Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

38 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

They'll be desperate for you not to cancel now - it would be ruinous for them to lose your cash upfront now and to have to run a half-empty cruise if it goes ahead. They want to keep you on board for as long as possible.

 

They've  actually offered us an incentive to stay on that cruise by more than doubling the "on board spending allowance" however we won't be bribed by that. 

[AndrewC]

Moaning all from the boring borough. 

 

H&S sure changed over the years. Back in the 50s my dad lost a finger when a bandsaw blade failed. He wrapped it in what ever he could find, wandered off to the first aid station, got the stub stitched up, and finished his day. Only after work was he persuaded to visit the hospital. My younger brother lost the same finger in a work accident some 30 years later. Although his circumstances were more serious the amount of paperwork, government official accident inspection, process reviews, etc were well over the top. The end result was a compensation payment and the c*ntpuffin plasterer who had messed with the wiring in the ceiling instead of waiting for the electrician was sacked. 

 

My ex is a part time travel consultant who specialises in cruises. Needless to say she hasn't made a penny since this whole corona outbreak started. You'll never catch me on one of those things. The thought of being trapped in a floating hotel fills me with dread. I'll take a tent, bears, and 1.2km above sea level, thank you very much. 

 

The paternal outlaw and step outlaw have cancelled their planned trip over in Sept. They were going to do a Trans-Atlantic cruise but after his cancer treatment & everything else the travel insurance was more than one of the cruise tickets. We may see them fly over for Christmas, or we'll be spending Chrimbo in Winnipeg. 

 

That's about all from here. Enjoy the day. 

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all!

 

Quite sunny today here in the Midlands.

 

Been watching a storm on Twitter about a couple of people scamming others and ruining some pretty old railway stuff.  But at least I'm off work next week so get another resting time.

Must crack on with the railway - Hatton's 66 will be here before I'm ready for it!

[PeterBB]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Sadly the H& S executive take a different view.

The first full day I worked at Tesco as a maintenance man, i was involved with the visit of the H+S executive. A "Baker" on night shift had removed the safety barriers, bypassed the safety switch, to clear a blockage , and left the top of a finger in the roll divider machine which was still running. Tesco got fined something like £50,000.

 

 They replaced the machine with one that worked in a different way..

Yes, it is not possible to watch staff all the time and there are those who will take short cuts e.g. to 'get off early' and do something stupid( its been OK so far so why should I change how I do it) and yet the company get the fine but there are a lot of companies that ignore H&S - predominantly it seems cowboy roofers from the press.  It would be helpful if the 'workers' who take the short cuts were the ones prosecuted.  

[The Lurker]

21 hours ago, roundhouse said:

You must have been desperate for a pint to drink in arrivals

 

I was drinking Harveys Old and then Harveys Porter last night. I have heard and read that Guinness is really a porter than a stout.

It was a stag.

 

We'd flown in from Heathrow. The best man flew in from Bournemouth so we had to wait

[81C]

Afternoon All

Up early and cleaned as much as worthwhile the flat is going to be ripped apart in a few weeks a friend is staying over so I thought I'd remove the skid marks.

My man flu seems to have gone I hope, I will make another assault on Stainburys for a new duvet this winter one is far to warm I went to my old store Horrorsons

which is far cleaner yesterday and found plenty of bog rolls, so I can continue to wipe my bum all over that dog, talking of dogs I've not seen the little puppy with this 

flu the slapped #rse has been feeding him she don't like him as he is bigger and knocks her around he he he .

I have an appointment for a US urinary tract tomorrow sounds like fun 

Its lunch time here enjoy the rest of the day P.I.Staking

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings from LBG where it is quite warm in the sun. As I type, the chancellor is droning on.

 

Not a lot else to report, so have a good day all

[Kingzance]

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

Sadly the H& S executive take a different view.

The first full day I worked at Tesco as a maintenance man, i was involved with the visit of the H+S executive. A "Baker" on night shift had removed the safety barriers, bypassed the safety switch, to clear a blockage , and left the top of a finger in the roll divider machine which was still running. Tesco got fined something like £50,000.

 

 They replaced the machine with one that worked in a different way..

A lack of training and procedures by the employer and / or a lack of forethought and planning by the maintenance department / man? We live in an era in which legislation is created at a far greater rate than it can ever be properly policed and vested interests come into play here. Legislation = litigation = FEES. So much of recent legislation is simply unenforceable or unenforced sops to conscience.

