Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Sun shining at the moment but chance of rain this afternoon. as we're having a BBQ with lots of visitors I think rain is a racing certainty. However it won't be the first time I've BBQ'd under an umbrella. 

I am British after all!

Breakfast is already being prepared by The Boss then I take over the kitchen for some baking and other stuff.

Next there will be a gazebo and large umbrellas to erect and garden furniture to arrange. 
I may be gone for some time.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Horsetan]

One of my Probate clients rang me at RailEx to say that a distant cousin in Australia has crawled out of the woodwork to challenge the Will of the deceased, or at least to instruct Solicitors here to go on a fishing expedition. This cousin is definitely not a beneficiary in the deceased's Will, so I will have to ask her representatives exactly what she hopes to gain. My client will now have to break the news to the actual Beneficiaries (and there are quite a few), at which point I suppose a family war will break out. They all have Italian ancestry, so I expect it to get very nasty.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a slightly overcast village. As I mentioned yesterday we had some rather heavy rain. ER's might be interested in these pictures. We have lived here for 38 years and have never been flooded thanks to a minor accident of town planning. Yesterday was a good opportunity to show how this works. The house is below the road and the main road rises both sides of the house plus the road opposite slopes towards the top of our dive. All three areas drain towards a grid at the top of the drive. Fortunately there is a 6" rise on the pavement.

This was what it looked lie just after 2pm yesterday. This was taken from the top of our drive.

There were cockwombles aplenty going far too fast through floodwater, especially Chelsea tractors and German cars.

The road opposite became a river with the drains overloaded.

Fortunatley the pub car park at the side of the house is slightly lower than the pavement and the excess water flows down between out house and the pub to the beer garden.

This was taken holding the camera over the top of the fence.

The water was deeper than the tyres on my car and came within a foot of the top of the drive.

 

25 minutes later it was nearly all gone.

 

Quite spectacular but fortunately we don't need to worry unless the pub is re developed. Thus has happened about a dozen times whilst we've lived here. I will however be getting onto the council on Monday to make sure that the gully is cleaned out.

 

Anyway various things got done, our daughter and partner arrived shortly after the downpour and a good time was had.

 

Church this morning then this evening No2 2 son and wife coming for a meal. Unlike GDB we don't trust the weather enough for a BBQ.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited May 28, 2017 by jamie92208

[Oldddudders]

And on opening the sliding barn door (3m tall) something fell down - a baby bat! Not sure he's in great nick, and have put him on top of the straw bale. Hope he recovers.

[Barry O]

Morning everyone

 

Bad day at the office yesterday spent some time writing cricket disciplinary reports (and the red and yellow cards in use next year wouldn't have been any use whatsoever

 

No umpiring today but some Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday weather permitting.

 

Extra special thoughts today for all in pain especially those with loved ones being very unwell

Baz

Edited May 28, 2017 by Barry O

[emt_911]

Morning all. I managed a solid 8 hours sleep for a change which causes its own problems. Any more than 7 hours and my back is sore for the first couple of hours.

 

A reasonably bright start to the day and a couple of mundane tasks to complete before some modelling can take place. I also have to make sure that everything is in order on the CV before sending it off later.

 

There will be an interruption for the Monaco Grand Prix.

 

Have a good day everyone

[Horsetan]

....There will be an interruption for the Monaco Grand Prix...

Apparently one of the layout operators at RailEx was spending more time watching the Monaco practice and qualifying laps than operating the layout, with consequent disruption to the, er, service.

[Oldddudders]

The bat has disappeared. Since none of the cats went near the barn in that time, this is good news.

[Horsetan]

The bat has disappeared. ....., this is good news.

Went off his own bat.

[NGT6 1315]

Mawnin' awl. Dropped into bed past 2.30 am and am up again mainly due to the summerly spell we seem to be having ATM! As these images, I shall add, may prove…

 

 

 

 

To relieve route congestion for visitors bound for the Depeche Mode gig last night, Line 12 had been cut at Central Station temporarily as this line does not come anywhere near the Leipzig Arena.

