Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

35 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Loving the Mad Max mobile love tgat film

As much as this Brit?

 

 

[NGT6 1315]

Cheers all.

 

Sunny and less windy than yesterday it was. And here's the forecast: Persisting darkness at night.

 

We took out our bikes and went on a bit of a tour. Which was nice overall but for me personally, hampered by the fact that the saddle lowering mechanism my bike has (to facilitate mounting and dismounting) seems to have failed. This means that the saddle won't raise again when the corresponding lever on the handlebar is pressed, and that I could raise it only partway by hand, making for a very uncomfortable position and leg pain. So, before I'll do any additional tours, I'll have to have that fixed!

That being said, I have to admit that except for the odd tour now and then, I'm really not that much of a bike person as I feel quite uncomfortable with the absence of protective structure - especially so in an urban environment. I guess I might feel differently if we were living in a more suburban location, like the environment I grew up and learned to ride in.

 

Other than that, I can't really think of much of anything worth mentioning.

 

Thinking of everyone in need of supportive vibes.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 I liked the first line where it said

Police have issued a warning to motorists throughout Queensland after a post-apocalyptic-styled car was seen driving around central parts of the state. 

 

Makes it sound like the cops are scared everyone is going to start doing it. Of course if the Northern hemisphere explodes in a nuclear armageddon maybe we will be.

 

Though I just checked out carsales.com and theres only 2 Falcon hardtops for sale at the moment so get in  quick!

 

 

 

 

 

Jeez....£110K and the guy cuts a hole in the bonnet for a blower   Respect.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Rain was predicted for today but none has arrived yet. I've restored the pee-line further down the garden and under a large conifer near where the foxes get in. Its quite dry under there so it shouldn't be washed away by the rain unless its exceptionally heavy. Now back to the delights of Farcebook.

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

As I predicted this morning, I’ve not done a great deal today, mainly sat about on the sofa, doing quite a good impression of a couch potato! A bit of surfing on tinternet was done, no purchases were made. But I finally got round to watching the last 2 episodes of ‘The Secrets Of The Imperial War Museum’. I thought it had finished just after Christmas, but 2 more episodes were broadcast a few weeks later. It’s been quite an enjoyable watch and it would appear that they only display about 1% of the whole collection at any one time! 

 

The evening was rounded off watching a film, ‘Once Upon A Time In Hollywood’ and a bottle of Zinfandel. The film had its moments, but I wouldn’t put in my top one hundred films list, although Brad Pitt’s performance was very good! 

 

And finally, I’d like to wish Neil and Deb’s a happy anniversary. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[The Lurker]

Evening greetings from a Sidcup that is covered in the hush of night, along with the hum of the 321 passing at the top of the hill.

 

happy anniversary to NHN and Debs.

 

quiet day although Mrs Lurker carried on her training for a sponsored half marathon and I cooked a chicken and chickpea tagine 

[laurenceb]

Night awl

[monkeysarefun]

Ha ha Behold my magpie servant!

 

From hesitantly taking food from my hand a day or so ago to now landing on me  like i'm St Francis or whatever when I walk outside.

I plan to use him to fetch small items from the shops,  or  I can  attach  a GoPro camera to  him and I've scored  myself a cheap@rse drone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

here's a poor bloke reading the news, understandably decides to do his bit and get ready for the coming apocalypse and gets hit with a defect notice..

Is he living in the NT or QLD? It sounded like he was in the NT, so WTF does a QLD policeman have to weigh in?

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Ozexpatriate
Spelling

[monkeysarefun]

8 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Is he living in the NT or QLD? It sounded like he was in the NT, so WTF does a QLD policeman have tow weigh in?

The legacy of the joh years is still strong in many of them I guess.. Lucky not to cop a thumping!

Edited March 13, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

22 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Behold my magpie servant!

Beautiful creatures, when they're not dive-bombing your head. Love it when they sing to you!

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, monkeysarefun said:

The legacy of the joh years is strong in many of them I guess!

Sgt. English no less!