[TheQ]

25 minutes ago, Kingzance said:

A lack of training and procedures by the employer and / or a lack of forethought and planning by the maintenance department / man? We live in an era in which legislation is created at a far greater rate than it can ever be properly policed and vested interests come into play here. Legislation = litigation = FEES. So much of recent legislation is simply unenforceable or unenforced sops to conscience.

Nope the " baker" was being lazy. the instructions were to hit the safety switch, (big red button, ) turn off at the wall, then remove guards. " Sticky Dough" used to clog the machine.. Sticky dough meant the " baker" hadn't mixed it right as per the instructions..

Note " Baker" = teenager paid little, Told / shown how to use machines, there is  / was a book with each machine  on procedures  For cleaning / use of / clearing of blockages. Also a book with signatures on who was cleared to use what, signed by the user..

[Ian Abel]

Morning all, HUMP day.

 

Nothing to report from yesterday, seems a pattern for now. Probably "good".

Early evening we had a dusting of snow, already disappeared.

 

Tomorrow will be interesting. I have a scheduled appt. with the quack, routine to allow them to confirm I'm still in the right condition to have various prescriptions renewed.

I'm surprised they've not suggested any precautions or even cancelled the appt. as it's so routine.

I'm now wondering what the population there will be like - hopefully not filled with dozens of folks coughing up a lung!

 

We were planning on going to the weekly Lenten soup supper at our church tonight, but have decided that's a good thing to skip as a precautionary measure. Joining a large group of people to share various open vats of soup, dispensed by a crew of volunteers isn't probably the best collection of people to commune with right now...

 

2 and cloudy first thing, headed for 9 and partly cloudy later.

 

Stay safe everyone.

[pH]

10 hours ago, TheQ said:

Probably Sour Gas, which can come from oil as well, Hydrogen Sulphide, kills at 200ppm one of the gas. Where as oil wells bring up some gas, gas wells bring up some oil ...

 

A lot of the wells in Alberta produce hydrogen sulphide, and sulphur is extracted from the gas. It arrives here for export - in 100 car trains! 

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

First the Tesco news - toilet paper shelves were absolutely, utterly, and completely, empty.  Where the merry heck has the stock gone they had the other day, some people stacked up to the flipping ceiling.  Judging by a report from herself yesterday apparently the trick at shops in the town is to get in the queue at 08.00 waiting for the doors to open so you can buy a bog rolls or hand sanitiser - maybe we'll be getting ration books before long?

 

Anyway far more usefully I bunged the HMRC cheque into the bank today , in MY account.  But tomorrow the car goes in for MoT and that will have to be paid for from my account - you win some, you lose some (or a lot).

 

Our first week at sea is booked for the latter part of May, and fully paid for.  Herself is quite convinced it will be cancelled - but not by us.  It really boils down to what happens with the docking, which could obviously overrun for whatever reason although it shouldn't be no more than a few weeks and then it will be down to what happens to the crew and particularly the chaps who look after us passengers.  As there are only three of the latter there could clearly be a problem if illness strikes there but we'll simply wait and see what happens.  In any case we have a second week booked for later in the passenger season so it's not the end of the world if we lose the first one - as long as we get the money back of course!

 

The Good Doctor resumes hospital duty on a night turn this evening (not as a Doctor of course, a PhD in naval history doesn't do the trick for NHS doctoring it seems) so it will be interesting to hear how things are gong there.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day one and all.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I was targeted by some 'crash for cash' scammers yesterday but fortunately I was suspicious of them and managed to avoid them though it meant making an emergency stop. More details in the driving standards thread. MR club tonight, be back later.

[TheQ]

46 minutes ago, pH said:

 

A lot of the wells in Alberta produce hydrogen sulphide, and sulphur is extracted from the gas. It arrives here for export - in 100 car trains! 

Yep,  the sulphur is extracted from sour gas at Bacton too,  but there's only enough for a couple of road tankers a week.  The unusable remains are burnt off from a 175ft tower.. 

[BoD]

We got our water rates notice today.  It had gone down by about £70.  I’m still in shock.

Of course, that was totally wiped out, and more, by the increase in the council’s rates.

