Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Now that is fairground food!

Tater tots* are an occasional (though rare) guilty pleasure. A certain bear of this parish would approve.

 

* Invented by Ore-Ida (an oven-chip processor on the Oregon/Idaho border) to use up leftovers.

 

Here in Charente Maritime we have a very famous thing made from waste namely Pineau de Charente. It uses the distilled cognac that's not good enough to lay down and the grape juice that's not good enough to turn into white wine which is then distilled to produce cognac.  It is very palatable when chilled.  We have discovered that any time of the day can be declared as Pineau time. It was discovered by accident in the 1890's.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

... did get a gift from a friend of various coffees - thank you ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/09/27/no-sign-of-abating/

[polybear]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

When the big river is selling both casio and sekonda watches from a tenner upwards it'll get to the point where many will just bin a watch rather than have a battery fitted

 

Bear just recalled Lexmark Printers - the cartridges cost more than the printer (with the same cartridges).....result?  People binned a nearly new printer every time the cartridges expired and bought a new one.....

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Assuming that SWMBO will not be shearing Ben for his fur, I assume this involves collecting shed hair, spinning it into yarn and then weaving yarn into cloth.

 

Given how Lucy sheds her red-gold hair, it just might be worth my while to collect it and see if it can be spun into yarn and then made into cloth. A light weight pullover made from Lucy’s hair would be a wonderful memento of her.

 

Does this mean that if iD gets caught out in the rain he'll come home smelling like a wet dog?  And then shake like crazy to get dry?

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

My body’s electromagnetic field plays absolute havoc with battery powered watches and even managed to fry a rather expensive Apple Watch (see https://www.cureus.com/articles/91933-measuring-the-electromagnetic-field-of-the-human-brain-at-a-distance-using-a-shielded-electromagnetic-field-channel for an interesting paper on human electromagnetic fields).

 

Bear once worked with a rather powerful jobbie that would very accurately squirt powerful Radar RF at aircraft etc. parked close by to check for adverse effects (they once forgot to disconnect the Ground Power Unit from a Tornado and by all accounts lightning was seen from the tail fin to the GPU).

One of the ground crew (parked in a Portakabin outside the danger area) could literally feel when the radar was transmitting as he could feel tingling in his arms & legs.  Various Boffins were so impressed by this that they came down and placed clamps on his arms & legs to measure induced currents etc.

A certain Bear made bluddy sure he was in the Control Room, which was totally encased by a Faraday Cage....

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

For most other times, and especially for formal and business wear, I wear Mrs IDs wedding present to me – which is a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Datejust (you don’t want to know how much it cost to get it cleaned and serviced after 20 years of wear).

 

Bear has a Rolex - twelve quid from the Chinese Market in K.L. back in 2008; the Boss (who has the real deal) described it as a very good copy - even the second hand sweep was near-smooth, rather than in 1sec steps.

I don't have to worry too much about it - but would still be p1ssed off if it did get marked/broken etc.  But not nearly as much as if it cost £2K+

And if a certain Bear was ever robbed for it then at least I'd (hopefully) have the last laugh....

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

She’s a Vizla mix.

 

Isn't that a fag paper for roll-ups and wakky bakky joints?

 

2 hours ago, Natalie said:

Best of all it would be backdated to when I first made my claim which was 8 1/2 years ago. This meant that a substantial 5 figure sum was coming my way to the extent that prior to payment I received a phone call frome them to warn me that I would be receiving a substantial payment which was legitimate and did not have to be paid back. Apparently it was to stop me freaking out at the sudden appearance of a large amount in my building society  account...

 

I have since been busy converting it to unmentionables amongst other things.

 

 

Someone who lived near Bear Towers (at the bottom of the road, in fact) and who was a friend of Bear's Buddy over the road (who I saw this morning) got a similar payout.

Now what does an Alchy (ok, not exactly PC I know) do when they get a big wedge unexpectedly?  Yep, you got it.  No doubt it helped him to an early end - and Buddy over the road was the one that found him, which wasn't great for him.

 

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Oh indeed.  A few jobs ago Mrs NHN worked in social security, although her job was income support for pensioners, she had to do an hour a week on the dole counter.  One day a young person arrived and announced they had 'come for their wages'.  Mrs NHN's response was 'Oh good, you're working now, well done, I'll stop your benefits then'!  Apparently this was not what they intended....her manager was around the corner out of sight, in hysterics, trying not to let the young person hear them laughing.

