Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

Oh yes......

[Shedman5]

Oh no!

 

Just read the mail online to discover that Selfridges have opened their Xmas section in store.

 

With 142 days to go that has to be taking the p##s.

 

Sorry ladies!

[Barry O]

For wood pigeon, tree rats and any other vermin what you need is one of these

 

 

Baz

 

PS I know where you can get one --- even in the US of A pete!!

 

 

[Barry O]

At 11 o'clock tonight I shall remember 

 

my maternal grandfather - shot through the throat/ mouth on the 3rd day of the Somme - but he survived due to the expertise of a german medical officer.

 

and my paternal grandfather's brother - still Missing in Action on HMS Queen Mary at Jutland.

 

Most  families in the UK suffered in some way in the UK and across all of the world...

 

Baz

[bluebottle]

For wood pigeon, tree rats and any other vermin what you need is one of these

 

 

 

Yeah, and you could take out next door's Leylandii at the same time.

 

Edit: sorted out thumbnail.

Edited August 4, 2014 by bluebottle

[andyram]

Lights out here for a short time longer at least - lest we forget such bravery and sacrifice.

 

Despite the dodgy start today has not been too bad. Whilst Sarah and Amber were out I managed to complete a few domestic chores inbetween trips to the toilet and even managed to make a couple of important phone calls. Thankfully things settled down and I ventured round to the bungalow to clear the remaining stuff from the lounge. There is still stuff in one large cupboard which has a stay of execution until later in the week.

 

 After lunch we managed a trip out to the local garden centre for some plants for the back garden. The builders very kindly, and wrongly, turfed the whole of our back garden which saved us a few bob. A small amount of this turf was dug up this afternoon and the soil raked over to create a flower bed area. The two lavenders bought back from Norfolk were then planted along with a couple of flowering plants bought today. Don't ask me what they are though as I am no gardener. I will have to read the labels.

 I have added a couple of new solar lights and some of our old garden ornaments to the area and it does look ok. I will try and take a photograph or too tomorrow and post so you can all laugh at my efforts.

 During the afternoon the new member of our family arrived. A very fluffy three year old pussy cat called Emilio. He belonged to a friend of Sarah's friend who, due to a house move, could no longer look after him. The owners brought him around and clearly found it difficult to let him go. There were a few tears.

 The poor cat was clearly spooked and promptly hid behind the microwave and then the bin. He stayed there for several hours, hissing at our other cat whenever she got close. As I write this he is out exploring the kitchen, rubbing up against our legs whenever we get close. Hopefully he will settle down ok tonight.

[Jock67B]

Evening all,

Lots of darkness here tonight I'm glad to say, our candle burned for the designated hour. We also watched the service (not bad for an atheist!) and I was rewarded with one Wilfred Owen poem. I have become quite a fan since Dylan Thomas introduced his work on his 'Quite Early One Morning' radio programme in the 50s. I'm about to read 'Anthem for Doomed Youth' which has been recited to our children and grand children each November for many a year. Part of my determination that they won't forget - they've also all had several visits to war graves in France and Belgium!

Richard, I had a lobster fisherman friend from Cove near Dunbar who used to take me on the occasional pigeon and rabbit shoot - he needed to eke out the family budget off season! Trouble was, he was a bit unsporting, liked to stand in the mouth of one of the large caves in the cliffs near Cockburnspath, East Lothian, and throw in a large rock. A cloud of feral pigeons would issue forth and two barrels would drop enough to fill a very large pie indeed!

Sounds like a good start Neil, like me, you probably don't miss the stricture of a tie and business suit every day. Interesting to see how you hold out against the temptation!

Andrew, Good news on the George front, hope the next stage is worthwhile.

Pete (Trisonic), I agree with your comment about raptors - intensive use of chemicals in farming and persecution have decimated populations. Not forgetting egg collecting. That means a burgeoning population of pigeons and doves, both of which can have several clutches per annum. My particular dislike of wood pigeons stems from one of my hobbies - bird photography. They are such timid birds and very clumsy fliers so when they break cover, the clattering through the branches spooks the other species nearby, particularly the ones I happen to be focussing on!

Off to raise my nightcap to those lost over the next four and a quarter years, beginning a 100 years ago!

Kind regards,

Jock.

