Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Hey up from a sunny North West Leeds Highlands.

 

Off to see Nurse Drac. She will be testing my feet for a response. Last year the response nearly ended up in tears (for her) as I have very ticklish feet.

 

Stay calm and have as good a day as you can.

Baz

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a sunny Charente.   Glad that Mike is OK, and also think that even GDB might be safe with watercress, venus fly traps would be a different matter.   Yesterday went well.  Chris and Christine, lus the young French student came over, had lunch and played trains, then in the afternoon Chris and I lumberjacked for a couple of hours.  the tree is now down and the larger parts have been converted into logs.   I will need to deal with the brash in due course.   We also disposed of an awkward little tree that was knocking on the roof tiles by the utility room. 

 

Then it was time to fire up the BBQ.   I got it out of the shed and wheeled it across then lifted the charcoal trays only to discover a mouse's nest.   I had no choice but to dispose of the inhabitants and then take the remains up the garden.  They were put down near where the owls live and this morning appear to have been recycled.  A good BBQ was then had.

 

Today I may spend doing various little jobs and even may get to wield my small soldering iron to rearrange a nest of wires and switches.  This evening we're out at some friends for yet another BBQ. 

 

Chrisf, Farcebook has some weird and wonderful algorithms that decide who sees what.   I see Beth's post's but she only see's some of mine.   So don't worry.  

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

The sun is shining and we are due a hot day today! So in readiness, we have both liberally applied sun cream on ourselves. The food is packed into the cool bag, the drinks are also packed into their own cool bags and everything is now in the boot of the car, I’m just waiting for Sheila to finish getting herself ready then we’re off to the RHS Tatton Flower Show, I hope my wallet can take it, as we have quite a list of things to lookout for!

 

Back later

[Black Marlin]

Has anyone noticed that all Ivan's clientele are deceased?

I call that suspicious.

 

Some chase ambulances. Our Ivan prefers hearses. <non serious urine extraction>

Perfectly sensible - hearses drive much more slowly.

 

 

Greetings all, and hello to Jason Isaacs.

 

After a very, very quiet day yesterday, today might be slightly enlivened by reviewing a tender. Sadly that's not a railway-related comment. 

 

Have become (slightly) addicted to Twitter of late. It's like getting a front-row seat to the end of the West. Between the implosion of British politics, the meltdown of their American equivalent and chaos in Europe, I've had to turn my attention to other parts of the globe just to try to restore some equilibrium to my sanity. So here's a good one: yesterday, a team researching Australian sea-snakes found a new snake (hilariously, they found it crossing the wharf in front of them after they'd finished their otherwise-fruitless expedition. I love the thought of some bloke going "hang on a minute - is it just me or does that snake look a bit different to you?"). They've called it the Cape York bandy-bandy. Naturally, being an example of Australian fauna, it's insanely venomous. (According to Terry Pratchett, a complete list of harmless Australian flora, fauna and fungi consists of the words "some of the sheep".)

 

Kind regards foisted wildly upon the discomfited;

Tinkety-tonk, etc.

Gavin

 

 

edited to include the name of the snake

Edited July 18, 2018 by Black Marlin

[81C]

Morning Peeps 

We are off to Saville Gardens for the day Her has been wanting to go for sometime 

As I'm on a RMWeb boys day out at Didcot Sunday week I allowed her a small concession,

(not really I was told)    anyway they have a nice restaurant there so I don't mind being bored

stiff for an hour or two for food.

I hope Mike is not the worse for wear today after he went  A over B yesterday I do wonder 

how he achieved it.     

GDB enjoy your day out in Hampshire just keep that car of your away from the grass verges.

  

                                                                                                                                                           enjoy your day A Titmarsh   

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Club meeting tonight with the post mortem of the exhibition. I don't envisage any problems as at closing time the exhibition manager wasn't biting any heads off. Interesting what Jamie said about the algorithums on Facebook, perhaps thats why I cant find Debs posts. I see that Google are expecting to be fined £8billion by the European union over some of their uncompetitive practices. Good thing too, perhaps you find what you are looking for rather than what they want you to see. Thats it for now, be back later.

