Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Clear skies here this morning.

 

Off into the big city to attend a Christmas Lunch later..coupled with some pre Christmas present purchases.

 

Tonight I have been told that I will now be attending a talk by Arnie Sidebottom. Generally he is a funny speaker..

 

And tomorrow..sister dracs junior helper is due to drain an arm of blood.

 

Have a safe and warm day all.

 

Baz

[45156]

  The first is my initial post 65th birthday screening for Aortic Aneurysm. As several of my relatives had severe problems in that department I will attend and get screened. T

I believe it is a one off Jamie, as I had one earlier this year, and there was no mention of a return visit.  It's totally painless, just cold gel on the belly, then a hard pushed down Ultrasound - takes about five minutes, and could save your life.  My dad died from a ruptured aneurism at 62, so I was happy to attend.

 

Morning All

 

Sitting on the patio with a nice cooling lager and lime in the warm sunshine  Chilly here this morning, but not as cold as yesterday, though -5 doesn't feel much warmer than -8.  Trip to work with 30747 was not too bad, provided one thought that any dark patch on the road might just be black ice.  I cannot believe how many winter driving rules now seem not to be observed.  Anticipate bends, use the gears, feather the brakes, steer gently, and use the accelerator sparingly.  Seems that today, most drivers seem to rely on gadgets like ABS, servo assistance, power steering, traction control, etc as a substitute for driving ability, not an aid thereto.  Seems that for some the best way off of an icy stretch is to ram down the throttle and to see how much one can increase the profits of Michelin or Pirelli.

 

Off to the fangmeister this morning, to get this troublesome filling replaced - also a shopping list to be fulfilled.

 

Possibly back later.

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited December 12, 2017 by 45156

[TheQ]

I believe it is a one off Jamie, as I had one earlier this year, and there was no mention of a return visit.  It's totally painless, just cold gel on the belly, then a hard pushed down Ultrasound - takes about five minutes, and could save your life.  My dad died from a ruptured aneurism at 62, so I was happy to attend.

That's one I shall definately be making Sure SWMBO attends , her Aunt died of a leaking aorta, her mother and father died of heart problems as did all of the generation before that...

[Simon G]

Morning all,

Cold but dry here so far. Today’s plan is to go shopping in the great Metropolis of Workington. Some remaining C*****mas presents still to be bought, including Mrs G’s, and also a load of glass and old computer equipment will go to the local recycling centre.

[The Lurker]

Morning all from a cold and blue skied LBG. Sidcup was fairly parky as I walked down the hill earlier.

 

This year's Fenwick's theme is Paddington. MiL sent photos to Mrs Lurker who is generally keen on bears.

 

Elder Lurker starts GCSE mocks today. He seems to have done some work for them so I am hoping he gets encouraging results; results that encourage to continue working for the real things and not ones that encourage him to put his feet up. People seem to feel sorry that his run up to Christmas is dominated by revision. I pointed out that my mock O levels were in the January, so my whole Christmas was also dominated!

 

Have a good day all

[grandadbob]

I have told my grandchildren that when I did my O level mocks I passed them all with flying colours. Thought I knew it all and put my feet up for a few months. When I took the real thing I failed several miserably and had to retake them. Luckily they seem to have more sense than I did. 

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I slept through until about 8.30 when Aditi telephoned to see if I were alive.

Still just below zero here.

Tony

[emt_911]

Morning all. -1 outside at the moment but it is forecast to warm up later.

 

Not a great deal planned for the day. A bit of shopping later on to replenish the model paint stock followed by some modelling.

 

Time for another coffee.

 

Have a good day everyone.

[BoD]

Morning all.

I slept through until about 8.30 when Aditi telephoned to see if I were alive.

Tony

........and are you?

[jamie92208]

That's one I shall definately be making Sure SWMBO attends , her Aunt died of a leaking aorta, her mother and father died of heart problems as did all of the generation before that...

 

Having read all the blurb that came with the appointment screening is restricted to men due to the percentages of sufferers.  I would suggest that SWMBO talks to hr GP about screening.   As my mother and at least 5 of her siblings either died of or with such conditions my brother and I got screened in our 50's along with two of our cousins.  However funding cuts put a stop to that a few years ago.   It's definitely worth having done.

