Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Horsetan]

Only just got back in time to vote in the local elections. My vote went to a candidate called Malgorzata, standing for Polish Pride, the nearest thing this ward has to an independent...

[trisonic]

Staggeringly good (short) movie of F35 II’s in Death Valley. Pilots are our Dutch friends - and very good they are too:

 

 

 

Expand it, crank the sound and enjoy - the details are terrific.

 

Best, Pete.

[laurenceb]

Just watched a piece about this on the ABC TV morning news show down here in Sydney, 5 minutes before I found this post.

 

Congratulations to the Mrs, she is an international star!  (even if it is a fake country...)

Words fail me!!!!!!!!!!!!

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all.  Well done Mrs Rick!

 

Yesterday saw some little steps forward.  Half an hour in the garden despatched some more triffids but the job is far from complete.  I finished another caption and despatched it to the editor, generated yet more ironing and fell asleep while reading a magazine in bed.  The past two nights have seen much better sleep than of late, though I will admit that Tuesday's doss was more of a stupor.  My new bus pass arrived, though the current one does not expire until the end of July.

 

Today I have an appointment with Sister Syringe, who will adminster my hormone injection ahead of the appointment with Professor Oncologist next Friday.  Up to now we have managed to arrange the appointment for first thing in the morning but not this time - 1.40 pm.  I admit to slight anxiety that the last jab did not produce the hot flushes which I had come to believe were an indicator thst the injection is doing me good.  I will spend much of the morning doing my May budget, provided that the self-service accounts management machine prints what I ask it to print - by no means a given.

 

Away from the safety of RMweb, the workings of Messenger and its customers sometimes baffle.  On Monday I used it to resolve a matter which had been bugging me for days.  The outcome was amicable if not the one I wanted, leaving me with sorrows to drown and wounds to be licked.  The drowning was neatly accomplished on Tuesday, when it began before 7 am, but the licking continues.   A message left yesterday for the other party remains unread despite said other party seemingly looking at Messenger/Faecesbook every few minutes.  When the individual concerned abandons abruptly an ambition cherished for 10 years there is clearly something else at work.  How frustrating!  How cryptic, and necessarily so!

 

Warm thoughts now to Robert and his Dad, Debs, Tony and Aditi, Mal, Simon, Andyram and anyone else in distress

 

Chris   

[Barry O]

Well done Mrs Rick...wiill there be enough lillypilly this year to make jam? Her indoors loves lillypilly jam and our friends in Murray Bridge have a plant and he is a chef.

 

Flat earth..so I imagined Australia and New Zealand this year...again?

 

Pete, nice video, thanks for sharing it.

 

Mugatea required, then Moreasons, crust earning then a T20 to umpire at Westwood.. WHITE balls, coloured clothing, flipping music as the players walk on and off the field, batsmen generally get Queens another one bites the dust as they depart from the crease.

 

Due to a number of issues tomorrow I may be sorting out the school U13s...could be interesting...

 

Hoping for good news from all who ail

C u later

 

Baz

[AndrewC]

Good moaning all. TFIF

 

Election has come and gone in the boring borough. Little change, sadly. More ineptitude and crapulance to follow. 

 

Rick, a like simply doesn't cover it. Well done to the Mrs. A long over due visit to Kew is warranted. 

 

The nice people from the big orange diy shed dropped off the new radiators yesterday. One too many in fact. Managed to text the driver and get him to pick up the surplus unit. (the builders didn't realise there were supposed to be 5 not 6) 

 

That's about it from here. 

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Heavens above!  Mick's potholes look pretty bad.  Having said that, there are some near my parents that are so bad the traffic has to stop to give way, then drive around them.  They too have been reported to the council - but are apparently low priority due to the fact that it is a minor road.  The fact that it is a very heavily used minor road seems to make no difference.

 

The road that leads into their village has just been resurfaced for the third time since the end of last summer.  It seems that the contractors can't get it right either...

 

We have a nice bright morning in this part of the world - with blue sky and although it's chilly at the moment, it is set to get warmer later.

