Early Risers.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

My legs were very painful yesterday.  First impressions are that they are no better today, which will be a disappointment.  I attempted to do some weeding before lunch and between showers but managed only about 20 minutes.  I shall try again today, for there is plenty of space in the garden waste bin which is to be emptied tomorrow.   To be honest, I would rather lie on the bed and catch up with the comics but one must show willing.

 

I could almost feel sorry for those who rule us.  The overwhelmingly negative reaction to the announcement on Monday must have been very dispiriting for them.  Now it is not like me to be optimistic but I welcome any prospect of the constraints of the past year and a half being lifted from our weary shoulders.  The trouble is that we have all been conditioned to expect the worst.  Undoing that mindset will not be easy.

 

It can take courage to announce the date of a birthday, so best wishes to Andrew C and Petethemole for yesterday and PhilJW for today.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris   

[jamie92208]

Good moaning, editor cleared and breakfast being consumed.  Early start today as the roofers started at 07.00 with power tools.  Beth is not at all amused.  

 

Happy birthday to Phil and belated greetings to Andrew C and Pete.  The shopping got shopped yesterday and I did make a start on fitting the new flyscreen to the kitchen window. All measurements were taken twice, the instructions perused and I then started cutting the three pieces to length.  Thd tricky one with the blind and roller inside it. No problem.  Hacksaw and stanley knfe wielded.  Started on the first upright, nearly finished and my hacksaw blade shattered  into 3 pieces.  That was a cue to coming back in and watching the last hour of TdF. That was good as the Flyer from Fraggle won the stage. Good to see.

 

This morning I'm off to buy some replacement  hacksaw blades and other things. This afternoon  it's time to take the car to be sorted.  We will be watching some kickball later.  

 

Apart from that there is not a lot to report so I will wish you all the best.

 

Jamie

Edited July 7, 2021 by jamie92208

[Barry O]

8 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Perfectly good reason for not watching shunting. You'd probably have lost her attention.

 

The rails for the goliath were still there when I saw it but, unless my memory is tricking me, the crane itself had been scrapped by Sept. 1969 when I arrived.

I did see one of the "Get Carter" bucket chains (possibly the one in the film) relentlessly dumping colliery waste into the North Sea but I don't remember where. I didn't have a car so it can't have been too far away. I found it a very eerie sight and sound and , with no visible human involvement and a deserted beach, there was something rather alien about it. 

AFAIR there were  still rails on the north pier at Tynemouth at that time but they'd been lifted from the yard at the shore end though their trackbeds were still very obvious.

It was at Blackhall Colliery.. we were told to "Badger off" when we spotted the film crew..

 

Baz

[Andrew P]

Not bright but breezy.

 

Hey Hi all what a great Wednesday  it has been so far.

I've woken up, = that's a bonus and a relief.

Back pain is not quite so bad, = another bonus and relief.

Legs seem to be working, = all be it a little stiff and Zombie like.

And I feel fine.

So, onward and up ward as they say.

 

I must head to the Bathroom as the Boiler repair man is due some time after 8, (I hope he meant AM.)

 

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

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

We get through macerators at the rate of one every 18 months because they are not designed to operate at the temperature offered by the hot water.  It has also confused guests at times to find the cistern feels warm and the flush steams; at least the offending item is in our own en-suite and not the family bathroom normally offered to visitors.

 

Brings a whole new dimension to the phrase "Dropping a Steamer"..... 

Bear was reminded of another drawback of Macerators at 0230 this morning, namely when they decide to operate when you're half-way thru' a No.1 and make you jump out of your fur whilst in a "just about awake" state.  No.1 almost became a No.2....

 

3 hours ago, BR60103 said:

Our government had a stockpile of protective gear, including masks, from the 2002 SARS outbreak. However they were life-expired by last year. Who knew that masks had a best-before date? (Who found out?) My question: would they still work as dust masks for wood-workers and such?

 

 

Bear has seen expiry dates on engineering screws for non-critical applications....

