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We don't. our shop is 20 odd miles away and at £2 for delivery it's cheaper than driving there, if they finish it, we will go to Tesco or Morrisons who are less than 10 miles away.

Ocado always rang us as described. "Is it OK to deliver early?" or "Really sorry but I am running about XX minutes late; will that still be OK?" They know how far they are behind schedule so they can be pretty accurate in offering an ETA. We only had two really late deliveries. One was due to a van breakdown which delayed our delivery by around two hours but again they kept us fully informed and assured us that all chilled and frozen foods were protected and it was the van, not its chiller, which had broken down. The other was following a fire at their Erith depot which disrupted everyone's deliveries for a couple of days. This time it was Customer Services (based in Hatfield, I believe) who called offering their profound apologies and advising that our order was not yet on the road. A couple of hours later and they called back saying it was on the road but might not reach us until after midnight. That was OK with me. It was very OK with me that they then waived the entire cost of that order as compensation for the inconvenience. They were about five hours late that night.

... Today was my last timetabled teaching session ... I have now switched off all the alarms for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday ... https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/04/25/flu-down-covid-up-a-tree-for-the-whole-millennium-ai-and-photography-last-timetabled-teaching/

Family records often start in the late 1600s. The Roundheads destroyed many Church and Parish records between 1640-60 so before that date, research is difficult.

Retirement brought some additional spare time. . As an occasional break from railways I decided to trace my family tree. . My paternal side, I have traced back to the late 17th. Century and the Derbyshire Peak District. . With today being ANZAC Day, I have been enlightening the family with details of the following relative . Ernest David Rolley was born at Herberton, Queensland in 1920, one of five children; whose grandfather, from Bonsall, Derbys. had arrived in Australia in 1877.. . He enisted into the Royal Australian Navy, at Brisbane on 22nd. July, 1940. . Ernest was killed in action aged 21 years on 20th. November, 1941, when his vessel, H.M.A.S. Sydney was lost with all hands (645 souls) in the Indian Ocean - sunk by the German commerce raider 'Kormoran' masquerading as a Dutch trader. . Such is life that I only discovered a branch of my paternal family live in the Atherton / Herberton area of the Tablelands - after - having visited the area twice ! .

A nice couple of days financially has seen me able to purchase the remaining three John Hodge Welsh Valley Lines series of books I needed. £40 for talking to a tech company, £20 from Avanti and then £5 from Amazon for simply adding another credit card - so the bill was £4.99. Hold on, I buy lots of books about the Welsh Valleys and then I model the North West of England, something wrong there isn't there.

The waiting lists can move quite quickly. My Mum rang me and told me there was “one of those black private ambulances” in her sheltered accommodation carpark. Her next comment was “they are dropping like flies round here “. That was my Mum’s last phone call to me. The image of her looking out of her window remained on Google for quite a few years.

It was an Ocado van but we had one caught up in a smash too. Thankfully the driver was OK, slightly shaken but no physical injuries. Amazingly, despite a 'seagull swooping' type piece of misfortune, they still managed to deliver on time! Thankyou/sympathy card was sent... Tesco once tried to deliver someone else's goods as well as our own order. We spotted it on the doorstep but that could easily have been a major oopsie for them. Christmas run-up as well, if we hadn't have been paying attention and being honest, the other person could well have had problems. In our experience, both Waitrose and Ocado ring if they are going to be early or late - in fact this week's Ocado delivery was 15 minutes early and he rang to check it was OK to be early. As above, in our experience both are reliable and if there are any substitutions, they tend to be sensible ones. Both have given us much better service than the usual retail standard - and far better than the 'customer service' Pupcam mentioned re banks recently. It's one reason why we use them much more than other supermarkets, we'd sooner pay a bit more and get quality products and decent service.

This morning I went to church as usual and ended up being asked to do another couple of small jobs - just making sure some things are in the right place for services. Of course that assumes I both know where they should be and that I can actually find them when they are put away in the wrong place. I had a cup of coffee and remembered to pay for my afternoon tea outing which is one day next week. On the way home afterwards I stopped at the beach and had a walk. The sun was shining brightly but the wind was bitterly cold. Back home I had a look at the remains of the heather and took out a few nearby weeds and a plant which was in the wrong place - a self seeded honesty, then while I cooked lunch I arranged for someone to come and measure the kitchen and living room windows as I am thinking of having new curtains. After lunch I just tidied the greenhouse plants and then cleared bits of heather that had fallen in the pond along with some blanket weed. I spent the rest of the afternoon scanning the old photos. The next two albums will be some of Dad's railway photos, I have digital copies of some but not all of them so will probably do them all to make sure none are missed. There's nothing else today, this evening should be a bit of reading or similar as I feel a bit sore from the gardening. A couple of photos of the usual beach this morning. It could be summer apart from the wind. Just snapshots using my phone. David

I do have a red LT pannier but I bought that years ago. The new acquisition is a model of a crimson lake steam powered GWR vehicle.

