Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Hey up from a hotel just South of the Thames.

 

Breakfast required then off to Harrods for coffee followed by our reunion. New polo shirts required for today were delivered to Leeds after we left yesterday...bummocks!

 

Needed 1.67 beer tokens to buy a beer last night...it was how much?????

 

Thoughts are with Debs and John.

 

Baz

[Gwiwer]

Morning all. I appear to be in vertical mode. I therefore need coffee.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Rather dull here, not raining at the moment.

We are off to Enfield this evening. MiL wanted us to go as it is Diwali. Aditi made a big tub of carrot halwa yesterday to take. She also made a Swiss roll but I don't think that has any Diwali significance.

Have a good day.

Tony

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Here.,

4.5 hours sleep in bed and another hour on the sofa, to be woken by the distressing tone of a politician lying through her teeth on TV.

 

 A real autumn morning showing it's Old English name of "The Fall", it was misty, the roads were covered in leaves and slightly damp.

 

 That didn't stop one cockwomble, turning into the slip road on to the major road, almost stopping and then pullling out as I got there. Full beam headlights were deployed as well as ABS braking....

I suspect the Cockwomble was a young one as I followed it for some miles and everytime a car came the other way, it braked, which seems to be a modern habit since the introduction of the "if you see a hazard press the button on the computer" test...

 

The road closure I mentioned yesterday was gone,... So they've added another set of roadworks  at a double roundabout in the first town I come to on the way here.  unfortunately I will have to go that way tonight.

 

47 days before I start attending the DIY shed on a Wednesday, however at the moment I have to use the Landrover on a Tuesday and Friday as SWMBO has the car. That means I'd have to use the Landrover on a Wednesday as well ( 20 to 40 Concrete blocks or long lengths of timber don't fit in the car), which would mean extending it's insurance for a higher mileage, will it be worth it?  Do they still send discount vouchers to use with your card?

 

I dropped into the MRC on the way home yesterday to the surprise of the Wednesday members, to get final measurements of Tiree, So a trip to the DIY Shed is definately on tomorrow for the concrete blocks, and for timber / cut plywood. My design for the carrying cases / supports for Tiree will be complete by the end of today.

 

Time too... keep measuring current values 100uA to 10A, 10 Hz to 30Khz (and finish a few drawings of model railway cases during warm up time)...

[45156]

Morning All

 

Again, thoughts to Debs and John, and generic greetings to everybody else.

 

Many tasks domestic await this morning, so this will be a short visit.  However, I must tell the tale of how good the services of our County Council work - the older here will immediately identify with Flanders and Swan.

 

Some time ago, our street lights were changed from Sodium to a lower energy sodium by replacing the heads.  Then a few months later the lower energy sodium were replaced by LED, again by replacing the heads.  In April, some new metal lamp standards started to appear alongside about half of the old concrete standards.  Then these were slowly changed over.  Following on from that, the rest of the new standards started to appear, and the sat there untouched for months.  The lamp outside 45156 towers had already failed before the replacement process, and it had been repaired by digging up the pavement to replace a burnt out main cable - and this was done by Northern Power, who had to return at the council's behest, as the tarmac job was untidy.  It was then repaired to the council's satisfaction.  The council then messed up the new tarmac by taking a core sample.  Then when the new lamp standard was installed by the council, it was secured with more tatty tarmac.  Fast forward many weeks, and a lighting contractor appeared to dig up the pavement again to expose the cables.  Hole stayed open for a few days, then Northern Power arrived to cut the power supply across to the new standard.  Then the contractor reappeared to backfill the hole, and to replace the tarmac very neatly, but round both old and new lamp posts.  Then many nights of darkness ensued as the old light was no longer live, and the new post still had no new head on it (the old one was of a different type).  Yesterday, the council arrived to remove the old post with a hoist and by cutting it off at the  base.  They then did a very rouigh tarmac job to backfill the hole that had been created, disappeared to return much later with a cherry picker to out a new head on the new post.  I really despair of the waste of time and resource, not to say money, that this lunatic and inefficient process must have caused.

