Early Risers.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[AndrewC]

No , more like the legal status of the Isle of Man, Hugeunot origins and the King James Bible just to pick a few sample questions. Do most UK citizens know how many MLA seats there are in the Northern Ireland Assembly?

SWMBO wrote the test a few years ago. Piece of p1ss I believe was her response. In and out in less than 15 mins. The whole thing is designed to generate revenue. £50 for the test, £12 for the guide, £10 for the practice test book. Can you say scam?

[newbryford]

Felicitations, commiserations and appropriate thoughts where required.

Bit of a lurker in the past couple of day and likely to be so for the next couple of weeks up to the Derby Ex, working on the wood/metal/plastic contraption.

 

Much midnight oil burning, cutting, glueing, painting and swearing has been carried out, with more to come. However, there is a planned test session with aforementioned contraption on Thursday night to prove it all works (Or if the bits don't work, I have two weeks to fix them....)

 

See the DL layout thread in the sig for taster pictures.

 

Much (paid) work has also been accomplished in the past few days and just about up to date before a big testing project arrives on a new product promised for later this week. Likely to be a head-scratching and swearing exercise as I set it up, but I have been promised a "comprehensive" set of instructions. We shall see, but there is promise after the last project was reasonably well documented before it headed my way to try and break it. I'm actually quite looking forward to this new thing, as if it works, it should be a good seller.

 

Managed an extremely cheap win on two items on ebay earlier today for my trans-Atlantic project - and then even got a postage discount for multiple wins. Most pleased! I swear that spending daytimes in Yorkshire is having an effect on my frugalness. 

 

Time for zzz and drop in tomorrow on the hump.

Have a good one.

Cheers,

Mick

[pH]

SWMBO wrote the test a few years ago. Piece of p1ss I believe was her response. In and out in less than 15 mins.

I claimed Canadian citizenship through my mother, and our kids could then claim it through me. However my wife had to pass a test - a personal interview with a (politically-appointed) citizenship judge. She forgot about the politically-appointed bit, and kept referring to the then Prime Minister as "Mulroney". She was pointedly reminded that he was "Mister Mulroney". She did get her citizenship, though.

[BR60103]

I claimed Canadian citizenship through my mother, and our kids could then claim it through me. However my wife had to pass a test - a personal interview with a (politically-appointed) citizenship judge. She forgot about the politically-appointed bit, and kept referring to the then Prime Minister as "Mulroney". She was pointedly reminded that he was "Mister Mulroney". She did get her citizenship, though.

At least she didn't call him "Muldoon".

Edited April 25, 2018 by BR60103

[AndyID]

At least he didn't call him "Muldoon".

 

He's got spots all over his face?

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

May I thank once again all who have wished me well in the battle of the black dog.  He may not be securely in his kennel but I am trying to keep him on a tight leash without resorting to chemical warfare, of which I have to take a sufficiently potent daily cocktail for other reasons.  Andyram, I am concerned about my fight as well but far more concerned about yours.  I don’t blame you for trying to kick yourself back into action but please do not do yourself more harm than good.

 

Two CDs have arrived in the post in as many days.  Anyone who has seen Effra and Elliott Morris will know why I ordered them.  The Canadian import, still not with me, is by Genticorum, who are some of the finer exponents of Quebecois music.  On top of that I bought two last night at the Feast of Fiddles gig.  Grabbing a handful of music to play in the car makes many long journeys more bearable, as I expect to find on Sunday, and if you hear a car giving off music that is not one long slug of boom boom boom, it might just be mine.  Neil BlackRat, thanks for posting the drummer complementing the Frank Mills piece – no tears so far!   The percussionist last night was none other than Dave Mattacks, one of the greats.

 

Now we come to warm thoughts and I am happy to remove Andy P from the chosen few in the hope that we are not tempting providence.  Those who warrant them include Tony and Aditi, Debs, Simon, Mal, owners of black dogs and all in distress.

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,
 
It is a nice bright morning in this part of the world.  This week is much more pleasant than last week, heat wise.  More like Spring.
 

Back in the early 1970s Aditi's Dad decided they should all become British citizens, as he felt Commonwealth status was suspect.

 

Sensible man!