[Ref44]

It is over 40 years since I last set foot in a Council Finance Department as part of   an external audit team. Some things haven't changed; my daughter now works in such an establishment. Yesterday a manager sent her a batch of invoices to process. A short while later a second manager told her not to process them because as they were addressed to schools who are now breaking up, they would show as outstanding till the schools go back in September. Being a newbie in the office my daughter spoke to her her immediate boss who hadn't been included in the debate. Half a day of apparently at times heated email exchanges between the various managers resulted in the decision not to process said documents.

 

In a similar vein, having applied to said council for the wifes Blue Badge a second application is being sent to a different department for a Disabled Bus Pass. The Blue Badge people will accept the DWP decision letter as both proof of entitement and proof of address. The Bus Pass section want a separate proof of address.

 

Good job I'm retired so have time to spare to deal with these wonderful people. To add to the farce the wife is a member of the Councils Pension Scheme! You coudn't make it up.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Still warm here, some cloud but not of the rainy variety.

Tony

[newbryford]

Morning all.

Still warm here, some cloud but not of the rainy variety.

Tony

 

Hope it stays that way later today..........

[Two_sugars]

Hope it stays that way later today..........

 

Hope your aircon is working well with drive you've got!

 

 

John

[The Stationmaster]

I wasn't sure how to rate that one Mike, I was going to rate it funny, but thought I better not.   I'm glad that you are OK.

 

Jamie

 

Thanks, and 'funny' would have been quite ok by me Jamie - Mrs Stationmaster and laddo definitely saw it in that light as did some of the A&E nursing staff.   Mind you it wasn't quite so funny hanging around at the scanner unit waiting for someone -'who'll only be a couple of minutes' to turn up and shift my bl**dy trolley.

 

 

Mike, I am very glad to hear that you are up and about after your scare.

 

Very proper warnings they are too. Might be worth a follow up with a physician and get an opinion on how this should be monitored over time.

 

I do not wish to cause undue alarm but feel compelled to share some recent experiences.

 

I've lately heard of two personally connected incidences of minor head trauma in a fall resulting in a delayed subdural haematoma (bleeding in the cranial cavity) some months later. One was my 80-something aunt. She fell while recovering from knee replacement surgery. At the time everyone (including the hospital where she was in post-op recovery) thought she was fine. Months later her speech suddenly became garbled and she and her family went through a harrowing and prolonged emergency drill. I'll spare you the frightening details.  Happily she is now fully recovered.

 

Thanks Michael.  The Advanced Practitioner (AP) was very clear with advice about potential later bleeds and gave Mrs Stationmaster a set of notes about what to look out for saying it would be a waste of time giving me the notes as I was hardly likely to be able to read them if  was suffering some of the symptoms listed therein.  I (she) was also instructed to make a niner call for an ambulance should any of the symptoms present, seems they regard them as being even more worrying than a heart attack judging by the way the paramedics spoke.  Incidentally our GP surgery gives the same advice - 'in the event of a life threatening emergency dial 999'

 

I'm off to see Sister drac in any case tomorrow so in effect have a ready made appointment which is handier than having to wait 5 weeks for one - and not only that but if the NHS 'puter system is fully up-to-date she'll have even more recent blood results than my tests done last month in readiness for the appointment plus I've got an ECG printout I can take along as the ambulance crew left a copy with me and there's more BP results (or should be) than you can shake a stick at.  I wonder if the CT scan and X-Ray will be online as they could be interesting to see?

 

Anyway Good Morning all and many thanks for messages of support and instructions to take care.  I interpret the latter 'as don't do too much' and am advising Mrs Stationmaster accordingly of course plus I will continue to minimise my time at the 'puter for a day or three.  All seems now to be down to various aches and grazes/bruises which are entirely down to my carelessness in landing on a hard bathroom floor and colliding with whatever else I happened to collide with on my, fortunately short, descent to get there.  The CT scan incidentally is now de rigeur for anybody on warfarin who bangs their head in any way - not compulsory to go for one but somewhat more positively put than 'strongly recommended'.

 

Normal service will hopefully be resumed ere long and in the meanwhile have a good day everybody.

 

PS In response to later comments - Bill it was described as 'a classic faint' and while it might have been askew at the time all the (five) subsequent BP checks taken on three separate occasions caused no excitement among the medical fraternity (various).

