Early Risers.

[polybear]

Bear had a reasonably productive day yesterday:  double glazed unit fitted to window - which was easy if bl00dy heavy, holes around window reveal filled and the bottom window reveal inside the kitchen was built up with mortar.  Whilst I quite like messing with mortar I hate having to mix it up and then clean everything up afterwards; also it's a real lottery guessing how much to mix - yesterday I had to mix a second (very small) batch cos' the first didn't finish the job; chucking unused stuff away I hate even more though.  All this plus the excitement of doing the washing and changing the sheets on the bed.....

 

Now I've come round to the idea of having a dishwasher it suddenly dawned on me that it'll be useful if there were a leccy supply for it, as they tend to work better that way apparently.  Fortunately there is an existing supply that was to be used for the cooker hood (and possibly LED downlights under the wall cabinets, but I'm wavering on the need for those...) that can be used for the dishwasher instead.  However, the clever among you may have spotted that this means the cooker hood won't be quite so efficient...  So I need to sort that issue; I do have a possible plan but I have a nasty suspicion that it will involve chasing a slot in the wall in order to re-locate and existing socket   I'd really hoped that I'd seen off jobs like that because of the mess involved, but it looks like I could be wrong.  Bvgger

 

Another decision looming is the choice of cooking - gas or leccy.  The current one is a freestanding gas jobbie, but I'm really tempted to go for a leccy induction hob for easy cleaning - and a leccy oven to go with it.  I realise that leccy are more to run, but it only gets used for 45 minutes a day maximum, including warm-up time, so in the grand scale of things is unlikely to be too noticeable.  Fortunately there is an existing leccy cooker supply already wired in;  what to do with the gas connection needs thought (it's a quick detach bayonet jobbie) - some say that leaving the the bayonet as-is is legal & fine, whilst others say that capping off is nicer.  Ponder mode engaged. 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

At an early hour it was clearasabell outside.. not now.. thick fatchy pog has returner.

 

I am off to the sub post office again and need to conrinue to the butchers to place a meat order and get some of their cured bacon.. yummy!

 

Him over there in the USA is still acting like a spoilt brat ... perhaps someone needs to tweet him " you are fired.. now bu33er off!" ?

 

Time for my mugatea..TTFN good ERs!

I hope you can stay safe and the all ERs, including a growing number of missing ones, are fine.

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry and mild here at the moment with the possibility of some sunny spells along with one or two showers later.

Another parcel due today for The Boss between 11.37 and 15.37.  We know this because an email from Royal Mail informed us at 05.26.  Just in case that hadn't woken us up a text to remind us was sent at 06.55.  Very efficient.  

The Shed was visited yesterday and I had a pleasant couple of hours playing with my toys and managed to do so without losing my rag.      I'm waiting for a small parcel containing replacement buffers for one that plunged into the abyss when I forgot to close the flap a few months ago.  It's taken me all this time to find someone with the right ones in stock.  This particular loco is important to me because it was a 60th birthday present from one of our oldest friends who sadly died too young at 58 of leukaemia 11 years ago.  She was one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet and is sadly missed by all who knew her.

More time will be spent in The Shed time today, possibly continuing the track painting which seems never ending.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple hare,

A better nights sleep of 3.5 +3.5 , though in the middle I awoke with throbbing finger joints and for some reason feeling extremely warm... the finger joints were explained, by the roads having side to side water in some places this morning.

 

The weatherwomble said the rain would wash away the fog... Err No... heavy fog, down to 30mph and dipped headlights on traffic free straight A roads..

 

Ben the I like this better Collie, went out this morning, it was very quiet except for dripping trees , and a lone Owl twit twooing in  what seemed to be, the far distance. The fog deadening all other sound.

 

I predict major road chaos, Macarthy and Stone purveyors of miss-described housing to the elderly, have put up traffic lights outside their site.. Which also includes on the other side of the road, the entrance to Tes and Co's warehouse, and is 50ft from the main car park entrance.. Manouvering artics in and out of the warehouse is going to be a huge headache.. it was anyway.. I think M+S are intending to join their site roads to the main road..

 

We have box fulls of insulators here.. this sort of thing..

 

 

 

 

In the thousands used in the factory, I doubt they cost a couple of pence each..

 

I appear to have missed 14 online meetings in the last 5 working days.. oh dear how sad..

 

In the list is Project Olympus which require "learnings", so I'll have to watch that later. Project Olympus is yet another annual assessment system, in which we the staff have been described as.... Human Commodities... No longer Personnel , No longer a Resource, now just a Commodity..

 

And Now..

Time to measure some resistors, which provide some insulation but not enough to be called an isolator..

 

 

[AndrewC]

Greetings from the most boring borough ever. 

 

Congrats to Dom and family. 

 

Little new here. Het Uiltje in the Netherlands quickly replaced the lost/damaged order that Herpes managed to b*gger up. We also now have a permanent discount code for ordering. Shame that brexshit will render it meaningless in 7 weeks. The cost and complexity of shipping to the UK outside the EU means they'd have to hire a person just to manage customs and duty processing. Not to mention revamping the entire web shop to handle removal of NL vat, addition of UK vat, calculation of UK beer duty, shipping..................

