Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I am a proper ER his morning as I had to have breakfast completed by 6am. Two boiled eggs with toast. We will leave home at about 7.30 so that I can be nice and early for my 8am appointment at Basildon Hospital. The reason being to have my cardiac circumflex artery cleared and stented.  Like last time I expect to be in overnight. 
Have a good day. 
Tony

[polybear]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

You make a very interesting point about the unemployed (seemingly) not wanting to take on menial work.

 

If only the Government would take a hard line approach and start saying "this is what you're gonna be doing whilst (a) you're job-hunting and (b) we're paying you unemployment benefit".  Too posh to sweep the streets?  That's fine, then in that case we're too skint to pay you benefits.....

I can visualise all those "breach of human rights" lawyers lining up already.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Managed to sleep until6am today..great!

 

Today is house work day..to be followed by tidying up and brass polishing day..superdooper!

 

While I was at Uni I had a job at Crimdon Dene. It involved various tasks including preparing food ( defrosting fish, turning spuds into chips , opening huge tins of meat.. or  washing floors with an industrial floor washer.. and also included emptying dust bins (the old steel ones), unblocking drains, cleaning toilets.. all good stuff for life learning.. of course there was a bit of exotic work..chatting up girls while on car park /crazy golf/trampoline managing.. the best job was bingo house checking.. trying to avoid some of the "ladies" when doing that meant my 0 to 5 yards acceleration improved no end.

 

As @iL Dottoresays all politicos/senior staff should be made to unblock sewers and clean toilets.. it may make them realise how useless they are..

 

enough of that..

 

have a great day! Enjoy what you do if you can.

 

positive thoughts to all ERs

 

well done to Barnsley's football team!

 

Baz

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a rather damp bit of the Charente.  A good day out was had yesterday. In the morning I toured two big sheds looking at showers and various options for pumps. Then a good meal at a Relais (transport cafe)and then pucked my mate up and spent the afternoon watching trains.  Quite a few were seen, not many for the first time though, but good chat was had. Then drove home as it got dark and reported the results of the shower perusal to Beth.  After a bit of discussion it was decided that we will not do a temporary (2 year) fix but get on with having the whole bathroom redone. That saves me a lot of work. As there is little likelihood of visitors staying here for quite a while it seems like a good idea to get the work done now.

 

Tony S, hope everything goes well, i should say the same to Dave H but thst's a different type of going today.  

 

I''ve got to help a friend fit a new blade to a chop saw today and will continue with shower demolition.  This evening we will probably watch President Macron speak to the nation. A 4 week lockdown is rumoured.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all.

 

Spent a good portion of yesterday "sleeving" cards from board games.

Have quite a few in the collection so wanted to protect them by putting cards in what can be described as "small plastic wallets".

It's one of those things though.  Protects the cards from greasy fingers, tearing and many other things but does take away some of the "worn" effect you get.

 

Was nice to work too - pointed out an error, which could have netted me an extra annual leave day.  Problem is, if I didn't take it I would struggle to get it in by the end of the year. (yeeeaaahhhhhaaaawwww!)

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare, 767 /480

A much better nights sleep with 5.25 hours solid followed by a couple of hours intermittent dozing.

 

The weather yesterday I would call dreich with extra precipitation, a lot of extra precipitation, many fields now look like Broads, wet soggy and brown.. Considering we had a months worth of rain in the first few days of October, and we've had much rain since the total  is going to be huge..  Just the chance of Scattered Showers today but tomorrow....

 

Ben the Scaredy Collie refused to go out this morning , he didn't didn't even come down the corridor Just stood at the door of the living room, head down, saying no..

 

The car goes for it's annual service and MOT this evening, SWMBO will take it to the garage, and I'll pick her up from there on the way home.. Hopefully the reverse tomorrow, we don't want it to be as expensive as last year when all the rubber bits on the front half of the cars drive and suspension needed replacing..

 

This weeks major system seems to have passed it's cal, the crosscheck was left running overnight, if it passes that's off for its upgrade. Meanwhile I've just started last weeks major system.

 

Time I think to check the company spam, then wander down to the lab..

 

 

 

 

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry with some blue sky and sunshine.  Sunny spells and scattered showers would seem to be on the agenda for today.

A shopping trip is required as The Boss wishes to go to her favourite greetings cards shop to make purchases for the next 3 months.  If she has inside information about a total lockdown she's not saying.  While she's in there I may wander into Sainsbury's to see if there are any special offers on "spiritual" liquids. 

After that I may possibly return to The Shed and carry on with my assault on small wheeled things and the metals they run on.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

P.S. Best of luck to Tony and Dave for their procedures today and tomorrow.

Edited October 28, 2020 by grandadbob

[Andrew P]

WARNING

 

This below was posted on Facebook;

 

How lucky am i.

Received new bank card yesterday from santander

Which i thought a bit strange as there still 9 months on my current one.

It wasnt a contactless one either like my current card.

Had all the info on letter from santander about how to activate it etc.

Well as it wasnt contactless its not much use to me so i went into bank today to ask rhem to change it.

They informed me that they hadnt sent out the card and good job i went in.

If i had activated it i would of lost all my money and savings.

Major fraud squad now involved.

People say to me im to suspicious of people and things.

Good job i am.

Bank now ordered me a new card and ive changed all my security details.

[Andrew P]

Sunshine,

Showers,

Sunshine,

Showers,

Put my coat on,

Take it off,

Put my coat on,

Take it off.

Oh I give up, I'm not going for a walk this morning.

 

Stay safe and well one and all.

[AndrewC]

Moaning all from the soggy bottom of the boring borough. Yesterday's rain has left everything damp and miserable. 

 

IT problems at work and so far this morning I've had to raise 2 calls, reinstall MS Teams, and deactivate the multifactor authentication on the system we are pushing out because nobody can access the authenticator app at the moment. AARRGGHH

 

Menial jobs. Hmm where to start. Way back when in Uni (second time around) we had the option of one semester of work practicum. Basically a summer job which was organised by the work co-op department. I ended up with an oil company and was supposed to work in the computer room as an operator. Since I had some telecom experience I was drafted to the network team. I spent most of the 4 months making cables and running them into offices from the building's central core. When I wasn't doing that I was working in the computer room which included such high tech work as delivering print jobs through out the complex. I had some pretty crap jobs afterwards as well. There was no stigma, unlike the UK. When I mention cable pulling to some of my colleagues, they are mortified that I'd even admit to doing manual labour. 

 

Pumpkin spice latte consumed. Time for more coffee. Enjoy the day. 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone

 

A dry and sunny start to the day here in the northwest of England. However, I won’t get much done today as I’m at ‘The Christie’ this morning for my first hormone injection. I’ll probably be there for a large chunk of the morning, but I expect that I’ll be back home in time for dinner, although it may be later than usual. There are no plans for the afternoon, possibly lazing on the sofa with a book.

 

Whilst still at school I had a part time job in a butchers, some of the tasks I had there included, clean the dripping boiler, the mincing machine, cleaning out the large walk in fridge, as well as preparing some of the  carcasses that came in. The pay was quite good and every Saturday I’d get a ‘parcel’ for the weekend. This was generally a few sausages (made in the shop) a couple of chops etc. Usually enough for everyone (5 siblings and my mum) at home for one meal. 

 

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

 

Brian

[Tony_S]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

your first point, Simon, what we are seeing is modern British incompetence in action. I am firmly of the opinion that since the educational establishment has moved away from rewarding success to tolerating failure -in the sense it is “Prizes for all“ no matter how poorly the child performs - this in turn results in a generation (or two) where they have never been told “that’s not acceptable you can do bett

 

Not true. All children get a chance to show and produce their personal best. Much effort put into helping them achieve this. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A real early riser thanks to some idiot blasting on his horn at five this morning, I couldn't get back to sleep so I got up. Apart from a newspaper round the only work I done before starting a 'proper' job was a traffic survey. Quite well paid for a 15/16 year old but mind numbingly boring as it involved just standing there counting cars and lorries going past for about fifteen hours. In fact from when I left school until I retired I was never out of work. Do you believe in ghosts? I never did and still do not but Carol's weather reports came from the Tower of London and the subject came up. However I have had a 'ghostly' experience that defies explanation. When I was living in Burnham-on-Crouch I was downstairs when I looked out of my back window and saw a young girl standing in the back yard, she had long blond hair and was wearing an old fashioned grey dress. I went out to investigate but there was no sign of her, and I didn't hear the back gate go and it was securely latched. I later asked my neighbour who shared the back entrance if it was a friend of her daughter who was about nine years old at the time, she said that her daughter didn't have a friend of that description (later confirmed by the daughter). A few days later I happened to be talking to one of the locals who's family had lived in the town for generations and I asked him about it. He said "You've seen little Susie then." he then explained that there had been an accident back in the 1890's at my house (built in 1863) where the ten year old daughter of the house had been sitting on the sill of the upstairs window cleaning the windows when she overbalanced and broke her neck in the fall, dying as a result.

[tigerburnie]

Morning all, hope all goes well for you Tony_S.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning from a rather damp bit of the Charente.  A good day out was had yesterday. In the morning I toured two big sheds looking at showers and various options for pumps.

 

 

Whenever I get a freebie stay with my buddy next door in his place close to Beziers Airport one of my favourite visits is Mr. Bricolage.  When I saw they had flange nuts sold loose (i.e. fill up a bag - price dependent on bag size) I was in my element (I believe they are more widely available in UK now):

https://www.westfieldfasteners.co.uk/Metric-Nuts/M10-Flange-Nuts-Hex-Serrated-A4-Stainless.html?google_shopping=qty_A4_Nut_HexFlgSerr_M10=5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8qDCkovX7AIVh-R3Ch1b2QebEAQYAyABEgK8S_D_BwE

 

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

WARNING

 

This below was posted on Facebook;

 

How lucky am i.

Received new bank card yesterday from santander

Which i thought a bit strange as there still 9 months on my current one.

It wasnt a contactless one either like my current card.

Had all the info on letter from santander about how to activate it etc.

Well as it wasnt contactless its not much use to me so i went into bank today to ask rhem to change it.

They informed me that they hadnt sent out the card and good job i went in.

If i had activated it i would of lost all my money and savings.

Major fraud squad now involved.

People say to me im to suspicious of people and things.

Good job i am.

Bank now ordered me a new card and ive changed all my security details.

 

This is from Santander:

Counterfeit card fraud: This occurs when a
copy of a card is created. This is no longer a
major issue for UK banks who issue chip and
PIN cards, but fraudsters still try to copy the
magnetic stripe from chip cards at ATMs and
retail outlets such as bars, restaurants and petrol
stations for use abroad. There are ways you can
reduce the risk of counterfeit card fraud – take a
look at the ‘How to Protect Yourself’ section.

https://www.santander.co.uk/csdlvlr/ContentServer?c=SANDocument_C&pagename=WCSUKPublicaLte%2FSANDocument_C%2FSANDocumentPreview&cid=1324583101607

However, I do recall the Security Boss of Barclaycard (I think) being interviewed on Breakfast Telly some years ago; they'd intercepted a fake card from the far east which had all the very latest security measures incorporated.  The concern was that some of the measures were so new they had not yet been issued to the public....

 

 

59 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Apart from a newspaper round the only work I done before starting a 'proper' job was a traffic survey. Quite well paid for a 15/16 year old but mind numbingly boring as it involved just standing there counting cars and lorries going past for about fifteen hours.

 

Bear's menial jobs were paper round, milk round and working late friday afternoon and saturday afternoon in the local greengrocer sweeping up and burning the rubbish (jeez - it'd never be allowed now).  Plenty of menial cr*p in my proper career though - in fact the job pretty much became menial in later years, which is one of the reasons I retired early.  I guess the best menial job I've had was the current one though:  acting as a C-19 test guinea pig.  Twenty five quid (albeit in a very useful voucher form) for ten minutes' work sticking a swab in my gob then up the 'ooter is what I call a result.  Best hourly rate I've ever received by a long shot.

 

In other news:

A bit more work on the kitchen refurb - planning the boxing in of pipework.  The close proximity of a doorframe in conjunction with a not-very-flat wall makes it less than straightforward; also the frame isn't parallel to the surface of the wall.  Turdycurses.  Still, Bear now has a plan - which may or may not prove straightforward........

 

Postie delivered a set of plastic legs (via Ebay) for an Ikea kitchen cabinet in the railway room; the cabinet previously held a desktop pc, printer, scanner etc. (all gone now) so is currently fitted with heavy duty castors to enable easy access to cables etc.  Now that lot is gone I can revert to Plan A and fit the proper legs instead and screw the cabinet to the wall.  That could commence this afternoon......

 

 

[grandadbob]

My various "menial" jobs in my teens before starting work proper were paper round and working behind the counter in the shop, milk round, "bottling up" and various other tasks in local pub (and my Dad's pub when I was younger) and greengrocery delivery round on a trade bike (think Granville).  The latter was hard work but the best paid thanks to all the tips when you carried the box through the house to the kitchen.  Happy days.

 

 

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Morning all.

I am a proper ER his morning as I had to have breakfast completed by 6am. Two boiled eggs with toast. We will leave home at about 7.30 so that I can be nice and early for my 8am appointment at Basildon Hospital. The reason being to have my cardiac circumflex artery cleared and stented.  Like last time I expect to be in overnight. 
Have a good day. 
Tony

I hope that all goes well, Tony. We can’t have you turning up on parade with a “dicky ticker” (to paraphrase Monsieur Alfonse from ‘Allo, ‘Allo).

If I were in your shoes I am not sure what I would be more apprehensive about: the surgical procedure or the hospital food afterwards. Probably the hospital food (my last experience of that sort of substance was not very impressive).
Looking forward to a “sit rep“ from you later on today (especially the bit where you rhapsodise about the beautiful nurses )

Güte Besserung

iD

[New Haven Neil]

Oh, there went the morning.

 

Hope all goes well, Tony.  Your treatment all seems to have gone well, not all the NHS is duff.  The bit I used to work for was good with patients but became very bad to staff after having being a very good employer at one time.

 

Mrs NHN's car delivered for service, NHN had a couple of miles walk in a very breezy Ramsey, but at least it is dry.  The wind has increased now so a couple of jobs done in the garden are likely all the outside excitement for the day.  Except paying for the car later....   Engine service, possibly some brakes and a rattly exhaust to fix, that's the train money gone.  Mine needs a service too, bad planning the mileage on both have coincided with the month.  As mine now does much less driving it shouldn't happen again. 

 

I used to do all this myself, but those days are gone.  Bikes can go up on the hydraulic lift bench, easy to do, crawling around under cars isn't for me now as I probably couldn't get back up as well as being dis-inclined to crawl around on a cold driveway getting dirty.

[simontaylor484]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

 

If only the Government would take a hard line approach and start saying "this is what you're gonna be doing whilst (a) you're job-hunting and (b) we're paying you unemployment benefit".  Too posh to sweep the streets?  That's fine, then in that case we're too skint to pay you benefits.....

I can visualise all those "breach of human rights" lawyers lining up already.