 

Hoovering calls

Back tomorrow

Regards to All

Stewart

[AndyB]

Morning all and it's misty here.

 

Went to bed with a headache (that's no way to talk about swmbo, I hear you declaim). 

Woke up with the same headache this morning (see above). 

Caffeine withdrawal side-effect, no doubt. 

 

Spent a bit of time last night adding scenery to a small layout I've been working on. No-one notices if  you do this during the dancing programme. 

With the local monitoring authority safely at work I may continue this later. 

 

I don't know if anyone else has watched the "Eat Well for Less" programme but it seems my youngest is particularly taken with it; he has an interest in cooking and getting value for money. 

And having watched other children being challenged about their particular food choices it does seem to have opened him up to trying different foods, also. 

I believe for dinner tonight he is russelling up meatballs in a tomato sauce with wholemeal pasta. 

My role will be to act as the commis, wielding the knives and prepping veg. 

 

Note to self 1: pre-made sauce has 0.45mg of salt per 100g, home-made using canned tomatoes has only trace levels.  

Note to self 2: just look at the meatballs, don't touch. 

[81C]

https://www.bradford.co.uk/catalog/product/view/id/1022

 

Just sayin'...

I surprised the Exchange is still going judging by the amount of utter crap they sell. 

[The Stationmaster]

Unusual reason for disruption of commuter rail service locally this morning - http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/bear-troubles-block-commuters-from-catching-west-coast-express-in-coquitlam

 

Looks like they ought to adopt the Norwegian Railways policy - there (on country routes) the driving cab equipment includes a rifle for dealing with various larger wild life.

 

And good morning all,

 

It raineth (most of the time) although it is promised to reduce later in the day but it has to be born in mind that an increase in precipitation promised for later in the day earlier this week didn't happen so maybe's today's decrease might also not happen.

 

Faux Friday will - thanks to the past freezer raid - take us no further than Tesco so the only train I'm likely to see, if any, will be a 2 car dmu mainly obscured by trees, I won't mind the obscured bit.  And it will be no more than veg shopping as double discount doesn't start until tomorrow.

 

Have a good day one and all.

[Horsetan]

I surprised the Exchange is still going judging by the amount of utter crap they sell.

Maybe that's its USP.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bit late this morning, spent rather longer than usual soaking in the bath.

 

I surprised the Exchange is still going judging by the amount of utter crap they sell. 

They're not the only ones selling tat this time of year. Lets see who can find the biggest/most ridiculous/most tasteless bit of tat and post it here for all to enjoy laugh and poke fun at.

Edited October 19, 2017 by PhilJ W

[Tony_S]

...They're not the only ones selling tat this time of year. Lets see who can find the biggest/most ridiculous/most tasteless bit of tat and post it here for all to enjoy laugh and poke fun at.

And then when the Google bot notices your interest in such things you can receive lovely targeted ads to all your social media pages.

Though since turning 65 my ad links on social media have changed. It used to be local accountants, funeral plans and incontinence products. Now I get stuff about new Rolls Royce cars and private jets instead.

[bbishop]

Incidentally our Tesco pharmacy - and not just the pharmacists - will do BP checks, again if a trained person is available to do the job and one of the pharmacy counter staff did mine on Sunday at my request.  The principal pharmacist there says the BP monitors they sell are not worth what you pay for them and can be inaccurate.

 

Lots of factors can temporally affect BP.  Recent caffeine input, positioning of cuff, recent exercise, medicphobia etc  My most inaccurate reading was actually from a paramedic's Lifepack machine!

 

I was waiting at my GP surgery yesterday, checking my own pulse, and could I get it below 65?  Given my resting rate is about 50!

 

Bill

[Happy Hippo]

STOP PRESS!

