Early Risers.

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

of it until this morning but there's something called 'Swedish death cleaning

I had never heard of that. I was aware of the musical genre known as. Swedish death metal though. Not at all like ABBA. 

[Tony_S]

We had to tidy the loft initially as the surveyor for our solar installation needed access to inspect and measure loft timbers. But Aditi said we should consider that in a few years we might not be so agile so we should only put back stuff that could be easily removed. Everything is now neat and accessible, without clutter near fans, pumps and water tanks.

[Kelly]

An update on the ongoing saga of my leg and ankle. 

 

Just had one of the doctors come talk to me. Looking like surgery is going to be Wednesday as long as they're happy with the swelling. 

 

In the meantime I need to stay in bed with foot elevated, which is making my back hurt. But have had some oramorph so not all bad. 

[Kelly]

3 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We had to tidy the loft initially as the surveyor for our solar installation needed access to inspect and measure loft timbers. But Aditi said we should consider that in a few years we might not be so agile so we should only put back stuff that could be easily removed. Everything is now neat and accessible, without clutter near fans, pumps and water tanks.

 

Sounds pretty sensible. My parents had to do similar and needed my brother to go get stuff down for them. My father had stashed all sorts of things up there! 

[polybear]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

......having only 1 leg out of action meant that the other had an awful lot to do (and still does) - which in practical terms meant that the “good” leg gets overworked - resulting in the “good” leg ending up looking like Arnold Schwarzeneggers’s (due to muscular hypertrophy) and the “bad” leg looking like Twiggy’s (due to muscular atrophy).

 

Hmmm, thought provoking....does this result in a tendency to walk round in circles by any chance? 

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I would agree, Brian. And I think that the more informed observer will have have concluded that it’s not Russia attacking the Ukraine, but Putin attacking the Ukraine - using Russian troops. What little has filtered out from Russia indicates that this attack has little support from the average Russian (but Putin’s heavy-handed use of the security forces has managed to stifle a lot of opposition).

 

 

When Putin was announcing that his Nukes were being put on standby the two Generals(?) sitting in his office appeared to be a little less than pleased with the idea...

 

3 hours ago, Kelly said:

I rather suspect the western nations will do all they possibly can to ensure they can get a peaceful solution as they will be well aware of what the potential is for Europe and the world if they get dragged into more than sanctions and aid.

 

 

I know of at least one Bear who'll be more than a little p1ssed if Putin bvggers up his new kitchen and lounge....

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

The @polybear will be pleased to learn that the LDC did not end in the bin, nor has it been relegated to support duties in a trifle. Instead, it will do its duty as cake for Mrs iD when she returns from the holiday hovel this afternoon.

 

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

A second tasting of the cake resulted in an upgrade of the CCGR rating to a 4.5 - which brings it into the category of “for in-house use only, not for guests”.  

 

 

39 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Hmm.. just received the company award for completing 15 years service.. A clear plastic number 15,  6 inches wide by 4 inches high, about an inch thick with the company name and my name printed on it...

Any ideas What I can make out of it??  it certainly won't go on display anywhere...

 

Oh no doubt some points will turn up in my company awards folder which can be converted into a amazon card..

 

Bear's 20-year service award was several weeks late in being presented - that, plus the HoD making a snide remark about me not chasing it (i.e. the Gronkits that went with it) kinda b0lloxed it right up.  (His Secretary sussed all was not happy with Bear and when I told her why she thought it pretty p.poor and offered to chase him on it - I asked her not to cos' by then it'd all got pretty meaningless really).

As for the Gronkits - two hundred notes (2001), and you had to buy something "tangible" with it (so no p.ups with the Boyz).  In those days that covered a Bachman V2 and a Resistance Soldering Unit....

 

In other news.....

Coat of paint no. 3 completed - I did the whole lot again, rather than just complete sections (most had an in-line joint so needed doing anyway).  That's a total of 54m of wiggly coving painted.  Early indications suggest this might've done the trick; if any joints still grin-thru' then just that small area will get another splodge of the white stuff.

[polybear]

Bear's Financial Advice of the Day.......

 

It seems that the interest rate in Russia is now 20%, which beats the Barclays hands-down 

 

(Bear isn't a Financial Adviser - and investments may go down as well as up.  It's possible that they may be a flaw in this idea somewhere......)  

 

Me?  I'm stashin' it in LDC reserves.  What good is money and gold if the shops are empty?  Now that does make sense....

