Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Rather overcast here but it should be a dry warm day with bright or sunny spells.

The Boss is going out to breakfast with two ex-workmates today. Well, that is if the one who is picking her up can find her way here.. The main road near us is closed so she will have to navigate via the back doubles. As she only ever uses main roads I see trouble ahead. It was quite amusing listening to The Boss telling her her how to get here. My attempts at assistance were waved away.  

Not much planned for myself to do but the inside of the car needs hoovering so that can be the first item on my list.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[grandadbob]

How quickly holidays wear off when stupidity has a hand in things.  This morning saw a tiresome conversation with the surgery receptionist, Checkpoint Charlene.  Once again the prescription I went to fetch had only one of its two pages, meaning that without the second page it would have been difficult to submit my next order for meds in three weeks’ time.  Eventually she got the message and printed off the second page with rather less than good grace. 

 

Chris, I order my repeat prescriptions online via Patient Access and they are transmitted direct to the chemist. I can also make doctor's appointments with this. It might be worth enquiring if your surgery offers this service as it saves a lot of hassle.

 

https://patient.emisaccess.co.uk/account/login?ReturnUrl=%2F

[Happy Hippo]

Llandrinio beckons this morning with the monthly meeting of the G0G Area 4 courtesy of the Borders MRC.

 

I only go because there is lots of tea and cake.

 

The timing of the meeting does seem to tell a tale about the age of the average G 0 modeller hereabouts!

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Here,

An awful nights sleep, too hot again, 23C downstairs... Ben the Border Collie agreed and was sprawled on the hard but cold floor..

 

Last night on the way home, there were no Effin Clowns around in Effin Clown town... Why? Because there was a huge cloud burst going on, water was pouring down the streets, and a couple of miles to the north the road filled with water from side to side of the "A" road.

This brought out the close relative of the Effin clown... The Cockwomble.. they were doing all sorts of strange things trying to keep their cars out of 4 inch deep puddles including driving up the wrong side of the road towards the on coming traffic and expecting them to get out of the way.

 

This morning I note the Police aware tape is broken again at the Wroxham road / NDR roundabout, did another one take a flyer in the rain?

 

I have Friday off so that looks like a boat rebuilding day, as does Sunday. Saturday be a visit to the J50 group show in Neatishead Village Hall only a little show, but as it's local and only £3, worth the visit. Luckily that starts at 10:00, so after a couple of hours I'll Head home and pick up SWMBO and Ben, and we'll head to the Ingham Fete and Dog show, again local and convienently not starting till 13:00. The had a Good scrumpy cider stand last year  .

 

 With the boat building I have more strengthening to do, on the inside skin of the boat. Once that is done, I can remove the clamps holding it together. With those clamps removed  I then have the  puzzle of how to do some of the strengthening work without getting covered in Resin. I need to wrap the centre pillar in Fibreglass. However when sat in the boat that pillar is between my legs, So it looks like a painfull time hanging upside down again..

 

Once that is done I can remove some of the framing holding everything in place, then jack up the boat and put some bearers in so the hull is clear of the main supports.

Then remove a strip of paint and the under lying fibreglass around the join. Bandage the outside, sand it down, fill any deviations, sand it down, fill any smaller deviations, sand it down, Fill any even smaller deviations, sand it down, Primer coat, sand it down, probably another primer coat, sand it down, top coat, lightly sand the whole hull down, and finally top coat and paint the whole hull.

 

I suspect that the last paragraph may take me into next year,   must check there is enough wet and dry in stock, There are enough spare filters for the respirator.

 

Interesting, If I heard correctly just on the radio, Glasgow University has invented a new type of battery. It's filled with a liquid, which is already charged up. When discharged, you  go to a filling station, pump the battery out, fill with newly charged liquid. They reckon the pump out and refill could take just 40 seconds.. The garage then recharges the liquid at it's leisure.

Finally if that comes off, a real replacement for petrol / Diesel cars with a sensible turn round time...

 

Time to... take another measurement, quite a few have been taken while boring you with the above..

[Andrew P]

Another BAD incident at Parliament this morning.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

It looks like another dull day, the weather doesn’t look promising at all. My first task will be to complete the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix. Once I’ve returned home with the goodies I’ll pack them all away, make myself a muggertea and then, weather permitting, I’ll carry on outside.

 

Back later

[AndrewC]

 

Greetings from the boring borough. Nothing of note happening here. 

I shall bid you all a good day then. 

 

 

 

 

Good day. 

