Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Just read through lots of pages. I didn’t catch up on ERs last night. We had intended to watch a NT play on YouTube over two nights but found it rather gripping and watched to the end. Did have a cup of tea though while we paused it at the interval.

My nephew was due to start a job in Zurich on July 1st but he has negotiated August 1st instead. Hopefully the Swiss and Germans (he lives in Germany now) will be sorted by then. He has a PhD viva during the first week of July and it would have been a bit intense with the new job starting as well. 
I don’t see myself or Aditi changing much behaviour with the relaxation in rules for the people on a clinically vulnerable list. We didn’t avail ourselves of free food supplies or medicine deliveries. I am not sure suddenly letting me out when many other people are relaxing their social distancing seems sensible. Fortunately being retired I am not subject to pressure to return to work. Even in normal times going out while immunosuppressed results in some minor infection but I cope with that. Going on the underground to travel to hospital usually causes a few days of higher temperatures and sniffles. I still think the pneumonia was due to being on packed trains in Switzerland. The pneumonia left me with permanent lung damage. My SiL in Kettering has quite a few patients who had COVID  19 and have permanent lung damage. Some have been very ill. These are not old people with underlying conditions. 
Tony

[PhilJ W]

30 minutes ago, Simon G said:

 

I was amazed that this story didnt even make the main headlines in our "local" BBC news.  For some strange reason, the BBC think that the north of Cumbria is part of the North East, so our local news is dominated by Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Durham etc.  The south of Cumbria is considered to be in the North West, so their news is usually dominated by Manchester and Liverpool etc.  At least on ITV, we have a station that is based largely in Carlisle, so is actually local.

 

To be fair to the BBC, the local radio, Radio Cumbria, is good when it comes to local news.  However, they will insist on interviewing people over telephone lines, so that if there is the slightest background noise when you are listening, it is almost impossible to hear properly.  

It was the same when I lived in Burnham-on-Crouch. The BBC London news carried items from Southend and the entire North Kent coast as far as Margate but north of the River Crouch was ignored. BBC East did occasionally venture that far south but not very often.

[Simon G]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

I don’t see myself or Aditi changing much behaviour with the relaxation in rules for the people on a clinically vulnerable list. We didn’t avail ourselves of free food supplies or medicine deliveries. I am not sure suddenly letting me out when many other people are relaxing their social distancing seems sensible. Fortunately being retired I am not subject to pressure to return to work. Even in normal times going out while immunosuppressed results in some minor infection but I cope with that. Going on the underground to travel to hospital usually causes a few days of higher temperatures and sniffles. I still think the pneumonia was due to being on packed trains in Switzerland. The pneumonia left me with permanent lung damage. My SiL in Kettering has quite a few patients who had COVID  19 and have permanent lung damage. Some have been very ill. These are not old people with underlying conditions. 
Tony

 

As another on the "extremely vulnerable" list, I totally agree.  I still expect a further spike of virus infections with the current relaxations, so have no plans to go anywhere much at least until August.  Even then, I think that we will be very careful about where we go and what we do.

[TheQ]

We Seem to get a lot of Sarf End on BBC east these days. Parts of Norfolk in the days of analogue TV could only get Yorkshire TV channels. It's not so bad now you can select your tv region and BBC news channel on a Digital TV.

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, TheQ said:

We Seem to get a lot of Sarf End on BBC east these days. Parts of Norfolk in the days of analogue TV could only get Yorkshire TV channels. It's not so bad now you can select your tv region and BBC news channel on a Digital TV.

Once upon a time Southend or Basildon only appeared on Look East if there was a bank robbery or similar event. We stopped watching as I didn’t need to know about brawls in Norwich or cabbage rustlers in darkest Suffolk. Our Sky box insists that we are east for BBC and London for ITV. Our terrestrial aerial points at Crystal Palace.
Tony 

[Tony_S]

Happy Anniversary to Baz and Mrs O.

