Early Risers.

[Barry O]

The numbers for positive cases is still high but the increase has started to drop dramatically.  Once the kids finish school (some are stillat school here in Leeds) the numbers may see a startling decli e.

 

Only people not wearing masks on the bus on Sunday.. teenage girls using their phones.. "i can't see the screen to text properly if I have a mask on" ..Pah! 

 

Cooling down  ow .. a trip into the front garden revealed that the main road was closed due to an accident. Hope no one was injured.

 

Stationmaster is having a break from ERs at the moment but is well.

 

Baz

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Travelling on near-empty trains to and from work I now feel no obligation to wear one and haven't done so yet this week.  I do carry them and will apply one if asked or if the train gets busier than I find comfortable.

If I'm not mistaken, the US Federal Government still requires masks on all public transport nationwide - buses, trains and aeroplanes. Unruly passengers on aeroplanes* has been a serious issue for flight crews for some time now.

 

* Mostly refusing to mask (often inebriation is a factor) but there were some truly concerning episodes.

 

Businesses are permitted to require masking. My dentist does - except of course during the procedure. Most shops have a small sign recommending that unvaccinated people wear a mask but there is no enforcement. 

[zarniwhoop]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

I.find Sam unthinkable bitter undrinkable  the lager on the other hand Aylingerbrau like rocket fuel.

Would that be Ayingerbrau wot Sam Smith's appear to sell (now in several variants), or summat else ?  (if the former, I can't type either.) Only asking because the first lager I ever drank was Ayingerbrau (ordinary strength, bottled) at a campus beer festival in 1974. ISTR it was ok, but that was at Lancaster and we were awash with good local beers (and cans of McEwan's for the Student Union meetings), so no need to try the fizzy keg lagers.

 

Nowadays, I can get by with weak supermarket canned lager when it is hot.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

It has been another scorcheroo here, reaching 29C again this afternoon. 

 

This morning I managed to some work done in the garden, but I did not get all but one of the potted plants in the ground, this plant is a rose and we have not decided where it should go yet. There are just over a dozen small pots with seedlings in, which will stay in their pots until next year, when they will be big enough to go in the ground. 

 

This afternoon was spent getting ready for our day out tomorrow. So I went down to the shed and I retrieved our 2 small fold away trucks and gave them bit of a clean, as they have not been used for 2 years, I also go our fold up chairs and a small parasol too! Again it has been 2 years since they were last used, so I gave them a bit of a clean as well. I then took everything to the car and it is all now safely packed in the boot. After tea I made sandwiches for both of us, they will remain in the fridge, along with half a dozen bottles of water and some iced tea until tomorrow morning, when I pack our lunch bags. 

[BSW01]

I forgot to add, on the local news last night there was a report of a young man drowning in Salford Quays yesterday afternoon, after jumping in to cool off, I suspect he succumbed to temperature shock. The difference between air temperature and water temperature can be quite dramatic, it always takes my breath away when I swim in there and I am expecting it! 

 

When I was at the big orange DIY shed yesterday, I wore a mask and so did most of the other shoppers. But I did see a woman remove her mask, so she could read what was on the label of some laminate flooring, WTF 

[brianusa]

1 minute ago, BSW01 said:

Good evening everyone 

 

It has been another scorcheroo here, reaching 29C again this afternoon. 

 

This morning I managed to some work done in the garden, but I did not get all but one of the potted plants in the ground, this plant is a rose and we have not decided where it should go yet. There are just over a dozen small pots with seedlings in, which will stay in their pots until next year, when they will be big enough to go in the ground. 

 

This afternoon was spent getting ready for our day out tomorrow. So I went down to the shed and I retrieved our 2 small fold away trucks and gave them bit of a clean, as they have not been used for 2 years, I also go our fold up chairs and a small parasol too! Again it has been 2 years since they were last used, so I gave them a bit of a clean as well. I then took everything to the car and it is all now safely packed in the boot. After tea I made sandwiches for both of us, they will remain in the fridge, along with half a dozen bottles of water and some iced tea until tomorrow morning, when I pack our lunch bags. 

