Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

This morning’s Sainsbury’s Grand Prix went without a hitch, in fact it was fairly quiet and I was back home just after 10:00 and was putting away the last few items when Sheila got back. As she was having a shower I made myself muggertea No2 and read BRM for a few minutes. Once she was showered and dressed I set off for Costco to stock up on a few items that we generally buy in bulk and that we’re running a bit low on. This activity nicely brought about dinner time, after which, as I’d mentioned earlier, we went to Waitrose, oooh the excitement!

 

James and Amelia were a little bit late tonight, luckily he knew in advance he would b late, so had the forethought to let us know early enough. Anyway, the sausage and chips went down very well, especially with Amelia, who at one was very picky with her food, but recently she has eaten everything that’s put in front of her. Mind you, she’s now looking more like a young woman than a child, so that may well have something to do with it. I suppose I shouldn’t complain as there is definitely no waste now!

 

It decided to start raining as James and Amelia set off for home, he wasn’t best pleased as neither of them had brought coats!

 

Dave, funnily enough I looked at Todmorden Model Supplies on Line and couldn’t find taps smaller than 12BA, but I’m sure I bought a set of 14BA from him last month. I’ll double check I actually bought a set tomorrow. 

 

Goodnight all. 

[Ozexpatriate]

48 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I stopped off at Gettysburg which had a roundabout of which the locals were very proud being only one of three in the entire USA at the time

Local urban legend I suspect.

 

Wikipedia:

Quote

Circular junctions existed before roundabouts, including the Circus in the city of Bath, Somerset, England, completed in 1768, part of a world heritage site; the 1899 Brautwiesenplatz in Görlitz, Germany; the 1907 Place de l'Étoile around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris; the 1904 Columbus Circle in Manhattan; and several circles within Washington, D.C. The operating and entry characteristics of these circles differ considerably from modern roundabouts. French architect Eugène Hénard was designing one-way circular intersections as early as 1877. American architect William Phelps Eno favored small traffic circles. He designed New York City's famous Columbus Circle, which was built in 1905. In 1907, architect John McLaren designed one of the first American roundabouts for both autos and streetcars (trams) in the Hanchett Residence Park in what is now San Jose, California. The first British circular junction was built in Letchworth Garden City in 1909. Its centre originally was intended partly as a traffic island for pedestrians.

In classic Wikipedia style two dates are given for Columbus Circle in one paragraph.

 

Columbus Circle, and the roundabouts in Washington DC like Dupont Circle (1871), Logan Circle, and Washington Circle, have all been there for a long time.  There are lots of them in DC and many go back to the original plan. Whether these are semantically roundabouts is quibbling in my opinion.

 

Pictures of the Gettysburg roundabout (ironically named Lincoln Square) don't look like a modern roundabout. It looks more like the circular intersections enclosing a monument. It was probably modelled after the many examples in DC.

 

Edited June 18, 2019 by Ozexpatriate

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

The local eediots in Leeds want to convert our large roundabout I to an asphalt jungle of road junctions. It is an accident black spot (13 accidents in 5 years) with no fatalities as yet. Last time they "improved " it by reducing it to two lanesehich has had a very negative effect on traffic flow.

 

It will , apparently,  "improve the running of the buses"yeh, right!

Of the 13 accidents more than half were cyclists t boning cars due to not stopping at the roundabout. Pah!

 

I have navigated both the super multi roundabouts. If you want to have fun try going round the anti clockwise

 

Baz

The Magic Roundabout in Swindon. (yes, that's its official name - adopted because so many locals called it that anyway) is a multi-roundabout and normally by far the quickest route apart from the first turn off is to go round it anti-clockwise instead of in the usual direction.  Great fun nut rather cong fusing for the poor soulds coming across it for the first time

 

 

This is even better!!!

