Early Risers.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

First Hattons and now Warley - What on earth is going on?!?

 

Have a good day everyone...

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

The Brooksteed in Worthing is worth a visit. 

Yes a very good micro. Went in there with John DMJ a few times. Its change ownership again. However last bus in to and out of Arundel is not long after 6pm.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Sun, clear sky, frost. Temperature has moved from a negative to a positive number 0.6C since I got up.

 

21 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Not a lot to do today but I've got a new book to peruse about unmentionables in and around Tilbury.

 

That reminds me, I have two new books to peruse plus a magazine newly arrived in the post yesterday. I doubt I will get much chance to look at them today as it is C&C groceries day which will entail a Henry workout and getting the cupboards re-sorted after most of the additional *C* foods have been devoured, now down to the last few mince pies and pieces of *C* cake.

 

Time to get on.

Take care. Be good. Find time.

Polly

[monkeysarefun]

5 hours ago, Barry O said:

The people in the Post Office scandal need to be sorted out PDQ. I would even suggest that some of the legal beagles working for the PO at the time need to be called to account.. just my view though...

 

 

I watched the first couple of episodes here tonight, the main question I'd have is why didn't the PO need to show where the money went - that annoying innocent until proven guilty detail? ? Here the first thing they'd do would be to  access your bank records and everything else via your Tax File Number because surely if the money  disappeared from the PO, and  it was stolen it would pop up somewhere else. And surely people wouldn't steal money from the PO then as some kind of "cover", re-mortgage their house and sell all their things and live in penury while having a few thousand pounds of ill-gotten PO money secretly hidden somewhere?  Why was that not brought up in court?    Maybe that is all answered in episodes 3 and 4 so sorry if I've jumped the gun  and it is apparent if accurate that they got heavied on pretty hard by the PO to plead guilty or worse would happen.

 

As I posted a few days ago we had a similar scandal here with the robodebt shenanigans a few years ago but that has at least been jumped on pretty quickly in comparison,  with a Royal Commision finding dodgy behaviour and recommendations that criminal charges are laid. Hopefully similar findings happen there, although the difference is that here they just have to make a finding of  "Thats Un-Australian!" and the rest just happens.

Edited January 12 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

11 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

The ULEZ stuff circles back to the point about 'rules for thee but not for me'. Whether or not the charge is a good idea or we like it the fact is it is a mandatory charge. If people don't like it, don't drive to London. If people don't want to use public transport, insist on driving and don't want to pay the charge then go somewhere else. Regardless of nationality. 

 

 

ULEZ related post, due to climate change: The last two days have had the highest dew point temperature ever recorded in Sydney which has sent the humidity off the scale. . The dewpoint temperature was something I'd never heard of before, I'd always though that the column labelled "humidity" actually measures humidity, but apparently its the dew point you need to watchout  for, which yesterday was 25.9 when its usually 14 degrees. So  I guess that's high and apparently explains the mental humidity of yesterday and today which is officially "as high as Singapore".  The actual temperature is a lowly 28 to 30 kind of thing -  just like Darwin - but the humidity....phew!  Personally I reckon Darwin just before the Big Wet  has it  worse but it HAS been very sticky.

 

But anyway, Singapore-style humidity: 1 star.

Edited January 12 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

14 hours ago, pH said:

Or before people get angry about it all and it becomes a tirade war?

 

 

Watch out for the drive-by shoutings!

[jamie92208]

Water tanks collected and offloaded. New saw blade for the log saw ordered.  I had to take the old blade out to measure the Alesage aka bore which is 30mm.  That's my new word for today.  Why oh why do the designers of such thi gs make them so complicated to take apart.  To take the saw gaurd off I needed a cross head and flat head screwdriver, a 10mm spanner and a 5 mm allen key to undo 7 bolts.   Then it was coffee time when Beth got back from the quacks.  She does need an operation and we now have an appointmentwith a good surgeon in Angouleme in February.  That is progress.  I cooked lunch as we are out for some cake and cider later.  I also got a text to say that our new sofa is ready for collection.  That is now booked for tomorrow morning.    

 

Now to get the ladder out and adjust our satellite dish. 

 

Jamie

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Robert said:

Morning All,

 

First Hattons and now Warley - What on earth is going on?!?

 

Have a good day everyone...

Our hobby is finally becoming cheaper? 
 

