Early Risers.

[roundhouse]

Afternoon from a now raining Surrey.

 

Cheques- I still use them to pay one of my cards. The other card I do online but its done two payments form by current account of the same amount this time. I think it put through the online payment that I was going to do at the weekend but didn't confirm aswell as the one I did on Monday. Didn't expect that and I bet its going ot be way too much hassle to get that back so it will do against next months payment - interest is negligible anyway.

 

As for belts I have lost enough weight building the shed that I can now move two notches in and just aswell as this old belt was starting to wear out at that most used notch. In the house for lunch and now going back out to the shed

[Happy Hippo]

Sheds are not complete until a fridge/freezer and a comfy chair have been installed therein. 

 

After that, any weight loss suffered during the mighty erection, will be reimbursed by a selection of chilled beers, ciders and wine plus the obligatory chocolate biscuits and ice creams.

 

Apart from the occasional jaunt to take care of any lavatorial requirements, you can stay out of everyone's way for most of the day.

[jamie92208]

5 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

After that, any weight loss suffered during the mighty erection, will be reimbursed by a selection of chilled beers, ciders and wine plus the obligatory chocolate biscuits and ice creams..

I thought that that was called Brewers droop.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Re recent gull posts

https://www.independent.ie/life/birds-eye-view-staring-at-seagulls-could-stop-them-from-stealing-your-chips-38381679.html

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Thanks to Tony I have got rid of the irritating Windows narrator. As I was doing so I noticed that Microsoft were adding another language, Braille! What use is that on a computer screen?

[Tony_S]

22 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Thanks to Tony I have got rid of the irritating Windows narrator. As I was doing so I noticed that Microsoft were adding another language, Braille! What use is that on a computer screen?

I don’t know what they are doing but it could be for doing on screen design for Braille output devices like Braille printers. Even back when I was teaching there were many devices to help people with even minimal vision to read. One of our students had to read exam papers one letter at a time on a big screen. 

Tony

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day already.

Been busy with work and also helping the Mrs get to some appointments, also some family meetings to help handle the current anxiety.

 

Seems to be improving some, slow but gradual, and taking it slowly for now, though she has gone off for a power walk at present, something she enjoys.

 

<Rant>

Excellent "exchange" as a result of simply wanting to pick up a prescription renewal that was requested 5 days ago;

Pharmacy: "Hmm, the prescription appears to have been cancelled. You'll have to contact the provider to get it reinstated before we can fill it"

Me: " No reason given? It's for a rescue inhaler I've been carrying for 20 years!"

Pharmacy" "No, sorry"

Doctors office - after a LONG hold on the stupid phone system;

Me: "Calling to find out why my prescription has been cancelled"

Doctors office: "It hasn't"

Me: "Pharmacy says it has"

Them: "Well it hasn't" (nothing more sensible/informative/helpful offered)

Me: "Can you send them a renewal then so I can get it"

Them: " You have to call the pharmacy and have them re-request it"

Me: "They think it's cancelled - why don't YOU call/fax/whatever them and approve it. Seems idiotic for ME to be going back and forth with the two of you"

Them: " It's not normally done that way - it takes up to 72 hours to process a prescription request"

   Proceeds to explain I should make renewal requests long before I need to product...

Me: "But I already REQUESTED it 5 days ago EXACTLY so I got the bloody thing it time!"

Me: <unable to repeat here the stream of explaining why the health care system sucks the life-blood AND money out of people due to this sort of stupidity>

Me: "So in case I need it, and kick off instead because of bureaucracy and an inability for the medical machine to actually HELP someone, who's name do I give to my next of kin to sue you?"

Them: (In an annoyed tone) "I'll see what we can do..."

 

Two hours later, pharmacy text me "you prescription is ready"

I SWEAR people die in the US because the health care industry has managed to make an entire industry out of simplicity!

<end rant>

 

20 and sunny first thing, 28 the expected high with some possible thunderstorms later.

 

Carry on.

 

 

Edited August 7, 2019 by Ian Abel

[PhilJ W]

34 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

 

 

<Rant>

Excellent "exchange" as a result of simply wanting to pick up a prescription renewal that was requested 5 days ago;

Pharmacy: "Hmm, the prescription appears to have been cancelled. You'll have to contact the provider to get it reinstated before we can fill it"

Me: " No reason given? It's for a rescue inhaler I've been carrying for 20 years!"

