Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

14 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

Bit of traffic about today regarding Star Wars so thought I might just drop this in, quite funny, well to me anyway.

Pertinent to the day and as creative as Weird Al has always been.  

 

My favourite of his is from an altogether different genre. 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

44 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

... quite funny, well to me anyway

Yes it is. I didn't recognize it at first - not until it got to the "maybe Vader someday later" part of the chorus before I remembered it.

 

It's works well being faithful to the unique phrasing of "American Pie"

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a rather damp Charente.  It isn't actually raining at the moment but normal service may resume later. We will be off to the market to meet friends and see how  Beth gets on.  The fire has been burning alight but we will have to let it cool down today as the chimney sweep is due in the morning.  Not a lot else to report. 

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

On 03/05/2024 at 15:44, polybear said:

Post din dins and Bear goes for a Hilly Walk - despite the rain.  What happens?  Some complete T0sser drives thru’ a puddle at speed as Bear was walking past…… 🤬🤬🤬

And they were in a Fiat 500 with no oncoming traffic.

Rumour has it that A Certain Bear might just have called them a naughty word that rhymes with at least part of Sqn. Ldr Hunt…..

Did diddums get wet? Awww!

Absolutely NO sympathy from this part of the Alps!

You should have known better, Bear. Your mistake was (a) going out in the rain and (b) going out in the rain near Bear Towers, as - according to your various postings - you are surrounded by ne’er-do-wells, scrotes and other low-lifes.

You might as well have worn a sign reading DRENCH ME!

On 03/05/2024 at 17:48, Ozexpatriate said:

That's funny, so does mine. (It's always in Fahrenheit come to think of it.) 😉

 

It is tiresome just how frequently Chrome wants to update. It wants to do it again this morning - it feels like it is more than weekly now, which seems a bit over the top.

I never use any of the browsers put out by Microsoft, Google or Apple. I keep to Firefox which is readily and easily customisable, does what you want it to do and updates itself only rarely (i.e. only when really needed).

 

The updates on Chrome, Edge, etc. are really for their convenience, NOT yours.

On 03/05/2024 at 20:18, The White Rabbit said:

 

Printerinks is my bete noire of ink suppliers - sent me a cartridge which wouldn't work in my printer despite their website claiming it was compatible. Then refused to refund or replace. One of the times I wish I had a credit card, with the extra protection. GDPR was ignored by these skunks as well, unsolicited emails sent [several months] after unsubscribing (and getting an email to prove). I referred the *s to the commissioner. 

I absolutely loathe how HP and many other printer manufacturers make it difficult (if not impossible) for you to use cheaper cartridges (i.e. not theirs) in their printers.

There is one nasty little trick of theirs - used to get you to buy more cartridges than necessary - which is pretty easy to circumvent. That’s the “you are very low on supplies” <warning>. I found out, purely by accident (as I didn’t have time to get replacements), that you can safely ignore these warning and only replace the ink cartridge/toner cartridge when the print starts to fade - which is (depending upon what you print) a good 100 pages or so on from when you should have (according to them) “replaced the cartridge for optimal print quality”

On 04/05/2024 at 07:35, monkeysarefun said:

Every SUV and 4WD ute worth its salt here has a roobar, massive lights and a snorkel.  Outside the city I acknowledge that the bar and lights make a bit of  sense but I have no idea the thinking behind paying out $1000+ to add a snorkel on your shiny urban assault vehicle.

 

On 04/05/2024 at 07:41, jjb1970 said:

There's a whole hobby of Land Rover Defender enthusiasts in Britain who pimp up their vehicles to be able to compete in the Paris-Dakar Rally or operate with the SAS in Afghanistan so they're properly prepared to make the arduous trip to Tesco or the next Land Rover show.

Perhaps the owners of such vehicles are all Boy Scouts (or former Boy Scouts), y’know “be prepared and all that”

 

It would be, of course, be uncharitable of me to opine that many of those making such purchases are gullible fools with more money than sense, ripe for the picking by some unscrupulous car salesman OR that they are pretentious prats who believe that spending LOTS of money will either elevate them to the ranks of Gentlemen of Quality or compensate for micro-genitalia…

Edited May 5 by iL Dottore

[roundhouse]

20 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Pertinent to the day and as creative as Weird Al has always been.  

