Early Risers.

[Simon G]

It has been a bit of a carp day in our household today.  Yesterday, we got the expected news that the ventilator keeping our friend alive had been turned off, and he passed away half an hour later.  Neither he or his widow have much family, so given the current restrictions it looks like it will only be her at a crematorium service.  It must be heartbreaking but she seems to be coping remarkably well so far.  I fear that it will hit her later.  I just wish we could jump in the car and drive down to support her.

 

Last night I stayed up to midnight to try to get a Tesco home delivery slot when they were released.  Fat chance!  I was on both the app and the website just before midnight, then both seemed to crash briefly, then found myself in a queue on both to get access to the site.  I keep awake for 40 minutes, and was still in the queue.  I then nodded off and woke at 2am to find all new delivery slots gone.  I then struggled to get back to sleep, so have been very tired today.

 

To add to all this, a piece of a tooth broke off while I was brushing them this morning.  All the dentists are closed, so I hope that no further damage will follow.  At least it isn’t causing any discomfort yet, and doesn’t affect me eating so far.

 

Apart from all that, more gardening has been done today, and things are progressing nicely.  Now as a write this, I am looking at at Fraggle Rock, and it is so clear that the Calf of Man is visible.  That doesn’t happen often!

 

I can just hope that tomorrow is an improvement on today.

[grandadbob]

Very sorry to hear that sad news Simon

[BoD]

5 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Spend a few hours trawling my twitter feed. HWBC is a fairly common insult these days. There also seems to be a penchant for combining a small animal with genitalia and similar. for example cockwomble. c*ntpuffin. b0llockbadger, sh*tweasel.  etc. 

Having been retired for a while now, I’m obviously not up to speed with the latest management phrases, techniques or bullish!t.

Edited March 30, 2020 by BoD

[Tony_S]

30 minutes ago, Simon G said:

piece of a tooth broke off

I was going to suggest the temporary repair kits that one is supposed to take on long cruises but they seem to be sold out at Amazon. Perhaps a local pharmacy has some.

[Ozexpatriate]

Simon, I am very sorry to hear about your friend.

 

37 minutes ago, Simon G said:

To add to all this, a piece of a tooth broke off while I was brushing them this morning.  All the dentists are closed, so I hope that no further damage will follow.

Are there no emergency dentists? (Meaning one out of a wide radius who is open on rotation for emergency work?)

 

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Always known in our family as a hipporhinocerouspig

Not that surprising really.

 

Curiously hippos and whales evolved from Anthracotheriidae

 

What made me look that up is the Entelodont or "Hell Pig". They are terrifying creatures standing up to 2.1m tall with sharp pointy teeth and a brain the size of an orange. Like pre-hippos, they belonged to the order Artiodactyla and look a bit similar.

 

These (Daeodon humerosum) were very common in what is now Central Oregon and there are many fossil remains in the John Day Fossil Beds which at one point was teeming with mammalian mega fauna. John Day fossil beds are a bit out of the way but worth a visit for people with plenty of time. The landscape is quite dramatic.

 

There's an excellent exhibit at the Thomas Condon Paleontology and Visitor Center with many fossils in context of time. It's odd to think of ancestors of hippos and rhinos and camels in Oregon, but they were all there. Pre-horses were also part of the mammalian scene. Eventually all the horse species in North America became extinct until they were reintroduced by the Spanish in the 16th century.

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[bbishop]

Need to get organised, I'm with the LAS tomorrow.  Back tomorrow evening.

 

Bill

 

 

[Gwiwer]

52 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Very sorry to hear that sad news Simon

Likewise

 

58 minutes ago, Simon G said:

It has been a bit of a carp day in our household today.

Having read the rest of that post that comment feels like something of an understatement.  Hopefully tomorrow the sun will shine brighter.

 

 

Edited March 30, 2020 by Gwiwer

[BoD]

52 minutes ago, Simon G said:

It has been a bit of a carp day in our household today.  Yesterday, we got the expected news that the ventilator keeping our friend alive had been turned off, and he passed away half an hour later.  Neither he or his widow have much family, so given the current restrictions it looks like it will only be her at a crematorium service.  It must be heartbreaking but she seems to be coping remarkably well so far.  I fear that it will hit her later.  I just wish we could jump in the car and drive down to support her.I

I have just gone back through ERs and read your post Simon.

That is so, so sad. Thoughts are with you and your friend’s widow.

I think it encapsulates what many of us fear at the moment, what some are trying to ignore and what a few will go through in the weeks to come.

