Early Risers.

[tetsudofan]

13 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Woolwich ferry 1961.

 

 

Great video, brings back many memories, riding down to Woolwich on the pushbike and taking the ferry across to North Woolwich only difference being that trolleybuses (instead of the Routemasters) were still in operation north of the river.

 

Most of the time on board, as mentioned in the video, was spent watching what was going on in the engine room. The equipment down there was kept in immaculate condition. Never found out what was the purpose of the bit of fluff catching the pistons (or whatever they are called) every time they went round.

 

Keith

[tetsudofan]

Ooooh, just noticed, got my gold status back and no more adverts.

 

Many thanks Andy.

 

Keith

[iL Dottore]

55 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Also it'd be a bit embarrassing if you  got done in by an arrow that had a  pink fluffy thing on the end of it like in Neil's pic I reckon. It'd be like the archers are just having a laugh at your expense.

Indeed 😁

50 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

You can see the doinkers on Deb's bow here, the black things pointing forwards….

Mick's bow here has the silencers, 'Tribbles', on the bow string top and bottom.

 

As to why trees get hit - there is a clear shot here, but only just.  This sort of thing makes field archery so much more of a challenge than target, where they stand in one place and whack a load of arrows into a round target…

I note that all the bows pictured are short bows, nothing as long as traditional Welsh or English Yew longbow. I wonder if anyone has built a longbow using modern materials and technology and if they have, I also wonder what the penetrating power of such a bow at full draw would be like. I wonder if - militarily - a modern materials and technology longbow with explosive arrow heads would make any sense.

 

An interesting bit of military toxophilite trivia: it is claimed that the famous British V-sign derives from when the English, with their Welsh archers were fighting at the French. Apparently if an archer was captured by the French, they hacked off the first two fingers of his right hand, so that he could no longer draw a bow. Word of this practice got around, and when the English and Welsh archers faced the French they would make the V-gesture to show the French they were still had all their fingers and were ready and able to draw their bows.

Another interesting bit of military trivia from that time: at Agincourt the French had Arbalists (crossbow men) and - I’ve read that - in certain circles of the time the crossbow was regarded as a rather unsporting weapon and, if memory serves, at one point was banned by the Vatican (before the Reformation The Vatican was a bit schizophrenic about warfare: for example in mediaeval times the clergy - including the fighting bishops - were not allowed to “shed blood” , hence the invention of the morning-star and mace which could crush skulls without “shedding blood” and was Vatican approved. The mediaeval Vatican was certainly a very odd beast indeed).

[The White Rabbit]

12 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

..... The mediaeval Vatican was certainly a very odd beast indeed).

 

That's a tactful way of putting it!  

 

And today's 'did you know?' is that for a while during the 1300s, the Pope was based at Avignon. Rome became a bit iffy at the start of that century and the papacy relocated to a more des-res. Then later in the century, there was something of a split, with one pope in Rome and another in Avignon and a rare old argument about legitimacy. 

[simontaylor484]

@New Haven Neil I suppose the tree would be dead with a ruddy great arrow stuck in it.

 

I occasionally watch a you tube channel called out of the woods Nathan is a bit of a hillbilly with a very impressive wood mizer sawmill he often finds bullets in the trees he mills

[AndrewC]

1 hour ago, Pacific231G said:

That's an excellent find Phil. Curious that they were side loading ferries and also curious that the engineer was in uniform rather than a boiler suit.  In the 1950s the RN built a number of diesel electric paddle tugs to handle the berthing of aircraft carriers. The separate drives to each paddle wheel made them far more manouverable and the paddles provided better braking than screws. 

The steam powered Woolwich ferries were replaced in 1963 by diesel electric vessels fitted with Voith Schneider Propellers which provide thrust in any direction so are widely used by both ferries and tugs. 

I saw the RN's diesel tugs  around Devonport in the 1960s when I think one of the Torpoint chain ferries was still steam powered.

The newest pair of ferries are fitted with a magnetic docking alignment thingy. It fails on a regular basis. Throw in the labour issues as well and the Woolwich Ferry is about as reliable as a bridge made of pasta. The new boats should last forever. No wear & tear being inflicted on them, that's for sure. 

 

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I wonder if - militarily - a modern materials and technology longbow with explosive arrow heads would make any sense.

 

Rambo thought so.....

 

1 hour ago, tetsudofan said:

Never found out what was the purpose of the bit of fluff catching the pistons (or whatever they are called) every time they went round.

