Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

TP "working from home" with Steve.

                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

        

[polybear]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

Oddity in Effin clown town, police car, parked on the verge, a hundred yards ahead, two police officers walking in my direction of travel, one on the pavement, one in the middle of my lane, 50ft in front of that a police car driving at walking pace in the same direction.. Bit awkward over taking that as there are two sets of central islands in the area.

 

Sounds like they were looking for something, with the car being driven used to protect the PC walking in the road.

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

I see HMG have announced that the ban on New Diesel lorries will commence 2040, I predict a rush for new diesel lorries  in 2038 /39. As it is my new car will be a diesel, by 2040 I'll be over 80, diesel fuel will be available for at least 10 years after that.. So the next car should see me out..

 

I suspect that this Bear may well be purchasing a new car in late 2029 - and unless they came down in price an awful lot and their range increases significantly then it's unlikely to be leccy.

There was mention on the radio this morning of difficulties people are having getting their leccy cars repaired since so few mechanics are trained to fix them.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Both rescues from shelters - have been given love, patience (to sort out their behavioural issues [it's tough being a street dog or an abandoned dog]), been chipped, spayed and neutered, taken to the vets on numerous occasions and spent HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, HOW MUCH? on food, toys, treats, apparel and vets' fees (I reckon enough for a 7 Series BMW - if not a Bentley)

 

 

Buddy at work (or not - we're both retired now) is getting lined up for Hip Replacement No. 2 on his Woofums (King Charles Cavalier).  Only £7K a time.....fortunately the insurance picks up the majority of the tab.

 

In other news:

The workmen next door collected the key; it seems there are all sorts of problems, including no foundations under the front & back doors (they were built on a lintel instead) and single skin concrete block walls in the extension with no cavity or internal rendering - just board bonded direct to the blocks and then plastered over (the boards have had to be removed now).  They've now also detected damp under the lounge floor (part of the original house) so they've got to dig a 500mm trench to investigate that.  This is all in the house that a few weeks ago was decorated very, very nicely....ouch.  Cost is gonna be the wrong side of £10K and rising....

 

Blood has been sucked - no lolly, no mickey mouse plaster 

The new SDS chuck arrived this morning (that was mighty quick), along with yet another whitemetal and brass offering that was obtained at a ludicrously low price - especially as it contains a set of wheels.  Result.  

 

As for doing more leccy work...hmm, maybe after din dins.  Maybe....

[chrisf]

5 hours ago, chrisf said:

Greetings

 

As some know, my BT e-mail account has been hacked.  Someone using the name 'scotia1233' has been seeking to use it for fraudulent purposes.  It is difficult to understand the mentality of such people.  I spent two hours on the phone yesterday to BT and thank Joanna of BT for her extreme patience.

 

Not a lot else to report.  

 

Chris

Since this was made known no end of good people have sent offers of support, which are greatly appreciated.  Naturally I wish that Hacker was merely a character in Yes Minister and not a malicious scumbag who enjoys playing with other people's computers with no heed of the trouble and damage caused.  I am never likely to know why I have been targeted and by whom but I am sick of the whole silly business!

 

Chris

[Tony_S]

44 minutes ago, chrisf said:

I am never likely to know why I have been targeted

Although you are the victim of this and I hope no one who received the bogus email responded to whatever was asked I don’t think you need worry about it being targeted at you personally. For instance, the bits of code that do this are “out and about “ attached to all kinds of message that someone perhaps innocently sends. One opens a file, the attached software finds your email address book and sends out messages to all your contacts. If it works really well, it will also infect anyone who received and opens the sent attachment. 
Tony

Edited November 10, 2021 by Tony_S

[Mallard60022]

Wasn't just me that received the email then Chris? I shall, with your permission forward the email I received, to the relevant Authority, however as they have dealt with or have to deal with 8 million referrals I supect nothing would happen.

If no permission then no worries, but the kno£s that do this sort of thing need a good #######. 

Phil

[Tony_S]

I managed to find  enough dry spells yesterday to remove the rust from a manhole cover on the front lawn and then paint it. It looked ok this morning having been protected by a big cardboard box with a brick on it. I have done the rust removal on another one and treated it with Kurust but I don’t think I will get it painted today. Aditi also asked me to find the tin of Cuprinol “Pansy Purple” paint as the compost bin is looking tatty. After opening the tin I thought I may as well paint it. Hopefully the lowish probability of rain will stay low for a few hours. Aditi was going to paint the compost bin but she finally admitted that she feels a bit yucky after the Covid booster yesterday. 
Tony

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a slightly drizzly LBG.

