Early Risers.

[colin penfold]

Colin I must first say that I am no relation to Mr Clarkson.

 

Our District and County Councils have seen a need to grow almost exponentially over the past 15-20 years and no longer act as public servants but as petty meddling dictators who take no responsibility for their actions and remain unaccountable. Were they to return to providing only the key services as tasked by central government, the cost would be much lower and the service level so much higher. I could list a dozen "initiatives" our local lot do that should be ended to save money but each function has a senior manager who will fight to preserve his/her own empire. Sadly their actions leave the vulnerable (children and the very old) even worse off.

 

I'm glad you have such an in-depth knowledge of your local authorities. You are to be congratulated for taking such an interest in local affairs, and your local councils are to be congratulated for the openness with which they operate that allows you such detailed information. Back in the real world the councils in my area have achieved savings of 10% of their budgets year on year since 2009. Most have vacancy freezes and have seen net headcount reductions (i.e. people getting fired - me included) The initiatives you talk about are usually managed by a manager who also has a day job and has been "asked" to deliver it as an add on without extra pay or resource. Mostly they do it for fear of being made redundant in the next round of cuts.

 

In terms of accountability, council officers are accountable to the elected councillors for delivering the services and initiatives they have chosen. They in turn are accountable to the electorate. Every purchase over £500 made by your local council is available for public scrutiny and if you want to know about pretty much anything they are doing a Freedom of Information enquiry will give you the information you seek.

 

Its interesting that I seem to be the focus of some unfair negativity on here because I was open enough to share a but of truth about how the cuts are "dressed up" to try to make them look like they are not financially driven. It's little wonder most council staff are reluctant to have too much public exposure is it?

 

Anyhow, I have probably said enough to indicate that I disagree wholeheartedly with your views and I shall go back to my weekend now, as no doubt many similar conversations lay in wait for me in my working week to come.

[Gruffalo]

Nice to see the return of Ashers; sorry it wasn't a great trip for you. At least your weather was better than ours although we have (relative) stillness and blue sky above Gruff Towers this morning.

 

Friends from way back due in an hour or so and SWMBO requires a roaring fire to greet them - that'll be us all snoring this afternoon then particularly as I have a rather nice bottle of Chateauneuf du Pape to share with the oppressed male part of the couple visiting. I must record some rugby for later perusal.

 

Back to my place under the thumb, catch up later.

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

A lovely bright morning, not a cloud in the sky - yet only a bit of ground frost. Gorgoeus for 2nd of Feb!

 

Colin - having spent 38 years in the railways industry, I am all too aware of how everyone else knows how you could do it better, and, specifically, more cheaply. As for "dressing up" savings, banks are always exhorting me to go paperless for the environment's sake, and hotels ask you to consider eco matters before putting towels etc for dirty if you are staying another night. Their bottom line is never mentioned.

 

Not having had a streetlight or pavement outside my house in more than 30 years these are things I might not miss!

 

Good to see Sherry back & on form. The Wifi issue is a mystery to me. I tend to assume cruises are full of affluent grey power, and most have kids and grandkids, so keeping in touch with home and sharing the ooh and aah moments on the cruise with those back at the ranch would seem rather basic in 2014. Even oldies have smartphones, netbooks, laptops etc. With a cruise complement of 3000, if P&O charged everyone an extra £5 that would make £15k, which to my mind would pay for an awful lot of Wifi provision. They don't get it, clearly.

 

Hope your day of rest delivers.

[Coombe Barton]

Good to see Sherry back & on form. The Wifi issue is a mystery to me. I tend to assume cruises are full of affluent grey power, and most have kids and grandkids, so keeping in touch with home and sharing the ooh and aah moments on the cruise with those back at the ranch would seem rather basic in 2014. Even oldies have smartphones, netbooks, laptops etc. With a cruise complement of 3000, if P&O charged everyone an extra £5 that would make £15k, which to my mind would pay for an awful lot of Wifi provision. They don't get it, clearly.

 

Is the wifi problem shipboard because everything is a Faraday Cage, being metal? Someone will perhaps enlighten me.

 

Doesn't excuse the cost, but installing it would be difficult to have 100% coverage.

