Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've just heard that they are opening a new Nightingale Hospital in Glasgow:

 

Known as 'ICU Jimmy'.

Despite the urgent need for a groan button I must change my habits and come to the defence of our resident Pachyderm this once. Earlier on he pleaded his innocence regarding suggestions about inside valve gear. For one, mlud, he is innocent. The co-conspirator that I was referring to is not an ER but does follow my layout thread and likes crimson lake locomotives.

 

Jamie

Edited April 21, 2020 by jamie92208

[Erichill16]

Just read on BBC that Kim Jung Un may be ‘seriously ill’ or ‘BRAIN DEAD’. I wonder how long he’s been is this state and  I wonder if it effects any other world leaders?

regards Robert

[AndyB]

Talking of cash point machines...

 

Mid 80s as an undergraduate I shared lodgings with a Yorkshire lad.

 

One lunchtime he went to the local bank and got a £5 out of the ATM. For whatever reason he got distracted and left without his money. Later realising his mistake he goes back to look for it at the machine.  No chance! 

Into the bank he goes to ask if his fiver had been handed in. 

 

"Can you describe it?" asks the young female cashier, innocently. 

 

"It were rather blue and crIspy."

 

We all loved this guy. 

 

 

 

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where we have what I always think of as seaside weather - it is sunny but the breeze means it is cooler than you feel it should be.

 

We had mice in the building we used to be in - I think they got disturbed by the renovation works on one of the other floors. One was found, deceased, the toaster one morning. Presumably before someone had made some toast. Funnily enough the office manager acquired a replacement toaster post haste.

 

When I joined, it was only a few years after an MBO and some things were still done on a tight budget (not the traders' bonuses of course). At the end of my first week, the same office manager came round to make sure that I was sitting properly in the ergonomic office chair. She spent a good 5 minutes setting it up for me"properly"; the only trouble was the desk was so low that I could not get my legs under the desk (I'm 6' 2). "Leave it with me" she said"i'll have it sorted by Monday morning". And true to her word, she had got it sorted. My desk stood on 4 blocks of wood, as did the desks adjacent to mine. And thus my back was saved from unnecessary aches and pains....! Nowadays,in the office I have a desk that can be raised or lowered at the push of a button and so can be used standing. At home I have a standard desk that is slightly too low...and an aching back!

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all.  Where were we?  

 

Quote

7 hours ago, TheQ said:

I suppose you could want me to muddle that on the railway cuttings I'm doing at the moment 

 

It depends.  That's Ormiston Gorge, Northern Territory of Australia.  Quite a long way from anywhere and anything much and with the nearest railway at Alice Springs.  If you're muddling through a whole lot of red desert then yes, why not?  

 

Quote

Govt in UK should have refused access to schools to unvaccinated children, requiring the parents to pay out for home-tutoring.

 

I'm pretty sure there was no vaccine available to us at the time but having had Measles, Mumps (twice) and Chicken Pox (which isn't included in the MMR triple vaccine) I wouldn't recommend them to anyone.  The whole lot went around the school class and we awaited out turn, in a sense, then got bored and frustrated at the length of confinement at home.  At least after that lot I should have developed some nerd immunity!  

 

Quote

At 2350 last night

 

 That's ten-to-tomorrow   

 

Quote

that frisson of excitement that besets us in anticipation of our purchase and we fail to check the order.

 

Hmmm.  I don't recall a frisson of excitement.  Just relief that a source of fresh fruit and veg had accepted an order.  I had to look carefully at the site when I returned to even find the "uncheck box" button and remove the weekly order.  My guess being that the business concerned, normally a supplier to the hotel and catering trade, has very quickly set up a retail delivery page to re-focus the business and refinement of the web form wasn't their priority.  

