Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

... the female gender much prefer to walk around the town in what might politely  be described as excessively short shorts.  

 

49 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

That is definitely the case at the House of Fun.  Not just today but for several days past.  Since the apparent invitation* to travel to anywhere in England for recreation, in fact.  We have been entertained by a number of cases of bare-cheeked face and of too-much-information in all areas. 

Running errands yesterday - the post office to deliver long overdue Easter Eggs to my granddaughter, postponed originally by avoiding an extra transmission vector, and then again because of warm weather, and the supermarket - I observed what I would call the "Pacific Northwest skirt", consisting of a plaid flannel shirt worn around the backside over short shorts and tied at the waist with the sleeves.

 

It's almost a uniform here for a particular demographic.

Edited June 2, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. My copy of Bylines arrived today with another item by ChrisF within its pages, well researched as usual. I'll be setting up my newly restored 'old' computer in the morning, it looks as if it might be a bit damp outside tomorrow so emptying the garden store will have to wait another day, 

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 I observed what I would call the "PNW skirt",

Excuse my ignorance but what does PNW stand for? 

[Erichill16]

Sorry haven’t managed to read many post today. But happy anniversary to Jamie and Beth and hope the missing ERs are safe and well. Hope Bods family soon recover. 
2% battery life left so better say goodnight 

Robert

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Excuse my ignorance but what does PNW stand for? 

Sorry, "Pacific Northwest". I should have spelled it out.

[Tony_S]

I have been occupying myself sorting out an old android tablet today. A Tesco Hudl2. My slot car track can now interface via Bluetooth.  I didn’t really want to use my iPad or phone but had hopes that my iPod Touch would work with the app (it is supposed to). It didn’t. Hence the I think 5 year old Hudl2. The internet suggested it wouldn’t work due to Tesco not having some server support or whatever. It did work but needed about 6 reinstalls of Google Play Services (without which nothing would work it seemed). Each install turned the WiFi connection off so it was install, reboot install repeat. Very boring. The software seems to work but I can’t be bothered to see if it interfaces with the Scalextric hardware in the garage. Something for tomorrow! 
The slot car track is good for problem solving. I had a car that I had assembled myself. It worked spectacularly well on the straight but shorted out on any corner. I checked all the wiring to see what could possibly be responsible. Eventually I realised that some insulation tape was needed on a magnet and the motor case. The magnet is like the magnadhesion Triang (Or Triang Hornby perhaps) trains used to have. Anyway if the tablet and app work tomorrow I will be able to have races against a pace car. Even without social distancing I don’t think I would have anyone to race against anyway. 
Tony

[newbryford]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I don't know that there are any US schools that will return to in-person instruction until the Autumn at the earliest.

 

Certainly not locally.

 

My niece is due to return to the US (WV) for her final college year.

She is going back early as the college has imposed a two week isolation for foreign students.

 

On the subject of honeymoons - ours was is Florida - the same week as the first shuttle landing back at KSC. I think all previous landings were at Edwards AFB in California. So that gives away the date. We weren't in the area on that particular day, but it was reported that it could be seen - and sonic boom heard - over Orlando.

We had various photos of the honeymoon framed - I had hair and Mrs NB's perm looks frankly ridiculous!

 

More mountain biking was done last night. Supposedly a minor detour on my way home from work to the trail centre, but a road closure for resurfacing meant a 2 mile journey became a 12 mile slow speed crawl on very narrow lanes, leading to a late arrival and hurried preparation of me and my steed. At least the biking was fun - as well as quicker as my legs become a bit fitter.(8x PBs on Strava -mostly including uphill bits!)

One of my fellow socially distanced [*] riders last night is a one-on-one NHS mental health nurse. He caught Covid-19 from one of his charges. She had minimal symptoms, whilst he was close to CCU admittance. He was given the all-clear about 4 weeks ago. Big up the NHS.

 

In other news, I may have started an unintentional sh!tstorm on another wheeltappers thread...............

 

[*] It's very easy to socially distance on a single track MTB trail as you don't want to be too close in case they - or you - fall off and collateral damage occurs.

 

Have a good Wednesday folks - I'm actually off to do some decorating now........

[brianusa]

35 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

Running errands yesterday - the post office to deliver long overdue Easter Eggs to my granddaughter, postponed originally by avoiding an extra transmission vector, and then again because of warm weather, and the supermarket - I observed what I would call the "Pacific Northwest skirt", consisting of a plaid flannel shirt worn around the backside over short shorts and tied at the waist with the sleeves.

 

It's almost a uniform here for a particular demographic.

