Early Risers.

[TheSignalEngineer]

19 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

We diverted onto the Woodhead road as there was virtually no traffic in sight. It used to carry several thousand HGVs per day. A lot were European or Irish based. On Sundays there still used to be a large number because of the weekend restrictions on moving HGVs in France and Germany.

The walk has been walked, partly in the vicinity of the Woodhead road. Quite a lot more traffic but still well down on a normal Tuesday. The interesting 'statistic' was again the lack of foreign vehicles. 12 months ago at that time of day they would be about 25-30% of the total. This morning there was only one which was registered in Wexford.

 

[PhilJ W]

Hello again from Estuary-Land. This time of year I usually get a cold and sniffles but this year the cold and sniffles haven't been as bad as usual and started a couple of months later as well. This is presumably down to the covid precautions, wearing of masks and restricting gatherings, I understand that the flu rates have dropped as well. I don't think we will get anywhere near back to normal for another three or four years and as Flavio said things will never be quite the same.

Edited February 23, 2021 by PhilJ W

[New Haven Neil]

Just had my 'call us to get on the booking list' letter (60-65/underlying conditions group) and called in to be told I will get an appointment in the next couple of days.  Can't come soon enough as far as I'm concerned, Mrs H had her second 3 weeks ago now so she is as immune as she can be.

 

Friends around the corner won't be having it they say, although as he wants to travel to the USA (it's the guy that competes at Bonneville speed week) he may have to, by the time travel is allowed freely. he is a man of very strong opinions, I'm surprised he seems to be so easily influenced by what he reads on line.

 

iD, I recognise that condition, after my Lisfranc ORIF surgery my belly was like a chess board with the damn stuff!  Rather that than a clot though (although I am already a clot according to SWMBO....).

[The Lurker]

35 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 This is presumably down to the corvid precautions, ... and restricting gatherings,

we still crows and magpies in our back garden. At this time of year there seems to be an interspecies squabble over the conifers at the end of the garden. Last year the magpies claimed nesting rights and raised a good half dozen chicks to fledged maturity. I suspect they will win again this year.

[PhilJ W]

4 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

we still crows and magpies in our back garden. At this time of year there seems to be an interspecies squabble over the conifers at the end of the garden. Last year the magpies claimed nesting rights and raised a good half dozen chicks to fledged maturity. I suspect they will win again this year.

Spill chucker strikes again, duly altered.

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all.   Welcome to Sun Tues Wind-day.  The breeze has steadily picked up from mid-morning and is now flapping the bike-covers alarmingly.  As I had to carry out the Spring safety check anyway before we used them following the winter lay-up I did so and re-secured the covers afterwards.  Notwithstanding the wind the Big Yellow Thing is hanging in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.  

 

Another day.  Ho hum.  There are rather more people about through the House of Fun and clearly far from all are making essential journeys.  Families continue to take their children somewhere with picnic bags or what ever they can muster to contain food and drink.  If their enquiories are anything to go by some are heading to locations as far from their local area as the Sussex coast and even the Isle of Wight.  They are unlikely to be allowed on the ferry to the latter without proof of local postcode but that's not my problem.  Today alone I have been asked for Hampstead Heath (arguably stretching the definition of "local" from south-west London), Windsor Castle (tourists often ask for the train to "Windsor Castle"), and Malton (in East Yorkshire, I believe, or the East Riding in Old Money).  Hmmmm.  So much for staying local.

 

There is clear evidence that people are bored of staying at home and no matter what Boris says they will until confronted by force, do as they intend.  Some trains are now running at load factors of 75 - 100% in the early morning not helped by the Green Train Company reducing services at precisely the time more people are starting to move around.   Complaints about "sardines" were referred politely to Southern's management.  At least it's sardines these days.  I remember when the complaints on the main line revolved around kippers and their absence from the Brighton Belle menu.  

