Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Fans of The Tie deserve an explanation following Andrew P’s shock horror revelation that I was not wearing it yesterday at the Stafford show.  Put it down to artistic temperament.  The poor thing is feeling over-exposed and reckons it needs a holiday.  After its secret gig today somewhere in Greater London it will be making a guest appearance next week at one of the LGBT groups in Bedford.  Heaven help us all when it demands an appearance fee.  What next?  Autographs?

 

Back in the real world I had fun getting to Stafford yesterday.  There had been an accident on the M6 in the environs of Junction 9 and long delays were implied.  As I approached Junction 7 I recalled that the A34, which crosses the M6 there, goes to Stafford.  So it does if you do not do as I did and take a wrong turning in Bloxwich.  The record shows that I did get there eventually.

 

Tomorrow I will be attending a meeting of the RGM Appreciation Group [somewhere in London – don’t tell The Tie that it will be at The Coronet in Holloway Road] which will commemorate the sad day in 1967 on which Joe Meek took his own life.  Don’t you dare ask who Joe Meek was!  I need to do a couple of other things before the meeting which may involve buying a book and a gig ticket.  How long before the wallet is full of molten credit cards?

 

NH Neil, thanks for the kind words about my captions.  At the moment Irwell are printing them faster than I can write them and I fear that the stockpile has become depleted.  There is a story about the Wisbech one in the current Bylines.  It was written while I was waiting for my e-friend Harry to respond to a post on Messenger.   An hour and a half later, while he had been playing silly bu99ers before deigning to answer, the job was done and I had earned another fee!

 

The warmest of thoughts to Mal, Sandy and John and all on the sick list

 

Chris

[Ozexpatriate]

Interesting to hear all your close encounters with frozen precipitation.

 

The weather forecasters here have made potential snow their lead story for what feels like five days now and is reaching fever pitch with "storm tracker alerts" leading the local news broadcasts. Accumulating snow is forecast (at elevations above 1000') on Sunday night - so yes, they've been talking about it most of last week!

 

Here in the valley we might see some flakes that will melt on impact overnight. Following that, overnight low temperatures next week are forecast to be below freezing for several days - the coldest we've seen all winter - certainly nothing like what the mid-West experienced last week. We've had perhaps one frosty morning all winter so far.

 

Unlike other parts of the country snow forecasting here is very imprecise - the micro-climates and altitude changes make it tricky.

 

I see that the automatic paragraph spacing has disappeared and everything is back to a fixed line spacing. Once things settle down I will ask the management to restore the raw ASCII editing option - it was a useful way to fix all manner of ill-formed posts.

 

EDIT: Posting and loading new pages continues to be notably slower than the previous incarnation of the site.

 

EDIT: Am tired of hearing about how far all the chicken wings consumed during tomorrow's hyperbolic football game would stretch placed end to end. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by Ozexpatriate
Playing with edit feature - only the last edit gets a comment

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2019/02/02/sandys-chemo-day-46-of-126/

John, I only just noted your signature:

Quote

"No electrons were harmed in the creation, transmission or reading of this message, although many were excited and some may have enjoyed the experience."

In my experience they are usually very negative about it all.

 

Where is that 'groan' button?

 

Hopefully your blog is cathartic for you. Trusting in a positive outcome for Sandy, it is a worthwhile effort so you may look back it on some day.

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, roundhouse said:

Its not so much the links but the whole viewing format I dont like. Will wait for it to settle down but I doubt its going to change the fundamental format much. Normally I am Ok with such changes but not liking htis one at all.

I concur. The structure feels like the 'enhancement' is designed to mitigate code differences between implementations for mobile devices versus larger monitor displays. I have noticed a couple of useful new features.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,  inner Temple hare, 

Another hours sleep was had,  good,  it would have been longer but Ben the Border Collie decided otherwise. 

There is a light frost outside,  only on the most prone spots.  More frost was held off by a light breeze coming off the sea... 

 

It being sailing day the forecast is 10 to 12mph winds currently, north westerly  moving round to South westerly during the racing.  Sun is promised but only raising the temperature to 4C , High tide is around 12:00, for this time of year, you couldn't get a better forecast for sailing..

