Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

31 minutes ago, BoD said:

Can’t for the life of me remember which one it appeared in though.

A Night at the Opera (around 4:00)

[Coombe Barton]

... and a new home for mum's jigsaws ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/06/08/waves-2/

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

This all happens July 1st. resulting in all kinds of online meetings to discuss what happens to us mere mortals, and how every aspect of the pay/benefits/email/blah blah is going to transition "smoothly" between now and then!   

Can't say more at present as the behemoth is a publicly traded company, right pain-in-the-arse though for sure, now 7.75 years into employment here.

3 hours ago, pH said:

Serious commiserations, Ian! I went through virtually the same process - it’s not fun. 

Same here four years ago. The acquiring company promised no layoffs. They were true to their word, but the ant hill climbing during the transition inside what was my old company led to a lot of 'targeted terminations' in my chain of command ultimately including me. Lots of ugly politics.

 

Good luck Ian.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The hay fever is only just beginning to subside so I might have a more comfortable night. I have four thermometers dotted about the house. The one controlling the central heating is showing 25C. the one in my bedroom is showing 22C. The one on the landing which is on the cooler side of the house is showing 21C. But the one in the brick shed was earlier showing 31C.!  The reason for that is it has only a single skin brick wall and is on the western side of the house in full sun for most of the afternoon. In winter it doesn't get any sun at all but jutting out of the side of the house and exposed to the prevailing winds its usually freezing. Just checked it again and its now showing 28C. Time to put the kettle on, be back later.

[simontaylor484]

I sometimes sit outside late evening this time of year just listening to birdsong and other sounds and the heat coming out of our west facing back wall is unbelievable 

[simontaylor484]

A bit of an early spotting of the fox tonight. He came up the track behind the houses and got to the bit where it turns to a street promptly turn round and shot off from whence he came twice as fast as he came.

 

I couldn't see anything to startle him but im sure he is more attuned to scents then I am.

 

Usually its 1030 at the earliest that we see Mr Fox or foxy bingo as we call it

[PhilJ W]

We have foxes, muntjac deer and badgers locally. The badgers are known to venture into back gardens near their sett and the muntjac can be heard at night, they bark and have been taken for a dog before now. The foxes are everywhere but when the covid lockdown started they were deprived of their main source of food, discarded left overs from the local kebab shop which was forced to close.

[leopardml2341]

Evenin'

 

I did manage to review some posts earlier, but as I check back now there are a further three pages......

 

Please forgive me if I take the cop out and just pass on generic greetings, well wishes and positive thoughts for all who need them.

 

Had mi second jab early today and I must say it's affecting me much more than the first.

 

Best say goodnight then.

[simontaylor484]

We have deer nearby on part of the old pit site more the old open cast part. But they don't come round this way as yet. As it happens the Mrs saw one on the New road to nowhere or the eastern link road to give its proper title as she went to Asda Glasshoughton.

Was going to turn in but i decided to watch 999 what's your emergency its South Yorkshire so it's miscreants from Donny mainly.  Some right specimens. Including a woman who came home to find the boyfriend in bed with a prostitute.

There are a lot of dissatisfied with the police including 3 brothers who kicked the stuffing out of a druggie who robbed their mums house. The druggie had been charged and then found not guilty.

I was waiting for some Dee dahs taken to the police station on the imaginatively named Letsbe Avenue its near the old Tinsley marshalling yards where the Airport was built

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Mixed day. Walked to Wortley Hall rather than Fox Valley and then went home for a couple of hours and replied to a couple of emails. Went back up to mils at 3.00pm to collect nephews for tea at mils. Took them home at six and hoped for any of the following, take Sydney home for a sleepover, go to fish and chip shop for tea or go to a proper supermarket. Ended up at Fox Valley where there isn’t a proper supermarket and when we arrived home the lady from across the road had just arrived home from hospital after she fell and broke her hip, so paid her a visit. Finally had tea at 8.00pm by which time I couldn’t be bothered so had cornflakes.

