Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Let Monkeyarefun travel send you off to Queenstown on the west coast.

You don't get Boag's in the 'other' Queenstown. It's Speight's there. (Both are owned by Lion.)

 

Queenstown, NZ has the same latitude south as I currently do north (>45°). Queenstown in Tassie has the same latitude south as the Oregon/California border is north (42°).

 

EDIT: This is an approximate (eyeballed) transposition using the website "thetruesize.com"

Home is about as far south as Orlando is north.

 

Sydney is about as far south as Los Angles is north (~34°). Likewise for Rockhampton and Havana (23°) or Perth and Savannah, GA (32°).

 

Australia is about 7.7M km^2. The lower 48 states of the US are about 9.5M km^2.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[monkeysarefun]

8 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

 

 

 Queenstown in Tassie has the same latitude south as the Oregon/California border is north (42°).

 

 

And they don't play footy on girly grass!

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

thetruesize.com is fun to play with.

 

Placing the UK with Edinburgh on Vancouver, the Amtrak Cascades service (467 miles) runs a distance (roughly) from Exmouth to Edinburgh (which Google estimates at 450 miles on the M5 and M6).

 

Eugene to Vancouver is 425 miles on I5.

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Yesterday I got to the stage where I could stand it no longer – no, not Tesco, though that is where it happened, but my painful knee.  I rang Stalag Surgery.  To my surprise and delight I have been promised a phone call from the physio today.  I await his advice with interest and trepidation.  I have some walking – well, marching – to do this summer and I’d rather do it without too much agony.

 

Many thanks to all who have advised on camper vans and where to put them.  Something may happen if and when I become too elderly and infirm to spend nine nights in a tent at Sidmouth Festival, where the camping permit costs less than one night in a b&b.  Other things being equal, I hope to be able to carry on camping for a few years yet, even without Barbara Windsor’s contribution!

 

There were happy discoveries on YouTube yesterday – clips by Fred Wedlock and Adge Cutler.  I never saw Adge perform but his scrumpy and western sound lives on.  When “Drink Up Thy Zider” was issued as a single it sold so many copies in and around Bristol that it made the national charts – one week at number 49, admittedly, but better than nothing.  Fred Wedlock I knew personally.  I had more than a little to do with his first appearance in Bedford and I enjoyed compering it.  When signing one of his LPs for me he wrote: “Oh no, it’s that bloody Chris again”.  It is frightening to think that it is 40 years since “The Oldest Swinger In Town” hit the charts, and that Noel Edmonds was partly responsible for its chart success.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a village that is over 100 miles from either of my two nearest Ikeas.   When the Leeds one opened, a mile from our old house, there was a fatal crash in the queue on the M62 to get into it.

 

Anyway it's bright and sunny but chilly here.  I did start to try and dig a trench round Cluckingham Palace yesterday but hit so much rock I gave up. Good luck to Mr Fox.  

 

Today we are off to La Rochelle to get our eyes tested. A picnic has been prepared. It's an hour and a half each way and the restaurants  aren't open.

 

Hope that Gordon S goes on OK.

 

Regards to all

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Cars outside have a thick covering of frost..but it is a beautiful sunny morning.

 

The Charity shop where her indoors volunteers had its best sale s day ever yesterday. They need it as the hospice charities up here are struggling.

 

I have been told by the Cricket bosses that we shall stop games at 2:45  then restart at 4 oclock on Saturday as tribute to a funeral going on in Windsor. I wonder what, as the 12th man of the Lords Taverners,  Prince Philip would have made of that. Could be interesting to see what happens. My "wake" will be my home made cricket tea.

 

Today should be a catchupwiththingsIcouldn'tbebothered todoyesterday day. The eye drops the eye doctor used gave me a head ache.. his suggestions on what I can do next were less than practical..we shall see.

 

The IKEA on the M621 realised people knew where the short cuts were and blicked them off..never been back since then.

 

Have as good a day as you can!

Positive thoughts to all ERs and I hope we get good news from our missing ones , especially Gordon S

 

Baz

 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, Inner Temple Hare, 

I'm knackered .. not a good night, 5 hours with many wake ups and turn overs, unable to comfortable, then 2 hours of semi dozing on the sofa..

 

Ben the Alarm Clock Collie was on time this morning, and He loved his morning patrol, little cloud and the great fried egg was poking it's face above the sand dunes.. He really didn't want to go back in..

