Early Risers.

[AndyB]

No.2 child set about cooking a gammon yesterday afternoon. As it was just 600g he added some wine to the baking tray to stop it drying out. Thyme and honey glaze.

 

And very nice it was too.

 

Within minutes of it going in the oven there were some gorgeous smells wafting out of the kitchen. 

 

With the Christmas decs due to come down this weekend I was given permission to set the outdoor lights onto whichever setting I liked. They'd been on "subtle" mode for a couple of weeks. I switched to "frenetic" mode. Needless to say permission was rescinded after an hour. A compromise "twinkle" was agreed*.

 

Today's plan is to review a pension statement and determine if the lower fee alternative on offer is as wise a move as it would seem on the surface. 

 

After that I'm minded to do some muddling.

 

*imposed.

[iL Dottore]

18 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

They're situated on the fields above the Jam Butty mines and next to the Broken Biscuit repair factory....

 

12 hours ago, BokStein said:

...My geography's never been up to much, but weren't the Jam Butty Mines and the Broken Biscuit Repair Factory in Lancashire, somewhere around Knotty Ash?...

 

7 hours ago, newbryford said:

...As for a true Lancastrian delicacy, don't forget the Treacle Mines of Sabden...........

 

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

...I thought the Treacle Mines were in Natland, just south of Kendal or so my father assured me....

Yes, yes, yes. All very well and good for Northerners and labouring types, but the really, really, really pressing issue currently worrying Islington and other parts of North London is “will the pre-Christmas lorry jam affect the Spring Spaghetti Orchard harvest in Kent?”

 

Now that Brexit’s here, supplies of Italian grown spaghetti will be unreliable, so unfortunately Islington and other parts of North London will have to rely on - supposedly “inferior” - home-grown spaghetti...

 

(and Pesto? Let’s not even go there. Suffice to say Tarquin & Melissa are even now incredibly distressed at loosing easy access to Italian organic, free-range Pesto)

Edited December 30, 2020 by iL Dottore

[polybear]

10 hours ago, BokStein said:

 

I think not as it marks the end of the first year of the decade.

 

Remember, when you are born, (forgetting the 9 or so months inside Mum) you emerge at zero years old. 12 months later, your first birthday is celebrated (although you probably won't remember it!). You are 1 year old at the end of your first year.

 

By contrast, 1st January 2020 marked the passing of the previous decade.

 

We now find ourselves in the (until December 31st) first year of the third decade of the 21st Century.

 

Bear started to read this...now Bear's head hurts.

 

24 minutes ago, AndyB said:

Today's plan is to review a pension statement and determine if the lower fee alternative on offer is as wise a move as it would seem on the surface. 

 

 

 

Welcome to Bear's Financial Advice Dept*....

Anything that means less fees means THEY are making less money out of you - on the surface.  Why on earth would any company want to do that?  There's a catch....

And if it means transferring your pension to another provider, please tread very, very carefully.  And even more carefully.

There are more scams out there than Bear has had LDC.  That's rather a lot.  You could quickly end up worse off, or even lose the lot, often with no chance of getting it back again. 

My bill for financial advice is in the post.  Just load the LDC into the truck - a forklift will be provided....

 

In other news:

Bear plans to spend the morning fitting the last off-cuts of EML to the kitchen wall Then I never want to see the ******* stuff again, or at least for a long , long time (the lounge will need some too )

 

*(Bear is totally unqualified, BTW)

Edited December 30, 2020 by polybear

[Winslow Boy]

7 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

Your geography is off - Knotty Ash has been long consigned to Scouseshire.

 

As for a true Lancastrian delicacy, don't forget the Treacle Mines of Sabden...........

Easily found as they're just past the Eccles Cake quarries.

[Grizz]

I think we must have got someone else’s whether by mistake. The sun is very nearly coming out here in East Sussex, well very nearly anyway. I now have that sinking feeling that Mrs Grizz might want ‘something’ done outside in the garden, like tidying or leaf moving or cutting of something etc....bang goes today’s plan to disappear off modelling. Bloody sun.