Afternoon all. I was an ER this morning as Captain Slackbladder demanded relief. I then went back to bed in the knowledge that I had a full day ahead ……

 

….. and turned the alarm off 🤦‍♂️

 

So I am now running several hours behind schedule not helped by a 30-minute wait for the car-wash (for a car that could no longer wait to be washed) and 20 minutes to check out of Sainsbury’s behind a woman who queried every single price, asked for everything to be re-scanned, demanded to see the manager about the “scandalous prices” which she alleged were far more than the shelf tickets stated. And then didn’t have any means to pay. 
 

For a more reasonable person with a more modest amount of basic-necessity shopping I might have offered to step in but not after that fiasco and for over £200-worth of mostly premium-brand items. Not much of what I could see would be thought of as essentials. 
 

And upon returning to the newly-cleaned and sparkly Little Red Driving Box I found the person who had departed the adjacent bay had rubbed half the length of my driver’s side. It’s only rubber and will buff out but WHAT THE???  You had a metre clear beside you and you still managed to rub your machine along two metres of mine. 
 

There are words ruder than bottom for people like that. 
 

And I now have the cottage to clean top to bottom in half a day before collecting Dr. SWMBO tonight. It normally takes me a full day. 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, 

Mast step given a good sanding then a first coat of paint , it will need 2 or three coats.

Rudder head given another coat.

Centre console reinforcement, expanded to some repairs, luckily it's been drying for some time in the boat and in the shed. Now glued, screwed, and clamped up. Tomorrow it'll need sanding before painting.

The MRC accounts are now up to date ( end of Dec that is), noted an odd automatic payment by the bank, it is to one of our suppliers, but i think a woeful underpayment.

 

Humidity in Saudi was huge, when aircraft doors were opened, you'd see a rolling wave of condensation mist coming down the aircraft along the ceiling.

 

Our " little red driving machine" ©Gwiwer, is also sparkly clean, as the garage we use for servicing gives it a wash and brush up after their work. It won't last long with 5ge state of our roads.

 

Time for muddling.

[monkeysarefun]

On 11/01/2024 at 17:55, Barry O said:

Drilling holes in mountains is nowhere near as hard to organise as buying up parcels of land from individuals.. then getting through planning etc..  

 

 

 

 The other advantage is that they can do it all without disturbing anyone on the surface, to the point that here about 10 years ago they announced some new underground cross-city  metro system.  Initially we  got a few stories about  some business or other  that was going to have to make way for a subway entrance after being in the same spot for 60years and so on and then it all went quite and we all forgot about it until this week when they announced that there was a new station in Martin Place or somewhere opening in a few weeks and we are all like "When did they build that!?" 

 

 And we then discover they've also  been quietly knocking up that   complete new train line that we've obviously  all forgotten about,  the sneaky bu99ers.

 

The only fly in the ointment is that to complete its entire length to the south  they need to shut off a portion of the heavy rail network and replace it with buses for 12 months , but we have not enough  bus drivers.   We shall apparently  fear not though, according to Howard Collins OBE,in the attached video  he will "Get enough bus drivers..."  Given he's an expat from London Transport,  he may know a few good ones....?

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Wow - huge fruitbat fight going on outside!)

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Bin men have been and gone and now its all quiet. Now I have to get things sorted for the Brentwood toy fair tomorrow, I have my modelling tokens ready though I doubt they will all get spent.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

(Wow - huge fruitbat fight going on outside!)

 

Perhaps you should tell them to calm down a bit?  🤔🙃

 

Or even try an ultrasonic animal/teenager repellant device ?

 

 

 

Edited January 12 by Hroth

[petethemole]

Further news re Mrs mole's compo claim; two other solicitors have declined to take it on, quoting a less than 50% chance of success.  Despite the cleaning and maintenance of the accessible shower being having been less than adequate on the day, there's no way of proving it almost a year later.  Somebody is angry.

We had a new fridge/freezer delivered yesterday; the old one was getting a bit decrepit and most of the plastic drawers were cracked or broken.  The new one is slightly taller and deeper from front to back so has more room.

I'm off out shortly with two big bags of charity shop stuff and some eBay packages.  It's Friday so a pint may be had after shopping if there's time...or two.

