Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Andrew. The Land Rover satnav is very good. I just had to learn to trust it. “Why does it want me to go off here?” Shortly afterwards, “oh, I see why now....”. 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Felt lazy this morning so stayed in bed for a while. Rain has stopped, but for how long? Got to get some more water filter cartridges, used the last one this morning, at least I can spend the £19 in vouchers at Tesco's.

8 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Sam Pepys had it ("cut for the stone"), after which his diary became much more interesting.

 

I thought it was a bladder stone? it effectively gave him a vasectomy at the same time.

[AndrewC]

On 09/02/2019 at 09:04, tigerburnie said:

48 hours to getting my troublesome Gall Bladder and stones removed, wish me luck...……………..

 

Found you a replacement

 

https://theawkwardstore.com/products/sad-gallbladder-2-1-plushie 

[dseagull]

Morning all

 

A productive start to Sunday, with one of the bedrooms now ready for painting. Hannah isn't feeling very well, so we are giving the Tesco rally a miss today and ordering online instead for the bulk of it, though I will be dispatched shortly to pick up a few bits for the kids lunchboxes. No rain here now, but there was enough last night to have flooded a road just around the corner. 

 

Whispering quietly to avoid the awl, one of my LBSC opens is now complete bar couplings (as much as I would love to drive to Gaugemaster this afternoon for some Smiths 3 links, I can't really justify it!) and transfers (which should arrive tomorrow), and an SECR Van from the same Cambrian stable is also ready apart from couplings and transfers too. For those with a Games Workshop near by, Mechanicus Standard Grey is a pretty good fit for SECR Grey!

 

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

I'm not overweight.

 

I'm just undertall.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Wind has gone. Yeah!

Rain has gone. Yeah!

Breakfast has gone!

I'm off to the workshop, yeah!

 

back later 

[AndyB]

Morning all,

So, the results of my diet were that in January I lost 14lbs. 

In early February the bathroom scales started to malfunction so we got new ones. 

The new ones seem to consistently add weight on a daily basis to both myself and swmbo.  

I now feel the need to outwit the new scales by upping the ante and losing one more stone. and then keeping it off.  

The good news is that having shed weight already I've had to reduce my trouser size to something I haven't been for many a year. 

 

Work on the layout continues. 

 

Early night tonight as I've got to be up around 04:30 to catch my flight. 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

Andrew C,

 

Thanks for the suggestion about watching and recording with two smartphones. There are just a few snags: my mobile phone is so old and basic that it doesn't even have a camera let alone anything cleverer; even if it did I wouldn't have the slightest idea how to use it; and last but not least if I got caught, divorce lawyers are expensive. But thanks for the thought. 

 

Dave

[grandadbob]

My diet is progressing slowly. I managed to lose 4 ounces last week!

[bgman]

Just now, grandadbob said:

My diet is progressing slowly. I managed to lose 4 ounces last week!

 

We've all got to start somewhere !

 

Trouble is its Sunday, I'm having a full roast later !!! 

 

G

[bgman]

On 08/02/2019 at 23:23, bgman said:

After 31 years I am selling my house, went live on Wednesday this week, 10 viewings booked in for tomorrow afternoon ! 

 

I hope at least one might be interested ( especially in something railway related which could swing it ? ) .

 

Night all sleep well.

 

As an update to yesterday I was rather heartened by the amount of seemingly positive feedback with all those who came to view my property.

 

In the end there were two more couples who came as a last minute booking , a couple of who were actually model railway enthusiasts !

 

I'm not getting my hopes up just yet but an hour after the " rollercoaster " of visits I did have news that there are two more who wish to come back for a second viewing.

 

As an aside to this one thing that does seem to annoy me are people who, when they see a model railway, use the phrase " Oh! I see you have some train tracks, do you play with your train tracks ? ". Aaaarrrggghhh ! 

I do bite my tongue and politely, whilst smiling, try to explain in simple terms that ..... well you know.

 

Anyway, enjoy Sunday one and all. 

[monkeysarefun]

Just doing my Sunday morning housework, downunder style.

 

This is Australias favourite spider and natures prankster, the Huntsman, they are lightning quick so at this point its a game of chicken to see who jumps on who first....

 

Comic relief compared to walking down my path yesterday and coming face to face with a 4 foot brown snake sunning itself outside the aviary.

 

 

Chrisf has no idea what he is coming to! heh heh heh.

 

Edited February 10, 2019 by monkeysarefun

[tigerburnie]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

 

Found you a replacement

 

https://theawkwardstore.com/products/sad-gallbladder-2-1-plushie 

Sad what they make for toys lol

[Tony_S]

Africa, Telford, and now Colombia...

Edited February 10, 2019 by Tony_S

[AndrewC]

2 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Sad what they make for toys lol

They make a happier version. We have one with an elf hat that comes out at Christmas. 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, inner Temple  Hare, 

 

It was raining,  at 03:00 when I first awoke, 

It was Raining, At 05:00 when I moved to the sofa, 

It was raining , at 06:00 when Ben the Border Collie dragged me out side. 