 

SWMBO wrote the test a few years ago. Piece of p1ss I believe was her response. In and out in less than 15 mins. The whole thing is designed to generate revenue. £50 for the test, £12 for the guide, £10 for the practice test book. Can you say scam?

 
Agreed - However, quite how to test whether someone deserves to get citizenship is always going to be a difficult issue, and I think there needs to be some framework in place to ascertain whether somebody has a general understanding.  However, 50 quid is quite expensive.  The German one was around 30€, and the question catalog can be downloaded for free.  There are various tests books available, but you don't really need to buy them.
 
Also, very few of the questions go back to the time before the Bundesrupublik Deutschland came into existance in 1945.  The oldest question on the paper is to name the year that Hitler came to power.  Although history is important, I would question whether some of the questions on the UK paper are really relevant!
 
Here in Germany, the actual act of registering for citizenship costs 255€ which is significantly cheaper than the UK.  There must be much rubbing of hands going on at the moment in the UK government at the prospect of all the money to be made.
 

Are they expected to know which way up to fly the Union Flag?

 
I doubt it - the Treasury managed to get it wrong a couple of weeks ago!
 
Anyway - that's enough from me on that topic, because as you can probably imagine, I feel quite strongly about B***** and I am sailing close to the wind with respect to politics.
 
Time for a coffee
 
Have a good day everyone...

Edited April 25, 2018 by Robert

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Here,

Today Is Anzac day, so I give you the March of My Grandfathers Regiment during WW2, The 7th Royal Tank Regiment, Played on an  Anzac Day Parade  in Australia.

 

https://youtu.be/vpDAwaKchM4.

 

Yesterday it spent most of the day raining and it was still raining when I went to bed, when first peering out of the windows at 05:00 there were heavy black clouds and it had only just finished raining.

However when I left to got to work at 06:00 there was an orange glow on the walls as the great fried egg made a vailant appearance.

 

The journey in was a  bit quicker,

The road works south of effin clown town river bridge have gone, the bad news is they have left a permanent set of lights for pedestrians. . Although I don't see them being used much..

 

Flag etiquette regularly gets discussed on the various Norfolk Broads forums, there are fines in some cases under UK law for incorrect use of flags. though I've never heard of them being imposed.

Regular incorrect uses we see, are the Union, English , Welsh, Scots,   Northern Irish and pirate Flags being flown from the stern of boats. This is along with Royal Navy and RAF flags. Although there were complaints about someone displaying an RAF flag who turned out to be a retired AIR Ranking Officer and entitled to fly it.

 

Time to go and do those tests...

 

Some of yesterdays problems with previous Major systems have been solved others haven't, I spent a lot of time doing extra measurements,and then playing with preadsheets to see what was going on. I have another couple of tests to do this morning.

[roundhouse]

Morning from another sunny morning.

 

Last nights journey home delayed as expected.

 

Standing on a Thameslink service as our normal one is cancelled due to driver shortage. At least standing isn’t hurting my back as no seats left but not doing my leg much good. Will be a change at East Croydon for another standing trip to London Bridge.

 

A meeting this mornings no gets me out of the office. Now that the aircon is on in my new desk, I am in its direct Line of fire so often feeling cold but got told off by boss for turning up the temperature so can’t wait to get out.

 

Then round to mums to help with the final bits ready for her move tomorrow. At my brother has the time to be there.

Edited April 25, 2018 by roundhouse

[Barry O]

Q I followed the link, lots of other videos availab8le including Waltzing Matilda played by men sqeezing cats.

 

Anzac Da0y is very important to Australians and New Zealanders. Te Papa Museum in Wellington has a major (and excellent) exhibition about Gallipoli, as seen by 8 different people involved

 

https://www.tepapa.govt.nz/visit/plan-your-visit/guided-tours/early-bird-gallipoli-entry

 

As for me, off to help a friend with major problems with servo motors.

 

Have as good a day as you can.

Baz

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a nice and sunny village (At the moment. Much clearing of the house got done yesterday and a car load of items went to the container and were neatly packed onto a pallet. That has given me some useful data to plan further parts of the move. I'm also progressing in my notification of the various organisations that I need t tell that we are changing our address.

