Early Risers.

[jonny777]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Afternoon all. A much sunnier and warmer day than yesterday. Whether the solstice, a midsummer's day or Midsummer's Day (opinions seem to vary on timing) then yesterday was certainly unseasonably chilly for these parts. The Clerk of the Weather will be getting some complaints. 

 

 

There is very little in it, to be honest. 

 

The day length (sunrise to sunset) on Sunday was (in Bristol anyway) - 16 hours 37 minutes and 47 seconds. 

Yesterday it was 16 hours 37 minutes and 48 seconds, and today it will be 16 hours 37 minutes and 42 seconds. 

 

Sunset will only change by one minute by the end of the month. I fail to see why people make so much fuss about the summer solstice. After all it is not as if it is something which takes everyone by surprise in these enlightened times. 

 

Even in the Stone Age, I suspect that the population were more worried about the sun getting lower and lower on the horizon, during December at this latitude, than they were about how early it rose in summer.  

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday, good morning (still, barely) to all.

 

Yesterday was a delightful day, followed by an equally delightful evening imbibing and sorting the world out, should be all done and dusted now  

Ladies returned from their book club meeting and we enjoyed more wine and a pizza!

 

Today taxi service to transport Mrs to work and then pick her up for her Chiropractor appt., nothing else planned. Work rolls on slowly.

 

8 sunny with a light breeze first thing, 24 and partly cloudy the high/afternoon forecast.

 

Tally ho.

 

 

Edited June 22, 2021 by Ian Abel

[Andrew P]

14 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

 

In other news:

I see a motorcyclist has been out and about on Fraggle Rock

 

Terrorising the locals no doubt.

[Andrew P]

16 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Clear Prop!

 

Afternoon everyone.       We thought we'd have a wander around the Swiss Garden and the Shuttleworth Collection at Old Warden today.     Opportunities to make use of our Shuttleworth Veteran Aeroplane Society membership have, for obvious reasons, been curtailed over the last year or so and then when we could I was in no fit state to traipse around!    Still, it was a nice day for it neither too hot nor cold and it was good to get some fresh air.

 

Being "Hatfield trained" I have, as you know, a soft spot for all things de Havilland so it would have been rude to pass up the opportunity for a good, close up gawp at this Dragon Rapide.   What a beautiful aeroplane.

 

In other news:

I see a motorcyclist has been out and about on Fraggle Rock

 

 

Great plane pics, I remember them coming into Portsmouth Airport, along with the Dakotas, but not BEA.

[TheQ]

It's been in the local paper today that people are offering £20k over the original house price and still being out bid..

Couldn't find any places in Norfolk in the top 50, I think we wouldn't let the furriners in..

 

Meanwhile I've had a good day.. no nothing to do with work..it's the handicap spreadsheet, I found another article on why and how she, the professor worked out the formula.

 

While reading that I thought  ?   ?   ? I don't remember that... Yep in the tiny original text I'd thought that "S subcript a " was in the formula  twice as are some other letters. No it was an "S subscript b" .

 

After further research Sb = SA main/1.18+ SA jib/OLR , OLR being the percentage overlap of the jib divided by 100.

This has sorted out why the formula 14A result was so far different to the others. It isn't now.

Unfortunately not all the details splitting Sail Area main and jib  are available online so I'm estimating some.

[PhilJ W]

I visited the Shuttleworth collection many years ago. A feature of the show I attended was a flyover by the B-o-B Lancaster, at about 100 feet and it was very loud!

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, jonny777 said:

Even in the Stone Age, I suspect that the population were more worried about the sun getting lower and lower on the horizon, during December at this latitude, than they were about how early it rose in summer.

Not counted, but there's more ancient alignments towards midwinter sunrise/sunsets than those for midsummer. Longest day celebrations at places likesStonehenge may well be a more modern phenomenon. Beltain/Beltane and Samhain were probably more significant as they marked important points in the agricultural year

[Coombe Barton]

Not your match, was it Baz?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-leeds-57572844

[JohnDMJ]

Good Evening, if one can describe it thus.

 

Delay of the arrival of strimmer cable from the house of South American folk has resulted in the professional services of a local practitioner to express an opinion (along, no doubt, with the customary sharp intake of breath!)

 

Elsewhere,

 

2 hours ago, Andrew P said:

It was good over there, but not as good as it could have been had there not been an Electrical Failure between Eastleigh and Fareham, which is NOT GOOD when you have 3rd Rail Electric units with no power back up.

