Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all

[andyram]

Evening all and congratulations to Tony and Aditi on your wedding anniversary. Yesterday my parents celebrated their 45th anniversary and did so by heading down to Lyme Regis for a week. They certainly have picked a good week for it as the forecast looks dry and hot / warm all week.

This week is set to be a very busy one. Reports will need proof reading and final editing at some point. The final assessments need uploading onto the electronic system and a couple of tests need to be completed. On top of that I have a Sports Day to plan for the end of the week. On the same day we have the school summer fayre in the evening. Tomorrow is Amber's Sports Day. I have been given permission to leave my student in charge of the class so I can attend. Having said that, the event is due to run from 1.45 - 3.00pm. The temperature at that time of day is due to be 29 degrees. I would question the sense of having 5, 6 and 7 year olds outside in those conditions. One of the reasons we moved our Sports Day to the morning was to avoid the hottest time of the day. I certainly would not be surprised to receive a message tomorrow morning to tell me that the event has been postponed.

Further updates from today. I have completed the online application for the new birth certificate. It should be with by the end of the week. I have also completed the application for the dream job which, incidentally, is as an Education Officer at the Severn Valley Railway - working in the Engine House at Highley. As Mick NB said - I can ask my unanswered questions should I be called for interview. I decided that I have nothing to lose and, if i don't apply, i will never know.

 

Hopefully there will be some sleep tonight.

 

Night all.

[laurenceb]

Happy anniversary Aditi & Tony

Thumbs crossed Andy!

Night awl

[Two_sugars]

John, good to hear of a fellow missionary from County Durham down here in Yorkshire!

 

I remember going to Moscardinis - just couldn't remember exactly where! So was the Easington Lane one owned by the Donnini family?

 

Baz

 

DD2 has lived in Leeds for a few years now, Baz. . . she comes home when she can for RnR.

 

Easington Colliery had 3 ice-cream parlours. . . Bimbi's near the Hippodrome, Equi further down the street, and Mosci's near the bottom.

 

Equi had previously been owned  by  Alfred Donnini, . Father of Dennis Donnini VC.

 

I can't comment on Easington Lane. . . it was always a little like the wild west . . 

 

 

John

 

Ps. . The heat is doing me no good whatsoever.

 

Goodnight all . . .sleep well.

[The Stationmaster]

So presumably from Interlaken to Luzern on the narrow gauge Tony? - a splendid trip to round off the anniversary weekend and further congratulations for choosing to go that way as well as achieving the 40 years.  

 

G'night all - time to turn off the fan in the study and head upstairs to turn off the one in the bedroom.  On days like today I repeatedly remind myself that I made the rather good decision to include a ceiling fan in the kitchen and one in each of the bedrooms when planning the house although at this time of day we're not generating the power to run them.

[bluebottle]

Quite a busy Father's day,spending the afternoon at the Rother Valley Park, keeping Emily amused and out of mischief, then more of the same while enjoying a tasty barbeque at Helen's in-laws Paul and Christine's place in the evening. Helen had decided that Father's day was also to be Grandfather's day, so that meant another home-made card and extra chocolate.

 

Here's Paul and Richard trying out Emily E's new spinnaker, though they could have done with a bit more wind for the occasion...

 

... and the usual book, beer and sweet stuff to be enjoyed!

[emt_911]

Morning all. Not a great nights sleep despite having as many windows open as possible.

 

A difficult day ahead, firstly off to Ilford and then to the Midlands but at least I'm not back until at least tomorrow evening.

 

Fingers crossed for the dream job Andy.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

The electric fan in my bedroom was on for much of the night, making a small but vital difference to the perceived temperature and my ability to withstand it and get some kip.  I like sunshine but not humidity.  Perhaps fortunately, the week ahead is not laden with engagements.  The only one in the diary is on Wednesday, viz the Area Group meeting in a secluded location on the Herts/Beds border.  Today involves some moving about which is best done early if possible.  I have a prescription to fetch and will almost certainly have a much needed haircut.  Tomorrow and Friday should see the regular fodder runs but apart from that there are few anticipated distractions.  I wonder if I will get some m*d*ll*ng done?

 

Well done to Bill for recalling Rita Flynn in The Archers.  June Spencer was the first Peggy until she left the cast to start a family.  I am trying to recall the name of the actress who took her place but eventually she left and June took up the reins again.  I have not got round to reading the honours list yet so might do that today if I can avoid dripping sweat on to the laptop.  Thanks to those who have made suggestions for places to get a cooked breakfast.  My nearly local Morrisons filled the bill on Saturday.  Peter BB, enjoy the trip over the Brunig.  The Ffestiniog Travel Christmas state visit to Switzerland is rather fond of that line as part of the migration process from the Christmas venue to the place where New Year is spent.  The Schynige Platte line is closed at that time of the year but I made the ascent from Wilderswil on my first and rather wet trip to Switzerland in 2004.

