Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl, 241/117

 

4 hours sleep, 2.5 hours sleep not too bad for me..

Ben the Alarm Clock Collie was on time, which was just as well or I'd have slept on.. He enjoyed a good morning patrol lots of interesting smells to follow..

 

Dry, few clouds, chilly and windy.. the forecast suggests, Fraggle rock may approach the mainland.. the sun was up before I got to work.. The local Tes and Co has run out of Diesel..

 

Decided the seat move in Blue Moon will occur Easter weekend.. As I get Friday off normally, I'll now be having Thursday off instead, so a good 5 days off without using any holiday leave.. 

In order to do the work I have ordered the Acetal rod, and am working on a list of tools and consumables I'll need to take down to the boat with me.

 

I think the poor quality of UK pot noodles is company profits, I suspect every effort is made  to reduce costs and keep anything they can out of the pots.

 

Spent nearly 5 hours measuring DCV yesterday, as well as measuring extra points, and measuring everything in two different ways. Some of the new measurements are to 0.01 of a millionth of a volt.. So the results were like... 5.00000003 volts.. I couldn't even surf the web during those sections, as any movement at all was changing the results..

 

Now the overnight automatic run has just finished, I suppose its.

 

Time to measure Ohms for a lot of today..

 

[monkeysarefun]

For no reason other than I love the aerial shot at the one minute mark, heres the pitch invasion following Sydney Swans player Buddy Franklin kicking his 1000th goal a couple of weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

[45156]

14 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Wouldn't it be cheaper - and a lot less upheaval - to change the loft ladder for a fancy one? 

That is a fancy one - and as we now don't plan to move again, and I am getting no younger, it is probably better to have it moved while we can afford it - also if I was unable to get up there for any reason, 30747 doesn't "do" lofts - we've also got a local heating engineer today who may well come in cheaper.

[polybear]

8 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

We used fluorescent environmentally friendly dye for that as well as sticks in a freezing cold river on Arran 

 

Not so sure that's quite in the spirit of the game somehow.  I have visions of a Bear with purple paws for the next 5 years.....

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Baseball? Baseball!!!

Isn’t that just rounders for boys?

 

Yup.  Only with an obscene amount of money chucked at it.

 

22 minutes ago, TheQ said:

The local Tes and Co has run out of Diesel..

 

So's the Navy, apparently......

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/thieves-steal-more-than-250-000-of-diesel-meant-to-power-navy-warship/ar-AAVW5V4?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=18a159bd90bb4733bbc5fb3792b632bd

So much for "Security" at RN Dockyards.  If bollox don't end up on the chopping block for that one then there really is no justice in the world.

 

22 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Spent nearly 5 hours measuring DCV yesterday, as well as measuring extra points, and measuring everything in two different ways. Some of the new measurements are to 0.01 of a millionth of a volt.. So the results were like... 5.00000003 volts.. I couldn't even surf the web during those sections, as any movement at all was changing the results..

 

What sort of equipment justifies an accuracy like that?

 

22 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Time to measure Ohms for a lot of today..

 

 

Ohm...Ohm on the Raaange.........

Coat, Hat......

 

Bear here....

Well it seems that the Wife of a certain holder of the UK's purse strings is a tax fiddler, sorry, financially adept at dodging UK Tax whilst technically breaking no laws.  Now where's that ANGRY emoji.....

Yep, that's a Rant.

 

Today is designated as a MIUABGA Day, fitted around a bonce cut and visit from buddy.  Still no tracking news on the absent wallpaper - I feel a Beary snottogram is required....

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Yet another dull and wet start to the day here in England’s northwest. Breakfast has been consumed and I’m now sat in the dining room, keeping out of the way whilst Sheila finishes her breakfast then gets herself ready for her Zumba class. I’m then tasked with dropping her off at the church hall then it’s back home to find something to do inside as it’s far too wet for outdoor activities today. 

 

Stay safe, back later. 

 

Brian

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a rock that may indeed be closer to the UK by the end of the day.  At a miserable 7c feels like 2, I'm staying indoors today I think, the siren call of the washing machine is heard.

 

The biggest (only 'big' really, others are sort of artisan jobs) bakery on the rock has announced closure, due to difficult trading making it uneconomical.  This has a poor effect on the excellent flour mill at Laxey (very modellable building), that is government owned, and the farmers who have already planted the wheat for the process.  Insider that works at the bakery reckons the junior member of the family that inherited it about 5 ish years ago have wanted rid of the business ever since, and have literally done no maintenance or any kind of investment since. Barstewards, this is going to have a lot of repercussions throughout the rock.  Government says they won't get involved directly as they are not in the business of bread making.  Not that sort anyway. Yes, a rant.

Edited April 7, 2022 by New Haven Neil
got spillchucked on 'flower/flour'!

[NGT6 1315]

Moaning awl. Fairly balmy and a bit breezy currently, with rain predicted for the afternoon.

