alastairq

It'll soon be like shopping in Moscow, in the 1960's?

Which is why I use a redundant white goods carcass [well, not quite, still has most of its guts inside].....This was scheduled for a tip-trip, but now has a reprieve. The cost of the stand was a bit of a luxury for me....If it's really an issue I can knock one up from scrounged scrap bits of steel quickly enough. Another way I've used the splitter is to stand it in the back of my Daihatsu 4Trak..... I'm not suggesting one's nice electric hatchback be used.....however..... I should add, the splitter is very good at chombling up the narstie gnarly bits of tree that an axe won't even look at...When in receipt of free heating, one shouldn't really complain too much...

https://forest-master.com/product/fast-lightweight-5-ton-electric-log-splitter-300mm-with-work-bench-guard-fm5d-tc/ It's this one...but I got mine on an offer last year. It has the shortest bed [my log burner cannot cope with anything more than about 12 inches, so all my tree rounds are sliced to roughly that size] I didn't assemble all the steel work that came with it, as I need to shift it about. I sit it on top of a busted tumble dryer for ease of working height. It'll take tree rounds of pretty much any girth [much more than 300 mm the specs state]...just balance the tree round on the vee bed, and possibly hold with your chin, then operate...the ram will split it in two, then it becomes even more manageable. Simple to operate, just open the hydraulic air bleed a turn or two, then start splitting. Needs two hands to operate though. Close hydraulic bleed when finished for the day. Forest Master do a good deal on hydraulic oil too [as my friendly tree hugger found out] I've been splitting tree rounds of anything up too 2 foot 6 diameter....but only about 10 inches thick. Save some time by inserting a bit of log in front of ram,, between the log to be split & ram, saves time as the ram doesn't have to return quite so far.

Ash, BTW, dries quickly enough..Split now, and it'll be good for December [woolly cardies for November, sorry!] A lot will be dead & half dry anyway.... Problem with bunnin wood is, having somewhere to split, stack & dry the stuff. My garden is full of piles of split logs of all-sorts.... a tree-surgeon pal drops off the odd chopped tree on my driveway, now & again..... Best investment I've Made recently is 200 pension-quids' worth of small hydraulic log splitter. Wielding a 4 foot long axe was getting a bit too energetic at my age. The pleasures of living in a rural village, I suppose?

Apparently Labradors are also good at smouldering?

Didn't the genny companies have t fire up a coal fired power station recently, to cover a shortfall in power needs? Given the rate of Ash die-back disease currently rampaging through this country [ I knew there was a reason for me to wear a mask!!]...I am truly surprised we haven't seen all the qualified tree surgeons being contracted to knock em down, log 'em and offer them to folk to burn to keep warm this winter? Oh yes, I forgot, everyone wants push button heating nowadays, don't they? Or , even more techo, control via their smart phones? Just been round a not-too-local Lidls, not much missing at all....but then its a relatively new store, so probably has a priority of deliveries when compared to my local, more rural Lidls? WHich hasn't got any sugar at the moment. Dunno about Tesco or other fancy stores....I stopped using them years ago....

Driver's hours, Working time Directives, etc all conspire to make it difficult for a cat C or C+E licence holder to work the hours necessary to fill the shelves. I sent my Cat C+E back to DVLA when I decided to stop working.....I can still reclaim it without having to re-take a test too...not that I have any issues whatsoever with taking any driving test going..but I wanted to 'remove the temptation'.... I also spent the last 20 years of my working life conducting driver training to the UK military... So, sorry folks, I get my meat from a local farm butcher.....no shortages there, it's all on the hoof in her fields...

Ryedale Clothing? Yorkshire Trading? Both, much-of-a-muchness, in my view [As a local! They're both located in Driffield, which has been my home town now for nearly 5 decades..] Quality can be mixed. However, there is a small ironmongers--country store in Driffield which, I have discovered, has finally arrived in the 21st century! Sells a really good range of proper agricultural stuff [need a decent farm gate? Or the hardware for one? None pf this modern rubbish sold there!] I bought a decent winter coat there 20 years ago...still have it, still failing to wear out! Also same with stuff like decent workmanlike boots. Cash often elicits a discount rounded down.....or used to, but they do take cards now. Proper 1930's old-school service.....Not sure what the distance selling is like, as I'd normally make a personal visit. But its the sort of spot local farmers use. https://www.fwaitesandsons.co.uk/ Proper shop, more like a barn or warehouse..none of this modern plastic frippery here! Barras are decent quality too.

