Early Risers.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from Springfield, OH.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

In The last 20 minutes I must have pressed the AGREE button on the privacy message about 20 times, sometimes as many as 3 times on the same f@#£&%g page! 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[tigerburnie]

Just got in, been out chasing the Aurora, nothing to be seen again, yet people are posting images on fakebook taken with their phones, whilst we saw nothing, not even with close to 6 grands worth of quite sophisticated camera gear........................................................

G'night all

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

... been out chasing the Aurora

I don't have a 'bucket list'. If I did, seeing an aurora (and another total eclipse) would be on it.

 

Despite clear weather, I had little hope seeing anything over the weekend with all the light pollution in the valley. Without making a lot of effort, I checked a couple of times but there was nothing at all. I did see something online to suggest that the lower 48 states missed out over the weekend. Today/tonight is very cloudy with rain on the way.

[Ozexpatriate]

As the wheel of the year inexorably turns to Yuletide, television news tells me that Starbucks' seasonal paper cups and beverages will be available in the US tomorrow (Thursday).

 

"Pumpkin" spice lattes turn to peppermint mocha.

 

Tonight I saw my first seasonal jewelry commercial. The inevitable perfume commercials will come, but hopefully not until time for the desperate gift giver.

 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[chrisf]

Greetings

 

I am finding it difficult to concentrate at the moment.  Better luck tomorrow, perhaps.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Off to the Marie Celeste to donate blood for Sister Drac and her draclettes today. Could be interesting!

 

Successful ish day shopping in Manchester yesterday as herself and Dr Eldest Herbert identified presents for other members of the family and.. bought them! I also have ideas on what exactly to buy her indoors ( we all have to submit a present list by October half term..which seems to work.)

 

Lunch yesterday was a mix of Japanese and Korean light bites, dinner was eaten in a very good Palestinian restaurant. Our journey back via the M62 was interesting due to various road closures after the witching hour..ieafter 8pm.

 

Time for the m7gatea to be drunk then to grapple with whatever else Thursday see fit to fling at me!

 

Have as good a day as you can. Positive thoughts to allespecially our "missing" ERs.

 

Baz

 

[jamie92208]

Good moani g from a still rather dark Charente. No Aurora here but plenty of good cognac which probably makes up for it.  Once when flying back to Leeds the captain announced that the aurora was visible on the other side of the plane to us but we couldn't even get a glimpse out of the window.

 

Domestic engineering  was done yesterday and we had a very good evening with our friends.  This morni g so e wood is due to be chopped unless someone else has other ideas.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl. Inner Temple hare.

 6 ours Plus 1.5 hours sleep a good night.

 

Ben the I sort of want out Collie decided he would after a good peer from the doorway..

 

Reading a book on the Norfolk Broads , first published in 1950 but it includes rememberances from pre 1900.. Just a couple of lines in he talks of going to the Baptist chapel where I attended a funeral a couple of weeks ago.

It also mentions how the broads came to be, back then it was thought they were pools left by the last Ice age, he dismisses history of people walking across land where a broad now is.. a bit wrong there..

 

For our American friends...

I believe In the USA outside of inner cities, most houses are wooden with the cavities filled with insulation (hopefully),  in the UK most houses are brick or stone.  Those built before the 1930's often had solid walls where as since then they moved to first a void between two layers of brickwork or these days a wooden frame covered in brick. If you have either of the later two versions the void can be filled with insulation..

If you have a solid brick or stone house you can't , therefore to fit insulation you can either fit in it internally  or externally. Many older houses like mine their rooms are too small to fit the insulation internally and there is huge disruption if you try to do so..

So most opt for external insulation, this involves a thick layer of fire treated Polystyrene pinned to the walls with long plastic bolts. Then either a water proof sheet  followed by a decorative hard surface, which could be wood, UPVC, brick slips (10mm thick bricks glued on)  or the Polystyrene is covered by a mesh to  hold a render which is normally self coloured acrylic plastered on..

 

 

Time progesses on.. must get to work...

[Barry O]

Meant to say..our trip back involved a visit to Bradford which allowed us to see lots of illuminated Houses and Shops. Happy Diwali!

 

Baz

[PhilJ W]

For the cake lovers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/yoghurt_cake_87253

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I am having a lazy day after yesterdays hospital procedure. The procedure was longer than any previous colonoscopy ands some bits he wanted to deal with were awkwardly placed. As I have to stop other medication temporarily the doctor decided he may as well do some things rather than wait until next time. So longer and more uncomfortable than usual, though the sedation helps. I got tattoos too, but only internally.