 

Suitably sympathetic thoughts to all in distress and fingers crossed for Andyram

 

Chris

[JohnDMJ]

After a good day out in Worthing yesterday visting a few micropubs and pub with JohnDMJ, today I painted the garage fascia, garage door frame and main door frame before it got too warm, I then spent most of the day inside trying to keep cool.

 

A desktop pc that had been at my parents for some years and was going to be thrown out, has sat under our dinig table for another year or so.

Today I upgraded in from XP to WIndows 7 as I had a spare license.

 

All went well restarting numerous times nistalling the various updates till the last update. Now it wont restart past the initial start up screen. I think that the hard drive has failed as the Bios isnt showing one connected. Checked all the cables. So now deciding what to do as I ordererd extra memroy for it whislt i was doing the finla updates. Very frustrating.

 

A few bottle of beer emptied this afternoon between the two of us and more negatives form 1988 scanned in.

 

Install Linux instead!

[TheQ]

Morning Awl,

A terrible nights sleep was had, the downstairs thermometer we reading 28 and it was much hotter upstairs. after only two hours I went back down. At dawn this morning it was reading 24C but by the time I left it was reading 25C, that's with windows open upstairs and down.

I'll be glad to go into my nice cool lab.

As I'm from a family with relatives from Dorset, more in Wiltshire, some in  Lancashire,  Yorkshire, Ayrshire , many in West Lothian, Aberdeenshire and generally all round the world we all call the evening main meal, Tea.

 

 A nice picture of the Comet and family sailing, are they expecting to capsize? (the buoyancy bags on the mast).

 

I remember in the heat in the Gulf the pigeons and seagulls didn't sit on top of the lampposts, they sat on the road each under the shadow of a lamp head...

 

Time to... go find the cool of my lab.

[Donw]

Not had time to keep up. Regards to all and congratulations to Tony and Aditi.

 

Don

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

A very happy Anniversary to Aditi and Tony!

 

It is rather warm here at the moment.  The temperature is forecast to get up to 35°C+ towards the end of the week.  Over the weekend it got up to around 30°C - although Saturday was a bit cooler, which gave me the opportunity to tidy up the garage.

 

Most of the rest of the weekend was spent at the Hessentag at Rüsselsheim representing my Amateur Radio club.  It was a quite a good event, but rather annoyingly, the crank arm on my bike broke on the way home leaving me with a rather long walk!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a Charente Maritime that is looking to be as hot as yesterday.   Off to the supermarket shortly for such esoteric items as Hydrochloric Acid, Orangeina, and petrol.   Strimming and hedge cutting are on the cards and possibly some more assembly of furniture.   No doubt at times there will be cool liquid refreshment and even eyelid inspection at some point.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[AndyB]

Morning all and it's warm again today. A small fan and wet flannels were used to cool the kids down last night so they could sleep. 

 

AndyRam, good luck with the job application; the commute looks quite a way and could swallow most of the money in petrol?

30 hours a week for £13k might suit a more local person, perhaps? 

 

Tony and Aditit, congratulations on your anniversary. Hope you are having a nice trip to celebrate.

 

Today's jobs are mainly of the taxi and shopping variety, although I think with the forecast suggesting it will stay in the high 20s it may be time to reduce the insulation on the noggin.   

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

A restless night due to the heat, so today's work program is a little reduced as a result.

 

Andyram. Good luck with the job application.

 

Back later.

[Barry O]

Belated wedding anniversary Aditi and Tony. You have picked a niceplace to enjoy it.

 

I have parcels to post then I need to trim another hedge today. At some point I need to get a haircut...the joys of semi retirement!

 

Enjoy the day as much as you can.

 

Baz

[bbishop]

Chris,

 

Thelma Rogers

 

Bill

[Happy Hippo]

Can't be any slower than me.

 

Jamie

I can, especially into a headwind.

 

My width being a distinct disadvantage and acts as a very efficient air brake.

 

However, going down hill with a tailwind...........................

[Happy Hippo]

 

 

 

 A nice picture of the Comet and family sailing, are they expecting to capsize? (the buoyancy bags on the mast).

 

 

I suspect they have had an inversion in shallow water, where the mast has got caught on the bottom, which is a terrible job to sort out.

 

For those not so nautically literate, the bag on the mast keeps the mast flat on the surface of the water.

 

I once inverted a Bosun in a disused quarry, and  somehow managed to foul an obstruction under water: It was some sort of metal framing which the mast  dropped into and then the boat turned slightly and it slotted in like a key turning in a lock!