Anyone got a spare Bus they can borrow please?

 

 

Should be OK if the FGW (diseasle) services can get through!

 

I believe this to be a misquote of a former Vicar of the Eastleigh Parish who, in his writings for his son, based them on stories from the Works; "Coughs and Sneezles spread Diseasles!"

[pH]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

It's been in the local paper today that people are offering £20k over the original house price and still being out bid..

Sorry, but you ain’t seen nothin’! (I don’t know what the asking prices are though, which could make the percentage quite significant.) But here, houses with an asking price of about $1.6M (not unusual for a pretty average house!!) are attracting bids of $200K over asking. Son and his wife are house-hunting at the moment and are becoming increasingly disheartened, and angry at the antics of sellers and their agents.

[New Haven Neil]

1 hour ago, Andrew P said:

Terrorising the locals no doubt.

 

No mate, the locals are all bikers too!

 

It's not quite right yet, but it is going better than it ever has, but doesn't rev  out properly.  Suspect something not right with the ignition advance as it is good low down, or it also been suggested it is too rich but the carb settings are standard.  Always assuming the monkeys that owned it in the past didn't drill the main jet out of course!  It came to my hands with a completely and utterly straight through pipe, which was.....'somewhat' anti social.  First thing in the bin.  I don't mind a bit of a bark, but I don't believe in stupidly loud pipes.  Gets us a bad name.

[PupCam]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

I visited the Shuttleworth collection many years ago. A feature of the show I attended was a flyover by the B-o-B Lancaster, at about 100 feet and it was very loud!

 

The Shuttleworth Collection almost became my second home at times over the last ~15 years or so, helped by the fact that it's less than 10 miles from where I live.    When the Dawn Patrol group, a motley bunch from all over the UK with a passion for building and flying 1/3 scale WW1 aeroplanes of which I am a member, were keen to get involved at Old Warden in some capacity it was sort of natural for muggins to get the job of "Shuttleworth Coordinator".   Having approached the Collection we received invitations to put on both static and flying displays before some of the full-size flying displays.    As it happens, our most active period with the Collection was probably when the Vulcan was back on the display circuit and we were very fortunate to be present at the two displays in 2015 that featured the Vulcan (how lucky was that!) including its final "proper" display (which was also a bit of coup for the Collection).    The Vulcan was quite loud  and of course included that wonderful "Blue note".      

 

The photograph shows the largest collection of DP aircraft we managed to assemble at OW  and Puppers might be detectable as the shortest member of the team   

 

The video (not mine, just found on YouTube) is of that marvellous final Vulcan display.   

Limited to 60 degrees bank?    I reckon the pilot needed a new protractor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

All these tales of cool weather are remarkable to me.

 

This is the forecast by a local television station. Yes in Fahrenheit. (100°F is 37.8°C.)

It was 35°C yesterday (Monday) so today and Wednesday are a reprieve.

 

Normally, in this neck of the woods we consider three consecutive days over 90°F / 32°C to be a heat wave. The historical average for days over 90°F is eleven days per year, but in recent years is twice this much. We're at four so far. 

 

We rarely see more than three 100°F days per year, and these normally come in late July or August. There's no questioning that the trend is hotter.

[simontaylor484]

Evening all 

 

Some holes have been filled this morning they will be sanded at a later date.

The rest of the day has been spent tackling the pyracanthus hedge. It has been faced off with the path and some of the taller stalks removed. Some have been left for the sparrows to perch on.

 

When i had the roof re done at our first house it was slate the timbers were suspect to start with. The slates were stripped off the roofer gave me 30p per good slate that was left it almost paid the robbery tax VAT

 

Some slate comes from China we occasionally picked up slate from felixstowe to go to a firm called China slate.

 

 

[leopardml2341]

Evenin' awl.

 

Brush duly investigated and I can confirm there was a distinct lack of head, handle and bristles.

 

There was however a substantial  amount of conducted EMI from a very (electrically) noisy aux gen, good news is that it's all filterable with existing devices.

 

Tomorrow  sees a visit to CE for some similar investigations on a much newer dual voltage Brush.

 

Back tomorrow evening, A50 drivers permitting. For some reason it would appear that whatever car I drive I seem to have the ability to create an invisibility  cloak for it, I first thought it was just my own car; it would seem to apply to hire cars too.

