Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit late on parade this morning as there was a Virgin Media engineer down the street this morning and the internet went down for an hour while he fixed something. I know it went down because I was watching an interesting item on BBC breakfast about some adventurers who repeated a long distant trip of 60 or so years ago using the original Land Rovers. I will now have to look at I-player. Best wishes to Chris and John and have a good time. Chris's mentioning of it being his dad's 100th birthday reminded me that last month would have been my dad's 100th if he was still alive and my mum would have been 100 on this coming new years eve. I was hoping to arrange a family get together to mark them both but my brothers illness put the kybosh on that and my sister is away over Christmas/new year. The postman has just delivered the first of my Christmas presents, one that runs on parallel bits of metal so it needs to be played with tested . 

[PhilJ W]

Further to what I was saying about 100th birthdays. A lot of my contemporaries also have parents who would have reached the ton recently and one or two actually made it. A lot more are in their 90's and rapidly approaching their 100th. We sometimes forget that a baby boom followed the First World War as well as WW2. What is also forgotten is the enormous contribution and sacrifice that that generation made for us, the NHS for one.

Edited December 19, 2019 by PhilJ W

[polybear]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

(I'd say trains but the awl of doom may be watching)

 

I keep seeing the word "Awl" mentioned on ER - being a relative newbie to this thread I'm a little mystified, though I gather it has something to do with m*delling and Debs?

 

2 hours ago, 45156 said:

It doesn't matter this week, as Lily is booked in to see the specialist vet for her to be:

1.  knocked out   Vodka

2.  to have her ears inspected/cleaned  Torch and Cotton Buds

3.  her anal glands evacuated  Syrup of Figs

4.  a few knots on her bum which I'll ask the nurse to shave off  Sandpaper.

5.  Estimated cost for this £1000 plus  I should've been a Vet....

 

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

I keep seeing the word "Awl" mentioned on ER - being a relative newbie to this thread I'm a little mystified, though I gather it has something to do with m*delling and Debs?

 

 

Never fear.  There is an unwritten rule on ER's from long ago in previous incarcnations of the forum, that the thread is for discussing all of life apart from railway muddling.  The fair Debs, also known by other names such as the Keeper of The Collies, is the guardian of this ancient rule. It has been known for a picture of an awl to appear when transgressions occur.

 

As to various things needed to sort out Stewart's dog Lily.  I must give up speed reading, as on my first pass I thought that he was referring to his other half having various parts shaved by the nurse.  The mind boggled until I re read more slowly

 

Jamie

Edited December 19, 2019 by jamie92208

[Shedman5]

Afternoon, Dry and cloudy at least we have no rain at the moment. Busy couple of days mainly  around shopping etc. Good news is we are almost done and I am not needed for the final bits!!!

 

So its shed time over the next couple of days which could do with a tidy up and stuff put in some kind of order.

 

Enjoy your day

 

Alan

[Ian Abel]

Moaning everyone

POETF for me so I can get to JFK for the flight home, hopefully will fare better than Jemma did yesterday on the same flight, delayed FOUR hours due to an entire parade of cock-ups all related to JFK unable to handle even the simplest of weather circumstances

Some light snow and gusting winds last afternoon/evening - leaving barely a trace on the ground - was the cause of the JFK problems AND a reason for all the people working around me to be issuing doom and gloom predictions. Time I left there were no traffic problems/delays or anything out of the normal...

 

Nothing of note or otherwise to report from yesterday, though the IT (IT -> Incompetent Tossers!!) department seemingly are capable of making life miserable for the entire financial staff following the "upgrade".

 

Tomorrow will be our "Christmas", as Jemma and her boyfriend will be on-duty/flying on the 25th., and Trevor and Meagan are at her family for the day, the 20th. became the only suitable day for any celebrating with the whole family. The Mrs and I are looking forward to a very quite Christmas and Boxing day

 

UNSEASONAL FOR HERE was -8 driving in, more apocalyptic pronouncements from the morning weather reporters, in the end it was just "Minnesota normal" outside

High expected to be around -1 and it's supposed to be sunny most of the day here, here's hoping for an on-time flight home.

