Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Obviousle the site needs a bigger electric meter.

 

Sunny here this morning 3 Covid affected games off today..had to ask to find out what was going on...pah!

Enjoy yout Day!

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dull, dismal, damp and decidedly draughty here.  More showers and the chance of some sunny spells.

You'd have thought that with the forum down for nearly 24 hours I'd have got quite a lot done.   You'd have thought wrong. 

Apart from a brief shopping trip to Sainsbury's nottalot happened yesterday.  However I did manage to finish off updating my cataloging  of small things with wheels, that only took about an hour.    I appear to have a lot more than I thought,  too much in fact!  Is that possible?

This morning I will be visiting The Shed and then from about 2.30 I'll be watching rugby,   Sale v Bristol today and that could be a good match.

Have a good one and keep safe,

Bob.

[Andrew P]

Morning all, and Firstly a BIG THANKS to Andy Y for his dedicated work on restoring an almost normal Service.

It is appreciated Andy.

 

And on to more mundane matters, well not a lot to report, life has been fairly normal over this outage time, so have a good weekend one and all.

 

Oh, and keep smiling.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Great to see RMweb back up again even if its a bit slow. Central heating kicked in this morning it was that cold, and it seems its not going to get much warmer for a week at least. With the rain Arthur Itis is having a field day but a brace of paracetamol has put him in his place. Now time to run a bath, be back later. 

[5 C]

Morning Afternoon awl.

 

First of all, best wishes to Dave Hunt and my hopes for a speedy release and recovery. Thoughts too with Rick. It can't be an easy situation, particularly when you feel there is little you can do to change things for the better.

 

In my current role, I speak to lots of people from across the company. As part of the Return To Workplace project team I always take the opportunity to ask how people feel about coming back into the office. Views range from "I'm not leaving my home until the virus is eradicated from the face of the earth" to people like me who jump at the chance for any trip to the office and the chance to interact with real live human beings. As someone who deliberately and voluntarily put themselves in harm's way over the years, I appreciate I'm at the extreme end of the spectrum and that there's still a lot of anxiety around. 

 

So apologies for being MIA over the last few weeks but my life has been pretty much all about RTW. I've been into the office three times this week to check up on the Covid secure measures being implemented. What we have is without doubt, gold standard stuff and I know I'll be safer there than anywhere outside my own home. Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about the external environment. I took a trip into the town centre this week and was not at all surprised by what I saw. The Mall (aka The Arndale) has a one-way system in place and a requirement to wear masks even when not in the shops. The one-way was almost completely ignored and mask wearing was barely 30% and that included shop assistants.

 

As for repurposed office blocks, Luton has far too many of those; marketed as "luxury studio flats" (a euphemism for bedsits). A large number have been bought up by London councils who use them to re-house people from their own boroughs, with all the social problems that brings. One particularly prominent office block always seems to have a police car parked outside.

 

The first load of washing has been done. A muggertea, or maybe a muggercoffee up next has now been consumed with a bacon, egg and mushroom sandwich.

 

(Post composed before server outage, hence the crossings out).

 

Regards to awl.

[iL Dottore]

Good afternoon all,

It looks like someone broke RMweb again – it was out practically all day yesterday. And whilst I don’t live on the forum, I do dip into it now and again during the day (a bit like dipping into a choice box of assorted handmade pralines and without the risk of coming across items that have already been “hippo tested“), so its absence was very notable.

 

I am a concerned about GWiwer’s, situation  I’m hoping that what I am going to post is completely and utterly wrong, as it’s very difficult to assess this sort of thing just from what GWiwer had posted, but it does appear to me that Mrs G’s behaviour is starting to move away from an anxiety which although severe is within normal limits, to something that may require outside, professional, help. My understanding is that there are a number of telephone helpline is available in the UK where people can talk things through with well-trained individuals who can help them - at least initially. Getting help for these sorts of situations will, at the very least, help bring peace of mind to all involved. I do hope it all works out for them both.

 

Unfortunately, people’s anxieties - both great and small – are not helped at all by the chaotic and frequently hysterical tone of communications about the pandemic by the government and especially by the media.

