Early Risers.

[simontaylor484]

I took my kids on a stadium and museum tour at Old Trafford a couple of years ago. I was even interested though I dont like football it was a birthday treat for the eldest and we did it as a surprise for him. The stadium is huge.

 

The planters I ordered arrived earlier this afternoon via Dpd. The original delivery date was tomorrow but i got an email earlier this morning saying delivery would be this afternoon a bonus i suppose just need some compost to arrive now next week 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Found some bargains at the toy fair today, first off was five 00 scale plastic bus kits at £1 each! The cardboard boxes were a bit battered and had evidence of damp. But when I got them home a check revealed that the contents were perfect. Then four packs of Wills building sheets opened but complete at 50p each. I then went on to the classic car show at Southend, I still have to test my new smart phone as I couldn't read the screen in the bright sunlight. I have ordered a leather wallet from E-bay for it to protect it when in my pocket.

[southern42]

5 hours ago, 45156 said:

Polly, as a guitarist, I fully sympathise, Eb is just about the hardest key for me, and on a woodwind, it can be hard too - the half covering is difficult.  In order to drive in the "importance" of Eb my late father who was a professional musician, composer, and teacher, as well as a band musician, insisted that I learn various pieces in Eb including "Moonlight In Vermont" - which was a most wicked piece to learn, and I was not allowed a capo - it all had to be closed chords - my reward for this was to be an unpaid band member who also had to take over the driving to and from gigs.  That meant he could get totally legless legally - and the lifestyle killed him aged 62.

 

This rendition really takes me back there

 

 

 

The TV Judge theme is in F minor. Worse than E flat to play is bottom D flat - all keys covered except right hand pinkie over half a small hole. Where it is needed, I play it an octave higher - all fingers OFF except right little pinkie.  No brainer!  I really wanted to play in its own key because I was so fond of my main A Level work, Byrd's Mass for four voices in F minor.

 

So, the keys in which I play on the 8-hole Yamaha fife are C, F, F minor and D minor. 

I mainly play in G, D, and E minor on the 6-hole G fifes, although I also play a couple of songs in A minor cribbed from a guitar book!

 

Some of you may like to know that after two hours of mainly playing the lullabies, I played the TV Judge theme right to the end with only one slightly fluffed note.  Good to know I can actually do it as it took me a long time to convince myself it was worth spending money on the sheet music!  Now to 'perfect' the scale runs in the moon tune and get the other lullabies off by heart.  It would be really good to have a good handful of tunes to play without sheets of music to cart around the house!*

 

*That is another issue - playing in different rooms to see which acoustic best suits the tune. 

 

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Evening orl.

 

Archery was very drawn out, due to a large field of entry.  Mrs NHN quite happy to come second, but very pleased with this shot, at 40m.  She's the 'blue fluff' (ahem) arrow number one - critical kill (yellow centre) first shot.  Nobody else hit it all day although Geoff (winner today) hit the outer kill - the red.  After 4 hours of it we were all 'somewhat' knackered.

 

 

Andy's mention of a Renault 18 rang some memories, I had an 18 Turbo and later an 'American' - lovely comfortable car.

 

At east it dried up for the shot, it was rather wet until lunchtime.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Broken night's sleep, late rising and when I took my morning walk a bit late, I came home quite drenched as a consequence of the warmth. The wildfire smoke pall is less obvious - there's a slight impression of blue in the haze. At least the air quality is "good". Last night's (almost) first quarter moon was still a bright orange colour.

 

Temperature is headed to 34°C. Many things in the garden need to be tended, but I'm not going to deal with them until it is less hot and will remain cooped up in air conditioning.

 

Am looking forward to the forecast break in the heat and smoke tomorrow.

[southern42]

Remember this? Not a bee / wasp / hornet.

Family member told me it was a giant horsefly.

 

https://naturenet.net/blogs/2009/06/07/check-out-this-massive-fly/

It would appear from the article that this may well be the female in which case I am lucky not to have been a target for a nice juicy meal!  It was on the window frame for quite some time. I wondered whether it was recovering from a long flight from somewhere, having had a swarm of flies drop onto the deck of our (former) yacht for a rest when crossing the Irish Sea and fly off again a little while later.

[polybear]

A very successful day for Bear

The Glass Splashback for the Hob is now firmly attached to the wall - it's even straight and level, with the top and bottom edges sealed against moisture ingress with their "special" sealant (I found an unopened s/h tube on Ebay for half the new price - and well inside the use-by date too); the side edges will get sealed tomorrow.

 

I had a call from a Model Engineering Class Buddy - we plan a meet-up at a local Cafe on Wednesday with one of the other guys too.  I *think* this will be the first "social" event of Bear's since before the first lockdown.  I can taste the Mega Full English already....I've not had one one those since, er, Q1 2020....

 

And finally:

So NATO have spent the last 20+ years in Afgan, with far too many Servicemen & women killed or injured, countless civilians the same, spent Trillions of $$ in the process, trained their Army, no doubt given them huge amounts of weaponry....and the Taliban now have the lot. 

Ever wondered what the point was? 

 

And very finally:

World's sh1ttiest jobs:

Number One goes to to the UK Ambassador to Afganistan, who apparently has been "told" by the PM to stay put.  Not for all the Cake in Hippoland + Captain Cynical's Mountain Hideaway put together.  Scoffing cake requires certain basic requirements, one of which is yer bonce needs to remain firmly attached to the rest of your body.....

 

And those two rolls of wallpaper I mentioned on Ebay?  Currently running at forty six quid, with two days to go and 16 bids so far.....