 

My favourite of his is from an altogether different genre. 

 

 

I played this Amish Paradise song a lot when I was building the shed - I really want to build another🙂

 

Edited May 5 by roundhouse

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, 

4 hours sleep, 3 hours sleep I needed that.

Ben the good Collie didn't move till I did, we've been on patrol, scattered clouds notalota wind, heavy dew. Ben had a good snuffle around, but didn't seem quite as enthusiastic as normal. He gone back to sleep now.

 

Almost time to head for the sailing club again.. but muggacoffee first.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

13 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

This was overlooked:

I wonder whether this sign might have had more impact 

 

[PhilJ W]

@polybear look away now.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/snakes-ap-tsa-miami-miami-international-airport-b2539751.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1714841754

It could have been spiders.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A quick hello and goodbye as I'm off to the toy fair at Rayleigh soon.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Did diddums get wet? Awww!

Absolutely NO sympathy from this part of the Alps!

You should have known better, Bear. Your mistake was (a) going out in the rain and (b) going out in the rain near Bear Towers, as - according to your various postings - you are surrounded by ne’er-do-wells, scrotes and other low-lifes.

You might as well have worn a sign reading DRENCH ME!

 

Back at the top of The List.  Oh, hang on....you were already were.  In that case.....

 

INCOMING.......

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Back at the top of The List.  Oh, hang on....you were already were.  In that case.....

 

INCOMING.......

Watch Herr Doctarri it's a bunker buster!

[Dave Hunt]

Reference the snakes post above, I was once flying a sortie out of Cyprus when my wingman announced that he had to recover to Akrotiri ASAP. I asked what the emergency was and he said that they had a snake in the aircraft. It turned out that his back seater had been finding his helmet uncomfortable and had taken it off to see what was wrong when a small snake had slithered out of it and dropped to the cockpit floor. After they had landed it took a long time to find the snake, which turned out to be fairly harmless, but that didn’t lessen the back seater’s horror at what had happened and since the front seater had a dread of snakes he hadn’t been too happy to think that one was crawling about in his aeroplane either.

 

Dave

 

 

Edited May 5 by Dave Hunt
Speling agayne

[polybear]

51 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Reference the snakes post above, I was once flying a sortie out of Cyprus when my wingman announced that he had to recover to Akrotiri ASAP. I asked what the emergency was and he said that they had a snake in the aircraft. It turned out that his back seater had been finding his helmet uncomfortable and had taken it off to see what was wrong when a small snake had slithered out of it and dropped to the cockpit floor. After they had landed it took a long time to find the snake, which turned out to be fairly harmless, but that didn’t lessen the back seater’s horror at what had happened and since the front seater had a dread of snakes he hadn’t been too happy to think that one was crawling about in his aeroplane either.

 

Dave

 

 

 

I do hope the Aircrew bought the Ground Crew a very large crate of beer for sorting that one out....

 

ION....

 

Bear is wielding Mickey the Miele yet again; Lounge & Hall done - all to Mrs @grandadbobstandards.....oh, hang on.....Bear might just be being a bit reckless there.....

Now the stairs - oh joy....

 

BG

 

 

[iL Dottore]

55 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Back at the top of The List.  Oh, hang on....you were already were.  In that case.....

 

INCOMING.......

I take great pleasure in being at the top of The Bear’s list as it means:

1. That I am doing something right; i.e. annoying The Bear, which in my book Is Always A Good Thing.
2. That it shows that I am a man of immaculate taste and refinement.
3. That it allows me to indulge in a little “Cruelty To Polybears” - which is lotsa fun (and NOT to be confused with animal cruelty which is totally morally and ethically abhorrent - the perpetrators of which deserve the short, sharp, drop)
4. Hours of innocent (and free) amusement - and all zero-calorie!
5. Mucho Kudos amongst my fellow Gastronauts!

53 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

Watch Herr Doctarri it's a bunker buster!

