Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

I forgot to mention, Bob mentioned his hip problem and as Flavio said the best thing is to exercise without putting any weight on the offending joint. That is where the walker comes in useful, you can rest your weight on the handles and still get plenty of exercise and if you have one like mine with a seat you can rest whenever you wish. Only drawback is that they are not too great on uneven ground or on grass. I was going to say that BF stood for banged forehead but HH beat me to it.

[leopardml2341]

Goodnight all.

[Barry O]

Early night for me..Goodnight all!

 

Baz

[pH]

Our son is into cycling for fitness, and recording his rides on Strava, which can show a map of the ride. He sometimes sends us links to his latest. They are up to 100km, at average speeds approaching 30kph. Yesterday he sent us a link that looked much as normal, till we realised the scale was very different - he had done less than 3km in a local park, and had taken 24 minutes to do it. This was all explained when he then sent a picture of our 5 year old granddaughter on her bike, punching the air in triumph at the end of their ride - longest ride yet!

[Dave Hunt]

I missed checking in on ERs for one day and it's taken most of another day just to read the posts that have accumulated. This lockdown has a lot to answer for.

 

A note for those who have seen themselves described in various airline acronyms, there is one for passengers that is universal in the aviation world - SLF, which stands for self loading freight.

 

Jill and I decided that it was high time I started doing some more meaningful exercise so at ungodly am we set out on a four mile walk, which, given the state of my various joints meant that was it for the rest of the day. Or so I thought. Unfortunately I had reckoned without further hedge trimming and some more fence fixing at Dad's house. The upside was that I had collected sufficient brownie points to spend time in the workshop while Jill undertook some eyelid inspection and then cooked chicken and chips for dinner. Once the film we're watching (Back to the Future since you ask) has finished it will be eyelid inspection time for me - I'm knackered!

 

Night night all.

 

Dave     

[Simon G]

Just come back inside after a short walk around the house a few times before settling down for the night.  There were a number of bats flying around, which was nice to see.  They were the first I have seen this year.  Many years ago, we used to have them roosting in between the barge boards and walls, but after we had the walls re-rendered and plastic barge boards fitted, there wasn’t room for them.  Mrs G doesn’t like them after having to dispose of a couple that flew in through windows a few years back!

[TheQ]

Evening awl, 

I won't be going back to cycling soon,  the last time I tried, my knees screamed with every push of the pedal,  and where that saddle  went was somewhat painful after a few hundred yards too.  This is the same bike that about 35 years ago I used to do many miles on.. It's hanging in the garage again. 

 

Radar building was a bit of a failure this evening I found a misalignment and in trying to sort it broke two of its legs,  dropped the motor screws several times and knocked over my box of paints luckily the lids were all on.  I gave up in favour of a can of cider.. 

 

I keep meaning to take this gadget with me on the long patrol for more pictures of Ben,  we haven't got that many.. 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2020 by TheQ

[Erichill16]

Just to let all ERs know  I think the Nemo van is sorted. It’s been plaguing me for the last 2 months. What the dealer said was the non functioning blu-tooth  circuitry  is causing the battery to discharge overnight. It  took the ‘technician’  (I thought he was a mechanic) 2 minutes to disconnect the circuit after I’d spent about two hours phoning and emailing over the last five days.
Thought it was going to be busy at work today so went in to give them a hand but wasn’t really needed but got phoned to take van to garage so was worth it in the end.

Disaster at home though, opened fridge door to find no cider left. Looked everywhere to see if I’d stashed one somewhere, even the toilet but to no avail. That is something that must be rectified tomorrow. 
keep your peckers up, Boris may have some good news for us on Sunday,

sleep well,

Regards ROBERT 

[Erichill16]

21 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

 

A note for those who have seen themselves described in various airline acronyms, there is one for passengers that is universal in the aviation world - SLF, which stands for self loading freight.

 

 

 

Dave     

I thought SLF stood for Stiff Little Fingers, my favourite band. That’s ruined their image  in my eye now.

[Simon G]

Duplicate post from my one half an hour ago!  Not sure quite how that happened!

Edited May 7, 2020 by Simon G

[tetsudofan]

Evening all, following my posting earlier today I did manage to cut the lawns front and back and, in the back garden, did manage to get some reasonably straight lines:

 

 

Later, rummaging around my train shed I came across this station sign that I purchased in Japan many moons ago:

 

 

If I remember correctly this platform sign was purchased at the Tokyu Railway Museum after the railway had done some track alterations which affected platform allocations so they had a load of unusable signs.

