Early Risers.

[tractionman]

Don't they also have to wear tweed jackets, or have things moved on since then?

With patches on the elbows, yep, usually in History departments such garments are still to be seen worn by the odd (ahem) male member of staff...

 

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[Coombe Barton]

I have to stop overseas students calling me Professor - cue me explaining the British educational ranking system until they go away

Edited June 21, 2017 by Coombe Barton

[emt_911]

Only just home after a very long day. Mostly it's by choice as I was monitoring some of my engineers on site to ensure that they took regular breaks and had plenty of fluid in the heat of today. Al long day for them and they finished at 19:30. I left at the same time and it took me 2 hours to drive 18 miles.

 

I couldn't be bothered to cook when I got home so I stopped at the local chippy. Reasonably cheap and very filling. I certainly needed something.

 

Time to sort myself out for tomorrow and then bed.

 

Night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone

 

I managed to escape the orifice just before 3:00. The has been cloudy for most of the day, but around lunch time, it made a vain attempt to rain, but after a few spots gave up. However, around 4:30 it finally started raining, but that only lasted about 20 minutes.

 

Later as we were completing the Sainsbury's Grand Prix it must have really chucked it down, as the pavements outside the shop were absolutely soaked, but it must have only been very short downfall though. Once the shopping had been put away I still went out and watered down our pot plants, as I don't think enough fell from the sky.

 

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[petethemole]

Solstice greetings!

[Horsetan]

You could have mulled wine. Bangs particularly well in summer.

I think not.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all.

 

We have a  'yellow weather warning' from the Met Office for tomorrow from 06.00 to 13.00 to tell us that it might rain.  If I look further down the page I see that the 'Precipitation Probability' during that period moves up from 5% to .... wait for it .... a highly impressive 10%.  

 

Oddly we haven't got a warning covering the period from 14.00 to 18.00 when the probability is again shown as 10%  - presumably it will be a different sort of rain (or a different sort of probability)?   

 

Confused of the Thames Valley

[Barry O]

Night all.

Sleep well.

Baz

[newbryford]

Various text messages were sent to me today by NB Junior of which the prime two were:

 

"Emma has a surprise" (Junior's cousin)

 

Followed not too much later with

 

"We have a new addition to the family......"

 

I thought it would be good to become a great-uncle.

 

 

 

Until this picture arrived.

 

 

This is Benji [*]. He's six weeks old and was found along with two others at the stables where Emma keeps her horse. Apparently the mother is feral and had been carted off by the RSPCA a few days ago and nobody knew she had kittens. The other two have also been homed

 

So the NB household is now back to a three cat family.

He's had a check at the vets and had his flea treatment. I'm sat here typing and itching at the thought as every time I look at him, another flea abandons ship. He is  being kept apart from the other two for a few days.

 

So I'm on kitten-sitting duty tonight and tomorrow (with an interruption for golf)  as he settles in.

 

Have a good Thursday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[*] I'm not convinced about the name.

 

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

 

[*] I'm not convinced about the name.

 

Why, can't he spell it?

[Horsetan]

 

 

 

I really think I need a drink......

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Horsetan]

..., you really want to stay sober if that lot is to be a recognisable loco by the weekend Ivan

One bogie has been built. The other one was probably the reason why the previous owner gave up: the fold-up etch snapped along one side. I hope I can salvage it.

 

I need to ask Ian Penberth at Penbits which of his two sprung 47 bogie kits he'd recommend for adaption: the one for the Bachmann or the Heljan.

 

All the other bits seem to be there. I've picked a preserved example too: D1705 / 47.117

[BR60103]

Keith and John:

Isn't the American "professor" system something like "Captain" in the Navy? As I understand, if you command a ship, you're called "Captain", even if you're only a lieutenant.

 

 

In our small office, one of the guys received his Associate of the Society of Actuaries designation (halfway to Fellow). The other actuary asked him what title he thought he should have and he said "Associate Actuary". Caused some friction (not in our office) as "Associate Actuary" is one of the higher ranked officers in an insurance company.

Edited June 22, 2017 by BR60103

[emt_911]

Morning all. I slept like a log last night so now I feel totally carp.

 

Another day of keeping an eye on the health of the engineers in the heat but hopefully it won't be as hot or as long as yesterday.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Temperatures are really rather ridiculous at the moment - They are due to get up to 37°C today.  Strangely though, our streets aren't melting!

 

Oh well - better get on. I have quite a lot to do today.

 

Time for a coffee!  Have a good day everyone...

[TheQ]

Morning Awl, another bad night's sleep not good when I've a near 300mile drive starting in a couple of hours.

Once I get out of east Anglia ( that's the difficult bit A47, A17) The temperature should drop as I head north west.

So no work for me till next Wednesday just a thousand miles of driving and a wedding to attend.

Just waiting for carol to say where the rain will be on the way.

 

 

Time to...get breakfast

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Last night saw an enjoyable time at Area Group, with half a dozen of us nattering and admiring.  The journey there and back was not all it might have been.  The road from the new Junction 11A to Dunstable is signed confusingly and it is all too easy to end up in almost deserted trading estates and the south end of the High Street despite trying to follow "Dunstable (N)".  After dark I managed to find the motorway with little trouble but imagine my joy when the overhead gantries told me that Junction 13 was closed moments after I had passed Junction 12.

 

Not for the first time, I laughed out loud at the quip by Dennis Skinner during the State Opening.  Does anyone recall the wonderful "Week Ending" on Radio 4?  I remember a sketch which consisted of an actress reading out the Queen's Speech and chuckling more and more as she did so.  Golly, how long ago was that?

 

There are a couple of reasons for me to hope that today will be cooler.  A double pile of ironing awaits - always sheer bliss - and lunch is due to involve a hot wok.  I defy Sister Diabetes to upbraid me about my weight next time we meet.

