Early Risers.

[lightengine]

Did some gardening yesterday, filled the green bin again and stamped it down. The garden is beginning to look much tidier with just 4 empties of the green bin. Afterwards I Karchered the front steps to rid the steps and walls of moss. A slug that died on the steps a week or so ago proved particularly stubborn. Despite the Karcher spray being directed directly onto the hardened skin at full pressure it held on resiliently until persistence psid off. Poo and a blanket have nothing on hardened dead slugs.

I also managed to mow the grass. I usually dont get it done late in the year as it is often too wet to mow and is left long all winter.

[Simon G]

Yes Simon, that's him!  Wondered if you knew each other, too close not to.  I'd love to meet him at some time, I might have seen him (and you!) on the Ratty already over the years, we go regularly.  His father taught me at South Shields Grammar.

 

BoD, I didn't use my real name at all on line in years gone by as I was the office manager of our version of a young offenders team - 'nuff said!  I'm not bothered now, 4 years into retirement.

  

When I was teaching we were always advised to be wary of, and be careful on, social media for all the obvious and not so obvious reasons.

As you say, it's not so important now.

Therefore you all have my permission to call me Sir.

Neil, next time you are over and going on the Ratty, you should drop me a PM, and I can see if we could meet up with said person.

 

I have always been careful on social media, as when I worked in the nuclear industry, it wasn’t really the done thing to advertise where we worked. Now, I don’t always say on social media when I am away, for house insurance purposes.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Off out for lunch today.

Not planning to do much more.

It isn’t cold enough here to put the winter tyres on Aditi’s Fiesta yet. Mine has M+S rated tyres which are OK in winter. If we had really harsh winters I would get a set of “proper” winter tyres.

Tony

[bbishop]

 

Ian, I managed to drink Harvey's yesterday. Quite easy to drink but served flat.

 

 

Baz,

 

So you drifted down to the Royal Oak.

 

Bill

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

So far I’m the only one out of bed, the girls were chatting well after 10:00 last night, I suppose being in a different bedroom make have been a little exciting and Sheila is starting to feel the effects of her recent flu jab.

 

It appears to have rained overnight but the sun is shining at the moment. Not a lot else to report, oh I forgot to post this photo last night. It’s of the cake I made on Monday, the one I was requested to post the recipe for.

 

 

It hasn’t been glazed, this happens naturally after a couple of days, it makes it deliciously sticky.

 

Back later.

[bbishop]

Morning all,

 

The cold front has drifted down to South East London, with damp drizzle, so expect a moan from two boroughs along.  Quiet day today, busier tomorrow with the second part of the root canal followed by a visit to the Swanley NG exhibition.

 

Bill

[TheQ]

Morning all.

Off out for lunch today.

Not planning to do much more.

It isn’t cold enough here to put the winter tyres on Aditi’s Fiesta yet. Mine has M+S rated tyres which are OK in winter. If we had really harsh winters I would get a set of “proper” winter tyres.

Tony

I must admit when I looked at the cars tyres the other day I was surprised to see them rated M+S, as they look like a normal road tyre to me...

The Landrover has AT tyres which have a nice chunky tread on them and worked wonderfully well when driving through 18 inches of snow last year..( a limited slip diff and the centre diff locked helps somewhat...)

Edited October 26, 2018 by TheQ

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I will have to remember to to withdraw some modelling tokens today for the Brentwood toy fair tomorrow as after last Saturday I have no intention of venturing anywhere near to Pitsea tomorrow. To collect my friend from South Benfleet I will have to approach Sadlers Farm from the A127, 2 or 3 extra miles but far less hassle. I did go out with my friend to a talk on railways in the Pyrennies last night and the road was open. Just checked the travel reports, the A13 'might or might not be closed tomorrow', so thats about as much use as a chocolate teapot. Have a good POETS day all, be back later.

[trisonic]

Lorna and I had a sort of sweepstake going on about how long it would take for the wheels to go. She said less than 24 hours. I said a couple of weeks. She was right. (They even took the "free" sign )

I wonder if they took the "Free" sign to show to Police? If so they could have written their own......

 

It's the counter-clockwise rotation of a northern hemisphere low pressure system. As the weather comes ashore along the east coast the wind direction is from the north east.

Nor'Easters run up the east coast and turn right at Long Island then left again and often peter out around Halifax (NS not Yorkshire).