 

Suddenly thought that the sign could be used on my Japanese-style waiting room/teahouse so from now on what's situated on the top of the mountain will now be known as Platform No.3.

 

 

A successful day I think. Over 70s shopping tomorrow from 8:00am so think its time to hit the sack. Pleasant dreams.....

 

Keith

[tigerburnie]

I've been out with my Bat detector, not found any Bats yet, a bit warmer this evening so I thought I might get to hear them, but not a squeak(that's if that's what you call the sound they make).

G'night all

[Gwiwer]

34 minutes ago, TheQ said:

more pictures of Ben,  we haven't got that many.. 

Ben the seldom-pictured Collie?

 

A fine evening here with a visit to the Thai restaurant for the evening meal.  Their current system is for you to knock on the window to attract attention (unless there is already a queue being served) whereupon your order and phone number is taken, you are then called when it is ready and you pay on collection - also through the window.  They probably run on a shoe-string at the best of times but are gamely carrying on and we are happy to support them.  

 

A nice touch was the always-smiling Thai waitress who presented me with the carry-out bag; not only apologising for the wait (which was all of 15 minutes and shorter than was suggested when I ordered) but adding "Oh.  You live over back.  We love you garden".  We do live just behind and are separated by the car parking area meaning they can indeed see much of our gardening efforts every day.  We have exchanged waves and greetings with their staff as they come and go for a long as we have been here.

 

A quick check-in with sister confirms that all remains well with her other than having to undergo a training course in autism awareness.  In her words "It feels as though it was written by the work-experience person and frankly with three autistic children I could tell them a thing or ten".  But she's paid for it so heads-down and hey-ho.  

 

I ought to attempt sleeping.  The conversation upstairs between just the two people is as though they were socially distanced and hearing-disabled - there really is no need to speak to each other in the same room at a volume where your neighbours hear every word.  In other times I might pop up and ask them to pipe down but (1) these are not other times and (2) she is isolating due to being very much with child so they may well not appreciate the visit quite apart from me offering an opinion on their personal volume level.  

 

If I have another muggercoffee they might run out of steam ..... but I won't hold my breath.  G'night all.  It may be a long one here.  

[Tony_S]

We cleaned the cooker hood today. Well to be honest I dismantled it and Aditi cleaned the parts that didn’t go in the dishwasher or were replaceable. Our deliveries arrived including my glue sticks. They arrived just after I found the missing ones.  

We sat down and watched Antony and Cleopatra from the National Theatre on the tv tonight. Not a play either of us had seen before. 
I had a call from Southend Hospital letting me know that the consultant would like to have a chat on Tuesday. I said I would be in. 

Tony
 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

Evening all,

 

Not sue where the day went apart from some heat induced sleeo this afternoon following some garden activity and a two bowls of home made asparagus soup for lunch.  so high speed definitions stand deferred (but start at 100mph believe it or not).  Anyway in the garden the management's requests instructions have been implemented and all gro-bags have been unstacked and are now in the requiured positions inside, or in the vicinity of,  the greenhouse and tomatoes and cucumbers are well advance so will soon be transplanted to the bags.

 

Further garden activity by teh management has led to a need for further compost for potting various.  A couple of tries at the local garden centre's website revealed their total inefficiency at dealing with online sales so they got no business.  A check on Root One's website revealed they are not doing deliveries in response to Govt guidelines regarding essential journeys only.  So we went elsewhere and ordered some compost online - clearly the bunch supplying this compost have very different ideas about 'essential' journeys because the first tracking email confirmed that it had been despatched - from Edinburgh.   So presumably compost being desatched over long distances a is as essential as sheds being delivered from Germany and pasties being delivered from Cornwall - but it's not essential to snd compost about 10 miles - strange

 

But listening to a behavioural scientist on R4 today I suspect things might get even stranger next week when the ability of those who can't understand the fairly simple current lockdown etc procedures will be faced by all sorts of variations thereon which will not only be harder to understand but will no doubt be even more ignored.  And no doubt the media will thoroughly assist such misunderstanding.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

As I suspected this morning, there were big queues for both the Trafford Centre and the butchers, but it’s a case of wait patiently or do without, so I’m prepared to wait. It could have been worse, it could have been chuckinitdarn, but instead the skies were cloudless and it was sunny and warm. I managed to get all that was on the shopping lists, as well as a card for one of Sheila’s friends who’s wedding anniversary is soon. Sheila didn’t expect that I’d be able to get one so she was very pleased I did, and even liked my choice of card too!

