Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Woke up in the early hours with the foot on fire and Arthur Itis joining in on the act. It must have been due to the position I ended up in as I moved/rolled over and fell back to sleep again. When I first went abroad in about 1972, to Germany it was an eye opener in more ways than one. As ID said public nudity was accepted in many ways. Even TV ads, a pretty girl (never a man, pretty or otherwise) in the shower unlike in the UK would show breasts and sometimes a bit more. There was a public park near to where I was staying where during the lunch break office workers would strip off completely to sunbathe. Now off to run a bath, be back later. 

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is cloudy here, I think it rained overnight and isn’t frosty. 
I don’t recall hearing any fireworks yesterday evening or night. 

There may be a couple of parcels coming today, some new baking tins and flan thingies I think, no toys.

 

I am not sure what we are doing today, perhaps a walk. The grass needs cutting but the ground is too wet. We would just end up with a soggy clay patch instead of lawn. 
 

Tony

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, another poor sleeper here, pain based in my case with knackered hip and foot.  Alcohol of any kind makes it worse, tried that so seldom bother now.  I take paracetamol when I go to bed and the vet has me on naproxen too now, I don't feel that has made any difference but the paracetamol does help a bit, as in it's even worse sleep if I forget to take it.   The para gets me to 2-3am and then I wake and toss and turn with 30 minute sleeps, I should get up and take more I suppose, but if I get up to do so I never get back to sleep as the brain thinks it is time to work, or at least as well as it does nowadays.

 

Another discussion to be had with the vet next week, but lack of sleep is becoming a major issue with bags under the eyes Chris could fill with CD's.

 

A worrying number of folk I know here saying they won't have the jab, of course taking advice from social media rather than doctors....any further comment would perhaps pass forum rules here, but the words 'social responsibility' feature.  

 

A lot of ice around this morning, 4c all night it would appear in our garden but a friend reports black ice on local roads.  Being in the sticks we don't get gritting, that seems to be reserved for the Big City and its environs.  We pay the same taxes though.  Ooopps verging on politics.

 

 

[Dunsignalling]

Frosty here again but nice and bright. It looks lovely through glass and I may venture out in an hour or so.

 

Saw news item about warehouse Rave in France with 2,500 cockwombles including contingents from UK and Spain. Police attacked as they tried to disperse the mob.

 

It occurs to me it might be better to just surround the venue with razor wire to PREVENT them leaving and designate it as Covid Quarantine Facility. Any that want to depart to test negative at least twice before being let out....

 

John

 

 

[BSW01]

Good Morning everyone 

 

A cold and frosty start to the day, currently -2C outside, apart from going to retrieve the bin from wherever the bin men have decided to leave it and to get a few items from the workshop, the plan is to spend the rest of today in the cellar. Firstly I’m hoping to test the turntable control panel and secondly make up a variable voltage (dc) board to power the turntable motor, this will enable me to eliminate the need for a separate power supply for the turntable drive system. The motor supply is currently 3v reduced to about 2v via a couple of diodes, and the electronics require a 12v and 5v supplies, which both come from the same initial source. I’ve designed and tested (using my simulation software) the circuit, so I just need to build and physically test it. It’s not very big and there’s plenty of room in the control panel and it will mean one less power supply to the panel. 

 

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

 

Brian

[BoD]

Morning all

 

[jonny777]

Neil makes a good point about waking up after a couple of hours sleep and the brain wanting to work again. 
 

I wonder if 35 years of shift work is responsible for this ability to be wide awake in the middle of the night even long after retirement? 
 

In my case, 12 hour nights included a 90 minute meal break, and I was one of a minority who could sit in a comfortable chair and doze off for an hour as my meal break at silly o’clock and then get straight back to work. 
 

Maybe the brain just gets used to functioning with disrupted sleep patterns and never loses that ability? 

[BSW01]

I also worked shifts and it took over 30 years of day work before I stopped waking up at 5 o'clock in the morning. It's only in the last couple of years that I've started sleeping in. On the plus side it meant I was rarely late for work. 

[Simon G]

Morning all, another very cold and frosty one here so far.  As in recent days, our exercise will be taken this afternoon when the sun will have hopefully defrosted the roads and pavements.  On the brighter side, I am looking out of the living room window over to a snowy Snaefell on Fraggle Rock.  A cup of coffee is shortly to be had, then I might see if I can spread some more rotted manure and seaweed around the veg patch in the garden.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Latest rotation of the sun completed getting on for 9 hours ago and all the 'unexpected' books have arrived including 'The Moth and the Mountain' which I am very much looking forward to reading.