 

I had started the landrover as we first went out, so there were little see through holes appearing through the ice on the windows by the time I got in. The wipers did the rest, but the sections not covered by the wipers were still iced up by the time I was at work.

 

 No less than 5 Pheasants that had achieved their Darwin awards  scatttered along the roads today..

 

The temporary traffic lights Between Tess and co and Macarthy and Stone merchants to the deluded, were stuck at red all round, which led to me arriving here 10 minutes later than normal.

 

I think playing rugby on gravel was probably better than the the concrete hard grass pitches with flints appearing, that we had to play on at school..  

 

I'm just about to start this weeks second system, it will be given to me shortly, the first system is on 40 minute automatic runs with a wiring change knob turn between, and will be for most of the day.

Ah second system arrived..

 

Time to... Get on with it..

 

PS do you think FootRot flats would be a good book for Ben?

 

Edited April 13, 2021 by TheQ

[polybear]

8 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

They had that problem when they opened a large branch just outside Reading - easy enough-ish to get out of the shop but it was then taking people well over an hour to drive out of the car park.

 

Bear seems to recall that when the Edmonton IKEA opened the queues to get in started on the North Cicular - not helped by special offers such as a sofa for fifty quid (or thereabouts).  IIRC the Police either stopped the opening or persuaded the manager to do so himself.

 

1 hour ago, chrisf said:

Many thanks to all who have advised on camper vans and where to put them. 

 

Bear has advised several camper van owners precisely where they should put them, usually when stuck behind them for miles on the single carriageway sections of the A303.....

 

In other news:

Bear's late today - still not dressed and I've floor grout to attend to...

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis was at it hammer and tongs first thing this morning but a brace of nurofen is putting him in his place.

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

You don't get Boag's in the 'other' Queenstown. It's Speight's there. (Both are owned by Lion.)

 

Queenstown, NZ has the same latitude south as I currently do north (>45°). Queenstown in Tassie has the same latitude south as the Oregon/California border is north (42°).

 

EDIT: This is an approximate (eyeballed) transposition using the website "thetruesize.com"

Home is about as far south as Orlando is north.

 

Sydney is about as far south as Los Angles is north (~34°). Likewise for Rockhampton and Havana (23°) or Perth and Savannah, GA (32°).

 

Australia is about 7.7M km^2. The lower 48 states of the US are about 9.5M km^2.

 

I understand that New Zealand is opposite Spain on the globe and Australia is opposite the Sahara/North Africa. The only place that is opposite the UK is Antipodes Island south of New Zealand.  

[Andrew P]

Woohooo, the Sun is back with vengeance this morning, the walk was nice but not to long as I didn't want to upset the hip as I have a little painting to do today in the coving above the Fireplace where two small brown patches show where the damp was creeping in. Now that that is sorted, and the coving is dry, it just needs a tidy up.

 

Not much else planned for this week.

 

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

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, 6c to start and heading upwards, but s short sharp shower has dampened things.

 

Footrot Flats always gave a chuckle when visiting Kiwi, the NHN's in-laws are naturlaised Kiwis.  Step-SIL's family are 'cow cockies' - cattle ranchers - so have all the books.  Ben would love them.

 

Tank has started already, only another days work on the paths and patios now I think, just as well as it costs, even at mates rates.

 

IKEA in Gateshead also caused chaos when it opened, queues all around the western bypass.  It had shortcuts, we used to know them so could whizz around and get out quickly - bar the queues at checkout, that seem to be endemic with the places.  There's not one here thankfully.  I miss Jamie's reports.....

 

 

[jonny777]

Dry and sunny here in North Somerset. I may have no excuse for not getting out the mower later. 

 

I think blackbirds must be nesting close by, as a magpie landed on the roof of next door's shed (which is closely adjacent to the boundary fence) and the blackbirds went crazy. There were at least three of them making a terrible racket and dive bombing the magpie which, after a couple of minutes of all-out blackbird attack, decided that it might be advisable to go elsewhere. 

 

Since then, serenity has returned.  

[TheQ]

How would they notice Ikea? They opened the Newcastle western bypass and have for ever been digging it up again. I don't think I've ever been through there without a big traffic jam. If the A66 is closed, I tend to use the A68 now.

