Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning.  Dry with a cool breeze just sufficient to make walking in to it unpleasant.  Nice sunrise though.

 

Mrs NHN dropped off for her bus, will be meeting her in the Big City later to take her to the Consultant Ophthalmologist appointment.  Nervous.

 

Couriers here are mostly sub-contracted bar DHL.  They're OK ish, DPD are the best, but living up in the sticks all bar DHL only come up here once or twice a week (its a long way you know....  ) even if you have paid for a priority service - they ignore that - but they charge the earth since they think we're in Outer Mongolia. 

 

Isle of Man Post (= Royal Mail) are superb, any service, same cost as anywhere in the UK both ways.  We wouldn't use anyone else when we had the business, and without boasting we had a great reputation for next-day delivery, which seemed to amaze customers we could achieve that from here.  Our posties are great, over the 18 years we have been here we have had a few, knew all their names, and still speak if you see them elsewhere.  They will leave parcels in an agreed place or re-deliver, your choice.  It's not like we have much crime.  The thought of Ian saying they have security cameras on the house reminds me how good life is here.

 

Edited November 23, 2020 by New Haven Neil
Forgot the photo d'oh.

[tigerburnie]

Morning, I solved our door bell conundrum, when a nice shiny new door and frame was fitted, I didn't want to drill holes in it, so we don't have one.................................luckily our delivery drivers are very good and leave stuff in my greenhouse if we are not at home, works a treat and it confuses the hell out of the Jehovah's Witnesses.............................

[Andrew P]

A bit late this morning, the Flip Flop decided to do an up grade, and then shut down due to a flat battery that I couldn't see because it was a plain blue screen. I plugged in the charger, re started it, and then it went into an Automatic UNDO of the Up date.

It's NOW asking for another Up date to be done.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright and wet (overnight rain) start to the day, but it isn’t raining at the moment. My plans for the day are to continue removing paint from the cellar walls. Today I’m going to start on the wall next to the outer cellar door and work my way into the corner. There’s no way this will all get done today, this section of wall is about 8ft long, but I’m hoping to get about half of it done today. 

 

As far as deliveries go, Hermes, Yodel are utter carp and DPD aren’t much better. DHL aren’t too bad and the local Amazon driver is a friend of one of my brothers so is usually very good. By far the best are Royal Mail and Parcel Force, although we’re currently still waiting for a package from RM which should have arrived last week and is still showing as stuck in the depot, but due to the current situation, that could be due to Covid. 

 

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

 

Brian

[Andrew P]

Don't mention Hermes, I'm still waiting for a refund from a collection that I cancelled and they did not call for so must have got my cancellation notice. Pay Pal are now dealing with it.

 

As for Post men / women / person, we seem to have a different one every day. Todays none Post, he walked on by, was about 8-30 , some days its about 4pm.

 

Have a good day and stay safe one and all.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Andrew P

[Sir TophamHatt]

Morning all!

 

First day of a run of early shifts today.

 

However, enjoying Aldi hot chocolate more than Asda own brand.  While it's probably not that healthy, it's certainly better than the old fizzy drinks and a step closer to just plain old water.

Excited for tea tonight - roast as I forgot to get the stuff out the freezer to have it yesterday.

I AM A MASTER AT ROAST DINNERS.

[Simon G]

Morning all,

We have the same unpleasant breeze as NHN, not surprisingly, so it feels bl@@dy cold outside.  A walk may be walked later, but the padded trousers will be found from the wardrobe first.  We keep trying to make the walks longer, but I dont seem to be getting any fitter as a result, just more knackered.  I suppose it is called getting older.

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

 The thought of Ian saying they have security cameras on the house reminds me how good life is here.

Crime is reasonably low around here but I like the tech and the doorbell cam was so that I could answer the door even if I was in the shed at the back of the garden otherwise the caller would have gone by the time I got into the house and to the front door. Its also handy to avoid any cold callers but my other half tends to just answer the door hence she got caught last week by someone offering to redo our parking area.

[AndyB]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

Morning, I solved our door bell conundrum, when a nice shiny new door and frame was fitted, I didn't want to drill holes in it, so we don't have one.................................luckily our delivery drivers are very good and leave stuff in my greenhouse if we are not at home, works a treat and it confuses the hell out of the Jehovah's Witnesses.............................

 

We had the same problem last year - new door.

Solved other with a wireless doorbell.

I also took the opportunity to get a doorbell with 50 sounds effects.

Of which 49 are irritating. 

