Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Now on the top floor of the hospital car park. Every time a vehicle passes the floor moves. I think this may be some sort of extension on the original roof. Aditi didn’t want to,be accompanied to the clinic, suggested I stay with the car in the “fresh air”. Actually there is quite a pleasant breeze this morning. 

[DaveF]

Continuing from seeing the consultant yesterday evening I found an e mail from his secretary in my inbox at 06.50 this morning with a copy of the letter he has sent to my GP - basically saying I am doing well and that I am now handed back to my GP.  I think that is incredibly efficient.

 

I've also had a visit just after 09.00 from Age Co's area manager to check how things are going with the housework they do for me, I have his own number to contact him direct if I ever have any problems with the service.  We had a good chat.

 

The groceries came at about 08.30 and are now safely put away.  There were subs, one was that raspberries were replaced by strawberies so I was slightly surprised to receive  a box of raspberries and no strawberries.  I also have twice as many shredded wheat as I ordered.

 

I don't have much planned today, I feel tired after the visit to the hospital yesterday evening and I didn't sleep too well.  I may just go out for a coffee somewhere as a small treat.

 

Yesterday evening I had another virtual trip to Switzerland, this time travelling from Spiez to Zweisimmen, a trip I've done two or three times for real.  Zweisimmen has changed a bit since I was last there.

 

David

[BSW01]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Someone mentioned on Radio 2 a short time ago they returned from Portugal with “an obscene amount of custard tarts”

Me thinks it’s about time a certain Bear investigated such items further - purely in the interests of science you understand…..

Now where can Bear obtain such things in the uk?

Try Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and M&S. I’ve not tried other supermarkets so they may also sell them. 

Edited March 19 by BSW01

[PhilJ W]

19 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

Try Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and M&S

And Tess Coes.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The weather can’t make its mind up at the moment, one minute the sun is shining, the next the sky is dark and looks as though it could rain at any minute. So, I’ve decided to stay inside today and make a start putting some top coat on the cellar woodwork. I normally give this sort of thing 2 coats, so I expect to get one done today and the last one tomorrow or Thursday. 
 

Well, that brush (unfortunately) won’t operate itself, so I’d best get on with it. 
 

Back later.
 

Brian

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

@Grizz  is the bear to ask, I think he has spotted many Custard Tarts a la Portugese, but they're in one of those "posh" supermarkets.

 

Must admit, they look remarkably moreish!

 

It always amuses me to see various posters on ER go on about “posh” supermarkets, shops, restaurants and the like.

When I’m in the UK, I do shop for “found-in-Britain-only“ ingredients, and in sourcing them, I’ve been to branches of all of the national supermarket chains. And none of them, by any stretch of the definition, could be considered “posh”

 

Some supermarkets do have better quality foodstuffs, true; but sustainably sourced, high-animal-welfare, non-UPF foodstuffs from farmers who get paid fairly for what they supply isn’t the province of the über-rich. It’s something that you find in farmer’s markets across Europe (and even the European supermarket chains - like Migros in Switzerland - stock such high quality foodstuffs). Even places like Borough Market in London, the prices of sustainably sourced, high-animal-welfare, non-UPF foodstuffs from farmers who get paid fairly for what they supply are not out of line for that sort of quality. The ubiquitousness and cheapness of UPF from food conglomerates in the UK has skewed many (most?) people’s perception of what food should cost.

 

Also, I suspect the same sort of mental gymnastics is going on with the ER definition of “posh“ as happens in the Guardian with their definition of “rich“. Just as “rich” to a Guardian columnist is “anyone who earns more than me”; so on ER “posh” equals “costs more than I’m willing to pay”.

[PhilJ W]

17 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

It always amuses me to see various posters on ER go on about “posh” supermarkets, shops, restaurants and the like.

When I’m in the UK, I do shop for “found-in-Britain-only“ ingredients, and in sourcing them, I’ve been to branches of all of the national supermarket chains. And none of them, by any stretch of the definition, could be considered “posh”

 

Some supermarkets do have better quality foodstuffs, true; but sustainably sourced, high-animal-welfare, non-UPF foodstuffs from farmers who get paid fairly for what they supply isn’t the province of the über-rich. It’s something that you find in farmer’s markets across Europe (and even the European supermarket chains - like Migros in Switzerland - stock such high quality foodstuffs). Even places like Borough Market in London, the prices of sustainably sourced, high-animal-welfare, non-UPF foodstuffs from farmers who get paid fairly for what they supply are not out of line for that sort of quality. The ubiquitousness and cheapness of UPF from food conglomerates in the UK has skewed many (most?) people’s perception of what food should cost.

 

Also, I suspect the same sort of mental gymnastics is going on with the ER definition of “posh“ as happens in the Guardian with their definition of “rich“. Just as “rich” to a Guardian columnist is “anyone who earns more than me”; so on ER “posh” equals “costs more than I’m willing to pay”.

