Early Risers.

[TheSignalEngineer]

20 hours ago, tigerburnie said:

We have had young female dentists for several years now, the chair they use has them standing behind and looking over my head.

My dentist some years ago, now retired as she was not much younger than me, was a tennis club friend of ours.

She was excellent at her craft, doing a fantastic repair which included making a natural bridge when i lost a front tooth which had previously been damaged in an accident. It was rather a tricky job as she could only see what she was doing by working over the top of my head to glue the old tooth in place. She needed to keep my head perfectly still with her head bent down over mine. only enjoyable dental treatment I have ever had. 

[Nearholmer]

14 minutes ago, Grizz said:

It was very noticeable growing up in a village near Uckfield,

Sounds like Highhurst Wood.

 

I’m an ex-Crowborough bod, late of UMRC.

 

Was down your way visiting family earlier in the week, and every time I come back I realise how much I miss the area …… even if the scenery was pretty much shrouded in fog this time.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A bit grey at the moment but no rain, yet!

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I stand corrected!

However, my premise of lots of  small kingdoms fiercely proud and proudly independent minded I think it’s still valid

I am from Essex, the land of the East Saxons and proud of it. A great annoyance is when my birthplace, Romford is described as being in East London. I thought I was Essex through and through until I started doing my family tree and found that only one great grandmother was truly Essex. The surname was Jiggins, a name rarely found outside of Essex but even that name is derived from the Breton language having come over with Bill the Conk in 1066. In fact my family tree revealed that I am something of a mongrel with antecedents in the West Country, Wales, and possibly Scotland. My surname is more common in County Durham than in the south but I am descended from a long line of watermen based in Gravesend which I have traced back to the 1770's with evidence in the records of the name as far back as Tudor times.

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

I see I may have missed a few birthdays so belated birthday greetings to those ERs who have circumnavigated the sun once more.

 

I haven't get a lot to say at the moment so I'll probably be low profile for a while, it all seems so trivial in comparison to the unfolding tragedy to the east.

 

If only I had a magic wand I'd reset the clock by at least a couple of weeks and then I'd wipe the Cretin (other spellings that rhyme maybe more accurate) and his "machine" from the face of planet earth to do us all but especially those Ukrainians whose lives have been ruined a very big favour.      I can't help thinking the ultimate solution must in part come from within, aided by the huge squeeze applied by the rest of the world.

 

If only it were Dallas and just a dream ......

 

Bye for the time being.

 

Alan

[Erichill16]

6 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Morning All!

 

I see I may have missed a few birthdays so belated birthday greetings to those ERs who have circumnavigated the sun once more.

 

I haven't get a lot to say at the moment so I'll probably be low profile for a while, it all seems so trivial in comparison to the unfolding tragedy to the east.

 

If only I had a magic wand I'd reset the clock by at least a couple of weeks and then I'd wipe the Cretin (other spellings that rhyme maybe more accurate) and his "machine" from the face of planet earth to do us all but especially those Ukrainians whose lives have been ruined a very big favour.      I can't help thinking the ultimate solution must in part come from within, aided by the huge squeeze applied by the rest of the world.

 

If only it were Dallas and just a dream ......

 

Bye for the time being.

 

Alan

Alan, I know exactly how you feel. I’m still posting to keep my sanity. ER is a place to get away from things, an escape, have a laugh and let off steam. It will always be here. 
Robert

[tigerburnie]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

Ey up!

 

Last night was very foggy. Driving home from the cricket meeting was not good. Planes landed at the airport but the road Itravelled on  is unlit and potholed. Took a while toget back home.

 

I did some time inthe deep south  (St Evenage and Didcot) on missionary duties. I then moved up to Leeds (which is still in the South) to continue my work. What that did was to convert a maisonette into a 3 bedhouse then into a 4 bed 1920s semi we live in today.

 

My ancestors were from Normandy, Northumberland and Scotland.. not much saxon dna I am afraid.

 

Today will involve drawing process map for use in course sign off and review.. Will take time as my version of Visio no longer works..and the updated version costs ..How Much!!!

 

Have a good day.. hope the rainstops soon in Oz.. at least this time I can't be blamed for it!

 

Stay safe! Positive thoughts to all.

 

Baz

I am still dabbling with my family tree, my ancestors come from everywhere, proper mongrel on my maternal side, several Saxon Kings, Welsh an Scottish Kings too and quite a lot of farmers, which might be why I like doing the "G" word. Of the 1066 dust up it seems I had ancestors on both sides of that set too, one was tasked with removing Harold's body and hiding it from the invaders, fascinating stuff history, even though I hated it at school.

