Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

I used to look forward to Easter weekend, embracing as it normally does a visit to Pendon Museum on Good Friday and a visit to the York show on Easter Sunday.  Thanks to that ruddy virus this will not be possible for the second year in succession.  I’m not taking bets for next year either.  Optimism is not in my genes.

 

Bear, don’t get your hopes up of spotting me at a bring and buy stall wearing rainbow socks.  They are almost knee-length and are only shown to best advantage if I wear shorts.  This is only liable to happen if I am on holiday somewhere in the sunny south and is not guaranteed even then.  Perhaps an appearance of The Tie is more likely.  For this to happen there need to be occasions on which it may be worn and there is no sign of their return at the moment.  Now more than ever my standard of sartorial elegance is more akin to Scruffbag Central than to smart casual.  As for the koala bag, it is sufficient for now for the world to know that I have one.

 

PhilJW’s mention of savings set me thinking.  Among other things, that ruddy virus is responsible for me going hardly anywhere apart from the supermarket.  Instead of driving up to a thousand miles a month I have been clocking up a mere eight miles a week, and that only because I do two fodder runs.  I have not bought petrol for a good three months.  Last year alone I lost three holidays and two Christmas dinners, but not the money that they would have cost me.  A quick stab of the buttons on my calculator reveals a sum which would pay for a couple of holidays, assuming that they are not cancelled either.  Perhaps my favourite travel company is waiting by the phone hoping to hear from me.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a place that is going to be warm.  Yesterday it got to 29 in the car in the afternoon.  In the morning I finished Cluckingham Palace. Having started to hang the door to open inwards I discovered that the concrete floor of the old aviary  has a gentle upward slope on it. Change of plan and said door now opens outwards. I just had to use the mattock and tree loppers to clear some vegetation that included ivy roots.  In the afternoon I went to The Danglies and got feed and water dispensers plus other items, then collected fish and chips on the way home.  

 

Today it's off to buy straw and chicken feed, both of which can be sourced from neighbours. Then an afternoon watching trains is in prospect as the distances will not allow such a gentle pastime for the four weeks from Friday.

 

As to Chris' s new bag, I was wondering whether it was going to replace the world famous hessian bag, aka CD repository in the car.

 

Regards to all.

 

Jamie

Edited April 2, 2021 by jamie92208

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare,

5 hours solid sleep and then..... Nothing, until Ben the I want out Collie appeared.

 

Ben, was very happy going out in daylight, he's had a good shuffle around, it's dull overcast, cool, with a chilly northerly breeze.

A northerly's only advantage, is that  the garage and 6ft fences  form shelter for the boat, and trailer .

 

However one of this weekends tasks is to raise the boat so I can get the keel under. The keel is 3ft plus six inches of keel bolt sticking out on top, the boat from bottom of hull to top of the cockpit combing is 2ft 9 inches, so when raised up it will just be above fence level. When put on the trailer, that will be over another foot higher.

Once the boat is launched I'll be reorganising the working area, so the  sheds will moved to either side. That will provide some shelter but a north easterly will come over the 6ft fence, and a South Westerly will give it's full force into the U. I'll have to work out some sort of wind deflection for the winter gales to protect the boat when out of the water.

 

With the radio on at work yesterday there was an advert for a Vauxhall Corsa, £2600 ish down, £285 per month for 4 years. That's £16,000 ish.. and the final words...

Vauxhall leasing, you will not own the car...

 

I don't know about you, but I'd want something to show after spending £16,000.

 

Today's planned work. 

Paint some shelves

Cut up the latest MDF sheet into shelf sized pieces.

Install the painted shelves.

Finish bolting up the suspension units on the trailer, and hopefully install the hubs and wheels.

 

But first,. 

Time for a muggacoffee and cook breakfast.

 

 

 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Amazing what you find when you look in the deeds for your property (or rather, the copy of said deeds).

Mugatea has been made and delivered by her indoors. Excellent cuppa (as usual).

I have only been to one barbie meal in Oz. We have friends in Murray Bridge. He is a Chef, he did all of the food prep, cooking and serving. His good lady (an ex ships purser) spent her time keeping us all supplied with drinks.. mainly non alcoholic until the food arrived.

 

After the meal he cleaned his outdoor kitchen area.. she sat and talked with us... great memories!

 

I have checked my diary for today... no pressing engagements..great..gives me more "me on holiday" time.

 

Tomorrow some barmpot has organised for all of the league team secretaries and all of the umpires to turn up at one cricket club which has a very small car park to collect our paperwork for this year. Social distancing could be interesting.

 

In other cricket news the ECB ACO have updated the guidance for umpires and scorers. Just too difficult to say..do as you did last year...they have fiddled with said instructions and managed to add in conflicting instructions. PAH!

 

Time to drink my mugatea...