 

Peco Bullshitehead thread closed

[AndrewC]

Moaning all from the boring borough. Back from my spinal origami session in the city. This is topped off with a 'spoons brekkie in Cannon St Station with the obligatory breakfast pint. (well it is cereal) The bunglec**ts at Southeastern have seen fit to trim the offpeak service from CST on the Bexleyheath line to 1 per hour for their annual leaf panic. 

 

Positive thoughts with Deb and John. 

 

 

Every time you check on it, it gets pulled out of the queue and placed at the back of the line.  Obviously.

This surprises me not. I seem to have upset the parcel gods somehow. This month has been bad. Music order from Germany is now 3 weeks late with no due date from the vendor available. (down to the artist's record company allegedly) My package of trains from the States is still being held to ransom. No payment demand letter as of yet. SWMBO's bulk order of office birthday cards is late, meaning she had to go out and purchase one. (part of her minion task list is to do all the office nice stuff like birthdays, leaving cards, etc)

Worst of all the replacement parts for the coffee maker should have been here on Monday, still haven't arrived. AAARRRGGGHHH. I did get this email > Cuisinart: Order #90xxx has been processed. I hope that doesn't mean it will arrive pureed. 

 

That's enough grumbling. or is it..........  Just been assigned a new project. I get to recreate code that had been in place for ages when the customer accidentally purged it and the code repository.  Can't recover from backup without destroying subsequent development as they didn't tell anyone for 3 months. AAARRRGGGHHH. The original author has already bu&&ered off for pastures new and the design documentation is minimal. Agile my ar$e!. 

 

AndyB I wish I could get the offspring to cook. He took courses for the basics in school but his idea of cooking is the Just Eat app on his phone. 

 

Stewart, for once Bexley did it more or less right. Their contractor did all of the LED conversions in one shot. New posts and lights where needed, existing ones converted as appropriate, old posts removed and properly paved. Trouble is they are just too bright. Blackout curtains help but they've made the night light in the downstairs hallway redundant as the light coming through the transom at the front door is enough to read by. 

 

This time its enough grumbling.   Enjoy your day. I'm on a quest for caffeine. 

[jamie92208]

STOP PRESS!

 

Peco Bullshitehead thread closed

At least the class 800 thread is now actually getting comments from people who have actually ridden on the things. The two were both heading in the same direction but I'm not surprised that our leader has lost patience.

Anyway here the washer man has been and sorted the washer for another few months. (It's going to the great grave of white goods when we sell the house) and the ironing has been done and I have even sat at my middling desk and done some tidying. I found all sorts of bits. Including something that Ivan might enjoy and no it isn't alcohol and it doesn't have a Citroen badge on it.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

My offspring likes cooking and is quite creative. However his poor coordination can lead to accidents like the one I am sure I have mentioned before "Dad , I was stuffing a pepper and I've stabbed myself".

[TheQ]

At least the class 800 thread is now actually getting comments from people who have actually ridden on the things. The two were both heading in the same direction but I'm not surprised that our leader has lost patience.

Anyway here the washer man has been and sorted the washer for another few months. (It's going to the great grave of white goods when we sell the house) and the ironing has been done and I have even sat at my middling desk and done some tidying. I found all sorts of bits. Including something that Ivan might enjoy and no it isn't alcohol and it doesn't have a Citroen badge on it.

 

Jamie

 

Jamie

You found a spare horse, you didn't know you had?

[Happy Hippo]

Anyway here the washer man has been and sorted the washer for another few months. (It's going to the great grave of white goods when we sell the house) 

 

The drums of washing machines are now in demand as patio braziers:

 

 

As an aside, when the smallholder left the fields opposite our house (Land to be developed into 5 houses) a washing machine was abandoned there as was all sorts of nice 'toot', including a pasture topper.

 

The washing machine drum is now in the garage, a table is now in the greenhouse and the pasture topper is in the care of a retired gentleman who will refurbish it for his tractor and farm machinery collection.

