Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

18 minutes ago, Simon G said:

smart meter would work here as we were unlikely to get the long wave signal required for the  system to work

I am sure I will soon be corrected but I thought the smart meter connected by mobile phone network frequencies not long wave. The smart gas meter transmits a signal (like WiFi frequency) to the smart electricity meter which sends a signal via the mobile phone network to your energy provider. The electricity meter also sends a signal to the in house display. A smart meter may not work if there is no mobile phone service locally. The man who fitted ours was concerned not about the electricity meter but he thought the gas meter was too far away. However it all connected nicely. 
Tony

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Time seems to have run away this evening. I still have my final muggatee to drink and to tackle Farcebook. Just as well tomorrows lay in bed until late day. 

[Barry O]

Goodnight evertone!

Baz

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well the weather remained unpredictable all day, alternating between light showers, heavy rain or suppressed sunshine. I wasn’t particularly bothered by this this morning, as I was busy writing place name cards, I’m just over halfway through them. It was still the same after dinner, but luckily, it had stopped when it became time for me to set off for my walk to the health centre where I was to get pfizered. However, whilst I sat inside, waiting for my turn to get inoculated, the heavens opened and we had a very heavy shower. Thankfully, by the time I was able to leave, it had stopped, so I had a pleasant walk back home. So far, like last time, I’ve had no side effects at all, to be honest, I didn’t even feel the needle go in my arm! Later this evening, we had some thunder and lightning, which was followed by a hailstorm, which lasted for about 30 minutes. Some of the hailstones were quite large and didn’t half make a racket hitting the skylight in the dining room, I’m glad I wasn’t out in that, I can tell you! It’s just started raining again now after a lull of about an hour or so. 

 

This morning, before I started writing the name cards for Mike and Sarah’s wedding, I thought I’d check the lists (there are 2 lists) of guests to see who’s names I’d be writing. That’s when I noticed that there were 2 names missing of both lists, MINE and SHEILA’S   The first list is the names of the guests who are attending the church service, the second list, is the names of those who will be going to the wedding breakfast afterwards. Under the current restrictions, there is a maximum limit of 30 guests for both the church service and the wedding breakfast. There were 30 names on the church service list and 28 on the wedding breakfast list, so I could just add Sheila and myself to that list easy enough, as that would take it up to 30, taking it to the maximum allowed under the current restrictions. But I couldn’t do the same for the church list, that would have taken the guest list to 32 - 2 more than the permitted maximum. So I called Mike to let him know of this bombshell   omission and left it with the two of them to sort out! Sheila likened it to me throwing a hand grenade   into a crowed room and the running off, thankfully it’s now been resolved 

Edited May 16, 2021 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Goodnight evertone!

Baz

Sounds like a 78rpm record label from the twenties or thirties!

Edited May 16, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To correct a grammar error.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

A supplementary fodder run yesterday led to the discovery of a treat for today’s lunch.  It is many a blue moon since I have eaten trifle and there it was, calling to me.  It will prove a worthy successor to the gammon steak due to be the main course.  I had had the best of intentions towards the garden and the weeds that infest it.  The succession of downpours put paid to that and I caught up with some viewing instead – Portaloo’s latest series on I-player and a blast from the past in the form of the original series of “Queer As Folk”, good ground-breaking drama from the pen of Russell T Davies and dead cultural with it.

 

The week ahead looks interesting.  Tuesday night should see my first gig for over a year with the Hut People at St Neots folk club.  On Wednesday Chilterns Area Group meets via Zoom.  I hope that my landline will have been fixed by Thursday, for Professor Oncologist is due to phone with news of the current state of my prostate cancer.  On Saturday I get to be a Zoom star as one of those who is to present a talk at Virtual Expo-EM – that’s the show where I don’t have to drive to Bracknell this year and spares me the joy of being rude about the town centre.

 

All this makes a pleasant change from being despondent about that ruddy virus.  The chance of a delay to the lifting of restrictions, however robustly denied by those who rule us, is ever present.  It reminds me of a snail climbing up a well during a succession of days only to slide backwards during the night.  Call me selfish if you will but I really do not want my festive season bu99ered up like it was last year.

 

Continuing warm thoughts to Dave’s Dad, Gordon S and all on the sick list.  Best wishes to all.