 

I have a suspicion, like Johnny777, that a sleep pattern you became used to over the years can linger on. I spent far too many years of my working life in a situation where the 'phone was likely to (and in one job frequently did) ring in the middle of the night requiring immediate presence of mind to give sage advice or guidance, often to make or confirm decisions, and for one period of 4 years to be very directly involved in authorising trains to run over a single line.  I reckon if your mind has become alert to that sort of expectation it can take a long time to get it out of your system and even now - 20 years on - I still sometimes find it difficult to shut down the brain activity and go back to sleep if I wake  during the night.

 

 The other thing I find is that I am often acutely aware of unexpected noises - just as I was always in effect listening out for the 'phone while asleep.  However I must admit that I'm not quite as quick at physically 'starting'  as i used to be in those situations and that is probably down to age because the brain is still pretty good at rapid engagement of working mode

 

The sky is (mainly) blue, the sun is shining - even on the oligarch's palace across the valley and one bin has already bin done.  I suspect the recycling bins are taking a lot longer today as many people seem not to have the knack of packing everything into them so theirs are accompanied by various plastic sacks and or boxes which they will no doubt blame on the collection being 3 days late as well as the remnants of the festivities.  I only hope ours will stand the weight of its contents when it's being lifted and tipped into the wagon!

 

And now somebody has an approved vaccine it seems the latest blame game is to criticise them for only being able to deliver a couple of million doses each week!  I give up because i doubt that the NHS will have enough people to use those doses as quickly as they are delivered.

 

Have a good day one and all

 

 

 

 

[tigerburnie]

Morning, slight dusting of snow overnight and it is still freezing, pond ice has been broken up gently to help reduce any damage the expanding ice might do. Sleep disruption from shift work is something I too can have from time to time, even after 17 years since last working them, being retired I just go with the flow and sleep when I'm tired and get up when I want, only down side is I not only don't know what day it is, but sometimes don't even know if it's am or pm lol. Take care all and enjoy your weekend.

[grandadbob]

Happy Birthday Mike!  

[BoD]

MHR, SM

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jonny777 said:

My usual efforts of tempting sleep are thus - a meditation attempt in bed. Lie as still as possible and then relax each limb of the body in turn. Finally relax the jaw bone as much as possible without opening your mouth, followed by concentrating on the colours visible with eyes closed and not thinking of anything but that. 

 

The process often works for me, but not always, and it is the only thing I know.

 

 

Bear says "Alexa, play BBC News"; the option to hear more details during the resulting newsfeed is usually accepted ("Alexa, play more").  Bear is often zedding before the end of the news report.  If that doesn't work then (at a low volume) it's "Alexa, read "A Bear Called Paddington".  That does the trick very quickly, which is really unfair to Paddington cos' it's a good book - and I haven't a clue what happens cos' I fall asleep far too quickly.

My big issue is when I wake at 3 or 4 am and sometimes my brain starts working - that's fatal for not getting back to sleep again.

 

1 hour ago, Dunsignalling said:

Saw news item about warehouse Rave in France with 2,500 cockwombles including contingents from UK and Spain. Police attacked as they tried to disperse the mob.

 

It occurs to me it might be better to just surround the venue with razor wire to PREVENT them leaving and designate it as Covid Quarantine Facility. Any that want to depart to test negative at least twice before being let out....

 

John

 

 

 

They should seize and crush all cars of those there, as well as fine everyone attending, no matter how long it takes and how cold they get.  Make an example of them and others won't be so keen to try their luck

 

[Barry O]

Happy Birthday Mike!

 

We did have blue skies here first thing.. then.. snow! and lots of it  so everywhere is covered again. I don't have to go out so.. who cares?

 

Youngest Herbert has just done a door step delivery of some fresh eggs (his young lady lives on a farm) including  a blue one..

 

@The Stationmaster - a few people have not bothered to turn up for vaccine appointments around here. One apparently turned up the next day "demanding" her f.....ing vaccine. When I asked why she hadn't bothered to turn up het response was priceless.. " I didn't have the time yesterday"!  I would have just sent her for a sit down outside!

 

Blast!  It is snowing.. again!

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

All the snow that finally dissappeared yesterday is back with a lot more and its still going.

A quick glance of the tv schedules brings dispair the only highlight being a bridge too far. Sean Connery playing hide and seek with the Germans. Anthony Hopkins as Major Frost telling them he cant accept their surrenders is another classic scene. 

