Early Risers.

[simontaylor484]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

What exactly did I do wrong?? 

 

In other news......

 

Something involving disappearing cakes 

[jamie92208]

10 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Something involving disappearing cakes 

Or honey.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

I was thinking how Early risers has progressed since it came into being, and the time between milestones. At the moment the rate is is 'about a year' plus or minus a bit.

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by Coombe Barton

[Coombe Barton]

RIP Ian.

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/09/06/fifty-two-years/

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Here's to the next 1,000 pages.

Are we allowed a party on page 10,000?  Will we still have to antisocially distance?

 

Foxes.  Hmmmmm.  I grew up in a fishing village.  We were, of course, minutes walk away from open countryside up the hill.  The Western Hunt was a regular sight.  They were also a regular sight much later in life when I returned to the area as a professional driver.  They offered no respect to any other road-user and parked their vehicles randomly along country roads blocking them to all and sundry.  And as the law then permitted they rode roughshod across lands and over hedges and fences.  One acquaintance managed to covenant her land "For the sole use of women" and made it known that hunts and hunting was not permitted thereon.  They ignored it.  She took them to court and won an injunction.  

 

I now live in an area with a severe urban fox problem.  They burrow into the railway bank which must be hollow inside and I hope that Network Rail survey it and act as required on a regular basis.  They scavenge bins and leave mess along the streets and through gardens but if the council would supply us with wheelie bins (which they refuse to do citing inconvenience to their refuse collectors) most of that would be avoidable.  It is normal to see several foxes every evening and often in broad daylight.  Few look healthy.  

 

My attitude is that nature will normally define a population but in a few cases that can be far exceeded.  Gulls and foxes are among those species which come to mind; both are effectively urban vermin but confined to their more natural habitats would self-manage their numbers.  

 

On fox-hunting I have always been at odds with many in the rural and farming communities but I will not change my position.  Which is that is something ten times your size mounted on something ten times its own size was chasing you with a view to ending your life would you call it sport?  I don't. 

 

Oh.  Is that the time?  I have to be up for Attendance at the house of Fun in the morning.  Weekend?  Phut.  Gone.  Just like that.  Ah well.  I'm still upright and breathing.  I can be thankful for that.  

 

G'night all.  Sleep well and stay safe.  

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

At the moment the rate is is 'about a year' plus or minus a bit.

Just done a five Milestone Moving Average, and it's damned close to a year.

 

[tigerburnie]

Evening, of Deltics, me and a bunch of school pals went for a week camping at the mouth of the tunnel at High Dyke, I think it was summer of 1963 and in that week we saw the entire class, no A4's any more on that stretch, mostly remembered for me and two others walked through the tunnel on the Sunday thinking it would be quiet, scary standing in the refuges as expresses went hurtling past your nose, when we got to the southern end we returned over the top, bloody daft things I did as a yoof.

[laurenceb]

Tomorrow first visit to the surgery this year for a blood test and bp check. Dont think I have upset the staff so shold be safe.

Night awl

[PeterBB]

The Q - are you sure that it is your keyboard and not something to do with the site.  Quite  a few of us, including our American Abel not seen for some time, have had problems.  Hopefully your problem will be passing, mine now means that there is a PW that I am unlikely to forget since forgetting it is the means by which I can visit.   Only twice tonight, that's good going.

 

Masks, a pain but I tend to agree with ID and today did find one rather a struggle and just could not stop it misting up the specs. - just as well that no driving was involved.

Edited September 7, 2020 by PeterBB
Spelling correction.

[jamie92208]

A page late but I thought I would sign off tonight with this picture which is quite appropriate for the page numbers. The Leeds Executive heading south from Ardsley tunnel.

One early turn in 1974 when there was nothing better to do than park the panda up alongside the track, point the camera out of the window and wish I was on the train.

 

Bon Nuit.

