Ian Abel

Like this??? 😃 I couldn't pass it up. Sadly it's not exactly state-of-the-art now and even with high-speed FWD/REW can't easily find anything you may want to skip too. I got the NAB hubs and always used some higher end 10.5 inch tapes for the music. HUMP day. Yesterday a very enjoyable lunch with Trevor before I had to cut it somewhat shorter with a panic call from the client re: more report changes! Today, expected to be pretty quiet. Weather, -2c first thing, partly cloudy, expected to reach as high as 4-5c today.

Chewsday... Monday was nothing to write home about, or even report here! It DID stay sunny all day, a miracle perhaps. Today, much of the same although we are having lunch with Trevor as he's got the week off, spring-break, otherwise known in other worldly parts as half-term. If the weather could manage a modicum of WARMTH, the snow would begin to disappear. -19c getting the newspaper, another bright sunny day, but high only supposed to manage ZERO. What use it THAT in starting the great spring thaw!! Carry on.

Happy birthday @New Haven Neil Moaning... The weekend... IT SNOWED... ALL BLQQDY WEEKEND!!! Friday, battled the snow to a very enjoyable happy-hour at the neighbors. General consensus was that EVERYONE was/is done with snow for this season. Saturday, Jemma dropped off Whitney, a few to-do items then, battled MORE snow driving to a Supper club for an "Oscar winners and runners up songs" sing-along and dinner. Excellent music and company of friends. Clocks changed - Spring ahead style here overnight Saturday/Sunday so now we're blessed with it being lighter later in the evenings. I'm still confused/unsure how it really makes any soDDing difference in the grand scheme of things, and once again Congress (yeah, that august body of incompetent aresholes!!) are debating/weighing whether to stop p!ssing about with the clocks twice a year. Probably will result in the same as always, status quo. Sunday... yes, IT SNOWED!!! Theme here it seems. Decided on a lazy day, with the unfortunate exception of driving to the grocery store as we needed some essentials. The totals so far - this snow season we've had 80 inches and are now in EIGHTH place for snow since records have been taken, a billion years ago probably!! Another 5 inches, quite probable since the season lasts well into April, will put us in the top five. Weather today, surprisingly and AMAZINGLY, NO SNOW!!! -9c first thing BRIGHT SUNNY DAY, -2c the expected high and sunny/clear all day. Carry on...

POETS... Yesterday the light snow continued pretty much all day, but the failed to accumulate due to prevailing temperatures. The evening saw me driving in the same mess both to happy-hour/rehearsal and then back again. The return was slightly more fraught since the temperature had dropped and the snow starting to accumulate. Few folks on the road at 10pm and careful/slow driving sufficed. Awoke this morning 4 inches closer to the "top ten" snow accumulations everyone (the idiots that is) is hoping we manage. Given we're supposed to get the "right" amount tomorrow starting early evening, I'm sure some nut-cases will find the opportunity to see it as worthy of celebration. 😒🤯 We've a neighborhood happy-hour this evening, and a supper club dinner musical performance on the cards for tomorrow evening. Jemma will be off on a six-day back and forth to Heathrow tomorrow so we'll have Whitney for a few days starting tomorrow morning. Nothing else PLANNED, so far... -3c searching for the newspaper in 4 inches of snow first thing <grrr>, zero the expected high. More snow tomorrow. Did I mention I'm REALLY, REALLY done with snow this winter !@$!@$!@$$ !$@!@$!@$!!@$ !$@!@$!@$!$@ Add additional expletives as needed. Onward.

BIN day, also <pah> <buqqer> Yesterday, CONTRARY to the forecast stating snow starting today, it snowed almost all day! Was fortunately, light and since the air and surface was warm, no accumulation, just a nuisance since the Mrs had made/scheduled herself to provide soup for "soup supper" at church, we sallied forth and delivered as well as imbibed. Today - yeah, SNOWING, mostly light but given the Mrs and myself had said we'd drive Megan and her dog Otis to a vet specialist 16 miles away for a heart check, we were off once again in the snow. Pretty much shot the day as we weren't back till after noon. Recording it as a day off. Tonight, choir rehearsal, not been called off yet and looks like it'll not get bad/measurable snow on the roads till late tonight, I expect the rehearsal to proceed. We'll see. Zero c and snowing at BIN time, snowing all day forecast with the temperature remaining steady at ZERO. Snow IS picking up now and windy. Yawn, onward.

