Early Risers.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Happy Birthday Roundhouse!

I travelled to Switzerland on business for a few years. The German Swiss look down on the French Swiss who looked down on the Italian Swiss. It isn't as clean and organised as people believe but if it floats your boat...

 

Her indoors has gone shopping. I am in charge of stores checking when she returns.

 

New guinea pig drug seems to have limited detectable side affects so far.

 

Hope you all have a great day!

Baz

[pH]

5 hours ago, pH said:

We get a byelaw ticket for doing that!

 

20 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

I guess to stop the wildlife, particularly bears from shredding them.

They aren’t actually plastic bags - they are heavy-gauge plastic wheelie bins with metal ‘bear clips’ on the lids. I guess a bear could get one open if it was serious about it, but it wouldn’t be easy.

We’re supposed to put them at the kerb between 05.30 and 07.30. I used to put them out the night before, with the clips on. We have a steep drive, and my wife would have trouble controlling a full bin on the way down it, especially with ice or snow on the ground. Then whoever was up first would just have to unclip them. We got a ticket one day for having them out before 05.30. Imagine sending a byelaw officer round at 4am! (Obviously, though,  the clips are easier to undo when the bins are on the kerb rather than under the carport.)

 

So now, I take them down the drive the night before and leave them, with the clips on, just inside our property line. First person up in the morning moves them 5 feet and takes the clips off. 
 

(The byelaw is very badly written. One part of it can be read in such a way that every person who puts a bin at the kerb for collection should be given a ticket every week!)
 

 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare, 801/501

5 hours, long gap, 1 hour sleep not good..

 

Hands have eased off, but my back is still complaining..

I'll upset my back again later when I unload the landrover. 4 trenching blocks, 8 breeze blocks, and a big bag of compost to be removed, so I can get at my muddling toolbox on Friday.

 

We must have had a considerable amount of rain overnight but I don't think it was heavy..

 

The toolbank van was causing a considerable tailback this morning, still doing just 40mph, it turned off earlier this time, however, the car behind it didn't accelerate,  I over took that and the car behind  on the only decent straight on the journey a fair amount of other cars followed..

 

The nearest  I've been to Switzerland, was on flight from Saudi, instead of the usual route of flying over Jordan,  Lebanon, Turkey, Balkans and to LHR. It went over Egypt, Libya , Italy, Switzerland, to LHR.. Got a nice view of the pyramids though.. No I don't mean a Toblerone..

 

I'm rerunning the major system cross check, a couple of minor hiccups with yesterdays results meant some file corrections and this re run, about an hour to go on that. I also have 4 20G Ohms measurements to do, they take ages to settle.. Stop for a lead change on the major system...  That upsets the 20G Ohm results, because I moved, so it takes loooonger.. 

 

Time I think to... Sit and wait..

 

 

[Andrew P]

Many Happy whatsits Roundhouse, and may you have many more to come, when you can partake of a drink without using a straw and face mask.

[Joseph_Pestell]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

 

 

First day of new rules in pubs. Just seen FB posting from a favourite Devon pub that has been serving customers from their outside bar hatch. We were there back in July and it worked well. However they can no longer do that and you need to be wearing a mask when entering the car par seating area and wait to be served. They reckon its is less safe now than the way they were serving prior to today and now they will have to employ extra staff which will make things harder for them to survive as the cooler weather approches and fewer customers will want to sit outside.

 

 

 

The rule about table service in pubs is yet another example of Govt's totally muddled thinking about Covid. In many pubs, as per your example, table service is much less safe, for both staff and customers, than well regulated service at the bar. Yet another example of politicians knowing little or nothing about the world outside the Westminster bubble.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. The lesser spotted glass and bottle bin wagon  has just gone past so no one is now sleeping. The regulations here is that bin bags must be out ready by 07:30 on the day of collection so its OK to put them out just after midnight. Despite the large number of urban foxes around here they do not break into the waste bags very often. The reason why became obvious during lockdown when they did start breaking into bin bags. Just down the road is a kebab shop that shut down during lockdown but as soon as it re-opened the foxes left the bags alone.

2 hours ago, BokStein said:

Morning Awl,

 

 

Did it fall or was it pushed?

 

There is an argument which follows Darwinian principles of survival of the fittest!

There is one marsupial, I can't remember which one. If it is pursued by a predator will dump its baby to distract the predator and make its escape, nice.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and a very Happy Birthday to Ian.

It was raining heavily when I got up at 6.00am but has now stopped and the sun is shining.  There may be some heavy showers this afternoon.

Two bin lorries out of three have visited and the Sainsbury's delivery was here on time so we are now fully stocked with comestibles.......unless of course it turns out that "we" have forgotten something.

Our bins should be put out before 6.00am on the morning of collection but I always do them the evening before as they are on the edge of our property.  The earliest they've ever been collected is about 6.30am.

Steve is popping round later as he asked us to get him a couple of items in the shopping that he'd forgotten to order himself.

The Boss is a bit down at the moment as it's her birthday next week and at one time we were planning to have a party.  She'll have to make do with me, Nicki, Gemma and Steve as Abbie is in quarantine and Joe is away at university.

Spent some time online "chatting" to eSpares about the incorrect oven door seal they sent.  This is the third "chat" I've had over the past week with 3 different people and each time I get told I need to wait two working days for an answer.  Nobody is available to speak to on the phone as they are not manned "due to the current situation."  Apparently they are still waiting for the warehouse to tell them if they've got my item in stock.  Today I'll be looking for another supplier so I can then tell them what to use their door seal for ( if they can find it or the orifice to stuff it in).

Now off to look for something to do, I may find it in The Shed.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Edited September 24, 2020 by grandadbob

[Andrew P]

3 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Good morning all and a very Happy Birthday to Ian.

It was raining heavily when I got up at 6.00am but has now stopped and the sun is shining.  There may be some heavy showers this afternoon.

 

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Bob,  I went for a walk earlier, the Sun was out and it was nice and warm, then half way round and it came over a bit cloudy, then it started spittin, It's spittin I thought, then the spittin turned to drizzell, It's drizzlin I thought, then it started to rain, It's bloomin rainin I thought. Luckily for me, I was nearly home by then, and NOW the bloomin Suns out again.

[Andrew P]

1 minute ago, Andrew P said:

Bob,  I went for a walk earlier, the Sun was out and it was nice and warm, then half way round and it came over a bit cloudy, then it started spittin, It's spittin I thought, then the spittin turned to drizzell, It's drizzlin I thought, then it started to rain, It's bloomin rainin I thought. Luckily for me, I was nearly home by then, and NOW the bloomin Suns out again.

Now it's RAININ HARD AGAIN

[Andrew P]

10 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Now it's RAININ HARD AGAIN

Suns out again now, Lovely Rainbow.

[Barry O]

And Happy Birthday to John as well!

 

Baz

[BSW01]

9 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

A quick question: Are you getting a signal out of the turntable?

Yes, that was the first thing I checked using my headphones. 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

A solid night's sleep was had, like Q I don't sleep well (due to the various broken bits) and I think that was the first unbroken night's sleep I have had in 8 years.  Wow, I was really tired last night as the previous night was really bad, so perhaps I only need to try to sleep every other day!

 

Swizzerland....well I did a rail tour (IIRC Great Rail Journeys) thing there for my 50th, eek 11 years ago, and loved it, absolutely loved it.  We have a Swiss friend here (French bit - Geneva area?) an elderly lady, who wouldn't live back there for all the Rosti in Switzerland.  She reckons they just want your money then you can &!$$ off back to wherever you came from!  Regardless, the trains were exemplary, the mountains high and the country clean and neat.  And I like Rosti!

Edited September 24, 2020 by New Haven Neil

[Andrew P]

4 minutes ago, Barry O said:

And Happy Birthday to John as well!

 

Baz

Wot John, Which John Who did I miss?

 

Happy Birthday John, which ever you are, I've re red the last 2 pages, and I cant see who I've missed.

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

....It isn't as clean and organised as people believe but if it floats your boat...

It may not be perfect, but Switzerland is a damn site cleaner and more organised than a lot of the cesspits that I have visited, often to be found in “major world powers”.

The only places I have ever been to that have exceeded Switzerland (although the Nordic countries match Switzerland) in terms of cleanliness and organisation were Singapore and Japan. 
The intriguing thing about Japan, according to my limited experience and also according to a number of TV documentaries, is that the “rough areas of town“ look incredibly upmarket by most European standards.

I wouldn’t want to permanently live in Japan, but I would certainly welcome an extended (six months or so) stay in that country.

“The grass is greener on the other side of the fence“, ‘twas ever so.....

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

We've had quite a bit of overnight rain and the ground is quite wet, too wet for gardening I think. But t(e sun is shining so I may get some done later. In the meantime I’ll potter about in the cellar and await a call from Ian, who will be returning my wheelbarrow sometime this morning, as he’s finished using it. 

 

Birthday wishes to both Ian and John. 

 

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

 

Brian

[Tony_S]

If as Flavio reports the Swiss are holidaying in Switzerland, I suspect something similar will happen here. If the Swiss trains are no longer available for tourists I can see rail enthusiasts coming down to Essex and admiring the efficient trains running on our C2C service. Although C2C is now Italian, unfortunately there is no onboard catering. 

Edited September 24, 2020 by Tony_S

[TheQ]

The instructions say Bins, out by 07:00,

We are almost on the end of the run,

They rarely turn up before 12:00, if at all on the Thursday.

So they often turn up on the Saturday.... which means... overtime.

 Bins are by rotation

 so it's grey / black one week to dump,

Green recycling the next.. all recycling goes in the one bin.. they sort it..

When I rebuilt the front driveway wall, I built an alcove into it for the bins, they can pull them out from one side, we can fill from inside the wall..

They never bother pushing the bin back in the alcove though..

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Wot John, Which John Who did I miss?

 

Happy Birthday John, which ever you are, I've re red the last 2 pages, and I cant see who I've missed.

Happy birthday John (Combe Barton).

[PhilJ W]

And happy birthday to Ian (Roundhouse).

[polybear]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The only places I have ever been to that have exceeded Switzerland (although the Nordic countries match Switzerland) in terms of cleanliness and organisation were Singapore and Japan. 

 

 

South Korea is mighty clean too.....

[The Lurker]

On 22/09/2020 at 10:45, PhilJ W said:

 

Over fifty years ago I worked with a chap the same age as me (21/22 at the time) who had a complete false set of dentures which quite frankly was appalling even back then. My dad lost all his teeth when he was in his forties due to a gum infection bought about apparently by his war service in Burma. Speaking of which, towards the end of the war, during the push on Rangoon his unit came across some escaped POW's. They had eluded their Japanese captors and had come across an abandoned pineapple plantation. Of course being starved by their captors they fell upon this bounty and as the Japanese were no longer pursuing them they stayed living on a diet of pineapple. When they were rescued and were given normal food their teeth started falling out. Apparently there is an enzyme in pineapple that has a detrimental effect on the teeth and gums.

 

I seem to recall reading that it used to be a common 18th birthday present for the lucky person's teeth to be removed and a set of false gnashers provided then. I am guessing that this was Victorian times but may have been far more recent (say pre NHS Britain, among the working classes). Certainly my Grandma had false teeth (born turn of the 20th century, Valleys) but my parents (born just pre and during the war) have all of their teeth (or most of them anyway). I am not missing any either, including wisdom teeth; as a new dentist once said "Ah Mr Lurker, it is unusual to see someone all of whose teeth fit in their mouth". Big mouth...or small teeth?!

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from LBG. I have ventured in today because i had so much stuff that had to be printed out, signed, scanned and sent to HMRC that i thought it would be better done here than at home. There are a few fellow denizens in the office, but not quite as many as the last time i was here (about 3 week ago i think).

 

Not too much else to report at present and the CFO is keeping the pressure on us so i had better crack on.

Stay well

[simontaylor484]

Our bins go out the night before it is technically illegal but hey ho. The bin lads start before 7 in our area they are on job and knock so they race round for the early finish last year the rounds were extended to cope with extra housing but they still run round like billy suggers. They on a four day week tuesday to friday. Then you wonder why when on sweeping we usedto have to spend more time running round cleaning up after them than doing our own job

[Andrew P]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Happy birthday John (Combe Barton).

Oh, That John, Thanks Phil.

 

SORRY John, once again, Happy Birthday.