Early Risers.

[Simon G]

Morning all, and Happy Easter.  The sun of the last few days has gone leaving a cool breezy day.  The wait for 1st grandchild to appear goes gone, now 5 days late and counting.  Mum to be is OK, but getting rather fed up with the waiting apparently!

 

This mornings task is to rehang the bathroom door, which was necessary as the hinges were wearing and slowly lowering the door so it caught on the tiled floor.  As always with these tasks, it has taken many times longer than anticipated!  First I had great trouble extracting 2 of the screws out of the door, and they both broke in the end.  About 4 of the 8 screws into the door jamb were no longer ‘biting’ into the wood, so I have been using a lot of fill to fill the holes in preparation for redrilling.  As the new hinges are wider than the old, I have also had to chisel out a 5mm section to accommodate this extra width.  This is also means that the new screw holes are not in exactly the same positions as the old ones, so more filler applied.  I am now having a cup of coffee while waiting for the filler to harden off.  Hopefully, the drilling of new holes and refitting will be straightforward!  Given the problems already encountered, I fear that it won’t!

[tigerburnie]

Morning a bit wild and windy and the weathers not up to much either.

Promotion, I found at the GEC's I worked at, only those who did their training/apprenticeships there got promotion, can't think of any outsiders getting a job, as I was ex AEI I was definitely excluded. I was promoted and I did apply for jobs that were of higher salary and got them, in two cases having the right rugby club tie helped, no understanding some companies policies but hey ho I took the money and ran as they say. My last "promotion" was more of a side ways move 2 years before to retirement, no salary increase, but less hours and a cushy number sat on my bum a lot of the time, which was perfect, I had my own office a fancy title, even some business cards, the job vanished when I did retire.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I had only one promotion when I worked for the council, that was when I transferred from the rents to the weekly wages department. All other regrades were the result of reorganisations. Having said that there was a reorganisation whereby the wages and salaries departments were merged into a single department. We all expected a regrade but none was forthcoming but the pensions department which had been part of the salaries department was made a separate department with a jump of no less than four grades leapfrogging the payroll department as it now was. A few years later another reorganisation happened, the pensions department got a regrade straight away and when we were offered just the next grade. This time though we argued our case and took it all the way up to the council committee. They were appalled when they found out that we hadn't received the previous upgrade and not just awarded us the grade which we should have received on that reorganisation but the next grade up. That was handy for me as I was to retire only a few years later and it helped boost my pension.

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Lovely sunny day but still somewhat on the chilly side although pleasant in the sunshine - so the G word will no doubt be enacted in some form or other.   The lad has brought home the 'papers although the Torygraph (lots of sudoku etc) is regrettably absent for the second day running).

 

I know that it was always said that promotion was a matter of who you know but in reality i think it tended to be more a matter of who knew you in that if your abilities (or lack thereof) were known it affected your chances of getting a job and that increasingly became the case on BR from the 1970s onwards,  Interviews could be anything from fraught to hilarious in my experience and when I go my first management range (MS) job in 1974 the interviewing panel consisted of c.8/9 people but they were interviewing for about a dozen different posts spread all over the West Country.  I later learnt from the one who picked me that there was even an element of 'I'll take that one' as candidates were discussed by the interviewers.   And as elsewhere going into a particular promotion (to MS grade on BR in those days) there could be a substantial drop in earning - my income comparing tax year '74/'75 with tax year '73/'74 dropped by £1,500 due to loss of overtime and Sunday pay and it took a good while to get that back.

 

Subsequent promotions were the same old mixture as I progressed through all the MS grades (1 -5) without, alas, managing to jump any of them although one was a regrading following a reorganisation and the final one was done without an interview but simply appointed on recommendation (i.e.'who knew me') although it was disguised as something else during a reorganisation.  When I moved to Executive Grade (EG) that was my last interview for promotion and fortunately I knew more about the job than the person who asked most of the questions at the interview (he still occasionally 'phones me to ask about things connected with that job  ) while the other person on the panel effectively tested how good I'd been at assessing in much greater depth what we had discussed a couple of weeks previously when I had gone to see him to find out what the job involved.  

