Early Risers.

[Dave Hunt]

3 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Someone needs to introduce the mighty Hokkaido cheese tart to blighty.

What a damn fine idea. I haven’t had one of those in many a year but my recollection is that they are yummy.

 

Dave

[Winslow Boy]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

What a damn fine idea. I haven’t had one of those in many a year but my recollection is that they are yummy.

 

Dave

The only trouble is, as our learned doctor has already stated, that by the time 'big business' has finished with it it'll have half the number of ingredients and won't taste anywhere near as good as the one you remembered.

Edited May 2 by Winslow Boy

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Five solid hours sleep last night then I woke up to the rain and hail hitting the window. However I went back to sleep for another couple of hours without disturbing bladder control. Even Arthur Itis was behaving himself. Not sure what to do today, I've already voted by post so there's no reason to go out.

[PhilJ W]

36 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Someone needs to introduce the mighty Hokkaido cheese tart to blighty.

They look delicious but think of the calories.

[Captain Cuttle]

13 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

very muggy

Wish we could have muggy, we were down to near freezing at dawn and it was chucking it down as well. No thunder though, the Dartmoor land mass to the north west  of us greatly affects our weather.

[PhilJ W]

Bin day today, we are given lockable containers by the council for food waste. This morning it was not in the place I had left it and when I checked the foxes had got in to it but just scattered a few bits around. Oddly I had put the handle in the upright position to lock the bin and it was still locked. It's known for the cleverer foxes to unlock the bins but they don't usually lock them again afterwards.

[Captain Cuttle]

17 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Arthur Itis

Tell you what, vitamin D3 pills make mine worse supposed to take calcium pills as well but the combination ones i was prescribed have soya oil in them and i have a reaction to anything soya based so thats a no go!

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

 

Busy, busy, busy..

Isn't is just?

 

You know it's going to be a busy watch when you drive down the road and can see shipping almost nose-to-tail (all right, bow-to-stern) in both lanes.  And you know it's going to be busy when you switch on the kit and find most of the local yachtspersons and local fishing / pleasure boats are out or making ready to go.  

 

Yes, that was a busy, BUSY, morning on watch.  I hardly had time to make a brew.  The moment I did so a hiker came past to report a distressed seal pup on the cove slipway.  Not really what we are there for but she did also mention she had already reported it to wildlife welfare so other than noting the report in the log no further action was required.  

 

Dr. SWMBO will be home later therefore the Distant (Signal) West must be cleaned and everything put back in its official place.  As opposed to where I leave things when she is away because I know where they are! 

 

Next weekend has given her some issues.  She is due to present a paper at Cambridge University on Friday and was offered accommodation in order to return to Cornwall on Saturday.  There are no trains from Cambridge on Saturday owing to an incursion by the Orange Army.  So she booked the overnight sleeper from London on Friday night and arranged to leave Cambridge a little earlier than they would have liked.  

 

The sleeper has now been cancelled due to "Industrial Action Short of a Strike" in other words a ban on non-contractual overtime meaning at least one member of the train crew will not be willing to work and it cannot run.  So she toyed with cancelling altogether.  Cambridge came across with an offer of accommodation on both Saturday and Sunday nights which means she can avoid both the Orange Army and the Industrial (absence of) Action but will not get home to Cornwall for the weekend at all.  

 

That, in turn, means she has to figure out how to carry the extra clothes she will need for being away for ten days not four.  She cannot manage a bigger bag than she uses; she has difficulty getting laundry done as service washes are the only option and they are expensive in her area.  We'll nut something out.  

 

Meanwhile it is time to wrangle the Shark and perform other acts of Domestic Engineering and Purificatory Eurhythmics.

.

Edited May 2 by Gwiwer
If you're going to use a long word make sure your keyboard can spell it!!!

[petethemole]

16 hours ago, polybear said:

On previous visits I've found someone in the Bakery Dept. to be very helpful, who's been happy to squirt the Jam (Strawberry, naturally) into a couple of packs (=10)** of still warm Donuts for Bear to take away; sadly on this occasion came those dreaded words "The Donut machine's not working....." 😭

When I was in my 3rd year at Uni ('70-'71) some friends lived very close to a large local bakery. Next to their house was a path that went to the back entrance and presumably served as an emergency exit as it was open. We would knock on the back door about midnight and for a shilling get a bag of warm doughnuts with jam.

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, petethemole said:

When I was in my 3rd year at Uni ('70-'71) some friends lived very close to a large local bakery. Next to their house was a path that went to the back entrance and presumably served as an emergency exit as it was open. We would knock on the back door about midnight and for a shilling get a bag of warm doughnuts with jam.