 

Today there will be another car load of stuff moved from the garage and the house. Thus will probably become a daily exercise for me. Volvo estates have their uses.

 

Regards to all and I hope that those struggling to control the black dog have success with their efforts.

 

Jamie

[AndrewC]

I claimed Canadian citizenship through my mother, and our kids could then claim it through me. However my wife had to pass a test - a personal interview with a (politically-appointed) citizenship judge. She forgot about the politically-appointed bit, and kept referring to the then Prime Minister as "Mulroney". She was pointedly reminded that he was "Mister Mulroney". She did get her citizenship, though.

We used to have a different name for him. I won't repeat it on a family rated forum. (considering some of my language here that is saying something) Staying on the Canadian/Canadien theme, I haven't heard of Genticorum. A quick Google and all was revealed. Will have to look at obtaining some of their music. A few years back there was a trader at an exhibition in Staffs flogging second hand North American N and HO models. He managed to hang the Maple Leaf upside down. I was sorely tempted to tear him a new one, arsebadger.

 

Haven't been able to really keep up with the goings on but it seems most are soldiering on. Commiserations to those suffering and we really need a far away kennel for those black dogs. 

 

Good moaning all from the boring borough. My ears are still recovering from 3 concerts in 8 days. (Jethro Tull last Tuesday & 2 part, 2 night Tangerine Dream, Monday & last night) Hoping for some quiet today from the builders as I have a migraine today from a lack of sleep since Friday. (not concert related)

 

Construction continues at a seeming snail's pace. At least now the back wall is structurally secure and the old bathroom has been gutted with the Super Mario Brother plumbing nightmare rationalised. Wall patching and electrical work today supposedly. Chimney breast comes down on Friday. Note to self, get out of the house for the day. 

 

Robert, at that price maybe we should all move to Germany. It's a bargain. 

 

For SWMBO it was a lesson in frustration and expense.

2003 we arrive in UK, her with ancestry visa. I had right of abode as my dad was born outside of the UK so I didn't qualify for automatic citizenship at the time. Then it was about £200 for the visa and £20 for the RoA.  The visa was 4 years leading to indefinite leave to remain, and the RoA was indefinite but £20 to transfer to new passport. 

2005 rules change and suddenly I qualify for citizenship. Sorted for under £300 including the nice ceremony, tea, and biscuits. ILR rules change to 5 years. 

2007 SWMBO has to renew her ancestry visa for 5 years and the wait for ILR starts again as the clock resets. Cost now over £900. 2008 another change means they have to be applied for outside of the country only, even if you are renewing. RoA has also changed and must be applied for from scratch every time the passport it is in, expires. Glad I missed that as the cost went to £280 from £20. 

2012 SWMBO has to go through the Life in the UK farce and apply for ILR. £1800 (now over £2200, Right of Abode is £423) 

2017 UK citizenship finally. £1330 plus ceremony fee. 

2017 UK passport. £85

Total cost over £4300. 

 

And now, a day of "work"

 

Enjoy the day where ever you are. 

[andyram]

Morning all. The sun is shining here in this corner of Derbyshire and I have just emerged from a very good night’s sleep. The sleeping tablet obviously did the trick again. I think the previous night was not helped by Amber disturbing me in the night and coming into our bed. I struggled to drift off again.

ChrisF: I thank you for your concern and continued supportive wishes. I hope you continue to stave off your own black dog. I appreciate what you are saying about not doing too much. I have set myself a target of achieving one thing each day and avoiding spending the whole day indoors. I have good days and bad ones. Yesterday was a bad one as I achieved nothing and only ventured outside to bring in the bin. On the positive side the tablets seem to be tackling the unhappy feelings but I am still having days where the lethargy and lack of motivation take over and I achieve nothing. I know that the end of the medical certificate and potential return to work is playing on my mind. At least Derby helped to lift my mood with a great result last night even if I had to resort to watching it on television.

 

Hopefully today I can achieve a few more things.

 

Best wishes to you all and thoughts remain with Simon, Mal, Tony and Aditi, Debs et al.

 

Andy

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Sunny but not as warm as recently.

Recycling bags have been put out.

I think I shall probably do some paperwork today.

Tony

[Horsetan]

...For SWMBO it was a lesson in frustration and expense.

