Early Risers.

[AndrewC]

Good day all. Not a late riser but an early to work worker. meh. 

 

Coffee consumed, bagel enjoyed. Mr Fox behaved last night. No climbing on the Landy. He visited the water bucket a couple of times. I think we have a second one now. For a while we had 3 living in the blackberry bushes at the end of the alleyway. I noticed the other 2 vanished a month or so ago, leaving only the one. Fairly distinctive black feet. Last night there appeared an interloper. We shall see. Still more interesting than watching Hollyoaks. 

Tiggr not so good. Spent the last 2 days trying to get him to pee in the special box. No chance. The little buqqer decided to hold it in until the middle of the night after we let him out of captivity. B*llocks. Now it means an extra schlep to the vet, an overnight stay, and a catheter. 

 

SWMBO is happyish as the greenhouse is filling with sprouting plant life. Don't know where she is going to put it all when they get bigger. I think there are at least 20 tomato plants, a couple of purple Brussels Sprouts, several French beans, peas, etc. On the floral side, the hollyhocks are going crazy but no life yet from the dozen of so foxglove seeds. 

 

Little else to report. It's a Thursday that feels like a Friday. Enjoy the long weekend. 

 

 

[bbishop]

I'm sitting at home, waiting for instructions before I deliver the kit in the boot of my car.  Bill

[Gwiwer]

Greetings one and all from a comfortably-warm Hill of Strawberries.  The large yellow heater is in good working order today and the Terrace made a toasty spot to enjoy lunch.  Bacon. eggs and hog's pudding with toast and coffee since you asked.  

 

In other news down at mill something stirred.  The station waiting rooms - locked up since the Dreadful Lurgy arrived - are being deep-cleaned and having seats measured for spacing with the intention of reopening perhaps on Monday.  One or two of the coffee shops have had fresh supplies delivered today.  There is definitely an expectation of rather more business than of late following the announcement of what we don't yet know on Sunday.  There are strong suggestions in the press and around the traps as to what we could expect but it might be irresponsible to repeat them here as it may all turn out to be fake news.  

 

Something very new also appeared and, within a few minutes, returned whence it came.  One of London Overground's fairly new class 710 units made the first known appearance of the type at the House of Fun at 10.30 on a crew training and staff familiarisation run from its Willesden base.  They are due to take over some of the class 378 duties at some point hence the need.  

 

 The afternoon promises a lengthy sunning session on the lawns and a little more weeding if we feel so inclined.  With a beer or two?  Why, yes, of course.  Probably some Doom Bar.  

 

Stay well.  I'll be back later.  

[tigerburnie]

5 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 Good morning all,

Sunny and a mainly blue sky here.  A warm fine day with temperatures up to 22° forecast.

I managed a mile and a half on yesterday's walk but The Hip regretted it.  Will try again today.

Some gardening was done and I've placed a couple of orders for small garden adornments which The Boss had expressed a liking for.  This all gained Brownie points so a brief visit was made to The Shed  and I am instructed by Her Bossness to spend more time there today.  A small order for odds and ends  has winged its way to FR and Herself has offered to pay for it so I must be doing something right.

Time for breakfast so I bid you farewell for now.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Bob my better half has had one hip replaced and is waiting for another, her surgeon recommended a bike for exercise and an electric assist one would be best. So she can exercise with very little load on the joint, it's been a revelation for her.

[tigerburnie]

Afternoon all, 18 degrees, not often seen in August let alone May, I'm not used to this heat...………… SWMBO has had her routine bloods done by Dracs daughter, very efficient they were too. Much potting on of chillie and pepper plants into final pots, ditto any spare tomato plants that won't fit in the ground in a rapidly filling greenhouse. Not much going on outside yet, with the impending icy blast from the north at the weekend, the beans etc can wait in their pots in the greenhouse till next week. A bike ride may happen if it cools down a bit later, take care all and keep safe.

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Sorry, but a trip into town and then a tidy up of the bottles and things which have accumulated in the bathroom - some of the medications which need to be disposed of had expiry dates back in 2014, and all that has meant that I've had to skip three pages of ERs so I hope that nothing has happened which I should know about - and of course generic greetings are proffered to all who need or deserve them.

