Early Risers.

[AndyID]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I see that not north of you but south near Boise, the "acquitted in a mistrial with prejudice" for 16 varying counts, including but not limited to conspiracy, assault, threatening and interference of interstate commerce by extortion, ringleader of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation is planning an Easter gathering in defiance of the Governor of Idaho's order.

 

Yes, that's the Bundy head-banger. There's a similar mentally deranged sheriff (Remington I think) to my North.

 

My comments about enlisting the services of His Royal Hipponess were not entirely in jest.

[Ozexpatriate]

I also see that, without a "stay at home" order, Utah wants visitors to file a "flight plan" if entering their state. They do apparently have some kind of "stay home, stay safe" directive. (I'm not sure how different that is from everywhere else.)

 

Some of the weirder unintended consequences of the current predicament are starting to happen. 

 

Locally we have very few state troopers. The Oregon State Police is way under strength and as a result traffic citations really only occur with flagrant violations (plus, pre-COVID-19 confinement, traffic was terrible, restricting speeds). With so few cars now on the road, speeds are up dramatically, and so are citations now that there is a much higher enforcement / motorist ratio.

 

With so many flights cancelled, the crosswind runway (3/21) at PDX is now a parking lot for Alaska Airlines aircraft.

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente.  It looks as if it's going to be sunny again. It got to 25 degrees yesterday afternoon, rather nice. I even made a bit of progress with a certain object that moves on parallel  strips of metal.  Then it was the social event of the week to buy and consume fish and chips while sitting in our car watching an empty market place.  When we got back we had a very pleasant hour sitting out watching  the sunset whilst consuming a smidgeon  of liquid antiseptic. Scottish version for me and a G & T for Beth.  

 

Today the first job will probably be some weedkilling whilst there is little or no wind then I will be fettling and refitting fly screens. If it is hot again this afternoon I may retreat to the shed.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by jamie92208

[TheQ]

Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, 

3.5 hours sleep  followed by several smaller bits,  not able to get comfortable after yesterday's war with the ivy. 

 

It's cool. Grey and overcast out there. 

 

Ben the unhappy Collie sometimes appears,  he asked to go out at 06:00 as usual but then instead of his  charge out of the door he steps slowly out  and then sits.  He won't proceed any further until you've stroked his head and said reassuring words.  Sometimes at this point he slowly rolls over and wants a tummy rub.  Once done, you say, "come on",  and he charges down the garden as normal.. 

 

Trying our own bottled pears with the porridge this morning,  a little bit mild to give much flavour to the porridge. 

 

By the end of yesterday the glue on the new board had set,  so first job today is cutting and fitting it's ply edging. Then the board will be transported to the MhRC,  once the glue has set, it will be fitted to the rest.. 

Then to the keel, finish the sanding,  then on to the next bits. 

The grass has finally started growing so not only does that need doing, I need to finish the jungle mowing. 

 

Time to...  Finish my porridge.. 

[AndyID]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

With so few cars now on the road, speeds are up dramatically, and so are citations now that there is a much higher enforcement / motorist ratio.

 

I had to pick up my prescriptions at the pharmacy drive-through yesterday so I took Idspidy with the roof down. I confess I was tempted to see if it would actually do 130 but I thought better of it and stayed well below 70.

[AndrewC]

11 hours ago, pH said:

 

I'm a bit surprised by that comment, Andrew, unless the person requesting the change is the owner and sole user of the form, in which case it is overkill.

 

Having been a 'team leader' for maintenance of a system with hundreds of thousands of lines of code and hundreds of users, I know you have to have a rigorous change control process or it would get out of hand really quickly.

 

Sorry I should have been more clear. I'm talking about during development or UAT. A TDA or small change process for something like this is at the high end of normal. However, some companies who are preaching agile this that and everything, which means such a request would normally be handled as part of a daily scrum meeting then gain an email sign off from the stakeholder(s) is actually going through the full on change approval process. (Think CAB meeting, impact assessment, risk assessment, 3 levels of approval, etc) The same process that is used for major changes to production systems. That is what happens when bad or over reaching processes are in place but not questioned by those blindly following them. In the one recent case I'm thinking of in particular the field already existed but it ships oob set to visible=false. Cost well over £1000 in time and delay because their process didn't distinguish between configuration & customisation and someone missed the need for that field in the original requirements workshop. We argued the need but their architect who is a right jobsworth said he would refuse to sign off the UAT unless the process (his) was followed. Our EM didn't press too hard as the project was T&M, and the oversight of the field was their fault. We made £ on the delay caused. (he had signed off the story, the form layout, and the workshop playback, oops) 

 

Moaning all. Stupid early for a bank holiday but woke at 4 and been struggling to get back to sleep. Time for the 4S routine followed by coffee & breakfast. 

