gone.

 

But after finally giving up on a mask in supermarkets these past 3 weeks, I'm back to wearing one just in case. Compared to many of the people here I'm doing well, so "no worries" and "best to avoid Bozo's false optimism". Oops, I might get banned for politics and have to go back to reading Private Eye instead of rmweb.  Should I reprimand myself ?

 

 

[chrisf]

Greetings

 

Another autumn, another glitch in the central heating.  I have summoned an engineer who is due to come on Wednesday.  Until then I have rounded up some of the sweaters given to me for Christmas by a kind friend.  It appears physically impossible for me to wear more than two of them at once.  Why do defects in the heating only make themselves known a few months after it has been serviced?

 

I went shopping for seasonal greetings cards yesterday morning.  With any luck I have enough to send all that need to be sent.  To go with them I now need to write my Christmas message.  At the moment inspiration is lacking but I was not going to do it today!  With any luck, how I am to spend the festive season this year will become clearer later in the week.  Some comfort and joy would be nice ...

 

I suppose I should confess that I have started to follow Strictly Come Prancing.  I used to hate it but that may have been because it was presented by Bruce Forsyth, one of those people whose talent was matched only by his modesty.   In the current season the performance of John and Johannes has been most impressive and their consistently high placing on the leader board speaks for itself.  I know my own limitations and there is no danger of me doing much in the way of dancing.  A couple of years ago I tried some folkie dancing, where the caller tells you what to do, the music plays and everybody gets it wrong together.   Quite how and whether Strictly could accommodate what is in essence formation dancing is a good question, but I would love to see a well-drilled morris side taking part one day.  Needless to say, morris is one of those things that I leave to the experts!

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Busy days at our show.. just need some more visitors!

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a sunny and cool Charente.  Baz, I hope that the show goes well.  

 

Here the big news is that the remains of the big Sycamore, that was chopped down nearly 5 years ago, are burning very slowly and very well. Plenty of heat.  It's going to a good cause.  

 

We had a very good hour talking to Emily and her mums yesterday.she was due to go picking pumpkins at Farmer Copley's, not far from Simon. She enjoyed herself.  

 

11 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A couple of weeks ago I saw a sparrow hawk sitting on the shed roof in our daughter's garden. It was studying activity around the bird feeder a few yards away. It returned the following morning, not for the small birds on the feeder but took out a feral pigeon picking up the bits that they had dropped on the lawn. 

We had a visiting sparrowhawk in the graveyard at church, it liked pigeons. One old lady in the congregation stood up one Sunday and started telling how she had watched it disembowelling a pigeon. I can't remember what the spiritual content of her message was but the looks on the faces of somevof the more sensitive members of the congregation was well worth seeing. 

 

Time to get ready for a trip to the market.

 

Jamie

 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, inner temple Hare..

 

Ben spent a lot of time between 05:00 and 07:00 trying to get me up. But I kept sending him back to bed until daylight appeared.

 

Ben is very different from our previous Border Collie, Duke, was bought from a farm, very independent, nothing upset him, didn't like much in the way of cuddles. Ben as you know is a softy, wants attention, cuddles, and lots of thing frighten him.

 

We were looking for a Rough Collie, pre Covid they were around £750, now they're £2500. When we used to show them,  in the 1990s, 4000  were born a year,  now about 500..

200 sheep have arrived... Ben's not interested. They're in a plastic bag about 2 inches square...

 

Dancing Me? No chance..

 

In a moment I shall write a cheque and take it to the sailing club for the winter clubs annual membership £60. 

 

But first..a muggacoffee..

Edited October 24, 2021 by TheQ

[polybear]

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

.......which are riddled with rodents - noticeably gophers but probably field mice too.

 

 

Gophers?  Vermin?  Noooooo.........

 

 

Come back Gordon...we miss you.....

 

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The only problem with the above scenario, is that Mrs ID is now expecting the same unqualified and unending adoration from yours truly (nor is yours truly as easily fobbed off with a few biscuits, a tummy rub and a scratch behind the ears as Schotty)

 

iD could always suggest that such adoration has to be earned......