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[newbryford]

22 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

The Magic Roundabout in Swindon. (yes, that's its official name - adopted because so many locals called it that anyway) is a multi-roundabout and normally by far the quickest route apart from the first turn off is to go round it anti-clockwise instead of in the usual direction.  Great fun nut rather cong fusing for the poor soulds coming across it for the first time

 

 

This is even better!!!

 

 

 

 

 

In my driving school days (which officially comes to an end in less than two weeks as my ADI licence expires)I used to finish my roundabout session showing the pupil an aerial view of Swindon's finest.

Usual response was silence or a swear word.

 

My record for a one hour lesson on roundabouts was to pass through 22 in total.............

 

Have a good Hump day folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[pH]

There used to be a roundabout like that in Sheffield (early 1970s). I've seen people park their cars and go forward to try to work out how to get through it before actually driving into it.

[AndyID]

26 minutes ago, pH said:

There used to be a roundabout like that in Sheffield (early 1970s). I've seen people park their cars and go forward to try to work out how to get through it before actually driving into it.

 

I used to think East Kilbride was bad......

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Neil, welcome to the wacky and wonderful world of diabetes.  Mine is type 2 and I forget how long I have had it.  I take one metformin tablet a day and have virtually given up sugar in favour of sweeteners – tiny tablets in tea and a spoonful of the granulated variety on my cornflakes.  I used to eat a lot of biscuits but now it is very seldom that I have even one.  I used to be seen by a nursing sister at the surgery but she seems to have retired.  So has the GP who diagnosed me.  He was nothing if not brusque.  As I recall, this is how he broke the news to me: “You have type 2 diabetes.  Read this website.  Buy this book.  Attend this support group”.  In a way it’s a shame that I am not now seen regularly, although I gather the reason is that my condition has improved.  If and when I am ever asked to stand on the scales again a noticeable reduction in my tonnage will be perceived.  This can be attributed directly to the drastic loss of appetite that accompanied my lurgi earlier in the year – nature taking its course, perhaps.

 

The gas technician arrived quite early, hot on the heels of an automated phone message which said that he would be with me between 09.00 and 09.50.  Unusually for that time of day, he was able to park his van almost directly outside the house.  He did what had to be done and somehow persuaded me that having a smart meter would be a good idea.  As it happens, I agree.  A date in July has been agreed for installation.  Can the doughty workmen do the job in the four hours allotted?  We shall see.  Meanwhile I found the pricing structure of our chosen hotel in Prague quite fascinating and now observe that Eurostar are having a sale, which should trim the cost of our trip if we are able to act on it before the closing date next week.  I had forgotten that the Prague trip is on my list of objectives for 2019.  There are seven, of which one has already been achieved and another will be in less than three weeks.  You will know what it is nearer the time and indeed may already have guessed!

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a somewhat cloudy morning today, but the forecast suggests it will get up to around 33°C this afternoon.  Then thunderstorms are due!

 

The "Magic Roundabout" idea is actually quite a good one - they do help the traffic flow better.  However, they can be very unnerving if you aren't used to them.  My experience was mainly from the Sadlers Farm Roundabout at the junction of the A13 and A130.  It has been completely remodelled now, and no longer exists in "Magic Roundabout" format.

 

Have a good day everyone...

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare,

 For Once I was getting a good nights sleep when....

 

I heard Ben the Border Collie coming up the stairs at 02:25, very shortly after I heard thunder, of which Ben is terrified. So I got up to find him hiding in the bath. (did someone tell him about war time precausions?)  with some persuasion I got him to come back down stairs. Then he hid in his cage as long as I spoke to him every time the thunder came. We had around an hour and a half of it. During this there was a large amount of rain. Once the thunder cleared out to sea he was a lot happier and I got maybe another hour of sleep on the sofa.

SWMBO slept through the lot.....

 

Of straight lining roundabouts, those who use it, are often practitioners of excessive speed, which may also be an aspect of the driver being nicked yesterday. If you get it wrong...https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-norfolk-45515656/van-launched-into-the-air-during-attleborough-crash.

