Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

MiL has  a small lemon tree. She makes pickle with the fruit. I must tell her when I next see her how she can improve her crop.

[DaveF]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

There would be the risk (unless the water in the pipe on the outside can be fully drained once the water has been turned off) of the residual water freezing and the pipe splitting.

 

I should have said that the tap is at the lowest point as the pipe comes out of the wall directly and points down to the tap, everything else is inside so it does drain.

 

David

[jamie92208]

55 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

MiL has  a small lemon tree. She makes pickle with the fruit. I must tell her when I next see her how she can improve her crop.

Ah but does female urine work as well.  It doesn't deter foxes whereas the male version of it does. 

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Andy Hayter said:

But I will hazard a wild guess that Essex does not enjoy regular winter lows in the high minus teens or occasionally twenties. 

 

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Our little bit of Essex is rumoured to have a rather pleasant microclimate. It is normally very dry but the last three winters have been very (record breaking ) wet, When we got our first olive tree we followed the instructions about bringing it in over winter. We had also followed the watering instructions. It wasn’t that happy. While we were in France we were looking at some information near olive trees and realised how wrong the original tree leaflet had been. We wondered if the intention had been to produce a Bonsai. South Essex isn’t a likely venue for the Winter Olympics but the London Olympics  back in 2012 held the mountain biking event at Hadleigh which is in the same District Council (Castle Point) as Benfleet. 

According to the five day forecast this lunchtime we might have snow by the end of the week. A low pressure system sitting over the North Sea and the Netherlands will bring North Easterly winds direct from the Baltic. The Norwegian meteorological website predicts it is going to be cold but little precipitation.

https://www.yr.no/en/details/graph/2-2648110/United Kingdom/England/Greater London

PS the bookies odds on a White Christmas are evens.

Edited November 26, 2023 by PhilJ W

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Its come over a bit gloomy so anything pertaining to the G word is out of the question. Now to decide on tonights dinner, beef casserole with dumplings is looking good.

[BSW01]

Good dafternoon everyone 

 

Very late on parade today due to having a bit of a lie in and breakfast in bed. Once up and downstairs I looked out of the kitchen window and noticed it wasn't frosty. So I decided to head straight outside and get some work done in the garden. More dead heading done and the last of the sweet peas were cut down. Then I began planting bulbs, another 

110 planted before dinner, which leaves just another 40 left to plant out, which hopefully will get done next week. 

 

I'm packing up early today as we're meeting up with all the family for a curry at our favourite Indian restaurant. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian 

[Sidecar Racer]

It's already a bit snowy and cold here .

 

 

[Mike Bellamy]

3 hours ago, petethemole said:

Satan's Slaves, from the visible patch; British in origin rather than US, but they have a history of violent incidents.

 

Thanks - after reading the Wikipedia entry, I'll look out for them when next in Yorkshire, and make sure I'm not in the caravan parking area just in case they turn up again. Interesting to see that they are a properly constituted Limited Company. Their entry on the Companies House Register says the nature of their business is  "Other amusement and recreation activities not elsewhere classified "

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satans_Slaves_Motorcycle_Club

 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05045235

.

[jamie92208]

38 minutes ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Thanks - after reading the Wikipedia entry, I'll look out for them when next in Yorkshire, and make sure I'm not in the caravan parking area just in case they turn up again. Interesting to see that they are a properly constituted Limited Company. Their entry on the Companies House Register says the nature of their business is  "Other amusement and recreation activities not elsewhere classified "

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satans_Slaves_Motorcycle_Club

 

https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/05045235

.

There were three murders in the Garforth area, not far from Skelton Lake, in the 70's, committed by a Hells Angels Chapter from Garforth.  Orginally written off as missing persons, some very good detective work, by people that I knew, connected up the dots, found the bodies and got them convicted.  One of mtpy colleagues has written a very good book about the case. 

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Now defrosting at home,

The water is higher again , the road on the Norwich side of Hoveton bridge is mostly deep in water again and it rose during the day.

The walkways to the boats were a couple of inches  above the water height when we arrived, when we packed up, the walkway top is just wet.

 

Race 1, well the only race, as today's race replaced a former down river race. So it was 5 laps, due to the light winds. Though the winds came up and we could have done with another lap or two.

South Westerly, 5 to 10mph, came up to 16mph later in the race. Max forecast temperature 4C.

Started well, , probably in second place though there were a lot of boats on the line.

 

Reached the top buoy in 3rd place. Almost a 180, to Starboard to round the buoy then run down to buoy 3, unfortunately we're then swamped by the following fleet. Most of whom had spinnakers, at the bottom mark we had 3 boats inside us and got pushed out with another 3 boats going through the gap.

Putting us down to 10th, unfortunately we've found with the new jib we are not pointing as high as we used to, but are sailing slightly faster. We had a boat just In front, but below us pushing us up higher than  we could go, so it was either get bad wind from them or tack off.