2003 we arrive in UK, her with ancestry visa. I had right of abode as my dad was born outside of the UK so I didn't qualify for automatic citizenship at the time. Then it was about £200 for the visa and £20 for the RoA.  The visa was 4 years leading to indefinite leave to remain, and the RoA was indefinite but £20 to transfer to new passport. 

2005 rules change and suddenly I qualify for citizenship. Sorted for under £300 including the nice ceremony, tea, and biscuits. ILR rules change to 5 years. 

2007 SWMBO has to renew her ancestry visa for 5 years and the wait for ILR starts again as the clock resets. Cost now over £900. 2008 another change means they have to be applied for outside of the country only, even if you are renewing. RoA has also changed and must be applied for from scratch every time the passport it is in, expires. Glad I missed that as the cost went to £280 from £20. 

2012 SWMBO has to go through the Life in the UK farce and apply for ILR. £1800 (now over £2200, Right of Abode is £423) 

2017 UK citizenship finally. £1330 plus ceremony fee. 

2017 UK passport. £85

Total cost over £4300. ....

It's been known for many years that the Home Office makes a profit out of application fees. There was another increase that kicked in on 6th April.

 

Makes our own fees look cheap.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

Breakfast has been eaten and the large muggertea is half gone. In about 45 minutes I’ll do what has become the norm for a Wednesday, I will plunge into the pool and spend an hour or so going from one end to t’other. The sun is currently trying its best to show itself, but not quite managing it. There is no rain at the moment, but it is forecast, so I will be wearing a jacket when I go.

 

I heard on the radio this morning that regular exercise is good for tackling depression, so for those struggling with the black dog, keep preserving, to the rest of you good folk, have a good day.

 

Back later.

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all

 

Sunny and bright here so far. Out later to do our and my mum's grocery shopping and take her to the opticians for new lenses. She's also been referred for a cataract op, so will need more new lenses following that.

 

My appointment with the oncologist to discuss my scan results is set for next Thursday - just 23 days after the scan; a little sooner would have been appreciated, but the department appears to be running to stand still just now.

 

Tongue-in-cheek, Gabe is waiting for the immigration enforcement van to arrive outside because she was born in Indonesia (British colony from 1811-1815). Yes she has a British passport and her birth was regularised on return; otoh, although her dad was very British, being a Churchill, her mum was from Germany after WW2.

 

The Windrush scandal is shocking imho - last night on C4 news a woman from St Lucia, who'd been here most of her life was denied a UK passport, likewise one of her daughters, born here, even though she has a NI number, is working here, and is a student. The other daughter, born here, had a UK passport but had it taken away and was told that she had the passport illegally.

 

And the amount it costs for people like this to obtain UK citizenship is high - over £2,000 plus, so Robert's post below makes interesting reading...

Agreed - However, quite how to test whether someone deserves to get citizenship is always going to be a difficult issue, and I think there needs to be some framework in place to ascertain whether somebody has a general understanding.  However, 50 quid is quite expensive.  The German one was around 30€, and the question catalog can be downloaded for free.  There are various tests books available, but you don't really need to buy them.

 

Also, very few of the questions go back to the time before the Bundesrupublik Deutschland came into existance in 1945.  The oldest question on the paper is to name the year that Hitler came to power.  Although history is important, I would question whether some of the questions on the UK paper are really relevant!

 

Here in Germany, the actual act of registering for citizenship costs 255€ which is significantly cheaper than the UK.  There must be much rubbing of hands going on at the moment in the UK government at the prospect of all the money to be made.

Cynically, some of us could question whether the UK is really relevant at the moment.

 

Apologies if I've strayed too far into p*litics. It must be the sun.

 

Have a good day

 

Mal

[jamie92208]

Morning all

 

Sunny and bright here so far. Out later to do our and my mum's grocery shopping and take her to the opticians for new lenses. She's also been referred for a cataract op, so will need more new lenses following that.

 

My appointment with the oncologist to discuss my scan results is set for next Thursday - just 23 days after the scan; a little sooner would have been appreciated, but the department appears to be running to stand still just now.

