Early Risers.

[AndyID]

 

Still no news from our reporter from Clacton which is starting to worry me.

 

We are all worried, but Jock might prefer that we press on.

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all. Sun is shining, and, interestingly, I was just reading an article that significant amounts of airborne dust originating from the Sahara have been detected over large parts of Germany, causing optical effects such as an unusually milky-blue sky and sunlight noticeably shifted to yellow these days.

 

Here's hoping that meeting up with Bill and Keith today or tomorrow will work out. I left them a message at their hotel and I hope it'll be relayed as intended.

 

Other than that, may I just send a round of good vibrations to anyone in need.

 

Cheers, troops…

[lightengine]

Morning from sunny Teignmouth which presently isn't. Been awake a while now and laid in bed using the tablet whilst trying to let the missus stay asleep. Its hard enough for her to get to sleep with her fybro.

Off to Bristol later for the flight to Venice. It's been 53 years in the making! Got close to it in 1981 when I passed through Venezia Mestre enroute to Athens by train but finally I will make it.

[leopardml2341]

It's all a bit sad round 'ere at the moment innit?

 

Just popped by to catch up and offer sympathies and thoughts where appropriate, now I'm off back to mi 'ole.

 

Best wishes all.

[Barry O]

Morning all. Thanks for the support.

 

Time to move on so more positive thoughts required..

 

It's sunny at the moment and I don't care what the seaweed stranglers have announced about weather for the rest of the day....isn't it nice to wake up with a sunshine filled day!

 

Loads to do today so TTFN.

Baz

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Some sad news on ERs recently, with friends and relatives suffering or even gone. I hope things improve for all those affected.

 

Mild weather has helped me get the garden looking a little kempt, but as I expect to be away for three weeks from next Wednesday, I have no doubt by early May it will be a jungle!

 

Grandadbob - compact camera sales worldwide have bombed in recent years, and millions of people not buying them can't be wrong! The phone camera is now the prevalent tool of choice, because we tend to have it with us at all times, and can post the pic on social media within seconds. That matters, apparently! Mirrorless cameras are not making the impact that had been hoped, and those without a real viewfinder are hardly more user-friendly than a compact. That leaves DSLRs, the cheapest of which are now slightly smaller and lighter, at least. I hope you find something you can enjoy.

 

Renewing my passport, which expires in mid-September, is much on my mind. I hope to sort it out in the coming weeks in the UK. Simply sending it off from here is not on - it is my identity document, so must be carried at all times.

 

I hope your week is progressing comfortably.

[roundhouse]

Morning all from a drizzly Surrey.

 

Hoping that Jock is back soon and best wishes to those who are ailing.

 

My APT-E was waiting on the door step last night. A good job that we havecCCTV watching.

 

After getting home from mums I set it up on the test track which is about two inches too short but at least I could try the sounds out. Very noisy so I hope that I didn't disturb the neighbours.

 

Packed it up again this morning.defibtely needs a storage tube.

 

Hump day today.

 

Already looking reward to the weekend as its the first time that Smrzovka wil have been at a show for two years and it's a relatively local show for us.

[grandadbob]

Ian, I'm looking at bridge cameras again because I got very acceptable results with the previous one and I like the big zoom options. A viewfinder is a must have for me and as I'm a rank amateur when it comes to photography I'm keeping to a budget of up to about £200 which obviously limits me a bit. My previous bridge was a Fuji and I'm looking at a Fuji Finepix S9900W and also a Sony Cybershot DSC H400. Both seem pretty good to my inexperienced eyes and have both got good reviews. Each seem to have certain advantages over t'other but I think on balance I favour the Fuji.

[Killybegs]

Briefly back as an ER this morning as Steph had to leave early to go to one of her sewing 'things' and that meant me taking the dogs over to the beach at 6.30. Horrible weather at the moment, gales, hail, etc. and maybe thunder and lightning later.  I hope it improves before the weekend as we are booked on the fast ferry to Holyhead on Sunday. I am planning to go to the RMWeb do at Taunton while we are in the UK, so I may see some of you there.

[NGT6 1315]

My APT-E was waiting on the door step last night. A good job that we havecCCTV watching.

 

 

Parcel services in Germany do offer to drop off parcels in specified locations when you're not at home, but you need to give them specific permission to do so and name the desired spot. Doing so without explicit permission is, as far as I know, illegal – though I assume it'll be the same in the UK.

 

All the while understanding from numerous postings on this forum that many a courier don't seem to give a flying f**k…   I do realise that many delivery people will, one, be poorly paid, two, have infeasibly tight tour schedules, and, three, thus be far less than well motivated, but certainly, that sort of behaviour can't be the answer, can it?

[The Lurker]

Morning all, it's turned grey and gloomy here and it looks like the rain might have set in. It was all sunny when I set off from Sidcup an hour back.

 

Not a lot to report here but commiserations and best wishes to those who need them.

[Robert]

Renewing my passport, which expires in mid-September, is much on my mind. I hope to sort it out in the coming weeks in the UK. Simply sending it off from here is not on - it is my identity document, so must be carried at all times.

That is a bit of pain for me too!

 

We don't have to actually carry our passports in Germany, but we do have to be able to present them at the police station within a reasonable time if asked.  I used to get my passport done at the consulate, but they have now discontinued that service, and it has to go back to the UK - which means that it takes quite a lot longer than it used to do.

 

I still can't really understand why the UK has such a cavalier attitude to Identification.  I realise that may be contentious, but in Germany you surrender your old identity document (passport and/or ID Card) when you pick up your new one.  Unfortunately, they don't provide ID cards for foreign citizens (like some European countries do).  Plus the fact, despite the cost of a new passport (the UK is one of the most expensive in the world, I believe) the "cheap notebook" nature of the new passport doesn't really lend itself to being used more often than once a year when on holiday!