 

 

 

 

 

And as you may have realised long ago, trams make for fabulous toys!

 

 

Shift today won't start before 4.38 pm, so plenty of time for recovery yet.

 

And on Wednesday, I will be given a nice new bit of gear for which I am part of the field test crew. Stay tuned.

 

 

Best wishes and commies to anyone in need, and otherwise, enjoy what you're up to…

Edited May 29, 2017 by NGT6 1315

[Horsetan]

...commies to anyone in need…

You might want to offer that to Jeremy Corbyn's Momentum. They need all the Commies they can get to achieve their comradely revolution on 8th June.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Warm and cloudy here. Forecast suggests no rain or thunder here today. However we are off to Enfield for lunch (we are taking it) with MiL.

Bill asked about cauliflower stalk curry. I don't think I have ever eaten it but whenever we have the curry made with cauliflower florets MiL usually mentions that back in India people make a vegetable dish using the stalks and serve the leaves too. The dish translated as something like cauliflower stalk vegetable.

We will try and set off early enough to cope with Sunday traffic. There is a motoring pageant in Enfield today but I think we can avoid it.

I hope everyone has a good day.

Tony

[Horsetan]

....There is a motoring pageant in Enfield today but I think we can avoid it. ...

Pity, it would have been something for the old car thread elsewhere on the Forum.

[Happy Hippo]

 

BEar comes to within a meter or so, looks straight at me and gives me a look which says 'You ain't worth it mate!' Moves off of the track and into the scrub.

 

 

More likely thought 'Eff me a marine, not common or garden USMC but a real  Royal one, I'm out of here sharpish, but casually like!'

[emt_911]

Apparently one of the layout operators at RailEx was spending more time watching the Monaco practice and qualifying laps than operating the layout, with consequent disruption to the, er, service.

I did notice him watching it. Not quite what people had paid to see but it did give me time to have a good look at the layout as there were fewer people around it.

[Smiffy2]

Bonjour tlm from La France Profonde, where the sun is shining like a mad thing, the bees is a-buzzin' and the little oiseax are cheepy-cheeping. Sadly the flies are abandoning the cows in the hope of a free meal indoors. Good news is that the cluster flies seem to have departed!

 

Went in to see Claude's sister Elisabeth when we arrived. It seems that he was lopping the top branches of a tall tree, standing in the bucket of his tractor, and he fell. No broken bones, no internal injuries, but evidence of a heart attack. So, most likely he had the crise cardiaque and then fell. He was still alive when found, but in a vegetative state and they turned the life support off after a few hours. He may have been lying there a couple of days...

 

As is the French way, Elisabeth offered us un p'tit aperitif. Of course, the bottles are what Claude put in. She offered us some port, and I don't know what was in the bottle but it wasn't port. More like the Calvados that's made illegally by the farmers here... Complete firewater.

 

So then out to our garden, where we struggled for half an hour to put up an old gazebo, then decided we'll go out tomorrow and buy one of the self-erecting ones. Does anyone know if they can be put on patios? I'm assuming the can if the legs are weighted.

 

We also had a long fight with our rectangular parasol, and decided that's for the chop as well. We have patios front and rear and move around with the sun. I often wonder how a working class kid from a council house deserves all this, and then I remember - hard work!

 

Cooked a proper dinner last evening. Started with oysters (€11 for 24 from the supermarket) followed by veal escalopes (€4.50 for 4 - same supermarket), pommes de terre rissolée and ratatouille. Then some very nice Saint Agur with crusty bread. All washed down with some fizzy pink. Aaah....

 

Motorsport frenzy today, Monaco races then the Indy 500. Lunch will be sardines (supermarket again), and some roast chicken and veg for dinner. Perhaps a little rosé.

 

Must go, man in a tractor with a small girl in overalls and Wellington boots just drove past, visitors for Elisabeth. Will nose.

 

Have a great day everyone.

