Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Breaking news, Sean Connery has died at the age of 90. Farewell 007.

[Gwiwer]

13 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Bored with this.  I want a life back.  Where's my bottle?  

The bottle was accompanied by a glass and far too much of the the contents was consumed for my own good.  

 

Surfaced this morning feeling somewhat fuzzy but no less bored with life the universe and things in general.  Still watching conflicting news items offer conflicting scientific "evidence" and feeling utterly helpless in a sea of misinformation and journalistic licence.  

 

Exchanged words with Former Neighbour (Upstairs) who is now resident in the Portsmouth area.  She feels the same.  Not worried at all about the virus despite being a letter-carrying vulnerable person but drained and despairing and urgently needing some sort of normality and reason in her life.  

 

SWMBO was out and about earlier meeting a work friend for a professional catch-up.  All went well, apparently, but she was caught out by the abrupt change in weather when a bright and slightly sunny morning suddenly became a torrential downpour driven by a gale.  Which situation persists for now and means yet again the gardens will not be tidied nor weeded this weekend.  She has now ventured forth once more.  This time to Dr. Sir Jerry for her flu shot.  And later still she has a third outing required for something connected with her work.  

 

It might be lunch time.  She told me not to wait.  I'll take her advice.  Am I allowed wine with lunch? 

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

...then anti-personnel land-mines are your friend...

 No No No!! If you use mines there's far to much mess afterwards- have you ever tried getting a leg out of a tree it just causes so much damage to the tree and leaving it there causes so much hassle with the neighbours.

 

No far better to use motion activated machine guns. You just need to ensure that there's enough ammo and to keep popping out to clear up so that the next batch of 'miscreants' don't get suspicious.

 

Just off now to speak to my underworld contact, HH about some 'supplies'. Wonder if he'll accept a couple of bags of compost in exchange.

 

P.s it is entirely by coincidence that my underworld contact has the same initials, HH as that of another contributor of both this and other threads on this website or is it.

 

Edited October 31, 2020 by Winslow Boy
Disclaimer.

[PhilJ W]

One way of keeping them away

[Coombe Barton]

Finally got my ar5e into gear ordering building supplied online. Took all morning as the websites were not as user-friendly as the creators hoped. For some, simplicity of ordering took precedence over providing information on the product.

[Barry O]

Sun is now shining here in the North West Leeds Highlands..

 

No chance of getting out though.. our "months over flowing..

 

Baz

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where the weather reported by Tony and Phil is being repeated; the boring borough is very wet.

 

i despair at the thought of another lockdown. it’s easy working from home for me but the little nights out or trips to see people or planning holidays make the hours worth it. They are something to look forward to. Now it’s just work. I suppose I should be grateful I have it still. It’s a lot better than some folk. We were supposed to be going to a cottage in Buxton at Christmas with SiL and her family. That is now almost certainly off. I guess I will now have plenty of time to do my tax return!

 

i heat the PM is on at 5 to give us the good news. At least there is a Grand Prix this weekend to take Younger Lurker’s mind off returning to school after half term.

[Tony_S]

Aditi was having a chat with her cousin yesterday who was planting her winter flowers, mainly petunias. The cousin also was commenting that deciding what to wear was difficult as although it was 30C in the day it was dropping to a chilly 18C at night. You may have gathered that Aditi’s cousin wasn’t in the UK. 

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Breaking news, Sean Connery has died at the age of 90. Farewell 007.

It really was “Goodbye, Mr Bond“ today. I have always thought he was the definitive James Bond unmatched by any of his successors (although Daniel Craig came close). And I also thought that Kipling has never been done better than with his  “The Man Who Would Be King“ (with Michael Caine).

Methinks a Vodka Martini (shaken not stirred) will be drunk in his memory tonight!

iD

p.s. If all things PC and “woke” annoy you, avoid the BBC and The Guardian obituaries (and especially the Guardian’s opinion piece “Sean Connery: a dangerously seductive icon of masculinity”)

Edited October 31, 2020 by iL Dottore
Typo

[TheQ]

6 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Mine consists of around six or seven, all but one or two inherited from Mother. The one that I remember the most is called WW2 Austerity Cooking (or something quite similar like Wartime); I do remember a lot of the recipes called for lard. If I ever find this book again (lost/misplaced in my last move), I sure would like to try some of the recipes using as many of the original components that are still being made.

Woolton pie anyone?

 

CBT completed,  luckily just 2 of us on the course,  and the she also had done the course before. 

so the course went quickly.  we only needed to be told,  do it,  be told the next bit,  Do that,  etc... 

