Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

13 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Three cracks of Thunder earlier but no rain.

 

Now some rain.

 

Looking a bit bleak

Torrential rain here.  Quite a few cracks of thunder.  Some alarming flashes in the sky.  At least it might wash away the residue left behind in the streets by "fans" of the kick-balling persuasion.  

 

This morning was a parade of the hungover.  There were diced carrots where they should not have been.  There was a certain amount of litter.  There were the barely-awake remains of last night's events.  One poor chap staggered off a train just as the doors were closing.  Lurching along the platform in a still-inebriated manner I spotted that the brand-new clothes he was wearing were literally brand new.  The label was still stitched to the waistband of just-unpacked black trousers; the plastic and card stiffeners were still in the collar of a brand-new but badly creased white shirt.  Someone had tied his tie correctly!  

 

I wondered whether he had perhaps hastily "acquired" the garments and was on his way to court.  But more than likely some "friends" had removed last night's attire for a joke whilst victim lay in an alcoholic stupor and he awoke in just his jocks.  Which then begs the question as to whether he paraded in M&S in just-jocks before leaving fully clothed or how had he managed to get that gear on but without removing the labels, etc.   I doubt I shall ever know the answer.  

 

In other news we are to be released from our Covid-related shackled next Monday - in England (and Cornwall) at least though with the other nations likely to follow soon after.  That has already produced mixed feelings and strong words.  I can't wait to get the chin-rag off.  Legally I have never had to wear one but have done so out of respect for others.  I shall continue to carry one in case of urgent need or the obvious discomfort of others in a busy place.  We are yet to be advised of the official position from the employer but assuming they fall into line and agree it's now up to us then from Monday it is OFF.  I am also more than happy to enjoy places of entertainment (eating and drinking) indoors or out.  How quickly individual places adapt to change is up to them but it is known that some will maintain a bookings-only system for now.  

 

Dr.  SWMBO is an advocate of retaining every reasonable precaution though she is a little happier getting out and about now and is working-from-work typically a half-day every two weeks.  Her employer does not want anyone back full time (other than the most essential staff) until mid-September.  Anyone planning a visit to Kew Gardens please note they will retain pre-bookings and quotas for at least the rest of the summer and potentially until next year.  

 

In two weeks we have a mini-break booked as a part of my fortnight's summer leave.  The last three periods of leave have all been in lockdown so I'm also keenly waiting for the chance to see somewhere different.  And to make use of my free travel again.  Last year's "boxes" went unused; 2019-20's quota only partially used.  It's non-contractual so not technically a part of our pay package but being able to make use of it again, without the need to justify travel and (in some cases) pre-book subject to restrictions, will be another step back to the world we lived in two years ago.  

 

Stay well.  Respect each other.  Accept differing opinions as equally valid and important.  

[simontaylor484]

It's still raining here and I'm bored silly i have have that much to do outside.

I cant start with unmentionable things until I have various jobs done including clearing the garage out to make way for the aforementioned.

Further to my last post re John Poulson there were rumours that surfaced a couple of years ago that regular visitors to his house and swimming pool were Jimmy Savile and Peter Jaconelli I shudder to think what would have gone on

 

 

[Andrew P]

Now its raining and Thundering, not seen any flashing yet but it must be somewhere.

[Pacific231G]

Afternoon all.

I had a perfectly dry walkies this morning but in the past half hour it's been chucking it down following and accompanied by a few cracks of thunder (I've not seen any actual lightning yet) but its solid cloud with embedded CB.  The street outside is flooded already and the way it's pouring from my gutters reminds me that I've not cleaned them recently!

I spoke too soon, large lightning flash with an almighty thunder clap  < 1 sec later so it's almost on top now.

Time to get the Northolt and Heathrow METAR and TAF.

[Pacific231G]

21 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Now its raining and Thundering, not seen any flashing yet but it must be somewhere.

Just looked at the Solent Airport webcam and its downchucking it there. The rain here is easing so time for tea and cake (but not teacake)

A close family member is seriously ill and in hopsital since Saturday so I'm trying to distract myself. 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Pacific231G

[Andrew P]

25 minutes ago, Pacific231G said:

Just looked at the Solent Airport webcam and its downchucking it there. The rain here is easing so time for tea and cake (but not teacake)

A close family member is seriously ill and in hopsital since Saturday so I'm trying to distract myself. 