Been nice knowin' you.....

 

10 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I do know what is coming and who from I was wondering if any one else had any experience of delivery from DX express 

 

 

Like any other person in a van/car - it all depends on who's delivering I suspect.  This Bear is getting increasingly p1ssed off with couriers who dump and run - the last were left on the muddy flowerbed by the front door (in fairness that did mean they were hidden) and are 50yards away by the time Bear reaches the front door within 15 seconds.  Very few look back to see if there was actually anyone in or not.  As far as this Bear is concerned it's it's not delivered until it's inside Bear Towers - or a neighbour's - with a legible note to that effect delivered to Bear Towers.

And that is a rant.

 

8 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

I overheard a phone conversation a couple of weeks ago regarding puppies.

The gist of the conversation was that the bloke I was listening to  had a dog and it had unintentionally had a litter of pups and he was so pleased with the amount of money he’d received from selling the puppies  he was going to try for another litter. Seemed like a complete idiot to me who shouldn’t be allowed a dog in the first place.

 

 

It's about time that all puppies have to be registered and chipped by a vet before sale - and the vet has to see the mother at the same time too.  And sales of pups bred from that mother is only allowed once (say).   And the actual handover day includes a trip with the purchasers to the vet for a health check and chip scan.  And those who breed incessantly like factory farming should face a HUGE minimum fine - £100K for example.

 

8 hours ago, The Lurker said:

I was in my 30’s before I realised that mint sauce could be purchased; it was always came from fresh mint from the garden with added malt vinegar and possibly sugar.

 

it’s always the best bit of a roast lamb dinner and can cover all the accompaniments and mixes well in the gravy. I am not that keen on roast lamb but mint sauce always veins! In fact, you could leave out the lamb altogether if the mint sauce were there and I would be happy 

 

Mint sauce on baked beans   It's a Bear thing.

 

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

One of the dangers of online reviews. They may be representative / accurate. It's hard to tell.

 

Many don't review good service - plenty will leave bad service reviews though.  It gives a false impression.

 

2 hours ago, chrisf said:

Why do defects in the heating only make themselves known a few months after it has been serviced?

 

Cynical Bear suspects that some Engineers have secret ways of delayed sabotage to create more work....

 

2 hours ago, chrisf said:

 

I suppose I should confess that I have started to follow Strictly Come Prancing.  I used to hate it but that may have been because it was presented by Bruce Forsyth, one of those people whose talent was matched only by his modesty. 

 

Oh dear, now that is very serious.  Watching strictly is serious enough; actually admitting to it signals a need for urgent help.....

As for Brucie Boy - not arguments from this Bear on that score.

 

In other news:

Bear started watching "Saving Private Ryan" last night (it's a good few years since I've seen it).

The first few minutes (the beach landing) is as good an advert as any for avoiding such conflicts ever again.

ISTR the film makers asking some US Veterans to view the film in order to advise on historical accuracy (basically "had they got it right"); some - if not all - couldn't watch it after a few minutes and left.  I can understand why.

 

I recorded a program on the Korean War last night; one US Vet said it took him years afterwards "to deal with it".  Now he has a simple rule in life - if he likes it he does it, if he doesn't like it he doesn't do it.  Unless SWMBO tells him to, in which case he does it - with a smile.  I did notice a glance across the room as he said this - Bear has a sneaky suspicion that SWMBO may have been watching, out of camera shot....

[Dave Hunt]

Good morning. It's quite a while since I posted on ERs for various reasons, most of which I won't bore you with except for one which is a little bizarre. Some while ago when using my iPad to get onto RMW, I couldn't get past the privacy box that popped up no matter what I did. I reported the problem to Andy Y (via another device) and he replied that other people had the same problem but he and his team couldn't resolve the issue. Since the time I had available to access RMW via my PC was limited, something had to give and unfortunately it was ERs. Then Andy obviously managed to unlock whatever was causing the problem and I was able to use the iPad again but only if I didn't try to put any posts or reactions on ERs - on all other forums it was fine !!!??? Then, this morning, I had another go and lo and behold it all seems to work again, so whatever Andy has been doing all this time, thank you.