 

 

In S. Korea if you're on the dole then you work for the Government - back in 2001 a certain Bear saw a row of women on their knees cutting a lawn outside a Gov Building...with Scissors....

Apparently they don't stay on the dole too long.

 

51 minutes ago, PupCam said:

We couldn't really afford it at the time as we had a £16K 100% mortgage to support but I'm glad we did 😀

 

TTFNQ

 

Funnily enough I was discussing this very morning the costs of moving house with Buddy over the road - a £400K house purchase would now cost £16K in stamp duty and Estate Agent's Fees (based on their average, apparently).  And that's before you add on Solicitors, Surveyors, Removals etc.

 

In other news......

Bear has a rather large box full of flattened cardboard to take to the local recycling bins close to the Co-op tomorrow; I also have two separate visits tomorrow morning from people collecting items advertised on Freecycle - their email requests were nice n' polite 🙂, which isn't always the case 🤬 (I had one joker once who sent a one-liner that read "I'll have it" - I thought to myself "Oh no you won't" - and they didn't.  T0sser).

[southern42]

14 hours ago, TheQ said:

Fish and chips in Cromer.. Probably Mary Janes.. current price list..

many rave about the plaice, but it's very hit and miss.. if you get there at opening time or a quiet time the food is good... If it's rush hour then it's often undercooked particularly the chips.

 

Ah! Cromer. I spent a week there - on the youth club's annual summer holiday. I vaguely remember staying in a long dark red brick building with ivy growing up the walls and around the windows. The other club holiday was at Seaford, on the South Coast, staying in the boarding school.  School geography-geology trip was spent at Weymouth, the loveliest bit of which was a small group of us bumping into an ex-pupil, who had recently moved down there, and getting an invite to her house for refreshments. Full of adventure, our Sixth Form learning to sail week was at Pin Mill Sailing Club on the River Orwell - camping, including a turn at spud peeling on the outdoor table for the cook, and playing rounders with branch and empty drinks cans! And I must include the week by ferry and train to Fiesch in Switzerland as accompanying female teacher on our school's Whit Week half term holiday having a dormitory all to myself with the girls next door. As in TV's Death in Paradise the room did have other occupants but I had never seen such large beetles, inside or out, and I had collected a few in my own school days for a biology project.

 

It is surprising how all these moments mount up not least the many memories they hold, and I have barely touched on them here. And all resurrected from a Chippy menu!

[PeterBB]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I discovered more cardboard boxes in the loft than I realise I had - many boxes had boxes inside boxes.  I reckon I had something like the best part of 150, which perhaps a tad too many for just one Bear.....

 I still have "rather a lot" - but I came up with the cunning plan of flat-packing the boxes and storing them inside a much larger box - seems to have worked well. 

So do we!

[Ozexpatriate]

46 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

"no sign of abating"

Someone at CNN is following Zoe too.

 

CNN: Rising Covid-19 cases in the UK may be a warning for the US

Quote

There are signs that the United Kingdom could be heading into a fall Covid-19 wave, and experts say the United States may not be far behind.

Locally, any reporting is now only weekly and case reporting has been meaningless for a long time. We do still see fatalities. (I'm signed up for the bivalent CoViD-19 vaccine and a influenza vaccine on Friday.

[PeterBB]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

I think Timpsons offer or used to a life time guarantee for the battery. I'm not certain how that would work to be honest.

When the battery runs out  ... that is its 'life time' - simple!

[PhilJ W]

50 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear just recalled Lexmark Printers - the cartridges cost more than the printer (with the same cartridges).....result?  People binned a nearly new printer every time the cartridges expired and bought a new one.....

You don't mean Hewlett-Packard printers by any chance? My printer is a Lexmark X543 laser printer. True that the cartridges cost a lot more than most other printers but the cartridges are enormous compared to other makes. What is more they sell you the ink to fill them when necessary, none of this having to buy replacement cartridges from the maker. One problem though it uses a lot of lecky.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

7 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

 

Existing banknotes and coins will continue to be valid, with Charles and Elizabeth notes and coins being used alongside each other. The Royal Mint says there are approximately 27 billion coins from Queen Elizabeth II's reign in circulation

The Royal Mail says that new stamps featuring King Charles will "enter circulation once current stocks of stamps are exhausted"

But a set of four memorial stamps are to be released in November, showing portraits of Queen Elizabeth II taken at different stages during her reign.