Back to spittin here. no more BANGS and clattering of Tin Dustbin Lids from above.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Weather here is rain, sun, rain, sun, its confused the hell out of the Windows weather thingy. A list of schools and places I worked is below.

Maylands Avenue infants school, Elm Park. Still there but original buildings replaced. School renamed?

Rainsford Junior School Hornchurch. Main building still standing and in use. Renamed.

Hylands boys secondary modern. Malvern Road, Hornchurch. Now a gated housing estate.

Kearly & Tonge Ltd. Mitre Square, City of London. Demolished and rebuilt twice. K&T now part of Morrisons.

Post Office Counters, various post offices in and around Romford. Based at the main post office in South Street, Romford of which only the front wall remains held up by a block of flats. Most of the other post offices I worked in have now gone with the remaining buildings re-purposed.

Hall & Co. South Street, Romford. A new built office block about 50 yards from the post office on the same side of the street. AFAIK its still there. Whilst there I witnessed the fire that destroyed the old ECR wagon works at Gidea Park c.1967, that was two miles away. The wagon works was used as a furniture factory, all that paint, varnish, glue and wood made good fuel.

Back to the GPO, telephones this time in old exchange at Seven Kings. Replaced by flats.

Dagenham Civic Centre, 1970-2008 Building remains (Grade II* listing) Now leased out to an 'academy'.

[New Haven Neil]

Still dry sur le rock of Fraggles, very close and humid though.

 

Lot of tourists here now, groups of visiting bikers, lot of 'furrin' registered cars around, people wandering up the middle of roads on quaysides...which seems to be a feature of visitors.  Maybe it isn't obvious by the amount of traffic it is a road in a working port?    A sprinkling of masks, not many. Also a lot of what I was going to describe as crumblies, but of course I'm now of those now too. 

 

New tyre fitted to the BMW rear wheel, there went 90 quid, hopefully it will cure the slightly wayward feel it has had recently, following grooves in the road etc.  Old tyre was only half worn, if that even, but fingers all pointed that way.  

[TheQ]

Ben the I hate thunder Collie has just run and hidden in his safe place, I've not heard anything, but it's getting seriously darker.

 

Poulson I believe was involved with the construction of the barrack blocks on  Benbecula, a triple story steel framed concrete panelled  prefab facing the Atlantic Ocean . It sways in the wind enough for the water to slosh around in the toilets..

 

I was just wandering around the net and found.. .AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL ETHNOGRAPHY OF 

HISTORIC COLD WAR RADAR SITES IN THE UK

 That's the radar sites I worked on covering the period I worked at them. Yep part of my life is now archaeology..

 

I see NHN has an outbreak of effin clowns. As in effin clown town idiots wandering around the middle of the  A road as they were today.

Edited July 12, 2021 by TheQ

[New Haven Neil]

Buildings I have worked in, sort of....all razor blades and Nissans now.

 

 

 

 

[simontaylor484]

Whilst I am moaning about the rain its not as bad as New York The rain is so bad the Subway is flooding 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

9 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

... its not as bad as New York The rain is so bad the Subway is flooding

I believe that is from last week's tropical storm Elsa. Unusual (from the historical perspective) but perhaps the "new normal" - like the heat and drought in the west.

 

Hurricane Sandy was worse - it involved a storm surge and damaged a lot of properties next to the water in places like Staten Island.

Edited July 12, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

The energy  incorporated in a large building is enormous so reusing and refurbishing existing ones makes far better sense  as would dismantling rather than demolishiing buildings that genuinely aren't suitable for further use. 

Particularly so if the new construction involves a lot of concrete - one of the largest energy consumers and CO2 producers (as a chemical reaction, not just the fuel for the drying kilns) that people rarely think about.

