Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Shopping has been shopped and the fridge/cupboards are now full. The weather was very kind to me during my walk to the butchers, sunny, but cold, I certainly needed my jacket on. After dinner, I sat and made a start on the micro shunting layout that I’ve planned. I’ve already fixed the track down, so today was mainly fixing the printed sheets to various thicknesses of cardboard, prior to cutting and gluing the parts together. 

 

ION. We know for sure that we have blue tits nesting in one of the 2 boxes I put up a few weeks ago, as I saw one enter a box this evening. We already have dunnocks nesting in the hedge, so that now makes a second pair of birds that have decided to call our back garden home. It would seem that all my efforts to make the garden wildlife friendly have worked. To add to this excitement, Sheila spotted a robin in the garden this morning too. 

Edited April 27 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight and 

[BR60103]

We went to Stratford to see a preview of Twelfth Night.  

We nearly came to grief on the expressway. Around a curve there were two trucks with flashing arrows, stopped on the shoulder. Then a truck stopped in my lane, following a road sweeper. I managed to stop as did the cars behind.  But now I'm in a curve to the passenger side with traffic coming up the next lane, all doing at least the 90 kph speed limit.  Luckily, one of the cars behind had enough view to pull out and the car behind and I both made it.

12th Night was good, although modern. SWMBO had a little problem hearing all the lines.

 

[polybear]

Bear here.....

 

Extremelysillyo'clock........😒

 

BG

[Ozexpatriate]

22 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

New curtains are a must, as well as upgrading kitchen equipment and shower installations.

Electric roller blinds are wonderful - available as blackouts if needed. You can still hide them with conventional drapes if you don't like the look from the inside. Most of them are 'decorative' however.

 

They are completely* cordless and remote controlled, with little batteries inside the mechanism.

 

* Except when the batteries need recharging.

 

I know people complained about floor-ceiling glass walls as a 'style' (it's not new - its "Barhaus school" from the days of the Weimar Republic, echoed in mid-century modern like the Eames House in the 1950s) but with reflective (on the outside) roller blinds the glass-house interior heating effect would be greatly minimized - though on a sunny wintry day it would be very energy efficient.

 

Edited April 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Soon as we turned on the pump, started flooding the cabin with water - apparently over the winter, even though the system was drained the same was as we do every year, the main feed pipe for the cabin system managed to have a 1 inch SPLIT half way up the wall where the line feeds the various facilities.

As I'm sure you know, this is a problem for summer cabin owners on the tundra.

 

A Swedish colleague had a similar problem with his summer cabin on 'the archipelago'. (Visitors to Stockholm will know this area - lovely.) His was a water line to a dishwasher if I'm not mistaken and being Sweden his cabin had beautiful wooden floors - because that seems to be the 'law' in Nordic countries.

 

Did you at least replace the broken bit with PEX?

 

Edited April 27 by Ozexpatriate

[BR60103]

We were taking our motorhome south in the early winter. In Georgia the weather was warm enough for us to de-winterize.  When I turned on the water feed, there was a gush across the floor (linoleum). Luckily, there was a repairman in the campground.  Turned out, the company we asked to winterize the unit had not drained the water heater and it had split in the Ontario winter.  He managed to get and install a new tank over the weekend.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Supermarkets. Harumph.

 

I never stopped shopping in person during the pandemic. Back then I wore a mask. I still shop at the same place. It had changed hands to a large corporate chain before the pandemic. It was never the same.

 

In the old days this location had a pretty 'decent' bakery - at least for cakes. (It's actually equipped as a very large bakery.) When it changed hands it was no where near as good, but if you weren't picky you could still make a 'simple' custom order.

 

I went in today to order a cake for my youngest son's birthday. I wanted to order precisely what I ordered last year - small 5" rounds with two layers - and a particular topping (chocolate butter cream and a chocolate ganache). The young lady with purple hair and nose ring looked at me like I was from Mars. Just about every cake I pointed at in the display case was not available as a custom 5" round order - they all came in frozen from the corporate bakery.

 

So "German chocolate cake" it is. My son won't mind.

 

The supermarket chain is in negotiations to be acquired by an even larger chain (who has a store less than a mile away) - there are anti-trust / monopoly concerns about this merger. It makes me wonder if this is already impacting service.

 

When the old supermarket was acquired by the larger chain they closed their existing supermarket across the street from the chain they now want to merge into. Those premises remain unoccupied 8 years later - except at Halloween when a pop-up Halloween store materializes annually, in Brigadoon fashion. 

