Early Risers.

[lightengine]

A misty and wet day here in sunny Teignmouth today.

 

6 month post op check up today and the surgeon was again happy with the xray and will see me in 6 months and then a year.

 

On the way home I stopped in at Bekra models in Newton Abbot and bought some supplies for a bridge building project.

 

Lucky the dog has settled in well in the past 8 days and already seems like a long time family member.

[AndyB]

OK I've done it and a dozen red roses have gone down very well. I seem to be flavour of the month! (for now)       

 

Brownie points banked.....

 

Good man. You'll be grateful you did at some point in the future

 

....and allocated....?   

[Tony_S]

17th edition?????  I was working with the 1st edition, printed on vellum and signed by Faraday! 

The secondary school I went to was new in 1964. Everything was bright and shiny and modern. However they must have run out of money for physics text books and transferred a batch from some County storage. They were really old and included sections on transmission through the aether. The physics teacher said we didn't need to use that chapter! They must have been about 50 years old.

[TheQ]

Aditi said "Every day is Valentine's Day here, and I need garden waste bags so shall we go to the library. "

I didn't know they had garden waste bags at the library.

[Tony_S]

I didn't know they had garden waste bags at the library.

They do here. Also poo bags for dog poo.

[jamie92208]

Awoke early today.

The excitement of Valentines Day I expect.

At the first opportunity I greeted her, "Happy Valentines Day my dear"

She replied, "The cat has been sick".

 

Funnily enough that's exactly what happened in our house.  I heard screams coming from the bedroom, apparently the cat was being chased away from her slipper.   I cleared it up then got into trouble for missing a bit.

 

Jamie

[laurenceb]

The age of miracles is not over! Opened a can of pork luncheon meat without the key breaking, the tin breaking or slicing my fingers off! And it came out of the tin in one pease.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

BANG BANG, WHEE WHEE, THUMP THUMP, CRASH CRASH, WALLOP WALLOP.

 

From the above, you can probably deduce that the builders have finally arrived, and are currently removing the old roof and replacing the boards on the dormer.

 

I also had to visit the Dr today for my half yearly diabetes review, which wasn't too bad.

 

Back tomorrow

 

Meantime, generic greetings are on offer.

Regards to All

Stewart

[The Lurker]

The age of miracles is not over! Opened a can of pork luncheon meat without the key breaking, the tin breaking or slicing my fingers off! And it came out of the tin in one pease.

 

Are you sure it wasn't pease pudding?

[trisonic]

The secondary school I went to was new in 1964. Everything was bright and shiny and modern. However they must have run out of money for physics text books and transferred a batch from some County storage. They were really old and included sections on transmission through the aether. The physics teacher said we didn't need to use that chapter! They must have been about 50 years old.

 

“Aether” is back in fashion now they just call it something else. See Richard Muller “NOW: The physics of time”.

 

Best, Pete.

[Happy Hippo]

Funnily enough that's exactly what happened in our house.  I heard screams coming from the bedroom, apparently the cat was being chased away from her slipper.   I cleared it up then got into trouble for missing a bit.

 

Jamie

A friend of ours was going through a divorce from her wife beating husband.

 

Their house was up for sale, but he was reluctant to move out so was letting the place go to rack and ruin in the hope of making the place unsellable.

 

I offered to strim the waist high grass on the back lawn oner afternoon when he was out, so that the prospective buyer had some idea of the potential of the garden.

 

He used to leave his slippers by the back door, and also let the dog crap all over the place.

 

After I had finished the strimming, I placed a dog turd in each slipper.

 

You can imagine what happened when he got home and kicked off his shoes...........................................

Edited February 14, 2017 by Happy Hippo

[BoD]

...... be careful he might be an ER and now knows who did it.

[Ian Abel]

You can tune Pianos?

I once went out with a Piano Tuner - actually for more then one year. She was beautiful but I worried about her hands, she could twist off the cap of a beer bottle that did not have a “twist off top”....

 

Best, Pete.

Pete - indeed I can. Begs a story (why not, that's what ER is for, drivel insignifica information after all )

My original piano tuner was a close friend of ours, who was a piano restorer by profession. He shared with me that it wasn't/isn't magical, so long as you've got a good ear, patience and are detail oriented, I'm for now blessed with all three. I got a "kit" off eBay, and watched/helped him every time he tuned my piano, and also practiced on a few he was restoring. It's actually pretty straightforward, really not much harder than a guitar, except you've got about 230 instead of 4/6/12 strings to tune!

Sadly, our friend passed away (the dreaded "C") about 10 years ago now, but I still tune my piano - only ever tuned a couple of others for friends. I do an acceptable job, but possibly wouldn't stand up to professional scrutiny.