 

Chris

[iL Dottore]

14 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

...so the dogs can carry on with their doggy pursuits.

Actually Mike, one of Lucy‘s favourite doggy pursuits, after having her ears scratched and her tummy rubbed, is to tear out the throats of her enemies and drink their blood...

10 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

Evening and still confined to barracks. Tomorrow begins the preparatory potion for Monday's procedure!

 

Rissoles!

Henchdog Manual

Chapter 4: Resisting mission-affecting temptation -

No. 22: Rissoles

Any questions, John?

10 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Another eyelid inspection turned into a marathon, nearly three hours. Returning to the full English breakfast, my meal this evening will be an omelette. What about a full English omelette? Prepare the bacon, sausage and black pudding as you would for the pie adding the diced bread and mushrooms if you wish. Brown in the pan with a little oil then add the omelette mix poured evenly over the contents of the pan. The omelette mix is two large eggs with a dash of milk or cream (optional) with seasoning  to taste whipped until it is foaming and then poured quickly into the pan. Baked beans are strictly forbidden and tomatoes only if fresh thinly sliced as a garnish.

What you have just described Phil, is a British take on an Italian frittata or a Spanish tortilla.  In the wonderful world of the gastronomy an omelette is very specifically defined (and one of the things that never ceases to annoy me is how the German Swiss call a pancake an omelette! They are two completely different beasts). Having said that, it sounds most enticing, the only (very minor) criticism I would make is that there isn’t enough egg. The idea behind a frittata is to submerge the prepared ingredients in beaten egg, cook slowly until the bottom half is set, then finish cooking the top half under the grill (until the top is golden and set); turn out onto a plate, cut into wedges and serve with an accompaniment (a green vegetable, chips or even just a piece of rustic bread)

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In CoViD news, the US CDC has declared that fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks either outdoors or indoors, with a handful of exceptions including places like hospitals and public transport. Despite recent CDC pronouncements about droplets/aerosols being the primary infection transmission mode, this behaviour has been declared as "safe", and I am inevitably reminded of Arthur Dent being informed he is safely aboard a Vogon Constructor spaceship:

The same day this was announced, eight members of the NY Yankees baseball staff (all fully vaccinated with the one shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine) tested positive. (While highly efficacious against hospitalization and death, the J&J/Janssen vaccine has perhaps a 63.6% efficacy against infection, according to the CDC.)

 

For those who are not fully vaccinated (X shots + two weeks) indoor mask wearing remains recommended.

 

All this of course creates a conundrum for business owners whose business is conducted largely indoors. They don't want to be (and in the absence of a vaccine passport cannot be) vaccine police and they don't want to have to deal with militant anti-maskers.

 

One is compelled to wonder if rewarding the vaccinated is an intentional hedge to try to encourage the hesitant to vaccinate in an attempt to reach herd immunity. Children, 12 years and over, are now approved for vaccinations and about 47% of the US is fully vaccinated. There are still about 35,000 new infections nationally per day - higher than the peak of the first wave.

 

The general consensus amongst my medical colleagues about CoVID-19 is that the real issue with this coronavirus is not its mortality (Which, depending on who I talk to it a little bit below or a little bit above seasonal influenza), but the fact that it is both terribly infectious and has a high morbidity. A virus being very infectious and easily spread per se is not necessarily a cause for concern ( the common cold is one illness which is very infectious, but causes little concern) if you add to that the significant morbidity (i.e. they require significant hospital treatment) and the sheer numbers of the infected will overwhelm any countries medical system.

 

I think far too many people misunderstand the purpose of the vaccination: a vaccination will not necessarily make you unable to become infected, but it will allow your immune system to effectively deal with the said infection-so instead of coming down with the disease and ending up in hospital on a ventilator, you end up being either asymptomatic or with very mild symptoms that are either shrugged off or perhaps even overlooked, such is their mildness. 

Another misconception, I believe, is that becoming infected with the coronavirus is an automatic death sentence! Let me be clear about this: testing positive for the coronavirus does not mean you will become symptomatic; becoming symptomatic does not automatically mean you will need to go to hospital; going to hospital does not automatically mean that you will end up in intensive care and, if you are one of the unlucky few (in terms of the numbers infected)  and you do end up in intensive care, being intensive care it’s not automatically a death sentence.

