Early Risers.

[TheQ]

27 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

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).
 

 

iD

 

Wheelie Bins round here, which appear to be fox, rat and cat proof. On top of that it's not a built up area, there are only 3 other houses within 1/2 a mile. I suspect the foxes are finding it easier to catch rats and mice, of which there are also plenty.

 

Which is about the distance Ben the not finding any rabbits to chase Collie and I could see. It's definitely the season of Autumn mists and mellow fruitfulness. Leaves are also falling from the trees, it seems everything is a bit early..

 

The new lead for the rebuilt major system I did last week, appears to be oscillating at high frequencies, it's noticeably built using different cable.. I shall return it to it's maker when he comes in.. So that system cannot be completed for the moment.

 

 On to the next one..

 

[Barry O]

9 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

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. 

Ooh a technical course.. I  used to dream of going on those..including having to take one I had generated in another company.. i mentioned this and was told I had to take and pass it..pah!!

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all, 

Mainly grey sky here with a hint of blue to the East.  Some sunny spells forecast but it will stay mainly cloudy but dry.

We had a really good day yesterday with Nicki & offspring here.  Joe was quite chuffed to receive a crate of supplies from The Boss to take to university in a couple of weeks time.  Gemma has started 6th Form,  apparently it's "alright."   

The Boss requires transportation to a particular shop this morning to buy various greetings cards for the rest of the year. 

I need to sort out my car insurance as I forgot about it when I got the renewal advice a couple of weeks ago.  However I've still got 12 days to do it.

I also need to contact our roofing friend as Nicki's house needs some tender care and attention to the guttering.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited September 7, 2020 by grandadbob

[Barry O]

Listen up Good People!

Rick mentioned party for page 10000.

Well I tried to organise and informal get together for any ERs who want to attend for earlier this year. Cov8d stopped that.. so

 

Perhaps a get together in 2021 could be organised.

 

Dates and venue will be set later (Derby was set to be a venue this year..anyone else have a suggestion of location?)

 

Let me know youŕ ideas...pleaae..

 

Baz

[TheQ]

13 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Listen up Good People!

Rick mentioned party for page 10000.

Well I tried to organise and informal get together for any ERs who want to attend for earlier this year. Cov8d stopped that.. so

 

Perhaps a get together in 2021 could be organised.

 

Dates and venue will be set later (Derby was set to be a venue this year..anyone else have a suggestion of location?)

 

Let me know youŕ ideas...pleaae..

 

Baz

Personally I think discussions of where, would have to wait, until shows are open again, as we don't know which suggested venues show may have passed.

As long as it's some where I can get at, in a reasonable time I don't mind.

Derby was pushing it a bit for me on the coast of Norfolk at over 3 hours each way for a day trip., Though I appreciate, that would apply to almost anyone on the coast of England, let alone West Wales and Scotland..

Edited September 7, 2020 by TheQ

[roundhouse]

26 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Personally I think discussions of where, would have to wait, until shows are open again, as we don't know which suggested venues show may have passed.

As long as it's some where I can get at, in a reasonable time I don't mind.

Derby was pushing it a bit for me on the coast of Norfolk at over 3 hours each way for a day trip., Though I appreciate, that would apply to almost anyone on the coast of England, let alone West Wales and Scotland..

Whilst I am happy with Derby, is Birmingham any better for some?

 

Plenty of decent places to meet (and stay) there. The Wellington in Bennets Hill just off New Street is superb and IIRC has an upstairs room that can be hired. However it doesn't do food but does let you bring in takeaways and used to have china and cutlery for that use pre Covid.

 

We still have two foxes visiting our garden but putting orange peel around the garden appears to have stopped them digging holes all over the lawn.

 

A very active weekend with a 14 mile walk around Dorking and from Brockham to Reigate starting and finishing at breweries with a few country pubs in between. Yesterday I lifted and then relaid the path from the big shed past the two smaller ones. Today I may move one shed to redo the paving underneath it. I still have 4 bags of sand to cart through the house but at least all the new paving has been moved and laid.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I think ID's remarks about alien invasions were typed with his tongue firmly in cheek, either that or he was wearing said tinfoil hat. Given the enormous size of the universe the chance of another intelligent life form out there somewhere is quite high but the chances of locating and contacting them are negligible. Not only distance but time, it is quite possible for a star with a planetary system to be formed, intelligent life to develop and then for the star to age and go supernova destroying all traces of that intelligent life form before our sun and solar system came into being. And the same could happen after we are all interstellar dust. One final thought about 'alien invasion', if an intelligent alien life form were ever to discover planet earth it it might regard it in the same way as we look at a wasps nest and wipe us out as a pest to be gotten rid off.

