Tony_S

I don’t always need to be scintillated, it is quite nice to know that life goes on elsewhere. I did think about subscribing to the Dull Mens Club but laziness prevailed and I didn’t bother. Tony

We are supposed to be the least affected area for,the current storm but we can hear the wind gusts. We used to get woooo noises down the chimney but the special cowl a builder neighbour fitted a couple of years ago has dealt with that. The storm is much worse on the other side of the estuary. Tony

Here is an update. I plugged it in. No hum. How odd I thought. All I can think is that we used to have some device that the guitar detected and caused noise, perhaps like,one of those pre dect portable phones. I have given it a clean, but will do a proper job when it gets new strings. I was always scared to remove the knobs to get the bits of protective plastic remaining under them but I did that successfully using a knob puller. I found when searching for such a device that it was necessary to precede knob with guitar to avoid some unwanted results. I don’t normally name objects but I suppose the guitar could be Dusty as it was very dusty even having been in a bag for years.

I don’t usually get accused of being too short but I am afraid I can be described as too wide now.

We were in the market for double glazing and replacing soffits and fascia’s with upvc nearly 20 years ago. I told all of the salesmen (they were all men) not to do the huge starting price and then offer huge discounts for things like having a board outside or similar trivial things. So I didn’t order from the one who quoted over £30000 initially. I said I thought they got excited by the shock intake of breath when the customer heard the amount, a bit like obscene phone callers are alleged to do. That firm was best described as “regional” whereas the firm who supplied and fitted had a workshop on a local estate. Also they had been trading under the same name for many years. They still do. Tony

It is a Yamaha Pacifica. It didn’t always hum and it stops if you touch the metalwork so I am going to see if I can find a bad earth connection. The pickups are the original Yamaha, neck and middle are single types and the bridge one is a double coil type.

I noticed that The Range has 36 pages of outdoor lights on their website. Adit thinks we need a new outdoor light near the front door. I don’t like the one Aditi bought over thirty years ago as it is a lantern type that points down. It gets near my head. This is not a problem for Aditi. Anyway I suggested when we replace it, at least we should get one that doesn’t endanger my skull. The old one’s metalwork could do with re spraying black again and some spider eviction. I suggested it was a weathered look and biologically diverse. Aditi found a nice lantern on the John Lewis website. I am sure it is very well made and the designer has a nice factory but it did seem a little pricey to me. I shall point out a few I found on The Range website. Tony

Greetings all. Not a lot done here so far. We went to see MiL yesterday. Uneventful trips there and back via the M25. Her memory issues are getting worse rapidly. Aditi managed to be kind and tolerant. Some of the medically qualified relatives seem less patient. I had one of the interesting side effects of my blood medication yesterday. I had a nose bleed. It really flows when you are taking anticoagulants. The only thing that works for me (yes I have tried the online suggestions) is to stuff my nostril with ice. We have an ice tray that makes bullet shaped ice perfectly sized for my nostril. Aditi said they came with the small freezer we bought during lockdown. I can’t seem to get started on anything to do with my train hobby but Aditi has asked me to sort out our “big” camera. It shouldn’t be difficult as it probably just needs charging, and I know it was put away with its charger and leads. The other thing I have decided to do inspired by Dick’s @Smiffy2 guitar photos is sort out why an electric guitar I bought some years ago hums. Not a lot, but more than it should. There are lots of “how to” videos online. Even specifically for the model of guitar I have. Once upon a time I had hopes of learning to play but exhibited very little ability. Anyway this will be an electrical mystery to solve not musical. Tony

Do watch out for the deer and the antelope playing.

My grandmother was born in Winson Green Prison

I think Phil mentioned they didn’t pick up the phone. When I first bought cars, car dealers were quite persistent and pushy. When I went looking in 2010 I was amazed at how hard it was to get someone to respond to my enquiries. With the notable exception of Volkswagen and Land Rover. I thought the Peugeot dealer was cross at being disturbed. The Ford dealer seemed to be very depressed. We did return to the Ford dealer in 2012 to buy a used Fiesta and the sales service was excellent. The Land Rover dealership staff all seem quite trained, polite “may I help?” My usual answer now is that I am just looking while waiting for my car to be serviced. And to say how nice the Land Rovers look when clean.