 

Won't be back this afternoon, as lots of other jobs seem to have reared their ugly heads.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[grandadbob]

TB I used to do a lot of cycling many many moons ago but certainly wouldn't risk it on the roads around here now.  They're quiet at the moment but when things get back nearer to normal there's no way I'd go anywhere near a bike.  We have got an exercise bike but I find that too boring so will have to put up with walking.  I have got a stick if it's too bad but haven't yet resorted to it.

Didn't go for a walk earlier as when putting the bins back I realised they could do with cleaning because I haven't done them for a while.  Also did next door's while I was at it so that was four big wheelie bins and two food waste.  By the time I'd scrubbed and disinfected that lot I decided that that was my exercise for today.

Now off to The Shed to potter for a while.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, grandadbob said:

My name is usually abbreviated to BF 

 

It took me a few seconds but I got there in the end.....

[grandadbob]

Yep not many people realise it means Brilliant Fellow! 

[jamie92208]

When I was a community constable, the inhabitants of one particulat street called me TBG with the b standing for bar steward or something like it.  Apparently I was restricting their illicit income by doing them for every traffic offence I could think of so they ended up disqualified. I could then lock them up whenever  I saw them out in a car.  I took the nickname as a complement.

 

 

Jamie

[Mike Bellamy]

4 hours ago, BSW01 said:

 

 . . .  ball co-ordination is non existent so I’m expecting a lot more balls to end up in our garden than we do at the moment. The balls currently seem to spend more in our garden than his!

 

 

Have you seen the Cadbury's Dairy Milk advert on TV . . . . . better make sure your neighbours know which one is your favourite.

 

Mike

[newbryford]

19 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Yep not many people realise it means Brilliant Fellow! 

 

Hmm - my spell checker said something else!

 

[J. S. Bach]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Morning all,

Cheers

iD

p.s. You might have guessed, but the Boeing 747-400 was, and remains, my favourite aircraft to fly in.

My only flight in a 747 was on TWA from Rome to New York, my seat was the last one in the rear on the starboard side. Because the fuselage curves inward,there was only one seat in that "row". I had as much, if not more, room than a first class seat.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Yep not many people realise it means Brilliant Fellow! 

 

Bvgger, got it wrong.....

Edited May 7, 2020 by polybear

[tigerburnie]

I was the "big yin" at work in Montrose, not that I look much like Billy Connolly, but because that's what they call all big/tall people, at 6 foot 4 and 18 stones, I fit the description.

[AndrewC]

I thought BF meant butter fingers. My bad

[TheQ]

The van arrived,  The parcel deposited at the gate,  and collected by me. I walked back into the house,  looked at this machine,.. And there was the picture of the parcel at the gate, house name in shot. Amazing technology these days. 

The driver said he had 128 deliveries today..  I noted from the tracker 5 of them were effectively within sight of the house and we live out in the countryside .  It just shows how many  home deliveries there are these days.. 

 

Much clearance of the previously brambled  area done,  preparations for parking one of the boat trailers there done , IE a couple of old metal garage  doors placed on the ground,  which the trailer will sit on.. That should defeat the brambles. 

The other bit of the brambled area,  and where the trailer was previously stood, will now be prepared to be grassed and join the main lawn in life..

The biggest problem left, a stack of 30 2ft square,  2 inch thick slabs to be moved,  they are heavy!!! 

 

The second level platform below the radar aerial mostly built,  once that's in place inside the legs,  the outside the legs sections will be made. 

[iL Dottore]

On 06/05/2020 at 15:01, The Stationmaster said:

...I remember going on civil airliners when they used metal cutlery and china plates and crockery but then my first flight (LHR to Jersey) was in 1958 on a BEA Viscount....

In/on long-haul business and first class you do still have proper crockery and metal cutlery. Only for a few months after 9/11 were we reduced to eating with plastic utensils in the premium cabins (and as one Glaswegian stewardess on BA remarked: although metal cutlery [knives] was banned, They always had full-size bottles of champagne on board. And you can do an awful lot of damage with a broken champagne bottle neck, much more then you could with a blunt airline metal knife)

17 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

G'night all

 

Tomorrow Later today an explanation of 'high speed' in respect of railway lines in Britain. 