 

 

Oil impregnated fluff by any chance?

 

In other news.....

Wallpapering "on-going"; how many drops done?  Two.  In fairness to a sticky pawed Bear they're in a narrow, tricky alcove to the left of the chimney breast so much cutting, fettling and faffing around is involved.  Should be a lot faster from now on - for a while at least.

[Kelly]

Afternoon everyone. 

 

I finally got out of hospital a week ago Saturday.

 

I was glad to finally be discharged but it was not without its issues. 

 

First the patient transport could not get me up the stairs at Richard's as it was too curved for their electric stair climber and too narrow for them to use their chair with 4 of them. In the end I had to push myself up backwards one step at a time. Getting up from the top involved using the commode to perch on and whilst supported by the 4 technicians and then onto my frame and then hopping to the bed.

 

As you can imagine poppy was very excited to see me and I got lots of excited cuddles and face washes were administered. 

 

The problem with being discharged to Richard's however is two fold. 

 

First,  as I'm registered in Coventry,  I cannot have things like district nurse visits at Richard's to check the wound. I also couldn't have a hospital bed to make getting to appointments much easier,  instead I'm stuck in bed upstairs unable to go anywhere other than hop to the toilet with the frame. 

 

Secondly, to get things like district nurse visits etc I need to register with Richard's gp. Fairly straightforward you would think. No,  it will take 14 working days and the form has to be handed in by me in person,  which they're refusing to budget on. That obviously presents me with a problem as I can't get down the stairs without patient transport probably. As whilst I may be able to get to the stairs with Richard's help and may be able to get down the stairs with a lot of effort,  getting to my feet at the bottom will be very difficult. I could probably transfer to my manual wheelchair,  but that would then not fit through the front door as it is too wide, so I'd have to hop with the frame which is also too wide. 

 

The physiotherapists elected not to send me home with crutches,  so I am immobile without the frame. I can use the wheelchair at least when I get out of here,  but this all makes patient transport essential really. 

 

So, aside from that I am not doing so bad. Natalie has been checking the wound and thinks that it has closed up nicely with no sign of infection. I have had a few half falls landing with partial weight on the ankle,  but doesn't seem to have done any lasting damage that I can tell. Though the ankle is still quite painful at times. 

 

I have a x Ray appointment in 3 weeks and then reviewing by consultant and then probably months of physiotherapy...

[Coombe Barton]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I just had a look and it appears that this morning’s EasyJet flight to Mallorca is “boarding” so hopefully ChrisF will be on his way soon. 

Hope he'll be able to get back.

[Tony_S]

30 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Hope he'll be able to get back.

The FBI and Guardia Civil have impounded an oligarchs super yacht in Mallorca today. Perhaps ChrisF could borrow it.

[New Haven Neil]

@Kelly I feel your pain.  Even moving around in our bungalow was an event, as the frame wouldn't fit between the basin and bath for me to get to the loo.  Bathroom since rebuilt.  I had 12 weeks absolutely no weight bearing, (not even toe touch) and it is so hard.  My heart goes out to you.

 

@iL Dottore The club is traditional recurve hunter based, with the odd person using a compound (not Dave's type) for some reason we have never worked out.  They have to have a scoring handicap.

 

We have a friend with a 120 pound pull longbow but we can't draw it - he's a man-mountain and can!  It is fearsomely powerful.  A longbow would be too cumbersome in our style of field archery, you would hit foliage with the top of it all the time trying to aim. The two glens we shoot in are heavily wooded.

 

Some folk like to use a 'take-down' bow (the limbs dismantle from the riser)  for convenience in transportation (we do) and others prefer a one piece recurve bow, some of which are indeed beautiful works of art, and priced accordingly.  Rog that runs the club (currently 3rd senior field archer in the world) has an absolutely stunning bow, but it was well over a grand.  Ours were a couple of hundred quid.  It can be a cheap hobby or an expensive one, options are available!  Annual membership of the field archery association isn't expensive (£25 IIRC) and includes insurance,  once signed off as competent you can then shoot unsupervised if you wish, but we always go as a group anyway as it is a social thing for us.

[Tony_S]

I was surprised at all the travel chaos news until I then realised the school holidays had started. I was totally unaware of this. I vaguely knew Easter was near the middle of April this year. There is a school nearby but we only hear children playing in the summer if our windows are open. Lack of odd parking outside our house by parents is the  only other giveaway. 