 

Year end trundles on. Group finance have solved the $7m error at last. Someone else tells me his team in Chile signed off a week ago. Pity they didn't actually sign it off properly in the system because I have been waiting for it for ages - nearly a month. I suspect when I review it I will have all sorts of questions which will be resented because of the time taken to review it since they completed the work....

C'est la vie.

 

Not a lot else to report today. Hopefully Phil has seen off  the sciatica and hopefully Simon's good news becomes a reality at the weekend

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, grandadbob said:

TP "working from home" with Steve.

                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                        

 

 

        

 

Motivation I see.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, The Lurker said:

Greetings all from a slightly drizzly LBG.

Likewise from a very drizzly House of Fun.  Thick misty stuff blowing through much of the morning with a few dry intervals barely long enough to clean the glasses!  At least it's not cold by November's standards.

[chrisf]

2 hours ago, Mallard60022 said:

Wasn't just me that received the email then Chris? I shall, with your permission forward the email I received, to the relevant Authority, however as they have dealt with or have to deal with 8 million referrals I supect nothing would happen.

If no permission then no worries, but the kno£s that do this sort of thing need a good #######. 

Phil

Permission granted!  I shall be interested to learn what if anything is said.

 

Chris

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day, likely to be another quiet one.

 

Yesterday, nothing much, Jemma dropped off Whitney, but I did at least receive this eBay package

Chr!@$#!@ related, NOT that which should not be named  ;

given these things are lighted and also have a smoke generator, it was a steal at $54, as it appears mint, the chimney uninstalled and still in the original plastic packaging!

I know it's the "North Pole" version but all the other Cabooses/Cabeese (sp)??  generally sell for double that or more... well pleased

 

OK back to work...

 

1 and overcast first thing, 12 the expected high, 90% chance or rain turning to mixed rain/slush this afternoon <ugh>

 

Tally ho.

 

 

 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Ian Abel

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The sciatica has stayed away but I make sure that I make no sudden moves that can set it off. The TV set has finally given up and just keeps scanning so the new one will be in place tomorrow. This is the cat that made its way from Upminster to Basildon before he was identified.

He looks thoroughly miserable but is now back home.

[TheQ]

Hmm Landover MOT'd last week, 

Stone through sidelight this week.. LED sidelights £16.95 ea,  cheap compared to modern cars, but annoying..

Very dreich out there, not nice at all..

[polybear]

Well this Bear never did get around to doing any leccies today....

The afternoon's fun instead consisted of:

(a) ironing a pair of jeans

(b) packing a forthcoming sale on the 'bay (well it's had a bid, so I thought I'd take a flyer that they'll pay up)

(c) Checking the contents of a certain kit that I purchased on the 'bay for a pittance; all the important bits are there, with just a few of those diddy little cast bits seemingly missing that no-one (a) has a clue what they are, and (b) where they go.  I can live with that, as I'm sure bits can be scrounged or obtained by other means at some point in the future.  Whilst the purchase was "a right result" the postage was a p*ss take though - £3-20 postage yet the seller charged nine quid .  It wasn't even packed that well either....

 

Bear's email has been having a tantrum for most of the day - it won't send or receive, and keeps asking for my password and username to be entered into a little popup box whenever I click the "Refresh" tab; both p/w and u/n fields are already populated however, though the p/w can't be read it does have what I think to be the correct number of characters.  I can't double check this easily though, as my computer paperwork is in the desk in the lounge, surrounded by other furniture and sheeted over....

The usual technical solution (restart) didn't fix it either.  Turdycurses.

If it's still messing around tomorrow I'll have to dive into the desk paperwork.....

Hang on though......

Beary Brainwave of the Day:

Try the tablet instead - if that won't play either then it's "them" and not me.....

 

Edit:

Those paying attention several weeks ago may recall Bear sending a snottogram to the Co-op for selling a bag of satsumas that were in date yet one of which was decidedly rotten.  They've finally responded - the usual apologies blah blah blah; the best bit is they be sending a certain Bear a gift card for a fiver .  A result.

Edited November 10, 2021 by polybear

[Winslow Boy]

Right going to have a bit of a rant to get it of my chest as it's been buzzing around my head for several months now.

 

So what is it I hear you ask that's got you all worked up. It is community groups and why they all eventually seem to disappear up there own ..........insert your own word here.

 

So to put in you the picture. Several years ago a group of like minded folk decided to come together and form a friend's of the park group. This was because our esteemed council had wanted to build houses on a demolished school site adjacent to the park. Leaving aside the fact that the council cocked this up and ended up replacing the school because they didn't do enough due diligence is a tale for another time.  So there we are all full of enthusiasm and initionally everything went very well. We held several very successful events, created an orchard, planted bulbs and generally did a lot of positive things. Membership was good and although we couldn't get the council to commit any major expenditure we all felt what we were doing was benefital.

