Early Risers.

[Andrew P]

Got in and Killed the Adds easily this morning so, HI EVERYONE.

 

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

Edited January 21, 2022 by Andrew P

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Sad news this morning, its just been announced that Meatloaf has just died.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-60080934

 

 

Edited January 21, 2022 by PhilJ W

[New Haven Neil]

Morning all, from a dull 7c bit of rock.  Not as many alcoholics clinging to it as there used to be.

 

Bike club morning, we decided it would be a car job today as it was so cold last night, so now it has proven us wrong.  That's life, as they say around Jamie's way.

 

Then later to the Big City  to get a couple of new rear tyres on the camper, they're getting a bit old as opposed to worn out.  The fronts have been previously replaced.  That's any train coupons/gronkits gone for another month. Or two.  Pah.

 

Then who knows.....I suspect the S word in Marksies....pah again!

 

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings from a cold but blue skied Sidcup. Despite the promised overnight lows there was very little frost this morning.

 

Work yesterday took a turn for the urgent...the auditors, who have been dragging their heels over most things suddenly decided they needed to review and ask more questions on things that had been given to them at the beginning of December. Bad enough But then they told the group FD that they were waiting for things from us - well me specifically - and so they  could not sign off the accounts they had been requested to sign off. Unfortunately that was not true as they had not actually asked for anything - so having called them out we then had to answer the questions pronto. I assume they are desperate to no longer be our auditors.

 

There are men "working" on the BT pole outside our house. Most of the morning so far they have been standing around chatting. But then I have been on here so I can't complain!

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

Good moaning at long last this morning.  As others have said things seem a bit slow today on RMWeb. Here it's cold outside with some frost on the cars.  Not a lot got done yesterday but I did have some productive time in the shed wielding a soldering iron.  There are some minor garden tasks today then we are going to a shop called Gateaux.  Guess what they serve.  Sounds like a good idea to me.

 

Regards tonall.

 

Jamie

Do I hear the thunder of @Happy Hippo hooves and @polybear paws?

[grandadbob]

It never ceases to amaze me what you can learn on here.  Thanks to our star gazing friends I have now discovered that the Japanese name for Pleiades is now Subaru and that's what is depicted on their logo.

[Pacific231G]

Morning all

Cold and about 5-6 octas of light stratus this morning.  I managed about six hours of sleep last night which seems to be my norm.

After tomorrow, the BBC seaweed is prediciting a week of grey boringness so I'll just have to watch a few more episodes of Death in Paradise. (A programme I'd never bothered with but am now addicted to, possibly because of the idea of somewhere hot and sunny)

A day of heavy editing awaits me today so I'd better get on with it

[AndrewC]

Moaning all from the boring borough. Sunny but cool this morning. First batch of home made bacon tested and the reset vac sealed & frozen for future use. Turned out quite good if I do say so myself. Far less salty than store bought and no white goo when cooking. 

 

The excrement has intersected with the rotary oscillation device at SWMBO's place of employment. (accountants) 3 years ago the company was bought by a bigger fish, which in turn was swallowed by an even bigger fish. The equity holding partners stuck around for the minimum 24 months from purchase and then burgered off to spend their new found millions. (~£34m) The remaining partners were shafted a bit and as part of their "payout" had to stay for 24 months after the final transition. That happened this week. 5 of the 6 remaining partners all handed in their notice at once. As SWMBO described it, "lemming Tuesday". She's had to go into the office this morning where all the corporate poobahs have shown up en mass for some sort of damage control. She has no idea if her job will remain or not since 90% of her work was doing admin for those partners who have now escaped. The other 10% of her work disappeared when they merged the offices last year. Oh well, she is sort of hoping for a nice payout with a 3 month notice and 15 weeks of full redundancy pay plus a new very sought after technical skill as they've just trained her on SalesForce. 

 

Talk of caboose hotels brings me to the Izaak Walton in Montana. We've stayed there several times. Apart from the hotel itself there are 4 caboose rooms on the hill overlooking the BNSF main line. There is also a luxury converted F45 loco suite available. 

 

Wet in the shed the other day. Not sure if the roof has started to leak (13 year old felt) or if there is a puncture in the roof's vapour barrier and I've got condensation issues. I'll be taking down part of the insulation etc for an inspection as this weekend's "more bloody maintenance" task. 

 

Ik heb geen koffie. Time to refill. Enjoy the day. 

[BoD]

 

Morning all

 

Not a good 24hrs.  I’ve mentioned my mum before. Ninety years old but mostly well physically, totally well mentally and still quite independent.  Yesterday I had arranged to take her shopping rather than doing it for her, so went to pick her up.  Her blinds were closed and door locked - she usually unlocks it if she knows I am coming - so I let my self in with some trepidation.  Found her lying on floor very badly bruised and extremely confused.  Emergency ambulance took her to hospital.  Scan revealed large  bleed on the brain, they were amazed that she wasn’t unconscious.  We don’t know if bleed led to fall or fall caused bleed.  Some deterioration overnight so next 48hrs critical as to which way things might go.  
 