 

Quote

I found peanut butter to be the most effective mouse bait; it works on rats too

 

Chocloate or peanut butter work far better than the traditional lump of cheese.  I came to the conclusion long ago that mice and possibly rats all suffer from lactose intolerance   Peanut Butter, incidentally, is also the best thing for getting possums out of somewhere you don't want them.  In Australia they may neither be trapped nor moved more than (IIRC) 200m from where they are found (and that only by a licensed handler) but you can get them out of house walls and roofs where they cause a lot of noise and nuisance by laying a trail and blocking the entry points behind them.  

 

In other news SWMBO is up and about again and has determined that her discomforts were due to a degree of lactose intolerance; she has been using semi-skimmed milk while almond has been unavailable but we have supplies again now.  

 

A beautiful afternoon has followed a sunny morning with a chill wind Upon the Hill of Strawberries.  I intend to take full advantage of the weather later by enjoying some of the nation's surplus ale whilst sat on the lawn.  

 

Best wishes to one and all.

 

[AndrewC]

Of mice and, errr more mice. 

 

About 10 years ago on a cold and stormy night SWMBO opened the door to feed the bin. Voom, in popped a mouse at warp 6. Voom, boB the cat (the world's most scared moggie) hit warp 9 from the front room. Mouse managed to get about 2 metres inside and whump. No more mouse. 

 

Mouse 2. Middle of the night, SWMBO goes downstairs for some water. Hears a funny noise, turns on light. Mouse wandering in the front room. Oscar the cat, watching but doing nothing. Cat yawns, and wanders off to sleep. Muggins here, removes mouse by the tail gently. 

 

Mouse 3. Afternoon time. Watching telly apres work. Tiggr the cat playing gently with one of the many stuffed catnip mice under the table. SWMBO arrives home. Gives Tiggr a pet on the head. Stuffed mouse wanders away from the cat. Ooops. Mouse again removed gently. Remaining stuffed mice checked to make sure they were not real. 

 

Mice 4,5 Skeletal remains found in the drop ceiling of the bathroom when it was being gutted during renovations 2 years ago. Yuk. Likely to have been there since the bathroom was put in sometime in the 70s. 

 

 

[45156]

Afternoon All,

 

Have had to skip a few pages, as tried again to get a bank statement, and also to visit Wilkos in Lancaster.  The latter was achieved, but with a 45 minute queue, as they are operating a one out one in policy, and I think that for a store with two floors, they are only allowing a maximum of 7 customers.  They have very very little supply of wood/fence paint,but I amanged to get a litre of Cuprinol in the correct shade, and they did have dog's toothpaste, which we were planning to buy on Amazon, and Wilkos was actually cheaper.  The former - less said the better.

 

So it's generic greetings as usual, but not all posts have been read - sorry.

 

When 30747 went out for her walk, she checked the outside mailbox, to find a letter from a ten year old called Georgie, who was so grateful for some of the stuff which we're putting out for anybody to take, and he or she - we suspect she, took a paint box and a "how to draw anything" book, and we were so moved to get it, that it encourged 30747 to find mores stuff.  People are starting to bring jigsaws back, and to take books while putting others in their place.

 

So then I got on with a bit of outside work, and the wind got up, and the new wood paint blew off the top of the bin, the lid came off, and I wound up using it off the floor to get the job finished, then had to get the new Karcher out to get the mess which was left blasted off of the path - it did the job in a trice.  Amazing.

 

Back tomorrow, hopefully.

Regards to All

Stewart

[Ian Abel]

Moaning all...

Managed to miss RMWeb on Moanday altogether <sigh>

 

Nothing happening whatsoever, including at the "client", presently all quiet on that eastern front.

They DID however reach out to me first thing today, just to let me know they're now focused on their March Financials and will contact me if/when changes are needed.

 

We received our grocery delivery as scheduled Sunday evening, only a couple of items shorted from the list, so we're "fine" I guess, though wine supplies are starting to get low, needs addressing!

Our governor is still managing to keep the "stupid element" at bay and not bowing to having the virus get a free run on the state. Sadly, South Dakota, with NO "shelter in place" rules has started seeing a very large uptick - they neighbor us to the south west, hopefully they'll all stay put, though that's unlikely

 

Weather generally lovely here, though still chilly by UK standards. -2 this AM, but 9 the high today.

