Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

Falling over/having a fall more than twice?  I'm doomed!  

 

A walk has been walked but only a mile as it was getting too hot.  Now 26°C.  I'm now officially on strike and doing nothing.

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all.

 

First and most important a repeat of the advice to Chris and The Q - see the Doctor or make a visit to A&E/minor injuries if you have such a place (they might be working on a 'by appointment only' basis so check before going even to the latter alternatives.  whilst having my knee jab yesterday I also took the opportunity to to ask the Doctor about something else so duly received a 'cough test' and a feel of the appropriate area followed by a check of the letter from the consultant who I'd seen a while back - checking things out costs nothing so do it.

 

Mrs Stationmaster is currently on a cucumber distribution mission as they are now coming thick, fast, and prickly and has been invited to take coffee with the neighbours over the road - suitably distanced in their garden.  She will no doubt return with subtle, or not so subtle, demands about what what she would like done in our garden - I shall of course give her full authority to carry on and do it herself.  But it won't be today as the temperature is threatened to reach 31 C and ssh'e got to get on with the ironing (which she said she was going to be doing about now so obviously social duties are some sort of displacement activity.

 

I shall of course 'rest' my leg as instructed by the Doctor following the jab and remain well distanced as also instructed by the Doctor due to the (short term)  impact of the jab on my immune system.  But the knee already feels better than it did which is better than last time round for that knee although it still makes some 'interesting' noises when moved.    On another bright note my local toy shop in Cornwall has emailed me about the despatch of a new 3 car toy in pretty green colouring - I shall make a positive response as it it isn't really on to go and collect it in current circumstances.

 

Have a good day one and all and trust all goes well for those who by now should be getting in touch with the medical fraternity.  And stay safe, whatever the modern day version of the 'Goon Show' (without any decent jokes) might be saying.  Like CB I truly despair of anybody expecting much of the British populace to exhibit or practice any form of common sense - taht would be a major behavioural change!

[Shedman5]

Morning, After a very busy weekend and a broadband failure on Monday which has only just been fixed I am numerous pages adrift  being up to date  on the comings and goings on here.

 

So  congratulations and commiserations as appropriate to all.

 

In the same vein as others its to hot to do any jobs today a book to be read and a gin and tonic ( maybe x2) to be enjoyed sat under our beech tree in the shade.

So enjoy your day and the sunshine.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Wall to wall sunshine, 20C, light nor'easterlies so say pine cone predictors.

 

I think I will have to put in some G time, if only an excuse to enjoy the warm sunny weather followed by bike ride on the terrace, late afternoon.

 

15 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We had a snake in our garden once. It looked just like a friend’s corn snake. Aditi sent me out to investigate rather than send Robbie the spaniel out. I said I think it is dead. Closer investigation revealed “made in China” underneath. It was quite realistic. No idea where it came from.  

 

Going back a bit, we had one of that variety on the boom of our old yacht.  The snake imposter came highly recommended to deter seagulls, or rather their droppings which would cake not only the deck but the sail cover and that was not as easy to clean!  I think it worked for a bit - until the orange/black markings faded, anyway.  When we sailed off to the Isle of Man and Bangor, County Down we were away for two weeks.  We came back to our mooring and the tender was not only entangled on the buoy, it was covered in droppings and needed a deep clean before we could put our stuff in it and row ashore.  I will admit, I was not the one to do this job! 

 

Fitt  and  Elfie taking in some fresh air.

 

Mugadecaf time.

Take care, play safe.

_________

 

Best wishes

Polly

 

[petethemole]

Chris, that may be a cracked rib/ribs, which I've had twice, so do get checked out.  One occasion was when a cat* tried to run through the front wheel of my bike, the other was due to a fall onto a step (my defence is in the hands of Rowley Birkin, QC).

 

* The cat legged it at speed, so I couldn't tell if it was hurt, which was my first concern.

 

 

[AndrewC]

Morning ish all. 

 

Chris: get thee to urgent care or a quack within the next 24 hours. I played brave with my shoulder 3 years ago. It wasn't until I finally ended up in A&E for the pain and lack of mobility that I finally got proper care. (GPs in our surgery are pretty much useless. I finally got my physio appt from them after 12 weeks as the admin staff forgot to send it to the hospital) The delay has meant permanent nerve damage. I still get pins and needles along with shooting pains along my shoulder and down my arm. 

 

Little else. My self imposed online exile was paused but will start next Wed for sure. 

[roundhouse]

28 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

 

My self imposed online exile was paused but will start next Wed for sure. 

.......to get ready for the pubs reopening a few days later

[Barry O]

If our surgery is anything like others.. Chrisf follow Bills advice.

 

I was supposed to get a call yesterday from the Surgery "nurses".... still waiting.