[45156]

Morning All

 

First off, the usual generic greetings are on offer to everybody.  Also as usual, these days, a lot of ER water is passing under the bridge between posts on here, and just too much for individual mentions.  As other ERs have said, we do miss Jock 67B's nightly summaries. 

 

So has anybody got an update on Debs - she did post on FB a few days ago, but is still quiet on here.

 

Sawing of the road appears to have restarted outside.

 

Back later

Regards to All

Stewart

[grandadbob]

Car has been hoovered.

Now listening to the news about the Westminster incident on TV. Thankfully no fatalities but a few injured and a couple taken to hospital with no life threatening injuries.

I do wonder about some of the reporting. One "reporter" interviewing an eyewitness asked "What was your sense of the motive behind this?" How the hell would he or anybody else know at the time?

I think I'll switch the TV off.

[andyram]

Good morning fellow ER’s from a grey and overcast Matlock Bath. The window displays are sorted, the A boards are outside and I am now sat with a relaxing mug of coffee ready for another day of trading whilst the sound fitted loco simmers away on my Skaleby West layout. I would like to offer my good wishes, congrats and commiserations as appropriate.

 

ChrisF – I am sorry to read of your latest experiences with “Checkpoint Charlie”, at times the NHS can be very unhelpful. I am also struggling to sort out an appointment for a review of my medication and, of course, the arrangement of the final sick note that the school has requested to cover me until the end of the month.

 

 This morning I am beginning to recall Simon’s experiences with United Utilities as I seem to be going around in circles with Eon. When I took over the shop building I was informed that the electricity was powered by a pay as you go metre. 4 weeks ago I contacted Eon to open the account so that I can top up as and when I need. They were unable to do it because there was a “ticket” on the account at the property (whatever that means). I am still waiting for account to be open and continue to be told the same thing. Apparently there is a billing issue with the previous account holder that is preventing them from making the change. As a result whenever I need to top up I have to wrestle with the automated system which keeps asking for an account number (which I am yet to receive). This results in the call taking a ridiculous amount of time. Yesterday they were unable to even give me my current unit rate!

 Naturally I am receiving countless calls from various utility companies at present, all claiming to offer me better rates. How do I know if Eon can’t provide with my current rate? This morning I finally got through to the complaints department – let’s see if that will make a difference.

 

Have a good day all – thoughts to those injured in London.

 

Andy

[newbryford]

Talking of he NHS.

They medical staff are very good, but some of the admin is going AWOL. Such as the repeat prescription service that used to see a request handed in at 8.30am be ready for collection by 3.30pm the same day - it recently changed to 48 hours with the introduction of a new "electronic service" and now it's 72, not including weekends....

 

Anyway:

Last Friday  - drop off some forms to be signed.

Monday am - phone call from them - ready for collection - fee to be paid (no issue with that)

Monday 6.15 - go to collect forms (15 min detour on way home)

Monday 6.45 - leave empty handed as they can't find them in "the usual places". Told to try again tomorrow. The person that knows where they should be is in at 8am. They can't send them on as I haven't paid the fee. They won't take my payment because they don't know how much it is.

Tuesday 8am - 15 min detour to get there - said person is not actually in until 9am. Leave empty handed at 8.20. Few minutes late for work.

Tuesday 10.15 - phone call - ready for collection - they had been put in the wrong place.

I will detour again on my way home, although if I get delayed leaving work, I will have to go Wednesday morning - said person assures me that she will be in at 8am.....

 

Have a good Tuesday folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Noises from the kitchen suggest that mugatea No.3 might soon be available.  Weather consists of high cloud and considerable brightness but Thursday looks much better with a 90% chance of rain for mid-morning.  As for prescriptions we inevitably renew via Tesco pharmacy and if the right ones aren't on the official form we give them a note and they take the details off their system - usually takes about 3 working days maximum from ordering to ready to collect but is often a day quicker, the main delay is how quickly the surgery can deal with them.

 

Mugatea No.3 now to hand.

 

Andy I wish you success with your business but you'll certainly need to put the hours in and be cute on any secondhand dealing if you want to make a success of things as trade discounts and some payment terms on new stock are pretty poor nowadays.  Maybe your energy dealings will work out as ours did when we built the house - we spent almost a year trying to pay for the gas we were using and when we finally did manage to get someone to accept payment for it they simply wrote of the preceding year!  Energy companies do have their occasional bright spots.

 

I'm intrigued as to where/how Chris stores, and presumably catalogues for easy access, what sounds like an increasingly vast collection of CDs - any hints on cataloguing might help me keep track of my book collection.