 

Stay safe and sensible everyone...

[Barry O]

If those nice large ladies were to pay a tax at the point of sale (or delivery) just think how much that Tax would help the UK rather than lining the (already stuffed to the gills) pockets of the owner... and yes I don't buy anything off them as I don't like their business model. There are others who make large profits and "pay their taxes" ..as TUI would say..Yeh! Right!

 

Baz

[Shedman5]

7 hours ago, AndrewC said:

That sounds like me 4 weeks ago. I did substitute single malt for the ice lollies though. A good long gargle basically killed off any sensation in my throat for at least an hour. Did you get the tight chest and breathing restriction?

 

Good to see you back and posting though. Take it easy, take it slow. 

 

Hi, yep tight chest on days 2 and 3 breathing shallow on day 2.  As for taking it easy I am not allowed to do much at all, following orders from other half. To be honest I feel like  I have just run a marathon and thats about an hour after getting up!

At least I have plenty of books to read sat in the garden, thank goodness for the nice weather!

 

Alan

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Apparently I'm an old fart. I went to Tess and Coes this morning for some essential shopping and instead of having to go to the back of the (quite short) queue I was waved straight in. It appears that Tesco's have decided that seniors do not have to wait. So now I'm stocked up for the next five days or so and I even managed to get a dozen eggs.  

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl,  

I found a mouse shorted out.  Inside one of those round mains junction boxes. 

We miss Twix the honorary dog,  aka a cat,  she was a most efficient mouser and rabbiter.

 

The keel mould was sanded..  And sanded..  And sanded,  it got smooth enough to be slippery to hold.

Hence now it's setting with just one side given a small final coat of filler as its wedged in place, to hold it on the workbench. 

 

Then to the MhRC  a little varnish rain fell on something unmentionable. 

 

Then  to the garden,  where in clear skies with 30mph to 40mph winds at a huge temperature of 11C, I've started fallen tree clearance.  They've been waiting some time.  One barrow load of logs produced and two barrows of twiggy bits for the bonfire. 

 

Our friend who delivers our essential foods for us, went missing on the phone for several days... She had accidentally turned it to silent . We were getting quite worried about her. 

 

Then back to create more varnish rain.. 

After which I sat studying the layout and visualising the final appearance,  a eyelid inspection occurred during this. I worked out I need to make about 150 security fence posts,  the type with the angled top and three strands of barbed wire up there.  So I've just ordered 5 M of 1mm square wire. To emulate 6inch square posts. 

 

 

 

[AndyID]

5 hours ago, The Lurker said:

Potatoes to Idaho? That's like coals to Newcastle isn't it?

 

Good catch sir! But they don't grow them anywhere near here. The tatty fields are all in the southern end of the state (which is even in another time-zone.)

 

If Tiger is watching perhaps he can advise us if they still have "tatty holidays" in Angus or have the child labor laws put an end to that? I used to be quite envious of my cousins in Brechin.

[Tony_S]

The last time we went out for shopping was in the middle of March. We have just almost run out of bread flour, even if it was  in stock when we ordered it for our  supermarket online order  it wasn’t by the time it was picked. So DPD have just delivered a package from a flour mill containing bread and other types of flour. Packet of yeast too. 
Tony

Edited April 21, 2020 by Tony_S

[roundhouse]

We had a delay in running the garden railway today due to animals on the line

 

But we eventually did get goods moving

 

And the halt has had a coat of paint but still requires a bit more before the passenger services recommence

Edited April 21, 2020 by roundhouse

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

More Shed time today and a bit more done although I hit a couple of snags and had to redo a couple of joints. My soldering is quite primitive TBH. Never had a problem with plumbing joints but electrickery ones cause me aggro. So do my knee, back and hip at the moment. Surprisingly my head has not been banged lately so that at least is OK.

Currently drinking Ruddles which I've not had for quite some time but I managed to get a case online a couple of weeks ago when things were a bit short. It'll do for now but at least I still have a case and a half of Tribute to fall back on.

