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Afternoon All Sorry but have been AWOL for some time now, due to (insert current excuse here...............................................................................). So it's the usual generic greetings, but I have to also report that 30747 has had an awful reaction to her COVID jab - arm very tender, and almost on her back on Wednesday after getting vaccinated on Tuesday afternoon - and not a whole lot better on Thursday. Went to work on Friday, but really should've stayed at home. Starting to pick up a bit now - must stock up on paracetemol and ibuprofen as she has been consuming a lot more of them than normal - though well within the set down maxima. Finally got round to getting some of the excess items from the doll's house purchase onto Ebay, along with some doubles of railway books that I haven't been able to shift last year at the car boot - some are going to the charity shops, but I have a spare copy of Steam Finale North by Colin T Gifford, which I've just listed - if anybody out there wants a copy, I happen to know that there's one on eBay for fifteen quid - proceeds to my beer and modelling token fund which is sadly depleted due to the doll's house purchase. Back tomorrow? Regards to All Stewart

Morning All Sorry, but several pages skipped, and as a result, all I can offer is the usual generic greetings, and hope that all are well. 30747 got an armful of the Oxford/Atra Zeneca yesterday, but was initially going to be turned away, as it now transpires that there is NO special case for nursery workers, albeit that her employer thinks that there is. However, she has also had three TIAs over the last two years, and when she mentioned this to the person vetting the patients, she said "We'll put you through on that basis then" - so she was done, and today has a very sore arm, and said that she feels a bit off colour. And for me - believe it or not, I have an appointment for tomorrow morning for my much delayed dental inspection, so after my fodder run, I'll be "opening wide" and hoping that nothing needs to be done - 30747 actually managed to have a crown replaced (cost a fortune) and mentioned to the dentist that I hadn't been examined for over a year, and he said that as I'm diabetic, he'd arrange something, and he did. Regards to All Stewart

Morning All Great to be here two days running - it does make a change, and I doubt it will continue. Not a lot to report, other than the usual 5.10 start this morning to make 30747 some breakfast, prepare her lunch, feed Lily (while 30747 has her shower and hair wash) , and come back to bed for an hour before my shower and hair wash. The reason for this being that a few years ago we had a power cut early one morning, resulting in 30747 not getting her shower, so now she grabs it as soon as she's awake - which is almost always by 05.00. And the usual greetings of the generic variety are on offer to all fellow ERs. So with that in mind all I pffer today is a little bit of the amazing Mona Lisa twins which popped into my inbox last night, and which I'm sure Andrew P will appreciate if it didn't also pop into his Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All It was really great to patricipate in yesterday's virtual meet up - and it lifted my spirits a lot - also relieved me of the fear of Zoom, which has been around me. Great to see that some of our overseas ERs also attended, and as I'd only met a couple of the fellow ERs before (Mike, Jamie, and probably about 197something Chris when I floor spotted Bedford folk club, and a belated happy birthday - I was aware as Barry mentioned it while the meeting was getting going, but I didn't visit again last night). Many thanks Barry for organising things so well, and apologies that I had to leave as 30747 had thought that it would all be over sooner and did the dinner - as the laptop was on the dining room table, discretion was the better part of valour. Any time you like Baz, any time you like, I think it all worked well, with your organisation and know how - many many thanks So for those whom I didn't greet yesterday the usual generic greetings. This morning has been a load of tasks domestic after rising at about 8.15 - hoovering, fire, then demolishing a rotten bird table - 30747 had wanted me to try to fettle it, but there wasn't enough siund timber to make anything at all with it. Then tidying the garage, as we are clearing some space there which has exposed the window for the first time - so of course, 30747 decided to clean the window, then asked me to try to loosen the opening casement at the top (success), and "why not try to put a lick of paint on it all as well" - so old clothes donned, and window duly painted - then she said "you can go and talk to your friends AGAIN now" - so here I am. Back tomorrow - who knows. Regards to All Stewart

