Early Risers.

[emt_911]

The predicted long day happened and I only got back to the hotel at 22:00. I'm meant to be heading home tomorrow but I might end up having another night here.

 

Time for bed.

 

Night all

[Donw]

Possibly the worse Boss I had was nicknamed Stinging Nettle. Her idea of being a good boss was to nit pick and undermine her staff at every turn hoping the project would turn into a crisis. She could then rush in and sort it all out with praise and honour going to her. Not my idea of a good boss. Even when working for a new boss she phoned him to say the project I was working on would be a disaster. Funny we heard nothing when it was a success.

Don

[laurenceb]

Interesting that GDBob needs two deputies (Tony S and me)

Night all

[The Stationmaster]

Excellent day out in the Ealing/Northfield/Brentford area.  The Musical Museum is highly recommended although our visit was considerably enhanced by not only listening to ChrisBarber playing the Wurlitzer organ but by having been invited to stand on the stage next to him and the keyboard(s) while he played and explained how it worked and its history - absolutely brilliant stuff, especially if you enjoy listening to cinema organs being played by a virtuoso.

 

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[lightengine]

Exhibition in town presently of Joy Adamson's paintings. Botanical and portraits of African people. Only 2 lion paintings. She was apparently paid a pretty paltry sum by the British government to paint the portraits in the early 40's. Worthwhile seeing though.

[AndyID]

Yippee! Suddenly it's summer, although we still have to watch for freezing overnight.

 

 

A day of serious lumberjacking. Time for some buttered scones methinks.

 

 

This is a bit of a fir tree that had to come down to make way for my shed shop fort playroom. I've had an electric chainsaw for ages, but I thought it was time to get a real chainsaw. This one doesn't half rip through the logs.

 

The slightly medieval looking implement is a log-jack for lifting logs clear of the ground for sawing. A good investment.

 

I read Milligan's "war memoirs" some time ago. I bought it in Aruba of all places. Must have been quite a while back because I turned forty while we were there and I think I'm sixty-eight now. He tells a great story about a gun mounted on a train that ran up and down the south coast of England.

[emt_911]

Morning all. A bright start to the day and the forecast is for it to stay that way.

 

I'll find out later whether I have yet another night in the Midlands. I seriously hope not.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Despite a bright and sunny start to the day, we actually have frost this morning!  Definitely not typical for May.

 

Oh well - onwards and upwards!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Barry O]

Sunny here too up in the North West Leeds highlands. It's chilly here at the moment but it's supposed to reach 16° here later..may not need the thermals on for umpiring today!

 

Plans for our next Antipodean adventure continue. Her indoors is a dab hand at organisation so I leave for to her.

 

Have a great time today everyone.

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Shine is sunning brightly and should way that stay with only some catchy ploud lorming fater.

 

The early morning garden inspection reveals only one feline deposit since Monday so maybe the other two I "shot" have got the message for now but I won't start counting poultry yet. 

It has been decreed from on high that more gardening will be done today as Herself has bought more plants. Needless to say she won't get her hands dirty doing the planting and has called for a volunteer. That would be me then. There is also the issue of a leaning (wooden) fence post to sort. "Rot" you say, "Very likely" say I.

Still no muddling done, things (like shopping, gardening and cat hunting) keep getting in the way. I may go on strike if it carries on.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Lunch went well yesterday.  I can now reveal that we had stir fried pork with hoi sin sauce and a bold selection of vegetables.  Some m*d*ll*ng got done and the evening talk by Stephen Gay was as entertaining as ever from this speaker.   This morning the car has been moved, unloaded and moved again.  It is now in the right place and for the time being all is fine with the world.   Later today I shall travel to London for a concert by the fine young Welsh band Calan at Kings Place.  It will be sensible to have a late lunch before I set off.  There is no shortage of eateries in the Kings Cross and St Pancras area but I see no reason to pay through the nose when I can meet my needs at home for a fraction of the cost.

 

Warm thoughts to all in distress, of whom there are far too many.

 

Chris 

[Oldddudders]

My last full day in the UK for a while. And a bright start is good, although sadly it only applies to the weather, not me! More tea needed.

 

There is a huge difference in feel and performance between electric and petrol chainsaws. But once you get over the noise and vibration of the latter then they certainly deliver. But safe working is paramount. Sheena, a butch former soldier, refused to show Alison how to use one saying "You're a mother!" Alison now safely uses a Stihl more powerful than mine.

 

I think Spike Milligna "the well-known typist's error" was stationed at Galley Hill in east Sussex (it wasn't East Sussex then) at the start of the war. In my time there was an oil depot there, rail-served. A certain Control colleague, Georgie, would occasionally cover that area on his rostered spare days and on at least two such occasions the tanks became derailed in the depot. Since we were about 50 miles away it was hard to blame him, but all the same!

 

I hope midweek finds you well.

[TheQ]

Morning Awl,

Yet another night of only 5 hours sleep it definately seems to be settling in on that length of sleep.