 

BR had succession lists for all senior MS posts (MS 4 and above) and all EG posts and a potential personal succession listed on the personal file of all senior managers.  But by the late 1980s/'90s less and less attention was being paid to them.   I was probably on the succession list for the MS4 job because I was by far the best qualified candidate but I certainly wasn't on the succession list for the EG job although it might possibly have been on my personal file succession list.  And the one person on the post succession list who was interviewed for that EG job obviously didn't get it.  All history now of course.

 

Right the G word loometh so have a good day one and all and stay safe - if you can.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The sun is out, it's cooler than yesterday but a good day for shift a large pile of bricks. About halfway through and just taking a break with a muggertea. 

 

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

 

Brian 

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, chrisf said:

...As for hot cross buns, I have no baking skills so must rely on what I can buy.  Last year I did not bother with them at all.  This year I took advantage of a modest discount at the supermarket and bought a six pack.  They were OK but unless I am missing something the ones I bought are little more than tea cakes and so not that special....

I am surprised, given all the time that you have on your hands, thanks to all the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic, that you haven’t tried your hand at baking. The ingredients are relatively inexpensive, it is very satisfying to do the prep work and the end result, no matter how misshapen, is infinitely superior to anything you can get at any supermarket (and probably better than some artisan bakers). And if you get stuck, YouTube is a veritable Goldmine of very useful instructional “how-to“ videos.

As to your second comment, I am not surprised to hear that supermarket purchased Hot Cross buns are not anything particularly special. The recipe I used (which is as authentic and traditional as all get out) requires a good pinch of saffron (as well as cardamon, cloves and cinnamon) to infuse the milk before the milk is used to make the Hot Cross Buns. Given how costly  real saffron is, to use the amount of saffron required to make Hot Cross Buns on an industrial scale would be prohibitively expensive. Creating cheap, synthetic, chemical substitutes for natural aromas and extracts is very big business nowadays. Some of these synthetic substitutes are indistinguishable from the real thing, but many are not-particularly those that try to mimic a flavour that has a complicated melange of chemicals making up the natural substance.

 

As for promotion, the company in which I worked the longest had an incredibly flat structure (at least in the division I worked in). There were only three people between me and the head of clinical development. This meant I spent my entire career at that company with the same job title. However, and this is a big however, salary and responsibility increased exponentially with experience and ability. When I started, it was basically me doing very simple stuff (sort of “science with training wheels”), when I finished at that company I was responsible for multiple studies, humongous budgets and was involved in working with outside partners as well as selecting and working with key opinion leaders. The job after that had a rather grand sounding title and I reported in to the CEO. And in that job I learnt to be very, very diplomatic, very quickly. But I did make it clear to the CEO that I was hired to provide my professional expertise and I was going to tell her what I thought she needed to hear, not what she wanted to hear and it was her that ultimately made a decision one way or another.

 

A lazy Sunday afternoon awaits. I had a cold pork chop with some gherkins for my lunch, dinner will be quick: some grilled lamb chops with buttered peas. And in the interim I shall decant myself to the patio with a small whiskey a big cigar and James Holland’s book “Sicily ‘43. The First Assault on Fortress Europe”

 

Enjoy your Sunday!

Edited April 4, 2021 by iL Dottore

[Coombe Barton]

9 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

infinitely superior to anything you can get at any supermarket (and probably better than some artisan bakers).

And a sight less costly. At £2.50 a loaf from out local artisan bakery whereas the ingredients and cost of cooking for two loaves of the same size is about a quid. OK, there's labour involved, but much of the time is spent in waiting for yeast to do its work.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Coombe Barton

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

Just a quick look in between listing on eBay and addressing stuff sold on eBay and while 30747 is gassing on the phone to 73119.

 

So it's simply generic greetings to all fellow ERs.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[AndrewC]

Afternoon all from the bier patio. A very sunny and comfy day in the boring Borough. A Belgian Lambic and Trappist bruin being enjoyed. 
More shed clearing done so no guilt. 
Lamb prepped for the bbq. 
 

 

Hoppy Easter. 
 

 

[JohnDMJ]

4 hours ago, jonny777 said:

 

Are the shops open on Easter Sunday? 

 

I thought only small corner shops were allowed to open. 

 

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/trading-hours-for-retailers-the-law refers! 280 square metres is the magic number! Hence, the local Tesco Express is open as normal from 06:00 until 22:00 today! The equivalent local Sainsbury's took a different view!

 

Talking of promotion, I have no recollection of ever having been promoted! Change of job title, usually involving a change in the role that I have fulfilled within the company, but never a promotion! In truth, I'm now earning less than I was in at the start of this millennium!