 

As mention before I'm familiar with this format from other sites,  they are however less busy,  I need to get this trained to find the threads I'm interested in on this busy site. 

 

Sofas,  my parents bought two leather sofas each has a reclining section which they occupy. For the rest of us they are xxxxxxx uncomfortable. 

 

Our own is actually a conservatory suite,  of bent mahogany type,  with added foam cushions.  SWMBO has an electric recliner,  which we inherited when it was less than six months old.. 

 

The kettle should have boiled.. 

Time for the first Muggacoffee .

Edited February 3, 2019 by TheQ

[Kelly]

Morning all. Hope all are well? if not, best wishes, etc.

 

Up early for a change as off to the Stafford show in a bit. Just got to try and get Natalie to wake up... she needs an 'I AIN'T DEAD' sign on her at times!

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Nice to hear from our correspondent in Tazzie.

 

Mugatea being drunk then..lots to do today. My scanner has gone AWOL from our home network and I have some scanning to do. Pah!

 

In other news a bit of packing to do , some house sorting to complete  and more tea to be drunk.

Positive thoughts to Mal, John and Sandy and Debs and any other ER who ail or is missing.

Have as good a day as you can

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and welcome back Tex.

A bit frosty here and -1C at the moment but it should warm up and be a fine dry day with some sunshine.

Didn't go to Alton yesterday due to uncertainty about road conditions, what would or wouldn't be there to see or buy and also my knee is still swollen and hurting from the fall the other day. Cue shrieks of laughter.  Won't be going today either as we are expecting visitors.

My initial reactions to the new look to the site were quite favourable but I must admit that there are a couple of things that I don't much like. I expect I'll get used to it in time, case of having to really. 

Tea has been taken to Her Bossness who thinks that the only reason I've done that is so she can get up and cook the breakfast.  She might think that, I couldn't possibly comment.

Two rugby matches watched yesterday and whilst the first had an expected result the second was one of the best games I've seen in many a year and my gob was well and  truly smacked. For once England looked the team they should be given the amount of talented players available to them. Will it last? Who knows but here's hoping. One step at a time and the next one is France at Twickenham on Sunday followed by the not so small matter of a visit to Cardiff.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Edited February 3, 2019 by grandadbob

[Ozexpatriate]

19 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Your comment about Chili rings a bell with us John.  Beth can't tolerate it and gets a sort of reaction yet it seems to be the food fad of the moment and is often not marked on ready meals or ready made sandwiches.  She had a problem with a sandwich from Boots, complained and got a £15 voucher.  My suggestion of buying one every week and writing a series of complaining letters was apparently not the right suggestion.

I assume the "chili" reference is to a species of chili pepper? (There's a bit of two nations separated by a common language for me there.) In the US, "chili" is usually a contraction of the name for the family of dishes that British English speakers might call "chili con carne" - "chili colorado, chili verde" etc. Generally (given the proximity and popularity of Latino cuisine), the individual names are usually used here - jalapeño, habanero, poblano, serrano, etc. Or was the reference to chili powder?

 

More striking to me was John's "mountain lion" parable. It immediately brought me back to an evening almost 20 years ago when a family member (now cancer free) was admitted to hospital and the oncologist told us that cancer is like riding a tiger - you can't get off, all you can do is hold on.  It is apt.

Edited February 3, 2019 by Ozexpatriate
Addition for clarity

[Ozexpatriate]

7 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Tea has been taken to Her Bossness who thinks t

GDB, you get more than your fair share of stick here about accidents, but you can't leave us hanging with an incomplete sentence. Some of us will be worried that something dreadful has happened!

[Dave Hunt]

Did you break your typing finger before finishing your last post Bob? 

Just finishing muggercoffee before having a shower and then setting off for Stafford. Nice clear if slightly frosty day for it.

Dave

[grandadbob]

7 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

GDB, you get more than your fair share of stick here about accidents, but you can't leave us hanging with an incomplete sentence. Some of us will be worried that something dreadful has happened!

 

Nothing like that Michael (and Dave), not used to new look of site and trying to type too fats. fast. 

Edited February 3, 2019 by grandadbob

[45156]

Morning All

 

It's pretty chilly here at the moment, and is finallu forecast to warm up slightly - typing this while still lying in bed, and the central heating has gone off as the timer is set to kick out at eight. 

