Early Risers.

[polybear]

59 minutes ago, Kingzance said:

I would hope that the whining bearded owner of the Virgin Empire is unsuccessful in his pleas for government loans from his luxurious isolation on his offshore tax haven when other businesses in the UK are under such threats - businesses that don’t avoid taxes and believe in this country and it’s people! I think he should be contacted by HMG and told two words, the second being off, but the again, no doubt he will offer free first class travel to get the decision in his favour.

 

 

The downside would be (a) an awful lot of people out of work, and (b) the loss of a significant airline, meaning less competition for the others (such as BA) and therefore a real risk of higher prices.  Also, and if the idea of keeping middle seats on airlines empty goes ahead and is around for some time then it's easy to see that prices for the remaining seats are likely to increase significantly.

[southern42]

6 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Good morning all,

A sunny and fresh start here and it should be a fine day with temperatures up to 17°C

Today I will (hopefully) be playing with small wheeled toys and running them around parallel strips of metal. As to which will form the inaugural service has yet to be decided Mike. It might be green but then again, shock, horror, it might be blue!

Before that however "we" have decided that we should go for a walk because of the lack of exercise we are getting. I have been banging on about this for about 3 weeks but "somebody" didn't want to go out because the first time we tried it someone walked too close to Herself although they were about 6 feet away. Let's hope today's walk  goes better.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Hi Bob, I was in the same situation - after up to 3 days a week spent on the Conwy Valley Railway, I was way down on my weekly exercise.  My bike on the spot ride is making up for some of it.  The other is made by putting on some upbeat music and "stepping" to it (I would not call it dancing - I am no dancer by any stroke of the paintbrush).  It is amazing how my health App has gone up in steps/miles per day!  So, boiling the kettle, waiting for the stuff to cook in the oven - a bit of reggae, rock, whatever, and the body is moving with it.

 

My toot on the flute is, hopefully, doing the same to lungs and lung capacity, although if my playing is anything to go by, it is a rather slow process!    Mind you, I am starting to hang onto the last note of a (short!) piece of music, now.

 

________

Polly

Edited April 20, 2020 by southern42
usual typos!

[Kingzance]

53 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

The downside would be (a) an awful lot of people out of work, and (b) the loss of a significant airline, meaning less competition for the others (such as BA) and therefore a real risk of higher prices.  Also, and if the idea of keeping middle seats on airlines empty goes ahead and is around for some time then it's easy to see that prices for the remaining seats are likely to increase significantly.

No doubt that there could be some redundancies as a result and prices could rise but I will stress the “could” in that. What is certain however is that the growth in airline travel has been exponential since the start of this millennium, creating an exponential rise in pollution from it too.
 

In my mind there will be some sort of reset once Covid-19 is under control and that may well mean we collectively are unwilling to accept the levels of pollution that became the norm up to the end of last year. Air travel is only part of that I know and air freight makes a significant contribution although Beardy’s outfits don’t have a main freight arm as far as I know. The majority of the generation in which I grew up didn’t seem to have as much free (holiday) time or apparently so much money they could take multiple holidays as seems to be the norm these days and pollution levels were certainly less.

 

Certainly easy, wide scale and rapid transport, as provided by air, will have had a part in spreading this disease from its start in China.

[Happy Hippo]

Some one has just noticed that there was no cleaning onslaught performed today.

 

I did think that the propeller would be dispersing dung at a high rate of revolutions, but things seem quite calm at the moment.

 

I'm off on my bike shortly for my daily fix of exercise.

 

On my return I'm fully expecting tomorrow's tasking list to include some less than salubrious work.

 

I'm going outside now, and I may be sometime...........

Edited April 20, 2020 by Happy Hippo

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Ploughing through Farcebook I came across this.>>

http://www.thisisnorthcornwall.com/hunter-aircraft-crash.html?fbclid=IwAR30uf20VfTfxGkf_7QeYmK0JiokTSrgDe6MaVyKB0KNFxUQOtgyOFDpKUw

I think Dave might possibly recall hearing of the incident. Fortunately there were no deaths or injuries as a result even though one chap was up a ladder against the side of one of the buildings struck by the aircraft. The same probably could not be said about his underwear though.