I sometimes "adjust" it when I go out - scares the hell out of the kids if they hear "dogs barking" or "horses neighing" in the lounge. Lol

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Crime is reasonably low around here

Very low round here but there was a police crew bus with the grills over the windscreen (like the ones you see delivering police officers to riots)  parked over the road yesterday. I suspect they had been told to park somewhere quiet in case they were needed in Basildon again. There was a “demonstration “ there yesterday about Covid lockdown restrictions. Rumour had it there may have been another one planned for Sunday. 

[Barry O]

Ouch!

 

parcel posted ..fine

 

walk was completed even though the thin breeze is freezing!

 

BUT then

 

Bought Test match and T20 Tickets.. they cost.. HOW MUCH???

 

Then I bought some raffle tickets from The Lords Taverners .. no Christmas Lunch with the Taverners at Headingley this year which is a shame.. so donated the money normally spent via buying some raffle tickets.. they cost HOW MUCH?? but a very worthy cause. 

 

Now to recover a bit before.. the oven cleaning man arrives.. oooh the excitement! (He is an ex Tankie.. 14/21st Lancers)..

 

Baz

Edited November 23, 2020 by Barry O

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Frosty this morning but a clear blue sky.

Aditi and her family were sending each other photos of gardens yesterday. The ones from India had all their winter flowers which are basically anything planted for the English summer. Aditi’s cousin was most impressed by the sky in Aditi’s photo, another blue sky day. Her cousin said that is a very rare sight in Delhi now. 
Tony

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Barry O said:

 

Now to recover a bit before.. the oven cleaning man arrives.. oooh the excitement! (He is an ex Tankie.. 14/21st Lancers)..

I am sure someone on ERs (years ago) had an oven cleaning man and the door fell off. Hope it wasn’t him!

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Delivery drivers, around here they're not to bad. Royal Mail is the best despite their being short staffed due to Covid. I do tend to avoid the strong ladies, I will keep avoiding them for as long as they avoid paying taxes. However the best delivery service I've had recently I don't even know who delivered it. There was a knock on the door (I don't have a doorbell and as I opened it a parcel was thrust into my hands and the delivery person was off. The fact that it was after dark and persisting down probably was something to do with it. The item concerned was an object designed to run on two parallel strips of metal under its own power only ordered a couple of days earlier, well done Rails of Sheffield and your anonymous courier. Bright sunshine at the moment but predicted to cloud over later. Forecast locally is that its going to stay mostly dry but colder and the charts show winds from an Easterly direction at the end of the week, winter drawers on. Estuary Land is pretty well sheltered from most severe weather with the Downs to the south, the Chilterns and London to the Northwest/West and even a bit of shelter from the North and East. 

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Very low round here but there was a police crew bus with the grills over the windscreen (like the ones you see delivering police officers to riots)  parked over the road yesterday. I suspect they had been told to park somewhere quiet in case they were needed in Basildon again. There was a “demonstration “ there yesterday about Covid lockdown restrictions. Rumour had it there may have been another one planned for Sunday. 

They will have to catch the one with the brain cell to stop it though. From pics I've seen its the usual rent a crowd seen previously supporting the BNP and Brexit.

Noticed in the papers that the bookies are shortening the odds on there being a white C*******s as an Arctic blast is on its way. Didn't they say that last year, and the year before, and the year before that? There must still be plenty of mugs about.

[Chris116]

6 minutes ago, Barry O said:

 

Bought Test match and T20 Tickets.. they cost.. HOW MUCH???

 

Then I bought some raffle tickets from The Lords Taverners .. no Christmas Lunch with the Taverners at Headingley this year which is a shame.. so donated the money normally spent via buying some raffle tickets.. they coat HOW MUCH?? but a very worthy cause. 

 

You do realise that you could have saved the tokens and used them for something that runs on parallel strips of metal! 

 

My father was an MCC, Surrey, Middlesex and Worcester member so I approve of money going to the Lord's Taverners. 

[Tony_S]

We brought our doorbell from our old house. I am sure it counts as retro being a 1970s Friedland “ding ” type. I expect that to get censored. 
 

yes, the dong did get censored. As in completely eliminated, it became a non word rather than ####.

Edited November 23, 2020 by Tony_S

[AndrewC]

Door bells seem to be a foreign concept to many people. We've got the Ring system installed, including lights/cameras out back and in the alleyway. Most food delivery people have clued in and push the glowing blue button. About half the couriers and postmen manage it, but thankfully none of the unwanted (god botherers, cold callers, charity muggers) seem to know what it is. That means we get the motion alert as they reach the porch and can happily ignore their knocking safe in the knowledge we aren't missing a delivery or something important. 