 

So we did, we managed to get far enough ahead before tacking back to buoy west, before they got there.

Then clear ahead we sailed onto buoy 6, completing the first lap. Thereafter we sailed on playing follow the leader for lap 2, lap 3 we rounded buoy 3 and found we had clear water. We sailed a leg without having to avoid other boats, . After buoy six, I looked up and suddenly realised we were in fourth place.  However as we rounded the top buoy we were only just ahead of 2 spinnaker carrying boats, so they swept past on the run down to the bottom buoy. Back down 6th...

 

We rounded the bottom buoy and started gaining again. We followed up to the top buoy, and kept close to the 5th boat which again was pointing higher than us. On this leg we somehow managed to stay close on the run , rounding the bottom mark close behind them. So as to not be forced high again we tacked off early, and our higher speed got us clear ahead again so by buoy west we were in front , we then sailed on to the finish finishing in 5th..

 

 

 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

We have a small olive tree in a tall pot in a niche corner at the front of the house, as position where every other thing we tried there was killed off by the extremes of direct summer sun and howling winter winds.  It was recommended by a local gardener that understands the odd climate in this corner of the rock, its about ten years old now.

 

The local bike club here presents themselves as a 'Patch Club', but they are benign.  Whereas, Satans Slaves (I know two in Leeds by a roundabout route) are most certainly not benign in any shape or form.  I certainly wouldn't call them friends, met them through drag racing way back, but they are OK if you play the game their way. Just don't get on the wrong side of them.  And no, we didn't beat them racing, different class!

[DaveF]

I've kept myself occupied for much of the day.  Church went well as usual.  I did wonder why there was a light bulb planted in the tub outside the church door, apparently the outside bulb had blown and when it was replaced the churchwarden forgot to dispose of the old bulb.  I think when he eventually remembered he left it there as a joke.

 

Back home I had the usual coffee and finished the wekly catch up with friends before cooking lunch - just chicken, bacon, cheese, carrots, sprouts and potatoes followed by apple pie and custard.  I wonder why when I sat down after I washed up I fell asleep, I surely didn't eat too much.  I've almost finished the jigsaw during the afternoon, there are only a few pieces to put in and then I'll make a quick check that none are in the wrong places before I take a photo to prove I did it and then put the bits back in the box when I have stopped admiring my handiwork.

 

It has been cold all day and some light rain arrived about dusk.  I have been in the garden, dead heading the violas and pansies.  At the moment I still have thirteen plant species in flower, I wonder how much longer they will last.

 

As usual it will be teatime soon then most of the evening will be quietly reading possibly with a bit of TV if I can find anything I want to watch.

 

David

[southern42]

7 hours ago, The Lurker said:

According to various books, Robins on mainland Europe are less trusting than those in the UK so possibly quite a rare occurrence.

 

Conwy Valley Railway Museum July 2022 before the buffet car cafe was closed for refurbishment.

Taken on my iPhone a couple of feet away. This one would quite happily fly down onto one of the outdoor tables further along off to the left while people were eating. Cake crumbs seemed to be the most popular menu item. Obviously a budding ERs member ;)

 

[Hroth]

35 minutes ago, southern42 said:

 

Conwy Valley Railway Museum July 2022 before the buffet car cafe was closed for refurbishment.

Taken on my iPhone a couple of feet away. This one would quite happily fly down onto one of the outdoor tables further along off to the left while people were eating. Cake crumbs seemed to be the most popular menu item. Obviously a budding ERs member ;)

 

 

I wonder who would come off best in a scrap over cake between Robin and Polybear?

 

Robins are ferocious little beggars...

 

[pH]

One of the TV sports channels is currently showing a match from the World Jai-alai league. Not something you see too often. 

[Gwiwer]

The robins we had Upon the Hill of Strawberries were vociferously territorial, somewhat aggressive and hand-tame. Hold out a hand with some grains or a piece of bread and they would land, perch, peck and go. 
 

We had wrens, goldfinch, firecrest and other small birds the names of which are also used for female anatomy. All had their place and their space. The robins were top of the small-bird pecking order. 
 

But once a squirrel was spotted they all took cover. Only the crows took on squirrels face-to-face for food.  The crows won every time. 

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each.

'tis staining readily and has been for a while.

Everything planned for today went according to er plan.

Abbie & James arrived just after 09.00 and James polished off the finishing touches to The Shed roof with a little bit of assistance from me.  I was designated tool passer in chief and am very pleased with the new roof covering.  While we were doing that Abbie and The Boss had a good natter about forthcoming festivities.

After they left I did some painting and got the first coat on the window sills.  I'll try to do another coat tomorrow but Sav our Boiler and CH engineer is coming to fit a couple of new rads and TRVs so I'll have to avoid getting in his way.

