Early Risers.

[polybear]

3 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Rather surprised at the claims by Sainsbury's that everybody's going back to instore shopping but they must have the figures to support it.  Our local store seems positively deserted compared to pre pandemic levels of shoppers.  (Hardly any staff either now)  They've changed to mainly self service checkouts so the manned checkouts have reduced from 24 to 4 -6 depending on day of the week  The latter don't even open until 9.00 Monday to Thursday. 

 

Maybe why that's why the store is deserted - cr@p service?

[TheQ]

Tescos 4 miles,

Sainsbury and lidl 10 miles ,

All the others 20 miles+,

That's one way..

 

Mooring Awl,

5.5 hours broken sleep, 1 hour solid sleep.

 

Temporary server problems again.

 

Spent the awake time thinking of a display case I've been asked to make for the radar museum, https://www.radarmuseum.co.uk/ it's quite small, only 6 inches square but has to be a weird shape as it has an electronic ultrasonic radar simulation in it. So there has to be two openings for the controls and the sensors.

They also want to be able to be screwed down so it doesn't walk.

 

Time got ready and got some bits from the muddling room.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a chilly but bright rock, 4c early doors, 6 now.  Old Farts bike club will occur.

 

There's rumblings from across the room about a job move, back to Railways - but exactly what is on offer isn't clear as yet.  Sideways grade wise, but working directly for the head of motive power..... 😃 ....which would have certain advantages. #cough# May not happen, as I said it is not yet clear what the detail would be.  Location is important to her.

 

ION, weight loss continues, despite not being particularly careful this week, I'm now 'lighter' #cough again - relative term# than I have been for 30 years.

[New Haven Neil]

Supermarkets - ah.  Co-op and Shoprite (will soon be a small Tesco) in the Bright Lights of Royal Ramsey  5 miles away, then 24 miles to the Big City of Douglas for a Tesco, M&S and another smaller Tesco, or All the Way West to Peel for another small Was-a-Shoprite-now-a-Tesco, 24 miles again.  That's your lot, one way mileages. 

[grandadbob]

30 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Maybe why that's why the store is deserted - cr@p service?

 Yep and also depends on the manager and the example he sets.  Current one OKish I suppose as he did respond to my complaint.  The one before him was a scruffy individual (dirty shoes, shirt tail hanging out, tie askew)  who, if he was seen on the shopfloor was invariably on his phone and avoided eye contact with anyone.  The one before him (The Boss's old boss) was always immaculate and could always be seen and interacted with customers all the time.  He also made a point of going round the store talking to all his staff every morning and had a really good team. Sadly most of them are no longer there.  When he left the rot started to set in and I suppose the pandemic didn't help either.

Edited April 26 by grandadbob

[tigerburnie]

Remote shopping was tested during lockdown with Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsburys, the latter was by far the better, they don't seem to substitute so much, though the furthest away, delivery charges are cheaper, so we stick to them and pop in for odds 'n' sods from Mozzers or Tesco's as required.

[Coombe Barton]

Shopping

• I will use direct scanning for shopping - I only handle twice, once into the bag and once at home putting away  - rather then quadruple handling (out of basket, through checkout and into bag as extra.
• I use the store scanners - not my phone. The phone is for a list, and switching between that and a scanner app is not for me.
• I go to the supermarket - it will get me out of the house at least once  week once I retire. I also like to see what I;mn getting in the fresh and allows me to make a physical choice. I also use the visit to fill up with fuel.
• I will use delivery services when I become too infirm to do the physical shop.

[tigerburnie]

We buy meat from the farmer or on occasion a butcher, fruit and veg from the fruit and veg shop or farmers market, bread from the village cafe or the town bakers, non perishables from the supermarkets. During the summer fruit and veg comes from the garden, potatoes are delivered by the coal man..................(who is a farmer who also diversifies).

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well, what a change in the weather from yesterday, bright and sunny this morning. I prefer to go to the supermarket myself, Sainsbury’s because it’s less than a mile away and M&S because they have what I can’t get from Sainsbury’s. I by my meat from the butchers, which is where I’m off to in a few minutes. 
 

ION, 45 years ago today I became a father for the first time, we’ve just got off the phone to Vickie, who unfortunately isn’t feeling too well at the moment, so we’ll miss actually seeing her today, as she doesn’t want to pass on her lurgie. 
 