 

However what started to happen almost slowly at first was a charge of emphasis. When we first started we were keen to report things to the council. So for example if something got broken we let the council know. Similarly if some antisocial behaviour occurred we would passed that onto the police. Well that was the first thing that got dropped. No longer did we pass that info on. Now it was the responsibility of the person who found the fault item or who witnessed the incident.

 

Little by little jobs or schemes that we came up with seemingly couldn't be done. Sometimes it was the council that said no. Other times it was too expensive or there wasn't enough support. Don't get me wrong I could see the concerns that the council had but more often than not it just seemed that it was more easier for the council to say no rather than to find a way of making it work. So eventually the ideas and proposals stopped coming.

 

Now there had always been a bit of a conflict between those wanting to stage events and those wanting to improve the park. But gradually over time the events side always seem to get funds whilst the improvements side didn't. Anyway along comes the blasted virus and even the events couldn't be held.

 

So where are we know. Well what started of as a group of people wanting to help improve there local environment has shrunk to a mere handful who are seemly quite happy to only hold events whilst doing very little else yet are supposedly being held up by the council as representatives of park users. 

 

I could go on as there are plenty of other issues - like the money meant for the new surface in the tennis courts that got redirected as the scheme was too costly, but there seems little point.

 

The point I'm making is that it seems that unless everyone has enough 'buyin' to whatever it is then it just seems easier to let things slide and not do anything at all.

 

So that's it. Fellow contributors may find my ramblings hitting a cord or they may not but it has been said.

Edited November 10, 2021 by Winslow Boy

[Tony_S]

The sporadic dampness today hasn’t affected the new purple pansy paint on the compost bin but the rust treatment on the second manhole cover may have to be repeated. I have a big box over it so I am not doing anymore tonight. I have also been trying to tidy stuff up (again) in the garage. Each iteration improves the situation but I think I am getting there. 
BT contacted me today to say my phone is going over to Digital Voice next Wednesday. In case of problems I should keep a charged mobile phone handy  according to the BT advice. 
Aditi’s sister is off to Switzerland tomorrow. Back on Tuesday I think. MiL will be fine, she has overnight carers, her cleaner/cook will be there Friday and Aditi’s brother will visit on Saturday. Aditi is planning to go on Sunday but only if she feels ok. At the moment she is feeling rather unwell following her Covid booster. Mainly cold and tired but she assures me she will be fine tomorrow. 
Tony

[tigerburnie]

Evening, had a nice trip out to Pitlochry and surrounding area, past Blair Athol castle and up to Bruar, the sale at the shops were a tad disappointing, no whisky in the sale, how rude was that!! I didn't buy anything, though they did have a nice fishing reel, only £5000............................................

[Coombe Barton]

... and an offer from Amazon ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2021/11/10/why-wont-they-be-proactive/

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Just had an interesting Zoom talk on the French TVG. Now to catch up on other stuff. At least Si Attica is keeping quiet and I hope it stays that way.

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I was rather busy this morning, what with showing Ian how to use my tile cutter. Giving Ian a demonstration at 12ft was interesting, but I think he got the hang of it ok. After that I packed my bag for tomorrow and then headed back downstairs to the cellar and continued with the engine shed. Today I completed all the inspection pits, 11 in total. 4 for inside the shed itself, 4 for the yard opposite the shed, 2 ash pits and finally 1 for the workshop. They’ve all had 2 coats of varnish and are now ready to install, once the layout is built. After dinner I began making the vents for the shed roof, most of the bits have been printed out, I just need to do the very top and ends of the vents. Construction will begin, next week, when I’m back home from my stay in hospital. 

 

As I have to be up for 6 o’clock tomorrow morning, it’s an early night for us both. 

 

I hope to have time to look in in the morning, but if I don’t, I shall probably be off line until early next week, as I expect that Internet access in the hospital to be a little shaky. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[BoD]

2 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

Evening, had a nice trip out to Pitlochry and surrounding area, past Blair Athol castle and up to Bruar, the sale at the shops were a tad disappointing, no whisky in the sale, how rude was that!! I didn't buy anything, though they did have a nice fishing reel, only £5000............................................

Reely?
 

Last time we were there we just ignored the money making bit (well mostly) and had a pleasant walk up to the top falls and back.

[Dave Hunt]

We had our Covid boosters just after 0900 this morning and so far neither of us has had any reaction - not even sore arms. Most of the rest of the day has been taken up one way or another preparing for the royal visit of SiL and spouse beginning tomorrow but I did manage a couple of hours in the workshop. Time for a bit of shuteye now. 

 

G'night all.

 

Dave

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Been absent for a few days, dealing with financial advisor, building contractor, customers at work and the dark one.

Bit better now..

Goodnight,

Robert.