[New Haven Neil]

3 minutes ago, TheQ said:

How would they notice Ikea? They opened the Newcastle western bypass and have for ever been digging it up again. I don't think I've ever been through there without a big traffic jam. If the A66 is closed, I tend to use the A68 now.

 

It was about 30 years ago.... We've been on Fraggle Rock 19 years!  The Western Bypass was always a 20mph mobile traffic jam but as I worked at Newcastle General at the time it was the 'quickest' (relative term) way to work from South Shields.  Oh how I don't miss that commute - 2 hours on an evening sometimes. For 12 miles.  It isn't a road I have driven on since we left Tyneside, thankfully.

[TheSignalEngineer]

9 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

They had that problem when they opened a large branch just outside Reading - easy enough-ish to get out of the shop but it was then taking people well over an hour to drive out of the car park.

Wednesbury was like that, trying to get all of the customers out of the car park and onto J9 of the M6 at 4pm on Sunday afternoon was not clever.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

It’s another beautiful sunny day outside, where’s all this rain that was promised? Not that I’m complaining! Anyway, I’ll give the garden a miss and my back a rest and carry on painting the 2 dining chairs I started a couple of weeks ago. Once they’ve both had a coat of paint I’ll do a little more organising in the cellar. I need to get some dust covers out to cover the shelves that I haven’t yet found room for in the shed. 

 

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

 

Brian

[Coombe Barton]

When I need something from Ikea I now use their delivery service. Coventry, our nearest closed, and no it's either Wednesbury of Ilkeston, not worth making the trip for. Fortunately I'm we;=ll equipped in what I need to install, so its now a question of fitting it.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, New Haven Neil said:

Oh how I don't miss that commute - 2 hours on an evening sometimes. For 12 miles. 

 

I do recall a certain young cub regularly managing a similar commute in 12 minutes.....

RD250 + no sense whatsoever + a lot of luck + white paws covered in yellow sticky stuff.

No names.....

 

In other news:

Tea break time; the knees/back/neck/left wrist will be complaining big time before much more of this grovelling on the floor lark.  I did wonder if a second application of the sealant may be needed/beneficial, but a try-out on the small area I did yesterday resulted in no darkening of the grout in the same way as the first coat does (it lightens again as it dries) which suggests it's sealing the surface as promised.  The bad news is that I followed the manufacturer's data regarding coverage per bottle and bought 2 bottles (at twenty quid a time) - no way will I need anywhere near that much - I'll be amazed if I get thru' even half a bottle.  Must investigate if I can return one of them (Ebay purchase, but from a company so distance selling regs. still apply;  I'll still have to swallow the hit on postage though).  Turdycurses.

[PhilJ W]

One for Chris.

 

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

stuck behind them for miles on the single carriageway sections of the A303.....

The problem with the A303 is that it goes where people want to go.  The "faster" route which some people in expensive suits would prefer us to use, namely the M4 / M5, does not always go where people want.  It is somewhat longer in miles from London to Exeter by the motorway and can be no faster in time despite having a 70mph limit (even if much more than 50mph in practice is uncommon) for much of the way.  The A303 is as close to a straight line between two points as can be got by road and I cannot understand why it is not yet dual carriageway near-motorway standard throughout.  The A30 now is from Honiton through to Carland Cross in Cornwall and in  a couple of years will be all the way to the Camborne by-pass.  

 

Afternoon all.  A beautiful sunny day which dawned frosty but is now warm enough that I shall parade dreckly in shorts for a litter-pick around the hedges and general tidy-up of the Hill of Strawberries.  Significantly busier through the House of Fun today as people got to grips with the nation being open once more; in particular the oiks were back bound for Thorpe Park without either tickets of face-coverings but with attitude and entitlement by the bucket-load.  For the first time in many months I found myself sharing a bay of four seats on the train home with one other passenger; hitherto I have been one of a tiny handful aboard but today there would have been perhaps a couple of hundred distributed through its eight carriages.  

 

I shall endeavour to read recent posts later.  RMW seemed to be broken this morning and refused to load over breakfast.  Until Later Ron ..... 