 

For me, the jury is still out on the new format - I can't find a way to access my followed content, but there appears to be a field for it which is greyed out.

 

I've had to skip a few pages, so I hope all is well with everybody,   Great to see Tex posting again;

 

Back tomorrow.

Regards to All

Stewart

[BlackRat]

My reputation....... usually in tatters.......

Does it for me 

 

Desperately looking for a mulberry bush to go round and round, Jack Frost has been very kind and generous....again.

Thought about a walk around the Moor at Princetown yesterday.....but people with little idea of country driving, even more so when it a bit  cold basically gridlocked the Moor!

 

Stay warm and stay safe one and all.

[dseagull]

Morning all

 

The burst pipe down the road still hasn't been fixed, so we are waiting on a call from South East Water to tell us when and where we can collect bottled water from. Leah has a birthday party to go to shortly (she announced yesterday that the host, who is just turning 6, is her boyfriend and they will be getting married, much to our amusement!)

 

Other than that, it's Sunday so supermarket day.

 

Hope everyone's day goes smoothly!

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  Good to see Tex back. I always worry when folk disappear.

 

I still hate the new format, but I'm not so good with change as I age.  As I used to work in a culture of embracing change it didn't bother me, but I have become less tolerant nowadays. This burying everything in menus rather than on a button easily seen drives me nuts - the cars are the same now, Mrs NHN's Citroen in particular has menus in menus.  You have to pull over to alter anything safely rather then just press a button.

 

Not as as cold here this morning, 2 at dawn has risen to 5 and climbing slowly.  After two really sunny but icy-cold days, it is now as dull as dishwater.

 

I worked with a girl called Dawn years ago, she hated her name that she saw as 'Dorn' which was too close to Dork in her head.  At work we always knew her by her middle name of Marie, but as her family and husband she basically grew up with called her Dawn, nights out got very confusing a times!  Got in touch via faceache recently, which was nice as she was a pleasant girl - I mentored her through her IPD (shhh….everyone hates HR!) and I was ever so pleased to hear she has recently qualified as a nurse.  Two degrees, one in mid-life with a new career to go with it! Proud of her.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I assume the "chili" reference is to a species of chili pepper? (There's a bit of two nations separated by a common language for me there.) In the US, "chili" is usually a contraction of the name for the family of dishes that British English speakers might call "chili con carne" - "chili colorado, chili verde" etc. Generally (given the proximity and popularity of Latino cuisine), the individual names are usually used here - jalapeño, habanero, poblano, serrano, etc. Or was the reference to chili powder?

 

More striking to me was John's "mountain lion" parable. It immediately brought me back to an evening almost 20 years ago when a family member (now cancer free) was admitted to hospital and the oncologist told us that cancer is like riding a tiger - you can't get off, all you can do is hold on.  It is apt.

The reference was to Chili powder which seems to have become a trendy garnish in many restaurants.   We would often find that most starters and mains had chili mentioned somewhere in the description.   Some restaurants are very good about serving something without the dratted stuff but others promise to do it then leave some of it in and lo and behold Beth will take a mouthful and find her lips starting to swell.   I think that it's just a lazy way of trying to tart up and otherwise bland dish.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I assume the "chili" reference is to a species of chili pepper? (There's a bit of two nations separated by a common language for me there.) In the US, "chili" is usually a contraction of the name for the family of dishes that British English speakers might call "chili con carne" - "chili colorado, chili verde" etc. Generally (given the proximity and popularity of Latino cuisine), the individual names are usually used here - jalapeño, habanero, poblano, serrano, etc. Or was the reference to chili powder?

 

More striking to me was John's "mountain lion" parable. It immediately brought me back to an evening almost 20 years ago when a family member (now cancer free) was admitted to hospital and the oncologist told us that cancer is like riding a tiger - you can't get off, all you can do is hold on.  It is apt.

Thanks. I'm going to nick that analogy.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

The sun is shining so a bit more snow might vanish although the lawn seems  to have gone to a permasnow state but the animal and bird tracks might well help in clearing it.  I think we'll give the Alton show a miss - the B3349 is still showing as dodgy on one website although whether that is true or not I haven't a clue, and won't bother to find out.

