Early Risers.

[lightengine]

Morning all

Just left Exeter on the Golden Hind (aka Brass Arse according to a former colleague) as I make my way home. Sherry dropped me off at Newton Abbott this morning. This time next week I hope to be in Paris, coming back to Britain, as Sherry is due for her hip op on Thursday 12th. So I shall not be home for many days, but hope to collect a new car and do various chores. I will then be in England until mid-Feb, by which time we hope Sherry will be up and about, albeit not driving. That needs 6 weeks' recovery. Alison is happy to be holding the fort again - she needs the money, having just spent about £2k on car repairs. Her love-life continues to have monumental peaks and troughs, with her moody lover-next-door.

A skim read reveals Gordon S having yet another tough time - how much bad luck can one guy suffer?

I hope your week progressing well.

Is Sherry going to Torbay hosp? If so the staff on Ella Rowcroft ward were great when Pat was in there.

[jonny777]

Good morning from a very cold house. Some idiot (aka me) moved a box against the wall in the utility room yesterday evening which (unbeknown to me) accidentally pressed the switch to the central heating boiler.

 

Result, no early morning heat until I discovered what I had done. Living room temp was down to 11C.

 

Brrrrr.....

[Horsetan]

.....I know of no-one who is happy with their NBN service.  We're on wire to the property as opposed to the de-specced and utterly hopeless fibre to the node they are using in some areas.   But speeds have dropped to almost nothing now.

 

Presumably dial-up would be quicker, but I suppose you don't even have that option now.

[PhilJ W]

Post arrived about half an hour ago with a pleasant surprise. Just before Christmas I ordered a couple of pairs of jeans from J D Williams as recommended by another ER. The pleasant surprise was a voucher for £6.50 which as I intend to make further purchases from them is very welcome. Also I have started using the tea from the Wee Tea Company as recomended by Mal and that is pretty good stuff as well. No worries about the catering size pack as it is re-sealable. Loose tea comes in two sizes, large leaf and fine leaf. The fine leaf is what you normally find on the supermarket shelves and is suitable for normal teapots but the filter teapots such as I have are better using large leaf as it does not clog the filter.

[Horsetan]

....We can choose our service provider but not the network.  The only one available is the one the government tells us we need yet no-one wants nor has a good word for.

 

This was interesting reading.... - some of it sounds just like the standard of service in the UK 

[DDolfelin]

 

Life is like a box of chocolates......

 

Keep the dogs away from them!

[shortliner]

Post arrived about half an hour ago with a pleasant surprise. Just before Christmas I ordered a couple of pairs of jeans from J D Williams as recommended by another ER. The pleasant surprise was a voucher for £6.50 which as I intend to make further purchases from them is very welcome. Also I have started using the tea from the Wee Tea Company as recomended by Mal and that is pretty good stuff as well. No worries about the catering size pack as it is re-sealable. Loose tea comes in two sizes, large leaf and fine leaf. The fine leaf is what you normally find on the supermarket shelves and is suitable for normal teapots but the filter teapots such as I have are better using large leaf as it does not clog the filter.

Phil, now you are on their mailing list you will get offers frequently - either money off or two-for-one, etc .As I said , I don't mind because they are good quality and very comfortable so repeat orders are made whenever required.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Gordon sorry to hear of your further travails although hopefully now that you've had the three things will improve.

 

We hada  very pleasant evening at t'Mill yesterday although the table we were allotted for our dinner was horribly cramped but we had a very nice pair of seats to watch and enjoy 'High Society' which was a very good.  An amusing bit was the 'Musical Director' not only playing the electronic piano thingy and turning his own pages but seemingly conducting the other musicians (who were on the other side of the stage)  and the actors (which were 10 feet below him and behind him) but a chat with the Technical Stage Manager during the interval confirmed my suspicions, all done with mirrors cctv and carefully placed monitors out of sight of the audience.  So not a bad evening out overall.

 

Enjoy your day one and all.

[TheQ]

Flood warnings have just been issued for the Norfolk Broads, this is due the the strong winds we have been getting, blowing down the North Sea over the last few days. Looking at the nearest tide gauge, which is 3 or four miles UP river from the Sailing club they are predicting a 120mm increase over the current level.

Looking at one of the  the webcams at the club the water level at the moment (near low tide) is six inches or so below the decking. It's going to be close there.

But down river near the Horning Ferry inn,  they are lower, so the chalets there will need to paddle to get home. (most chalets and buildings are are at least a foot more above the river).

