Early Risers.

[simontaylor484]

I have the rest of the week filled with appointments 

The Mrs has 2 tomorrow 

I have diabetic retinopathy on Thursday 

The DDSF have the vets on Friday Rolo the dachshund is having his booster shots Pebbles the dachshund is only having a health check as we have registered her as a new patient at the practice.

Swmbo is going to have to have a series of vitamin B12 jabs that may help with the restlessness so I am going to have to take her for those as well 

[simontaylor484]

Re the scale models a picture tells a thousand words 

 

As to tablets not to be taken in Foal I do have some tablets that are printed all over the box not to be taken when pregnant 

[Coombe Barton]

... We also had a mermaid and a pirate ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/08/02/postcards-from-the-periphery-2022-12/

[Ozexpatriate]

The HVAC repair technician has been and gone. I am parted with close to $1,000.00 for parts and labour but am feeling the sweet caress of chilled air - not that I really even need it today. The ambient air at noon is around the same temperature as my regular daytime set point on the thermostat (24°C).

 

The marine push seems to have shifted the high altitude wildfire smoke from California and the sky is a deeper, less hazy blue. It will get warmer this afternoon though and the weekend is forecast to be hot. In the meantime I should weed the jungle while the weather is pleasant - a task I have been procrastinating on while it was hot.

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, Coombe Barton said:

... We also had a mermaid and a pirate ...

The Portlandia Mermaid Parade resumed after a two-year hiatus on Saturday. I did also see pirates on the news.

 

They passed by the last time I was at the Oregon Brewers' Festival pre-pandemic. They seem to have a similar schedule for the event (the last full weekend in July).

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

parted with close to $1,000.00 for parts and labour

I have a repair to organise.  We have a steam generator iron. Its control panel flickered and a sort of “phut” noise was heard. It doesn’t look home repairable but the manufacturer has a repair point in Braintree so I will take it over.  There seem to be fixed price repairs that are  somewhat cheaper than a new one. Aditi will not be going due to some other prior commitments so I will have to investigate all the other retailers on the site. We have only ever been to one of those “outlet village’ type places before, so I don’t know how the Braintree one compares with Cheshire Oaks. 
Tony

[brianusa]

We recently had $700 worth of refrigerant put in the system - it used to be a lot less!

   Brian.

[polybear]

10 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

.......and as for Grantchester...even with a Geordie in it (used to work with his cousin) is dire. Nice bike though.

 

Is NHN a fan of "Auf Wiedersehen Pet"?   That was wall- to-wall Geordie's and kept a certain Bear very entertained for several years.

 

7 hours ago, PupCam said:

And that was probably a rant too ....   Must be the drugs making me grumpy!

 

 

That's it Puppers, blame it on the drugs.....🤣

(On the subject of drugs, a certain Punk Rocker @Erichill16 appears to be AWOL - hope all is ok)

 

55 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

This report from the Daily Fail describes the kind of Hellfire Missile variant used allegedly 

Al Qaeda chief is MINCED by US Hellfire Ninja missile in Kabul suburbs https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11071175/Al-Qaeda-chief-MINCED-two-R9X-Hellfire-Ninja-missiles-Kabul-suburbs.html?ito=native_share_article-masthead

 

Very clever - since it needs to actually strike the scrote concerned I can only imagine that it must require a live-feed video link to an operator guiding it to target, or perhaps alternatively some form of laser target designation system.  Quite a lot of potential for errors there - such as him leaving the balcony post-launch; for a target of this importance I'm a bit surprised that the US Gov. didn't adopt the more reliable(?) route and sling some HE into the building.  It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that anyone with him is also no angel.  Yes, a much higher chance of civilian injuries - but that doesn't seem to have worried the US Gov too much in the past....

 

Bear here.....

Wickes at 0700 - shelf rails swapped for shorter ones.  Tick

Ears lowered at 0930, followed by a barnet wash once back at home to get rid of the loose bits.  Tick

General faffing around until midday, after which Bear went over the road to join vgb* plus three others; it was buddy's 60th today (so he's now officially an Old Git) so we headed a few minutes' down the road to a pub in the village (there's only two) that Bear has never been in before for din dins.  When Bear had previously checked out their menu on-line I did think that there was little of interest for a young Bear - but fortunately they had a specials list which included delicacies such as Lasagne & Chips** so Bear was happy 😀 No LDC 🙁 - though the Choccy & salted caramel slice with ice cream was an acceptable substitute.