[PhilJ W]

Hello again from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis and his mate Si Attica have been playing their merry tunes since the early hours. Paracetamol has quietened them down but shortly it will be out with something a bit stronger to silence them altogether. 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I had only one promotion when I worked for the council, that was when I transferred from the rents to the weekly wages department. All other regrades were the result of reorganisations. Having said that there was a reorganisation whereby the wages and salaries departments were merged into a single department. We all expected a regrade but none was forthcoming but the pensions department which had been part of the salaries department was made a separate department with a jump of no less than four grades leapfrogging the payroll department as it now was. A few years later another reorganisation happened, the pensions department got a regrade straight away and when we were offered just the next grade. This time though we argued our case and took it all the way up to the council committee. They were appalled when they found out that we hadn't received the previous upgrade and not just awarded us the grade which we should have received on that reorganisation but the next grade up. That was handy for me as I was to retire only a few years later and it helped boost my pension.

Further to that it turned out that a woman in the pensions department was one of the senior managements 'bit-on-the-side'. She was a nasty piece of work as well. There was a bullying incident where she was the instigator, management was notified but it was all brushed under the carpet. Then her line manager left and she got his job.

[chrisf]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

I am surprised, given all the time that you have on your hands, thanks to all the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic, that you haven’t tried your hand at baking.

 

How do you know that I haven't tried?  How do you think I know that I do not have the necessary skills?  It is kind of you to try and encourage me but I'm not doing it!

 

Chris

[polybear]

5 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Yes, just the local corner shop for a paper and a bit of cake, Supermarkets and shops over a certain sq footage cant open, same with Garden Centres and Car Sales etc.

 

Washing done, bed changed, successful recce to the local Co-op - where LDC was sold out ; however Salted Caramel Cake wasn't - and it was on special offer too .  Various other goodies *may* have fallen into Bear's trolley at the same time - wasn't my fault Guv, honest....

 

Bear is currently watching "Star Trek - Picard" via Amazon Prime; I hate to admit it, but once the current free trail membership expires (first it was one month, and when Bear went to cancel that they gave me another 3 months added on for now't) I think I might just give in and keep it this time.  Some of the telly stuff, films etc. look rather too good to lose.  ST Picard is very good indeed.

 

Bear also managed to drill a couple of holes in the wall for the kitchen alarm sensor - another job ticked off the list.  I also need to wash the car (well overdue) but it's already 3 o'clock and....it'll keep until tomorrow.....

 

No Easter Eggs for Bear though numerous choccy sweetie bars may have been added to the shopping haul.

 

 

 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Shelves corrected, and increased to 5 levels.

Suggested  further changes deflected from the next set of shelves as they are already made, and some of which are now painted.

 

Trailer,

Last pieces bolted up, then the checker plate top derusted, painted and  screwed on.

Trailer lowered on it's two main wheels.

 

Ben the impatient Collie was then taken for his long walk, he's now a snoring.

 

I then had a sit on the chassis cogitating the next work, 

Jockey wheel fitting tomorrow,

Cutting more chequer plate for retaining sides for the flat top,

A bit more to form side steps on the trailer,

And how to fit mudguards, still thinking on that one.

 

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon awl,

 

Mixed fortunes recently. The weather forecast for the last couple of days, if printed, would have to be filed under 'fiction' in any normal library. @Coombe Barton's Dundridge digit takes me back. I really should read a bit more... The sun's out now and has been for some of the day but the wind is definitely strong and gusty enough to warrant double reefed tops'ls and ease sheets in the gusts.

 

I'm a bit concerned about three nights of frost forecast. Partly for the buds/blossom and the new plants which have stuck their heads above ground during the last week and partly for the central heating and water pipes in the 'other' house. The ****ing electrics have started playing up and the boiler and sockets have stopped working. Why? No changes made, but the main RCD trips out whenever the subsidiary switches are turned on. I've been round with a fine toothcomb unplugging everything in sight and the circuit still trips. What is particularly painful is the fact nothing has been changed, we went straight from working normally to toys out of the pram, no workee. I can find no logical explanation, so am now starting to consider 'illogical' causes. Which could make a lot more sense in the circumstances. 