Speaking of overreactions, I see that Britain has removed air-bridge status from Switzerland. So anyone travelling from Switzerland to the UK (or back from Switzerland to the UK) now has to quarantine for 14 days. Funnily enough, here in Switzerland, whilst there is concern about the rising numbers of infections in certain areas of the country, neither the Swiss media nor the government are proclaiming the coming of a Second Zombie Apocalypse! Given that Switzerland is now in purdah, I think it was rather prescient of me to move my planned September 2020 trip to London to May of next year. When I may, or may not, be able to travel to London. Had I been stranded by events, I would have had to have thrown myself on the mercies of ER for accommodation and regular supplies of ale, pork pies, whisky, steak and kidney puddings and cake (preferably not already HH tested). As things stand, in exile I may have to throw myself on the mercies of ER for postal supplies of pork pies and (tinned) steak and kidney puddings.

 

Until the CARE parcel arrives  (hint, hint) I will just have to content myself with a virtual tin of steak pudding from my “alternative” pantry....

 

All this talk of foodstuffs reminds me of DH’s predicament. Firstly, I hope that he is steadily improving and secondly, if needed, we could get him transferred to my Swiss Clinic: The Baselklinik für Modelleisenbahnerheilung for intensive treatment with Schwarzwalderkirschtorte and schnapps, administered by attractive “Swiss Misses” If there is a small crumb of comfort in all this, it’s that DH’s liquid diet is probably better than the hospital food!

Stay safe, stay well, stay sane...

iD

Edited August 29, 2020 by iL Dottore

[The Lurker]

On 27/08/2020 at 15:02, Gwiwer said:

Afternoon all,

 

It has turned miserably damp Upon the Hill of Strawberries once more which has curtailed the intended hedge-trimming activity scheduled for this afternoon.  More sky-leakage is forecast for much of the day and for tomorrow so the hedge may yet grow longer and look worse until the weekend when I might be able to rectify its wayward tendencies.  

 

Good news, it seems, from the Hunt camp and best wishes are proffered for a speedy return to better health and these pages.  

 

Anent working from home SWMBO is of the opinion that her employer will not be willing to have her back on site - as a vulnerable person - until vaccinated meaning this could be a long-haul of working from the bedroom.  In terms of insurance none would be needed for simply "working from home" but one should definitely enquire as to cover if one is "running a business from home" which can be different.  She is not running the business.  The Board of Directors do that.  

 

On family history we can trace the paternal side back to 13th Century Brittany.  The family - and the name - moved steadily along the northern coasts of Europe before crossing to Norfolk in the 17th Century.  The surname, which is uncommon, can be found there to this day in modest numbers and also in nearby Suffolk.  Very few turn up elsewhere.  Father was evacuated from Middlesex to Cornwall at the outbreak of WW2 where we have placed him meeting the young girl who was later to be his wife quite coincidentally through being on the same train between Port Isaac Road and Wadebridge as was being used by all their responsible adults to reach market.  They re-met as pen friends almost 20 years later ..... 

 

The maternal side hails from Marazion in Cornwall where records are less complete.  We can trace significant parts of the history but in some cases records were either not kept, have been lost and, we suspect, intentionally destroyed.  There has been a persistent story that one young female member of the family in times long past was in the service of the Lord St. Levan on St. Michael's Mount.  That much we can almost be certain of though one key piece of evidence is missing.  The story goes that His Lordship may have become rather fond of this young lady and that she found herself with child.  We can find no trace of any child, nor of her own death, nor any definitive record of such an event.  The fact that the story has been related by several branches of the family over quite some time might or might not lend it credence.  What ever the truth the family name on that side is still common throughout the local area rendered, as is often the case in Cornwall, in numerous different spellings.  

 

And in a curious twist of fate we now live just a few minutes from father's first school on Powder Mill Lane (which is still there albeit rebuilt on the same site since his time) and can re-trace all the footsteps he described to us in his tales of early life.  It still feels slightly odd to be walking along the same roads, through the same parks and past the same buildings including his first couple of homes which he knew some 80 years earlier.  

 

I have the same strange feelings; after I had moved to Sidcup, my Mum happened to unearth her father’s apprenticeship papers; home address, Hurst Road, Sidcup. The house he had lived in with his parents is part the expansion of Sidcup in the 20’s and 30’s, and is still there, albeit clearly extended. For those that know the style of house it was one of the Chalet style semis.

 

He’d grown up earlier in his life in Catford and apparently used to say he was educated at Sandhurst and Cambridge. Sandhurst was the primary school that was bombed while children were in the playground during the war but we don’t know what he meant by Cambridge. 
 

by the time the war came, he’d married and lived in Grove Park, a house I remember my Grandma living in (he died when I was 2 and so I don’t remember him).

