Early Risers.

[polybear]

57 minutes ago, jonny777 said:

Cake making will commence later this morning, and I hope to produce my own chinese prawn dumplings this afternoon. A few glasses of sherbert, and that will complete the day. 

 

 

 

 

Don't mix the ingredients up.  Prawn cake....

 

Bear notes that Covid testing for pupils is voluntary, so if little Tarquin (other names are available) doesn't like it then he doesn't have to do it.  Makes sense...

 

Right, where's the glue?

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. HB Johnny777. I didn't watch that interview last night, I had better things to do. I'm no royalist but the last four years of what was happening on the other side of the pond certainly put any thoughts of republicism aside. I do think that we should have an elected second house, we are not a democracy until we can choose directly over who rules over us. Stiff joints again this morning but it soon cleared up but the warmer weather has set the eczema itching off again. 

[tigerburnie]

43 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. HB Johnny777. I didn't watch that interview last night, I had better things to do. I'm no royalist but the last four years of what was happening on the other side of the pond certainly put any thoughts of republicism aside. I do think that we should have an elected second house, we are not a democracy until we can choose directly over who rules over us. 

This is my position too, wouldn't want a president they seem to be accountable to no one once in, we have replaced prime ministers mid term, I think Jim Hacker was one of them.......................

[iL Dottore]

13 hours ago, tetsudofan said:

...down here in the far south east corner there is one daffodil that always makes an appearance before Christmas:

 

 

....

Set against the garden railway it definitely looks like a scene from Day Of The Triffids..

13 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

 I have a new, never-used 8" floppy drive and controller, it is just about as large as a present day laptop....

Boasting or complaining, Herr Bach?

14 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There is quite the array of magnetic tape storage for computers...

And going beyond tape storage, does anyone remember the MiniDisc? It was supposed to be much better than all the other forms of computer (and music) data media then available. Then along came USB flash drives/memory sticks...

I wonder if this was another VHS vs Betamax technology moment?

2 hours ago, BlackRat said:

....I also took the Queens shilling ( not that I got one mind you)....

That reminds me about a scene from one of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld books that featured the Ankh-Mopork City Watch: when being sworn in, the recruits were given The King’s Shilling on a string to hold - the string being so that the shilling wouldn’t get nicked.
Terry Pratchett  also noted that Sgt Fred Colon would lean on old lags and old coppers for information - sometimes both being the one and the same person! 
Good old TP, sorely missed.

18 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

...I do think that we should have an elected second house...

I have mixed feelings about this. In theory, at least, a second house that is full of people appointed through service to the country would not owe their allegiance to any particular government nor would they need to consider whether or not a decision - made according to conscience - would impact on their re-election chances. And thus be able to hold any elected lower chamber to account. The reality, of course, is very different.

 

Dentist visit went well: the dentist was pleased with the outcome (but back in 2 weeks for further work ). I now have a hole in my head, so-to-speak (no comments from the peanut gallery, please) and feeling slightly under-par. This too shall pass....

 

Happy Toosday, folks!
iD

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s sunny out there, there are also a few clouds about but there is no rain forecast, so I day spent in the garden is on the cards. The cellar steps and the patio need a clean so that’ll be the first job, after that I’m looking at getting a few plants, that are currently in pots, in the ground permanently. 

 

Johnny777, happy birthday. 

 

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

 

Brian

[The Lurker]

I have just had one of those calls about National Insurance. The bit about suspicious activity on the Northern borders of Wales made me laugh out loud. 

 

Happy Birthday to Johnny777

[TheQ]

The news in the local paper is all the Secondary schools (5) within 10 Miles of my house have tested 100% negative for the virus..

 

and 68 of the 125 Areas in Norfolk and Waveney have no reported Virus cases ,,

Including mine

Edited March 9, 2021 by TheQ

[PeterBB]

@jonny777 Happy Birthday.

 

Did not watch 'the show' last night but SWMBO says that Markle comes across as a very controlling person and this morning stated that her father seemed sad and had said that she had basically cut off ties with both sides the family.

 

Guitars, giggs and food I really know nothing about so cannot comment on them.

 

Second house - must really never be elected as it would then become no different from the HoC.  It has its downsides but generally when it really matters it is willing to vote against the incumbent government, something that a politically elected chamber would probably not do.

 

Recent history seems to show that many 'elected' heads of state do their own thing, 'rig' elections or go 'one party' and yet call themselves democratic 'ebagam' being a prime example of one whose 'opponents' seemed to not live too long from various 'accidents' just happening.

 

Local radio says that our area is currently the worst in the country for Covid-19 infections.

 

The bright sunny morning means that SWMBO wants weeding carried out ... 

Edited March 9, 2021 by PeterBB
typos

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Sunny here., clear blue sky. The forecast is a bit stormy though. 
I finish the antibiotics today and have to phone the dentist tomorrow to,see how he intends to proceed with the tooth extraction. Not eating dairy products(apart from yoghurt)  and bread seems to have stopped the unfortunate side effects of the tablets. Dal and rice again for lunch and dinner today but as a special treat it will be a different colour dal. 
Tony

Edited March 9, 2021 by Tony_S

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Happy birthday Johnny and many more of them.  Not sure what weather you've arranged for yourself but we have bright sinshine - just to lure us into a false state of security before tomorrow's heavy rain.