The train journey was ok. Due to heavy traffic in Benfleet we missed the train we intended to catch but  the next one wasn’t at all crowded, neither was the tube from Barking. While waiting for me Aditi watched a webinar about the Silk Road and then read until the recovery ward nurse rang her to come and get me. 
Tony

[polybear]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Pff - not as fortified as OURs is!

 

 

 

A TV prog last night included footage of the meeses in Oz, with a Farmer(ess) talking about it.  It seems that all the farmers could do was torch the harvested crops - they lost literally billions of Ozzie $$, with no insurance that would cover it.  Ouch.

 

In other news:

Bear has a tidy up/sort out morning planned, followed by planning the college project jobbie; I s'pose I'd better get my ar$e in gear and actually book the blood test that I have a form for; it seems the Dentist has also decided it's time to fleece me too.  I'm sure there's other things as well....

 

And finally...

Bear spied a post on the "Bargains" board, inviting me to something called a "Peckett" for 55 notes - which is waaay cheaper than I've ever seen.  Courtesy of South America, but won't arrive until mid-Jan.  I can live with that.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning all,

The usual “up at oh God o’clock“ and for the usual reasons, but at least some positive news to enjoy.
 

Now that the Harley Benton has  - quite literally – “come in from the cold”. I had a closer examination of the guitar. It seems to be set up very nicely (It was even almost perfectly in tune straight from the box) and I find the neck profile very comfortable. The frets, as far as I can tell, seem nicely finished and the height seems about right (although when I get it set up at the guitar shop they’ll be able to tell me whether or not my impression is correct). I’ve not checked the intonation, but that would be easy enough to do this weekend (I’ll be adding some cosmetic additions to the guitar on Saturday). The loose tremolo bar is actually a feature of this particular tremolo type (I was only familiar with the Fender Stratocaster type) and a quick Google revealed how I can access a tiny screw for tightening up the trem bar. The figured top can look fairly plain or very nice depending on the angle of view and the light. Either this afternoon, or tomorrow, I will be plugging the guitar in and trying out the Roswell pickups (which may or may not be upgraded). A first for me is the coil split – something else to play with. Not bad at all: a pretty decent PRS clone for about £210. Photos to follow.

 

And whilst on the subject of guitars, I came across a scurrilous rumour yesterday: that there is a town in China, which has a big guitar making factory, that has been renamed as “USA” so devious (or canny) guitar companies can legitimately sell as “Made in USA“ guitars that are actually made in China. True? No idea.

 

All this talk about insulating houses has reminded me that our house needs a tweak or two to the insulation. By British standards, although an older house (1950s), it is well insulated; however the attic was converted into a mini apartment with its own bathroom (the dachraum) quite some time ago. So the insulation under the roof and above the ceiling in the dachraum will need attention. Re-insulating the roof is one of the many things Mrs iD has planned for after she retires next year. I am not looking forward to her retiring!
 

Finally, a rant: [rant mode ON] as we are approaching the end of year festivities, what’s all this reticence about calling Christmas - Christmas? No one seems to be going around saying that you can’t call Hanukkah - Hanukkah or that you can’t refer to Ōmisoka. However, instead of wishing people a Merry Christmas or sending Christmas cards, we now have to send “seasons greetings“ and wish people “happy holidays“. To quote the great Ebeneezer Scrooge: “bah, humbug!” Acceptance of other peoples cultural festivities is a two way street you know! [rant mode OFF])

 

iD

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, and best wishes to those in need of support.

 

Sunny start here but only 6c first thing.  Norra lot on the cards today, a little toddle to the village shop for essentials and some housework afterwards perhaps, I have already overhauled the bathroom prior to showering.  A little early for such enthusiasm but you have to strike while the iron is...well awake at least.

 

Hip still sore, nothing new there then.

 

Our house is a modern 2002 semi detached bungalow, timber frame, block outer, lots of layers insulation on the timber frame before an air gap - which should not be filled, you will get damp issues if you do.  Lots of loft insulation, vented soffits, and it is a warm house.  We do have the advantage of facing west-south-west, the sun (when available!) really heats the forward facing rooms (bedrooms) through the afternoon, we leave the doors open and this warms the rest of the house to a reasonable degree.  Friends two doors around who are at 90 degrees to us (it's a circle) always comment how much warmer our house is compared to theirs, and often think we have the heating on when they come in - we don't.  They get little advantageous sun.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not much from Arthur Itis until this morning but the eczema was on fire last night. An application of aqueous cream calmed it down. The usual stiff and aching joints this morning but they soon went. Time to run a bath, be back later.

