Early Risers.

[JohnDMJ]

Happy New Year!

[Happy Hippo]

 I found out after flushing the loo just after being awoken by the inevitable explosions.  

This is why I tend to avoid turkey curry.........

[dseagull]

Morning all. First time checking in for many moons.

 

This morning I have had the first panic of 2019 (Woke up at 7.10 with all 3 kids still asleep and 20 minutes to get two of them (left eldest in bed!) in the car to pick wifey up from work (Care homes don't do bank holidays!), and also the first disappointment (McDonalds didn't open until 8, scuppering plans for a Sausage & egg mcmuffin breakfast), but more pleasantly, a very enjoyable first coffee and now cuddles with my girlies (5 and 1) whilst they watch the Cbeebies panto.

 

Hope the new year brings all what they are hoping for.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, inner Temple here,

I believe it's a new year, something I've never celebrated, like an event around a month a ago I've never celebrated that, although as I approach retirement, that date assumes more significance.

 

Aging has it worries, and on the TV at the moment is the list of those who they think are important ( most of whom I've never heard of) that have died last year. Just occasionally they are younger than me, but that number increases every year..

 

To which my plans for the year..

 

Finish, my sailing boat, likely. Though I may miss this summer's sailing.

 

Finish, Tiree, my N gauge layout, well, layouts are never finished, but at least get it into a exhibitable condition, not so likely though maybe for 2020.

 

Get a lot more house maintenance done, it's getting to the stage where painting and repairing the eaves woodwork needs doing, for which I'll need a 30ft platform height scaffolding tower, that will definitely hit the muddling budget. Since it will take many weekends, and I have things like full height fruit trees that need pruning. It will probably pay to buy rather than hire..

 

As for maintenance, time for a second Muggacoffee before attacking washing machine again..

Edited January 1, 2019 by TheQ

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Tea made and swallowed.

Not a lot else to report, except that it appears to be sunny.

Tony

[jamie92208]

Morning all and Happy New Year to the motley and supportive crew that constitutes ER's. Here in the little corner of some foreign field the great hunt for the phone is on. We had a cracking night last night with several neighbours round for drinks and substantial nibbles, 4 brits (3 with Yorkshire connections and a southron) 1 Portuguese, 6 French and 3 French of Italian extraction. It was quite a night and we celebrated the new year twice, once at the French time using our mobiles as timers and then again an hour later when we were able to watch the fireworks from Londres and hear Big Ben The French were quite impressed by London's jeux d'artifice. They were totally confused by Auld Lang Syne sung in northern accents but joined in singing La La La and enjoyed it. The lass from Barnsley, Jump actually, trying to explain first footing and coal in broken French to an 80 yr old was an experience to savour.

 

 

After they left Beth couldn't find her phone so we hunted high and low and then again this morning. Fortunately the errant mobile was returned a few minutes ago by the 80 yr old who'd pocketed it by mistake.

 

Not a lot on the agenda today apart from tidying up.

 

Welcome to Dseagull. Also it was great to hear from Debs. John and Sandy you are in our thoughts.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning and a Happy New Year to you all,

Quiet night in but it was noisy outside.

Managed to sink some Highland Park and watched the fireworks on TV. 

Eventually went to bed about 1.00.

A(nother)  lazy day beckons but apparently there is a pressing need to go out and get some bread and milk.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[BlackRat]

Happy new year everyone!

 

No plans, no resolutions....... just to continue to live life to its fullest possible extent and make the most of every opportunity , especially to spend time with loved ones.

 

Now, time to get up (0300 finish of festivities) and have a shower".......I have t had one since last year!

[bbishop]

Actually sober.

 

Bill

[81C]

Happy New Year All 

I think the year wil be an interesting one can't say why on here, love or hate it I hope it works out well for you all.  

 

                                                                                                                                                                     Enjoy your day A.M.Welltyred

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

And the sun is shining - probably not for long but at least it's there at the moment.  No plans at all for today but I might potter on the construction site looking at various alternatives for surfacing the steps as the original plan was to use some quite smooth slabs which although an ideal size could get a bit slippery.  The lad has gone to football, presumably via several London hostelries and the Good Doctor will be watching horse racing on the box while the memsahib remains more or less confined to bed with a very nasty, and noisy, chesty cold.

 

Have a good day everybody.

[Tony_S]

Welcome to Dseagull...

It really should be “welcome back” to Dseagull. An ER from the very early days of the forum.

Tony

[Coombe Barton]

Need to go out - unplanned trip to buy a new fridge.

[Tony_S]

Need to go out - unplanned trip to buy a new fridge.

Hope you don’t have to go far.

Tony

[PhilJ W]

Good morning and happy new year to all. As I mentioned the fireworks kicked off about 6 yesterday evening but apart from a few pops and bangs at the correct hour for about 15 minutes then there was silence. By then I was in bed and went off to sleep. Muggatee awaits, be back later.

[TheQ]

Having identified the fault on the washing machine, looked up the age of machine (15years). Used it's ID number on the back, checked with the manufacturer, part not available, unless I want to buy a complete new motor at over half the price of the machine of that make.

 

So like Coombe Martin I've been white goods hunting.

 

After a good look round on the net, the cheapest was on Amazon, well it would be ordered through amazon. It turns out the actual supplier would be "Hughes" a Suffolk company, with a branch just 7 miles from us. So I went direct to their website, and got the £100 off list price on Amazon AND a own website discount of a further £30.

 

So I've clicked for collection and on Saturday we are getting a Bosch 9kg washer for £369. Bosch being a somewhat better make than zanussi.

My trailer was bought unofficially for model railway transport, is getting some smarty points in getting the washer.