 

Ahh yes, Valentines Day

I usually do the average, card/flowers and somewhere for dinner, BUT, this year decided to step it up some.

Instead of the dozen roses, I succumbed to an ad for "why buy roses that will wilt in 5 days...", and got her a nice 18ct bracelet with a dozen red roses - she liked that touch - score 1.

Tonight, a secret surprise, we're going to the St. Paul Conservatory, where they do a special Valentines flashy dinner with musicians serenading, wine, four courses, blah, blah.

It works in two ways, part of the cost is a donation (we support the facility anyway) and part for the catered dinner. It's a very popular fund raising event and they have three days scheduled and two sittings each day - I decided on the "actual day" as I think that's most appropriate.

 

The Conservatory is a bit like a small version of the Kew Gardens Palm building, there are about 5 different sections of the building, and they have tables for this dinner in three of them, the sunken garden, fern room and palm dome.

This is currently a closely held secret, Jemma knows and is "advising" her on what to wear - they recommend layers as, of course, the rooms are warm and humid - the Mrs has no clue at present, other than we're going out for dinner 

 

Here's a section of the Palm Dome - where "I THINK" I booked for - I don't remember now, but we just show up and they take us to our "reserved table" anyway, so that works.

 

 

The day otherwise will be simple/working...

 

3 and sunny, lovely but unseasonably warm, expected high 6!

 

Enjoy the day - win brownie points (I think I'm on a winner)

[Ashcombe]

What is about our ladies and giraffes? Our house seems to be overrun with them. 

They always seem to be sticking their necks out.

[Oldddudders]

Afternoon all

 

I should be in France, but am not. News from my garage yesterday rendered my intended flying visit pointless, so I am in Torbay for another three weeks. The car is there - Alison sent me a photo! - but procedures will take days. So French.

 

Today's winner is Peter BB. Following the unmasking of Newbryford in last month's RM, Peter is credited with the joined-up writing about this months Railway of the Month - his club's substantial and ambitious layout. AndrewP also gets an honourable mention. Great to see 'our' people in the limelight.

 

Bill Bishop is concerned about a mile walk taxing him. Sherry has just walked one third of that distance without any sort of sit-down. Real progress.

 

As we hadn't planned to be together tonight, Valentine's hasn't happened beyond an exchange of cards. I will cook a chicken, and there is Champoo in the fridge.

[Tony_S]

...... be careful he might be an ER and now knows who did it.

Sounds like a bit of a cad and bounder, not ER material.

[iL Dottore]

Afternoon, All.

• A splendid, but chilly (-2*C) start to the morning with the Wolfpack's training and play regimen. This time it lasted 90 minutes and I had two "dead dogs" at the end of it, leaving me free to get on with the various bits 'n' bobs on my plate.
• However, leaving Hettie outside overnight ("Hettie The Yeti") meant that I had to defrost her as I drove to the dog club - this she did well and fast except for the right rear view mirror... bu99er, back to the garage
• I fail to see why the UK insists on excluding plug sockets (unless low voltage) from the bathroom. Like in a majority of Swiss bathrooms, we have two power points in the bathroom (in our case both above the double sink), however Switzerland is failing to notice an epidemic of shower related electrocutions. Could it be due to the set up of the standard UK ring mains?
• The comment about the Hermes driver rekindled my ire against shoddy, cheapo delivery services. I had simultaneously ordered 4 items over the internet to be delivered to a friend who lives just across the border in France (the suppliers of such goods wouldn't/couldn't send to CH). Three of the four items shipped arrived. The fourth item (a Cook's bone saw I had been searching for) never turned up. Emails to the supplier revealed that the parcel was sent by some cheap 'n' nasty delivery company. Today I found out that the parcel was on its way back to the sender for reason "0004" - whatever that means (and if it means that no-one was at home, then they are lying through their teeth. My friend in France has a large grown up family and there's always someone at home). Incidentally, I looked up the relevant company on the internet and its' reputation is very poor. Not that you'd expect the company to be an "el-cheapo" company given what I had to pay in shipping.
• I recorded and watched "Back In Black" on the Beeb t'other day. It was a lovely tribute to one of my favourite writers - Terry Pratchett. One for the archives! Incidentally, it may say something about me to reveal that my favourite authors are (in no particular order) Larry Niven, Arthur C Clarke, John Irving, Len Deighton, Terry Pratchett, Umberto Eco, Charles Stross, JK Rowling (when she's not being all PC and "right on" in her writing) and Phillip K Dick. Much food for thought there for the psychoanalyst methinks.
• Whilst on the subject of authors, on Sunday the Beeb starts a 5 part adaptation of a favourite book by a favourite author: Len Deighton's SS-GB. I hope that the production is able to capture much of the subtlety and the complex multithread story lines. Still not sure whether or not I'll watch week by week, or save up and binge watch...
• Whilst referencing Len Deighton, I have to say he a most talented wordsmith, creating memorable word portraits or bon mots in a few lines, such as "I gave her a smile that I kept unused for a year or two". Character 1: 'You're joking?' Character 2: "I never joke, I find life adequately hilarious" and so on. I heartily recommend him to all ERs

Anyway, enough nonsense from me.

