Early Risers.

[bbishop]

A very good afternoon in the company of Mr Ford and others.  Not really in a fit state to post once I got home, although I've drafted a letter to the Queen concerning her grandmother.  I need to find the envelope to see how it reads.

 

Off to the charity soon for a full day's furniture moving.

 

Bill

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Hope Jocks 'oil change' goes well and Dick and family are feeling better. Nipping down to the shops later after the postman calls. One of the expected parcels arrived yesterday, still three to come and hopefully four by early next week if I'm not outbid.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Weather indifferent but sunshine promised for later and so we'll wander down to vote in the Nimbyhood Plan referendum at some stage (two x 'No' but I suspect we're outnumbered by the nimbys; can't be helped but if they don't like it here why don't they go and live somewhere else is my attitude to them).  And today is also faux Friday - yes, we're off to Waitrose, probably Tilehurst but some of the country roads were well flooded yesterday so it might be a bit of trip but I also need to top up the car's fuel tank and I'm not paying the local rip-off price.

 

All the best to those suffering and, hopefully mending from various ills.

 

Have a good day everybody.

[Tony_S]

Apart from a walk with Robbie I am not planning to go anywhere. I have cleared up after breakfast. Our guest declined the offer of a cooked breakfast in favour of toast and fruit. I will just have to eat all the bacon sausage, black pudding etc tomorrow. I was a bit disappointed at first not to be able to find black pudding in Waitrose the other day. They had every sausage from the UK and many from all over Europe. Piles of haggis too. The black puddings were on the deli counter though.

Tony

[NGT6 1315]

So, to be fair, I have a feeling like the dentist has a good idea of how to work with phobic patients. This had been the first time I consulted this practice as Elise (who is, shall we say, not a big fan of dentists either) had recommended it to me due to their focus on phobic patients. The doctor also outlined she continues to attend training courses to that end and suggested we might dedicate the first "real" appointment to anxiety management rather than risk my being scared off right at the start and never to return. Which seems highly sensible to me…

 

As I expected, there are a few bits to be fixed but none seem to be that urgent that they would have to be done immediately, which I guess I can also take as a bit of relief.

[PeterBB]

Good morning all,

Dry start and bit warmer, should stay that way but will be mainly cloudy.

Now for a little rant!  Took Chris to work as usual earlier at 5.15 and on the way was astounded to see a woman power walking? in the road although there are 10-12ft wide pavements either side. She was walking towards oncoming traffic but was completely clad in dark clothing with nothing reflective. Although this is a 30mph area it is not unusual for traffic of all sorts to considerably exceed that limit. I was reprimanded by The Boss for my language. End of rant.

 

Now for Wimbledon. I was at that Amateur Cup Final in (I think) 1963 but at the time was the lone Sutton supporter amongst a group of friends - who weren't. Wimbledon are one of only two teams to have won both the Amateur and FA Cups - the other being Old Carthusians back in the 1880s/90s.

My son was a regular at Plough Lane until they left and also went to Selhurst Park. He still occasionally goes to watch them. The latest I've heard is that planning permission has been granted for a new stadium in Plough Lane.

 

http://www.theguardian.com/football/2015/dec/10/afc-wimbledon-new-stadium-plough-lane

 

http://www.afcwimbledon.co.uk/club/new-stadium/

 

Enough round ball stuff from me - I prefer the other shape.

 

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Hi Bob,

 

We live and learn - thanks for the 'both cups' information.  I too prefer the 'other' game.  Hopefully the news on Plough Lane will be a yes and that here will be sufficient parking - the old PL had hardly any.

 

Cheers, Peter

 

Edit - adding a bit and also hoping that Jock has a 'good' day at Colchester RI PBB

Edited March 10, 2016 by PeterBB

[PhilJ W]

Apart from a walk with Robbie I am not planning to go anywhere. I have cleared up after breakfast. Our guest declined the offer of a cooked breakfast in favour of toast and fruit. I will just have to eat all the bacon sausage, black pudding etc tomorrow. I was a bit disappointed at first not to be able to find black pudding in Waitrose the other day. They had every sausage from the UK and many from all over Europe. Piles of haggis too. The black puddings were on the deli counter though.