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, roundhouse said:

There is talk of pubs not reopening till xmas. If that is the case then I cant see many being around to reopen. The news mentioned that Cornwall could lose 80% of its businesses if it cant reopen in time for Summer holidays.

 

So far this is conjecture.  I suspect it has something to do with a certain "news" paper famed more for exposing female anatomy than actual news.  We simply don't know.  But we do know that the entire brewing industry has made representations about the stockpile of unsold beer.  Being a yeast-based product there are some implications for dumping it by the dray-load.  Not many pubs have been able to adapt to the takeaway or delivery models.  Microbreweries are especially vulnerable.  The government may well be taking these things into consideration.  

 

I am not an expert and this is only a personal opinion but it would seem that once movement guidelines are eased then many pubs should be able to open on a two-per-table basis and (as per Sweden) no drinking at the bar.  That reduces the risk of infection being spread because fewer people are involved.

 

Cornwall is already at risk of losing its entire season.  With events being cancelled as far ahead as July already and advice from some quarters being given to not book for summer "just yet" there are some very nervous business owners.  Not just the hotel / B&B / Airbnb markets who have been forced to close but the likes of Paradise Park in Hayle, headquarters of the World Parrot Trust, a world-acclaimed breeding sanctuary for rare and endangered species and (in order to pay the bills for those) a tourist attraction - which also has a pub attached.  I know the Reynolds family who own the park have set up an appeal to keep hungry beaks and mouths fed but it isn't on the A-list and there is a real danger of the park closing and its work having to be abandoned if there is no gate income fairly soon.  

 

In the meantime I have used today's sunny weather to capture the video required for a virtual exhibition and will need to spend tomorrow splicing it together before overdubbing the audio.  15 minutes of fame comes at quite a cost in terms of time and uses up most of the camera's memory card!  

 

Sister is back at "work" being a SENTA from her lounge and Zooming with her special needs exam-year teenagers.  As she says the job is "basically arguing with teenagers for money" but is temporarily "arguing online with teenagers for money"  

 

SWMBO continues to feel poorly but not as bad as yesterday.  She has given me a list of potential conditions none of which in any way relates to (nor should be exacerbated by) the Current Lurgy. Removing certain items from her diet and enjoying a bottle of Gaviscon seems to be calming things down.  

 

All the best to all ERs and their families.  There is always support here if needed.  

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl, 

 According to the nearest weather station we have reached a Massive 10C, with blues sky's and a distinct lack of clouds.  Not a lot between us and siberia.

 

The keel was sanded,  giving aches in other places than my hand,  then the other side of the keel was filled . It's now setting..   

 

 

Then to the MhRC  where a heat gun was taken to some plaster that was refusing to set.  Other tasks on things unmentionable were carried out.  

 

Ben the demanding Collie wanted his long walk in the strong wind,  on return,  several things for the building of tiny radars were awaiting in the post box.

 

 The plaster was heated again with the hot air blower. It's now set if damp,  it may yet get heated again. 

 

The main meal has been had,  the testing of eyelids is to follow.. 

[tigerburnie]

My understanding is Branson wants a loan not free money, so if he has to repay it with interest, isn't that a good idea?

[grandadbob]

3 hours ago, southern42 said:

 

Hi Bob, I was in the same situation - after up to 3 days a week spent on the Conwy Valley Railway, I was way down on my weekly exercise.  My bike on the spot ride is making up for some of it.  The other is made by putting on some upbeat music and "stepping" to it (I would not call it dancing - I am no dancer by any stroke of the paintbrush).  It is amazing how my health App has gone up in steps/miles per day!  So, boiling the kettle, waiting for the stuff to cook in the oven - a bit of reggae, rock, whatever, and the body is moving with it.

 

 Polly, "dancing" and I do not and will never mix. After a few drinks I have been known to sway with the music but that's about it!  We did go for a walk but only slowly and after about half an hour I'd had enough as my hip was paining me somewhat. We'll have another go tomorrow.

 

After that some time was spent in  The Shed so here is something for Mike.