HUMP day... Yesterday relatively quiet, and the evening saw us at Jemma and Brendans for a very nice evening meal. Lasagna prepared by Jemma from the family recipe her grandma, the Mrs mother, had been making for "ever". Nice review of their vacation in Scotland, pictures and an acceptable narrative from both of them. We may well visit Edinburgh and Scotland ourselves for our late summer/autumn vacation. Looking into details. For those "struggling" with the inch+ of snow, we're now at 98 CONSECUTIVE DAYS with more than an inch of snow on the ground. Currently measured at 9 inches on the ground at the official measuring spot! Probably another 6+ inches coming in starting tonight/tomorrow, and more over the weekend also. Somewhat calm before the storm here, -1c first thing and overcast, +1c the expected high. Tally ho.

Somewhat, but this year has been excessive -> "At 74.7" in the metro area this is now the 13th snowiest winter since 1884." If we continue, especially with the potential 4-6 inches later this week/weekend, we're now shooting for being in the TOP FIVE!!!! 🤯 NOT the sort of top list I'm in favour of participating in... Yesterday, another panic round of report changes/updates at work. Jemma stopped by and went with the Mrs to let Trevor/Meagans dogs out - both T & M at work and needed someone to do the task, usually M's mother does it but she was preoccupied with something. We then went for a visit/glass of wine with one of the neighbors, very enjoyable. This evening, we're off to Jemma and Brendans for dinner and to see their vacation (Scotland) pictures and hear their travel tales. -2c partly sunny and like a skating rink out there getting the newspaper, 2c the expected high - NO SODDING snow in the forecast, YAY!!

Morning... Slow weekend, especially to start. Mrs still under the weather and as a result not doing much other than resting. Jemma returned from Frankfurt late afternoon and stayed for dinner Saturday as well as picking up Whitney. Sunday we did manage a "birthday brunch" for me at Trevor and Meagans. Delightful especially since all I had to do was transport myself and the Mrs over there 🙂 Then in the evening we had a Zoom happy hour with our friends in Arizona. I'm officially DONE with snow this winter, got 3-4 inches overnight, heavy/wet and then the city plow rolled by a couple of hours ago and basically blocked our driveway, until our snow removal guy gets over here 😒 NOT HANDY as the Mrs is supposed to go over and feed/check on Meagans dogs around noon. -1c first thing searching for the newspaper in the snow - did find it - high of 2c expected with snow off and on most of the day. Bah... onward.

Afternoon... Yesterday/birthday came and went with minimal fuss, we get together as a family Sunday since Jemma is on an out-and-back to Frankfurt, returning tomorrow. Good choir rehearsal, kept thankfully shorter than expected, appropriate congratulatory singing for my birthday recognition, then even better, the post-rehearsal happy-hour I was rewarded with not having to pay for my drinks 😀 Today rather quiet, will POET as the Long Island client seems asleep. Mrs still suffering some respiratory lurgy so will be a slow evening also. Re: Ferranti Pegasus - blimey, the first machine I programmed on a technical course. Donated to the local technical college by BAC Weybridge, took up half the blqqdy room the newly formed computer department had as a classroom. Interesting seeing ferrite core memory on a large circuit board about 15" square. probably held a stupidly small amount of data, and I actually don't remember the capacity. Also, using punched paper tape for input AND output was bizarre by todays standards/methods. -5c and partly cloudy first thing, 3c the expected high. Weekend will depend somewhat on the Mrs health... tally ho.

Awkwardly AWOL too long with a raft of miserable half-excuses... Work went into overdrive/uber-panic mode as they are heading into full-on audit season. Much manipulation of end-of-year data/report formats and new sub-totals required, has kept me way busy! Home front, arrival of the storage unit, moving carp from rental attic and MUCH sorting started by the Mrs, requiring me to help. Meagans oldest dog had a seizure at the weekend and has needed much care, testing, and Meagan needing all the support available - Otis is doing well, but she was very scared for him. Large snow event (15+ inches) last Wednesday/Thursday required cancelling of Ash Wednesday service, addition of "ashes" event at the Sunday service, choir director in panic trying to get some rehearsals for changed schedule. <phew> Mrs got bronchitis, or so it appears, late in the weekend and through this week so far, recovering but required me to do much running around for household chores. Tuesday night main drain/sewer backed up, NO WATER USE until yesterday noon, when it was sorted... Last evening we had an impromptu calling to sing at a Lenten soup supper service due to the past week being a shambles. I'm exhausted!!! There you go! Today seem me having circled the sun another time, and all I can say is; This evening off for choir rehearsal for the entire Easter season services, will be a doozie I'm sure. Both pre and post rehearsal happy hours will occur. As I share the birthday date with our accompanying pianist, we'll both get a choral "Happy Birthday" which is quite delightful. Weather has been everything from cold to much snow (as noted above, light snow yesterday, -5c and overcast at BIN time today, expecting -1c for a high. Onward...