As for the masks, I'd say almost certainly for DIY use; in fact they may well be fine for medical use too - all the Gov. need to do (if they haven't already) is take a sample for lab testing to confirm performance.  Trouble is that we live in a throw-away society and such behaviour doesn't earn back-handers for new orders.  Cynical Mode off....

 

Bear has some wall cupboards to fix securely - and hopefully all aligned with each other and level too.....

[Barry O]

Happy Birthday @PhilJ W.

 

More rain overnight but.. so what? 

 

I will continue to wear a mask a la Singapore and India.. if nothing else it should reduce the risk of flu in the winter. Once the schools disperse for the holidays rates will drop.. but we need to make sure that people who can be vaccinated are..

 

Today I shall be wielding the shark, then swabbing the floors which are not carpeted. I have been informed that once these tasks are complete the day is mine... wooooopppppiiiidddddooo!

 

The Head Brewer of Camerons explained to me that to make beer from another area they stripped out the minerals etc from their water (obtained from a deep well) then added minerals to match those of the original brewery water. Sounds mumbo jumbo to me..

 

Stay safe!

Baz

 

PS the ER "echo" is back!

Edited July 7, 2021 by Barry O

[AndrewC]

Greetings from the boring borough. 

 

Thanks everyone for the Birthday wishes. It was a rather good weekend and the first time in 20 years that I spend my birthday in a tent. (no bears either) 

 

Just catching up on everything. I've mentioned brewing before and as John has said beer needs hard water. These days they can analyse the water and recreate the correct chemistry manually by adding salts, calcium, iron, etc to replicate. (so they say) However, it is never quite the same. In the case of Gales & Fullers, the water may be 99% correct but the recipes had to be altered so much to adapt to different styles of brewing vessels that the results are a poor facsimile. (see also, Doom Bar, any Young's beer, even Brew Dog's Punk varies depending on whether they brewed it or if it came from a contract brewer in Belgium.)  I do take issue with the so called purity law. To me it is like telling a composer you can only use 4 notes in your symphony. Beer has been around for thousands of years. Fruit, nettles, bog myrtle, hops, juniper, oats, rice, wheat, are just a few ingredients that have been used in the past. It was the purity laws that led to the stagnation of brewing for so long. It is why today the bulk of beers are fizzy over chilled crap lagers (Carling, Fosters, etc) or warm flat twiggy real ales. To me a good "craft" beer is one that is creative and well balanced. Throw a nicely made stout into a whisky barrel for a year and what comes out can be magical. Sour beers, fruit beers, spontaneous fermentation beers like Cantillon, eisbok beers, trappist, dubbel, tripel, etc, the list of styles goes on and on. Of course there is the opposite side of the coin, where some brewers have pushed the envelope just a bit too far. Brewers like Tiny Rebel and Omnipollo are renowned for going just beyond the silly line. (bacon, ham, etc) 

 

Our water is very hard, coming from the chalk of Kent. The funny thing is when we were in Charlton, not 4 miles away the water was far softer. Bizarre. Back in Calgary the water was beyond hard. No I'm not talking about ice. Both main sources flow down from the Rockies and through some very heavy limestone formations. Once upon a time there was a local tv/radio advert for water softeners. They put rocks in a washing machine and then yelled over the noise. 

 

Time to do some work. Coffee to hand. Enjoy the day. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Dry but a bit cloudy this morning, showers are predicted but we might escape them. Not a lot doing today, I have to go to Tess Coes for the fodder run so I might treat myself to a vanilla cheesecake to celebrate my birthday. Now time for breakfast, be back later.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and a very Happy Birthday to Phil,

Cloudy dull start here with the chance of some showers and sunny spells. Not much change there then.

 

Baz,  I think my toy is past repair,  certainly beyond my capabilities.  Could only shift the body slightly yesterday and stopped before I did more damage.  I'll have another go but will probably just end up with a heap of bits.  

I'm told "walkies" are on the agenda today as we are both very unfit.  Can't really disagree with that after last week's exertions in Exeter.

Nothing else to report so enjoy your day and..

.. have a good one.

Bob.

Edited July 7, 2021 by grandadbob

[jonny777]

Dry and bright here in North Somerset, but showers seem to be close by. 