 

Jamie

 

[Barry O]

So .. I made tea this morning (Brisket and onions in slow cooker, Yorkshire pudding mix left in fridge).. then heated the Yorkshire Puddings up and so tea took 15 minutes of preparation and cooking time tonight.

 

A reflective day today.. one of my work mates would have been 62 yesterday but the Big C decided it needed him more than we did.. buggritt

 

I have also been listening to someone tonight who needs positive support. All part of life I suppose.

 

Tomorrow sees more parcels to pack and post, some additional items to be put on Ebay, some muddling to do and a bit of housework before a E Committee meeting later in the  evening..

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Goodnight all!

[Erichill16]

Evening  All,

Not much got done here today with boys being here.

Hope everyone’s keeping well.

Goodnight,

Robert 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I managed to get the tidying up that I wanted to do in the cellar competed. I also managed to take and post a few photos of a modified loco on another thread, which seem to have attracted some positive comments. 

 

After dinner I managed to get an hour or so in the workshop. But this was mainly finding places for the few items I'd decided to relocate from the cellar. 

 

I also have trouble with the disappearing keyboard when I use my phone. It disappears every time I hit the return key. But to get it back I just touch the screen where I want to start the next word and it magically reappears. It's a bit of a pain, but ho hum!

 

Goodnight all 

 

Brian 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[pH]

10 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Not wishing to belittle your fox problem GDB it could be worse like one of our American correspondents had problems with Bears coming round. 

Canadian, please!

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[TheQ]

Mooring awl,  inner Temple Hare,, 

One hours sleep then woke up thinking this is going to be a bad night,  then 5 hours,  sleep.. This has been followed by a little bit of semi dozing.. 

 

I am slowly coming to the conclusion it is this site, that is causing keyboard problems ,  which is odd,  because at least 3 other sites I use are fairly obviously based on the same background software. The other thing is why did this only start a few days ago.. 

 

We have foxes in our garden occasionally,  though I've not seen a live one,  just finding a dead one in the garage once,. I have seen them on the roads around here though. They don't seem to be efficient at getting rid of rabbits which we are getting a lot of.

 

7 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Just done a five Milestone Moving Average, and it's damned close to a year.

 

. Now is this a true figure, or does it include any posts that may have been run over by a train or speared by the Awl within 28 days? 

 

Time to get off the sofa and get some breakfast. 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

My telephone conversation with the surgery this morning could be interesting.  Under the latest new rules, today is the earliest I can book an appointment for my injection which is due a week on Friday.  That the appointed date is less than a fortnight hence makes me uneasy.  Once that is sorted, there is the little matter to discuss of the diabetes clinic and the significant chasm of time since I was last invited/summoned to attend.  I cannot help feeling that patients are not always welcome in the surgery but what would the doctors and nurses do if there were none? At least, so far, the electronic ordering system for prescriptions appears to work OK, says he tempting providence again.

 

I am as ready as I will ever be for tomorrow’s trip to Bristol.  The Tie will be making its first appearance for several months, which means that I must wear a proper shirt instead of one of my plentiful collection of T shirts.  I have been told to bring plastic bags with which to cover my feet!  This will be the first time I have been in a care home for about 50 years.  I used to visit Great Aunt Nell in one on the edge of Cardiff.  In those days there was no thought of being separated from the person being visited by a sheet of glass or of wrapping my hooves in plastic.  It’s down to that ruddy virus again, isn’t it?

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Monday already. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun?

 

Enjoy your trip Chris. Take a small bottle of sanitizer with you though..just in case.

 

Hope everyone is ok and has a good day!

 

Positive thoughts to all ERs especially the "missing" ones..

 

Baz

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

....We have foxes in our garden occasionally,  though I've not seen a live one,  just finding a dead one in the garage once,. I have seen them on the roads around here though. They don't seem to be efficient at getting rid of rabbits which we are getting a lot of....