Nice to see that I'm not alone in liking this pair - they came into my radar via a YouTube recommendation, and I have been following their music ever since. Their own composition Close To You has Lennon/McCartney written all over it - quite amazing And just while we're disussing music - here's Josh Turner's latest offering Old Train Now then, sorry for absence - and won't catch up a lot of the missed pages. Have had my invite to the Zoom meeting - hope to be there. A real oddity over COVID vaccines round here - some of 30747's colleagues are being turned away, and some are being vaccinated - all are now classed as Health and Social Care, allegedly. Also, her manager, aged 38 was invited by text to have a vaccination, as was her manager's partner, also aged 38. Neither was any underlying condition, and the partner is not in a designated employement. Her manager's mum, aged 59 and under the same GP practice has not been invited - most strange. Regards to All Stewart

Morning All A few pages skipped, as a result of spending a lot of time trying to find out whether 30747 is or isn't entitled to a COVID jab - she was told she was, but now some of her colleagues have been turned away from the vaccination site saying that aren't elgible - she is trying to find out from her work, and the internet is of no help at all. So it's the usual generic greetings, but for the music lovers, this was in my inbox this morning from the most excellent Foxes and Fossils. Amazing cover IMHO Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All And of course, the usual generic greetings are on offer. Wasn't even aware of "The Night Mail" thread, and given that I don't even have enough time to monitor ERs and the other threads I follow, I doubt that I will be able to visit it. However, good luck to those who sail in it. I was a bit worried about my COVID vaccination yesterday, as I'd heard tales of long queues outside of the venue of up to an hour. It is a new health innovation campus at the University, and which has a lot of vacant space, so the two practices in Lancaster have rented some rooms there to be their vaccination centre. The same day I booked, I also got a letter from the NHS inviting me to attend a different centre, which is operating as a spearate operation at the Town Hall - but as my GP was on the ball and had texted me, I had replied and booked, I just ignored the letter - and anyway as I had to drive to either site, the parking at the uni was free, and the town hall was £1.50 - no brainer really. Then on Friday, 30747 was advised about 5.30 pm that she is eligible for a vaccine, as the nursery sector are now being treated as front line staff. Rang our GP, and they were not aware of this, as it was only announced that afternoon. So as we now had a web address to book a COVID test, we ran through the questions, and it allowed her to book for Tuesday at the town hall. But as she is eligible, she came with me to the university just in case they would fit her in. Arrived about five minutes before the appointment and went across to the building, where suitably masked and distanced marshalls were sorting out the arrivals - I asked if 30747 could be fitted in, but they said that supplies of the vaccine were limited - they had 990 patients booked in, and 1000 doses of vaccine - Astra Zennica as it happens. I asked about the queues earlier in the week, and it transpired that the NHS text service had overbooked the slots available by about 30%, though in fairness, they had supplied enough vaccines for all the bookings - they just didn't have enough staff. The clinician who vaccinated me said that last week they had booked over 1300 patients instead of 990! Vaccination was swift - I was signed in by my own practice's sister drac who greeted me and sent me to a queue of two - there were seven clinicians working flat out. I was then vaccinated after only about five minutes, and was back in the car with the bad news for 30747 that she'd have to wait til Tuesday - all in all, we were only on the campus for 20 minutes max - a very slick and creditable performance, and I also met my former GP, who has now retired, but is there as one of the lead clinicians. He was very pleased with how it was NOW working. Oh and my arm started to ache, and last night I was abed early, as I felt so tired, and I slept solidly for 9 1/2 hours without even a pee break - then woke, made tea and coffee and toast, took them upstairs, and promptly fell asleep after consuming mine for another hour. Today, I have a headache and feel a bit listess, but at least stage one is done now, Regards to All Stewart

Oh caloo calay It's my vaccine today

Afternoon All Chilly here, and the odd flurry of the not forecast snow (as 30747 has reminded me - I don't make the forecasts, I just relay them to her). A bit of skim reading has had to take place, as 30747 has suddenly decided that we need to own an overlocker (whatever that is - appears to be some sort of fancy sewing machine with multiple threads and needles) - I suppose she really means that SHE needs to own an overlocker to sit alongside the sewing machine which she bought a couple of years back and hasn't taken out of its case more than twice. So skim reading it be, and greetings are in offer to all, of course. Dominik - that looked like a fun shift, but at least with the tracks to guide you, you don't need to worry about where you're going - it's all done for you. Anyhows, this one popped into my spam box - oh how I wish that my email wouldn't do that - did it to an urgent message frim my BIL the other day too. Guitarists listen and weep - this girl is GOOD