The wind gradually increased all day,  rain arrived just as we started on the public roads, we got a bit soggy .

Twice over ten miles apart we hit diesel spills at roundabouts, the instructor had problems as his rear tyre got a good coating at one of them, and as it was a triple cylinder triumph with lots of power,   he had be very careful until it washed off. 

 

Screwfix was visited after,    handily we had passed nearby,  during the course so it was easy to find.  I may well use that branch again.. 

 

Eyelid inspection is required,,  bye for now.. 

 

 

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

3 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Breaking news, Sean Connery has died at the age of 90. Farewell 007.

That's a piece of news guaranteed to make some of us feel old.  Perhaps a happy release for his family as it has been strongly rumoured for several years that he was sufferng from  dementia.  RIP

 

I see Flavio has mentionedthe excellent 'Man Who Would Be King' and there is also 'The Untouchables' for which he rightly, in my view, collected an oscar.  Plus numerous other films in which he could be seen in his early days or in minor roles such as 'The Longest Day'.  No doubt we will be seeing a major retrospective of his films on various tv channels before long although the two I've mentioned come up fairly regularly anyway.

 

The weather forecast was right - some bright sunshine this afternoon and if I look eastwards not a cloud in the sky.

[NGT6 1315]

Howdy everyone...

 

Dull and overcast out here and the sun is setting as well, so it looks all the more gloomy. A toast of uisge beatha will certainly spoken in Sean Connery‘s memory tonight, too.

 

Re COVID, the Robert Koch Institute publishes data for Germany at https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/478220a4c454480e823b17327b2bf1d4 . I could imagine such information might be of interest to Flavio in particular!

 

Dinner tonight will be takeaway from the Greek restaurant a few minutes from here.

 

Other than that, very quiet here as 31 October is a public holiday in all of former East Germany sans Berlin. As an aside, Bremen, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Schleswig-Holstein have declared it such in 2018, so nine out of the 16 states have an extended weekend, if you will.

 

Be safe, folks...

 

 

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We attended a 5th birthday party yesterday remotely via Zoom.

 

Hopefully a suitably large wedge of Birthday Cake is posted to all attendees in advance of the party?

 

55 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

It really was “Goodbye, Mr Bond“ today. I have always thought he was the definitive James Bond unmatched by any of his successors (although Daniel Craig came close).

 

 

Sadly I did feel that as time went on the stunts, although entertaining, became more and more unbelievable as the abilities of the Special Effects Dept. grew.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

...then anti-personnel land-mines are your friend...

 

Bear has pits lined with punji sticks dipped in doggie doo 

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Sorry - still skipping, as mojo is still coming and going, and some days I feel that this new £600 laptop was a waste of money, as I can't even be a^sed to switch it on.  Still, I am awaiting a response from HMRC as it appears that I was taxed on the interest on my PPI settlement, and the first £1000 of interest should be tax free - they don't publicise that, do they?  Oddly, while I was waiting, "they" did email me to get my bank details - of course I have not replied to this one. 

 

Went to Kirkby Lonsdale and Ingleton while we can, and I bought a really delicious ice cream from the Milking Parlour, a most excellent ice cream shop, where the management are getting very worried about the impending lockdown,  It is much more like an Italian gelato, and is much much softer than many of the ice creams out there - and quite a few of their regulars appeared to be stocking up in preparation for the weeks ahead - the woman in front of me had FOUR of their take home containers and had scoops of many of their different flavours - I think she must have spent around £40,

 

Sorry to say that it has to be generic greetings and happy birthday Dom.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited October 31, 2020 by 45156

[polybear]

8 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Went to Kirkby Lonsdale and Ingleton while we can, and I bought a really delicious ice cream from the Milking Parlour, a most excellent ice cream shop, where the management are getting very worried about the impending lockdown,

 

Bear is rather partial to Turkish Delight flavour ice cream; rarely seen though - last time I remember having it was in Whitby many moons ago.

[iL Dottore]

18 minutes ago, polybear said:

...Sadly I did feel that as time went on the stunts, although entertaining, became more and more unbelievable as the abilities of the Special Effects Dept. grew.

Apparently they were real stunts, not CGI. I was watching a documentary about the Bond films which was broadcast at one of the Bond anniversaries (50th anniversary?)  And they emphatically stated that all but a very few things were real stunts. A lot of preparation, clever camera work (and multiple cameras), skilful editing, not to mention duplicate (actually, multiples of) vehicles that went into making the stunts work. In the documentary they showed how they made a car jump over a canal from one bit of broken bridge to the other - doing a somersault in the middle - and then driving away (people may remember the stunt from one of the Bond films set partially in Thailand). If I recall correctly, they used 4 cars: one car to drive up the ramp of one part of the broken bridge at speed, one car which was shot from a special device causing it to somersault In the air, one car that landed on the other side of the broken bridge and a final car that drove away. Needless to say the cars that took off, somersaulted and landed were fit only for the scrapyard after filming, even though they had been heavily modified so that they could actually perform the stunts (or at least that part of the stunt assigned to each vehicle).