I think one of the reasons why the cars of our era looked bigger, wider, etc, might have been because, on the whole, cars were quite a bit lower than those of today? A bit of an optical illusion going on? A bit like today's cars 'looking ''safer'' to ride in to the average modern motist/car buyer...simply because they have large areas of solid paneling, with smaller window areas [in terms of depth], perhaps? They have an appearance of bulk. This gives a psychological idea of quality & safety. {Ignore the safety technologies for the moment..many of which have been around for many years] Much the same as gluing a coin to the bottom of a plastic cup? { I recall the TV prog that demonstrated this in an experiment....using cups of tea [bags]? A test group of people were given plastic cups of tea to taste. They had to vote on which a they thought tasted the best? Almost without exception they voted for one particular {plastic} cup of tea. With the opinion that the tea was of better quality. What they didn't know at the time was, all the tea was made from the same brand of tea bag......exactly the same. All of it. From the same pot!! The only difference being, one of the plastic cups each was given, had a coin glued to the base of it. It was the glued-coin cup of tea that everyone voted for [almost]... The experiment had nowt to do with tea tasting, and everything to do with psychology. Apparently in our modern society we are all conditioned, subconsciously, to think that 'weight' equals 'quality!' Therefore, the slightly heavier plastic cups of tea must equate to better quality tea. Which is therefore preferable...or so we think? I see the same concept being applied to our cars? The heavier a car looks, the better quality it must be? [Look at Land Rovers, for example??]

Back in the early 1980's/late 70's, I worked for a small rural transport firm for a few years. One type of contract they would bid for and acquire was the delivery of hot school dinners. Many rural schools [primary] didn't have their own fully equipped kitchens, so meals were shipped out from a more 'centrally located' school to the surrounding villages' schools. this also saved on staff wages as the school with the kitchen was the only one to have to employ more or less full time catering staff. the rest simply had the odd one or two, very part time, dinner ladies,to open & serve up the hot school custard, etc. It was our job to provide transport of sufficient size to deliver the hot food containers....sealed things made of aluminum, probably similar to what the military used? About two foot six long, and about 18 inches square in profile.....we had to carry, often 8 or 9 of these things, laid flat, of course....and only one way up, please! Main vehicle we used was a Victor 101 estate. [Although sometimes a 1500 Allegro estate was substituted]. Failing that, mark1 diesel Transit minibus, if nowt else available [ Mark 1 diesel transits, rebodied with scrapped mark 2 transit bus bodies..to keep up with the times...same old clattery bus, different clothes!] Quite a long journey, done in specific order, as the schools had dinner breaks at different times to allow for deliveries. Had to ensure the right boxes went to the right schools...couldn't allow one school to have a surfeit of custard, could we? Never really had any problems, as I recall? Even with snow & ice on the country roads [all country lanes, none of this main road stuff...if there were white lines down the middle, we were likely on the wrong road?]

Thanks for that! Yet another 5 minutes googling! I'll never get the grass cut at this rate! I'm glad some folk [who know, I suspect?] have identified a phenomena I have suspected exists for years now. I am not a psycho {logist] but , in my last work environment [job, some would say? Revenge, is what I say!]...I strongly believed that being able to answer the question 'why?', and trying to understand 'why' folk do what I observed they do on a regular basis...helped me to get across ideas and concepts successfully. The Dunning-Kruger effect is so typified in an aspect of daily life, IE, driving?

I have been plagued by pop-up [google] adverts appearing and blocking the screen, when I click on the various forum shortcuts. Not just the ''unread content' icon, but the messages icon, and even, going though the main menu! This happens on the initial usage, and disappears after the 2nd or 3rd use of these shortcuts. Very annoying indeed, as the ads have to be physically 'closed' in order to continue. On a PC using Windows 10, and the latest iteration of Chrome. Come to think about it, there was a recent microsoft [windows] update, and subsequently my online baking has an issue with a bank fraud notice being slow to load, causing a failure of the login process. I complained to my bank about it..as it followed one of their 'maintenance' episodes. More of less dismissed as being 'my' current version of Chrome's fault. But it happens on the other platforms as well. So I wonder if some of the glitching is down to updates?

I note something of a concern regarding anti-vaxxers? Or rather, simply, non-vaxxers? I noted some 'family' friends, who are aged somewhere in the low 60's...are quite determined not to have a vaccination. They both contracted covid-19 recently. Whilst both suffered to a greater or lesser degree, they remained at home. They now claim to have 'recovered!' Knowing [from my past life when 'working'] how people tend to 'learn', or not, from their experiences.....I wonder if surviving a modest bout of covid will reinforce their views on vaccines? I wonder if they sit at home , not understanding ''what all the fuss has been about?'' Or will they consider themselves 'lucky' to have escaped the consequences of their 'attitudes?' Knowing them to be the sort of people who relish in 'going against the flow'....will relative survival not reinforce their views on the whole matter?