Back later n

 

Brian

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

I've been jabbed, all seems well at the moment.        The nurse queried me and said "I looked a bit young for it".  I then explained some of the medication I'm  on and my medical history and she said "Yes, that'll do it!".

 

I'm off for a run over to Woburn on the RD in a short while.  The sun is out, the sky is blue and there's a coffee with my name on it that will be waiting to be drunk.

 

On my return I'll be firing up the Myford again.   I've got a friends Smiths Chronometric Speedo to test and whilst I already had a gadget for running them up that I made some years ago it's a bit Heath Robinson so I thought I'd make a better job of it.   I've been turning up the drive shaft and flywheel, the next things to make are the bearing housing and a mounting plate for a little (model aircraft) brushless motor that does the work of the speedo cable.      I might go the whole hog and build a little Arduino controller for it or I might rely on an old servo tester and use my oscilloscope to determine true speed.   We'll see!

 

Right, I'm off now.

 

TTFN

 

 

Edited April 26 by PupCam

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

You have to be careful about analgesic cocktails as liver, kidneys and gut are all affected by such drugs and any existing known (or hitherto unknown) vulnerabilities in these organs could be amplified or affected.

 

Perhaps a better approach to pain management could be changing the doses of each of the individual drugs in the existing cocktail of analgesics rather than adding yet another on top of the existing mixture.

As an example of some the side effects of analgesics: now, opiates are very useful drugs indeed - but amongst the side effects of opiate use can be severe constipation. I when I say severe, I mean severe to the point that faeces have to be disimpacted (manually removed) before something like an enema or a stool softener can do its job.

 

Changing the administration timings of the individual drugs may also provide better pain relief.

Thanks Flavio.  The main problem seems to be that the Anaesthetist that we saw 3 weeks ago who was good, wasn't the one who did the job on Thursday. He actually accused Beth of lying about her pain levels post op.  It has taken several years to balance her current cocktail of pain meds and it was agreed that they would all continue unchanged. With top up post up as needed.  This has not ha and thi gs have been substituted.  We had the same problem in the UK and I nearly hit someone on one occasion. Not recommended.  It took them three hours to bring her morning insulin today, after breakfast and physio had to be postponed due to high blood sugar.  Thi gs seem to be calm g down but I will try not to wall anyone up this afternoon. 

 

Jamie

[polybear]

Bear here.....

 

Missions "ongoing" - which has FINALLY included writing out a new info strip to go inside my SOS Talisman Bracelet; I checked the Passport Number written on the existing strip and discovered it was for the old Passport.....and the current Passport expires next year.....

Right, the Washing Machine is bleeping at Bear so it looks like I've got some "stuff" to hang out.

 

Bear gone.

[woodenhead]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning from the cool Charente.  Hospital was visited yesterday and Beth has come through the op. But was in a lot of pain.  I had to get a tad assertive to sort that out but some extra pain relief did arrive.  The usual hospital problem arose.  Due to her overall condition she is already on a cocktail of painkillers and staff don't believe that she needs extra on top of that.  Hopefully things will improve.  

 

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

You have to be careful about analgesic cocktails as liver, kidneys and gut are all affected by such drugs and any existing known (or hitherto unknown) vulnerabilities in these organs could be amplified or affected.

 

Perhaps a better approach to pain management could be changing the doses of each of the individual drugs in the existing cocktail of analgesics rather than adding yet another on top of the existing mixture.

And to give a real life example of what can go wrong, my father died as a result of pain killers dispensed by a GP for gout.

 

The dose/type destroyed his kidneys and he was given 2 years to live, he managed four years (without dialysis treatment) and then succumbed.  It wasn't the only medicine he was on, he had all sorts due to TIAs, so probably the painkiller was the one extra thing his body did not want.

[Dave Hunt]

Many thanks for all the good wishes for my birthday yesterday. I was royally treated by Jill who chauffered me all day (I’m not supposed to drive for another 3 weeks) after a bacon butty and coffee in bed then taken to a rather nice place for lunch with some friends. This was a prolonged affair featuring cake and champagne and just in case I need more there will be a repeat performance this evening with more friends.  This, of course, is doing little for the current aim of reducing the amount of DH that is in evidence but I feel that it would be churlish not to take full part in such things. Tomorrow, as they say, is another day.