Visiting restricted due to damn COVID rules so sitting here twiddling thumbs and chomping at the bit as it were.   Having said that, second time in few days with reason to be very grateful to NHS.  Emergency team were superb.

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, The Lurker said:

Greetings from a cold but blue skied Sidcup. Despite the promised overnight lows there was very little frost this morning.

 

Work yesterday took a turn for the urgent...the auditors, who have been dragging their heels over most things suddenly decided they needed to review and ask more questions on things that had been given to them at the beginning of December. Bad enough But then they told the group FD that they were waiting for things from us - well me specifically - and so they  could not sign off the accounts they had been requested to sign off. Unfortunately that was not true as they had not actually asked for anything - so having called them out we then had to answer the questions pronto. I assume they are desperate to no longer be our auditors.

 

There are men "working" on the BT pole outside our house. Most of the morning so far they have been standing around chatting. But then I have been on here so I can't complain!

 

That'll be MI5 then. What have you been up to or shouldn't we ask?

[grandadbob]

Really sorry to hear that Warren and I hope your mum recovers quickly.

[Tony_S]

@BoD I hope your Mum stabilises and starts to improve soon. Aditi’s Mum had a couple of nasty falls a couple of years ago but they were definitely caused by doing something like standing on a chair to reach something. She is very careful about not falling now. 

[PhilJ W]

@BoD Sorry to hear about your mum and I do hope she recovers fully. 

[Barry O]

@BoD- I hope she can turn the corner and that positive signs are seen over the next day. Positive thoughts to you and all of your family Warren.

 

Baz

Edited January 21, 2022 by Barry O

[Barry O]

Looks like I may be allowed to go "Walkabout" for a few days.Paperwork has been filled in and approved... that is several hours of my life I won't get back.

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

@BoD hoping for a good outcome for you

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Meatloaf has died.

Heaven Can Wait ..... no longer, it seems.  

 

 

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

@BoD Sorry to hear about your mum and I do hope she recovers fully. 

Echoed here with our best wishes.

 

Quote

It appears to be Friday

Definitely Friday.  I hadn't started work when the first train of the morning sat very firmly down at Virginia Water and required an emergency de-trainment of folk aboard and the commissioning of a rescue train because it was unable to be revived in any manner.  That was the first of three - so far - which included an engineer's train already diverted because of the problem at VW parking its bottom on the rails at Raynes Park and refusing to go any further.  Even on a temporarily-reduced timetable it isn't possible to run two lots of trains through the one remaining line so cue ..... queue.  But not at Kew because services that way were also being cancelled wholesale!  Add in a bridge-bash at Wandsworth Road and Southern's very much reduced timetable causing significant crowding on the few trains running to Victoria and ...

 

.... let's just say I wasn't sorry to leave the House of Fun behind for the weekend.  

 

It wasn't very warm either.  Quite the coldest day of the winter so far.  Despite thermals, plenty of layers and the newly received rechargeable hand-warmers I was feeling it by half-time.  My trainee was frozen, poor chap, and promised to dress more warmly for next week!  

 

So now my weekend is here.  Packages of hobby-related items have arrived and require my attention.  Dr. SWMBO also requires my attention but is working-from-home until 17 o'clock.  Attention will duly be paid after that time   

Edited January 21, 2022 by Gwiwer

[The Lurker]

Sorry to read of your news BoD. I hope your Mum pulls through

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

The light went up very easily and works well.

 

The wall cladding one side of the bathroom, had to be removed totally, because the old power point was under the starting piece. 

It took some persuading to get the screws out, as it was no power, the wires heading east through the wall, but I know the modern power is below so that was a clue..

 

So after clearing the floor I sat on the edge of the bath and studied the floor boards. 

I spotted a likely subject of attack, single nail and short. A large chisel and a tap in with a mallet and out it popped.

That allowed me access to work along the line on boards till I reached the cables.

Another sit and think on the bath edge and study the cables, 8* 2.5 twin and earth 1 * 10 twin and earth for the cooker.

Upstairs and down have separate lighting and power rings.

 

I did consider breaking into a ring to make a spur but which cable?

So it was feed cable down the bunch. It took several attempts to get it through. Then down stairs to pull enough through plus some spare.

Then back upstairs check there was enough there and cut to length.

Then the cable was then led to where it will go up the wall.

Floor boards were replaced. Then some of the cladding put up.

 

An angle grinder made two somewhat dusty lines up the wall, and the bit between chiseled out.

After a tidy up that was it for the day..

 

 

[iL Dottore]

I’m really sorry to hear about @BoD mother and I join the rest of the ER crew in wishing her a speedy recovery.