[PhilJ W]

I used the A303 last time I ventured down that way. The reason I chose that route was that it passed by the village of Podimore. Podimore is where some of my ancestors had lived two centuries ago so I wanted to stop off just to have a look. I went to the local church St. Peters, hoping to see if I recognised any names on the gravestones but regrettably most of the gravestones had been removed and placed against the churchyard wall. Most if not all of them were unreadable due to weathering and erosion anyway. As it was also midway through my journey I stopped off at the local hostelry https://www.podymore-inn.co.uk/ for lunch. Glad to see that it appears to have survived the lockdown.

[Andrew P]

5 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Woohooo, the Sun is back with vengeance this morning, the walk was nice but not to long as I didn't want to upset the hip as I have a little painting to do today in the coving above the Fireplace where two small brown patches show where the damp was creeping in. Now that that is sorted, and the coving is dry, it just needs a tidy up.

 

Not much else planned for this week.

 

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

Well that didn't last long, washed the Car and made it RAIN.

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

Slight overnight frost of no consequence to us or ours as the GD is off today and since then the sun has shone and it has warmed up a bit as the wind is no longer in its worst quarter.  Friends - who have now lived in a campervan for several years - are visiting this afternoon  in the van so will have no need even to enter the house to use our facilities.  They have been all over Europe since they bought it and sold their cottage in Herefordshire and seem quite used to the nomadic lifestyle but it does have its inconveniences and they need a land based address for various purposes.

 

I must admit to considerable fondness for the A303, a road which i have travelled over off and on for a good many years.  It was a pain back in the 70s at times as it divided our railway management pa laterallytch in halfand trying to get back from somewhere like Axminster to Frome of an evening could be a right pain especially in bad weather.  The real agony nowadays is the Stonehenge stretch where very long queues build up at busy times but outside the busy times (and the hay and straw shifting season) most of it is now a delight to drive down and the westward extension of the Honiton bypasss  has also greatly benefitted journey times.  Years ago when we regularly rented a holiday flat in Falmouth I used to record all my journey times and sectional average speeds and always went west in the small hours of either Saturday or Sunday and could average only a little short of 50mph between Tilehurst and Saltash.  Overall it remains my favourite road route westwards as the M4/M5 interchange, especially westbound, is a major delay factor on that route despite being able to maintain high average speeds elsewhere, especially on the M4.  But the even bigger favourite nowadays is train to Truro and thence by rental car although the old BR staff discount rates from Hertz have long gone.

 

Cars duly sorted into correct order for tomorrow's workings; scones are I believe making their way from the fridge to the oven;and visitors arrive soon.  Have a good day everyone and thoughts are with Gordon and his family, hoping that things are going well,  and with Dave and his Meccano dad.

 

PS We have today been given a date & time for Jab 2 by our Drs' surgery   I wonder which Doctor we'll get this time round?

Edited April 13, 2021 by The Stationmaster

[Dave Hunt]

I'm afraid that things are not all tickets-boo for Dad. Physically he is improving but we managed to have a FaceTime chat with him this morning courtesy of a very helpful ward clerk and he is in a bad place mentally. He said that the sense of isolation is getting to him and he's not sure how much he can stand. I think that problem is due to the fact that most of the time they are apparently having the screens around all the beds due to Covid and with Dad being somewhat hard of hearing plus his bed being a bit isolated in a corner he isn't really communicating with anyone most of the time. He has also developed a fear that he'll never get out of hospital and is becoming afraid of going to sleep. He has actually asked to see a psychologist and when I spoke to the ward manager a while ago he said that he is trying to arrange it. I also suggested that it may help if they move his bed to a more central location and the manager said he would look into that. Not being able to visit him is quite awful but we are hoping that we can talk to him on FaceTime each day.

 

Sometimes life can be a bummer.

 

Dave

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

A walk was walked, and it didn't rain, joy of joys.  Only 2 1/2 miles today, foot and hip both in agreement that was enough.  The village seemed very quiet, but some schools have started back here today so that may account for it.  Only 30 live cases here now, no-one in hospickle, no new cases for 14 days.  We're close....  Lockdown hoping to be relieved on Monday.

 

John CB likes these things - https://covid19.gov.im/general-information/latest-updates/

 

Tank looks like he'll finish today, just as well as my train piggy bank is empty.  

 

PBear, RD250, oh yeah, had a 'C' model for a while, but luckily the first flush of youth had worn off a bit (it was a cheapie for a winter rider), so I survived.  A shame I didn't keep it as not long after it went, they became valuable and folk started making the bits for them again.