 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Grizz
Me

[leopardml2341]

Similar story here in South Derbyshire:

 

[leopardml2341]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear plans to spend the morning fitting the last off-cuts of EML to the kitchen wall Then I never want to see the ******* stuff again, or at least for a long , long time (the lounge will need some too )

Leopard asks Bear; what is EML?

Edited December 30, 2020 by leopardml2341
To capitalise Bear

[BoD]

20 minutes ago, Grizz said:

I think we must have got someone else’s whether by mistake

That’s the worst spell of weather we’ve had for a long time.

[jonny777]

Hello from a bright but frosty North Somerset.

 

I hear that the snow on hills has brought out the idiots who believe restrictions will never apply to them. Dyfed-Powys police have been concentrating on the Storey Arms lay-by where they have found numerous cases of people driving long distances to walk up the Brecon Beacons in the snow and then boost their egos by sending selfie’s to all and sundry. The worst case was a group from Hertfordshire which is currently in Tier 4. 
 

Fortunately, the cops are issuing fixed penalty notices; which might prevent repeats of this irresponsible and selfish activity. 
 

I really do wonder how the government can cope with the COVID virus spread when the UK has a hard core of people who flatly refuse to obey any rules whatsoever?

 

Sorry, morning rant over. 

[Grizz]

54 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Leopard asks Bear; what is EML?

Something specifically desiged to cut bear paws to bits???

Edited December 30, 2020 by Grizz
Auto correct

[Grizz]

11 minutes ago, BoD said:

That’s the worst spell of weather we’ve had for a long time.

Djknow I adnt notitcd that...SFLOL.  Seriously for me weather and whether are a complete nightmare. Using this iPad doesn’t help, it keeps being really helpful and inserts what it thinks I meant instead of what I actually meant. What it doesn’t realise is that I already have Mrs Grizz for that. .....

 

See what sunny or nearly sunny WEATHER does to us simple mountain folk in East Sussex......it makes us get really lippy and say things that we later may well come to regret......

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Dry but quite frosty here.  Hazy sunshine and a moderate breeze forecast.  

Another fan of "Hidden Figures" here.  Watched it twice this year and thought it a great film.

Yet again nothing much is planned for today..  A short walk was undertaken yesterday before The Hip kicked in.  Will have another go this morning.

A Sainsbury's order needs finalising but looking at the stock levels here we won't need a lot of stuff.

The Boss keeps "suggesting" that I visit The Shed and "do something."  Mojo sadly lacking and needsd igniting with a rocket up the whatsit or something similar.

Leopard - EML = expanded metal lathing which is used (among other things) to provide a key for plaster on walls and ceilings.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Galvanised-Metal-Mesh-Lath---2-5m-x-700mm/p/104089#

 

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited December 30, 2020 by grandadbob

[Grizz]

31 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Similar story here in South Derbyshire:

 

Leopard at least you got some snow in your part of the world.. I don’t dare show this photo to our kids or they will be looking up how far it is to do an emergency drive from East Sussex to S. Derbyshire, you know to go for an eye test or something. 

[leopardml2341]

2 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

 

Leopard - EML = expanded metal lathing which is used (among other things) to provide a key for plaster on walls and ceilings.

Ah, ok the galvanised mesh stuff, I probably know it as (the trade name) expamet.

[Grizz]

55 minutes ago, polybear said:

In other news:

Bear plans to spend the morning fitting the last off-cuts of EML to the kitchen wall Then I never want to see the ******* stuff again, or at least for a long , long time (the lounge will need some too )

 

*(Bear is totally unqualified, BTW)

Bear I totally understand you view point on EML, I hate the F...ing stuff as well.

 Back 1984 I assisted my dad with fitting this potentially lethal material to the outside of my parents house and I still have the scars to prove it. The one on my inner left arm took months to heal up properly. The product we used was stainless steel and it was like plunging your hands into a bag full of Stanley knife blades, blindfolded! No matter how careful we were or what gloves we used (although these days there are some pretty good anti cut ones) it always got you in the end. I seem to remember we had to use chemical anchor fix with stainless studding but then it was on the exterior of the house. How are you fixing it?