 

Enjoy the long weekend Hoppy Easter. 

[JohnDMJ]

Good Morning, and Happy Easter (to those to whom it has meaning) otherwise Happy Friday off!

 

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

Greetings one and all, with a warm welcome back to Pete Trisonic

 

This weekend should have been so different.  Today I would have set out on back roads across the Chilterns for Root One, the garden centre near Wallingford favoured by Mike Stationmaster, who introduced me to the rather good breakfast sold there.  From there I would have taken a short step to Long Wittenham and my annual visit to Pendon Museum, where on one of only four days in the year the Madder Valley layout would have been operating.  Tomorrow I would have started a short break staying with my cousin 88C and his wife, taking in the York Show on Sunday.  All this is off thanks to that ruddy virus, which seems to have been with us for ever instead of the actual less than three weeks.  It is small comfort that I now have even more time for m*d*ll*ng – oh, and g*rd*n*ng, at which I am even less competent.  One day we will all look back on the pandemic but I shall be very surprised if we do so with affection.

 

There was one bit of good news a couple of days ago.  A new date for Grace Petrie’s concert at The Stables has been announced.  As it is in November the chances of a further postponement are reduced, famous last words.  Against this, Folk by the Oak in the grounds of Hatfield House is off and one of my favourite occasions, May Day in Ampthill, is looking distinctly vulnerable.  It is after all essentially a pub crawl and to make that work you need the pubs to be open.  Oh dear.  Will the last optimist please turn out the lights.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

 

In the current situation, things are having to change; we are all having to make sacrifices with or without bemoaning the fact; I suspect you may be familiar with a ditty by Jethro Tull, Living in the Past.

 

Thus far, it seems that the government have indicated that the distribution of clothes and toys shall continue; while stocks last (Peco is currently closed), MODELLING supplies are currently available by mail order.

 

23 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Mooring awl, Inner Temple Hare, 

3.5 hours sleep  followed by several smaller bits,  not able to get comfortable after yesterday's war with the ivy. 

 

It's cool. Grey and overcast out there. 

 

Ben the unhappy Collie sometimes appears,  he asked to go out at 06:00 as usual but then instead of his  charge out of the door he steps slowly out  and then sits.  He won't proceed any further until you've stroked his head and said reassuring words.  Sometimes at this point he slowly rolls over and wants a tummy rub.  Once done, you say, "come on",  and he charges down the garden as normal..

 

Living on my own as I do, I would love to have a four legged companion, especially one with the character of Ben the ???? Collie. However, being, as I am, away from home for at least 10 hours per day, I consider it unfair on such a companion (feline or canine) to treat them thus.

[roundhouse]

Good morning and another nice one it is even though we would normally be away.

 

Good to see Pete Trisonc posting on here.

 

Had an email from the NMRA to say that this years convention in St Louis is cancelled. No surprise really and at least we will get a refund for the registration but no doubt lose some of it in the exchange rate on the credit card that it was paid for. Hotel now cancelled but luckily the deposit was just one nights accomodation to be refunded. Flights across the pond will be another matter but if its all safe to go /  allowed to by both Govts.  by mid Summer then we will still do so but I have my doubts.

 

Yesterday I went out and restocked our mini keg supply from our local brewery then into town to try and get some fresh produce but the queue for Sainsburys was three times longer than I have ever seen it, and the same for Iceland. Luckily Smiths was open and no queue, so picked up a copy of Railway Modeller as ther is an article on my old layout 'Appledore' written by the friend who is currently looking after it and should have been taking it to the Bristol show where I would have had another layout aswell. I have been told that theres a few errors in the header and elsewhere that the friend didnt write as I saw this write up to correct any things that he didnt know about the layout. I have yet to look at the article.

 

Back home beer stored safely and work continued on the high level test circuit. After a brief interlude for the 8pm clap out front, I had the first loco running all the way around by 9pm. This morning at 5am the first frieght ran so despite the frustration of the lockdown a task that had been planned for osme time now bearing fruit, or should I say trains (at risk of awl).

Edited April 10, 2020 by roundhouse

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Flights acroos the pond will be another matter but if its all safe to go /  allowed to by both Govts.  by mid Summer then we will still do so but I have my doubts.

July is still possible, but of course, who knows? We are starting to see a peak in new cases in places that went into "stay home, stay safe" orders quickly - meaning over a month ago.  Models for Oregon suggest a peak in new cases by April 21. We'll see. Our first case was at the end of February, so a symmetrical case distribution would see few cases by mid-June. Whether there will be concerns about a second wave at that point are unknown to me at least.