[polybear]

44 minutes ago, Barry O said:

........a few people have not bothered to turn up for vaccine appointments around here. One apparently turned up the next day "demanding" her f.....ing vaccine. When I asked why she hadn't bothered to turn up het response was priceless.. " I didn't have the time yesterday"!  I would have just sent her for a sit down outside!

 

 

Or even better, send her to the very back of the queue - after the rest of the country have been done.  With any luck she'll contract the virus in the interim

[Coombe Barton]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Or even better, send her to the very back of the queue - after the rest of the country have been done.  With any luck she'll contract the virus in the interim

And then, pass it on many times. Just vaccinate her with a blunt needle.

[PhilJ W]

Hello again from Estuary-Land. Many happy returns to SM Mick. Arthur Itis does run and hide when the paracetamol comes out but he hasn't troubled me very much recently as the weathers been dry. Also the sore foot appears to be on the mend, walking about seems to be a lot easier. A package arrived this morning, a few months ago I purchased a device for running on two parallel strips of metal. It turned out to be in dire need of lubrication so I ordered the necessary instrument for doing so, that's what arrived this morning.

[Coombe Barton]

Many Happy Returns, Mike SM

[polybear]

21 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

And then, pass it on many times. Just vaccinate her with a blunt needle.

 

If she's at the end of the line then everyone else (apart from the anti-vaxxers) will have been vaccinated :)

[Coombe Barton]

1 minute ago, polybear said:

 

If she's at the end of the line then everyone else (apart from the anti-vaxxers) will have been vaccinated

The vaccine is only 90-95% effective. You can still catch COVID even after having been vaccinated. Sh if you want to play out this scenario, whatever this individual does she's going to put more people at risk (bet she doesn't wear a mask) so let's try to reduce that.

[Happy Hippo]

3 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

Frosty here again but nice and bright. It looks lovely through glass and I may venture out in an hour or so.

 

Saw news item about warehouse Rave in France with 2,500 cockwombles including contingents from UK and Spain. Police attacked as they tried to disperse the mob.

 

It occurs to me it might be better to just surround the venue with razor wire to PREVENT them leaving and designate it as Covid Quarantine Facility. Any that want to depart to test negative at least twice before being let out....

 

John

 

 

Once you've got the wire in place, Ripley has the right idea:

 

'Nuke the entire site from orbit.  It's the only way to be sure!'

 

 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

I wake at 3 or 4 am and sometimes my brain starts working - that's fatal for not getting back to sleep again.

Something you share with Dr. SWMBO.  And something which troubles her to a greater or lesser extent most days.  I don't mind that she retires by 9pm since, as an ER myself for professional purposes I do likewise, but she does object to being awake with a fully-active brain at such hours and being unable to get back to sleep.  

 

Afternoon all.  Trying to maintain track of the calendar here - it is Saturday despite the feeling that it is in fact Justanotherday.  Continued very slow fixing-up proceeds in the various departments of unwell and a return to the House of Fun remains on the cards for Stupid O'clock on Moan-day morning.  Long before too many small brown birds have broken wind but there's always one .....  

 

Trying not to be unduly perturbed by news reports of events beyond my control and having mixed feelings about the French rave; the organisers might consider they have done a good job by staging the event and outwitting the forces of law with some success for some time.  The attendees seem to be sleeping in cars (if at all bearing in mind the properties of certain substances often associated with such events designed to keep one very awake indeed for a long time) and the nuisance is largely self-contained in both noise and disease-control contexts. Just ensure no-one leaves the site for 14 days and then they have to test negative in order to do so.  

 

It is time to apply music and see if Arthur Eye-tuss will permit the fingers to work as intended with fine-detail m*d*ll*ng work.  If not then there's always dishes to wash! 

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon. It's cool and sunny here and I'm rather late on parade. However  I've not been in my pit scoffing cake. We had our usual 09.00 chat with Emily and her mums, that certainly brightened the day.

 

Then it was off to Angouleme  with the trailer on. The trailer had the shower door in it. They had sent a left handed one rather than a right handed one. An hour later I started to explain the problem to the nice people at the big blue shed, which has the same owners as the big orange sheds in the UK. 30 minutes or so later, they agreed to exchange it. Fortunately  I had the instructions, which were correct, and also my hand drawn plan which showed what I had ordered. Hopefully the new one will be here in a couple of weeks.

 

Not a lot else to report apart from wishing Mike bon anniversaire.

 

Jamie

Edited January 2, 2021 by jamie92208