Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where it was gloriously sunny earlier, so much so that I had to shut the curtains in order to read the computer screen, but where now it has clouded over.

 

This morning was the first work morning of the year that I could see the garden clearly through the kitchen window when I first went downstairs. It was still well before sunrise but the morning was clear and bright. Spring feels like it is on the way.

 

a few beers were had last night catching up with a couple of friends on a zoom call, which was good. This lockdown / working from home does seem to be getting all the more oppressive as time goes by. I think that all the confident predictions of the permanent death of the office are off the mark, certainly for our generation where human interaction is important. Maybe not for those who have grown up with facetime and the like; when we wanted to see our mates, we had to go round and see them (you didn't even call them, even if you had a phone). These days, that is long gone.

 

Work will continue.

 

I must say I thought Rick's lost layout looked fine in print. The end of the layout even brought a touch of bittersweet nostalgia which is common to the real world and the closure of lines. What struck me was actually that it was 2017 that the move was made back to Blighty. It does not seem that long ago that we were reading of Rick's exploits downunder 

[jonny777]

Dry and bright in North Somerset this morning. The sun made a brief appearance but has gone again now.

My weather data logger arrived yesterday, and after flatly refusing to connect with my wifi on a number of attempts, I did eventually manage to get it set up properly. 

 

I had no idea what I was doing and could make no sense of the instruction manual full of protocols, BIN files and MD5 hashes; but after an afternoon of slowly going through all the online parameters, I even managed to get the thing transmitting, and to send my weather data online. 

 

 

How I have managed that is anyone's guess but for a few seconds of boredom, anyone can now go to https://www.pwsweather.com/station/pws/UPPERNAILSEA

 

and view my latest weather conditions. 

 

A word of warning, though. My setup is nothing like official, and the main machine is sat on the shed roof. Therefore the temperature will read too high on a hot sunny day as the shed warms up, the winds are nothing like 10m standard winds, and the rain gauge seems to read too low compared to a check gauge and radar accumulation totals. However, other than that the figures are vaguely reliable. 

 

The 'upper' Nailsea is a long standing joke between myself and an old work colleague. 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Bright and sunny this morning, well it was until some high cloud sat between the sun and yours truly. In a couple of weeks time I should have a model railway layout. Only a small 'micro' one as it will need to fit in the car. The chap selling it asked on Facebook what was the best way to sell it and another layout he had for sale, he also mentioned that he lives in Southend. I contacted him and in a couple of weeks time I will be going to look at the layout social distancing and weather permitting. Muggatee awaits, be back later.

[Gwiwer]

9 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Several bug quakes

The Noozilland iccent us empiccable - except maybe for “Siveral”

 

Good morning all.  Right are ‘ee my boyz?   Gool Peran Lowen. (Google it if you don’t know). 
 

Some very much appreciated comments on the magazine article. Thank you all so much. The four years since we took up residence Upon the Hill of Strawberries really doesn’t seem that long. Granted the last year has been in a curious state of suspended animation. 
 

The freezer has been refilled as the butcher delivered earlier. One of the benefits of last year’s shelf-clearing escapades was finding a quality reliable butcher who delivers without needing a minimum-spend mortgage nor a weekly commitment.  HG Walter of Baron’s Court for those playing at home. 
 

It’s genuine Cornish pasty (from Philps of Hayle) and beers (Spingo Middle from the Blue Anchor, Helston) tonight before we join in the “Trelawney Shout” at 9pm. Here’s one I made earlier.  
 

 

[jamie92208]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Thats how you say it in a  New Zealand accent.

What other comment would you expect from a resident of Oz anout NZ.  

 

Anyway late on parade today.  I did go trainspotting yesterday and saw wome trains including one I hadn't seen before. Then a few phone calls about what to do with Mr Fox. The answer came back from the president  of the Chasse, via the deputy mayor that I should bury it in the garden.  Another friend had suggested taking it into the forest and letting the bugs and animals dispose of it.

 

This morning I did attempt to dig in a place that both Beth and I thought suitable, The spade only went in between 1 and 2 inches. I then wrapped it in polythene and took it deep into the forest and it's now well away from a track and behind a rock. The polythene is in the bin and there's very littlevtrace left in the car.   Now it's time to wait for sone friends to arrive for lunch.

 

What fun we have.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited March 5, 2021 by jamie92208

[The Lurker]

7 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

I 6then wrapped it in polythene and took it deep into the forest and it's now well away from a track and behind a rock.   Now it's time to wait for sone friends to arrive for lunch.

 

 

They'll know where to find you, being so far from the track?