 

So, in summary I'm back. Whether it will be permanently is anyone's guess but I live in hope. I'm not even going to try to catch up with adding any comments on what has transpired in the last few weeks but will start anew.

 

TTFN

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

12 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Good morning. It's quite a while since I posted on ERs for various reasons, most of which I won't bore you with except for one which is a little bizarre. Some while ago when using my iPad to get onto RMW, I couldn't get past the privacy box that popped up no matter what I did. I reported the problem to Andy Y (via another device) and he replied that other people had the same problem but he and his team couldn't resolve the issue. Since the time I had available to access RMW via my PC was limited, something had to give and unfortunately it was ERs. Then Andy obviously managed to unlock whatever was causing the problem and I was able to use the iPad again but only if I didn't try to put any posts or reactions on ERs - on all other forums it was fine !!!??? Then, this morning, I had another go and lo and behold it all seems to work again, so whatever Andy has been doing all this time, thank you.

 

So, in summary I'm back. Whether it will be permanently is anyone's guess but I live in hope. I'm not even going to try to catch up with adding any comments on what has transpired in the last few weeks but will start anew.

 

TTFN

 

Dave

 

Damn he's back. We'll have to stop talking about him now. I thought it was too good to be true.

 

Bare with me while I nip over to Andy Y's and find out what's gone wrong. I'm sure he said it was foolproof. We might need another whip around to buy another thingymajig to put on the whatsimecallit.

 

Don't worry we didn't miss you.

 

Nice to have you back.

[big jim]

Drove up to silloth last night to the caravan with Sarah and gethin, got here and the gas bottle has been nicked, went to reception and apparently were the 3rd one to report it 

 

We have a partially filled one left but it’s no point replacing the stolen one this late in season incase that goes walkies too, I’ve only come up here to fix the shower as the tap seized up, (done that with a new inner part from Screwfix) then I’m heading back Tomorrow afternoon to work one train the coming back again Tuesday morning for a few more days 

 

other than that it’s been raining in the night here but not now and it’s just cold and beeezy, off into maryport in a bit to get some supplies for the week as the family are staying here all week now 

 

Dominic started his new job last night in Dominos pizza in Nantwich and says he really enjoyed it, he’s had to drop out if his craft butchery course as he lost his workplace placement and has spent the last 3 months trying to find a butchers to take him on with no luck so he ended up looking elsewhere for something to do to have some money and dominos came back to him, he’s also been looking at IT apprenticeships and dominos said they can work his hours around any apprenticeship he does which is a bonus for him if he does get a place somewhere 

 

 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl err no it isn't , morning Awl,

Went to the sailing club and it was heaving with people, I'd forgotten it was the Tri icycle race, a mini 3 rivers race, about 25 miles at its maximum, though it was shortened today by about 5 miles cos the winds in the wrong direction. Normally there's 30-40 boats this time 48..

 

Anyway paid the club membership, had a chat to a few people including two ex RAF who taught me to sail. That was 1979 ish, they were a warrant officer and flight Sgt then. So the WO must be close to 90 years old but still active if not regularly sailing.

 

Now getting warmer up , not being in full sailing gear, the fairly strong wind is very cold and it's soaked in...

 

SWMBO and Ben aren't here so they must be out for the long walk...

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Stiff joints again this morning so I had to resort to the Nurofen before going back to bed again for a lie in. Its still a bit cool at the moment but the wind has dropped and certain parts of the house are a lot warmer. The north west corner of the house is somewhat exposed and with cold winds coming from that direction its distinctly cooler despite plenty of insulation. Downstairs is not so bad as the fence and council shrubbery protect it but upstairs there is no protection. At least its only the head of the staircase and the landing that are affected. Muggatee awaits so its be back later.

[grandadbob]

A'noon all,

Sunny and breezy here at the moment.

Late on parade but I was up earlyish as The Boss got up before 7.00am and brought me a cuppa.  Once I was up the usual Sunday breakfast was offered, accepted and demolished.