The BMW CS coupe on the Autocar cover? My old [younger than me] GP [doctor, not fancy-pants racer]...some years ago had a decent BMW CS coupe of the same age.....it was in a somewhat lurid metallic green colour. He reckoned it came in that colour.... I recall being called in for a 'check-up, and exchanging a week's sick leave for a spare BMW starter motor.... On the topic of 'sizes,', I have mentioned before, but my '67 Ford Mustang coupe is slightly shorter, and slightly narrower, than the latest Ford Mondeo...yet is a full [?} 11 inches wider inside. As a result, any passengers I may carry are almost at full social distancing from me, their driver.

The bus may not have passengers on? [he ''Stop'' sign isn't extended]. From the photo itself, the comments section

Oh dear! Where did that dismissal idea come from? Professional elitism, or the challenging thereof, isn't about being dismissive at all. {But I suppose, if one can afford it, there's always the option of a second opinion?}

Professional elitism has to be challenged, in my view. Including how that fall-back of 'qualification' is influenced by outside sources, or ulterior motives? There are many 'professionals' who are unwilling to add 'honesty' to their armoury of knowledge. ''Trust me, I'm a doctor?'' ?? {No, I am not an anti-vaxxer, or whatever the latest buzzword is? I had a vax for many years}

Not always, by any means. Knowing one's limits is a good thing really. How one arrives at that knowledge is best based on experience, not perception.

Absolutely correct, my mistake. it is the superficiality of current society that first of all needs to be overcome, closely followed by the above.

Now, that IS an oafish viewpoint. Generalisation worthy of Trumpism, methinks? Ignorance is subjective. How can so-called 'inverted snobbery' be self-limiting? Then there's Doctor Johnson? To my mind, a suspect character if ever there was one? [If not more than a trifle hypocritical?} I have always found that it isn't always 'ignorance' that colours a viewpoint, but 'experience'...

Nowt wrong with any of that at all. Maybe if we all had a bit of the above, the recent pandemic might not have caused so many problems? Or, the superficiality of it all? Or, even, the pretentiousness?

I absolutely agree. Cadbury's chocolate is absolutely........''mingin''...[to quote my DD} I cannot [even remotely] understand why anyone would want to tarnish their primary foodstuff with obnoxious additives like fudge or chocolate, or anything? Other than toast, or twiglets! Marmite is the be-all-&-end-all of mainline food. It has the finest most delicious taste ever! Especially when compared to salted caramel, [in coffee.....what-T-F is that all about??} Personally, I would know I'd really hit rock-bottom if I had not got a half used jar of Marmite in the cupboard! Marmite rates even higher than tablet...and that's going some! As for the stuff purporting to be 'food-of-the-gods', especially under the label of ''artisanal'....well, I think the biggest problem this country has to get over is the rush to be sophisticated , inclusive and global! I mean, what's that rubbish johnny foreigner makes out of scrambled hazelnuts, FFS? Or the leftovers from the French dairy industry? Artisanal? Never a more appropriate description of what's wrong with the population of this country! So up themselves! Arti-s-anal! What's wrong with ''home-made,'' eh? Plus, we have a whole middle class too frightened of getting their hands dirty for once!

Hah! Have you tried wearing an NBC suit all day long?? I personally think the only thing the State [not necessarily the govt! ] are remiss with, is not enlarging on the true current symptoms of covid! But then, there's 'science', and 'Science!' After all, the WHO prevaricated almost disastrously last year over the wearing of masks...simply because, the WHO's powers-that-be, were stuck [entrenched] in 80 year old dogma concerning aerosols! When we all know the only proper source of aerosols for years has been HAlfords! As for Spain ramping up boosters? [I think the North Koreans have misread the science on boosters, if current news is anything to go by?} I think teh UK govt is wise not to go wholeheartedly down the pasth of vacinating teenagers! After all, a common side effect of covid booster shots is zombieism developing [early onset zombieism, especially]....and the UK Govt is right in its assertion that zombieism is incredibly difficult to detect in the younger population.....hiding as it does, literally, ''in plain sight''...

On the other hand, they could be playing 'smash the bumper?'

Certainly, some cats come equipped with parachutes..it appears?