POETS. Yesterday rather quiet, works for me. Today we eagerly!! await the arrival of the storage unit we're using as temporary storage for the carp in the rental property attic, due in around 30 minutes. Still unclear, from the dimensions of the unit AND the description/dimensions needed for the delivery mechanism to place said unit, as to whether there'll be enough room to get past the thing and get the car into the garage. Failing that, we'll probably have to leave the car out, at the end of the unit, until we're done - estimate by the Mrs one month or less. I truly hope we can manage to get the car in the garage, I HATE having to get snow, ice, etc. off the thing as we're still in the midst of our inevitable/eternal snow season. Oh well. Tonight we Zoom happy-hour with our Arizona snow-bird friends. Tomorrow the service that will extract said CARP from the rental attic and place in above mentioned storage unit will arrive around 10. Expecting to have it all done in one day. We'll see. Sunday peaceful until the evening when we'll be off to the Black History month concert, choir singing/backing, so Mrs has a friend taking my seat in the audience as we are "now" supposed to be on the risers for the entire concert... Weather a sunny and VERY cold -16c first thing, only expected to reach -2c for the high. EDIT: As I was typing this the storage unit arrived... Tally ho...

BIN day, morning. BIN trucks, as best I can tell, must've installed some noise quieting apparatus as they seem MUCH quieter than they used to be. Also of note, at least one company has moved to smaller trucks, not sure why! Yesterday was quite an extensive choir rehearsal as we're prepping for a concert Sunday, Ash Wednesday and the first Sunday in Lent <phew> 2.5 hours in all! Needed a well earned drink after that, onward to a late happy hour <hic> Had a delivery also, though not of any parallel metal related items. New SQUIRREL PROOF bird feeder. I was down to my last non-squirrel proof one and they've finally destroyed that, so sourced another of the deterrent variety. That'll keep the buqqers confused for a while as it's in the same location they've been destroying the previous one! Hah, I win. Today, work is busy, otherwise will be unusually quiet as I'll not be headed off for choir rehearsal. Weather decided to return to the cold range for a day or two, -14c and partly sunny first thing, only expecting a high of -7c today. Carry on.

HUMP day. Yesterday another very pleasant Valentine's dinner at the local Conservatory. Weather was carp, raining all the drive over there, but had relented by the time we left. Jemma and Brendan headed to Heathrow on vacation, plane was so empty they might as well have just said "why don't we just fly it over..." at least that meant they got excellent seating in Delta One. Today, choir rehearsal, one day early, to accommodate the musician's schedule. We're accompaniment for much of the Sunday Black-History-Month concert, so plenty to rehearse and need to coordinate with the musicians and featured singers... At least that means tomorrow off, unless the choir director decides we have to also show for more Ash Wednesday et-al practice. Taking the Mrs to a friends group get together at late-lunch time, they'd planned it so she'd have the car as it's not a choir rehearsal day - HAR HAR, that fooled them! Fortunately, she can get a ride back with one of her friends. -8c first thing, sunny and breezy, expected high of 3c. With luck the sun and breeze will get rid of more of the snow cover. Tally ho.

Chewsday and Valentines Day Little to report from yesterday, Mrs went with Meagan and Otis to the Vet and they seemed happy with the recommended ongoing care for him. Not sure why he had the seizure but watching and monitoring, as well as close check on his diabetes. Today will be departing early as we have a regular tradition of a Valentines Dinner at the Como Conservatory, a mini-Kew Gardens place. The dinner is put on as a fund raiser for the conservatory and we're happy to support the place. 2c and overcast retrieving the newspaper, light rain started and a high of 4c expected. Rain tapering off later but supposedly light snow overnight! Carry on.

Morning all... Busy weekend, some personal items accomplished, moving ever closer to getting the indoor layout space sorted so we can MAYBE make a start at recreating a layout <phew> Jemma had Whitney over early Saturday. She was off to Heathrow and return, then she and Brendan are on vacation, heading to Edinburgh tomorrow or Wednesday. So we have Whitney for about 10 days. Sorted out the bar area in our basement/family room and relocated the wine cooler onto some newly built shelving - job done! Some clearing of the ice/snow remaining on the driveway in preparation for the storage unit that's showing up Thursday. Sunday, somewhat relaxed. Mrs off to a book club theatre performance leaving me to walk Whitney and do more pratting around in the basement. Managed to wrench my wrist doing "something" down there, so now taking some over-the-counter pain killers. Also, a panic with Meagan/Trevor and their dog Otis, who had a seizure, so they were at the vet ER almost all day. Today, Mrs with Meagan and Otis at the regular vet to see what he Otis needs medium-long term. He's older (15) so I think we're going to need to provide plenty of support for Meagan soon, Otis is her baby. 😒 Weather cooperating with the ice removal on the driveway, -3c first thing and sunny supposed to have highs of 3 - 4c next few days. Onward.