We didn't have anything as delicious in South Leeds but warm freshly baked breadcakes from the Bath Road bakery were always well received.  Allegedly there was also products from the man with the monacle or so I am told. 

 

Jamie

Edited May 2 by jamie92208

[monkeysarefun]

21 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Moved on.....but to WHERE FFS??

That's the question......

 

 

To somewhere else!  

 

Out of sight, out of mind is the philosophy here when it comes to that kind of thing. A couple of days ago  @Ozexpatriate reflected on how few degrees of separation he is from someone killed by US gun violence. In contrast, I wouldn't be anywhere close to knowing anyone who got bitten by our wildlife, let alone died from them.

 

Dogs are another matter, I know quite a few people -  friends and family included -  who have lost dogs to snake bites. Dogs tend to run in and bark at say  an Eastern  brown snake, ("worlds second deadliest snake!")  unaware that it is not only a bat sh!t crazy snake  but that  when striking it can launch itself full body length and bite them in the face, which is an instant death sentence. I never did  let my dogs off the leash here in summer and when the last one died of happy old age I switched to Gary The Parrot  for fear that my luck would run out -  seeing a dog panic, collapse and die in convulsions  from a snakebite is really awful.

 

We grow up amidst deadly stuff so it just seems normal to us. Everyone as a child was taught   to not walk in the long grass in summer, not go into the water at sunset or after a storm and how to tie a tourniquet if bitten by a snake or spider. We were taught about all the other deadly stuff that is out there,  although this far south there isn't the range of them  compared to Queensland or the NT so we got off lightly.  Basically down here apart from the usual boring  snakes and spiders and sharks it is pretty much just Blue Ringed Octopuses living in rock pools that can kill you in 5 minutes. 

 

Seriously though, the risk of ever actually seeing something venomous, let alone being attacked by it is very minimal. If I was to divide my age by the number of times I've seen a particular  dangerous thing it'd average out like this:

 

Deadly snake sightings:                  Once every 3 years.

Deadly Spider sightings:                 Once every 10 years.

Shark sightings:                                Once every 20 years   (and I spent every weekend at the beach in the '80's and only about a dozen times did the shark alarm go off while I was there)

 

Deadly seasnake sightings:          Once every 30 years

Deadly Blue Ringed Octopus sightings:       Once every 50 years

Deadly jellyfish sightings:              Once every 30 years

Deadly horse sightings:                 I still have nightmares about them..........                nightmares, get it? I make myself LOL sometimes!

 

 

In contrast, we have nice stuff too as compensation.  I stopped in at dads on the way home.  He has this " tame" King Parrot that turns up demanding food - I have them hanging around too, but my ones are very  skittish, this guy was very bold, he sat on my arm and took sunflower seeds from my hand....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. We may have had a thunderstorm last night but if we did I must have slept through it. The seaweed twirlers have predicted some more for this afternoon but they can never be sure exactly where. I will be 76 in a couple of months time and my driving licence renewal dropped through the letterbox a couple of days ago. I will shortly be doing that on-line, my eyesight is up to scratch and I have no medical problems that will affect my ability to drive so there's no problem. 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

An extra hour of zzzzzzzzzzzzzz was achieved, Ben the nice Collie letting me sleep in.

He had a good snuffle but was mightily offended when I moved a oak log during HIS walk. The look of disapproval was intense.

 

MRC, cut out in board for sink done, various battens fitted to walls, various other bits made till we ran out of wood.

To orange shed, concrete, tap washers, paint and varnish bought. 

 

More Observations on Saturdays weather look increasingly good for the boat show. Sundays err not a lot of wind and some rain.

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Deadly snake sightings:                  Once every 3 years.

etc

For me (over 20 something years)

 

Deadly snake sightings:                  Never

Deadly Spider sightings:                 Never - I've seen Black Widows in the US

Shark sightings:                                Probably many but never an actual threat (the Gold Coast has shark nets)

 

Deadly seasnake sightings:          Never

Deadly Blue Ringed Octopus sightings:       Never

Deadly jellyfish sightings:              Never, non-deadly jellyfish - innumerable, stung too*

 

* bluebottle / Indo-Pacific Man o’ War, which not a jellyfish but a siphonophore

[grandadbob]

I'm getting really hacked off with people here banging on about bloody cakes.

 

Look what you've made me do now!!!

 

 

I'm going to have to go and have  a lie down in a darkened room ........when I've eaten it.  🙃🤪

Edited May 2 by grandadbob

[PupCam]

Afternoon!