[Kelly]

Surgery provisionally booked for Wednesday now. At least I know what the plan is. 

 

Now to rest up and wait until dinner arrives. 

[petethemole]

Mornin' all. from a dull, grey Gateway to The World.

I'm having trouble with the ratings facility on some posts, so can often only post a 'like'.  When I mean 'friendly/supportive' I post 'like' if it's in a positive way, but not if it's inappropriate.  

Best wishes to Kelly.

I don't watch 'Peaky Blinders' at all, but I think the 'f' word was in common usage at that period among 'certain elements' of society.  I read in a memoir of a junior officer in WW2 that he was conducting a driving test in a faulty lorry with a squaddy renowned for his foul language.  He warned him that he would not tolerate swearing during the test, and the driver kept very quiet until the truck broke down.  After finding the problem the driver let out all the pent-up tension, "F****** f***! The f****** f****r's f***ed!"

Martyn has a job interview today; I hope it works out better than the last one.  It transpired that that was only for three months max anyway, which they hadn't mentioned at the start.  In fact they mentioned opportunities for training and progression.  I think they are just using the government funded Kickstart scheme as a supply of cheap menial labour.

I must get on, I have some sales to pack up and send.

[Tony_S]

36 minutes ago, Kelly said:

 

Sounds pretty sensible. My parents had to do similar and needed my brother to go get stuff down for them. My father had stashed all sorts of things up there! 

We were amused by the empty boxes for items we no longer have. They had gone up in the loft in case they “had to go back”. Places like Comet used to require original packing with returns.

[grandadbob]

Good morning all and special thoughts to Kelly,

Mainly grey sky here but it's dry at the moment.  There is the chance of a spot of rain later.

I'm not an ER today as I didn't get up until 8.00am which is almost unheard of.  I think a combination of lots of food and drink yesterday followed by a late night watching a recorded rugby match were the main contributory factors.

After a late breakfast we went for a walk via the dry cleaners as I have a suit that needs seeing to.  Came home via the little park at the end of the road and clocked up a mile and a half which was enough for both of us today.

The Boss is still suffering from restless nights and some pain but the paracetamol is taking the edge off it.  The facial bruise has turned yellow. 

There are mutterings of that strange word called "housework" along with others like "cleaning" and "hoovering."  I need to find a place to hide until lunchtime! 

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

[tigerburnie]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

One of Dad’s neighbours was telling him all the nicknames they had for the other near neighbours. Dad asked “so what do you call us then?” They claimed they didn’t but Dad said he didn’t believe them!  

They used to call me Giant Haystacks according to my kids, this was before I had a hair cut(I went over 25 years of not having it cut!!)

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

A second tasting of the cake resulted in an upgrade of the CCGR rating to a 4.5 - which brings it into the category of “for in-house use only, not for guests”.  

 

45 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Sorry, Bear, but it’s got to be at least a 7 on the CCGR scale before it gets served to guests…. And even then - for items between 7 and 8.75 on the scale - guests have to sign an informed consent and a waiver before being allowed to partake.

 

iD has very high standards for his own cooking!

[tigerburnie]

1 minute ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Sorry, Bear, but it’s got to be at least a 7 on the CCGR scale before it gets served to guests…. And even then - for items between 7 and 8.75 on the scale - guests have to sign an informed consent and a waiver before being allowed to partake.

 

iD has very high standards for his own cooking!

You have that the wrong way round, you keep the best for yourself and give the out of date stuff to visitors, works on two planes, first you get rid of the dodgy cake and two it puts off visitors who expect cake................well it works for me lol.

[laurenceb]

Some years ago I came down a stepladder the same way I went up (head first) and fractured and dislocated my wrist, the registrars comment on looking at the x-ray was if it is worth doing it is worth doing properly. The number of people who said " at least it's your left hand ", I am left handed!

[simontaylor484]

There seems to be a history of paranoia in Russia going back to the October Revolution in 1917.

I'm no politics student but 

Trotsky assassinated 

The Royal Family assassinated

The murder of the officer classes and White Russians 

Stalin's various purges leaving millions dead

The Katyn Forest massacre of Polish intellectuals, Army officers.

The occupation of Eastern Europe post war 

Is it a National trait one has to wonder ?

[petethemole]

The Tsars had a series of secret police/internal security organisations from the mid-17th century.