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I went to post on ER's earlier but it had disappeared from the list of threads I had posted in, not to worry as it's now back. Now I've got to get a few things together for the SEERS AGM this evening.

There's a new retirement complex in Rayleigh so I looked it up. It looks OK but it's more care home than retirement home. Anyway by the time I need that sort of establishment it will probably have a long waiting list.

I think Paneers do look fine in LT livery. I have a Caramac version, actually two now I think about it, 4mm and 7mm scale versions!

I'm still using the washing machine I purchased in 1983, also a Zanussi.

I managed to keep myself occupied on occasions whilst I was absent and spent some time in The Shed. I'll just claim that I was decorating it and putting up some new blinds. Anything else in the photos just happens to be there by coincidence. 😂 I better go and hide now.

My latest ex GWR model is in a rather attractive lined crimson lake livery.

This one - dislike the 'open plan' stuff. Advantages - hopefully PH view; sepatrate kitchen, mainliving area and fair size area for things that run on parallel track. Disadvantages - dogs love gardens and if in UK the reliability of the lifts as stairs potentially a problem in the event of mobility problems. Having said that in Switzerland and PH the lift will be properly maintained although at an annual cost. Cannot comment on flights as the last one was almost beyong memory and as for holidays ... We live in an area that has plenty of 'walks' but with dodgy knees and hips and a very very long waiting list is impossible for SWMBO and phenomally frustrates her, so, it is just as well that we have good countryside views. Big changes have been made to the dwelling to her designs. The really positive thing about SWMBO is that she is a fantastic homemaker and does not 'have to be out' like some of our friends need to be. On another note spend too long going through all the posts that means by the end have often forgot the earlier reads ... hopefully senility is not beckoning. Did note that GDB had returned.

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

Fünf­und­fünfzig - Snakes Alive 🐍🐍

I thought they just sent them 'abroad' - take your pick of destinations.

I think that's what's called accessing criminal records.

That must have been why Mum could get his records.

Perhaps it depends on the cake! The one we took over to MiL’s on Sunday contained no flour.

Val Doonican was post-1922 😛.

Rumour has it that hospitals think that cake is a Bad Thing. Adrian

During the 1960s my Mum bought quite a few Val Doonican records.

Try Irish records before 1922 - though things are apparently getting better.

Any news?

Yes I enjoyed listening to those at a dual language bingo session on Lanzagrotty. Jamie

As long as the toaster itself can’t talk to people, holograms, robots or cats! Andi

The camera is in the toaster that also talks to the washing machine and kettle!

In that case It'd be helpful if it took a photo of the person opening the door too, and one of the interior when the door was opened and when it was closed....

I bet you were pi**ed off.....

We have a smart oven that connects to the internet. Can it automatically set the time when the clocks change? No it bloody can't.

Still lurking after lunch and shopping, I really should go and do something. No inspiration today to do so. Happy Birthday to Midland Red Dave, may your singles never be compounded. Or anyone mention the Midland used to paint their locos green.....🤡

Afternoon Awl, just. Message left for vet as she's on holiday today, two locums at work which explains why she's so busy. Next door called, she's been given a brand new printer a HP Envy 6020e... It took over 2 hours for me to set it up. A 149MB " HP Smart App" , then that allowed you to go get the driver for the printer, then registration for the printer then... Hp use " instant ink", they supply cartridges when the printer says it needs them, you buy a contract for 10 pages a month ( 1.49), or 50 pages a month (3.99), or 100 pages a month (5.99) etc.. anyway I've signed her up for the cheapest, you can change anytime . There are way around this but she is computer illiterate, I'd be round there every 5 minutes bypassing " instant ink" And then I inserted the cartridges and paper, .. black cartridge faulty so it said, close inspection showed a plastic " hair" glued to a pin on the cartridge , scraped that off but it seems to make no difference .. tried one of our Envy cartridges but it's the wrong model.. Went round and round the HP "smart app" trying to get to their contacts pages... All 404 not found, their phone lines didn't appeal as I've no wish to wait for hours with their online system being offline. In the end I've ordered via Amazon for a tomorrow delivery with her agreement as she's got something she wants to print out.. Her old printer? An Epson 442, that's 9 years old, very cheap in the first place, not used enough so the ink cartridges / heads used to dry out... SWMBO is out with Ben, I'm defrosting as next doors computer room is effectively unheated..