 

*vgb - very good buddy

** Actually it was advertised as Garlic Bread - though they did a swap for chips.  Brownie Point Awarded.  If only the Chips (nottalot) didn't arrive in one of those silly little (very little) buckets....Brownie Point snatched back PDQ.  

 

Back home to meet the guy from the carpet shop who'd come to measure up the lounge - he's now gone away to firm-up the price.

And then it was back over to vgb's cos' his sister has mentioned something about choccy birthday cake.....🎂

[brianusa]

14 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good morning all,

 

Another almost unbearably hot day awaits – fortunately I am not working so I can avoid the attic office for the moment.

 

Ian Abel’s comment about  Murder in Provence being “slow“ is perhaps an interesting reflection on the sort of pacing in film and television we have come to expect after years of Marvel Comic spinoffs, programmes and films aimed at the young male demographic.  I think that by today’s standard, classic films as diverse as Alien, Ice Cold in Alex, and Cool Hand Luke would be considered “slow”.

The current cultural landscape – which seems to be ever more frenetically paced, vacuous, enthralled to “the politically favoured minority of the week” and absent of introspection - I would argue is turning into a barren wasteland.  You don’t have to be a Jean-Paul Sartre to conclude that so much of our cultural heritage that so heavily influenced and was reflected in film, theatre, literature and art of the past has been dumped. Back then even “lightweight“ comedy – such as Morecambe and Wise – assumed that the audience would know who Wordsworth was or how Grieg’s Piano Concerto should be played - a shared cultural heritage.

 

But nowadays, it seems that even if the literati do grudgingly acknowledge “the male, pale and stale” writers and artists of the past – such as William Shakespeare – the work has to be “updated“, “made relevant“ and “decolonialised“. An approach which is destroying culture for the masses. Why would anyone who likes Shakespeare, Verdi or any one of a myriad other much loved playwrights and composers, willingly spend good money and go to the theatre not to be entertained but to be preached at? And as for anachronisms - don’t get me started…. We’ve gone far beyond the amusing faux-pas of wristwatches on Roman Soldiers to the absurdities of forcing representations of historical events (or historical drama) into today’s cultural and political landscape’s straightjacket.

 

Yes, that is a rant!

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The day seems to have disappeared without anything much being done. I've just been moping around, my mojo seems to have gone AWOL. Better get on with Farcebook now, be back later.

[Ozexpatriate]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

I'm a bit surprised that the US Gov. didn't adopt the more reliable(?) route and sling some HE into the building.

A big mistake was made during the evacuation from Afghanistan where a missile strike followed a car in Kabul with a worker for an NGO aid group (not an ISIS-K operative) and killed ten members of his family including seven children.

 

I doubt POTUS wanted any chance of that happening again. 

[PhilJ W]

18 minutes ago, polybear said:

Very clever - since it needs to actually strike the scrote concerned I can only imagine that it must require a live-feed video link to an operator guiding it to target, or perhaps alternatively some form of laser target designation system.  Quite a lot of potential for errors there - such as him leaving the balcony post-launch; for a target of this importance I'm a bit surprised that the US Gov. didn't adopt the more reliable(?) route and sling some HE into the building.  It wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that anyone with him is also no angel.  Yes, a much higher chance of civilian injuries - but that doesn't seem to have worried the US Gov too much in the past....

 

The damage to the building was considerable despite there being no explosion, kinetic energy? In the article it showed a motorcycle being ridden by one of their targets shredded in the attack so the rider must have also been shredded but even more so. 

[brianusa]

Rant away!  Call it what you will but life is ever changing whether we like it or not.  Just think how much attitudes have changed in our lifetime, for good or bad and it seems to have speeded up in the last few years.  Sadly a lot of  world citizens haven't and live their lives accordingly and the biggest problem seemingly, is both sides are uncompromising.  My age group endured WW2 for starters  while moderns have not had total war brought upon  them.  Certainly some have died in war in a foreign field but the homeland has escaped the horrors of blitzes and the threat of invasion so they know not better,

 

Values have changed with the prosperity that most enjoy, we are healthier, wealthier and invariably better educated.  This has been made  by possible by higher education values enabling the citizenry to acquire wealth and invest for the future.  Sometimes it means leaving town for a job or even leaving the country; but one is usually well rewarded for the effort and worth a try.

 

Sadly not all can jump on this bandwagon and there are some countries that in spite of the worlds progress will never be able to offer anything but poverty, corruption and poor governance as they have done since time began,  Almost!

 

Another rant - hopefully not anti PC!