Tony

Tesco's now do pork sausages incorporating black pudding, and very delicious they are too.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a gloriously sunny Fraggle Rock.

 

Good to hear of Jock's continuing care plan working well.  Dom's tooth doctor travails too we both sympathise with - Mrs H recently had a poor experience, but we heard the person responsible has 'moved on'.

 

Another appalling night, from hip pain, not the viral illness which has run its course and I am much recovered in that, but for some reason my 'bad' hip has a continual, severe pain I can't account for.  Range of movement etc fine, no stabbing pains which is the usual when I have done too much or aggravated things.  Just a 'toothache' type pain, pretty severe.  GP wants to try stronger anti-inflammatories than the Brufen Retard I was on, so we'll see if that works. In the meantime, I am so tired I can't hardly speak.

 

IoM on the telly just now - countrydisasterrescue prog of some kind, fisherman with terrible injuries.

[Purley Oaks]

Just read back a day or two and so glad to see that Jock is posting, that Ian (OD) is out of hospital, and that Flavio's op went well (Ow! - just thinking of hitting my thumb hard with hammer)

 

Ian A, am so sorry to hear of your wife's cousin's daughter; what a terrible thing to have to do, and thoughts are with her.

 

Nothing to report from here, had a good walk yesterday with Gabe down to the Sheep Heid at Duddingston; had a good pint of Bitter and Twisted. Had a new beer in - Mary Jane - asked the barman if it contained traces of medicinal marijuana. Gabe hurried me out...

 

Mal

[trisonic]

Weather much improved over here in the past week.

 

Yesterday was 82f (28C) Sunny and no humidity. Today will be 77f (25C) some slight humidity. Rain will occur after midnight but will be out of here by 6:00am tomorrow.

Clocks “spring” forward an hour on Sunday morning....

 

Mal, Did you listen to the piece I posted in ER (back a few days) of some modern whippersnapper playing the introduction to “Little Wing”?

 

Best, Pete.

Edited March 10, 2016 by trisonic

[iL Dottore]

Afternoon all. My thanks to all for your good wishes over the past days.

 

I have had a most pleasant surprise over the past 24 hours: I have been, to all intents and purposes, pain free. Needless to say, this enjoyable state of affairs is due to [a] an excellent surgeon (a very nice young German woman), avoiding any sort of bump, knock or movement that would fire up the pain receptors and [c] hitting the analgesics as soon as the effected area of the thumb starts heading away from uncomfortable towards painful (an approach that has been confirmed by studies: if you hit the pain with analgesics just as it starts to ramp up you'll get faster and better relief and use less medication). Mind you, all this is pretty much small beer when compared to the travails of Jock, Ian, Mal and others on the forum, for whom I have great admiration and wish them well.

 

Duncan, I too was pleased by how quickly everything went. I was treated in what you would call a "private clinic" which specialises in orthopaedic surgery (which, here, also includes hand surgery) and the facilities were very much state of the art (down to the brand new LED operating lights). I think that the advantage that we have here in Switzerland is that nearly every clinic/hospital is "private" (excepting the teaching hospitals affiliated with the universities) which means decisions of what funds get spent where are made at the hospital/clinic level (much to the advantage of all). Compared to the UK, from my initial consultation with my friend and GP to the consultation with the surgeon and the resultant surgery the time spent was minimal (the longest wait was due to finding a mutually acceptable date for the surgeon's consultation. From surgeon's consultation to the surgery itself, was less than a week [consult Friday last, surgery Wednesday]).

