Early Risers.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Kelly said:

My health has been in somewhat of a decline however over the time I've been having to take him to work, mostly the stress, and weight gain has occurred, so I'll be having to try to deal with that going forward.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Kelly said:

 Hopefully I can manage to shift some weight over the next few months, which will certainly help.

 

You can do it.  You're an ER'er.....

Bear & Hippo stand by to help - just unload any contraband in our directions.  Cake, Pizza, Chips, Sweets.  Don't worry,  our pain is your gain - or should that be loss?  Bear confused now....

[PhilJ W]

Hello again from Estuary-Land. Great to hear from Kelly despite its not being all good. My mobility has been in slow decline for some years now but visiting exhibitions and swap meets etc. seemed to slow the decline somewhat. To get about at such events I use a walker that is fitted with a seat, very useful if I want to take a rest. It folds up and easily fits in my (very small) car. The only thing is it sometimes ends up being used as a shopping trolley festooned with shopping. It does give me some exercise, or did when the exhibitions were running but now I only get exercise walking around Tess Coes.

[The Stationmaster]

G'day all,

 

Editor duly cleared but now the good news - belated happy anniversary to Mr & Mrs Baz; great to see the return of GDB, welcome back Bob; and good to hear that Dave H cracked bu y v coming across the right person to push action in respect of the necessary details tp get his dad back home, it really is encouraging to come across those in that sort of area who really set put to help and make things happen - I hope it goes well for his dad.

 

Sorry to hear Kelly's news - not so good alas.

 

On other matters there seems to be some potential confusion over the way the TIS (Traction Isolating Switch) works on units with power operated doors.  The switch is worked by the doors being proved shut and locked, the simplest and safest way of doing the job.- so if any door is not proved shut and locked traction power cannot be applied.  Things are slightly different on a moving train as door release is linked to train speed and the requirement is that the doors should only unlock if a train is stationary or moving at less than 5kph (on Class 373 units the speed was 5mph when running in UK mode).  Thus on some trains it could be possible to manually unlock a door if the train is moving below that that speed but it is the unlocking (on the door system itself, not by the manual control) which would trip the TIS.   (This is the 2013 standard but some of it definitely applied back in the 1990s - as per Class 373).

 

G word thus far avoided but yesterday involved some pressure washing following the work done by opur garden elf from next door,.

 

Have a good day one and all and stay safe.  BTW there are murmurings that even if the UK Govt decide to let us out to more places some will not be prepared to accept non-essential travellers from Britain due to the rapid growth here if new variants (which our Govt and some very daft people allowed/brought in from elsewhere).

 

 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl, Bin A bit busy today.

Current shunts mostly, this lot have been hidden away for years, but they need a measure now..

A not too bad night sleep, but the lack of all week means I'm desperately trying to stay awake at the moment.

 

Yesterday It being good ish weather cockwombles abound on the road, an illegal private scooter came hammering round the corner on the road into work .. Not any one I've seen  from the factory, so he was going round the next couple of corners to a dead end, shortly after a legal scooter was being ridden illegally , two on board and on a pavement.

Further on 3 separate  cycles illegally on the pavement.

 

This morning someone cycling slowly along the NDR 70mph dual carriageway ignoring the cycle path a few feet from him..

Also this morning a crop sprayer being followed by the two big coaches I mentioned a day or so a go... Hence one very long traffic queue.

 Mind you I'm glad I wasn't round the south of the city this morning  a lorry overturned on the A11 London Road , A47 Southern Bypass junction.. The two busiest roads in the county at the busiest junction...

 

The Boss isn't happy, having given up trying to recruit a qualified metrologist, they are now trying to find a graduate in the right field.. They online interviewed 2 yesterday..  They turned out to be from the Apprentice TV style idiots ..  I can do this, but when asked simple questions about the subject.... No they couldn't...

 

In better new more handicap spreadsheets having had the success with it in the last couple of days I decided to extend the information on the spreadsheet  for P, E , J , I that's dimensions  of Jib and Main for as many boats on there as I could find.. It went well even if on one really flash website, once I got to the technical page it was a photo copy of a scraggy bit of paper, written in pencil badly photocopied.