 

My Dad's appointment with the oncologist went reasonably well, all things considered.  Sadly, as we expected, there is nothing much they can do.  There is still an awful lot that isn't known about cancer, such as why only 10% of pancreatic tumours respond to chemotherapy.  Therefore, he has been placed on the palliative programme - and we have to see what that brings.

 

The positive part of the news is that they can give him various medication to improve his appetite and therefore quality of life.  My Dad being my Dad asked the Oncologist straight out how long he has - and the answer was that although it is difficult to predict it should be many months.  Perhaps up to as much as two years.  We just have to wait and see.

 

Congratulations to Rick's wife!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[TheQ]

Mooring awl, Inner temple here,

A reasonable night sleep of around 6 hours, helped by the fact that before bedtime I had been resting my left elbow on a warm hot water Bottle, that seems to have eased the pain and  appears to be still working now.

 

The great fried egg is in the sky again, and Ben the Border Collie wanted to play outside during his patrol. I had to disappoint him, as I'm now at work..

 

On another non parallel pieces of metal site, someone is being congratulated for a comment they made against my previous posting.... problem is, the comment they are being congratulated for, is copied and pasted from my original post!!?

 

Time too... go do some work...

[jamie92208]

Staggeringly good (short) movie of F35 II’s in Death Valley. Pilots are our Dutch friends - and very good they are too:

 

 

Expand it, crank the sound and enjoy - the details are terrific.

 

Best, Pete.

That's great video and the stills are superb Pete, thanks for posting.  Are those the A variant or the B

 

Morning All,

 

Heavens above!  Mick's potholes look pretty bad.  Having said that, there are some near my parents that are so bad the traffic has to stop to give way, then drive around them.  They too have been reported to the council - but are apparently low priority due to the fact that it is a minor road.  The fact that it is a very heavily used minor road seems to make no difference.

 

The road that leads into their village has just been resurfaced for the third time since the end of last summer.  It seems that the contractors can't get it right either...

 

We have a nice bright morning in this part of the world - with blue sky and although it's chilly at the moment, it is set to get warmer later.

 

My Dad's appointment with the oncologist went reasonably well, all things considered.  Sadly, as we expected, there is nothing much they can do.  There is still an awful lot that isn't known about cancer, such as why only 10% of pancreatic tumours respond to chemotherapy.  Therefore, he has been placed on the palliative programme - and we have to see what that brings.

 

The positive part of the news is that they can give him various medication to improve his appetite and therefore quality of life.  My Dad being my Dad asked the Oncologist straight out how long he has - and the answer was that although it is difficult to predict it should be many months.  Perhaps up to as much as two years.  We just have to wait and see.

 

Congratulations to Rick's wife!

 

Have a good day everyone...

Very sorry to hear that Robert.  However it sounds as if your dad is fairly pragmatic about things.   I hope that you are able to give him the necessary support.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

The sun is trying to make an appearance and it should be a dry day with some sunny periods.

Sorry to hear that Robert. It's never easy when you get that sort of news about a loved one.

 

Very many congratulations to Mrs.Rick and of course to all the other people at Kew. Once again I am reminded that although I live only 11 miles away I've never visited! I think that needs to be put right.

Today is car changeover day and I must say I'm looking forward to it as I've got a bit fed up with the old one though to be fair it has served me well for nearly eight years. However it's getting a bit tired and needs a few things doing so it's time to say goodbye. The new steed should cope with potholes a lot better. We have a few around here along with a multitude of humps.

 

Before I get to play with my new toy though there are things domestic to be done according to The Boss who is definitely on the mend although she still has a very sore throat. A major tidy up is needed as Nicky and the kids are coming Sunday for a BBQ and staying overnight so rooms need to be prepared.

 

Time to take her some tea so I will return later. I may even post a photo of a toy with wheels. 

 

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited May 4, 2018 by grandadbob

[jamie92208]

Morning all from the village east of Tong.   

 

Many congratulations to Sharon, Rick.  It all looks stunning.   

