Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

After yesterday's marathon mow, some more gentle activity today. Fortunately not feeling the effects of the outdoor session, which must mean that my energy levels are returning.

 

Low cloud and damp here, but not unpleasant. Sandy's gone off to work with lunch duly prepared (my job), dogs having had their third breakfast (1-biscuits, 2-Sainsbyry equivalent of dentastix, 3-what they could scrounge from Sandy's lunch) are now fully prepared for their morning of intensive sleeping.

 

For me, nickel-silver and brass abuse could well be on the cards. Maybe someday this chassis will actually move!

[AndyB]

Testing to see if my parents are coulrophobic today, as I`ve bought them some tickets to Billy Smart`s Circus which has come to town for Easter.

They`re hardly to be considered 'regulars' as it`s been over 70 years since they last attended a circus..........mercifully the days of performing animal ignominy are long gone and the performances are assured to be 'all human' (including a not insubstantial live-music orchestra).

 

My attempt to joke with the Russian box office young-lady (also one of the acrobats) about the circus being organised by a 'bunch of clowns', fell on somewhat stony ground!

 

Sufferers rarely see these phobias coming; in particular those suffering Metamfiezomaiophobia seem unaware of their condition as it creeps up behind them and they have to have it pointed out to them!  

[Coombe Barton]

Don't think that Debs and AndyB are trying to induce hippopotomonstrosesquipedaliophobia into the rest of us, but I'm not sure.

 

Edited April 24, 2014 by Coombe Barton

[New Haven Neil]

Good morning ER's. not so bad here with a decent day forecast, degrading into horridness for the weekend because it's the hill-climb on Saturday.  Bah.

 

Donk thanks those who sent nice messages, he thought it would be nice to inform the ER's forum of his normal places of residence - in his mind anyway.  He actually lives in a camper van on our drive.

 

Hamburger Castle.....

 

 

...and Barney House, his holiday chalet.

 

Those familiar with the North-east may get the clues!

 

 

[Barry O]

Does Donk like Craster Kippers and Wensleydale perchance???

 

Morning all from a sunny RHB. I have managed to develop a cough/cold but s*d it I am on holiday and life is good (except for the mounting pile of painting and decorating and some weathering to do on my return home!)

 

Hope you have  great and special Thursday.....

[Jock67B]

A late good morning all, just a thought, but if Debs wanted to introduce Mum and Dad to ER first, she could check how they will react to the clowns? (I most certainly included myself in that! Andy, I don't suppose we could help with mime etc. but what a word for scrabble!). Neil, I hope Donk forced you to drop some hard earned into the Grace Darling fund!! Sunny start here in Clacton but rain forecast so I guess the management will be checking the indoor chores list. May get a chance to advance the model design a little today - I've drawn a plan of the coaling stage and with the Peco code75 point templates, I hope to lay out a full size version on carpet lining paper. Wonder if it will fit? Hope today brings you all you would want, kind regards,

Jock67B.

[CathcartCircle]

Good morning from a very sunny Glasgow, finaly decided to say hello here after a long time lurking! After a year of looking for work (since redundancy after 28 years) I have gotten a little closer by being invited to take two online assessments by Network Rail! Not looking forward to it at all as I failed a similar thing with the Post Office recently! At 48, my brain isn't as quick as it used to be and although I know I got the answers right I was seconds too late for submitting some answers so am really having to psych myself up for these ones! What happened to the days of submitting an application form containing all of your qualifications and experiences and then going for an interview to sell yourself? Anyhoo rant over! lol! Lots to do, have a good day folks!

[AndrewC]

Hamburger Castle?  Where is the drive-thru?

 

 

Morning all from the green and pleasant boring borough. Grey, cloudy, and cool this morning. Lots of nocturnal fox activity over the past few days. The security light is doing a good impression of a disco. Time to spray the fence with Scoot again. Don't mind them wandering about but SWMBO is fed up with them digging in the raised veggie beds. Lost a dozen beets last night.

 

Good news from the offspring. His employment at a well known and reasonably upmarket supermarket chain has gone from 3 days a week to 5 for the next 3 months. Still not full time hours but getting better. Just need for this to continue beyond the 3 months and then extend to full hours and we can finally push him out of the nest. (hopefully)

 

Not much else to say. Have a good one everybody. Remember, Thursday is the new Friday.

[Jock67B]

Good morning from a very sunny Glasgow, finaly decided to say hello here after a long time lurking! After a year of looking for work (since redundancy after 28 years) I have gotten a little closer by being invited to take two online assessments by Network Rail! Not looking forward to it at all as I failed a similar thing with the Post Office recently! At 48, my brain isn't as quick as it used to be and although I know I got the answers right I was seconds too late for submitting some answers so am really having to psych myself up for these ones! What happened to the days of submitting an application form containing all of your qualifications and experiences and then going for an interview to sell yourself? Anyhoo rant over! lol! Lots to do, have a good day folks!