Isn’t  British HST a bit of an oxymoron? Something like “fine Scottish dining“ or “One size fits all“, in other words something that doesn’t really do “what it says on the tin“

10 hours ago, TheQ said:

Mooring part 2, 

Ben the alarm clock Collie was dead on time this morning,  06:00...

From my various posts, by now you will have concluded that I am a bit biased in favour of dogs and could even be accused of preferring them over humans.  Your numerous references to Ben, your border collie, has built up quite a picture in my mind of him. I think, TheQ, that we deserve to have an entire post (with photos) from you about Ben the border collie

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

Hmm now I'm  Confused, I've just received notice of a 4th parcel of shed, by the suppliers.  It should arrive this evening. There was only 3  parcels on the original list, and looking at the manual I thought i had all the parts..  It's on a different parcel number so it's not a confusion of delivery.. 

Firstly, be thankful it is not something from IKEA that you have to assemble. Secondly, this fourth parcel might be one of two possibilities: firstly, something that has been mis-addressed at the company and is winging  its way to you instead of  being shipped to an expectant customer in Düsseldorf; or secondly, it’s a box of replacement bits and pieces as the shed manufacturers have long since realised that these are the bits and pieces that you will normally either break, assemble incorrectly, misplace or lose.

5 hours ago, AndrewC said:

...Tiggr not so good. Spent the last 2 days trying to get him to pee in the special box. No chance. The little buqqer decided to hold it in until the middle of the night after we let him out of captivity. B*llocks. Now it means an extra schlep to the vet, an overnight stay, and a catheter...

I am not really a cat lover, but Poor old Tiggr, the poor lad really is in the wars, I am sure that he is he is neither a comfortable or happy feline at this moment. His problems, as described, could be a number of different renal diseases or illnesses. And although completely and totally essential for our continued survival, we can actually survive with one functioning kidney (as can other mammals). So let’s hope that the Vet’s intervention will provide the old lad with at least one functioning kidney. And that he will be comfortable from now on.

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

...with a beer or two?  Why, yes, of course.  Probably some Doom Bar...

You lucky so-and-so, not only-thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic-has are available supermarket selection of beers shrunk to mostly semi drinkable lagers, but the huge and diverse wine bins at Prodega (the local supermarket for “trade“ and catering)  have been pretty much completely stripped bare, with only the incredibly expensive and the incredibly undrinkable wines being left on the shelves.

4 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Bob my better half has had one hip replaced and is waiting for another, her surgeon recommended a bike for exercise and an electric assist one would be best. So she can exercise with very little load on the joint, it's been a revelation for her.

Non-weight bearing exercise is something I also have to manage. I am currently, post for the operation, using a cycling machine in my cellar. Once I get up to about 45 minutes of comfortable, pain-free, cycling on the machine I will take my bicycle out for its first spin this year.  Sadly, I am sometimes incredibly puritanical and I feel that electric bicycle is “a bit of a cheat“ (Which, of course, it is not). Of all the non-weight-bearing exercises one can do, by far my favourite is swimming. Although that has been curtailed as of late, thanks to the lockdown.

4 hours ago, 45156 said:

.... I've had to skip three pages of ERs so I hope that nothing has happened which I should know about... 

Oh, do keep up, man. You’ve missed:

- the Stationmaster self-identifying as a 32 year old blonde called Bessie

- me dumping a whole cellar full of OO gauge GWR rolling stock and infrastructure in 4mm and switching to Gauge 1 Fine Scale BR diesel

- ChrisF using zoom and other technology to set up a virtual Pride Parade in his his “Tech Den”

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

My only flight in a 747 was on TWA from Rome to New York, my seat was the last one in the rear on the starboard side. Because the fuselage curves inward,there was only one seat in that "row". I had as much, if not more, room than a first class seat.

What mark was the 747? I have flown in most of the 747 variants: the 747-100, the 747-300 (sometimes known as the “megatop“) and the 747-400. I have yet to fly in the 747–800 and, given the poor take-up of this aircraft by the various airlines, I probably won’t fly on it
 

Cheers

iD.

