Early Risers.

[newbryford]

Do you think he has difficulty obtaining life insurance?

 

I can see the questionnaire now.

 

"Have you had any personal injuries in the past 12 months? Please list in the box below"

 

GDB's reply

"The box isn't big enough - please see the attached three sheets of A4"

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers,

Mick

[Horsetan]

I can see the questionnaire now.

 

"Have you had any personal injuries in the past 12 months? Please list in the box below"

 

GDB's reply

"The box isn't big enough - please see the attached three sheets of A4"

 

 

"Any history of insanity in the family?" - tell you what, I'll cross out the "in"....."Any history of sanity in the family?"....None whatsoever....

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Evening everyone

 

Well it’s been a miserable day here, not exactly raining, but wet all the same, but it’s been quite warm too.

 

First thing this morning I did a bit of tidying up in the attic, cleaning away all the dust sheets and putting the ceiling light fitting back together. All this activity nicely brought on dinner.

 

Most of the afternoon was then spent painting the attic woodwork etc. So far I’m half way round the room and tomorrow I’m hoping to get it all completed.

 

I managed to do a bit of research on the inter-web and was able to discover the name of the ship that we sailed on to Canada. It was called the “Empress Of Canada” (27,284 tons). We sailed from Liverpool to Montreal in 1967, when we as a family emigrated to Canada. The ship was later renamed Mardi Gras when it became part of the Carnival Cruise Line Fleet.

 

Photo borrowed from the internet.

 

Goodnight all

[newbryford]

 

I managed to do a bit of research on the inter-web and was able to discover the name of the ship that we sailed on to Canada. It was called the “Empress Of Canada” (27,284 tons). We sailed from Liverpool to Montreal in 1967, when we as a family emigrated to Canada. The ship was later renamed Mardi Gras when it became part of the Carnival Cruise Line Fleet.

 

6873DF31-7984-4A51-BC14-BE3826B94AC2.jpeg

Photo borrowed from the internet.

 

Goodnight all

 

That's the same one as our honeymoon trip in 1992. Small world!

 

Full history here:

http://www.ssmaritime.com/empcanada1.htm

 

Cheers,

Mick

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[pH]

Somehow the bigger question for me is;

After the luge became popular, were a bunch of folks in a bar talking about how it was the craziest thing on ice, when someone said "hold my beer" and invented the skeleton??

 

That was the way we always rode sledges as kids! And every neighbourhood had a "death track" down the side of a hill, which would get polished to a sheet of ice in a couple of nights. One track ran parallel to a street, and we would regularly beat cars down it. There was at least one visit by an ambulance every year. One year, the town decided to stop the fun, and spread cinders on the lower half of that track. People just kept going down the track, which gradually drove the cinders down into the snow, which turned into ice in the usual way. So, eventually, sledges were going down the track just as fast as usual, with the added attraction of sheets of sparks as the steel runners ran over the embedded cinders. The town never tried that again.

[Barry O]

Survived Gita so far...but.we seem to have mislaid our waterproofs. No problem in Wellington as the hotel pick up and station set down were under cover. It was mega chuckinitdarn though.

 

Train journey nice..pictures to follow. We got to Hamilton station to get off the train and....mega, mega chuckinitdarn.

We ( including our taxi driver) were soaked but, thanks to my waterproof trousers (craghoppers) all documents etc dry.

 

Had a real shower and now listening to a TUI singing away.

 

Time for food!

 

Sleep well.

 

Baz and her indoors aka the drowned rats

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Today is my 70^th birthday.  Three score years and ten!  How did I get here?  I have several conditions, any one of which could kill me, but lots of chemical warfare and some good medics have kept them at bay thus far.  My work on earth is not yet done and the time left in which to do it decreases by the day.  I suppose the next landmark is the 75^th, when I qualify for a free TV licence. 

 

My mother was not so lucky.  She died suddenly two days before her 63^rd birthday and on my 37^th.  Later this morning I will be visiting Cambridge Crematorium to pay my respects before having lunch with a friend.  Any revelry will have to wait until that is done.  Tomorrow, maybe.

 

Ongoing warm thoughts and best wishes to the ailing, recovering and missing

 

Chris

[Gwiwer]

I wonder what Shakespeare had to say about spreadsheets...

Thou hast mine input,

Noble sheet, now spread’st

Thy ‘lectrons

Doest thy thing -

Prov’st thou that with

Statistics any man

Might maketh of himself

The fool. And that

Having so done he accord’st

Undue greatness ‘pon himself.

 

Oh sordid, rank and vile sheet

A mockery of fact itself and

Parody of truth

Thou hast become.

 

Adieu I biddest thee

He who presseth not

Upon the save keye.