 

Photos have been taken of the Hill of Strawberries looking good in the sun just in case New Neighbours alter things significantly.  They won't be in for a couple of weeks yet.  A parcel from Camborne requires my attention  .  I shall be back later.  

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

41 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

we still crows and magpies in our back garden

Is the spirit any good when you drink it?  

[Sir TophamHatt]

Ever had one of those days that everything you do just doesn't seem to want to go right?

 

That's how my day has gone so far.

 

Tried to put a shelf up but it seems where I filled in a hole from before wasn't quite dry. Now I have to wait for it to dry, fill in the bit that fell out and wait another 48 hours.

 

Went to Wilko to get one of their cheap garden arches. None in the shop.

 

Went to the supermarket to get red Thai sauce. Forgot it while picking up some other bits, meaning another journey out.

 

Tried to get the 3D printer to work. Spent about an hour fiddling with settings, another hour watching various prints fail and another 30 mins messing about with different filament roles.

 

While that wasn't working, thought I'd check out a recent purchase of some FLA wagons.

Turns out the couplings I wanted to fit are too big to fit, so snapped one, broke one coupling and found one coupling was already broken. Fitted them in the end (but minus a part of the wagon) and gave them a go. Seems the cant on my layout is a bit too big so these wagons simply detail whenever they can.

 

So I guess that's a 3D Printer and a bunch of wagons for the chop then! The printer has been on the naughty list for a while now. I'm not going to devote any more of my life flogging that dead horse. Shame though as I'm only half way through printing parts for a game.

 

What a waste of a day so far 

 

Just moved on to sorting out a cooling pad for my Voyager unit. Let's see how much I can muck this up! Flippin' eck! 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Sir TophamHatt

[Tony_S]

The doctor who phoned on behalf of my GP was very nice. She is a new salaried GP rather than a partner. Anyway my cholesterol is fine but my glucose levels need to be lower so I will be starting on on low doses of metformin. I will be getting the slow release version. She sent the prescription to our preferred pharmacy while we spoke and is posting bloodtest forms to use over the next few months. 

Looks like more space on the medicine shelf needs to be cleared!

[John Wass]

2 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Afternoon all.   Welcome to Sun Tues Wind-day.  The breeze has steadily picked up from mid-morning and is now flapping the bike-covers alarmingly.  As I had to carry out the Spring safety check anyway before we used them following the winter lay-up I did so and re-secured the covers afterwards.  Notwithstanding the wind the Big Yellow Thing is hanging in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't.  

 

Another day.  Ho hum.  There are rather more people about through the House of Fun and clearly far from all are making essential journeys.  Families continue to take their children somewhere with picnic bags or what ever they can muster to contain food and drink.  If their enquiories are anything to go by some are heading to locations as far from their local area as the Sussex coast and even the Isle of Wight.  They are unlikely to be allowed on the ferry to the latter without proof of local postcode but that's not my problem.  Today alone I have been asked for Hampstead Heath (arguably stretching the definition of "local" from south-west London), Windsor Castle (tourists often ask for the train to "Windsor Castle"), and Malton (in East Yorkshire, I believe, or the East Riding in Old Money).  Hmmmm.  So much for staying local.

 

There is clear evidence that people are bored of staying at home and no matter what Boris says they will until confronted by force, do as they intend.  Some trains are now running at load factors of 75 - 100% in the early morning not helped by the Green Train Company reducing services at precisely the time more people are starting to move around.   Complaints about "sardines" were referred politely to Southern's management.  At least it's sardines these days.  I remember when the complaints on the main line revolved around kippers and their absence from the Brighton Belle menu.  

 

Photos have been taken of the Hill of Strawberries looking good in the sun just in case New Neighbours alter things significantly.  They won't be in for a couple of weeks yet.  A parcel from Camborne requires my attention  .  I shall be back later.  

 

 

 

As far as I know Malton is on the border between North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire.

[Ian Abel]

8 hours ago, polybear said:

What every "Gender Reveal" (WTF?) Party needs.....

