Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Not necessarily, it depends on the affected population. CoVID-19 is cross generational, influenza less so. I  think the high mortality in that pandemic was in the elderly. Plus, I don’t think that obesity or diabetes is as much of a risk factor for influenza.

 

In the UK diabetics and people who are ‘ seriously overweight with a BMI of over 40’ are eligible for a free flu vaccine. 
regards

Robert 

 

[Happy Hippo]

31 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Paddington will always be immortal though, maybe not for the greatest reasons but still, fame forever.

I have stayed at both the Great Western Hotel at Paddington and the Midland hotel at Derby.

 

What sticks in my mind was the GWR Hotel's en suite bathroom was larger than my sitting room at home!

 

The Midland, like it's engines was a lot smaller.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

'Flu is 'flu.

 

Covid 19 is exotic.  so is SARS and Ebola.

 

Anything out of the ordinary is picked up by the media, and they run with it.

Besides the inevitability of microbiology, there are four contributors to all this:

1. Career 'department of health' infectious disease advisors
2. Elected officials
3. The media
4. The public

All of them influence each other with very complex interactions and the law of unintended consequences is inevitable.

 

It's easy to pick on the media - they need to feed the 24 hour news cycle that pays their salaries and is, like it or not, willingly and enthusiastically consumed by the public.

 

Elected officials are often the weakest link in the chain. Their priorities are:

1. Get reelected
2. Their legacy
3. Opinion polls (which feeds, or starves, their egos and drives 1 and 2)
4. Take care of their constituents (mostly as it pertains to 1, 2 and 3)

It's a set of complex interactions and the quiet voice of reason - the career infectious disease advisors can easily be drowned out.

 

Here in Oregon the increasing diagnoses trend continues - though this has not (yet) resulted in an increase in fatalities. Running to the supermarket, most people are consistently wearing masks - with the notable exception of a police officer. As of Wednesday (I think) masks will be obligatory in indoor spaces that are open to the public - except while eating or drinking.

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

Baz

[brianusa]

12 hours ago, roundhouse said:

As to American food, the first time I went across the pond I saw lots of adverts for Englush Muffins.  I was asked if I liked them and had to reply that I had never heard of them.

 

Thomas's English Muffins; I have them for breakfast ala McDs Egg McMuffin, ham and Kraft cheese.  DIY = cheaper!

      Brian.

[Ozexpatriate]

34 minutes ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

I have the same problem with my windows, direct sunlight from 5:00 am to about 4:00 pm.

I owned a house where the front door faced southwest. (So does my home today.) The old front door had a semicircular window. The daily summer afternoon heat melted both the vinyl trim and the glue holding the window in place. Ultimately the door was replaced, sans window. When we moved in the house had no AC - which is true of many, particularly older homes in the Portland metro area. Experiencing the southwest frontage, after our first summer in the house the first major home improvement was the installation of AC.

 

My current front door has no windows. The builders used latex paint on the door. It blistered within the first year. Even after it was sanded down, and then surface textured (to create a rough surface on which the paint could 'grip') the paint has blistered again (though not as badly). Oil-based paint would probably manage the situation.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

At least the windows In the door didn’t act like a magnifying glass. We just had another fairly sizable earthquake about 40 min ago, only around 30 seconds though.

[Erichill16]

57 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

In the UK diabetics and people who are ‘ seriously overweight with a BMI of over 40’ are eligible for a free flu vaccine. 
regards

Robert 

 

I miss read the original post. What I said is true and these people are at risk, but the obese and diabetic’s appear to have Particularly bad outcomes if they become infected with CoVID 19. 
Anyway, bed

Robert

[BSW01]

Here’s another Hippo, this time from Leyland

 

 

photo via Wikipedia 

 

 

[Erichill16]

3 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

I miss read the original post. What I said is true and these people are at risk, but the obese and diabetic’s appear to have Particularly bad outcomes if they become infected with CoVID 19. 
Anyway, bed

Robert

Also, my last point tonight, I believe that the majority of hospitalised patients are male. Are they more susceptible or do they get more severe symptoms? ( Man Covid 19!)

Night

Robert

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well the weather held and I managed to get 2 coats of paint on the bench. The first was applied straight after breakfast and the second was applied straight after dinner. After I’d finished the first coat I got some gardening done, mainly dead heading the roses as they’d not been done for over a week, mainly due to the inclement weather. Once I’d emptied the bag I was using, I went into the workshop and did some more work on the turntable. When I ran it yesterday it was still a little jerky, so I dismantled it and checked the main drive shaft, this wasn’t quite square, when tested against the main base. It’s not out by much, but enough to be a nuisance. So I filled in the holes in the indexing base and left the filler overnight to harden. Today I sanded it down and re-drilled the alignment holes. I also needed to do the same between the turntable well and the main base. I managed to get this done today, but didn’t have enough time to reassemble it all. I’m hoping to get that done tomorrow. 

 

After tea I completed the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, as is the norm for this time of day it was fairly quiet and I was able to get all that was on the shopping list. They also had some of our favourite wine on offer, so I put a few in the trolley so I could top up the wine cellar, I thought it would be very rude if I didn’t. 

 

Goodnight all 

[newbryford]

1 hour ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

Paddington will always be immortal though, maybe not for the greatest reasons but still, fame forever.

 

Marmalade sandwich anyone?

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[The Stationmaster]

Having neither watched or listened to any news broadcasts today other than a couple of very short 'on the hour' editions of the news on R4 I have largely avoided the outpourings of whatever from whoever about attack in Reading.  As ever the politicians are going to put everything right and no doubt as ever they will do absolutely nothing except make a lot of noise over a very short term until something else grabs their attention.   Much is being said apparently about one of the murdered victims who it seems was a very popular and much respected school teacher and we were told on the 'net almost the entire life story of the alleged assailant.   The fact that it occurred barely a 20 minute car drive (congestion permitting) from my front door make it seem no more immediate to me than had it happened in, say, Birmingham or Glasgow because it was a very nasty event of a sort which nowadays happens far too often although I'm not really surprised that such an event has happened in Reading.