[simontaylor484]

5 hours ago, pH said:

I have just found out, courtesy of Mr. Portillo, that I used to play Sunday morning pub league football on the grounds of a building designed, in collaboration, by Walter Gropius. Who knew? (Not me, obviously!).

Which building would that have been. I have several books on the Bauhaus school although I did thin down my collection a while since I still have some books on Frank Lloyd Wright and my favourite Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

[TheSignalEngineer]

12 hours ago, Darlington_Shed said:

I have, however, been deep in Easington pit - on a school careers visit circa 1970. I immediately resolved to find another career

I went to a coalface 700m at Coventry on a visit. I was glad I had joined the railway.

Even so our car nearly got clobbered by a 15xx Pannier Tank as we drove across the  yard in the dark.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a Sidcup which is grey but dry.

 

Ocado failed to deliver quite a bit of our shopping today but did give us 3 bags of stuff we didn't order (all with one item each). We assume that the van man picked out the wrong bags. We have claimed a refund and I will have to make a longer than expected trip to Waitrose at lunchtime, especially as some ingredients needed for tonight's tea.

 

In Ukraine news, IBFD reports that the Ukrainian authorities have announced that any Ukrainians capturing Russian tanks will not have to declare them as taxable income because they don't have a cost in excess of 100 times the minimum subsistence level of UAH 248,000. If the situation was not so serious I would be putting the little joker emoji now...

 

I haven't caught up fully but I did not see anything from Kelly; let's hope the op has gone well.

 

As a Man of Kent, I never visited the local mines but we did on a school  day trip go down Chatterley Winfield, and then visit an industrial pottery in I thrink Etruria or somewhere else in the Stoke region. We were of course doing the Industrial Revolution and that was a full day or railway journey too!

 

My hometown dahn sarf was literally nothing without the railway; it was where the SER mainline crossed the Maidstone - Tunbridge Wells road (or more specifically, the Branbridges to Kippings Cross turnpike). It had regular incursions of Londoners for the hoppicking but then became a dormitory village/town from the 60s onwards. My parents themselves were incomers in the 60s expansion coming from North and South London suburbs, and there have been waves of housebuilding ever since, including now where the developers seem determine to ignore flood plain lessons.

 

and Sidcup too is an example of an earlier London expansion; the villages of Sidcup, Lamorbey, Halfway Street, Foot's Cray all have been joined up by 1920s and 30s houses, Albany Park was an entire new settlement and ran into Bexley. Luckily places like Foots Cray meadows , Scadbury and Chislehurst common prevented further immediate expansion so we still have lots of green area.

 

And now I had really better get back to work

 

 

[BoD]

I don’t normally like to brag when I have been somewhere very expensive but I’ve just been to the petrol station.  Sheesh.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

I have a ex-work colleague/friend who has a second home in France (Bergerac, right on the Dordogne), he tells me that young French people don't want old houses, hence they are cheap and available for....les Anglaise.  He's a real Francophile so spends half his year down there, but considers winters can be colder than here!

 

 

Very true Neil.  Many French want to live in what are known as Rabbit hutches, bungalows on new build edge of town sites with very good insulation.  A lot of older property has been rextored, to vatying degrees by Anglais. We bought s 60's built French house and the 18" thick walls keep us warm in winter snd cool in summer.

1 hour ago, polybear said:

HOW MUCH??

Is it falling down or summat?

I'll try and post a picture. It belongs to a London based artist who is in his 80's and can no longer get over here. I'll try and post a photo.  A friend of ours bought an old farmhouse andboutbuildings for a shadevover €40K. It's now a 6 bedroom modern house with 12m in ground pool in the garden. 

 

Jamie

[TheSignalEngineer]

15 minutes ago, BoD said:

I don’t normally like to brag when I have been somewhere very expensive but I’ve just been to the petrol station.  Sheesh.

Tessie's put it up 5p yesterday. As for the Esso station I don't look at the sign as I go past now. Will check it out when I go to the tonsorial technician next door shortly.

[PhilJ W]

23 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

I am still dabbling with my family tree, my ancestors come from everywhere, proper mongrel on my maternal side, several Saxon Kings, Welsh an Scottish Kings too and quite a lot of farmers, which might be why I like doing the "G" word. Of the 1066 dust up it seems I had ancestors on both sides of that set too, one was tasked with removing Harold's body and hiding it from the invaders, fascinating stuff history, even though I hated it at school.

Good luck with your family tree, the excitement of the chase for that elusive bit of information or document can be compelling. And it can turn up surprises, I am a distant cousin of a present cabinet minister which is a surprise as my politics are of the other end of the spectrum.

[tigerburnie]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

No worries mate, we've got all that Lithium AND uranium, whatever way the world goes!