 

Having no wish to purchase a new tv set we avoided the Oprah crocodile tears, lies. and hypocrisy. Show where - from what I've heard of it - any lack of balance and facts was well absent.  I'd like to hear John Humphries interviewing the runaways and asking them, among other things, why they rejected the offer of a private life on an estate in Herefordshire 9no doubt complete with normal Royal protection when they were saying that all they wanted was privacy?  

 

Despite all the nonsense coming frm the runaways I remain a firm believer in a constitutional monarchy to the UK pattern as a trail of Presidents around the world have shown just how bad that way of appointing a head of state can be.  I have very mixed views an bout the House of Lords but it does have one benefit that some of its members need have no political allegiance.  But a partially elected house wouldn't be a bad idea with a good compromise model being that all the politically nominated members should be subject to election but not the whole house and with a fixed limit on the size of the house. 

 

Anyway back to earth and - yet again no major or minor plans for today.  The GD has returned this morning, with her colleagues, to an orthopaedic ward at the Nuffield but they are currently working on the other ward there as their own has not yet reopened - so presumably the surgeons are not yet back to full speed on elective work.  When she finished her night shift on Saturday morning there were only four Covid patients remaining on the last high dependency ward at the Radcliffe.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe

 

PS. Just called the surgery to book an appointment with the Good Count's daughter for the 23rd.  Long wait for the call to be answered but I got the time I asked for plus the blood taker I specifically asked for;  receptionist duly and profusely thanked.,

 

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

as a trail of Presidents around the world have shown just how bad that way of appointing a head of state can be.  

Just for the sake of balance there are some very unpleasant characters around the world who are hereditary heads of state. 

[simontaylor484]

Morning all

 

Happy Birthday Johnny 777

 

 

[petethemole]

Mornin' all, Sunny here and warming up nicely.

Happy Birthday to Johnny 777 and belated congratulations to Dom and Elise.

 

I didn't watch that show either; I have little interest in the Windsor soap opera.  However I suggest that anyone questioning Harry's parentage (a) check the timing and then (b) look at photos of the young Earl Spencer, Diana's brother; he got the Spencer genes.  I never liked his taste in fancy dress.

 

I'd better get on, I have sales to pack and listings to do, and no doubt will be required to do something else.

 

Have a good day, stay elfy.

Pete

 

 

[TheQ]

One suggestion for the second chamber would be a house voted in by a totally proportional system. that would give, quite often, a very different proportion of members than that of the lower house..

[Erichill16]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

 

 

Should @Erichill16 keep his head down, one wonders?

.

Thanks for your concern, Im always watching my back!

[tetsudofan]

Had to smile last night, got a surprise visit from one of my neighbours from along the road asking if I knew where the owner of a long wheelbase van parked recently parked outside his house lived.

 

The road where I live is (as explained in the estate agents blurb for a house for sale opposite me) a quiet residential road tucked away from the main roads but within easy distance to the train stations and seafront.

 

Being within easy distance to one of the stations has its problems one of which surfaced once the high speed service to St. Pancras started and the local council established residents parking zone (no parking for a couple of hours in the morning) in the roads adjacent to the station. As time went on the zone was extended and now starts at the end of my road.

 

As soon as that happened we got daytime parkers (wanting to avoid the expensive parking charges at the station) at my end of the road. The inconvenience is something that we, at my end of the road, have grown to accept.

 

The only solution to this problem is to get to get the parking zone extended to include the road for which you need more than 50% of the residents to agree to the extension of the zone but as the road (which used to be a cul-de-sac) is made up of large houses at one end and chalet bungalows (at my end) we could never get more than 50% to agree to the change.

 

The pandemic and resulting decline in daytime workers travelling to London meant that the daytime parkers disappeared but, more recently, we have gained a long term 24 hour overnight/daytime parker in the form of the big long wheelbase white van which parked itself outside my front door. I managed to speak with the owner (who lives somewhere in the parking zone) later and asked her if she could move her van a few feet so that it gets hidden behind my hydrangea bushes and I can't see it most of the time. She agreed and that was that.

 

Over the weekend the van disappeared and reappeared a couple of days later parked outside one of the large houses at the other end of the road. Interesting, I thought.......

 

The guy who turned up last night was one of those who did not agree to the extension of the parking zone and was looking for the owner to get them to move the van although he had no right to insist that she moved the van as it was parked on a public road causing no obstruction. He got quite aggressive when I told him that it's something we have to live with.

 

I notice that today the van is still parked outside his house. Be interesting to see how long it stays there, made my day!!

 

Keith

 

 

[The Lurker]

People get very territorial about parking outside their house, even as in Keith's case, the vehicle is perfectly legally parked.

 

I used to live in a road of terraced houses with no offstreet parking and the next door neighbour was one of the territorial types. On the plus side, he always kept an eye out for our car too but it did not stop someone from phoning the police and demanding they moved my car. The police did try to track me down - it was a company car - and phoned me at work. Unfortunately that was no use as I was in Mexico at the time. The police told the complainant tough luck. I think they wanted to put a skip outside their house - I wonder if they had applied for the relevant licences?