 

Then came the renewal notice for the car insurance.  No way, mate.  Time to go compare or whatever, methinks.

 

Enjoy the rest of your evening, morning, afternoon or night.

[roundhouse]

Evening

 

A busy day with two visitors, one dropping off missing bits for the locos that he gave me to weather then an RM webber brought his baseboards around to sort out alignment issues. He departed back for Oxfordshire at 5pm happy with the outcome.

 

So no loo roll hunting for me today. However it will be beer o'clock for us tomorrow including another HO freight car going to a new home, so that's 5 sold since Saturday. Still more to go though.

 

 

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

SMOG tonight and very nice it was too and accompanied by Aussie Shiraz with more to follow.

Steve popped in at lunchtime as he was working from home today and a plan of action agreed for our cruise and he will investigate a couple of options for later this year or maybe next year.

 

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by grandadbob

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, pH said:

 

A lot of the wells in Alberta produce hydrogen sulphide, and sulphur is extracted from the gas. It arrives here for export - in 100 car trains! 

 

And here it is ready for loading onboard.....

 

[Tony_S]

We (local schools) used to get invitations to visit the local oil refineries (both closed down now). I think the sulphur (as we still spelt it then) piles were the item that most impressed my students. 
We had to have quite a few gas alerts when something went wrong and H2S was detected. Every classroom had a supply of paper towels and an instruction leaflet. 
Tony

 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Tony_S

[newbryford]

One of the chemical plants I worked in burned sulphur to create SO2. The SO2 was then ducted around the works and used in various processes - such as Sodium Metabisulphite - which was used as an ingredient (anti-oxidant/preservative) in Lucozade. 

 

The burner was used as the works boiler that provided steam to heat the chemical processes.

 

Sulphur arrived either as liquid in insulated road tankers from Stanlow refinery or in imported solid form, usually imported viam Glasson Docks in ordinary tipper wagons.

The liquid was stored in a very large heated tank about 40 feet tall and the solid in relatively open spaces - and then tipped into the melting pit  - heated by the self-same boiler.

The pit was essentially open with walkways over the top. The personnel working in the general area of the pit rarely took time off with a cold.

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

First the Tesco news - toilet paper shelves were absolutely, utterly, and completely, empty.  

Plenty of "TP" (as they say here) on the shelves though possibly less than the usual superabundance. Absolutely no disinfecting wipes anywhere. Plenty of bleach and household cleaners. Plenty of paper towels. Nothing with them combined for convenience. No hand sanitizer either. 

 

The hand sanitizer "shortage" is leading to some creative solutions. A local distiller has produced some with 160 proof neutral spirits, with a disclaimer indicating no guarantees of efficacy, available while supplies last. The State of New York prison system has begun to produce hand sanitizer (branded NYS Clean) as well. 

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

The hand sanitizer "shortage" is leading to some creative solutions. A local distiller has produced some with 160 proof neutral spirits, with a disclaimer indicating no guarantees of efficacy, available while supplies last

I am sure when Matthew was in Alberta stronger alcohol was routinely available. The name sounded like something for cleaning though rather than its  intended drinking use. 

Edited March 11, 2020 by Tony_S

[brianusa]

The shortage of sanitizers is puzzling.  Presumably if we all buy some we will be more secure having them than not.  At the same time, we are told to wash our hands, which is obvious, so now we are doubly safer.  Crowds are to be avoided, don't shake hands but elbow your acquaintance in the ribs; which seems a bit farcical.  Why not just ignore the gesture all together for the duration.  Why toilet paper?  If we are indeed hunkering down, I would prefer to raid the food shelves rather than the household goods dept!

        Things in GH seem to be fairly normal still although the dreaded CV is coming ever closer.  Considering the number of older folks who live in the many retirement homes here, there doesn't appear to be a problem as in other parts of the state.  We have insurance for at home care should the necessity arise which would obviate the apparent dodginess of the aforementioned homes.

         Brian.

[newbryford]

Just had an update from my nephew.

Small positive steps for my brother today.

 

Still a very long way to go though.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, pH said:

 

A lot of the wells in Alberta produce hydrogen sulphide, and sulphur is extracted from the gas. It arrives here for export - in 100 car trains! 

I've also seen those piles of sulphur and trains of it on Kicking Horse Pass and wonderec where it all came from.

 

Now I know, thanks to ER's.

 

Jamie