Homemade pasties on the menu tonight, not quite  "Proper Job" ones but I like them.

Cheers 

Edited April 21, 2020 by grandadbob

[tigerburnie]

1 hour ago, AndyID said:

 

Good catch sir! But they don't grow them anywhere near here. The tatty fields are all in the southern end of the state (which is even in another time-zone.)

 

If Tiger is watching perhaps he can advise us if they still have "tatty holidays" in Angus or have the child labor laws put an end to that? I used to be quite envious of my cousins in Brechin.

Tattie fortnight is still a school holiday, but everything is fully automated, never see any people on the fields let alone children, the fields round our village are harvested and most go to Brechin to Albert Bartletts sheds for sorting and packaging, mostly eastern European labour there I believe.

[JohnDMJ]

 

 

 

11 hours ago, Kingzance said:

Morning,

I am concerned that there seems to be an ER virus starting to invisibly and inexorably creep around. It first gained a foothold in a Sutton shed and now has infected a Durham missionary converting Yorkshire people to true frugality. May I suggest we all invest in chain-mail suits and steel capped slippers? With that, I wish all a good day. Be good and PLEASE be careful out there.

 

I'm sure there will be an awl-encompassing vaccination programme!

 

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

That’s something that has been forgotten, many of the deaths attributed to COVID-19 have been in elderly people with significant comorbidities and (sadly to say) about ready to expire anyway. As callous as it may sound, modern medicine, whilst saving lives of those with potentially years of productive living ahead of them, also keeps alive people who - in a medically simpler age - would have been long dead (until recently, Pneumonia was sometimes known as “the old man’s friend” carrying away as it did the frail, ill and weak every winter! )

...

And on that pugnacious note, I bid you all a good day

iD

 

I have long since (before I met you, ID) held the view, as an Engineer, that man has outgrown his technology; we, as a species, have become way too clever beyond our own means, and it is coming back to hit us where it hurts most. (And has been for the last 20 years or so!)

 

Consider, please, two potential indicators, although I am just expressing a personal view, not a formally recognised, 'official' fact, the two topics of global warming and covid-19. (I have deliberately spelt them in lower case!)

 

4 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Of mice and, errr more mice. 

 

About 10 years ago on a cold and stormy night SWMBO opened the door to feed the bin. Voom, in popped a mouse at warp 6. Voom, boB the cat (the world's most scared moggie) hit warp 9 from the front room. Mouse managed to get about 2 metres inside and whump. No more mouse. 

 

Mouse 2. Middle of the night, SWMBO goes downstairs for some water. Hears a funny noise, turns on light. Mouse wandering in the front room. Oscar the cat, watching but doing nothing. Cat yawns, and wanders off to sleep. Muggins here, removes mouse by the tail gently. 

 

Mouse 3. Afternoon time. Watching telly apres work. Tiggr the cat playing gently with one of the many stuffed catnip mice under the table. SWMBO arrives home. Gives Tiggr a pet on the head. Stuffed mouse wanders away from the cat. Ooops. Mouse again removed gently. Remaining stuffed mice checked to make sure they were not real. 

 

Mice 4,5 Skeletal remains found in the drop ceiling of the bathroom when it was being gutted during renovations 2 years ago. Yuk. Likely to have been there since the bathroom was put in sometime in the 70s. 

 

 

Sorry, there can ONLY be one retort to this: (Now, where's that groan button??)

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Evening all.

 

Just back from the sunset perambulation.  Still cool in the breeze.  Trees in full blossom.  Hayfever at variable levels across the day.  According to me across more than 60 years I have hayfever; according to my allergen tests I have hayfever; according to the BBC who felt it necessary to distinguish between hayfever and the Currently-Dreaded Lurgy I also have hayfever.  The symptoms are not in the slightest bit similar.  It seems a large number of people with hayfever have troubled the 111 service thinking it's something else. 