 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Ozexpatriate]

Hot cars ... (as opposed to "hot hatches")

On 19/07/2021 at 09:15, Gwiwer said:

One of the things I learned very quickly was to open the car door, stand back and count to 10.  The interior can reach dangerous temperatures; let the hot air out before attempting to enter.  Every Aussie knows how to drive with just one finger-tip on the wheel and changing fingers every few seconds when one starts burning   Vinyl seats are not a common feature now but once were - you took a towel or shirt to sit on to avoid burning your thighs.  And you never, NEVER, turn the air-con on full-bore when entering the car.  Drive away with the windows open for a few minutes then ease it from warmer to cooler and close the windows.  A windscreen parked in 40C of sunlight can reach 60C.  Blow a cold gale of air across the inside of that and PING  Cracked screen. 

Yes. That takes me back to the 1970s. Stubbies (the short shorts* not the bottles) and hot days meant hot sticky vinyl and red, scorched legs, not to mention having to handle the steel, seat belt latch-plate and buckle before such things were sensibly wrapped in plastic.

 

* AKA trousers

17 hours ago, chrisf said:

Rick jerked a memory yesterday, taking me back to the long hot summer of 1976.  I had to drive to Heathrow quite early on a Sunday morning to catch a flight to the Isle of Man.  The car, a Mini, spent a week in the open air in the baking sun that somehow did not make it to my holiday destination.  On my return to Heathrow I found that the car’s plastic seats were far too hot to sit on and it must have been a good hour before they had cooled sufficiently. I suppose I should be thankful that they had nor melted.

Reminds me of an experience with a rental from Gatwick. When rented, it had a very strong smell of air freshener / cleaning fluid. After having been in the sun (a partly cloudy Autumn day), there was a different smell. Someone had evidently vomited into air vents that were located (strangely) between the front seats. There had been enough warmth to really activate the smell. Nasty.

16 hours ago, TheQ said:

Yes open the door one side, go to the other side open the door and let the heat out, even if you'd left a gap on the windows, wait before getting in..  I've left the vents open on the Landrover today,. Out on the forklift truck on the airfield we had cardboard to place on the black plastic seat....

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Twice when the temperature has been 45+ degrees I've hopped into the car and within a couple of minutes my mobile phone in its cradle reports an  over-temperture alarm  and switches  itself off before the aircon  gets a chance to kick in.

 

Gives some idea of what cars can get up to in the sun , if the inability to touch the steering wheel, gearstick and handbrake isn't enough..

When temperatures first reach "warm" temperatures for the season (32°C) weather forecasters here do a quick tutorial about how hot the air inside cars can get to remind people of the dangers of leaving children and pets in their cars. An average of 38 children die in the US each year from hot cars.

 

Portland has fewer such fatalities than the 'sun belt' but even so, a worker at a large local company forgot his sleeping child in the back a few years ago with tragic results.

 

After an hour in the sun on a 38°C day, the dashboard can reach 70°C and the interior air 45°C. It's easy to imagine commercial electronics (usually designed for internal, self-heated temperatures of no more than 75°C) to have a problem.

[brianusa]

Just now, brianusa said:

It has been another scorcheroo here, reaching 29C again this afternoon.

Just to cool you off its 23C right now , nearly tea time here.  Actually had some rain this morning, not a lot but more than the weather forecaster forecast.  We'll take it!

   Brian.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

I suspect he succumbed to temperature shock. The difference between air temperature and water temperature can be quite dramatic, it always takes my breath away when I swim in there and I am expecting it! 

This is usually a big problem here on the first really warm days of Spring and annually results in fatalities. Our rivers are snowmelt and are very cold compared to air temperatures on a warm day. The dangers of temperature shock (and the recommendation to wear personal floatation devices just in case) is also a popular tutorial in our local weather forecast.

