Early Risers.

[trisonic]

Another sign of the times.......

 

 

 

best, Pete.

[Tony_S]

I don't have a conservatory.

[petethemole]

Another sign of the times.......

 

20180410_193430.png

 

 

best, Pete.

 

I didn't know Prince Harry was moonlighting as Ed Sheeran.

[iL Dottore]

Greetings all.

 

It has been a while since I've posted, but life has been complicated, to say the least.

 

Firstly my sympathies go out to all those having difficulties and sadness in their lives. Although I have commented appropriately when I've seen such news, my infrequent dips into the ER swimming pool (swamp???) means that I have missed much. As always, if anyone thinks that I could be of assistance off-line, please just PM me (I am pleased to say that I have been able to provide a little support to a number of ER members in the past).

 

Now, for those of you who haven't already wandered off to see what's on the telly/get a cuppa/do some modelling/watch paint dry, a short update.

1. Those of you who know me as a rather chunky (no, let's be honest here: morbidly obese) chappie may no longer recognize me. Since I started dieting on January 1st 2017 I have lost about 48Kg (still got 12.5 to go though ). When I'm done I'll have lost a little over a third of my original body weight.
2. Work is slowly starting to pick up. I have a contract that will keep me intermittently busy until end of July, some other work (one or two day jobbies) and I'll be giving a specialised webinar at the end of June. For which I will get a small fee, residuals and valuable exposure. Now all I have to do is learn a bit more about giving a webinar. OK, I won't be buying a Lear Jet anytime soon, but it allows for a little Caviar on my Blini and Bollinger in the crystal flutes....
3. Mrs iD was able to find herself another position in her company after having been made redundant. Ironically her job will be (partly) clearing up the mess that was caused by making her and a number of her colleagues redundant. You couldn't make it up.
4. Progress is being made on the home made Lap Steel. Today it got its first coat of Post Box (or is it Ferrari) red. Unfortunately, due to having to spray it outside, it has acquired a number of runs and drips. Nothing, however, that can't be solved with a rubdown with 400 grit wet and dry sandpaper before the next coat.
5. Lucy and I had the most unpleasant adventure. We were out on a walk when a dog belonging to someone we know came up to us. At first my lot sniffed at the other dog and all was well when suddenly, without notice or any sort of warning, the other dog attacked Lucy. And not the usual noisy "f*ck off outta my personal space" behaviour - but a full on "rip the throat out" attack. I went down on the ground to protect Lucy, grabbing the other dog by the upper muzzle... to make a long story short, after the owner had finally pulled the dog away, I was covered with blood (my hands had been bitten - messy, but not serious), Lucy had a puncture wound near her ear and was trembling with fear. She finally calmed down as I soothed her and - I must say - got back to normal over the next few hours much better than I did. During this rather unpleasant bit of excitement, Schotty behaved like a hero, attacking the other dog and biting the other dogs' haunches (which did help a bit). He may be all mouth and no trousers, but when push comes to shove, Schotty is one hell of a brave dog.  What really pissed me off, however, was how slowly the owner reacted and came to help me. I don't blame the dog - the animal is a rescue dog from Spain and - I deeply suspect - must have been both abused and used in dog fighting, but the owner...

Well, that's about it for now from me. I'm off to walk the Wolfpack and then, after lunch, do a demo tape for a possible job doing voiceovers.

 

Stay Frosty Guys ('n' gals)

 

iD

[grandadbob]

Panic ye not.   

Books can be closed and Paramedics stood down as it has been decided (by me) that I don't feel like climbing ladders today as my knee is aching after shopping. Will possibly do it tomorrow,

or not as the case may be.   

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all

 

Damp and grey here again. Just visited Aldi for a bottle of their gin, just voted one of the world's best (Oliver Cromwell London Dry Gin) at £9.99 for 70cl.

 

Really sorry to hear about Lucy, ilDottore, and hope that she isn't affected for too long. Must congratulate you on your mega-weightloss - over 7 stones in 3 months is impressive. i thought I'd done well with losing 3 stones since September! Still need to lose at least one more.

 

Not much else happening - as Gabe is off tomorrow we can have plenty of garlic tonight. Great!