[Happy Hippo]

1 hour ago, AndrewC said:

I thought BF meant butter fingers. My bad

Busted Forehead also springs to mind and is probably more appropriate.

 

[leopardml2341]

GDB; also good for hip exercise is a cross trainer.

 

It's not quite as boring as an exercise bike and somewhat easier to use. I had a hip replacement 4yrs ago (quite young @52) and the cross trainer really helped. I find it best if I listen to something 'talky' rather than music, reason being that one tends to use the music as a 'timer' whereas talky stuff doesn't have an average track duration.

 

Looking forward to weekend, but garden works halted due to failed delivery:

 

eBay says dispatched

Seller not responding

Delivery company DPD said they'd be delivering today yet when enquired via tracker it says parcel has not been collected?????

 

Found alternative contact details for seller's business, tried that and waiting.

 

DPD are the pits (worse than Hermes IMHO) no way of talking to a human (even though there's a phone number), contact form on website bounces emails, online chat is a chatbot.

 

If all else fails it'll be a claim back from cc company.

 

B@st@rds.

[JohnDMJ]

 

 

31 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Isn’t  British HST a bit of an oxymoron? Something like “fine Scottish dining“ or “One size fits all“, in other words something that doesn’t really do “what it says on the tin“

 

From my various posts, by now you will have concluded that I am a bit biased in favour of dogs and could even be accused of preferring them over humans.  Your numerous references to Ben, your border collie, has built up quite a picture in my mind of him. I think, TheQ, that we deserve to have an entire post (with photos) from you about Ben the border collie

 

I am not really a cat lover, but Poor old Tiggr, the poor lad really is in the wars, I am sure that he is he is neither a comfortable or happy feline at this moment. His problems, as described, could be a number of different renal diseases or illnesses. And although completely and totally essential for our continued survival, we can actually survive with one functioning kidney (as can other mammals). So let’s hope that the Vet’s intervention will provide the old lad with at least one functioning kidney. And that he will be comfortable from now on.

 

 

 

Oh, do keep up, man. You’ve missed:

- ChrisF using zoom and other technology to set up a virtual Pride Parade in his his “Tech Den”

 

 

Oxymoron - YES!

 

Ben the (variously described) border collie - almost deserves his own membership to the forum!

 

Poor old Tiggr; heart-felt thoughts go to the poor lad.

 

ChrisF and technology? With all due respect, the impossible, we do at once; miracles may take a little longer

[Barry O]

Between a Boing 747-400 and an A380..the A380 is for me. Smoother flight, less rattles and bangs.....and Boing 777 and 787 - flight characteristics of a streamlined brick (which is how my old man described the Martin Marauder).

 

Baz

Edited May 7, 2020 by Barry O
speeellung

[roundhouse]

7 hours ago, 45156 said:

a trip into town and then a tidy up of the bottles and things which have accumulated in the bathroom

I have kept bottles of beer in various places but not in the bathroom

Edited May 7, 2020 by roundhouse

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Managed to contact my friend this afternoon, the problem was as I thought. His autistic daughter had unplugged the phone. His lad as I mentioned is SEN but unlike BSW01's neighbours lad he is very good at ball games, his co-ordination is better than mine has ever been. I was looking at taking a few days out if lockdown is over by August but its just been announced that the Notting Hill Carnival at the end of August has been cancelled which means that they expect lockdown to continue. Time to clap, be back later.

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

5 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

My only flight in a 747 was on TWA from Rome to New York, my seat was the last one in the rear on the starboard side. Because the fuselage curves inward,there was only one seat in that "row". I had as much, if not more, room than a first class seat.

What mark was the 747? I have flown in most of the 747 variants: the 747-100, the 747-300 (sometimes known as the “megatop“) and the 747-400. I have yet to fly in the 747–800 and, given the poor take-up of this aircraft by the various airlines, I probably won’t fly on it
 

Cheers

iD.

Sorry, but that is unknown to me now. The time frame was around late 1972 or early 1973 if that is any help. Please note that I was in Naval Aviation as a ground support electrician doing repairs on mobile electric power plants so my main interest was in Navy aircraft; I paid little attention to "those civilian birds".

Edited May 7, 2020 by J. S. Bach