 

With our hot Spring, the rivers have warmed up to a level where they are now dangerous, not for humans, but for salmon and their spawning runs. The Willamette River is currently cycling between 24° and 25°C.

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[TheSignalEngineer]

The sun sinks slowly on Pakistan's hopes of a series win against England.

 

Actually the setting sun lined up exactly through two windows of the building and the seat I was sitting in. A bit like the legend of Box Tunnel and Brunel's birthday.

 

I think we have gone about 23 pages since my last post, I did try one but for some reason it didn't seem to have worked. Lots of grandad duty this week and exciting cricket including a hat trick in the U11s and match winning death bowling in the u13s. Will try to do a full report tomorrow, although there is another match which could decide the U13 championship for their home county. May be another tense night.

Edited April 10, 2022 by TheSignalEngineer
Picture restored

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[chrisf]

Greetings one and all

 

The programme for Sidmouth festival arrived yesterday.  Unfortunately it did not come in printed form and so had to be converted into something on paper.  After two of the 20 pages emerged from the printer it was necessary to change two ink cartridges.  That apart, the line-up is looking good.  A bonus was that the concert ticket which had become unavailable went back on sale.  Phew.  I can now work out how many £5 notes and how many £2 coins to take with me for tossing into the collection buckets.

 

Once again I have had an e-mail from the bank seeking feedback on my experience in the branch.  If I can be bothered to reply I might well say that a member of staff routinely asks me the purpose of my visit before I set foot in the place.  I might also add a reference to just how tiresome I find the constant interrogation – if, that is, I can find a way of doing so without causing offence.

 

Today will see the first Area Group quarterly informal lunch for over a year.  To converse cordially with other members face to face has become a rare privilege and will be most welcome.  Less welcome will be the need to subject myself and the car to the vagaries of the M1.  Never mind: in-car entertainment will be available.  There are CDs to play and Prime Minister’s Questions will be on the radio while I am in transit.  I can hardly wait.

 

Best wishes to all

 

Chris   

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Genuine early riser this morning. A lot to do today so when I woke up just before six I didn't roll over and go back to sleep instead I got up. Stiff joints this morning but once I started moving about they eased quite a bit, no need for Nurofen this morning. Now time to run a bath, be back later.

[jamie92208]

Good moaning. It's warm here and getting a little sticky.    The various tasks at the other house were done and then pah, the car wouldn't start.  I'm off there shortly to clean the starter motor terminals and give it another go.

 

After that it's off to Poitiers to take 3 child seats to meet the owners of the house and their brood of small pink terrorists. If my car is running again I hope to spend a couple of hours near a railway line.

 

Not a lot else to report apart from the fact that the French taxman sent me €120 yesterday.  I have no idea why but it's a nice gesture.

 

Jamie

[Barry O]

Started off misty here but the sun is burning that off. 

 

Shark to be wielded and floors to becwashee this morning. Pah!

 

I have a lot to do today.. including reopening our Model Railway club rooms to members..just got to remember the security lock numbers.

 

Need to help to take the fruuit from our black currant bushes and dig up some more of our potato crop. Busy....busy.. busy..

 

Time for my mugatea. Stay safe!

Baz

[Andrew P]

Had to put the chockie chip cookies in the fridge yesterday, gosh it was warm

 

Off to the Wash room and then a walk before it gets to hot.

 

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

[Andrew P]

Reading Chris / @chrisfcomment above about interrogation at the Bank, our Barclays does that, and the Girl on the door is armed.......................................ready to help. Like the other day, there was a queue, she asked what I wanted and I said, just to pay a cheque in. She looked at the cheque and paying in book, stamped it and said that will be in within the hour, and I was on my way without entering the Bank. Wonderful service.

[polybear]

9 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I see.MR Bezos has returned from space 

 

Whilst such an achievement is no doubt very clever, it did strike me that it's extremely harmful environmentally just to provide four people with 11 minutes of fun.  And you could do an awful lot of good with the money it costs.

