Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Ben patrolled, it's distinctly cooler out there, the walls of the house will be heating the outside world today. Time for some porridge.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Matthew would have been 26 today. I can’t imagine he would have accompanied us on this holiday, he would have preferred travelling by bus to some part of the Balkans.

Tony

[Barry O]

Yep, chilly here too this morning up here in the North West Leeds Highlands.

Hope all goes well for Mrs NHN.

My sister rang yesterday. Her "Sciatica " turns out to be a knackered disc. An operation to help reduce pain will happen in the next 4 to 6 weeks. I hope all goes well.

 

Having talked to the obergruppenfuhrer at the local eye clinic I may get to see the consultant in October...he asked to see me in September but hey hi! It does mean I won't be at the Steam Exhibition in Swindon as I need to avoid close up work (ie weathering) Pah!

 

Mugatea awaits then off to Moreasons.

 

Have a great day everyone and positive thoughts to all that ail.

Baz

[Robert]

Morning All,
 
It is a reasonable morning in this part of the world.  We had a small thunderstorm last night, which has cooled things down considerably, and although it rained it was nothing too torrential.
 

Does anyone here have experience of dating websites?  I ask because it is a subject where my e-friend Harry is reluctant to take No for an answer.  Because I do not date any more I have never thought to use one.  Harry has got on well with them in the past and has even persuaded his dad to have a go.  I am still smarting from the outcome of his last foray into those murky waters.  It was not the fault of the website but of the two lovebirds who found what they were looking for and in the process managed to make a number of their friends feel like second class citizens.  Nevertheless, as I shall tell him next time we chat, it was churlish of me to turn down out of hand the suggestion, meant kindly, that I should use one and I will give it further thought.  Which way to the lion’s den?

I can hardly claim to be an expert, but I did enroll on a couple when I was single after my divorce.  To be perfectly honest, my experience was not all that positive.  I did meet one person who I got on very well with, but dating sites are really like a huge shop window.  You may meet someone (and friends of mine have) but on the other hand it doesn't mean that you will, or that you will both be looking for the same thing.  I suppose that is really no different from meeting somebody offline.

 

What they do do is facilitate people to meet, that otherwise may not do.  In the end, I met my wife in "real life".

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Andrew P]

It's been 6 years today since I had a cigarette. . . . So I bought myself a present.

 

 

Meet The Beast..

 

 

Goodnight everyone . . . sleep well.

 

 

John

A just reward I would say, very nice indeed, B E A U T I F U L in fact.

[TheQ]

I ordered that weighing scales at 05:47. I've just checked my emails, parcelforce tracking notice, issued... 05:52 First Class post...

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

The sun is shining and a fine day is forecast although there may be some showers later this afternoon.

We had a great night out and a very enjoyable meal. Steve found his cheque book and Joe was gobsmacked with the amount he received, as were the rest of us but treating his nephew and nieces gives him immense pleasure.

Today Nicki, Joe and Gemma are off to Spain with SiL Steve. Although he and Nicki are separated they're still friends and do all the normal family things. It seems strange to me but works for them.

Apparently "we need to do some gardening." Actually we really do as it looks a bit of a mess outside. I expect a backache will be arriving after a couple of hours

Have a good one,

Reluctant Gardener of Sutton.

[Horsetan]

I have found another CX GTi which the seller is supposedly willing to break for spares. Although I've sent him a list of parts I'd like to buy, he seems in no hurry to reply....

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

It’s raining again! But as it’s Friday I wouldn’t be doing any gardening this morning anyway, as we’re off to the Trafford Centre shortly. On our way home I’ll call at the butchers to collect our weekly meat rations and some pies I’ve pre-ordered, that we are having for tea. I took the precaution of pre-ordered the pies as they regularly sell out very quickly, last Friday he’d sold 210 pork pies by 11:30, and was turning people away who wanted one! Tonight we have James and Amelia coming for tea, hence the pies, 2 steak and ale and 2 steak and potato, both are extremely yummy!

 

Nothing else planned for the rest of the day, just taking it easy until our guests arrive.