 

Bob 81C. an interesting question as I was just moving myself off the toilet seat (where I had sat because I felt faint) when I fainted, hence the relatively short distance to ground (which still left more visible damage than a previous occasion 6 years ago (according to laddo, he's good on dates) when I flaked out from an almost standing position.

Edited July 18, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[Barry O]

I have returned from my visit to nurse Drac.. result! Lower dose of metformin, watch my cholesterol (4), keep using a bread free diets.. (how do I do that, cricket teas are built about sandwiches!). Another blood sucking in 2 months and watch my blood pressure (140 over70 today)

 

Mike it does mean doing no physical activity other than unspecified littering.

 

Now to catch up with some cricket related matters. And how much will they fine Kohli for serious dissent to an umpires decision? Nothing probably.

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

It is over 40 years since I last set foot in a Council Finance Department as part of   an external audit team. Some things haven't changed; my daughter now works in such an establishment. Yesterday a manager sent her a batch of invoices to process. A short while later a second manager told her not to process them because as they were addressed to schools who are now breaking up, they would show as outstanding till the schools go back in September. Being a newbie in the office my daughter spoke to her her immediate boss who hadn't been included in the debate. Half a day of apparently at times heated email exchanges between the various managers resulted in the decision not to process said documents.

 

In a similar vein, having applied to said council for the wifes Blue Badge a second application is being sent to a different department for a Disabled Bus Pass. The Blue Badge people will accept the DWP decision letter as both proof of entitement and proof of address. The Bus Pass section want a separate proof of address.

 

Good job I'm retired so have time to spare to deal with these wonderful people. To add to the farce the wife is a member of the Councils Pension Scheme! You coudn't make it up.

 

In France you need proof of address with everything.   When we bought the car in April the only piece of official paper that I had was a UK HMRC notice of Income tax coding that they ahd sent to our new house.   There was no problem having that accepted as proof of address.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

I have received my French motorway tag and armed with a map of the windscreen I have stuck it where Land Rover claim it will work.

We may get thunderstorms on Friday according to a couple of messages that appeared on this iPad. Not all of the weather apps agree though.

When Aditi fell last year the paramedics did attend as she was having breathing difficulty later that night. They were concerned about the cause of her fall with her history of epilepsy, diabetes and asthma. However she insisted the cause of the fall was a certain spaniel pulling her over. Robbie had lurched towards some discarded food on the pavement. Once her breathing had settled she elected to go to minor injuries clinic the following morning.

Tony

[The Lurker]

Stationmaster, look after yourself and hope that you are right as rain soonest. (and sooner than we see any rain...!)

[Ian Abel]

Ditto "The Lurker", Stationmaster, please take plenty of time to recover ...

 

 

HUMP day, another when I'm NOT going into the office - haven't been in ages now! Vehicle again been assigned to other duties of far more importance by the Mrs.

 

Another quiet day yesterday, and looking the same for today chez Abel. Happy enough with it that way for sure.

 

VERY pleasant 16 and sunny first thing, thanks to a Canadian front pushing down into the upper Midwest, high will still be 29 though...

 

Enjoy the day everyone.

[Andrew P]

Mike / Stationmaster, please take care, it may have been a warning to slow down, maybe shopping once a week now, and Gardening Leave for 6 Months.

[81C]

Gosh Mike, do be careful mate.

 

Bob81C, try Narrow Planet for plates - cheap, good, anything you want, from tiny to 5 inch gauge!  Superb service.  No connection....

 

Thanks Neil I ordered a set today, they are cheap for a custom plate I might get 2 done for my signal boxes.    

 

 

Yo Peeps

nice to see Mike on the move  . one thing that worries me is GDB going down to deepest Hampshire

I hope Mr. Accident Prone   doesn't fall into any cress beds and do damage.

 

I see something that that made me laugh on the M3 this morning one of those little horse boxes they use to carry

Dobbins around it was liveried up NEDDY STOBART .

                                                                                                                                                               enjoy your afternoon Laurie Spotter

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Mike - take it easy.  Not a lot more I can add there. 

 

Generic greetings as ever to everybody else.