POETS Yesterday a success it seems! Insulation contractor very knowledgeable and had good suggestions/ideas etc. We'll see how much damage it really is when we get the estimate. 🤯 Memorial service very heart-warming and the family appreciated our performance in helping celebrate of the lady's life. Long rehearsal followed as we're preparing for a supporting role backing the Black History Month concert next Sunday 19., plus gearing up for Ash Wednesday. Today, hopefully peaceful from the client perspective and I can POE, always helps with the start of the weekend. Weekend, zero plans. Whiteny return (she left last evening) Saturday as Jemma is off again flying around the planet. I'm surea to-do list will magically appear as I have designes on the free time for some hobby activities! Somewhat cold again here, -12c first thing and sunny, only going to make -1c for the high apparently. May be a few degrees warmer over the weekend, here's hoping. Carry on.

@PhilJ W My condolences Phil, echo what others have said sorry you weren't able to see him one last time. BIN day, out and serviced already. Busy day here it seems! Work is slow for now but; We've contractors coming over to the rental property at 10:30 to give us their estimate to re-insulate the attic there. Also, the "Vacate the Estate" small business will evaluate what it'll take/cost to get all the CARP out of the attic and into a temporary storage unit arriving in our driveway on the 19th. Once it's all there, we will at our leisure (YA RIGHT!!) decide what's to be kept, donated and trashed. Later, very early call (4pm) for choir/schola as we are singing at the memorial service of a schola members mother at 5pm. Then, choir rehearsal after that and with luck something in the way of sustenance? -6c first thing, overcast. Expected to reach 1-2c for a high. Onward.

"Trendy pseudo-Cowboy boots..." rather popular in NYC around the time I was there. @PhilJ WSorry to hear about your bother, hopefully he will be well cared for and kept as free of pain as possible. HUMP day... Another quiet day yesterday and looks to be the same today. Nothing happing to report. -4c first thing bright sun, expected to reach 4c today. Carry on.

Baz beat me to it, but I do seem to recall that there have been occasions of folks being hit by the "coming down" ammo. Lower velocity so not as bad as standing in the direct line of fire but seems some of the yahoo element at firing ranges in the US have manage that sort of thing when acting like aresouls (spelling to avoid the dreaded censor). Chewsday, nothing much to report from yesterday other than a flurry of report updating for the client. Otherwise, calm. Going through my aging pictures I offer this one below, mostly because a similar picture of this vehicle parked in our cul-de-sac (sans human occupant) has stumped the WhatsApp group of remaining members of the 8 families. I'm going to post this, especially as one of the "younger" ones commented on the previous picture as "...has to be a dumb guest at #2 or #3...". We lived at #2 and I was visiting over Christmas '79, none have twigged, yet 😃 I give you, yours truly with the Avis Daimler Soverign I had rented after zipping across the Atlantic in Concorde - those were the days; Weather maintaining an uptick, -1c and sunny first thing, +2c the high forecast. Starting to lose some snow cover and wet roads appearing from all the runoff. Onward.

Morning.. well, almost afternoon even here! Busy weekend after all, who knew! Ya, right. Saturday Mrs invited some family over for a dinner/movie night ("The Martian", as she's reading the book with a great-niece, and they wanted to watch it. That's me helping with cleaning the house and making it "presentable". Also, some light shopping for supplies, oh well. Sunday, involved in clearing up after Saturday, then went down a "rabbit hole" looking through some very old photographs/negatives and starting to scan them into digital form. That was interesting and also meant I relived the last almost 50 years as these were from the "old country" and I'd always meant to get to them. Re: Schooling/languages: The grammar I attended required us to take French from 1st - 4th year, mandatory. Worked OK for me as I did use it some, especially when I worked in Montreal for 18 months - passably useable even though they speak "Quebeqois". From 2nd - 4th year we had to choose between Latin and German. Determining I wasn't going to be a doctor or chemist I opted for German. Also useful for 2 years when I worked at Shell at Waterloo and was seconded as the technical half or a linear programming team. The other half was a German who was on UK assignment for two years and planned on improving his English. We shared an office, and his requirement was for us to spend half the day conversing in English, the other half in German. Was nice to better my German, and used it while skiing in Europe a few times. Dropped BOTH moving to 6th form and "A" levels as I wasn't interested enough to continue them. Used NEITHER with a vengeance since, so given the Montral work was in the late-70s I probably have no expectation I'd manage with either now even if pressed! Today, work ramping up as they're full-steam ahead into the yearly audit carp. Weather vastly improving (it's ALL relative mind you) with a morning of -8c under sunny skies, high of 2c expected with tonight only down to -4c! Yay!! Tally ho.