 

I believe that what we will see is that with a significant percentage of the population vaccinated, the burden on the health service will drop significantly to acceptable levels and in about 2 or 3 years, CoVID-19 will become just another unpleasant respiratory illness that most shrug off, with (as always seems to be the case with this sort of disease) a number of the vulnerable, elderly and genetically “unfit” (or predisposed if you will) dying each “season” 

 

In a way, I think that the world has been very lucky with the coronavirus, there are a number of viruses out there that make CoVID-19 look like kindergarten sniffles - fortunately, not so easily transmissible (but virologists are well aware of the possibility of viruses with the lethality of Marburg or Ebola and the transmissibility of a Coronavirus.... and it may all depend upon what bit of the rain forest we destroy and thus unleash a hitherto contained virus on the world)

 

Zombie apocalypse anyone?
 

Enjoy Sunday

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, inner Temple Hare,

1/2 hours sleep, exceedingly long awake, 3.5 hours sleep,  1 hours sleep, not good.

 

Ben the alarm clock Collie, was on time again...we've been out, sunny blue skies a few wandering clouds, but dripping trees indicate recent rain. Weather radar indicates some hours before the next rain.

 

My temperature controller seems to be working again and I feel better than yesterday.

 

I've been thinking more on the keel installation, i think some more sanding is needed, partly to remove a couple of small lumps which didn't show before, partly to give a keyed surface for the sealant to grip on. More thoughts on the lifting plate, mean I've ordered 4 adjustable Turnbuckle / rigging screws to ensure each keelbolt gets an equal load during a lift.

 

Suggestions of a breakfast omelette sound good, one will be made shortly.

But first.

Time for a muggacoffee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 16, 2021 by TheQ

[Andrew P]

Having woke up at about 3am it was chuckin it down outside, and now re awakened and its a lovely morning down here in the SUNNY Souf.

 

A walk for the papers will be undertaken very soon, after I had a sit for half an hour and taken my Blood Pressure.

 

Nothing planned for today.

 

Yesterdays planning meeting resulted in a face mask wearing mate and I visiting a Music Shop to look at some nice Guitars.

Tempted = YES.

Bought = NO.

 

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

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Weather people say.."it is chuckinitdarn in your location".. wrong.. sun is trying to burn its way through the fog enveloping the area. 

 

I have a women and girls T20 game to umpire today. The ground they are due to play at is a field amidst open farmland and not renowned for its drainage. We shall see.

 

I hope that News from Gordon S starts to show that he is continue to recover from a very difficult operation. @Dave Hunt.. I hope your dad shows improvement.

 

Time to make my mugatea and get on with Sunday!

Stay safe!

Baz

[Andrew P]

11 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Having woke up at about 3am it was chuckin it down outside, and now re awakened and its a lovely morning down here in the SUNNY Souf.

 

A walk for the papers will be undertaken very soon, after I had a sit for half an hour and taken my Blood Pressure.

 

Nothing planned for today.

 

Yesterdays planning meeting resulted in a face mask wearing mate and I visiting a Music Shop to look at some nice Guitars.

Tempted = YES.

Bought = NO.

 

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

And now, 10 minutes later, its chuckin it down, Pah, as Baz would say.

Edited May 16, 2021 by Andrew P

[jamie92208]

Good moan8ng, we've got liquid maritime sunshine this morning.

 

Yesterday went well, our usual hour with a very engaging young lady. She's onviously working on her facial expressions. I suspect yhat she will be able to wind various older relatives round her little finger with 'Just one Look' to coin another Hollies  song title.  One or two minor tasks got completed and in the afternoon I nearly finished the two garden chairs that I've bern repairing.  In the evening some goggle box. This finished off with a couple of episodes of an American sit com that we are enjoying.  The star is Jane Fonda playing a 70 something divorcee. She looks very well for her age.  I used to have a poster of her sitting on a beach on my study wall at school.  Someone had mislaid her clothes.  It annoyed my housemaster, though it might have bern the fact that she was flanked by Ché Geuvarra and Ho Chin Minh that really got his goat.

 

This morning we are planning to head for the market. Not a lot else is on the agenda yet.

 

We enjoy Frittatas here, they use up a lot of eggs and taste lovely.