Didn't get to watch the F1 qualifying but it's recorded and as I  know what happened anyway probably won't bother with that.

After breakfast I went to The Shed and spent a couple of couple of hours playing with electrical powered toys.  I really should stop playing and do some more ballasting and other stuff.

Lunch will be in about an hour and then I'll park myself in my chair ready for some more rugby.

Later on I'm on kitchen duty for a couple of minutes to cook some fillet steak for dinner while The Boss prepares the accompaniments.  After eating I suspect I'll spend a lazy evening in my armchair and hopefully find something to watch on the box.  I may watch the F1highlights at midnight if I haven't fallen asleep by then.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

5 hours ago, polybear said:

…iD could always suggest that such adoration has to be earned......

Been nice knowin' you.....

Hah!

 

You obviously don’t know The Alpine Angel of Death (aka Mrs iD). She doesn’t “do” suggestions (the last person to make a “suggestion” to The Alpine Angel of Death can still breathe, as long as you don’t turn off the machine).

 

From Captain Cynical’s perspective that’s all perfectly fine and dandy, as he likes strong, intelligent and independent women in his life – not silly gurly girls

5 hours ago, polybear said:

…It's about time that all puppies have to be registered and chipped by a vet before sale - and the vet has to see the mother at the same time too.  And sales of pups bred from that mother is only allowed once (say).   And the actual handover day includes a trip with the purchasers to the vet for a health check and chip scan.  And those who breed incessantly like factory farming should face a HUGE minimum fine - £100K for example.

I was with you all the way until the very last sentence.

Are you going soft on me in your old age, Bear?

 

Those who factory farm puppies should be placed in the exact same conditions as which they place the dogs they breed: in a too small cage, given starvation rations, denied medical attention and worked until they can no longer work and then dumped on a tip somewhere (oh, and by the way, they should also be fined - £100K sounds good).

 

(All semi-serious hyperbole aside, I think we would have a lot less problem with crime and criminal acts if punishment was to reflect the crime. For example: some yob vandalises someplace, upon conviction a team of trained specialist go to the yob’s house which they then vandalise appropriately)

Edited October 24, 2021 by iL Dottore

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

I've been a bad boy.

 

It's a Tanglewood, but a bl**dy good one - lovely low action, and plays like a dream.  Set me back just £140 at the local antique centre, and that from a guitar dealer.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.  

 

Crikey, what a night.  Up at stupid o'clock to hit more painkillers, and finally surfaced at 1105hrs, unheard of.  Mrs NHN gone, we were supposed to be having a posh lunch in Port Erin with her old boss and his mum, I didn't even hear her go out.  Oops.  The fact I didn't get my furry butt kicked out of bed means I'm not in the doo-doos though, sympathy vote must have kicked in.  A bit like Mrs iD, Mrs NHN does not suffer fools gladly, and is not backward in coming forward.  Despite that we've been married 37 years, who knows.  So, feeling a lot better now, still not 'fixed' but at least on the up.  No-one I know has had such a reaction to a third dose, so thankfully it would appear to be unusual.

 

Washing machine now going full power, in the hope that helps on the return of the marital unit, you never know!

[PhilJ W]

Still got dose # 3 to come, I hope that the side effects are not serious. Even better if there's none.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Are you going soft on me in your old age, Bear?

 

Bear did say minimum fine.....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Those who factory farm puppies should be placed in the exact same conditions as which they place the dogs they breed: in a too small cage, given starvation rations, denied medical attention and worked until they can no longer work and then dumped on a tip somewhere (oh, and by the way, they should also be fined - £100K sounds good.

 

With you on all that - until you got to the worked bit.  I trust that won't be the same line of work - else it could be too much like fun for them.  At least until it got to the "push" bit....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

(All semi-serious hyperbole aside, I think we would have a lot less problem with crime and criminal acts if punishment was to reflect the crime. For example: some yob vandalises someplace, upon conviction a team of trained specialist go to the yob’s house which they then vandalise appropriately)

 

Sadly many such yobs may well not own their own gaff - in which case just chopping their bits off seems like a good starter for ten.