[polybear]

2 hours ago, BlackRat said:

Work calls today, but yet another new boss (5th in 3 years) with no background in my field ( nor does his boss) meant I was calling pensions yesterday to see if I can go........ Yes as I am over 55 that's not a problem.

 

 

 

What on earth does Ratty do to keep breakin' 'em that quickly?  Not even Bear managed that, though they did learn to leave me alone to "get on with it" without interference.  Which was dead useful - I spent half my time on activities most definitely "not on the school curriculum".....

 

As for banging out, do it do it do it do it.  Best thing Bear could've done, by a country mile.  Bear has seen far too many people either not make retirement, or get very little time afterwards - all in the name of maximising their pension to the very last bean; there's one thing you can't buy and that's time. 

C-19 changed Bear's plans a little, but soon adapted accordingly.  If I'd been "working from home" since last March(?) I'd be a total basket case by now - the Firm seems to survive on generating endless pointless documents that are most unlikely ever to get read, mostly paid for by the UK tax payer.  Nuts.  Bears dont "do" documents.

 

50 minutes ago, The Lurker said:

This lockdown / working from home does seem to be getting all the more oppressive as time goes by. I think that all the confident predictions of the permanent death of the office are off the mark, certainly for our generation where human interaction is important. Maybe not for those who have grown up with facetime and the like; when we wanted to see our mates, we had to go round and see them (you didn't even call them, even if you had a phone). These days, that is long gone.

 

Bear phoned the last remaining member of the Three Musketeers at work yesterday.  It was soon apparent that things go from bad to worse there.  Amongst other jobs (mainly stores/disposals related) he's classed as a "building landlord" (which sounds much more glorious than it is) for one of the buildings; he put a sign up at the entrance asking people entering to remember to wear a mask and use the hand sanitiser.  He subsequently got a new a**ehole ripped into him by the site manageress for doing so.  He also enquired as to whether or not the company will be running any form of policy regarding employees being vaccinated once things start to return to normal and people return to work en-mass; he was promptly told that "wasn't his concern", nor was the fact that an employee in an adjacent building apparently tested positive yet the company are keeping very quiet about it.

 

He's taking early retirement in September, and can't wait to be out of the place....

[BoD]

Morning all

 

It would appear that I have court case against my name raised by HMRC.  I could be going to jail.

I hope prisoners are allowed a model railway club.

I'm not too sure about the scalpels and soldering iron though.

 

Valerie has packed my bag already.

I will let you know what the cake is like there.

[Barry O]

so did you pay your "overdue Amazon Bill" as well.. if not you could be incarcerated for some considerable time BoD!

 

Baz

 

PS I also have an outstanding Royal Mil delivery waiting for me to supply various bit of my financial details...

[Sir TophamHatt]

Afternoon.

 

Cloudy and cold here in the Midlands.

 

Three days of wasting my time.

Weekends tend to be a lot quieter at the moment and as my colleague is intent on taking over, I have very little to do.  But at least I can do all my admin work and catch up with other stuff I suppose.

 

Started painting the wall between our neighbour and us a week ago.  Been too cold to finish it.  Chose black.  Means any flowers in front of it will really pop in colour.  Will see, if it's no good, can just paint over it.

[jonny777]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

so did you pay your "overdue Amazon Bill" as well.. if not you could be incarcerated for some considerable time BoD!

 

Baz

 

PS I also have an outstanding Royal Mil delivery waiting for me to supply various bit of my financial details...

 

On the subject of the Royal Mail, my postwoman was very apologetic yesterday because a tall but thin cardboard container was leaking fluid, and the sorting office had wrapped the package in a plastic bag, with a number for me to phone for compensation. 

 

She seemed somewhat relieved when I said the contents were iris plants and the sender had probably added some water to keep them alive in transit. 

 

Still, I am glad that they have taken so much care in my package. 

 

The irises have been planted by the pond this morning and I hope they like it there. 

[laurenceb]

2 hours ago, BoD said:

Morning all

 

It would appear that I have court case against my name raised by HMRC.  I could be going to jail.

I hope prisoners are allowed a model railway club.

I'm not too sure about the scalpels and soldering iron though.

 

Valerie has packed my bag already.

I will let you know what the cake is like there.

Have you been called by national insurance yet?

[Winslow Boy]

23 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

On the subject of the Royal Mail, my postwoman was very apologetic yesterday because a tall but thin cardboard container was leaking fluid, and the sorting office had wrapped the package in a plastic bag, with a number for me to phone for compensation. 

 

She seemed somewhat relieved when I said the contents were iris plants and the sender had probably added some water to keep them alive in transit. 