Although i agree with you whole heartedly with you that the unemployed should be "used" to sweep the streets the problem is would those that are employed to do that job priced out of their jobs

[Erichill16]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Goodness me, Robert! I didn’t know that you were keeping company with Abramovich and the like 

So tell me, who have you lined up to buy for next season?

 

And on that sporting note, I bid you a great “hump” day 

 

iD

Flávio, 

A genuinely amusing comment . 

I was going to reply ‘My team,a Subuteo one won 1:0 and Barnsley FC beat QPR3:0’

However on reflection I may not OWN Barnsley FC, but with another 14,999 people it is MY (our) team. Some Chineses/American consortium may own the club but I don’t seen them on a cold wet January night in Barnsley. The team is from my town and I’ve been watching them 45years so it’s definitely my team. Didn’t seen any of the consortium when we were in the lowest division. 

My rant is no way aimed in your direction but I feel the ‘beautiful game’ is not for the benefit of the fans anymore but for some fatcat who know the cost of everything and the value of nowt (as we say in Barnsley).

Regards Robert

 

 

[polybear]

Bear just had a result

Just played the usual car insurance comparison site ritual, then phoned the AA to politely tell them to poke their renewal.  They wanted a chance to "see if we can do better", so gave 'em a chance anyway.  Their renewal price of £326 came down (after an interim first-step price) to £239.  Ok, says Bear, that'll do.  Just goes to show how much they were taking the p1ss the first time....

 

The next step is trying to decide if the free AA breakdown cover given when I got my car serviced a week or so back is better than the £119 RAC renewal being offered.  On paper the cover looks identical (though the AA cover is for the car - not for me, so I won't be covered when driving other cars - which is very rare anyway), but trying to decide if all that small print adds up to diddly squat is like herding cats.  Mind you,  the times when I've had to call out the RAC I've been happy; the one time I've encountered the AA (for my OH's car) the brain donor that turned up got it wrong, despite sensible suggestions from a certain Bear.  Sadly "they knew best" and achieved now't, leaving muggins to sort it.  Fortunately it was a home start scenario, with the AA numpty claiming that either the key or security system could be the issue (even though the engine would start and run for a couple of seconds) and P.Bear suggesting that testing the crank and cam position sensors might be worthwhile (a simple resistance check).  AA were wrong, Bear was correct....

Decisions, decisions.

 

Edited October 28, 2020 by polybear

[Andrew P]

7 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Morning all.

I am a proper ER his morning as I had to have breakfast completed by 6am. Two boiled eggs with toast. We will leave home at about 7.30 so that I can be nice and early for my 8am appointment at Basildon Hospital. The reason being to have my cardiac circumflex artery cleared and stented.  Like last time I expect to be in overnight. 
Have a good day. 
Tony

All the best for today Tony,  and most humble and unforgivable apologies for missing your post this morning.

[Ian Abel]

Best wishes for the procedure Tony, thinking of you...

 

Hump day...

Rather deflated after spending a great evening with our friends, who, as we speak have now started their trip to Arizona this morning

Nothing more to report for yesterday.

 

Today, a ramp up of Long Island client activity, they're pre-emptively wanting to get the year-end and last quarter reports all synchronized!

Didn't see THAT coming, the usual approach is to PANIC at the last minute - oh well, keeps me busy and off the streets I guess 

 

-2 and overcast first thing, heading for some marginally warmer weather with a forecast high of 8!

 

Carry on.

Edited October 28, 2020 by Ian Abel

[simontaylor484]

All the best to Tony hope everything goes ok

[Erichill16]

5 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Good morning everyone

. The pay was quite good and every Saturday I’d get a ‘parcel’ for the weekend. This was generally a few sausages (made in the shop) a couple of chops etc. Usually enough for everyone (5 siblings and my mum) at home for one meal. 

 

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

 

Brian

When my dad used to take me to the barbers there was a home made sign on the wall” Something for the weekend-  50pence”

Dad never told me what it was though!