[polybear]

11 hours ago, Mike Bellamy said:

 

Lakeland have what you need - an Induction Hob Protector which comes recommended by the boss of the kitchen - I keep well out of her way when she's in cooking and baking mode !  Only problem we have with it is that the cat likes to sleep on top of the hob so the protector gets covered in cat hair - but it's washable so gets cleaned regularly.

 

Click Here for Link to Lakeland Hob Protector

.

 

Many thanks for the link; reading the reviews suggests it is a bit of a "Marmite" product.  I'll investigate further....

 

8 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Why not, much more fun and probably safer.

 

Jamie

 

Kickin' a Bear when he's down?  That'll be the Police arrest training re-surfacing then.....

(I've just watched with glee what looked like a Police Officer giving one of those scrote who broke into the kickball yesterday a right good punching whilst he was on the ground.  Excellent stuff).

 

7 hours ago, leopardml2341 said:

It's cos it used to be a cycle/motor cycle factory and the (wooden) floors were soaked through with oil - I heard that same story about the highest fire risk having burnt down, but I can't for the life of me remember what that company was.

 

A fried used to work (in the early 2000's IIRC) at the PBI Garden Chemicals Factory in Waltham Abbey; he was a plant maintenance engineer and there were buildings on site where they weren't allowed to use naked flames because the place used to make munitions in WW2.  I guess the garden chemicals probably didn't help either.

 

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Poly, the D20 was in one of the early 'group' photos, around the time your acquisition was shown! A couple eked out their last years rumbling around Newcastle Central as pilots and on little trundles up to Alnmouth.  Out of my pocket money range I'm afraid by a long way.

 

Found it - 62384.  Bear rather fancied the A8, but was a little out of my range sadly.  However,  it worked out well because later offerings proved irresistible and more affordable, so Bear is a happy Bunny, if you see what I mean....

 

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Further to my last post re John Poulson there were rumours that surfaced a couple of years ago that regular visitors to his house and swimming pool were Jimmy Savile and Peter Jaconelli I shudder to think what would have gone on

 

 

Bear came across this clip purely by chance:

 

 

 

In other news:

Twelve handles fitted to doors and drawers today, requiring much care and attention in order to drill in the right place as it's all too easy to fit a handle at the top of a wall unit door and not the bottom....

All nicely aligned and parallel to edges etc., though the use of a digital vernier might be considered OCD.  It's a Bear thing....

Sorting & washing of saucepans etc. carried out, sadly with a few casualties due to them not being suitable for induction hobs.  Sadly this included Bear's frying pan - many a banger have we enjoyed together.....

Insofar as the compatible ones are concerned, luckily their bases were all in good condition - though I did use a fine "Garryflex" rubber abrasive block to give them a polish. 

 

As for places worked, there's only been two:

1. BAe Manor Road, Hatfield (which was De Havilland's in a former life).  The first and the best place, though we didn't always appreciate it as we should have done until it was gone.  Now an Industrial Estate......

2.  BAe Stevenage.  A shadow of it's former self, rapidly being filled with supposedly smart young things who spend all their time writing pointless documents that no-one is ever likely to read.  The old guard are deserting at an ever increasing rate of knots.....

 

And it's chucking it down.....

[JohnDMJ]

Evening awl, for to call it good is inappropriate!

 

Thunderous noises off, but no sign of anything strikingly illuminating, cats and dogs seem to be raining; just hope it doesn't turn to calling (hailing) a cab!

 

Managed to get home in the dry exhausted and ongoing health problems much evident. A visit is scheduled to my ""second home"" tomorrow afternoon for an ultrasound scan.

 

Well, I managed until about 08:05 this morning to avoid the result of some contest that took place yesterday and, in catching up, for I did not check in this morning as usual, I note:

 

On 11/07/2021 at 19:33, simontaylor484 said:

I am sick of hearing about kickball

 

23 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I received a message earlier asking me to avoid calling a particular friend between 8-10pm tonight as he would be "watching an important match".  I replied that Djokovich had already won   The response I received cannot be repeated here!  I'm assuming he isn't allowing for overtime or the whack-a-'keeper shoot-out.

 

We all have our priorities. You chose tennis, I would probably have gone for a cricket team; elsewhere, a Rugby team may have taken favour!