 

Have a good day

 

Mal

[trisonic]

I didn't know Prince Harry was moonlighting as Ed Sheeran.

 

Yes, that was the “joke”.

That and the fact they are really getting married at Adnams Southwold brewery...........

 

Best, Pete.

Edited April 11, 2018 by trisonic

[newbryford]

I should have opened another book on how long it would be before that north Wales seaside resort would be mentioned after the subject of tattoos had surfaced. 

 

Jamie

 

The local variation of the same joke is "OSW" and "OSWALDTWISTLE".

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

And we haven't got a conservatory either.  Sorry to hear the bad part of your news iD - many years ago our spaniel seemed to be a regular target for attack by a mongrel over the road which no doubt contributed very much to my considerable wariness of dogs although I have always managed to get along famously with some.

 

Back to earth and an interesting day in Taunton yesterday - the cost of the meal has increased a fair bit since my last visit the quality of the food and standard of service has increased substantially as well and the shoulder of lamb was cooked to perfection with no complaints/. Odd to visit a group I've not been with for a couple of years as a number of people were looking considerably older than when I last saw them, white beards ruled ko among several of us.  Some new members as well which might tempt me back in future as the quality of conversation has started to get back to its former level.

 

Ah, HK airport - alas I missed doing Kai Tak but have done the new one and you still get to fly past tower blocks but at least it's a fairly simple approach, but, like Sydney, the runways still have a potentially watery threshold.  And do take care to get the directions to the gate sorted in your mind as it's all too easy (well it was for me) to go a long way in the wrong direction!  You can also, with a long lens on the camera,  do a bit of train photography if you happen to be in the right part of the terminal -

 

 

Have a good day one and all and thoughts with those under medical care and with Tony & Aditi.

[Happy Hippo]

I should have opened another book on how long it would be before that north Wales seaside resort would be mentioned after the subject of tattoos had surfaced.  As long as we don't start on about hamsters again.

 

Jamie

I think we are OK on that front.

 

I don't think Dutch Master lives in Hamsterjam

 

Clogs, bike, finger out of dyke etc

[Tony_S]

Another sign of the times.......

 

20180410_193430.png

 

 

best, Pete.

The plate maker seems to have used an image of Ed Sheeran (popular singer M'Lud) instead of Harry!

 

Edit Just noticed the earlier similar comment.

Edited April 11, 2018 by Tony_S

[trisonic]

I sent some “Lamplighters” around to check on GDB:

 

 

 

 

Best, Pete.

 

[Horsetan]

I see GDB is on another possible suicide missions I can't believe he tempts fate the way he does.....

 

Why is this any surprise now? The Imperial Japanese Air Force would have fallen over itself to recruit him to train their pilots......

Edited April 11, 2018 by Horsetan

[BoD]

As long as the tattoo is not on your forbidden zone........................

 

'I say Ratty, does that tattoo say Ludo?'

 

'Sometimes, and at other times it says Llandudno Junction!'

Mine says Llanfairogoch

[Tony_S]

Mine says Llanfairogoch

I wonder if people commemorate a visit to Rhyl with a tattoo.

[bbishop]

I wonder if people commemorate a visit to Rhyl with a tattoo.

 

My Mum's home town!

 

Bill

[Gwiwer]

Mine says Llanfairogoch

 

Oh dear.  Have we lost our pwllgwyn?  And as for our go go go ............. 

[andyram]

Mawnin' awl. Bit cloudier today with a certain probability of some precip, I understand. As usual, we shall see, I suppose! Work doesn't start before 1325, so a bit of a lunch will be possible before I sortie.

 

Barbecue planned for Saturday, so it being at least dry then would be quite preferable.

 

 

 

 

Andy, the usual practice you describe seems to be similar to that in schools in Saxony where teachers are usually asked to provide a rough draft of which of the major topics they intend to cover for the course of the term, and in what order. These rough drafts are usually given to the department head for the subject in question so that they are sufficiently informed of what should be covered in each individual class in the event of issues like extended illness-related absences. It is not uncommon for teachers to cooperate on these topic drafts and to share materials for individual lessons, too.