 

Number at LGI I was given is OK but when they answer they can't find the right extension to pass my call on to.

 

I can't order my meds until I speak to the "Nurse" PAH!!!

 

In addition we have been washing floors , hoovering  etc... now too hot to do much apart form sit outside and have lunch.

 

Baz

[J. S. Bach]

10 hours ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Evening all, ...snip...Tomorrow I graduate 8th grade, so that should be good. It’s a “drive through” graduation, and seems to be well planned.  ...snip...

Douglas

CONGRATULATIONS. I do not remember any special ceremonies (if any at all) when I went from eighth to ninth grade. I did change from a private school (which I hated) to a city school (which I liked) at that point, though. If you can, a few photos of the process would be nice.

[laurenceb]

4 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I think that the dinner menu menu has been decided; Jill has just announced that the lead characters in a book she is reading are having halloumi burgers. "That sounds nice, let's try them," she has announced. Guess who now has to find the recipe, source the ingredients and produce the things? Answers on the backs of blank cheques to me please.....

 

Have a good Wednesday people or if you live in the antipodes I hope you did have a good Wednesday.

 

Dave

I tried halomi, - once it has about as much flavour and texture as day old chewing gum

Edited June 24, 2020 by laurenceb
spullung

[Tony_S]

I have just had a letter from “Matt and Robert” who are sometimes on the television. This is about shielding for the clinically vulnerable. It is dated June 22. The advice is not the same as that recently made by the government or that on the current website. The stuff about “bubbles” (in the letter) was excluded at short notice from the announcements. 
Tony

 

[AndrewC]

3 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

CONGRATULATIONS. I do not remember any special ceremonies (if any at all) when I went from eighth to ninth grade. I did change from a private school (which I hated) to a city school (which I liked) at that point, though. If you can, a few photos of the process would be nice.

My experience of graduation is a big damp squib to be avoided. 

Jr High (now middle school) we had a "dance" and small celebration. I skipped it as I'd been working Friday evenings in a restaurant clearing tables. Instead of hanging out with a bunch of people I really disliked, I ended up having a rather nice lobster dinner and a few drinks after the restaurant closed. (not quite 16 at the time) 

 

High school graduation was a bust as well. The teachers had gone on strike at the end of May. The ceremony was a quick and last minute shuffle across the stage to get the diploma. The celebration ended up in the university's banquet room. My date and I had already been to the bar before, so weren't really in the mood for a dry kiddie dance. (I was 18 by then) After the meal we ducked out before the speeches and other boring crap. 

[newbryford]

Starting to unravel our US hol, planned for the end of August.

 

Our "non-refundable" Amtrak tickets have been refunded at the first attempt - they are quite happy to waive any fees/restrictions due to C-19.

Well done Amtrak.

 

Our main accommodation can be left as late as 15 days before without any cancellation charges, but we will leave that as late as possible, based upon our flight plans.

The intended flight has even started running yet - it was a new service from MAN-BOS (starting in mid-May) and then onward to JFK with Delta. No doubt they will try and and push us onto a KLM partner service via AMS.

 

If they offer vouchers for changed and possibly cancelled flights, we may take that as it is quite possible that the vouchers will be worth more than the original flight (if I read the travel compensation rules correctly).

 

Then there is only the car hire to cancel now  - which is the one that really pains me as I'd sorted a convertible for 7 days for £280......

 

Online chat won't let me cancel because:

"I can see that you'd like to cancel your car hire booking. Unfortunately, we are experiencing a system update which can not let us resolve your query right now. Please contact us later to be able to further assist you with this matter. Please accept our apologies for this unfortunate incident. "

 

[cynical mode on] Yeah right......

 

 

 

 

[tigerburnie]

Afternoon all, flippin' 'ot here having lived in the frozen north for close to a couple of decades, I'm nae used to it. Yesterdays fishing trip was really nice if a bit of a disaster fish wise, you measure Salmon as trips per fish, not fish per trip, so letting one get off(it might have been a Seatrout as it wasn't huge) is not ideal.

re ribs I have it seems broke quite a few playing rugby and climbing, I didn't go to a doctor as I was told as long as you were breathing ok, there's no point, I had an x ray when in hospital not long ago and they said I'd broken a few a while back. Perhaps when older it might be prudent to get checked, I took a tumble vaulting a 5 bar gate in the middle of the night whilst out Sea trout fishing(it seemed like a good idea at the time rather than trying untie the gate in the dark) and face planted the bottom rail of the adjacent fence. I didn't bother with a doc(yes I know)seems I'd smashed my cheek bone which is a bit problematic at times, so basically medical advice from me is maybe best ignored.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, chrisf said:

My attempts at a good night's sleep last night came to very little.  It now hurts to lie down.  Rather, it does after a while.  When I finally think that I have found an ideal sleeping position a stabbing pain from the vicinity of the lower ribcage impels me to start again.  I wonder whether I will be able to climb in and out of the bath?  Assuming that I am not immobilised in the process, I have the fodder run to do this morning, not least to stock up on pain killers.  This evening there is a virtual meeting of the HMRS Bletchley area via Zoom  At least I can sit down for that.