[AndrewC]

4 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The FBI and Guardia Civil have impounded an oligarchs super yacht in Mallorca today. Perhaps ChrisF could borrow it.

Is there a canal big enough that goes to Bedford?

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

Is there a canal big enough that goes to Bedford?

It is possible to navigate by boat to the Wash but I have no idea how deep or wide the Great Ouse is. I am sure someone on ER would know!

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

You can see the doinkers on Deb's bow here, the black things pointing forwards.

 

 

Mick's bow here has the silencers, 'Tribbles', on the bow string top and bottom.

 

 

As to why trees get hit - there is a clear shot here, but only just.  This sort of thing makes field archery so much more of a challenge than target, where they stand in one place and whack a load of arrows into a round target.

 

 

  @Winslow Boy if it is a healthy tree, they are really hard to get out, sometimes impossible.  There's a few around the glen!  That one yesterday was dead. (Edit - the tree, that is....😜).

 

I think there should be a campaign to shop archers thwacking arrows hither and dither into poor defenceless trees.

 

He says this donning a cullender and retiring swiftly to the bunker at the bottom of the garden as arrows start to thuddunk into the ground around Chateau Winslow.

[New Haven Neil]

1 minute ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I think there should be a campaign to shop archers thwacking arrows hither and dither into poor defenceless trees.

 

He says this donning a cullender and retiring swiftly to the bunker at the bottom of the garden as arrows start to thuddunk into the ground around Chateau Winslow.

 

We don't aim at the trees, its just that they jump in front of us sometimes.  Especially me....Mrs NHN is a miles better shot, I'm crepe due to an eyesight issue, but I enjoy trying.  The collander would protect you from me, but Debs would be able to get an arrow through the holes.

[Winslow Boy]

9 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

We don't aim at the trees, its just that they jump in front of us sometimes.  Especially me....Mrs NHN is a miles better shot, I'm crepe due to an eyesight issue, but I enjoy trying.  The collander would protect you from me, but Debs would be able to get an arrow through the holes.

 

Oh so it's the trees fault is it. I suppose they leap out just an arrow goes whistling by do they.

[Coombe Barton]

30 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

It is possible to navigate by boat to the Wash but I have no idea how deep or wide the Great Ouse is. I am sure someone on ER would know!

Doesn't have to sail all the way - a boat that size/expensive/ostentatious would certainly have it's own helicopter.

Now there's a thought, Chris with his own helipad. He'd overcome his occasional parking problems quite easily.

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Coombe Barton
TYPOMAN's back!

[New Haven Neil]

3 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Oh so it's the trees fault is it. I suppose they leap out just an arrow goes whistling by do they.

 

They're buqqers for it.  😅

 

This swamp too - surges up, grabs an arrow, and eats it.  🤥

 

[simontaylor484]

Easter hols already my boys break up on Friday 

[Kelly]

40 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

@Kelly I feel your pain.  Even moving around in our bungalow was an event, as the frame wouldn't fit between the basin and bath for me to get to the loo.  Bathroom since rebuilt.  I had 12 weeks absolutely no weight bearing, (not even toe touch) and it is so hard.  My heart goes out to you.

 

 

I can't remember exactly how long they said,  but it was between 6 and 8 weeks non weight bearing,  followed by 2-4 weeks partial weight bearing followed by upto 6-8 months of physiotherapy as I'll probably have some difficulty moving the foot and walking for a while. Currently it feels like there's very little range of movement in the ankle,  but most of that is probably a combination of stiffness and swelling. 

 

To cheer the topic a bit here's poppy happily snoring away next to me. It is weirdly rotated however. 

[45156]

Evening All,

 

All posts since yesterday read and rated - it's a long time since I was able to say that.

 

Very strong email sent to my lender this morning, complaining about the way in which they mishandled the move.  No response yet, but I've got the CEO's email address, and will use it in anger quite soon.

 

We were due to have the boiler inspected and serviced today - got a call from the engineer to say "between two and four".  Got a call on my mobile to say we were out, and was he at the right address - I gave him our address, and it turned out that he was actually at our old address - Homeserve had changed our address on the policy, but not on the claims file, so the engineer had a wasted visit, and we were just angry. 

 

More boxes emptied again, and we also managed to get five of my guitars out of the loft where they had been stored as a temporary measure, and they will be up on the living room wall before the weekend.  Then it's a start on the railway books, a taks which I am really dreading, as they are all over the house.