 

Been awake since 4ish and up since 5ish as I couldn't get my mind back to rest. Oh well.

 

Can't think of anything meaningful or poignant right now, so maybe I'll give it another try later.

 

Stay safe, everyone… 

[TheQ]

33 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Not so sure that's quite in the spirit of the game somehow.  I have visions of a Bear with purple paws for the next 5 years.....

 

 

Yup.  Only with an obscene amount of money chucked at it.

 

 

So's the Navy, apparently......

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/thieves-steal-more-than-250-000-of-diesel-meant-to-power-navy-warship/ar-AAVW5V4?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=18a159bd90bb4733bbc5fb3792b632bd

So much for "Security" at RN Dockyards.  If bollox don't end up on the chopping block for that one then there really is no justice in the world.

Nothing changes in the Docks .

What sort of equipment justifies an accuracy like that?

I'm calibrating stuff used for calibration stuff, and that stuff might be Military /  Nuclear / satellite / Space

 

 

Ohm...Ohm on the Raaange.........

Coat, Hat......

 

Bear here....

Well it seems that the Wife of a certain holder of the UK's purse strings is a tax fiddler, sorry, financially adept at dodging UK Tax whilst technically breaking no laws.  Now where's that ANGRY emoji.....

Not quite as simple as it sounds, she pays UK tax on UK earnings, she's an Indian citizen, (India doesn't recognise dual citizenship) and much of her  business is there..

 

Yep, that's a Rant.

 

Today is designated as a MIUABGA Day, fitted around a bonce cut and visit from buddy.  Still no tracking news on the absent wallpaper - I feel a Beary snottogram is required....

The Q

Edited April 7, 2022 by TheQ

[Erichill16]

Morning all,

Ive arranged locum cover for me today so I need to decide what to do. Very windy and wet outside and for the first time in ages, we don’t have Sydney on a Thursday. Turdy curses. Not had chance to take Syd out for three weeks now.

I should really stay in and do some bookwork but feel I need a break from ‘the business’. I do have a voucher from a certain emporium in Sheffield  that needs redeeming and we could then head off towards Bakewell, Buxton or Matlock. Unfortunately I don’t really have the enthusiasm for anything so will let’s SWMBO decide.

Robert

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis was at it hammer and tongs this morning but was gone as soon as I started moving about. A bit nippy this morning, the wind is from a cold direction and hitting the exposed end of the house. Bin day today and I can hear the lesser spotted glass and bottle wagon a couple of streets away. 

[Tony_S]

9 hours ago, BSW01 said:

Pithecanthropus other day I fitted a roller bearing

That is an amazing predictive text substitution. 

[PhilJ W]

55 minutes ago, 45156 said:

That is a fancy one - and as we now don't plan to move again, and I am getting no younger, it is probably better to have it moved while we can afford it - also if I was unable to get up there for any reason, 30747 doesn't "do" lofts - we've also got a local heating engineer today who may well come in cheaper.

I have a brochure from a local company offering a 24/7 call-out service as well as annual service of the boiler for £15.99 per month and I'm seriously considering taking it up.

[New Haven Neil]

Chuckin it down now, euugh.  One of those days when you really want to go out, and the weather disagrees.  I know i won't melt, but there is no pleasure in walking around the village in a howling gale and horizontal rain. 😞

[grandadbob]

Just coming up to 9.00 and Sainsbury's along with 3 bin lorries have "bin" and gone.  I've put all ours and our neighbours bins back where they belong.  It was a bit draughty and chilly out there. Breakfast has been had and I'm now thumb twiddling and drinking coffee for a few minutes whilst I wait for The Boss to come and give me a haircut.  That should occupy another few minutes and then I suppose I ought to do something.   🤔

More Admin probably.   My enthusiasm knows no bounds.  🙄

That last comment was a lie! 

Edited April 7, 2022 by grandadbob

[PhilJ W]

Just reported on the weather news. It's even colder in Spain and the Balearics than it is here. I hope @chrisf packed a few woolly jumpers. There's also a major storm heading for France this weekend. The top edge of it will brush against the English south coast for a while on Saturday morning.

[simontaylor484]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Morning all,

Ive arranged locum cover for me today so I need to decide what to do. Very windy and wet outside and for the first time in ages, we don’t have Sydney on a Thursday. Turdy curses. Not had chance to take Syd out for three weeks now.

I should really stay in and do some bookwork but feel I need a break from ‘the business’. I do have a voucher from a certain emporium in Sheffield  that needs redeeming and we could then head off towards Bakewell, Buxton or Matlock. Unfortunately I don’t really have the enthusiasm for anything so will let’s SWMBO decide.

Robert

Abbeydale industrial hamlet is worth a visit not too far from the emporium you are visiting.