 

Jamie

Edited May 16, 2021 by jamie92208

[polybear]

Bear really fancies the idea of a full english fritta today, but since the cooker has been disconnected for over a week it's unlikely to become a reality (though I could quickly re-connect the cooker again, as it's only a bayonet connection).  Hmmm.....

 

The Met Office are now predicting rain (70%) for Bear between 8 and 9am today, and then again at 12.  Turdycurses.

[NGT6 1315]

Moanin‘ awl.  Sending positive thoughts towards everyone in need, especially Gordon and @Dave Hunt‘s dad.

 

Cloudy and slightly windy here with a possibility of showers throughout the day. Pretty good for the garden, of course, given that we recently planted a number of vegs and herbs, as well as blueberries, gooseberries, redcurrant, blackberries, strawberries and raspberries.
 

I also made an attempt at restoring the lawn which had suffered in recent years due to extended periods of drought. A further complication exists in that the lawn is shaded by a tall hawthorn and that this and a number of shrubs draw a lot of water, too. I will need to relocate the pop-up sprinkler as well. Having a car available again will doubtlessly be helpful for that!

[Simon G]

9 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I am sure I will soon be corrected but I thought the smart meter connected by mobile phone network frequencies not long wave. The smart gas meter transmits a signal (like WiFi frequency) to the smart electricity meter which sends a signal via the mobile phone network to your energy provider. The electricity meter also sends a signal to the in house display. A smart meter may not work if there is no mobile phone service locally. The man who fitted ours was concerned not about the electricity meter but he thought the gas meter was too far away. However it all connected nicely. 
Tony

According to the engineer who tried to fit our smart meter, they used to use mobile phone signals, but don’t any more.  Had it been a mobile signal, he might still have had problems, as some mobile providers don’t work reliably here.  From what the guy told me, the gas smart meter relies on the electric one having been fitted first, as it appears to piggyback onto the electric one.

[pH]

Just seen the nearly-new moon set over the shoulder of a local mountain.

[jonny777]

Cloudy here in North Somerset. Spitting with rain but not a lot so far. 

 

I had a strange dream last night where I had gone to spend Christmas with my parents, but was worried that I would not have time to go and visit my dad and step-mother. My brain seemed to have no problems with my father living in two separate places with two separate women at the same time. I stopped of at my grandmothers where I found her sitting in her normal chair by the fire looking at a Christmas cake she said had been given to her by the BBC. It was a large thing, in the shape of the Big Ben clock tower, and fully iced with clock faces and everything. 

 

This went on with a big Christmas party, and queuing down the street to buy something in a shop, but I won't bore people with any further nonsense. 

[Andrew P]

Re LDC, = I did buy a nice slab of freshly baked Lemon Cake whilst getting the paper earlier.

 

It has not, to my knowledge been Drizzeled on, but has a nice lemonie sugarie looking coating on top.

 

I will report the findings back after coffee at 11ish.

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a showery but sunny at the same time rock!

 

Good night was had last night, Canadian hospitality at its best.  Poly would be pleased to know the host, is amongst many other things (he has a brain the size of a planet), something of a noted military historian, and naval bombardments were discussed.  Incoming!

 

Today is archery, at the alternative location due to the usual place being in used for another sport - they pay the land owner for the use of the glen (it's a paintball business), we don't, so they get to take our day occasionally.  The other venue is out in the boonies, and we will get very wet, crossing a river there is always 'fun' - knee high cold wetness guaranteed.  It is all '3D' targets, foam animals basically, rather than painted targets on a boss, so some arrow loss is also pretty much guaranteed - NHN's job to go look for them.  Probably a smaller crowd aswell, so the bores won't be there (too much like hard work for them) which is a bonus.

[AndrewC]

Moaning all from the boring borough. 

Reading the Gordon update. All I can do is offer best wishes for continued small steps and hope things start to improve. Not a good situation. 

 

Also hoping for a good outcome for Mr Hunt's dad. 

 

Up early this morning for some unknown reason. Sunny and warm at the time. Thoughts turned to brekkie on the patio. By the time I'd finished with the espresso machine, the sky had blackened and it was p*ssing down. Since then, waves of sun then rain, then sun........ Currently dark with a bit if drizzle. Meh!

 

Plans to install the planters on the front garden wall that divides us and the ****s next door on hold again as it is too wet and crappy. Plan B under way, some <censored> time in the man cave is now the order of the day. 

 

Enjoy the day.