 

There is much concern for small brewers in Oregon - meaning those that don't have bottling distribution agreements with the large distributors and depend primarily on tap sales. Without getting into the politics, monies and loans for small businesses authorized by the Federal Government are not happening quickly. Hopefully they can survive putting their businesses "on pause". 

[Coombe Barton]

8 hours ago, PeterBB said:

. fortunately someone somewhere had some sense and it became The National Museum of Brewing and is very well worth a visit.

I work with him

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Not the best nights sleep last night but managed to have a lie in until 8am. What luxuries!

Cloudy here but supposedly should get to about 19°C today.

 

Painter will be finishing off the rendering today. He has lots of glossing to do next week.

 

All the folks around us joined in the clapping.. including a guy driving past... oops!

Have a great day and stay safe, stay in.

 

Baz

Edited April 10, 2020 by Barry O

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Tony_S said:

At least from the North Pole it (the queue) can be in only one direction.
Tony

 

 

True - but it's all uphill....

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Another sunny start and a fine day is promised.

 

8 hours ago, PeterBB said:

 I also missed the day when my home team, Wimbledon won the FA Cup by beating Liverpool 1-0, but some years earlier I was able in 1966 to be at Wembley when Wimbledon beat Sutton United  4-2 to win the FA Amateur Cup, all four Wimbledon goals coming off the head of Eddie Reynolds.

 

I was at Wembley that day Peter, a lone Sutton supporter amongst my friends who all supported Wimbledon. Some p1ss taking ensued. Son Steve has been a Wimbledon supporter since he was about 12 years old but only gets to matches occasionally these days

No Daily Orders have been posted as yet but even if they are I will be taking it easy as there is a certain amount of Much Aching in The Back and Shoulder today. .

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited April 10, 2020 by grandadbob

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Yes, that's the Bundy head-banger. There's a similar mentally deranged sheriff (Remington I think) to my North.

 

My comments about enlisting the services of His Royal Hipponess were not entirely in jest.

I would only be able to undertake such a task after the correspondent from North Hipposhire had done a spot of mud moving (he thinks he's well above that sort of thing), and that Black Rat is sneaking around on flank protection.

 

Then I could literally roll in and crush any remaining opposition.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Will have to make the journey to Tess Coes today, I would normally be going tomorrow but I'm running short of fresh veg and as most supermarkets are shut on Sunday they're bound to be busy tomorrow.

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I see that not north of you but south near Boise, the "acquitted in a mistrial with prejudice" for 16 varying counts, including but not limited to conspiracy, assault, threatening and interference of interstate commerce by extortion, ringleader of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation is planning an Easter gathering in defiance of the Governor of Idaho's order.

No relation to Ted Bundy? As Flavio said I wouldn't want to wish this virus on my worst enemy but I might make an exception in this case except for the fact he could get it and pass it on to an innocent third party.

[tigerburnie]

Morning from a dull and eerily calm day in NE Scotland, the Harr is rolling in off the sea making it feel like Autumn rather than Spring. With lunacy likely to be taking place around here even with the weather and the beach car park gates locked, numpties will no doubt be out in hoards, so we will be staying at home. Have a nice Easter...…..we are without any chocolate, so SWMBO may be grumpy...………………………...

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all.

 

Another warm day here in the Midlands, which I'm glad about as the new grass seed I planted a week ago has just started poking through.

 

I'm also glad that some special plants called Yellow Rattle have started sprouting.

We had a grass patch that we wanted as a wild flower area. In order to plant the flower seed, you need to kill off some of the grass so the wild flower has a chance to grow. Yellow Rattle feeds off grass roots... so put it together and what have you got? Bibbidy bobbidy boo!

 

Also, a bit alarmed my pint of juice looks like it has a head... 

[PhilJ W]

I see the Hatton's Genesis 4/6 wheel coach thread has been woken from its slumbers. Its only the same person kicking off about them being generic and saying he won't be buying any. Then why bother stiring it up again? He's been firmly put in his place and now things seem to have quietened down again. 

[southern42]

17 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

My early call was from an ambulance paramedic requesting that I came into Lister hospital (St Evenage) to accompany my Pa who was having cardiac problems, and incommunicative due to his vascular dementia. It took a little while to get into A&E, as the cardiac consultant who had requested my attendance had to give it the green light, and I was then ushered in washed, masked, gloved, warned that I was possibly going to catch something dreadful and die.

 

But then, WOW! A&E not overloaded, plenty of staff and treatment bays, Pa got tested in every way imaginable, found to have a dicky ticker but no other significant physical problems, excellent exchange with the cardiology team who basically advised against intervention given his vascular dementia; with which I heartily agreed, as that was his wish when he was still able to communicate.