 

"Drizzling" Castle on the inaugural run

 

And I believe "a Pannier never offends." 

 

Now celebrating with a pint of Tribute.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by grandadbob

[Gwiwer]

 

Not just water-boiling locomotions but GREEN ones!!!

 

On the other hand 

1 minute ago, grandadbob said:

celebrating with a pint of Tribute.

is hard to argue with.  Cheers 

[grandadbob]

Oops, nearly gorfot, this is where I'm at. A long way to go yet.

 

 

 

 

 

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

 

So far this is conjecture.  I suspect it has something to do with a certain "news" paper famed more for exposing female anatomy than actual news.  We simply don't know.  But we do know that the entire brewing industry has made representations about the stockpile of unsold beer.  Being a yeast-based product there are some implications for dumping it by the dray-load.  Not many pubs have been able to adapt to the takeaway or delivery models.  Microbreweries are especially vulnerable.  The government may well be taking these things into consideration.  

 

I am not an expert and this is only a personal opinion but it would seem that once movement guidelines are eased then many pubs should be able to open on a two-per-table basis and (as per Sweden) no drinking at the bar.  That reduces the risk of infection being spread because fewer people are involved.

 

 

I am certainly hoping that this is just scaremongering and hoping that some partial reopening is worked out inline with what you say and also where pubs have gardens there is a chance of setting up something similar. Our local pub that does takewawy has a fantastic garden that's currently locked but that would be ideal for doing something sensible. Its this garden why it closed for redevelopment a few years back and when planning was rejected it became a community pub. Down side is that its the other end of town but at least it gives us a reason for exercise!

 

Just got back from Sainsburys and used the upper car park for the first time. No queue either today so much better but it really does wind me up when someone is on their mobile letting the scanned items pile up so the cashier could not scan any more items then the customer decides to start packing the purchase one handed thereby making the queue much longer. I was ready to swear at her and the staff were getting irritated as they were waiting for the customer to finish packing then pay before the cashier changed shift. Very inconsiderate in these times and it was general chitchat not something more urgent.

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, roundhouse said:

 

Been in the shed setting up a new Pc that is now generally working as required with just working out how to get it to talk with the network storage. 

 

 

Ah yes NAS - as in "Not Attached Storage". The one we have was made by a well known disk drive manufacturer that starts with "S" which is appropriate because it is a piece of s***.

 

The latest insult is that it is impossible to manage it under Windows10. In fact their support page warns you to NEVER press the reset button on the thing. If you do it's sayonara.

 

I think I'll admit defeat and just buy an external SSD with a USB connector. 

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, AndrewC said:

The stats around the per capita deaths in the UK is highly skewed as the testing is not spread evenly through the population.

Per capita excess deaths don't involve testing - other than for the people who have died. It is simply people who died with / because of COVID-19 divided by the population. Nothing to do with testing the whole population, or meaningful samples thereof.

 

Confirmed case data is indeed meaningless because of the testing problem you highlight.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

Oops, nearly gorfot, this is where I'm at. A long way to go yet.

 

 

 

 

 

Nice!

BTW it looks like that last coach is about to come a cropper on the facing crossover.

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

My understanding is Branson wants a loan not free money, so if he has to repay it with interest, isn't that a good idea?

So why is he not going to a bank?

[Coombe Barton]

1 minute ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

So why is he not going to a bank?

Isn't there a Virgin banking arm?

[Joseph_Pestell]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

The downside would be (a) an awful lot of people out of work, and (b) the loss of a significant airline, meaning less competition for the others (such as BA) and therefore a real risk of higher prices.  Also, and if the idea of keeping middle seats on airlines empty goes ahead and is around for some time then it's easy to see that prices for the remaining seats are likely to increase significantly.

 

This idea of not using the middle seat is just stupid tokenism. One will still be well within 2 metres of passengers in front and behind. And the way that air is recirculated in an aircraft probably means that you could be infected by someone at the other end of the plane.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, Kingzance said:

No doubt that there could be some redundancies as a result and prices could rise but I will stress the “could” in that. What is certain however is that the growth in airline travel has been exponential since the start of this millennium, creating an exponential rise in pollution from it too.
 