 

Being a fairly simple minded soul when it comes to all this computer wizardry I don't have much interest at all in sub-menus and sub-sub-menus and the like - I simply click on 'Browse' and it shows me the lot and then I can cheerfully go delving where my wont takes me picking out any unread areas which interest because they're shown in bold.  What I do like is the much clearer presentation of the pages and text but it seems this new software can still make typos which doesn't strike me as at all 21st century and it really ought to be able to read my mind and ignore me pressing the wrong key on the keyboard.  The pages were initially loading very slowly but I found they got a lot quicker yesterday - I have yet to sample today apart from here.  And within my 'personal' area I have found that 'attachments' seems to have captured - over 163 pages (!!) - all the photos etc I have ever uploaded to RMweb which is extremely useful (to me if nobody else).  As yet none of my threads seem to have repopulated with my pictures but one of them has repopulated with a video posted by the banished Ivan - some sort of poetic justice?

 

Great to see Tex back from Tassie and i notice that Gordon S has put his head above the parapet on another thread.

 

Have a good day one and all and positive thoughts to all the ailing, may some improvement be forthcoming.

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a very sunny but chilly (Note the spelling) Charente.   We have been to the Sunday market but didn't spend much as I somehow forgot my wallet.  We did have enough for two coffees, and a bag of mussels for lunch.   I was then expecting time to sit down but an incautious remark about defrosting the little freezer turned into a major re-arrangement of the various freezers and several trips back and forth to the shed.   

 

Last nights meal went well. Beth cooked, for the first time, her late father's recipe for a winter warmer.  This is a sort of thick vegetable soup with the veg left whole and bits of a cooked ham added.   It went down very well.   My late FiL was called Will so it has been christened "Willies winter warmer" .   It's almost a year since he died, so we raised a glass to Will.  We also opened a bottle of 40 yr old Cognac, from a local producer.  He loved his brandy so a good evening was had and the cognac was lovely, creamy with a definite caramel flavour.

 

Today has been decreed a do nothing day.   I will be heading for the shed this afternoon to wield a soldering iron.

 

Great to see Tassie Tex back and welcome to Ray.

 

Jamie

[br2975]

Bore da, from the Costa Calida, or should it be buenas dias ?

.

Blowing a gale, and damned chilly - it snowed in Almeria the night before last.

.

My jobs, maintain what was once to be our retirement home resemble painting the Forth Bridge, only in my case, 6'0" high walls enclosing a 440m2 plot.

.

Still, flying home to Blighty in the a.m.

.

Then sorting out Rosamund Street for Donny next weekend.

.

Regards to all.

.

Brian R

[JohnDMJ]

19 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I've reset my password from the one that Andy gave me back to my original password. When I first set the password it was rated 'good' but now it is only rated as 'weak'. I suppose I will have to find a new one.

 

19 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

Like others, I reset my password. Weak, it said.....

So, I re-created my password.... Weak, it said...

So, I really set forth, and created a super dooper high tec, high strength password...

Fantastic! A Very strong password! Yippee!

In my state of euphoria, I forgot the password........

 

 

The guy who invented the so-called strength of password apologises:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-40875534

https://gizmodo.com/the-guy-who-invented-those-annoying-password-rules-now-1797643987

https://www.wired.com/story/password-rules-north-korea/

https://www.alphr.com/security/1006567/password-rules-bill-burr-apology

 

Oh, and by the way, Admins, who cares how many hours ago the post was made? It was clearly before this one!

Edited February 3, 2019 by JohnDMJ
Rant to Admins

[New Haven Neil]

It's just started raining, and the rain drops are bouncing up off the ice on the Koi pond!  It must be like living in a drum for them, but they're pretty sleepy when its cold so I don't suppose they're that bothered.

 

I WAS going to go for a walk.  Maybe not!

[The Stationmaster]

Hot news.  Not only do Red Kites like chicken bones and odd bits of carcass but current visitation, by at least nine of them, indicates that they also like dog food.  Yes, Mrs Stationmaster bought a tin of dog food to feed the kites (and foxy) - we do look after our feathered friends here and four satisfied customers are currently in a nearby silver birch tree.

[New Haven Neil]

They're pretty handy at BBQ raids at the Crowmarsh Gifford campsite too, Mike!