Re HS2 archaeology; as with HS1 the entire route had to be assessed and investigated appropriately according to current planning law.  The requirement for developers, at whatever level, to arrange for and fund archaeological interventions prior to development only came in in the early '80s.  Prior to that, a lot was lost, or excavations were allowed but with no funding for all the work that ensues.  Now there are politicians who want to "speed up" the planning process to build more houses.  I suspect archaeology may be in their sights.

[grandadbob]

A'noon all.

Several tick boxes have been completed.

Dressing removed, it was a bit stuck so needed persuasion but I managed that with only a little bit of blood ensuing.  No follow up visits should be necessary apparently as the sutures will dissolve.

New door handle spring set arrived last night so that has been fitted to the front door which means we no longer have a floppy lever.

Travel insurance quotes received so that has now been sorted.  Just need to pay for the holiday in the next couple of weeks.

Several visitors arrived to see if I was still alive OK.  Tim from over the road, Ali from next door and Nicki, Joe & Gemma all turned up within a few minutes of each other so the house was a bit hectic for a while.  Nice to know that somebody cares!

Lunch taken at 13.00 and a bit of financial admin dealt with and now The Boss is making me a muggatea.  Unfortunately there seems to be a cake shortage here so I'll have to make do with some biscuits.  It's a hard life.

Edited January 12 by grandadbob

[DaveF]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

A'noon all.

Several tick boxes have been completed.

Dressing removed, it was a bit stuck so needed persuasion but I managed that with only a little bit of blood ensuing.  No follow up visits should be necessary apparently as the sutures will dissolve.

New door handle spring set arrived last night so that has been fitted to the front door which means we no longer have a floppy lever.

Travel insurance quotes received so that has now been sorted.  Just need to pay for the holiday in the next couple of weeks.

Several visitors arrived to see if I was still alive OK.  Tim from over the road, Ali from next door and Nicki, Joe & Gemma all turned up within a few minutes of each other so the house was a bit hectic for a while.  Nice to know that somebody cares!

Lunch taken at 13.00 and a bit of financial admin dealt with and now The Boss is making me a muggatea.  Unfortunately there seems to be a cake shortage here so I'll have to make do with some biscuits.  It's a hard life.

 

It's good to hear you are progressing well

 

David

[Coombe Barton]

... varieties of the acronym IBM according to person type ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/01/12/gp-respiratory-infection-consultations-sharply-up-and-whats-the-cost-of-decent-software-systems/

[DaveF]

Today has involved a number of phone calls.  The food arrived just after 10.00, all the right things came including 2 free meals so I needn't cook anything difficult after the hernia repair the week after next unless I feel like it.

 

I have started to organise help with housework so I don't have to lift the Shark, someone is visiting me on Monday to discuss it and give a price.  If that doesn't work I have some other people to ring.  Then several friends rang to ask if I have the date yet and they all wanted to have long chats.

 

I did get out for a walk along the promenade, it was much cooler there today, only 4C and much heavier cloud so no photos were taken.  There were a lot of dog walkers about along with a number of surfers, though the waves were quite small.

 

This afternoon I have dome some model stuff and sorted out aniother 20 days of photos for the web.

 

I think I will sit and read for most of the evening as I am a bit sore - I have stood more than I intended during the day as I had to move things round in the kitchen to make space to put the meals where I can get at them without bending and stretching.  At the moment sitting comfortably and walking do not cause pain, standing does, sitting in some chairs of the village hall variety can be very painful after a few minutes.  Fotrtunately my sofa, other living room chair, computer chair and kitchen chairs are all OK.

 

David

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

The dewpoint temperature was something I'd never heard of before,

We are very familiar with the dewpoint here. It mostly matters in winter (when the weather is humid) and the creation of fog.

 

As our winter weather event is now imminent the forecast is absent the earlier hyperbole. Temperature forecasts over the weekend remain similar (well below zero) but snowfall estimates for today are now closer to zero and any daytime precipitation will fall as rain. We might see some snow tomorrow but the threat of freezing rain seems to be rising.

 

I got a walk in this morning around notional sunrise. Overcast and perhaps 3°C. Quite normal for this time of year.

 

We've probably seen our high temperature for the day. It is forecast to drop all day as arctic air from east of the mountains leaches through the gorge.