 

Back later

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a slightly cooler and cloudy part of the Charente. Not a lot got done yesterday afternoon apart from me tidying the wood shed and putting pallets down on the floor ready to stack the newly delivered wood. In the evening we all watched a very good film called Hidden Figures. This morning Beth, Adrian and I set to work after breakfast and in an hour had the pile of logs neatly stacked on three pallets. a good job well done. It now appears that the ladies are to go out for coffee. I'm going to change some plugs and them some unspecified pottering.

 

 

Not a lot else to report.

 

 

Regards to all.

 

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just paid the milkman this morning, less the one pint that was missing on Monday. I telephoned their call number and had it taken off the bill, I had enough on hand. It is obvious that the call centre is some way east of Estuary-Land but I didn't realise how far east, the Phillipines no less according to the milkman. In my younger days I tried a dating agency and got a mixed bag, the other girl was OK though.

Other relationships though were all my own work but all finished without any unpleasantness. Muggatee awaits so its be back later.

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

Re Prostate DRE tests I much prefer lady doctors of the female persuasion doing this as their digits are normally smaller. .

The fickle finger writes, and having writ, moves on?

Nothing like have a good rummage around to sort out a boggy prostate.

 

This year's principal female fashion would appear to be short shorts (in some cases very short shorts, a distinct traffic hazard) ....

Oh Tempora, Oh Mores.

Interesting, innit, that when we (i.e. those of the XY Chromsome persuasion) express appreciation of such things we are labelled with one or t'other uncomplimentary soubriquet, yet wearing of such things are an "unfettered expression of self"

 

Remember the Swinging Sixties and Jack Weinberg's admonishment "don't trust anyone over 30"? As I grow ungracefully and ungraciously old, I am starting to think along the lines of "don't trust anyone under 30".

 

To paraphrase Mose Allison's "Young Man's Blues" (and render it more suitable for the GROSS [Grumpy Over SixtieS] generation to sing)

 

Well, you know in the old days
When a old man was a strong man
All the people they stepped back
When a old man walked by

[instrumental break]

But you know nowadays
It's the young man
Who's got all the money
And a old man
Ain't got nothin' in the world these days, I say
Ain't got nothin'
Ain't got sweet f**k all!

 

It's been 6 years today since I had a cigarette. . . . So I bought myself a present.

 

 

Meet The Beast..

 

 

Goodnight everyone . . . sleep well.

 

 

John

Oooh, MOST tasty. Who made the guitar? (I can't read the logo)

 

It looks like an electroacoustic, am I right? (my 12-string is purely acoustic and has no cutaway)

 

...Ben the Border Collie was asleep at the bottom of the stairs so he agreed it was warm...

Poor Schotty, our Border Collie mix, HATES the heat and is happiest balls deep in snow (well, whithers deep as we have had him neutered) and - from late September onwards when the first snows arrive around the holiday hovel - the first thing he does upon arrival is roll around in the snow. Lucy, on the other hand loves basking in the sun (though the garden door must be left open as, every so often, she comes in out of the sun, has a drink and lies down on the cold ceramic tiles of the downstairs loo before going back out to the garden "to work on her tan").

 

As for me? I tolerate the heat - on the proviso that [a] I can endure it by lazing by a pool and an abundant, if not ceaseless, supply of Negroni cocktails are readily to hand. Otherwise, I far prefer Autumn as a season.

 

Be Back Later - Ciao for Now

 

Stay Frosty

 

iD

Edited August 24, 2018 by iL Dottore

[AndrewC]

 

Greetings from the boring borough. Congrats and commiserations to all as appropriate. Sunny but cool this morning. Autumn is around the corner. 

Been a merde week. Still no builder, still no response. Looks like it will be up to the courts now. In the meantime this weekend will be "Operation Bedroom", where we attempt to complete the room to a reasonable standard ourselves so that we can move back in. Bits of floorboards are up and the path of the central heating pipes marked out. Using Speedfit I should have no problem installing the radiator. That was my biggest worry. I know that really I should be able to cut a bit of copper pipe and solder the joints but I'd have to invest in the soldering and cutting gear for what would be 4 elbows and less than 3m of pipework. The engineered flooring will be time consuming but with luck we'll have a habitable room by Monday. 

 

POE is unlikely as I've been covering for half the practice this week and still have my own work to get through before the end of day. Tonight, however will be a few Dutch beers from Brouwerij Emelisse at Eebria's tap room. We've both earned that. 