Afternoon All Sorry that I've been absent all week, but my mojo for most matters computerate is on the wane again. So all I can offer is the usual wide ranging greetings of the generic variety. Looks like much of the East of the country is going to get a snowy hammering - cue many pictures on TV of cars getting stuck in it, even though there have been a number of warnings, we are still in lockdown, and drivers will probably just ignore everything and drive until stuck - then put all the rescue services into overdrive. We here are, for once, outside the warning areas, and depending on which forecast you believe - Met Office, or BBC (or another of your choosing), we SHOULD escape the worst of this one in the West of the country. I'm off now to have my dinner, and snuggle up with a malt by the stove, which we are, in anticipation of the coal ban, now running as a pure log burner. Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Editor had to be cleared again. Great to hear from Dick and Pete - don't stay away so long now - you're always welcome here. Not a lot to report - seems to be too much housework and not enough computer time. So it's just the usual generic greetings. Cream fans might like this cover. It's pretty good. Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Editor clearing needed for the first time in some weeks. Much skipping again, partly because 30747 got an email from work saying that her workplace was starting lateral flow testing for all staff, and they all needed to undertake the relevant training. Had to get her employer to forward it to me, as the course would not load to her tablet, so had to be done on one of the laptops, and as 30747 is anything but computer literate, that meant that I had to undertake the training as well. Her boss said that it took about an hour - but there were videos which if watched fully added up to more than that before even taking account of the eight modules. We both feel qualified now to go up the Park And RIde and take jobs as operatives, as the course was largely aimed at operatives, and not at self testers. Having done that, my mojo to do anything else on the laptop diminished to less than zero. And partly because of the fodder run. And about the only excitement was the arrival of a package from eBay containing four R50 LED bulbs and one LED candle bulb which has enabled me to change all the bulbs in the lighting bar in the kitchen, and also the one in the bathroom light, all of which have a nasty habit of blowing quite often. Anyway, hope all are well, and if I have missed anything of significance, could somebody please PM me. TH he generic greetings flow from me like water to the deserving. Regards to All Stewart

At my secondary school, we had a visit from a rep from British Thornton, who came and demonstrated both the single sided, and double sided models, which were, I think £3 and £5 respectively. We were then asked to get our parents agreement, and a payment, then the rep came back, took the orders, and they were delivered about a week later, I got the double sided version, and once I had it. took it to uni with me, but didn't really get as much use from it as I should have. I lost it as I took it to work with me after uni and it sat in my desk drawer, and I left it there when we moved offices.

Afternoon All Much skipping. as I am just so lacking in mojo at present - it's cold, and it's been snowing, but like others hereabouts, it has quickly melted, and depending on which forecast you believe, there is none exepcted (BBC says none, Met Office said 40% chance of light snow early hours of tomorrow). At least with the new boiler and the remote control thermostat, we are keeping the house at an even temperature, and not, as last year, switching the boiler manually, and relying on the TRVs - mucho satisfactory. Back another time. Regards to All Stewart

Twenty plus years in Customer Service, Delayed Provision, Customer Complaints, Customer Resolutions, then back on the phones, then got sacked for allegedly mishandling calls, which was to be honest the most trumped up charge, but the Union were not really on my side.