 

Unrelated  Australian coin fact  - our 5 cent coin costs 12 cents to produce, It also costs 24c to make a 10c coin and 48c to make a 20c. 

 

 

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear just recalled Lexmark Printers - the cartridges cost more than the printer (with the same cartridges).....result?  People binned a nearly new printer every time the cartridges expired and bought a new one.....

 

The same thing appears to occur here  with those fancy-pants razors   - you can get a handle  with 3 or 4  blade cartridges for around 5 bucks to hook you, but the replacement cartridges are so dear that it is usually cheaper to buy another handle with included cartridges again.

 

 

6 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Does this mean that if iD gets caught out in the rain he'll come home smelling like a wet dog?  And then shake like crazy to get dry?

 

.

 

And do that scratch scratch scratch behind the ear with his hind leg that dogs do , thumping the floor till it drives you nuts "@iL Dottore for goodness sake stop that scratching!!"

Edited September 28, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[southern42]

' night all and nos da.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[zarniwhoop]

19 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

So when I go into a pub in London and ask for a pint of IPA or best bitter or summat and I’m told that will be £6.50, My first reaction is very much to exclaim “how much?”, but then a quick mental currency conversion of pounds into Swiss francs readjusts my perception of the price – which then becomes “oh that’s not bad for a large beer” (currently, in Switzerland, the average price of a Grosses [1/2 litre - just over a pint] is about £7).

I think you were too long in 'merica. A British pint is 568ml - see wikipedia for other pint variations.

[pH]

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

There is a tradition, says the Royal Mint Museum, for the profile of a new monarch on coins to face in the opposite direction to their predecessor

 

There would appear to be an exception to that, with George V and George VI facing the same way. However, there were a few Edward VIII coins minted and distributed (apparently many of those distributed went to Bristol) and he faced the opposite way to the two Georges.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, zarniwhoop said:

I think you were too long in 'merica. A British pint is 568ml

The US pint (473 ml) and the Imperial pint (568 ml) each only vary from 500 ml by a small (and similar) amount: 27 ml to 32 ml 68 ml*. It hardly matters for 'back of the envelope' calculations.

 

* Thanks to @zarniwhoop. 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Ozexpatriate
Fixed arithmetic

[zarniwhoop]

34 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The US pint (473 ml) and the Imperial pint (568 ml) each only vary from 500 ml by a small (and similar) amount: 27 ml to 32 ml. It hardly matters for 'back of the envelope' calculations.

 

568 - 500 = 32 🤣  I'll keep supping on the left-over 36ml.

 

My intended point was that a british pint is larger than a half litre. The contents (ingredients, and the alcohol level) may also differ, of course. Mind you, the good doctor is renowned for his emphasis on quality, and for that different ideas come into play - in Britain traditional ales, in Germany either rheinheitsgebot or weißbier, in Italy tastes seem to differ - the only Swiss beer I recall is Calenda which is probably a bit far south for the good doctor - although it would fit well with an RhB layout.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, zarniwhoop said:

568 - 500 = 32 🤣  I'll keep supping on the left-over 36ml.

Ooops! 😲

 

Of course you are correct, but I suggest that it is a de minimis variation all the same.

 

(Don't drink that erroneous 36 ml all at once!) 

 

Edited September 28, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

….Bear has a Rolex - twelve quid from the Chinese Market in K.L. back in 2008; the Boss (who has the real deal) described it as a very good copy - even the second hand sweep was near-smooth, rather than in 1sec steps.

I don't have to worry too much about it - but would still be p1ssed off if it did get marked/broken etc.  But not nearly as much as if it cost £2K+

And if a certain Bear was ever robbed for it then at least I'd (hopefully) have the last laugh....

I also had a fake Rolex which, like you, I picked up in a market in KL (but in the 90s) I think I paid about £20 for it as it was the very top of the line copy which, almost but not quite, weighed as much as my real one (the weight of a fake Rolex is often a giveaway). Unfortunately, when we were burgled in the late 90s the fake Rolex was stolen (and I reckon the scrotes were rather unhappy with that part of their haul).