[Chris116]

It is nice to have RMweb back in action for the first time in nearly 36 hours here. I see that many of you have managed to get in long before me so things are obviously changing all the time. My thanks to Andy and all those who have worked to get the site working again.

 

I was sent an advert recently for an upgrade to my broadband which looked like a good offer so I called them today only to be told that the offer is not available in my area! So given that I have had an account for over five years they must have known that they could not supply what was being offered when they sent the email. False advertising comes to mind or just plain incompetence, at the moment I am not sure which. What I do know is that if a better deal comes along from another provider I will be jumping ship.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a grey Sidcup- good to read of positive progress for Dave and thoughts with Rick and with Chrisf.
 

today is relatively quiet- we’ve been for our walk (including Hurst Road - see above) and I will be cooking a Mexican chilii chicken with red pepper and chilli salsa later while Mrs Lurker takes Elder Lurker to pick up some prescription sunglasses- presumably the final nail in the coffin of the summer!

 

like Phil, our central heating kicked in this morning which did at least mean most of the washing from yesterday dried!

 

tomorrow we’re at Brands Hatch and will be wearing layers! I think it will be quite chilly in the wind.

 

have a good day all

[Happy Hippo]

10 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

All this talk of foodstuffs reminds me of DH’s predicament. Firstly, I hope that he is steadily improving and secondly, if needed, we could get him transferred to my Swiss Clinic: The Baselklinik für Modelleisenbahnerheilung for intensive treatment with Schwarzwalderkirschtorte and schnapps, administered by attractive “Swiss Misses” If there is a small crumb of comfort in all this, it’s that DH’s liquid diet is probably better than the hospital food!

Stay safe, stay well, stay sane...

iD

I've just  sent Dave a text to let him know that normal service has been resumed.

 

He has asked my to be his proxy for the Swiss recuperation.

 

I didn't sent him this picture:

 

[jamie92208]

Bon apres midi to you all.  The French version didn't wake up till after lunch today so many thanks to Andy Y for his efforts.

 

Thought with Rick and Sharon.  Not a nice situation  to be in. I hope that Sharon gets the help that she needs.

 

Not a lot happenning hear but the shed now beckons.

 

I also hope to here good news from Dave.

 

Jamie

[Chris116]

11 minutes ago, Happy Hippo said:

I've just  sent Dave a text to let him know that normal service has been resumed.

 

He has asked my to be his proxy for the Swiss recuperation.

 

I didn't sent him this picture:

 

His blood pressure and heart rate could go up rather more then the medical profession would like!

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, 5 C said:

 

 

As for repurposed office blocks, Luton has far too many of those; marketed as "luxury studio flats" (a euphemism for bedsits). A large number have been bought up by London councils who use them to re-house people from their own boroughs, with all the social problems that brings. One particularly prominent office block always seems to have a police car parked outside.

 

 

 

Even in rural Dorset we had this problem. Southampton Council had bought up a number of houses on a new development on the edge of town. Typical new estate with no facilities. So what to you expect to happen when you take a single-parent family away from any support network that they have and move them to a completely unfamiliar location 50 miles away with no facilities? Poor mums pushing prams for over a mile as the bus service that was a planning condition for the 700 home (later extended to 900) has never been provided.

[simontaylor484]

Afternoon all,Greetings and salutations to one and all.

 

Its grand to be back online. Well i managed to get a couple of little jobs done yesterday afternoon with a little help from my boys. Now got some firewood for bonfire night just need to get it cut up and bagged and back in to dry storage for a couple of months. Stuff has been sorted for the tip and charity shop.the stuff for the tip will have to wait to go maybe i will get a skip and have a good clear out

 

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Glad to be back and running now, and with my Broadband currerntly running at about 15Mb/s and the new computer, it seems that things technology wise are looking up.  However, my BB supplier has offered fibre for the same price, and I have taken up the offer, as they are offering around 36Mb/s which seems to be a decent offer.  It will mean a new router again, but as this one, which I only had installed a few days ago, had dropped out a few times, and has needed the traditional switch it on and off solution to reboot it.

 

30747's niece came with us to Kendal this morning, and seemed to enjoy herself, so we dropped her in Lancaster so she could see how many closed down shops she can spot (which is loads with a couple more due to close next month, and both independents) - the latest is Argos, which closed for the pandemic, and had posters in the window saying it was closed temporarily, and which now has the windows blanked out and a sign saying this branch is now closed.