 

Some see the writing on the wall. Australian founder of Atlassian software has recently attempted a buy out of AGL energy, hoping that if successful he would transform it from coal powered dependence to alternative energy.

https://www.weeklyblitz.net/tech/atlassian-founder-leads-bid-to-buy-agl-energy/

 

For brief moments lately energy output produced by solar sources has outstripped that produced by coal but we have a long way to go and energy companies love spreading the doom and gloom propaganda about how unreliable alternative energy is.

Lithium has been found in blighty too

[TheSignalEngineer]

4 minutes ago, jamie92208 said:

A friend of ours bought an old farmhouse andboutbuildings for a shadevover €40K. It's now a 6 bedroom modern house with 12m in ground pool in the garden. 

 

Jamie

Similar situation in the West of Ireland. Our son was working there when his employer deciid to pull out because of the financial situation. He decided to set up himself with his girl friend who is in the same trade. After getting the company established they bought a reposessed old cottage wth a 2 acre field attached for 50K euros less the estimated cost of fixing the septic tank.

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

Lithium has been found in blighty too

And reportedly the most radioactive part of the UK is the beach at Carbis Bay.

[PhilJ W]

1 minute ago, tigerburnie said:

Lithium has been found in blighty too

Its very common in the old Cornish tin mines and being soluble and most of the mines being flooded its just a matter of pumping it out. Only problem is it is nasty stuff and has to be handled carefully, its a lot more poisonous than lead and mercury.

[tigerburnie]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I stand corrected!

However, my premise of lots of  small kingdoms fiercely proud and proudly independent minded I think it’s still valid

It's only followers of football that are still tribalist, the rest of us have grown up...................................exits stage right.

[simontaylor484]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

I don’t normally like to brag when I have been somewhere very expensive but I’ve just been to the petrol station.  Sheesh.

I will be going later this Afternoon Morrisons at Knottingley were charging £1.57 a litre for Diesel, Shell in Pontefract are asking £1.57 for unleaded I will go to Castleford on the school run its usually 4p a litre cheaper not much but it adds up 

[Grizz]

2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

Well done Rick, behaving like a proper railwayman in times of chaos.

At least there are still a few like that within the system.

 

When I left school and joined BR as a trainee I remember being sat down by my boss, who to me was a big man sitting behind his desk. Behind him on the wall was a big poster. I think he had had it made. 
 

It was a plain white poster with bold black print and had the BR Double Arrows at the top. It said….

 

 

                                                      REMEMBER…..

                                     Things are never SO bad…..

 

                                   ……..that they can’t get worse! 
 

He said “See that behind me on the wall, read it out loud please” ..so I did. 
He then said “Whatever you do on the railway, wherever you go, always remember that!” 
 

I have remembered and it has definitely helped over the years, particularly in the first 10 years of privatisation. But I guess what he was saying was always be prepared for trouble. 
 

 

 

Edited March 4, 2022 by Grizz
Removed the BR arrows…don’t ask.

[simontaylor484]

Devon and Cornwall has one of the highest levels of background radiation most of it is in the form of Radon given off by the erosion of the granite batholith forming the local geology 

[grandadbob]

Back from the dentist and I do feel sorry for The Boss.  Although he  (the dentist) is "quite pleased with the progress"  he's had to put another stitch in as it's not quite healed.  Cue another visit next Friday to make sure.  I'm quite enjoying the visits as yet again when we arrived I was offered coffee.  Never ever seen anybody else getting this treatment! 

As far as ancestry goes I am definitely a mongrel as I'm part Alsatian.  Great grandfather was born in Alsace with  a German surname which grandfather changed in 1919.  He took his mothers maiden name which apparently originated from a Boernician family in Scotland.*  My grandmother's maiden name came from a Viking family in Scotland** and other family names are Anglo Saxon and Anglo Norman and I believe there's even a smidgin of Cornish in there somewhere.

Woof Woof,

Bob aka Bonzo.

 

* & ** According to Wikiwhotsit

Edited March 4, 2022 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

In future I will top up the petrol tank when it's half full so the pain won't seem quite so bad at the time.  

[Barry O]

Been to Moreasons and used my 7p a litre off coupon.. Its still cost £1.41 per litre so the £40 spent filling up Beast was only .. VERY painful to the wallet! But I got there and back on my electric drive mode so that cost.. not a lot...

 

It is still chuckinitdarn. Pah!

 

Nearly lunchtime.. I foresee a sausage sandwich for lunch... with or without soup I wonder?

 

I may be away next week and the week after as a trip to mend a train set elsewhere is required...

 

Baz

Edited March 4, 2022 by Barry O

[PhilJ W]

@Natalie is about, she has just rated one of my posts.