 

Dave

[woodenhead]

I never stopped going to the shops even during lockdown.

 

I also shopped for the in laws who were forced to isolate so could not go out, which meant I did two shops in one go each visit - two trolleys I was known as.  I would shop on trolley using the phone app and the other on the conveyor belt so that I took up no more time than I had to at the till.

 

I like to look at the fruit, veg and meat I am buying and that's not going to change, we mainly buy fresh product but I can see the attraction of delivery if everything was pre-prepared or canned etc.

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

We buy meat from the farmer or on occasion a butcher, fruit and veg from the fruit and veg shop or farmers market, bread from the village cafe or the town bakers, non perishables from the supermarkets. During the summer fruit and veg comes from the garden, potatoes are delivered by the coal man..................(who is a farmer who also diversifies).

We tend to buy meat, fish and some fruit and vegetables from market traders on a Wednesday and Saturday and bread, cakes and pastries as well as cheese from a local delicatessen. Milk is delivered in glass bottles to our doorstep three times a week. Other things are mainly bought from a supermarket but we don’t use delivery services because we prefer to see what we are buying, want to reduce the amount of single use plastic we use and to help preserve the existence of real shops.

 

Dave

[Gwiwer]

G'morning all.  

 

What a wet day.  Outside.  I have no plans to immerse myself in sky-wee without very good cause.  

 

Shopping.  Habits have changed as our situation has changed.  In London we were beyond comfortable walking distance of the nearest supermarket though there were numerous "corner shops" and a selection of miniature versions of the big chains slightly closer.  We could never get all we wanted in one place.  Before we had personal mobility I sometimes took the train to Kingston or North Sheen where there are large supermarkets close to those stations; we of course lived adjacent to the station Upon the Hill of Strawberries.  Once we had the Little Red Driving Box I used that to do Tesco runs to the Ivybridge superstore.  In the midst of all that along came the Wuhan Woohaa; we were already using Ocado anyway and we relied heavily on deliveries through and after the pandemic.  

 

We now live in a modest town of 4500 people, perhaps 5000 in summer.  The local Co-op is well-stocked and what we occasionally can\t get there we can get over the road in an old-style general store which has adopted modern trends.  They offer cleaning products in "bring-your-own-bottle" refills, all of the non-dairy milk alternatives and non-chemical pest repellants among a surprising selection of herbs, spices and "free-from" foods.  So we are pretty well catered for with a two-minute walk to the shops.  I do sometimes use Sainsbury's near Penzance if I really want a wide choice; dropping Dr. SWMBO to and from the train on Mondays and Thursdays and passing through to and from MRC on Wednesdays means there is not really any extra fuel being burned for such trips.

 

We are also blessed with a traditional butcher and a baker in town, a farmer's market and a community farm (who have a stall at the market) all of which we support so the eggs come from fields around the town, bread is baked locally and some of the meat is also "grown" over the road from us.  Low food miles.  And no need for delivery vans.  We do see a few of those but not daily and nowhere near the number which line London's streets.  

[iL Dottore]

15 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

…after a bacon butty and coffee in bed…

 

Dave

Is that a secret RAF code for naughty indoor shenanigans?

 

Like ‘Allo, ‘Allo’s “flying helmet and stick of celery”?

[tigerburnie]

24 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

We tend to buy meat, fish and some fruit and vegetables from market traders on a Wednesday and Saturday and bread, cakes and pastries as well as cheese from a local delicatessen. Milk is delivered in glass bottles to our doorstep three times a week. Other things are mainly bought from a supermarket but we don’t use delivery services because we prefer to see what we are buying, want to reduce the amount of single use plastic we use and to help preserve the existence of real shops.

 

Dave

I am aware of a dairy in Forfar that still delivers milk, but not seen one anywhere else in these parts.

[DaveF]

Today is not going as planned but it can't be helped.  I was awake for 2 hours in the night so didn't hurry this morning.  One of my fingers seems to have seized up, just arthritis, it usually does it whe the weather is going to change.  It has been geiven a coating of pain relieveing gel which is helping.

