Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

1 minute ago, Coombe Barton said:

You're obviously cool.

Then the Sun came out again until about 2pm.

 

Then it rained until 3,

 

then at 4 the Sun has come out again, and it quite warm again.

[polybear]

36 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

Sorry to hear this. Have you considered looking into one of those newer style vertical lifts? It may be an option to the upheaval and stress of moving. 

 

The next-door-neighbour of a friend needed a lift installed in her house; the council would give a grant towards the costs, but only if a certain company did the installation.  They wanted £20K to put a square hole thru' the floor - buddy said it was a straightforward job - cut the plasterboard and floorboard, sort a few joists and job done - no requirement for any steels etc. £20K?  Is that a rat Bear can smell?

 

36 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

Bas, I'd be going to the local media as well (if such a thing still exists) to let them know their council is ignoring objections by saying none received. I'd also be telling the property owner to go f*ck himself as far as access is concerned. Maintenance, yes they can negotiate access but not for new construction, especially if it requires alteration to fencing, walls, or existing infrastructure/garden. Make the b*stard do all the work from within his own property boundary. I'm rather vindictive that way. 

 

Sounds a fine plan to this Bear, only I'd tell the owner that he could go f. himself with the rough end of a pineappale (though I've never actually figured out which end that is - neither seem terribly appealing). 

 

32 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

On a nice bright note having had my birthday lunch there cancelled due to locking down I have just booked Mrs Stationmaster's for next week at The Crooked Billet

http://thecrookedbillet.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/26th-April-A-la-Carte.pdf

 

Twenty quid for f & c +mushy peas

 

Bear is currently watching "The Repair Shop" - it includes the restoration of Roland Emmett's original loco, which is now owned by his nephew, who's never seen it work before:

 

 

[Ref44]

1 hour ago, AndrewC said:

Sorry to hear this. Have you considered looking into one of those newer style vertical lifts? It may be an option to the upheaval and stress of moving. 

 

In the 13 years we've been here our house has slightly more than doubled in value. The major refurb 3 years ago paid for itself before the paint had dried. 

 

Bas, I'd be going to the local media as well (if such a thing still exists) to let them know their council is ignoring objections by saying none received. I'd also be telling the property owner to go f*ck himself as far as access is concerned. Maintenance, yes they can negotiate access but not for new construction, especially if it requires alteration to fencing, walls, or existing infrastructure/garden. Make the b*stard do all the work from within his own property boundary. I'm rather vindictive that way. 

 

50 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

 

I was just about to also ask about vertical lifts. It did look as if MiL was going to have to live with us. We would probably have hired a conventional stairlift initially but a vertical lift would have been better. In our house there is a location where it could go from the hall to the landing. For a conventional stair lift although our stairs are quite straight I think a curved start and finish although adding to the cost would prevent the “rider” falling down the stairs when getting out of the chair. MiL didn’t  come to us. She remained in her own flat and has overnight care + some visits in the daytime. 

Thanks for the suggestions; looking at the layout of the hall/landing the only feasible option would mean putting the top into the third bedroom. There are also issues re the WC and a couple of other access issues given that a wheelchair may well be needed. Add in a possible diagnosis of vascular dementia, there is a lot to consider.

[Barry O]

Leeds has a few items of Rowland Emmett Design and Build

 

Emett Machines

 

They are in the Merrion Centre (I think.. haven't been in there for a while..

 

Yes I can contact the YEP but who reads it??

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Wine has been delivered, along with a letter from one of my ex employers.. BAESystems.. my pensions from them is now £100.14 a month.. oh bless... what shall I do with the extra dosh? (I did cash some money out of the schemes when I left including my AVCs as I have two better pensions.

 

I shall be umpiring on my own tomorrow so get a 1.5 times a normal rate.. about £60...all muddling tokens.

 

Herself brought some Railway Booklets etc for me to price for the Charity shop.. I reckon about £20 tops with nothing over £2.50 and most £1.

 

We will be having a Moresaons curry for tea as the eat by date indicates it needs eating today.

 

Local your number are down to between 0 and 2 ... let hope it stays at 0.