 

Time I went Home..

 

 

[tigerburnie]

'tis raining for the first time in what seems like weeks, we are sat here discussing it's merits, I got up to go to the kitchen and remarked "you do know you have a line full of washing out there", never seen her shift so quick lol(and yes I did go and help).

[Ian Abel]

BIN day, remarkably quiet again this week, I must've missed the memo that they're all starting midday in future! 

 

Yesterday a non-event.

Today will taxi driver the Mrs to/from her chiropractor appointment, and that's about all.

 

For work, staff at the Long Island client have returned from vacation and are madly adjusting figures on financials, so I'm charged with making the reports show what they NOW think it should all look like!

 

 

Miserable weather today, 22 and very humid to start, high overcast with only 20% chance of precipitation and high in the 31-33 range with high humidity.

 

Onward...

 

[The Lurker]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Sitrep......

 

The Sydney delta outbreak grew by 11 today, although pretty much all have been linked to other cases so  spread so far doesn't seem to have got out of control.

In response we are all wearing masks inside including workplaces and we can't drink standing up.

 

Oh and we've all done that toilet paper thing again for some unknown reason.

My local Woolies just now.

 

is that because you can no longer do something else standing up either?

[Gwiwer]

20 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Congratulations to the Mrs. and Baz

I missed that.  My apologies.  Congratulations offered retrospectively.  

 

Today has been a wipeout.  Hayfever at the Extreme level and some.  I can barely see, breathing is not guaranteed , lying down in a dark place is the only way to survive. See you another time.  

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from Sidcup where the sun and the clouds have been in equal attendance today.

 

Good to hear positive news about Dave's Dad, and good to see GDB and Kelly back.

 

Not too much news from here. I managed to obtain both Autosport and LDC for him this week so he is happy. He seemed to enjoy his after school activity yesterday which was god but it was not his Annual Review - that's next week, thus reinforcing Mrs Lurker's view....!

 

I see that Silverstone is to be a pilot event with 140,000 attendees, among whom will be the Lurkers. You won't see us of course...that's the thing about Lurking! Two of us will be fully vaccinated, and Elder Lurker should have had one jab by then - he's been sent his invitation to get it done. Younger Lurker is at least used to doing lateral flow tests as he does 2 a week - in fact they all work in /volunteer in schools so are doing them regularly whereas I have become quite the home boy and have not done one.

 

Work is so-so. I have been asked to work on a project in which the project manager is obsessed by the process and is busy trying to set deadlines to get things finished. What he has not really grasped until today  is that things are not in a state to even start, let alone finish. Now that's been explained, he's keen on further process deadlines. Fortunately, my contribution so far is limited to asking questions. I don't have to make suggestions as to the ideal solution until they know where they are with financial information. And as the financial information has wide discrepancies between the local accounting information in such currencies as Shillings, Cedis, Meticals, Naira and Dirhem and the group accounting in USD, there's quite a bit of backfill to do first! 

[45156]

Evening All

 

Just got back from a house hunting session, which was not really successful, but then we have yet to get an offer on this place other than the one which was withdrawn and resulted in us losing a number of viewings - but we are now getting viewings here again, which could be useful, as we are the only house in this village at under £350k.  So as with previous visits, I am well behind with events, but did pick up a welcome back to GDB. and also a welcome after a long break to Kelly- and with supportive thoughts for your mobility issues.  Other than that, it has to be the usual, but sincerely meant, generic greetings.

 

Tomorrow, I pick up the fodder run, and then a new tumble drier, which will set me back £15 from the Age UK electrical shop where I work whenever I can.  Postman has just delivered another Mona Lisa twins CD - again bought from their own website at half the price that it is sold on Amazon - and I have now been given membership of their fan club, as I've spent to much on their merchandise - I've never been a member of a fan club before, not in all my 69 years on this planet.

 

Possibly, just possibly, back tomorrow.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, The Lurker said:

I see that Silverstone is to be a pilot event with 140,000 attendees, among whom will be the Lurkers.