 

Generic greetings, and best wishes to RIck (again) for Sharon.

 

Got to go and pick up the wanderer now from Lancaster then some dinner.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[TheQ]

I must have hit lucky and have replied 3 times in the afore mentioned 36 hours.

 

It's still very windy here and we've had had intermittent rain drizzle rain drizzle dry rain drizzle

The port corner fillet was fitted to the cockpit combing,  then the starboard side was sanded. 

 

Thence to the BBQ area,  an aerated block was adjusted... Mallet and chisel... 

Around 50,  6 inch white tiles were cleaned,  many of them had been sitting in the "might be useful" pile for thirty years since I redecorated the bath room in our previous house.  They still had some of the plaster that came off with them. 

 

The tiles were laid  out along with blue glass small tiles,  trying for a good fit and pattern. This was during  a dry spell, I managed to fix on the tiles around the BBQ shelf itself.  Then the heavens opened big time and everything thing got too wet to continue. 

 

So after an eyelid inspection in the mobile home,  when it stopped I returned  to the marquee,  and fitted the port side capping. 

 

After a wash and brush up,  I'm now on the sofa,  dinner is imminent,  however it was slightly delayed by one of the "rings" failing.  Since it's an all in one,  glass topped, hob, I guess its time to start looking for a replacement,  it's about 15 years old. 

 

Dinner will be accompanied by a glass of red.. 

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good afternoon all,

It looks like someone broke RMweb again – it was out practically all day yesterday. And whilst I don’t live on the forum, I do dip into it now and again during the day (a bit like dipping into a choice box of assorted handmade pralines and without the risk of coming across items that have already been “hippo tested“), so its absence was very notable.

 ...snip...

Stay safe, stay well, stay sane...

iD

I was having withdrawal symptoms and was somewhat disturbed this morning when RMweb still did not load. I even thought that it might be on my end; my ISP changed their billing date from the 22nd to the 3rd of the month without informing the customers or FireFox was having a hissyfit. I even tried Internet Exploder, still no dice. Many thanks to Andy for all of his efforts!

 

  

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good afternoon all,

 ...snip...

Unfortunately, people’s anxieties - both great and small – are not helped at all by the chaotic and frequently hysterical tone of communications about the pandemic by the government and especially by the media.

 ...snip...

Stay safe, stay well, stay sane...

iD

"If it bleeds, it leads!" seems to be the media's motto over here!

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Isn't it nice to be back home ....  well done Andy and i hope he gets to enjoy at least part of his weekend.  Every time I've tried to get in over the past 30 odd hours the door has been firmly off the menu so it seems restoration or occasional access in teh meanwhile must have been a rather patchy, strange how this new(?) technology stuff does and doesn't work and amazing how carp service providers manage to stay in business.

 

In some respects I don't blame Rick's wife Sharon for being distrustful of the outside world when you see the selfish behaviour of far too many people out there to whom social distancing and masks seem to be something to be ignored rather than used.  but if she does build it up into a sort of phobia then she really needs professional help and I hope she will consider something.  But in some respects she isn't alone, today the lad and a couple of pals have made their way to Lewes for a  hydraulic experience (of the beer consumption kind, not the diseasal version) and when he gets home he will be stripped at the back door so his clothes go straight into the washing machine and he will be marched off for a shower.  sensible precaution at the best of times but as there is some sort of demo on there it becomes nearer an essential than precaution if the people taking part in that are in anything at all like the usual recent mode of anti-social misbehaviour at such events.

 

anyway back to the excitement of RMweb for a while and roast chicken for dinner tonight   Enjoy the rest of your day.

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon all,

 

It sounds like it's been a rough week for quite a few. I've not been able to look in for quite a few days, things haven't been too good here either, though not as bad as some of the other ERs - hope things get better asap for you all. 

 

It sure feels like autumn. I went out for a couple of hours in the garden and it was definitely woolly hat time. And digging felt like someone had been making industrial quantities of lumpy brown porridge and then tipping it all over the soil. Not really surprising, given the chuckitdarns Friday, sometimes the rain was drumming on our home-office's dormer so loudly it was interfering with phone calls. The forecast is better (for us) over the next few days, though tomorrow will still be a fleece and woolly hat for gardening. I'm trying to finish some work in time to get the autumn seeds in, ready for next year. Oh, and not have the place looking like a builder's yard. With a little luck, that's the last of the urgent/essential work to do round the house. 