          Brian.

[New Haven Neil]

38 minutes ago, polybear said:

Is NHN a fan of "Auf Wiedersehen Pet"?   That was wall- to-wall Geordie's and kept a certain Bear very entertained for several years.

 

Not really - when it was on the telly I was abroad a lot being a salty sailor, and then got welded to Mrs NHN so that took my attention away from TV......

 

Launched, or boosted a few careers though, didn't it.   Jimmy Nail is a genuine bloke - his autobiography was interesting.

[simontaylor484]

It reminds me of the end of Executive Orders by Tom Clancy.

A laser guided missile is sent through the front door of an Iranian terrorist leader as he is opening it. If memory serves President Jack Ryan had it broadcast on live t.v..

I sadly no longer have the book to check my facts

[simontaylor484]

52 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Not really - when it was on the telly I was abroad a lot being a salty sailor, and then got welded to Mrs NHN so that took my attention away from TV......

 

Launched, or boosted a few careers though, didn't it.   Jimmy Nail is a genuine bloke - his autobiography was interesting.

I liked Jimmy Nail in Spender and Crocodile shoes

I have watched re runs of Auf wiedersein pet as when originally broadcast it would have been past my bedtime 

Edited August 2, 2022 by simontaylor484
Further thoughts

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[jamie92208]

57 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

It reminds me of the end of Executive Orders by Tom Clancy.

A laser guided missile is sent through the front door of an Iranian terrorist leader as he is opening it. If memory serves President Jack Ryan had it broadcast on live t.v..

I sadly no longer have the book to check my facts

That's correct.  He was responsible for unleashing an Ebola epidemic in the US.  The reaction to the Ebola threat was almost along theclines of the Covid lockdowns.  I can't stand the current ersatz Tom Clancy books but do like thecoriginals that he wrote before he died.

 

I thought that Jimmy Nail was pretty good in Croccodile Soes and he does some good music.

 

Jamie

[Kelly]

I thought I'd post a quick update as I've not been on here for a while.

 

A couple of weeks back I got rid of the frame at long last and I'm now walking with the aid of a pair of crutches. I can get around most of the house now, though stairs are still a challenge.

 

However, today I managed to get down the stairs without going on my bum, though I needed Richard's assistance to steady me as the boot is a bit wobbly on the steps, I no longer have to slide myself along the landing on my bum to get to the stairs at least as I can at least lower myself down now I've regained some strength. I still need to go up the stairs on my bum, pulling myself up backwards though as there is no rail on the left side to grab onto to stabalise myself. I won't be attempting the stairs without Richard being home however as I'm rather anxious about the whole stairs thing!

 

In general I'm doing well and getting there.

 

In other news I spoke with my father and it seems his lung surgery to remove cancerous nodules went well and he's not in too much discomfort dispite having 15-20% of his lung removed, wonders of key-hole surgery. He was supposed to have his surgery at Guy's Hospital, but an IT glitch meant he ended up being sent to a private hospital instead, with slightly less advanced machines apparantly than what was originally planned (some kind of VR robotic surgery thing!). He will know more when he speaks to his consultant about whether chemo will be required.

[Kelly]

posted in error, ignore.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Kelly

[monkeysarefun]

Tax time down under!  Turns out working from home is  automatically tax deductible at a rate of 80 cents an hour, no questions asked.

 

Spent much of last year doing that and along with stuff like claiming for extra superannuation contributions, income protection insurance, the kid I  sponsor (also tax deductible, unlike my actual kid!)   turns out  I'll  get a five figure refund (as opposed to five finger refund which is aussie slang for shoplifting).  

 

Maybe I'll be able to afford to drive the ute for a bit!

 

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Like yesterday, the weather changed around midday. We’d had rain on and off all morning, but after dinner, the clouds cleared and the sun came out. However, the garden was far too wet to do any sort of work. So, this afternoon I stayed in the workshop, well, that’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it. However, I’ve had quite a productive day, 5 more delay circuit boards have been built and tested, another just needs the leads attaching and then that too can be tested, which will then leave just 2 more to complete. They will probably get built on Thursday, as we have plans for tomorrow. 

 

This evening, we had our usual weekly chat with Vickie, keeping on top of what’s going on both there and here. We put the phone on speaker so we can both chat to her. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Ozexpatriate]

36 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

five finger refund

Five finger discount?

[monkeysarefun]

37 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Five finger discount?

 

What yous get up to in Queensland is no reflection on the rest of us! 😀