Early Risers.

[Debs.]

3 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

.........I went off to the woods with my camera, still frost on the ground in the darkest bits. Got a handful of half decent shots, still a lack of winter migrants just yet.

 

 

What a super picture! 

 

......I think the Woodpeckers hereabouts must all be of the lesser-spotted variety; for, you never see any! 

[Coombe Barton]

4 minutes ago, Debs. said:

What a super picture! 

 

......I think the Woodpeckers hereabouts must all be of the lesser-spotted variety; for, you never see any! 

Watch out, she's on form!

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, J. S. Bach said:

Glass is not recycled here, it just goes to the landfill. The recycling company stopped accepting glass as they claimed that they were losing money on it.

The Oregon Bottle Bill of 1971 was the first in the US to apply a state-mandated deposit (separate from what manufacturers did with reusable glass soda bottles 70 or more years ago) originally to reduce littering, (which it did) but now to encourage recycling. This provides a financial incentive for end users to recycle and funds an organization to manage recycling.

 

It also includes aluminium cans and plastic beverage bottles. Glass wine bottles are exempt as are distilled spirits and grocery items like oil and vinegar and infant formula amongst others. 

[Tony_S]

I saw a documentary a couple of years ago and it appeared that quite a lot of Australian wine arrives in the UK in rather large bladders (like giant wine boxes) and is bottled here. 
Tony

[Northroader]

Australians are born with large bladders, aren’t they?

[Ian Abel]

Ack...entire week got away from me.

Last weekend was hectic, combining the choir singing Friday evening for a Remembrance service plus twice on Sunday.

That combined with frantic chores around the house in between and a week of varied tasks, I now find myself at Friday again! <PHEW>

 

Been slightly unseasonably cold here, -9 this morning and will struggle to get to +1 or +2 for a high.

We had a brief snow shower a few days ago but with the ground still warm no trace is left, just the memory.

 

Hopefully this weekend is supposed to be quieter/more relaxed so MAYBE I can report in...

 

Carry on!

[AndrewC]

Afternoon all back from court via the pub. Celebration time. Arrived, waited, no sign of the builder. Called into court room. Magistrate informed me the builder had withdrawn his application this morning and wants to arrange terms for affordable payment. WTF!!! No doubt his accountant or other adviser had a word in his shell like about his using a personal bank account for his limited company and the sh!t storm that was coming his way if all and sundry came out in court. I have little confidence he will comply with any payment arrangement long term but I was told to start High Court enforcement just in case by the magistrate. Either way I won, he can no longer apply to set aside or appeal. 

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, AndrewC said:

Afternoon all back from court via the pub. Celebration time. Arrived, waited, no sign of the builder. Called into court room. Magistrate informed me the builder had withdrawn his application this morning and wants to arrange terms for affordable payment. WTF!!! No doubt his accountant or other adviser had a word in his shell like about his using a personal bank account for his limited company and the sh!t storm that was coming his way if all and sundry came out in court. I have little confidence he will comply with any payment arrangement long term but I was told to start High Court enforcement just in case by the magistrate. Either way I won, he can no longer apply to set aside or appeal. 

Time to celebrate. Oh you already have according to your Untappd list!

[pH]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The Oregon Bottle Bill of 1971 was the first in the US to apply a state-mandated deposit (separate from what manufacturers did with reusable glass soda bottles 70 or more years ago) originally to reduce littering, (which it did) but now to encourage recycling. This provides a financial incentive for end users to recycle and funds an organization to manage recycling.

 

It also includes aluminium cans and plastic beverage bottles. Glass wine bottles are exempt as are distilled spirits and grocery items like oil and vinegar and infant formula amongst others. 

 

BC has deposits on all alcohol containers - beer, wine and spirits - soft drink containers, and some brick packs. I think it does help to cut down on litter. Even if the people who buy the drinks don't always return them, there's a whole 'economy' based on collecting and cashing in discarded containers.

[Debs.]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

..........In the past I have been chased by zombie pandas (zombie cuddly toy pandas not even real ones) or assassins in my dreams........ 
Tony

Vivid and lucid dreams can often be  precipitated by taking certain prescription drugs.......so, perhaps your Furry Pandamonium Creed experience, is all on the NHS. 

[Stubby47]

We have a daily process at work for a member of the development team who has the correct access to be on 'Live Support', for urgent issues with the software. 

 

For less urgent issues, another member of the Dev staff will be on 'Non-Live Support', obviously known as 'Zombie Support'.

