Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

13 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Hartland Point should anyone be interested.

 

I was very interested in the "reverse" landward view.  Hartland Point marked, quite literally, a turning point in my walking the 630-mile South West Coast Path.  Upon reaching said location from Bucks Mills (between Westward Ho! and Clovelly) I had completed the entire north coast section of the walk from Minehead to Lands End.  Not in consecutive sections of course.  

 

What I hadn't done was complete the day's walking.  Hartland Point lies a few miles from the village of Hartland itself.  I had another hour-and-a-bit to go up the valley to reach the chippy, the bus stop and finally my transport back to base for that trip which was a holiday let near Holsworthy.  

 

That was a testing day's walk.  Some of it was extremely muddy and slippery.  And it was cold.  But it completed the north coast and not too long afterwards I completed the south coast and the entire 630 miles.   My completion certificates and T-shirt are tangible reminders; the memories and the friends made over the years of walking are the lasting benefits.  

[Happy Hippo]

58 minutes ago, newbryford said:

 

Suitably amended for HH.

 

 

People may cast insults in my direction as they just bounce off my hide.

 

I only bite to show willing.

 

But there are those that one should be very wary of, as there is definitely a GWR Mafia out there.

 

Don Capo stazione might arrange for some bullhead to be planted in your scratcher, just as a mild warning.

[Happy Hippo]

49 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

That was a testing day's walk.  Some of it was extremely muddy and slippery. 

I'd have stopped and refused to go further as it sounds idyllic.

 

Only lots of special cake would tempt me to move on from such luxury!

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

 

Nothing else of note to report but I think that SWMBO has ideas about group housework today. Unfortunately I can't these days invent some urgent need to be away from the house. Bu**er!

Once the current  restrictions are lifted you could get all evangelical and claim to have missionary work to attend to at the Hippodrome.

 

You  just might eventually be 50% successful and convert me to modelling in S7.

 

But on the darker side there is the temptation of BR(W) in O(MF).

 

Please come in and have some special cake............

 

(Off scene whisper to audience, 'Hee hee!  David doesn't know the Obergrumpenfuhrer is a qualified clinical hypnotherapist'.)

 

'Just sit back, relax and watch the pannier going round and round and round................'

[Chris116]

Breakfast was enjoyed, my wife went for her walk that she has to do twice a day after her hip replacement. I follow her with the wheelchair so if she goes further than she should I can get her back home. VERY noticeable how much colder it is today compared to yesterday. Now back home going to have a hot coffee to drink and make an iced coffee for SWMBO. Then washing up and a visit to the local supermarket for some supplies. Already have a tomato cheese pasta in the fridge ready to heat for this evenings meal. 

 

Stay safe everyone. For those who don't like Pannier Tanks, just send them to me and I will give them a good home!

Edited April 13, 2020 by Chris116
I can't type/spell

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Someone INVENTED the word WEED, and then wondered what he could use it for, so he picked on some nice colourful flowers that nature provided in his garden.

Long live weeds is what I say to my Garden.

Weeds = unwanted plants. I want all of my plants;  therefore, I have no weeds!

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

I have had to skip a few pages, so not all posts read and rated - there is still a very real slowness to my internet, but primarily on this site where I can wait minutes between pages - however, as usual, checking in and offering the usual generic greetings and hope that all are well.

 

More painting today, the back patio was looking a bit tatty in places, even though it was stone painted only a few months ago, and the patio floor was also looking very very jaded - unfortunately, we have tins and tins of stone paint, as I bought two for one at Homebase, then picked up three for a tenner at the A6 car boot last year - so we had five, but we got our builder to repaint the gable end, which used up about three of them,  also and more unfortunate, 30747 "found" the "missing" floor paint.  We are currently accessing the back garden by going round the front and through the side gate while the floor paint dries - it takes about four hours.  My back is now aching, so a nice bath has been had.

 

Dinner is going to be pork loin chops with stuffing and roast potatoes - how do I know - I'm making some of it.

 

Back tomorrow, internet permitting.

Regards to All

Stewart

[45156]

ps - 30747's consultant didn't phone, and we were very surprised when it was suggested that he might, as she only had the tests starting at 11.15 on Thursday, then there was Good Friday, the weekend, and today is Easter Monday, so there is a pretty strong chance that the lab is working on a lot of other people's tests, and anyway when the bloods were done, the sister said "sometime on Monday", and the MRI people said Tuesday at the earliest.