 

A cloudless sky with bootiful bright sunshine, shining on the north side of the house this morning, which is why I had to chisel the car out of the ice this morning on the south side of the house, chilly it was... 

 

The drive in was enlivened by one strange cockwomble, at traffic lights (red) as we approached the cockwomble pulled into the right hand lane, indicating right,  as I followed him. The left hand lane , which was clear of cars  lights went green. Cockwomble, drives forward moves into the left hand lane to avoid the traffic island, and drives off down that way still indicating right... most odd...

 

Dodging Saracens, Stalwarts and Scorpions was a daily occurance on my way to school on my bike, as they came out of the repair depot and drove round the outside of the school grounds to get to the testing areas...

 

Barry O mentioned the jubilee roundabout, on the A303, Now I left the Salisbury plain area in 1971, so that's after my time, I can't find it on google. So could you enlighten me where it is? so I can visualise the chaos caused, twas Chieftains in the area when I lived that way..

 

I must get my stihl chainsaw out, give it a service and sharpen the chain, there is big pile of logs waiting to be demolished into fire sized pieces.

 

Time to get on with work, it was stubborn to get running first thing and now it needs attention again..

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Recycling put out. The bin men have already collected the mixed recycling bags.

It is a little bit cloudy at the moment but I am led to believe it will be sunny later.

Tony

[Donw]

A lovely sunny start to the day although a little chilly. Another year older today I seem to be rapidly approaching my three score and ten (two to go). 

 

Enjoy your day.

 

Don

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

The sun is shining and the bins have been emptied. Today my travels will take me to Blackpool and North Preston areas, where once again I will be collecting contact information for another department.

 

The sooner I set off, the sooner I'll get back home, so enjoy whatever you've got planned for the day.

 

Back later.

Happy birthday Don

[Oldddudders]

Happy Birthday, Don. Amazing how even meeting you briefly at Taunton has made you more 'tangible' as a contributor. Those events are very rewarding for that alone.

[Tony_S]

Happy birthday Don.

[Shedman5]

Morning, blue sky and sunshine here, workmen have just arrived to continue the paving/new drive project.

 

Not much else to say except enjoy your day and happy birthday Don.

[grandadbob]

Many Happy Returns Don. 

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a very sunny village a few miles south of Baz on the Aire/Calder watershed.   Happy birthday to Don and Ian I hope that your travels go well.

 

Yesterday was a good day  even of the class 90 did manage to loose 7 minutes between Leeds and St Evenage heading south.   The world was partially put to rights and as I got home a little earlier than expected a nice warm dinner was waiting for me.

 

Various tasks to be completed this morning then it will be tidying frenzy as snooty brother and sister in law are coming for dinner.  I will try to make sure that I don't put my foot (or fist) in it during the course of the evening.

 

I've inherited two chainsaws with the French house, an electric one and a petrol one.  No 2 son was trained as a tree surgeon and has given me a lot of tips.  They are both proving very useful and the log pile is growing nicely.   I even plan to try to sculpt a bench out of a length of pine trunk in the summer.  However I do plan to buy some proper protective trousers before we go. They need respect.

 

Regards to all

 

Jamie

Edited May 10, 2017 by jamie92208

[Barry O]

 

Dodging Saracens, Stalwarts and Scorpions was a daily occurance on my way to school on my bike, as they came out of the repair depot and drove round the outside of the school grounds to get to the testing areas...

 

Barry O mentioned the jubilee roundabout, on the A303, Now I left the Salisbury plain area in 1971, so that's after my time, I can't find it on google. So could you enlighten me where it is? so I can visualise the chaos caused, twas Chieftains in the area when I lived that way..

Apologies

 

A slip of the pen..it was the Countess not Jubilee - it was a while ago... down the big hill take the last road off the roundabout....We also crossed a road at Tank Crossing Vector which was quite interesting as well.

 

Baz

[The Lurker]

Morning all from a bright blue skied Sidcup- it is nice out there. Waiting for the glazing guys to return- the last day today and it's the front of the house. I have to go into work later but not til I have got them up and running , made teas etc (10 sugars per round!)

 

I haven't had time to catch up but may return later.

 

Have a good day all

Happy birthday Don

[AndyB]

Happy birthday, Don. May you have many more. 

Ian, have a safe and pleasant trip back to France. 

 

Morning all and it's a sunny one here.

 

A day of swotting awaits as I've scheduled an exam for next week. I really don't like exams so I'm quite looking forward to getting the thing over and done with.

I'm doing this one "online" with a proctor tuned in via my webcam and microphone. If I've understood correctly software is temporarily installed on my PC to allow him to effectively hear and see anything in my lounge whilst said software is installed. They recommend only installing it an hour beforehand and removing it immediately after the exam. So, I guess it is quite intrusive.

 

There's a bit of clematis wilt hereabouts and I note that slugs have been crawling across a number of the seed trays. If I catch them they'll be relocated to the middle of the lawn and the local bird population can sort them out.  

 

Have a nice day everyone.