Its the same uniform here also and such appears to be a uniform all over these days.   A relatives young girls attend a Catholic school in N Ireland and they have adopted a similar outfit.  Years ago they would have been sent home!  It might be all right for St Trinians though

    Brian.

[laurenceb]

Happy aniversary to Beth & Jamie

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

5 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

This is the Ryan Air version:

 

 

Good to see that he landed to reload them after they'd all fallen out.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Another scorcher here today and most of the day has been spent outside! This morning saw me get a first coat of paint on the un-painted side of the decorative parts for the arbour and also a second coat on the trellis panels. After dinner I managed to get a second coat of paint on. This didn’t take long, so once that was completed, I did a bit of dead heading of the roses and a bit of general gardening. I then made a start on cutting a drilling the new slats for the second bench. Tomorrow, if we don’t get the predicted rain, I’ll put all the bits together and add the roofing tiles. 

 

Just before dinner the latest edition of the MERG magazine dropped onto the door mat, so once I’d packed up for the day, I sat and read this as I drank a muggertea.

 

After tea, I watered the potted plants, both front and back, as they all sit in the sunshine so definitely need the water.  

 

Goodnight all 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Ozexpatriate]

Service appears to have resumed.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Who forgot to put 10p in the server power supply slot?

 

It is raing up here in the North West Leeds Highlands..good news as our garden is parched. Perhaps we may be able to get some green grass?

Today see her indoors taking a load of garden waste to our council tip. An appointment was made quite easily so lets see if the council can badger up the process at the tip!

 

Had a few messages from friends out in the Land of the Big White Cloud. They are busy doing normal things and are amazed by the problems we have here ( as former NHS nurse and doctor they would have been in the thick of it here).

 

BoD looks like DCC and the hospital trust in North Durham have a lot to answer for. Just hope your DiL comes through it all ok. By overwhelming care homes they protected the NHS..an absolute disgrace.

 

Positive thoughts to all ERs..lets not forget those with ill health, family concerns or those who haven't been here visiting for a while.

 

Stay safe and lets go get Wednesday sorted!

Baz

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all.  We seem to have had a lie-in.

 

What I am about to describe may turn out to have been a waste of effort.  I discovered that my EHIC card [European Health Insurance Card] expired in April so I decided to renew it.  In due course a new one will fight its way through the maelstrom that is Royal Mail, in time to cover me for nine days in Switzerland before all remaining cards expire.  As it is clear that we are all running on infinite improbability drive, the possibility of the UK and the EU reaching agreement on assorted matters cannot be ruled out.  No, dear, that’s a cloud, not a squadron of flying pigs, and it’s diplomacy, not politics.

 

Rick, many thanks for the info on the latest train to sport rainbow livery.  As some know, all Prides are off this year thanks to that ruddy virus, save for one in August which I suspect the organisers have forgotten to cancel.  In their place have sprouted several virtual events, including a global one at the end of the month.  This is all very enterprising, but I’m not at all sure how those who like to march in the parade with thousands of others can do that virtually.  If there is a way, I’m up for it!

 

Today I am doing a fodder run.  I do not enjoy the new regime in supermarkets with arrows all over the floor and one way traffic in the aisles.  When it is all over and the tape is torn up from the floors it will leave an awful mess but I bet that the staff who have been issued with T shirts which proclaim that we’re all in this together will put them right at the back of the drawer, never to see the light of day again - especially those who are old enough to remember D*v*d C*m*r*n.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Barry O]

Mick B...what have you started? With all your best intentions some of the posts on there as as bad as on the exhibition cancellations thread.

 

Baz

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

About 3 hours sleep, followed by waking with pain in the joints of both hands. If it was going back to work, the pain would be just in the right hand as I type in all the numbers with the numeric keypad.... the 3 hours was followed by 4 trying to sleep just a couple of dozes were acheived, I'm knackered.

 

Ben the clever Border Collie has dropped straight back into the old routine, Good boy..

 

it is 50% cloud cover out there, no rain so far..

 

I spent yesterday catching up on various jobs part done by the boss, Today I'm just waiting for the major next system to be handed over..

 

One problem I'm going to have for some months is every time someone walks in the corridor outside, past the partition (solid to the ceiling) wall, it upsets the High Ohm readings so it all takes a loong time resettling.

 

There are poppies lining up on the roadsides on the way in very pretty.

There are cars  lining up on the grass outside the packed hire car depot on the estate not so pretty.

 

We are being provided with 70% ipa disposible wipes for all the equipment we work on, and masks are available, especially if a 2 person lift of equipment is needed.

 

Time to go, the equipment is about to arrive..