Tony

[Barry O]

BBC Look North Leeds should be retitled.. BBC Look North anywhere but Leeds! It is pretty poor .. we have local "Made in Leeds " channel which had good coverage of things in Leeds. They are on very reduced funds so it is now a bit weak.

 

As it happens I have misspent my time doing a bit of ancestor investigation.

 

We couldn't work out how my cousin (a reasonably senior Policeman) from West Yorkshire went  on a course at Hendon. He walked down to his room as the last occupant was packing up. He was exactly the same position and name as him but he was in the Met.  We now know why..potentially. about 1800 one of the family set off to London. He set up as a Taylor and eventually died in Lambeth. His family stayed down sarf... more digging to do.. 

 

Baz

[TheQ]

2 minutes ago, Barry O said:

BBC Look North Leeds should be retitled.. BBC Look North anywhere but Leeds! It is pretty poor .. we have local "Made in Leeds " channel which had good coverage of things in Leeds. They are on very reduced funds so it is now a bit weak.

 

 

 

Baz

it's always amused me having look North at Leeds, because if you go further up, you have a complexly Different Look north based in Newcastle, Perhaps that should be named Look Further North.. or maybe Leeds should be Look not So North

 

In MK we used to get Southern , Eastern, and Midlands TV channels, none of which covered MK very well..

[J. S. Bach]

Good morning owl from the Piedmont.

 

And, not to forget, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to Mrs O and Baz.

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

We receive tv signals from some transmitter in London (Crystal Palace I think) because when the installer aligned the aerial on the much nearer transmitter carrying BBC South etc he was getting a stronger signa off the back of the aerial which was pointed rather approximately in the direction of Crystal pace.  So when we watch any regional news - normally once in a blue moon when there's a 'k' in the month - it's all about Lunnon and not much else.  in Tilehurst we had 'south' news and that covered as far north as Oxford in the BBC version so it was almost relevant when they managed to forget Southampton for a couple of minutes.

 

Now far more impoartantly than soemthing we never look at the big event today is obviously the one involving Mr & Mrs Baz so a very happy anniversary to you both and many more of them.

 

From what little I have heard about it I was interested to see that Chris has picked up on the possibility of gay hate crime in the Reading stabbings. (something I too had wondered about) although it does appear to be being treated as a terrorist attack.  Perhaps the best we could hope is that if the alleged perpetrator is convicted he will get extra time for all the various things involved - i.e. terrorism, possibly gay hatred, and - apparently (from what I know, which isn't complete) - also racism.  So with any luck that lot would treble his sentence.

 

as far as various Govt reactions to the spread of Covid-19 there is one big question I would like any inquiry to ask - when various Ministers etc said Britain was fully prepared to deal with it did they say that on the basis of av dvice from Civil Servants or was it simply 'don't panic' political whitewash to keep the proles happy?   There I think probably lies a good part of the crux of explaining what actually happened in terms of official action/lack of such action.  Equally, alas, as far as the NHS is concerned there has all too obviously been significant differences in the way individual GP surgeries and hospital trusts have reacted which has had little to do with whatever central Govt,  in reality Public Heath England and the NHS centre, might have said/done (or perhaps didn't say or do?) and there has been considerable incompetence on the part of both the latter organisations.  That latter area, to me is far more concerning and much less 'political' than what some - perhaps  poorly advised?  - 'Govt spokesman' or Minister etc might say in a press conference because if nothing else there appears to have been major problems in the two organisations actually delivering what govt said they were to deliver.  As far as relaxations are concerned these seem to be more driven by public opinion and economic 'considerations' than by thought about remaining levels of infection and the potential risks of it spreading.  In my view this is very much a consequence of years of public demand which has increasingly driven Britain towards an economy which is based more heavily on consumption than production.

 

Right, I am now tasked to ck lean some of teh vacuum.  Enjoy the rest of the day and, contrary to what now seems to be some areas of official advice, stay safe.

 

[PhilJ W]

21 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

 

As it happens I have misspent my time doing a bit of ancestor investigation.