It was raining,  at 08:00 when i left for the Sailing club. 

Roads were at maximum wetness to over flowing.. 

It did however ease off while the buoys were being put out. 

 

Wind not a lot,  much less than forecast,  westerly  northerly and anything in between. 

 

Not a good turn out but with this weather not surprising. 

 

Race 1, course,  3p, 1p, 2p.

We started in 4th place,  facing in the right direction,  going backwards,  as the tide swept us down stream,  by the time we were going forwards we were 100ft behind.  And so it stayed,  we never do well in these light conditions  and today was worse.  After two laps in the drizzle loosing further distance we decided  a cup of hot soup was more attractive  than another lap. 

 

Race 2,  same course. 

slightly  more wind and we started by going forwards..  In first place,  !!

At buoy 3, the second place boat was arriving fast,  my compatriot on the helm realised they were intending  arrive wide  and then turn inside us as we turned..  So he turned us very hard,  closing the gap between us and the buoy, turning 1/2ton of keel  hard, causes it to stop . The other boat had to take evasive action,  while they were sorting that out. We got going again,  getting a good lead again. 

When we are arrived there next time,  we were further ahead,  so we took the buoy as best we could,  and promptly sailed into a hole in the wind. They came to the buoy sailed round it and us... And gained a 50ft lead which they retained for the rest of the race. 

 

Towards the end of the race, the wind increased,  and so did the rain.  Everyone decided that they had enough so there was no third race. 

During the packing up the wind increased further howling through the rigging. 

 

While having cheese rolls and more soup.. News from a friend who was sailing,  he has his own moorings  further down stream.  The timber chalet, next door to his moorings,  has come off its timber piles, Eric has finished off some earlier  damage,  and the chalet is now tilted into the water. I hope their insurance  is good.... 

 

Then it was time to paddle home in the increasing rain... 

 

Oh,  I note while typing  this the sun has come out,  and the sky's are clearing,  hence the temperature has dropped. 

 

Time to wind up the stove.. 

 

 

[lightengine]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Just doing my Sunday morning housework, downunder style.

 

This is Australias favourite spider and natures prankster, the Huntsman, they are lightning quick so at this point its a game of chicken to see who jumps on who first....

 

Comic relief compared to walking down my path yesterday and coming face to face with a 4 foot brown snake sunning itself outside the aviary.

 

 

Chrisf has no idea what he is coming to! heh heh heh.

 

I had no idea that Tupperware made such a purposeful spider catching range.

Edited February 10, 2019 by lightengine
Posted before typing anything

[Gwiwer]

Welcome to Australia, Chrisf, where 80% of everything can kill you if you survive the beer!   As Huntsman spiders go that's not at all the largest. They startle by dropping in on you (like in front of your eyes whilst driving) and have large very visible fangs but are actually among the least toxic of Australian spiders.  It's the funnel-web you really need to be wary of.  The proverbial red-back and the lesser-known but equally nasty white-tail are mostly OK and it isn't necessary to check under the toilet seat in the main cities and regional towns.  

 

You definitely want to check that before taking your ease in a "bush dunny" however.  The outlaws had a holiday house out bush near St. Arnaud at one time.  The facilities were a three large doors strapped together with a piece of corrugated iron over the top;  the fourth side was open to the bush facing away from the house.  And the rule was that if your deposit brought the contents of the oil-drum up to the marked line you took the lot and a shovel over the ridge and buried it.  Woe betide anyone sitting without checking there!  And it wasn't unknown to have a kanga staring at you whilst performing your essentials.

 

Afternoon all.  I have spent the past couple of hours being nicely warm on the sofa reading a magazine whilst being able to hear the cheers of 82,000 or so freezing fans of egg-chasing not a mile up the road.  The result is a win for the home side as the noise level at the end clearly indicated.  

 

Last night I ventured forth at half past 22 hoping to grab some interesting night photos whilst also pursuing the lesser-known hobby of travelling on every London bus route.  Twenty-something miles diagonally opposite London from the Hill a single length of road in Hainault is only served by the N8 night bus and that only because it terminates there and has to go round the block to do so.  The day routes all pass through on their respective ways from A to B, C, D or E.  The night turned out to be one of relentless drizzly rain making photography of any sort a real challenge.  No worthwhile pictures were obtained.  I am however slightly more familiar with the Hainault area, after travelling by tube out to Leytonstone first, having made it to the required destination at 01.38.  With nothing to do and nowhere to go but home it was straight back on the same but at 01.44 all the way to Oxford Circus changing there onto the N22 for home which duly dropped me at Twickenham Green precisely on time at 04.14.  