Anyway enough bleating,

goodnight,

Robert

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The weather has been absolutely glorious, sunshine all day and very warm too, low to mid 20’s. The cellar has been cleared of rubbish and some items that needed recycling have also been disposed off, so there’s a little more room in it now. The big orange DIY shed was then visited and I came away with the timber for packing the door frames in the cellar. I measured up and started cutting some of the wood before dinner. 

 

After dinner work continued and the packing the frames, the frame around the small access door has been completed and a start made on the internal door has started. I didn’t get this finished, as I knocked off early as I had other plans for the afternoon. A neighbour dropped off some rhubarb on Sunday afternoon, so during last night’s Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, I bought a large punnet of strawberries. This afternoon I made some rhubarb and strawberry jam (3 jars) and a small batch of stewed rhubarb too, the aroma coming from the kitchen whilst I was doing so was very nice. 

 

 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

Good Morning,

 

Up early again, and for the same reason as on my Birthday... Bummer. I suppose I had better bow down to the inevitable and ask the boy doctor for some serious analgesics or even perhaps a DMARD.

 

My thanks to all for your birthday wishes. Whilst the shenanigans that Mrs ID concocted were most enjoyable, my morning expedition to buy “toys” was most disappointing. I went to one of these large purveyors of electronics and found that whilst I could choose from about 100 different types of smart phone and 20 different types of coffee maker, they only had two food processors to choose from. I went to Migros (I’m not sure how you would peg Migros against Waitrose, Sainsbury’s or Tesco) and they had a slightly better selection of food processors including a house brand food processor which although nicely designed seemed a little flimsy for my needs. Although my expedition was not a success, I did manage to get two replacement sauté pans.

 

Captain Cynical, sadly, had to give up his day off to put on the spandex and observe that it was no wonder the bricks and mortar shops are struggling when they are either unwilling or unable to offer a decent choice of items and in Switzerland it would appear that it is mostly because they are unwilling. For example: Sony has a lot of diverse electronics that it sells in Europe, the official Sony Importer in Switzerland only imports a fraction of what is available in the EU and these tend to be, Captain Cynical cynically notes, the ones that are featured in the glossy magazines (which do not include the various consumer guides). Product placement anyone?

 

So, it’s back to the lady warriors to for fill my birthday toy shopping list. I now have an account that covers Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de and Amazon.it which means I can shop around for not only the best price, but also the best shipping costs. Paradoxically, it is sometimes cheaper both in terms of cost of item and shipping, to buy a book printed in the UK from Amazon Italy and have it shipped to me in Switzerland. One of the advantages of buying things from Amazon Italy is that Italy is  considered a low worth market and things tend to be cheaper.

 

This is also true in other areas. For example, sometime ago when looking for a business class flight from Europe to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia I found out that the most expensive departure airports were Zürich, Frankfurt and London Heathrow. The cheapest was from Milan (although I can’t remember if from Linate or Malpensa). A 100 km or so difference between flying from Zürich to KL versus flying from Milan to KL does not explain why a business class ticket out of Zürich costs SFr.6000 and out of Milan €2500. (would it be appropriately cynical of me to observe that high-cost departure airports service cities with a significant number of bankers?)

 

Well, enough from me. After yesterday’s indulgences (beer, whisky, CAKE) I will be fasting for the best part of the day - existing on coffee and aspirins (for the joint pains). Which is almost, but not quite, a French Intellectual’s breakfast (black coffee, aspirins and a Gauloises Caporal!)

And on that Gallic note I bid you a happy hump day...

 

iD

p.s. When I read my comment about the French Intellectual’s Breakfast to Mrs iD, she said that the comment certainly shows up my age....

 

Edited June 9, 2021 by iL Dottore
Spelling of Gauloises Caporal

[leopardml2341]

Mornin'

 

Too early.