Morning All And for once all posts read and rated. And tne usual greetings are proferred. Not a lot to report at all today. Regards to All Stewart

Afernoon All And again, apologies for prolonged absences over the past few days due to various interruptions and issues of differing types which I won't go into here. However, the warmest of greetings are proferred to all ERs with a hope that none of us is suffering too much at present. 30747 has been feeling poorly for days now, and early yesterday morning (like about 2am) said that she wanted a Covid test, so onto the website. There is a large drive in testing site a few miles from here at the park and ride, and they had vacancies for tests yesterday at 12.30, so we both booked, and unlike the last test, where we were slung a kit and left to get on with things, and where I suspect that the results are a bit dependent on whether you actually hit the correct areas of your throat, we were offered the choice of an NHS staff member to carry out the test. Drive in, windows shut and read the cards held up by the staff, then a large A was put under the wipers, drive to the bay indicated on the card held up, large A removed and replaced by two test kits one under each wiper, and then two nurses in full PPE came out, and did 30747 first, then went in and two other nurses came out and did me. I could tell from both 30747's reaction and what I felt that this test was more thorough than the self test which we did last time - which makes me wonder about the effectiveness of the self test. This was very well done indeed, and was a real credit to our hard pressed NHS and all the staff, who were working in the open in the wind and rain were very professional. Results came in by email around 2.15 this morning, and by text at about 6.10, and luckily we are both currently clear. Good news on the guitar front, as my tame repairer texted me to say that my Tanglewood, which I took into him before the last lockdown is now ready (he's working from home, not the shop so can't do things quite so quickly), and is apparently playing very well indeed, and he's only charged me £40 to lower the action, lubricate and clean the fretboard, new strings, and give it a good polish. We are meeting in town tomorrow, and I can't wait. That's four of my guitars that he's fettled and none have cost a fortune - in fact, the Ovation which I was told had a passive preamp by two dealers, the one who sold it and another in Sutton, only needed a new battery, and he only charged for the battery. He did say that the Ovation needs attention of a more expert repairer as the neck needs to be reset, and he doesn't feel up to tackling it - so after lockdown, there's a very good repairer in Grange Over Sands. Regards to All Stewart