Curious about this as I've just seen the report over here.

 

Seems a conflict with the other situations over there, so what is the, non-political please, slant/view of this.

Strikes me, from a distance as at odds with everything that's happening?? Is it another case of money talks as seems to be the case here with many things?

Edited June 24, 2021 by Ian Abel

[Pacific231G]

Evening all

Cloudy today but the rain hasn't arrived yet and it got quite warm and humid during the daily walk.

Weekly shop in Tesco this morning before walkies. The trouble with doing it weekly to avoid nasty little viruses is that the fridge freezer gets jammed with stuff then gradually empties as the week progresses (well the fidge does - the freezer is slightly more long term) .

Going to see oldest friend on Saturday but it wil be depressing as her hip has got so bad that she can hardly move and is in constant pain but with no immediate prospect of an operation due to other medical issues.  

 

Watched Tim Spector's latest update from Zoe today. I find him the most reliable source as he is very clear about what we don't yet know as well as what we do. It seems we have the highest case numbers in Europe yet again so I can't see me getting to France anytime soon.   Delaying putting the sub continent on the red list by three weeks may have cost us dear.

 

All a bit dark but flying yesterday, mostly following railway lines,  did lift my spirits considerably. 

[Andrew P]

The dry warmth has remained all day, but I did exchange the Shorts for Jeans after lunch as it cooled a bit.

 

The lawn has had a trim as we have 5 days of rain forecast starting tonight, so it had to be done.

 

Now for a browse around on here for some inspiration on M....g front.

[polybear]

Bear's roofers rolled up around 11 this morning, but soon cracked on...until half three......  Still, the chimney has now received another coat of paint in various places and is looking good.  A couple of ridge tiles remain to be fitted (why didn't they finish that today??) and around 30 or so roof tiles - if they'd worked until 5 the roof would be done.  Still, I'm paying for the job, not by the day.  They're back tomorrow - they may get wet....

 

Bear progressed well(ish) with the kitchen - the "frame" on the right hand side of the F/F has been carefully planned, measured, scribed to the wall, planed and then secured to the wall using adjustable L brackets.  Tomorrow will see attention turning to the panel above the F/F, which will fit between the two vertical "frame" pieces.

 

In other news:

Here's one way to sort a problem

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-south-yorkshire-57598101

[simontaylor484]

Evening all 

 

G word has been done weeding again and trimming the Buxus sempervirens bushes into a bit of shape.

I believe Roger Moore started out as a knitting pattern model. Terry Wogan definatley worked in a bank he told a tale once that it was a quiet branch he worked in and they were playing cards in the back office when the area manager turned up finding no one in the banking hall he rang the alarm bell 3 times a few minutes later the barman from the pub opposite came over with 3 pints of Guinness.

 

It's local rag day today they change some of the articles on the website 

One is no covid deaths for a month the next article is that surge testing is to start in this area.

Also I found out that the guy who ran the pub quizzes i used to go to he also appeared on who wants to be a millionaire in the Tarrant days and University challenge has been done for dodgy images of underage girls and pornographic images of animals

He is now on the nonce register for 5 years

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. This afternoons eye-lid inspection turned into a marathon and I didn't resurface until after six. Feels a bit muggy at the moment and still 19 degrees outside. News just in Ibiza, Malta and the Caribbean are now on the green list, I've visited Malta three times and would like to go back there again but the Spring or Autumn is the best time as the summer is too hot for me. I have been to Barbados for a holiday many years ago before it was too expensive. I was looking for somewhere to go but I didn't fancy any of the usual destinations around the Med and then I found it at the back of the holiday brochure. At the time it only cost about £40 more than the equivalent holiday in the Med so I went for it. I went late in the year, October and the first couple of days in November and chanced on the best time to visit the island. The 'wet' season starts in April and finishes in September and the most expensive time is from late November to the start of the wet season.