 

Good news from one of our ERs who has been missing for a while.

 

TTFN

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

I have seen the episode with the Emmet loco its a good episode.

 

Years since i went in the Merrion centre or the St johns centre. Every time i went it seemed there was always someone near the Headrow enterances giving away free samples.

[JohnDMJ]

12 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Wine has been delivered, along with a letter from one of my ex employers.. BAESystems.. my pensions from them is now £100.14 a month.. oh bless... what shall I do with the extra dosh? (I did cash some money out of the schemes when I left including my AVCs as I have two better pensions.

 

I shall be umpiring on my own tomorrow so get a 1.5 times a normal rate.. about £60...all muddling tokens.

 

Herself brought some Railway Booklets etc for me to price for the Charity shop.. I reckon about £20 tops with nothing over £2.50 and most £1.

 

We will be having a Moresaons curry for tea as the eat by date indicates it needs eating today.

 

Local your number are down to between 0 and 2 ... let hope it stays at 0.

 

Good news from one of our ERs who has been missing for a while.

 

TTFN

 

Baz

 

So who's doing the Square Leg slot?

 

In a works internal match, as a then Scorer Member of the ACU&S, I did once score and umpire at SqLg! The rules of the engagement were that having scored more than 25 runs, they were 'retired not out'.

 

There was an appeal for run out; I didn't see it as I was updating the sheet but I looked to see who the appeal was against, looked at his total (and took into account his membership of a CC) and, loudly so all could hear, vocally gave him "'out' on the basis that someone else should have a go"; he took the decision with the humour in which it was made! It caused amusement amongst all involved!

Edited April 30, 2021 by JohnDMJ

[Barry O]

Just now, JohnDMJ said:

 

So who's doing the Square Leg slot?

one of the batting team.. there is a world shortage of umpires.. you get used to it but it means Saturday night is always a bottle of red wine (apart from if you are also umpiring on Sunday)

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

Our local rag got taken over by the same publisher as the Yorkshire post. Its now rubbish 

When it was part of Yorkshire weekly newspapers it was about 60p its now about 1.50 and they have the cjeek to use google earth for a lot of photos

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. I've been looking at stair lifts as I sometimes have difficulty using the stairs. I know one will fit as the elderly gent up the road who I mentioned this morning lives in an almost identical house to mine and he had a stair lift fitted a few years ago. I've also got space for a lift. The upstairs landing has a wide area directly above the utility room so there's plenty of space.

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Does Mr Pi1lock own a Pub by any chance?

Cynical? Moi?

He actually bankrolls the party in question. It will be interesting to see how many vote for them.

[polybear]

38 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I've also got space for a lift. The upstairs landing has a wide area directly above the utility room so there's plenty of space.

 

 

Whilst I expect by their very nature they are extremely reliable, I would always be inclined to have a mobile in my pocket in case the b.thing should pack up mid-flight; since I live alone I'm always in the habit of carrying a mobile - I do a lot of DIY-ish things/going up into the loft/shed etc. and an accident or sudden illness means such gadgets would be kinda handy at not being found some months later as a gooey stain on the carpet....

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Leeds has a few items of Rowland Emmett Design and Build

 

Emett Machines

 

They are in the Merrion Centre (I think.. haven't been in there for a while..

 

Yes I can contact the YEP but who reads it??

 

Baz

There certainly was an Emett macine in the entrance to the Merrion Centre which opened IIRC in the 60's. Whether it is still there I have no ides.

 

Jamie

[JohnDMJ]

Shame I edited my post!

 

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

one of the batting team.. there is a world shortage of umpires.. you get used to it but it means Saturday night is always a bottle of red wine (apart from if you are also umpiring on Sunday)

 

Baz

 

1 hour ago, JohnDMJ said:

In a works internal match, as a then Scorer Member of the ACU&S, I did once score and umpire at SqLg! The rules of the engagement were that having scored more than 25 runs, they were 'retired not out'.

 

There was an appeal for run out; I didn't see it as I was updating the sheet but I looked to see who the appeal was against, looked at his total (and took into account his membership of a CC) and, loudly so all could hear, vocally gave him "'out' on the basis that someone else should have a go"; he took the decision with the humour in which it was made! It caused amusement amongst all involved!

