PeterBB

21 hours ago, woodenhead said:

Note to self, grocery shopping on a Saturday afternoon is not a happy experience.

It's not like this is the first week like this, there seem to always be gaps in produce at the supermarkets, the other week it was eggs, then they reappeared only to in short supply again this week.

 

Shopping used to be a simple affair, go to Sainsburys, pop to Aldi, get a coffee, go home.  Now it is hunt the cucumber 😲

After yesterday afternoon shooping I can agree with this.  No yogurts, none of our usual cheesecakes no eggs and one ot wo other things that are normal for us.  What was not normal for us was shopping on a Saturday pm but was created over a change required early this week.

4 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Evenin' each,

And things are still good here at GDB Towers.  I have been fed with bangers & mash and, after a bit of a struggle,* opened a bottle of what turned out to be very nice Portuguese red to wash it down.  

* Screw top and it was a bu##er to open but it does seem as if my grip getting weaker as I get older.   I have resisted buying aids for opening bottles and jars but I think that time is getting closer. 

Cheers 🍷🍷

Well worth getting one as it reduces the use of 'fobidden words' and frustration ending with a sudden influx of liquid onto the floor.

Read the next post - similar comment.

Sounds like a certain First Minister of Scotland is resigning, wonder what effect that will have.

13 hours ago, Tony_S said:

It wasn’t the usual chlorine. That can be left to stand for a while for fish use. This was something else to kill the shrimps that were coming out of taps. 
Tony

South Staffs Water did this same thinga good many years ago.

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

If you want squirrels I'd be quite happy to share mine. The little so and so's munch my bulbs- the ones paid for with my hard earned muular.

And destroy bird feeders as well as pulling out bulbs.

@BarryO. I too have many many ties and a number of them were worn at specific events meetings related to them.  These days apart from the black just one.

Suits I have three and they all still fit ... the 'new one' dates back nearly 25 years and had to be bought after a move went 'wrong' and almost everything went into store.  We thought it would be a short time but it was 11 months before we managed to buy our next house.  In the meantime there was a family wedding and suit and tie were needed.  Last time a  suit and tie was worn was when working in a polling station.

These days most of the time is spent in 'old' clothes as if something needs repairing/cleaning I get on with it regardless of what I am wearing to minimise being told that I should not be wearing 'best stuff' to do that  so generally no tie.  I got used to no tie when the Red Cross changed the working uniform and since I was very active not wearing a tie stuck.  There is a caveat, if I am wearing a 'proper jacket' and the 'right shirt' then a tie is a must as far as I am concerned.

Memory triggered ... going back to early secondary school days uniform was black jackets, grey trousers and white shirts with collars and studs as well as the obligatory tie ... todays kids get it easy but don't seem to think so.

'Application' of science rather than research was my main work but yes, there were some 'original' application at times.

23 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Rummaging has been banned for years at our recycling centres. We went today and as usual it was all very organised. However from next month Essex recycling centres will be by appointment only, 15 minute slots booked between a week and one day in advance. Arrive by car only. Suggests one visit per week. When we tidied our loft last year we were going daily.

A silly idea because you do not know when you will have the time and of course the likely result ... my guess would be more fly-tipping.  Derby instituted one of this type and also a maximum of 12 visits per year ... so what do new residents do with what was left behind?

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

IIRC many of those bags are delivered and collected by Companies that sell them & the contents to Charities - so if you are able to deliver direct to the Charity it saves them money.

Their bags may state that they donated x£s amount to charity  ... but what happens/happenned  after that guaranteed set amount was given?  Totally agree with @polybear comment.

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

My sister just called, my brother passed away at 11:30 this morning.

Condolences to you and your family, expected but still a shock when so soon.

12 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Apart from wandering about looking at kitchens, I’ve not done a lot today. 
 

Goodnight all

Know the feeling.

Phil in this difficult time thinking of you and the family trusting that your brother will be as comfortable and painless as possible while under the care of the hospice.

8 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Good evening everyone 

 

It was decreed this morning that the proposed trip to Waitrose was to be postponed until next week, I was gutted, gutted I tell you (not)! So, what did I do instead, well, I spent what remained of the day sat at the dining room table drawing plans for the up and coming kitchen refurbishment which may or may not get done this year, it probably will. I’d taken measurements over the weekend, so all I needed to do today was draw up and plan what size cupboards we need and where they are going to go. However, I’m leaving the very important job of choosing the colour of the cupboards to Sheila! All I’ve said on this matter is that she needs to choose a painted finish as opposed to a foil, (aka a very thin plastic skin) finish! Also, it would be better with a solid wood frame on the doors and drawers as anything else is just asking for trouble. 

Snap - it may not be totally practical bit it is SWMBOs choice a nd there may just need to be a few compromises.