 

It might have been a miserable February night but it was the dregs of Saturday-night-out and a few spots were quite busy but with one exception all of the buses I travelled on and saw were being used by fewer than ten passengers.  We collected a decent number around Shoreditch but had dropped them all off again just down the road by St. Pauls leaving just myself and one other to be taken through th the heart of the West End at 3am.  I counted only eight passengers on the N22 during that hour-long trip - sadly a typical loading for this route.  London is a 24-hour city with good 24-hour public transport but that comes at a price and if it isn't being used then I fear TfL will see that as an unsustainable loss as they attempt to plug an ever-deepening budget deficit.

 

Sleep was through the morning waking around 11 to a damp Sunday but enlivened by a blazing row among Neighbours (Upstairs) which seemed to concern the rights to have overnight guests.  Knowing some background I suspect it was a guest who arrived home (with her host) very drunk at some small hour and awoke the others which sparked the issue.  Living in close quarters is indeed a mixed blessing!

 

SWMBO has checked in from Charlestown in deepest Cornwall, describing it as "very piratical".  I would have described it as pretty, cold and wet.  Also as pretty cold and wet.  She is due home tomorrow evening.

 

In the meantime the remains of Boy's Own Weekend will see me currying some lamb for tea, vacuuming as required and pressing the uniform.  It's been a weekend of mixed feelings.  I still struggle with the age thing especially in terms of feeling I should still be young enough to visit late night entertainment venues and am aware of being very much the oldest person (by quite some margin) when using the night buses.  Age shouldn't matter yet it does.  And the body cannot always do what it did when it was 25 or 30.

 

Best wishes to all.  Special thoughts with our sick and injured members.  

 

 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Aye, that is only too true, Rick! Having come to terms with having to sell several of our bikes as I could no longer ride them after hip surgery, I now have to repeat the process in coping with the changes my foot injury has made to my life.  Oh to be 30 again!  Having to give up driving at the Groudle Glen railway was a tough one, and there's a lot of hills here I wanted to walk up but now never will. However its all a drop in the ocean compared to what a few of our friends around ER's are coping with currently.

[jamie92208]

Just finished watching the events at Twickers but will say no more at the moment.   However it has continued to blow quite heavily and we had some heavy rain this morning.   I did however manage to finish re-hanging the kitchen cupboard doors and was very taken with the transformation.

This was the kitchen that we inherited when we bought the house in 2015.   The less said about the state of cleanliness the better.   Beth used some very colourful language in the kitchen whilst I spent my time washing and then covering the yellow nicotine stained walls and ceiling of the lounge.

V

Very dark and dreary especially with three large ash trees near the window on the left.

This is what it looks like now with new lights, hob and oven and repainted cupboard doors and hinges, along with a large amount of grease and muck scraped off every surface.

There has of course been one very essential addition to the décor.   that half height dividing wall on the left (The remains of when it was two rooms apparently) has proved to be just the right height and width for a 5 litre wine box with room for ready use spirits behind it.   Beth has done the painting of the doors, I did the removal and refitting and painted the hinges, as well as the hob, oven and lighting.   We are both very pleased with the result.

 

Jamie 

[grandadbob]

Wow. Oh wow.  Today has been rather good.  However the diet has gone out of the window as apart from a cooked breakfast I've had a hearty lunch, beer whilst watching rugby followed by an excellent Lancashirish Hotpot à la Chris accompanied by some Aussie Shiraz. This has been followed by more Shiraz and in fact even more as I type and I will probably finish off the bottle.

I have had some exercise as during the aforementioned rugby match I leapt up from my seat on several occasions and hit the ceiling. No damage has occurred though. (The ceiling's OK too!)

Mustn't get too excited as next up is a visit to Welsh Wales and Mr. Gatland, Mr. Wyn Jones  et al are not to be under estimated.

Edited February 10, 2019 by grandadbob

[Happy Hippo]

6 hours ago, grandadbob said:

My diet is progressing slowly. I managed to lose 4 ounces last week!

The only thing I ever manage to lose is money!

 

For instance, I was in Aldi this afternoon, and in bit of a rush to get home and watch the rugby.

 

I dropped some coinage on the floor: missed one which was kindly picked up and given back by another customer in the queue.

 

'You've had this along time' said he.

 

On looking it was a sixpence!

 

I spent the rest of the time whilst waiting for the cashier, trying to catch all the escaped moths.

Edited February 10, 2019 by Happy Hippo

[New Haven Neil]

I've fiddled, altered, read FAQs, twiddled, activitied, threaded...….and still come to the conclusion I hate the new forum software. It's just too......techy fiddly geeky clicky too muchy.

[Simon G]

I also watched the rugby today, and with great pleasure!  I thought last week’s performance was good, but this matched it.  Hopefully England are finding their form in time for World Cup later this year.  As GDB says, the next match in Cardiff will be a fascinating one, and England have been known to “choke” there before now.  

[Dave Hunt]

45 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

I've fiddled, altered, read FAQs, twiddled, activitied, threaded...….and still come to the conclusion I hate the new forum software. It's just too......techy fiddly geeky clicky too muchy.

Agreed.

 

Dave