 

One of the former partners at SWMBO's workplace was a past chairman of the Lord Taverners. Most of the higher ups in the company are cricket nuts. Before he retired there were always a couple of tickets going spare. Sadly with our luck the few times she managed to get some  it bloody rained. We once got 3 overs against New Zealand, then spent 5 hours waiting until they called the day off. Luckily we were under cover, but ended up spending a bomb at the shop and bars. 

[New Haven Neil]

When I say it is low crime here, I mean as in folk don't lock their cars.....or front doors.  A car getting stolen is headline news.

 

On another subject entirely, if you are curious about CV19 testing, and have an hour or so to spare, this is a good explanation from a Doctor here.  She has been a little controversial as she got involved in a political scuffle a few weeks ago due to trying to tell politicians they were talking crap (they were) but they have gone crawling back to her.

 

 

 

[TheQ]

39 minutes ago, Barry O said:

 

 

Now to recover a bit before.. the oven cleaning man arrives.. oooh the excitement! (He is an ex Tankie.. 14/21st Lancers)..

 

Baz

Lancers!!! donkey wallopers... (or so the RTR said back in the day)..

[TheQ]

I Wear this  No not the MCC Tie, But the Yeoman class Keelboat tie..

 

If we had a motion detector door bell, it would go off all the time.. the house is 6 ft from the road.. and if we weren't, the deer, foxes rabbits, owls, pheasants, would all send Ben the I don't like Noises Collie crazy...

Edited November 23, 2020 by TheQ

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

The s&dding milkman left the effin milk just inside the gate yet again - lazy git who shouldn't even be paid in paper washers let alone brass ones.  Mrs Stationmaster is now on the warpath with the milk delivery outfit but not getting far with Ms Dumbo 2020 on the other end of the 'phone in their office and who appears to be incapable of conducting a conversation with a customer.  At this rate their latest layabout is likely to be an ex milkman as he won't be delivering to us any more but the thought has crossed my mind that he might not understand how to open a gate which has a sliding bolt, could be just that bit too complicated for his tiny little excuse for a brain?

 

On the other hand the Posties are generally pretty good and since Covid arrived all the regulars have taken to leaving things in a regular place in the prich and a couple of them always knock if there is something 'signed fotr' or a parcel just to make sure we know it has been delivered.  One or two if the less regular ones still shove post through the letterbox but that is unusual.  but with any of them it is rather amusing to see them driving their van up the road almost from door-to-door (i.e. gateway-to-gateway) on a round which for years in the past was always done on foot without even the benefit if a bicycle.  Maybe they do a lot more than the one old round nowadays but having worked the old round very occasionally on Christmas post casual work  it was not a real strain on either feet or your back - even with two bags at that time of year).

 

As for delivery drivers most ignore the door bell and knock - maybe playing with a nice, noisy, a brass knocker gives them a buzz?   I haven't seen our old regular Hermes bloke for along while but his successors generally don't seem too bad.  Best in our experience are the Parcel Force blokes (often arriving in unmarked white vans) and the occasional UPS man with packages from an unmentionable concern in Shildon. 

 

Have a good day one and all

[PhilJ W]

23 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

When I say it is low crime here, I mean as in folk don't lock their cars.....or front doors.  A car getting stolen is headline news.

 

A similar situation in Malta and even more so in the neighbouring island of Gozo. Most front doors have the keys left in them. The only way to leave the Island is by ferry to Malta. This might change though with the proposed Malta LRT which will connect the islands via a tunnel.

[tigerburnie]

Sorted, found 4 sausages in the back of the freezer, normal service has been established.......................

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

warpath with the milk delivery outfit

We started buying ours from the supermarket when doorstep milk went “off” during the doorstep to fridge journey. Leaving milk while we were away and had cancelled it didn’t encourage us to continue. We used to get a manager from the dairy asking us to reconsider our decision to enable doorstep deliveries to continue. I declined. 

[The Stationmaster]

I sometimes wonder just what is or isn't going on in the world but I was rather surprised to find on another thread that several posters seem to regard as silly or nonsensical this tweet attributed by one of them to the UK PM -

 

As it was plainly obvious what he was talking about why is it seemingly regarded as an unusual comment?  especially as RN trials of a UK Directed Energy Weapon j have already been talked about as starting in the next year or two.