 

Still, I am glad that they have taken so much care in my package. 

 

The irises have been planted by the pond this morning and I hope they like it there. 

Iris are a bit of a peculiar genus- probably why I like them. Iris SiberIca prefer a 'wet' root zone whereas iris germanica are the exact opposite liking a dry free draining one. Flag iris are extremely robust and will tough it out no matter what the situation. 

Edited March 6, 2021 by Winslow Boy
Spell checker doesn't like Latin.

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, BoD said:

Morning all

 

It would appear that I have court case against my name raised by HMRC.  I could be going to jail.

I hope prisoners are allowed a model railway club.

I'm not too sure about the scalpels and soldering iron though.

 

Valerie has packed my bag already.

I will let you know what the cake is like there.

Pay attention to a certain line that refers to a "fudge cake":

 

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

We get calls from British Telecom, with dire threats about what we have been up to, and needing to pay for.  The word 'British' does not feature on the Isle of Man very often, and certainly not in telecoms provision! 01624 is just another area number to them of course.

 

Busy morning cutting firewood again, until hips and forepaws called enough.  This is next winters supplies, that have been sat a year in larger lumps under cover already.

 

There is a hint of sun in the sky after it being dull but dead still all morning.  Odd having Mrs NHN at home on  Friday too.  Her induction day went well, her new boss is very 'this is what I want you to do, you work out how to do to it and when, I won't bother you unless things are late'.  Excellent stuff, they also don't do that PDR crepe that civil serpents have to spend too much time inventing bull for.  Any manager worth their salt doesn't need rubbish like that to know if their staff are achieving their goals or not.  As a tool for those under performing it has a role, but not for every single person....waste of time.  

[Tony_S]

My dentist said my tooth will have to be extracted. I am now waiting for a phone call from the GP telling me how to proceed. I am not supposed to stop the anti platelet medication and the dentist is worried about excessive bleeding. If I can’t stop the medication I suspect the dentist will prefer to send me eventually to Southend Hospital for the extraction. Managing a bleed of about an hour (as predicted by a Google search) might I suppose be a bit difficult under the dentist surgery Covid plan. Anyway I will find out soon. 
As long as the dentist manages the infection and pain I can wait. 

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers all!

 

I certainly feel bad about finding far less time for staying up to date on how everyone of our circle is than I would prefer, and how this situation doesn't seem to end...

 

Aside from that, and perhaps incongruously, there's not a huge lot of actual big news to report from this end. Oven quit service a couple of days ago, so a replacement will have to be sourced eventually. Estimated birth date for our second little'un is approaching as well, but at this time, no signs exist yet that things will soon get under way. That, of course, might mean that I may have to leave work early, but that's something I won't compromise over.

 

COVID restrictions are set to be gradually relaxed over the next couple of weeks, but the criteria, such as they've been published thus far, are commonly regarded as being murky. I personally am kind of worried that this will lead to even more additional carelessness. As in, if the rules are made sloppily, why should we continue to be careful anyway?

 

As I said before, it's certainly not that I cannot relate to the desire for normalcy after this past year. Yet at present, I'm afraid I have to state that rather than rethinking various fundamental issues pertaining to our way of life and to increasing resilience in social, economic and other key terms, we as humanity seem to be intent on merely restoring status quo ante, with all the problems that will go along with it.

 

 

Be safe, folks. Thinking of you and yours. 

[sixoh8sixoh]

17 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just had an excellent Zoom presentation by one of our (SEERS) members who now resides in Edinburgh. He is heavily involved with miniature railways and runs his own 7 1/4 inch gauge locomotive, very interesting. Now to catch up with Farcebook.

 

Interesting! I wonder where in Edinburgh?

 

16 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Coffee is my preferred drink but will drink tea, but only the standard ‘breakfast’ tea, no of that flavored stuff. I have a built in coffee machine in the kitchen, a portable espresso machine but tend to use Nescafé azirra brand of instant coffee.

 

I tried the Azera stuff but it wasn't for me. What it did remind me of was the powdered Nescafe coffee that came in the big catering tins that my Dad used to buy from Makro in the 80s before it changed to being granulated.

 

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

Today will involve going for a walk out and about the local area. Due to the weather and one of my hips causing a bit of pain it did not take place yesterday. Pah!

 

I've been here too long. I read that as "one of my hippos"...

 

6 hours ago, The Lurker said:

Greetings all from Sidcup where it was gloriously sunny earlier, so much so that I had to shut the curtains in order to read the computer screen, but where now it has clouded over.