 

Stay Frosty Guys

 

iD

[Ozexpatriate]

Ah Valentine's Day.

 

The day we remember the beating and beheading (on the orders of Claudius II for attempting to convert him to Christianity) of an obscure 3^rd century Christian martyr with our patronage of florists, chocolatiers, and providers of  greeting cards on peril of cold shoulder and hot tongue for an indefinite frosty period and celebrate the crimson blood of the martyr as an embodiment of passion.

 

It is a curious custom and does not appear to be co-opted (as most of our holidays are) from the pre-Christian past, falling between Imbolc and Ostara. Perhaps Chaucer is to blame.

 

May those of you whose special someone places Valentine's Day high in the firmament of observances find absolution, relief, or bliss, as fitting to your circumstances.

[AndrewC]

Reports of my demise are mostly/almost/kind of/not quite premature. Greetings and sanitations from the boring borough.

 

See what happens when Tony mentions cads and bounders.

 

11 weeks of bollards to catch up on. Meh. Congrats and commiserations as appropriate. Good to see Mr B at the Erith show a few weeks ago.

 

Work >> sucks like a sucky thing at a sucking convention. The cockwombles have been replaced by utter sh*t gibbons. Project started good but became a fustercluck when the account managers forgot where they parked their spines. If you look up scope creep and bunglec*nt on Wikipedia they will both refer you to the useless herd of sp*nk trumpets calling the shots on this bit of work. Oh well I've built up 3 weeks of extra time off in TOIL since Jan 2.

 

Trains >> Freemo meet in 3 weeks. Bloody modules haven't been unpacked since the NMRA convention in Oct.

 

Life >> Christmas was quiet. New Year's in Paris amongst the fog was good. Off to Canada in 14 weeks.

 

Home >> some blind sh*t gibbon managed to demolish our front wall before Christmas. Oh well saves me the trouble of doing it. Downside is all the litter and carp from the street is blowing in.

 

Soap opera next door >> nice people next door all abandoned ship just before Christmas. Place empty for a few weeks. One of the Africans returned and has been quiet. Some new chav/hood rat has appeared as of today.

 

Other poo >> where do electric showers come in as far as electrics in bathrooms are concerned? Nothing but 3mm of plastic between my wet (but fragrantly fresh) arms and 10kw of happy electrons in the shower.

 

Back under my rock for another few weeks/months/whatever.

 

Enjoy my silence.

[BoD]

Home >  some blind sh*t gibbon managed to demolish our front wall before Christmas. Oh well saves me the trouble of doing it. Downside is all the litter and carp from the street is blowing in.

 

Must be draughty when you are watching TV too.

 

Good to hear from you anyway.

[Purley Oaks]

A beautifully sunny day here today for a walk with Gabe in Holyrood Park this morning.

 

We've always exchanged Valentine's cards and small gifts but I'm a bit curmudgeonly when it comes to red roses which I'm sure just happen to be more expensive around 14 February. Similarly we don't go out to a restaurant because they'll always be rammed on Valentine's, the service will be poor, there'll be a "special Valentine's Day menu" (read more expensive), and the chefs will be overrun and the meals may not be up to par. So go on 13th or 15th instead when they'll be much more pleasant.

 

Feel free to call me a grumpy git!

 

So tonight I'm making the meal and there's some shampoo in the fridge. Gabe gets home at 7.30pm-ish. And the well-written and acted drama The Moorside is on tv at 9pm. Mmm, how womantic, as Madeleine Kahn once said.

 

Have a good time whatever you do

 

Mal

[Donw]

Afternoon, All.

