Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Torrential rain here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57805391 photo duly credited

 

The Hill of Strawberries has been awash.  Trains have ceased on most lines though service is being restored where possible now.  Buses are diverted, delayed or suspended.  The picture above was taken only a few miles away.  The bridges here are as bad if not worse.  About this bad in fact ..... 

 

2 hours 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 

 

 

The kebab delivery was delayed by road conditions.  The normal 5 - 10 minute wait after receiving the "It's on the way" message was 35 minutes tonight as most roads were closed by flooding and the others choked with traffic.  

 

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

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.

Not the same place

 

2 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

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?

Indeed you may.  Is this not the origin of the "foosball" as in "table soccer"?  Fuss-ball is about right either way.  

 

It's time to inspect the eyelids.  Dr. SWMBO is to accompany me on the train tomorrow, assuming the floods recede, as she will be working-from-work and travelling in my direction for the first few stops.  G'night all.  Stay dry.  

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

Speaking of the weather (we had been, hadn't we?), there is a thunderboomer going on right now. I do hope that some rain will follow.

[leopardml2341]

The end of a pretty c@rp day is nigh.

 

Let's hope tomorrow's  better, for all of us especially those who could do with it.

 

Goodnight! 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, Andrew P said:

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

 

You should report that if you see it. It's your civic duty.

[Tony_S]

52 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

pyracanthus clippings

I wonder if they would discourage squirrels from digging up things too. Unfortunately our pyracanthus died a few years ago and is just a prickly stalk with clematis climbing up it now. 

[Erichill16]

8 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

. 

Not to mention the 60s housing estates built in utopian dreams that didnt last due to various reasons

Not all of them didn’t last, Park Hill in Sheffield is going to be here some time. It’s a grade 2 listed building, the largest in Europe according to Wikipedia.  I did work on the main road by the flats when I worked for Allens and my first business was next to Kelvin flats between Hilsborough and Sheffield city centre. These were demolished in the mid 90s but I’d already sold the business and moved on.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Park_Hill,_Sheffield

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

As I said yesterday work today but I got relief this afternoon so left at 4ish. As a result I’m not fully up to speed on the goings on here so apologies if I’ve missed anything important. I have seen there’s been shenanigans on another thread I and other ERs visit, glad we don’t get that kind of thing on here. 

Tomorrow will be the the usual Tuesday affair by the looks of it. Woopy do as some may say.

I’ll leave it there for now,

goodnight.

Robert

[tigerburnie]

Sorry not ignoring you, rather a lot going on here, will fill ya in later with the details, for now

G'night all.

[Andrew P]

Turned out nice again now.

 

Pity its so bloomin dark.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. There's an event that I'm hoping to attend over in East Sussex next month so I tried to restart my Dart account. I tried to do it on-line but it kept throwing it out so I'll try by phone tomorrow.

[simontaylor484]

The Dart account Phil, is that the one for the Dartford crossing. I remember having to try to get through to them for days to sort out an escort across for an abnormal load. It wasnt massively out of gauge by any means but took a lot of sorting out in the end. Dart tags on the other hand went like clockwork same with the congestion charge we just got the drivers to use a pay point shop and claim back on expenses. You could have an account but that would have meant registering the whole fleet of nearly 100 vehicles 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

an account but that would have meant registering the whole fleet of nearly 100 vehicles 

I have my entire fleet of vehicles registered on my Dart account! As I hadn’t used it for a year I did get a message telling me it would be cancelled and any money refunded. However I was able to keep it going by topping it up. Usually it adds money automatically if the balance drops below £10 but due to Covid we haven’t been over to Kent for some time now. We can see Kent from out upstairs windows so we know it is still there.

[PhilJ W]

My Dart account has been cancelled as I hadn't used it for more than a year. I'm sure that there was a credit on it but I've received nothing back.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

My Dart account has been cancelled as I hadn't used it for more than a year. I'm sure that there was a credit on it but I've received nothing back.

You will have to ring up and ask for it. It should then be credited to whatever payment system you used to fund it. 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Not long after Sheila had left for her Zumba class, it started to rain, it wasn’t heavy rain, but it was more than drizzle, but the rain continued to fall for the rest of the day, right through until late evening. Thankfully it has now stopped, but for how long is anyone’s guess!