[TheSignalEngineer]

5 hours ago, Kelly said:

My left leg has tended to be the good leg after I ripped the ligament in my right knee at 16 and not knowing I had done so proceeded to go over to the Netherlands and do the nijmegan marches (100 miles over 4 days, ..

Ouch, I know what you mean. I backpacked the Pennine Way with an undiagnosed knee problem. It settled down then went again shortly afterwards playing tennis. I was out of sports for six months with a tendon problem. Fortunately rest and gradual strengthening work at the gym got it to a livable state and I keep it moving by a lot of cycling. 

Subsequently I got knocked off my bike, went the hospital and the X-ray showed old bone fragments in the knee joint away from the new injury.

Keeping fingers crossed for a good outcome. 

Eric

[Kelly]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

We were amused by the empty boxes for items we no longer have. They had gone up in the loft in case they “had to go back”. Places like Comet used to require original packing with returns.

 

Some stores still do require original packaging. The reason is because they send it back to me the distributor who charge for each missing item. So to avoid the extra costs they reject incomplete returns and ask for the missing bits to be sent in.

[TheQ]

Legally they cannot refuse an Item returned as faulty for not having packaging..

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

They used to call me Giant Haystacks according to my kids, this was before I had a hair cut(I went over 25 years of not having it cut!!)

We have names for some of the neighbours; over the road we used to have the Tweenies (their house was decorated in a very twee way), and they live next door to the Lifeboats, and then there is the Loner. The Tweenies have been replaced by the Slobs in recent years. Funnily enough we don't have nicknames for the people on our side of the street. In our last house, the very large lady over the road was known as DT - Dump Truck. I got talking to someone on the train who used to live around the corner. Apparently he and his wife thought of me as Fast Walking Man!

[Kelly]

19 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Legally they cannot refuse an Item returned as faulty for not having packaging..

 

It will of course vary across countries. 

 

But yes. The item in the uk has to be fit for purpose. You have more rights if you buy online rather than in a shop,  though manufacturer defects should always be covered. 

 

Some exceptions do exist however. Customised items don't qualify for the same protection on online shopping for instance. 

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We had to tidy the loft initially as the surveyor for our solar installation needed access to inspect and measure loft timbers. But Aditi said we should consider that in a few years we might not be so agile so we should only put back stuff that could be easily removed. Everything is now neat and accessible, without clutter near fans, pumps and water tanks.

And having a retractable loft ladder restricts the opening. Fortunately I can reach the boiler controls from only halfway into the loft. It would be very difficult/expensive to enlarge the hatch due to the presence of a chimney stack and the rafters. There's not much else up in the loft except for some empty boxes and a couple of tea chests that are trapped up there by the loft ladder.

[PhilJ W]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Obviously I have no idea what the orthopods and PT bods have told you, but I did have a post-knee surgery experience that may be worth passing on: my first major knee surgery (bilateral knee protheses) meant that both legs suffered the same degree of muscular atrophy and rehab affected both legs equally; however, after the second knee surgery (right patella resurfacing) , having only 1 leg out of action meant that the other had an awful lot to do (and still does) - which in practical terms meant that the “good” leg gets overworked - resulting in the “good” leg ending up looking like Arnold Schwarzeneggers’s (due to muscular hypertrophy) and the “bad” leg looking like Twiggy’s (due to muscular atrophy). It’s very tempting to let the “good” leg do all the work, but this should be resisted, it’s far too easy to overwork and stress the “good” leg - putting it out of action (been there, done that, got the t-shirt)

I have a friend, Brian* who is paraplegic, has been confined to a wheelchair almost as long as I have known him. I went to visit him in hospital once and he was out of bed wearing shorts. His top half was indeed like Arnold Schwarzenegger's but his legs were like twigs, I thought of a sparrow when I saw him, quite appropriate as he was cockney through and through. *He was well known on the model railway circuit, known by all, including some ER's as 'Wheels'.

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

You have that the wrong way round, you keep the best for yourself and give the out of date stuff to visitors, works on two planes, first you get rid of the dodgy cake and two it puts off visitors who expect cake................well it works for me lol.

You're a naughty boy! That nice Mr P Bear won't want to play with you now....

[Barry O]

@grandadbob.. turns out youngest Herbert could have taken me to Twickenham for the match on Saturday - free Guinness/ food/travel the lot... but he didn't think I would have gone.. erm I played Rugby.. he never has .. Black mark and the bank of Mum and Dad are now locking the accounts to Herberts!

 

PAH!

 

Baz