[Dave Hunt]

Regarding a get-together, the Midland hotel in Derby is currently not functioning as such and is being used for other purposes, after which I understand it will be undergoing refurbishment so that may be off the plot for next year.

 

Managed to get a bit of workshop time in yesterday but I'm still not 100% fit after recent medical issues and feel very tired a lot of the time so getting my mojo in gear is proving difficult. However, Jill and I had to go over to Dad's and do some tidying up of his house and garden (the latter fortunately small) which finished me for the rest of the day and we've decided that he'll have to have a cleaner and a gardener in future so one of my tasks today is trying to find some.

 

Have a good week everyone.

 

Dave

[BoD]

4 hours ago, chrisf said:

At least, so far, the electronic ordering system for prescriptions appears to work OK, says he tempting providence again.

 

Chris, be wary when the time comes for your annual medication review.  You know, the one that asks; Are you still alive? Are you taking the tablets? Have you grown a third arm or second head yet?  That too is online and, on the system my surgery uses, you don’t get a clear warning that it is due.  That and the fact that is buried deep, deep within the system resulted in it not allowing me to re-order my medication.  It took a fair bit sorting out.

 

Have a good a trip as you can under current circumstances.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It isn’t as sunny as forecast but it isn’t cold. Boiled eggs and toast for breakfast today. 
I still have to be careful with the leg catheter entry site. A couple of days is normal but I wasn’t normal. No pain or discomfort at all though. I was taking readings with an oximeter for a while recently and even now after one stent has been fitted the readings are not in the range where it produces warning beeps. 
Aditi will take my discharge letter and list of new medications to the GP surgery today. There are a couple of primary schools near it that are starting today so there isn’t any point going early.  The GP surgery has had to restrict patient parking to blue badge only. I am not surprised as I have seen some inconsiderate driving and parking there over the years. 
My tiniest niece started in reception class today. Her Mum said Nina didn’t even look back as she went in.

Tony

[chrisf]

22 minutes ago, BoD said:

Chris, be wary when the time comes for your annual medication review.  You know, the one that asks; Are you still alive? Are you taking the tablets? Have you grown a third arm or second head yet?  That too is online and, on the system my surgery uses, you don’t get a clear warning that it is due.  That and the fact that is buried deep, deep within the system resulted in it not allowing me to re-order my medication.  It took a fair bit sorting out.

 

Oh, I'm supposed to have one of those, am I?  What an absolute shower.   I had better let them sort out the diabetes business before chucking that grenade in.

 

Chris

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

I'm late on parade today, Sheila had a bad night's sleep do that affected me too. 

 

Anyway breakfast is now a memory and I'll soon make a start cleaning the tiles and grouting in the bathroom ready for fresh silicone to be applied. I'm hoping to get it all done today, but I suspect it might take a little longer. Oh well, best crack on! 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

...I think ID's remarks about alien invasions were typed with his tongue firmly in cheek, either that or he was wearing said tinfoil hat. Given the enormous size of the universe the chance of another intelligent life form out there somewhere is quite high but the chances of locating and contacting them are negligible. Not only distance but time, it is quite possible for a star with a planetary system to be formed, intelligent life to develop and then for the star to age and go supernova destroying all traces of that intelligent life form before our sun and solar system came into being. And the same could happen after we are all interstellar dust. One final thought about 'alien invasion', if an intelligent alien life form were ever to discover planet earth it it might regard it in the same way as we look at a wasps nest and wipe us out as a pest to be gotten rid off.

.... well, not quite tongue in cheek....

I agree that the likelihood of life developing elsewhere in the universe is a certainty and intelligent life - even if only an infinitesimal fraction of all life - is also pretty much a given. Your contention about us not finding them, I would agree with. As for them finding us? Well that's another kettle of fish (or UFO of aliens, if you will). What we currently know about the universe, even through theorectical physics, precludes faster-than-light drive (or a similar way of covering huge distances - possibly by folding space-time). However, that's not to say a FTL may indeed be possible should our understanding of the universe ever develop to that point. After all, white holes (the opposite of black holes - so spewing matter into the universe, instead of sucking matter out of the universe) and time travel were - until recently - the province of science fiction. Now quantum physics (and beyond) says that they are theorectically possible.

As for an "alien invasion", that would be highly unlikely. Water and natural resources (including elements not possible on earth) can obtained easily elsewhere, our technology would be primitively undesirable and - given different biologies (they may not even be DNA based) - they certainly wouldn't want to eat us (and as for Star Trek inter alien romances, you'd have more in common with an octupus, no matter how humanoid the other).

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

 

Oh, I'm supposed to have one of those, am I?  What an absolute shower.   I had better let them sort out the diabetes business before chucking that grenade in.

 

Chris

There are many practice management software systems. Yours may not be the same as BOD’s. 

[grandadbob]

A'noon all,

This morning's tasks have been completed. 

The Boss is happy with her shopping trip.  It's a "one man band" type shop that sells greetings cards and stationery at a fraction of the price of supermarkets and other shops.  She's now bought cards for the rest of the year.  Whilst there I remembered that her birthday is in a couple of weeks so I made the relevant purchase,  she looked away whilst I did it!  

Roofer John contacted and hopefully will be able to sort out Nicki's guttering next week.

Car insurance renewed with current supplier after a few minutes "discussion" resulted in the 19.2% increase on current premium being converted to a small reduction.  I could probably get a better deal by comparing Meerkats and suchlike but TBH it's too much faffing around and I'm happy with the result.

Lunch in about half an hour and it will be mainly tomato soup as we have a surplus of our own in the garden and a neighbour has just left a large bagful on the doorstep!

[chrisf]

Something else that beggars belief, playmates.   I discovered this morning that once again my 'sent' e-mails have disappeared from my sent box.  This is the third time it has happened.  I have reported the theft, for what else do you call an unauthorised removal?  What's the betting that good old monolithic BT will do SFA about it?  All I have to show for it so far is a 13 digit reference number, which is more than I got on the other two occasions.  It is high time that the world knew just how useless that company is.  Actually, I suspect that it already does. To think that people bought shares in it ...

 

Chris

[simontaylor484]

12 hours ago, pH said:

Canadian, please!

Sorry i knew i was on the right continent

[Winslow Boy]

I note Mr Hunt's comments about obtaining both a cleaner and gardener for I assume himself and Lady Hunt but it could of course be for Mr Hunt senior.

 

May I offer and Mr Hunt junior is of course perfectly entitled to ignore them some words of advice. Namely please ensure that both entities, gardener & cleaner have some sort of insurance cover and if practical either qualification, particularly the gardener, and experience. This may seem to be something superfluous but in these days of 'sue them, sue them and flog them' it is something that people overlook in the face of cheapness until they are faced with the consequences. 

 

In addition can I  also recommend getting the 'job' requirements specified in writing as this will save a considerable amount of confusion and acrimony - it may also help sort out the sheep from the goats in terms of experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 7, 2020 by Winslow Boy

[simontaylor484]

Afternoon all

After a bad nights sleep woke up around 10am due to painkillers etc it s raining so not able to finish off the G word. Had some forms to fill in for diabetes dietitian. 

Chris F  hope your trip goes ok.

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. After a morning of pottering about there's still nothing much been done in the garden. Now tea is being drunk so not much of anything will get done now. 

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, roundhouse said:

We still have two foxes visiting our garden but putting orange peel around the garden appears to have stopped them digging holes all over the lawn.

Another means to deter them is the "fox line".  Foxes will seldom cross a line of male human urine laid along the ground.  I have seen this for myself at my sister's and have tried it successfully here.  It does require re-establishing after rain and periodically in dry conditions but it does seem to work.  Rather than randomly aim at the ground and potentially under the gaze of neighbours I use a small jug from the garden tool kit and pour carefully where required after dark.  

 

Sadly it doesn't seem to work against squirrels; the chilli oil spray I have which suggests it will deter those beasts is only slightly successful.  It is more successful at getting up my nose leading to volcanic effects.  

 

3 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Sorry i knew i was on the right continent

As opposed to correctly in-continent?   

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

The meter ) (of wetness/dampness) man has just called and actually pronounced one stretch of wall 'dry', all 12 inches of it and it hardly registered as 'damp' last week.  However all the 999 on the wetness scale walls are still at 999 so  if no improvement by next week's visit then it will down to knocking some plaster off.   What with skirting board replacement and possibly new plaster it looks like the kitchen and downstairs facility may be getting redecorated for a second time this year - good job we've still got the codes for the mixer paint

 

The main predators of foxes round  here seem to be poisoned rats and mankind driving (so called) motor vehicles although I suspect that starvation might also play a part judging by one or two we've seen wandering past at night - they definitely can't easily access wheelie bins and even the food recycling bins are still not suffering attack because they have secured lids and the foxes don't seem to have worked out how to open them.