Correct Simon, but when I checked, I didn't manage to find the correct fuse, as the user guide for my particular model was incorrect and took me to fuse 23, not fuse 7, but luckily the mechanic at Jubilee Garage, the redoutable Dave was well acquainted with with both the model and its variant, as he has serviced it from a year after new. They only charged my £12 to sort it out - the benefit of having a regular garage and a regular mechanic. I am so pleased that I found them, and I would never go anywhere else. Afternoon All Not a lot to report, and genetic greetings are offered to all fellow ERS. Strange thing did happen, as the postman delivered a large(ish) bundle yesterday which included my Steam World, which had another copy stuck to it, which was for somebody fairly close by, so as I was going to the garage, I took it with me, and delivered it to his house, and he saw me outside and came to the door, where his response was "I know you from somewhere", and it turned out that he was a visitor at Green Ayre RIses and recongised me as one of the operators. Interesting little event. Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Sorry for absence, but mojo for computer/RMWeb/anything else is on the wane. So I've not had a great deal of inclination to visit of late - but hopefully, it may return sometime. Now then, I don't like Amazon, but we do business with them like we do with the law of gravity - and I have actually had a few experiences where I have chosen free delivery on an item sold by them directly, where the estimated delivery date is bettered, as once it leaves their warehouse, and into the hands of their own delivery service, they just deliver as soon as it's at the local depot. I have a problem with the car, as I thought that the washer reservoir had frozen, as has happened a few times when I didn't use a strong enough solution, but when everything thawed out, still zilch on the washer front, so it's a visit to the garage tomorrow - and I expect that it will be a new motor, as I can't envisage anything else which might be causing this to not work. Appointment is for 10 45 tomorrow, and I was lucky to get that - garage is a few miles away, so I just hope I don't get stopped by the police for un-necessary travel, and I would be on a hiding to nothing, as it's an essential item on a car these days, but I need to get to the garage to get it diagnosed and sorted, Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Just a quick visit, and again a lot of skipping has happened. I am currently having a bit of a query about a historic tax assessment from 2016, and think I might need some of the paperwork. I am still not all that able to bend down, and the paperwork in question was in a large box at the back of the eaves, so had to seek the assistance of 30747 to get it all rooted out. It was not where we thought, and a thought from me that we had left one box of paperwork in the top landing cupboard - and so it transpired, but that left a load of boxes to replace, much to 30747's disgust that I hadn't remembered this sooner. Then 30747 had the inspired idea of not putting the car boot boxes back, and instead going through them and as we have no plans to do any more car boots, to put the stuff in the garage with a view to donating it all to Wolfwood, a local animal charity. So that's how we've spent the morning of our 42nd wedding anniversary. Generic greetings are as ever freely offered. Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Sunday greetings, and again a lot of skipping has had to happen, as there seems to be a lot of other stuff to be done on the laptop - so as usual all I can offer is generic greetings - and they are as ever offered most sincerely (shades of Hughie Green there???). Just to try to cheer us up a bit, try this which popped into my inbox, as I subscribe to their YouTube channel - this one just made me smile - then the musician in me kicked in, and the sheer complexity of the harmonies came to the fore. Back tomorrow hopefully ps Rick - with your knowledge of all matters London Bus, I wonder if you (or indeed any other London Bus enthusiast on here) could help us to date a jigsaw puzle which we just completed of Regent Street at Christmas, and the main subject is two RMs one on Route 9 - the other the route number is not shown, and the odd thing is that the RM facing the artist is depicted with a Christmas wreath on the radiator grille. I lived in London from 1972 to 1995, and don't remember this, and 30747 lived there all her life, albeit not in Central London, and doesn't remember it either. Can anybody shed any light on this one? Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Happy Birthday Mike - you share it with our nephew, though you have a few more circuits of the sun under your belt than he does. Again, mucho skipping as I just can't seem to find the time to keep up, so all I can offer is generic greetings to all ERs. Strange day here today - we were planning to get the next fodder run on Monday, or possibly Tuesday, then it came back to "probably" Sunday. We have about a centimetre of snow here, if that. Yesterday, 30747 decided that "we need milk" and disappeared to the local shop, which never closes, and it was .....closed. So without telling me, she walked to the Co-op about half a mile distant and got some there. It did worry me slightly, as I wasn't aware, and I was concerned that she might have slipped and fallen, Luckily not, she was just waking cautiously. Anyway, back to today, I was passing by the dining room door, when 30747 called out "did you hear that?" - silly question as I was in the hall, and she was listening to LBC on the radio - and she heard that there was a yellow snow warning, which she didn't hear where it was for. So out with the laptop, and onto the met office website where the forecast for the next three days was no snow, and a very gradual increase in temperature. But no, LBC must be right, and the met office wrong, so the car was scraped and warned up, and a noon trip to Lidl ensued. Still, it means that tomorrow we don't need to go. However, we are running out of space to store things - the fridge and freezer are full, though at present, just outside the back door would be equally chilly as the fridge, So possibly back tomorrow Regards to All Stewart

Nice to hear from you Mick

Happy New Year to All Chrisf sorry to hear about your aunt - my very best cyber wishes are sent to her via your good offices. I have not managed to keep up with the many pages, and I just hope that we all manage to stay fit and well until our turn for vaccination comes around. Well that's it for now. Regards to All Stewart

Afternoon All Again, due to volume of content here, and also the "need" to use the laptop for other more "legitimate" purposes, much skipping has again ensued. So it is just the usual generic greetings, and a very quick look in. On the good news front, it appears that it is now cold enough for the 13 tog goose down duvet to be brought from its resting place, and deployed on the bed in place of the 9 tog one which is normally regarded as sufficient - I wonder for how long?? As there is a prosepct of a few inches of snow causing paralysis of the road system, 30747 decreed that a supplementary fodder run would happen this morning - and indeed it did and we now seem to have fodder coming out of our ear 'oles. Still, it's better in our cupboards and freezer than in the shop. Just seen out of the corner of my eye 30747 disappearing downstairs with some wrapping paper of the C"r"s"m"s variety, and it sounds as though she's going through the present box - that means that she is starting to wrap the presents for 2021, and when we go the the sales tomorrow, she'll probably start to buy the presents for 2022. I must now go and start the preparation of today's dinner, whatever that may be. Regards to All Stewart