Early Risers.

[Pacific231G]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

and Scotchguard on the furniture I hope. 

Shouldn't that be the Scots Guard and they're far to busy defending the country to have the resources to guard my furniture.

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

 

 

BTW, for those who don't know. Virgin doesn't actually exist. (sort of like Newcastle's women) It is simply a licenced brand name. Virgin Media = the parent of NTL, Virgin Money = parent of Clydesdale (or the company they merged with), Virgin mobile = O2. The list goes on. The bearded band botherer makes his lolly by selling the big V to other companies. 

About the only things he was originally a majority owner of were Virgin Records/Shops and the money he made then allowed him to set up his airline(s).

Virging Atlantic is currently 51% Virgin Group & 49% Delta owned.

He sold the record label to EMI, which is now part of UMG and the UK record shops became Zavvi.

Most other things are either licensed or franchised.

[TheQ]

Yes polybear found the reference to the house trump didn't like.

 

Today's visit to the big bad city, was successful, went to our favourite book shop, and no less than six books on parallel bits of metal were found on the discount rack, 4 on copper capped transport or their homeland, 2 on more general history of our interest... The cost? £1 each...

 

Other books were bought however, including a two book autobiography of Basil Liddell-Hart. 1895-1970 , he fought during WW1, became a famous military author of both WW1 and WW2, and was a great proponent of tank warfare, far in advanced of the accepted end of WW1 practice. There's one of his books I'd really like, as it's the only one with a good section on my Grandfather's regiment, unfortunately it's rare and collectable, so the cheapest copy I've seen listed was £150...

 

Other items were bought including cheap break off blade craft knives which are back in the £1 stores @ 5 for a £.

we walked into a Tiger store and saw.... Individual Tea infusers, £1 ea, so a couple were bought...

 

on getting home the jungle was mown. About 2hours was spent on that.

 

I think an eyelid inspection is required..

 

 

[Ian Abel]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

Well, he couldn't break any covid laws because he didn't believe in them.....

Besides it went away in the Spring of 2020;

"You know, a lot of people think that goes away in April with the heat — as the heat comes in. Typically, that will go away in April." 

Dumbold Drumpf quote, Feb. 10 2020

[Gwiwer]

Welcome to Essex 🤣

 

 

 

[Grizz]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭.....................

 

Speak to us Bear! Are you ok????? 

[simontaylor484]

Going back to @New Haven Neil comments on litter on Everest bodies are also left up there as it is virtually impossible to recover them. The sherpas have recovered some like the oxygen cylinders.

[Coombe Barton]

... weekend - maybe I’ll get something done. However some more CDs have landed and they’re good ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/04/14/despite-government-apparent-denial-its-still-here/

[Ian Abel]

17 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Didnt you say the same thing at Christmas? Whats going on over there - are public holidays considered communist, like socialised healthcare and gun laws?

Short answer is - YES, longer answer, see below

12 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

With the exception of Christmas day*, there are no religious US Federal public holidays, consistent with the first amendment.

 

* Not that it is celebrated as a religious holiday by many.

 

There are now eleven:

New Years' Day*

Martin Luther King Jr. Day 

Washington's Birthday aka Presidents' Day (Washington's and Lincoln's birthdays)

Memorial Day* (commemorating those who died in the service of their country)

Juneteenth** (commemorating the final pronouncement of the end of slavery)

Independence Day*

Labor Day*

Columbus Day / overlapped by Indigenous Peoples' Day in many states

Veteran's Day (commemorating all who served)

Thanksgiving Day*

Christmas Day*

 

* Most private companies observe these on the day and offer 'floating holidays' for the others.

** New in 2021. I don't know if companies will regularly observe this on the day

 

I understand Australia has only seven, though most states make up a couple of extras. Arguably not very different in spirit from Australia Day, ANZAC Day, the Queen's Birthday etc.

 

The UK seems to have eight or nine, though there is also a Platinum Jubilee holiday this year.