[Andrew P]

Morning all, Sorry but still no word from Jock, I sent an e-mail a few days ago in the hope that at least Jock, or one of his Family might open it, but again no response. He has my home phone number but unfortunately I don't have his.

 

Any up-date and I will let you all know.

[lightengine]

Parcel services in Germany do offer to drop off parcels in specified locations when you're not at home, but you need to give them specific permission to do so and name the desired spot.

I dont think Royal Mail see it that way. At the back end of December a signed for parcel from Amazon addressed to us was left randomly at a neighbours.

It was left without a card through our door telling us where it was.

It was left, randomly, at a random neighbours. Approx 100 yards away. We have at least 20 more immediately neighbourly neighbours.

It was only because this neighbour chose to track us down that we ever received the unsigned for signed for parcel.

When I queried it Royal Mail said yes we often leave things with neighbours. I suggested that they gave us a clue about the postal district it was left at.

[Oldddudders]

Yes, Robert, my present passport was issued in Paris, but as you say that facility has been withdrawn. I might simply send it off using Sherry's address for return, but may be stuck in England for weeks if it takes too long!

 

As far as couriers are concerned, dropping parcels at pickup points - e.g a local newsagent - is much practised here, even when you have paid for home delivery and are waiting. I had a very expensive item come from China, and it was left 15 miles away. The courier was a very well known international firm. The newsagent said this geezer was forever doing that as he was too lazy to search the rural roads for the home address.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a bright and sunny village.  Baz and the other posh people in North Leeds have obviously decided to share the bright stuff with us poor residents of the southern uplands.  However it does put a positive slant on the day.   Various small domestic tasks to do first then another day working on the layout and actually playing trains, it will never catch on.  The layout thread will hopefully be updated tonight.

 

The silence from Clacton is worrying and Jock will be in my prayers when I'm on my knees up at church, along with requests for inspiration with the wiring.   Grandadbob is also in my thoughts.

 

Apart from that regards to all and enjoy your day.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

Passports. We renewed ours online. It took 5 days after we sent off the completed form, new photos and old passports. I recall it did say while it was normal to surrender the passport for cancelling (they currently cut the corner off before return) you could keep it if you had a valid reason to do so. I don't recall any more as we timed it so we were not in need of our passports.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Tony_S

[Robert]

I believe, Ian - although I may be wrong - that you can only have your passport sent to your own address.  Of course, you have to pay extra for the privilege - but my last passport did come back pretty quickly.  Not as quick as the consulate, but within an reasonably acceptable timeframe.

 

As far as parcels are concerned - as Dom said, most couriers will allow you to register a place where a parcel is to be left, and most of ours will try and drop it off with a nearby neighbour, and drop a note in the letterbox detailing where it is.  However, we did have one bloke from Hermes who was an absolute pain.  He would drop it with someone/anyone in the street - even with a name, you didn't necessarily know where it was!  Fortunately, he left to be replaced by another guy who is a lot more conscientious.

[BSW01]

Morning all.

 

I've got the day off today to waiting for the courier to pickup my ZTC 511 (for upgrading to a 611), who will collect it sometime between 9:00 and 17:00, very helpful aren't they? However, Sheila has a couple of things on today and she could not guarantee being in when they called.

 

Have a good one!

[bluebottle]

[Tony_S]

The passport application from abroad page seems to imply that the old passport must be sent. They reckon up to four weeks for turn round.

It might well be quicker to visit Torquay!

[grandadbob]

We do seem (he said touching wood) to be very lucky here with both posties and couriers. Mind you most of them know I'm about quite a lot of the time so I appear to have become the drop off point for our road.

Gordon, you and Emily have just brightened up my day considerably!

[Tony_S]

We do seem (he said touching wood) to be very lucky here with both posties and couriers. Mind you most of them know I'm about quite a lot of the time so I appear to have become the drop off point for our road.

I don't know what the couriers here do if I am away! I am like a drop off point some days. I think the biggest thing I signed for was a cement mixer.

[AndyB]

Morning all and it's a drizzly one here. Best wishes to all who are poorly. 

 

Salad leaves are starting to make progress in the greenhouse, although my tarragon plant has clearly been harvested by a snail.  

 

Still the Easter holiday here with children off till next week.

 

Some diy chores here today, including repairing one of my children's beds; a main spar on it broke last night. I suspect it had been mistaken for a trampoline at some stage.

 

Had some interesting news yesterday. I'd previously mentioned that "back in the day" I spent many happy holidays in a suburb of northern Paris. The (now) elderly couple who hosted me have just moved to the south of France. About time too, imho. The suburb they lived in had become, lets say, a bit more exotic in the last 25 years or so; most recently with gun battles just a few hundred metres away.

 

We had some interesting bumpf come through the front door the other day. A new shop was offering bespoke doors and windows. Clearly they were nice ones, as one would hope at ~£3000 for a front door and ~£1500 for a window. The only thing is, all the houses around here are 80s construction and of a style that uPVC looks perfectly acceptable. Splashing out on handmade windows would be daft. So, this rather begs the question. Why would you do a hand-delivered, expensive, high gloss cardboard leaflet drop to an 80s estate when your target market would be individual, older style characterful properties?  

 

Anyway, have a nice day everyone. Andy  

[grandadbob]

Probably the same reason we get targeted with companies wanting to fill our cavities! As all the houses in this road are 1920's solid wall construction we are puzzled as well.