Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day

 

Little to report from yesterday, slow work and slower post-work activity!

 

Our Christmas meal is usually NOT turkey, as explained a couple of weeks back, I have to take second place to turkey being to elective for Thanksgiving, seems it's something that is IMMOVABLE! Not that I care a lot for that particular bird anyway.

Once we've "done turkey" on Thanksgiving it's deemed TOO SOON to have a second go at it for Christmas.

I'll settle for glazed ham, besides, this year we're on our own for Christmas so can do as we ("I") please 🤣

 

Today other than work, picking up the various prescriptions for my "camera up the arse" appointment this time next week, oh joy!

There's also a small chance we'll sally forth and obtain a Christmas tree tonight, not certain yet.

 

Weather improving to unseasonal again, -2c first thing, but a high of 5c expected with above zero overnight the next two nights AND 10-12c for highs next two days.

 

Onward.

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

No, Oz, it isn’t “nonsense”

Flavio, I completely agree with your post and the consequences of economic and political* fragility in the first third of the 20th century.

 

* Interchangeable.

 

I see many parallels today.

 

I had highlighted the wrong paragraph of your original post with my 'nonsense' comment** and I completely agree with your cogent reply. 

 

** Except for the "Darwinian" bit. Nothing in the conflict was "Darwinian" and I wish people would stop conflating biological evolution with the tribalistic behaviours of societies - so called "social Darwinism". They are not the same. I would be happy for that to be called "Herbert Spencerism" (or similar) if it needs a biographical name.

 

Herbert Spencer created the "survival of the fittest" expression.

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
Added the Darwinian bit.

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, not done a lot as mojo escaped.

Ben taken for a long walk , he chose to go the furthest he's gone since his accident, but I still had to stop him going even further.

Planning ramp for Ben into side door of car.. building task for tomorrow in the workshop I think looking at the seaweed forecast..

At that point I fell asleep..

 

 

[DaveF]

I checked my Christmas card list and address books to make sure which cards need sending and got the overseas ones written.  I went to the local post office this morning having defrosted the car only to find it was closed as they had a computer problem.  It was as well I hadn't walked there.  I was going out anyway so decided to go to Cramlington which is nearby and visit their shopping centre.  I found the Post Office just inside Asda which is next to the car park so it only took a few minutes to post the overseas cards.  I then had a walk around the shops, several have changed since I was last there a long time ago and I checked that the branch of my main bank is still in the same place.

 

Then I went to the outdoor area where the big stores are situated and had a look round Halfords but didn't find anything I needed urgently.  There are other stores there I need to visit but that will be a separate shopping expedition to include M&S food - just for a look round, Currys, Dunelm Mill and a new B&M, perhaps next week.

 

Next I visited the garden centre, on the way I found the council have at last put the speed limit signs back after the roadworks.  I had a good cup of coffee and a scone and bought some indoor hyacinths.  I came back home via the nature reserve at East Cramlington and Seaton Sluice taking photos at both.  On the way I noticed that there is a stretch of road with street lights but no speed limit (it has the national limit signs at each end) and no reminder signs.  It can be very confusing.  The nature reserve covers a large area.  I had a look at the bird feeders, most birds hadn't bothered getting up as it was so cold but there were a lot of great tits, I wren but no red squirrels this time.  From Seaton Sluice I could see the snow on the Cheviot in the distance.  I am not sure why the harbour has a large baulk of wood across the entrance today.

 

I was home in time to get lunch.  This afternoon I have planted the raspberries and made a note of which varieties are where.  It was above freezing point, just so I think they will be OK - raspberries are pretty tough things.

 

Now I am having a rest.

 

Some photos are below.

 

East Cramlington Nature reserve pond

 

East Cramlington Nature reserve   one of the wooded areas

 

Seaton Sluice view to the Cheviot

 

Seaton Sluice harbour entrance

 

Seaton Sluice view to Blyth

 

David

Edited December 6, 2023 by DaveF

[zarniwhoop]

3 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Drove over to Salisbury; very foggy but quite a few drivers don't seem put their lights on at all, never mind the rear fog lamp.

Ah, I can remember years ago (perhaps nearly 30 years) when I first had a rear fog light (I guess probably only one at that time) - it was easy to turn on, with a nicely visible light as a reminder. Possibly it wasn't linked to sidelights at that time, not sure. But over the years the interlinking has got worse - on my current (2011) car fog lights require you to be using sidelights, no chance to put just the rear on when in heavy spray that needs wipers on full and where sidelights are useless.

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Seething.

 

We tried to open a new savings account, with a bank we already bank with and have done so for years, in branch.  Can't do it in branch, only on line. #sigh 1#

 

Tried to do it on line this afternoon - we have to authenticate ourselves (to a bank we already bank with, and have for years).  No problem, log on to 'Hoowe' (sounds rather like a mobile phone manufacturer I don't trust) or something, it'll only take 5 minutes or so. #sigh 2#

 

Two and a half hours later...... #really big sigh 3#

 

We have accomplished the deed. Eventually, having almost lost the will to live. 