 

What a storm in the night!     Well, if there was one I didn't hear it  🤣    Nippy and dull though this morning.

 

Amazon delivered the miniature ePaper display yesterday along with a box of 10 rotary encoders including push button function and black anodised aluminium knobs.    The box of 10 cost £9.99 which, even when I went to school, means they were a pound apiece.    How do they do that?      

 

In a similar vein, I've just nipped to Screwfix (on the RD, it would have been rude not to) and bought a pair of replacement 1/4 turn 1/2" BSP ceramic tap glands for the bathroom sink for the princely  sum of £5.06.    They are of course machined from solid brass, they have rubber O rings fitted and include plastic mouldings and the ceramic inserts.  How does that work!   Still, never mind I can live with not knowing,

 

Back to the ePaper display.    I spent a few hours last night and most of the morning trying to get it to work.    Downloading the simple "prove it works" code from the manufacturer's website didn't work.   Without the display attached the code ran through to completion (which is a bit strange because at one point it checks information returned from the display in order to proceed!) but connect the display and it didn't get past "Go" (or a call to the init function for those in the know).    Anyway after much perusing of internet forums, downloading some 3rd party libraries which included their own, much more comprehensive, example apps, trawling through lists of 80+ different drivers in header files trying to work out which was the right one and swapping two of the handshake lines over from the configuration shown in the manufacturer's notes we got there!

 

Softies will recognise the significance of those two little words with or without an exclamation mark ......

 

 

Now to work out what I actually want to display on it!

 

Oh yes,    

 

<RANT MODE>  = ON

 

On my return I witnessed two more examples of idiots pulling out of side turnings into the path of oncoming traffic.  

 

#1   I was waiting to pull out of a side road and turn right onto the busy, single carriageway  A6*.      75 yards or so further up to my left a car was waiting to do the same manoeuvre in order to leave  a car wash.    A minimal gap opened up in the stream so they decided to plug it.    The person (with right of way , travelling at normal road speed)   very nearly re-arranged the idiots back end but fortunately managed to slow down enough not to make contact.

 

#2  On the last stretch of open road in the countryside before home on the left there's a "business park" (it was a farm but where's the money in that).  As I approached the access road I saw a stationary car waiting to pull out.    Alan complete with a full day-glow yellow tabbard over my jacket, a bright yellow full face crash helmet and a bright orange Yamaha approached with, as a precaution right hand on front brake lever, right foot on rear brake lever, left hand on clutch and left thumb on the horn button.       Turned out the precautions were entirely justified as the idiot then pulled out.   If I'd have been travelling at the speed limit or even unprepared I'd be dead or at least severely re-arranged.

 

You see it time and time again!   What is it with these twits **

 

<RANT MODE>  = OFF

 

*      It's probably known as the A1086 or something now but it will forever be the A6 for me.

**    Other suitable words beginning with 'T' are available, refer to @polybear for more details

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 2 by PupCam
Typo

[monkeysarefun]

36 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Deadly jellyfish sightings:              Never, non-deadly jellyfish - innumerable, stung too*

 

* bluebottle / Indo-Pacific Man o’ War, which not a jellyfish but a siphonophore

 

 

 

I notice that you didn't mention horses!

 

 

When young I once knelt on a bluebottles tentacles that had been washed up on the beach  - bloody hell, that stung!

 

Further to my list, I've spent many work trips in far Nth Queensland (RAAF Townsville) and the Northern Territory (RAAF Darwin and RAAF Tindal down near Katherine) and i've never ever seen anything dangerous.

 

I wouldn't  go in the water but!.. The Arafura Sea - the most impossibly blue water you could imagine, but you dare not  even step on the sand in case a croc dashes  out of the palm trees and puts you in a death roll!

 

I spent my time off  in the swimming pool in the motel.

Edited May 2 by monkeysarefun

[jjb1970]

I saw something interesting in the Ro-Ro terminal at Tanjong Pagar today, a big LNG fuelled vehicle carrier loading fuel from an LNG bunker vessel. Both vessels were only a a few weeks old, the bunker vessel is a world away from the sort of bunker barges that used to deliver heavy fuel oil, with twin membrane tanks. It's the first time I've seen LNG bunkering in that terminal, which is pretty much adjacent to the Singapore CBD. When LNG fuel was in its infancy there was a lot of talk that refuelling would be kept away from populated areas as a high hazard operation but it's rapidly becoming as normal as fuel oil bunkering.

