Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

Gosh, do take care Simon.  

[Gwiwer]

27 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

My (rail industry) employer offers it's employees a flu jab each year, just have to put one's name on the list. I haven't bothered in the 3yrs I've been there, until this winter when I was jabbed In October IIRC.

We are positively encouraged to get the (rail industry) company-provided flu jab each year.  I have taken them up every year even when it means, as it did this year, travelling to a rather more distant location than the home station due to the timing of provision.  

 

Which makes the attitude to Covid all the more surprising in that despite being an employer of more than 50 people (and of far more than 250 people which was the original threshold) the company has not taken up the Government's offer of providing tests for all staff.  Any of us who do test must do so in our own time, are not obliged by the company (but may be obliged by law) to advise the result and are required to use up sick leave and annual leave if required to self-isolate.  Only when those entitlements have been exhausted, which would not normally be within ten days, would there be SSP.  There is a statutory requirement to self-isolate if "pinged" by test & trace or when a family / household member tests positive but this is leave without pay because the employee is neither sick nor on rostered leave; it is treated as unpaid leave but - explicitly in writing from the Management - without the usual disciplinary measures which usually accompany that.  Meaning the incentive to work at such times is still rather high.  

 

To the best of my knowledge we have done better than many other rail businesses.  At my location only two positive tests have been recorded in a year and both were members of the customer-assistance team who of necessity have hands-on contact for extended periods with certain passengers such as the visually-impaired.  Neither person was able to confirm the source of infection which may well not have been at work.  We have suffered fewer train-crew shortages although there was one case which caused self-isolation across a depot to decimate train services on one route for a few days.  Unlike our colleagues who run the green and blue trains nearby, nor the operators of London's own transport networks, we are not aware of any member of staff having passed away from the virus.  

 

Friday Drinks have got to both ends of me.  I need to sleep and I need the bathroom   Which to do first?  A half-decent bottle of Californian Merlot followed the 5pm pint of Tribute.  With food, I will add.  Crisps with the beer and bolognese with the wine.  It's Saturday in the morning.  If I don't surface until lunchtime does it matter?  Breakfast is easy and suitable for anytime anyway - croissants and coffee.  

 

G'night all.  Sleep safe and well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[leopardml2341]

Goodnight folks.

[polybear]

Bear spent yet more time "planning".....

Somewhat confused by "Corner Posts", which, unsurprisingly, are used in conjunction with Base Unit Corner Cabinets to cover the gap between adjacent cabinets at 90 degrees.  Bear decides a call to the manufacturer/supplier is in order:

 

Bear:  "If I specify a particular size of Base Unit corner post on your planner is that what is supplied?"

Them:  " No, corner posts are 70 x 70 x 715mm"

Bear:  "So what do I do if I need one that is 70 x 100mm?  There's no sign of larger sizes on your website"

Them:  "If you need one bigger than 70 x 70 then you use a filler panel and cut it to size"

Bear:  " Ah, ok, understand.

 

Later, Bear is now looking at corner posts for corner wall units....another call is in order:

 

Bear: "If I order a corner wall unit does it come with a corner post?"

(A different - and smarter) Them:  "No, you have to order it as a separate item"

Bear:  "Ok, but wall unit corner posts are 30 x 30 x 715mm - can you tell me the order code please, as I can't find them on your website?"

Them:  "You use the 70 x 70mm ones that are used for the base units, and cut them down as required"

Bear:  " Ah, ok - so there's none specifically for wall units then?"

Them:  "No"

Bear:  " And if I need anything bigger than 70 x 70 I use a filler panel?"

Them: " It depends how much bigger - the 70 x 70 corner posts are supplied in two parts measuring 100mm wide, so you only need to use filler panels if you need a corner post bigger than 100mm"

Bear:  " So a 70 x 70 corner post actually measures 100 x 100, and you cut it down to size then?"

Them:  "Yes"

Bear: "Why don't you list it as 100 x 100 then?"

Them:  "So as not to confuse people......"