 

Seems that we may have fallen on our feet with the medicals - we have got registered with an NHS dentist, who admittedly is 14 miles away, but is on a bus route from Ludlow, so if I have a raging toothache and can't drive, then I can get a bus.  And 30747 had a phone call from our new Dr about an ear condition which has been troubling her for some time, and which our last Dr sent a letter to our new one.  Saw the nurse practitioner this morning, and she has some serious wax - they have arranged for them to be hoovered out next week - something which her BIL and also her best friend could not get on the NHS, and both had to go private - hers is free on the NHS, and is in the evening as the surgery is open from 8 til 8 daily.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, Kelly said:

…to get things like district nurse visits etc I need to register with Richard's gp. Fairly straightforward you would think. No,  it will take 14 working days and the form has to be handed in by me in person,  which they're refusing to budge on…

Jeez, Louise. Where did these incompetent clowns get their professional qualifications? At a BOGOF offer at Aldi?

I am utterly gobsmacked by their attitude, whatever happened to the concept of primum, non nocere? Or to the idea that patients are there to be treated instead of being regarded as inconveniences? Do you have the name of the jobsworth insisting you have to hand the document over personally? Can a complaint be made to an ombudsman or a professional body?

 

My GP friend is utterly appalled by this sort of thing and says it has nothing to do with funding and everything to do with having a patient-centric practice (and he should know, having been a GP for over 30 years in Switzerland).

1 hour ago, Kelly said:

To cheer the topic a bit here's poppy happily snoring away next to me. It is weirdly rotated however. 

(my italics) Actually, I thought that was a normally rotated photograph and that Poppy, like Lucy, likes sleeping in the most absurd and seemingly uncomfortable positions. For example, before Lucy curls up at my feet in bed, she likes to have a doze with her head hanging over the footboard of the bed. It doesn’t look comfortable at all, but she seems to be happy and relaxed.

 

And to marry the topic of physiotherapy and dogs together, I have to recount that after one of my later knee surgeries I had to do daily exercises strapped into a machine which contracted and extended my leg. This I had to do lying on the bed and I was frequently joined by Lucy (never by Schotty) lying next to me on the bed and who seemed to enjoy watching me undergoing this machine powered physiotherapy.

Edited April 4, 2022 by iL Dottore

[cctransuk]

11 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Evening All,

 

All posts since yesterday read and rated - it's a long time since I was able to say that.

 

Very strong email sent to my lender this morning, complaining about the way in which they mishandled the move.  No response yet, but I've got the CEO's email address, and will use it in anger quite soon.

 

We were due to have the boiler inspected and serviced today - got a call from the engineer to say "between two and four".  Got a call on my mobile to say we were out, and was he at the right address - I gave him our address, and it turned out that he was actually at our old address - Homeserve had changed our address on the policy, but not on the claims file, so the engineer had a wasted visit, and we were just angry. 

 

More boxes emptied again, and we also managed to get five of my guitars out of the loft where they had been stored as a temporary measure, and they will be up on the living room wall before the weekend.  Then it's a start on the railway books, a taks which I am really dreading, as they are all over the house.

 

Seems that we may have fallen on our feet with the medicals - we have got registered with an NHS dentist, who admittedly is 14 miles away, but is on a bus route from Ludlow, so if I have a raging toothache and can't drive, then I can get a bus.  And 30747 had a phone call from our new Dr about an ear condition which has been troubling her for some time, and which our last Dr sent a letter to our new one.  Saw the nurse practitioner this morning, and she has some serious wax - they have arranged for them to be hoovered out next week - something which her BIL and also her best friend could not get on the NHS, and both had to go private - hers is free on the NHS, and is in the evening as the surgery is open from 8 til 8 daily.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

 

Ear wax hoovering - does anyone know why most medical practices now refuse to do this on the NHS - and what is their justification / authority for adopting such a policy?

 

CJI.

[Tony_S]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I am utterly gobsmacked by their attitude, whatever happened to the concept of primum, non nocere? Or to the idea that patients are there to be treated instead of being regarded as inconveniences? Do have the name of the jobsworth insisting you have to hand the document over personally? Can a complaint be made to an ombudsman or a professional body?

I suspect that the reason for requiring the potential patient to attend with their paperwork is because doctors practices have to be unpaid immigration officers as do employers employing someone. You have to prove you are entitled to NHS treatment or in the case of employer/employee entitled to work. Expecting someone attempting to register to attend who can’t move is ridiculous. I’ll ask the doctors in the family what their practices would do. 
Tony