 

Minor stumble trying to get him a transport ambulance back to the care home, as he hadn't got the right sticker on his form, but Sister Efficiency swept in , told the dispatch team to just do it, and brought my Pa a cup of tea to keep him happy.

 

And to ice the cake, I had found a car parking space within 10 yards of the car park entrance.

 

While I was waiting outside for clearance to go in, I had a most interesting conversation (at 3m) with a police officer (there to deal with any problems) about the situation as he saw it. Normally there will be at least four police vehicles outside Lister A&E, there for the various miscreants requiring NHS attention. His input: "No pubs and clubs, no sports events, no trouble.".

 

 

So this is the answer to all the NHS' problems. Stay at home unless you have sufficient wit to avoid injury or accident. If you must go out to pubs, clubs, sports, then clearly these must be TAXED proportionate to the A&E load they produce. I shall phone Boris the moment he's better.

 

 

Then those who are genuinely in need of emergency medical treatment can have it.

 

 

 

Taking precautions this end...

 

 

Bike ride-on-the-spot on the terrace:

1. Wear helmet.  It is a long drop to the slate terrace floor if I fall off.  I have a record of trips to A&E for sporting accidents and falling incidents, though not on a bike, and I would not like to see what brains I have spew out like a broken egg.
2. Tuck bottom of jeans into socks so they do not catch on the pedal arrangement.  Easily done if you are not careful.
3. Do up zip on jacket so the jacket does not catch in the wheels, handle bars or anywhere else, especially as you dismount or adjust some aspect of the bike/trainer.
4. Keep warm/cool as the weather demands it.
5. DON'T over do it!  Use bike gadget to check time spent pedalling.

Would I have worried about all these things 10 years ago? Possibly not.

But I have an extra 10 years under my belt of my own experiences and those of others.   It seems to have made a big difference!

 

Take care, be safe

Polly

 

 

 

Edited April 10, 2020 by southern42
insert image

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

 

Sunny and, they say, warm, maybe hot, hot for here, anyway!

 

Bike ride and some m*d*ll*ing planned after various jobs around the house have been done.

 

Put the Good in Good Friday, be Good and keep  safe.

_____________

Best wishes to all, especially to the sick, ailing and bereaved among you.

Polly

[Rugd1022]

Morning all, hope all's well,

 

This just in from our London correspondant in 1970.... fifty years ago today, can you believe it....?

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

44 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

No relation to Ted Bundy? As Flavio said I wouldn't want to wish this virus on my worst enemy but I might make an exception in this case except for the fact he could get it and pass it on to an innocent third party.

I was reading an article yesterday about how bad clusters of the lurgi have kickstarted the infections in differnt countries. These range from big reliigious gatherings in Korea, Iran and France, apres ski parties in Austria and some sort of town carnival in Western Germany and I think Italy. It's becoming very obvious that such gatherings are what might be called the turbochargers for spread of the infection but you can't get that through to the numpties and self obsessed.

 

Jamie

Edited April 10, 2020 by jamie92208

[PeterBB]

6 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I was reading an article yesterday about how bad clusters of the lurgi have kickstarted the infections in differnt countries. These range from big reliigious gatherings in Korea, Iran and France, apres ski parties in Austria and some sort of town carnival in Western Germany and I think Italy. It's becoming very obvious that such gatherings are what might be called the turbochargers for spread of the infection but you can't get that through to the numpties and self obsessed.

 

Jamie

I think Italy's big spread was due to a very  important soccer match between top teams to which many supporters etc. travelled long distances.

[Compound2632]

37 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

Morning all, hope all's well,

 

This just in from our London correspondant in 1970.... fifty years ago today, can you believe it....?

 

 

 

 

 

Some things don't change.

[southern42]

Cancellation of events relevant to us:.

Concert in March - Welsh folk band, Calan - Booking cancelled and refunded.  They will be back.  No worries.

April. Severn Valley Railway Gala.  B&B booking forwarded to later in the year. Hoping the SVR can stay alive, as well as all the others.

May. Flying Scotsman on the East Lancs Railway - options have been offered.  As it was a family gift to me, it will be sorted by one of them.

June. Overnight sleepers to and from Cornwall and/or Scotland - we'll think about that one again next year - 3rd time lucky, maybe?  Illness prevented it last year!  That's how it goes!

 

Not despondent.  Hey, the sun is shining - not a lot of that at the beginning of the year when we were playing trains volunteering out in all weathers!

Life has all sorts of twists and turns.  Adaptability is the game.

______________

Best wishes

Polly