 

Have a good day one and all and enjoy the weather you are getting because it will probably change at least twice in the coming week.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Parcel arrived this morning, when I was in the bath! luckily a signature wasn't required and the postman was able to leave it in a safe place. The parcel contained a brace of Oxford Diecast Transit dropsides, one of their latest offerings and my third attempt to find a trader with any left in stock. Not a lot else to report and muggatee 2 awaits so its be back later.

[shortliner]

I followed an Audi SUV this morning through Inverness, and "she" indicated correctly at every turning - I know it was a "she" because I pulled up along-side her at a traffic light where I was turning right.

[Simon G]

Morning all, back inside for a mugocoffee after digging up a few pounds of potatoes from the garden. The weather is pretty threatening and I expect rain some time today, which will prevent further excavation for more spuds.

 

Andy, I hope that you get sorted soon with Eon, and that their complaints department is on the ball for a resolution. I wrote to the Economy Energy complaints department a month ago about my electric bill, and I still haven’t heard back from them, so I am not impressed just now. They earlier told me that because we have an economy seven type meter, we must have a split day and night rate tariff, rather than a single rate one. I didn’t believe them, so wrote to the complaints department.

 

As expected, the rain has now started, so gardening is suspended!

[roundhouse]

Good morning from Raleigh NC. A very nice place what we saw of it yesterday evening walking between brewpubs. Might have a walk round before heading back top the station this morning.

 

No mention of the incident in Westminster but then wouldnt expect so on the Weather Channel here so a quick look on BBC news.

 

Andyram - good luck with the meter. We have had a difficult time trying to get mums gas meter sorted out. It should have been swapped for a smart meter but they wont speak with anyone except Mum and she doesnt understand what its all about so will be interesting as to how they bill her as their records show the smart meter has been installed but its only on the electric side.

 

Off ti Durham for lunch then Greensboro for the evening using the North Carolina local passenger services. They have certainly spent quite a bit on the brand new Raleigh Union station.

Edited August 14, 2018 by roundhouse

[lightengine]

Popped into Wethers for a spot of lunch on the outside tables next the street. Dogs are now apparently banned from all outside areas of Wetherspoons pubs countrywide after a dog on dog fatility in a Wetherspoons recently.

[tetsudofan]

Talking of he NHS.

They medical staff are very good, but some of the admin is going AWOL. Such as the repeat prescription service that used to see a request handed in at 8.30am be ready for collection by 3.30pm the same day - it recently changed to 48 hours with the introduction of a new "electronic service" and now it's 72, not including weekends....

 

 

 

You're lucky at 72 hours. A note on the wall of the Pharmacy (which is physically attached to our GP Surgery) states that patients should allow 5 full working days for a repeat prescription to be prepared ready for collection. 

 

I use EmiAccess to order my repeat prescription online and normally do that every fourth Monday. This means that I can collect the prescription on the Tuesday of the following week...…

 

Last time I went round to collect the prescription on the Tuesday of the following week I still had to wait as they had not completed making up the prescription!

 

Keith

[TheQ]

Popped into Wethers for a spot of lunch on the outside tables next the street. Dogs are now apparently banned from all outside areas of Wetherspoons pubs countrywide after a dog on dog fatility in a Wetherspoons recently.

Well that's lost our trade then...

Edited August 14, 2018 by TheQ

[lightengine]

Well that's lost our trade then...

I wonder whether it really is nationwide as the staff member said. We shall find out no doubt.

[Tony_S]

Well that's lost our trade then...

I have only been in the Wetherspoons at Heathrow and there were no dogs there then.

[Tony_S]

I wonder whether it really is nationwide as the staff member said. We shall find out no doubt.

A Google search indicates their no dog policy inside and outside except for assistance dogs had been in place for some time.

Tony

[Black Marlin]

Popped into Wethers for a spot of lunch on the outside tables next the street. Dogs are now apparently banned from all outside areas of Wetherspoons pubs countrywide after a dog on dog fatility in a Wetherspoons recently.

 

Does that mean that if one person murders another in a Wetherspoons, there will be a nationwide ban on all people entering the premises too?

[Tony_S]

Does that mean that if one person murders another in a Wetherspoons, there will be a nationwide ban on all people entering the premises too?

Anyone else remember this?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12139463/Wetherspoons-pub-evacuated-after-rat-ran-up-trouser-leg-and-ate-a-chip.html

[Happy Hippo]

Anyone else remember this?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/12139463/Wetherspoons-pub-evacuated-after-rat-ran-up-trouser-leg-and-ate-a-chip.html

Normally this is a DM type tale, with the glum looking rats posing outside the pub, complaining that their lunch was ruined.

 

Or have I got that wrong?.