 

Back later

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

I may be tempting providence but I am about to book my Christmas and New Year holiday in Switzerland.  I am only too well aware that much can go wrong between now and then.  For a start, Switzerland is in the amber zone, but so are most other countries – for the time being.  It was quarantine issues that wrecked the trip last year of course.  Ffestiniog Travel tell me that travelling out via Paris instead of Brussels, Aachen and the Rhine Valley is cheaper as well as giving me longer in Switzerland.  I asked for my trip to be customised because the route via the Rhine Valley, though nice and scenic, is no longer a novelty!  We shall see what happens.

 

Some G-word got done yesterday afternoon.  I wielded the fork and ripped out a selection of weeds but my troublesome knee did not like it at all.  The garden waste bin is now all but full and I must remember to put it out tomorrow so that it can be emptied.  In the evening I enjoyed a presentation of archive pictures via “good old” Zoom.  The presenter’s choice majored on Ireland in the 1950s and was supplemented by some useful graphics.  For the next few nights my bedtime reading will be about Ireland!

 

Today there will be laundry.  My joy is unconfined.

 

Best wishes to all, especially all the sick and missing.

 

Chris

[Andrew P]

After yesterdays day of two halves, today looks a bit similar. I have a friend and his wife visiting from Stockport this evening, as he is down in Pompey visiting his Sister and Brother. He will pop around for a coffee, and it will be the first time we have had a meet up since 2019, so that should be quite a nice evening.

 

Its very misty here this morning, but as I've been browsing and now typing it has started to lift, and I can just make out the outline of the woods to the rear of us, (about 150 yds away), so I'll finish this and go for a walk I think.

 

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

[Erichill16]

Morning All,

been up an hour or so reading the news. Just having breakfast then a battle with the day, mil and the nephews.

Going to be a hot one again.

Better get going.

Robert

 

 

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

Just a quick visit to say Hello.  I hope you are all fairing well.

 

There isn't a lot to report - just plodding along!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

It is a very pleasant morning here. I know this as I was out before 7am putting the bin bags out. I also moved our bins (they don’t get put out) to give plenty of room for the fence installation.

I have a diabetic retinopathy test after lunch. Aditi will take and collect me. I am glad I checked, the clinic isn’t where I thought it was.

Have a good day. 
Tony

[polybear]

8 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

There are a lot of dissatisfied with the police including 3 brothers who kicked the stuffing out of a druggie who robbed their mums house. The druggie had been charged and then found not guilty.

 

 

That's the trouble with vigilantes nowadays.  Too lenient.

 

Did they say why he was found not guilty?  Some obscure legal technicality?  I do wonder how some lawyers sleep soundly when they know they've managed to get a complete wrong 'un off the hook.

Someone my Boss knows is a lawyer, and he was most distraught at losing a murder case he was defending.  My Boss remarked that it was blatantly obvious that he'd done it - so why was he so upset?  "Because it looks bad that I've lost a case" came the reply.  It's almost as though the lawyer wants an unblemished fight record like a Boxer:

Fights: 10

Won: 10

Lost: None

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

......significant number of bankers?

 

 

Spelling mistake?

 

In other news:

Bear plans to go thru' buddy next-door's charity donations in order to double-check everything is in order and presentable for donation (I'm aware of the costs charities can incur in disposing of cr@p they can't sell, and also effort involved in cleaning etc.).  In this case I'm already aware there is no cr@p involved; a couple of electrical items need testing, a couple of bits need dusting, and a large Tonka Dump Truck needs a wash as it's been stored in his FiL's garage - that's about it.

 

There's also four tomato plants to be re-potted; they didn't get watered on Monday and when Bear went into the garden yesterday and saw them I thought I'd killed them - I was amazed how quickly they recovered when watered.

 

Apart from that there's the kitchen to do - the last coat of paint to the end of the tall end panel (the correct end this time...) is designated as first job of the day; once the above duties are out of the way it'll be starting on the plinths for the base units.