 The main Flood warning is for the southern Rivers near Reedham where the prediced level is 100mm above the highest level recorded there, but that flood station was only opened in 2013

 

Also to the North of me At Keswick / Walcott there is a "Be prepared" warning of flooding.

 and to the south Gt Yarmouth and beyond a lot more warnings https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/target-area/054FWTBT2A

Edited January 4, 2017 by TheQ

[Oldddudders]

Is Sherry going to Torbay hosp? If so the staff on Ella Rowcroft ward were great when Pat was in there.

Yup, but I'm not sure which ward. Rowcroft is the name of the hospice we all support, of course. Several £100s have been raised for them by disposing of Deb's assets. Just passing Calais Frethun, where Deb last drove a car, meeting me there so I could drive us 250 miles home. Already more than 4 years ago. Life moves on.

[Horsetan]

Flood warnings have just been issued for the Norfolk Broads, this is due the the strong winds we have been getting, blowing down the North Sea over the last few days. Looking at the nearest tide gauge, which is 3 or four miles UP river from the Sailing club they are predicting a 120mm increase over the current level.

Looking at one of the  the webcams at the club the water level at the moment (near low tide) is six inches or so below the decking. It's going to be close there.

But down river near the Horning Ferry inn,  they are lower, so the chalets there will need to paddle to get home. (most chalets and buildings are are at least a foot more above the river).

 The main Flood warning is for the southern Rivers near Reedham where the prediced level is 100mm above the highest level recorded there, but that flood station was only opened in 2013

 

Also to the North of me At Keswick / Walcott there is a "Be prepared" warning of flooding.

 and to the south Gt Yarmouth and beyond a lot more warnings https://flood-warning-information.service.gov.uk/target-area/054FWTBT2A

 

Sounds like waders will be the footwear of choice. 

[Ian Abel]

Gordon, sorry to hear about the continuing challenges, thoughts are with you...

 

 

 

Morning all, HUMP day it is.

 

I CAN report there is no frost here either.

At -21, clear skies and a wind chill of -34 there's not enough moisture in the air to even see your BREATH!! Simply sodding cold, and I drove in to the office today to boot <brrr> 

 

Managed to get enough time yesterday to install the single-slip, and get the associated pieces of track, part of the four-track mainline junction, re-connected.

Replacing the long crossing with a single-slip involved also pulling up two adjacent points and several feet of two tracks feeding the slip/points on either side. All back in place now, and I can resume installing point motors.

 

Expecting that I will only stay long enough in the office to have lunch with my buddy then hurry back home to be suitably warm in a more personally controllable environment.

 

Weather report; -21 STILL, expecting -16 for the balmy high, then a low of -25 overnight. Don't even CARE what the wind chills are at this point

 

Hope your day goes well...

[Shedman5]

Afternoon, Back from a trip down the M6 to see my brother in law, I think and its understandable he is starting to give up, he was 70 on Xmas day and I think he was determined to reach that milestone and with that reached there is not a lot left for him.

 

The M6 south this morning was very quiet even over the Thelwall Viaduct I assume people are still off work  this week.

 

Gordon hopefully things go smooother for you now, nice sunny day here and not to cold.

 

Enjoy whats left of it folks

[Tony_S]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Gordon, very sorry to hear of your troubles. Like us humans dogs seem to go for food that is bad for them. We've all heard that chocolate is bad for dogs but grapes in any shape or form is far worse, but at least you have reacted in time by the looks of it. Rather dismal and wet here this morning but forecast to clear up later. Bye for now, be back soon.

I never knew about grapes and raisins affecting dogs. Not all dogs are affected which is one of the problems in identifying why. We don't give Robbie grapes, chocolate or onions but given half a chance he would steal them. We have enough been very careful with chocolate but he has snaffled grapes and will eat onions from the compost. Perhaps spaniels are like labradors and can digest almost anything.

[Tony_S]

High tide was imminent looking at the depth of water in the park when we took Robbie for a walk this afternoon. The sluice gates shut to stop normal tides flowing inland. If it rains a lot while the gates are shut the park floods but much of it is meant to. The footpaths across the park are on top of the dykes. The old flood defences could cope with conditions exceeding the 1950s floods at Canvey but they were substantially built up later.

Edited January 4, 2017 by Tony_S

[shortliner]

Somebody has been going to too many exhibitions

 

[Horsetan]

I never knew about grapes and raisins affecting dogs. Not all dogs are affected which is one of the problems in identifying why. ....

 

It's a bit like trying to identify which fungi are poisonous, and which are edible.