[monkeysarefun]

18 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Softies will recognise the significance of those two little words with or without an exclamation mark ......

 

Bonus points if you compile "Hunt The Wumpus"  ön it.

 

[jjb1970]

Something striking about modern vehicle carriers is that in side elevation they really are pretty much just rectangles, with vertical bow and stern profiles. Modern bow design theory is to optimise across a range of representative sea states and go through rather than over waves and swell. So bows now are increasingly of the X bow and axe bow types. Big cargo ships are more exe type which has a vertical bow, no bulb and minimises bow flare if possible. I prefer the older style to look at but modern types are much more comfortable for those onboard.

[Ian Abel]

BIN day...Out and already serviced. Given it's not recycle week, the two weekly ones are usually done before I even finish my first cuppa.

 

Yesterday a long shopping expedition as the Mrs was looking for a specific warming tray, mostly for our entertaining events. Costco carry the exact one, but seems they (Costco) are one of the very few stores that don't provide details of in-stock items/quantities on their web site/app. We went to the closest one, not carried, checked with the service desk, THEY can see who has them (so why can't consumers!!??), then off to the next nearest that had 66 of the beasts available. On the way obtained the new PC monitor I'd pre-ordered, so we were out-and-about for quite a while.

 

Today, Whitney already here as Jemma is off again to the cabin, this time solo, to do some cleaning.

Mrs off to the dentist, then PT!

Me - working a new report for the client, and at some point re-arranging my PC configuration to incorporate the new monitor. It's one of three on the PC, but this one is larger/better/newer so I need to re-arrange to have it be the primary. Means moving almost EVERYTHING on my desk around - arrrggg....

 

Later, off to a schola rehearsal as the schola are singing for the Pentecost services May 19th. Our last official performance this season - though there's a RUMOUR we will have another Sunday performance to bid farewell to the choir director on her retirement.

 

9c and raining at BIN time, clearing already and 13c the expected high.

 

Carry on.

Edited May 2 by Ian Abel

[DaveF]

Another fairly peaceful day with some sun in the morning but still a cool NE breeze, as usual things outside have a thin covering of salt.

 

I went to church, not many there today as the holiday season has started and several people have colds.  The church hall is being used as a polling station so several people came into the church by mistake as it was not very well signed.  After church I went to look at the beach before coming home for lunch.  A few photos are below - you will soon start to recognise the grains of sand on the beach as I take a lot of photos there.  The waves were big enough for surfing but while I was there the surfers were all offshore waiting for "the big wave" which of course never came.  The Battery buildings are being repainted, they need it.

 

Since lunch I've been scanning more of Dad's old prints, only a few left to go now before I open the next album and find what it contains.  It's rather like a lucky dip.

 

Beach from north end of promenade.  Figurehead on the left.

 

Looking south east.

 

Old searchlight buildings forming part of the Battery.

 

 

David

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

It's one of three on the PC, but this one is larger/better/newer so I need to re-arrange to have it be the primary

Did you need a new lead too? 

[polybear]

Bear here......

 

Warehouse Day again - a morning of out n' about to various shops (the last of which is our favourite cos' it involves Tea n' Bikkies 😁); no Donuts today, sadly - but Cake was involved (some sort of Panettone-type jobbie - but no fruit in it; reasonable but as no sticky gooey jammy icy buttercreamy stuff was involved it did mean that A Certain Bear found it a bit on the dry side).

The afternoon involved general "stuff" - but all useful, such as sorting/shifting/binning/washing vans kinda stuff, so all worthwhile.

One thing we did do this afternoon was collect items from a Warden Controlled Flat where the resident had died; the Hospice rarely does collections from homes etc. (or house clearance) nor do we take furniture.  I found it somewhat sad and "a bit close to home" as well - I got the feeling that there was no relatives (or they're not bothered) and someone's prize possessions were just being carted off.  Sad.  Obviously the Hospice does it's best to sell those items (that's how money is raised, after all) but there's always items that, due to their condition - or because of what they are (some items we are prohibited from selling) - or others just don't want them - it does mean that some stuff has to be disposed of. 😢

 

BG

Edited May 2 by polybear

[Tony_S]

I voted by post but I have seen various people getting upset on social media that they  have just noticed that the serial number of a ballot paper is recorded against your name. All kinds of conspiracy theory/ fear being suggested . I can’t believe people don’t know this happens. Voting is only secret when you make your mark. Every ballot can be tracked. This only happens in cases of suspected electoral fraud. The papers are kept for a year and a day in a big warehouse. 

Edited May 2 by Tony_S