 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

I do a lot of DIY-ish things/going up into the loft/shed etc. and an accident or sudden illness means such gadgets would be kinda handy at not being found some months later as a gooey stain on the carpet....

Many years ago, just before Christmas I went into the loft and chucked down all the parts to assemble the Christmas tree. As I was about to descend I accidentally kicked the ladder away. The landing looked a long way away! I couldn’t just stay there all day and wait for Aditi to come home as I had to collect Matthew from school. So,I thought if I lower myself and hang onto the edge of the loft it isn’t too far for my feet to fall. Unfortunately it didn’t work like that as while lowering myself my feet swung up touching the ceiling so I fell flat on my back to the floor. I managed to avoid the fallen ladder and the rather pointy metal bits of the Christmas tree. I did break a couple of ribs. I purchased and installed a proper loft ladder. I take a phone with me if I am alone. 
Tony

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

gooey stain on the carpet

Carpet in the loft!    How very posh!  

 

That's not the Polybear I recall ......

[PupCam]

22 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I purchased and installed a proper loft ladder.

One of my better purchases a few years ago having made do with a makeshift thing for far too long.

[PhilJ W]

I have a loft ladder, I had it fitted after I had the boiler installed in the loft. One slight problem is I should have had the opening enlarged at the same time as it is rather small and the loft ladder takes up a bit of that space, only an inch or two but it makes a difference. Now that I'm getting older and stiffer its not so easy wriggling through the hatch.

Edited May 1, 2021 by PhilJ W

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, jonny777 said:

Big Sur is the Californian name for Mac OS 11. 

 

I have heard less than complementary quotes about it, but I can't tell you from experience as my processor is deemed to old to run the software, and I am coping quite nicely on OS 10.15.7 or Catalina as Apple would wish you to call it.

The old Mac ran on cats.  Mountain Lion was one of the later ones I believe.  This one seems to run on places and other stuff.  Big Sur shows as MacOS 11.3.  It does stuff.  It does most of what I need better than I could do it unaided.  It doesn't like older Microsoft things like Word (currently v16.48) which means I have to locate a backwards-compatible reading application for most of my documents.  Computers are like cars to me - I don't need to know how they work, I don't pretend to know how they work but I do need them to work.  

 

5 hours ago, Ref44 said:

The issue is she is likely to fall off the seat trying to get onto it. This happened to our next door neighbour who then fell down the full flight of stairs. The ensuing injuries saw a one way trip to hospital.

Stairlifts - my late parents always coped with the stairs in their home (albeit slowly and carefully in their later years) but after dad passed at age 88 mum was left alone and at 91 we offered her the opportunity to have one fitted.  There would be no-one else there to help her if needed or if she was unwell - or fell on the stairs.  She was delighted.  It was installed, she visibly had a new lease of life riding up and down when ever she needed and not having to plan cups of tea around the need to dash upstairs for the bathroom.  Hers was a Stannah with a seat from which it would have been near-impossible to fall from having arms and safety belts.  It might have been possible to fall from the top stair but a small gate was provided to eliminate even that possibility.  Her new lease of life was very short however as she passed peacefully and quite naturally away just three weeks later.  We contacted Stannah; they were totally understanding and suggested this sort of thing was quite frequent.  For what it was worth the removed the lift and we received something like a 75% refund.  

 

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Has the opt out of Royal Mail delivered unaddressed items ceased? You used to be able to fill out a form.

I have no idea.  And I had no idea.  I'll ask Postie when I next see him.  A most affable and friendly chap and who always addresses me as "Young Rick" when we see meet; his round usually coincides with my arrival home from work.  He has regularly asked after Dr. SWMBO having seldom seen her in the past year but has been assured of her well-being and Covid-safe reluctance to answer the door.  