 

Tongue-in-cheek, Gabe is waiting for the immigration enforcement van to arrive outside because she was born in Indonesia (British colony from 1811-1815). Yes she has a British passport and her birth was regularised on return; otoh, although her dad was very British, being a Churchill, her mum was from Germany after WW2.

 

The Windrush scandal is shocking imho - last night on C4 news a woman from St Lucia, who'd been here most of her life was denied a UK passport, likewise one of her daughters, born here, even though she has a NI number, is working here, and is a student. The other daughter, born here, had a UK passport but had it taken away and was told that she had the passport illegally.

 

And the amount it costs for people like this to obtain UK citizenship is high - over £2,000 plus, so Robert's post below makes interesting reading...

Cynically, some of us could question whether the UK is really relevant at the moment.

 

Apologies if I've strayed too far into p*litics. It must be the sun.

 

Have a good day

 

Mal

This makes me wonder about my immigration status as well. One Grandmother was born in Ceylon, my Mother at Nainital in India and my btoether in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. With a father who was almost a scouser (Only the Mersey got in the way) I could have problems. Certainly my brother had problems when he first applied for a US visa during the Nigerian Civil War when Port Harcourt was in Biafra. I once filled in a census form correctly and it showed that I was the son of a New Commonwealth immigrant.

 

Jamie

[beast66606]

Morning all,

 

Early start as I went out for a stone train which passed me at Attleborough just after 06:30 then over to Brandon for another stone train (different wagon types and a loco I wanted to photograph) then home for breakfast and work.

 

Camera caught the hog(s ?) going into and out of their feeding station - home made as described ^ ^  - the tape is purely for precaution just in case there's something a little sharp, it was ok on my fingers but don't want to injure the hogs. A mouse also made a few visit during the night and a (different from above) cat wandered by.

 

 

I think I'll try a more general shot of the garden tonight, see if anything bigger wanders through. We get deer occasionally but not so many foxes - maybe the night time will yield it's secrets.

[Simon G]

Morning all,

Pretty knackered today as I am now in the part of my chemo cycle where the blood counts are about at their lowest. Fortunately I had a full 8 hours sleep last night, so am not as tired as yesterday. I don’t think I will do much today, which is probably just as well as the weather is very cool and breezy. There was some sun earlier, but it didn’t last.

 

Best wishes to others who are having health and other issues. It was good to see that Andy P is really positive after the recent heart attack. It isn’t always easy to be positive, but it certainly seems to help me to feel better.

[Horsetan]

..... Windrush scandal is shocking imho - last night on C4 news a woman from St Lucia, who'd been here most of her life was denied a UK passport, likewise one of her daughters, born here, even though she has a NI number, is working here, and is a student. The other daughter, born here, had a UK passport but had it taken away and was told that she had the passport illegally.

 

For those children born in the UK after 1st January 1983, and who have then lived in the UK for at least 10 years, there is the registration route using Form T. A number of children of old clients have done this at the earliest opportunity with no trouble at all - they are properly registered as British Citizens and are entitled to have the British passport.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not a lot to report today, weather the same as yesterday. C & C's where neccessary and I hope that those black dogs stay in the kennel where they belong.

[Mad McCann]

All this talk of citizenship made me think about my Irish granny and my qualification for an Irish passport. I may have some detective work tracing back the relevant birth/death certificates mind since I have none already.

No work today or tomorrow so I have my 6 monthly service at the vascular nurse at lunchtime where I suspect I’m going to have statins heavily pushed. After that I’ll be planting my late crop spuds and various other veggie matter.

If it rains in between times I have a couple of Pickering Scottish coal trader wagons to finish off.

The first of yesterday’s shift was somewhat interesting as the old Dart I was driving decided to have several hissy fits in the EMS which required a stop and shutdown/reset several times. Compounded by a diversion enforced by a serious RTA I had a tense few minutes negotiating the diversion which was essentially single lane due to parked cars either side of the route. Wouldn’t have been a great place for the old girl to sit down again.

Still, if that’s ‘a bad day at the office’, in stress terms it’s still a galaxy away from the old days in the Rozzers...

 

D4

[newbryford]

Talking of passports. I forgot mine whilst travelling to work today, fortunately, there were  no border guards on the alternate route I took into Yorkshire.......

 

Cheers,

Mick