 

Have a great Good Friday!

Baz

[Andrew P]

HAPPY EASTER.

Well its Easter weekend and so I have the weekend off work, well being retired that also helps of course.

 

The Sun is really shining good this morning, so I'm off for an extensive walk or as far as I can manage until something screams at me.

 

Have a good day one and all, stay safe and well.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

Front garden is shown as being grass (having got rid of the top soil and filled it with rubble that could be interesting).

 

They intend taking the joint hedge out.. better make surecthey have a way of building their extension without asking to come into our garden...

 

 

Councils are very funny about gardens, drives etc. not being water permeable nowadays IIRC, so they should be interested to see what is planned for the first point.

 

As for the hedge, if you want it/like it then can you prevent it's removal?  Is that boundary marked as being yours on the deeds - if so then unless he can prove differently it's "your hedge".  Of course you may be fed up with cutting it and be glad to see the back of it - but fences need staining - and they blow down....

 

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

Same if we make use of our Raclette.

 

Baz

 

That's a new one on Bear.  Looks good if you fancy a corrugated fried egg.....

 

8 hours ago, PeterBB said:

Coombe Barton. Previously had Dyson -current Shark much better and for stairs has a lift-off making the process easier. Battery ones look good until you use them ... on full power they do pick-up but basically run out of power long before the job is completed.

 

Bear has a couple of small hand-held battery jobbies (only Lidl-style forty quid ones) - one upstairs, one down (some of the GT ones are a couple of hundred quid, such as Dyson).

Fine for quick jobs, though it does seem that such gadgets are pretty p.p. for pet hairs etc. unless they have brushes on the end (do any have that?)

 

7 hours ago, BSW01 said:

 

 

Dribble Dribble...

 

Big H - that reminds me, we've not had a joint "training" exercise lately....

 

In other news:

 

It seems the Police are having a pretty bad time lately (One up for murder, one under investigation for rape & assault) - whilst a third has just been convicted of being a member of a banned terror group, amongst other charges.  Despite this - and having documents on making explosive devices - and being told he'll be going down the stone steps - he's granted Bail for the next 3 weeks

Is Bear missing something?

(On a bright note, that does give the little scrote 3 weeks to ponder his impending "warm" reception in clink - I'm sure he'll be popular - will he be segregated (Rule 43?) one wonders?)

[TheQ]

23 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

Amazing what you find when you look in the deeds for your property (or rather, the copy of said deeds).

Have a great Good Friday!

Baz

Once your property has been registered with the land registry, the proper deeds on paper no longer have any real value, as it's what is registered is the legal electronic document.

 

They returned the deeds to me, once all the transfers had been completed. The 1927 to 1964 document is the most interesting, signed by John Maynard Keynes, as he was chancellor of Cambridge university at the time, written on parchment. The mortgage on the property was a private one from the wife of the surgeon general of the Royal Navy, I'd love to know how that was arranged.

Cambridge university was handed the land in this area by Henry 8, and the university still had some hold on our land until bought out in the 1930's. No chancel taxes on this house.

[Gwiwer]

Good Friday Morning. 
 

Outside appears cold and grey. Inside is warm, toasty and satisfied with Muggertee 1. 
 

Thus far notter lott to report as I have yet to break a Miele or retire. There is, however, a tiny Cornish hamlet called Retire which is one of the few places in the Duchy I have never visited. 
 

Instead I shall contemplate the possibilities of Hot Cross Lemming Dribble Cake. 
 

Avagoodun. 

[Erichill16]

Morning All.

Still here despite no post last night.

Robert

[polybear]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

With the radio on at work yesterday there was an advert for a Vauxhall Corsa, £2600 ish down, £285 per month for 4 years. That's £16,000 ish.. and the final words...

Vauxhall leasing, you will not own the car...

 

I don't know about you, but I'd want something to show after spending £16,000.

 

 

 

Sixteen Grand for a F. Corsa??  Jeez.  And as for PCP deals, Bear cannot for the life of me understand "why" either.  A Buddy at work used to buy his cars every few years via such schemes, and thought he was onto a winner cos' he got a new car every 3 years or so, with maintenance picked up by the dealer.  He seemed to forget just how much money it was costing him....

 

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

Amazing what you find when you look in the deeds for your property (or rather, the copy of said deeds).

 

 

Bear hopes that Baz isn't gonna upset the new neighbours now....