 

A meet - yes Baz an excellent idea.  it will be devilish difficult to arrive at somewhere truly central especially for those out on a bit of limb such as Norfolk beyond effin clown town or the North Wales coast or the Highlands north of the wall.   Derby does still strike me as relatively central for most people although I see what is nowadays the Macdonald Burlington Hotel in Stephension St in Brum still has various sizes of meeting and conference rooms and is ideally situated for New St station (although I

 wouldn't mind betting that the change of name equates to an upward change of price.  However would Derby be better (i.e.simpler and cheaper parking wise) for those who come by automobile?  Or would a meeting room at the National Brewery Museum in Burton-On-Trent suit some people?  (mentioning no specific names of course).   Overall tho' I think it boils down to first selecting a fairly central (for most people) location and then seeing what venues are available and how much they will cost.

 

Right time for pills.  Incidentally our diabetes reviews this year were conducted over the phone during lockdown times and in my case all the various blood samples and weighing had been easily conducted during one of my regular blood letting sessions.  Mrs Stationmaster subsequently needed further consultations about medication but arranging that was no problem although as I've said before our surgery never closed (apart from a couple of days for heavy clean down with bleach) and the staff were getting regular Covid testing from c.mid March using a fairly local lab.

 

Enjoy the rest of your day folks.

[The Lurker]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

.... well, not quite tongue in cheek....

I agree that the likelihood of life developing elsewhere in the universe is a certainty and intelligent life - even if only an infinitesimal fraction of all life - is also pretty much a given. Your contention about us not finding them, I would agree with. As for them finding us? Well that's another kettle of fish (or UFO of aliens, if you will). What we currently know about the universe, even through theorectical physics, precludes faster-than-light drive (or a similar way of covering huge distances - possibly by folding space-time). However, that's not to say a FTL may indeed be possible should our understanding of the universe ever develop to that point. After all, white holes (the opposite of black holes - so spewing matter into the universe, instead of sucking matter out of the universe) and time travel were - until recently - the province of science fiction. Now quantum physics (and beyond) says that they are theorectically possible.

As for an "alien invasion", that would be highly unlikely. Water and natural resources (including elements not possible on earth) can obtained easily elsewhere, our technology would be primitively undesirable and - given different biologies (they may not even be DNA based) - they certainly wouldn't want to eat us (and as for Star Trek inter alien romances, you'd have more in common with an octupus, no matter how humanoid the other).

See "The Dark Forest" by Liu Cixin, where the premise is that an intelligent species should work out that, given the age of the galazy, the chances are that there are more advanced and deadly aliens out there, and that the only sensible way to behave is not to respond to any approaches by other civilisations except with deadly force. The concept IMO is better than the novel itself...

[The Lurker]

Greetings al from Sidcup where it is cloudy and cool but has remained dry.

 

Wonders never cease; the TRA have finally come up with the certificate we need. It has cost us rather a lot of tax that we should not have had to pay but it does mean we can now do our deal.

 

Today was the first day of me working while dropping younger Lurker off at school. The traffic was abysmal - the journey from here to just the other side of the A2 and back (including about 15 minutes of walking) took nearly an hour and a half. I later had to take the car over to Mrs Lurker's school so that she could go and pick him up. He seems to have coped well with the day itself (he even said it was "quite good") although he was quite upset while having his breakfast. 

 

Our tentative plans to get a second car (ostensibly for elder Lurker once he has had a few lessons under his belt for practice) are becoming less tentative by the day!

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, chrisf said:

Something else that beggars belief, playmates.   I discovered this morning that once again my 'sent' e-mails have disappeared from my sent box.  This is the third time it has happened.  I have reported the theft, for what else do you call an unauthorised removal?  What's the betting that good old monolithic BT will do SFA about it? ...snip...

Chris

Don't you store them locally on your hard drive? I use Thunderbird and created separate folders disconnected from the inbox/outbox folders to archive both received an sent emails. I suspect all most email programs have this capability.

Edited September 7, 2020 by J. S. Bach
To correct a spelling error.