 

Edited April 27 by Ozexpatriate

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente where it is damp and cool.  I expect to be summoned to Angouleme at some point today to retrieve the boss from what I now know as the house of pain.  Apparently a male general nurse knows better than her diabetologue and GP, as to how much insulin she needs.  He also knows more than her pain management specialist and GP about analgesics.  

 

On a brighter note I wilbe talking to young Emily and her mums in a short while. 

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

15 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

We ought to start the OFWAT club, Bob. Nothing to do with water supply regulation but rather the Old Farts Walking And Tottering club. We seem to be on the same sort of regime at the moment with walks of a mile or so before various body parts start to complain. I managed just under a mile and a half to the Sainsbury’s Local and back today before my back and legs gave out then had to have a rest. My reward will be cake and bubbly starting shortly.

 

Dave

 

 

I would ask if I can join too following a fall at Easter!

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Back from a visit to Beamish (excellent apart from the weather..  sun, rain, snow and hail on occasion!)  Then I decided to head to the Heugh Battery in Hartlepool ( which was attacked by German battlecruisers in 1914). Nice time was had (as was a bacon and egg banjo)...

 

Main gripe.. lorry drivers on main roads. They should ban lorries from the major road system between 8am until 8pm. Why? Well they are governed to 56mph (the big 40 tonnesr have problems stopping if they go any faster) but insist on trying to overtake other lorries..pah!

 

Beamish has been developing a new 1950s area. The work done so far is superb. Minors welfare (oap) cottages,  council houses, police Houses (two semis with a police station tucked in the middle) etc. A trip on a bus and a trip on a tram.. excellent day.. but it meant an early bed time!

 

Today.. no cricket umpiring any more but, due to most grounds being quagmire, few games to watch.

 

Have a good day!

 

Baz

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a sunny and not quite as cold rock, 10c and still for once.

 

I was absolutely cream crackered after 80 miles on bumpy roads on the bike yesterday, so not a lot else got done.

 

Like Brian we have a lot of birds in the garden currently, nesting time obviously due to the amount of cargo they're carrying.  New is a Goldfinch, very colourful little bird, and the woody woodpecker is going bonkers over the back somewhere in the old farm, must be making a new nest in a tree.  Debs has just gone for one of her bird books as she has spotted something by the not-a-Koi-pond-anymore she is unfamiliar with - doesn't happen often as she's a keen ornithologist.

 

Edit - a Linnet, not seen one here before.

Edited April 27 by New Haven Neil

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dull and damp start earlier with more dullness and dampness forecast throughout the day.  6°C rising to a maximum of 14°C.

Much aching all over this morning, particularly in the back,  don't know why,  I haven't been exerting myself apart from the daily hobble.

@Barry O  We're heading to Beamish in a couple of months Baz as we enjoyed our visit so much back in 2019.  I think they were just starting the 1950s section then.  The Boss also wants to see The Angel of the North as we didn't last time we were up there.  Durham Cathedral is also a possibility.

Rugby watched last night, didn't enjoy it much as there was too much kicking in the first half.  Today Quins are playing Northampton at Twickenham, that could be a great match.  The way the latter have been playing Quins will have to be at the top of their game and then some.

The mobile phone Sim saga continues as mine still hasn't arrived. During a lengthy phone call in which "Dean" couldn't really explain what had (or hadn't) happened I was  put through to "Amelia" who started off by saying "I understand you've lost your Sim card."  Cue GDB almost exploding but I managed to keep my cool and asked how the hell I could lose something that I had never received!   Another one is now being sent....and breathe.

According to The Boss it's now timetogattamoveon, not quite sure why as nothing is planned....so far.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited April 27 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

Regrettably the only birds we see regularly are pigeons, starlings, magpies, a crow or two and nottalot else apart from flypasts by a squadron of parakeets.  Once in a while a robin pops in to say hello but that's about it.  We did buy a large bird feeding station a couple of years ago to try to attract more birds and got a few blue tits but it encouraged even more pigeons and starlings and the "deposits" they were leaving had to be seen to be believed so we gave up.

[Dave Hunt]

The most regular visitors to our garden are pigeons, blue tits, robins, blackbirds and various LBJs.* We used to have a family of greater spotted woodpeckers visiting daily by then a couple of years ago they suddenly disappeared and haven’t returned. We also sometimes see long tailed tits and starlings a bit more infrequently.

 

* Little Brown Jobs - sparrows or dunnocks or whatever. My bird identification skills aren’t up to differentiating between them all.