 

I am not sure I welcome the relaxation of all covid rules, although I know it is going to be down to individual decisions. I will continue to wear a mask on public transport and inside shops, because for me nothing has changed.

 

In fact, given the figures, infections have worsened over the last few weeks; and that seems surprising given that tens of millions of us have been vaccinated twice. 

 

I shall be doing very little today, as nothing needs watering except tomatoes and peppers in the greenhouse which need liquid feed anyway; and a double ascent of Mont Ventoux on the Tour de France is a spectacle not to be missed on any account. And this will be followed by the Denmark v England football which ought to be enough excitement for one day. Also, I can batch scan railway negatives at the same time, without too much trouble.   

[TheSignalEngineer]

Morning all. Looks like our supply of water is due for another topup shortly. Ours is ranked as very soft, being run off water from the gritstone moorland around Woodhead. It flows down to the reservoir between Mottram and Godley for treatment before being pushed back uo the hill to the service reservoir. It has a low calcium content, so low that I managed 15 years out of my last kettle without any furring before it died of natural causes. The water company website gives a table on which it ranks soft water as having a score of under 60. Across over 30 samples it registered between 20 and 37. Interestingly it has no added fluoride as it picks up some naturally on its way across the moor.

[TheQ]

Mooring awl Inner Temple hare,

4.5 hours sleep followed by a long gap then one hours sleep.. Back to a poor normal,

 

Our water here out of the chalk as it was in Wiltshire, the Hebridies it's soft.. But stains the kettles brown as the peat colours the water..

 

Ben the happy Collie was bouncing around on his patrol this morning he's not been this happy out there for ages.. He even tried his hide round a corner , then when I approached coming bounding out all happy I'd come looking for him..

 

We've had some rain over night and it was quite cool this morning..

 

I've been reading on various Norfolk broads forums the problems with weed in the rivers is increasing, this is because the rivers are getting cleaner.. It's clogging water intakes, propellers and rudders..

Which brings me to the design of the future rudder for Blue Moon, having spent hours designing a super performance rudder which therefore means a high aspect ratio (long, thin and deep), I'm now worried that might just be a weed collector. 

 

Old fashioned rudders on boats designed before the pollution cleared the weed, had shallow draft, "spoon rudders", that is if you look down on a spoon from above the rudder was the shape of the outer edge, but angled down at 45 degrees from vertical. So I'm now reconsidering the rudder shape, and doing research on weed avoidance measures..

 

I brought in my hydraulic crimper today, we have a couple of hooks on wire to hold up the lid over the oil bath when in use, these had previously been bodged up by the boss. One had failed and the other didn't look too good. So length of old boat stay was chopped up and a couple of crimps later it looks a lot better.

 

I see the boss of "MY PILLOW" is predicting Trump will return to power on August the 13th.. I do hope he's spent a lot of money on this.....

 

Work on the second Major system is proceeding OK, I've just handed back the first one.. The boss is happy with the new wires to the oil bath lid..

 

Time for... The next measurement..

 

 

 

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by TheQ

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Guess what, it’s raining, by the look of the garden it’s been raining all night! So it looks like another day where I will not need to water the plants!

 

So, as today will be a virtual repeat of yesterday, it looks like I might get a little wet, so I will have time my journeys to and from the shed as well as I did yesterday. I am hoping that I will get as far as I did yesterday and get the next shelf unit cleared, removed, dismantled, re-assembled and re-sited in the new underfloor storage area. Well that is the plan, if it all goes as well as I hope, I should at least get the reduced height shelves in place. So, I had best get on with it. 

 

As for wearing masks, I personally can’t wait to get rid of the darn things, but I will always carry one with me and I shall wear it if I use public transport (highly unlikely at the moment or if I feel uneasy etc. As for going OUT to the pub, that is something we don’t do very often so we do not miss that, eating in restaurants, that can wait for now!

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian. 

Edited July 7, 2021 by BSW01

[AndrewC]

oops. Insufficient caffeine. 

 

Happy Birthday @PhilJ W 

[tigerburnie]

Many Happies for today Phil.