Pharmacy" "No, sorry"

Doctors office - after a LONG hold on the stupid phone system;

Me: "Calling to find out why my prescription has been cancelled"

Doctors office: "It hasn't"

Me: "Pharmacy says it has"

Them: "Well it hasn't" (nothing more sensible/informative/helpful offered)

Me: "Can you send them a renewal then so I can get it"

Them: " You have to call the pharmacy and have them re-request it"

Me: "They think it's cancelled - why don't YOU call/fax/whatever them and approve it. Seems idiotic for ME to be going back and forth with the two of you"

Them: " It's not normally done that way - it takes up to 72 hours to process a prescription request"

   Proceeds to explain I should make renewal requests long before I need to product...

Me: "But I already REQUESTED it 5 days ago EXACTLY so I got the bloody thing it time!"

Me: <unable to repeat here the stream of explaining why the health care system sucks the life-blood AND money out of people due to this sort of stupidity>

Me: "So in case I need it, and kick off instead because of bureaucracy and an inability for the medical machine to actually HELP someone, who's name do I give to my next of kin to sue you?"

Them: (In an annoyed tone) "I'll see what we can do..."

 

Two hours later, pharmacy text me "you prescription is ready"

I SWEAR people die in the US because the health care industry has managed to make an entire industry out of simplicity!

<end rant>

 

 

Carry on.

 

 

And these are the people who want to take over our NHS.

[Tony_S]

56 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Two hours later, pharmacy text me "you prescription is ready"

I SWEAR people die in the US because the health care industry has managed to make an entire industry out of simplicity!

Recently one of Aditi’s medications became unavailable. I was supposed to be collecting it. The pharmacy said contact the doctor. So I rang the surgery and asked what the procedure was. They said the pharmacy should have contacted them. I said the pharmacy had seemed a bit disorganised. She put me on hold, rang another pharmacy who confirmed and said our GP would prescribe an alternative and we could collect the new prescription that afternoon. We changed our default pharmacy too. Being geeky I like that the new one has a robot dispenser. Aditi’s brother is a GP and has an on-site pharmacy. He said at night their robot rearranges the medication stock. 

Tony

Edited August 7, 2019 by Tony_S

[Barry O]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

The first being the P-38 Lockheed Lightning ( Der Gabelschwanz-Teufel) and not the EE Lightning

Ahh but..the twin fan, twin tail pursuit never flew in RAF colours. 

The English Electric Lightning  was used by the RAF, as is the F34 (or JSF to some) Lighning 2 is the RAF designated name. And the reason for more noise.....wheels down 8n VTOL mode...it was back overnight and today...al one of it!

 

Been a tad sunny today..guess who forgot his sun tan lotion application this morning?

Baz

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

I noticed that Microsoft were adding another language, Braille! What use is that on a computer screen?

 

Depends on how you're feeling I suppose....

 

A lovely day here on Fraggle Rock; sunshine, light winds, almost eight eighths blue all day. Went to Port Erin on the train pulled by a Dubs built 0-6-0 ex- Manx Northern Railway in absolutely beautiful condition and still with original fittings such as Roscoe lubricators. We then got the bus to Calf of Man and had kippers for lunch whilst looking at the view before returning via the same route and motive power. Currently having  rest with a glass of nicely chilled Chardonnay whilst SWMBO carries out an eyelid inspection prior to deciding where to eat tonight.

 

A hard life but someone has to do it.....

 

Dave

Edited August 7, 2019 by Dave Hunt
The iPad chose to post it before I'd finished

[JohnDMJ]

40 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

 Being geeky I like that the new one has a robot dispenser. Aditi’s brother is a GP and has an on-site pharmacy. He said at night their robot rearranges the medication stock. 

Tony

 

Sounds like my kind of pharmacy if they dispense robots!!

[BoD]

24 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

A lovely day here on Fraggle Rock; sunshine, light winds, almost eight eighths blue all day. 

 

Gosh, it’s a long, long while since octas got a mention in ERs.

It used to be one of those running jokes/topics.

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

And these are the people who want to take over our NHS.

Indeed - under NO circumstances would you have improved service, in spite of any shortcomings you see/perceive with the NHS.