 

FFS   

 

In other news, Bear notes that Prince Harry is no longer on the subs bench and a vacancy exists.  Where does "one" sign up? 

Edited February 19, 2021 by polybear

[Barry O]

goodnight all!

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

My solution would be to tazer them at full charge and let them waddle home in their soiled undergarments.

As I remember  it, if the language/behaiviour got to that level they were deemed to have failed The Attitude Test. This resulted in a trip to the charge desk.  The exact naturevof the test and syllabus were closely gaurded secrets but a fail was instantly recognisable.

46 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Greetings all

Having spent the night in Pinderfields hospital i am a bit worried by Jamies post.

I was taken by ambulance last night with suspected dvt no not one of those on the back of a class 91.after various tests and injections i was allowed home at dinner time today. 

I have to go for a further scan at some point next week.

The staff were brilliant as usual done nothing this afternoon.but sleep.

Luckily I have had my first covid jab at 43 yr old.

At one point last night I thought I wasn't going to make 44.

Hope things go on well Mick. Hopefully you should be OK. We've done the maths for Beth's friend and unfortunately  the only place she could have got the infection is in Pinderfields.  She was in 10 days though. Tested negative whilst there. Then got transferred to Dewsbury  and was found to be positive.  Discharged to isolate at home and 2 weksclater died at home. Her daughter was isolating with her as she was in her 80's and lived alone. The daughter then tested positive and still has to isolate whilst dealing with the death. Not good.

 

Jamie

Edited February 19, 2021 by jamie92208

[tigerburnie]

Evening all, SWMBO has had her first Oxford jab today, no ill effects so far, local GP administered, most efficient(which is not always their forte). I have been having the flu jab for well over 20 years, my last few employers offered them, so I had them, no flu, though we did both get a mild pneumonia a few years back, for which I believe we had a jab for that as well. Quiet day today, mostly wild, wet and windy, forecast is for drier tomorrow, so hopefully a walk can be had, though as we found when we went to the doc's, there's still quite a lot of snow about that has not yet melted away.

G'night all.

[Coombe Barton]

... and stuff-it-in-the-oven-and-let-it-cook ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/02/19/r-values-moving-back-up/

[andyram]

Evening all. Best wishes to Simon and I hope things improve for you. I do hope that Rick (Gwiwer) gets the much sought after vaccine soon. I saw post pop up on my phone today suggesting that the aim is to have jabbed everyone over 40 by the end of next month so my date with the vaccine centre may be closer than I expected.

 

Today has been a major black dog day. I cannot give a reason for the tired, low mood which descended on me for much of the day. Little achieved apart from a delivery to a customer over towards Long Eaton this morning. This was followed, in the afternoon, by a trip to the vets to take one of the cats for her own booster vaccination. 

  Due to Covid restrictions the waiting room is closed so visitors have to wait in the car park. Last year this resulted in an hour long wait in the heat trying to find a shaded spot for the two cats in their carriers. Today it was about trying to keep dry. Fortunately the vet was running more to time today and the grey cloud stayed away.

 

 The vet's visit was followed by some modelling. I managed to have a play around with the track plan on my new / restarted / revived project. This can be viewed via my Skaleby East thread in the layout topics. Warning...track plan photo below:

 

Tomorrow it is back to the shop for a click and collect appointment. I will also have to go on Monday for another delivery. Remember that "well known" supplier....they decided to send a third of my outstanding credit value in stock last week, and then send the rest in a later delivery. What a waste of time and postage costs. You really cannot make it up!

 

Stay safe all.

 

Andy

[Andrew P]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Greetings all

Having spent the night in Pinderfields hospital i am a bit worried by Jamies post.

I was taken by ambulance last night with suspected dvt no not one of those on the back of a class 91.after various tests and injections i was allowed home at dinner time today. 

I have to go for a further scan at some point next week.

The staff were brilliant as usual done nothing this afternoon.but sleep.

Luckily I have had my first covid jab at 43 yr old.

At one point last night I thought I wasn't going to make 44.

Rest, Re coupe and re gather, we need people like you around.