 

Apparently over 80% of people with the condition are male.

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Ventured out to collect our free Christmas tree. Flu skies but not particularly warm outside.

However, her indoors' car reckons it's 50C outside...

 

Baz

[BoD]

Saw this the other day and was reminded of a particular ER.

 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

A bit more on the aortic aneurysm screening - as Jamie said it is only carried by default on males at age 65.  However as I missed out on it (it hadn't started at the time of my 65th birthday) I did a bit of delving on the 'net, found the relevant contact number for our area and duly rang them.  That was ona Thursday and I was offered an appointment at out local 'almost' hospital the following Monday but I had to turn it down due to other arrangements already made so I booked in for the following month.  The GP was duly advised of the result - as was I at the time of the scanning - and the next time I saw him he complimented me on my initiative and asked why I'd booked ' past professional smoker' was my reply.  So - unless it's different elsewhere there's no need to book through your GP just go on the 'net here (hoping the link works) and contact the relevant office -

 

https://www.nhs.uk/Service-Search/Abdominal-aortic-aneurysm-screening/LocationSearch/1910

 

BTW GDB to note I did. clean the Good Doctor's car last week, or rather I paid a bunch of Easter Europeans 10 quid to clean it (but I do make quite a lot of use of it so fair's fair).

 

Alas 'tidying the dining room has been mentioned although last night I was told the priority was replenishing the ready use log store in the porch (which means some jungle clearance down the side of the house) and I'm also told 'we've got to put up the C*******s decorations because we've got visitors coming on Saturday.  For gawds sake the visitors are adults who live a campervan traipsing round Europe so they'll no doubt have seen more than enough bl**dy decorations already and they're hardly infants in arms looking forward to Santa popping down the ruddy chimney.  Decorations are for the C*******s break with an allowance of excitement & glitter before that for children, not for flippin' pensioners; bah humbug

 

Enjoy your day one and all, I think mine might well be going rapidly down hill or up into the roof to recover Christmas trees (various).  And so not even the bribe of a bacon sarnie.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Won't be venturing out until lunchtime at least and even then I will probably still have to scrape the ice off of the car. David, the beet juice is almost certainly from sugar beet, as is the 'molasses' used here in the UK. It is a by-product of producing beet sugar and would otherwise go to waste. As I said wildlife finds it very attractive especially at this time of year when their food is scarce, at least we don't have bears to be attracted to it.

[TheQ]

I've just completed the must do today, thermometer, except for a few minor checks and paperwork tomorrow morning.

 

I'm about to commence radio silence.....

 

Christmas dinner will be commencing at 13:00 but we have to assemble in the hotel bar 4 miles away at around 12:30

 A large quantity of Pork Terrine, Christmas Turkey, and Cheese and Biscuits will be consumed  along with a small amount of whisky (I have to drive home).

 

Merry Christmas....

[Tony_S]

........and are you?

Definitely, especially after a few cups of tea and some toast.

If I had been posting from "beyond the grave" it would have got one of the extended family members quite excited (almost sounds rude!) as he goes ghost hunting and investigates spooky things.

[Tony_S]

I've just completed the must do today, thermometer, except for a few minor checks and paperwork tomorrow morning.

 

I'm about to commence radio silence.....

 

Christmas dinner will be commencing at 13:00 but we have to assemble in the hotel bar 4 miles away at around 12:30

 A large quantity of Pork Terrine, Christmas Turkey, and Cheese and Biscuits will be consumed  along with a small amount of whisky (I have to drive home).

 

Merry Christmas....

No sprouts?

[grandadbob]

Back from the bank and Sainsbury's. Spent more time talking to staff and customers in the latter than actually shopping. They all wanted to know how Chris was finding retirement.....she only packed up last Thursday!  

Edited December 12, 2017 by grandadbob

[roundhouse]

Afternoon from a sunny but freezing London.

 

Only five late into a LBG today which I can live with even if it does make me late into the office.