[iL Dottore]

I was having a tidy up of...   No, correct that: I was attempting to tidy up part of the workshop and came across some gear just so totally appropriate for these times...

I reckon this should see me OK when I venture out amongst the disease riddled streets of Switzerland (Ha Ha!). Definitely Zombie Apocalypse grade protection!

 

It's the most protective of a number of different types of masks I bought for when I spray enamel in the workshop (which, despite having a filtration unit in the workshop, the place still stinks of paint and solvent after I spray, so I've taken to spraying outdoors in nice-ish weathr [best after rain, so the dust has been damped down]).

 

Totally an "I'm An Old [semi-] retired Git" day:  wandered around the internet, baked a french apple cake, made a BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwich for Mrs iD, did some muddling and killed zombies on the playstation, now off to play a little geetar, do my PT exercises and then prep for dinner (potato, pea and mushroom curry, roti).

 

Have a splendid day

 

iD

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by iL Dottore
typo

[polybear]

56 minutes ago, 45156 said:

.......there is still a very real slowness to my internet, but primarily on this site where I can wait minutes between pages .....

 

 

So it's not just mine then...... 

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where it is windy and cloudy.

 

we noticed the drop in temperature when we went for a constitutional earlier. Younger Lurker who is extremely skinny (he just about makes the 1st percentile on those weight - height charts for his age) had to give up scootering because his hands were so cold he needed to put them on his pockets!

 

i spent a profitable time shredding old documents- I don’t need insurance renewal quotes from 2004 or the British Gas home care document for every year since then.

 

i did find details of a with profits life insurance policy with my first wife. It matured a few years ago so I may actually be due a payment.

 

have a good day all 

[Simon G]

Afternoon all, just in for another rest after completing lawn mowing.

 

In the last day, I have tried two new ideas, one successful and one not.  The failure was to try to speed up the boot time on my ageing desktop PC.  I had downloaded Microsoft Autoruns, and it seemed to give me a long list of items that loaded during the boot up.  I went down the list to disable many of the program based ones, but carefully (I thought) leaving system ones.  Net result was that the PC failed to start Windows on reboot.  Fortunately I had planned for this eventuality as have a second hard disk in the PC that is a clone of the first.  Disks swapped, system booted off the old one, and the system re-cloned back onto the non working one.  System now back to where it was before I messed it up!

 

The successful item was to remove the support stake from an Apple tree in the garden.  It is long past being needed to support the tree, but It just couldn’t pull it out.  Even violently wiggling it about didn’t loosen it much.  To finally shift it, I got an old car jack from the garage, a brick, a piece of rope and a hammer and nail.  These were combined to Jack the stake up out of the ground.  As the stake was about 50cm into the ground, I had to remove the nail and reposition it lower down , but the job was done with great ease in the end.

 

Photo of arrangement:

 

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Chris116 said:

Breakfast was enjoyed, my wife want for her walk that she has to do twice a day after her hip replacement. I follow her with the wheelchair so if she goes

Chris,

 

Think tactical!

 

Get her to push you around in the wheelchair.

 

It would give her some support, twice as much exercise and you'd get  a nice rest.

 

All you'd need would be a nice green blanket, a thermos of tea and(of course) a large small  tin of cake

 

Between slurps and munches you could make suitable noises and pretend you were a GWR liveried pannier tank.

 

'No vicar,  my husband does not suffer from flatulence, it's his vacuum pump.'

Edited April 13, 2020 by Happy Hippo
Additional text

[Chris116]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

Chris,

 

Think tactical!

 

Get her to push you around in the wheelchair.

 

It would give her some support, twice as much exercise and you'd get  a nice rest.

 

All you'd need would be a nice green blanket, a thermos of tea and(of course) a large small  tin of cake

 

Between slurps and munches you could make suitable noises and pretend you were a GWR liveried pannier tank.

SWMBO says she has two sticks to shove...... 

Edited April 13, 2020 by Chris116
Spelling Mistake!

[Happy Hippo]

37 minutes ago, Simon G said:

The successful item was to remove the support stake from an Apple tree in the garden.  It is long past being needed to support the tree, but It just couldn’t pull it out.  Even violently wiggling it about didn’t loosen it much.  To finally shift it, I got an old car jack from the garage, a brick, a piece of rope and a hammer and nail.  These were combined to Jack the stake up out of the ground. 

I wonder what the outcome would have been if GDB had tried such an operation?