 

Knowing what to expect probably does help in pain management (I refuse to be stoical about acute pain, I always try to "head it off at the pass") and I tend to be pretty relaxed about surgery and dental treatment. My dentist is somewhat impressed by my ability to come in, lie down in the dentist's chair, open my mouth, close my eyes and go off to sleep. I was a bit annoyed that they wouldn't let me watch the hand surgery on Wednesday, after all once the nerve block had taken it would have been fascinating to see what the surgeon was up to. I chatted to my orthopaedic surgeon during my arthroscopic menisectomy and he turned the arthroscope's monitor so that I could see what he was doing. It made the hour under the knife go that so much quicker.

 

For those ERs currently in pain, a bon mot from an anaesthesiologist of my acquaintance: "there are two types of anaesthesia: the first is where you feel no pain, the second is where you feel the pain, but you don't care"

 

Jamie92208 will, alas, be bereft of my bodging (hem-hem) skills for a few days. Not being able to exert pressure on my thumb means that I can't cut, saw, etc. However, I see the surgeon for a post-op FU tomorrow, so I am hoping for a less intrusive bandage (currently I am doing a great impression of Little Jack Horner) which will allow me to do more than just type.

 

I missed Ian A's original post and offer my belated condolences. I think it says much about our expectations for our lives that we think that a young person's death could have, should have been avoided and yet less than 120 years ago so many young people died of illness, disease and accident that neither a child's death nor a young person's death would have been considered out of the ordinary. Life indeed was "nasty brutish and short" and in our own families' recent memories are there tales of young family members being struck down by illness, disease or accident. It is, perhaps, a great irony that in 2016 we in the west are healthier than we have ever been, yet at the same time so terribly unfit.

 

Well, I'll stop wittering away before Widow Thumb decides to have words with me. I shall then go and see if I can locate some chocolate somewhere in Schloss iD (before I started my current diet, I removed ALL temptation from the environs), I have the really serious joneses for chocolate. Like the Ancient Mariner who lamented "water, water, everywhere, but not a drop to drink", I am surrounded by chocolate (of course, living as I do in Switzerland) but not a morsel in the house to be devoured...

 

Carpe Diem, chums

 

iD

[Purley Oaks]

 

Mal, Did you listen to the piece I posted in ER (back a few days) of some modern whippersnapper playing the introduction to “Little Wing”?

Yes I did, Pete. He can play well technically but it lacked that certain Jimi-something!

Mal

[lightengine]

Beautiful day here in Sunny Teignmouth.  The sky is blue with big puffy clouds and the sun is shining like a quite shiny thing.

 

Having got over the terrible man-flu thing a week ago.  I then developed the annoying cough which has been with me for several weeks.  Phoned the GP and got some antibiotics to treat it, which they have not.  Apparently it could be Losartan Cough, so now I am off that to see if the cough vanishes.

[roundhouse]

things getting desperate here at work. A tin of wood stain to keep me going.

 

Just arrived from Amazon. Fingers crossed this will work similar to the stain that I have used to date on the layouts.

[BoD]

I was a bit disappointed at first not to be able to find black pudding in Waitrose the other day. They had every sausage from the UK and many from all over Europe. Piles of haggis too. The black puddings were on the deli counter though.

Tony

Black puddin' on the Deli counter?

Who'd have thought such a humble pudding could ever achieve such fame?

And in Waitrose no less.

Edited March 10, 2016 by BoD

[Ian Abel]

Notably somber this morning - the young lady who was on life-support died last evening after being removed from life-support an hour or so earlier.

 

Very sad situation. Apparently she was suffering from a quite rare disease "porphyria", which was in her case very extreme. She'd been in hospital off and on for several years to treat it, and apparently her liver and kidneys had eventually succumbed. Life-style was potentially an issue/factor as the disease (caveat, I know NOTHING about it beyond what I've read in the last hour or so!) is most certainly severely compounded by ANY alcohol use, which she and her husband, it appears, were disinclined to address at all

 

Her family have been advised of the generous support from everyone on ER and are grateful for your thoughts. Such is the incredible soul of this group that you all have such an outpouring of support and feelings even for someone so far removed from your direct connections.