After lunch I settled down to watch some rugby, first up Exeter Women v Bristol followed by Newcastle Men v Exeter.  Exeter managed to win both matches, the women fairly comfortably but the men were given a hard time by Newcastle and only just scraped a win, their first away victory in 13 months.  I felt for Newcastle and thought they were a tad unlucky given the valiant effort they put in.  Further to this morning's post I did wave at the screen about 15 minutes before the match kicked off and a guy in the stand was waving back (twice) but not sure if it was Warren  @BoD  😁

A pre-dinner bottle of Pride was opened and a glass of Black Stump Premium Durif accompanied quite a nice steak & ale pie with mash, kale, swede and carrots.  I am somewhat full now but I believe I have room for a second glass of wine.

Nothing on TV tonight to interest me as far as I can see so will twiddle the keys on this laptop to try and find something to watch or to listen to.

Cheers. 🍷

[Ozexpatriate]

27 minutes ago, pH said:

Not something you see too often. 

Perhaps the end of the CFL made a difference, but with all the hockey at this time of year I'd imagine so.

 

The Thanksgiving weekend in the US is wall-to-wall football with basketball as an afterthought.

[BoD]

9 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Further to this morning's post I did wave at the screen about 15 minutes before the match kicked off and a guy in the stand was waving back (twice) but not sure if it was Warren  @BoD  😁

It wasn’t me in the stand. Perhaps I was looking the other way when you waved.

Or was still in the bar.

Not long back in from the match.  To be fair Exeter were very much in control after that crazy first  ten minutes.  No team can hope to defend for as long as Newcastle had too and not concede anything.  Just pleased that they put up a fight of sorts and it wasn’t the slaughtering current form might have suggested.  

 

 

 

 

[pH]

19 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Only the crows took on squirrels face-to-face for food.  The crows won every time. 

The crows and squirrels seem to co-exist quite peacefully here, though they aren’t competing for the same food. Crows perch on various wires - phone, cable etc. The squirrels use the same wires as ‘pathways’ between trees, so there is the potential for conflict. But I’ve seen crows move from one wire to another to let a squirrel pass, or even ‘hop’ up off a wire and back down to let a squirrel go under them.

[Sidecar Racer]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

I wonder who would come off best in a scrap over cake between Robin and Polybear?

 

Robins are ferocious little beggars...

 

 

 Not sure , but I'm not getting in the way .

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, pH said:

The crows and squirrels seem to co-exist quite peacefully here

I don't see them interact at all here. The crows do go after other birds - they like to gang up on the red-tailed hawk (which ignores them) and at one point a pair of owls one of which seemed quite distressed.

[PupCam]

Evening All

 

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

This was the Rebels fortified compound in Western Sydney until the police launched several operations with scary names like Operation Raptor to shut down the bikies organised crime connections and it got raided. 

 

 

I'd drive past it on a semi-regular basis and you'd always be on the  alert  if anyone was waiting to come out of there and you'd make sure to stop and politely wave at them to let them know they could cut in front of you. 

 

Makes the VMCC boys in Puppershire seem very tame by comparison.    Come to think of it there is no comparison !!!

 

And on a motorcycling related note; I was persuaded out for a ride and brecky this morning, sort of against my better judgement.    Boy oh boy it was perishing cold and depressing out!   We didn't venture far, about 10 miles.  Breakfast was good as was the company but really, as a fair weather rider, I should have stayed at home tucked up in bed.

 

ION

 

I've been going through one of my big but just about full hard drives today.   This Astrophotography malarkey doesn't half consume some disk real-estate!     "Relentless deletion" has been the order of the day (sounds like a Punk group?) although I can't say it's freed all that much space up.   The trouble is that it is a very time consuming processing, looking at hundreds of images and trying to work out whether they are worth keeping or not and then if they are going through and deleting just the ones where individual frames are poor due to variations in the "seeing"  (astronomy term referring to the degradation of an image or view caused by atmospheric turbulence.).   Puppers fears he has not been relentless enough and a 2nd and maybe even a 3rd pass might be needed ...

 

TTFN

 

 

 

Edited November 26, 2023 by PupCam

[figworthy]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

There were three murders in the Garforth area, not far from Skelton Lake, in the 70's, committed by a Hells Angels Chapter from Garforth.  Orginally written off as missing persons, some very good detective work, by people that I knew, connected up the dots, found the bodies and got them convicted.  One of mtpy colleagues has written a very good book about the case. 

 

Jamie

 

That brings back memories.  Living locally at the time, the first case I knew of, but we'd left the area by the time of the second and third.  I remember being a little surprised when I read about the court case in the papers, even more so when it turned out that one of those involved had been a class mate whilst I was at skool.  No surprise that he was "know to the police", but the expectation was that it would be for petty crime.

 

Adrian

[Ozexpatriate]

22 minutes ago, PupCam said:

The trouble is that it is a very time consuming processing, looking at hundreds of images and trying to work out whether they are worth keeping or not and then if they are going through and deleting just the ones where individual frames are poor due to variations in the "seeing"  (astronomy term referring to the degradation of an image or view caused by atmospheric turbulence.).

Sounds like a job for machine learning.