 

On the plus side, we now have a few viewings scheduled, so I'm hoping at least one will lead to a sensible offer and a 'home run' of a completion, enabling me to put one of the major draws on my time and EQ behind me. It may have to be earnt the hard way though, fixing the deficiencies in the house due to others' 'unique and distinctive' decision-making. There have been quite a few times lately when I feel like Basil Fawlty (other people's messes cleared up). 

 

Even topics covered by the awl are affected. I signed up to read a certain comic online. I recalled the comic from before and was happy to take a few copies - but can I access it? Life is too short to repeat the full story but it is a poor show by the relevant organisation. Email sent offering final chance for redemption. 

 

[The White Rabbit]

On a more cheerful note, I have had a couple of promotions in the last three years. TBH, work often feels like I am a circus animal, jumping through hoops and doing tricks I do not understand but which earns applause from the audience and a treat from the trainer. But I keep thinking about the money.... I think with promotions too much of the time it's due to luck. For me, most recently, it was mostly due to be being given the chance to do other things and work on non-standard tasks, showing flexibility, positivity and (can I say it without sounding big-headed?) some ability. And this was mostly due to my manager giving us those chances. I and a couple of others seized them; it gave us something to talk about at interview. Not everyone in our department was as lucky with their managers.

 

G-word done, some progress made. Four drainage pits dug for when the chuckitdarns attempt to create the seasonal duckponds. Then filled with 'mucky gravel' and small stones to create soak-aways. The Forsythia is now providing some colour and the forget me nots are starting to bloom. Plenty of sparrows and tits/finches flying around. And in today's wind, the beech was visibly shedding the old leaves. 

 

An experiment with chocolate muffins scheduled later. No, that's cooking them, not what you had in mind . With these later sunsets, there's less cover for air-borne marauders, whether super-villains or four-footed types. 

 

Now, time to catch up on some emails to friends. Back in a bit when the medicine has had time to kick in. 

 

[Coombe Barton]

@The White Rabbit When we started having odd problems at work and I was calling maintenance every time, which was taking time out of teaching, I bought one of these. Saved a lot of faffing.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-ms6860d-socket-tester/91596

P.S. We discovered the problem was a cleaner plugging in to a five amp fused circuit meant only for chargers

Edited April 4, 2021 by Coombe Barton

[Barry O]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Afternoon all from the bier patio. A very sunny and comfy day in the boring Borough. A Belgian Lambic and Trappist bruin being enjoyed. 
More shed clearing done so no guilt. 
Lamb prepped for the bbq. 
 

 

Hoppy Easter. 
 

 

Ere!

 

Wheres mine???

 

 

 

Baz

[Barry O]

sunny still.. but the Hoolie is blowing hard and it is flippin freezing!  Good job I cut the grass this morning...

 

Almost time for our Zoom Tea and Wads meeting with teh Bogglers.. two of whom walked to Boggle from Robin Hoods Bay including a plodge in the North Sea.. they maybe in Scarborough Hospital now trying to overcome hypothermia!

 

Baz

[Sir TophamHatt]

Good afternoon!

 

New TV aerial has arrived so back to seeing what I can do with that this week - such a saga!

 

We have Freesat and our current Samsung TV has the inbuilt TV guide.  If I buy a new TV, the Samsung will go upstairs to our room.  It will then need a Freeview connection.  Easily done - just connect an aerial in the loft to the wires.  The new TV for downstairs that I'm looking at doesn't support a TV guide when using Freesat.  That's okay, I can just add a splitter in the loft so both TVs can use Freeview.

 

Problem then is that I live very close to the border for West Midlands and the nearest transmitter is in Sutton Coldfield.  If I tune to this transmitter, I'll get local West Mids news.  Turn the aerial the other way and I can get East Mids news but no HD channels as the transmitter isn't powerful enough.  I know all this as I tried an aerial in the loft to see what I could get from a loft-mount - I was surprised at what did come through.  I could mount it outside but that means re-drilling a hole I filled in a few years back, which had an overflow pipe from the old heating system.  Luckily my house has a shallow sloping roof from an extension so I can stand on that and get near to the roof - no way am I spending money getting someone to mount it on the chimney.

 

New aerial can be powered, so having to convert an old smoke alarm wire so I can plug it in there, which means running a new bit of twin and earth about 4m from where it current pops down from the ceiling.  A bit of a faff but we are where we are.  You watch - I'll do all the re-drilling and weatherproofing only for me to not get HD channels from the East Mids transmitter!  Luckily I have a long cable I can run through a nearby window, then up to the loft to see before hand!