 

The good news is I've finally managed to finish cutting all the wood for the new shed lining. The next step will be fitting it all. I'm hoping by Christmas to have everything back in place so I can start (that M word that must not be spoken). 

 

Latte consumed, running low on pumpkin spice syrup. Will be opening the gingerbread and eggnog ones within a week.

 

Enjoy the day. 

[AndyB]

@polybear worth knowing that if you go down the leccy induction route that your pots and pans will need to be compatible. From memory - only used them once on a cooking course - they bring the pan's contents to the boil quickly without the heat having to conduct through the pan itself first. 

 

Incidentally, the manufacturing tolerances on ovens are quite generous in terms of set vs delivered temperature. This can be up to +/- 15oC (if memory serves). So worth using a thermometer, rather than believing the dial on the front.

 

I liken this to asking the kids what the weather is like, and instead of looking out of the window to get a reality check, they search for the answer on their phones.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. ChrisF, I'm interested in your having a guest speaker on Zoom. We are discussing having a guest speaker via Zoom ourselves (SEERS) and I would be interested to know how things went. While I was waiting for the weather report this morning I decided to sort out my 'day out'* bag.  After tidying the contents I spotted a strange looking insect crawling along the top of the bag. It was some sort of beetle about quarter of an inch long but a strange beige colour. I tried to pick it up for a closer look but it fell off the bag and I lost it. *My 'day out' bag is for visiting exhibitions and other events and contains waterproofs/umbrella, tote bags, notebooks and pens, first aid kit, spare glasses and a torch.

[Joseph_Pestell]

3 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. ChrisF, I'm interested in your having a guest speaker on Zoom. We are discussing having a guest speaker via Zoom ourselves (SEERS) and I would be interested to know how things went. While I was waiting for the weather report this morning I decided to sort out my 'day out'* bag.  After tidying the contents I spotted a strange looking insect crawling along the top of the bag. It was some sort of beetle about quarter of an inch long but a strange beige colour. I tried to pick it up for a closer look but it fell off the bag and I lost it. *My 'day out' bag is for visiting exhibitions and other events and contains waterproofs/umbrella, tote bags, notebooks and pens, first aid kit, spare glasses and a torch.

 

I have done a few Zoom (and Team) meetings recently. The key to success is the person chairing the meeting, i.e. in charge of the buttons that bring in each speaker as necessary. Ideally, you don't want that to be the person doing the main speech/training so that they can concentrate on their content.

[NGT6 1315]

Moaning awl. 'Tis right foggy and gloomy outside!

 

Municipal work crew sweeping up leaves in this quarter, so occasional leaf blower sound is wafting through the ether. They had stacked piles of leaves by the weekend already, though, so only a bit of tidying-up seems to be required yet.

 

Not a lot else to report as of yet. I do continue to follow the news from across the Atlantic with interest, however.

 

Be safe, everyone, and ta for now...

[Tony_S]

14 minutes ago, NGT6 1315 said:

Moaning awl. 'Tis right foggy and gloomy outside!

 

Municipal work crew sweeping up leaves in this quarter, so occasional leaf blower sound is wafting through the ether. They had stacked piles of leaves by the weekend already, though, so only a bit of tidying-up seems to be required yet.

 

Not a lot else to report as of yet. I do continue to follow the news from across the Atlantic with interest, however.

 

Be safe, everyone, and ta for now...

Morning Dom, I suspect I didn’t send congratulations yesterday so congratulations about the news of a sister for Annika next March. 
Tony

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

I am awaiting an e-mail from DHL notifying me of which hourly slot I might expect a delivery.  I recently placed two orders and don’t know which is to be delivered today.  That uncertainty, and finding out which it actually is, is the sum total of today’s excitement. Come to think of it, it might be this week’s high point too.  Such is life at the moment.

 

Have a good day all,  whatever excitements it has in store for you.

[45156]

Morning All

 

All posts read and rated - congratulatons to Dom on the impending new arrival. and of course, generic greetings to all fellow ERs.

 

Now awaiting the arrival of the blind fitter, who is due around 09.30.

 

Not a great deal more to report here - but the doll's house appears to be taking up some of my time, and I promise to post some images here as soon as it is fully fettled, and all the lighting is restored - there are a few bits which are still not working as I had hoped - and I have obtained replacements, but have yet to fit them and wire them up.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Once again we seem to have had some overnight rain, but like yesterday it isn’t falling at the moment, but looks li’e it could at any minute. No firm plans for today, but I might get the pressure washer out and clean the patio, the cellar steps and the path that connects them both as they could do with a clean. It will also make the cellar steps safer as they can get slippery this time of year and having slipped down them once, luckily without any serious injuries, just a few grazes, I don’t want to do THAT again. 