Afternoon All, Yay - I've been to the supermarket - by bus yesterday morning (bus stops outside the shop in bith directions). Aldi staff were pleased to see me - it's been almost five months since I was able to get there - and the main shock was the prices. Still not heard anything more from the hospital for any follow up appointment, so I've booked to see my GP practice's senior partner next month. Also, it transpires (so people are saying) that my hearing has deteriorated quite a bit - I felt that it was while in hospital. I have been on the NHS waiting list for some time now but no appointment has transpired, and they say I am still "quite a way" down the waiting list. So i've booked to go to Specsavers next week - stand by for a pretty massive bill for hearing aids. Another large price increase has just come through to dent our pension increases - phone/broadband/TV package is up by 8.9%. Other than that. I seem to be progressing well. Regards to All Stewart

We have used Ocado since Mrs Lurker was pregnant with Younger Lurker - and he’s 15. We’ve not had any real problems- a couple of times where the substitution didn’t meet our desires and once where we fit a bag of someone else’s shopping in addition to our own. In all those years they have only once not been able to make their one hour slot and they rang to let us know so we could reschedule

There isn’t much non green field building land round here. Most developments now are flats or apartment buildings where a small business or a couple of bungalows with big gardens previously occupied the land. There are two sorts of apartment buildings “executive development “ and “retirement”. Executive means near the railway station with communal gym in basement. Retirement means alarm pull cords and a communal lounge area.

Don't apologise Bob , your drivel is no better or worse than anyone else's . 😎 In the past when someone seems to go AWOL I have looked back at content around the time to try and work out out if they are just taking a break or whether someone has annoyed then and they have taken there ball and gone home . you seemed to fit the first option . I did at one time post a bit more frequently but my miserable existence varies so little I gave up , now I just follow and chime in from time to time .

Happy Birthday @Dave Hunt.

I am now very careful in coffee shops and now almost always just have black coffee in case they have anything almond in the place - having found out that one place I go to sometimes uses almond milk. I have a (so far) fairly mild allergy to nuts, but over the years it has gradually become worse so now I avoid them. David

A very salient point, Andy. I sometimes wonder if the UK would be better off building Euro-style (and quality) apartments instead of trying to cram smaller and smaller houses into poorly thought out and designed “developments” in Britain’s remaining green space. I would have thought that the government would have made the (re-) development of brown-field sites a priority - providing tax breaks and - if necessary - subsidies for cleaning up such sites. Having an open plan arrangement in a tiny house does have solid logic behind it. But I notice, from programmes like Grand Designs, even those with both the space and the money to do otherwise go for open plan layouts (OPL). in fact, I would go as far as to argue that OPL has become an architect’s cliché. Along with: Flat roofs Square and boxy buildings Overabundant, nay, excessive use of concrete, glass and steel floor to ceiling windows no curtains and no blinds polished concrete floors glossy, shiny, kitchen cupboards and furniture* A lot of these builds, appear - at least to my eyes - to be of the “look at how much money I can throw at an on-trend architect to build me a house” types. The great Terry Pratchett made a comment or two about modern architecture, one of which was along the lines of “it was a newly built house by a famous architect. You could tell that it was new as the windows hadn’t yet fallen out or the flat roof started leaking” There is a reason traditional architecture looks the way it does…. * do you know how hard it is to keep high gloss finished cabinets clean and finger print free? You’re constantly wiping down and polishing the surfaces (as a friend found out to his cost when his missus got such a kitchen)

It's a real problem for peope with gluten intolerance/allergies because they used to be able to enjoy a coffee with almond, soya or coconut at a coffee shop but now that oat has become popular you can no longer be safe in knowing your non dairy choice is not contaminated. And the likes of Costa, Starbucks, Nero, Pret etc don't care. I would imagine most independent coffee shops are the same, but some might make the effort to source gluten free oats, there aren't enough gluten free cafes sadly.

Well even space flights with multiple redundant systems can go wrong. Once our Waitrose order van was crash damaged and the order was delayed but I wouldn’t criticise them. I think if @zarniwhoop is able to order his white asparagus from Ocado it will be despatched. It could of course be snatched from the air by an aggressive gull as it is carried to the front door…

Not quite, I'd certainly say they are significantly more dependable than others but there has been the odd time when we haven't got things ordered. Not through driver error (as below) either. Perhaps the automation in the ordering/warehousing/picking processes is following the automotive industry from a generation or two ago, with emphasis on eliminating human error/misjudgement from the process? No 'Friday afternoon' cars or overly ripe bent bananas? The trouble may be there's a potential weak point at the point of delivery - once the driver forgot to give us one of several bags in a delivery and we had 5/6 items missing. We were refunded without quibble and it's by far the worst problem we've ever had with them but it can happen. I should add for @zarniwhoop's benefit (and anyone else who hasn't used Ocado) that their web-site showing the groceries does show the not available ones (at the time of ordering) as being so, they are at the bottom of the page, marked unavailable and the listing 'faded out'.

I checked my usual oat milk (Alpro) and it is not gluten free, not that I have a problem with gluten. They do make a coconut drink and the unsweetened version has zero carbohydrates or sugar.