Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

And, for me, Baroque.

What about St Louis, pronounced AFAIK as st Lewis.

Anyway good morning from Francophone country. The major pieces of grass got cut yesterday and I even got some weedkilling done.  Then some productive shed time before dinner.  Itvwasxwarm enough to sit out again then some gogglebox time.  Not very exciting but enjoyable.  

 

The plan for today is the market this morniing then cut the grass round the house. Probably a walk and hopefully some shed time. Beth reckons that her wrist is getting better and is going to make dinner.  A duck has quacked it's last and will be roasted to mark Easter. We might well watch an online service.  

 

Stay safe out there.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

39 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

What about St Louis, pronounced AFAIK as st Lewis.

How about "nawlins" (New Orleans)? Or play it safe with NOLA. It is in Louisiana. (At least that pronunciation starts with "Louie", though some might say "loosey-anna".)

 

Judy Garland pronounced it St. Louie.

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Slept well but feel like i had 79 pints of beer last night. Pah!

 

Typical Easter. Blue skies here this morning with a low (frost on cars) temprtature. 

 

A "bazoom"? Can you play it??

 

I got a bit of muddling done yesterday but, while mowing the grass, I have managed to do someting to my right hip. It hurts and the muscle rub potions last for about an hour before waring off. Pah!!

 

Mosr visitors to the UK have problems with certain place names. Lugger berugger is a good one.

 

Now time to prepare for a virtual Egg Fling on a virtual Robin Hoods Bay beach.

 

Positive thoughts to all ERs especially those who are unwell.

 

Baz

[roundhouse]

47 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

How about "nawlins" (New Orleans)? Or play it safe with NOLA. It is in Louisiana. (At least that pronunciation starts with "Louie", though some might say "loosey-anna".)

 

Judy Garland pronounced it St. Louie.

 

Yes I have made the mistake of calling it 'St Louie' when boarding Amtrak and been corrected by the conductor as 'St Lewis' but I have heard it called 'St Louie' many a time in the US. Well we wont be visiting Shafly Brewing or Four Hands Brewing agian for a while now.

 

Morning

 

A good day yesterday in the shed after finding an old SEEP solenoid messing with the Digitrax system. It worked fine till track power was switched on then the accessory decoder locked up till I found the affending solenoid. Never had that before but luckily with plenty of old spares it was soon swapped and I had noisy shed with two FEC and two Seminole Gulf locos ticking over plus to live railcams on the screens and music being played via Alexa through the hifi!!

 

Its going to be much the same Groundhog day today.

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by roundhouse

[Dave Hunt]

A happy Easter to all ERs. Electronic communications are due to play a large part in our day starting with watching a service from Shrewsbury cathedral, then later on having a Skype session with No. 1 son and children followed by FaceTime with No. 2 son and family. This afternoon I'm having a get-together with some ex-RAF buddies via a Zoom video conferencing link and I think that Jill has plans to talk to her sister on some device or other. Apart from all that there is a local walk and a roast chicken dinner at as yet unscheduled times and who knows, maybe some more layout work if I'm a very good boy.

 

Jill had given up chocolate for Lent and is currently on her third dip into a mega selection box of Dairy Milk. I'll give her the Easter egg later on.

 

A bit different from the run of the mill Easter Sunday but as close as we can get (apart from joining the cockwombles at the seaside were we stupid enough).

 

Here's wishing you all the best day you can have in the circumstances. Stay safe and well and remember those who are striving to keep us so.

 

Dave

[Andrew P]

And for something a little different; Seasick Steve, and his 3 string Guitar.

 

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 This afternoon I'm having a get-together with some ex-RAF buddies via a Zoom video conferencing link 

Dear Lord,

 

That will be like a cross between the Battle of Britain, and the Dambusters.  All flying helmets, oxygen masks, big moustaches and nicknames.  It might get really interesting if a couple of Ex Lufwaffe types sneak in under the virtual radar.

 

Still, it will probably be understandable, unlike the grunt version I took part in, which started off like a herd of Tamworths at a trough, and descended into the totally unintelligible, permeated only by belching and occasional farts!

Edited April 12, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is sunny here and forecast to be warm for most of the day. 
No rush for breakfast today, we aren’t going anywhere. 
Have a good day 

Tony

[AndrewC]

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The ticket is essentially a summons. One can plead guilty, no contest, or not guilty in writing. Fines are payable (often have to be done in person) to the relevant jurisdiction. This violation was cited by Washington County Sheriffs, so fines would be paid to the county. Had it been ticketed by a local city police officer, fines would be paid to that city. Either way, if it went to trial, this would be at the County court house.