 

Right now I need to clean up and dress sufficiently to go outside and put out the bin for collection.  The often boisterous dustmen cannot be far away.

 

Best wishes to all in distress

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the Haute Vienne, where we are for a couple of days. Yesterday went well and the guy with the little tractor (not Gruber's little tank)arrived while we were finishing breakfast and spent the next 3 or so hours cutting the hayfield down to size. He did a great job and is going to continue. Once again I have found that my French Neighbours have been far more reliable and conscientious than the expat community. SWMBO was very pleased with the result. After lunch we had a pleasant drive over to near Limoges though the outside temp was 38 the car was pleasantly cool. A good evening then ensued and we even spent time watching a Little Owl on the neighbours barn. It also turns out that President Macron visited this little hamlet of La Menereix last week and even shook our friends hand. We have bowed obsequiously.

 

I must have done something right as I have been told that I can go trainspotting for the day so that Beth and Margaret, who went to school together, can talk.

 

As to professors and their age, I was asked to assist A Prof of British History from Manchester as she wanted to access some family archives that my father had deposited with the University of Huddersfield. I offered to go and help decipher my Dad's indexing system and was very pleasantly surprised to find that she was a delightful lady in her 30's.

 

Jamie

[andyram]

Morning all. Generic greetings and good wishes and I hope that everyone is managing to stay healthy in these rising temperatures. Not sure what the final total was during yesterday afternoon, but school was unpleasantly hot with a very heavy atmosphere which, on this occasion, was not caused by the staff! I had little in the way of teaching commitments yesterday due to the student's full time timetable. In the morning I melted in the corner of the classroom updating more of the online assessment system which is now missing only one set of data. That should be sorted later today.

The report proof reading beckons, but cannot be started until all the reports have been returned by the boss with his contribution. These are yet to arrive so I think I will have very limited time to complete the job - very frustrating.

Yesterday did produce a couple of very nice moments. One of the children's grandparents came up and said some very nice things about my impending departure. She claimed all of the children in her family were disappointed, including the one who had left the school last year. In the afternoon, whilst covering an older class, one of the children asked me why I was moving on. When I gave her my stock answer (looking to get more experience) she responded with "all the best teachers are leaving". Quite nice to hear.

Today I am again free of teaching commitments, although it is the last day. I hope to complete the student's paperwork this morning and also make progress on planning for next week. In the afternoon I have my official planning release time. This will partly be lost to an appointment with the agency so they can see my new birth certificate so I can prove who I am!! It means a needless trip into the town centre. Once that is done it will be back to the planning or reports (if I have them), storms permitting work will probably undertaken in a shady spot in the garden.

As yet there is no word from the Engine House job, but since the closing date was Monday I think it is too soon to be writing that off. I am quite relaxed about that one because of the drop in pay and the commute. It was too nice an opportunity to not have a go at, and I am of the opinion that if it is meant to be it is meant to be, if not it is not. I do have faith that the right opportunity is out there for September and I will find it eventually.

 

Stay safe all.

[roundhouse]

Morning from a slightly cooler Surrey. There is a pleasant breeze which kept our bedroom cool but the rest of the house is still very warm.

 

The train last night crawled from East Croydon so we bailed one stop short and had a pleasant pint of Meantime Red craft beer. A bus home after food there aswell.

 

This morning th trains either side of ours have been cancelled due to shortage of stock due to the heat. Luckily we were first on our service when it arrived but people are now struggling to get on it further towards London.

 

Be mor day and then it's the weekend. Hooray.

[AndyID]

Morning all from the Haute Vienne, where we are for a couple of days. Yesterday went well and the guy with the little tractor (not Gruber's little tank)arrived while we were finishing breakfast and spent the next 3 or so hours cutting the hayfield down to size. He did a great job and is going to continue. Once again I have found that my French Neighbours have been far more reliable and conscientious than the expat community. SWMBO was very pleased with the result. After lunch we had a pleasant drive over to near Limoges though the outside temp was 38 the car was pleasantly cool. A good evening then ensued and we even spent time watching a Little Owl on the neighbours barn. It also turns out that President Macron visited this little hamlet of La Menereix last week and even shook our friends hand. We have bowed obsequiously.

 

I must have done something right as I have been told that I can go trainspotting for the day so that Beth and Margaret, who went to school together, can talk.

 

As to professors and their age, I was asked to assist A Prof of British History from Manchester as she wanted to access some family archives that my father had deposited with the University of Huddersfield. I offered to go and help decipher my Dad's indexing system and was very pleasantly surprised to find that she was a delightful lady in her 30's.

 

Jamie

 

I was in Vienne when I was watching the Swiss TV program that I thought was coming from Sweden, but that was Vienne, Isère, on the Rhone. Our company had a sales/development facility there and my boss sent me over to try to understand WTF was going on. To say the relationship with the home office in the US was somewhat hostile would be a bit of an understatement.

[RhBBob]

Morning all !

 

Onward with the repair of the garden table and chairs again today !  How does outside furniture remain intact for so many years and then suddenly split ?  On the final leg now (no pun intended!), the replacement of several seat bars. Decking board, used upside down, looks like the ideal match when carefully sawn in half lengthwise, so off to B&Q this morning.

 

As reported elsewhere, thundery downpours expected, although the torrential rain which hit Boston two days ago during the morning rush-hour* missed us completely !

 

Have a good day everyone and stay healthy

 

*actually the rush-hour starts at 7 am and ends about 8 pm - like many other towns, I suspect !

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

I had a better nights sleep last night, but only just. Today I'm off to the High Peak and Macclesfield areas to once more collect some customer information. The list is now almost completed, but I think I can make it spin out until next week.

 

Back later.