Edited November 8, 2019 by Stubby47

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Took the spare computer down to the computer shop this morning to enquire about a new battery for it. Had a call from the shop later to inform me that the cost of a new battery for it was £85 ouch! As the computer only cost me £140 new its simply not worth it. Its still usable plugged into the mains so I can keep it for emergencies such as if this computer goes wrong again. They did have a selection of refurbished second hand laptops in the £150-250 price range so I might get one of them. I took my friend with me as he wanted to see the exhibition at Rayleigh museum marking 130 years of the Shenfield-Southend Victoria line, quite an interesting little display. We then popped into the covered market a few doors down from the museum where there was a stall selling last months magazines and remaindered books. Among the latter was a book on trolleybuses for sale at £17.99 remaindered from £40 so as they are one of my interests I purchased a copy. 

32 minutes ago, Debs. said:

Vivid and lucid dreams can often be  precipitated by taking certain prescription drugs.......so, perhaps your Furry Pandamonium Creed experience, is all on the NHS. 

That reminded me of about 45 years ago a colleagues wife was being treated for Parkinson's Disease. She was on a derivative of LSD to control her condition and then her GP asked her to try a new drug. Unbeknown to her and the GP the new superdrug was also an LSD derivative. The result was that she was trying to spray everyone and everything with flyspray as she could 'see' flies crawling over everything.

Edited November 8, 2019 by PhilJ W

[Debs.]

15 minutes ago, Stubby47 said:

We have a daily process at work for a member of the development team who has the correct access to be on 'Live Support', for urgent issues with the software. 

 

For less urgent issues, another member of the Dev staff will be on 'Non-Live Support', obviously known as 'Zombie Support'.

Working the graveyard shift, obviously? 

[Coombe Barton]

13 minutes ago, Debs. said:

Working the graveyard shift, obviously? 

See, she is on form.

[Kingzance]

40 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Took the spare computer down to the computer shop this morning to enquire about a new battery for it. Had a call from the shop later to inform me that the cost of a new battery for it was £85 ouch! As the computer only cost me £140 new its simply not worth it.

 

I have a Sony Vaio laptop that is at least 8 years old and its battery is not holding a charge too well these days. It has maximum RAM and a big HDD (not solid state) but was worth keeping working as it is the only non-Apple device I have. I was able to get a new battery with a higher capacity from DuracellDirect.co.uk for under £50. I have done this previously and given old laptops a new lease of life. I have no commercial connection to Duracell!

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Debs. said:

Vivid and lucid dreams can often be  precipitated by taking certain prescription drugs.......so, perhaps your Furry Pandamonium Creed experience, is all on the NHS. 

I think it may be something I eat. Or perhaps watching something too exciting on television. I am aware of dreams but forget them usually as soon as I wake up, unless I have thrown myself around the room. I don’t think any of my prescribed medications are to blame. Steroids (no longer taken) didn’t keep me awake but I did seem to be (more) easily irritated while awake. I was advised to take all of my daily dose in one go on waking. 
I didn’t dream of sheep after seeing Shaun’s exploits at the cinema on Wednesday. 
Tony

[polybear]

4 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Glass is not recycled here, it just goes to the landfill. The recycling company stopped accepting glass as they claimed that they were losing money on it.

 

 

Someone is kinda missing the point here.  Maybe they'll get the point in a few years when we're digging up landfills to recover  glass....

 

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Afternoon all back from court via the pub. Celebration time. Arrived, waited, no sign of the builder. Called into court room. Magistrate informed me the builder had withdrawn his application this morning and wants to arrange terms for affordable payment. WTF!!! No doubt his accountant or other adviser had a word in his shell like about his using a personal bank account for his limited company and the sh!t storm that was coming his way if all and sundry came out in court. I have little confidence he will comply with any payment arrangement long term but I was told to start High Court enforcement just in case by the magistrate. Either way I won, he can no longer apply to set aside or appeal. 

 

You wouldn't be tempted to tip off HMRC, would you....    That wouldn't be nice.....(yes it would!)

After you've got your money first, of course....

 

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Arrived, waited, no sign of the builder. Called into court room. Magistrate informed me the builder had withdrawn his application this morning

Had a similar experience a long while ago with a window company. They had messed me about for 18 months then made a payment into court two days before the hearing was due. They were about to put in a bid to the local authority for doing new windows on 500 council houses so obviously didn't want the local paper picking up on it. The offer didn't pay for the hassle but it covered more than the amount I was out of pocket so it was metaphorical handshakes all round and the cash was transferred. 

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Debs. said:

Vivid and lucid dreams can often be  precipitated by taking certain prescription drugs.......so, perhaps your Furry Pandamonium Creed experience, is all on the NHS. 

They most certainly can.

 

Clowns dancing around the walls of the room, big hairy spiders scuttling across the ceiling and cockroaches and rats having a skirmish on the floor.

 

However, once I was used to Savlon, the dreams dissappeared (Or perhaps it was Cocodamol)

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

A generally quiet day although some interesting news (various).  Firstly I forgot to mention that the town now has a Harrods café - it is clearly so up market as to be beyond up because when I passed the other day I noticed a waiter slicing a chocolate brownie for a customer.  And our next door neighbours have fully confirmed the upness of it - £13 for two cups of tea and a couple of rather unexciting small cakes;  'afternoon tea' is apparently £25 a head   However Harrods arrival balances the loss of another nail bar - totally cleared out premises but no news of it being an Immigration Service raid so maybe the local nail trimming and painting bubble has burst.

