Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

6 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

The fact that the original post mentioned that it has  3 of them caused my original confusion.

Reminds me of the episode of Black Adder where in one room he is ‘entertaining ‘ his drinking pals while simultaneously entertaining his Presbyterian extended family in another reception room. 

[Tony_S]

The dining chairs just visible in dining room photo have an amusing tale associated with them. Aditi chose them not long after we got married. Her mother didn’t like them and said they wouldn’t last a year but at least that was longer than she predicted for the marriage. Fortunately MiL had no recollection of saying such things and seems to,think,she has always liked me!

[iL Dottore]

41 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Or the streets!

 

 

 

swigging meths and verbally abusing passers-by....

 

..... Yeah, right!

[Smiffy2]

25 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

 Matt Magnolia. 

Wasn't he the Singing Bus Driver?

[iL Dottore]

21 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The dining chairs just visible in dining room photo have an amusing tale associated with them. Aditi chose them not long after we got married. Her mother didn’t like them and said they wouldn’t last a year but at least that was longer than she predicted for the marriage. Fortunately MiL had no recollection of saying such things and seems to,think,she has always liked me!

Harsh!

 

Usually such utterances from future MILs do not bode well, so it's probably quite satisfying to have proven her wrong.

 

p.s. trivial fact: Les Dawson, maestro of the MIL gag, apparently had a fantastic relationship with his MIL

[Erichill16]

54 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

Have you tried one leg and/or arm out of the bed covers so that a part of your body can use that to cool you down?

 

Generally I sleep on my right side but if I am hot I swap to the left and have by back exposed so my trunk cools - doesn't disturb Mrs W but I get some relief from heat under the duvet

Ive tried that but I toss and turn so much in bed my position is never consistent. 
I once had a test for sleep apnea but results were inconclusive as I’d tossed and turned so much I’d disconnected from the monitoring instrument.,

Can you guess from all the posts rubbish coming from me that I’m stuck at Mils?

 

  

[monkeysarefun]

15 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Ive tried that but I toss and turn so much in bed my position is never consistent. 
I once had a test for sleep apnea but results were inconclusive as I’d tossed and turned so much I’d disconnected from the monitoring instrument.,

Can you guess from all the posts rubbish coming from me that I’m stuck at Mils?

 

  

 

 

 

Can The Toy Dolls cheer you up?

 

 

 

OR John Otway with the classic House Of The Rising Sun...?

 

 

Edited April 4 by monkeysarefun

[woodenhead]

7 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Ive tried that but I toss and turn so much in bed my position is never consistent. 
I once had a test for sleep apnea but results were inconclusive as I’d tossed and turned so much I’d disconnected from the monitoring instrument.,

Can you guess from all the posts rubbish coming from me that I’m stuck at Mils?

 

  

I had a bout with sleep apnea, not nice at all and I had the gear on which confirmed I had it but what then?

 

The solution for me was simple, lose some weight and get running again and I'm not aware I've had an occurrence in years.

[Captain Cuttle]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Sorry to hear your sweats but mine arn't that frequent and usually associated with periods or stress.
I did used to drink far too much caffeine but now limited but none after 6ish, doc’s orders.
 

Ours is stress as well dealing with an autistic adopted son of forty three with ocd.

[woodenhead]

Time for me to start tea, as it will be cooking for over 2 hours.

 

Braising steak topped with some lean bacon under a covering of red, green & orange peppers, tomatoes and spring onion with a vegetable stock.  Will be accompanied by some fried mash when done.

 

All fresh produce.

[TheQ]

Traditionally you had a front / best room in which you would invite visitors. Kept immaculately neat and tidy. This was the one the vicar would be invited to for tea.

 

The living room would be that the family would be in downstairs when not in the kitchen.

 

If the house did not have a best room, then the family traditionally lived in the kitchen. This would be difficult in this house as it's a later addition and only 12ft square inside. Though there is a second conservatory with the white goods in. ( Except fridge freezer).

