Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

Well its a bit blowy you,  not nice, and the back still says naa, so an early breakfast beckons. 

 

Ready Breck,

Weetabix,

Cornflakes,

?????????? not sure yet, I'll see how the mood takes me after I've visited the bathroom.

 

Stay well and stay safe one and all.

Have a nice day.

[jamie92208]

Good morning to you all. It's cloudy and cool here but the promised rain is nowhere to be seen.  

 

We had a good shopping trip yesterday and in the afternoon I got half the chicken run netted up and in the process learned to use fencing pliers.  Today I need to fit the door/gate and hopefully finish the netting.  After that activity not a lot was done apart from sorting out some pictures and some emails.

 

Today Imay well do a small plumbing job then start on the chicken run. Beth isvoff to the Dr's and then is going to fill the newly delivered drinks cabinet. That job is allegedly well above my pay grade. Tonight a zoom presentation from the Gauge O Guild.

 

News on the wretched virus in France is not good. We doubt that we will get to, or see anyone from the UK before the autumn.  However our area is still very lowcrisk and the threatened 3rd lockdown will not effect our lifestyle very much. We can but hope that we stay safe.  Jab on Tuesday.

 

Jamie

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Woke up early this morning so ran the bath straight away and that put Arthur Itis into his place. Breakfast has been eaten and just a muggatee to be drunk. Fodder run to Tess Coes to be done shortly, be back later.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It was raining when I sat down to eat my breakfast, but it has stopped now, so I’ll not leave it too long before I set off on my walk to the butchers. I need to get some bacon as we ran out earlier this week, as tonight’s tea is going to be bacon, scrambled egg, mushrooms and tomatoes, so you can see which the key ingredient is missing! After that Mike and Sarah are popping round, Sarah has an appointment at the local opticians, so they plan to call after that, which will be sometime between 11 and 12 o’clock. 

 

Other than that there there isn’t much else planned, maybe I’ll get that research done that I didn’t do yesterday, one can hope!

 

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

 

Brian

[New Haven Neil]

Ooh, it's sunny now but blowing a hoolie, looks like a day of losing hats is ahead.  Off to the bank while its dry.

[Andrew P]

The Sun's come out.

 

 

Oh no its not,

 

 

Oh yes it is,

 

 

Naa, gone again,

 

 

Still a bit blowie,

[The Lurker]

Greetings from Sidcup where we too have a bit of sun and some showers of rain. It is currently grey but dry.

 

I am glad it is Friday as the week as been a bit wearing.

 

I have part II of the "let's damage the company's balance sheet but do our personal tax situation good" call. This however is with someone who is not emotionally involved and will not be moving out of the country, so will be a little more sensible.

 

Today's Ocado had numerous substitutions. Mrs Lurker was most put put that the fresh pineapple was replaced by tinned. That's not the same at all.

 

Speaking of Ocado I noticed that they now do "Proper Job" IPA. This has, I believe, been mentioned in dispatches by Rick, as has his use of Ocado. Do I see a pleasant  conjunction of the spheres in his near future?

 

Right, now I must get back to the joys of accounting for deferred tax on share based payments. You really, really don't want to know....

Edited March 26, 2021 by The Lurker
Now it's my recollection, not a statement of fact...!

[Coombe Barton]

Windy and rainy here, and the garden bin is taking itself walkies.

[Gwiwer]

[New Haven Neil]

Proper Job is indeed a pleasant drinky, Lurkio, and as Mrs NHN is a Corn, it is approved of.

 

No Ocado here, but the village shop delivers!  

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

andrew P appears to be sharing our weather although we are forecast an inter-rainum for a frew hours this afternoon and the GD is of the view that she should bring the cement mixer into action - we shall see.  If it's not done today the next available slot for her is on Sunday although that prolongs the inconvenience of humans not being able to use the back door step.

 

On the more definite news front herself decided that she would like a breakfast today so I got one too - scrambled eggs on toast, very welcome on a day of miserable weather.  No other news,  Important or otherwise although like Baz I found the Great War soldiers in our family said very little about that war although my grandfather did recall some of it not long before he died but one thing he often mentioned was frying bacon over an oil stove which was probably when they were out of the line.  My great uncle never said a thing - and he had been awarded a Military Medal for single handedly clearing a trench of the opposition's soldiery.

 

Jamie - are you wiring in below ground level"  If Monsieur Renard is anything like as crafty as Mr Fox he will dig under wire if it leads to a free poultry dinner, and he'll kill the rest just for one.  To be fox proof you need to take the wire down at least 6-9 inches deep below ground level all the way round and wire under where the door goes.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe and dry.