 

After dinner I measured up the garden benches so I can get some replacement wood. I’ve even made a list of stuff to get from the big orange DIY shed, which I plan to visit tomorrow. If there’s a huge queue to get in, I’ll leave it until lockdown has ended, or the restrictions have relaxed a bit, as I’m not that desperate for the stuff, I can always find something else to do. 

 

As as I was in the garden this afternoon the young lad was out ‘playing’ basket ball with his sister. Surprise, surprise, he’s far better at basket ball than he is at football, he was getting the ball in the net more times than he wasn’t, so maybe he should think about changing games!

 

 Goodnight all. 

[Coombe Barton]

... with puns.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/pink-panther-time/

[PhilJ W]

While your on that subject John.

[AndyID]

If this thing doesn't end soon there are going to be a lot of people wandering around with really bad haircuts. I inherited at least two things from my dad. Varicose veins and hair that just keep going. My hair was getting a bit annoying as it kept getting in my eyes so MrsID was enlisted to have at it.

 

Fortunately, as the dog groomer is currently horse of combat, we had invested in clippers to trim Shona and these were deployed to trim my fair locks. (They were fair a very long time ago but despite my considerable antiquity they are now just black/brown with a few grey streaks - some people have had the bloody cheek to insinuate that I have resorted to chemical hair coloring.)

 

Actually the results were not all that bad and the leaf blower made short work of the considerable residue on the deck - the birds might find it useful for lining their nests.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[pH]

Today, I drove the furthest I have in several weeks. We've been driving to a shop and back once a week, and that's been all. Today we did about 40km, including a couple of stretches of highway. I found I had to work at driving - so much of what was instinctive really wasn't any more. I was quite surprised.

[newbryford]

Worst trip - for two reasons.

Liverpool-New York on a FlyGlobespan 737..... - yes transatlantic on a 737. It was an ER version though, but configured for Tenerife trips with not a lot of legroom.

Stopped at Shannon and Keflavik to top up the tanks.

Woman in front with small child who had a nanny to look after child. Child was crying a lot. It took considerable persuasion from the cabin staff to convince the woman that child was crying because it needed a nappy change. We could have told her that from the aroma......

(Nanny was on board a few rows away but was off duty!)

Flight was already a day late and should have been non-stop LIV-JFK. Delayed because of "equipment issues"

Flyglobespan had their ETOPS licence rescinded a few weeks later, followed by insolvency. 

 

Most interesting flight. BA 747-400 LHR-HK Kai Tak - Beijing. Top deck first row behind the cockpit - but this was still in steerage class. Landing and takeoff at Kai-Tak was "enlightening". Managed to get in the cockpit on the HK-BEI leg. Like IlDot - shiny new digital displays, but I didn't get to stay there for the landing.

 

Pilot earning their pay landing. A Jersey European (otherwise known as Jack Walker Airlines) Fokker F-27 into Jersey. I was looking down the runway as we landed in a hideous crosswind. One wheel down. Swing the nose round. Second wheel down. Drop the nose. A joy to watch the skill of the pilot. Although the not-long-having-become Mrs NB didn't agree. The bruises have just about healed from where she had hold of me.

 

I used to fly a reasonable amount for work in the early 1990s and I'd just got my AA gold card the day before a Manchester-Chicago-Portland (Hi Oz!) trip. In those days, AA were a respected carrier.

Upgraded all the way there and back which was quite a relief as I'd just done MAN-JFK-Albany the week before.

The airmiles accumulated did "pay" for US holiday return with friends and we all ended up getting an upgrade for the CHI-MAN leg home.

 

First trip - a Dan-Dare 727 MAN to Fuerteventura -  a 727 wasn't allowed a full fuel load on the short strip for the return and headwinds meant a refuel at Faro

Second trip. MAN-LHR-Boston. Transatlantic with free unlimited booze. Me and my work colleague can't really remember the landing....... And the return was in Club Class.

 

Bumpiest flight (not strictly a flight - but it was operated by SAS and had a flight number). Hovercraft from Copenhagen airport to Malmo. Drinks were served, but virtually impossible to drink without spillage.

 

Most memorable trip - and my shortest so far - a sightseeing sea-plane from Vancouver Harbour. Part of our Silver wedding trip) Nice Beaver!

 

 

And on that note.

Lie-in and grass striping planned for Friday.

 

Have a good one folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Nice float-plane.

 

Anyway, good night owl from the Piedmont.