 

Tally ho. 

Edited December 19, 2019 by Ian Abel

[Barry O]

Got told off! Fell asleep rwice in the MRI.....

Pah!

 

Chicken sandwich and very large coffee consumed afterwards.

 

Sat in the Jubilee Wing reception drinking the coffee watching the folks there. A good few tales to be had there. Wonder why no one has written about it all?

 

Big problem for me is ..if you are on a drip why go outside to have a fag? Indeed, why use our NHS services if you aren't going to help yourself!

 

Now for a bit of catch up..TTFN

Baz

[Rugd1022]

5 hours ago, woodenhead said:

John Lewis are very good when it comes to after service, my last experience with Currys was with a new laptop where Windows didn't register on first being set up.  When I rang the helpline I got a very arsey know it all IT person who told me I wasn't supposed to call them for software support - I had to point out Windows is the operating system and it it doesn't work on the first load of the computer it's their problem not mine.  

 

Fridge was back at normal 4 degrees last night and this morning has settled at 2 degrees - looks like it was the small chunk of ice I found that was blocking airflow around the unit.  

 

The damage to the wall is minor and with the shelf back in it is not actually visible - I know what I did wrong too - put the shelf in the wrong way round lol.

 

How come I can pull apart a freezer and fix it but I am afraid of tackling scenery on a model railway or wiring up points - I really don't understand myself sometimes.

 

Stress levels down now though my company's IT is doing a good job to raise it again, SQL Server implementations should not be this difficult.

 

I know what you mean about Currys, we've had a lot of faffing about with them recently having had to buy a new fridge freezer and TV. The fridge arrived in good time on the right day but unfortunately it was damaged quite badly, the blokes who delivered tried to get me to sign for it in a hurry hoping I wouldn't noticed it but we insisted on them taking it back and ordering another one. When we went down to pick up the new TV it took over an hour to be served, I was 'on call' at the time and it was a good job I didn't get a phone call from Control asking me to come in!

 

On top of that, this morning I managed to damage our cooker so we'll need a new one of those next. We'd just got back home with some shopping, I walked into the kitchen with an armful of stuff and promptly dropped a 24 pack of bottled beer on the ceramic hob, smashing it to bits. I'm typing this from the doghouse by the way... .

 

Hope your stress level is ok now.

[woodenhead]

12 minutes ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

I know what you mean about Currys, we've had a lot of faffing about with them recently having had to buy a new fridge freezer and TV. The fridge arrived in good time on the right day but unfortunately it was damaged quite badly, the blokes who delivered tried to get me to sign for it in a hurry hoping I wouldn't noticed it but we insisted on them taking it back and ordering another one. When we went down to pick up the new TV it took over an hour to be served, I was 'on call' at the time and it was a good job I didn't get a phone call from Control asking me to come in!

 

On top of that, this morning I managed to damage our cooker so we'll need a new one of those next. We'd just got back home with some shopping, I walked into the kitchen with an armful of stuff and promptly dropped a 24 pack of bottled beer on the ceramic hob, smashing it to bits. I'm typing this from the doghouse by the way... .

 

Hope your stress level is ok now.

The John Lewis approach when we got our current fridge freezer was 'We've noticed a small ding on the side of the fridge, we can either give you £50 back or order you another"  I took the credit and put a fridge magnet over the ding.

 

My sister recently bought some furniture from Oak Furniture - they arrived to deliver it and promptly asked for a delivery damage waiver to say they would not be held responsible for any damage taking the goods into her house.  She refused to accept it the goods and got a refund instead.

 

Stress levels down, my partner in crime at work has suggested a workaround to the issue causing most stress, it means we will have to do the work twice (repeat it later on a new server) but it means we can get on with the work in good time against a project deadline and not be the cause of any delays later (even though it is not our fault).