 

When I bought brought the fake watch back into Switzerland in the 90s, it was perfectly legal to do so. Now it is a criminal offence to bring in/deal in counterfeit goods - such as fake Rolexes, Lacoste polo shirts, YSL bags et cetera. I would imagine part of the reason for this change in the law was due to pressure from luxury goods makers. I suspect another intention of the law was to make it easier to crackdown on those dealing in counterfeit/fake aircraft parts and pharmaceuticals - which are an incredibly serious problem with potentially fatal consequences.

 

Fake pharmaceuticals are a very profitable and – for the criminal - a low risk activity. Take Viagra for example: the Pfizer Viagra tablet sells for roughly US$70 per pill; generic sildenafil costs about US$8.50. With some very simple equipment one can turn inert substances into a very credible copy of the Pfizer Viagra tablet – so you can imagine the profit on one pill for the criminal organisation selling them. If the person buying the fake Viagra is lucky, he will only be ingesting something that doesn’t work; if unlucky he will suffer from various and sometimes significant toxicity (up to and including death). Obviously, if a fake medication is a copy of something designed to have a serious clinical benefit, the fact that it will not work (best case scenario) is a potentially deadly outcome.

 

Another, presumably legal, wheeze for counterfeiters is to make almost but not quite exact copies. I’ve noted in in the past in markets in North Africa (and also seen in various TV travelogues on various parts of the world) vendors selling things like Phillips TVs or JVC video tape recorders - which are definitely either fakes or clones, but presumably legal as the items are labelled with slightly misspelled logos – such as Phillipps or JVD. And apparently, it still goes on (and with greater sophistication. See: https://fulfilledinterest.com/tech/identify-an-original-or-fake-tv/)

 

I have just had a horrible thought. With the disappearance of his signature font, does this mean that an original @polybear (interesting texts, blue bold font) has been replaced by a - presumably cheaper - fake @polybear (same text, boring black font)?

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Got an early appointment for my Aortic screening check today. A good walk to and from the Mary Celeste will set me up for the day.

 

We had a message to aski if we could go for our covid update jab. We have booked the flu and covid jabs in early October and are busy this afternoon some have left it as planned.

 

I wonder how many people have flu/ colds at the moment? Some of the new, fresher,stupids already seem to have freshers cough here in Leeds. pah!

 

Time to carpe Diem I believe.

 

Enjoy your day!

 

Baz

Edited September 28, 2022 by Barry O

[chrisf]

A few posts ago we touched on holdings of currency, however obliquely.  I have significant stashes of euros and Swiss francs with no plans, immediate or otherwise, to visit mainland Europe or Switzerland.  It occurs to me that it might be sensible to trade them in for sterling and worry about equipping myself for overseas travel when the time comes, if come it ever does.   What do savvy gentle readers think?

 

Oh, and last night's concert was excellent but poorly attended.

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

8 minutes ago, chrisf said:

A few posts ago we touched on holdings of currency, however obliquely.  I have significant stashes of euros and Swiss francs with no plans, immediate or otherwise, to visit mainland Europe or Switzerland.  It occurs to me that it might be sensible to trade them in for sterling and worry about equipping myself for overseas travel when the time comes, if come it ever does.   What do savvy gentle readers think?

 

Oh, and last night's concert was excellent but poorly attended.

 

Chris

It might be worth waiting till an ER is visiting the UK from abroad, a significantly better exchange rate could be obtained without commission, You might even be able to meet them in a place that sells beer.

 

Good Moaning from a dark Charente.   Not a lot to report today except that we will be heading south later on this morning to meet no 1 son plus his other half.

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

26 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

It might be worth waiting till an ER is visiting the UK from abroad, a significantly better exchange rate could be obtained without commission, You might even be able to meet them in a place that sells beer.

Good idea.

But at the current exchange rate I’d be loosing money. If Chris bought SFr at 1.20 £100 would net him SFr120. If I bought his SFr at the current rate of parity (roughly 1:1 at present exchange rates) then I’d have to pay him £120 for his £100 of Swiss Francs.

 

Paradoxically, now is the time to buy £ as they are so cheap (stock up for my next 2 or 3 UK trips?)

 

 

[polybear]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

You don't mean Hewlett-Packard printers by any chance? My printer is a Lexmark X543 laser printer. True that the cartridges cost a lot more than most other printers but the cartridges are enormous compared to other makes. What is more they sell you the ink to fill them when necessary, none of this having to buy replacement cartridges from the maker. One problem though it uses a lot of lecky.