 

As I quite like living (I'm sure my end will come far sooner than desired anyway) I think that that would have given me the will to bank elsewhere.  

 

No doubt our attempts to stem the march to "do everything online/on the App" is futile but at least we've got the morale high ground.

 

As I may have mentioned once or twice IT IS WRONG TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST THOSE THAT CAN'T OR WON'T DO EVERYTHING ONLINE and in other areas of life apparently any form of discrimination is wrong and quite rightly so.

 

Alan

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

I'll settle for glazed ham, besides, this year we're on our own for Christmas so can do as we ("I") please 🤣

 

 

 

That'll be ham, egg n' chips** then.....

Oh, and some bread n' butter would set it off right nice too - and also offers the possibility of a chip sarnie)

(**with beans for those who appreciate the finer things in life....)

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Drove over to Salisbury; very foggy but quite a few drivers don't seem put their lights on at all, never mind the rear fog lamp.

 

Most people probably just put their headlights on "Auto" when they first pick the car up from the dealers  and assume that'll take care of it for ever more, which it doesn't because fog doesn't seem to trigger them on. I'm sure many "younger" drivers  don't  know what the other headlight settings even mean.

 

That coupled with car makers  current philosophy  of "you can have any colour as long as it some shade of silver or grey" makes driving in fog an interesting experience at times. 

 

Speaking of that, I came upon these photos few days ago,  which show  how much more cheerful and colourful the carparks  of the past were   in comparison to todays dreariness.

 

Especially here where dark colours were usually shunned  as the photos show, due to the wisdom that  they would heat up to spectacular internal temperatures in the sun. Now air-conditioning as standard seems to have put that philosophy to bed, even though you've still got to spend the first few minutes or so inside  the  oven that darker cars still turn into  before the air-con kicks in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

I guess I won't be doing too much outside on Saturday...

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went out to the car after lunch to find the windscreen all iced up. So it was out with the scraper to clear the screen. Once the screen was clear I got into the car to turn the demister on only to find it wasn't misted up but ice on the inside! By the time I'd sorted that it was getting dark and a bit too late to sort out the rollators so they will have to be dealt with later.

Edited December 6, 2023 by PhilJ W

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 

If a Certain Bear were ever to discover a giant crack across the newly tiled kitchen floor at Bear Towers then I'm pretty sure that would invoke deep thought - none of which would be good, however...

 

 

HMG have been known for being rather fussy when it comes to accepting documents - usually as a means to delay paying stage payments....

 

 

You need a shed....have a word with WB......

 

WB importers & exporters here.

 

We are very grateful for your enquiry. Unfortunately all of our operators are busy at the moment and your call is important to us.

 

You are 1,589 on the list.

 

Have you thought of going online? Our website WB.com has all of our products and if you have any questions we have a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions section.

 

Yours

 

WB enterprises.

 

Please note do not reply to this as it will not be responded to.

[Tony_S]

My car wasn’t available for defrosting as it is still in Chelmsford being serviced. The “health check” confirmed the front brake pad wear but also noticed more wear on the rear disc pad and one disc. Parts ordered, may get it tomorrow, but I said if it was late in the day, we would go on Friday. We can manage perfectly well with the Fiesta, we are not planning any long trips for a while. This will be the first time I have had to spend anything that wasn’t covered by the 5 year service plan or warranty . 
Tony
 

[Porkscratching]

35 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went out to the car after lunch to find the windscreen all iced up. So it was out with the scraper to clear the screen. Once the screen was clear I got into the car to turn the demister on only to find it wasn't misted up but ice on the inside!By the time I'd sorted that it was getting dark and a bit too late to sort out the rollators so they will have to be dealt with later.

Shoulda just done my trick of throwing hot water over the windscreen a couple of times,  then again don't moan at me if it cracks, I'll only say... "should've got an old land rover mate.." 😁

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Most people probably just put their headlights on "Auto" when they first pick the car up from the dealers <snip>

 

 

What is this "Auto" of which you speak?  🤣

 

21 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

This will be the first time I have had to spend anything that wasn’t covered by the 5 year service plan or warranty .

 

..... but how much did they cost* and how much use did you get out of them?   🤔  

 

* You don't get owt for nowt after all

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

2 hours ago, PupCam said:

I think that that would have given me the will to bank elsewhere.  

 

Were it that we had the choice.  We did bank with HSBC, purely a historic thing, it was the Midland when we joined it, but they closed our branch this year 'for our convenience', now it is a 44 mile round trip.  We always had an IoM Bank account from our first visit here in 86, as we always intended to move here (did so in 02) so this is the alternative we now use.  We do have Lloyds in town too, but that too is on shaky ground.  I will be writing a snottogram.....

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

What is this "Auto" of which you speak?  🤣

 

 

..... but how much did they cost* and how much use did you get out of them?   🤔  

 

* You don't get owt for nowt after all

 

 

 

In Bear's experience they are remarkably good at making all those things that are most likely to generate a claim under warranty exempt in the T's & C's; wear n' tear I can understand, but.....