 

We ended up having to take the mast off to free it up, which is fun when the boat is floating upside down.

[Horsetan]

Can't be any slower than me.

I dunno. Some Toyota Pious drivers could give you a crawl for your money.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

It ain't arf hot mum (and dad, and all offspring and other relatives).  So not a wonderful night's kip although various fans helped, a little.

 

Now with superb timing on the part of Thames Water our water is cut off while they carry out some work on the new pipe round the corner.  However it is pre-planned so we were very efficiently pre-warned in good time and suitable receptacles are holding a handy supply of the stuff for such essential tasks as making tea and flushing toilets.  One potential problem is that the Thames Water chaps have to down tools if the temperature reaches 28C - and that is forecast to be achieved by 13.00 hrs and it is currently 24C in our porch, in the shade.  So hopefully the fellahs are quick workers and at least all the parts were on site on Friday so that bit was well sorted.

 

Enjoy your day if the heat allows and I bet it's cooler up on the Brunig (presumably you will not be popping up to the Offenbach Falls?).  For everyone's enjoyment   here's a pic of the new (in 2003) control system at Meiringen for the sections towards Luzern 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Belated 40th anniversary greetings to Aditi and Tony. Sad news this morning from Finsbury Park, its been treated as a terrorist incident. One death though this may not be because of the attack but two people seriously injured during the attack and several others injured. The death was an elderly man who suffered a heart attack before the incident when a van was driven into the helpers and the crowd that had gathered around him. The capsicum powder has done its job and no sign of any ants now but keeping an eye out for them. Another of those collection charity bags dropped through the door this morning, no registered charity number so it will make a good rubbish bag. These bags are from private companies anyway who have paid the charities up front to use their name so whatever goes in those bags all procedes goes to the company coffers. Thats it for now, be back later.

[TheQ]

I suspect they have had an inversion in shallow water, where the mast has got caught on the bottom, which is a terrible job to sort out.

 

For those not so nautically literate, the bag on the mast keeps the mast flat on the surface of the water.

 

I once inverted a Bosun in a disused quarry, and  somehow managed to foul an obstruction under water: It was some sort of metal framing which the mast  dropped into and then the boat turned slightly and it slotted in like a key turning in a lock!

 

We ended up having to take the mast off to free it up, which is fun when the boat is floating upside down.

Many years ago, the top of my Laser mast often had brown stains from being stuck in the mud, there are some juniors boats like that today at the club.

These days I like to sail with half a ton of steel hanging beneath the boat so that doesn't happen, although we have had the mast flat to the water in a knock down. I'd not seen any boat with the mast head buoyancy,  unless owned by training schools.

Our Own training school doesn't bother with mast head buoyancy,  because the most you can capsize is only to about -45 degrees as the Broads and rivers  are at most in our area 10 ft Deep and more likely 5ft.

[AndyB]

Ah, well for anyone who thinks that, with the weather as it is and it being the middle of June, that it's time to buy some summer trousers then forget it. 

My mission today was to do this for swmbo. Limited choice as they are clearing the stock ready for the autumn clothes.

Talk about long supply lines! 

That or the High St is more buoyant than one might have imagined and the buyers have misjudged the stock requirement. 

Having said that it never hurts to think ahead a bit if you are a consumer, and perhaps we just need to buy all our stuff one or two seasons in advance.

On that basis, I may place an order for a couple of locomotives for S@nta to deliver. If they turn up before December is it my fault? 

 

Having owned an online retail company myself the one thing that you could always rely on in predicting sales was this.

Q1. When does the customer absolutely, definitely, need and item? 

A1, Tomorrow.

Q2. When did they think to place the order?

A2. Today. 67 seconds before the post goes.

Q3. Whose fault is it if they don't get their stuff when they need it? 

A3. The retailer. 

Q4. Why is this?

A4. Because when you press "Place order" on your mobile device a bunch of magic pixies jump off their lilly pads and sprinkle magic dust over the warehouse, time is frozen and a crack battalion of elves skip around the dispatch shelves collecting your items and whisk them straight into the postman's delivery van just as it pulls into your road the next day.    

 

 

Meanwhile, next door's workman has set up a couple of workbenches on the drive 6" from my car and is pretty much having to sit on the bonnet to wield the saw. 

I'm guessing the neighbours will offer to have our cars valeted to remove dust etc. Yeah, dream on. 

[AndrewC]

Morning all. I won't say its hot here in the boring borough but a pair of Hobbits just came to the door looking to dispose of a ring. 

 

Quasi-portable Air conditioning unit removed from the shed and installed in bedroom. Temp has already dropped from 29c to 22c. Rest of the house is in full pizza oven mode. 

Not a lot going on. Going back to the bedroom for a while to chill off. 

 

Enjoy your day.