One thought - if the neighbours are planning anything that involves the party wall (a rear extension may well fall into this bracket) then a "party wall agreement" needs to be in place - and that means Baz is entitled to have a Surveyor looking after your interests - with the tab picked up by the neighbours

 

The OH's next-door neighbour (terraced houses) is about to install a lean-to style covered area over their patio (think of a conservatory with no side or front walls/windows - just a clear sloping roof with metal support posts at the front).  She received an unannounced letter from a Structural Surveyors asking if she would like them to represent her as regards the party wall agreement, with the tab picked up by the neighbour (presumably the Council Planning Dept. forward details of planning applications to such companies, or they themselves trawl the applications for suitable candidates).  In this instance there's absolutely no point in having such representation; mind you Bear does wonder how well a plastic roof will stand up to winter gales when the wind gets under it....

 

[jonny777]

A dry and bright morning here in North Somerset, with intermittent sun and a cold wind. 

 

On the subject of vacuum cleaners, I have a cordless G-Tech. I like it, as it does not finish my back off for a week lugging the thing around. It does downstairs carpets on one charge, which is fine by me - as I prefer little and often; and having the battery charging before hoovering the upstairs carpets is a nice break. 

 

I was so pleased, that I waited for the occasional G-Tech 40% sale and bought a cordless hedge trimmer, which will do my privet on one charge. 

 

Now I also have a G-Tech cordless lawnmower, which is excellent for small-ish areas of grass and saves getting out extension leads, and/or mowing the cable by mistake. It even has a 5-setting blade height adjuster which is great at varying times of year. 

 

And no, I am not a relative of Nick Grey. 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis has been banging his drum again, all last night and into this morning but paracetamol has seen him off. Still feeling tired though so a spell of eyelid inspection is called for.

[tigerburnie]

Morning, on the deeds to our house it states I can't keep chickens as it might annoy the neighbours, but I can keep a Pig, I suspect attitudes may have changed since that was written lol.

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

 

Instead I shall contemplate the possibilities of Hot Cross Lemming Dribble Cake. 
 

Avagoodun. 

I would think that the lemmings would be very cross and hot at the though of being turned into dribble cake. 

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

Morning, on the deeds to our house it states I can't keep chickens as it might annoy the neighbours, but I can keep a Pig, I suspect attitudes may have changed since that was written lol.

 

What you don't know is what's written into your neighbours' deeds. They may be subject to a pig toleration clause, or even have a right to their neighbours' bacon.

[Gwiwer]

2 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

a pig toleration clause

The legal profession will have great fun with that.  And the associated potential for pocket-lining.   

[grandadbob]

Good morning all.

Cloudy start today but there are some signs of blue sky appearing.  Quite fresh and breezy out and my phone app informs me that the temperature is currently 7°C but it feels colder than that to me.  Must be getting old. 

Earlier we had a delivery from DPD containing a Morrison's Afternoon Tea Hamper which is an Easter gift from our offspring.  I shall look forward to that later.

After that our fast was broken by me poaching some eggs for breakfast.

Next up was a visit from my mate Russ from next door wanting to "borrow" back some shed roofing felt he gave me about 4 years ago when he was having a clear out!  He knows I like to keep things "just in case."  Duly found and handed over along with some felt nails.  He's had an emergency  call from his MiL whose shed roof felt is flapping about in the wind.

Now sitting down with another muggacoffee and will have a think about what to do next.  It may involve a walk.

This evening and tomorrow there is a selection of European rugby matches on TV to choose from so that will definitely occupy some of my time.

Have a good one,

Bob.

[grandadbob]

Seeing our Manchester correspondent's cake picture earlier reminded me that a couple of weeks ago The Boss and I were reminiscing about school dinners and one of the delights we used to experience, namely Manchester Tart.

 

Here's my effort at recreating it:

 

 

[Simon G]

Morning all,

It is beautiful sunny day here today, so some outside tasks will be done.  This week has been a week of missed collections by the council.  Our refuse wasn’t collected on Monday, so I phoned them on Tuesday to be told they would come that day.  When I called again on Wednesday, they told me that they had been on Tuesday, which of course was wrong.  Once I convinced them that they were wrong, they said that it would be collected before Friday.  On Thursday, our recycling collection was also missed.  By this time all the neighbours are ranting about the council on our lane WhatsApp group.  Some one phones the council again to be told that the refuse will be collected today and the recycling tomorrow.  So today they have collected the recycling a day before we expected, and the refuse collection is still awaited.  Next time I am in the big city of Whitehaven, I will be going into the council office and asking when they plan to refund part of our council tax!  I don’t suppose it might make the slightest difference, but it might make me feel better!

 

Mrs G and I are awaiting exciting news from no 1 son, whose first born is now three days late.  Everytime the phone rings or the mobile pings, I hope that it is good news, but it hasn’t happened yet.

[polybear]

 

20 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Next up was a visit from my mate Russ from next door wanting to "borrow" back some shed roofing felt he gave me about 4 years ago when he was having a clear out!  He knows I like to keep things "just in case."  Duly found and handed over along with some felt nails. 

 

A fine scheme, that.....use your buddy's shed as a storage extension to your own - though at some risk he may use or chuck what's stored.