 

[monkeysarefun]

7 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Beautiful creatures, when they're not dive-bombing your head. Love it when they sing to you!

He was trying to teach me basic Magpie yesterday, but my whistling skills arent up to it..

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Curious weather today. This morning was stunning - bright blue cloudless skies and it looked like it would be a stunning day. As forecast, rain appeared mid-afternoon. *Some* amount of rain is forecast for the next seven days. (We need it.)

 

Tonight sees the "spring forward" of daylight saving time. Hopefully I will get to sleep before it gets very late. There is a big push to have "permanent daylight saving". The whole construct is so arbitrary. Why not have television programming  scheduled one hour earlier, and change work/school hours to enable more evening sunlight? (Living in US "central time" this is pretty much the case.)

 

The news is full of hyperbolic, "increased mortality" effects (heart attacks, road accidents, etc) related to changing the clocks. Why the solution is permanent, rather than no, daylight saving, escapes me.

 

I'm not a fan of having school children go to school in the dark. (This may be necessary at latitudes like those of Scotland, but at 45°N, with 'normal' celestial noon ≈ 12:00, school hours are in daylight, even in the dead of winter - barely.)

 

Edited March 13, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

... given the insurance I ahve for vision, a company called VSP, ALL lenses are made at their facility in Texas, so instead of a simple day maybe tow to wait (which is the case for the sunglass lenses, not covered by insurance <ahem>) it's a likely 2 weeks as they have to ship the frames to Texas for the VSP blighters to do the lenses ...

I had VSP coverage in my old job. I don't recall it taking a long time for new lenses + frames.

[chrisf]

This may be tempting providence, but the aches and pains feel less prominent this morning.  As I am rapidly running out of pain killers this is just as well.  Apart from Ally Pally next weekend and Area Group on Wednesday there is nothing in the diary.  What have I forgotten to note down?

 

Sunday lunch will be chicken and bacon pie, an impulse purchase from my favourite supermarket.  Apart from putting it in the oven for the specified time, demolishing it and washing up afterwards I have no specific plans for the day.  Correction: there is a pile of ironing, so common as to be hardly worth mentioning.  When I turned on the TV yesterday I was alarmed to find on the screen a frozen image of Friday night's sporting fixture.  Fortunately the cause has been found.  It was some sort of e-blip in one of the boxes under the set that house vital ancillary functions such as the DVD recorder.  Turn it off, turn it on again.   Bingo.  Until next time.

 

During the week ahead I need to seek and find my RMweb name badge.  It is due to appear in public on Saturday at Ally Pally.  I hope that those ERs who gather in the appointed place at the appointed time for liquid refreshment will include some that I do not know yet as well as some that I do.

 

Chris

Edited March 13, 2022 by chrisf
typo

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare,

Five hours plus, one hour sleep plus two hours of mostly dozing a fairly good night. Helped by a glass of port a bottle of which was found the the back of the miscellaneous wine supplies.

 

Woke with slight back pain, also the left elbow isn't happy again, not to bad though and I shouldn't be be doing anything strenuous today.

 

SWMBo has got up early, which has got Ben excited, 

Time to get him out.

 

 

 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Off to my Regional workshop.

 

saw a bit of cricket yesterday.. interesting pitch conditions for both teams.

 

time to get into gear so TTFN

 

 

baz 

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a rather damp Charente.  The newly commissioned rainwater harvesting set up is doing its stuff.  

 

Yesterday was productive.  I even managed, with help, to stop the kitchen door catching on a slightly raised tile corner.   Me on the floor with a jemmy to lift the door off it's hinges, one friend to hold the door upright and Beth to instruct the friend when the upper hinge was inline.  2 M6 washers on each pin did the trick. Various other tasks were completed and in the afternoon I had a successful time in the shed.   

 

This morning we are due to go to the market as usual.  I suspect tat we will spend most of the time in the cafe. As it's cold and windy a glass of Vin Chaud (Mulled wine) may well be in order.

 

All being well I will return to the shed in the afternoon to continue progress with various electronic bits.

