Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

Morning, BIN day etc...

 

Yesterday "work time" total taken up with massive amounts of farting about with report changes to satisfy that mysterious mob, otherwise known as auditors - they actually get PAID for inflicting this shite on the world!

 

As has been mentioned by others here, US governors (some in particular) are taking charge here sh!t-for-brains is failing.

If you have time, and care to hear one of what I think is the most erudite and calming/sensible press conferences on the current plague, listen to our MN Governor from yesterday;

 

 

This is called "leadership", frankly sadly lacking from the federal government, and for once shows reasons that the states have some autonomy, IMHO. Commenting further on the disparity and sense/nonsense over here will likely get me too close to the "no politics" area, though at present it's not really politics, more a simple case of intelligence, or lack thereof.

 

Gas (petrol) here is now down around $1.19 in the outer suburbs and around $1.90 close in - per US gallon!!

 

First thing, Jemma dropped off Whitney and some groceries - safe distancing leaving both on our sun porch - as she headed to the airport for a 4-day trip! The airport is basically empty, and her commuter flight to La Guardia NY had 12 passengers and 5 standbys - mostly crew positioning.

Her first segment tomorrow was supposed to be to Cancun, but that's been cancelled and replaced with a JFK to Denver flight...

 

Per the video above - the governor has announced a "Stay Home" order effective Friday midnight for two weeks - for those getting the newspaper it looks like this;

clear enough, BUT, likely even with a simple 3-word headline and 6-word sub-heading, the morons that choose to ignore it (already) aren't capable of reading this anyway...

 

2 and sunny first thing, heading for 8 and some clouding over later.

 

Enjoy the day everyone, thinking of you all...

[grandadbob]

Doorbell rang and by the time I got to it I found my compost and a couple of other bits neatly stacked by the front door step and young driver gloved and masked getting back into his van with a cheery wave.

Doorbell rang again later and when I got to it I found nobody and nothing there then heard a noise from the alleyway and young foreign looking chap came out saying "I put it over gate."  Hmm, "put" not quite word I'd have used as he must have lobbed it about 10 feet and it was sitting neatly on the back doorstep. Only one corner of the box dented and it isn't fragile or raining so I suppose I shouldn't complain as I actually  got the delivery. 

 

[Kingzance]

6 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Doorbell rang and by the time I got to it I found my compost and a couple of other bits neatly stacked by the front door step and young driver gloved and masked getting back into his van with a cheery wave.

Doorbell rang again later and when I got to it I found nobody and nothing there then heard a noise from the alleyway and young foreign looking chap came out saying "I put it over gate."  Hmm, "put" not quite word I'd have used as he must have lobbed it about 10 feet and it was sitting neatly on the back doorstep. Only one corner of the box dented and it isn't fragile or raining so I suppose I shouldn't complain as I actually  got the delivery. 

 

My ParcelFarce delivery was perfectly handled by the driver. This was something ordered from Wex Photo and Video about 24 hours ago, good service all round. Hope your boss is improving Bob!

[grandadbob]

Afraid not KZ, she's still much the same. Hardly eating and feeling really rough but  no persistent coughing or fever which (I hope)  has got to be good.

[Barry O]

Been such a nice day I have mowed Passchendaele  aka the front grass again. Very soggy still.

 

Painting oof items to carry 4mm to the foor passengers has been undertaksn

 

Before our holiday I rearrnaged my "bits" stores.. now I can't find anyhting. Pah!

 

The Royal Mail have decided that to be arequired and necessary postal item it must go first class. BUT they are still delivering food shop list and other advertising carp. A fast buck being made here..but if it stops the virus liveable with.

 

Now to taks some photos for my bodging  threas

 

Baz

[BoD]

Earned some brownie points today by cleaning all downstairs windows, inside and out.

Will earn a few more when I cook a Biryani later on.

Trouble is there doesn’t seem any prospect of being able to cash them in..

Edited March 26, 2020 by BoD

[JohnDMJ]

 

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Afternoon awl,  

 

During the above the glassfibre stuff I ordered turned up,  ordered from CFS Fibreglass in Redruth , it arrived as usual within 36 hours. I really do like their customer service  I'd put them on a par with a certain suppliers of unmentionables from fraggle rock. 

This time delivered by UPS right down to the labeled UPS socks,.

 

No disrespect, but a supplier's performance is only as good as their delivery company. Whilst the supplier might guarantee to get the goods to the delivery company as a priority, it is often anybody's guess as to when said delivery company might deliver. Whilst our friends on Fraggle Rock, may have a good following, I wonder how many adverse complaints they receive which are not reported.

[grandadbob]

Hold on to your hats and get ready to call the Fire Brigade. I am going to cook again tonight so anything could happen. SMOG for me is on the menu but whether it's Mike's type or the sort we used to get in London many moons ago who knows. The Boss has said she doesn' t  want any food but I'll see if I can tempt her with something else later. 

[Tony_S]

55 minutes ago, Barry O said:

The Royal Mail have decided that to be arequired and necessary postal item it must go first class.

Is this just a local thing? I have had something posted to me today by second class mail. I can’t find anything on the Royal Mail website. 

[Tony_S]

29 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

Whilst our friends on Fraggle Rock, may have a good following, I wonder how many adverse complaints they receive which are not reported.

With every purchase there is an option to comment. This is independent of the retailer. Seem to be mainly 5star with the odd 4 star. 

[TheQ]

CFS's rating is 4.9 out of 5 so pretty good, they choose to use UPS which is one of the better delivery companies in my opinion, and the odd time I've had to phone them direct they have been most helpful. 