 

The offspring is famoose after a kerfuffle at his place of work a few weeks ago. A pair of smack heads tried to make off with a large basket of shopping. They ended up with nothing but a few bruises. (as did the offspring and a couple of his coworkers) Not impressed with the local constabulary as this pair are allegedly quite well known in the area and have tried this stunt in a couple of other shops since. They are quite visible but the old bill has had to put out requests for information on their whereabouts. That is what results from cutbacks. The police don't have the resources to even spend an hour wandering behind the high street shops where they'd likely find the scroats fairly quickly. 

 

that's it from me. Have a great extended weekend. 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Cleaning noises from upstairs so I suspect the lad will be getting some sort of earache from his mother when he returns from work this evening, I shall hide.

 

Thoughts with Tony and Aditi today and I hope they will fill their day with good memories.   But isn't it odd how the Balkans appeal to some younger folk - laddo goes there (various countries) at least once a year, and preferably twice, while the Good Doctor has also ventured there in recent times although in her case it is partially down to ticking off countries in her ABC of European Countries - but at least she gives them a good visiting as well as bringing home yet another fridge magnet. 

 

All being well and a couple of small jobs permitting I shall today be visiting the toyshop in Alton, tomorrow will probably be bricklaying and concreting for grown ups.

 

Have a good day everybody

 

PS I see the reading pestival has bnow worked its weather magic and heavy downpours are now forecast to hit this part of the Thames Valley on Sunday afternoon/evening.

Edited August 24, 2018 by The Stationmaster

[Two_sugars]

I.D . . it's an IBANEZ  EW series , previously owed,   and it looks as good as the one in the 'photo.

 

 

John

 

 

Forgot to say  Yes . . .Electro acoustic.

Edited August 24, 2018 by Two_sugars

[andyram]

Afternoon fellow ER's and generic greetings, congrats and commiserations as appropriate with particular thoughts for Mrs NHN and Tony and Aditi.

Chris.F I hope that you have an enjoyable weekend and that you can sort out the issues you referred to. In terms of dating websites - I will admit to having experience of them. In fact I met my wife through one. Admittedly there are good and bad experiences and I could probably write a book on them, but I will say that they are not all bad.

 On the subject of my wife it seems one or two people misunderstood some of my recent comments, Black Rat being one. It is interesting to note that so many people feel happy to air their views, thoughts and opinions on this page - including Chris who was happy to make his recent important announcement via these pages. However, when someone disagrees with something / misunderstands something, the term "open forum" and the need for privacy gets rolled out as it has done in my direction twice in the last ten days. At the risk of starting an argument let me clarify a couple of issues:

 

1) In terms of my working situation - my school requested a sickness form to cover me up until the end of my employment (Aug 31st) despite the fact we are in the school holidays and I could not return to the school even if passed fit. 

2) I had been feeling better, but a combination of certain comments made on here last week, coupled with an argument I had with Sarah contributed to the dog re-emerging from the kennel - hence my last post. Sarah, not being in her best of spirits at the time, complained that I had ruined the summer by starting the business when I did because I was unavailable to take her and Amber out much. She also expected much more help around the house. I am not going to give further details about that, suffice to say I have always done as much as I can both before and after my days work often getting to bed late and rising early to do it. Am I doing enough is open to different interpretations.

 

On a positive side: we had a great day at the Yorkshire Wildlife Park on Monday - a nice and relaxing family day. On Tuesday we are having another family day at Twycross Zoo and we are all very much looking forward to it. The new routines take a lot of getting used to, and it is hard for us all.

 A third positive is the offer of a new role for September. I have been offered an online assessor position for an online learning platform. This I can do whilst in the shop and so could become another source of income. This should take away another worry.

 

With a bit of luck things will look up again in the near future.

 

Have a good day.

 

Best wishes

 

Andy

[The Lurker]

Well Elder Lurker has managed to get a place to do the A levels he wants to do at his second choice school. Sighs of relief from the Sidcup direction! Unlike Steve, I have not had to fish out the cheque book to honour promises I made!

 

This weekend we go up to Washington to see in the in-laws - the father in law who has been promising to pop his clogs for a few years now has reached 70 and is buying dinner. It's also the sister in law's birthday on Sunday. I have taken note of the dire travel warnings and we will try to set off early-ish tomorrow morning.