 

We have a travel card but I do have sympathy with those that have Southern only season tickets now that a number of our services have switched to a Thameslink one and now find that they have been threatened with legal action if thy continue to use the same ticket on these trains or pay a hefty increase in pricehttp://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/southern-rail-commuters-east-surrey-14024925

Edited December 12, 2017 by roundhouse

[jamie92208]

Just bobbing back in to say that my screening was very good news.  No sign of any aneurysm.  Apparently I'm in very good health in that department with a diameter of only 16mm.  The danger signs are apparently 30mm or over so the boss has been informed that I'm not going to shuffle off this mortal coil from that cause for some time yet.  The girl did say that women need to ask their GP's to refer them if there is any family history.

 

Jamie

[Ian Abel]

Quick Chewsday check-in.

 

Getting ready to go to my friends funeral, so have been in better spirits. Will look in later when we return.

 

Rather "BRISK" outside at present as it's -14 (Realfeel -18) and mostly cloudy, no more snow for now though. Expecting a high of -4 and some sun later.

 

Have a good day all.

[Rugd1022]

Good news Jamie, it must be a relief

 

Belated afternoon greetings from snowy Warwickshire... it was a bit parkie at DIRFT this morning, it's been somewhat of a bad couple of days with points and signal failures at both ends of the reception lines since the white stuff began falling, but everyone mucked in and got things moving again...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sustainence...!

 

To paraphrase ye olde Rule Book : ''During fog and falling snow, to the kettle we must go...!"

[southern42]

' Afternoon all from red dragon land.

Weather and travel not an issue here - confined to quarters with "man" flu.

How do I know it is "man" flu?  Because, after each breath, cough, sniffle and sneeze there is this deep sigh, "Oh, man!" 

 

My absence from this parish for awhile is just due to stuff, mostly enjoyable though, so nowt to worry about.

However, Christmas has come early with the arrival of:

5 MEAs

4 loco crew

3 herring kits

2 bubble cars

and a railcar in a day or two.

 

Part of the "stuff" was hunting these things down.  The MEAs are pre-owned.  Drivers for the Peckett and Wickham trolley came in duplicate!  I can always use extra drivers!  I could only find one site with at least 3 of the Cambrian kits in stock.  It seemed a long wait for the 121 and 122; and the AEC blood and custard diesel was a last minute find with the odd supplier boasting its rarity!  I only decided on the latter when GNR No. 1 - the one with the "wrong" tender  -  was said to be somewhat delayed. That gives me a few months to save up, again! Hohoho!

 

With CQ's outing to the Manchester Christmas Show, I got back into a bit of modelling and weathering and was so looking forward to carrying on but this has been scuppered for a bit and with Christmas cards already coming through the letterbox, I shall have to make an effort to get ours done.  I was also looking forward to having a go at the cake box challenge but that will have to wait for the time being!  I feel another sigh coming on....

 

Then there is the kitchen/dining room revamp - making progress!  The new cupboard top is sorted and the sliding door was turned back into a hinged door and painted - not that I had much to do with any of that though I did support bits that were being sawn, etc and I did sort a few more cupboards out - more still to do.  Where did I put all that stuff?  Some has already gone to recycling, some is still awaiting its fate...

 

To those also down with this "man" flu thing, hope you are well soon...

..............reach for tissue box...

..................................................Oh, man!

 

Take care all.

[emt_911]

Great to see you posting Polly. Look after yourself.

 

My day has not gone to plan. This morning the heating was on but no hot water. An investigation found that there is an issue with the timer where if the heating is on, there isn't enough power to operate the relay for the hot water.

 

I had 2 options. Option 1 - Get someone out to deal with the problem. £200+. Option 2 - Source a timer myself and replace it £70.

 

Obviously option 2 won. Timer changed and now waiting for hot water.

 

Must be time for another coffee.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. It was on BBC breakfast this morning that someone has proven that man flu does exist, some viruses have more debilitating effect on males than females, just try convincing the females in your life. I was quite correct I did have to scrape the ice off the car, at 1:15 in the afternoon.