 

We couldn't work out how my cousin (a reasonably senior Policeman) from West Yorkshire went  on a course at Hendon. He walked down to his room as the last occupant was packing up. He was exactly the same position and name as him but he was in the Met.  We now know why..potentially. about 1800 one of the family set off to London. He set up as a Taylor and eventually died in Lambeth. His family stayed down sarf... more digging to do.. 

 

Baz

If its an unusual surname someone somewhere is likely to have researched it. One of the names in my family tree is Mogg. I'd traced it back to my 3 X great grandfather who was a farmer living near Yeovilton about 200 years ago. When looking at the Genes Reunited site it was evident that the surname was quite common around that area. So I took an old road atlas and highlighted where the others of the same name lived at the same period of time. I then contacted the owners of the family trees  to ask if they were related. Almost immediately I got a reply from a lady saying her 3 X great grandfather and my 3 X great grandfather were brothers and would I like a copy of the family tree. That family tree goes back to the 1540's and almost to the present day.

Edited June 24, 2020 by PhilJ W

[PhilJ W]

9 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

G'day all,

 

 

 

 

 

From what little I have heard about it I was interested to see that Chris has picked up on the possibility of gay hate crime in the Reading stabbings. (something I too had wondered about) although it does appear to be being treated as a terrorist attack.  Perhaps the best we could hope is that if the alleged perpetrator is convicted he will get extra time for all the various things involved - i.e. terrorism, possibly gay hatred, and - apparently (from what I know, which isn't complete) - also racism.  So with any luck that lot would treble his sentence.

 

 

 

Thats what I thought as well but they're treating it as terrorist related it seems because the perpetrator was on the security forces radar. It might be both of course as the organisations who promote terror are by and large homophobic.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

Oh shi!t, Oh dear!

 

I must have stumbled into into some perverted website, My only hope is they can't track my IP address.

 

Beware visiting when there's a full moon, as you might just get attacked by the Weredonk.  Upon which you will be cast out and forever banished to a lifetime of doom, namely G*R muddling.

 

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Actually a great many companies such as the one I work for also pay for free flu jabs for all their staff, So i get mine at the expense of the company to save the NHS the money.

 

I too worked for a company offering the same, until I retired in April.  I contacted the Occy Health Dept (a.k.a. Litigation Avoidance Dept.) prior to leaving, to request a printout of all vaccinations they'd given me over the years (I'd visited places such as India, Malaysia, Korea and Kuwait, where such things may come in useful).  They told me I'd only had Tetanus....wrong.  At a second go they came up with a more comprehensive list, which was still short on a few.  Fortunately I still had my paper copy of vaccination history.

 

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Looking at the illustration of the wheelbarrow I purchased on E-bay it seems that they've sent the correct body but the wrong frame. I will try the big green or orange sheds again to see if their queues are any shorter and send this one back.

 

Bounce them for a returns label, and stipulate that a courier must collect from your address.  They might just give you a refund and not want it back.  Can you drill holes in the right place?

 

In other news, I see that BoJo is letting a lot of the clamps off.  Can't help but feel that it's too much, too soon; it seems that the ex-Chief Scientific Officer feels the same also, saying it's "far too premature".

 

Also, it seems a person with a banner has managed to upset a few people.

 

Edited June 23, 2020 by polybear

[newbryford]

HA Mr & Mrs Baz

[Andrew P]

Happy Wotsits to Baz and his good Lady.

 

Dave H, I hope you can get things resolved soon mate.

[Simon G]

Happy Anniversary to Barry O and his good Mrs!

[PhilJ W]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

 

 

Bounce them for a returns label, and stipulate that a courier must collect from your address.  They might just give you a refund and not want it back.  Can you drill holes in the right place?

 

 

 

Its easier than that as its an E-bay purchase paid by PayPal. I'll give them a couple of days to see if they can sort it out otherwise its going back.

[petethemole]

Happy Anniversary to Baz and Mrs O.