 

What happens if you shut them out of order?  Right before left instead of left before right?

 

4 hours ago, BoD said:

Morning all

 

It would appear that I have court case against my name raised by HMRC.  I could be going to jail.

I hope prisoners are allowed a model railway club.

I'm not too sure about the scalpels and soldering iron though.

 

Valerie has packed my bag already.

I will let you know what the cake is like there.

 

My 12 year old daughter has had a voicemail from such a caller, threatening her with jail.

 

And after all that... good afternoon from the wilds beyond the Wall.

 

Things seem to have calmed down a touch with work, though the morning was still fairly bonkers. We're apparently on course to have vaccinated the entire of the adult population of Scotland by the end of July. Our favourite Holyrood committee are currently in private session so we're waiting to hear what comes out of that for the amount of work our team will need to do next week. Having worked last Sunday and some of the team having not had a day off since the previous Sunday, we're really hopeful of not having to work this weekend.

[Ian Abel]

POETS - actually will be taking a half-day so we can car shop <sigh>

 

Looking for a hybrid, and as chance has it, something I've driven a lot renting in NYC is the Ford Fusion Hybrid.

I like the car a lot, and there's a fully equipped 2019 with 20,000 miles 16 miles from here. Appointment with the dealer this afternoon. We'll see.

 

The car "issue" has pretty much taken the forefront of any and all activity for the immediate future, mostly because we downsized to a one-car family 18 months or so ago. Have NO CAR isn't viable in 90% of the US, unless you live in the downtown of a large city!

 

That said, maybe we'll have the opportunity to do something else this weekend as well as look at car(s)!

 

-1 and partly sunny here, headed for +7.

 

Enjoy the start of the weekend.

 

Edited March 5, 2021 by Ian Abel

[BoD]

1 hour ago, sixoh8sixoh said:

My 12 year old daughter has had a voicemail from such a caller, threatening her with jail.

 

These scams must catch some people out otherwise it wouldn't be worth their while.

Unfortunately those likely to be caught out are the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to afford to be caught out.  I'm thinking dear old Grannies here.

To me the perpetrators are pure scum*.

 

*other pejoratives are available.

Edited March 5, 2021 by BoD

[Andrew P]

3 morning on the trot, phone rings at about 9am.

Automated voice says, This is Amazon Prime, we have deducted £399 from your account for an outstanding order, press 1 to speak to our line manager.

At that point the phone is put down.

I / we don't have an Amazon Prime Account.

I / we have never ordered from Amazon and won't because of this.

 

Other than that, its been a nice day.

Stay well and keep safe one and all.

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, BoD said:

To me the perpetrators are pure scum*.

When the calls used to originate in India, Aditi suggested asking them what they told their mother they did for a living. 

[pH]

31 minutes ago, BoD said:

 

These scams must catch some people out otherwise it wouldn't be worth their while.

Unfortunately those likely to be caught out are the most vulnerable and least likely to be able to afford to be caught out.  I'm thinking dear old Grannies here.

To me the perpetrators are pure scum*.

 

*other pejoratives are available.

We know someone who has been caught by the ‘parcel waiting’ scam within the last week. He is not a dear old grannie, but a retired successful businessman - we were very surprised to hear about it. Apparently the scammer was positively charming on the phone, they had a nice casual conversation as the details were passed over.

 

Their bank have agreed to refund the money taken from the account - a significant sum, but fortunately they hadn’t cleared the account out. Apparently, the bank were under no obligation to do so. If you’ve handed over your details voluntarily, and the bank have followed proper procedures, you have no claim against them. 

[BSW01]

We regularly get calls from numbers that are not on our contact list, so it shows up as unknown. Any calls like that go straight to the answering machine. If they don't leave a message, they don't get called back. Occasionally, if I'm in a playful mood I'll answer stating that "this is xxxxx engineering, can I help?" That usually makes them hang up. I've never yet spoken to anyone. 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, sixoh8sixoh said:

 

Interesting! I wonder where in Edinburgh?

 

 

 

Here.

Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers (ESME) Almondell 7¼” gauge Circuit drivers eye view: https://youtu.be/3SoJ6ihWWio

Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers (ESME) Almondell 5” & 3½” gauge circuit drivers eye view: https://youtu.be/ll13jSY9YGs

Edinburgh Society of Model Engineers Website: https://edinburgh-sme.org.uk/

 

Scottish Model Engineering Trust (SMET) Wester Pickston Drivers Eye View: https://youtu.be/6vSStE22Udg

Scottish Model Engineering Trust (SMET) Website: https://smet.org.uk/