I hope I am wrong.

[brianusa]

8 hours ago, BoD said:

No walk today.  Oven cleaning time.  I have cleaned the glass door and shelves, and have brushed the inside with the cleaning gunk.  Having a cup of coffee whilst waiting for it to do its stuff - then comes the messy bit.

 

I wonder how many extra trillion zillion bytes of storage RMweb will use before this virus business is all over.

 

Get thyself a self cleaner and avoid messy bits.  Our former cleaning lady always cleaned out the oven irrespective of the fact that it was cleaned after the last pizza!

         Brian.

[Erichill16]

Evening everyone,

Hope you’ve all had an acceptable day whether modelling, house jobs or working. It’s hard for everyone out there what ever they are doing. 

The Citroen van wouldn’t start today so had to send a friend round to bump start it. Really, really inconvenient as van desperately needed for deliveries but was able to use old van as well. The really annoying aspect of the incident is that the local dealer had the van in a couple of weeks ago to diagnose the fault and order the part. They were supposed to phone when the part arrived so we could make arrangements for them to fit it.  Anyway they’re  closed now for the duration so sent team member to Halfords to get new battery. Battery not actually the fault but the fault is damaging the battery so don’t know how long this one will last.

Too busy at work to let any of them sneak home an hour early but keeping them all well stocked with chocolate bickies.

 

Two bottles of beer with evening meal so ready to hit the sack. Thought I might get half an hours painting done in shed but too cold.

good night,

 

Robert

[roundhouse]

Sorry to hear your news SImon.

 

My other half had another email this morning to say that a work collegue in her office in Moorgate is on a ventilator in critical care with the virus but is improving unlike the collegue in the States that I mentoined earlier today.

 

We ventured out late afternoon. Got rid of our paper, cans and bottles at the recycling bins with no one else around so distancing rules complied with. Then to pick up more beer from the only pub I know in the area that is open for off sales - a mini keg of Pilgrim Saracen for later in the week.

 

The car park under Sainsburys was almost deserted then up the travellator to then join the queue for Sainburys. After about 10 minutes we got near the store entrance and were told only one person per household was allowed in but after explaining that I was there to shop for Mum they were fine with this. I had a separate trolley but trying to find things that we don't normally buy was quite hard. I never found the salt if there was any. Most items were in stock but still no eggs. On the way out with Mums food in bags the lifts were closed to keep social distancing and the travellator going down to the car park was broken so I had to go get the car and pull into the taxi rank where the sole taxi driver told me off for stopping there but luckily my other half came out the store with our food.

 

Tomorrow I take Mum her food and leave it on her doorstep - really odd times not being to go in for a cup of tea for probably at least another 11 weeks.

 

Woking show in September now cancelled so even the Autumn is going to be quieter than planned.

[jamie92208]

Evening all.  Simon, so sorry to hear about your friend. I can't think of anything to add that hasn't been said already.

 

Not a lot got done today apart from a lot of tidying up in the muddling room.  Various treasures turned up but not the ones I was looking for.   The snow melted an hour after it fell but it has gotva littlecwarmer tonight.

 

Keep safe out there.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

They are terrifying creatures standing up to 2.1m tall with sharp pointy teeth and a brain the size of an orange. Like pre-hippos, they belonged to the order Artiodactyla and look a bit similar.

Yes, our hippo does live near Telford, so he's probably come across them.

Edited March 30, 2020 by Coombe Barton

[newbryford]

Simon, sorry to hear about your friend.

 

Work was sort of worked today.

The meeting of 4 of us was held in three rooms at work and one remote caller.

The decision was taken to furlough 4 of the 9 staff as of Wednesday.

I am still one of the full timers, but now only for Mon-Fri.

Still to be decided which days I will be WFH and the others (probably 1 or 2 per week) when I will be going into work to deliver/collect my WFH stuff - they will coincide with my duty as keyholder.

 

Stay separate folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

[polybear]

Spent the day hoovering and dusting the front room (that's a Lounge if you're middle class, or Parlour if you're Posh ).

Can't remember the last time I dusted it - found the Table last seen in 2007....

 

[Tony_S]

Earlier today I heard the dreaded “could you come up here for a moment please”. After living with Aditi for so many years I interpreted this as something has broken. She had snapped the toilet brush handle . I said I was sure there was a spare but she said there wasn’t. After saying it wasn’t a problem glue would solve I said I’ll order one she announced the  real problem that was the vacuum cleaner had eaten the long lead I use to charge my iPad and the rotary brush was stuck. This was quite an expensive super flexible lead. After unwrapping it it still worked so was indeed super flexible.  No loo brushes available for delivery until the end of April but eBay proved to be useful. Not sure if the current movement restrictions include loo brush shopping as essential. 