Q I remember the water in the Norfolk Broads was the same colour as my coffee in the late 1960's, last time I fished in Wroxham I could see the river bed, that used to only happen in the depths of winter in the past.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a Sidcup which is grey and cool but currently dry.

 

Happy birthday to Phil.

 

Curry's tell us they can't reproduce the fault on our laptop - ie they can charge it up - which is partially good news on the basis that the thing works but bad news if it occurs again. They are going to try some more tests on it.

 

Some of you may remember Coca Cola's attempt to make Dasani, their water, in the UK. They chose their site in Foots Cray as the source of the manufacturing. They used the local tapwater (come on down, Rodney and Del Boy), and "purified" it. Unfortunately they added so many purifying chemicals to it that it was less pure than the tap stuff and breached safety limits. This article summarises it nicely:

 

https://www.mashed.com/193457/the-real-reason-you-cant-buy-dasani-water-in-the-uk/

 

And as it says, you can't buy it in the UK. There is also a priceless part about the advertising campaign that I had not known about.

[simontaylor484]

Good morning 

 

Ah the old Peckham Springs 

 

Best before dates on ppe I seem to recall that was part of the problem at the start of the pandemic that the strategic reserve of ppe was out of date. Hadnt the chair polishers thought of rotating stock through it, although would out of date stuff been better than none at all, same with contents of first aid kits .

I know hard hat's have a life of 5 years after production

[grandadbob]

"Walkies" have been walked.  Only 30 minutes and a mile and a half but that was enough for The Hip and The Knee today  who are now both protesting mightily.  It's strange how some days it's a real effort and on others no problem at all.  I blame it on the water which here is very hard at 277.46 ppm.  This causes much furriness in kettles etc and I've often thought about water softeners but never got a round tuit.

Just been notified that my replacement cork will be here between 13.50 and 14.50.  If so that's a big thumbs up to Messrs Charles Cantrill for putting things right quickly.

Coffee now and then I need to make a phone call to see what's happened to the refund for the deposit for our cancelled anniversary party venue which has been promised for several weeks.

 

Edited July 7, 2021 by grandadbob

[Coombe Barton]

19 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

I know hard hat's have a life of 5 years after production

That's because of plastic degradation. Old hard hats are false security.

[TheSignalEngineer]

24 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Best before dates on ppe I seem to recall that was part of the problem at the start of the pandemic that the strategic reserve of ppe was out of date. Hadnt the chair polishers thought of rotating stock through it, although would out of date stuff been better than none at all, same with contents of first aid kits .

When I was in charge of our office supplies I used to donate any out of date bandages and similar items to a St Johns Ambulance group for use in training and competitions. Good for them to have a supply of the real thing without wasting money on in-date stuff.

[laurenceb]

Birthday greetings Phil

[PhilJ W]

I used to use a water filter/softener until I found out that they add sodium to the water. Sodium is the element in salt that raises blood pressure. It made little difference in other ways too, the kettle still furred up as it did before I started using the water filter. In the case of the kettle furring up I use a descaler called Oust. Easy to use and perfectly safe as it is based on formic acid. My paternal grandmother in the early 70's lived in Northumberland Heath, not far from the boring borough. The water was so hard there that an electric kettle would only last a few months. All that was available was a solid chemical shaped like a shell that you put in the kettle and was supposed to absorb the limescale but that was rather ineffective.

[petethemole]

Happy Birthday to Phil.

 

My new kettle is a nice shade of red/crimson and boils faster than the previous one, which has been withdrawn and sent to the breakers.  The trip to that Sainsbury's branch enabled a catch up with stepson, who does security there.  He's sick of the job and wants a change.  The pay is poor and he was recently assaulted (bitten) and received little support from his employers.  The police seem to be doing nothing despite the event being on CCTV and all three offenders ID's are known.

 

Stay elfy.

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

That's because of plastic degradation. Old hard hats are false security.

Of course, plastic degradation is mainly because of sunlight and oxygen. 

But please don't tell the government otherwise they'll try to ban them.

[jamie92208]

2 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Of course, plastic degradation is mainly because of sunlight and oxygen. 

But please don't tell the government otherwise they'll try to ban them.

Or tax them.

 

Jamie