Early Risers.

[chrisf]

What, another one?  Many happy returns to Flavio

 

Chris

[southern42]

Birthday greetings to Flavio.

 

Ooh! Sun has just come out. I will have to take my mugadecaf out into the garden with me.

Some muddling done this morning.

Toot on the flute before lunch went well for a change! I sometimes feel I am getting the hang of it.

Better go and have my mugadecaf before the sun disappears.

Take care all.

Polly

[PupCam]

Afternoon All!

 

Happy Birthday to Flavio !      (There's got to be an easier way to do personalised jazzy greetings ....)

 

We had a most enjoyable day yesterday celebrating a certain life event many moons ago,   Don't Panic!  being particularly relevant this time round.

 

We spent the morning wandering around the grounds of Wrest Park, a relatively local mansion now in the care of English Heritage.   The afternoon was spent with Junior Puppers + 2 off Junior Squared Puppers and the day was rounded off with "scoff down the pub" in the evening.   Very nice.

 

Today has seen a bit of sorting out of life admin and I now await a Cardio Consultant's consultation.    This will of course be via the Telling Bone - the last time I actually saw a cardio consultant was over a year ago when he was wielding the Swann Morton.

 

TTFNQ

 

Alan

 

 

 

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Happy Birthday to Flavio !      (There's got to be an easier way to do personalised jazzy greetings ....)

 

C'mon, Puppers - if anyone can crack it you can.....

Bear does note that Puppers' offering brings order to chaos - whereas Bear's are just, well, chaos....

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

First off Happy birthday Flavio - I'll not be able to have one of my whiskies to celebrate with you, as I have just had my right upper wisdom tooth extracted - it was, apparently, touch and go as to whether it would come out on one piece, as it had a large hole in it - but she managed it, and I never even felt it come out. However, as I was having a local, and would probably be unable to eat, I decided to eat a lot to keep my blood sugar up, and overdid it as I managed to get it up to 12.  It's on the way down now with the help of some insulin.

 

Yesterday, we finished the stairs and landing, and I was quite pleased with the result.  And on case anybody has the least interest, here's the result.

 

Mouth is now coming round, so I'll be able to have a light meal and some more insulin.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

Edited June 8, 2022 by 45156

[southern42]

12 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Yes, there are a lot of regional variations - not quite as localized as those in the UK - though some, like "Jersey" or "Boston" are quite localized and even the Boroughs of New York (like Staten Island/Bronx/Queens/Brooklyn) had traditionally different sounds separate from the influence of minority ethnic communities.

 

So-called "Southern" accents vary a lot too. Hearing the South Carolina tidewater accent and bayou Cajun, you wouldn't call them the same*. They are very different.

 

The entertainment industry has a neutral US 'accent' common in California - not unlike the influence of London-based broadcasting in the UK.

 

EDIT:
* In keeping with the theme of GOP Senators compare Sen. Lindsey Graham R-SC with Sen. John Kennedy** R-LA (whose accent is 'mild' by Cajun standards).

 

** No relation to the Kennedy's of Hyannis Port, MA

 

 

In my early years, I worked in London with a staff member from oop norf who spoke with a Londonised accent, purely to work darn sarf. Very common issue back then.  You occasionally heard him utter in mother tongue when things got out of hand. My voice was/is flexible - it seems to follow the lilt of whoever I was/am talking to. I was once asked, by an Usher in one of the South Bank buildings, if I was from Yeovil, out there in the South West. In my first job up here (bookshop), one very Welsh gentleman applauded me on my 'lovely Welsh' accent. It did not sound very Welsh to me!

 

Just having that mugadecaf - the sun went in so I had another toot on the flute. Then, little drops of H2O (no subscript!) descended from the sky so I parked up in front of the MacBook, again.

 

[The White Rabbit]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

....Once it was done she contacted me to say that as it was rather long "it fell outside the normal scope of the scheme blah blah blah" and that under normal circumstances it would cost in the region of a grand.  FRO.....

She then went onto say that she'd do it for half that as it was a part of the scheme.  Bear argued that no mention of this was made at our meeting, at which point she got the 'ump, threw her toys out of her cot and said that "the Solicitor - Client relationship had broken down and she could no longer represent me".  ....

 

Costs should always be discussed at the initial meeting. What is included, what (might commonly be supposed to be) not included and what might depend on variables. I won't comment specifically on professional standards and misconduct in this case but would mention misleading clients on costs has cost many solicitors dearly, sometimes including their practising certificate. 

 

Many wills are based on standard forms anyway. Unless you are Rod Stewart or Jools Holland on here under a pseudonym, it is unlikely your affairs would be complicated enough to need a huge amount of work. Or even anyone very senior/experienced. Most of the work is swopping names, addresses and descriptions of the bequests. Then proofing it very carefully (oh dear...) to make sure it's right. 

