Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

Major grump here - nephew that we think the world of has been scammed £9k buying a car - vendors e mail was hacked and new bank details inserted.  Bank and police on it and the bank have said in this case MAY be able to do something, but he's not that hopeful.  The vendor is a solicitor!  Nephew's devastated as you might imagine, he did all his due diligence with the vendor, really checked him and his car out, but didn't have a chance to see the hack - no way you would spot it.  Bl**dy interwebs.

 

Gutted for him.

 

In other news, it didn't rain in Wales today, and we saw some of those chuffy things.

[simontaylor484]

Jeez these scammers will do anything these days.

There was a firm advertising on the radio yesterday no win no fee for people who have been scammed I can't remember what they were called. 

 

Also further sympathies are extended to @Dave Hunt

[brianusa]

11 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

And furthermore 

 

 

 

 

 Healthy looking Bumble Bee you have there!🙂

 

Brian.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

Sadly I don't have a Facebook account to watch. 

I will have to make do with Rolo and Pebbles the dachshunds.

It is this scene of Buddy the Dachshund from Secret Life of Pets.

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[simontaylor484]

Our Dachshunds both love belly rubs once they get you started they don't let you stop they want you to rub faster.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

And furthermore

Lovely photographs Sir Greybeard. I note the evidence of liquid sunshine in the West Country - this being English summer I presume.

 

Telephone cameras can be really terrific.

 

50 minutes ago, brianusa said:

 Healthy looking Bumble Bee you have there!🙂

Lots of bumblebees here this year Brian. More pollinators than the last couple of years. I think our wet Spring and longer displays of flowers have helped.

[NGT6 1315]

Are You Hungry For Hungary?

 

 

Fear not, Raaberbahn and MÁV are here to help! 🤣 These here being MÁV 470 009 and GySEV 470 502, the classes having originally been known as 1047 and 1047.5 for many years. It's worth noting that MÁV had specified their 1047s/470s not to be outfitted with LZB cab signalling. To my knowledge, they haven't been upgraded with ETCS as of yet either, so while they are certified for Austria and Germany, they are restricted to 160 kph there unless working in second position in a MU formation with a suitably equipped locomotive. The GySEV locos but are fully outfitted.

 

As for the five 470.5s (or formerly 1047.5s), their operator is fairly interesting in and of itself. GySEV - shorthand for Győr-Sopron-Ebenfurti Vasút in Hungarian - or ROeEE, for Raab-Oedenburg-Ebenfurter Eisenbahn in German, has been a binational Austrian-Hungarian enterprise for most of its existence. The company's ownership is currently shared between Hungary with about 65%, Austria with roughly 28%, and construction company STRABAG for the remaining shares.

 

Officially branded in German as Raaberbahn now but retaining the long original name in Hungarian, they have a major presence in western Hungary and the eastern Austrian state of Burgenland in particular, and provide passenger services reaching as far west as Vienna and even northeast to Bratislava.

 

 

And with that, I think I'll call it a day. Nitey-nite...

Edited July 3, 2022 by NGT6 1315

[Sidecar Racer]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

 Its amazing how even young puppies at about eight weeks old have the instinct to round up sheep. Now to tackle Farcebook, be back later.

 

 Indeed it is .

 

 

Edited July 3, 2022 by Sidecar Racer

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Things were going OK this evening until Si Attica jumped in. A couple of Nurofen have been deployed and if he doesn't go away its time to bring out the heavy artillery.

[simontaylor484]

The fox has been spotted walking up the track at the back of the house 

[brianusa]

The sheep don't think its funny but they'll get used to the idea!🙂

 

On another note, its July 4th tomorrow and GH along with other towns now has a firework ban in place to counteract the hot and dry weather.  Remains to be seen if such an affront to 'patriotism' will actually work.  At least sheep and other animals including people would appreciate the peace.

[pH]

11 minutes ago, brianusa said:

On another note, its July 4th tomorrow and GH along with other towns now has a firework ban in place to counteract the hot and dry weather.  Remains to be seen if such an affront to 'patriotism' will actually work. 

Has it not made it to SCOTUS yet?

[monkeysarefun]

Hey my local town made the BBC. Looks like the service stations didnt escape the chaos unfortunately. Fun fact, that cream coloured building in the middle of the opening shot was the old railway milk depot back when we had a branchline and  was bought by an out of town developer who tried to lease it out as an upmarket restaurant, wine bar or whatever, had no takers in 2 years and blamed it on locals spreading false information that it flooded. After 4 floods in 6 months he's gone a bit quiet.

 

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-australia-62027039

 

Big shout out to the Amazon delivery driver who delivered a package to me yesterday (Sunday) after battling floodwaters, road closures and traffic chaos. I ordered it Friday evening, and I  feel a bit guilty that its just some book I bought on a faint whim that I wouldnt mind reading "some day", wish it had been an essential spare for my iron lung or something similar that would have made his perilous trip worthwhile.

Edited July 3, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[pH]

A couple of days ago, I said in a post that the pollen from conifers was really flying here. On a walk this morning, we saw this puddle, which shows just how much pollen there is around:
 

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, pH said:

A couple of days ago, I said in a post that the pollen from conifers was really flying here.

It amazes me how much longer that took than what we saw here at 45°N. Even with the cool, damp Spring in Oregon, we had those pollen puddles many weeks ago.

 

I finally got around to scrubbing it, and the mould and dirt, off the patio table this afternoon. There was still a lot of pollen on the patio mingled with air-blown dirt.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, pH said:

Has it not made it to SCOTUS yet?

Many professional fireworks displays are cancelled this year due to "supply chain" issues.