[Horsetan]

Bonjour tlm from La France Profonde, where the sun is shining like a mad thing, ....

I sometimes wonder if Peter Mayle actually intended to call his book "A Year In Profonde" rather than "A Year In Provence".

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

Here's hoping that you are having a pleasant bank holiday weekend/ordinary weekend (delete as appropriate)

 

Grandadbob, a gazebo, large umbrellas and a BBQ.

What could possibly go wrong?

[Tony_S]

I sometimes wonder if Peter Mayle actually intended to call his book "A Year In Profonde" rather than "A Year In Provence".

The film we saw on Friday was Jour De Fête set in a late 1940s French village. Not Provence though.

[New Haven Neil]

I had Blue Monday going round and round in my head for several days quite pleasant really

Don

 

Yup - it's on a TV advert - takes me right back!

[newbryford]

1.07 for the 25km bike to work today. It felt faster than that.....

 

Hoping that the annoying front shoulder headwind doesn't change direction and helps me on the way home. I should be ahead of the forecast thunderstorms - fingers crossed.

 

Building another model railway control panel at work today, using some slightly different kit to previous. Also got some customer service stuff to do.

 

There will be a lunchtime visit to JDM Models in the lunch break to collect some new wagons. The credit card is suitably braced.

 

Trying to find out if I can watch C4 live via the internet for the F1. (It will only be on in the background whilst working - honest!)

 

Have a good Sunday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Smiffy2]

The film we saw on Friday was Jour De Fête set in a late 1940s French village. Not Provence though.

 

Wonderful Jacques Tati movie.

Yesterday we were in St Hilaire du Harcouet and the circus came to town - the lead vehicle was a huge American artic (with gaudy trailer) in metallic deep red - huuuge - and there was a gleeful small boy in the passenger seat giving it all it was worth with the hooter - which was bigger and louder than most locomotives! Put me in mind of the arrival of the little funfair in Jour de Fête! But bigger and noisier. A nice sign of things both changing and staying the same.

[newbryford]

Panic over - just realised I have a C4 live account...........

 

Cheers,

Mick

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Had a warning on my laptop this morning, I was at risk of overcharging the battery. So I switched it off at the mains and its only taken an hour to drain a third of the battery. Now switched on again and will switch it off at the mains again when I switch the computer off, if its fully recharged.

 

One of my Probate clients rang me at RailEx to say that a distant cousin in Australia has crawled out of the woodwork to challenge the Will of the deceased, or at least to instruct Solicitors here to go on a fishing expedition. This cousin is definitely not a beneficiary in the deceased's Will, so I will have to ask her representatives exactly what she hopes to gain. My client will now have to break the news to the actual Beneficiaries (and there are quite a few), at which point I suppose a family war will break out. They all have Italian ancestry, so I expect it to get very nasty.

What with the goings on in Sarthe, do we have the makings of a soap opera here?

[Happy Hippo]

 

So then out to our garden, where we struggled for half an hour to put up an old gazebo, then decided we'll go out tomorrow and buy one of the self-erecting ones. Does anyone know if they can be put on patios? I'm assuming the can if the legs are weighted.

As you know I was elaborating a few posts back on modifying the door side of a 3 x 4.5 heavy duty pop up gazebo.

 

We use it as a range tent on the firing point, so it has to be firmly secured down

 

Our experience in weighted legs was not good, and we now hold it down using four 20 mm x 3 mm angle home made 'tent pegs'. They are 450 mm long!

 

These are hammered in and then  a ratcheted cargo strap is used to secure it to the frame of the gazebo so that the shorter ends are connected to the ground in an X  (one at each end).

 

It might be overkill, but it doesn't go anywhere even in a gale.

 

However my advice to anyone buying a gazebo is only buy one which as the internal cross bracing which stops the bellows effect that occurs when the wind gets up and underneath the gazebo!

 

This can lead to the frame getting royally screwed up.  A quick fix would be to make cross bracing out of para cord!