 

Magic round abouts I remember the first time I came across the swindon one, they had just started construction when we moved away. we used to come from teh south and then head toward Cirencester. however when next came back I travelled from oxford then soutth ... confused... you bet I was,.

 

Amazingly with all that precipitation last night the radio reports this morning said there were no car accidents overnight..

The puddles were mostly of maximum size on the roads this morning , with tide marks of detritus where some had receeded.

 

We are told that the wall through to the old boiler room will be demolished next week, I'd better bring in some ear defenders. Also they are looking to replace the whole ceiling as when the man fell through it rippled the whole metal supporting framework..

 

Time too.. go do some reruns on some automatic procedures, nothing unusual about that, as this set of tests is extremely sensitive.

Edited June 19, 2019 by TheQ

[pH]

5 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I used to think East Kilbride was bad......

 

Well, it was ... wasn't it?

[Barry O]

Lots of rain overnight. My match today is due to start at 11am. No chance! The school were we are going to has a very wet square and outfield even in really dry weather.

 

If we don't play then I can find useful things to do like..buying beer for our Ruby Wedding soiree this Saturday.  Or tidy up the house or......

 

Have a great day everyone!

Baz

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a sunny corner of France a long way from Ikea.  Thunder and lightning last night.   As I went to bed the almost continuous flashes were lighting up the bedroom through the curtains.  It was like a wet winter evening at Clapham Junction.    Various tasks were completed including getting the pool prepared for use.   It was up to 22 degrees yesterday which bodes well but is still a tad too cold for me.

 

Sister Drac has just called and taken Beth's blood, she was supposed to take mine as well but I've managed to lose the prescription. I've got to call at the surgery and get another this morning.   That will be done in the same journey as the trip to see the fair Laetitia.   It's a good thing that my blood pressure doesn't have to be taken after that appointment.      Apart from that not a lot to report except that I managed to get all the ironing done, including the stuff from the line.

 

As to roundabouts, I did see a few in California and have memories of quite a few in Colorado but in all cases I found that the locals seem to get confused by them. In Eagle Colorado I was able to get through a batch of three of them on my pushbike, considerably faster than the cars.

 

Jamie

Edited June 19, 2019 by jamie92208

[Kingzance]

All this talk of magic roundabouts and as far as I know nobody has mentioned Zeberdee, who was always saying “boing” and trying to get Florence into bed .

Cribbage was a very relaxed but still competitive affair last night, just five of us playing so it was a case of various bums on various hot seats. Steady consumption of an IPA from Bury St Edmunds but that is probably brewed in Bedford resulted in additional awakenings during the short hours of darkness and it was only spitting with rain as I walked in both direction - not at the same time of course! And by the way, I am still yet to understand why they didn’t bury Edmund when he first popped his clogs.

SWMBO has just left as she has an early appointment with the GP in an effort to find out what is wrong with her shoulder. The problem arose after she fell over a (tiny) stone on leaving a local hostelry when we had “seen in” the New Year. I am to blame as I had to lift her up off the road and did so by putting both hands under her armpits and lifting. Before you ask, her other arm is equally good at giving the carpets and me a good beating. In a related way, I have just been informed that my repeat prescription is now awaiting collection from the chemist adjacent to the surgery but as mentioned before I also need to make an appointment with one of Dracula’s daughters, which will be done at the same time.

CowboysRUs have already kicked of their bog dance with competing portable site radios blaring out what some claim to be musak but which my sensory receivers suggest isn’t. Are they planning on competing with RiverDance at next year’s Eurovision I wonder?

Ah well, time to swing into inaction and good mawning one and all. I can see clearly now, the rain has gone (for the minute at least). May your day be painless and filled with good things of whatever takes your fancy (leave the nurse alone that man) and won’t get you locked up.