 

[iL Dottore]

14 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

...Worst non-compliers with recommended apparel seemed to be middle aged men carrying rather too much weight - presumably they drink half a dozen pints of sanitiser before bed every night and being - by the look of them - horny handed sons of toil regard gloves as something intended only for wimps and Lady Bracknell (if they've actually heard of her)....

Presumably, Darwin and Nature will eventually take their toll and thin the herds of these bovine like individuals.

To be incredibly misanthropic here, it seems that COVID-19 is doing a lot of us a big favour by helping reduce the numbers of those individuals who, for want of a better term, are considered to be “beyond the pale“ here on ER.

My sympathies are reserved for the innocent elderly and innocent vulnerable who get caught up in the consequences of these idiots’ behaviours.

14 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

That was the third outfit of the day, the wedding dress, then a blue corduroy skirt and jacket, then into more comfortable attire once we had booked in at the hotel...

Wedding dress and also a skirt? Oh Jamie,  You do continually surprise us! 

On the assumption that I did indeed misread your post, I must therefore conclude you are referring to your wife’s frequent change of apparel on your wedding day. I don’t know what it is about weddings that brings out that sort of thing in women. Mrs ID also went through a few changes of clothes on our wedding day. I, on the other hand, was most fortunate In being able to wear a dinner jacket for the entire day. And as my black tie outfit was made for me by my tailor, as opposed to being rented, it was most comfortable as well.

11 hours ago, roundhouse said:

I hope for Big Jims son  that it all works out and he doesn't get the chop

We really, really need a groan button...

 

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

An op-ed headline caught my eye today.

1918 + 1929 + 1968 = 2020

I skimmed the article. While it is US-centric, I thought the headline said it all.

Not the best advert for maths skills, I would hazard.

9 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

A short holiday was all we could afford and as my wife had never been there, we spent the time walking around the main tourist sites such as the Tower of London, Houses of Parliament and Buckingham Palace - thank goodness we didn't take the rain with us - remember this was early February.  We did travel by train and so got to see both Grantham station and Kings Cross !

I did surmise that at such a young age, and at the beginning of your career, funds would be somewhat restricted. Although having said that, I wonder how expensive London was when you got married, Mike. Nowadays, staying in London is very expensive as it is one of the most expensive cities in the world to visit.  I think that it’s even overtaken Tokyo as to being THE expensive City destination.

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

...I observed what I would call the "Pacific Northwest skirt", consisting of a plaid flannel shirt worn around the backside over short shorts and tied at the waist with the sleeves.

It's almost a uniform here for a particular demographic.

What demographic? Do tell!

Are we talking “trailer trash” here? or leftover hippies? or alternative post grunge lifestyles?
For a country that prides itself on its’ individualism, once the population has sorted itself out into its various subgroups, it is remarkable how uniform people actually are within each subgroup,. Do you remember the famous “Valley girls“ of the early 80s? Named Mitzi or Debbie or Babs or Beverly or somesuch name, they looked identical and sounded “like, totally” identical. And for a young man in the early 80s, they promised so much but delivered so little 

Well, I’d better stop now. Otherwise it is quite possible that I will get trapped within the twists and turns of “memory lane“ for a few hours and I actually do have a few things to do (including going to the dentist).

enjoy “hump day“

iD

Edited June 3, 2020 by iL Dottore

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

I did surmise that at such a young age, and at the beginning of your career, funds would be somewhat restricted. Although having said that, I wonder how expensive London was when you got married, Mike. Nowadays, staying in London is very expensive, as it is one of the most expensive cities in the world to visit.  I think that it’s even overtaken Tokyo as to being an expensive 

 

That was true a few years ago. Now possible to stay in London at very reasonable prices for much of the year due to Travelodge and similar establishments.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from the Charente.  The builders have just turned up to finish the pool base and to start stripping the roof and guess what, it's started to rain despite the seaweed wranglers and the weather radar saying that it was to be warm and dry till this afternoon.  As Baz would say ,Pah.

BoD I hope that your family get through all this OK.  I can foresee some major political problems about the decision to discharge patients from the hospitals to care homes at the start of the crisis.  I suspect that it id a storm that is only just starting to brew.

Thanks to all of you for your kind comments on our anniversary.   This one has coincided with my major effort at scanning old photos and slides. On Farcebook, many of the comments were about the car, which I had forgotten was a Vauxhall Carlton.  Our transport the next day was a bit different. As I had a house, but no TV, car or phone, and Beth had a car, and TV licence we pooled our resources, bought a larger house and then splashed out on a honeymoon in Canada and the US.   The following year we could only manage a bed and breakfast in the Lake District with a squalling bratt and all his needs packed into a mini.  Whether the honeymoon and the bratt were connected I cannot comment. 

