Early Risers.

[roundhouse]

Morning. Was raining in Manchester but sunny now approaching Crewe on this delayed Avanti service due to over running engineering works but only around 10 minutes so far.Hopefully more track laying later today when back at home.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, Dave Hunt said:

Newsflash - I've just broken my reading glasses and don't have a spare set so they are now stuck together with superglue. Another job for tomorrow.

Dave, Surgical tape is a better alternative for the fixing process.

 

My mate Shadwell uses it on his specs.

 

See :

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Yesterdays sunshine has disappeared but its predicted to stay dry. No more news of my brother but I'll give my niece and my sister a call this evening to get up to date. Tea is now required, be back later.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It has obviously been raining during the night, but thankfully it didn’t wake me us. Although the sun isn’t shining yet, it is giving it a good go. Yesterday the Christmas decorations didn’t get taken down, when Ava was asked if she wanted to help or watch a Dr Who, She chose to watch an old David Tennant episode, so that’s today’s No 1 task, once I’ve finished muggertea No 2 that is. It won’t all get done today and what is left will get done tomorrow, when I’ve got the place to myself. 

 

Enjoy the day, back later. 

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl, 

Just, 

Sanding / grinding,  not done,  my dust mask has been hidden by a gremlin. I remember taking the old filter out,  but where it's gone I don't know.. 

So I painted the bits that were ready,  then made / recovered / modified a couple of shelf supports that were required since the originals went with the cut out piece of boat. They are now glued and clamped into place. 

 

A. Muggacoffee is to be finished,  Ben the impatient collie  is awaiting... 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

 

My mate Shadwell uses it on his specs

When Siadwell first appeared on Naked Video I can remember a few colleagues being “not amused” as they considered he was mocking Welsh people generally. It was quite unusual for teaching staff in that school to be from anywhere other than Wales or Yorkshire. I also recall MiL and FiL disapproving of “Goodness Gracious Me”. 

[TheQ]

The beach was  exceedingly busy,  people going one way to see the seals which have spread up our way for the first time.  People going the other way to twitch at an Asian Desert warbler,  an insignificant little brown thing. 

I hope the seals don't continue coming our way as we'd get banned from walking dogs on the beach. 

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Normal excuses for absence are proferred.  Lying on the bed with 30747 trying to listen to Gardener's Question TIme, punctuated by a chain saw being operated down the road, representing gardener's sawing time, I suppose.

 

RIck - your posts recently about the fires in Australia really have brought home the human side of this pretty well to me - a lot more than the news coverage on TV - and I hope your feet get better soon, as well.  Debs, it's great to be receiving your wit again, you've no idea how much it has been missed here, at least in this quarter.  And of course, generic greetings are proffered to all other ERs who deserve them, which really is all of you.

 

Trip to town yesterday, and finally got a bank print from Barclays only to discover that there was nothing untoward thereon - just too much spent on food over Christmas, even though we did economise greatly on the festive dinner, we still seem to have overspent.  Tomorrow, I have Peter, our builder/plumber/handyman coming to replace the inlet valve on the filling loop of the boiler, but booked him forgetting that I have also got the washing machine reapair man as well - no doubt they will turn up together. 

 

Back tomorrow

Regards to All

Stewart

[AndyB]

Couple of car questons for you knowledgeable bods if I may.

For various reasons it's time to say aufwiedersehen to my BMW and potentially bonjour to a much more economical, 4-seat, less than 120g CO2/km Peugeot 2008. 

 

Q1. Wondering if anyone has experience of this manufacturer and/or model?

First impressions are that the build quality is better than our Citroën. For example closing the boot gave a satisfying clunk rather than a tinny rattle. 

Q2. One reason for getting rid of the sports car is that the baby who I used to carry around in it in a car seat has grown up and will start driving lessons in about 12 months. 

I note that these new fangled cars have something called "hill assist", whigh takes some of the skill out of hill starts.

Are hill starts still a thing indriving lessons / tests ? I'm guessing hill assist can be turned off, but this is an assumption. 