 

We went pre pandemic and spent ages watching a guy perched on a plank grinding a ceremonial sworrd

[simontaylor484]

The weather here is carp rain and blooming wind got a psychotherapist appointment just sat in waiting room 

[Barry O]

Chopin at Moreasons.. done (missing one item!) No breakfast there though.. no staff(!)  Staff shortages due to the eeediots in charge who have treated the staff very, very badly to "save" money - same group of eediots nearly made Tesco Bankrupt, wonder how long the new owners take to realise they are crap managers!

 

My on line meeting starts at 11am. I am not in the mood for any snidey remarks.. so I hope they understand if I chew the odd head off(!) in the nicest possible way. While i have coffee they won't be getting any.. 

 

Her indoors is now in "no food" mode until her procedure at 8am tomorrow.  Think very large mummy bear with an extremely short temper and a bit of a Log on her shoulder...

 

 

Time to go to my pre-meeting meeting(!)

 

Baz

 

[jamie92208]

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Just reported on the weather news. It's even colder in Spain and the Balearics than it is here. I hope @chrisf packed a few woolly jumpers. There's also a major storm heading for France this weekend. The top edge of it will brush against the English south coast for a while on Saturday morning.

The aforementioned storm is aleady in South Western France. Our part of the Charente  is definitely a bit Maritime.  About 300 litres of water into the new collecting tank off 45 sq metres of shed roof.  Should be nice and full for the summer.

 

Jamie

Edited April 7, 2022 by jamie92208

[PeterBB]

18 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Just spray a little "something" on the door handles.....

I am told 'it' still has dramatic effects on the numbers of visitors coming to Salisbury with of course concomitant closing of many small businesses.

[PeterBB]

17 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Wouldn't it be cheaper - and a lot less upheaval - to change the loft ladder for a fancy one? 

Or even one of the new 'no shaft' lifts.

[AndrewC]

18 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Just spray a little "something" on the door handles.....

Once upon a time they used to burn turf and manure to keep warm. Perhaps the nice Irish people could dump a few tonnes of manure off so the Russians can keep warm. 

[PupCam]

Morning All!

 

Puppers has been feeling very slightly wobbly for the last week or so (nothing too serious) but nowhere near as wobbly as this time last year which was shortly before it all went very pear-shaped indeed!   I've been started on yet another medication recently and I suspect that might have something to do with it, I'll have to wait and see.

 

I have mostly been amusing myself constructing and writing the software for another little Arduino project.  This one is an "Hour Angle" calculator which is basically used to tell you where to point your telescope at anytime to "see" an object if you know its celestial coordinates in general and its Right Ascension in particular.       Spent a lot of time trying to get the Arduino Touch Screen clone to work and got there in the end when I eventually found some library code produced by a very clever gent.    I also found some code that does the tricky maths so adapted to suit my needs.   I tried it out by sticking my iPhone on t-he telescope mount (instead of the telescope as it was daytime and so no stars were actually visible) and running the "SkySafari" Ap.   I looked up the coordinates of a couple of stars, entered the right ascension values into the gadget and then set the telescope HA position to that  indicated.   To my surprise, SkySafari showed that the relevant star was somewhere close by in the field of view!   The object wasn't perfectly centred but then, it's a budget telescope mount and the display scales are regarded as "Mostly Ornamental" and are certainly not accurate to 1 part in 10-8 !

 

One "interesting" discover was the device uses a little Real Time Clock module (little board hanging out the bottom) which has a standard coin cell to run the clock when there is no power applied.    The RTC module also includes a charging circuit that attempts to charge the non-rechargeable battery!!!!    I wondered why my brand new battery was starting to look rather plump!    Fortunately the internet identified the problem and described the solution (remove a diode and two resistors and add a wire link).     Hopefully it will be far less likely to burst into flames now!

 

I'm going to replace the little virtual touch keyboard with a rotary knob and button for data entry.  The keyboard works but is just too fiddly to use.  However that will have to wait until I get another little interface board for the rotary encoder.     I do enjoy doing a bit of "technical", it's just like the old days back in the Great Empire @polybear.   Come to think of it, it's nothing like the old days back in the Great Empire ....

 

TTFNQ!

 

Alan

 

 

 

Edited April 7, 2022 by PupCam
Reduced size of pictures

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, simontaylor484 said:

Abbeydale industrial hamlet is worth a visit not too far from the emporium you are visiting.

 

We went pre pandemic and spent ages watching a guy perched on a plank grinding a ceremonial sworrd

Management has decreed Whitby is the place to visit. 
Have been advised I can call at TMC. 

[TheQ]

Time to star in a video... Sunday 27th March at about 15:30, 3 minutes in yours truly and Blue Moon well and truly aground being rescued...

The video is of some of our sailing waters ,normally from the clubhouse on the sharp corner of the river for a mile and a half upstream.. however we do like to sail down river from the club house to a pub either 5 miles away or 8 miles away..