[trisonic]

Jock = Renaissance Man (in the nicest possible, I love your daily endpieces, Jock).

 

I wrote a Requiem for my Great Uncle George Hadler who was in the Royal West Kents and was literally obliterated on the Somme in 1916.

 

Hear it here, should you want to: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page_songInfo.cfm?bandID=827583&songID=6572374

 

He was just an ordinary man BUT he was my ordinary man.

 

Best, Pete.

[travelintrev]

Good morning all, 

 

For some reason the stories of WW1  always effect me more than those of later wars....fortunately both my Grandfathers survived relatively intact.  One was groundcrew  with the RFC/RAF, the other was in the middle east, though he did catch a bit of shrapnel in his leg. 

 

 

Make the most of your day, 

 

Trev.

[trisonic]

Trev,

I think the reason is that the volunteers really had no idea what they were letting themselves in for (most of them had extremely limited “horizons” until then) i.e. the sheer brutality of industrialized warfare and pre (useful) Geneva Protocol (1925) weapons (Gas Etc).

 

Best, Pete.

Edited August 5, 2014 by trisonic

[Barry O]

Morning all! Its Tuesday apparently and her indoors has a little list of jobs for me to do. No problem, it would appear that after completing my tasks I can "do what I want"
So time to crack on.

Baz

Edited August 5, 2014 by Barry O

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is a rather pleasant morning here. Very quiet too, even the pigeons are quiet.

I think I'll be doing pre-holiday tasks today, though I will need to be paying attention to the doorbell as a train related package is "out for delivery" at the moment.

 

Tony

[jamie92208]

For wood pigeon, tree rats and any other vermin what you need is one of these

 

MRS (1280x1112).jpg

 

Baz

 

PS I know where you can get one --- even in the US of A pete!!

Only if you can get the obdurator to work.

 

Jamie

[The Lurker]

Morning all, another blue sky with some white clouds over Borough Market Junction.

 

Not had time to pick through the past few days ERs yet - I've had a long weekend, the highlight of which was a family party in honour of the elder son's 12th birthday. The weather held and the children were more or less well behaved (though I fail to understand why my wife's nephews are so destructive of other people's things), my wife put in a trojan effort on the catering front and the wine flowed. and flowed. and flowed.

 

Some of the in laws were staying with us, some at the travelodge round the corner, so breakfast was at ours too. By this stage the younger son (who has ASD) was finding it far too much for him and stayed away in the lounge. He'd got very upset over his toys being played with, mainly because he could see them being broken.

 

I had a silent thought around 10 o'clock for the fallen - strangely I know of no family exploits/sacrifices from that conflict, although I am sure there would have been some.

 

I'll hopefully call back later!

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry and sunny start but showers expected.

I put the lights out at 10.00 pm and looking out of the window it was apparent that most of our neighbours had too. I found that really moving but I'm glad that so many people still care enough to do something to remember all those who suffered.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[skipepsi]

Morning all, awake earlier today and just savouring the peace and quiet. Birdsong, cars passing by, a DMU at the bottom of the hill.and of course kittens up to no good. Have a good day everyone.

[DonBradley]

Good morning from a COLD wet Cape Town. I know, I know, I don't know what cold is, but I woke around 3:00 am hearing rain on my window and feeling cold in bed.

I got up and turned the heater on to max and went back to sleep to endure a long nightmare.

It was odd and had no connection to any remembered events in my life but took me back to my circumstances in the late 1970s. When I finally awoke at about 5:00am it took a few seconds for me to realise that it had been a nightmare and I said a prayer of thanks that it was not real.

I normally sleep very peacefully and awake with very little memory of dreams, if any, but I can still remember all the details of last night's long sequence of worries.

All is well in my life and I do not have any of the troubles, real or in prospect that beset my sleep last night.

Nothing is more boring than other peoples dreams or nightmares so I have not mentioned it to any of my companions here in the home.

You are not so lucky!

A Brahms symphony is playingon the radio right now and proving very soothing

 

Enjoy your day.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

 

Back from 4 days of intensive and intense theatre rehearsals and I'm completely knackered... We had our first full run through yesterday and it was a train wreck! But I suppose it will be "alright on the night"???