 

However, I had planned to stay inside today anyway, so it did not make any difference to what I was doing. I started off by putting the shelving unit I made on Saturday afternoon into the storage area, then filled the shelves. I then made a start clearing one of the shelf units in the cellar, some of the items were put on the newly installed shelf in the storage area. After finding a home for the contents, the shelving unit was then dismantled. I then went to the shed to measure the maximum height for the unit and altered the length of the legs accordingly. 

 

After dinner, I began re-assembling the unit so the shelves match the shelves of other shelf unit in the cellar. So far it’s about 75% done, but will have to wait until tomorrow to be finished. 

 

This evening I completed the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, oddly enough I did not see anyone not wearing a mask tonight!

 

As several have mentioned places that they have worked in, here is a list of where I have worked! I’ve only listed those that I worked at after leaving school, I have omitted Saturday day jobs and paper rounds, as there were quite a few over the years. I’ve only had 2 jobs. 

 

Job 1/ September 1972 - April 1990. 

British Steel Trafford Park, it is still there under a different name, but it has been massively reduced in size. The main security lodge, main office block, drawing office, training centre, maintenance workshop, electrical workshop, the rectifier house, carpenters workshop, main forge and the annealing plant have all gone!

 

Job 2/ April 1990 - July 2017

British Gas North Western, IDC (Industrial Development Centre), Stretford. 

The main buildings are still there, but are now owned by the AA insurance branch, but the actual building I worked in has gone. 

 

British Gas North Western, C&I (Communications and Instrumentation department) , Partington.

The buildings are still there but the site is abandoned and up for sale. 

 

British Gas Transco, E&I (Electrical and Instrumentation department), Bolton.

The buildings are still there but we’re sold off and are now offices. 

 

NationalGrid Gas, Lostock Hall, Preston.

 

The buildings are still in use.

 

All the above were the same company, but name changed due to separations and mergers etc. Also, every site had gas holders which have now been demolished and the land sold off!

 

All the schools I attended are still in use, although one old building has been demolished and has been replaced with a modern building, but it is still the same school!

Edited July 12, 2021 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Pacific231G]

5 hours ago, JohnDMJ said:

 

 

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!

 

 

Hi John

Solent Airport is the new trading name for Lee on Solent aerodrome, (which is still its radio callsign). It's near the town (village?) of Lee-on-Solent on the corner of the coast where Southampton Water joins the Solent. It used to be HMS Daedelus.

The webcam appears to belong to Phoenix Aviation and is on their website

https://www.phoenixaviation.co.uk/

 

Goodnight all

 

Edited July 13, 2021 by Pacific231G

[J. S. Bach]

4 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Speaking of the weather (we had been, hadn't we?), there is a thunderboomer going on right now. I do hope that some rain will follow.

Remember that thunderboomer? Its back again, this time with rain!!

[TheQ]

I see Gwiwer land and more especially SWMBO Gwiwer land aka KEW is part of the BBC overnight weather forecast, 46mm of rain yesterday.. a month's worth.

 

Mooring AWL, inner temple Hare,

A much better night's sleep. 4hours plus , 2 hours.

 

Someone mention after school jobs, my first was a gentlemans clothing shop with adjoining ladies run by the owners wife. The ladies is now a solicitors the gentlemans is now a save the children shop. The lane up the side was a dead end because of a certain station which is my subject of part of our unmentionable hobby.

My second a few hundred yards away was actually excavating Ludgershall castle a summer holiday job, it's been there in various forms for a couple of thousand years it'll out last me.

The third was the NAAFI shop on Benbecula still a supermarket but now NISA.

 

I got in the car after work yesterday. And a wave of generalised pain swept through me and I felt quite sick. The largest part being near my back. So once it had cleared a bit I came straight home. Once home a long eyelid inspection was required.

 

I had intended to go home via the orange shed this is now put off till the morrow.

 

If we did get any precipitation I didn't hear it and Thor's hammer was not heard by me.

 

It is time for me to move. I'll just watch the headlines first..