HAH!! That rodent, and more importantly/accurately, the idiots that continue that farcical charade are only right 40% of the time anyway, would be simpler to toss a coin. Adding insult to an already shaky scenario, how'd they manage to decide on "Gobbler's Knob" as the site of such a travesty of weather forecasting, I would expect to discover that the caretakers of the creature could well be "Incontinentia Buttocks" and her hubby "Biggus Dickus" 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

BINGO! I WIN! Outside temperature this morning retrieving the newspaper... -25c - a dubious win for sure, but I don't expect any other ERs can beat that. POETS, will give that a shot, but going outside NOT in the plans. Quiet yesterday, just a couple of us at the pre-rehearsal happy hour, others AWOL in warmer climes. Rehearsal was brisk with a full attendance, and the schola are on for another funeral next Thursday afternoon, mother of a choir member and one of the post-rehearsal happy hour group. Leaving rehearsal, it was -19c, didn't see much traffic about, everyone else not stupid enough to be out, I guess! 🤯 Managed to get the bird feeders topped up and the bird bath serviced also first thing, much to the appreciation of the feathered contingent, how they survive I have no clue. Today looks to be quiet all round, so we head into the weekend with plans for time to indulge in hobbies - until a to-do list appears, I'm sure. Whitney will be dropped off tomorrow morning, Jemma off on a JFK-DUB-BOS-DUB-JFK jaunt over several days. Reports that Trevor and Meagan have a new car, not sighted yet, but I'm sure we'll see it soon enough. They've been needing to replace both their cars and this is the start. As reported -25c first thing, mostly overcast, headed for a high of -19c. The weekend picks up some with low tonight of -13c and highs next two days +1c - +3c, YAY!!! Onward towards the weekend.

BIN day... considered not bothering since we've only two days of carp. The MANAGEMENT decided it all has to go out anyway! Yay, long walk in the VERY COLD. Other than that (was accomplished late yesterday evening) nothing to report from yesterday. Today, I'd be staying IN due to the temperatures, however, we do have choir and a pre-event happy hour, so I will brave the cold for it. 🤯 -22c and sunny first thing, -9 the expected high, will be -19c forecast around happy hour time!!! Tally ho.

Morning... Back home after a week vacation in Arizona. Haven't, and probably won't, manage to go back and see all the posts for a WEEK!!! More on the trip with some pictures once I get some time, suffice to say, some enjoyable hikes, a visit to a railroad/model museum, and a wine festival. 😃 Weather was fine, for us, though the entire AZ population was moaning about it since it was below average, you'd have thought it was even approaching "cold" <sigh>. Most of the time was in the low to mid 12c - 18c, but they expect 20c - 24c so were all kids of fretting about the weather! Now needing to get busy with some work as the "client" has found some things for me to do in my absence. Weather here is COLD with a CAPITAL C!! -19c and sunny first thing, high of -6c expected THEN, -22c overnight with tomorrow a high of only -11c. Carry on.

Morning all. Very busy weekend <phew> Don't even REMEMBER Friday evening, Zoom with plenty of chat and wine... Saturday, singing at the funeral/memorial celebration for a long time church/choir member. 17, yep SEVENTEEN grand-children there, just wow! Evening we were at a supper-club to hear some local musicians, great evening excellent music and food with a couple who are neighbors. Sunday, was going to be quiet, turned into a support gathering for Meagan, as her older dog has been diagnosed with diabetes and we all decided she needed sort of an intervention to help her with the issue. She was grateful and has a better idea of the path now. Vet has explained it can be managed but as he's old (14) anyway she's having to confront the inevitable. It's a lot of stress on her as Otis has been there for a lot of her ups-and-down a while back. Today, last day of work before we take off for a week in AZ. Some sorting of various items before we leave, scheduling feeding for Bob by various folks used to the task, and of course deciding what to PACK! Not going to be as warm (hot??) as one might have expected/hoped, with highs only around 16-18c and lows 4-6c. Shant be taking shorts this year! -12c and overcast, supposed to remain overcast all day, high of +1c if we're lucky. Onward.