[Coombe Barton]

... and tomorrow? Haven't the foggiest ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/06/24/midsummer-2/

 

 

 

Edited June 24, 2021 by Coombe Barton

[simontaylor484]

Our last trip to the Dominican republic was cheaper than Tenerife at the time we went. Prices seemed to go silly in the Canaries I suppose it was a response to holidays to Tunisia and Sharm el Sheik being off the agenda. Anyhow it enabled a bucket list destination to be ticked off. We got married there we always said if we had kids we would take them. Our eldest was conceived there he is 17 tomorrow 

[Gwiwer]

Midsummer?  It's certainly warm and the air is thick with pollen.  I managed to be awake enough for dinner though not to enjoy the event.  I'm back off to bed in a moment but first a couple of items you may have missed.

 

Following a couple of days behind the demise of one of our senior residents comes the news that the senior cat Upon the Hill of Strawberries, Manfred (not ours, but a daily visitor nonetheless) passed away today at the advanced age of 21.  We aren't sure of the sequence of events but a contractor's van which was parked on the drive started up, reversed and revealed his body.  He may have fallen asleep naturally beneath it.  Or not.  

 

Over dinner there was a knock at the door and an unknown male asked to speak with my wife.  He declined to introduce himself and didn't know her name which made me very wary.  Short version - he has offered her £100 a month to care for a garden which is a part of property he owns very nearby.  But she has to find it first!  Finding it should be easy though it's down a little-known lane but barely 100 yards from us.  It seems he has noticed her efforts in maintaining the planters and hanging baskets in the village and was given our address by the pharmacist's assistant.  She who watched Dr. SWMBO re-plant the hanging baskets outside that location a couple of days ago.  And keeper of the sadly-departed Manfred.  

 

Tis indeed a small village, this, when you scratch the surface.  

[tigerburnie]

Chuckin' it darn, hopefully bring a few Salmon and Sea trout up the rivers over the next few days.

G'night all.

[polybear]

40 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

......and was given our address by the pharmacist's assistant.  

 

 

 

She should've got the man's contact details, then passed them onto your wife with info on what it's all about.  Bear would be less than happy - it could be a cunning ploy by a cake snaffling Hippo....

 

In other news:

Bear had a quick recce to the Co-op this evening - a couple of ding dinners were required, along with some nanas and other scoffable items.  The Co-op are running another "five items for a fiver" offer in the freezer cabinet, four of which are highly desired by Bears; let's just say that none of the items could be advertised on telly before the watershed and leave it at that...

The fifth item - chicken nuggets - went to buddy next door on the way home.  Bears have standards (body is a Temple n' all that) and dross like that doesn't get a look in.

 

Bear got a bill today - for capping off the gas pipe in the kitchen (carried out a month ago tomorrow).  I was hoping they'd forgotten

 

Talking to the roofers today (I have duties as a Tea Bear) I learnt that shortage of materials is a problem at present; it seems that getting hold of 4 x 2 for roofing is a nightmare, and roof battens have doubled in price in a fortnight.  I also discovered that those jobs that require an entire scaffold roof over a house (the scaffold has a tin covering on top, often employed for serious loft conversions, re-roofing jobs etc.) are seriously expensive.  How does £8K sound? 

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Not been around much lately but…..

Sorry to hear of Kelly’s misfortune,

Glad that Mr Hunt senior is almost home and 

GDB is fine and well or a least has made an appearance.

If I’ve missed anything, apologies.

After visit to surgery for blood test first thing we decided to go to Skipton for fish and chips and a look round. SWMBO bought a couple of  items of outdoor clothing and me, 10 old magazines from a charity shop.

Big news today is I've booked a ticket for a recreational event. On Sunday I'm going to Donnington Park to see some historical racing cars whizzing around. I’ve been threatening to book it for a few days.

Cold turkey tonight, no football!

Goodnight,

Robert

 

[polybear]

I forgot to mention a TV news report about a girl going down the Thames on one of these jobbies - they look like good fun, though the prices are very scary....

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/news/video-1979652/Video-Daredevil-zooms-River-Thames-hover-surfboard.html

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Since the extended eye lid inspection this afternoon everything seems to be running late. Only just about to start on Farcebook so will probably be up late.

[laurenceb]

Night awl