 

 

 

Happy Tuesday. Happy Birthday Chris

Edited February 20, 2018 by Gwiwer

[Gwiwer]

Oh. Blank.

Edited February 20, 2018 by Gwiwer

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a very clear, but cold morning in this part of the world.

 

So, eventually, sledges were going down the track just as fast as usual, with the added attraction of sheets of sparks as the steel runners ran over the embedded cinders. The town never tried that again.

 

Oh that's brilliant!  How on earth did we survive?

 

When I was at school, if the field was snowed under, we would be allowed to go sledging on a nearby hill.  This usually involved pieces of foam rubber in plastic fertilizer sacks.  Heavens above - did they move?!?  Of course there were the inevitable accidents, but I don't remember anyone being injured badly enough to require an ambulance.  It was mainly first aid for cuts and bruises!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Coombe Barton]

Happy birthday Chris

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Here,

A Poor nights sleep, just 3.5 hours in bed then to the sofa where  was awake for anfor another 2  other 2 hours before falling asleep again then waking up late it was rush around like mad trying to get ready for work.

What caused me to be awake? a GDB! I had cut the plastic off a piece of cheese using a large all stainless steel pair of scissors, while making a sandwich the scissors got knocked off the side. It  then landed edge on onto my toes. Luckily they didn't pierce the slipperes but the impact was enough to cause blood to come from one toe. This is the same foot with the permanently damaged big toe, so braking in the landrover has been somewhat painful this morning.

 

 Before going to sleep,  I finished reading Lorenz by Captain Jerry Robert.. The Lorenz code was a german ww2 code between Hitler and his top generals and breaking it was in some ways more important than the enigma codes.  it was also much more difficult than the enigma codes as it was 12 code wheels  against the 3,4 or 5 of the enigma machine.

Most of the decoding was done by hand even when the colossus machine came into use. the Lorenz coding was so much more important it was not cleared to be heard of by the public till 2002, nearly 30 years after the Enigma information. Captain Roberts was one of the 3 top code breakers of the Lorenz. 

Sadly while the book itself is interesting, I don't think it was fully completed and revised before Captain Roberts died in 2014 my first edition was published in 2017... There are many repeated sections in the text which could have been simplified.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Roberts

 

 

Going home there was a car 30 foot off the road into a small forest (covered in police aware tape), it takes some lack of attention to do that, as you could go round the slight bend well in excess of the speed limit without a problem..

 

Yesterday was Dreich all day, very Dreich when I finally got home, this morning was Dreich with added Dreichness it's not nice out there.

 

Sledging we didn't do any, there just wasn't anywhere suitable, the only clear ground was the castle and going down 30ft of bank into the ditch just wasn't any fun..

 

Time to go off to the lab, I have work to catch up on...

Edited February 20, 2018 by TheQ

[roundhouse]

Morning from yet another soggy Surrey.

 

Last night we had a few jars in our favourite bar in Croydon, Cronx Brewery at the Boxpark next to the station.

 

Then train to Merstham where we had a quick pint in the newly refurbished Feathers. Nicely done but very quiet which was just aswell as there is a bit of poor thinking by who ever did the design. They have put seating and tables either side of a steel column so it’s just passable if both tables aren’t in use and this is the main entrance into the bar area. Where the table used to be the space is now filled with an old style sideboard. I think that they need to do a little bit of reconfiguring. Whilst the Adnams Broadside and Doom Bar were well kept the beer range is not what it was. The other pub across the road had a stabbing in there a few weeks ago and it’s hardly been open since. Used to be a god pub but not one we visit as the no ale and the landlord is a rather unwelcoming character.

 

Last beers till Friday as need to work on the layout ready for Preston.

[Coombe Barton]

Message from Debs to ChrisF

 

A milestone indeed - Happy Birthday Chris

[BoD]

Many Happy Returns, Chris.

 

Well, at least as many as it takes to finish your work on this planet and then maybe a good few more added as a reward.

[BoD]

.......thanks to my waterproof trousers (craghoppers)

The rest of us just call them incontinence pants.

[Simon G]

Happy Birthday, Chris

 

Up early today as I have an appointment with Sister Drac before my next round of chemo later in the week. At least the appointment isn’t with the person I usually get, who is very ham-fisted, and invariably makes the process rather uncomfortable!

[Barry O]

Happy Birthday Chris!

Bod I will get you involved in another little task if you are not careful.

 

Don't ever say it's wet in Britain. Gita is causing major problems here. Kaikoura had over 2" of rain in an hour and 8" in 20 hours. Various states of emergency called. Notnice for those involved.

 

Youngest Herbert is trying out various daft sports (luge on grass???) But he isn't doing a bungee jump as he is not insured.

 

Tomorrow we are off to Taupo...enjoy your day everyone!