 

 

as described above, with the added explanation that, as shown, typically only SIX are actually observed by "everyone" as a real day off.

The others are all "available" to be taken using up either your allotment of "floating holidays", or your vacation time, so it's not really anything more than you decididing THAT day is a vacation day.

Any federal workers manage to get the entire suite of days off.

It seems that in providing a "separation of church and state" the founding fathers allowed the 1% to determine they'd apply/institute the SCROOGE method (pre-visitation by the ghosts <grin>) of caring for their employees!

My company do add one other day off (several companies I've worked for do, and I think quite a few others, especially since almost no-one shows up on this day) and that's the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is always on a Thursday. So many do benefit from a 4-day weekend, but that's pretty much the only one.

 

'ello, 'ello... BIN day, wind around 50+mph and empty BINs seen charging down the street, managed to capture my two and put them back in their prison <smile>.

 

Yesterday a non-event in all measures, so knock that one on the head.

Today, work then off to sing at the Holy Thursday service. We shall repair to our local watering hole after the event<hick>

 

Weather-wise - SHITE!

Started the day at -2, blowing a gale and snowing! Temperature MAY top +3 if we're very lucky with snow showers all day.

None appearing to stay as the ground is somewhat warm enough to have it melt on contact. Forecast for strong gusty winds all day up to 50-60mph.

 

That's it...

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Out this evening for the SEERS AGM so just a quick hello and goodbye.

[BoD]

Regarding old buildings,  no matter what you say about ‘Spoons’’,  and many people do,  they seem to treat buildings they have taken over with a good degree of sympathy.   Our local one was once a department store and they kept the distinctive windows,  the one in Colwyn Bay was once a cinema and you can tell.  Keswick Spoons is in the old Courthouse building and has the original cells incorporated.  
 

Perhaps it was part of the planning permissions and they were forced to do so,   perhaps they felt it the right thing to do,  or, in true spoons style, perhaps it was the cheapest option.   Whatever the reason, they have preserved many features that may otherwise have been lost.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, Grizz said:

2 hours ago, polybear said:

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭.....................

 

Speak to us Bear! Are you ok????? 

Has the LDC run out???  

[polybear]

43 minutes ago, Grizz said:

 

Speak to us Bear! Are you ok????? 

 

Bear dun it wrong.....😭

Just when it was going so well......

I was doing the last longest wall - over 3m; the rail was secured and the digital angle gauge said 0.0 degrees.  Happy Bear.  Only I then realised I should've positioned it below the pencil marks, not above the pencil marks....

So a bl00dy great length of Dado rail is higher than the rest of the room.

 

 

Spot the difference - to the left is the 3m rail that's too high; one option would be to raise the short length to the right of the door frame (the bit above the bucket) - as it's separated by 90 degrees and the smaller cupboard door it'll most likely be un-noticed when compared to the bit on the far right of the picture.

 

 

Plan 2 is to drop the 3m length to the right place:

 

 

- but that will leave seven screw holes in the wallpaper 😭 - the chances of filling them so they are undetectable when the wall is painted is slim.  So Plan 2 will mean the lining paper above the rail will have to be stripped and renewed.

 

Plan 3 is to lose the will to live.  Oh, hang on, Bear did that one earlier.....

 

It's looking like Plan 2 is slightly ahead at the moment;  whilst most (if not all) won't spot Plan 1 being used,  Bear will know it's wrong - and that'll p1ss me off.

Decisions, decisions.....

[45156]

Evening All

 

Much skipping has happened - but for a good reason. as we have been SO busy with the house.  Apologies to all.

 

Got 700+ railway books onto shelves and cupboards - then while the big cupboard was out, we painted the back wall, then got the books in - it holds around 350 books.  It also now holds the hi fi - which also got comissioned today, and I discovered that the speaker leads are too short - drat.  Still, I've got 12m on order from Richer Sounds.  When getting the cables and so on out, I finally found the planet waves lead and the mains lead for the Marshall - so some noise was made.  Also played a few CDs - now need to sort them out as they got very jumbled up in the move.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[J. S. Bach]

24 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear dun it wrong.....😭

Just when it was going so well......