 

The one and I only time I camped at a festival was over the bank holiday in 1986. The remnants of a hurricane blew over and soaked everything, one of our group's tents leaked and we all crammed into one tent. Luckily I had got friendly with a girl that day.....

[chrisf]

Andyram, if you cannot speak freely on ERs you cannot do it anywhere.  

 

To whom it may concern: this remains my view.

 

Chris 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

 

Black Mamba Vinyl Rubber Gloves

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought that would get your attention....

 

For some years I've used blue vinyl gloves to keep the nasty chemicals off, but they tear easily, I used six pairs in one day last week. So had a look around the net and found Black, Mamba Vinyl Rubber Gloves.

 

Today I tried them, and only used 1.5 pairs. The one failure was cut by.. The ring pull on a can of cider!!!

 

Therefore I can recommend Black Mamba Vinyl Rubber Gloves...

 

 

It took two hours to move the boat, I used the lifting crane, a hydraulic Jack and a block and tackle. The boat wanted to stay where it was, the support framework wanted to move. In the end the boat and me settled on a compromise, the frame work went forward 6 inches the boat back a foot.

 

Then the boat was jacked up six inches and beams placed across. I now have access to the joints. With all the moving about jacking etc I am glad to report that that no joint cracked or moved, so with that I'm happy.

 

I can also report that now the boat has condescended to move, I can lift either end, so I'd guess that she weighs 200-250kg, we shall see.

 

 

After that I filled the bits where the framework had blocked my way. Marked up the hull round the width of the fibreglass bandage, having first measured the bandage. I was surprised to find the bandage was exactly the advertised width.

 

Tomorrow it's out with the sharp knife, to cut back the original fibreglass top layer, then coarsely sand and roughen the next layer before bandaging.

 

For now I'm lying on the sofa, I doubt I could move much as my back is complaining, ibuprofen will be required..

Eyelid inspection beckons.

[Rugd1022]

Afternnon all,

 

Just back from a little jaunt around the Cotswolds taking in the graves of Sir Winston Churchill at Bladon and Brian Jones in Prestbury on the outskirts of Cheltenham, then home via the Glos & Warks line for a cuppa. They only died four years apart, but were the products of very different times in many ways. Neither were saints it must be said, but both of them were 'heroes' for some of us I'm sure.

 

Hope all's well where you are, stay safe, or stay put... or both!

[Barry O]

sun , then chuckinitdarn, then sun, then chuckintdarn....you get the idea!

 

Baz

[newbryford]

SNAP!

 

Work has been worked.

 

Home time.

 

Catch up later.

 

Cheers,

Mick

[The Stationmaster]

Toy shop visit scrubbed - there's always another day to spend money.

 

Instead the tale of the builders' merchants; off to Jewson looking for a concrete edging slab - none, then try to order some red engineering bricks with holes - told the brick companies have stopped making them because there's no profit in them and you can't get them, not even teh branch can order them.  So - and as I decided to go a few hundred yards along the road to Gibbs & Dandy another chap some way back from the counter said 'you could try Gibbs & Dandy', which at least confirmed my plan.

 

At Gibbs & Dandy - 'have you got any red engineering bricks with holes please?' 'Sure how many would you like, we've got loads of 'em?'  So I ordered and paid for 100 for delivery next Wednesday morning.

 

Jewson is foreign owned by the French company Saint Gobain, but before anyone goes off about ofgf shore rip-off merchants who don't care about customers etc it is useful to note that Gibbs & Dandy is also owned by a French company - Saint Gobain.   Sort of helps to further inform my thoughts about why most of Jewson's staff have left in the past year or so.

[Rugd1022]

Some pictograms from today's little Cotswold adventure...

 

St.Martin's Parish Church in Bladon is tucked well away from the main road, we parked the Alfa right up by the entrance gate as it's a very tight squeeze, lord knows how Churchill's funeral party coped back in January '65...

 

In total contrast the cemetary at Prestbury on the outskirts of Cheltenham is very spacious and the founder of The Rolling Stones' resting place was easy to find...

 

Peak-a-boo at Toddington on the way home...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

Peak-a-boo at Toddington on the way home...

DSCF3600 (2).JPG

That trackwork's nearly as good as mine

 

Jamie