 

These days we live in a road with offstreet parking and residents' parking bays - we're close to the high street.

[Joseph_Pestell]

2 hours ago, PeterBB said:

 

 

Second house - must really never be elected as it would then become no different from the HoC.  It has its downsides but generally when it really matters it is willing to vote against the incumbent government, something that a politically elected chamber would probably not do.

 

 

 

An elected second house is essential if it is to keep the lower house in order with democratic legitimacy. The solution to the issue that you raise is to elect its members for "life" so that they are not beholden to the parties.

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, BlackRat said:

I'm a Celt ( correct spelling) and we are known to be rebellious

On that point we may surely agree  

 

A happy birthday to @jonny777

 

A Happy Cheeseday to the rest of us.  Today's cheese is Baron Bigod which has been enjoyed with bacon, cranberry and salad leaves for lunch.  

 

The House of Fun was not.  I had barely left the shower when the work-phone pinged.  That is seldom good news.  Waterloo station was closed due to over-running ginger-beering works and other problems existed at Wimbledon.  My train to work would not run.  Neither would my Plan B from the Full Well.  Plan C was the later train which would have me arrive only 10 minutes late but looking at the messages it seemed this was also likely to be a non-starter.  Plan D is use the bus but those are currently running at or somewhat above Covid capacity at the required hour and I couldn't chance being left behind.  Enter Plan E; I have never got as far as a Plan E before but I checked the cost of an Uber ride and the potential availability.  The app suggested around £20 and arrival in good time to sign on.  Then the Plan C train started on time and Plans D and E were no longer required.  

 

During the course of the morning we managed dogs on the line at Berrylands, emergency line-blocks at Wimbledon (for the engineers to go in and check what they had very hastily left earlier) and a bridge strike at Honiton.  All in a day's work.  And we are also more than somewhat busier than has been the case for year now.  More people apparently going to or from work, the school run, those freed by having kids at school just going somewhere (whether or not they strictly should have been isn't my business) and a small but noticeable number with large travel bags coming from or going to somewhere else.  

 

And there was Ms. Shouty-pants.  An altercation had broken out between two mask-wearing cycle-owning passengers and two very vocal females sporting chin-protectors.  It seemed the two females had taken exception to the others bringing bikes onto the train (which is no problem currently - bike restrictions at peak times are suspended) and the cyclists objected to the women failing to wear their masks correctly and attempting to photograph them for what ever reason whilst using some fairly choice language.  One of the two women quietly sat down when staff boarded the train to resolve the problem.  The other launched into an extremely loud, abusive rant in mixed English and Italian and came within a whisker of being removed and continuing her journey under blue lights.  Intolerance has been an intermittent "thing" and as more people come back into the system I suspect we are going to see more of it.  

 

We didn't see the M+H Show last night and frankly have no interest.  They have made their stand and said their piece.  Let those involved sort out what needs to be sorted.  The rest of the world doesn't need to know Chapter and Verse.  Perhaps a little of it is in the wider public interest.  

 

If you have the sun as we do enjoy it.  Tomorrow's forecast is both dire and bolical.  Wind.  Rain.  Disruption.  Yellow warnings.  March coming in like a lion a little late perhaps? 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

One suggestion for the second chamber would be a house voted in by a totally proportional system. that would give, quite often, a very different proportion of members than that of the lower house..

Thats my thoughts on the matter. The same as we did with the Euro elections with a few tweaks. Either the same constitunencies with more members or preferably more constituencies each with about a maximum number of members. A rigidly fixed term as well of either four or five years. We had 73 Euro MP's, obviously a second house would have to have more, between five and eight times as many thats why I suggest more constituences. 

Edited March 9, 2021 by PhilJ W

[TheQ]

 Baron Bigod.. The First Earls of Norfolk,  Former owners of the land my property is sat upon, and I'm guessing probably owned that bit of Suffolk just 30 miles away, where the farm is that makes the cheese..

 

No relation to the current Dukes of Norfolk as they are descendants of the 5th recreation of the title..

Edited March 9, 2021 by TheQ

[Gwiwer]

10 minutes ago, TheQ said:

No relation to the current Dukes of Norfolk as they are descendants of the 5th recreation of the title..

And whose seat is Arundel Castle.  A long way from Norfolk.  

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

2 miles toddle around the village revealed most folk wearing masks, only defaulters were older folk.  They will have been jabbed so probably consider themselves immune, little do they know!  CV19 has got a hold here this time, with 400 now infected, the Kent variant (thanks, Lurker!) proving as virulent as they thought.  All from one ferry crew member....and some late decisions from the Chief Fraggle and his cabinet.  They almost got away with it.

 

A boring day otherwise, househusband stuff again.  Wind getting up now, externally, a couple of jobs in the garden halted as although 11c, it feels far, far less.

[iL Dottore]

A happy birthday to @jonny777

 

(almost forgot....)

[Tony_S]

Happy Birthday Jonny777.