Edited March 26, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[Gwiwer]

And a Happy Bacon'n'eggs Hour to all.  Being an ER it is too early on a work day to fuss around with frying pans at stupid o'clock so the celebration is reserved for lunchtimes.  

 

After a grey day with a few hints of brightness it is now persisterating down Upon the Hill of Strawberries and the seaweed-wranglers promise more of the same until well after dark.  

 

Tasks for the afternoon include ordering flowers for Dr. SWMBO's birthday (next week) and a full round of Domestic Engineering.  Other tasks include enjoying some Cornish falling-down waters and awaiting the Ocado delivery, not necessarily in that order.  Only one substitution today but not a good one; non-dairy zero-fat desserts have been replaced by full-fat dairy ones which will go back.  

 

For most of us this will be a short weekend of only 47 hours.  I shall hold the Government accountable and demand I be repaid with interest accrued in the Autumn   Let us now go forth and celebrate POETS Day.  

[Dave Hunt]

Further to tales of bang seats going off, when I was at RAF Chivenor on Hunters in the late '60s, there was a famous tale of an armourer who was kneeling on a bang seat facing backwards while he worked on it in a hangar when he tripped the firing mechanism. Realising immediately what he had done and that in just over one second the seat would go, he somehow managed to squeeze back against the instrument panel with his legs back by the rudder pedals and the seat missed him on the way out, disappearing through the hangar roof. His only injury was some minor burns and scrapes. How he managed it no-one could figure out and when he was asked to demonstrate what he did he couldn't do it properly, even in slow time. It's incredible what stark terror can do.

 

Dave

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, The Stationmaster said:

Jamie - are you wiring in below ground level"  If Monsieur Renard is anything like as crafty as Mr Fox he will dig under wire if it leads to a free poultry dinner, and he'll kill the rest just for one.  To be fox proof you need to take the wire down at least 6-9 inches deep below ground level all the way round and wire under where the door goes.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe and dry.

Yes Mike, I have left about 8" Of wire on each run, that I will dig in in due course. However the old aviary  part is built on a proper concrete slab so I plan to wire that as well and have an inner enclosure that will be renard and rat proof.

 

Thanks.

 

Jamie

[Gwiwer]

6 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

It's incredible what stark terror can do.

Absolutely.  We see it too often - despite all warnings and precautions - as someone takes a stray step too close to a fast-approaching train.  Always a jump back and somehow into space not into another person.  To those staff who witness it a split-second can later seem like a long time as the event is recounted for reporting purposes.  

[Barry O]

Well, her indoors must have lost her listofthingsforBaz to do..yipppppeeeeddddooo!

 

As it is it is now sunny, still very windy and fairly cold so a parcel or two have been taken to the post office for onward transmission. A few more modelling tokens have been recovered. I can now do whatever I want for the rest of the day. There is a catch to this but I can't see what it is.. yet!

 

Her indoors is knitting and watching the cricket.  To undertake the knitting role I spent a little bit of time looking for a knitting needle she had "misplaced".. Brownie points received for this ad hoc task.

 

Stark terror. yep I have had that a few time but never with regard to an ejector seat.. walking into the "magazine" at St Evenage for the first time was interesting, then I realised if one of the missile motors set off it would hit either a car on the A1 or me on six hills way about head height. I gripped the bar testing for my static levels very hard!

 

Getting out of a tank as it was "on fire" was interesting as my exit path included climbing out of a hatch which was occupied by someone else (!)

 

Baz

 

 

 

 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

I'm now sitting around for an hour, doing not a lot, having cleared the afternoon for the Must have objectives for next year discussion. It's got cancelled till next week..

 

Meanwhile the future new deputy boss isn't or is, at least, unlikely to be.. Seemingly in monetary negotiations he's asking silly amounts of money, so the Job is to be re-advertised. The boss has 14 month to go, I have 20 months to go.. This could be a very empty department. But I don't care, I won't be there..

 

The latest incarnation of boating spreadsheet will head home via email shortly, it's now looking a lot tidier. I have a recently bought secondhand book called "boat data" which will add much to the spreadsheet. Oddly, although a British publication,  it's a ex library Book from a Motorboat Club in the USA, though the issue card says it never was issued..

 

Having read several books on the Exploits of Tankies during WW2, I'm very glad I've never was in one, especially if there was an 88 around..

 

I think I'll be opening a bottle when I get home, pot luck from the back of the cupboard time I think.

 

Right time to send an email

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis and his mate Si Attica were having a right party this morning but are now a lot quieter now that the rain has arrived. There was the usual few 'joke' facemasks about in Tess Coes today, mostly of the big fat lips and big teeth variety but one I saw today was a Hannibal Lecter one. Anyone else seen any unusual masks.

[Coombe Barton]

34 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Anyone else seen any unusual masks.