 

I could choose another TV that would support an EPG (Electronic Programme Guide) through Freesat but not sure it would be in my budget / good TV set as I think only LG and Samsung officially support it.

[laurenceb]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Given how costly  real saffron is, to use the amount of saffron required to make Hot Cross Buns on an industrial scale would be prohibitively expensive. Creating cheap, synthetic, chemical substitutes for natural aromas and extracts is very big business nowadays. Some of these synthetic substitutes are indistinguishable from the real thing, but many are not-particularly those that try to mimic a flavour that has a complicated melange of chemicals making up the natural substance.

 

 

 

Enjoy your Sunday!

A friend of mine used to work for a food processing co in batching and when they were using safron it had to be got out of a safe and signed for. Some of the things he tells me about the way they do things are positivley hair curling

[PupCam]

Action packed day for Puppers:

 

M & S Hot Cross Buns for brecky, they really are very good and 8 for £2-50 doesn't seem unreasonable.

 

A constitutional walk across the fields this morning followed by rootling around in the shed for some old Dexion in order to make some staging for the greenhouse at the request of Mrs Puppers.    As luck would have it, a whole bunch of suitable material was found only requiring one piece to be cut in two along with a load of old pine bookcase shelves  to provide a ready made greenhouse staging kit.    I even managed to find an adequate number of matching Dexion nuts and bolts to complete the assembly.    Brownie points collected and put into the account.

 

And then this afternoon a 45 mile chug around the Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire lanes on the old AJS in the sunshine - absolutely glorious!    My route took me over the rather attractive Great Barford Bridge (it often does ) as seen in the video from a previous ride sometime ago.  Note the happy patrons of The Anchor enjoying a relaxing drink on that occasion, no such activity today thanks to that evil virus that has reeked so much havoc over the last year.

 

Anyway, it was marvellous to be out in the sunshine.

 

https://youtu.be/p5VOnMEyjJc

 

Edited April 4, 2021 by PupCam
Embedded video didn't seem to want to play ...

[TheQ]

This morning started with clear skies and beautiful warm sunshine and a light south Westerly.

The wind slowly increased which is why no tree cutting was carried out the wind was straight towards the muddling shed.

Slowly during the day the wind has moved round to the north, while it's still a reasonable temperature out there, and still beautiful sunshine. I've just woken up the fire and built it up for the evening temperature drop..

This is after a near 3 hour eyelid inspection, the weeks sleep deficit may well have been recovered.

 

Electrics RCDs tripping.

Is it if any sub district is switched on?

If so it could be,

the RCD itself , they do occasionally fail.

Something else in the distribution unit itself, such as dampness or a sagging bare wire.

Or an outside chance, a fault in the supply.

 

If it's in a single district, similar.

Dampness in the wiring,

A wiring fault probably in a socket for lights or power where a wire has slowly sagged so now it touches and fails.

A fried mouse in the works, as I found in a splitter box for lighting once.

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

A day of mixed fortunes here. 
 

A lovely riverside picnic lunch was enjoyed but nowhere near the spot we intended. Dr. SWMBO has had more knee problems recently and found riding the trike was all but too much.  We spotted Mandarin Duck, Grebe of some sort, Grey Heron and Lesser Black-back Gull among the more frequent visitors. We also spotted the first pleasure-boat trip this year and noted that no-one we saw aboard was socially distanced and masked. 
 

 

During the afternoon I had no sooner managed to successfully blow up my CDU by inadvertently passing track power through it when there was a shout from outside. 
 

I ran out to find Dr. SWMBO lying on the ground clutching her head. Her g*****ing seat had given way and sent her cranium-first-to-concrete-path where she was still and in obvious pain. 
 

My first aid skills determined there was nothing serious amiss and after a few minutes I was able to get her up and indoors. No signs of concussion and with barely a grass-mark to her dress. She will have a couple of bruises in the morning and needs a new garden bum-perch. 
 

I wonder what tonight will bring?  It is expected to bring Thai Duck for dinner. It has already brought several Easter gatherings outside with chocolate-hyped children running around and annoying the unrelated family group nearby. 

The Easter Bunny has visited.  A new CDU is on order. Best wishes to one and all.