 

Planning work for individual lessons is then within the purview of each individual teacher and can be as brief or detailed as one prefers, and not usually required for presentation to anyone unless any problems of a certain importance should arise. I can't say whether this may be a specifically East German approach or even usual practice in most all of Germany. I do have the impression that certain differences exist between West and East Germany as far as such mostly administrative and organisational structures are concerned, though.

 

However, having read the Guardian article posted in response to your quandary, I do recognise certain similarities between the difficulties in teaching here and in the UK, such as the enormous workload for paperwork and documentation which comes on top of that for actual lesson planning and, obviously, time spent in the classroom - which is 26 hours per week in Saxony.

 

 

Cheers, folks…

 

NG - Yes this school seems to want detailed planning for each lesson to be submitted instead of the general overview. 

As I mentioned, I succumbed to another sickness bug yesterday and so was off work and (due to the 24 hour clearance of such infections) I am off again today. Throughout yesterday I received 4 emails from one colleague - many complaining about some of the planning I had done. Only one email contained a fair complaint IMHO. Then I received another email from another colleague at 10.30pm last night with planning guidance and a demand to have next week's planning completed by the end of Thursday - a day earlier than the usual deadline. The result of this - another sleepless night, a panic attack in the middle of the night, and a blinding headache this morning. This was the final straw. I have spoken to my doctor this morning and I am going to see him in the morning. I have also taken some guidance from the Union. 

 

Anyway - moving away from my personal issues. My best wishes to iD - congrats on the weight loss and I hope that Lucy recovers from her ordeal. What a horrible thing to experience. My best wishes to everyone else on here too.

 

Andy

[Judge Dread]

Oh ye of little faith!

Just thinking of this "young" man when reading about aircraft landings. It would seem to me that grandadbob is the master of falling (read flying) but his landings need more practice! 

What was it the RAF said about landings, "any landing you can walk away from is a good landing!"

[NGT6 1315]

Strewth, Andy. Certainly sounds like it really is time to pull an emergency stop, so to speak...

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day.

Mrs needs the car for some farting about errands and an appointment just after lunch so I didn't make the normal HUMP day trip to the office...

 

Only report from yesterday was the inability to "connect" to the Long Island client, once again they reset my access <sigh>. The IT (idiot troop) department have been told to leave it open "forever" by the VP on Finance, but take great pains to ignore any directives they are given

They managed to get it fixed in a couple of hours, ka-ching goes the wasted time meter, not that I care, they pay whether I'm able to work or not

 

It snowed briefly yesterday afternoon, then apparently thought better of it.

-1 and partly cloudy this AM, expecting a high of 8 later

 

Over the HUMP we go...

[81C]

I wonder if people commemorate a visit to Rhyl with a tattoo.

I stayed there once on a railway tour glad to say not by choice.   

[Barry O]

Evening...

 

My presentation went well last night then the sh1t hit the fan someone said they had told everyone of this season's scoring system...oh no he hadn't so I will.

 

Up and off to Warley at 4:45am. After some horrendous cock and hen womble displays arrived at 9:20 For a 9:30 start.

 

Floor plan completed by 1:30pm. Drove back now off out to a meeting then to Leeds MRS to check out progress on our charitable status change..

 

May be back tonight..

 

Baz

Edited April 11, 2018 by Barry O

[Andrew P]

Evening...

 

My presentation went well last night then the sh1t hit the fan someone said they had told everyone of this season's scoring system...oh no he hadn't so I will.

 

Up and off to Warley at 4:45am. After some horrendous clock and hen wobble displays arrived at 9:20 For a 9:30 start.

 

Floor plan completed by 1:30pm. Drove back now off out to a meeting then to Leeds MRS to check out progress on our charitable status change..

 

May be back tonight..

 

Baz

That's interesting Baz, our Club (Gresley and Wychnor Model Railway Group) has just had a vote, and FORCED THROUGH by the Chairman we are now going Ltd Co, instead of CS that most seemed to want.

[NGT6 1315]

Just got a couple of minutes on turnaround, so may I also post a welcome back to Flavio, and sympathies with a view to this fright you described.

 

First t-storm of the season discharged itself by about six, bringing hailstones of about half an inch in the city. Apparently, it’s possible for temperatures to approach 30C next week. Sheesh, wasn’t it still quasi-winter three weeks ago?