 

Bear once had a run-in with a Rover Garage when Ricky was still under warranty; they'd decided that the front discs were bvggered ("don't worry, Mr Bear - the warranty pays for them") but cos' they'd warped then "new pads will be required as well" ....."and as they're classed as normal wear items then Mr Bear will have to pay for those...."

 

I argued (and some...) that the only reason the pads needed replacing was because the discs had warped - so in effect they'd become collateral damage.  They offered a discount (which was still cr@p cos' genuine Rover parts prices were just silly) but refused to fit pattern parts.  In the end "their Garage Manager has inspected the pads and decided they're ok to refit....."

 

Ricky actually got thru' several front discs; as soon as I changed to using pattern discs I never had another problem.

[Sidecar Racer]

 Something for @iL Dottore to   errr  digest  !!!!!

 

 

[jamie92208]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

In Bear's experience they are remarkably good at making all those things that are most likely to generate a claim under warranty exempt in the T's & C's; wear n' tear I can understand, but.....

 

Bear once had a run-in with a Rover Garage when Ricky was still under warranty; they'd decided that the front discs were bvggered ("don't worry, Mr Bear - the warranty pays for them") but cos' they'd warped then "new pads will be required as well" ....."and as they're classed as normal wear items then Mr Bear will have to pay for those...."

 

I argued (and some...) that the only reason the pads needed replacing was because the discs had warped - so in effect they'd become collateral damage.  They offered a discount (which was still cr@p cos' genuine Rover parts prices were just silly) but refused to fit pattern parts.  In the end "their Garage Manager has inspected the pads and decided they're ok to refit....."

 

Ricky actually got thru' several front discs; as soon as I changed to using pattern discs I never had another problem.

Many years ago I had a Rover 820 and one of the valves went.  £200 to strip it Dow, £200 for new valves and £200 to put it back together.  It had 33000 on the clock and the warranty company said it was fair wear and tear.  I rang the AA technical people and they told me this was a common fault and that Rover had been aware for some time.  I think I ended up paying about £100 modelling g tokens in the end. 

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

49 minutes ago, PupCam said:

but how much did they cost* and how much use did you get out of them?   🤔  

I bought the car when it was six months old. On the list of all the features on the car there was nothing about the 5 year service plan. So when I tried to transfer the money I had in my previous cars plan I couldn’t as it already had a plan purchased when it was a new car. So,I got 5 years servicing I wasn’t expecting. The car had a three year from purchase warranty. So I have since then purchased two years of extended warranty. This didn’t cover brake pads so I have to pay for those. The extended warranty isn’t that expensive compared to almost anything on the car, we don’t have any cover on the Ford. We don’t use it on longer journeys or abroad and its service costs have been very reasonable anyway. 
With previous cars, I had to do repairs myself where possible and kept them running whatever the weather. I can’t do that now, partly because of health issues and because the Evoque doesn’t really lend itself to DiY solutions. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by Tony_S

[monkeysarefun]

I'm not a fan of Kia's (although the Stinger GT  is tempting...)  but they seem to be the one maker that is prepared to back up its quality and reliability claims with its warranty. 7 years, unlimited km's, free roadside service for 8 years and capped service costs for the life of the warranty.

[pH]

59 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

It had 33000 on the clock and the warranty company said it was fair wear and tear.  I rang the AA technical people and they told me this was a common fault and that Rover had been aware for some time.  I think I ended up paying about £100 modelling g tokens in the end. 

When our first bought-new car (the car we have now is only the second like that) was nearing the end of the warranty, I got the BCAA (our AA/RAC equivalent) to do a full check of it, then gave the list of problems they found to the dealer. I think they refused only one as “fair wear and tear”.

 

I’m not sure they would have been as agreeable without the BCAA.

Edited December 6, 2023 by pH

[Coombe Barton]

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Not me, Sir!  I wear a hi-viz when on or about the tracks.  Not necessarily much else, mind, just the hi-viz 🤣

Too much information

Much too much information.

[PhilJ W]

35 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

I'm not a fan of Kia's (although the Stinger GT  is tempting...)  but they seem to be the one maker that is prepared to back up its quality and reliability claims with its warranty. 7 years, unlimited km's, free roadside service for 8 years and capped service costs for the life of the warranty.

But they are so reliable that they can afford to give such a warranty. 

[Coombe Barton]

... The lawn, as previously reported, went to crunch to squelch. This morning it was a weird kind of cruelch, started off as a crunch but ended up as a squelch with brown highlights ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/12/06/sounds-of-the-season-2023-04-covid-and-for-some-reason-his-memory-is-equally-unreliable/

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I was perusing some mobility aids earlier this evening but everything I wanted was out of stock. Just now I got an e-mail from the mobility company "We see you were looking at our products do you wish to carry on?" Obviously an automatically generated message so its a waste of time answering it.