 

Its main impact will always be on the innocent people involved, especially the victims and the poor s*ds in the police force and ambulance service who had deal with the event - they have my deepest respect.   But, sadly, it will all be chip wrappings in a week or two and just like the RTA mentioned by HH those most affected by it who remain alive or are bereaved will gradually be forgotten until we get a fresh wave of media interest at the time of the trial - by my wishes and condolences go to them.

[newbryford]

Work was worked, mountain biking was biked.

 

My legs ache. 15km and 430m of that was serious uphill. (That's 430m of vertical elevation gain, not 430m of trail/road)

But then again, what goes up, must come down.

Via slippy, rocky, rooty trails filled with muddy hollows (I was thinking of HH at the time)

 

But good fun was had by all.

 

A few pics.

The first is of naff quality but have a close look at the right leg of the guy nearest the camera......

 

He is on an e-bike to help him along, but I amazed at his skill through the dodgy bits. He does use SPD cleats on his feet/pedals to clip in.  Although I did have to help him at one point when he got stuck facing downhill with a big rock in front of his wheel. He was leaning on a tree at the time!

 

A  view across the Hodder Valley from the northside of Longridge Fell. Through the low gap in the centre lies the geographical centre of the UK...... The River Hodder flows throug the gap towards uas and then does an about turn to the right to swing around the fell - to join the River Ribble in the next pic.

 

You can see my house from here! On the southern side of the fell and a view across the Ribble Valley. The River Hodder arrives from the left and the confluence of Hodder and Ribble is away to the left of shot. Deforestation/logging has recently taken place - this is visible from my house.

 

A closer view. "My" golf course is marked on the left and my house is somewhere in the circle. The distant hills are above Ramsbottom and Bury, with Manchester beyond them. The valley in between is the Burnley-Accrington corridor.

 

And finally some mud to clean off after the dust of the past few weeks. Usual wash procedure for wet mud is a hosepipe and brush, followed by a drip/dry for awhile and then a suitable water repellent such as WD-40 sprayed in the important bits. These will then receive a further clean and lubrication in the next day or so. First time off-road with the hardtail Series 8 for a good few years. There were a few more rocks than I remember on this evening's route, The full susser would have been a tad more comfy [*], but less effort is needed to get this one back to the top of the hills - there were three fairly major climbs - mostly on fireroads

 

[*] I think I shall feel the after effects tomorrow............

 

Have a good Tuesday - work is to be worked.

There is an extra hour or two planned outside normal hours, but it will eventually be for the benefit of playing trains.

 

 

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by newbryford

[Florence Locomotive Works]

And here’s an octopus, also by Leyland. I’ve always wanted the Dinky Toys version but the prices are a bit steep.

 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Ozexpatriate]

This caught my eye. CNN: Scientists identify Alaskan volcano that may have helped the rise of the Roman Empire

 

The article suggests that weather conditions in 43 BCE (a year after Caesar was assassinated) were impacted by a large volcanic eruption in Alaska (in the Aleutians) and may have contributed to fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire.

 

It is a truly impressive caldera.

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Florence Locomotive Works said:

At least the windows In the door didn’t act like a magnifying glass.

Between my last two houses, I lived in an apartment for many years. Across the road (in the same development) condominiums were constructed. Presumably, these had very slightly concave windows. When the sun was in the right place they created a 'death ray' effect - literally creating a bright spot on the ground, or if you stood in the beam, you could feel the focused, reflected heat. It was remarkable. Fortunately it was not so intense to have a destructive effect.

 

Famously the London "walkie talkie" skyscraper had a similar, but more serious problem.

[Florence Locomotive Works]

39 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

This caught my eye. CNN: Scientists identify Alaskan volcano that may have helped the rise of the Roman Empire

 

The article suggests that weather conditions in 43 BCE (a year after Caesar was assassinated) were impacted by a large volcanic eruption in Alaska (in the Aleutians) and may have contributed to fall of the Roman Republic and the rise of the Empire.

 

It is a truly impressive caldera.

That most certainly is quite the caldera. I laughed when I rembered the “walkie talkie” buildings problems, Top Gear were most amused by it.

[AndyID]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Certainly there have been in recent memory, (and since the 1950s) influenza pandemics that have had a far higher total mortality than COVID-19 has had (so far) and yet I found little evidence that countries went into “zombie apocalypse panic mode“ during those pandemics. And like COVID-19, influenza is particularly lethal in the elderly and vulnerable. I wonder how much of how and where we find ourselves today is down to social media, the 24 hour rolling news cycle (that has always to be fed) and the politicians of all stripes who “need to be seen doing something“
 

 

I hope you're not suggesting they should have done nothing.

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 ...snip...

Elected officials are often the weakest link in the chain. Their priorities are:

1. Get reelected
2. Their legacy
3. Opinion polls (which feeds, or starves, their egos and drives 1 and 2)
4. Take care of their constituents (mostly as it pertains to 1, 2 and 3)

 ...snip...

That should be changed to:

1. Get reelected
2. Their legacy
3. Get reelected
4. Opinion polls (which feeds, or starves, their egos and drives 1 and3)
5. Get reelected
6. Take care of their constituents (mostly as it pertains to 1, 3 and5)
7. Get reelected

 

[Florence Locomotive Works]

7 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

It was Donk, not me, honest.

 

Might I ask who Donk is?

[J. S. Bach]

Good night owl from the Piedmont.