 

Fireworks sold to consumers are 35% more expensive this year. Of course most* fireworks are manufactured in China and with CoViD lockdowns there and shipping issues they are more difficult/expensive to procure.

 

* NPR 2018

Quote

"Ninety-nine percent of the backyard consumer fireworks come directly from China," said Julie Heckman, executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association. "And about 70 percent of the professional display fireworks are manufactured in China."

 

Many cities could not secure supplies for professional displays and are offering 'drone displays' or 'flume' displays** as an alternative to fireworks.

 

** Shooting jets of flames from devices on a lake. Cities like Tempe, AZ were on the news for planning to use these this year.

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning all,

 

Today will be gloriously labour free (or should that be “labor“?) – as all my clients are in the US, July 4th gives me a day off.

Regarding July 4th, a.k.a. “Independence Day“, I have a number of interesting books in my library. that touch upon – directly or indirectly – the subject: one, by an American (?) historian, re-examines the myths surrounding the American War of Independence (and according to this historian the  commonly accepted stories about America’s fight for independence are myths based on a little truth). In another book of essays, acquired when I was going through a period of reading contrafactual history, an author posits that if it was not for the assistance of the French, Britain would have beaten the American insurrectionists (and, according to the legalities of the day, they were insurrectionists – rebelling against a legitimate, sovereign, government). Had the American rebels have been defeated, this of course would have led to a very different North American history (obviously) Spain acquiring much of the American Southwest and the Pacific states being one possible outcome of the defeat of the American independence movement. (If anyone is interested, I can dig out the titles and authors names and post them).

 

Contrafactual history (or “what if”) is quite fascinating: at one end it is nonsense along the lines of “what if the Roman Empire had machine guns?” But the other – which is the result of serious historical scholarship – examines how very small changes would’ve had (or wouldn’t have had, for that matter) caused a significantly different (historical) outcome. For example, had the German government of the day not allowed Lenin and other dissidents safe passage to Russia in 1917, European history would have been radically different; in comparison: had von Staufenberg been a bit luckier and the assassination of Hitler had succeeded,  Germany would still have lost the Second World War and Europe would still have been divided up between Western and Soviet areas of influence.

 

Onto other matters: yesterday I had a pleasurable few hours in the company of some strippers (Gasp! Shock! Horror!) 😮 but before anyone jumps to the conclusion I was indulging in some extramarital dalliances, I was in fact just removing the paint from some plastic models which will now be re-sprayed. Also during this modelling session I completed the signal box I had promised @JohnDMJ. I will post some photos soon.

 

Finally, and not before time, the weather is synced to my mood: it is grey and raining outside - just what my psyche insists the weather should be like!
 

And on this pluvial note, I bid you a great 4th of July!

[chrisf]

On this fourth day of July it is possible that a new world record may be set at Coney Island in the USA.  At present the record for eating hot dogs stands at 76 dogs and buns in 10 minutes.  It is held by Joey Chestnut, as it has been for a good few years now.  Rather him than me!  I expect that there will be TV coverage on some obscure chsnnel or other but despite the interesting nature of the event I think I'll pass.  If I do anything exotic today it will be to visit the camping equipment shop in search of a new air bed.

 

One job for today might be to check YouTube footage of Saturday's Pride procession to see who else took part.  I had a quick glance yesterday and thought I spotted one or two notables.  It is nice to think that I was in good company.  There are residual aches and pains which I hope will be gone before the weekend, for I am due to march again on Saturday!

 

Chris

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

The sun is shining and the sky is quite blue with some cloud.  It should be a fine and warm day.

Good day had yesterday with Steve visiting for lunch and a pleasant couple of hours spent putting the world to rights as well as my laptop as he sorted out a couple of minor IT glitches for me.  I actually watched most of the Grand Prix after he left and thought it more entertaining than many I've seen for quite a while.

First task today after breakfast is to phone the hospital to check whether I should have one or two appointments today.  The good news is that Steve can take me there.  He was due to be going on a short cruise this week but this has been cancelled because the ship is stuck in dry dock in Germany apparently due to a labour shortage.

Time to take tea to The Boss.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Great game to umpire yesterday. My colleague was great and asked me why I wasn't umpiring in higher league.. he was horrified when I tole him.. he, meanwhile is on the Minor Counties umpires panel.

 

Had a good chat with one of the players .. we recognised each other.. I lastvumpired him 9 years ago as a Yorkshire U15!

 

Today will involve.. admin.. pah! A meeting to organise, some medication to order, some money to be moved.

 

Stay safe!

 

Enjoy your time today.

 

Baz

[jamie92208]

Good  moaning from a warm and sunny Charente.  A small person has just demolushed her Weetabix andvis currentlynplaying with a JCB.  I wonder who bought her that.  A lot of yesterday was spent in thecpool and was much enjoyed.  I now have an assistant each morning to wake the hens up and give them their breakfast.  On an afternoon she collects the eggs whilst I lift the broody one off the nest box.

 

Happy 4th July to our friends across the pond.  It will shortly bevour big day on the 14th.

As to fireworks, I often saw them for sale at State boundaries when I was cycling in the US.  The stores often seemrd to have 'Gentlemen's' clubs next to them. 

 

Jamie

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

I do hope that @monkeysarefun is OK seeing the news about the floods round him

[simontaylor484]

Morning all 

Woke up with pain in my left leg which seems to be from hip to ankle. I am st the drs later for a diabetic review.

Pebbles the dachshund is trying to chew my sock sadly my foot is still in it. I am sure she can teleport, on moment she is slurping up some goat milk next she is on my toes. As I type my right trouser leg is being savaged.

 

Oh the irony the MP allegedly groping is called Pincher