Early Risers.

[TheQ]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

 

 

First Class 

I do hope that he gets whacked with a very large fine as a minimum.  Taking away his right to live in France as well would be even better.  

er,   No that'd mean he'd come back here..

[Barry O]

I use Satnav(waze on my mobile phone linked into the car) when I need to know an ETA or I am going somewhere which is difficult to find. A useful tool,one which has also helped to navigate us through Australia and New Zealand. I did a lot of work 9n navigation systems for use in tanks. Very few Army people had a clue where they were..especially at night and when going cross country..

 

Baz

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I have never used Ryanair and never will, I'd rather walk than add to the leprechauns coffers. Hopefully the CAA will give him a kicking. The ex-pat mentioned by Jamie is in deep doo dah. It is an offence to issue a bounced cheque in France, he could even find himself staying in France a bit longer than intended. The biggest UK lottery prize is up for grabs tonight, £185 million on the Euromillions, though the chances of winning is not far short of 140 million to one. Apparently the odds are slightly better if you have a lucky dip. Thats it for now, be back later.

Edited October 12, 2021 by PhilJ W

[New Haven Neil]

Morning from a damp rock with 13 C's to wonder at.  The dampness and pressure changes are playing havoc with the remains of my skeleton.  Pills day.

 

Ryan Air - what a &^%t.  Also the guy in France bouncing cheques, nice catch by the bank though and follow-up by the plod Gendarmerie, so bureaucracy in France does function!

 

My day will be riding on the MER to the Big City with a friend recently returned to the rock permanently, having retired from managing a small gauge railway in Wales. He says it is the best one but I disagree it's the second best for me! Its great to have another 'train friend' here to play out with, 'Trackshack John' is a little preoccupied these days forging a new relationship after losing his wife unexpectedly a couple of years ago.  He's doing OK now, for those of you who were our supportive customers.

 

We use a Garmin satnav in the UK, but found a paper map adequate in New Zealand - there's not that many roads really in the south island!

 

OK, time to empty the washer and get on with the day's excitement.

Edited October 12, 2021 by New Haven Neil
Wrong destination corrected

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

Investigating solar panels for our home. Not sure if they really are as good as they claim to be. Any ideas?

We have had a roof survey completed and are now awaiting a date for installation. We will be having panels on our south and west facing roof. Essex County Council organised a scheme where solar power installers could bid for the contract. This encouraged us by hoping it would avoid dubious installers. I think solar panels are the equivalent of early double glazing salesmen. Everything so far seems fine. An Essex RMwebber has had his project installed and seems very pleased (see solar panels thread). We are going for a battery too. We are fortunate that our roof and house orientation are perfect. Also our roof construction is strong enough and our tiles don’t cause any problems. Some roofs like slate incur extra costs. We have also had a few extras, The main one being a a stainless steel surround to prevent bird or small furry nesting under the panels. The inverter and battery will go in the garage rather than the loft in our house.  The technology has improved. Aditi’s brother has just had his original (7 years old) inverter replaced. The recent models are much better and have a longer lifetime. 
Hope this helps. 

Edited October 12, 2021 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

I managed happily for years with paper maps.The early satnav were just electronic versions of paper maps but the modern systems are very helpful. The live traffic updates transmitted via the mobile phone network to re route are very effective. 
Tony

[New Haven Neil]

Said 'Trackshack John' is also having solar panels and a battery/inverter system installed, and an air source heat pump - we're interested to see how it pans out.  Despite its reputation as a rock of cloud and much rain it is actually very sunny here, especially on the west coast and northern plain, we get the same sunshine hours up here in the north as the Channel Islands.  It's just colder!

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

er,   No that'd mean he'd come back here..

 

I would suspect that because the parties involved were both L'angleise would provide an incentive to 'do something' or is that being too cynical. 

 

It does beg the question that just how the Herbert thought he was going to get away with it and whether any other things have occurred - reason for return to the septic isle?