[Happy Hippo]

I had to get up early this morning in order to get some 1" brass screws for some board end rail joints, and chocolate biscuits for the visitation of the OFMC.

 

As it happened, mince pies were bought along, so the biscuits remain unopened.

 

It was not an arduous session which started with a mighty erection and then a lot of  screwing, then glueing down of foam underlay.

 

There was no Pie and Lattes this afternoon so I went and got a new nearside headlight for the car, as it blew on the way home yesterday.  I also replaced the front wipers which were starting to give up the ghost.

 

No sooner had I fitted the new headlight bulb, then the opposite side light decided to give up in sympathy. Fortunately,I had one of those in the spares box, so that was sorted pdq.

 

It is amazing how much in the way of spares and useful stuff escaped from my garage and workshop and are now to be found at PH Grange.

 

It appears that my work for tomorrow will be using the carpet cleaner on the sitting room carpet to remove slight deposits of mud!

 

I cannot think where they came from.

 

My leave pass and accommodation for the small Cardiff show has been approved, so that ought to depress both br2975 and Danemouth over the festive season.

 

 

 

 

[AndyID]

8 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 

* Just checked and these are the charges:

 

20 MinsFree.

1 Hour£3.00.

2 Hours£5.00.

3 Hours£6.50.

4 Hours£8.00.

5 Hours£10.00.

6 Hours£14.50.

24 Hours£17.00.

 

Bloody diabolical!

 

Sounds like an extortion racket. Is the car park operated by Piranha Bros, Ltd?

 

I took MrsID to see her handy doc in the big city (Spokane) last week which meant parking in the multi storey parking adjacent to the hospital. Fortunately the receptionist has a ink stamper that you can use to validate your parking chit. Free for 90 minutes.

 

MrsID has elected to have a little bone in her right thumb disintegrated and removed early in January. She had the same OP on her left hand a few years ago. I will be required to chauffeur her and assume chief cook and bottle washer responsibility during her recovery.

[J. S. Bach]

7 hours ago, woodenhead said:

 ...snip...

How come I can pull apart a freezer and fix it but I am afraid of tackling scenery on a model railway or wiring up points - I really don't understand myself sometimes. ...snip...

Welcome to the club!

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

It was not an arduous session which started with a mighty erection and then a lot of  screwing

Good grief, I'm now less worried about Debs/the awl getting on our case, rather the forum censors!

[roundhouse]

7 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Never fear.  There is an unwritten rule on ER's from long ago in previous incarcnations of the forum, that the thread is for discussing all of life apart from railway muddling.  The fair Debs, also known by other names such as the Keeper of The Collies, is the guardian of this ancient rule. It has been known for a picture of an awl to appear when transgressions occur.

 

I know that I sail close to the wind but there's normally a layout between me and the awl and many say that I spend a lot of my time under the layout. I do remember sleeping under the layout many years ago as we were the hall security back in those days.

Edited December 19, 2019 by roundhouse

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Still got to test my new acquisition. Rather unusual for Hattons the box it arrived in although still rather large was not too much so. There was an item on TV a few days ago about an experimental machine that laser scans the item to be boxed and then cuts and bends a sheet of cardboard to make a box the required size.

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

Big problem for me is ..if you are on a drip why go outside to have a fag? Indeed, why use our NHS services if you aren't going to help yourself!

 

Now for a bit of catch up..TTFN

Baz

Talking of lighting up

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/smoker-blows-up-car-lights-21103625

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

 

It was not an arduous session which started with a mighty erection and then a lot of  screwing, then glueing down of foam underlay.

 

 

As Ian said.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Big problem for me is ..if you are on a drip why go outside to have a fag? Indeed, why use our NHS services if you aren't going to help yourself!