 

One thing about BoD’s account that angers me is the limitations on, if not prohibition from, seeing his mum “because of Covid”.

 

Why, for God’s sake? If BoD is triple jabbed, wears proper PPE he’s certainly no more a risk to staff and other patients than unvaccinated NHS staff - no matter what PPE the unvaccinated wear (less so, I would say) 

 

Something doesn’t add up.

Edited January 21, 2022 by iL Dottore

[iL Dottore]

I note with some awe Puppers’ astronomical photographs, they are superb..

 

However, (of course there’s a however, CC never rests), far be it for me to impugn Puppers, but I’m wondering how often that nice Miss Granger at Number 47 “accidentally” swims into view when Puppers is - ahem - “calibrating” his telescope on bath nights….

 

Curious minds want to know….

[Gwiwer]

11 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

the limitations on, if not prohibition from, seeing his mum “because of Covid”.

 

Why, for God’s sake? If BoD is triple jabbed, wears proper PPE he’s certainly no more a risk to staff and other patients than unvaccinated NHS staff

As iD will be very well aware this beast is an unpredictable and highly infectious thing.  

 

I offer as an example a colleague who returned to the House of Fun today having been absent since just before Christmas.  We were aware he had recorded a positive test.  He wasn't well today and didn't last the shift but had recorded the mandated two negative tests in the previous two days and now a month since his first positive one.  

 

He is triple-jabbed and invariably wears a mask at work as issued by our Occupational Health department; triple-layered fabric with elastic edges and a flexible metal nose-bridge.  He is normally in robust good health with no underlying conditions we are aware of and is a mere 52 years young.  A non-smoker and a light drinker.  Whilst our job requires a level of interaction with the general public that is not, for the most part, indoors, in any enclosed space nor for any extended time period beyond (typically) a few seconds though is of necessity at fairly close quarters and well below the once-promoted 2m "social distance".  We can usually manage 1m but not always.  

 

Said chap duly received Covid-19 for Christmas and has been in bed for almost a month continuously, some of it very poorly in hospital but not on a ventilator.  He cannot be sure where  nor when he was infected but isn't a party animal and lives alone.  It is likely he contracted the virus while travelling to or from work, or possibly at work but if that happened he would be the only known case so far.  

 

Even the well-protected can become infected and seriously unwell.  Visits to care homes offer the virus the opportunity to get back in the doors and take out the most vulnerable among us.  It is hard on all concerned to comply with the guidance when visits are restricted or prohibited.  Naturally we wish to be with our family and friends in their times of great need and - perhaps - their last days.  I understand the need for that guidance and empathise with those affected directly.  All I can do is offer my support as always.  Had I been placed in the position of making a choice between visiting vulnerable elderly parents or being prevented from that and informed they had passed I would have been angry, upset and wanted some sort of redress somehow.  Whilst missing them dearly I am now very grateful that they were taken when they were and didn't have to live with the hour-by-hour worry of catching the virus and being helpless to defend themselves from it.  They required twice-daily home-help and my sister calling on them 2 - 3 times a day in their last few years meaning the virus would have had every opportunity to creep in and wreak its evil way.  

 

We in the UK might be at the tail end of the worst now.  No-one knows for sure.  We are among the best-protected nations but far from all of us are protected at all.  Some reports suggest 97% of us now carry antibodies either from vaccination or prior infection.  That's at the herd immunity level but no-one can be certain a new variant will not evade that protection.  

 

Keep up the good work; it's not over until a corpulent female performs vocally and her services haven't even been booked yet.  

 

[Andrew P]

7 hours ago, BoD said:

 

Morning all

 

Not a good 24hrs.  I’ve mentioned my mum before. Ninety years old but mostly well physically, totally well mentally and still quite independent.  Yesterday I had arranged to take her shopping rather than doing it for her, so went to pick her up.  Her blinds were closed and door locked - she usually unlocks it if she knows I am coming - so I let my self in with some trepidation.  Found her lying on floor very badly bruised and extremely confused.  Emergency ambulance took her to hospital.  Scan revealed large  bleed on the brain, they were amazed that she wasn’t unconscious.  We don’t know if bleed led to fall or fall caused bleed.  Some deterioration overnight so next 48hrs critical as to which way things might go.  
 

Visiting restricted due to damn COVID rules so sitting here twiddling thumbs and chomping at the bit as it were.   Having said that, second time in few days with reason to be very grateful to NHS.  Emergency team were superb.

Really sorry to read that, hope she recovers soon, all the very best.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Andrew P

[BoD]

Thank you for all the good wishes.

 

Sadly though she has badly deteriorated.  I am now able to sit with her as the visiting rules change when on an end of life pathway.  Nothing I can do sitting here other than be with her when her time comes.

[Erichill16]

Really sorry about your sitation Bod.  Robert