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The weather is looking a wee bit dodgy here this morning, the skylights are wet but the ground looks dry, I don’t think it can make up its mind what to do. Anyway, if it stays dry, I have an old MDF top I want to cut, so setting up my portable workbenches and circular saw will be on top of the agenda, if it rains, then I shall make a start on painting the subframe for the fireplace. 

 

Yesterday, whilst I was out in the garden, I got talking to one of our neighbours. They have 2 children, 14 and 11 years old. They both go to the same school and are both currently self isolating, as they tested positive for Covid last week! Both parents are testing daily and both are negative, but then they have both been vaccinated. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[simontaylor484]

I never botherered with sat nav until I got the Mercedes to update that its an SD card you install in a slot in the  dashboard and hey presto. Cost from a dealer £300 eBay £50.

 

 

Tesco run this morning 

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

 The ex-pat mentioned by Jamie is in deep doo dah. It is an offence to issue a bounced cheque in France, he could even find himself staying in France a bit longer than intended. 

That is a distinct possibility. A cheque is almost holy writ in France and is classed as a 'Declaration of Honour', which apparently carries some legal weight.

49 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I would suspect that because the parties involved were both L'angleise would provide an incentive to 'do something' or is that being too cynical. 

 

It does beg the question that just how the Herbert thought he was going to get away with it and whether any other things have occurred - reason for return to the septic isle?

That's going to add interest.  3 other trades people were working on the house when Mike was doing the roof. All expats.  The potrntial gly in the ointment will be whether or not they were fully registered for tax etx and had what are dalled SIRET numbers. Mike has all that and is punctilious about invoices etc. The others may well not want their finances being investigated. At least onevperson we kniw has been hit with a hefty tax bill after his accounts were audited.  

 

I will keep ER's updated.

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Blimey, who'd have thought it?  I phoned the HP helpline and very promptly got connected to a very pleasant and helpful young man who ran through a few checks and then agreed with me that the cartridge must be faulty.  A new one is being posted out but meanwhile I can use the printer as it will print in black and white if you remove the colour cartridge.  Didn't know that and it's a pity they don't tell you that in their online blurb.

 

I do use my SatNav quite a lot although must admit very often say to it  "you must be f###ing joking" when it tries to send me down muddy cart tracks etc.   Still carry a map book though.....just in case.  

[PhilJ W]

Hello again from Estuary-Land. After my morning bath its my usual thing to cover the bed with some old towels and air dry. This morning after doing so I went to get off the bed when the sciatica kicked in. I eventually managed to get dressed but it took me nearly an hour. A couple of Nurofen have been taken but walking about is still painful. 

[PhilJ W]

Thankfully the sciatica has disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared and I can at least move around.

[J. S. Bach]

7 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good Morning All, ...snip... and a wide range of topics covered - from collecting glass telephone wire insulators  ...snip...

iD

Sounds like one of my posts (it is my second hobby) but I do not remember posting anything about it here. Well, maybe I did; who knows. Note that insulators are manufactured in glass, porcelain, and a range of other materials. 

 

My porcelain (mostly) spool display:

 

Some of my ceramic ones:

 

And photo-bombed by my cat:

 

Thank you iD for the chance to post a few insulator pictures!!

 

I am estimating that I have somewhat more than two thousand of them; some are quite small and a handful (well, figuratively) are very large, like the one with the cat is about fifteen or so inches tall.

 

 

7 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 ...snip... In comparison, I have just started to take the “Night Mail” - which seems to be where ER once was - with a wide ranging field of topics discussed. Someplace to visit more frequently, methinks. ...snip...

iD

And you can talk about TRAINS and MODELING there!!

The discussions there caused me to buy an O scale  Dapol green GWR pannier! On a serious note, it is a very nice model.

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2021 by J. S. Bach
To add some information.

[simontaylor484]

I dont mind people posting about what they have/are/about to do if you have a restricted amount of people to talk to on a daily basis like I do presently its nice to be able to "talk" to folk on here. Also I have been able to exchange ideas and get advice about things as we have a large knowledge base covering a large spectrum 

[polybear]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I have never used Ryanair and never will, I'd rather walk than add to the leprechauns coffers.