 

We are concerned about the large amount of new 'wriggly tin' that is around the back of the old barn, as it is likely to be skipped when the developers move in.

 

I hate unneccessary waste!

[Judge Dread]

We have just had a chap knocking at our front door to tell us that we have a couple of ridge tiles adrift and as he is working near by do we want him to fix them?

The last time we had severe gales in the area  we had two ridge tiles come down with one h*ll of a crash. The ridge was completely repaired then. After my wife told him no thanks I went out to take a look. No signs of any damage at all!

Beware folks of the cowboys coming into town. 

[Tony_S]

We have just had a chap knocking at our front door to tell us that we have a couple of ridge tiles adrift and as he is working near by do we want him to fix them?

The last time we had severe gales in the area  we had two ridge tiles come down with one h*ll of a crash. The ridge was completely repaired then. After my wife told him no thanks I went out to take a look. No signs of any damage at all!

Beware folks of the cowboys coming into town. 

The "working nearby" is such a giveaway!

[jamie92208]

The "working nearby" is such a giveaway!

I always ask them what address they are working at. They usually depart quite quickly.

 

Jamie

[AndrewC]

We have just had a chap knocking at our front door to tell us that we have a couple of ridge tiles adrift and as he is working near by do we want him to fix them?

The last time we had severe gales in the area  we had two ridge tiles come down with one h*ll of a crash. The ridge was completely repaired then. After my wife told him no thanks I went out to take a look. No signs of any damage at all!

Beware folks of the cowboys coming into town. 

Over the past while during the concrete removal, new wall, etc in the front garden, we've both had more than one <insert stereotypical nationality of a dodgy builder here> bloke offering to pave our front for us. "Working in the area" is a euphemism for "our caravans are illegally squatting on Plumstead common / Winn Common / Abbey Wood (check all that apply) until the council get their finger out and have us evicted again."

 

They couldn't understand that we just spent a crapload of ££ getting rid of 4 tonnes of concrete and rubble and want a proper garden. A couple of them semi-figured it out and offered to build a new wall and turf the front. No thanks. 

[Gwiwer]

You found a spare horse, you didn't know you had?

I find a spare cat randomly attached to clothing which is nominally clean. Another comes out of the carpet twice a week when I vacuum.

 

Leaf fall was never such a problem when trains had block brakes which scraped the wheel rims clear of leaf gunk every application. And when many linesides were tended by local teams or individuals and any hint of overgrowth literally nipped in the bud. There were still problems. I recall clearly some instances od 4Sub and 2Bil/Hal units not quite stopping where planned and not helped by having non-lapping brakes. But many of the difficulties the railway faces each autumn are entirely self inflicted.

 

Fodder run completed for the furry person. Lunch had. Time to do our own fodder run. Back later.

[TheQ]

As Ganger, My grandfather was one of the many out with a scyth on the railway embankments.

 

Meantime it smells like a chip shop out there... The production side of the factory has been all been given a free fish and chip dinner for surpassing some target or other. I've just heard Design, which I come under, will be getting a Curry night, that leaves Service wondering..

Although we are all in the same factory we are to a certain extent all different companies, so there are different section awards and sometimes things like Christmas dinner are factory wide...

 

I can swap you a spare dog, Ben the Border collie is Still moulting like mad...

[Tony_S]

 

They couldn't understand that we just spent a crapload of ££ getting rid of 4 tonnes of concrete and rubble and want a proper garden. A couple of them semi-figured it out and offered to build a new wall and turf the front. No thanks.

 

My non dodgy builder neighbour said dont even agree to a quote for roofing, drivelaying whatever. You could come back home and find your roof or drive up with a claim that they "thought" you wanted them to go ahead. I just say I like my front lawn, I don't care that my concrete drive is dirty etc. I suspect they don't get much trade in this road, many builders live here. They always have someone they recommend.

Tony