• A splendid, but chilly (-2*C) start to the morning with the Wolfpack's training and play regimen. This time it lasted 90 minutes and I had two "dead dogs" at the end of it, leaving me free to get on with the various bits 'n' bobs on my plate.
• However, leaving Hettie outside overnight ("Hettie The Yeti") meant that I had to defrost her as I drove to the dog club - this she did well and fast except for the right rear view mirror... bu99er, back to the garage
• I fail to see why the UK insists on excluding plug sockets (unless low voltage) from the bathroom. Like in a majority of Swiss bathrooms, we have two power points in the bathroom (in our case both above the double sink), however Switzerland is failing to notice an epidemic of shower related electrocutions. Could it be due to the set up of the standard UK ring mains?
• The comment about the Hermes driver rekindled my ire against shoddy, cheapo delivery services. I had simultaneously ordered 4 items over the internet to be delivered to a friend who lives just across the border in France (the suppliers of such goods wouldn't/couldn't send to CH). Three of the four items shipped arrived. The fourth item (a Cook's bone saw I had been searching for) never turned up. Emails to the supplier revealed that the parcel was sent by some cheap 'n' nasty delivery company. Today I found out that the parcel was on its way back to the sender for reason "0004" - whatever that means (and if it means that no-one was at home, then they are lying through their teeth. My friend in France has a large grown up family and there's always someone at home). Incidentally, I looked up the relevant company on the internet and its' reputation is very poor. Not that you'd expect the company to be an "el-cheapo" company given what I had to pay in shipping.
• I recorded and watched "Back In Black" on the Beeb t'other day. It was a lovely tribute to one of my favourite writers - Terry Pratchett. One for the archives! Incidentally, it may say something about me to reveal that my favourite authors are (in no particular order) Larry Niven, Arthur C Clarke, John Irving, Len Deighton, Terry Pratchett, Umberto Eco, Charles Stross, JK Rowling (when she's not being all PC and "right on" in her writing) and Phillip K Dick. Much food for thought there for the psychoanalyst methinks.
• Whilst on the subject of authors, on Sunday the Beeb starts a 5 part adaptation of a favourite book by a favourite author: Len Deighton's SS-GB. I hope that the production is able to capture much of the subtlety and the complex multithread story lines. Still not sure whether or not I'll watch week by week, or save up and binge watch...
• Whilst referencing Len Deighton, I have to say he a most talented wordsmith, creating memorable word portraits or bon mots in a few lines, such as "I gave her a smile that I kept unused for a year or two". Character 1: 'You're joking?' Character 2: "I never joke, I find life adequately hilarious" and so on. I heartily recommend him to all ERs

Anyway, enough nonsense from me.

 

Stay Frosty Guys

 

iD

 

There could be relaxation of the sockets now that RCDs are common. I suppose in the old days the British would have stuck the open wire electric heater in the bathroom seeing as we were a long time getting round to Central Heating. My impression of most peoples awareness of electrical safety is that I am surprised we do not have more electrocutions.  It might make sense to have an uprated shaver socket that could cope with hairdryers and the like. Not that I have enough hair to need one these days.

Don

[Purley Oaks]

 The Tornado thing on the S&C is rather weird as it's called an advertised service (which it sort of is) and is open to ordinary ticket holders but you have to reserve a seat

 

Couldn't Northern learn something from Southern and just shove everyone on?

Mal

[Horsetan]

Couldn't Northern learn something from Southern and just shove everyone on?

 

....and throw in a bit of severely late running just to give everyone a bit of authentic atmosphere. If the unions could stage a strike or two in the middle of it.....

[Ozexpatriate]

• I fail to see why the UK insists on excluding plug sockets (unless low voltage) from the bathroom. Like in a majority of Swiss bathrooms, we have two power points in the bathroom (in our case both above the double sink), however Switzerland is failing to notice an epidemic of shower related electrocutions. Could it be due to the set up of the standard UK ring mains?

There could be relaxation of the sockets now that RCDs are common. I suppose in the old days the British would have stuck the open wire electric heater in the bathroom seeing as we were a long time getting round to Central Heating. My impression of most peoples awareness of electrical safety is that I am surprised we do not have more electrocutions.  It might make sense to have an uprated shaver socket that could cope with hairdryers and the like. Not that I have enough hair to need one these days.

Thanks to the comments regarding electrical wiring code in UK bathrooms.

 

It begs the question, where do Britons use hair dryers? (A wag might ask a corollary question: do Britons use hair dryers? but I wouldn't.)

 

I do like to have my rechargeable electric toothbrush plugged in on the bathroom counter. It would be very inconvenient for it to be elsewhere.

 

Besides hair dryers there are a number of other appliances that I see in bathrooms - mostly used by women - like lighted make up mirrors, and all sorts of hair curlers, crimpers, straighteners. This makes me presume that the traditional ladies' boudoir dressing table and mirror is a useful piece of furniture in a British home. (Despite images from classic Hollywood movies of leading ladies like Lana Turner sitting at a dressing table in fuzzy slippers they're not common in the US - certainly not by contemporary furniture manufacturers.)