 

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

 

Brian

Edited November 10, 2020 by BSW01

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I don’t think we even have parcels arriving today so no excitement. Parcels do generally seem to be arriving but letters are very delayed.  A few of Aditi’s birthday cards arrived last week with strange postmarks but many posted from outside London or Essex still haven’t arrived. Our postman said some sorting offices are considerably affected by Coronavirus. 
My neighbour has three children in one school. They are in different year bubbles but the youngest one has been told to stay at home for 14 days as there is a confirmed Covid case in her bubble. The child who was sent home looked rather cheerful about the situation!
Tony

 

[Compound2632]

11 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Yes, telegraph, telephone, radio, and power.

 

Without wishing to cause offence to collectors of such, I can't resist observing that as hobbies go, that has to be one of the pottier! 

 

Only beaten by guzunder collecting, I suppose.

[Dave Hunt]

A friend of ours collects the little labels that you find stuck on apples.

 

Dave

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.

 

I was wondering if Mick's finger was broken by delivering a 'message' to some of those customers we occasionally talk about!  temptation is there on occasion, one side of the business I don't miss.

 

Poly, the under-cabinet lights are must as far as we are concerned, would not be without them, I hate working in shadow.  Gas hob for controllability for us, electric oven for convenience.  Hybrid, just like the cars!

 

Not a lot going on today, weather a bit meh but dry, Debs doing archery practice in the garden apparently so I'll have to keep out of range, then lunch out at the veg/veg/still hungry place as she likes it. #sigh#  Snacks later for me then!

 

Take care all.

 

 

[Compound2632]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

A friend of ours collects the little labels that you find stuck on apples.

 

That's an ap-peeling hobby!

[BoD]

48 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

That's an ap-peeling hobby!

He’s an enthusiast to the core.

[AndrewC]

On the subject of cookers. We've always had electric until the newest one. Rangemaster gas hob with electric fan ovens. I'll never go back to an electric hob again. Then again, I so rarely use the ovens they still smell new when switched on. I'd say about 80% of my cooking is done outdoors, year round on one of my three bbqs. 

 

As for the apple puns, all I can say is face-pomme. 

[BoD]

5 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

 

As for the apple puns, all I can say is face-pomme. 

 

 

You are just jealous because you were pipped to the post.

[Barry O]

Posted my parcel.. there are some complete eeediots about .. mainly in the older age groups...trying to get past the queue as they are "vulnerable".. try wearing a mask then !  Flippin eck!

 

Sun was shining .. now its gone very dull... which has been caused by her indoors hanging the washing out...Pah!

 

 

Baz

 

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

Currently there are patches of blue in the sky among the clouds and sufficient to patch the trousers of quite a lot of sailors.  But just to keep us on our toes there are some dark clouds out there as well.

 

No excitement planned for today but I believe the management might require a lift to the Tesco emporium so I might have the far from enviable joy of wandering round the car park fora while as she shops.  If I see more than one train arrival or departure I know she has been in there for at least half an hour, if I see three train arrivals and/or departures I kniw all too well that she's been in there for over an hour.  What I can't understand is why anybody would want to spend more than an hour in Tesco but I am usually told that it's not her fault and it's down to teh long queue for the checkouts.  Maybe they'll reintroduce the wrinklies queue?

 

On the other and the car park does provide occasional amusement such as halfwits driving round it the wrong way, if idiots who can't park, and the occasional more interesting car such as an Aston Martin, Ferrari or E Type Jag (even if it was one with the V12 engine).

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe

[Tony_S]

Our first house didn’t have gas connected so we had an electric cooker. When we did have gas connected the cooker was still ok so didn’t change. When we moved here we had a gas hob and electric oven. I suspect we will keep that combination if ever we replace them. In fact we did replace the electric oven with another almost identical one about 15 years ago. The kitchen was complete except for appliances so we could only fit a single oven. We do have a microwave/grill/oven device for the rare occasions more than one oven is required. I haven’t had to resort to using the barbecue at Christmas yet but I am sure I could use it to produce a quite acceptable turkey dinner. 
I can remember long ago when possessing a dishwasher was considered “lazy”. Aditi’s family were very early adopters of such devices so she thought we should have one. Fortunately they have always been near electricity sockets but even more importantly near water supply and waste pipes. We had a free sample of whatever the latest version of Finish dishwasher soap delivered today. What was odd was that it was delivered by Amazon. 
 

Aditi was humming a tune this morning. On “The Now Show” last week they had a comic song about about coronavirus instructions “wash your hands , do, do, do”. I mentioned to her that it was the “Baby Shark” tune. Somehow she had missed the whole Baby Shark thing. I had to show her the YouTube video. She will probably be singing it as she potters about today. 
Tony

Edited November 10, 2020 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. It was a bit grey this morning but now  there's only a few fluffy white bits. No more news on the scrote but a neighbour who knows the family tells me that his knee injury is a bad one, so bad that at one time the word amputation was mentioned but they think now his leg can be saved. Thats it for now, be back later.

Edited November 10, 2020 by PhilJ W