 

I know the feeling, though will admit to having used them on occasion when there was no sensible alternative.  I ALWAYS book well in advance though, so I get the seat for peanuts prices (twenty or thirty quid to the south of France, for example).  I can't imagine the little tw@t is making any money out of this Bear for that price - I'll let all the other bozo's, sorry passengers who are paying top whack take care of that little detail.

 

In other news:

Buddy 3 doors away helped Bear load a Radiogram into the Bearmobile; I then spent much of the morning talking to other buddy across the road about various topics, including the (hopeful) avoidance of either of us being found dead on the floor (we both live alone) after the postperson (apparently it's not p'man or p'woman anymore, as I learnt earlier from our p'woman...) smelt something decidedly iffy coming thru' the letterbox after some weeks AWOL.  So we've now agreed to ping each other a daily "OK" email to each other;  no email triggers a phone call....

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I never botherered with sat nav

 

I don't bother with sat-nav.  I know where I'm going and it's none of your business.  

 

Besides if they can't find their own way how are we supposed to trust them to find ours?

 

 *

 

* - image may be an art "installation" and not a genuinely lost satellite   

[Sir TophamHatt]

Afternoon.

 

Been a busy one today.

 

Hair cut.

Drew some cash out from the bank in specific coins to top up our pot (to pay for Chinese!).

Posted some items.

 

After 6 years of standing there, plumbed the fridge in yesterday.  Today was getting the ice maker to work so I could half keep an eye on it.  Didn't seem to go so well this morning but pushed a reset button and a bit of water came out into a little tray ready for freezing.  A few hours later (after I got back from town), a noise was made and I heard the ice dropping into the bucket.  I assume more water filled the tray again but we'll see.  Turns out the ice dropping into the holdng bucket was the 2nd lot, so it must have happened when I was out too.

 

 

 

On my way to work, I noticed one person driving on the hard shoulder.

While it is in an area of Smart Motorway, I am unsure why the driver did not see the big red X on that lane, or the signs saying "hard shoulder for emergency use only".

While I don't agree with smart motorways, the system is fairly easy to follow - when the signs say, you can use the lane.  I am lost as to why (I'm sure I read) some drivers thought it was right to take it upon themselves to decide there was congestion and use the hard shoulder.  And these people are in charge of a machine that can easily kill?

But then I notice a lot of people are not spacially aware and only think "I need to get over there" without looking what is around them and may hamper their journey.

Edited October 15, 2021 by Sir TophamHatt

[TheSignalEngineer]

 

 

6 hours ago, Barry O said:

Very few Army people had a clue where they were..especially at night and when going cross country..

I never got as far as being in the Army, but when in the school cadet force map reading and navigation was still taken seriously, at least by our CO.

At one summer camp we were briefed for an exercise that we were stuck in unfriendly country. We had little food and basically what we were standing up in and a cape/groundsheet each, a compass and a i" OS Map. There was a resistance group in the area who knew we were there and were trying to get home. A friendly farmer would arrange our way out if we could get to him by noon on the following day. The locals had hidden supplies for us at point A. The farmer would be looking out for us to arrive at point B where there were further supplies. Two motorised enemy patrols knew we were there and were searching for us.

We were dropped at Red Wharf Bay in the early afternoon and Point B was near South Stack. Basically it meant we had to get across Anglesey as quickly as possible and then cross to Holy Island under cover of darkness.  We actually managed it without getting spotted by the patrols.

[tigerburnie]

You should see the amount of folk wandering around in the hills of Scotland in lousy weather "lost" because they can't get a phone signal and don't have a map or compass and the few that do have them but never learnt how to use them, folk are becoming dependant on technology to the point they might just be endangering their own lives.

[PupCam]

Greetings All!

 

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

As the pandemic and associated restrictions ease, I wonder if the posts on ER will become less introspective and return to being as wide ranging as before the pandemic.

 

Yes, that maybe a fair observation (i haven't don't done a detailed study) but it seems to be quite  hard to work out what is and what isn't acceptable on ER and who likes "what" and who doesn't like "that" lately  ....       