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Sorry to hear about Simons episode and I hope it gets sorted ASAP. Similarly I hope Rick gets his jab sorted sooner rather than later.

Another day of not very much here. And As last night I had my tea with an alcoholic beverage but unlike last night I didn’t fall asleep for the duration tonight we watched one film. 
Yesterday SWMBO completed the birthday cake and we delivered it this morning and then went for a walk with Mil. Did a small job outside and  but another layer of paint on a small item. Next job is to cut 10 clear pieces of plasticard to various sizes for windows, not a job I particularly like doing. Anyway enough of that, don’t want to get into trouble and it’s getting late so goodnight.

Robert.

[PeterBB]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

... and stuff-it-in-the-oven-and-let-it-cook ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/02/19/r-values-moving-back-up/

Wisdom as usual with the evidence to back it.

 

Hopefully a speedy non-coved recovery for Simon and the vanishing of the black dog for Andy.

Edited February 19, 2021 by PeterBB

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Sorry to hear of your problems Simon and I hope they sort themselves out soonest. I've been looking into the history of Southends other two piers. Yes Southend once had three piers. As well as the well known pleasure pier there was two short piers just to the east of that pier. One was the Corporation Tramways coal pier which was used to bring in fuel for the tramway power station. The coal was transferred into three special hopper fitted trams for delivery to the power station. Cheek by jowl with the corporation pier was the gasworks pier which was also rail served and steam operated. This pier also incorporated a viaduct that carried the rails over the seafront road into the gas works. A very interesting feature of the gasworks pier was that it had a kink in it. This was due to Southend Council refusing the gas company permission to erect the pier. As it so happened the gas company's land straddled the border between the boroughs of Southend and Southchurch which at the time were two separate boroughs. So they applied for permission from Southchurch for the pier and duly received it. The pier followed the boundary between the two boroughs exactly including the kink.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The walk to the butchers this morning was quite bracing, but worth it all the more when I arrived to find no queue. All the relevant items were purchased along with a pastie for my dinner. 

 

When I went to the Trafford Centre later on, that too was very quiet and I was back home within less than hour!

 

The rest of the day was spent, not sat behind the easel as I’d planned, but instead surfing the net, this particular site to be precise. I came upon a thread about 00 gauge point kits that uses bullhead track, which looks very interesting indeed, so I’ve dyed my name to the ‘follow topic’ list.  

 

Sheila is feeling a lot better now, she hasn’t needed to take any ‘Hot Lemon’ medication to all today and she’s been able to tackle so domestic chores. After tea, we decided to watch a film after first watching some other recorded TV, the film in question was ‘Edie’ starring Sheila Hancock, it was very good. 

Edited February 20, 2021 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[southern42]

Time for lights out in red dragon land.
More rain and wind overnight - gusting 30mph according to pine cone predictors.
Another wet and even windier day tomorrow. They say. I’ll get my recycling out to the bins eventually! 
‘ night all and nos da.

And may the wind lull us to sleep. 
 

Polly

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[BR60103]

I think I heard on the TV that they may get around to jabbing people as young as 80 by next month.  Or was it next July?  

We took advantage of the relaxation yesterday and went to the book store. They seem to have had no new magazines since locking down on Boxing Day. Does anyone need a BRM from October?

I took a lot of snow off the roof today. We're trying to eliminate some icicles on the eaves. It was harder to shovel from the driveway than pull from the roof.

 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, inner Temple Hare.

6 hours solid sleep which was a surprise, why a surprise?

Well prior to going to bed I was lying on the sofa with waves of pain throughout my body, caused by lifting a transconductance Amplifier which weighs 25kg. Not so much it's weight was the problem but it sits on the bottom shelf of a rack of equipment in a corner of the lab. I should have asked for help..

 

Anyway sleep was helped by pink pills and a glass of aqua vitae.

I'm not feeling to well at the moment, more pink pills will be required later.

 

Flu jabs have been available from my current company and some of the previous companies . I've always accepted them, so not had flu.. That doesn't stop colds, sniffles, sore throats, particularly when I worked for Tesco and all those virus carriers wandering the shop. Colds and sniffles are particularly prevalent for me after attending a MRC show..