[Coombe Barton]

... Low and High on the journey ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/08/15/postcards-from-the-periphery-2021-23-the-trek/

[Ozexpatriate]

9 minutes ago, southern42 said:

Family member told me it was a giant horsefly.

I should have thought of that. It certainly has the head of a fly.

 

Plenty of similar beasties in Australia.

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[pH]

8 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I certainly do.  But this was for patrolmen (always men at that time) driving vans or cars.  If they failed to salute the badge you could claim an apology.  There was also a note in the Member's Handbook which stated that solo riders do not salute at any time.  

 

The tradition of AA patrolmen saluting the badge stopped about the time that cars and vans were replacing motorcycles and sidecars. See the official AA website - the section titled “Police speed traps and the AA salute” :

https://www.theaa.com/about-us/aa-history/timeline

 

“Following criticism that to give or acknowledge a salute endangered the patrol and the member, both of whom had to lift a hand from the controls, in 1961 patrols were instructed that it was their duty to salute AA badges but not if there was a risk to themselves.

In 1962 (coincidentally the same year that Mini vans started to replace motorcycles) patrols were relieved altogether of the responsibility of saluting when patrolling.”

Edited August 15, 2021 by pH

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, southern42 said:

Remember this? Not a bee / wasp / hornet.

Family member told me it was a giant horsefly.

 

 

 

I recall Momma Bear getting bitten on the leg by one many, many moons ago.  It came up in an enormous boil an inch+ in diameter and full of gunge.....

 

Does anyone happen to know of an unobtrusive looking tray/trolley combination usable when sitting in an armchair, such that a laptop could be placed on it without it resting on your legs?  There's also no access for any part of a trolley to go beneath the chair, just to add to the difficulty....

One of those trays that pop up out of airline seat armrests would be just the ticket....

[simontaylor484]

@polybear Well done

 

Afghanistan has turned into a complete fustercluck what a waste of just short of 500 British lives for it to end this way.

All that money spent on training the Afghan national army and they run away. The U S Embassy looked like Saigon in 1975 with fires on the lawns and Helicopters taking off from the compound.

 

One smells corruption running rife in the ANA 

 

Won't say anything more because it will be too political 

[Ozexpatriate]

4 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Won't say anything more because it will be too political 

Please don't, it would be. By our collective agreement, this is not the place.

 

My son's older brother did two tours. He is well. Many others are not.

[Ozexpatriate]

15 minutes ago, polybear said:

Does anyone happen to know of an unobtrusive looking tray/trolley combination usable when sitting in an armchair, such that a laptop could be placed on it without it resting on your legs?

There are many such solutions. Search with keywords "cantilever", "rolling", "laptop", "stand".

 

Here is one, though I don't know if it is available in the UK.

 

If you have a side table, there are many more options with a cantilevered tray that will clamp onto a table.

 

Edited August 15, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[PhilJ W]

23 minutes ago, polybear said:

Does anyone happen to know of an unobtrusive looking tray/trolley combination usable when sitting in an armchair, such that a laptop could be placed on it without it resting on your legs?  There's also no access for any part of a trolley to go beneath the chair, just to add to the difficulty....

One of those trays that pop up out of airline seat armrests would be just the ticket....

One of these?https://www.aosom.co.uk/item/homcom-multipurpose-overbed-chair-table-height-adjustable-with-4-castors-lockable~831-110.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_shopping&gclid=CjwKCAjw9uKIBhA8EiwAYPUS3Krr8id_lY9lHSPpY8DQavpx5tzdSaNGVY-vTQSXdSZatDbFp8DyXhoCAK4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Just Google 'over chair table' and you should come up with dozens ranging in price from dirt cheap to how much!

[Northroader]

27 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Does anyone happen to know of an unobtrusive looking tray/trolley combination usable when sitting in an armchair, such that a laptop could be placed on it without it resting on your legs?  There's also no access for any part of a trolley to go beneath the chair, just to add to the difficulty....

One of those trays that pop up out of airline seat armrests would be just the ticket....

 

 

[petethemole]

 This, perhaps; https://www.aosom.co.uk/item/homcom-end-table-nightstand-360-adjustable-height-and-angle-p2-particle-board~833-776.html?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=google_shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_s2KvfGz8gIVE4jVCh1dfASyEAQYASABEgKUePD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

or;  https://www.chums.co.uk/Products/AY751/adjustable-swivel-table?SKU=AY751MULONE&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_s2KvfGz8gIVE4jVCh1dfASyEAQYAiABEgI4dvD_BwE

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Low and High on the journey ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/08/15/postcards-from-the-periphery-2021-23-the-trek/

Yes Gloucester Services are a refreshing change from the Normal Motorway services. Plenty of choice of edible food. No big chains selling burgers with fries.. why..it even has a farm shop..

 

Baz

[Erichill16]

9 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

  I am now required to dig holes for things to be inserted into soil.  I wonder what will happen if I ask her to return the favour and strip wires for me before I insert them into choc-block joiners

 

 

I think the best you can hope for is Brownie points but they are like sub atomic particles and have a very short half-life. 
 

[leopardml2341]

Well, despite not a lot if sleep last night I don't feel too bad and quite a lot has been achieved without too much fuss.

 

Goodnight all.

Edited August 15, 2021 by leopardml2341

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Haven't done much today but feeling cream crackered. Probably spent too much time out in the sun this afternoon.

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Boys and Sydney went home just after dinner (1.00pm) after a walk in the woods.

Spent the afternoon doing a bit of gardening and then after tea,  we’ll not much really, pottered around in my room and a phone conversation with a mate. I was hoping to get an invite to his shed so I can run something than runs on parallel strips of metal with a bit of DCC but it wasn’t forthcoming.

Anyway Goodnight,

Robert

 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.