What I can't figure out is why they hug the coastline..............Someone please do tell. Even the pros say "It's what they do..."

 

Best, Pete.

[The Lurker]

Baz,

 

So you drifted down to the Royal Oak.

 

Bill

I went to a tutored beer tasting there once. That was a lot of different Harvey's ales, ending with the Imperial Stout, which was very strong and very nice!

[Mike Bellamy]

 . . . . . . Do they know what an "O" is?

.

 

Used when gardening to remove weeds . . . . . . 

 

.

[Happy Hippo]

Good morning everyone

 

So far I’m the only one out of bed, the girls were chatting well after 10:00 last night, I suppose being in a different bedroom make have been a little exciting and Sheila is starting to feel the effects of her recent flu jab.

 

It appears to have rained overnight but the sun is shining at the moment. Not a lot else to report, oh I forgot to post this photo last night. It’s of the cake I made on Monday, the one I was requested to post the recipe for.

 

4A15A350-EAB9-47A9-A408-4EF1F2865414.jpeg

 

It hasn’t been glazed, this happens naturally after a couple of days, it makes it deliciously sticky.

 

Back later.

You have cakes that last a few days?

 

What do you do to keep them that long.  Lock them in a vault?

[Ian Abel]

POETS...

 

Good choir rehearsal AND pre-rehearsal imbibe yesterday, the only notable points of the day. Work was, well, work.

 

Quiet evening after a POE - expected since the client panic will probably subside by noon at the latest for me, especially since "they" are an hour ahead.

 

Weekend sees us working more on getting rid of junk from various locations in the house/garage, only have till Monday to fill the dumpster before it's retrieved.

Saturday night - IF we can manage to be up that late (music doesn't START until 9PM!!), we'll attempt to join some friends at an "ELnO" gig. Local tribute/cover band that have been spoofing ELO for years. The music is VERY good, and "Lee's Liquor Lounge", the venue, always has good live music.

This event has prizes for the best Jeff Lynne look-alike, though I'm not going to participate!

 

Hopefully the weather hitting Pete/east coast on Saturday will have passed by enough to NOT disrupt my Sunday evening flight out to NY. Chance is SLIM of course since the airlines are ALREADY offering free re-booking for Saturday, meaning they expect many Saturday flights to be delayed/cancelled and that will inevitably mess up some of the Sunday travel. Given I don't LEAVE until 8PM, and get in after midnight, maybe it'll be sorted by then <sigh>  

 

5 and drizzle this AM, with a high of 11 today and rain expected most of the weekend.

 

POE if you can and enjoy the weekend - I'm hoping to

[PhilJ W]

I wonder if they took the "Free" sign to show to Police? If so they could have written their own......

 

Nor'Easters run up the east coast and turn right at Long Island then left again and often peter out around Halifax (NS not Yorkshire).

What I can't figure out is why they hug the coastline..............Someone please do tell. Even the pros say "It's what they do..."

 

Best, Pete.

The Gulf Stream moving up the east coast warms the air above it (by a fraction of a degree). This creates a wall of very slightly warmer air that stops the Nor'Easters going further east.

[jamie92208]

Afternoon all from a definitely cooler bit of France. It was warm and sunny when we had breakfast and Beth even hung the washing out but by the time we had been out for various essentials (The wine supplies were low) the mist had come down and it was cool. I've had success at the mairie in getting permission for fireworks on the 5th. Apparently you need a permit for a large display with a month's notice given. I have assured Madame Le Mayor aka Helene, that it will only be a few small ones that don't go out of our garden. Verbal permission was granted. This obviously had nothing to do with the fact that, she and her husband, plus daughter, son in law and only grandchild have been invited.

 

Then we went out for a meal with some friends and are now having a break before drinks with our neighbours across the road before they go back to England. It's a hard life.

 

 

Jamie

[Purley Oaks]

Afternoon all

 

Chilly here, too.

 

Bin news: our garden bins are now a paid service - but I figured that £25 a year is worth it for two collections a month - anyway, last Friday was the first day of our collections service and a week later they still haven't been emptied. Called the council on Monday and they promised they'd be done by Weds. Called again today. Not too good for a paid-for service, hopefully just teething probs.

 

Can't you get a curly wig, IanA? Am sure you'd win the Jeff Lynne lookalike - you've got the spex.

 

Hope your Friday nights go well!