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, Andrew P said:

Electrical Failure between Eastleigh and Fareham, which is NOT GOOD when you have 3rd Rail Electric units with no power back up.

Anyone got a spare Bus they can borrow please?

Buses were in place from early this morning.  The supply failure was in the National Grid and not of the railway's making so in theory was no different to a domestic power cut preventing you illuminating your existence or turning on the computer to play with this site.  Other sites are also available   

 

Third-rail units do have a very limited power back-up though for traction purposes it is all but useless these days.  They have batteries.  These are used to provide emergency power for auxiliaries such as lighting - including marker lights when berthed - but batteries are not necessarily in tip-top condition and do go flat.  Ask most car drivers!  So when berthed off the "juice" or for an extended period of time such as might occur when a disabled unit awaits recovery that might be days or more away then a red lamp is also mandatory.  Also battery-operated these days but checked and replaced as required and not reliant on the third rail.  

 

Given the amount of current required by on-board computers these days I doubt most units could be moved more than a few yards on battery power alone even if those were well charged.  An old chestnut in railway quizzes was "How far can a unit move on its traction batteries?"  There is no defined answer but the simpler yet robust electrics of the 1930s - 1960s could move a very short way very slowly if they happened to encounter a power failure and could sometimes be moved back onto the juice from the batteries if "gapped".   

 

In other news the Hill of Strawberries has lost one of our senior residents.  I don't know the details other than that he passed overnight and had not been terribly well for quite some time.  A couple of the local places he frequented have been closed today "Due to the passing of a friend" such is the village-like community.  

[Coombe Barton]

... and more from Pete from the Street ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/06/22/developments-on-delta-and-cornwall/

[Gwiwer]

35 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

We rarely see more than three 100°F days per year

I had the pleasure of training a Texan-Vietnamese chap who joined our ranks in Melbourne upon having relocated from home (Houston) with his newly-married Australian-Vietnamese wife.

 

When the first 40-degree day arrived he asked how often it got that hot.  "Oh only on about 10 - 15 days a year" was the reply.  "And how hot does it get?"  "About 110 - more like 120 in open sun or out bush" was my reply, expecting, correctly, that he had a better understanding of Fahrenheit than Centigrade.

 

"   I knew it got hot - I didn't know it got that hot" was the reply.  From someone who had come from a hot place himself .....   

[Gwiwer]

3 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

... and more from Pete from the Street ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/06/22/developments-on-delta-and-cornwall/

The longer nothing is said and the statistics are - apparently - brushed aside the greater the suspicion of cover-up and complicity.  It is very, very obvious that St. Ives (and adjoining Carbis Bay where G7 actually took place), Falmouth and Newquay are now severely infected whilst other adjoining areas are seeing only slight rises and east Cornwall remains almost untouched.  

 

Me smell rat.  Mutterings have reached these ears to the effect that Season 2021 may be a total loss if things don't improve very quickly.  Because nowhere can staff up with the amount of infection and isolation therefore businesses cannot reopen.  On top of which is the chance that highly-infected areas will not be included in a general unlocking if that goes ahead on 19th July.  

[Andrew P]

20 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Buses were in place from early this morning.  The supply failure was in the National Grid and not of the railway's making so in theory was no different to a domestic power cut preventing you illuminating your existence or turning on the computer to play with this site.  Other sites are also available   

 

Third-rail units do have a very limited power back-up though for traction purposes it is all but useless these days.  They have batteries.  These are used to provide emergency power for auxiliaries such as lighting - including marker lights when berthed - but batteries are not necessarily in tip-top condition and do go flat.  Ask most car drivers!  So when berthed off the "juice" or for an extended period of time such as might occur when a disabled unit awaits recovery that might be days or more away then a red lamp is also mandatory.  Also battery-operated these days but checked and replaced as required and not reliant on the third rail.  

 

Given the amount of current required by on-board computers these days I doubt most units could be moved more than a few yards on battery power alone even if those were well charged.  An old chestnut in railway quizzes was "How far can a unit move on its traction batteries?"  There is no defined answer but the simpler yet robust electrics of the 1930s - 1960s could move a very short way very slowly if they happened to encounter a power failure and could sometimes be moved back onto the juice from the batteries if "gapped".   

 

In other news the Hill of Strawberries has lost one of our senior residents.  I don't know the details other than that he passed overnight and had not been terribly well for quite some time.  A couple of the local places he frequented have been closed today "Due to the passing of a friend" such is the village-like community.  