If they had enquired and been misinformed then as long they had tried to determine the direction the prayer is more important than the actual direction. There is a phone app nowadays.

Evening all. It was a frosty start to the day. Our food delivery arrived at about 9.30. It didn’t take too long to,put away. Then I set off to Basildon Hospital for my routine skin scan in the dermatology department. It was pleasantly warm there which is fortunate as the examination requires not a lot of clothing. One spot was circled,with a marker pen and I was sent off to have it photographed. The doctor said it would be removed within a fortnight and later this afternoon I got a telephone call giving me an appointment at the end of the month. It will be at a clinic on Canvey. I called in at the tyre dealer in my way home and had the car tracking checked. It was a bit out as I suspected . It was adjusted and feels better now. The journey home was fairly uneventful, apart from a few cars in the hospital car park travelling up,the down ramp I was about to enter. I think the first car had made an error and the others just followed. There are painted arrows on the floor and overhead signs though. We went and had a cup of tea at our next door neighbours this afternoon. There was some discussion about local car dealers. My neighbour has got to sort out a new new shark fin aerial for his Lexus. He damaged the old one when reversing into his garage and the door was still going up. I looked at some online advice which suggested that my neighbours idea of patching the cracked cover and putting it back with silicone sealant wasn’t really a good idea. Most of the advice was from the US ,where I suppose the combination of Lexus and powered garage doors is more common. Tony

That was often the front page when I first moved here but later the boot boys without bikes were the main headlines.

Mil is quite small and has many arthritis related mobility problems, and uses sticks and walking frames. She has no difficulty getting in and out of my Evoque or,the front seat of Aditi’s Fiesta. She cannot get into the back seat of a Toyota Corolla as the door doesn’t open wide enough.

Here is a link. However, I don’t know if it works without a Twitter account. https://x.com/CincinnatiZoo/status/1747408410977386800?s=20 If it doesn’t work, they get romaine lettuce, served on the floor, and they bob for peppers in a big sink. Then something that looks like crushed Weetabix is put in a big roller they can move so the food drops out. They also have an indoor swimming pool. There is currently a competition to win a weekend with Fiona ( a hippo).

I did get some useful bits of knowledge like don’t touch the canvas or how to light a Primus stove in the rain. To be fair to my parents they did make us endure rain and solitude but that was nothing compared to going on holiday with Aditi ‘s family. I felt so sorry for Aditi as she always believed “it will be fine this time”.

I am not sure why but I have been receiving Tweets or Xs (whatever) from Cincinnati Zoo showing their enrichment activities now their hippos can’t go out due to the cold weather. It seems to mainly involve eating vegetables.

We had some holidays when I was a child in that area. My parents always chose places for our summer camping holidays in places that seemed to be raining a lot.

The Royal Mail will still collect return parcels from your home even for many prepaid returns. Some of the clothes retailers use Evri for returns and they collect too.

I bet it would form a good plot idea for a modern version of Agatha Christie’s “4.50 from Paddington”.

My late father in law (born 1921) has his first driving experience in a Model T Ford owned by his father. He can’t have been that old as he was sent away to school when he was about 15. This wasn’t in post WW1 Somerset though but near the NW frontier of pre partition India. He and his brothers just drove around their compound in the car. There wasn’t much else to do apparently though they did play cricket with the detachment of soldiers protecting them. Tony

We returned to the bird reserve. It was very cold. I don’t think my phone camera would have taken any worthwhile bird photos but here are some marsh cattle. The sign mentioned a bull in the field but all the cattle were very placid. We saw some some birds that were not mallards today. We were able to confirm what we had seen by looking online. It may look a bit remote but there is a strong 5G signal there. Aditi wants me to sort our camera that should be able to take some birdy photos. It hasn’t been used for some years. Tony

When I saw the GT40 photo my first thought was Phil is far too tall for,one of those. I think I saw a Top Gear (when it was about cars) and Jeremy Clarkson was too tall to fit. I think one of the racing versions had a little dome on the roof to accommodate a tall driver.

I think that is gruel and unusual… My Mum used to sprinkle red lentils onto stews. So I associated them with nasty tasting gritty bits. However the lovely lentil based dishes from India are a favourite of mine.