 

Yesterday we got some more tidying done, but the morning disappeared as various friends called in and were given support and tea/coffee as required.   Also my best friend from primary school days who I'd lost touch with, got in touch.  We nattered for at least half an hour and I'm going over to see him and his huge collection of vintage cars and vintage tractors in about a fortnight.  It will be great to catch up.  In the afternoon I went back to work in the modelling room and finally got the detritus on the desk cleared.   All sorts of little treasures appeared and best of all the surface is now clear.   I had been procrastinating for months.   Now I can finally see light at the end of the tunnel in clearing the room.  More boxes and crates will head towards the container later.    Then it was off to Castleford and a good talk to a society there.

Today the first task is to change three light bulbs at church with a  mate assisting.   The architects/contractors obviously never gave a thought as to how the bulbs in the false ceiling would be changed.  I've got to go out on crawling boards and change them from above.   All good fun.   Then an evening at the club.   

 

Chrisf, I'm glad that you seem to be getting through things. Thoughts are with Debs, Simon and Mal.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

Morning all.

 

Robert , sorry to hear the news. Mum was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer five years ago and given just two months although we didn’t know that at the time. When they went to operate the tumour was found to be on the stomach. She is still with us.

 

Last night we went round to mums new place. Locks a. Lot more spacious without carpets kitchen bathroom and one wall in the hallway. With a couple of ceilings removed the wiring can be clearly seen as a mess so it’s got to be replaced. Lots more ££££££ forecast. Today her and my brother fly to HK s o I will now be dealing with the bungalow rebuild.

 

There are some nasty potholes on the A23 on a busy bend n the road just South of the Bridge over the M25 that you just can’t avoid. I can see there being an accident occurring but all our roads are full of potholes so nomdoubt it will be a while before many of them are repaired. I suspect that the local elections will make absolutely no difference to the current state.

[45156]

Morning All

 

First off, thanks for all the greetings for my birthday yesterday

Second - Robert, I must have missed something, and am so sorry that I missed your post about your dad's condition - supportive thoughts are, of course, sent to you.

Third - a big well done to Sharon (Mrs Rick) on a most remarkable achievement in getting the interprative work done on the UK's biggest greenhouse.  Between this and Rick's recent awards, it does seem as though it has been a pretty great first year in the UK (or back in the UK in Rick's case).

And fourth, generic greetings to everybody else.

 

A fodder run now seems to be on order,

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

A quick look in whilst Sheila is getting her self ready for today’s outing. It’s a bit dull at the moment, but it’s not forecast rain, so that’s a bonus. Looking forward to meeting up with our friends later and putting the world to rights, as we do!

 

Robert. Sorry to read about your fathers oncologist meeting, thoughts as always with you and your family.

 

Ar, is that the dulcet tones of keys rattling, yes, I think she’s just about ready, back later.

[beast66606]

Well done to Mrs Rick - I saw several news items on that yesterday and was very impressed, she should be very proud.

 

Great video Pete - I hear sounds like that locally from time to time as the guys fly to/from Lakenheath/Marham some of the pilots are more "enthusiastic" than others and at times the noise almost makes one poop ones trousers when they suddenly appear over the horizon with full noise enabled heading East.

 

Sympathies to ChrisF - I know the abandonment feeling only too well - mates I've had for 40 years have never been in touch since I moved down this way, one even told me he would "Never visit you in Norfolk" despite having a first class, all lines, staff pass... such is life, people are people, I'm not getting upset about it, although at times I admit to being a bit bitter as despite me spending a huge amount of my time (and money) working on Widnes my so called mates managed to take it to it's last exhibition without even asking me, of course they've been happy to use my stock for the last few years.

 

There are some potholes locally where farmers / locals have put traffic cones in them to stop people losing their tyres when they find them - I lost two a few months back on one which still hasn't been repaired, it's in the middle of a road and fills with water so looks innocuous until "BANG BANG" - that was a fun day - with only 1 spare it took some messing to get the two tyres replaced and my Mrs had gone to Norwich for the day so I had to leave the car overnight and then the next day she took one wheel and got a new tyre fitted, then I fitted the spare (I always make sure I have a full spare wheel) and ambled to the garage where they fitted the other tyre and checked it all out.