 

 

 

[Erichill16]

15 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Traditionally you had a front / best room in which you would invite visitors. Kept immaculately neat and tidy. This was the one the vicar would be invited to for tea

 

 

When I go my friends (Nick , Neil knows him) we ‘take tea in the parlour!’

 

[Erichill16]

35 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

I had a bout with sleep apnea, not nice at all and I had the gear on which confirmed I had it but what then?

 

Bit of a long story but basically I had the test for sleep apnea to allow me to have a general anaesthetic. 
Got all the way to the theatre before someone realised I may have an issue. 
We hear how much money is wasted on patients wasting clinic/clinician's time by missing appointments. How much money was wasted  setting me up for theatre time and then cancelling it due to someone not checking my history until the last minute?

I think that counts as a rant.

ps Still at mils. 

[DaveF]

My house is very simple - 1 living room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, bathroom, porch.  Both bedrooms are the same size. the kitchen is the same too, all 13'x9'.  The living room is twice the size.  There is of course a garage and greenhouse but no shed.  All my "toys" live in the spare bedroom, if anyone wants to come and stay I can arrange it at a local hotel.

 

I too often sweat at night, but it is quite random.  It may have do do with what I've eaten, also sometimes I end up with the duvet over by chest and my legs not covered at all.  I sleep on my right side, if I sleep on the left side I get a sore shoulder and neck - arthritis.

 

Church was OK today, I found what I was doing when I got there to set things up for the service, just serving today.  I had a look at the rota for the next few months services and found it is different from the one I have so I suggested that someone should e mail out the updated version to those who are involved.  Apparently the person who did it hadn't thought of that.

 

I also did a bit of shopping and found things I really did need both in Aldi and Homebase and almost resisted temptation to buy anything else.  Then it was a quick salad lunch followed by falling asleep as I didn't sleep very well last night.  I've done a bit on the model and found a piece which I thought was missing but it was on a different sprue.  

 

The rest of the day is planned to be quietly reading and possibly a bit of TV.

 

David

Edited April 4 by DaveF

[Ian Abel]

BIN day...

BINs sorted and serviced.

 

Yesterday busy with work (CRAZY!!) and some vacation organizing.

 

Minor PANIC late evening when Jemma called and let us know she won't be home today as the flight got cancelled. She'll now not return until Friday evening!

Means we need to have Whitney overnight as Brendan is leaving on a trip, AND, need to get a car service for the trip to the airport. All sorted, but NOT the kind of thing you want to have happen.

Apparently, the inbound flight from JFK that would have arrived this morning in LHR was cancelled, meaning she and her crew have no aircraft for their flight. Rescheduled and they're flying the Friday service back to JFK. Minor flustercuck.

 

Today, HOPEFULLY, all report changes sorted and I can take the afternoon to pack/prep for vacation. Later, happy hour and choir rehearsal.

 

Posting after today will be variable, based on activities in Phoenix.

We are doing a two-day trip to the Grand Canyon, INCLUDING the Grand Canyon Railway - YAY!!! 50-50 on being a steam or diesel motive power though <sigh>

 

Weather here 1c at BIN time and sunny, 8c the expected high - laughingly tomorrows high here is expected to be 10c and in Phoenix 22c.

 

Onward.

Edited April 4 by Ian Abel

[woodenhead]

Thank goodness my tooth extraction that the private dentist couldn't perform has been picked up quickly by the NHS and I am booked in for the 16th April.

 

Whilst it's not hurting, the remnant of the tooth doesn't taste nice and it's giving me smelly breath so out it needs to go.

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

Time for me to start tea, as it will be cooking for over 2 hours.

 

Braising steak topped with some lean bacon under a covering of red, green & orange peppers, tomatoes and spring onion with a vegetable stock.  Will be accompanied by some fried mash when done.

 

All fresh produce.

What time should I come round? 