10 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Apparently today, from photos taken by friends, there was a quite spectacular sunset. I was in a computer lab, facing another concrete building so missed it ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/covid-new-cases-still-going-up/

LIked the brass piece - friend who died was editor of British Brass for a number of years and also with others set up a brass festival in Marseille that celebrated 30 years a week or two ago.

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear asked a retired Chemistry Teacher how those currently at school can manage so many exams; when a certain Bear was at school it was around five subjects.  He said that when Bear was at school they taught the subject, but now the emphasis seems to be teaching them to pass the exam. 

 

Insofar as History is concerned, we had a teacher that was totally obsessed with Ancient Egypt - like we actually gave a sh...

I would've been far more interested (and I suspect the rest of the class would've been as well) if we'd done the 1st & 2nd World Wars.

These days there are those who think too much emphasis is placed on the fisrt and particulrly the second WW rather than history of other nations and their heroes.

Also tend to agree with the chemistry teacher the 'teaching subject rather than to pass exams' seems to be the current method plus of course ''everybody can do their own research'.That is as maybe but difficult if they are not taught properly to read and write first so that they can research and record appropriately.

Began to sound a bit like a rant but when you have to teach 16 plus year olds how to read and write how on earth do they progress.

Wider family wise there is a member with a pension who, for other reasons, can still not read or write nd for whom I'm told the initial school did basically very little.  As they were not sporty either ...

Latin - reached the required 48% in in-house exams but too many others hit higher marks and thus continued to 'O' level.

French - just a jumble of words and never got the hang of it and post op had a hearing defect; uni had to do a year of French or Russian so obvious chose Russian but 'modeste strenu sancte' is more or less what it was I currently think.

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Charities are notorious, standard advice is that if you want to leave something to charity write it as £xx, never write it as a proportion of the estate. I've had friends who went through hell as charities took a very predatory approach as to what constituted 20% of the estate or whatever the proportion they wanted was.

I've heard of that too.

Thoughts with Barry O family.

Snowdrop and daffodil greenery around but not flowers and croci have not even surfaced.

In some ways the late/first in-laws did what they could and their total 'remaining donated wealth' was a cheque for 14d (old money).

1 hour ago, Mike Bellamy said:

Early Riser today - 45th Wedding Anniversary and also SWMBO's 65th Birthday - not many get married at the age of 20 these days do they - as for me, I'm approaching 69 at Easter. Got cards to write and tea to make . . . . . . 

.

Congratulations to you both Mike and also best wishes for SWMBO happy 65

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. My sister phoned me about an hour ago with some bad news. My brother who is not in the best of health had intestinal problems so they ran a scan which revealed polyps. Thats not what all that was found, he also has pancreatic cancer. Due to his existing medical problems there's no chance of chemo. It seems likely that its palliative care only from now on.

Sorry to hear about that Phil and trust that his palliative care is in good hands and with appropriate pain relief.

@PhilJ WThanks for providing the missing details.

11 hours ago, pH said:

Single track? I don’t remember that, and I was first over that road in 1963. Single carriageway, definitely. 

It was not a single track but it was my first time along it and the amount of snow, 3' high on both sides of the 'track' made me think that it was a single track road.  It was not a very nice driving experience and yes, it was in the very early 60s and yes, you are right.

12 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Indeed so. An often overlooked aspect of executions is the traumatic impact it has on the prison system workers involved in carrying out executions.

 

For myself, knowing how fallible the justice system can be* (particularly for the poor and racially marginalized) the notion of executing a person who did not commit the crime for which they were convicted is heinous state-sanctioned murder.

 

* Innocence project

 

Timothy Evans comes to mind, 11 Rillington Place, - cannot remenber the name of the former policeman who was he actual murderer - and in retrospect the 19 year old Bentley , the 'Give it too him Craig' in fact being give him the gun NOT shoot him in more recent times.  Craig obviously misinterpreted what Bentley really meant.

4 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Leeds is not the flattest of cities. It has lots of hills making it difficult to cycle in. Despite this the council are getting rid of car and bus access to places like... the railway station as the new greener Leeds willbe all walkers and cyclists..

 

Even better, no charge points for electric cars, scooters or bikes are in the council plans. I would suggest they get the Singapore Mass Transit Authority to build some underground railways pdq.. but that's beyond their strict "green" policies...

 

Baz

Glad I don't live in Leeds.

One memory of Leeds is driving up to Scotland and having picked up a hitchhiker making his way home (approx 2300 hours at that time)  somewhere just off the M! was able to drive through the city centre - looked quite nice - also later abe to drive through the main street of Carlisle as well -both these before the new major roads.  Triggered anoither memory of driving to Scotland - the A66 that was single track ... I was driving through a snow- storm. As I turned right at the end I noticed that acar had careered over and dropped a long way down.

On another occasion dtiving through Leeds saw lots of literally back-t-back houses.