 

Dave

 

Edited April 27 by Dave Hunt

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

I would ask if I can join too following a fall at Easter!

 

Baz

Welcome aboard member No. 3.

 

Dave

[polybear]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Apparently a male general nurse knows better than her diabetologue and GP, as to how much insulin she needs.  He also knows more than her pain management specialist and GP about analgesics.  

 

 

Anti-English perhaps?

 

29 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

According to The Boss it's now timetogattamoveon, not quite sure why as nothing is planned....so far.

 

 

Oh, it is.....you just haven't been told about it yet.  Be scared......

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just a short hello before I go to the exhibition at Romford.

[polybear]

Bear here.....

 

Up at a very silly time known as 0345am 😱 for a special mission.....

Bear had been asked** to go on a Van delivery run with the Hospice to the Coal Drops at Kings Cross of all places; there's a big "do" up there this weekend (a Vintage Car Boot event plus numerous Charities selling donated Vintage items).  We were there by 0630 - and unloaded and gone by around 0730, so that's a Tick.

I did take a photo of one of the (two?) Gasometers there - apparently it's been converted to Apartments:

(That's not our Van, incidentally - ours is MUCH bigger - and it's got a tail lift to play with.....😁)

 

 

Wonder if they smell of Gas?

 

Bear is now back at Bear Castle; a cheeky slice of T & M has been scoffed (it could quite easily have been rather more if it wasn't for the bluddy D word 😒).  First mission is make the Bear Pit, followed by MIUABGA - the weather is less than sunny so the chances of getting the exhaust system fitted to Harry isn't looking good (Bear hasn't got a Garage - have I mentioned that?)

 

BG

 

**It seems that the Warehouse Manageress considers Bear to be "reliable".  Just don't go spreadin' it about ferchrissakes - Bear has a reputation to protect....

 

Edited April 27 by polybear

[jjb1970]

I'm back in Singapore, the journey was uneventful and enjoyable apart from the taxi to Brussels airport, which was awful. The driver was accelerating hard and braking hard, veering between lanes, pushing into lanes and got quite stroppy when I asked him not to use his mobile phone. I'd have happily used the train but the young lady from our office travelling with me felt a bit uncomfortable around stations. Though in all honesty the risk of being robbed or assaulted at the station was probably lower than an RTA given the driver we ended up with.

 

Turkish Airlines was excellent, their new A350's are superb and the food offering was equally superb. Excellent in-flight entertainment too. The transfer in Istanbul was scheduled for 70 minutes which is quite tight but arrival was on time and they have short transfer security routes so the time actually felt more than ample and my bags arrived in Singapore with me. Outbound the transfer was longer, something which made me laugh is there is a Salt Bae restaurant in Istanbul airport with a huge picture of Salt Bae (a very expensive celebrity cook/restaurant), after seeing Uncle Roger extract the urine out of him I just couldn't help laughing.

 

Back to the warmth and humidity, been a typical mercurial day here, it was rather lovely when I arrived at Changi this morning and my taxi home took the scenic route across the island along East Coast Park and through Marine Bay which was nice, then rain, now looking quite pleasant.

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I'd have happily used the train but the young lady from our office travelling with me....

 

Ahhhhhh.......NOW we know why you take so many overseas Business Trips......  😉

Don't worry, we won't let on.....

p.s. Bear is running very low** on Cake....just thought I'd mention that.....

 

(**As in zero, zilch, diddlysquat in fact.)

[Hroth]

13 minutes ago, polybear said:

 (Bear hasn't got a Garage - have I mentioned that?)

 

Not that frequently, though you do mention your shed, which seems to annoy some people...

 

(I've a Garage and a Shed...)

 

Edited April 27 by Hroth
Admission of Garage and Shed ownership...

[jjb1970]

Shi En (who travelled with me) almost makes Il Dottore look low rent when it comes to food standards, I keep meaning to rewrite the words of the old Spitting Image song never met a South African to words about never been to a restaurant Shi En likes. She really is impossible to please, I find it quite funny. Actually I am being unfair, she arranged two dinners in Singapore which were incredible, a dim sum place and a high end fine dining place, I'm glad the company was paying but I will say in all honesty that the title of 'best Chinese meal I've ever had' was one of the two. However she has that Singapore naivety when overseas. 

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

(I've a Garage and a Shed...)

 

 

Welcome to The List.....

[Dave Hunt]

Does my double garage and 35ft x 20ft shed get me on the list then Bear?

 

Dave

 

Oh, and the fact that I’ve got cake in stock?