 

 

Those of us fortunate enough to have woken up this morning will see the day with a renewed sense of simply "being here".

 

1C and overcast in Minnesota, expecting to make 11 for a high.

[BSW01]

Ian.

 

So sorry to read the above news, your family has my condolences.

[Smiffy2]

Sorry to hear that, Ian. Heart-rending.

[grandadbob]

Very sorry to hear your sad news Ian.

[roundhouse]

My condolences Ian.

[Simon G]

Black puddin' on the Deli counter?

Who'd have thought such a humble pudding could ever achieve such fame?

And in Waitrose no less.

My (rather cynical) view on that is that by putting it on the deli counter, they can charge a whole lot more for it, than if it were just on the normal shelves.

 

Lovely day here, but just clouding over now. Daily walk achieved with no coat and no hat (but with two fleeces), so it is definitely warmer than of late.

[AndrewC]

So sorry Ian. Our condolences.

[southern42]

' Afternoon all from red dragon land.

Sunny.  Blue skies. Nice and warm in the car...more about that in a mo but first a warm welcome back to ERs to Jock.  Great to see you back on here and other threads, Jock, great courage.
 

 

Yesterday, we went out for the afternoon.  Apart from visits to family, doing an exhibition, and a few shopping expeditions, it was the first time out since before Christmas.  Ray needed to pick up some wagons from Porthmadog.  That was all the excuse I needed for afternoon tea in the Ffestiniog Railway cafe...and cue for some photos for you lot lovely people. 

 

On the way, we got caught in slow traffic by road resurfacing so we did a circular trip via Beddgert and Rhyd Ddu.  Atmosphere rather than High Def as most of the pics were taken from a moving car.

 

Snowdon from the South along the A487

 

My first look out of the cafe window - couldn't resist those tulips...and tracks...and sandy estuary...and...

That is what I call an excellent viewpoint!  Even better when a train arrives...

 

Didn't see any climbers on the Tremadog cliffs but the views are still good.

 

Not every one goes by car...

 

South of Snowdon but a lot closer.

 

This is Llyn Cwellyn Lake.  The best view is looking down the lake near Rhyd Ddu from a Welsh Highland Railway train - it is higher up than the road so you don't get wall and fence posts blocking the views.

 

Looking back up the lake from the Caernarfon end.

 

 

But I didn't feel I should end without saying something on the changing scene in Porthmadog.  A sad sight, really - the Art Deco Coliseum Cinema in Porthmadog was a pile of rubble in the process of being cleared.  I missed a photo opportunity but found some newspaper coverage.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/porthmadog-coliseum-cinema-demolition-set-10854801

Another modelling idea for a modern image layout - the past being swept away under our noses?

 

 

 

[Tony_S]

Black puddin' on the Deli counter?

Who'd have thought such a humble pudding could ever achieve such fame?

And in Waitrose no less.

It wasn't any old pudding, it was Bury black pudding. We are not doing the cooked breakfast tomorrow. Aditi has an early morning blood test, so we will eat all the fatty stuff on Saturday. Waitrose is a nice place to shop but to guarantee getting a wide range of products the big Tesco is better. Edited March 10, 2016 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Condolences to Ian and family, porphyria is what King George III is believed suffered from and the cause of his madness, a bit more worrying perhaps is that it is hereditary. One of my parcels that I was expecting arrived today, but now there is another one to come as when I opened my e-mails a short while ago there was one from Atlas Editions saying another model was on its way. Frustratingly there is no indication as to which one after a four month hiatus I dont know if it is one of the 'missing' models or the next one due to be issued. The only indication is that it was posted on Monday, the last one that I knew had been posted took three weeks to arrive. Reading what Neil was saying about hip pain seems to have started mine going so I have followed ID's advice and taken something for it before it hits off and it seems to have done the trick.