Anyway in those less security conscious days we were allowed onto the walkways on the terminal roof so I took a few photos of planes.   The first, a VC10.  My pilot brother started on those but by 79 had just moved on to Jumbos.

Then our transport for the next several hours to Vancouver. Very comfy, even in cattle class and the crew were very good, even giving us two bottle of red wine in honour of our new status.   

We then changed for a connection to Calgary, which we were allowed on despite smelling like a couple of winos as one of the bottles of red had broken in transit.   When we eventually arrived at the hotel we ended up in the staff launderette washing all the spare clothes from that carry on bag.  

 

To answer ID's question, yes the multiple changes were on the distaff side. I made do with a suit that lasted me comfortably for at least 12 years and then jeans and a shirt.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

 

 

 

 

[roundhouse]

29 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Mick B...what have you started? With all your best intentions some of the posts on there as as bad as on the exhibition cancellations thread.

 

Baz

Well I suppose someone had to start a thread that you are told that can only talk rubbish

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

A grey day here and rain is forecast. Good, we need some.

Many thanks to those who have contacted me concerned about my absence.   I've been a bit "off" for a few days and not felt like posting.  At least that's saved you from my daily inane ramblings.  I've been lurking but have probably missed quite a bit so commiserations and congratulations where due.

In particular I hope Warren's son's partner gets better soon.

Also belated congratulations to Jamie and Beth.

Not much of note been happening here although I've spent a lot of time "playing" in The Shed.  There are times that went well and other times - not so much!  In true GDB form I had the lumps on my head to prove it.  

Today there will be much of the same and a couple of parcels are expected including beer from St. Austell which is needed as supplies are becoming dangerously low.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by grandadbob

[roundhouse]

9 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

 

Many thanks to those who have contacted me concerned about my absence.   I've been a bit "off" for a few days and not felt like posting.  At least that's saved you from my daily inane ramblings. 

 

Not much of note been happening here although I've spent a lot of time "playing" in The Shed. 

 

 beer from St. Austell which is needed as supplies are becoming dangerously low.

 

 

Glad all is OK GDB. I sometimes get the same way.

 

This morning I was in the shed at 4am shunting or should I say switching freight cars then packing some away into their storage tray along with the HO scale locos which now have a newly built storage tray in the Really Useful box, leaving space on the High Line for other stock to get a turn to have a good run.

 

Plenty of bottles here after our recent trips out and about but if we do drive down to the South West in July we are thinking of visiting St Austell brewery and also Skinners Brewery in Truro depending on any restrictions / opening times. Brother has said he doesn't want us bringing the virus down to Devon despite infection rates being much the same as here so not sure if he is being serious or its a wind up, so we may not be seeing him. I had offered to help him fit out his massive new shed but that was pre Covid days. I see this becoming a big issue when people are able to stay away with all the confusion created in what people can and cant do.

 

Today I may go off to a local garden centre as we require more compost to plant the tomotaoes into larger pots. Its will hopefully be quieter being an overcast day with rain threatened.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

What demographic? Do tell!

Nothing particularly salacious. Let's go with females 16 - 25. 

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Do you remember the famous “Valley girls“ of the early 80s? Named Mitzi or Debbie or Babs or Beverly or somesuch name, they looked identical and sounded “like, totally” identical.

"Ugh, gag me with a spoon! That's grody to the max!" (Valspeak, San Fernando Valley, CA, ca 1980s)

 

Given that "Valley Girl" is more trope than reality, they are cast as identical. As names, "Debbie and Babs" are more "preppy" than Valley Girl, and in fact, Babs  (and Mandy) are names of sorority sisters from "Animal House", which incidentally was filmed at the University of Oregon. "Preppy" was the US East Coast version of people who would become "Yuppies".  cf. "Sloane Rangers".

 

"Stacy" is a Valley Girl name, and was used in "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and will be used in the upcoming 2020 film "Valley Girl". It was also used in the song "Stacy's Mom" by Fountains of Wayne, which has at least one or two things in common with "Fast Times at Ridgemont High", not coincidentally.

 

Edited June 3, 2020 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I seem to have 'missed' the the RMweb down time this morning all I noticed is only one page of ER's instead of two or more. The rain predicted for today will apparently not now happen until the early morning hours so I've got no excuse for not finishing emptying the garden storage box. No news yet as to when the new shed will arrive, I gather that they are made to order so it might be a couple of weeks yet. Tea to be drunk, be back later.