 

 

 

Chris:  Hope it turns out to be nothing serious, but I'd suggest going to A&E direct;  an X-Ray would be in order and your GP can't do that, so why go there first?  Also, it seems that A&E Depts. are strangely quiet at the moment, so little or no queuing.

 

Bear's Tip of the Day:   As for a bath, don't get in if you're not sure you can't get out.  And take a phone with you.....

 

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Falling over/having a fall more than twice?  I'm doomed!  

 

 

It's OK, falls involving drink don't count....

[Florence Locomotive Works]

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

Can you explain 8th grade?  Age of people,  grading starts from when?

 

It's a very different system. To the UK,  which I don't fully understand.

When I was at school in the UK in primary school it was years 1 to 6, starting from the age 5 and secondary  years 1 to 6 finishing at 17 years old ish.  ( but you could leave school at 16).

It was raised to 15 in 1944, 16 in 1972, 17 in 2014 and 18 in 2015..

 

Since then many areas have introduced middle schools and sixth year and beyond colleges. And you are supposed to be in school or in training till the age of 18. How that all ties in with school year numbering I have no idea.. 

Th American school system:

 

Preschool: 3-6

Elementary: 7-10

Middle School (grades 5th through 8th) ages 10- 14/15

Next is high school Ages 15-18, then college. 7th-8th grades in middle school are sometimes called Junior Highs, in schools with over 2,000 kids per grade. 
 

I, personally, from age 3-9 was homeschooled, meaning I was schooled at home by my mother. During this I read all the Famous Five books by Enid Blyton, hence why I may not sound like your average 14 year old. After that I went to a Private, meaning paid for by parents catholic school (if you want a half decent education in Oklahoma you go to a Catholic School). Public schools here are the lowest funded in the nation. 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Florence Locomotive Works

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, AndrewC said:

The celebration ended up in the university's banquet room. My date and I had already been to the bar before, so weren't really in the mood for a dry kiddie dance. (I was 18 by then) 

Sounds you would have  been better off at one of my impromptu 'Hollow Parteeze'.

 

Mud, Dung and Stagnant water.

 

You'd have fitted right in, although we'd have let you slip away early (Literally).

[Happy Hippo]

I have been pondering the problem that our resident Okie has been finding with his steam production.

 

Having carried out a thoroughly scientific and well processed assessment (allegedly), I suspect the boiler is not up to the job.

 

That type of boiler was originally designed to provide steam at between 15-20 psi to a single small bore cylinder which was a single acting oscillating unit.

 

What the boiler is being asked to do by driving the bigger twin acting double cylinder is more than quadruple it's designed steam output.

 

However, with no pressure gauge fitted to the boiler, there is no real way of confirming what the  working pressure is.

 

A small boiler can generate sufficient steam, but it needs sufficient heat to generate the required amount of steam.

 

The ideal balance is to have a boiler that generates the correct amount of heat for any given circumstance so that you can produce more if necessary.  Having the ability to generate steam in excess of consumption is preferable (as you can turn the fire down).  Logically a boiler that cannot keep up the steam demand will cease to function as a power source pretty quickly.

 

Higher pressure may very well cure the problem, but to do that you would have to make sure that there was sufficient lubrication getting through to the cylinders.  Raw steam, without a lubricant, will scour the bores of the cylinder which will cause the piston to leak steam.  not too much of an issue with a single acting cylinder, apart from a little bit of energy loss, but a bigger deal with a double acting unit .

 

What one cannot do is merely screw the safety valve down to increase the pressure.  the boiler must be up to the job of operating safely at such.  I recall a recent conversation with the illustrious Dave Hunt about this very subject a short while ago.  This means a hydraulic test.

 

Finally, since the boiler is made of brass, it should be run on properly distilled water.  Note that does not mean the water sold by battery shops which is claimed to be distilled, but is in fact de-ionised water.  De-ionised water will, over time, eat turn the zinc content of the brass into a white powder.  I speak form experience here having had to condemn a brass boiler which was so bad that when we put a tap through the threaded bush to clear the powder, we were left with a hole that looked as if it had been freshly drilled.

 

Best use water from a de-humdifier, or defrosted ice from a freezer unit.

 

 

Edited June 24, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[TheQ]

None of the 3 secondary schools I went to had graduation ceremonies and I'd never heard of them till they appeared in American films, my certificates were sent by post.