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-56159731

AKA a home-made pipe bomb......

Beam me up, Scotty - they're all barkin' down here....

Exactly, that and the waannkrs that managed a gender reveal firework event that set a fair swath of California ablaze last summer!

Hopefully I won't offend anyone, but;

1) What cockwomble decided there was a need for a gender reveal party in the first place?

2) What total moron, wanting to top the #1 idea, THEN decided that party should include dangerous incendiary and/or explosive devices?

Without, admittedly, any research or investigation, I'm fully expecting the origins and morons will be found to be in the US

 

Chewsday, and welcome

 

Yesterday was a flurry of activity on the work front, major amounts of useless, much of it repetitive/duplicated, data needing to be added to client reports!

The high spot was me spending and therefore them funding some inconsiderable time adding a few accounts that I just "could not" get to balance against the Excel spreadsheet sent to me.

See below, those that want a good laugh at an auditing company expense

 

 Acct                  2020                      2019
10740     $1,498,025.00      $1,603,400.00 
10750     48,894,538.71      39,286,800.00 
10755     16,336,791.95      16,262,999.87 
10760     25,383,376.82      10,874,451.87 
10765       6,193,676.71        4,672,699.40 
16035                      -            13,654,439.14 
16050     11,443,502.81      11,443,502.81 
           $109,751,932.00     $97,800,312.09 
        

I was sent the above, and as such I am SOLELY focused on the accounts to be used to create the TOTAL LINE for the report. The accounts dutifully identified for me as a helper! Having waded through rather more technical carp than needs explaining here, the report line STILL wouldn't total as shown, often that's a result of the data changing as they're still posting "stuff", and I rummaged around the data, my code etc, etc, for a couple of hours looking for "my mistake".

NOT the case here!

 

The clever/bored/OCD/crazy amongst us, MAY be truly bored enough to ADD the lines themselves, as "I" did - EVENTUALLY.

You will then SWIFTLY discover that the 2020 column is off by... $2,020 and the 2019 column is off by... YOU GUESSED IT, $2,019

In creating the wonderfully "helpful" spreadsheet, they'd totaled the columns using the "EASY" point-at-it-and-sum option in Excel and that happily INCLUDED the column header/year! 

 

Quiet day planned again, although I did have to make an "emergency" grocery store run at 0710 hrs due to us somehow being OUT OF MILK!

I can't have my morning cuppa without THAT

 

Right on ZERO getting the milk, expected to manage +4 later.

 

On a sad note, a moments silence for us/US passing half-a-million dead from COVID

 

 

[Barry O]

I have 

Looked in my Crystal Ball.

 

Model Railway Exhibitions will take place from August time (unless the kickball games act as a huge vector due to the attendees at the grounds. Warley show will go ahead, our show in Leeds will go ahead. Why? By then a lot of people will have been vaccinated. People want to get out...legally..

 

Top up vaccines in october (as per the flu jabs).

Time for people to be a lot more positive about the future methinks. But to do this people need to learn how to behave.. and we all need a vaccine passport (for those who can't have a vaccine they would need the passport to say why ) for those who wont have the vaccine.. no passport..no holidays or football or shopping or going to the pub or....

 

So lets think positive...

 

Baz

Edited February 23, 2021 by Barry O

[simontaylor484]

11 minutes ago, John Wass said:

As far as I know Malton is on the border between North Yorkshire and East Yorkshire.

Malton is North Yorkshire and was formerly North Riding.

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

17 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

You will then SWIFTLY discover that the 2020 column is off by... $2,020 and the 2019 column is off by... YOU GUESSED IT, $2,019

 

I'm going to use this!

[Ian Abel]

7 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

I'm going to use this!

By all means do. It's a rookie mistake!  Also a great teaching/learning moment.

 

Edited February 23, 2021 by Ian Abel

[simontaylor484]

I must have had similar doctors to Baz. My arms look like a druggies i think if i have a drink i will turn in to a watering can.