 

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

If I'm not mistaken, the US Federal Government still requires masks on all public transport nationwide - buses, trains and aeroplanes. Unruly passengers on aeroplanes* has been a serious issue for flight crews for some time now.

 

* Mostly refusing to mask (often inebriation is a factor) but there were some truly concerning episodes.

 

 

If the airlines were to start playing a "one strike is a warning" and then "second strike and you're out for good" policy - and shared with all other airlines too - then no doubt that would work wonders, especially in the US where distances are great.  To be faced with a lifetime ban from airlines would focus peoples' attention no end.

 

 

8 hours ago, BSW01 said:

I forgot to add, on the local news last night there was a report of a young man drowning in Salford Quays yesterday afternoon, after jumping in to cool off, I suspect he succumbed to temperature shock. The difference between air temperature and water temperature can be quite dramatic, it always takes my breath away when I swim in there and I am expecting it! 

 

ISTR the RN rule to Aircrew when flying over the oggin is that if the sea temp is under 16 degrees C then an immersion suit must be worn; such temperatures are only seen in the English Channel in July and August IIRC.  Bear once had the pleasure of wearing an immersion suit one very hot July day when flying over the Bristol Channel.  I came back with the same texture as an unwrapped choccy bar left on a dashboard....

 

8 hours ago, BSW01 said:

When I was at the big orange DIY shed yesterday, I wore a mask and so did most of the other shoppers. But I did see a woman remove her mask, so she could read what was on the label of some laminate flooring, WTF 

 

It's a problem if you wear glasses, cos' they can steam up.  I just pinch my nose if I want to read anything and it seems to do the trick in minimising fogging.

 

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Reminds me of an experience with a rental from Gatwick. When rented, it had a very strong smell of air freshener / cleaning fluid. After having been in the sun (a partly cloudy Autumn day), there was a different smell. Someone had evidently vomited into air vents that were located (strangely) between the front seats. There had been enough warmth to really activate the smell. Nasty.

 

How lovely   I'd be complaining big-time to head office and looking for a very large discount, if not a free hire.

 

8 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

After an hour in the sun on a 38°C day, the dashboard can reach 70°C and the interior air 45°C. It's easy to imagine commercial electronics (usually designed for internal, self-heated temperatures of no more than 75°C) to have a problem.

 

Virgin has just issued this:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-57901108

 

14 minutes ago, Andrew P said:

Reading Chris / @chrisfcomment above about interrogation at the Bank, our Barclays does that, and the Girl on the door is armed.......................................ready to help. Like the other day, there was a queue, she asked what I wanted and I said, just to pay a cheque in. She looked at the cheque and paying in book, stamped it and said that will be in within the hour, and I was on my way without entering the Bank. Wonderful service.

 

The sad thing is that they're rapidly costing jobs by encouraging people to use the machines to deposit cheques etc. instead of using the counter service.

 

In other news:

Bear has an imminent encounter with a paint roller.....

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, 16 here currently with many more to come.

 

Yesterday evening was pleasant, took the kayak down to Port-e-Vullen with a friend for his first experience on the water, he absolutely loved it.  His parents came along (they share an enormous 4 storey house, built as a Victorian guest house) for the crack in the hope of seeing him fall in, but were disappointed in that respect, but it was a gorgeous evening - loads of folk in the water, paddleboarding, kayaking, swimming, or just playing for the younger element, aka pink terrorists. 

 

Not sure what I'll be up to today, but a walk this morning before things get too hot is on the cards, then who knows.

[Tony_S]

20 minutes ago, polybear said:

It's a problem if you wear glasses, cos' they can steam up.  I just pinch my nose if I want to read anything and it seems to do the trick in minimising fogging.

At my recent eye test the optician taped the mask to my face. That worked perfectly too..

[BSW01]

23 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

It's a problem if you wear glasses, cos' they can steam up.  I just pinch my nose if I want to read anything and it seems to do the trick in minimising fogging.

 

The lady in question, did not wear glasses!