 

16 hours ago, BR60103 said:

A few years ago I read where only a very small proportion of the stories about an certayne game included the word "football", making them tricky to look up on the interweb. I sometimes check them and it's true.

I also find that many of the headlines are incomprehensible to a non-follower of the stuff.

If someone asks me about the game, I usually say "Oh, who's playing?"

 

12 hours ago, polybear said:

 

It seems that sh1t has been directed in their general directions already.    No surprises there, then.  Hopefully it'll not affect them overly, or for too long.  It's a game FFS.

 

 

Unfortunately, heads will roll as the 11 performance artistes on the pitch at any one time failed to deliver.

 

I believe the German term for such a period of 'entertainment' is "fußball"; given a slight adaptation of this into English, (for those unaware, "ß" is equivalent to "ss"), might I suggest Fuss Ball?

 

2 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Just looked at the Solent Airport webcam and its downchucking it there.

 

Out of pure curiosity, pray tell where said Solent Airport is located; having blood ancestry on both sides of the Solent, I can not envisage which this one is. A link to the webcam could also be useful, please!

 

29 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Whilst I am moaning about the rain its not as bad as New York The rain is so bad the Subway is flooding 

 

 

As Petula Clark said: "Don't Sleep in the Subway"; doesn't it make the bread soggy?

Edited July 12, 2021 by JohnDMJ

[Coombe Barton]

... and introducing Agricultural Alex ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/07/12/contrasts-divided-by-a-small-sea/

[New Haven Neil]

Additional to the ships, I can add St Nicholas' Hospital, Newcastle General Hospital, Sanderson Orthopaedic Hospital, Foxdale Post Office, Victory House, Murray House, and last but not least, Trackshack!

[Ozexpatriate]

I'll spare you the litany of schools and workplaces - most of them are extant, though I believe some of the university buildings have been razed and replacements raised.

 

The location of my first real job in Southern California is gone. I was last in the area a few years ago and it was strange to see the site of the building where I had worked for five years completely leveled. Google street view now shows an enormous new apartment / condominium complex (built on the old employee parking lot). The apartments are under construction in the current "satellite" view.

 

The building had nothing of architectural significance. My cubicle was in the back against a window wall. The 'view' was a grassy space in front of storage of a lot of really hazardous chemicals for the manufacturing facility. From the Google views the chemicals are still there. I wonder whether the tenants of the new apartments know.

 

Interestingly, the open field across the street, is still an open field.

[Ozexpatriate]

Looking at buildings in my old stomping grounds, I found this, which some might find amusing.

Apparently it is a "night club". Google records no reviews.

[PhilJ W]

47 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Whilst I am moaning about the rain its not as bad as New York The rain is so bad the Subway is flooding 

 

Not only New York, Regents Park station was also closed due to flooding today.

[simontaylor484]

54 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I believe that is from last week's tropical storm Elsa. Unusual (from the historical perspective) but perhaps the "new normal" - like the heat and drought in the west.

 

Hurricane Sandy was worse - it involved a storm surge and damaged a lot of properties next to the water in places like Staten Island.

Hurricane Sandy damaged the Subway too particularly the line to Rockaway and some sub surface stations were also damaged

[petethemole]

Rail services are disrupted here due to flooding at Southampton Central Station and in the tunnel, also betweeen Eastleigh and Fareham.  I was in Eastleigh earlier but missed the worst, despite several claps of thunder.  My back stormwater drain was bunged up earlier with moss and ash seeds.  Unfortunately the only down pipe from the gutters of our terrace of four houses goes into my drain!  I have a pointy stick for such events.

[PhilJ W]

For those who might be interested. https://leighfolkfestival.com/ Whats more its free.

[simontaylor484]

Thanks for sharing that clip of Johnny Rotten @polybear I had seen it before, there was a similar interview with Bill Oddie.

 

Over the last couple of weeks someone suggested using prickly shrub cuttings to stop cats carping in some planters. I am pleased to report back after using some pyracanthus clippings the cat has not returned. I cant remember who it was that gave that advice but Thank you anyway it works

[PhilJ W]

Glad to be of assistance.