If he can find me - given my numerous residences and, thanks to the technological wonders of modern 3D printing, a plethora of absolutely-identical body-doubles.

 

So even if The Bear were to reach deep into his pockets (bunker busters are NOT cheap) chances are he’d end up blowing a 3D printed resin copy to smithereens!

[Hroth]

2 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I take great pleasure in being at the top of The Bear’s list as it means:

1. That I am doing something right; i.e. annoying The Bear, which in my book Is Always A Good Thing.
2. That it shows that I am a man of immaculate taste and refinement.
3. That it allows me to indulge in a little “Cruelty To Polybears” - which is lotsa fun (and NOT to be confused with animal cruelty which is totally morally and ethically abhorrent - the perpetrators of which deserve the short, sharp, drop)
4. Hours of innocent (and free) amusement - and all zero-calorie!
5. Mucho Kudos amongst my fellow Gastronauts!

If he can find me - given my numerous residences and, thanks to the technological wonders of modern 3D printing, a plethora of absolutely-identical body-doubles.

 

So even if The Bear were to reach deep into his pockets (bunker busters are NOT cheap) chances are he’d end up blowing a 3D printed resin copy to smithereens!

 

As they say, pride cometh before a fall.

Look out, there's a Nemesis* about!

 

ION

 

I've been out in the garden, planting some bedding plants, but I gave up because a beetle (and possibly its friends and relations) was trying to make a home in my lug'ole!

 

* Not me, you understand, my role is more that of the prophetess in Up Pompeii....

 

[polybear]

Bear Towers fully Mickey'd.  Big Tick.

Now it's din dins inbound.....😁

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bit late on parade today due to having a bit of a lie in and breakfast in bed. I had a quick look in earlier this morning, but then went straight outside to make the most of the sunshine and do a bit of gardening. Some more plants have been put in the front garden and I've also done a quick tidy up. Now sat in the shade of the front door enjoying a well earned muggertea. After dinner Max is due round, an afternoon in the workshop is planned. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian 

[polybear]

 

 

 

[DaveF]

I went to church this morning and as one of the churchwardens is away found myself doing a "few" extra jobs.  All was well in the end.

 

Looking in the freezer I found a chicken joint which needs eating so have decided to cook it.  It seems to be taking a long time to thaw and cook  in the oven so have delayed putting all the other things on.  Lunch may be a bit late as a result.

 

The nice thing is that it provides meat for a sandwich at tea as well as lunch and probably tea tomorrow.  Fortunately I like chicken, both hot and cold.

 

The garden is too wet again to do anything and the water hasn't drained out of the greenhouse so there is nothing strenuous to do today.  Last night I watched a free DVD which came with the May issue of a magazine, it had some nice film of things on strips of steel around Glasgow, Arrochar and Tarbet, Carlisle, Silloth, Alston, and North Wales, East Anglia etc.  It was a lot better than I had expected.

 

David

[polybear]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 5 by polybear

[Erichill16]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

@polybear look away now.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/snakes-ap-tsa-miami-miami-international-airport-b2539751.html?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1714841754

It could have been spiders.

Are they what are known as ‘one eyed trouser snakes’ ?

[45156]

Afternoon All,

 

Well, this morning's greeting was a rude awakening: 

"You're doing the dinner today - oh and while you're going to be in the kitchen, the fridge needs cleaning out"

 

It's all been done - pulled brisket, new potatoes, amd a veg pot - with ice cream and fruit to follow.  One thing I am finding since I came out of hospital is that I like gravy with almost everything - a legacy of having to eat pulverised food for two weeks - and also for the same reason, I have developed a taste for yogurt - it was that or ready brek for breakfast during the soft diet period.

 

Friends are coming round for coffee tomorrow unexpectedly - good  that I've had a delivery of Taylor's coffees recently.

 

Other than that I'm still progressing.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Gwiwer]

Good Dafternoon all

 

Only 14 o’clock and so much has been done already. 
 

Dr. SWMBO attended church as has become her habit since arriving here. She has friends there but the Baby Jeebers isn’t one of them. She suggests there might well have been a Good Person with charisma and a following but he wasn’t the only such in history. 
 