If unusual is an FFP2 mask, one I wear one.

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

 ... having cleared the afternoon for the Must have objectives for next year discussion.

Oh how I don't miss those now !

 

Although I know for a fact that @polybear was heartbroken that he too would no longer be having them following his recent exit from the daily grind 

[The Lurker]

Hmmm, that reminds me we were supposed to have set objectives in October; my boss said wait until he had had his objectives set by the CFO. That ain't happened and now the CFO has resigned.

 

I will have to try my usual of setting objectives that I have already achieved (especially as we are allowed to roll forward nearly achieved ones....) and see if I can get away with it. HR have wavered over the years between achieving your objectives having nothing to do with any bonus you might get to you not getting a bonus if you have not completed the form with your objectives on and all points in between. We have had at least 6 different objective measuring systems in the 15 years I have been here; the wonder of it is that they have not changed the system at all for the last 5 years, despite an almost complete change in HR staff. Maybe it was an HR objective that was so unpopular it was almost impossible to achieve so the responsible person kept leaving...!

[pH]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

I have a recently bought secondhand book called "boat data" which will add much to the spreadsheet. Oddly, although a British publication,  it's a ex library Book from a Motorboat Club in the USA, though the issue card says it never was issued.

I have a secondhand book which came from the library of a US seminary. It also was never issued. Its title is “The Dalmellington Iron Company - Its Engines and Men” by David L. Smith!

[Compound2632]

On 25/03/2021 at 00:17, Ozexpatriate said:

It is slightly different from the US flag flying guidance, which stipulates that the position of superiority has no flag to the flag's right.

 

Sorry, I'm a bit behind the flow. Can I just ask, what happens when you walk round to the other side of the row of flagpoles?

[Coombe Barton]

28 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

Can I just ask, what happens when you walk round to the other side of the row of flagpoles?

Quite an easy answer. You're obviously on the wrong side. So it's your fault.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, Barry O said:

Stark terror. yep I have had that a few time but never with regard to an ejector seat.. walking into the "magazine" at St Evenage for the first time was interesting, then I realised if one of the missile motors set off it would hit either a car on the A1 or me on six hills way about head height. I gripped the bar testing for my static levels very hard!

 

 

 

Bear has had numerous "work-related" close shaves over the years; memorable ones include:

1.  Coming within <3 seconds of getting a face-full of hydraulic oil spray (at 3000 psi.....) from about 36" away.  My mate had been telling me that the kit I was working on (about which I knew f.all about - he supposedly knew all about it) was "ok" and "don't worry" just a few seconds earlier.  Mind you, he was the same guy that told his wife to wear wellies and turn the washing machine on & off with a broom handle when she reported getting little shocks off it....

 

2.  Setting off - under the instruction of my boss - and whilst he watched -  what he reported to be a pyro "retractor" in the office, by dangling it on it's wires from the wall-mounted dc supply (stores had it, when they shouldn't have - and wanted it made safe and disposed of).  Turns out it was a "protractor", and setting it off in free-air was "interesting".  Bl00dy great bang (woke people I'd never seen awake at work before), bl00dy great flame, and a lump of steel came flying out like a bullet, bouncing off the desk and rattling round the hangar windows.  Could've been very, very unfunny.  Boss was very sheepish, as he realised just how bad it could've been.  Good fun.

 

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

Oh how I don't miss those now !

 

Although I know for a fact that @polybear was heartbroken that he too would no longer be having them following his recent exit from the daily grind 

 

Ah yes - "objectives" and "one to ones"....

Strangely enough, today is the first anniversary of Bear's "unofficial" retirement (i.e. sent home on gardening leave  no - mustn't call it that - HR said it was "authorised absence, paid" ) until the end of April and formal retirement.  Some may accuse Bear of retiring some years earlier though; I couldn't possibly comment, though in later years (as I'm sure Puppers will confirm) there was an unwritten  policy of shafting those with long service in favour of the smart young oiks.  Bear had a reciprocal policy of ensuring "they get what they pay for" after being shafted once too often.  Strangely enough, Bear did get an unexpected rise one year (after a year of Bear being NFI) which only went to highlight the fact that the a certain individual (that'll be "PW" if you knew him Puppers) really didn't have a f.clue who was doing what.

 

Painting of a small area of wall today (testing mode engaged...) followed by the fitting of two door-bars; these took much longer than normal as they required shimming to bring them up to the correct level.  The worst is done, happily.

 

Tomorrow brings Bear's first jab at 8am , followed by more kitchen antics.

 

In other news:

I do hope this guy gets sent to a Military Glasshouse (Colchester?) as I'm sure he will receive the warmest of welcomes from fellow inmates and staff alike:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-56538334