 

Sympathies to Robert, not good news but at least there are some positive aspects.

 

Very sunny here, the stone trai-n ran to Eccles so I was out at 06:00, driving home something caught my eye so I stopped and on a fence next to me was a huge bird, a buzzard perhaps, enormous but it didn't like me being there so it flew off before I could get the camera out. No barn owls around this morning (I regularly see them when out early) - probably scared off my the big buzzard.

 

Have a good day and thoughts to those in need.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bright sunny start to POETS day and the forecast says its going to get better. I don't think the weather gods have quite got the hang of a bank holiday at the beginning of May yet. Mayday of course hasn't allways been a bank holiday, when I started working for the peoples republic of Barking and Dagenham in 1970 I was pleased to find that all the staff received an extra days holiday on Mayday, and this was on the actual day itself so that if it fell on a weekend there was no holiday. One of my colleagues organized a boozey trip to Margate on those days  but it all died out when it did become a public holiday.

 

Just watched a piece about this on the ABC TV morning news show down here in Sydney, 5 minutes before I found this post.

 

Congratulations to the Mrs, she is an international star!  (even if it is a fake country...)

 

 

Words fail me!!!!!!!!!!!!

They claim to have members all over the globe.

Thats it for now, C & C's to all ER's that need them, be back later.

[Simon G]

Morning from a cold and windy West Cumbria.  Mrs G and I have a funeral to go to in Millom in the south of the county this afternoon, so we will be wrapping up well.  It is the funeral of a distant cousin of Mrs G, but of whom she was very fond.  Car was been cleaned inside and out for the occasion.

 

I continue to improve as the last round of chemo is 2 weeks behind me, so now starting to look forward to the next lot - not!  Thinking of other ERs with similar issues and problems, especially Debs.

[Happy Hippo]

 

Time to take her some tea so I will return later. I may even post a photo of a toy with wheels. 

 

 

To prevent any awl action, I will pre-empt GDB with a photo of his new toy on wheels:

 

 

After awl.... It is only a hobby!

Edited May 4, 2018 by Happy Hippo

[TheQ]

As someone from a military family I've been a moving target all my life and never really had mates. Just people I know to a greater or lesser extent.

The longest I've ever lived somewhere is here in Norfolk with hardly any neighbours, For 16 years.

The people at work I see most working days, but I work in a lab on my own, we come all over the county and effectively never see each other outside work.

The People at The MRC I see for 3 hours on a Friday, though once I retire that will increase

The people at the sailing club I see for up to 8 hours on a Sunday, but we are all in separate Boats most of the time.

 

Also in Norfolk My main vehicle is of course the Landrover, which with high side wall tyres has no problem with potholes, But SWMBOs car would have, but when we get that replaced it will probably be with a mini 4X4.

 

When they had part of the round Britain cycle race near here , one of the roads was done up a bit, they covered it in top dressing without filling in the potholes!!!

That just made the pot holes harder to see....

[The Stationmaster]

Staggeringly good (short) movie of F35 II’s in Death Valley. Pilots are our Dutch friends - and very good they are too:

 

 

Expand it, crank the sound and enjoy - the details are terrific.

 

Best, Pete.

 

Looks like a sort of US version of the Mach Loop but without the grass, rain, sheep, and mist

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

Sorry to hear about your dad Robert, just hoping things go as well as can be expected but a difficult time for you all.  As for what has happened to Chrisf by electronic communication it does seem a far from polite, let alone friendly, way of going on - commiserations. 

 

Back to earth and this morning we have caught the cat (easy), put him in a cat basket (not so easy, why don't humans listen when I instruct them her to do a certain thing like putting the basket down on the ground so the poor bloomin' cat isn't left with his rear end legs swinging in midair when i let go of him on his way into the basket?), take cat to vet's surgery (not too bad), get cat injected with something or other (easy), get cat's claws trimmed (hell on earth), pay (easy come easy go), bring cat home (under noisy protest), let cat out of basket while the basket is on the ground (warp speed).  Top round off the day an electrician is expected this afternoon to hopefully deal with a recalcitrant kitchen light fitting, I've found a nice man with a long ladder to hopefully sort a downpipe - that has got itself(?) disconnected from the gutter - for a very reasonable price indeed, and it will soon be time for lunch and I'm later tasked with going round the house cleaning any vacuum I happen to find.