 

Meantime we've just humped and dumped the washer into the machine pile, awaiting the next visit of the scrap man.

[Gwiwer]

Happy New Year!

 

John - in 2019 surely the fridge can come to you?

 

After an 05.00 start staying the course until midnight was never going to be easy. I dozed through the evening and woke, after a fashion, for 23.30. Poured a glass of Famous Grouse and claimed the last mince pie. Watched the London fireworks on the idiot-box while listening to the local displays all around. And retired back to bed without so much as gratuitous hug of a stranger. The first hour or so of the year was always good for those sort of shennanigans when I frequented Trafalgar Square in younger times.

 

The party instinct competed with the need for sleep and the latter was very intermittent and poor. Not helped by ongoing fireworks.

 

2019 has got off to a good start with two friends announcing engagements. One in Brizzle to her partner of around 35 years (and recorded on social media with the word “finally!!!”) and the other a same-sex partnership in Australia where friend had been in the depths of despair and depression, sufferring also from an absence of confidence, when I was last there but has since found his feet, his love and his way in life. Anyone familiar with Australian law will understand that has not been at all easy for him.

 

Bill - I’m not sure which two women stood you up but they haven’t obtained the cold first-hand from me. Unless their names start with G, M, R, S, B or D I can only apologise for the inconvenience you endured having to finish a bottle of port by yourself. I had one glass of whisky, a poor night’s sleep and feel unduly hung over.

 

So having managed muggertee and some toast I’m off to catch up on what ever I missed last night. Zzzzz

[shortliner]

Meantime we've just humped and dumped the washer into the machine pile, awaiting the next visit of the scrap man.

 

Wot! no metal fairies on the self-help bizniss?

[Coombe Barton]

 

John - in 2019 surely the fridge can come to you?

 

 

It will be, but you can't assess the feel online.

[grandadbob]

Just been advised by The Boss that The Railway Children complete with a young JA is on BBC1 at 1.00PM

 

I might just watch that....again. 

[petethemole]

Mornin' all and a Happy New Year to all ERs.

 

I was going to post at about midnight but had given up on the internet by then as it kept dropping out on my PC upstairs. I was using Steamscenes and other sites via Google to identify scans from my collection of traction engine (et al) photos and was having to reset the connection with nearly every search, so I gave up.  Our broadband has been awful for ages and with Martyn happily gaming downstairs and the net presumably very busy, the WiFi signal upstairs kept dropping out. A WiFi booster doesn't really help. However in the next few days we are switching to a different provider with fibre to the end of the street, and a much better performance...allegedly.

 

After a couple of strongish ales the customary firefight and the BBC Alba ceilidh were accompanied by a large Grouse. Mrs mole was off in the wilds of West Dorset/South Somerset playing at a Ceilidh and today is playing for her Morris side in the same area.

 

I have things to do, so I'd better make a start.

 

Pete.

[AndrewC]

Afternoon all. Happy New Year. 

 

Quiet night in watching the tellybox. We had planned on watching Jools and playing Hootenanny bingo but decided on Suggs and co on BBC 1 instead. Several bottles of stouts and porters were consumed over the evening. The midnight beer was a rather nice 19.3% imperial stout from Het Uiltje & de Molen. The rest were all well above 10% as well. We finally crawled into bed around 2am. I think that is a record for me as I'm usually asleep by 10 and watch the recorded fireworks in the morning. 

 

Remember, it is January 1. Time to put the sprouts on for next Christmas lunch. 

 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[dseagull]

It really should be “welcome back” to Dseagull. An ER from the very early days of the forum.

Tony

 

Thanks Tony (and all others!) - it's been a while. You've had new wallpaper since I was last in!

[dseagull]

Mornin' all and a Happy New Year to all ERs.

 

I was going to post at about midnight but had given up on the internet by then as it kept dropping out on my PC upstairs. I was using Steamscenes and other sites via Google to identify scans from my collection of traction engine (et al) photos and was having to reset the connection with nearly every search, so I gave up.  Our broadband has been awful for ages and with Martyn happily gaming downstairs and the net presumably very busy, the WiFi signal upstairs kept dropping out. A WiFi booster doesn't really help. However in the next few days we are switching to a different provider with fibre to the end of the street, and a much better performance...allegedly.

 

After a couple of strongish ales the customary firefight and the BBC Alba ceilidh were accompanied by a large Grouse. Mrs mole was off in the wilds of West Dorset/South Somerset playing at a Ceilidh and today is playing for her Morris side in the same area.

 

I have things to do, so I'd better make a start.

 

Pete.

 

Pete; Rather than a wifi Booster, suggest looking at the various PowerLine options. This is the one we have - plug one end into socket near router, another into socket near upstairs PC, an ethernet cable into each, and it sends the data through the house wiring. Much faster than WiFi for us - Charlie (11) can do his online gaming at the same time as Sal is watching something on Now TV and I'm pottering about online using it, with no noticeable drop in performance for any of us.

Edited January 1, 2019 by dseagull

[Tony_S]

Pete; Rather than a wifi Booster, suggest looking at the various PowerLine options. This is the one we have - plug one end into socket near router, another into socket near upstairs PC, an ethernet cable into each, and it sends the data through the house wiring. Much faster than WiFi for us - Charlie (11) can do his online gaming at the same time as Sal is watching something on Now TV and I'm pottering about online using it, with no noticeable drop in performance for any of us.

I used power line adapters successfully for many years for the side of the house that was some distance from the router. One failed eventually and as Aditi was away looking after her Mum I ran Ethernet cables to replace the power line adapters. She didn’t notice so it must have been a neat job.