 

I can't help but wonder if Uber drivers and others on sueing for workers rights, are wanting to be both sides of the coin. self employed choosing when to work, but wanting sick pay etc. I can't see how that model of employment can work in the future. It will put up Ubers costs, and I think make it an uneconomic business.

 

It will also possibly make the Uber drivers liable for more tax, like journalists and others working for the BBC who lost a case with the HMRC they were being paid via their own sole owner companies to avoid tax but the courts decided they were bbc employees.

 

That variety of being self employed but permanently working for another company may disappear, affecting contract workers in many businesses including my industry where senior engineers are often contract workers in some form. 

 

Does this affect me? Not at all, I've never been in that situation, it's just the wanderings of a brain that won't shut up.

 

Time for more pink pills and maybe more sleep.

 

 

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all, with warm thoughts to all whose black dogs are loose and everyone who is under the weather

 

This thread never ceases to surprise and delight.  Hot on the heels of Q’s reminder of Strawhead’s final gig in 2012 comes the clip from Mike Stationmaster of John Tams’ 2010 reminder of Sharpe, accompanied by the uncredited Barry Coope on keyboard.  Such was the course of English and British history that Tam had plenty of King Georges from whom to choose in making his version of the song.  It is as well not to forget the generals though.  The Duke of Marlborough in particular is much glorified in the tradition.  One of Strawhead’s greatest hits tells the tale of a recruiting sergeant marching through the streets of Rochester inviting as many as will to fight ‘gainst the French in the Low Country.  It is sung to the same tune as Waltzing Matilda, which may beg the question of where Banjo Paterson got the tune from!  There is more to this folk music lark than meets the eye

 

My next hormone injection is secured.  The receptionist was a bit hesitant but otherwise very helpful.  It turns out that she is new!  I offered to bring my cheery smile with me on the day – yes, I do have one - but she reminded me that of course I will be wearing a face covering so she won’t see it.

 

To own up before I am found out, today is my 73rd birthday.  Later this afternoon I look forward to joining in the e-gathering of ERs.  It is always good to put a name to a face and vice versa.  Before that I plan to visit Cambridge Crematorium to mark the anniversary of my mother’s passing.  It can be a bleak place at this time of year.  Unsurprisingly I am likely to have it more or less to myself.  It does no harm to have a bit of peace and quiet for a few minutes of reflection. 

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[5 C]

Morning awl.

 

Thought I'd pop in here briefly on my way to the start of a weekend where I'm determined to do at least a few things for myself.

 

Thoughts and support to those being challenged in any way, whether it's by health issues, less-than-neighbourly neighbours or just the effects of lockdown. People are definitely bored. Even those who've been WFH since March now tell me they're desperate to go back.

 

This week has been particularly stressful and like all of them, long. The project that has taken over 90% of my time for the last month finally came to fruition, although it's really just the start. It's been the cause of sleepless nights for all of us involved and some very strange dreams. I'm grateful to any colleague who calls me and wants to talk about anything other than the project. At least next week there'll be something different to talk about, even if it's only "the roadmap".

 

The effect of even crazier hours than usual has meant a distinct lack of exercise, fresh air and a diet that is best described as "beige". So this weekend, along with the washing, ironing, housework, bacon, egg & mushroom sandwich, muggsatea and roastandground, some time outside is called for.

 

Regards to awl.

[NHY 581]

51 minutes ago, chrisf said:

 

 

To own up before I am found out, today is my 73rd birthday.  Later this afternoon I look forward to joining in the e-gathering of ERs.  It is always good to put a name to a face and vice versa.  Before that I plan to visit Cambridge Crematorium to mark the anniversary of my mother’s passing.  It can be a bleak place at this time of year.  Unsurprisingly I am likely to have it more or less to myself.  It does no harm to have a bit of peace and quiet for a few minutes of reflection. 

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

 

 

Happy Birthday, Chris. My very best wishes for what I hope is a good day today.

 

Kindest regards, 

 

Rob.