 

After breakfast I looked at my e mails and realised I had one from a name which was not very familiar.  It turned out to be from a friend's daughter who lives in Austria to let me know that her father who lived in Canada died suddenly a few days ago.  He was about 10 years older than me and seems to have had a heart attack.  Our families have known each other for at least three generations though when Allan went to Canada to settle and marry there we only kept in touch by mail and later e mail and I've never met his daughters.  I've sent a note to one of my cousins as I think she knew him as both his and her fathers were GPs in the same practice.  If she does remember him I think she will contact her siblings, if not I will in due course.

 

I expect to scan more photos today, the next batch appear to be things powered by steam and travelling long distances, sometimes at high speed.  I think I already have scans of some of them but will do them all just in case.

 

David

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I went to bed really late last night so only about 5 hours sleep, I'll make up for it later. As many of you are aware I shop at Tess Coes at Pitsea, the Asda Store is a lot nearer but it's smaller and the car park is even smaller and it costs to park there (Tess Coes is free). Also Tesco's produce, fruit and veg in particular keeps longer. There is a Sainsbury's but that is further away than Tesco's and doesn't stock as wide a variety. There is an Aldi in Pitsea but I've never been there so I can't comment.

[grandadbob]

Ooops, sorry Dave, @Dave Hunt missed your birthday so belated greetings from me.

 

A brief walk via Asda has been undertaken, not even a mile today.  This is due to multiple complaints from The Hip and The Boss so I gave in.

Regrettably most of the "proper" shops have disappeared from around here so most of our shopping is from supermarkets.  We've still got a little baker but I avoid going in there as the cakes especially those with cream in are too tempting and too big!  Nearest decent greengrocer is a couple of miles away as was a really good butcher but the latter closed last year.  Another opened shortly afterwards but that didn't last long!  We seem to be surrounded by supermarkets, convenience stores, fast food outlets, barbers and lady's hairdressers, charity shops and empty shops.

Edited April 26 by grandadbob

[PhilJ W]

49 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear here.....

 

Missions "ongoing" - which has FINALLY included writing out a new info strip to go inside my SOS Talisman Bracelet; I checked the Passport Number written on the existing strip and discovered it was for the old Passport.....and the current Passport expires next year.....

Right, the Washing Machine is bleeping at Bear so it looks like I've got some "stuff" to hang out.

 

Bear gone.

Remember to renew your passport in plenty of time.

[DaveF]

About shopping.  I do my main shops online using Asda and Morrisons which enables me to get most things I want and like.  I strated during lockdown when I was caring for Mum and was told to isolate as much as possible as she was very vulnerable.  

 

Afterwards I just continued.  The advantage is that I don't (usually) order anything more than I need, i.e. no impulse buys, so it isn't too expensive even with annual delivery charges.  It comes in very useful if foir any reason I cannot or do not want to drive.

 

I could visit the shops, in town there are 2 Asdas , big Asda and little Asda (little Asda is about the size of a Lidl), Morisons, Aldi, Lidl, Iceland and also Herons and Farmfoods.  The very local smaller shops are Teso Extra and a new Coop at the beach which will open this weekend.  Ther are also various corner type shops.  In town there is a butcher, baker and a greengrocer.  The nearest M&S is in the next town, all of 5 miles away.

 

Deliveries can come from Asda, Morrisons, Tesco, Sainsburys, Iceland and Waitrose - no Ocado though - they don't "do" the far north east of England.  

 

I prefer to pay at staffed checkouts but will use self service if I have very simple shopping with only a few items.  Otherwise something always seems to go wrong and I have to wait for an assistant.

 

If I need some thing extra I just go any of the local stores, all but one are within a less than 10 minute drive, big Asda takes a couple of minutes longer.

 

Edit.  All the local stores have ample free parking, Iceland and Herons are in the town car parks, the rest have their own.  The new Coop might be awkward for parking on days when the beach is very busy though the shops at the beach have their own car park.  All the parking is of course free, mainly for 72 hours or unlimited time, a couple are only 2 hours.

 

David

 

 

Edited April 26 by DaveF

[woodenhead]

17 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I am aware of a dairy in Forfar that still delivers milk, but not seen one anywhere else in these parts.

Daisy the cow wanders the lanes of the local village.....it's self service.