Edited June 19, 2019 by Kingzance

[Dave Hunt]

I'm not saying that the cat has won quite convincingly but I was woken up this morning by a cold nose and a purring noise in my ear - and no, it wasn't SWMBO getting frisky. Fortunately this was followed by SWMBO with a muggocoffee and the assurance that the cat had spent the night outside and had just been let in. 

 

A friend of my Dad's was involved in planning Milton Keynes (if that isn't an oxymoron) and at one stage a road planning person from America came to see how things were going. On the way from the station to the office he remarked that there were quite a few roundabouts. "What do you think of them ?" he was asked. "They're great until you allow traffic onto them." Was the reply.

 

Bit of a grey day in North Swampshire but at least it's dry so I may go to the market on my bike. Not a lot else of note in the near future.

 

Have a good day all, with commiserations and thoughts for those who can't. 

 

Dave

[81C]

Morning All

Off out to Specsavers of all places to get my new specs .Her is coming today to talk for a punch up, I've been trying to buy this new flat and she has feed all the wrong dates

about selling this one so I have to retract my offer that went in yesterday and resubmit Monday but this is the norm with her a living nightmare.

dinner with daughter tonight a take-a-way no doubt but better than nothing. 

I better get on lots to do  Russ Doffmefeet.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

 

Sunny, with wall to wall sunshine forecast for this afternoon.  Time to test out my new bowler hat behind the Hunslet.... .  Choo Choo! 

 

Keep chuffing.

Puff the Magic Dragon

 

_________________

Best wishes

Polly

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

 It did rain last night and there were some impressive lightning flashes, the thunder was slightly to the east and then headed off towards Suffolk and Norfolk according to the weather radar. 

We should be heading off soon for our couple of days staying with my cousin. I think we are going to “the Backs” tomorrow which are National Trust properties in Birmingham. My Gran was born in Hurst St late in the 19th century and there are local census records to see. These are not the grand homes of the local aristocracy as are many NT places. 

Robert mentioned Sadlers Farm, now a former magic roundabout. The magic was replaced by a conventional roundabout except for the addition of a cut across the centre so that traffic heading south from the London direction doesn’t have to go all the way round and and a flyover/underpass to separate a couple of approach roads. I must admit I didn’t believe it would help much but it is better. It was supposed to be completed in 2012 but work continues. After it stopped being magic some people went the “wrong” way.  

Tony

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

Debs is recovered enough to buy a new car, a hybrid.

 

Her mum says it's silver.

[bbishop]

25 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Debs is recovered enough to buy a new car, a hybrid.

 

Her mum says it's silver.

 

You weren't very polite about her on your blog.

 

Bill

[Coombe Barton]

1 minute ago, bbishop said:

 

You weren't very polite about her on your blog.

 

Bill

I was quoting Debs

[TheQ]

37 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Morning all.

 It did rain last night and there were some impressive lightning flashes, the thunder was slightly to the east and then headed off towards Suffolk and Norfolk according to the weather radar. 

.  

Tony

 

 

Ben is most unhappy, He would have preferred that you kept that weather..

 

Major system finished, now doing 23, 1 G ohm measurements on a bit of kit that would have been due during regatta week.

Edited June 19, 2019 by TheQ

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well the sun is trying to shine, but there are a lot of clouds about, many of them grey in colour, I was going to hang out my wetsuit to dry, but I don’t think I’ll bother. Once Sheila has finished in the kitchen, I’ll make a small carrot cake for tonight’s dessert. Once that’s in the oven I’ll make a start on a large batch of curry sauce, which will also be for tonight’s tea, the rest will be frozen in convenient containers for when needed next. 

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

 

It was up to 22 degrees yesterday which bodes well but is still a tad too cold for me.

 

Jamie

 

No chance of getting you in the water at Salford Quays, which currently has water temperature of just over 16C then?

 

Dave, I’ve been down to the workshop and checked my BA taps, unfortunately I’ve misled you as the smallest size I have are in-fact 12BA. Have you had a look on eBay for 16BA taps. 

 

Back later