 

Hopefully I might even  ... get chance to do some modelling. One very overdue project is the plan for the next few days. I'm just praying I don't have any more crises dropped in my lap. I don't want to be greedy about such things, it might be my turn for one occasionally but I don't want more than my share. Fingers crossed. 

[J. S. Bach]

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

Obviousle the site needs a bigger electric meter.

 ...snip...

Baz

Here you go. Three rotors, no waiting:

One of my other hobbies; collecting older electric meters of all kinds, not just watt-hour ones.

Edited August 29, 2020 by J. S. Bach
To add some information.

[Dave Hunt]

Greetings from Shrewsbury nick hospital where I hope that the escape tunnel will be in use either tomorrow or Monday. First of all, a tremendous thank you to everyone for the thoughts and good wishes that have been relayed to me by HH; ERs really is a superb, supportive forum populated by some of the best people that could be wished for and as well as being comforting it is more than a little humbling to be the recipient of so much goodwill.  Secondly, thanks are also due for the uplifting news about the Tigers and for the many and varied suggestions for the organisation of an escape system as well as for arranging supplies, although I do suspect that if anyone sent cake it may not have got past Horton.

 

I don't want to give a blow by blow account of the last week so I'll just settle for saying that the trouble was an unfortunate and untimely combination of contracting campylobacter, having a mini stroke and a resurgence of diverticula disease. Do I know how to arrange things or what? Anyway, providing the recovery continues I should be allowed to go home tomorrow or Monday and boy, am I looking forward to that! Then, apart from some double vision, which the consultant (and Andy P - thanks for the encouraging post Andy) says will eventually go away, as well as some follow-up assessment of the diverticula disease I should be OK - at least until the next bit of what was once a proud and fit body decides to pack up. Mind you, I suppose that had I treated said body a bit better over the years it may being somewhat better shape, but where's the fun in that?  I mean to say, as Baz alluded to in his mention of the Heritage Park Hotel in the Rhondda all those years ago, you don't achieve notoriety on the exhibition circuit as the man who broke Owen Gibbon without some sacrifice (and it was good whisky Baz). 

 

As well as as being part of ERs I am extremely fortunate in having a lovely and hugely supportive wife who since I have been in the care of the NHS has been making drapes for the front of my layout - how good is that? And last but not least, of course, I'm lucky that I live where I can be looked after by the NHS which, despite all it's problems and shortcomings, still has some of the best front line staff anywhere to be found. 

 

So, thanks once again everyone for your support and I want to offer mine to Rick during his trouble as well as other ERs who are unwell or in need - I've only had time for a quick canter through the last week's posts and have probably missed some.

 

Best wishes

 

Dave 

[J. S. Bach]

On 27/08/2020 at 13:47, J. S. Bach said:

 ...snip... Thirdly, I went out to start it to go to Gene's for my Thursday corned beef & cabbage lunch and it was totally dead, so I jumped it and went on my way. When I came out from lunch (very tasty, btw), it was dead again! My thoughts when I got home were leaning towards having to buy a new battery. I had forgotten to bring in the jump-starter and when I went out to get it, I noticed that the brake lights were on. Ah hah, well I will just pull the wires off the brake light switch; uh, no go, the lights stayed on ? A call to my mechanic's garage and I will take it in tomorrow first thing. Hmmm, a new battery just might have been cheaper!

It turned out to be a broken switch, at least the plastic part that actuates the switch; the mechanic knew right away what was wrong and replaced plastic part with a metal bolt; total cost was $10.00! My breakfast cost a little more.

[Coombe Barton]

... whither education?

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/08/28/mounds-of-shredding/

[simontaylor484]

Good to hear from you Dave, hope your recovery continues.

 

Strange reports abound from the Shrewsbury area about folks shaking their trouser legs around the grounds.

Will you still be needing the vaulting horse that has been made.

 

Oh and if any of the staff say Good luck to you in English dont reply look what happened to Gordon Jackson.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Dull but dry here today and not much sign of the winds promised, just the cold, as the central heating thermostat will confirm, its kicked in a couple of times today. Great to hear from Dave and I hope the progress continues. A real WTF moment when I read this:-

 https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thousands-anti-lockdown-protesters-gather-22597555?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&fbclid=IwAR1oelFEZqDiyCeMl343Z5AGb56fgCNa8swi4HeLQeXiwvrBxm0l8fZtZ9o

Whatever planet they're from we should send them back ASAP.