 

A very enjoyable and extremely substantial Indian meal was enjoyed tonight.  We have become accustomed to delivered meals usually being more generous than they might appear from tiny images on tiny screens - or from a text-only menu - but "2 samosas" appeared as 4 samosas, likewise with popadoms and portions of chutney and sauces.  "Small Lamb Biryani" was more than ample for two and would have fed four with the side of vegetable curry which accompanied it unadvertised.  I barely touched the chicken madras as there was so much other food to enjoy.  All the remains are now safely chilled in the fridge for A. N. Otherday.  Or possibly even two other days.  

 

The vegetarian haggis for Sunday turned up on the Ocado order (which once again had no missing or substituted items) so there is a 400m exclusion zone around the Hill of Strawberries for Monday.      The only issue we have with delivered groceries currently is micro-cauliflowers.  They are sold "each" so no weight is given; the last three have turned up barely large enough to occupy the palm of the hand and with the greenery to be stripped off even that diminutive size before use.  I do prefer to see what I am buying but we are not yet ready to venture back into the feral world of supermarkets full of everyone.  I don't much mind but I don't want to inadvertently collect anything nasty and deliver it to Dr. SWMBO.  We shall re-consider if things continue to go in the right direction and when we reach second-jab-plus-three-weeks which is in mid-June.  

 

Thus ends April.  A warning to all mariners and aviators.  Tomorrow is May Day, May Day, May Day.   It would have been Padstow Obby Oss Day but that has been caped for the second year now.  I'll have to play one of the many videos on You Tube and remember how it was before - and hopefully look forward to how it will be again.  

 

Take care.  Stay well.  

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I found the ad for the Stannah lifts and it states that in event of a power failure they will sink slowly to the ground and I assume any locks will release. I should imagine the same applies to the stair lifts. Time for tea, be back later.

[New Haven Neil]

My God-mother had a lift installed in a very small semi - it went from a corner of the lounge to her bedroom above - makes sense.  Once used she sent it back to the other station, so it had virtually no impact to either room unless actually in use - she just had to keep the approx. metre square space clear for it.  Very compact and sensible, when she passed away the house was bought by chance by a couple who both had disabilities, one blind, one with physically less able, so they asked for it to be left in - save us a job.  I don't recall the make unfortunately, but it was very good.

[Ozexpatriate]

I don't personally have an objection to 'junk' mail. While it has an environmental burden* it keeps the USPS busy on their appointed rounds, six days a week as other volumes of mail decline and I recycle it all anyway.

 

Australia Post now makes only two deliveries per week, which I find quite appalling.

 

* I don't have a big objection to paper made from sustainable softwood forestry, other than perhaps the amount of bleach and other chemicals used in the paper-making process. The growth of such forests has a (small but) net positive contribution to reduction of CO2 in the air. I do wish the manufacturers of paper towels and toilet paper would go unbleached.

[simontaylor484]

On an episodeof 24hrs in a&e last week an old lady fell into an empty swimming pool she had to be air lifted to hospital apparently she had tied a rope so she could climb out if she had any problems. Her son appeared on a piece to camera the family had no idea how she managed to get out.

[Ozexpatriate]

Oregon now has the fastest growing case rate* of CoViD-19 in the US. This is quite inexplicable to me, despite presuming a combination of pandemic fatigue-related behaviour, relatively few exposed to the virus at this point due to prior effective government intervention, and new variants of the virus.

 

* Daily case rate is only 10% ahead of the national per capita average and cumulative fatalities are about one third the national average.

 

Hospital occupancy is increasing and the Governor has moved a number of counties into extreme risk, resulting in the re-closure of things like indoor dining. Naturally the backlash of complaining about the impact to small business is in full force. I'm tired of all the complaining about what I see as responsible governance.

 

It's quite exasperating. (I've had two Pfizer shots and my +2 weeks is up in 10 days or so.)

 

Edited April 30, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[simontaylor484]

On a slightly larger scale Dick Strawbridge fitted a lift in his Chateau in France it worked on a vacuum like the old money tube

 

It just needed accurate cut outs of the joists and a large plastic tube fitting .

 

Just caught up with the buuildings that fought Hitler another good episode Air raid shelters ,bunkers on stop lines and decoy towns with cunning effects timed to distract the Luftwaffe from bombing cities the main example they showed was outside Bristol.

 

No further side effects to report from this mornings jab

[tigerburnie]

G'night all