 

We have a daffodil out  its a Minnow variety the best i have are Pheasants Eye which are the last to flower in the season and have the most fantastic scent.if squirrels have left them alone they have had my ornimental alliums .

[Coombe Barton]

4 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

By all means do. It's a rookie mistake!  Also a great teaching/learning moment.

 

I'll add it to my Excel Cockups. Along with

• Barclays nearly have to take on Lehmann Bros very bad debts in 2008 because of spreadsheet line being unhidden
• The PhD students finding an error in Harvard economists spreadsheets which averred indicators for recession
• The use of .xls rather than .xlsx format in October which means a significant shortfall in the counting of UK COVID cases,

[polybear]

Bear has had the joys of doing the washing today, followed by a bit (not a lot) of sand/fill/sand - just the very final fine-tuning being done now, since Bear is far too picky for his own good....

Some coving and ceiling painting carried out - only the small alcove area which is about a 1 sqm.  Went ok, but Bear has concluded that paint will need thinning a bit when the main ceiling area is painted. 

Bear started feeling dizzy for no known reason this afternoon - not a great combination when standing on top of a step ladder painting.  Dizziness stopped further play for today.

[simontaylor484]

Sir TH i have problems with IT it just never does what i want it to i just darent try 3d printing or silhouette cutters cos i would get so frustrated because i i cant get it to work

[TheQ]

The new weighing scales arrived, SWMBO informs me the old ones were her mother's, oops.

 

Luckily she's impressed with the new scales, and has already been planning charts for the various functions. I'm being push to add the results to my sugar level spread sheet.. dates are in the left hand column not included in any calculations.

 

It's been programmed for hers and our ages and heights.

 

• Reading those destructions, weight works on its own, but the other functions require bare feet on the metal pads.

 

[Tony_S]

44 minutes ago, Ian Abel said:

Acct                  2020                      2019
10740     $1,498,025.00      $1,603,400.00 
10750     48,894,538.71      39,286,800.00 
10755     16,336,791.95      16,262,999.87 
10760     25,383,376.82      10,874,451.87 
10765       6,193,676.71        4,672,699.40 
16035                      -            13,654,439.14 
16050     11,443,502.81      11,443,502.81 
           $109,751,932.00     $97,800,312.09 

When I learned about spreadsheets the people who taught me were quite keen on testing them with test data before using them for their intended use. Using things like a “ones test” where you fill the cells with a number one. It quickly reveals errors.  But I am sure you know that, whereas so many spreadsheets just start at the top left cell and grow bereft of any planning. 

[Ian Abel]

24 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

We have a daffodil out 

Daffodils, DAFFODILS!! 

Blimey, the only things emerging here are the heads of the landscaping lights, as the snow cover finally recedes I can now just see the tops of them, and they're about 10 inches tall!!! 

[Andrew P]

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

for those of a nervous disposition.. look away

 

 

 

 never let a doctor fit a canulla!  I have a matching one on the other arm...

 

Baz

Thanks Baz, You have just reminded me that I have a Vein Draining on Thursday Morning. I'd better get a mattress and pillow ready to take with me ready for when I collapse.

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, TheQ said:

. I'm being push to add the results to my sugar level spread sheet.. dates are in the left hand column not included in any calculations.

Some devices now have Bluetooth connectivity to phones/tablets. We don’t have ones that do that and we certainly don’t use any of the metal pad functions on our weighing scales. 
My new blood pressure measurer will send results to my phone but that wasn’t the reason to buy it. The comfy cuff feature was what selected it over other models. 

[TheQ]

3 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Some devices now have Bluetooth connectivity to phones/tablets. We don’t have ones that do that and we certainly don’t use any of the metal pad functions on our weighing scales. 
My new blood pressure measurer will send results to my phone but that wasn’t the reason to buy it. The comfy cuff feature was what selected it over other models. 

I only bought this scales 'cos it was the cheapest, to get blue tooth it would have cost a whole £19..