 

8 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Seeing our Manchester correspondent's cake picture earlier reminded me that a couple of weeks ago The Boss and I were reminiscing about school dinners and one of the delights we used to experience, namely Manchester Tart.

 

Here's my effort at recreating it:

 

 

 

Big H - our training mission has just become multi-destination; we'll need some air support.....

[The Stationmaster]

20 hours ago, The Lurker said:

And now a question to those of you with Cornish roots/leanings.

 

We have ordered a breakfast box from a well known restaurateur from down there who is not Nathan Outlaw as a special Easter cooked breakfast treat

 

Among its contents is Hogs Pudding.

 

Has anyone actually cooked this before? I am planning to slice it thin and fry it but I wondered if anyone else has actually had it or whether it is a modern day invention by one of the artisan producers down there. 

 

The contents of the box certainly look good!

From Mrs Stationmaster - who is of course well familiar with said delicacy from her homeland -

1. Just like black pudding - slice and fry (addendum 'thickish slices', half inch or so as you wpuld with black pudding), or

2. Eat it as it comes.

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[polybear]

7 minutes ago, Simon G said:

......... whose first born is now three days late. 

 

He's in training to become a dustman....

[BSW01]

Good dafternoon everyone 

 

Late on parade today due to having a bit of a lie in and late breakfast. Then it was straight out to the front to get some work done before the sun makes it too warm. 

 

Currently sat on the bench under the workshop window have a well earned muggertea listening to some Tchaikovsky, bliss. 

 

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

 

Brian 

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all - up has been caught.

 

Sunny-ish out there but the yellow thing keeps hding behind clouds; wind definitely in the chilly quarter and likely to remain that way for a couple of days.  

Apropos of various recent items

1. somebody mentioned pork pie - fortunately (or not - see below) we  visited the butcher in Pangbourne yesterday and herself's purchases included one of these.  And in consequence of somebody mentioning the subject on here it now looks something like this (although the cut slice is elsewhere by now)-

 

 

2. Vaccum cleaners - we have a Miele which is my trusted device for 'downstairs' and it works well.  Out in the garage I have a down-graded Vax which still works fairly well.  The only vacuum cleaners I have ever selected for purchsase myself were at work and were the industrial version of 'Henry' - excellent and robust machines which you could kick out of a (railway) coach door to land on solid concrete at rail level and still do what they were designed to do - but they weren't cheap.

 

3. iron-on shelf edging - super stuff.  We did some on our new bookshelves just after we moved into our first house in 1978 and we took them out before we moved and some of them are now doing duty in the garage here with no sign at all of the edging lifting or coming off - after over 40 years.

 

The car - well a visit to teh terraclean man (thanks Robert) resulted in it being put on the diagnostics and the sensor fault being cleared but other expensive items noted as looming. Oddly I was told the turbo might need replacing - very strange when I was told at time of purchase that it was not a turbo diesel.  But some online checking reveals it does indeed have. a turbo - no wonder it goes like sh*t off a shovel - but I have never noticed any turbo lag, foot down andaway it goes, instantly.  Then we come to the trip to the butcher yesterday and while driving down the narrow road through Whitchurch (the one in Oxon should that not be immediately obvious) a newly emptied dustbin fell off the edge of the pavement and comprehensively trashed the nearside driving mirror - I had no room to get further over because there was someone coming the other way and he was keeping well away from the wall on his side.

 

Damage inspected while herself was waiting to get into the butcher's establishment (a very long queue) so I returned over the river to look for any bits - the ABS (I think) cover off the leading edge was in 7 pieces so that was that.  On from Pangbourne to the bodyshop in Reading which had replaced the other mirror about 10 years ago after a passing BMW had knocked it to bits.  Mirror not repairable so renewal needed - a mere  £400 (yes, four hundred quid!!) for a new mirror plus  £100 for painting and fitting - oink but no real alternative t having it done, grr.  Can i sue the council contractor who left the wheeliebin in a dangerous position?   With age related costs starting to pile up it begins to look as if car shopping might be coming on the agenda - there was a very nice McLaren in Tesco car park the other day and it made a very nice exhaust noise but i don't think Mrs stationmaster's arthritic knees (or mine) would suit getting in and out of it, and it would no doubt be a bit on the pricey side.

 

Have a good dat y folks and stay safe even if many of those around seem not to be able to think that way.  By the way in that connection following the Christmas rash of stupidity three of the staff from the butcher's shop in Pangbourne finished up in the RBH with Covid so the shop is now very strictly enforcing the various safety requirement on its customers..  

 

 

 

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[J. S. Bach]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 ...snip... Big H - our training mission has just become multi-destination; we'll need some air support.....

I can supply an aircraft carrier staged and ready for launch: