Early Risers.

[Simon G]

At long last the election is nigh, and we will no longer be deluged with pledges and fanciful promises.  I would love to ask any senior politician what they think the difference is between a promise and a pledge.  Both are broken with regularity.  The news today said that the party leaders spent dawn to dusk travelling the country trying to sway the floating voters.  Personally I think that they would  have more success by shutting up for a change!

[Kingzance]

45 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

When Aditi asks me to come to the kitchen or her study I suspect that something has failed to work. 
Tony

Come to the kitchen = washing up,

Come to my study = Ooooh matron!

[Kingzance]

12 minutes ago, Simon G said:

At long last the election is nigh, and we will no longer be deluged with pledges and fanciful promises.  I would love to ask any senior politician what they think the difference is between a promise and a pledge.  Both are broken with regularity.  The news today said that the party leaders spent dawn to dusk travelling the country trying to sway the floating voters.  Personally I think that they would  have more success by shutting up for a change!

Party leaders are only rolled out in front of The Faithful - in some ways why AYMod was seen at Peterborough last weekend I guess 

Sadly I fear that our society will be unable to accept the outcome of tomorrow's vote, whichever party is able to form a government, if recent past experience is anything to go by.

On that cheery note, I'll shuffle off for another batch of pills...

[jamie92208]

33 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

I always thought the one that used real bricks and some sort of mortar would be a lot of fun. I think it was advertised in the Sunday Express, or maybe it was in the Gamages catalogue?

I remember that but can't remember the name. I seem to think that it was advertised in the Meccano  Magazine. I also think that Jane next door had a set but we weren't allowed to pkay with it often as the mortar ran out.

 

To stop any sniggerring at the back this was when we were at  primary school. Later she was given a Triumph Spitfire for her 17th birthday. A few years later she took me to a pub in Wigglesworth in it, but that's another story.

 

Jamie

Edited December 11, 2019 by jamie92208

[Ozexpatriate]

31 minutes ago, AndyID said:

They say there's going to be something of a glut of houses in the US in the not too distant future as more of us boomers head for care facilities or shuffle-off.

Not in the western states, though there is already a dreadful glut in what is pejoratively called the 'rust belt'. This will only worsen.

 

I can't see that happening in as beautiful a part of the world that you live in. Retirees will always want to be in such places. A lot will depend on the remote worker trend as to whether the current levels of growth can continue.

 

Portland is at near crisis level in terms of the availability of affordable housing. It is difficult to build a home now because larger scale construction (units / apartments etc) are absorbing all the builders and their contractors, not to mention all the subcontractors frightened away by immigration enforcement.

 

Other factors are sustainability related. I don't use this word in the sense of a pious climate warrior but from a more pragmatic basis. Water is precious in the west. Development has long crossed the water sustainability threshold in places like Arizona, Nevada and California with pretty catastrophic effects. We are getting closer to this in Oregon.

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

14 minutes ago, Kingzance said:

Sadly I fear that our society will be unable to accept the outcome of tomorrow's vote, whichever party is able to form a government, if recent past experience is anything to go by.

The US will face that same experience in eleven months.

[Barry O]

Betta builder could be bought from Woolies. My set grew each time we visited Woolies (as an alternative to series 1 Airfix kits) i also enjoyed playing with meccano...I still have some.

 

I do notlike technical drawing..I swapped from a Mech Eng degree to a Control systems one to get away from tech drawing.  I wanted to be an RAF pilot but my eyes were U/S. They suggested I should become an Engineer..I liked the idea and the rest, as they say, is history.

 

Goodnight all!

Baz

[laurenceb]

1 hour ago, Simon G said:

 

 

The next level?  A 5 pound lump hammer?

Dont force it, get a bigger hommer!

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[newbryford]

3 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

Only two things you need in any maintenance tool box: something sticky (gaffer tape, super glue, etc.) or any lubricant.

 

If it moves and shouldn't - use the sticky stuff

 

If it doesn't move but should, use the lubricant.

 

If it moves and is supposed too - good.

 

If it is supposed to move and doesn't - spray it with WD40 and try again.

If it still doesn't move -  hit it with a hammer.

 

If it doesn't move and isn't supposed to - paint it.

 

 

1 hour ago, Simon G said:

 

 

The next level?  A 5 pound lump hammer?

 

Otherwise known as a Manchester Spanner...........

 

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

I do vaguely remember Betta Bilda.  Though Bayko was more my style and much more like building a real building than Lego ever was.

 

There was a building system that had "real" bricks - they were about 20mm long and I cannot remember what was used to stick them together. Problem is - you needed a *lot* of bricks to build anything of a decent size.

 

Another building system was Tri-ang Arkitex - based upon square tubes and it all plugged together with wall and window panels.

 

Two days off now - visit to the tooth wrangler tomorrow for a checkup. It's usually alternate visits where he recommends a filling - that was last time.

Mrs NB is also off - so I believe tasks may will include tidying up. The upside is the potential acquisition of super-brownie points

 

If I can sneak off for good behaviour (and spend the recently earned SBPs) there may be some extension work to DL's FY undertaken................

 

Have a good day after the HUMP folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Quite a crowd at the club this evening but as I summised not a lot got done.

2 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

A brief check in, just skim read everything from my last post. It seems to me that everything/everyone is upbeat, this is good

 

Noting the posts about construction toys, does anyone else remember 'Betta Bilda' ( hope I've spelled that correctly)?

 

G'night all.

 

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

I always thought the one that used real bricks and some sort of mortar would be a lot of fun. I think it was advertised in the Sunday Express, or maybe it was in the Gamages catalogue?

 

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I remember that but can't remember the name. I seem to think that it was advertised in the Meccano  Magazine. I also think that Jane next door had a set but we weren't allowed to pkay with it often as the mortar ran out.

 

To stop any sniggerring at the back this was when we were at  primary school. Later she was given a Triumph Spitfire for her 17th birthday. A few years later she took me to a pub in Wigglesworth in it, but that's another story.

 

Jamie

I can't remember the name of the one with the real bricks either and I had a set when I was about 8/9 years old. The mortar was a form of PVA, if you wanted to demolish a building you had to put it into soapy warm water. The one I had had the doors and roof components to make a detached house with built in garage. The garage doors were metal and the roof was cardboard with a glossy coating. The problem was as Jamie said was that once the cement ran out you couldn't build anything and the roofs got a bit tatty. They were only produced for a year or two, I suspect that they weren't very successful sales wise.

One building kit of the 60's that can still be found is Triang Arkitex. Produced in 1/76 scale to match Triang trains and Minic Motorways and 1/42 to match Spot-on toys. I have collected some of the 1/76 bits including a set or two, they are not very expensive and I have even seen it used on an exhibition layout.

EDIT Mick posted as I was typing this post.

Edited December 11, 2019 by PhilJ W

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well the sunshine didn’t last long, it was raining by dinner time.  Managed to finish making the cheesecake, which, along with the spaghetti bolognese went down very well with Ava, Evie and Max. On the whole, the kids were quite well behaved tonight, apart from Evie, who was in her own words “in a bit of a mood” and I had to give her a stiff talking to.

 

As a kid I also had some Betta Buila (it was definitely an Airfix product) and a Meccano sets. I played with both a lot, I suspect that unknowingly it helped me a lot later in life. However, both my maternal grandfather and great grandfather were farriers and it may be possible that I inherited some of their metalworking skills as well. In the workshop I have a small lathe and a bench drill, both are used on a regular basis. 

 

On the subject of schools, I was taught woodwork, metalwork and technical drawing at school, but when it came time to choose my final subjects, I could choose tech drawing and either of the other two, but not all three. I ended up doing metalwork and technical drawing, getting a grade A in metalwork and an O level in technical drawing. 

 

Goodnight all 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[pH]

My cousins found a vein of clay near their home, which was probably of pottery quality. We used  it, dried in the sun and air, to make scenes for posing plastic models, plastic figures etc.

 

About practical subjects at school - all the members of classes in our kids' junior high schools (mixed classes) did woodwork, metalwork, cookery and sewing. They also did a course where each of them was randomly allocated a biography (job, income, marital status, residence etc.) and had to work through an imaginary 'year', using information supplied about things like local rents and interest rates, plus costs of food, vehicles, transit etc. from local newspapers and flyers. Obviously, this can't really represent real life, but it introduced them to some of the concepts you have to deal with there. 

 

As a result, all three of my sons are immeasureably better cooks than I am! And one, who treated tailoring as an engineering discipline, could greatly impress girlfriends with handmade clothes as presents.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BR60103]

We didn't have any shop in lower school (to grade 8). In high school there was a "choice" between shop and home ec' -- not really. And another choice between music and art. Shop was metal half the year then wood.

The next year the choice was one of the four, I think because Latin was added in. Then I took German which displaced shop.

I had two projects that involved bashing copper into a dish shape -- my least favorite projects. We were at a J D Salinger exhibit last month and I noted that he made the same small dish on a ring three decades before me.

 

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It's a chilly morning, but there is no sign of the snow that was mentioned on the radio.  Although, there's probably some up in the hills.

 

Time for a coffee!  Have a good day everyone...

[chrisf]

Good morning one and all

 

Today is polling day in the UK.  It is the culmination of quite the worst outbreak of negative propaganda that I can recall.   There is hardly a candidate who does not resort to dissing at least one of his or her opponents at every opportunity and scaremongering has reached epidemic proportions.  This makes it extremely difficult for the hapless voter to make up his or her own mind about the key issues and the relative merits, if any, of the candidates.  I can't help being reminded of the chant "four legs good, two legs bad" in George Orwell's "Animal Farm".

 

What is important is that as many of us as possible take the opportunity to vote.  The right to vote was won only after bloodshed and civil disobedience and it is precious.   A 70% turnout means that three out of ten eligible to vote do not do so.  If we do not vote, we have no business to criticise the government that we had the opportunity to help elect.  Where to put our cross?  This could be a problem.  Do we vote for or against a particular candidate?  Each approach has its merits.  I will follow my conscience, safe in the knowledge that my vote is unlikely to affect the result in the constituency or the country.  Only in the most marginal seats do individual votes count to that extent.  Do not let that put you off.  If you do not vote you cannot posssibly affect the outcome. 

 

May all voters be granted wisdom.  Wishing the same for our politicians is perhaps too much to ask.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris 

[Oldddudders]

I am doing a mite better than expected. My train has just left Versailles-Chantiers. I was up at 4, at Alison’s by 5.30, and she dropped me at the station for the 06.03 to Paris. Having got this far this early I must have a chance of catching my Eurostar at 11.13! Now to cross that city, when buses and Metro are thin on the ground. More anon. 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Today is buy foreign currency day.. better to buy now before other things deflate the purchasing power.

 

I did one year of woodworking at Grammar School. I still have the pencil box I made. (Badly!).

 

I dropped woodwork and Art and replaced them with German and Russian...perhaps I should have stuck with woodwork!

 

Odd bits and bats to catch up with today. I need to pparcel and post a coach (of a size scaled at 4mm to the foot).

 

I am cooking some brisket in the slow cooker for tea tonight. Yummy! But it won't cook unless I get on and get it in the slow cooker.

 

Let us all get out there and make best use of our time on Planet Earth today!

 

Positive thoughts to all who are missing and very positive thoughts to all who ail!

Baz

[JohnDMJ]

20 minutes ago, chrisf said:

Good morning one and all

 

What is important is that as many of us as possible take the opportunity to vote.  The right to vote was won only after bloodshed and civil disobedience and it is precious.   A 70% turnout means that three out of ten eligible to vote do not do so.  If we do not vote, we have no business to criticise the government that we had the opportunity to help elect.  Where to put our cross?  This could be a problem.  Do we vote for or against a particular candidate?  Each approach has its merits.  I will follow my conscience, safe in the knowledge that my vote is unlikely to affect the result in the constituency or the country.  Only in the most marginal seats do individual votes count to that extent.  Do not let that put you off.  If you do not vote you cannot posssibly affect the outcome. 

 

May all voters be granted wisdom.  Wishing the same for our politicians is perhaps too much to ask.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris 

 

Take (loaded) gun.

Point at foot.

Pull trigger?!

[Barry O]

2 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I am doing a mite better than expected. My train has just left Versailles-Chantiers. I was up at 4, at Alison’s by 5.30, and she dropped me at the station for the 06.03 to Paris. Having got this far this early I must have a chance of catching my Eurostar at 11.13! Now to cross that city, when buses and Metro are thin on the ground. More anon. 

Fingers and toes crossed that the trip goes well!

Baz

[JohnDMJ]

4 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I am doing a mite better than expected. My train has just left Versailles-Chantiers. I was up at 4, at Alison’s by 5.30, and she dropped me at the station for the 06.03 to Paris. Having got this far this early I must have a chance of catching my Eurostar at 11.13! Now to cross that city, when buses and Metro are thin on the ground. More anon. 

Progress being monitored in light of my similar journey next week (albeit in the other direction!)

[jamie92208]

23 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

 

Today is buy foreign currency day.. better to buy now before other things deflate the purchasing power.

 

I did just that yesterday and brought two months worth of houskeeping over i got quite a few more euros per pound than I did 2 months ago.

 

Good morning all .  We are awaiting the nurse to visit for Beth then breakfast will be taken.  A Trip out to the Dr's later then this afternoon we will be hanging decorations on trees and hedges round the village.  Normally one of our neighbours organises this but she has had to spend the last couple of months in the UK.  Whilst Beth was laid up she spent much time wrapping toilet roll centres in tin foil and adding ribbons.  Good occupational therapy for her.

 

Regards to all and good luck to Ian(OD).

 

Jamie

[roundhouse]

Morning from what was another icy one but rain drops appearing. 

 

Was number 6 in the queue at the polling station this morning waiting for the doors to open. As ChrisF says, our vote will very unlikely mean much as its not a marginal seat by a long way but you never know.

 

Christmas officially commenced last night as we had our first Harveys Christmas Ale from the cask. We just had halves as its 7.5% but someone was on their second pint just after 6pm!

 

I think that I have my first cold since packing in commuting 8 months ago so no visit to Mums till it clears up. 

 

No currency exchange for us this xmas as we will be staying put in the UK. Just deciding where to go new Years day. Might be Newcastle or Leeds then other places up North - all depends on hotel prices and we do need to stay in a Marriott before 5 Jan to keep our points active as we have enough for at least one free night aswell.

 

Anyway back to the shed shortly to finish off fitting the alignment dowels then its cork laying and hopefully track aswell.