Thanks for that Rick, all that kept being announced was that there was an Electrical failure, so I and other on the Platform just assumed it was on the Network.

Interesting info also, and I assume there would be enough power to open doors to allow exit or do they have a manual override?

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

Just had an e-mail announcing that I have won a £1000 Primark gift card. Before I give them my bank details does anyone know how many stores would I have to visit to find £1000 worth of stock?

[polybear]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

All these tales of cool weather are remarkable to me.

 

This is the forecast by a local television station. Yes in Fahrenheit. (100°F is 37.8°C.)

It was 35°C yesterday (Monday) so today and Wednesday are a reprieve.

 

Normally, in this neck of the woods we consider three consecutive days over 90°F / 32°C to be a heat wave. The historical average for days over 90°F is eleven days per year, but in recent years is twice this much. We're at four so far. 

 

We rarely see more than three 100°F days per year, and these normally come in late July or August. There's no questioning that the trend is hotter.

 

 

It's quite warm in California.....

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/19/1008248475/the-record-temperatures-enveloping-the-west-is-not-your-average-heat-wave?t=1624394402137

 

In other news:

The front of the house is now battened and felted, and it looks like next-doors lead gulley has been replaced; Bear's chimney looks a lot better now that it has a coat of paint, though buddy next door has (correctly) pointed out that a second coat would improve things even more - I'll drop some hints tomorrow....

Tomorrow will see work on the rear of the house commence; weather for the next two days is looking good, but Friday is looking iffy.  Not sure if that's enough time to finish the job or not - we'll see.

 

Bear has been continuing with kitchen fun, which included the joining of two bits of wood using the biscuit jointer - which has worked well; that's the "frame" on the left of the F/F sorted.  Tomorrow will see attention to the "frame" on the right side being attended to - this'll be a bit more fiddly because it needs to be scribed to the wall (which isn't vertical) whilst at the same time the frame has to remain vertical, otherwise the gap between frame and F/F won't be equal from top to bottom.  New words are expected.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Heating has switched itself on again, at least you don't have run the hot taps for ages for the water to heat up. 

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

 

The Shuttleworth Collection almost became my second home at times over the last ~15 years or so, helped by the fact that it's less than 10 miles from where I live.    When the Dawn Patrol group, a motley bunch from all over the UK with a passion for building and flying 1/3 scale WW1 aeroplanes of which I am a member, were keen to get involved at Old Warden in some capacity it was sort of natural for muggins to get the job of "Shuttleworth Coordinator".   Having approached the Collection we received invitations to put on both static and flying displays before some of the full-size flying displays.    As it happens, our most active period with the Collection was probably when the Vulcan was back on the display circuit and we were very fortunate to be present at the two displays in 2015 that featured the Vulcan (how lucky was that!) including its final "proper" display (which was also a bit of coup for the Collection).    The Vulcan was quite loud  and of course included that wonderful "Blue note".      

 

The photograph shows the largest collection of DP aircraft we managed to assemble at OW  and Puppers might be detectable as the shortest member of the team   

 

The video (not mine, just found on YouTube) is of that marvellous final Vulcan display.   

Limited to 60 degrees bank?    I reckon the pilot needed a new protractor

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I do believe the Dawn Patrol has visited Stow Maries in the past. Stow Maries is only a half hour drive from where I live and not that far from Mangapps. 

[tigerburnie]

Evening, nice day spent with family in Perth, a wander through the woods teaching the 6 year old Grandson, what is edible and what is definitely not, he's not keen on trying Sorrel leaves but is looking forward to the wild Raspberries later along with some Blackberries as well, I told him not to pick them on his own, so looks like I have given myself a job later in the year. Fishing tomorrow, hopefully some trout will be obliging, take care all

G'night.

[PupCam]

14 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I do believe the Dawn Patrol has visited Stow Maries in the past. Stow Maries is only a half hour drive from where I live and not that far from Mangapps. 

Indeed,  Because of what Stow is and represents it’s almost the DP’s spiritual home.    We’ve had some splendid times at SM and in the early days before their developing collection of full-size aircraft appeared we pretty much provided the airborne activities there.   I think I posted an aerial video we made at Stow a few months back.  I seem to remember we particularly enjoyed the refreshments provided at the Prince of Wales when it was too dark to fly