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

Spent the day hoovering and dusting the front room (that's a Lounge if you're middle class, or Parlour if you're Posh ).

Can't remember the last time I dusted it - found the Table last seen in 2007....

 

My parents called the main room the living room and the room we used for visitors the front room. The living room had a sofa, chairs and a dining table. 

[Barry O]

Sad to hear your news Simon. I hope you have a better day news wise tomorrow. 

 

Her indoors built a lovely chicken and veg stew for tea tonight (she is not a natural cook..but works hard to get food right).

 

Managed to get a lot of tidying up and then muddling done.

 

When it warms up again I have 4 items used for carrying passengers to paint. Roll on the heat!

I see the "special one " is now self isolating. Thats a whole crop of "advisers" walking around trying to work out what to do.

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Goodnight to most, morning to the Antipodes and have a great afternoon /evening to our American ERs.

Baz

[laurenceb]

Condolences Simon

Fingers Crossed for Mrs Lurker and others in need

Night awl

[newbryford]

19 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

My parents called the main room the living room and the room we used for visitors the front room. The living room had a sofa, chairs and a dining table. 

 

I grew up in a "double-fronted" terrace (one door, windows/rooms either side of it).

Front two - the main family living room was what we called the dining room. The "posh" room was the lounge. But still used when parents had invited guests for evening meals - we never called them lunch or (evening) dinner - we had breakfast, dinner and tea.

Rear two - the kitchen - but not for food prep  - this was mainly used for breakfast and hanging the drying - it still has a ceiling mounted rope-operated rack to this day. (Middle brother now lives in it.

The other back room was "the office" - originally a doctor's surgery with a sash window with a split pane and opening window in it for handing out welfare payments. (I think it's still there) It was called the office as it was used for running one of the family businesses.

The rear extension was the scullery. This was actually the food prep kitchen. Behind that was the "making room". One of the family businesses was Colemans Toffee. It was full of large copper pans and the like. I seem to recall the equipment was sold-on when I was 6-7 years old.

 

Which has prompted me to do a quick search and found this:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Antique-Collectable-Colemans-Ribblesdale-Clitheroe-Cream-Toffee-Tin-Box-/380880593709

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Coombe Barton]

... and a robin.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/03/30/remote-teaching-day-one/

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

This morning’s Sainsbury’s Grand Prix went well, there  wasn’t much of a queue when I got there, a total of 3 and I was No 3! I even managed to get into a couple of other shops too! I’m assuming that quite a lot of would-be shoppers were feeding their youngsters at that time, so I’m going to make that my usual time for the foreseeable. I left home at around 8:30 and was back home well before 10 o’clock. 

 

Once home I packed away all the shopping and then got changed into my working clothes, made a muggertea in my thermal mug and headed downstairs to the cellar. The lovely job of racking out all the old black ash mortar was the job in hand, but it all went very well. I managed to get it all done before dinner, mind you the area in question is only about 3ft x 3ft, but I thought it would have taken a lot longer than it actually did. However, by the time I’d cleaned up all the dust and rubble, (half a bucket full) there wasn’t much point in making up any mortar, so I cleaned myself off and then gave the cellar door knobs a light rubbing down, before applying a second coat of varnish to them. 

 

After dinner a made up a small batch of mortar and set about pointing the wall below the cellar window. Again, this didn’t take as long as I initially thought and the whole job was done around 3:15, having started about 1:45. By the time I’d cleaned off my tools and packed everything away it was mid afternoon and time for a well earned muggertea. As this was cooling, I sat at the dining room table and completed couple of the MERG kits that arrived the order day. 

 

Earlier this afternoon I had a call from the dealership where I bought my car wanting to rearrange my service and MOT which was booked for early (the 8th) next month. They wanted to defer the work to early May, but when I mentioned that my car needed MOTing before April 27, I was informed that the government have given all cars requiring an MOT after 30 March have been given a 6 month extension. So the service/MOT has been rearranged for 5 May, they will still pick up and drop the car off when done.

 

After tea we sat down and caught up on some recorded TV, I poured myself a bottle of Old Speckled Hen, whilst I poured Sheila have a tomato juice. 

 

Simon. Sorry to read about your friend.

 

Goodnight all