[Tony_S]

The whole of the ship Sherry was on is networked as all the cabin TVs are cabled. However I think it probably was all installed or specified just before wifi achieved its current popularity, and people who tried the public (but billed) wifi were not impressed. If I were P&O it would be one of the things I'd seriously consider upgrading at the next refit. However even purchased time on the ships computers was not only expensive but very slow, data coming in at about dial up speeds. Matthew bought some time to get some exam results. He wasn't impressed. When we went on Ventura internet through 3G when near EU coastlines would have been the best way if needed but we didn't bother. I did buy some more books from my Kindle though via a 3G signal off the coast of Albania.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Onboard wifi - well our regular little voyage ship doesn't have it for the punters and from what I saw of it the data links weren't even all that impressive for 'official business' requiring lots of engineering attention from service providers and the ship's white overall gang to keep it on top line.  I can just imagine the problems of transferring that to some behemoth cruise ship with huge demand for bandwidth.

 

Councils - well an old pal of mine was a District Councillor for many years and he can interpret the financial information they have to give us Council Tax payers, I'll say no more but cutting out local libraries while at the same time setting up a new dept with six staff costing more than library closure would save told its own story.

 

Cruises - sorry to hear Sherry didn't have a wonderful time in all respects.  We really don't fancy the idea of the big ships and having worked in the same office as Lloyd's Register Marine Assessors and heard their stories I fancy it even less (but some of the Mecca pilgrim ships are even worse apparently!).  Small ships seem far better, especially when it's all open to punter inspection, however we are moving up to something bigger for our trip to the Arctic Circle but our cabin won't even have a tv let alone wifi so not so much to disappoint perhaps.

 

Stafford show by car - take your snow mud chains or you'll be a wallowing hippo.  Remark overhead on the 'bus as I waited to depart yesterday and watched a car sliding about the parking area trying to get out of it 'That's the trouble with those BMWs, rear wheel drive and they can't grip' - as the front wheels of said car spun madly as it finally got onto the tarmac.  Enjoy the show!

 

Have a good day one & all - I'm now off for hair-cutting (mine, by Mrs Stationmaster) then it's log moving to the ready-use pile, restocking the kindling and shopping for cat litter.

[Shedman5]

Morning, just back from a nice walk whilst the sun shines, makes a difference! Watched the final episodes of the Bridge last night, really good and sets it up for a third series, best thing Ive watched for ages.

 

Its forecast to be dry again tomorrow, maybe you've brought some decent weather back Sherry.

 

Enjoy your day

[BoD]

I would suggest running fibre cables to cruise ships but they might get tangled as the ships crisscrossed the oceans blue.

I don't know why I was never head hunted for system design.

[NGT6 1315]

Afternoon all!

 

After several hours of sunshine yesterday, we're back to dull and dreich today. Thankfully, I got most of my preparations for next week done already, so I can curl up on the sofa later today...

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, kind of.  Suny and bright here, and NHN is mostly restored to health, not rude health though, I'm always rude.....

 

Went out on the bike to blow away the cobwebs, lulled into a false sense of security by 8c and sun, however up a height it was about zero and snow by the side of the road!  still sunny though with mostly dry roads so I did 70 miles or so and it reminded me how much I enjoy motorcycling.  The best bit was putting less than a gallon in the tank afterwards, this is certainly an economical little machine, the BMW would have taken two gallons.  In warm up phase now, I think cold water swimmers get this 'buzz' too!

 

Mrs H is in painting frenzy mode again, so perhaps the garage beckons after lunch where I can be safely out of the way of wet gloss paint that seems to attract me rather.....and that results in a lack of marital harmony!  best avoided if at all possible.

 

Welcome back Sherry - sorry the cruise wasn't up to scratch, pazzy boats, all the same, not real ships!

[Coombe Barton]

The dogs having taken me for a walk, we'er now back and they're scraped clean. Got into a game with a chocolate Lab - and one of mine did a four paw drift and missed - ending up on her side in thick mud. they're now employing themselves begging for lunch - ours - they've already had theirs. The sun was out for our walk but it's clouding over a bit now. 

 

Sandy has finished domestic chores and we're settling to an afternoon of crafting (her) and modelling (me)

 

Glad Sherry's home OK but sorry that the cruise was less than expected.

[grandadbob]

Afternoon all,
Late start today due to a very enjoyable late night & too much to eat so the diet went to pot. ( 4 or 5 beers didn't help either but never mind.) In view of that have done one session on the exercise bike & will do another later. I then spent the rest of the morning clearing up as Chris is still in bed exhibiting heavy cold/flu type symptoms & is not her usual cheerful self.