[jamie92208]

14 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I wonder what the outcome would have been if GDB had tried such an operation?

However remember that Simon is a retired Elf and Safety professional.  I don't think that GDB is..........

 

Jamie

[southern42]

7 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Polly, Dandelions are only flowers of nature.

 

Someone INVENTED the word WEED, and then wondered what he could use it for, so he picked on some nice colourful flowers that nature provided in his garden.

 

Long live weeds is what I say to my Garden.

 

Ah, but Dandelion flowers, bless 'em, turn into and shed 100s and 1000s of seeds and we don't want them competing with the grass seed, now, do we?  Haha.

 

Toot on the flute not so cute.

Bike ride on the spot - not: loud hedge cutters and lawnmower in neighbour's garden disturbing the peace not mention dust and pollen. 

M*d*ll*ng job done and dusted for now.

 

 

Yes, indeedy, Mike (SM), more rhubarb crumble and custard to tonight...and tomorrow!   Hope HWMBO does not expect pudding every night! 

 

Time to get the rest of the recycling ready for tomorrow's collection and see if I can put in that bike ride on the spot before the sun goes down.

 

Keep safe.

_________

Best wishes

Polly

 

 

 

 

[grandadbob]

Funnily enough I was responsible for Elf n Safety at the various branches I managed and had a pretty good record. My personal record is not quite as bad as it seems but because of a couple or 3  head banging and bleeding incidents it's been blown up out of all proportion.

Nobody here will ever believe that of course.  

[JohnDMJ]

13 minutes ago, southern42 said:

 

Ah, but Dandelion flowers, bless 'em, turn into and shed 100s and 1000s of seeds and we don't want them competing with the grass seed, now, do we?  Haha.

 

 

Can always make dandelion wine!

[grandadbob]

1 hour ago, Happy Hippo said:

I wonder what the outcome would have been if GDB had tried such an operation?

 

The stake would have remained where it was, the tree would have been uprooted and the jack damaged beyond repair! 

[tigerburnie]

25 minutes ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

Can always make dandelion wine!

or a coffee substitute from the roots apparently....not tried it though

[TheQ]

Iirc the  Dandilion was not a native UK plant, but was introduced from Spain as a garden flower.

Adding too many leaves to your salad may not be a good idea, as one of the country names was piss-the-bed. They have a serious diuretic effect... 

 

Work on the keel was not much,  as I had forgotten yesterday to glue two pieces of foam together to make it wide enough.  It's now sitting under weights to set. 

 

The inkle loom was completed and is under test,  I'll include a picture when I remember. Many brownie points gained. 

 

After that it was on to Bhein Gott on Tiree where once they started building a radar station,  for which I have a 12V 4 RPM motor to rotate the antenna at the correct speed,  yes in my imaginings I will complete the job with a radar I'm anciently qualified to work on.  Much more yellow snow produced in the making of it. 

 

This brings me to Hartland point which also had a radar station of a similar type  ,  and during WW2 was a development site and highly secret.  Arthur C Clarke was at one point stationed there during WW2.. 

 

And so to a picture of an electric motor. 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2020 by TheQ

[AndyID]

9 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Prior to 1974 when the 55 limit came in there were no day time limits. In 1995 after the repeal of 55, “reasonable and prudent” speeds returned until 1999. 

 

 

It was probably 97 returning from visiting Yogi at Jellystone.

 

[AndrewC]

29 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

It was probably 97 returning from visiting Yogi at Jellystone.

 

My best run was on highway 287 from Choteau to Augusta. 100 miles exactly according to the road sign. 55 minutes. 

[Ozexpatriate]

21 hours ago, AndyID said:

When we came here Montana still had no daytime speed limit. I remember hammering along in our Ford Crown Vic. The snag was the speedometer stopped at 85 so I had no idea how fast I was going. Probably around 110.

 

10 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Prior to 1974 when the 55 limit came in there were no day time limits. In 1995 after the repeal of 55, “reasonable and prudent” speeds returned until 1999.

The national 55mph limit certainly inspired Sammy Hagar. 

 

I only occasionally drove the Ford Crown Victoria. Back in the day Hertz only rented Fords: Escort (compact), Tempo (mid-size), Taurus (full-size) and Crown Victoria (premium). I remember one road trip across Indiana in a Crown Victoria. I think I went 400 miles without refueling. It was a boat.

 

The Tempo was an awful car - ugly and gutless.