 

Warm here this afternoon. 

 

I don't know what's happened to Currys - for once (and possibly the first time), they got things right.  Fridge freezer had a busted door seal, and also a load of chipping inside the freezer cabinet where the insulation was showing.  I reported this to their helpline, and an engineer arrived as appointed last Wednesday, duly photographed the interior, and emailed it to his supervisor as irrepairable as there are no replacement parts for the lining.  Got a phone call later that day to say the machine was to be written off under the terms of the extended warranty.  Got a text to say that it would be replaced, and another to give me a code to quote at the local store.  Visited on Sunday, and the range was dire, but the most helpful assistant went online as they only carry a few floor models, and found the one we wanted, ordered it, sorted out the new warranty, and put the "change" onto a gift card, as the new fridge was cheaper than the voucher.  Delivery was arranged for today.  Got a text confirming the order, and then another yesterday to remind me, and then one first thing this morning to confirm a delivery slot of 8.40 to 12.40, then a phone call from the delivery men about half an hour before arrival at 9.25 this morning, and new machine delivered and old one taken away.  Don't think I've ever had that good service from Currys ever before.

 

Back tomorrow

Regards to All

Stewart

[81C]

Afternoon All

 

Mike - take it easy.  Not a lot more I can add there. 

 

Generic greetings as ever to everybody else.

 

Warm here this afternoon. 

 

I don't know what's happened to Currys - for once (and possibly the first time), they got things right.  Fridge freezer had a busted door seal, and also a load of chipping inside the freezer cabinet where the insulation was showing.  I reported this to their helpline, and an engineer arrived as appointed last Wednesday, duly photographed the interior, and emailed it to his supervisor as irrepairable as there are no replacement parts for the lining.  Got a phone call later that day to say the machine was to be written off under the terms of the extended warranty.  Got a text to say that it would be replaced, and another to give me a code to quote at the local store.  Visited on Sunday, and the range was dire, but the most helpful assistant went online as they only carry a few floor models, and found the one we wanted, ordered it, sorted out the new warranty, and put the "change" onto a gift card, as the new fridge was cheaper than the voucher.  Delivery was arranged for today.  Got a text confirming the order, and then another yesterday to remind me, and then one first thing this morning to confirm a delivery slot of 8.40 to 12.40, then a phone call from the delivery men about half an hour before arrival at 9.25 this morning, and new machine delivered and old one taken away.  Don't think I've ever had that good service from Currys ever before.

 

Back tomorrow

Regards to All

Stewart

 

Christ they have turned over a new leaf, we gave up with them last year when we needed to replace

all the white goods in the kitchen they could not give us a delivery date as they had no stock, ended 

up getting it from J Lewis and it was cheaper with an extended 5 year warranty.

As you say once in a life time, you must have trod on dog Sh!t this morning. 

Edited July 18, 2018 by 81C

[Horsetan]

It's all gone a bit frantic here in Ealing.

 

Tomorrow's diary consists of out, in, out and in the office and is fully booked. A packed programme, as The Two Ronnies used to say. I've had to move one hopeful client to Friday morning.

[The Lurker]

It's all gone a bit frantic here in Ealing.

 

Tomorrow's diary consists of out, in, out and in the office and is fully booked. A packed programme, as The Two Ronnies used to say. I've had to move one hopeful client to Friday morning.

People dying to use your services...?

[Horsetan]

People dying to use your services...?

Well, the first appointment certainly is....

[petethemole]

 

I see something that that made me laugh on the M3 this morning one of those little horse boxes they use to carry

Dobbins around it was liveried up NEDDY STOBART .

                                                                                                                                                               enjoy your afternoon Laurie Spotter

 

There's a horse box I see occasionally in Eastleigh lettered "STAR JUMPING HORSES". With memories of school PE classes I have a very strange mental image.

[Horsetan]

 

….something that that made me laugh on the M3 this morning one of those little horse boxes they use to carry

Dobbins around it was liveried up NEDDY STOBART .

 

There's a horse box I see occasionally in Eastleigh lettered "STAR JUMPING HORSES". With memories of school PE classes I have a very strange mental image.

 

 

I think I may be able to top this: see Air Horse One