Neither were there any dances at any of the schools , though the Scottish ones tried to teach you Highland dancing ( instead of Physical Education) just before Christmas each year..

One of the schools had a prize giving, and they changed the rules the 3 months I was there to the most improved, instead of the best. The school was that bad I would have won all the prizes but one (I'd didn't speak Gaelic). The council then paid for me to go to another state school, with accomodation included, only home at the end of terms...

 

Of course a public school is a paid for school in the UK so called because they will take any member of the public who will pay, Private education back when they were created was a private tutor coming to an aristocrats home. The Great majority go to State Schools although there are now multiple ways they are funded.

 

The American year numbering system appear to be simlar to what they have now in the UK, but since I have no children I'm not sure how similar..

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, newbryford said:

Starting to unravel our US hol, planned for the end of August.

 

Our "non-refundable" Amtrak tickets have been refunded at the first attempt - they are quite happy to waive any fees/restrictions due to C-19.

Well done Amtrak.

 

Our main accommodation can be left as late as 15 days before without any cancellation charges, but we will leave that as late as possible, based upon our flight plans.

The intended flight has even started running yet - it was a new service from MAN-BOS (starting in mid-May) and then onward to JFK with Delta. No doubt they will try and and push us onto a KLM partner service via AMS.

 

If they offer vouchers for changed and possibly cancelled flights, we may take that as it is quite possible that the vouchers will be worth more than the original flight (if I read the travel compensation rules correctly).

 

Then there is only the car hire to cancel now  - which is the one that really pains me as I'd sorted a convertible for 7 days for £280......

 

Online chat won't let me cancel because:

"I can see that you'd like to cancel your car hire booking. Unfortunately, we are experiencing a system update which can not let us resolve your query right now. Please contact us later to be able to further assist you with this matter. Please accept our apologies for this unfortunate incident. "

 

[cynical mode on] Yeah right......

 

 

 

 

We didnt go for vouchers for our cancelled flights as rumours are that Norwegian may not ever return to Gatwick for long haul and if they do then fares will double. So it was full refund. 

We are keeping our fingers crossed that we can go xmas time but also mindful that their infection rates are rising and ours might also , so it will be a fairly last minute decision if we do go. This would be my 30th continuous years visiting the USA, so I am keen to go apart form missing US craft beers.

 

Talking of which it must be approaching beer o'clock

[jamie92208]

Douglas, well done with your graduation.  The current year system in the UK goes from years 1 to 6, (5 to 11 yr olds) primary school then years 7 to 13 Secondary school leave at 18. However as mentioned above many go to what are called 6th form colleges for years 12 to 13 using the old year naming system where the 6th form was a 2 year course where you were in, first the lower 6th then the upper 6th. I had the odd experience  of going to a fee paying 'public school' whilst paid for by the tax payer due to an accident of geography as my local authority used the public schools in their rural areas as secondary schools if you passed an exam called the 11 plus. It was a very cost effective system but politics put an end to it in the 1970's.  

 

Anyway I am very much enjoying your work with live steam. All I have is a little Wilesco steam roller.

 

Jamie

Edited June 24, 2020 by jamie92208

[Tony_S]

Just back from a trip out. I stayed in my personal air conditioned filtered bubble. The Evoque not a bubble car. We have used the Fiesta on the other outings for prescriptions or blood tests but I said it world be a good idea to turn the wheels a bit on the the other car. While I was moving it to the road it announced that I should carry out a software update. The last service enabled future updates to be done at home over 4G or WiFi. Took 30 minutes but no problem. I didn’t get out of the car at the pharmacy. Aditi didn’t have to wait. I thought I had a blood test this week but it is next week so no need to go anywhere for a while. 
 

[The Lurker]

20 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We had a snake in our garden once. It looked just like a friend’s corn snake. Aditi sent me out to investigate rather than send Robbie the spaniel out. I said I think it is dead. Closer investigation revealed “made in China” underneath. It was quite realistic. No idea where it came from.  

China?

[Tony_S]

Aditi’s Dad was educated by tutors his father employed. He preferred educating himself so did his best to get them replaced as often as possible by claiming they weren’t as a good at mathematics as he was. Aditi’s grandfather was a civil engineer and was responsible for various projects in quite remote parts of pre partition India. There were no schools to go to anyway. Aditi’s Dad and his siblings were never allowed to play with local children so his playmates were their police or army guards.  When he was 16, he and his brother were sent to Varanasi (Benares) to attend school. Even this was unusual as it was a college founded by Annie Besant. After a visit they  were taken away as it was considered they were not being fed adequately. So Aditi’s Dad’s first formal education was at the University of Lahore where he received a BSc in botany. 
Tony

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

China?

I have been waiting for someone to supply the punchline.