 

 

 

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

Oh goody, more of the murky past.  Where have I lived?  In Horn Lane, Acton, for my first 14 and a bit years.  Then came the great upheaval in 1962 which took the family to Hartford, Huntingdon.  When I was at UEA, Norwich, from 1966 to 1969 I lived for two years at the Fifers Lane residences and one at Norfolk Terrace on University Plain.  In 1970 I came to Bedford for work and have been here ever since.  I had bedsits in Warwick Avenue and an adjoining street of which the name escapes me before buying a flat in Chaucer Road.  In 1980 I bought an end of terrace artisan’s cottage in Bower Street and there I remain.

 

Where have I worked?  In the summer of 1966 I was a petrol pump attendant, followed by two summers at Green Shield Stamps in Edgware.  The lean spell between graduation in 1969 and starting work proper in 1970 was punctuated only by a spell as a temporary postman over Christmas 1969.  Finally I got a proper job at the Eastern Road Construction Unit in Bedford, where I started in May 1970.  In 1981 I joined the Civil Service, who kindly paid me to go away at the end of March 2006.  The buildings in Bedford where I worked, Portman House and Heron House, are both now flats.  I had three years or so at 2 Marsham Street, Westminster, known as the concrete toastrack and now demolished.  Then came a year or so at Charles House, Kensington, visible in many photos taken at Kensington Olympia station.  Towards the end of my career I worked in two Cambridge offices.  I did not enjoy the commute and was glad to go when the time came.  

 

Best wishes to all, with warmest thoughts and fingers still crossed for Gordon S.

 

Chris   

[AndyB]

Morning all.

I've not been around for a while so would like to pass my best regards on to you all.

 

Life has been extremely hectic both at work and at home over recent months. I suspect it will get busier still in the months to come.  Years to retirement are now in single figures. 

 

I do hope to make it to a couple of local shows in the months to come and hopefully say hello to Mike and GDB if they are able to attend.

 

I'm not a huge user of linkedin but was pleased to see in my account that 2 of my classmates from an unpretentious poly have done rather well in the pharmaceutical industry. Well played to both of them in their respective endeavours and the good work they do. One of them evidently had a good head for business as well as science as she recently built a company up from scratch, floated it on the NYSE and then sold it all to a pharmaceutical giant for $1.5 billion. She's now mentoring young entrepreneurs in her industry, I believe.

 

Back to earth - or soil, more specifically. My attempt over recent months to grow the best sweet peas I've ever managed to has largely failed. A combination of good quality seeds, good soil and good weather resulted in very weak plants with few flowers. I'm not sure what role growing them next to our improvised basketball / football practice area has had on their development!!  Better luck hopefully next year! 

 

Anyway better leg it down to my garden office and see what fun the day has to offer.

 

Best wishes to all. 

[TheQ]

The Site of Chris F's former residence on Fifers lane, only at the moment there's a lot more leaves, when I went past it a few minutes ago.

Edited July 13, 2021 by TheQ

[JohnDMJ]

Good Morning Awl, for it has yet to prove otherwise.

 

I fear one of my earlier (well, it couldn't be later, could it?!) posts has been misinterpretted:

 

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 Indeed you may.  Is this not the origin of the "foosball" as in "table soccer"?  Fuss-ball is about right either way. 

 

Tongue-in-cheek, this was intended to be taken as fuss, i.e. a lot of fuss about nothing!

 

However, I am indebted to @Pacific231G for the following information:

 

6 hours ago, Pacific231G said:

Hi John

Solent Airport is the new trading name for Lee on Solent aerodrome, (which is still its radio callsign). It's near the town (village?) of Lee-on-Solent on the corner of the coast where Southampton Water joins the Solent. It used to be HMS Daedelus.

The webcam appears to belong to Phoenix Aviation and is on their website

https://www.phoenixaviation.co.uk/

 

Goodnight all

 

 

IIRC, HMS Daedelus was home to the Navy's hovercraft unit and I would often see them crossing the road from the base to the slipway; is it still home to the Hovercraft Museum?. It also housed the Coastguard Search and Rescue helicopters. Good to see that the site is still in use but hope the pipe bombs intended to blow up the runway if needed have been cleared!