I was doing the last longest wall - over 3m; the rail was secured and the digital angle gauge said 0.0 degrees.  Happy Bear.  Only I then realised I should've positioned it below the pencil marks, not above the pencil marks....

So a bl00dy great length of Dado rail is higher than the rest of the room.

 

 

Spot the difference - to the left is the 3m rail that's too high; one option would be to raise the short length to the right of the door frame (the bit above the bucket) - as it's separated by 90 degrees and the smaller cupboard door it'll most likely be un-noticed when compared to the bit on the far right of the picture.

 

 

 

Plan 2 is to drop the 3m length to the right place:

 

 

 

- but that will leave seven screw holes in the wallpaper 😭 - the chances of filling them so they are undetectable when the wall is painted is slim.  So Plan 2 will mean the lining paper above the rail will have to be stripped and renewed.

 

Plan 3 is to lose the will to live.  Oh, hang on, Bear did that one earlier.....

 

It's looking like Plan 2 is slightly ahead at the moment;  whilst most (if not all) won't spot Plan 1 being used,  Bear will know it's wrong - and that'll p1ss me off.

Decisions, decisions.....

Raise the other rails, the long rail looks a lot better at that height. JMNSHO!

[Ozexpatriate]

13 hours ago, TheQ said:

We've occasionally had the odd American manager who doesn't understand the UK or European way of working, they don't like our shut downs for fixed holidays. 

I know of US "tech" companies* that shut down between Christmas and New Years'. It's not that unusual.

 

* The one I am thinking of is an engineering software company.

 

Most 'white collar' US companies move one of the 'lesser' Federal holidays to the Friday after Thanksgiving to make that a four-day weekend. They will do something similar if Independence day or Christmas falls on a Tuesday or Thursday.

[simontaylor484]

13 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Raise the other rails, the long rail looks a lot better at that height. JMNSHO!

I tend to agree the original purpose of a dado rail was to prevent damage to walls caused by the backs of chairs.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

... typically only SIX are actually observed by "everyone" as a real day off.

The others are all "available" to be taken using up either your allotment of "floating holidays", or your vacation time, so it's not really anything more than you deciding THAT day is a vacation day.

Most people will however still get at least eight paid holidays including the six "national" holidays, they'll more likely include the day after Thanksgiving, and other long weekends around Independence day or Christmas depending on what day of the week they fall.

 

I do know companies that make one or two of them available as true floating holidays available at the employees' discretion which is useful for people who want to use them for religious observances.

[Grizz]

38 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Bear dun it wrong.....😭

Just when it was going so well......

I was doing the last longest wall - over 3m; the rail was secured and the digital angle gauge said 0.0 degrees.  Happy Bear.  Only I then realised I should've positioned it below the pencil marks, not above the pencil marks....

So a bl00dy great length of Dado rail is higher than the rest of the room.

 

 

Spot the difference - to the left is the 3m rail that's too high; one option would be to raise the short length to the right of the door frame (the bit above the bucket) - as it's separated by 90 degrees and the smaller cupboard door it'll most likely be un-noticed when compared to the bit on the far right of the picture.

 

 

Plan 2 is to drop the 3m length to the right place:

 

 

- but that will leave seven screw holes in the wallpaper 😭 - the chances of filling them so they are undetectable when the wall is painted is slim.  So Plan 2 will mean the lining paper above the rail will have to be stripped and renewed.

 

Plan 3 is to lose the will to live.  Oh, hang on, Bear did that one earlier.....

 

It's looking like Plan 2 is slightly ahead at the moment;  whilst most (if not all) won't spot Plan 1 being used,  Bear will know it's wrong - and that'll p1ss me off.

Decisions, decisions.....

Bear...you are ok....take a deep breath bud. 