 

It's sobering to note how deeply the Great War affected Britain. My Great Aunt, who lost a beloved brother in about 1916, still mourned him up until the day she died, aged 94. And on her bedroom mantelpiece there was a faded, sepia, photograph of young man in a Tommy's uniform which stayed with her until the end.

 

As someone else has noted, I think that the Great War had such a significant and long lasting impact on Britain, because it was Britain's introduction to a souless, mechanised, industrialised warfare where life and death were down to luck as much as courage. Certainly before WWI there were bloody campaigns (Crimea, Boer War, etc.), but they only involved "professional" soldiers with little impact on the general populace beyond that on the soldiers' own families.

 

There are those who argue, unconvincingly I think, that Britain should have stayed out of WWI and left Germany, France, Russia and Austria to simply get on with it. But if Britain had stayed out, what would have been the result? A high probability of a Communist Germany (Marx, apparently, thought Communism would first take off in Germany), a proto-EU and an introspective USA with national interests aligned towards the Pacific rather than Europe.

 

And Herr Hitler would have faded into obscurity as an untalented painter and rabble-rouser local politico??????

 

Have a great day History Buffs

 

iD

[Happy Hippo]

At 11 o'clock tonight I shall remember 

 

my maternal grandfather - shot through the throat/ mouth on the 3rd day of the Somme - but he survived due to the expertise of a german medical officer.

 

and my paternal grandfather's brother - still Missing in Action on HMS Queen Mary at Jutland.

 

Most  families in the UK suffered in some way in the UK and across all of the world...

 

Baz

I blew our candle out at 11 pm and remembered.

 

My paternal grandfather's cousin was KIA at Jutland on HMS Tiger, and was buried at sea somewhere in the area.

 

They lie in great company.

[Happy Hippo]

Morning all.

It is a rather pleasant morning here. Very quiet too, even the pigeons are quiet.

 

Methinks they have a spy in ERs!

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Not much to report, really. Lovely day, and I think I'll go out and do a few errands. A cheque needs depositing, that sort of thing.

 

Hope yours is sunny - in all respects - too. Sorry, Don Bradley!

[Shedman5]

Morning, having mentioned in previous posts about my father in law, just to say he passed away at 2am today and his suffering has ended.

 

Whilst expected its still rough when it happens but 87 is not a bad age I guess.

 

Lots of help needed for my other half as she sorts his affairs out which which hopefully will be straightforward.

 

So all a bit subdued in the household which is to be expected, even the cat god bless her knows something is up.

 

So enjoy your day whatever it is your doing.

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all. Overcast and I suppose the weather could yet go either way!

 

Alan – may I just offer my condolences… I can see how it must have been a relief for him, but I don't think any loss of life can ever be easy to bear.

[AndrewC]

Methinks they have a spy in ERs!

Would that make it a stool pigeon? No problems really with unwanted birds. 4 cats tend to keep them away. Strange the starlings, blackbirds, and tits don't seem to give a crap and just pop off the fence have a nibble in the bird feeder buffet, then repeat several times, even when the cats are in the garden. The bigger birds however, won't even venture close when the moggies are on the prowl.

 

 

Morning all from the boring borough. George doing well. Work not so much. The on again off again on again project has finally collapsed. eeejits!

 

I'm really failing at trying to spend less time online. Oh well. Have a good day everyone.

 

Alan, my condolences. 87 is a decent innings.

Edited August 5, 2014 by AndrewC

[Ashcombe]

A showery morning here for the departure of our guests, making their 200 mile way back to Stafford. I shall miss them as they were very therapeutic company after the trying times with DD2 prior to their arrival. It enabled me to offload some surplus clothes and books (mainly resources from when I was teaching). Both ladies are primary school teachers. I am an inveterate hoarder, so disposing of anything is an achievement.  

 

On a sadder note, we have been offered a place at a local rehoming centre for our beloved cat. O/H won't have her and I can't keep her in a flat, especially as I shall be in France for much of the time. She made her home with us more than a decade ago so I'm rather emotional this morning. I've also received notification from the courts about our divorce proceedings so rather a lot of significant events today.

 

And it's the anniversary of my much loved father's death in 1989.

 

Perhaps it's just as well it's raining..................

Edited August 5, 2014 by Ashcombe