I attended to a few bits and bobs around the house before meeting her as planned at 11.00. She rides the trike the short distance to and from town as it is easier on her knees than walking.  
 

Today our monthly “Care and Repair Cafe” had a couple of chaps along from Sustrans to “do” bikes in addition to the usual suspects. The trike needed a service but we hadn’t expected that it would receive more than two hours of voluntary attention. The defective gear-shift lever was dismantled and rebuilt. All cables were renewed - that’s three for the brakes on a trike plus the derailleur. The chain was checked for wear and tension, rusted links were freed, the headset was adjusted, the whole thing then road-tested and handed back to her with paperwork describing the work done. 
 

All for nothing. Although a donation was left and we bought the repairer-chaps a pasty each. They had quite a queue of more run-of-the-mill jobs such as puncture repairs and brake / gear adjustments on two-wheel machines. A trike takes disproportionately more time and the back brakes need to be matched to each other. 
 

And then lunch. Following which we have to get ten days-worth of clothes into a bag which normally holds only four changes. Dr SWMBO isn’t home next weekend. She is giving a paper at Cambridge University. 
 

I have a weekend in which to misbehave all on my own. 
 

[PupCam]

Afternoon!

 

7 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The updates on Chrome, Edge, etc. are really for their convenience, NOT yours.

I absolutely loathe how HP and many other printer manufacturers make it difficult (if not impossible) for you to use cheaper cartridges (i.e. not theirs) in their printers.

 

Don't get me started on HP printers ...

 

Readers may recall I may have expressed my dislike, no, contempt for the evil heaps of junk.    You were lucky if your HP printer only rejected non-HP cartridges, mine on occasion rejected genuine HP ones bought at great expense from a presumably reputable high street emporium (Tescos).    In the end I was so disgusted by it I thought I'd try an after-market continuous ink system (complete with "special cartridges" that obviously had the "ink remaining" variable set to "Full"and the "Number of sheets printed since cartridge changed" set permanently to 0).    Apart from being a slight faff to install, slightly messy to get going and had the potential to get very messy with 4 large ink bottles poised to spill their contents over the carpet it was an absolute saviour!

 

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

So even if The Bear were to reach deep into his pockets (bunker busters are NOT cheap) chances are he’d end up blowing a 3D printed resin copy to smithereens!

 

But you forget that both Poly and I still have contacts and can get them at "Mates Rates".      We also know an old Fly-Boy who, for a modest consideration I'm sure, would be prepared, nay positively enjoy, loosing a few off "for old times sake".     I wonder if we could borrow the Hawker Hunter at Henlow for the sortie?   Oh no, I've just thought, the particular devices I was  thinking off were never integrated onto the Hunter so  Fly-Boy will have to use something a bit more modern.  Well, I'm sure he's still got contacts ...... 😬

 

ION

 

A chug was chugged on the AJ this morning with a single companion.  The others in our gang were busying themselves out on a moped run.   We haven't got mopeds (and no huge desire to get one) so we made alternative arrangements.    We headed off in the Cambridgeshire direction for a change but, almost of course, we ended up at Old Warden for coffee on our return.   More people were observed enjoying the delights of a flight in a Tiger Moth.  It would be hard to imagine a day better suited to such a joy - warm, blue sky, full sunshine but an air of cool freshness in the atmosphere.   It was a truly glorious chug through the back lanes over to places such as Ashwell and Guilden Morden.   Just think how splendid it would have been chugging at 1000' in a beautiful old Tiger Moth!       I really , really must indulge myself.

 

On the home front a little more of the "Mini Pampas grass with out the Pampas bit" has been dug up and overturned to dry the roots off in the first stage of disposal.     I can't do too much of that at one time because a) I get worn out and b) I get BORED so little and often is the way forward.

 

Next on the cards is some more "Code Mashing" for the Chronometric calibrator.

 

Looks like tomorrow's rain might be moving in early now as the lovely blue sky and sunshine has gone and some big dark clouds are now forming.

 

TTFN

 

 

Edited May 5 by PupCam