 

It's getting hot here.  Mrs mole is in the spa pool doing her exercises to a Country CD.  The first one she chose wouldn't play and turned out to be broken.  I wonder if that had anything to do with the 'odd crunching noise' she heard when she shut the lid?  I suspect it wasn't in properly.  The warrior women can replace it.

 

I have a lift to the shops later as Mrs mole is meeting a friend at a cafe near LIDL.  I will probably get the bus back though.  There's a 'spoons nearby, so in happier times I would wait for the bus while several buses went by there.  At least buying ale and cider at supermarket prices is saving me money, even against 'spoon's prices. 

 

Stay elfy,

Pete

[roundhouse]

[laurenceb]

Happy anniversary to Mrs & Mr Baz

[laurenceb]

Happy anniversary to Mrs & Mr Baz

[Florence Locomotive Works]

3 hours ago, Simon G said:

 

I was amazed that this story didnt even make the main headlines in our "local" BBC news.  For some strange reason, the BBC think that the north of Cumbria is part of the North East, so our local news is dominated by Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Durham etc.  The south of Cumbria is considered to be in the North West, so their news is usually dominated by Manchester and Liverpool etc.  At least on ITV, we have a station that is based largely in Carlisle, so is actually local.

 

To be fair to the BBC, the local radio, Radio Cumbria, is good when it comes to local news.  However, they will insist on interviewing people over telephone lines, so that if there is the slightest background noise when you are listening, it is almost impossible to hear properly.  

Be glad you have news you know isn’t paying photoshoppers to doctor photos so that the networks preferred presidential candidate looks good. 

[The Lurker]

Greetings from the fold in the hill which is sizzling under blue skies; if the pubs could open today the beer gardens would be very full. 

 

Work has had been busy again- I thought I had seen off small of the queries from the main board members but no, the CFO is having a turn tomorrow morning!

 

i thought that part of my lunchtime walk route today had the air of somewhere unchanged for a hundred years or so; somehow you can’t believe that scene is in suburbia, inside the M25; or at least that is how it seems to me. Happy anniversary to Baz and Mrs Baz.  Have a good day all 

[jamie92208]

4 hours ago, Simon G said:

 

I was amazed that this story didnt even make the main headlines in our "local" BBC news.  For some strange reason, the BBC think that the north of Cumbria is part of the North East, so our local news is dominated by Newcastle, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Durham etc.  The south of Cumbria is considered to be in the North West, so their news is usually dominated by Manchester and Liverpool etc.  At least on ITV, we have a station that is based largely in Carlisle, so is actually local.

 

To be fair to the BBC, the local radio, Radio Cumbria, is good when it comes to local news.  However, they will insist on interviewing people over telephone lines, so that if there is the slightest background noise when you are listening, it is almost impossible to hear properly.  

Living opposite Settle, geography  dictated that we could only get Granada and Look North from Manhester via, I think, Winter Hill.  However when the regions were set up we were put with the rest of the West Riding. This meant we used to get YTV and BBC Leeds news crews turning up for local stories but never saw any of the reports.  At least we were spared having to put up with Richard Whiteley. I had enough of him at school.

 

Jamie

Edited June 23, 2020 by jamie92208

[The Stationmaster]

I must apologise profusely for failing to welcome Donk back to our midst.  Having met him several years ago I can confirm that he is a thoroughly nice chap who got on particularly well with the Good Doctor aka Station Cat.   The return of Donk reminds me of another missing person in the shape of Jones The Steam who would appear to have been stuck on shed since the end of December although I can absolutely understand his inability to make any more of his Great British Railway Journeys for much of this year - it will be great to see him back even if his travels are relatively local.

 

And back to the everyday wonderland - i am summoned to the surgery later this afternoon for a steroid injection into my knee (or possibly both knees) because the jab reduces one's immunity that will mean, for a while, keeping further away than ever from contact with the sub-humans incapable of judging distance who seem to increasingly inhabit much of Britain.

 

For those not properly acquainted with Edwin Jones you will find him here - 

 

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/115156-jones-the-steams-great-british-railway-journeys/