Do ANYTHING it takes to avoid the US model of health care neglect!! Especially if it's administered by the same clowns that rob us here!

[jamie92208]

Ian A, perhaps you should move to France.   Rachel our house guest is not feeling well and this morning there was a possibility it might be shingles.   I made a phone call to the Dr's at 09.00. Got an appointment for 14.00.  Beth took her, she was seen, it was diagnosed as some nasty insect bites.   Prescription given and collected.  Total cost 42 Euros for appointment and 4 items.   1 very happy customer.

 

Jamie

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, jamie92208 said:

... perhaps you should move to France

A former colleague of mine is Provençal and grew up in Aix. Actually he was born in Algeria (during it's last days as a Department) and liked to joke that now living in the US he was an African-American. (One of his many endearingly irritating jokes.)

 

He often extolled the virtues of French health care system versus the US. As a young man, fresh off the boat with no US health insurance, he urgently needed the services of a hospital to treat acute appendicitis. The available hospital was one in Palm Springs that usually reserved treatment for the rich and famous. Apparently the bill was astronomical.

[Dave Hunt]

30 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ahh but..the twin fan, twin tail pursuit never flew in RAF colours. 

 

Baz, at least one did as AE979 on trial at Boscombe Down, IIRC in 1940, and there were possibly two others also trialled but it was before the turbochargers were fitted and the RAF rejected them. I believe that they were part of an order originally made by the French Air Force that would have seen about 250 of them in RAF service. There was also supposedly a 'droop snoot' variant tried out by Bomber Command at Coningsby in 1944 for master bombing duties and flown by, among others, Guy Gibson but I don't recall any more details, although I seem to recall that for some reason it was painted PR blue.

 

Dave

[pH]

49 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ahh but..the twin fan, twin tail pursuit never flew in RAF colours. 

 

Baz

 

 

9 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

Baz, at least one did as AE979 on trial at Boscombe Down, IIRC in 1940, and there were possibly two others also trialled but it was before the turbochargers were fitted and the RAF rejected them. I believe that they were part of an order originally made by the French Air Force that would have seen about 250 of them in RAF service. There was also supposedly a 'droop snoot' variant tried out by Bomber Command at Coningsby in 1944 for master bombing duties and flown by, among others, Guy Gibson but I don't recall any more details, although I seem to recall that for some reason it was painted PR blue.

 

Dave

 

Like Dave, I seemed to remember reading about some being used by the RAF. I went looking and found this:

 

http://www.axis-and-allies-paintworks.com/e107_plugins/forum/forum_viewtopic.php?299

 

As Dave says, part of an order, originally by the French, taken over (then cancelled) by the RAF. Interestingly, the name 'Lightning' appears to have first been given by the British to their order of aircraft. 

[TheQ]

Evening Awl Inner Temple Hare, 

The morning went well,  not too much problem.  The afternoon was a bit different,  a hire motorboat cruiser broke down,  between two of our buoys.. Although they had thrown their mud weight in  extreme to the bank,  the combination of wind and tide had them hanging out into the river,  35  ft of hire boat across under 100 ft of river is a big obstruction... 

It took about 4 hours for the engineer to fix it....  Meanwhile I was sheparding tourists round the obstruction  to keep the racing going.. 

 

One tourist coming the other way had to have it explained to him that keeping to the right hand bank did not mean just to the right of the centre of the River..

 

Later on I approached a motorboat and a head appeared to give me a lecture the he didn't need instruction on how to avoid yachts,  Mr high and mighty I recognized from a certain other club,  how I'm supposed to recognize him on top of his gin palace  looking into the brightness I don't know. 

 

Shortly after another boat gave me a lecture that he didn't need advice as he was experienced, funnily enough from the same sailing club... He  promptly wove his way through the boats zigzagging away towing his dinghy.

It says a lot about the attitude of members of that club,  I wouldn't join it even if I could afford it..  Funnily enough that club is rumoured to have very high membership turn over... 

 

Shortly after it started to rain,  so I put my waterproofs on... So the sun came out.. 

 

To days picture a poor one of some of the rebel class I mentioned before..  Oh and a dories eye view of a broads sailing cruiser

[Coombe Barton]

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/sandys-treatment-day-232/

[Stubby47]

5 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/08/07/sandys-treatment-day-232/

 

Aye, batten down those hatches, there be a storm forecast...