Having done a little acting, I can say most emphatically that I would have loved to have been a Bond villain. I have played some really nasty characters on stage and they are so much fun to play.
I can just see myself, talking to a manacled and captured James Bond, saying: “I see you are admiring my little railway, Mr Bond. It’s a lovely, isn’t it? I have spent a small fortune acquiring genuine GWR rolling stock. They say that a Pannier Tank can run over a person and not even feel a bump. I’m curious to find out if it’s true. Carlos! Please tie Mr Bond to the rails. Goodbye Mr Bond, unike British railways, the wrong sort of Bond on the tracks doesn’t stop my trains” (gives high pitched, psychopathic, giggle)

 

[jamie92208]

22 minutes ago, 45156 said:

 

 

Went to Kirkby Lonsdale and Ingleton while we can, 

Nice places to go.  By coincidence we hadca chat with no 2 son last night. He and his girlfriend had taken his caravan to Ingleton and they were planning to do the waterfall walk today.

 

Jamie

[Tony_S]

36 minutes ago, polybear said:

Hopefully a suitably large wedge of Birthday Cake is posted to all attendees in advance of the party?

No, as it was presented as Nina’s cake cutting party so any cake will be tasted later by those not present.  The cake was much bigger than a 5 year old could manage I think. Aditi had found cake for us to eat at the same time as the birthday girl though. 
Tony

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. A lot of fireworks going off. I suspect given the direction the noise is coming from its neither Guy Fawkes or Halloween but Diwali. What with the impending lockdown they're making it a bit early. 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Having done a little acting, I can say most emphatically that I would have loved to have been a Bond villain. I have played some really nasty characters on stage and they are so much fun to play.
I can just see myself, talking to a manacled and captured James Bond, saying: “I see you are admiring my little railway, Mr Bond. It’s a lovely, isn’t it? I have spent a small fortune acquiring genuine GWR rolling stock. They say that a Pannier Tank can run over a person and not even feel a bump. I’m curious to find out if it’s true. Carlos! Please tie Mr Bond to the rails. Goodbye Mr Bond, unike British railways, the wrong sort of Bond on the tracks doesn’t stop my trains” (gives high pitched, psychopathic, giggle)

 

Perhaps you could get a few tips from Gomez Addams:-

 

[Tony_S]

19 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Diwali

Not for two weeks.  Needs a moonless night not like the current moon phase. 

[Sir TophamHatt]

What a busy day at work.

Sort of glad as it makes the shift go quick.

Especially more good as I'm off for 3 days, in for 2, then off for 2 + potentially 7!

 

Sad that the heating bill has doubled the last month.  I think I must have mis-typed the last reading as through September we only used £10 worth of gas.

October is nearly £30 :/

[brianusa]

Lots of despair and lack of mojo herein today, corona virus, politics.  On top of all that, here in the PNW, our days are grey and getting darker with the loss of the hour today!  Today though is a gorgeously sunny day here; one to remember. 

Perhaps  Early Risers  who are seasonably afflicted should have stayed in bed today!

And now 007 has gone to his reward possibly with some of his ex girl friends to keep company?  Being first, he was the best 007 after whom those who came after him were still singing the same old song, so much so that you knew the words and the plot as it unfolded.  Sorry to see him go though but if he did have the dreaded AD, possibly the best exit he ever made.

     Brian.

[Adam88]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear is rather partial to Turkish Delight flavour ice cream; rarely seen though - last time I remember having it was in Whitby many moons ago.

 

Turkish Delight - mutton fat and honey.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Oops I got it wrong about Diwali. If the weather forecast is anything to go by the weather next Thursday will be ideal for bonfire night, cold crisp and clear. However I am of the opinion that fireworks should not be sold to the general public and any firework displays should be left to the professionals. I've just seen a notice about the 'new' Blue Pullman. Basically an IC125 set painted in the original colours, a class 43 looks odd without the yellow end. At other times I would have liked to have arranged for our oldest MRC member to take a trip on it as he was one of the first drivers of the original Midland Pullman. Alas it won't be this year as it appears that its first run in a couple of weeks time will be scuppered by the forthcoming lockdown.