Once upon a time I was stopped on the I90 at the notorious Ellensburg speed trap. Basically half the county's police are set up there 24/7 or were back in the late 90s. Radar detector on, speed set to 75mph (the limit then and knowing what was ahead) No radar detected. Pulled over. Ticket for $200 doing 85. (bullsh<cough>) tracked by aircraft (more bull<cough>) Being from out of state and knowing I wasn't likely to return anytime soon, I ignored it. 6 months later I received a letter saying my Washington State driver's license had been suspended. Giggle. Way back when, Montana was a wild state. No speed limits outside of built up areas. When the 55mph came in the state either complied or lost federal funds. They chose to comply with a $5 ticket for depletion of natural resources. Pay the cop on the spot. Found out farmers used to keep a small stack of $5s in the sun visor. Personally, I had several of these tickets. 

 

Moaning all from the boring borough. The pork belly burnt ends were delicious. Today will be a butterflied leg of lamb on the Kamado. Finally managed to drag MiL into the 21st century. She and SWMBO are now video chatting through Whatsapp. Bye bye BT landline and the £400/year it is costing us. Bye bye Telus landline for MiL and an annual saving that would pay for a ticket for her to fly over. 

 

Not much else to say. Hope to get some shed work done. Tonight will be our normal tradition for this time of year. "Life of Brian". Although sadly without the offspring for the first time in over 10 years. 

 

Hoppy Easter. 

[Gwiwer]

Good Morning all.  A Happy, if somewhat unusual, Easter.  For those among us: "Hallelujah - He Is Risen"  ..... and that does not refer to the Prime Minister.  

 

A cooked breakfast was enjoyed followed by the awarding of chocolate bears to each other.  SWMBO's lasted two minutes; mine will survive until morning coffee at least!  We also have some small chocolate eggs which she doesn't yet know about.  

 

Today's task - when the hour is decent enough to allow use of a power tool - is to cut and shape an extra latch for the greenhouse.  It came supplied with one but needs two in order to prevent the door bottoms from bowing outwards.  A piece of marine ply will be introduced to the jig saw later.  

 

Seeds we planted yesterday are already showing ad young shoots.  Seedlings have doubled in size overnight.  The potatoes are due to be planted.  The Hill of Strawberries might lack any of that species in its garden but the mulberries are coming along nicely and the blackberries promise an Autumn crop if the squiggles don't get there first.  

 

I trust all among us are well, or as well as can be hoped for, with no cause for undue concern.  Stay well.  I'll be back later.  

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Another sunny day here in The Land of Sutt and it should stay dry with temperatures reaching 23°C.

I never got the text advising me of my plant delivery but the plants arrived  about 9.45 and "we" are very pleased with the selection (we weren't quite sure exactly what we were going to get).  Very helpful and cheerful young man carried everything down the alleyway and put them by the back gate. He seemed quite surprised and chuffed to find an envelope there containing a little monetary thank you. I managed to get about 50 plants in yesterday and have got another 30 or so to do today. (Back ache permitting)

We have now enabled Zoom thanks to Steve so a great laughter filled couple of hours spent on there with kids and grandkids last night. The youngsters are coping with being cooped up quite well. Luckily all the the electronic gubbins available means they can easily keep in touch with their friends. They are hoping that we will all be able to meet up properly for our Golden Wedding Anniversary which is in June but the party is actually booked for July. I have serious doubts as to whether lockdown will be eased enough by then for us be able to go ahead with it. We can but hope.

Time to think about some gardening,

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

Dull here and spitting on with pleut.

 

Richard, SWMBO informs me it makes no difference as the centre part of the bow (I forget its proper name) isn't actually held at all, but is pulled into the crook of thumb and forefinger by the tension of the draw.  Thus the fingers/thumb are merely resting and taking no weight or tension.  The angle of the draw elbow is something that is discussed, one guy at a shoot recently suggested it should be lower.  Debs tutor (who is the world champion bare bow field archer) reckons it doesn't matter provided it is consistent on shots, it's archery not ballet!  Like any sport there is a lot of conflicting opinion, especially in matters of technique, but what works is the most important.  Debs can't beat her over a shoot in the glen, but does win some bosses against her. (A boss being the 'target').  Lesley really wants Debs to compete, but she has no interest in that, only shooting for fun.  It scares me, it has some power. That's 35lb draw currently IIRC, she is talking about more soon....eek.