 

Baz

Edited February 20, 2018 by Barry O

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and here's wishing a very Happy Birthday to Chris.

 

It's a bit damp outside and there may be more rain to come.

The Boss was up and about early as she is shortly meeting friends for breakfast and a natter. She may be gone some time. 

I used to frequent The Feathers at Merstham in the '80s when I worked at Coulsdon. Seems like (and is) about half a lifetime ago. In those days it was a very nice pub and did great food.

I see my sanity and accident record are being brought into question again. As to the former, some friends and family questioned this when I started playing with trains  a few years ago. However they now realise that I am only slightly bonkers.     As for life insurance there were no questions relating to minor accidents so I dodged the bullet there. Incidentally I've been having a good year so far in that respect but we all know that that can't possibly continue.

Kids will be here as usual after school so that will ramp up the laughter level.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[TheQ]

Many of us use Maplins, it appears to be joining the many companies in Financial problems.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43121649

 

I must admit It doesn't surprise me, I remember when it was a catalogue empire operated from Westcliff on Sea that was small enough to have photographs of all the staff inside the front of the catalogue. It then expanded rapidly even in Norwich there are two branches. the debts cause byt the rapid expansion must have been huge. Much of their market is being taken by Ebay and Amazon.

 

They've been owned by 4 " private equity " firms over recent years and Private equity firms are not known for the best interests of the company but only for their own profits.

Edited February 20, 2018 by TheQ

[bbishop]

Oh. Blank.

 

Verily.

[AndrewC]

 

Greetings from the boring borough. Not quite as boring as usual though. Operation Dung Heap has begun. For those that knew my late lamented dull blog, "The Dung Heap Chronicles" was the name given to our house by us when we first realised just how much work was involved in renovating and restoring it. Instead we made it tolerable and waited for the moment we had the funds to do it properly. This is the beginning of the total renovation/refresh of the house. The decluttering is underway and a storage lockup for everything we have to move out during the renovations has been secured. Managed to catch the end of the extended January sales to order all the flooring, tiles, bathroom fixtures, and a full new kitchen. I did treat myself to a built in wine cooler beer fridge My debit card is currently still too hot to touch without kevlar gloves and ceramic tongs. 

 

Virtual hugs to Debs. 

 

Happy Birthday Chris.

 

Bob, its good to see that cocooning you in bubble wrap was a great idea. 

 

Floaty on the water things. Not for me unless they are small enough to carry home on your back. I guess spending 40+ years 1.1km above sea level means the allure of ships has escaped me. 

 

Maplin, good for some things but as mentioned, online is killing them. I can get my electronic bits and wire from Kenable or Rapid for around 20% less with next day delivery. Just trying to park at the nearest Maplin is a lesson in anger management and blood pressure control. 

 

Back to sorting the filing cabinet and giving the shredder a workout. Enjoy the day. 

[45156]

Back to sorting the filing cabinet and giving the shredder a workout. Enjoy the day. 

 

Thanks for the reminder there, I've a pile of old bank prints to shred, as we get one every week, to check that no nefarious activities have taken place, and we shred them when the printed statement comes in each quarter.  I don't use online banking at all, as I have heard just too many tales of woe about just such nefarious activities.

 

Morning All

 

Happy birthday Chris - keep up the chemical warfare, and I'm sure that we'll be saying this for years and years to come.

 

Thanks again for the updates on Debs from those getting them - much appreciated, and again, my supportive vibes are sent in her direction.

 

Simon, hope the chemo goes well.  I had Sister Drac the other day, and when I saw who was booked to do it, I changed my appointment to the other surgery, for similar hamfisted resons. 

 

Hope we hear from Mal soon.  Gabe's last message was upbeat, so here's hoping.

 

And, of course a big generic greeting to everybody else.  (I know it's like the catch all on radio dedications - "Everybody else who knows me" but it's the best I can do.

 

Not sure if I can continue with my shifts at Oxfam, as the current mess really is sticking in my throat a lot - mainly the fact that they hoped that they could sweep it under the carpet, and hope that nothing came out.  I am also getting increasingly uptight about the high salary levels which that organisation is having to reveal a bit more than they'd like.  I know that I was party in a previous employment life to the salary information of many leading charities, but was sworn to secrecy about them.  But my oh my, were some of them "competitive".

 

GP visit yesterday after my emergency dental treatment was unsuccessful, as one of the issues is blood pressure, and I was still recovering from the local, so it was sky high, even though it was very low last week when taken by Sister Drac, who unfortunately had not recorded the result on my records for some reason.  Blood test was OK though.

 

Will be off the air from tomorrow for a few days, as we are off for a few chilly days away.

 

Regards to All

Stewart