Fortunately where I live places such as farm shops are not that far away, within a half hours drive at most. When I lived in Burnham-on-Crouch there were even some farm shops only a short distance away that done their own slaughtering/butchery. There was also a fishmonger who purchased his stock by the cran straight off of the boat.

[jjb1970]

It's like calling something 'expensive' or 'cheap' or 'good value', to who and by what criteria? These things are largely subjective and dependent on personal circumstances. There are people for whom practically anything is expensive, others really don't worry about price of anything. 

 

And even considering the subjective nature of these concepts, cheap is not a synonym for good value despite some treating it as such. Something can be accepted as being expensive but still be considered good value. Similarly cheap junk is still junk and I can't see junk as ever offering good value. Cheap and good however generally would be considered good value.

 

For example, I collect HO and 1/80 16.5mm brass models. Most would consider prices silly but I don't mind paying and consider them to offer good value by my own criteria and expectations. I spend a lot on a model, but I don't buy many and would appear to spend a lot less than those who have pre-orders stretching over the horizon.

[jjb1970]

Food in Singapore is very expensive, almost everything is imported and even frozen and dry/tinned goods are far from cheap. Chilled and fresh stuff flown in can be bonkers.

[Flanged Wheel]

By contrast, food in Laos is very cheap! Our main meal tonight (with all fresh ingredients) will be about £1.50. A beer is 50 pence… I might just have to indulge.

 

[Tony_S]

54 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

so on ER “posh” equals “costs more than I’m willing to pay”.

I think you are overthinking the current use of the word “posh”. It isn’t really a serious term linked to class and/or income. It is really more ironic or humorous.

[iL Dottore]

@jjb1970 does make a good point, although I don’t entirely agree with all his premises.

 

Certainly, the price of something doesn’t necessarily reflect its quality (Captain Cynical commented that a lot of the “stuff” aimed at the “nouveau riche/oligarch/petro-sheikh set” is incredibly expensive, incredibly tacky and frequently with [to use a business term] an appalling cost/benefit ratio. And some is quite shoddy).
 

And cheap - in the long run - can be incredibly more costly than “expensive” (as Terry Pratchett has observed via his character Sam Vimes).

 

My social & family circles are quite broad and include some very HNWI* “old money” individuals. What I have noted is that they really don’t spend that much money (relatively speaking). Everything they buy is incredibly high quality, built - and bought - to last and they never throw anything away (repair, not replace).

One fellow I knew in England (a solicitor) was fortunate to have the same sizes in clothes and shoes as his father (a Barrister, I think)  - so was guaranteed a steady supply of Savile Row suits and bespoke shoes (Lobbs, I think) from his father. Those suits not battered enough to be used for gardening were “upcycled” by being passed on to junior. Such was/is the quality of a Savile Row suit (current starting price for a bespoke Savile Row suit is around £3500) that it looked as good when handed down as when it was first built by the tailor**

 

* HNWI = High Net Worth Individual. People with > US$ 1 million in assets excluding principal residence.

** All bespoke suits have generous margins of “spare” cloth along the seams - allowing the suit to be let out to cope with increasing girth. Something not present in most off-the-peg suits which use exactly just enough cloth to make the suit with nothing left over for “letting out”.

 

Edited March 19 by iL Dottore
Format

[iL Dottore]

18 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think you are overthinking the current use of the word “posh”. It isn’t really a serious term linked to class and/or income. It is really more ironic or humorous.

I disagree Tony, I think that it’s used in the “serious” sense by many (including on ER).

[Tony_S]

Going shopping with MiL has become very stressful. She has perfect recall of prices from about 40 years ago but no memory of last week’s shopping. So, she is keen to go to the shops but won’t buy anything. She seems quite happy with a bill total, it’s is just the individual items. 

[woodenhead]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Going shopping with MiL has become very stressful. She has perfect recall of prices from about 40 years ago but no memory of last week’s shopping. So, she is keen to go to the shops but won’t buy anything. She seems quite happy with a bill total, it’s is just the individual items. 

Mrs W is like that as I do the shopping in the main, she remembers prices like it was 2018 and I have to remind her things are very different now.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

🕶️ Sunglasses at the kitchen sink, again, this morning, sun brighter than ever through the window. Garden temp. 10.3C and the sun, now higher in the sky, is shining into the garden.😎

 

 

Short diversion this morning to the toplink (top of page where it says, "Click here";). Delighted to see most of the unmentionable stuff I voted for has done really well especially my two favourite buys of the year. I also found the results, RMwebbers views and comments enlightening in several ways.