[PhilJ W]

The John Lewis C*******s ad has been released. 

 

[Erichill16]

19 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

And finally...

Bear spied a post on the "Bargains" board, inviting me to something called a "Peckett" for 55 notes - which is waaay cheaper than I've ever seen.  Courtesy of South America, but won't arrive until mid-Jan.  I can live with that.

Someone’s  unwanted Xmas presents ?

[Dave Hunt]

Off shortly to see the practice nurse to have my hooter checked and the dressing changed then an hour later have to take my Dad to the clinic for a blood test. I've also just booked Jill and me to have our Covid boosters next Wednesday as waiting for our GP practice to offer us slots seems to be a waste of time. Once I've taken Dad to the clinic I suppose I'll find something to do that doesn't involve the NHS! 

 

Yesterday both our sons announced that they will be descending on us on Christmas Day and staying until the 28th. Hey ho, must get out the unpaid hotelier's gear again.

 

Have a good day All.

 

Dave

 

PS, I'm also being plagued with the privacy thing every time I select a new page.

Edited November 4, 2021 by Dave Hunt
Add PS

[Erichill16]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

As the wheel of the year inexorably turns to Yuletide, television news tells me that Starbucks' seasonal paper cups and beverages will be available in the US tomorrow (Thursday).

 

"Pumpkin" spice lattes turn to peppermint mocha.

 

Tonight I saw my first seasonal jewelry commercial. The inevitable perfume commercials will come, but hopefully not until time for the desperate gift giver.

 

Saw Xmas lights on outside a house last night.

[Mike Bellamy]

12 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

I've also just booked Jill and me to have our Covid boosters next Wednesday as waiting for our GP practice to offer us slots seems to be a waste of time.

We were both boosted last night - 6 months since second jab but nothing from surgery or NHS about booking a booster but the first time around we got both text and emails and several reminders. SWMBO tried last week to get a booking on NHS website but was rejected but as soon at the 6 months were up (Monday) she was able to get them booked. You may be familiar with the Vaccination Centre - old railway offices in Nelson Street Derby between the Post Office and the station - after being abandoned by the railway, it was previously in use as a private school which has recently moved to newly built premises. A bit like a 'rabbit warren' with many small rooms in use and there must have been at least 15 volunteers there on every corner of the corridors to make sure you were going in right direction. All very efficient but this time I felt the needle go in and it still hurts now . . . . . . . 

.

[Tony_S]

41 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Finally, a rant: [rant mode ON] as we are approaching the end of year festivities, what’s all this reticence about calling Christmas - Christmas? No one seems to be going around saying that you can’t call Hanukkah - Hanukkah or that you can’t refer to Ōmisoka. However, instead of wishing people a Merry Christmas or sending Christmas cards, we now have to send “seasons greetings“ and wish people “happy holidays“. To quote the great Ebeneezer Scrooge: “bah, humbug!” Acceptance of other peoples cultural festivities is a two way street you know! [rant mode OFF])

Don’t worry. In the real world people still greet each other with Happy Christmas , or Eid Mubarak, or Diwali greetings. Every year certain newspapers get in a bate about someone who claims you can’t say Happy Christmas anymore. Same claims about shops not stocking Easter Eggs. All manufactured indignation. Our family is quite diverse and basically any excuse for a meal.

Tony

[AndrewC]

11 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

Sounds like you had the new modern e320 Seimens set. Not a patch on the old e300 sets! Absolute carp as I wrote in a letter to Today's Railways:Europe when they first came into service; even the crew were very much anti their performance.

 

Thing is they're not articulated like the e300 so there's no load-sharing between coaches; each coach behaves independently and they have been hammering 7 bales of brown stuff out of the track since they were introduced.

 

Yep it was a e320 both ways. The ride out was fine but coming back was worse than a 376 going through the old pointwork at London Bridge. At one point my drink bottle bounced off the table completely. The seating is crap and little better than the ones fitted to Thameslink's white worms. Much prefer the THALYS old TGV sets with the original seats. However, I understand these are now being replaced in the coming years as well as a full revamp of the existing sets in the form of their new "Ruby" initiative. 

 

Good moaning all from the boring borough. Back to reality and the holiday is now a fading memory. Either I'm having a late mid life crisis, or an early need to retire for my sanity moment. I find no challenge to the work and no enjoyment in anything at all anymore. Time to move on? Time to move back? Time for a total change over? I've basically restarted my life 3 times in the past and feel a 4th is needed but just don't have the energy or motivation. I don't even know if it is doable. Oh well. Back to the grind and more soul destroying meetings. 

 

Enjoy your day.