Morning CathcartCircle (sorry don't know your name!), had to do 3 similar exams annually for the FSA before illness retired me! My trick, as you had three tries and strike out, was to print each page during the first run,then study it before re-trying. I found the physical image stuck with me and got 100% each year whilst in my sixties. Don't know the format of your test but hope this helps. I'm certain that like me, a large number of members will think of you and wish you the best of luck,

Kind regards,

Jock67B.

[Tony_S]

I don't think I could even pass a test to become a clown now if it had to be done "against the clock". We discovered Matthew's clown phobia when he was about 11. Fortunately being bad parents we hadn't actually made the effort to go the circus when it came to town but when clearing his room we did realise he had received rather a lot of birthday cards with clowns on. He doesn't like people in cartoon animal suits either and is very suspicious of mime performers and those people who pretend to be statues. He claims to cope now.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

I couldn't stand clowns even when a youngster - not a fear of them but I just didn't (and still don't) find them funny so considered them a total waste of time, space and fresh air.  On the other hand Donk looks a very fine and useful chap and is clearly well travelled so obviously has good taste and an inquiring mind.

 

As for all these silly modern day tests their only purpose is to avoid folk having to take responsibility when selecting a candidate for a job and perhaps to weed out the utter incompetents. But the the latter depends very much on the sort of competence you are looking for of course.  I only once employed a test when carrying out interviews and then it was only taken by those who had been selected for interview - before the face-to-face they were given a basic train service timetable and had to work out how many trainsets were needed to operate it; that bit was easy, the interesting bit was how they reacted to questions about it at the subsequent interview to establish method and the way they thought and how quickly they could solve a practical problem.  That definitely got at their job skills and their applied reasoning - and apart from the person profile that was what we were after.

 

Anyway back to earth and taking the good Doctor off to Tilehurst to visit the dentist while Mrs Stationmaster and I do some shopping - hopefully she won't be in her major shelf stripping mode if we can find the item which has vanished from our local shops.

 

Have a good day one & all.

Edited April 24, 2014 by The Stationmaster

[CathcartCircle]

Morning CathcartCircle (sorry don't know your name!), had to do 3 similar exams annually for the FSA before illness retired me! My trick, as you had three tries and strike out, was to print each page during the first run,then study it before re-trying. I found the physical image stuck with me and got 100% each year whilst in my sixties. Don't know the format of your test but hope this helps. I'm certain that like me, a large number of members will think of you and wish you the best of luck,

Kind regards,

Jock67B.

Thanks Jock, for the support!

 

George

[grandadbob]

Good morning from a very sunny Glasgow, finaly decided to say hello here after a long time lurking!

 

A very good morning to you CC George and welcome to the wondrous world of ERs. Like you I was a long time lurker before visiting but am now addicted to the place. The only problem is that I probably spend too much time here instead of doing other things. (like modelling) The upside is that I think you would be very hard pushed to meet a nicer bunch of people anywhere else.

Edited April 24, 2014 by grandadbob

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Good to see some fresh new faces here as Bob says. And also good to be reminded that everyone you see online or in the street isn't necessarily having a great time of it. Recent days have seen tales of illness, unemployment, unsuitable housing - none of those makes life seem much fun, I'm sure. But ERs is a good place to pour it out to a sympathetic crowd.

 

Bamburgh Castle - classified as "fizz" (beer term referring to the opposite of draught) by Deb and her father, due to the amount of reconstruction. Dunstanburgh, Warkworth and Norham were more their style. Craster kippers? My dad holidayed at Seahouses in the '20s, and the first purchase was a box of kippers for the dog, so that if all the money went on beer he'd still be alright! Dog went home with a coat you could see your face in, apparently.

 

Alison back this afternoon to clean house - but has already been on the phone twice, having been browbeaten by angry partner. Surprise, surprise - people who have been cuckolded (an old term back in fashion) can become quite nasty. Sigh.

 

Misty start now clearing but not really sunny. Hope your day is looking better.

[Robert]

I can't say I was ever afraid of Clowns - but I always found them to be somewhat sinister.

 

I never really thought that much about it, until the little guy broke his leg and got a visit from the "Clown Doctors" in Hospital.

 

He burst into tears, and tried to get away from them - which was somewhat difficult with a fractured femur! 

 

However, the Clown Doctors were perfectly used to this reaction from some children, and removed their noses, waved and strategically retreated never to return.

[PhilH]

Morning, just. Hope all are well. 

 

It's blooming' cold down here, spring sprung then uncoiled it seems. Somewhat dozy today as didn't get to bed till 4am, the joys of playing trains. I think a couple of relaxing days on the layout are called for...after cappuccino No. 2 of course.

 

Take care.

 

BTW If any residents of Swindon, the spiritual home of that Great Western lot, were upset by the sound of excessive and gratuitous whistling from one of Mr. Bulleid's finest as it raced through their station last evening.......sorry......teehee.

[New Haven Neil]

Jock, I'm never sure about Grace Darling - have you seen the size of her clothes in the museum, she was tiny.....rowing that huge boat??? Hmm.  I'm a great supporter of the RNLI by the way, as I was a merchant navy officer in my first career and almost lost my life in the Derbyshire disaster, if it hadn't been three days late I would have been on her.