 

Last time out, I had mine done through a referral scheme work had running. Up front, they said what type of will could be done for how much (someone with £50,000 and three bequests for £x, someone else with two property trusts and £1.5 million to disperse - a bit more...). Straightforward and no mucking about. But I can't just change the names around and get the new one witnessed as things have changed more substantially, so it is time to start afresh. 

 

Might not be relevant for you but anyone reading this might want to consider a letter of wishes? It's not always appropriate but it can be. I keep one, together with a couple of sheets of paper with background info with my will - should the very worst happen and several of us get wiped out in (say) a car crash, it could save a lot of time, trouble and £. 

[polybear]

Bear intends to prepare a Letter of Wishes this time around - it'll allow for the distribution of personal stuff (a cave full of LDC anyone?) without cluttering up a Will.

There's also another very important advantage of a LoW - so others won't know who got what.  This can include the Taxman of course, should you happen to have half a million stashed under the mattress with no paper trail......

One important characteristic of a letter of wishes is its confidential nature. Unlike a will, which becomes a public document if a grant of representation is obtained, a letter of wishes always remains confidential to the executors, trustees or family members. This confidentiality enables you to feel more comfortable in including a higher level of detail regarding your family and affairs. In addition, there is no requirement for a letter of wishes to be witnessed. Therefore, if you so wish, a letter of wishes can be written in complete privacy and may only become known after your death.

***The catch is that a LoW ISN'T LEGALLY BINDING - and you'll need absolute trust in your Executors to carry out the Wishes it contains**

 

I've also got into the habit of depositing a Will with the Probate Registry in London - it makes life somewhat more difficult for skullduggerous deeds - and ensures that a Will can be found....it only costs twenty quid to do.

Edited June 8, 2022 by polybear

[zarniwhoop]

Felicitations to Flavio (I tend not to often bother with such things, but there are some people such as the Captain whom one does not wish to upset). June is a good time for a birthday.

 

Anyway - on Welsh zebras: I recall reading (ok, it was on wikipedia, but perhaps accurate) that other letters such as K for kilo were creeping into current welsh spelling. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welsh_orthography. But I have read that K used to be in the welsh alphabet until Elizabeth I had the bible translated  into Welsh and the printers complained they didn't have enough Ks.

[BoD]

Many happy returns, Flávio. 

 

One must ask, does CC have both an official as well as an unofficial birthday?  If so, what gets trooped?

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. The foxes are back including the little fellow scratching on the glass. I received a letter yesterday from the equity release people saying that they wanted to do a new valuation on my property. OK by me as I know that the value is well ahead of the equity release. By how much I wasn't sure but going by prices locally I estimated its value as about £250,000 to £275,000, so I went on line to check on prices. My property is an end of terrace and I found an identical property that had been sold only three months ago. When I looked at the address it was the house at the other end of the terrace (I thought it looked familiar). A bigger surprise though was the selling price £325,000! I know that my house is unlikely to fetch that sum as it requires redecorating throughout but its still worth a lot more than I thought. I was thinking of selling up and going into warden controlled accommodation as I am beginning to find it difficult to climb stairs, perhaps its time to bring that forward.

[iL Dottore]

14 minutes ago, BoD said:

Many happy returns, Flávio. 

 

One must ask, does CC have both an official as well as an unofficial birthday?  If so, what gets trooped?

Thanks!

 

No trooping, but CC does indeed have a private birthday (celebrated in a suitably luxurious low-key style) and an Official Birthday for which CC magnanimously offers Ludi imperatorii to all minions (panem et circenses and all that).
 

The highlight of the games is the ever popular civilibus contra ursis. Some say this is cruel, but you have to thin the grex civilibus and the bears enjoy it. And the civilibus are hardly an easy target - “harder to pin down and slipperier than a ***** piglet coated in Crisco“ complained one bear after one set of games, idly flossing a minister from his teeth with a sharp claw. 

 

After the games, there is also an officialis festum  and – as they say – bibere humanum est, ergo bibamus.

 

The minions also get the next day off work!

[polybear]

39 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I was thinking of selling up and going into warden controlled accommodation as I am beginning to find it difficult to climb stairs, perhaps its time to bring that forward.

 

Is a stair lift an option?  

[petethemole]

Happy Birthday to Flavio,

 

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

We spent the morning wandering around the grounds of Wrest Park, a relatively local mansion now in the care of English Heritage.  