In my mind there will be some sort of reset once Covid-19 is under control and that may well mean we collectively are unwilling to accept the levels of pollution that became the norm up to the end of last year. Air travel is only part of that I know and air freight makes a significant contribution although Beardy’s outfits don’t have a main freight arm as far as I know. The majority of the generation in which I grew up didn’t seem to have as much free (holiday) time or apparently so much money they could take multiple holidays as seems to be the norm these days and pollution levels were certainly less.

 

Certainly easy, wide scale and rapid transport, as provided by air, will have had a part in spreading this disease from its start in China.

 

The "pre virus" model cannot be sustained indefinitely. It was only a matter of time before it went twang. It just went twang a lot sooner than anyone expected.

[AndyID]

5 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

This idea of not using the middle seat is just stupid tokenism. One will still be well within 2 metres of passengers in front and behind. And the way that air is recirculated in an aircraft probably means that you could be infected by someone at the other end of the plane.

 

I understand that the air filtration system in aircraft is considerably better than your typical supermarket. 

[roundhouse]

29 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Ah yes NAS - as in "Not Attached Storage". The one we have was made by a well known disk drive manufacturer that starts with "S" which is appropriate because it is a piece of s***.

 

The latest insult is that it is impossible to manage it under Windows10. In fact their support page warns you to NEVER press the reset button on the thing. If you do it's sayonara.

 

I think I'll admit defeat and just buy an external SSD with a USB connector. 

Ours works fine with anything but Win10 pro. its probably just me not used to Win 10 pro as this is only my 2nd pc with it on. WIn 10 home is fine. Its not really needed but  nice to have it connected just incase.

21 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Per capita excess deaths don't involve testing - other than for the people who have died. It is simply people who died with / because of COVID-19 divided by the population. Nothing to do with testing the whole population, or meaningful samples thereof.

 

Confirmed case data is indeed meaningless because of the testing problem you highlight.

 

The big issue here in the UK is that only those tested positive and die in hospital are counted as Covid 19 deaths. Anyone in care homes or anywhere else isn't counted even if they did die of the virus.

 

Just eaten a non essential item - Easter egg but it was purchased at the time of buying essential items so its legit. Tomorrow I am going to buy plants and compost but it is allowable as I will be getting eggs etc for Mum.  Sainsburys only had one pack of broken eggs left.

[Kingzance]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

Nice!

BTW it looks like that last coach is about to come a cropper on the facing crossover.

No Andy, that's a special Grand Dancing Brake coach! 

[Ozexpatriate]

47 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

The big issue here in the UK is that only those tested positive and die in hospital are counted as Covid 19 deaths. Anyone in care homes or anywhere else isn't counted even if they did die of the virus.

Thanks Ian. Baz made that point as well.

21 hours ago, Barry O said:

Interesting enough the figure quoted for the uk are for hospitals alone. The ONS do provide data on total deaths but they are not sure about the exact figures.

Counting people whose deaths were accelerated by COVID-19 in care homes, will only make the numbers go up.

 

They are counted in the US data and represent a significant percentage - reportedly 25% in New York.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[AndyID]

35 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Ours works fine with anything but Win10 pro. its probably just me not used to Win 10 pro as this is only my 2nd pc with it on. WIn 10 home is fine. 

 

But will it still work with Windows12?

 

I'll probably keep using ours as a media server. We can access all our photos and music from every device including the TVs. But in future we won't depend on it for data archival.

[Ozexpatriate]

8 hours ago, Kingzance said:

I find it even more easy to get wound up in the present climate, ...

I know how you feel as is probably obvious from my posts lately.

 

I am lucky that I usually sleep well, though occasionally I don't. Last night was one of those nights and I woke up around 4:00am dreaming intensely after about three hours sleep. I'm feeling an unattributed high baseline of anxiety today and am not sure why.

 

It is otherwise a beautiful day - very sunny and headed towards about 20°C. We had a little rain on Saturday morning. more is forecast for Wednesday. We need it, lest we have one of our driest Aprils on record.

 

Edited April 20, 2020 by Ozexpatriate