[TheQ]

Fujitsu win British big computer contracts because in 2002 they bought ICL the remaining big British main frame  computer manufacturer. ICL were the result of mergers with several other British manufacturers often forced by the governments of the times. That included Marconi Elliott computers whose products I worked on .

[Barry O]

ICL 1906... George.. punch card.. takes me back a long, long time... 

 

When I started at Uni the KDF 9 had just been made redundant by the arrival of a super duper Dec 10.. moon lander anyone??

 

St Eveneage  used an IBM 360 which was awful in comparison..

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

3 hours ago, petethemole said:

Prior to that, a lot was lost, or excavations were allowed but with no funding for all the work that ensues.  Now there are politicians who want to "speed up" the planning process to build more houses.  I suspect archaeology may be in their sights.

The Rome Metro project  had rather a lot of archaeology to process too. 

Edited January 12 by Tony_S

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

2 hours ago, DaveF said:

It's good to hear you are progressing well

Thanks Dave, I do seem to be quite lucky when I've had any surgical procedures and so far have never experienced any bad after effects from either the ops or the GAs and tend to recover quite quickly. I also seem to have a reasonably high tolerance to pain which helps as well.  Long may it last.

Ham, egg and chips tonight accompanied by a glass of Malbec which might seem strange to some but not to me.  I've still got some jam sponge pudding and custard left as well as I didn't finish it last night.

The Boss will be watching a soap shortly and after that I will take control of the remote and watch some rugby.

I think a drop more wine is called for.

Cheers.🍷🍷

 

[PhilJ W]

58 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The Rome Metro project  had rather a lot of archaeology to process too. 

When I visited Malta back in the 70's I paid a visit to the city of Mdina which was at one time the capital of the island. It is a very ancient city with very narrow roads and alley's. It was in the process of becoming a World Heritage site so they first decided to put all the cables underground. The problem was that everywhere they dug they came across archeology which had to be recorded  or rescued.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Last night when I went to the SEERS meeting there was quite a traffic jam on the A13 and it was gridlocked from Pitsea to Tarpots. The cause was an accident on the A127 and the traffic was diverted to the A13. This meant that I was delayed in collecting my friend and I was late getting to the venue where parking was difficult at the best of times. As a result I spent a further twenty minutes looking for somewhere to park but I eventually found a space about fifty yards from the venue. We had just got to the front door when a car parked right outside pulled away. 🥴 

[PupCam]

Evening Each!

 

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

.. moon lander anyone??

 

Oh yes please, I seem to remember porting it to the Fluke 1720 Instrument Controller we used to use.  It was mighty fine bit of kit in its day.

 

Well, I had to do something when I was bored.    Happy days.

 

ION

 

Most importantly;  I spoke to Bear again today.   He's hanging on in there but not really making much progress 😢   I will check-up on him again in a few days and maybe even give him a gentle cajole for us to go out somewhere even if it's only for coffee.

 

I spent a happy hour on the phone to HMRC this morning sorting out a significant tax issue brought about by one of the providers (I know not which one is truly to blame) who manage my primary source of income.   It was a Curate's Egg of a call; I had to suffer (as we all do) the ridiculous waffle about irrelevant topics, finding help online and all the other typical ballcocks that go on and then when I finally managed to get to the "OK  hold the line for the next available advisor by the way we're very busy" I then had to suffer (again, as we all do) the carp Muzak and constant interruptions (Your call is important, have you been online  ......) meaning you can't actually concentrate on anything while you are waiting.   

 

BUT!

 

When I finally spoke to  "James" he was the very model of politeness, efficiency, knowledge & ability to understand the issue, re-compute the computations, come up with the same answer that I did (that's pleasing as I'm not an accountant) and finally take the necessary remedial actions.      I thanked him profusely for his assistance.      I'd been asked to take part in the standard satisfaction survey afterwards so it was suitable brickbats for them and particularly large bouquets for James.     I do wish they'd ditch all of that preliminary tosh and annoyance so the waiting time isn't entirely wasted!

 

IOON

 

I've had another go at processing my Saturn imagery from the other day.   It will never be very good but I've found some extra functions in the processing software - they were there all along, I just didn't think of using them.  

Anyway, it's looking a little better now than it did.

 

 

This is the video that software processed to produce the image.    You'll notice I was having particular difficulties with the mount on Tuesday 🤣

 

 

Night Awl

 

 

 

Edited January 12 by PupCam
Added source video