 

When I was a lad, early '50s, a friend of Dad's used to work at Wrest Park, then home to the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering.  Staff were permitted to invite guests to the grounds and parts of the house and we used to go for picnics there.  Said friends office featured several manufacturers' publicity models of bulldozers and caterpillar tractors, mostly yellow so probably Caterpillar.  One was quite large (to a small boy) and when pushed along emitted small puffs of 'smoke' from its exhaust stack, which I believe was talcum powder.

[Coombe Barton]

Boris Johnson says “nothing and no one will stop me continuing as PM”
Carrie, “Yeah, right.”

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/06/08/zoe-survey-data-continues-up/

[simontaylor484]

I saw a report on the fuel hitting £2 A litre but it was a motorway services 

 

I filled up yesterday Morning on the way back from the school run Am at £1.81 when going back on the pm run it was £1.83 This was Asda diesel.

 

Pebbles goes to the Vet tomorrow for her next set of jabs.

 

 

[J. S. Bach]

5 hours ago, polybear said:

 ...snip... BBC have just reported that a Garage in Swansea is now selling unleaded at 202.9 - yesterday was the biggest jump in fuel prices in a day apparently

$4.599/gal here a little while ago.

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, southern42 said:

 ...snip...  little drops of H2O (no subscript!) descended from the sky so I parked up in front of the MacBook, again.

Dihydrogen oxide?

[PhilJ W]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Is a stair lift an option?  

Yes and No, its possible to fit a stairlift but the staircase is between two walls and is very confined. I had a handrail fitted last year and it had to be cut into three pieces to get it in.

[J. S. Bach]

To our resident Swiss doctor, a great big HAPPY BIRTHDAY and many, many more trips around Ol' Sol.

[J. S. Bach]

3 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Yes and No, its possible to fit a stairlift but the staircase is between two walls and is very confined. I had a handrail fitted last year and it had to be cut into three pieces to get it in.

A friend has that problem and it includes a 90° bend to the right about two-thirds of the way up.

[jamie92208]

19 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

Yes and No, its possible to fit a stairlift but the staircase is between two walls and is very confined. I had a handrail fitted last year and it had to be cut into three pieces to get it in.

My only advice is to do it sooner rather than later.

 

Jamie

[Ozexpatriate]

By the time I had completed my morning routine and was ready to peruse ERs while, in the background the television showed young ladies whacking at felt covered rubber balls on the Nottinghamshire greensward, but the English summer intervened, and a host of lads dragged the covers over the court, which turned out to be the end of play for the day.

 

Pointless interviews (like asking international tennis players if they could name three NBA Finals MVPs) followed. A rewind of the day's play is scheduled to begin soon - anything is better than daytime television. Perhaps it will motivate me to do something useful, but today, like many lately, is cloudy though it is forecast to reach 'normal' temperatures, which are happily climbing gradually north as the days lengthen.

 

There is weeding to be done and I am not enthused. The weekend is forecast to be wet.

[Pacific231G]

5 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Boris Johnson says “nothing and no one will stop me continuing as PM”
Carrie, “Yeah, right.”

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/06/08/zoe-survey-data-continues-up/

Not even the electorate! (The Donald Trump version of democracy) 

But the latest Zoe graphs are worrying.

 

With good weather I had  a more than usually interesting walk today including the Wharncliffe viaduct in Hanwell and the Hanwell flight of locks. The volunteer lock keeper expressed concerns about the condition of the locks with many paddles not working properly and the gates showing their age. It's a listed structure so renewals will (quite rightly) have to use appropriate materials so no lightweight aluminium gates. British Waterways used to make lock gates at Bulbourne Yard near Tring and it even had an internal railway to move them around. It's now being turned into housing though the Waterways Trust are supposed to return there when development has been completed.

After walkies it was just about warm enough for lunch on the patio and, so far today, nothing damp has come out of the sky  except guano.

 

I've just been watching a live Royal TV Society (London Centre) YouTube discussion on the upcoming BBC programme Seven Days on Mars presented by Brian Cox.  Prof. Cox was on the panel (along with the programme's producer, director and Vandi Verma the Chief Engineer for Perseverance Robotic Operations) ,  and it's interesting to see how different he is when not in presenter role.   The producers were given seven days access to the Perserverance operation at NASA's  JPL in Pasadena and, from the clips they showed, it should be fascinating.

I can remember the first pictures from the surface of Mars coming back from Voyager Viking in July 1976. It was in the middle of Grandstand  and I was the BBC-1 Network Director that afternoon. I always wondered what we'd have done if something alive had appeared in front of the camera. I'll bet the BBC would have been slated for not going back to the football!

Edited June 8, 2022 by Pacific231G
correction

[Ozexpatriate]

48 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

$4.599/gal here a little while ago.

Oregon is at $5.46/US gallon and Portland $5.51*. (Most of the western states are now over $5.00.)

 

* £1.16 / litre