Have a good one ( what's left of it)

Bob. (Head nurse, chief cook & bottle washer)

 

 

Strange - thought I posted this an hour ago but it appears I didn't. (senior moment?)

 

Edit: & bits are dropping off (Bonkers I am going)

Edited February 2, 2014 by grandadbob

[Donw]

Colin my apologies if I have offended you my comments were not aimed at the rank and file but those senior managers and councillors who make the choices. The two councils I have paid in the last ten years have been involved in financial mismanagement I find apalling. I will not post details here. I am a great believer that those who make decisions should have to bear the consequences sadly this seldom occurs. In my career in a different industry I did speak up and did not enhance my progress.

 I do take an interest in local affairs but as the major parties have a stranglehold on councils and the electorate seem unable to distinguish between central government actions and local councillors when it comes to voting they are seldom called to account.

 

However you did yourself no favours by reference to Mr Clarkson

Don

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Yesterday was a bit of a nighmare here - started off with trying to rehang the gate on the posts which I'd put back with the "not to be used under 5^oC quick set cement", which had set, but was just a crumbly  mess which wasn't holding anything in place, so gave up on that and put the non opening temporary closure back, and moved on to clearing the garage, and made a run to the local Civic Amenity Site/Recycling Centre (aka tip) and they were very helpful indeed  in sorting everything for us - the wind started to blow up, and it was a right hooley - then the rain started, and we had to turn to indoor jobs and to shut the door on the garage.  Early evening, got a call from 30747 to say that the wind had caught one of the fence panels and had to turn out in a 40mph wind with driving rain to try to shore it up - and access to that area was behind the temporary (non opening, remember) closure where the gate should have gone!  It took about 20 minutes to get some wood behind the totally rotten panel, and then the only place that I wanted was a hot bath.

 

Today, had another go at the garage, and glanced over to the panel to see that the shoring was doing nothing other than pointing skywards, and had to start again - luckily the wind and rain have abated a little and it was actually dry.  So more stakes and tried to find a bit of panel that was not too rotten to take a couple of screws.  Looks like a new panel is going to be indicated - that one lasted eight years, which for the rubbish that the DIY stores palm off on one as a fence panel is pretty good.

 

I'm off to visit the DIY store sites to see what panels they're offering.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Tony_S]

 

 

I'm off to visit the DIY store sites to see what panels they're offering.

 

I was quite surprised recently that the big garden centre near us had constructional stuff (like fencing) cheaper than the diy stores. It used to be the other way round.

No sign of the broken fence at the bottom of our garden being replaced. The only reason the neighbour's fence is vertical is because I have propped it from my side. Tomorrow will be a fortnight since I was told the fence would be repaired and the trees trimmed "in a couple of days". I know the weather hasn't been nice but there have been plenty of other tree loppers and fencing contractors working in nearby streets.

Tony

[Ohmisterporter]

Hope you get your fence fixed Stewart. I usually find that independent suppliers have better quality often at lower prices than the big diy stores. My local fencing supplier of choice is Broadoak, who are now located across the road from Wickes. I replaced a fence post two weeks ago, £7.45 from Broadoak, £12.48 from Wickes. The Wickes posts were all twisted or warped, I got a straight one from Broadoak. 

[trisonic]

Another "upto" 8 inches of snow tomorrow - on top of snow... Then "ice pellets" - sleet to us - tuesday, then freezing rain on Wednesday. More snow at the weekend followed by days of subzero temperatures. Roll on Spring (if we ever get one this year).

 

 

Gutters are blocked with solid, rock like, ice.

 

Best, Pete.

[gordon s]

We must be getting off lightly weatherwise as I played golf today and enjoyed some reasonable weather.  It wasn't raining and even the sun put in an appearance.  Only downside was that we had the highest score, but were pushed into second place on countback.  So close yet so far….

 

Nothing personal Pete, but can you keep your snow over there..:-)

 

Otherwise, pottering around on the next board of ET.  Who said it wouldn't last?...

 

Of course there's still time for it all to go wrong…:-)

 

Your holiday summary Ashers, sounds a bit like how we feel once we've been away.  Great to get away, but sometimes the hassle of getting there and back can take the edge of it.  Probably why we trundle in the car to the south coast with the dogs and try to avoid airports.  I also start to feel restless after 7-10 days.