 

In other news:

 

The lounge in Bear Towers is pretty much ready for serious revamp now - I spent the morning sorting door "seals" to hopefully keep the dust in the one room - hopefully the lounge:

 

Now you see the kitchen....

 

 

Now you don't - a zip door has been added....

 

 

And now the zip door has been covered by a sheet of cardboard....

 

 

The door into the hallway has received similar treatment.  So it looks like Bear will be stripping wallpaper tomorrow, to reveal who-knows what hidden horrors with the plasterwork....

 

Bear will soon be going to see buddy across the road - after seeing one of Bear's Alexa gadgets in action a week or so ago he's bought one for himself; he's not clued up on hocus pocus so Bear has the task of setting it up for him....

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all,

 

A beautiful sunny one Upon the Hill of Strawberries after the greyness of yesterday.  

 

Not the best of days between us however as Dr. SWMBO was awake much of the night with severe lower abdominal pain.  We know it can't be appendicitis or gall bladder (both now absent) and there are no symptoms of enteritis.  We both tested negative again this morning so any connection to the Nastivirus is improbable.  The likely cause seems to be diverticulitis.  She has self-referred to NHS 111 who have in turn referred her to the out-of-hours GP.  Which means we have to set off shortly for an unscheduled visit to their surgery.  Which isn't the closest one to home.  

 

Not what we need a few days before we are due to go away on holiday.  Fingers crossed it turns out to be manageable, not serious after all or at least can be held in abeyance for a couple of weeks and dealt with later.  

 

Watch this space.  

[tigerburnie]

Afternoon all, just been for a walk round the fields, I like a walk on the stubble, though these days I don't have a shotgun under my arm, so no Pidgeon for tea lol. I had a bit of a fitful sleep and have quite a bruised feeling in the arm that received jab number 3, but no other side effects.....side effects..............side effects Yahoooooooooooooooooooooo(well none that stick out any more than my usual barking self.............)

Feet up and maybe a bit of eyelid inspection before dinner, take care all.

[Tony_S]

I could have booked a third jab for the clinic round the corner during the last few days but have booked it for Nov 5th which is a couple of days after my next hospital appointment. I was told to either have it two weeks before or delay until afterwards. I have booked it and it will be the Pfizer version. Neighbours went for their jabs at a local pharmacy and were offered a choice of Moderna or  Pfizer. 
Tony

Edited October 24, 2021 by Tony_S

[New Haven Neil]

Mrs NHN had her third which was Moderna, the first two having being Pfizer.  When I got mine I asked about that and he totally denied they were doing mixed doses!  I got Pfizer for all 3.  Right hand.....

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Mucho apologies that due to working on the bathroom, as 30747 wants it to "look better" before we leave this house behind, so some grout whitener was purchased yesterday, and was deployed this morning, after the trip to GB junk - I bought the Tanglewood, and herself fell in live with a 1950s Tri-Ang tinplate doll's house which needs a fair degree of fettling - "A project for you for after we've moved" - a rewire of the electrics, two windows hanging off, and a lot of play wear.  We did get our trade discount on both items, so though my Tanglewood was priced at £140, I got it for £125 and he threw in a soft case - a Roksak guitar case with shoulder straps (they rounded it down from the 10% as I know the dealer).  The doll's house was full of furniture, which 30747 is raking through, and it will go on eBay.  She seems to think that it is pretty good quality and there is a lot of it.

 

On a more negative side, we bought a nice joint of stuffed pork shoulder from the reduced cabinet at Lidl ("reduced but still fresh smelling horrible) - dated for tomorrow, so going back, and we had tinned pie for dinner as there was nothing else defrosted.

 

Generic greetings are all I can offer again today.

 

Guitarists hold onto your hats for a superb rendition of Liebestraum - never heard anything quite like it, though it is credited to John Williams and Val Doonican - I never watched the latter's TV show - too cheesy by far

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

... have we run out of sheep? ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/10/24/many-calls-for-action-but/