 

Question? Do you have any beer? I know that this is on a different scale to my iPad unpleasantness but....hear me out.....life looks better when looking through the bottom of a glass full of beer!!! Several for preference!!!! 

 

Just my opinion for what it is worth...I’d move the shorter pieces if I had to move anything because the longer length I would guess is going to be more visible in the room......for what it is worth....

 

gutted for you mate. Join me in a virtual beer????

 

 

 

[The White Rabbit]

56 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear dun it wrong.....😭

...  Only I then realised I should've positioned it below the pencil marks, not above the pencil marks....

So a bl00dy great length of Dado rail is higher than the rest of the room.

 

Spot the difference - to the left is the 3m rail that's too high; one option would be to raise the short length to the right of the door frame (the bit above the bucket) - as it's separated by 90 degrees and the smaller cupboard door it'll most likely be un-noticed when compared to the bit on the far right of the picture.

 

Plan 2 is to drop the 3m length to the right place ...  but that will leave seven screw holes in the wallpaper 😭 - the chances of filling them so they are undetectable when the wall is painted is slim.  So Plan 2 will mean the lining paper above the rail will have to be stripped and renewed.

....

Decisions, decisions.....

 

With either Plans 1 or 2 (and I agree with Grizz re it's easier to move shorter pieces), if you can't fill the holes finely enough, could you hide them behind something? I don't recall what your plans for the walls were but I'm speculating whether a strip of patterned wallpaper - maybe something like: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wallpaper-Borders/b?node=1938839031 would work? OK, a little more expense and work, especially if you do the other walls  but possibly an easy get out of jail free card? 

Edited April 14, 2022 by The White Rabbit
afterthoughts & Grizz post

[Ozexpatriate]

57 minutes ago, polybear said:

Only I then realised I should've positioned it below the pencil marks, not above the pencil marks....

Sorry to hear that. This sort of thing is why I am so bad at DIY.

 

"Measure twice, cut once" etc, I try to live by, but it still inevitably ends up like these parody tee shirts:

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I wondered why it was “steam” but the website explained Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

Usually "STEM" here. When people here use "STEAM" they usually add "arts"* which to my way of thinking sort of defeats the intent of STEM. 

 

* Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics

 

In the US the acronym, which is now very commonplace, has it's most frequent usage in the encouragement of girls to enthusiastically embrace STEM topics in their education.

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Usually "STEM" here. When people here use "STEAM" they usually add "arts"* which to my way of thinking sort of defeats the intent of STEM. 

 

* Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics

 

In the US the acronym, which is now very commonplace, has it's most frequent usage in the encouragement of girls to enthusiastically embrace STEM topics in their education.

It is usually STEM here too but Stemhouse wouldn’t look right. 

[BoD]

59 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

Raise the other rails, the long rail looks a lot better at that height. JMNSHO!

….. or just lower that section of wall.

 

 

 

 

Edited April 14, 2022 by BoD

[PeterBB]

On 13/04/2022 at 13:33, Gwiwer said:

London - Brighton and back in a day was around 120 miles and was achieved many times.  But one particularly memorable day saw me start at Whitwell, the southern tip of the Isle of Wight, follow the coast around to Ryde, cross to Portsmouth and ride on to Southsea. From there I followed the main coastal roads east through Chichester, Bognor, Littlehampton and Worthing to Brighton.  After a pause I then continued and rode all the way back home to east London!  Quite the day’s ride and around 130 miles by the route taken. 

 

 

 

Hit a memory.  A friend and I decided to do another London -Brighton cycle ride.  So far so good.  He then said that a friend of his Dad's now lived in ?Polegate so we cycled there, after all its only a few miles!  They gave us a drink and a bite to eat and then on to Eastbourne.  As it was getting dark and the weather was not so good we realised that my watch had stopped.  Cycling home on what was then unfamiliar road in total darkness save our lights we were only overtaken by 35 cars before arriving home circa 0130 hours the morning after having covered rather a lot of miles.

The punch line was that school term started that morning so two bleary-eyed students just managed to get to school on time.