 

Thanks in advance! Andy

[BoD]

4 minutes ago, AndyB said:

Couple of car questons for you knowledgeable bods if I may.

 

Why me?

 

 

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

......(music stands can be awkward to set up!)

I once had a wrestling match with music stands and lost.......

......... Badly.

[45156]

Andy - I had a Peugeot 207 for five years, on a 12 plate, and only got rid of it in August with 82k on it.  Build quality was excellent, not at all tinny, and it drive well - lovely gearbox.  No major repairs, and I got rid of it because the cam belt was overdue for replacement, and also the brakes needed new pads,  The one issue that I had was when I was hit from the side by somebody who was coming out of a parking bay, and I was without it (did have a hire car) for twelve weeks due to the non availability of one of the body panels, which had to be obtained from France, and which was also out of stock at the factory.

[BoD]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

It was quite unusual for teaching staff in that school to be from anywhere other than Wales or Yorkshire.

It is said that at one time, in County Durham, to get a headship you had to be a card carrying member of the Labour Party, Welsh or a Methodist lay preacher.  All three and you were a shoo in.

[Kingzance]

My experience of Peugeot is now two decades old when my employers gave us a choice limited to Rover, Peugeot and Citroen. I had two 405 1.9 TDis, both did about 100,000 miles before the cylinder head failed. They were not worth repairing if using new Peugeot heads but our company skinflints chose to use a local head restorer and eased out another six months or 25K miles from them. I would hope things are better now, but I don’t hold much hope as quality is being squeezed for profit through many manufacturers.

 

My garage now accessible and Xmas goodie packaging has been burnt. Log burner has been laid and lit, about half an hour until we head off to St Ippolites for the family celebration. And now for a little egg-shaped ball action...

[TheSignalEngineer]

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

We've long since given up cleaning the outside of cars,  the road outside being almost always in a permanent state of mud

I cleaned mine on New Year's Day when washing mud off the mountain bikes from the day before. Previous clean was when the garage did it at the MOT and service in September. Barring heavy salting that will probably be enough until after our visit to the North Yorks Moors in the Spring.

Edited January 5, 2020 by TheSignalEngineer

[Tony_S]

11 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I cleaned mine on New Year's Day when washing mud off the mountain bikes from the day before. Previous clean was when the garage did it at thr MOT and service in September. Barring heavy salting that will probably be enough until after our visit to the North Yorks Moors in the Spring.

There is moss growing on our Fiesta. This just shows how unpolluted the air is...

Tony

[TheSignalEngineer]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

There is moss growing on our Fiesta. This just shows how unpolluted the air is...

Tony

I found the same problem here in the Peak District. I have to alternate the parking direction on the drive to reduce the problem. 

[AndyB]

The roof of my soft-top is an entire ecosystem; moss, lichens..   I'd like to think of it as my version of Carbon offset. 

[JohnDMJ]

On a ramble of little or no import, I often ponder the wisdom of populating some areas of the planet.

 

In the likes of america and Australia, where fires are so often a natural occurrence that the wild life benefits from them, why does our own species insist on setting up home there knowing the potential consequences?

 

River flood plains and their equivalent coastal areas should never have received the necessary permissions to build.

 

Please, don't get me wrong; many people are currently affected by the decisions of others and they have my sympathy.

 

How much more will it take before 'Common Sense' (whatever that might have been) takes over to rule the roost enabling such occurrences to be minimised?

[New Haven Neil]

Today I have been mostly weathering 16T minerals.  And my left hand.  The gloves are in a box at the other side of the garage, safe from any paint..... 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. My sister phoned when I was out this afternoon. My brother has just come round after his op but is still going to be in the ICU for a while yet. I had moss growing on a few cars I have had, Fords in particular. The favourite spot was the felt like substance used for the guides for the winding windows. My current car has no moss growing on it despite being parked next to the front path  that is covered in it.

[Barry O]

36 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Today I have been mostly weathering 16T minerals.  And my left hand.  The gloves are in a box at the other side of the garage, safe from any paint..... 

 

See I can wash the ink I use off!!