 

Work to up the tempo on the flute song is finally getting somewhere. Yesterday, after another tough session, I managed to play the first two lines with their repeats all in one go. Now, I need to work on it until I can just toss it off without thinking and the only way I will be able to do that is by being confident enough to be completely relaxed while playing at the prescribed speed and dead** on the beat...er...not so easy! <<Shake head!>>

 

 

Mugadecaf and some Jobbies* to do first.

Take care. Be good. Persevere.

Polly

 

*Capital letter was accidental but, conveniently, having a Capital letter has stopped the text gremlin from reverting it to an unmentionable word beginning with "H". Something to remember!

**I might be d**d on the beat if I am not careful with the words I use!

 

[iL Dottore]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

Going shopping with MiL has become very stressful. She has perfect recall of prices from about 40 years ago but no memory of last week’s shopping. So, she is keen to go to the shops but won’t buy anything. She seems quite happy with a bill total, it’s is just the individual items. 

That I can certainly sympathise with.

I left the UK in 1988, so my financial frame of reference for £ Sterling dates from then.

 

So it leads to some rather interesting double-takes. In pubs - when I’m charged £6.50 for a pint - my first reaction is “How Much??” (a pint cost about £1.50 back in 1988), but then I convert it to SFr and my reaction is “that’s roughly SFr7.20 - about right for eine grosses”.

 

Both Japan and Switzerland have the reputation of being incredibly expensive, but the UK - especially London - can now be as costly if not more costly than visiting Japan or Switzerland (of course in all three countries you can easily drop £25,000/night or more for an Executive/Presidential/Imperial Suite, but for an average good quality middle of the road accommodation it is now more expensive in London than in Tokyo).

[PupCam]

Morning!

 

15 hours ago, Grizz said:

I would like offer my opening bid for the “Who’s got the poshest shed p’ss’ng up the wall competition” with this……

My shed / workshop has a shower and a bed. As well as a microwave and a bijou fridge freezer (both in matching black). 

 

30+ years ago I had a very "high technology" shed in the back garden for some work I was doing at the time.     It was insulated, dry lined, powered, had a couple of PCs,  Oscilloscopes, function generators, DMMs and other test equipment in it.    It was great and the fact that the junior Puppers were about 5 and 2 at the time and the shed was some way up our very long garden (the plot was ~350' long) was entirely coincidental 😂

 

When we moved, the shed was disassembled and moved with us where further aeronautical research was conducted for a time.    Unfortunately after that it just became a dumping ground for old carp and looking at the state of it now I fear its days are now numbered.

 

6 hours ago, TheQ said:

It's not even been a PAT (test) for many years it's official name is.

Inspection and Testing of Electrical Equipment” (ITEE)

 

Yes but it will forever be PAT testing.   Now, I must get on with* the Hoovering .....

 

* Actually a slight fib 'cos I've already done it, see later

 

4 hours ago, polybear said:

Someone mentioned on Radio 2 a short time ago they returned from Portugal with “an obscene amount of custard tarts”

Me thinks it’s about time a certain Bear investigated such items further - purely in the interests of science you understand…..

Now where can Bear obtain such things in the uk?

 

We happened to be in Waitrose yesterday and I decided I could no longer hold out on the provision of some PCTs.       The trouble was that when I found the most likely looking cabinet it was completely bereft of any such objects (or even the labels to go with them) and the remaining items didn't look anywhere near as appealing.     We did buy some "Extra Fruity" Hot Cross buns though which we had for breakfast.   They were a complete let down too!

 

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Or get them to deliver. There is a £40 minimum spend for delivery. Doesn’t all have to be cakes!

 

Oh, I think it does 🤣

 

ION

 

I spent most of Sunday machining the new lens mount for the Telecine machine and yesterday I got the machine going again with some new belts (aka O Rings) and a couple of other tweaks and installed and aligned as best I could the new lens + camera + tube combo.    Unfortunately despite some promising looking results from the original test lash-up the finished result doesn't cut the mustard and real sharp focus can not be attained plus there's some chromatic aberration to add insult to injury! 🤬      Looking more closely at the unmarked lens I'm beginning to think it was actually part of an old camcorder lens (knowing its source) and not a complete lens in its own right.  No doubt other elements in the zoom lens corrected the observed aberrations!    That' Turdy Curses with a capital T and a capital C!

 

Oh well, the hunt for a suitable lens continues.  What's the chance of me being able to re-use my new lens tube when I find one.    Pretty slim I reckon but then I'm a glass 7/8 empty sort of person.

 

Anyway, here's a few pics of the gadget and a sample capture (just to take our minds off food really)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have spent this morning cleaning up the swarf invasion in the garage following the turning exercise.      @polybear  will be pleased to hear that the lathe would now pass a Robbie Stancombe** muster for cleanliness with all tools cleaned and stored.       Can't say the same for the rest of the garage, although  Henry the Hoover has been working overtime on the floor for fear of FOD being transferred into the house with the resultant consequences for the ear 'oles!