 

It was definitely Lexmark, though that practice is quite some years old now - maybe Lexmark realised that their cunning ploy of flogging printers at bvggerallprofit in order to trap users into buying ink for silly prices (then) wasn't quite working as intended.....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I also had a fake Rolex which, like you, I picked up in a market in KL (but in the 90s) I think I paid about £20 for it as it was the very top of the line copy which, almost but not quite, weighed as much as my real one (the weight of a fake Rolex is often a giveaway). Unfortunately, when we were burgled in the late 90s the fake Rolex was stolen (and I reckon the scrotes were rather unhappy with that part of their haul).

 

Bear's Thought for the Day:

Did iD mention to the Insurance Company that it was a fake Rolex.......😉

(Note to iD:  Naturally you did - or didn't bother reporting that item.  Even CC has his limits.....)

🤣

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

When I bought brought the fake watch back into Switzerland in the 90s, it was perfectly legal to do so. Now it is a criminal offence to bring in/deal in counterfeit goods - such as fake Rolexes, Lacoste polo shirts, YSL bags et cetera. I would imagine part of the reason for this change in the law was due to pressure from luxury goods makers. I suspect another intention of the law was to make it easier to crackdown on those dealing in counterfeit/fake aircraft parts and pharmaceuticals - which are an incredibly serious problem with potentially fatal consequences.

 

It's a no-no in Italy as well - with big fines.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Another, presumably legal, wheeze for counterfeiters is to make almost but not quite exact copies. I’ve noted in in the past in markets in North Africa (and also seen in various TV travelogues on various parts of the world) vendors selling things like Phillips TVs or JVC video tape recorders - which are definitely either fakes or clones, but presumably legal as the items are labelled with slightly misspelled logos – such as Phillipps or JVD. And apparently, it still goes on (and with greater sophistication. See: https://fulfilledinterest.com/tech/identify-an-original-or-fake-tv/)

 

Bear was offered a very good copy of a Canon 35mm Compact Autofocus Camera in Mumbai back in 1998 - for twelve quid.  Now if they'd put as much effort into copying the Instruction Manual (which was, quite fankly, laughable) then they might have got away with it.  He wasn't happy when I walked....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

 

I have just had a horrible thought. With the disappearance of his signature font, does this mean that an original @polybear (interesting texts, blue bold font) has been replaced by a - presumably cheaper - fake @polybear (same text, boring black font)?

 

A very, very good point - Bear's Trademark Business Model has been destroyed 🤬  Right, time to deploy the full force of Bear's Legal Team methinks......

 

46 minutes ago, chrisf said:

A few posts ago we touched on holdings of currency, however obliquely.  I have significant stashes of euros and Swiss francs with no plans, immediate or otherwise, to visit mainland Europe or Switzerland.  It occurs to me that it might be sensible to trade them in for sterling and worry about equipping myself for overseas travel when the time comes, if come it ever does.   What do savvy gentle readers think?

 

 

Ah, Crystal Ball time.......

The way the £ has crashed in recent days (the IMF have even come out and stated that a certain Employee of the Big House has screwed up) doesn't help - now if you'd asked the question a fortnight ago....

If the £ carries on diving then (a) we'll really be in sh1t, and (b) hanging onto them in case you do go abroad (and Bear thinks that there's a fair chance of a certain Globetrotting CF doing that) then it'll be cheap money as you got the Euros & Francs at a much better rate than being offered now/in the future.  But if you don't ever darken, sorry, I meant grace those foreign shores ever again then you could be kicking yourself and saying "Now WHY didn't I sell them why I had the chance??"

 

Bear here.....

Right, more sorting to do......

[polybear]

45 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Good idea.

But at the current exchange rate I’d be loosing money. If Chris bought SFr at 1.20 £100 would net him SFr120. If I bought his SFr at the current rate of parity (roughly 1:1 at present exchange rates) then I’d have to pay him £120 for his £100 of Swiss Francs.

 

Paradoxically, now is the time to buy £ as they are so cheap (stock up for my next 2 or 3 UK trips?)

 

 

 

But if the £ carries on diving then you'll have lost out......

Welcome to the world of high finance.  Right, now where did I put that crystal ball....