 

 

 

At Harlow Hospital main entrance, at around half six or so every morning you'll see a gathering of patients in wheelchairs etc. etc. with drips and all sorts of other medical paraphernalia puffing away.  By the look of many of them that's the very reason that put them in hospital in the first place.

 

2 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

On top of that, this morning I managed to damage our cooker so we'll need a new one of those next. We'd just got back home with some shopping, I walked into the kitchen with an armful of stuff and promptly dropped a 24 pack of bottled beer on the ceramic hob, smashing it to bits. I'm typing this from the doghouse by the way... .

 

 

Consuming alcohol to excess is bad for you......

[AndyID]

Well, that's the tree decorated.

 

 

Looks a bit like a wonderfully depressing Giles cartoon, but it won't last. The temperature is going to shoot up and it's all going to melt.

 

 

[polybear]

On 18/12/2019 at 14:19, Ian Abel said:

HUMP day, already

 

Nothing of note yesterday, another quiet day overall, unless you count... nah, nothing  <yawn>

Obligatory picture of the transport for the week, another Charger - really do love the "get-up-and-go" this beast has;

-1 this morning with the local forecasters issuing dire warning that would have you believe we were in Antarctica! Supposed to make +3 with a slight chance of a snow flurry.

 

onward and upward

 

 

Here's "my" Charger (Kuwait, January 2014); not sure how long an Air Filter lasts though, judging by the state of the engine.  Had real fun with that car (though the auto transmission kickdown was SOOOOOO-Slow).  Fuel was around 6p a Litre from memory (bottled water was dearer) and I wasn't paying for the tyres.....

Played "Dukes of Hazzard" for a couple of weeks in that (the original series, not the junk remake) but sadly Daisy was just out of camera shot....

 

 

 

[pH]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Big problem for me is ..if you are on a drip why go outside to have a fag? 

 

It's called addiction. Some studies show nicotine can be more addictive than opioids. 

[AndyID]

9 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Here's "my" Charger (Kuwait, January 2014); not sure how long an Air Filter lasts though, judging by the state of the engine.  Had real fun with that car (though the auto transmission kickdown was SOOOOOO-Slow). 

 

 

That's the little engine. You should have had the 5.7 (no kickdown required).

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

That's the little engine. You should have had the 5.7 (no kickdown required).

 

The Boss moaned like a stuck pig when he got the bill for that one.  There was a "hot" option from the rental company, but the subsequent grief just wasn't worth the extra fun.  I particularly liked the "who dares wins" roundabout in rush-hour.  I had the added advantage of being in a rental car, so tended to win.....

[grandadbob]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Sounds like an extortion racket. Is the car park operated by Piranha Bros, Ltd?

 

 

Yep. it's an ongoing problem at hospitals over here with league tables for parking charges being published of the best and worst. Ours is by no means amongst the worst!

42 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Consuming  Carrying alcohol to excess is bad for you......

 

There you go, fixed that for you.  

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

... all related to JFK unable to handle even the simplest of weather circumstances 

Some light snow and gusting winds last afternoon/evening - leaving barely a trace on the ground - was the cause of the JFK problems AND a reason for all the people working around me to be issuing doom and gloom predictions.

Ian, did you see the time lapse footage of yesterday's NY snow squall?
 

Even though it resulted in merely a dusting, there's no question that a well-defined front moving like that would play merry Harry with air traffic.

[AndyID]

4 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

The Boss moaned like a stuck pig when he got the bill for that one.  There was a "hot" option from the rental company, but the subsequent grief just wasn't worth the extra fun.  I particularly liked the "who dares wins" roundabout in rush-hour.  I had the added advantage of being in a rental car, so tended to win.....

 

Our state highway police drive Chargers. I imagine they have the 5.7 probably with some performance enhancing features. I had the 5.7 in my pickup truck but I got rid of it after it broke a valve spring.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Fell asleep rwice in the MRI.....

Inconceivable.

 

CT scan sure. MRI? Not in my experience.