 

** Late, great, turning instructor from Hawker Siddeley Dynamics, Hatfield in the '70s.

 

Right, what to do next?     I'm tempted to go for a little ride while it's still dry.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

Edited March 19 by PupCam

[New Haven Neil]

24 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I disagree Tony, I think that it’s used in the “serious” sense by many (including on ER).

 

I think you have misinterpreted our use of the word, I'm agreeing with Tony on this one.

 

I do agree however regarding relative costs, we didn't find Switzerland outrageously expensive, but Paris certainly was!  Prices here are higher than in the UK, but people do have more in their pockets to spend due to the lower taxation environment.  There are also a LOT of HNWI's here, but you may have guessed that isn't us.  When in the Lake District in the UK last week were were 'accused' of being posh by some younger men in a bar we like to go in, turned out this was based on accents that must have mellowed in the 22 years since we left the UK rather than our net worth.

[Flanged Wheel]

We have just booked our accommodation for two weeks in Japan in early June. The average cost per night (for the whole family of four) is under £70. This is for major cities (Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Himeji and Fukuoka*) so places that you would expect to attract premium prices. I’ve not tried booking accommodation for central London recently (given that we lived there it would have been fairly pointless) but I suspect that we would struggle to book similar accommodation as cheaply. Transport seems fairly reasonable too (setting aside the two bullet train journeys although they are not that outrageous). Our initial impression is that Japan might not be as expensive as its reputation would suggest, supporting @iL Dottore view above.

 

*Stop giggling at the back… I’d never heard of it but we’re getting a ferry on to South Korea and that is where it leaves from.

[woodenhead]

I note a lot of people put their old carp in the shed.

 

Doesn’t that smell after a bit?

 

Surely the green bin is the place for your fishy remains.

[New Haven Neil]

ION for @PupCam Puppers amusement.

 

The friend we met yesterday has a fleet of old transport choices, but was on his Beezer C12+  It is a + as it is quite modified in terms of engine internals and carburettor, and electrically too with much improvements and even indicators on such an old steed.

 

[PupCam]

20 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

ION for @PupCam Puppers amusement.

 

The friend we met yesterday has a fleet of old transport choices, but was on his Beezer C12+  It is a + as it is quite modified in terms of engine internals and carburettor, and electrically too with much improvements and even indicators on such an old steed.

 

 

I see it's left its mark just like all good Beezas should!

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

Use of the word Posh, by our French friends and neighbours surprised me but use it they did in it's usual meaning.  In this case to describe a new inhabitant of the village.  They had no idea of the origin of the word and laughed when I explained it to them. My grandparents, who worked in India were definitely Starboard out and Port home. 

 

Jamie

Edited March 20 by jamie92208

[iL Dottore]

27 minutes ago, Flanged Wheel said:

We have just booked our accommodation for two weeks in Japan in early June.

Oh dear!

 

Not the fact that you’re off to Japan, but rather that you have chosen to go in June (been there, done that, got the sweat-soaked t-shirt). Last year, I was in Japan in June and it was both very hot and very humid! Kyoto was definitely a city-sized sauna when I was there. It was the hottest and most humid June in recent memory and they are predicting the same for this year.
 

A light drip-dry, no iron, short-sleeved shirt was a godsend (get back to the hotel room, wash out the shirt using traveler’s detergent, hang it up and the next morning you have a fresh and unwrinkled shirt to wear). But I only had two. I would say you’d need at least three.

 

A couple of tips, if I may.

• When in Japan, be Japanese. In other words, when there observe the courtesies and social niceties the Japanese observe. They are tolerant of foreigners - but behaving more like a local gets you approval and brownie points.
• Travelling on public transport is easy, signage is 95%+ also in English. But beware, there is an etiquette to railway, metro and bus travel you’d be well advised to adhere to.
• Depending upon how long your Shinkansen trip will be, an Ekiben lunch box is an enjoyable treat (bought before boarding).
• Learn a few basic polite phrases. Especially the various “thank yous”
• If you are travelling with kids, it is expected that they will be behaved in public areas.
• Convenience stores (Konbini) like Lawson, 7-11 and Family Mart are great places to grab a light lunch - they have plenty of “sando” (sandwiches) including fruit and cream sandwiches (weird but nice) Japanese pot noodles make all other pot noodleslook substandard!.
• There’s MUCH more to Japanese food than just sushi or tempura. Karaage (Japanese fried chicken) is addictive and - surprisingly for a country where so few are overweight (let alone obese) - there are a lot of deep fried crunchy things to enjoy. With an abundance of deep fried crunchy things and noodles sprogs can be easily fed without resorting to burgers or pizza.
• In addition to a JR pass, an IC Card or a SUICA card is essential for getting around (local travel). Some cards (I forgot which) cover a number of cities (Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka) in one.

Have fun!