[45156]

I never knew about grapes and raisins affecting dogs. Not all dogs are affected which is one of the problems in identifying why. We don't give Robbie grapes, chocolate or onions but given half a chance he would steal them. We have enough been very careful with chocolate but he has snaffled grapes and will eat onions from the compost. Perhaps spaniels are like labradors and can digest almost anything.

Our vet sends out a newsletter at Christmas to all dog and cat owners highlighting the "danger" foods which should not be fed.  The list is longer that one might think, and includes a whole lot of things which are commonly around the house at the festive season - dried vine fruit, and the non dried variety, onions, chocolate, nuts, some of which can have serious consequences.  Chocolate contains Theobromine, which is a poison to dogs, and the darker the version the worse it is.  There is a useful online calculator to assess whether the amount ingested is going to be dangerous or not.    http://petsci.co.uk/chocolate-toxicity-calculator-dogs/

 

Gordon - sorry to hear that your two decided to have a good go at the grapes, and I'm pleased to see that there is some progress.

 

Ian D - if my experience is anything to go by, Sherry will feel much much better once it has been replaced.  I have not looked back since having mine done last year.

 

Ian A - sounds chilly, and I hope it warms up a bit soon.  I see that there might be some respite next week according to this https://www.timeanddate.com/weather/usa/minneapolis/ext

 

Everybody else, it has to be generic greetings as there's a lot to cover but all posts are read and rated.

 

And for me, I finally heard from the medics that my growth on my eyelid was benign and no further attention is needed.

 

May be late on parade tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

[Tony_S]

When we had a child Aditi removed a few plants from the garden that were toxic, though fortunately Matthew didn't seem interested in chewing plant life. However we reviewed the list when we acquired a puppy. Some more plants went which was lucky as Robbie tried everything in the garden during his first year. Aditi was getting quite fraught about the destruction of her garden. Fortunately he stopped.

Tony

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone.

 

Another good day at work, getting all my work completed and getting home to catch Sheila making herself a coffee, so I said, whilst you've got the kettle on.............

 

On my way home I called in at my GPs (again!) to enquire if I'm still entitled to a flu jab, after checking my records and having a word with the nurse on duty I was told, if you can wait for 5 minute she'll give you a flu jab today! Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather! Needless to say, I took a seat and have been duly inoculated.

[Ashcombe]

Is Sherry going to Torbay hosp? If so the staff on Ella Rowcroft ward were great when Pat was in there.

Yes, it will be Ella Rowcroft so I appreciate hearing this reassuring message and I hope Pat is making good progress.

[roundhouse]

Morning

 

Now sitting in Dennys awaiting our breakfast order.

 

Rain forecast so decided not to go into downtown San Fran with our bags but to catch the light rail from here to Mountain View as it's a route that I have not yet travelled on.

 

At Mountain View we can have a few beers whilst waiting the next Caltrians to Millbrae where we change to the BART for the airport.

[roundhouse]

Gordon, sorry to hear about the continuing challenges, thoughts are with you...

 

 

 

Morning all, HUMP day it is.

 

I CAN report there is no frost here either.

At -21, clear skies and a wind chill of -34 there's not enough moisture in the air to even see your BREATH!! Simply sodding cold, and I drove in to the office today to boot <brrr> 

 

Managed to get enough time yesterday to install the single-slip, and get the associated pieces of track, part of the four-track mainline junction, re-connected.

Replacing the long crossing with a single-slip involved also pulling up two adjacent points and several feet of two tracks feeding the slip/points on either side. All back in place now, and I can resume installing point motors.

 

Expecting that I will only stay long enough in the office to have lunch with my buddy then hurry back home to be suitably warm in a more personally controllable environment.

 

Weather report; -21 STILL, expecting -16 for the balmy high, then a low of -25 overnight. Don't even CARE what the wind chills are at this point

 

Hope your day goes well...

I am glad that we booked direct flights to and from the UK this trip with all the bad weather across the USA affecting many internal flights. Ours should be OK as it's just rain here.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Popped down to Tesco's this lunchtime and there was a bit of a fuss when I came out. A woman had returned to her car, loaded her shopping and gone to return the trolley to the bay. She had left the tailgate of her car open and whilst she was away a pidgeon had got into the car. She eventually managed to shoo the pidgeon out but not before it had left a couple of deposits on the upholstery. Fortunately for her there is a car valeting service in the car park.

[Barry O]

Car needs a new ABS sensor on one wheel. Will be fitted Friday.. meanwhile I have to go to Warley tomorrow(guess who got his date wrong! luckily I checked the diary!)

 

Off down the club later.

 

Have a good evening all

 

baz

Edited January 4, 2017 by Barry O