[roundhouse]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Sheds are not complete until a fridge/freezer and a comfy chair have been installed therein. 

 

After that, any weight loss suffered during the mighty erection, will be reimbursed by a selection of chilled beers, ciders and wine plus the obligatory chocolate biscuits and ice creams.

 

Apart from the occasional jaunt to take care of any lavatorial requirements, you can stay out of everyone's way for most of the day.

Fridge and comfy chair are in the shed but the bar is still in the living room. That will change but other tasks to complete first.

 

The chair is way too comfy as I can easily fall asleep with TV on rather than get on fitting out the shed or modelling. Today I ate a whole pack of Twizzlers purchased from Target in downtown Portland on our recent USA trip. Now out of Twizzlers.

 

I did make a start on the outside workbench that is making use of an old granite worktop left at Mums bungalow. However the rain soon put paid to that. Eventually there will be a canopy over this workbench and canopy but I do need to do the fascia and guttering first.

 

Nameplates fitted to 34070 'Manston' and chassis weathered tonight.

Edited August 7, 2019 by roundhouse

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ahh but..the twin fan, twin tail pursuit never flew in RAF colours. 

The English Electric Lightning  was used by the RAF, as is the F34 (or JSF to some) Lighning 2 is the RAF designated name. And the reason for more noise.....wheels down 8n VTOL mode...it was back overnight and today...al one of it!

 

Been a tad sunny today..guess who forgot his sun tan lotion application this morning?

Baz

 

One of my nearby BAE sites has two gate guardians. I know which one stirs more emotion every time I drive past.

The site was originally opened by English Electric in 1939

Pic from flickr

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.

 

Another fine mess you've got me into.  To misuse a well-known quote.  Someone (allegedly) set three fires beneath the railway at Battersea Park early this morning bringing all services into and out of Victoria to a standstill for over two hours.  The first up train departed from the House of Fun at 07.56 which was the 06.20 departure.  It's always a challenge when a major terminal is closed as thousands of regular and occasional users have to be redirected.  It is the latter who are the least at ease, of course, worried about missed onward connections or getting lost.  Factor in that many of those are travelling to or from Gatwick Airport with flight connections and (often) a lack of fluent English and hey ho .......

 

We managed as we always do.  The railway always gets people where they are going.  Eventually!  Today's "eventually" was carefully managed to avoid the worst excesses of overcrowding at Vauxhall and on the Wimbledon - Croydon trams.  As those are the primary alternatives they were extremely busy but we have other options.  Gatwick via Waterloo and London Bridge, or Victoria via West Brompton and the District Line for example.

 

By contrast the red, white and blue trains (a few of which are grey these days) were behaving themselves rather well which helped us all no end.  Had there been a significant incident between Waterloo and Wimbledon at the same time we would have been snookered.

 

I have endured several poor nights sleep for no obvious reason and am waiting to hear back from the hospital with the result of an overnight recording.  They said "six to eight weeks" which is fine given that what ever the problem is has probably been the problem for many years.  I'll commence eyelid inspection a little earlier tonight to see if it makes any difference.

 

SWMBO has not complained of her various conditions as much in recent days and assures me that whilst she continues to endure regular pain and intermittent panic attacks she feels she has both more or less under control for the time being.  For these small mercies I am very grateful.  Thinking back to the early months of the year neither of us was in a good place.  We are both on much better ground for now.

 

I see the Bored-Masters has been cancelled in Newquay on the strength (sic) of a storm forecast to blow through the event.  Winds gusting at 50-60mph can shred camp-sites in moments and devastate stages and arenas. Despite the inconvenience and financial loss (some of which the organisers might be insured against) this must be a sound decision.  My friend's band, due to play at the event, has already picked up alternative work and has three gigs booked where they previously had only one.  And a good many would-be festival-goers suggest they are staying on anyway since accommodation has been paid for.  I hope they have well-pegged strong tents!  Personally I would rather see Newquay in a decent storm than laid siege to by drunken revellers; there is too much of the latter there already.

 

So in an attempt to sleep well and for longer I bid one and all a Good Night.  

[Happy Hippo]

So why do we not have a Typhoon 2?

 

I seem to recall Hawker made more than a couple which were pretty good at moving mud and enemy armour.