 

I hope that @Kellyis progressing well.

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

Morning All,

 

Firstly, congratulations to @New Haven Neil for his anniversary. Mrs iD and I will be celebrating 30 years of marriage soon-ish (I can never remember the date) and I fear she has “plans”…

 

Mrs iD’s Birthday dinner went off without a hitch and there’s plenty of left over roast beef, Yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes and buttered cabbage left over to provide a few more meals (with a couple of spuds and Yorkshire puds set aside for two lucky dogs). If anyone is contemplating getting into cooking sous-vide, I say “go for it”. I cooked the beef sous-vide and finished it by searing it in a hot pan (though a few minutes under a salamander would also do the trick) and it was perfect - the beauty of cooking sous-vide is you can’t over cook the food (and you can turn tough meat fork-tender by this method).

 

Regretfully, not making Ally Pally (again), but - assuming that it goes ahead in 2022 - Warley at the NEC is definitely on the cards (gotta have an opportunity to spend all those consultancy fees I’m accumulating ). The biggest problem will be actually getting to Birmingham by air: direct flights from CH seem to be some years: yes, some years: no. I will investigate further (some unkind souls might suggest the big issue is getting flights from Birmingham, not to it ).

 

One of the things I have to do as a consultant, is to go through long lists of data - not particularly difficult but time-consuming and slightly monotonous. So, to enliven things I have been listening - whilst working through the data - to various artistes I have heard a little of and want to hear more of. Frank Zappa being the latest on the list. Once you get beyond the provocative and often raunchy lyrics, you discover an amazing level of musicianship both of Frank Zappa and his backing band.

This got me thinking, maybe it’s time to reevaluate my position on folk music! Unlike @chrisf, who seems to be immersed in the world of folk music, my knowledge is minimal and very much colured by my early exposure – in my teens - to folk music. I have this image (undoubtably erroneous) of folkies being either earnest bearded gentleman with beards and thick, chunky cableknit pullovers or ethereal long-haired. hippie chicks in “granny dresses” with warblerly voices. Singing songs about how “on't cross beams gone owt askew on treddle” or how “I gave my virtue to the squire’s son and alas now I am spurned”.

I am sure that this calumny will be promptly correct by “those in the know”

 

And on that six-string acoustic guitar strumming note, I bid you a great Sunday.

[polybear]

Bear here.......

Well a certain Bear awoke to.....a nose bleed   Nottalot, but I can't ever recall having a nose bleed.  EVER.  And no, I haven't been diggin' knuckle deep either......  Sounds like a classic case of Cake deprivation to me, but I'll do a BP check later, just out of interest.

 

Today?  Well I reckon I'll strip out the old door & frame for the cupboard under the stairs, then I can cut the two frame stiles to length - just so long as the rain stays away long enough....

[AndrewC]

Greetings from a soggy and still boring borough. 

 

Glad to see that Kelly has finally undergone repairs. Home soon I hope. 

 

Another basically wasted weekend so far. Managed a couple of minor tasks around the house but nothing to dent volume 1 of the honey do list. On the upside we did have a rather nice unwind for vinyl Saturday. (normally Sunday) First listen to a very rare live (and liner signed by Kenny Jones)  recording of the Small Faces in Belgium, followed by various others, and finished up with Thelonious Monk. Playlist can be found on SWMBO's Farcebook. 

 

The rule of threes seems to be happening. The fridge is making suggestions about filing its retirement papers. The dryer sounds like it is filled with mice on occasion. Worst of all our espresso machine that had recently shown signs of old age, finally passed on yesterday. Looks like around £2200 of modelling tokens / holiday money will be spent in the coming weeks. <meh>

 

I have a catch 22 when it comes to diy in the house. If the weather is nice I want to be outside. If the weather is crappy and I'm inside, I can't bring out the power tools to cut and shape any bits that need fitting as I really have to do it outside. more <meh>

 

Oh well. enjoy your Sunday. 

 

Breakfast time and I need to try to remember how to operate the Koffi pot.