[Dave Hunt]

Today I feel as though a mule has kicked me in the back, I have inadvertently wandered on to the up fast in front of an express, or someone has been digging holes in my spine. Ah, it'll be the latter then now that the poppy juice has dried up since leaving hospital but at least it is scheduled to get better and the awful sciatica and other leg pain that I have been living with for years has gone completely. I'm under strict orders to take things really easily for six weeks but as long as I'm careful, once the current pain and discomfort has faded, I should be able to get on with life properly. I've started doing some gentle walking as advised by the physios but only managed about 300 yards today; still, it's a start and my reward is a plate of egg and home made chips in about an hour.

 

Dave

[PupCam]

Afternoon

 

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

I saw a programme a couple of days ago where they mentioned the cost of food to the average person was 60% of wages just post WW2, but today it's 5 to 10%...

 

Of costs just noticed this...

the light grey is the Cremated Swan, the brick is the house including the former shop, that went with it ( three bedrooms three bathrooms 3 reception rooms).. as in mostly burnt down. the brick encases medieval flint walling that was part of the friary . Note, the house behind means there's not much garden, yes that's a busy road on two sides...

Yours for £665,000!!!

 

I see what you did there but all back up and running now by the look of it.         More iD than PB I'd say?    

 

Can't see the Bear paying £7-50 for "Parmesan & Truffle French Fries with Leek Ashs" as a side dish! 🤣

 

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Hmm. Receptions Rooms -----> house plans....

 

I'd say you need (ground floor) a living room (aka reception room), dining room, library/study. a snug (like a living room but smaller with comfy well worn [and worn-in] furniture), a decent sized entrance hall plus downstairs "guest" toilet (WC). The kitchen should be of a reasonable size with a "proper" walk in larder. If budget (and building footprint) permits - then a music room and/or a billiard/smoking room are very nice nice-to-haves. A proper "boot room" leading out into the garden/side entrance is a big must if you have dogs and/or a Percy Thrower in the family.

 

It goes without saying that an adjacent garage and a decent sized shed should be mandatory outside fixtures.

 

Upstairs: an appropriate number of bedrooms - preferably all en-suite. To keep SWMBO contended (as far as they can ever be) at least one bedroom should have an adjacent walk-in wardrobe/small dressing room.

 

The attic can be converted into a "man cave" for when it's too cold for shedding.

 

So, the first property Mr & Mrs Puppers purchased wouldn't have cut the mustard then.     2 up 2 down middle of terrace country cottage, ground floor area 10'6 x 18', front door opening on to the pavement.   However "This deceptively spacious property" did benefit from a tumble down Privvy at the end of somebody else's garden🤣       Mind you, what it lacked in size it made up for in more than doubling its value (with a lot of hard graft from the owners as it was a Doer Upper) in the ~4 years we owned it.

 

I think I recalled sometime ago the occasion when a double glazing salesman called with a special offer on patio doors.    I told him if could find some where to install them I'd buy them. 

He looked, he saw, he bxggered off ...

 

3 hours ago, woodenhead said:

And we wonder why blokes don't talk about feelings and sensitive things:

 

ION: Woke up feeling very rough after a poor night's sleep, don't know what caused it but I am more alert now.

 

I have to say, the rating of that post could have gone either way.    The trouble with the written word on social media is you never really know the REAL back story.    Can lead to all-sorts of unintentional, unfortunate misunderstandings.

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

In Swiss houses the utility room and plant room are in the basement - together with the air raid shelter/wine cellar.

 

Well you've got to have something to do while waiting for the balloon to go up.    Might as well work your way through the wine rack before you kiss your ar ....

 

ION

 

The water company man came back slightly perplexed.  The problem appeared to be the ingress of muddy carp from the semi-submerged stop-cock*/water meter into the supply pipe.    After much graunchy grating of the  internal stop-cock and the removal of the kitchen tap nozzle to let air locks were expelled along with various lumps of grit and stone.    Once sorted we let the water run for a bit** .....

 

*     I wonder if I'll get away with this term?