 

I was interested in your comments on St Lucia as we were there a couple of years back.  OK, but not great and to be honest I preferred Antigua and hear that Barbados is even better.

[Debs.]

I was asked to help a friend at the Quaker meeting house today, his Vista laptop has suddenly begun asking for a user-account password on boot, despite none having been set.

I plugged the laptop into the power-socket and tried to boot up (thinking I`d get it into safe mode and try to access and remove any password acting as an administrator)......but nada, black screen no-fans or lights, it`s a Norwegian Blue!

 

Tried removing the battery pack and pressing/holding the power switch for several seconds, but still no life-signs at all.

 

When the owner dejectedly returned home, he plugged in the power charger and the laptop powered-up and booted into Vista, as far as asking for the user account password.............how strange!

It turns out that the meeting house recently had a new consumer-unit fitted by an electrical contractor........Ah-ha!......the thick, plottens! ......something got missed I think; as the sockets in the coffee room must now be unpowered, hence the seemingly dead parrot with a bat flattery!

 

But why would a (single user) laptop, suddenly require a user account password, despite one never having been previously set?....any ideas?

 

Now I know it`s bootable, I`ll have another go at getting him access in a day or two.

Edited February 2, 2014 by Debs.

[DDolfelin]

Have you tried hitting 'Enter' or whatever you need to hit while leaving the password box blank?

[beast66606]

But why would a (single user) laptop, suddenly require a user account password, despite one never having been previously set?....any ideas?

 

Now I know it`s bootable, I`ll have another go at getting him access in a day or two.

 

Something trying to do nasty things perhaps and the UAC is asking for confirmation.

 

Set a password immediately and advise them to NEVER use the administrator account as their normal user, create a normal user account and use that. When installing software temporarily use the admin account but not for normal use. This severely limits the damage any unwanted software can do.

 

PS - Power supplies generally have an LED, useful to detect dodgy power supplies.

 

Have you tried hitting 'Enter' or whatever you need to hit while leaving the password box blank?

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

In case it's the above nasty thing

[BoD]

Gordon:   Did you opt for the cheeseburger or the ............

 

I have just spent an evening playing with the Rocrail computer train control software.  Thoroughly enjoyed it - I'm well and truly hooked.

[gordon s]

Your evening sounds like much more fun.  Just wasted an hour of my life watching Top Gear.  Even as a petrol head, TG has gone past it's sell by date….

 

Total garbage.

 

Congrats on Saturday's result.  Seems your private coaching of young Adam is working wonders…:-)

[Coombe Barton]

Result of two Sundays modelling - inside motion on a High Level 14xx chassis.

 

Hate to think of what making it working would be like!

[SouthernRegionSteam]

Oh boy, oh boy.

Sorry to barge in, without first reading back a bit. I just needed to say this... (don't feel the need to read it, I am going to waffle!)

So today I woke up in a bad mood, probably because dad was making a lot of noise putting down the new flooring. Got to work a bit late, and the KP from the previous night had once again not done what he should've done. OK, I thought, nothing unusual there, just try to get on with it. The day carried on getting progressively worse, the pub was busy, I couldn't keep up from the amount of stuff a packed restaurant and 3 chefs produce in dirty plates and pans etc. I went to the bar to calm down, taking a tray of clean cups when (jokingly) one of the regulars said "Corr, it was quiet until you came clattering along!". Suddenly something in my mind just switched and I literally had to run out back and go outside and I wept. I don't know what happened, it must've been my tipping point. One of the waitresses must've seen me on my way out as she said "Jamie, come over here, I've got you something". This is where my day changed from being utter cr@p to quite the opposite...

Turns out she had made me a dessert with a smiley face on. That ONE act of kindness had made me amazingly happier. And then 6 hours later I return home. A friend of mine I had done a bit of unpaid work for in the past said if I can produce a logo to a set of specifications his boss will give me, I stand a good chance of getting a new job with them... from home.... no more horrid shift work, no more washing up.

So yes, a  lot of pressure. But to change, in a day, my mood and stress levels from being so horrid to so amazing... I dunno, I feel a bit shocked to be honest.

Sorry for this, just had to get it off my chest really.
Fingers crossed eh... I'll be back in the morning when i'm not in shock anymore.