 

I would assume that the reason the foxes are not making any inroads into the rabbit population is that they are finding easy pickings in the form of raiding rubbish bins for food scraps. Which is not good for foxes, humans or even the rabbits (predation is necessary to keep the rabbit populations at a manageable size so that the healthy survive and have enough to eat).
There is one US state, I forget which, that has very strict restrictions on deer hunting. In the absence of predators and human culling, the deer population has exploded leading to starvation amongst the deer and them invading suburban gardens. Not good for deer or humans. Predation and/or culling is necessary to keep the populations down so that the prey animals are themselves well fed and healthy (given that most predators, by preference, target the old, sick and lame animals).

Given that any biological population, be it animal or insect, is kept within manageable limits by disease, predation or starvation, I wonder how long it will be before nature catches up with H0mo sapiens? Given how we are destroying so many habitats and in the process stumbling across small populations of animals harbouring some very nasty diseases indeed, I suspect a plague to make CoVID 19 look like sniffles in Kindergarten will be coming along sooner rather than later.
Whilst starvation as a means of seriously thinning of the human population is unlikely, there is also a possibility  that predation could be what thins out humanity - where the predators are alien beings from off planet (If not from outside the solar system).
According to some of the more bizarre theories circulating around the mythical “Area 51“, the various UFO and alien visitations so far experienced by Earth are merely a prélude to a full scale invasion. At least that is what the “tinfoil hat“ brigade would have you believe. Mind you, all the reasons postulated by various science fiction TV series for invading Earth really do not hold up to scrutiny. Why invade Earth for water or natural resources when they are free for the taking in the asteroid belt?  I think that there are only two viable reasons for a full-scale alien invasion of Earth: to use us as labour (voluntarily or involuntarily) or as a source of food, just because we are sapient doesn’t mean we won’t taste good to some entity or other.

And on that, definitely “out of this world” note,I bid you a good Monday

iD

 

[pH]

I’m building a short wall in the garden, using treated timber 4x4s. I need some more #8x3” deck screws, so I went to get some while doing other errands this afternoon.

 

I tried three different DIY stores.  None available in bulk, and none in boxes of less than 1000. Apparently, there are problems with supply and demand is up with people doing projects while off work. An employee in one store said they got a shipment on Thursday morning; by Thursday evening they had all gone. Contractors heard they’d got the shipment and were wheeling them out by the cartload. They expect their next shipment in 2 to 3 weeks.

 

Looks like I’ll have to make do with what I’ve got.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning to all.  Chrisf I wish you luck with your call to the durgery and with tomorrow's  trip to the south west.

 

Here it's sunny but cooler than a few days ago.  My main task this morning will be digging out  a channel for casting a concrete step to form the basevof a gateway. Once done I can start making the gate to fit the opening.  I may also spend some time trying to mat h up some negative strips with the rest of the film they came from.  I had quite a bit of success yesterday.  

 

Apart from that I wish you all a good day.

 

Jamie

[AndrewC]

Greetings from the boring borough. Today is day 1 of 3 of a set of 5 technical courses for work. The silly thing is I could actually train this particular one but have to take it in order to be allowed to write the certification exam. The more bits of paper I have the more the company can increase the day rate they charge me out at. At least it is a change of pace. 

 

Little of note that isn't muddling from the weekend. We have foxes living in the alleyway. There are a lot of brambles, blackberry, and other places of fox residential development back there so we've always got at least 2. They won't try climbing the metal fence so no issues with them in the garden. SWMBO leaves 2 pails of water out by the car for them. They seem to get on with the neighbourhood cats. I will say we don't have any rats or mice anymore.

The downside is one of the little b*ggers likes to climb on the Landy to try to get into the neighbouring skip. Not surprising as the bloody builders are also throwing their food waste into it. Stinks like hell and is full of flies. Bunch of c*ntpuffins. On that note today is 5 weeks since the useless pile of turd that calls itself the council planning dept was supposed to decide on the development next door. So far, nada, despite the fact there are 7 local objections and 3 councillor objections. <sigh>

 

Time to get on with the course. Enjoy the day.