**   And we'll have to pay for the flaming water

 

I may have mentioned previously that I've been reading a book about Frank Whittle and the trials and tribulations he faced getting his invention (literally & metaphorically) off of the ground.    This is the book, a truley fascinating book detailing the ineptitude, the double dealings, the "Not Invented Here" attitude of those that could and should have helped get his creation into a form fit for a service aircraft  rather than try and hinder it every step of the way.   The Meteor could have been around to help the war effort towards the beginning of the war rather than the back-end of it if there  had been a bit of foresight and assistance rather than the exact opposite.   Despicable!  That maybe considered to be a bit of a historical rant if you wish.

 

Anyway, it's an amazing story with more twists and turns than a Swiss mountain pass and thoroughly recommended for those with an interest in aviation.

 

 

Meanwhile, Bonk has been busying himself reading a rather fine book that Great Uncle Neil provided on Allied Aircraft Engines of WW2.    

Here we find him studying a drawing of the Bristol Hercules the sleeve valve drive gear train of which makes a Napier Deltic's phasing gears look simple.

 

 

Right, I'd best get a wiggle on and get the dinner cooked.

 

TTFNQ

 

 

 

Edited April 4 by PupCam

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Right, I'd best get a wiggle on and get the dinner cooked.

The defrosted unlabelled meal now looks as if it contains beef, carrots and celery amongst other things so should be ok with some tagliatelle. 

[Ohmisterporter]

Pup cam mentioned a meal with a side of Leak ash earlier. I would love to go on one of the fancy cooking shows and deliberately burn every element of the dish and present it as the Ultimate Ash just to show where this burning nonsense could end up. I wouldn't mind eating some fancy food they present but draw the line at deliberately burnt elements no matter how fancy and clever they try to present it. Must admit it may reduce the calorie intake though.

[polybear]

10 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Actually it has been educational because I never knew that a portion of Heinz beans counts as one of my “five a day”.  

 

Bear twigged that little snippet a while back - bit of a result if you ask me

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

To continue on matters of accommodation.

 

Mrs iD has been pressuring me to agree to sell Schloss iD and move to a flat - and for the longest time I have resisted. But you know how it is with a SWMBO: sooner or later they do get their way...

 

Anyway, to make a long story short, I have capitulated, but NOT unconditionally: one of the key things was that the only type of flat that would be considered would be a dachwohnung, attikawohnung or - if a suitable ground plan can be found - a dach-maisonnettewohnung.

 

But whilst there's plenty of flats out there, I have noted the following

• They don't specifically refer to living room, bedrooms etc. They are classified by "Zimmer" - so a 2.5 zimmer wohnung is likely to be just 1 bedroom and a living room/dining room (kitchen and bathrooms are not included in the room count)
• Most are terribly tiny (<100m2) - unless you go further out into the wilderness or pay serious money (see below).
• Open plan seems to be the norm rather than exception (I loathe open plan)
• In the Gemeinde that Mrs iD favours flats go for serious money - such as this one here: https://www.homegate.ch/kaufen/4000687429 a state of the art new building.

Mrs iD and I are at an impasse as we have not resolved the thorny question of what is preferred "location. location, location" first, flat size and amenities second or the other way around.

 

I fear that I'll be wandering around the ancestral pile for a bit....

You seem to have missed a couple of items from the beginning of the list.  A shed is mentioned but not that it has to be insulated and heated plus big enough for your planned layout etc.  Secondly it must be close to efficient public transport, preferably a railway station.  Every property should fit those two before discussing minor details such as rooms. 

 

Jamie

Edited April 4 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Good evening, a good day has been had and trains have been watched.  I was even home in time to cook tea.  Fresh lamb steaks, plus mashed potato, carrots and broccoli. Mint sauce and mint jelly.  All fresh ingredients, 7

 

Jamie

Edited April 4 by jamie92208

[Tony_S]

20 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

Secondly it must be close to efficient public transport, preferably a railway station.

Where we live may be really dull and not at all trendy but at the end of our road there are bus routes to both local large hospitals, the railway station and various community clinics on Canvey. One bus route stops right outside our GP surgery too.  Not that I am obsessed about healthcare access…