 

In the end, if it all gets to be too much like hard-work not causing offence, not boring people, not over-exciting people, not being too jocular, being too serious then the only solution will be to just do a Fxxx-It and not be Arxxd to do anything at all.    Maybe I'll try harder before I resort to that.

 

8 hours ago, chrisf said:

When I was talking about travelling to Uckfield yesterday I had not realised that it is the next day. 

 

I would have liked to go to Uckfield, it's good and managed by someone who also used to put in a lot of effort to the CMRA show.   Adrian puts on a very good show at Uckfield IMHO  (If this particular comment is inappropriate for ER well tough bananas!).    Bearing in mind the restrictions of the last 20 months or so though, I have a far higher priority destination for any visits around the M25 to Hampshire/Sussex at the moment.

 

8 hours ago, TheQ said:

I see Ryan air have banned passengers who reclaimed money back from them via Credit cards due to covid causing no flying... Unless!! they repay Ryan air the money.?!!  I suspect that won't hold up in court, It's another reason for not flying with the leprechaun... Is that an insult to Leprechauns?

 

7 hours ago, polybear said:

Most definitely.  I see that MSE have reported them to the CAA as a result; as for Michael O'Leary he's just a [censored]

 

Flippin outrageous! I've had the misfortune to fly RA on company service a few times in the past but not through choice.   Indeed when trips to Paris were reasonably regular Eurostar was clearly a far more sensible and civilised method despite protestations from the Bean Counters.      Yes it probably is an insult but we'll let you off this time

 

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

Investigating solar panels for our home. Not sure if they really are as good as they claim to be. Any ideas?

 

I've always thought the pay-back break-even period for "new forms" of energy were too long.    With the rapidly rising cost of conventional energy and more time on my hands these days I may have to re-consider my view.     I found myself researching heat pumps earlier .....

 

7 hours ago, Barry O said:

I use Satnav(waze on my mobile phone linked into the car) when I need to know an ETA or I am going somewhere which is difficult to find

 

I use a SatNav in "Moving Map, this is where you are" mode rather than Step-by-Step  instructional mode.   And, unlike many "co-drivers" I don't have to keep turning the map round, I like north to stay at the top!

 

2 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Sounds like one of my posts (it is my second hobby) but I do not remember posting anything about it here. Well, maybe I did; who knows. Note that insulators are manufactured in glass, porcelain, and a range of other materials.

 

Fantastic,  we need more displays of esoteric and unusual collections and interests (No, not those sort of  "unusual interests" at the back there!).   Thanks for posting.

 

26 minutes ago, Sir TophamHatt said:

 Smart Motorway

 

An oxymoron if ever there was one!        Can only have been dreamt up by the Bean Counters.

 

In other news:

 

Today I have been wrestling with a the brush bar for the newish Dyson D7 (?) cleaner.    The brush does not rotate due to a broken wire across the "elbow" joint.     The method of the necessary full disassembly is not immediately obvious in order to replace/repair the broken conductor (a common failure I believe) BUT I will repair it even if it has to have a new external power umbilical to get some volts to the motor in order to let some amps do their stuff.    I will NEVER be persuaded to buy another piece of over-hyped, over-priced, short-lived junk again.      

 

Innovation, design?    IMHO the main innovation here is the ability to generate shed loads of cash but not for the benefit of the consumer.

 

Alan

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

36 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

.......don't have a map or compass and the few that do have them but never learnt how to use them......

I once came across two lost souls on Bleaklow trying to follow the Pennine Way using only a souvenir tea towel for guidance.

[TheQ]

Worryingly people have been found at sea using a mobile phone for navigation.. A great many more have all the electronic chart plotters GPS and gadgetry dependant on their battery pack staying working. No paper charts, nor compass..

[Barry O]

5 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I once came across two lost souls on Bleaklow trying to follow the Pennine Way using only a souvenir tea towel for guidance.

while I have rated this "funny" it isn't at all.. some people really do deserve a Darwin award.. and a bill for getting them home safe and sound..