I had a Peugeot 405 estate for 6 months ..nice car but made out of very thin metal....

 

I have a couple of friends who have had a succession of Peugeots. All diesel ,  all lasted more than 200kmiles...

 

I know that I should have stayed in bed today.. lots more items to  mend.. who dropped an open stock tray....buggggrrrrittt!

 

Back later

 

Baz

[BoD]

8 minutes ago, Barry O said:

 

I know that I should have stayed in bed today.. lots more items to  mend.. who dropped an open stock tray....buggggrrrrittt!

Ooops.

I bet it all seemed to happen in ultra slow motion and you still couldn’t do a thing about it.

 

Got the T-shirt.

 

Oh dear, there’s a loco falling off the end of the layout.

I can catch that.

I’ve nearly got it.

Kerrashhh

No I Haven’t.

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

13 minutes ago, Barry O said:

I had a Peugeot 405 estate for 6 months ..nice car but made out of very thin metal....

In the days of the Vauxhall Viva we used to say that they painted the inside of the press tools and sprayed some metal onto them. Our school secretary had a puncture on the way to work. One of the teachers jacked up the car to change the wheel and the rear window popped out.

 

15 minutes ago, Barry O said:

I have a couple of friends who have had a succession of Peugeots. All diesel ,  all lasted more than 200kmiles...

My son had a Peugeot diesel which was well into its third time round the clock before it got too expensive to do any more repairs. By that time the underside of the body looked like a patchwork quilt.

[Coombe Barton]

More room, two walks and progression.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/01/05/sounds-of-the-season-36-the-second-sunday-of-christmas-twelfth-night/

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

In the likes of america and Australia, where fires are so often a natural occurrence that the wild life benefits from them, why does our own species insist on setting up home there knowing the potential consequences?

Without intending to offend, I think that unless you know the geography of the areas in question there's a risk of misinformed assumptions in your reasoning.

 

During 2017's Tubbs Fire in Northern California the Coffey Park subdivision was completely destroyed. I know this area very well. It is situated on a major highway between the airport and downtown Santa Rosa. It is miles away from anything that would be called a "forest". The natural landscape in this area is grassland and scrub. Undeveloped patches of grassland were the pathway for the fire.

 

I suspect that few who purchased homes in that neighbourhood considered themselves to be in a high-risk wildfire zone. It was exempted from state wildfire regulations. (The fire modelling to determine hazard areas in the 2000s did not include fire behaviour in an urbanized setting.) There was a "very severe" hazard zone five miles to the east. There's an interesting article from the LA Times here.

 

The Tubbs Fire (like many other California fires) was started by dry, windy conditions and poorly maintained overhead electrical power distribution.

 

3 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

River flood plains and their equivalent coastal areas should never have received the necessary permissions to build.

People always want to live near water. Does this not happen in Britain?

 

It seems like every year I see stories of west coast villages from Cornwall to Cumbria that have been there for centuries innundated by flooding, not to mention large cities on the east coast like York, and we've seen our correspondent from the Broads share flooding maps quite recently.

 

I will grant you that living on barrier islands in hurricane-prone places like the Carolinas begs the inevitable. Beachside properties are prized. What holiday home location could be better than walking off your deck onto the sand and into the water?

 

As Super storm Sandy demonstrated, Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island are in danger of inundation as sea levels rise. Should they be abandoned? What is happening in Miami right now is insane but the Dutch did it successfully for centuries.

 

3 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

How much more will it take before 'Common Sense' (whatever that might have been) takes over to rule the roost enabling such occurrences to be minimised?

Should people be "allowed" to live in deserts? Without irrigation and air-conditioning, the American southwest would be uninhabitable, except by tiny populations. We have engineered solutions that are a sustainability nightmare.  I would challenge you to tell the populations of Phoenix, Las Vegas and Los Angeles that they have no "common sense" because they live there. (I might agree, but I don't think I'd want to knock on doors and tell them face to face.)

 

In a similar vein, should people live where there are tornadoes? Or earth quakes?

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by Ozexpatriate