 

Ian, I agree about Bamburgh - it's a house really, and pretty ersatz as a castle.  Donk likes to lord it up though.  He's not that impressed with Craster kippers any more though, preferring the Manx variety since he moved here.  He does like a spot of fishing though, here he is in at Whitstable, creating havoc with fishing nets.

 

 

 

[Shedman5]

Afternoon, bright and sunny here, back from a checkup at the dentists, all fine apparently!

 

Craster Kippers, in my humble opinion if you never tried one then your unfortunate cos they are yummy!

 

I was absent yesterday due to helping out at my old company on a assessment day for 8 candidates for 2 jobs, my how things change over the years. they had been through a online assessment, then a telephone interview interview then a further online assessment before reaching the final hurdle. So glad that wasn't the order of the day in my time!

 

When I was interviewing as a manager years ago I just knew by gut instinct who would gel in the team and who I wanted, that was not "the correct approach" according to our HR dept.

 

My son who is a senior hr advisor tells me it is routine now to look candidates up ( more so young ones) on the internet and the number of individuals who have their facebook and twitter pages open is unbelievable not just from a security point of view but given the nature of some of the stuff they put on it, particularly the young ones. With  regards to the 21/25 bracket  because so many have degrees A level subjects and  grades are being looked at. Recently a job was posted and 186 applied so some sort of screening is required.

 

Just glad I'm retired and out of it all though yesterdays fee for helping will be part devoted to my layout and a new loco.

 

Cathcart Circle, my advice is just do the best you can and fingers crossed that will be enough, being positive at least you got the invite I guess many did not.

 

Enjoy the rest of the day folks

Edited April 24, 2014 by Shedman5

[The Lurker]

That part of Northumberland - Seahouses, Craster, Dunstanburgh, Holy Island, Alnwick is one of my favourite parts of the country. I've had a number of holidays up there and we've always been lucky with the weather. Probably the nicest accommodation we had was just off the A1 opposite the road to Lindisfarne - Beal I think was the name of the local (ex)station. The beaches are great and when I was a child I swam in the sea there. It was "bracing" to say the least!

 

With regard to internet status, it occurred to me a long time ago that splashing my personal hsistory over friend reunited was probably not conducive to future job prospects, so most of the detail disappeared.

[Ashcombe]

Cool is cool. 20C max today but the sky is clear, so it will be another perfect Autumn day. Overnight temp was 13C so I'm back to wearing Winter pyjamas, (Why does spellcheck object to pyjamas? Don't Americans wear them?

Have a good Thursday.

 

I echo Robert's welcome to Donk. He appears to be admirably qualified for membership.

Americans do wear them but, as often happens, they spell the word differently. I learnt this when I took part in an amateur production of "The Pajama Game". The title sounds more exciting than it was - it was set in a pyjama making factory!!

[New Haven Neil]

Northumberland is a secret we northerners like to keep!  Some relations of Mrs NHN (Cornish!) didn't visit for years as they had been told it was 'like Corrie' everywhere - when they did risk it they were totally gobsmacked.

 

Shedman, I have had many Craster kippers over the years, as I'm a Geordie exile!  One of my Dad's best mates ran 'Lewis's' chippy in Seahouses, it's still there although George is long gone. The Manx kipper (Devereux are better than Moore's, but Moore's do super bacon - on the strong side though!) are simply...better!

[trisonic]

I’m really sorry to have missed the anniversary of his death by 4 days but Steve Marriott died on 20th  April 1991 in Arkesden, Essex. Surely the greatest vocalist to come out of Essex?   He got to know my Aunt when living near Epping in the ’70’s and was very kind to her when she needed some help.

 

His last home was made familiar to TV viewers because it doubled as the home of “LoveJoy” in the TV series - though I should think no viewers knew that. He died when his house caught fire then realized he had left his prized guitar inside. Lot of crap written about him on the internet, as usual. Also appeared on the West End stage as the Artful Dodger when a youngster.

 

 

Best, Pete.

[Simon G]

It is fascinating to see how companies etc recruit these days.  My two sons who recently graduated seemed to go through assessment centre after assessment centre.  However, as I plan to retire soon (hooray!) my job in Health and Safety has been advertised and it appears that there are no planned assessment centres, just the interviews.  Makes life easier for all concerned, and I suspect will still result in a good quality candidate being recruited.  Do these assessments actually add value?

[Coombe Barton]

Do these assessments actually add value?

I think that 'weed out' might be nearer the truth. People these days are advised to apply for everything, sometimes.

[New Haven Neil]

I think that 'weed out' might be nearer the truth. People these days are advised to apply for everything, sometimes.

 

Agreed (As an ex-HR Advisor!).  While a face to face interview might not be the perfect recruitment tool, it does if conducted well, enable one to assess if the candidate will fit into a team, and to get a feel for their character.  My old HR Director always told us to go with our gut feeling too - not an easy thing to quantify.  He also told us never to recruit a senior manager who played golf....as that is where they would end up having 'meetings' !!!!!  I think he might have had some experience himself of this...#ahem# (golf bats were often seen sticking out of the boot of his car).