[Rugd1022]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

Slept well but feel like i had 79 pints of beer last night. Pah!

 

Typical Easter. Blue skies here this morning with a low (frost on cars) temprtature. 

 

A "bazoom"? Can you play it??

 

I got a bit of muddling done yesterday but, while mowing the grass, I have managed to do someting to my right hip. It hurts and the muscle rub potions last for about an hour before waring off. Pah!!

 

Mosr visitors to the UK have problems with certain place names. Lugger berugger is a good one.

 

Now time to prepare for a virtual Egg Fling on a virtual Robin Hoods Bay beach.

 

Positive thoughts to all ERs especially those who are unwell.

 

Baz

 

Barry O.... Barry O.... hmmmm, I knew there was something I meant to do..... track down a Region 2 dvd of 'Harry O', all of those available on Amazon at the moment are Region 1 US imports...! It's probably long forgotten by now but I always liked this early '70s series set in California with David Jansen ('The Fugitive') as the slightly grizzled and sunburt private eye.

 

Very quiet outside this morning aside from the usual and very welcome bird song.... herself took these two pics yesterday....

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I'm with ChrisF on BBC scheduling, its best to treat the program schedule as a work of fiction. Yesterday evening I took to running through the Virgin TV listings for something interesting. I did find something, an archeological dig in a Surrey vineyard that had been a Home Guard training area and they discovered a Covenator tank buried there! I found it very interesting only problem was I missed the start of the program. Now for breakfast, be back later.

Edited April 12, 2020 by PhilJ W

[The Stationmaster]

Good morning all,

 

And a Happy Easter to those who recognise the occasion for more than its chocolate content.    And I see HM has produced her first ever Easter message.   Another sunny day but forecast to be cooler than yesterday, maybe.  This evening's dinner will consist of roast lamb with proper accompaniments -- a traditional Easter meal for many I believe.   No particular plans for today but some kind soul of an RMweb member has sent me a lavishly illustrated load of questions about the signalling at a real world, proper job Railway, station he intends to model so that will keep me out of the garden for an hour or so of research trying to establish when various signals were renewed or otherwise interfered with in the interest of progress - fortunately it is a nice station with an interesting track layout and signalling (does mention of signalling tempt the awl from the harp side I wonder?  - ooh heck).

 

There are 4 chocolate Easter bunnies awaiting consumption but no doubt as usual most of mine will be eaten by somebody else.  Just as well perhaps that the word bunny in the Easter context is not associated with what it referred to among the nursing fraternity in some hospitals in the past.   As for the pronunciation of caisson I go with the original French because it's a French word and phonetically it comes out the same in English anyway.  For amusement I did an internet search to see what pronunciations there might be - several was the answer, quell surprise

 

so enjoy your your day  warm and sunny or not, snowbound or not, and stay safe.

 

First aircraft of the day, a United 787, outbound LHR for Chicago ORD has just passed about 5 miles south of us.

Edited April 12, 2020 by The Stationmaster
trypos

[sncf231e]

 

From the garden,

Regards

Fred

[Barry O]

been for our daily exercise.. now totally cream crackered!

 

Getting a bit warmer ..good!

 

I don't eat Easter Eggs (never really been that fussed).

 

Mugadecaff required then..muddling

Baz

 

PS Rugd - yes I remember Harry O .It was a decent serial as I recall.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Morning.

 

Dull here and spitting on with pleut.

 

Richard, SWMBO informs me it makes no difference as the centre part of the bow (I forget its proper name) isn't actually held at all, but is pulled into the crook of thumb and forefinger by the tension of the draw.  Thus the fingers/thumb are merely resting and taking no weight or tension.  The angle of the draw elbow is something that is discussed, one guy at a shoot recently suggested it should be lower.  Debs tutor (who is the world champion bare bow field archer) reckons it doesn't matter provided it is consistent on shots, it's archery not ballet!  Like any sport there is a lot of conflicting opinion, especially in matters of technique, but what works is the most important.  Debs can't beat her over a shoot in the glen, but does win some bosses against her. (A boss being the 'target').  Lesley really wants Debs to compete, but she has no interest in that, only shooting for fun.  It scares me, it has some power. That's 35lb draw currently IIRC, she is talking about more soon....eek.

Thanks for the explanation.

 

It's very informative and adds to my knowlege bank about the differences and similarities in the various shooting sports.

 

What you say is very true about various individuals wanting one to conform to their theories about hold and position.

 

In shooting there is always an ongoing argument about the point in the breathing cycle at which you pull the trigger.