 

Mal

[Ian Abel]

Afternoon all

 

Chilly here, too.

 

Bin news: our garden bins are now a paid service - but I figured that £25 a year is worth it for two collections a month - anyway, last Friday was the first day of our collections service and a week later they still haven't been emptied. Called the council on Monday and they promised they'd be done by Weds. Called again today. Not too good for a paid-for service, hopefully just teething probs.

 

Can't you get a curly wig, IanA? Am sure you'd win the Jeff Lynne lookalike - you've got the spex.

 

Hope your Friday nights go well!

 

Mal

Bizarre as it might sound I actually DO have such a  wig... in the batch of Halloween stuff the Mrs has dragged out - partly because I'll be at my NY client on Halloween and "they" are supposedly dressing up for the day and said if I'm going to be there I should dress up too

I may take it with me (to BOTH venues), but given last year was, as they say here "over the top" in terms of the folks vying for the prize, I will anyway likely be a poor last place

[Tony_S]

Back from lunch. I wasn’t driving so I had 2 pints of Olde Dog IPA. There was food too. Nice chat with friends too.

Assuming we can navigate the route (as PhilJW has hinted the advice is contradictory) out of Benfleet tomorrow we will go and see MiL in Enfield.

Tony

[AndyID]

Raining now. More rain is forecast for several days.

Yep. Serious rain here last night. Right on cue too. Summer is officially over.

[lightengine]

.

 

Used when gardening to remove weeds . . . . . . 

 

.

Now I understand "dirty o"

[AndyID]

I wonder if they took the "Free" sign to show to Police? If so they could have written their own......

 

I wondered about that too Pete, but it might also have been because the sign also said that they were for a Jeep Liberty.

 

Of course, it's also possible they'll try to return them for a refund

 

Cheers,

A

[tetsudofan]

Evening everybody. Big day for the car, eleven months old and went over the 2,000 mile barrier on the way for some retail therapy at The Hobby Shop at Faversham. Had estimated that it would reach the 2000 mile barrier at Brenley Corner where the A2 from Dover joins the M2 but it happened a little earlier as I came off the A260 and joined the A2. Retail therapy was followed by breakfast at Wetherspoon's - no hash browns but double mushrooms accompanied by copious amounts of latte,

 

Just as I got home got a phone call from my Financial Advisor advising that he had resigned from the company and wanted to introduce me to his successor suggesting that I might like to take a drive over to somewhere in the depths of Surrey or Sussex which got a definite no-no. We compromised by arranging a meeting at their Maidstone Office.... which, of course, means that the car will get another long trip - won't know what's hit it!! Only problem is that the M20 from Ashford to Maidstone is one long roadworks, new junction at Ashford South being built and converting the hard shoulder from Ashford North to Maidstone into a Brexit Lorry Park.

 

Shortly after that phone call got a text from The Hobby Shop saying that two LGB wagons had arrived for me after I had left. Maybe call in to collect them by diverting to Faversham on my way home from Maidstone - yet more mileage for the poor car!

 

Later decided to visit EXPONG at Swanley so booked the ticket online and later walked round to the station to collect the tickets and was surprised that the ticket machine kept on printing tickets - the collection receipt, out and back tickets and four seat reservations (as change of trains needed at Ashford) for the seats that are not reserved..... Decided not to use the car as parking at EXPONG is a right real pita. 

 

Think its been a busy day...….

 

Keith

[New Haven Neil]

2,000 miles, Keith! - I was just thinking the car Debs just changed had 156,000 on.....and was game for more.

 

A busy day of personal things for my other half today, but she achieved a task that means a lot to her, so a celebratory sitty-down Chinese has been devoured. 

 

Otherwise a day of three seasons, the missing one being summer.  Hailstones, yeah, rain, check, sun, check, wind, yarp…..at times all together!

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just watched The Great Model Railway Challenge, the best team won IMHO. Had a delivery from Hong Kong today, a rather spendid diecast, unpacked it to inspect it, then dropped it whilst putting it back in the box, luckily no damage done.

[AndyID]

2,000 miles, Keith! - I was just thinking the car Debs just changed had 156,000 on.....and was game for more.

 

 

How many laps of the TT is that?

 

But anyway, I'm hoping Keith still gets it serviced on a time rather than mileage basis, and he takes it for a decent long run now and again to boil-off the water in the crankcase. The oil-seals need to be exercised an a regular basis too, as do the tires.