 

As for a battle of Qattara it's a deep sandy depression unsuitable for tanks,  since he was by RSM of the 7th Royal Tank Regiment at the time that's not where granddad was.  Qattara,  was basically one end of the battle line which ran from there to the Mediterranean.  Only specialist units such as the Long Range Desert Group ( fore runners of the SAS)  fought in the Qattara Desert itself. 

 

At the time of the first battle of Alamein 1st July 1942, my grandfather along with about 30,000 other allied servicemen  was a prisoner  at Tobruk,.  Tobruk having been ordered to surrender by Churchill on the 21st of June. Churchill  and the military command deciding not to support a second siege as it would divert resources from Alamein.. 

The battle I was named after was over a year earlier when Granddad was a mere Company Sergeant Major. 

Edited March 26, 2020 by TheQ

[Tony_S]

37 minutes ago, TheQ said:

 

The battle I was named after was over a year earlier when Granddad was a mere Company Sergeant Major. 

Fortunate he didn’t name you after a tank of that period , I suppose Valentine would have been OK but not Matilda. 

[Ozexpatriate]

33 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Fortunate he didn’t name you after a tank of that period , I suppose Valentine would have been OK but not Matilda. 

The M3 Lee / Grant variants wouldn't have been so bad.

[New Haven Neil]

I'm certainly not going to get dragged into a squabble about how good or not any particular business is as I wouldn't make comment about other traders, but at the end of the day we ALL make mistakes, and our delivery service (we use Royal Mail only) of course make the occasional slip up, but it's how you deal with the mistakes/losses etc that really counts.  

 

As for the feedback, we have the Feefo platinum award. 

 

Still mad busy, although stock getting a little threadbare in places.  Some suppliers still trading thankfully, on the same closed to the public basis as we are currently. Four staff down now, and I am completely and utterly shattered!

 

The rock is closing its borders completely to humans tonight, so the UK is once again cutoff     Freight still OK though.

 

Stay well folks, we can weather this.

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I ventured down to Tess Coes this afternoon for bread and milk and a few other things such as fresh salad. There was a queue as yesterday but nowhere near as long and I was inside the store within ten minutes. There was plenty of bread but the only semi-skimmed milk was the organic one so I opted for that especially as the use by date was three days later than the ordinary milk. I got a few other things and I found that they had paracetamol in stock so I stocked up with them. When I left the store just after three the queueing had ceased as there weren't many people shopping.

[Ozexpatriate]

The television broadcast area where I live spans parts of two states: northwest Oregon and southwest Washington. Consequently the network stations will randomly break into programming for press conferences from either the Governor in Oregon, the Governor in Washington, even occasionally the Mayor of Portland (along with Multnomah County officials) and, of course, the White House, the chief inhabitant of which subjects us to a 90 minute daily briefing, during most of which he reminds us what a good job he did stopping flights from China and telling reporters that they are "nasty". 

 

Daytime television is mind rot, but politicians droning on are not much better. Today saw Jay Inslee (Governor of Washington) going through mental gymnastics to highlight a reduction in the rate of new COVID-19 cases, hoping this is the beginning of a trend. His pained explanations (not helped by the graph he was describing, not being shown on the broadcast) made me wish numerical literacy was much better than it is.

 

Everything he said was easily and more clearly described by a little differential calculus. A declining first differential is a good thing. I understand why this might be beyond the reach of the common man/woman but listening to his tortured explanation was painful.

 

Such are the first world problems in the "new normal". Stay healthy!

[PhilJ W]

We'll see what happens after the churches across the US are full on Easter Sunday.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

The battle I was named after was over a year earlier when Granddad was a mere Company Sergeant Major. 

Kufra?

[Barry O]

Evening all.

 

Had a busy day.. outputs are on my bodging thread.

 

A1 service from the Fraggle Rock Team. Sorry to hear the team is diminishing fast Neil.

 

Back Later

 

Baz

[Simon G]

It has been the warmest day of the year so far today, so more gardening has been done and things are getting closer to where I can start planting vegetable seeds.

 

Our house is bordered by a field on one side, and it has some new residents, who are providing some entertainment:

 

 

Mum, I don’t know what this red thing is, but it is pretty tasty!

 

 

 

It sure is, bro!

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

23 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

We'll see what happens after the churches across the US are full on Easter Sunday.

Unless there are dramatic reductions in the rate of new cases, I doubt it will happen in states with "stay home" orders - 21 states and 50% of the population by the end of the week.

 

It might well happen in states where there are fewer cases.

 

There is an evangelical pastor who has been holding services in central Louisiana despite "stay at home" orders. With Mardi Gras a few weeks ago, Louisiana is predicted to be the next wave of COVID-19 cases. Of course the pastor claims miraculous HIV cures in his congregation and will be distributing "anointed handkerchiefs" with "healing virtues". 

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, Simon G said:

... I don’t know what this red thing is ...

Nor do I. It looks like it might belong on a wheelbarrow axle.

 

As much as I think we humans underestimate the intelligence and possibly consciousness of our mammalian relatives, when it comes to sheep, not so much.

 

Edited March 26, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Andrew P]

Just had the CLAP.

[BoD]

24 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

A declining first differential is a good thing.

Could he not just say that the slope is getting less steep?

[roundhouse]

Doorbell rang here this afternoon. A tin of green paint in a plastic bag in a box that was in another box- just needed the music to stop to unwrap each layer.

 

Fascia painted but the shed smells of drying paint now.

 

Went outside to clap at eight in support of the NHS etc. and it was good to see so many people out in our street, first time in ages, luckily we were all way more than 2M apart. There was even a firework.

Edited March 26, 2020 by roundhouse