 

A modest number of people out and about.  Some swerving into the road to avoid others - some just spacing out to either side of the pavement.  Still no flour to be had but we do have a bag in stock.  SWMBO has modified her intended cooking for tomorrow.  Sweet corn fritters with bacon, sweet chilli sauce and sour cream are on the lunch menu.  

 

Proper Job has now been delivered to accompany the Tribute and therefore the ale supply is re-stocked pro tem.  More seed potatoes have arrived for SWMBO's attention.  

 

Those who travel by train will be aware of the wall-to-wall pre-recored announcements.  Many people zone out and treat them as background noise.  They need to be played less often with decent intervals for better effect. But we did get a new one today.  "Special announcement for all station staff.  The management team wishes to thank you for your hard work and dedication during these difficult times."  Not over long at all and easily missed.  But it was there (about once an hour) and it was appreciated.  We also took delivery of a large quantity of sanitiser and blue gloves.  But no face masks because they continue to be advised against and our OH&S people agree that they offer little protection for more than a few minutes.  

 

I need to attend to something which had better not be mentioned in these four walls.  I'll see you anon.  Sleep peacefully when the time comes and stay well.  

[brianusa]

12 hours ago, Andrew P said:

I hope the Table Leg has put in a substantial claim against the Toe, I know a good Solicitor if you need one.

 

No Claim, No blame.

 

Stay Safe everyone. and watch out for Table Legs.

 

Jarndyce and Jarndyce, perhaps?

     Brian.

[laurenceb]

6 hours ago, AndrewC said:

 

Mouse 2. Middle of the night, SWMBO goes downstairs for some water. Hears a funny noise, turns on light. Mouse wandering in the front room. Oscar the cat, watching but doing nothing. Cat yawns, and wanders off to sleep. Muggins here, removes mouse by the tail gently. 

 

 

 

 

You sould never pick rats or mice by the tail, they carry some very nasty diseases around that area

[Ozexpatriate]

I lived in my first apartment for perhaps less than a year and had not accumulated a lot of "stuff". (I have now.) Checking the cabinets under the kitchen counter when I was moving out there was some over the counter headache medication in capsule form in an otherwise empty cabinet.

 

Inside the cabinet was a little forensic tableau. A capsule lay on its side with a hole nibbled in one end. Under the hole was a small but perfectly formed conical pile of white powder from the capsule. Lying stiff besides that was a quite dead but un-decomposed mouse.

 

Mice do get into my garage. One hid behind the furnace so I put out some shelf stable bait/poison. It has subsequently been gnawed at considerably. I have found one intact corpse.

[TheQ]

Evening, at the MrCH,  a  nice sunset was watched out of the north west window,  soon after which a partridge was observed wandering around outside the south west patio doors and while it was still there a barn Owl,  flew past about ten feet off the ground about twenty feet away.  You don't need TV here... 

 

Some muddling was done and more brownie point earning by varnishing some weaving shuttles. 

[leopardml2341]

Evening all,

 

I said earlier that my hope for the day was a stress free visit to the local supermarket.

 

Duly achieved!

 

Beyond that, not much to report, so I bid you all best wishes and goodnight.

Edited April 21, 2020 by leopardml2341

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Tattie fortnight is still a school holiday, but everything is fully automated, never see any people on the fields let alone children, the fields round our village are harvested and most go to Brechin to Albert Bartletts sheds for sorting and packaging, mostly eastern European labour there I believe.

Round here the same has happenned to the grape harvest all done by machines apart from a few small family owned patches of vines. Our local distiller has a tower on his premises which acted as a dormitory. Last time we visited for supplies of oral antiseptic he was remeniscing and said thst he preferred  English girls to come and stay for the picking as they were so 'enthusiastic!!   Nowadays the only labour intensive part is the pruning which still has to be done by hand. 

 

1 hour ago, brianusa said:

 

Jarndyce and Jarndyce, perhaps?

     Brian.

I was thinking of Sue, Grabbit and Run.

 

 

Jamie

Edited April 21, 2020 by jamie92208