[Dave Hunt]

8 hours ago, newbryford said:

 

On a similar note - there is another York - in Lancashire! What a come down..............

 

(It's about a mile from where I live)

 

There's a tiny village called New York in Lincolnshire. When I worked in San Diego my USN colleagues were highly amused when I used to tell them that when I lived in Boston my 25 minute drive to work was via New York.

 

During my Liverpool childhood I was always told that the treacle mines were at Oglet, which is just south of the airport, and the jam butty mines made famous by Ken Dodd were in Knotty Ash.

 

Dave

 

 

[TheQ]

I used a fine expanded mesh under scenery to allow for something unmentionable underneath..

 

There is a fair amount of leaked red stuff on that as well.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s a cold, currently-1C, frosty and foggy start to the day, it appears that quite a lot of the partially thawed snow has now turned to ice. I know this as I’ve been out to unlock the back gate just in case the window cleaners decided to pay us a visit. I doubt that will happen in this weather, but stranger things happen at sea! I’m going to have to defrost the car before I can drive anywhere today, but I’ll do that later. 

 

Now that breakfast is but a distant memory, I shall soon go for a walk to the butchers for the weekly meat rations and hopefully a pastie or pie for dinner. After that it’s a trip to the Trafford Centre for a few more essentials and after tea it’ll be the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, so I doubt they’ll be any films watched today. 

 

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

 

Brian 

 

 

[BoD]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

In other news:

Bear plans to spend the morning fitting the last off-cuts of EML to the kitchen wall Then I never want to see the ******* stuff again, or at least for a long , long time (the lounge will need some too )

It all sounds a bit like chicken wire’s bigger, nastier brother.

[Tony_S]

Morning all. 
It is really sunny here but cold. No fog, snow or rain. Shed roof and lawns are frosty. I went next door and turned on their central,heating and hot water. They set off from Wales at 9am, so the house should be warm well before they arrive. They need to return for medical appointments but “routine” appointments are being cancelled locally.  They have been in Wales supporting unwell family members since the start of December. We did try to carefully explain how the situation locally has deteriorated since they left.

Tony

[Simon G]

Morning all,

Still no snow here, but it is a bright, cold morning.  I may venture into the garden to do a little work and prune the apple tree, and spread some rotted manure around.  I suspect it will be a short venture, before I freeze up!

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Weather as described by Tony but make the most of it as some of the white stuff is predicted to be heading this way. 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

 

 

Yes, yes, yes. All very well and good for Northerners and labouring types, but the really, really, really pressing issue currently worrying Islington and other parts of North London is “will the pre-Christmas lorry jam affect the Spring Spaghetti Orchard harvest in Kent?”

 

Now that Brexit’s here, supplies of Italian grown spaghetti will be unreliable, so unfortunately Islington and other parts of North London will have to rely on - supposedly “inferior” - home-grown spaghetti...

 

(and Pesto? Let’s not even go there. Suffice to say Tarquin & Melissa are even now incredibly distressed at loosing easy access to Italian organic, free-range Pesto)

 

 

[Grizz]

Would these Islington dwellers actually still be there? Weren’t they the same types that selfishly leapt into their Range Rovers at Two Minutes to midnight on 19th December and ponced off to their second / third homes, relations etc in the Shires, Cornwall, Scotland, Weald of Sussex etc for the duration????

Edited December 30, 2020 by Grizz
Auto coroct

[Coombe Barton]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I thought the Treacle Mines were in Natland, just south of Kendal or so my father assured me.

 

In the land of the neighbours of the Western Men, it was the Tamerton Treacle Mines.

[Tony_S]

39 minutes ago, Grizz said:

t selfishly leapt into their Range Rovers

I have checked and no one leapt into my Range Rover! The phone app said the car is in sleep mode, whatever that is.