 

The resting technique to hold the bow in the aim is not dissimilar to shooting where we adopt what is known as an 'artillery' hold.  The gun is held firmly enough so it is stable, but is held loosely enough so that it recoils naturally without being constrained.  Holding it in a tight grip to fight the recoil causes a lot of inconsistency so you get a scattered shot pattern. 

 

I teach 5 round/pellet groups.  Just aiming at the target at the same place.  It doesn't matter where the hole appears!  Once you are getting the holes tightly grouped together, which confirms the shooter is being consistent with hold, we can then adjust the sights, and in effect 'walk' the rounds back towards the centre of the target.

 

It's not rocket science, but common sense: Yet there are some who will blame the sights, the gun, or the ammunition well before they ever consider the problem might be themselves!

 

 

Edited April 12, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[81C]

Morning All 

Scattered cloud 

Very quiet here this morning I had breakfast without the TV, a message to my Babe, a scan of Faceache as I've started to look at it these days in a quiet moment,

 I went to change the duvet cover and woke up 2 hours later the bed was still warm when I pulled it back so I thought sod it and I got back in.

The ceiling has been repaired properly yesterday after I threw out "Botch The Builder" earlier in the year after the water leak painting has commenced on all the repaired

bits and full coverage might go ahead today at a sedate pace I can't see this curfew being lifted just yet so plenty of time on my hands I can take my time and get a

high grade finish with all the painting.  

                                                                  Its lunch time so enjoy your Easter and stay safe  Pie Casso  

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup and Happy Easter. I have put the Easter hunt stuff out for the Lurker boys; it’s a tradition which usually involves the cousins too but they remain in Littleport for obvious reasons. I have also put out some miniatures for Mrs Lurker. She kept hinting that I should!

 

however so far there seems little enthusiasm for the task.

 

We have sourced some lamb for lunch and that is smelling good.

 

oh and one of Mrs Lurker’s friends brought round some face masks for the school; it’s impossible to socially distance when two of you are changing the nappy of the 8 year old cerebral palsy child in the nursery lavs 

 

anyway, have a good day all

Edited April 12, 2020 by The Lurker

[Gwiwer]

Well this is unexpected 

 

Sitting outside with lunch and a large dark cloud has appeared aloft and is thundering at us

 

Perhaps the surf tunes in my “ears” were tempting things a bit too much

 

Caisson has always been Kay-sonn to me but then a helicopter is a helly-copter. When I associated with RNAS Culdrose matelots (their description) they always referred to a Hell-eye. 

 

Weather-watch activated!  

[PhilJ W]

Happy Easter all.

[J. S. Bach]

23 hours ago, Rugd1022 said:

 

'68 Dave, '68...!!! 

No, the 66 had the best styling. A 66 was/is one of the very few muscle cars that I have ever wanted to own. I would even take that body with a 225 slant-six in it!!

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Daily check in duly completed to a slightly improved from yesterday internet speed - still not brilliant, but getting nearer to tolerable.

 

Posts have been read and rated, and Happy Easter greetings are beng sent - again, nice to see that many ERs are checking in - and that some less frequent paticipants are also joining in with the fun.

 

Today was a few jobs in the garden, not major jobs, but the grass got cut (30747) and strimmed (me), and for once the strimmer behaved and didn't need the line to be manually threaded as it didn't break at the exit point of the lines from the spool.  Then had to mend a hinge on the gate which had come undone, and a few other minor tasks also got done - next major task will be to empty the garage, bag up the last of the logs, and to sort out the mess which my boxes of tools etc have become over the winter when you can't be a&sed to put things back properly when you've finished with them, then can't find again when you need them.

 

Time for my (and Lily's) exercise, then a nice steak pie for dinner .

 

Back tomorrow, internet permitting

Regards to All

Stewart.

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl, 

 The neighbour gave up mowing the grass,  he was mowing his sons head instead, sat outside on a chair. 

 

So today I sat in the sun under a cloudless sky sanding the keel board till I was happy with it. 

 

Then Ben the Collie who thinks tyres are balls was confined to barracks for an hour and a half while I mowed some of the grass. 

 

Brownies points were then earnt varnishing the Inkle loom. 

 

After that much yellow snow was generated,  I've just binned a bucket load. 

 

Ben was taken for his long patrol,  which wasn't far he's finding the warmth too much.  At one point he hobbled up-to me and held out his paw.. I removed a thorn.

The sky now has high clouds,  not long before it all gets a lot colder.... 

 

Time I think to inspect eyelids..