 

Far more importantly we are going to see a couple of 'new' cats over the weekend to see if they approve of us and would be happy to adopt us as their staff - great excitement in the household but of course it all depends on the two cats involved.   The lad's boss was over from Geneva yesterday & today and has informed him that he will have to temporarily relocate when the office refurbishment is underway sometime next year.  It is not yet clear where he would relocate to - the possibilities mentioned so far are either Paris, Madrid, or Ealing Broadway;  it would seem that Geneva is out because if he works there for more than eight days Swiss Govt regulations would then require him to be paid at Swiss salary levels!  So which ever it  turns out to be it looks like a foreign language learning opportunity  (several in the case of Ealing Broadway if the eateries on The Broadway are any guide).

 

Enjoy the rest of your evening/day and I trust that managed to keep the wet off Chapel, an excellent layout (which reminds me must speak to you about a show booking possibility Baz).

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Simon G]

All this talk of dreams has me hoping that I can get to sleep tonight.  The steroids must have worn off by now, but I still don’t feel tired yet, despite only very minimal sleep last night.

 

Today has been another slowly productive day on the hall redecoration.  Gloss painting done around some door frames, and the last bit of skirting board is currently sitting well clamped to hopefully straighten out some warping, after treatment with wet cloths and a very hot iron to soak and soften the wood.

 

Tonight has seen the AGM of the Railway Society that I am treasurer of.  After a very turbulent year, no-one quite knew how it would go, but fortunately it all went well with no further ructions.  It was also well attended, which was  good.

[AndrewC]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Someone is kinda missing the point here.  Maybe they'll get the point in a few years when we're digging up landfills to recover  glass....

 

 

You wouldn't be tempted to tip off HMRC, would you....    That wouldn't be nice.....(yes it would!)

After you've got your money first, of course....

 

 

Moi? Considering who has been paying my train addiction funds since June it would be rude not to. <evil laugh> seriously, if he comes up with a reasonable and sustainable payment proposal then I will assume he is working as a sole trader and no violation of Companies act regulations or HMRC statutes has occurred. 

[bbishop]

Off to Tolworth first thing.  Will see some of you there.

 

Bill

[newbryford]

Blackburn club show all set up (excepting a couple of planned Saturday morning arrivals) and ready to roll tomorrow.

We arrived at the hall at 4.10pm in readiness for a 4.30 entry, when we were told by the caretaker that he was informed that it was 5.30pm and was point blank refusing any entry.....

We eventually negotiated a 5pm ingress - already with the knowledge that exhibitors and traders had been informed 6pm at latest, sooner if we can manage.

Yet at 5.15pm, despite having asked our club members to refuse entry to non-club personnel, at least 3 traders managed to evade the blockade and were asking where there stands were...

A polite "it's not marked out yet, come back at 6 as your paperwork says" was seemingly ignored.......

At 6pm, the hall was fully marked and tables/chairs in place ready for the setup.

As good as done by 8.30pm.

 

Home in time for a celebratory "show ready" beverage.

 

Thursday was another Northern cheap day rover - not the best choice of day from a weather perspective.

We headed to Doncaster via Manchester and the Summit tunnel route to Leeds.

Doncaster was wet, very wet...... and very dark for photographs.

 

Our return plan via Leeds and catch a York-Blackpool via the Calder Valley route to Blackburn ended up in disarray.

We slowly watched our inbound estimated arrival at Leeds slowly slip back as it was delayed leaving York. Eventually showing on Real Time Trains as cancelled, but still gradually slipping back on the estimated time at Leeds........................

 

A quick management decision and we boarded an overfull Skipton bound service that was doubling up for a cancelled Ilkley (so change at Shipley) train.

Final part of the journey was Mrs NB doing a 25 mile taxi trip  to collect us.

At least we made it home, unlike those trapped in the Sheffield area.

 

Stuff is now ready for the show tomorrow, but I will be escaping for an hour to visit the local Vodafone shop to return my new phone that I purchased last week.

Words will be had regarding the mis-selling of the phone's capabilities and the inconvenience that this has caused.

(Loading new phone with same Apps as old phone, loading text message/etc history, already purchasing accessories for new phone before discovering that the new phone didn't perform as described in the shop, special journey to sort it out as it couldn't be done via online chat/phone help, etc.)

 

At least I have a few ebay sales that are going well to look forward to final results on Sunday evening.

 

Finally - apologies to those who have endured the new Hattons Class 66 video - I do not look my best!

 

Maybe catch up Saturday.

 

Cheers,

Mick