 

Enjoy your day and hoping to hear some good news about Debs.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

Nothing like on the scale of Mrs Gwiver's day on May 3rd, (and I feel a visit to Kew coming on, as my Mrs and our Putney resident niece are both keen horticulturalists) but my day accompanying my Pa for his surgery was not as planned at all, and for my money showed the NHS at its very best.

 

The surgeon was not as originally advertised. Instead the most lovely young woman sashayed into the room (think the young Uma Thurman) and asked my Pa if he would be happy if she performed the procedure. Now my Pa was always a very upright and 'correct' fellow due to very strict upbringing, but the vascular dementia has 'loosened him up' more than somewhat, viz: "Madam you may do anything to my body that you choose.". Happily she proved as beauteous within as out, as she found this as amusing as I did.

 

Next she questioned my Pa on his current health, and specifically the broken arm he currently sports due to a recent fall, and determined that his short term memory is fully broken, as reliable answers had to be provided by me. At this point she told me that since the procedure had to be performed under local anasthesic, because a general was contra-indicated due to his circulatory system condition, then I too would be in theatre throughout to assist in commumication with him.

 

So, my day was very different from plans of a model railway shop visit, and instead was 'very interesting'. Extremely efficient procedure, demonstration of a wondrous facility at stitching, and while she beavered away we mostly talked through the plot elements of the film 'The Death of Stalin' which she had seen but found puzzling in many respects. She consequently got my best 'Robert Conquest lite' description of the total filth of the Lenin-Stalin 'playground bully with unrestricted power' method of government.

 

 Pa managed to fall asleep on the table after ten minutes of the two hours, and walked out some hours later feeling pretty good, and was fine when I popped by see him early this morning, just puzzled about the dressing, with not a single recollection of the previous day. No pain because he's rammed full of codeine for the broken arm...

[Purley Oaks]

Afternoon all

 

Cloudy and warmish here.

 

 

Tonight marked the culmination of a year’s worth of very challenging work for SWMBO. She has been ultimately responsible for the interpretation w

For once I wished there was a "fantastic!" button, Rick. A great accomplishment by Sharon. Many congratulations! 

 

My Dad's appointment with the oncologist went reasonably well, all things considered.  Sadly, as we expected, there is nothing much they can do.  There is still an awful lot that isn't known about cancer, such as why only 10% of pancreatic tumours respond to chemotherapy.  Therefore, he has been placed on the palliative programme - and we have to see what that brings.

 

The positive part of the news is that they can give him various medication to improve his appetite and therefore quality of life.  My Dad being my Dad asked the Oncologist straight out how long he has - and the answer was that although it is difficult to predict it should be many months.  Perhaps up to as much as two years.  We just have to wait and see.

Robert, I was sorry to read about your dad. It may be worthwhile doing some research yourselves online, there could be some things there that are useful. Remember that if there's something you want from the NHS, sometimes you have to be (pleasantly) assertive. And it's good to try to remain positive.

 

Had my appointment with the oncologist yesterday; the CT scan, which she said wasn't very clear, showed some "stranding" which may be a little peritoneal cancer or scar tissue from the op. My gut feeling (pun intended) is that it's likely scar tissue because the HIPEC op included an hour-long hot chemo-wash throughout my abdomen. Anyway, the team are unsure what to do next - whether it's more chemo, although they don't know which chemo - or do nothing. I asked that they send the scan to Basingstoke for the surgeons to look at; even though they're not oncologists they probably have more experience of interpreting CT-scans post-HIPEC ops. Am down to see another oncologist next week (he'll chat to my current oncologist meantime) which may give a different perspective.

 

All-in-all, though, I feel good and positive, and happy overall.

 

Have a good Friday, looks like the weekend may be hot hot hot (for an hour on Monday, at least).

 

Mal

Edited May 4, 2018 by Purley Oaks