Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well, like the last few weeks, the weather has been lovely, sunny and warm, but with a slight breeze. This morning I trimmed some more of the ivy and also the climbing hydrangea, once again filling the wheelbarrow up. So, the contents were taken round to the front and deposited in the garden waste bin. I then put it out and also the grey, un-recyclable rubbish out, ready for tomorrow which is collection day. 

 

Hearing the news this morning about the death of Bill Turnbull, has certainly made me think just how lucky I have been! I’m the same age as he was (66), I’ve got the same cancer (prostate) he had, although I’m still hear, more than 10 years after being diagnosed with T stage 3 cancer. Whereas, Bill Turnbull only managed to live 5 years after his diagnosis, but then he was already at T stage 4! We listen to Classic FM all the time and always enjoyed his weekend program, in fact, he’d only just returned after a long spell off sick, he’ll definitely be here.

 

This afternoon Charlie was due to call, but he’d been out last night with friends and was a little delicate this afternoon. So I spent the afternoon in the workshop on my own, the other day I’d printed off a small test piece so I could see if my idea of printed artwork diagram for my control panels would work. I’d found a small off cut of 6mm MDF and glued the test sheet on it before dinner. After dinner I drilled holes through the paper, where I’d indicated holes would be required. Thankfully all went well and the paper didn’t rip or pucker up, proving that it works. So I should be able to print off the track layout on 4 - A4 sheets of paper. These will then need to be glued onto the fascia of the control panel, followed by a few coats of varnish as protection, before holes through through for switches and LEDs. I’m going for 5mm LEDs in the next panels instead of the 3mm LEDs I used in the turntable control panel.

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[simontaylor484]

20 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Mate its an Australian cup.

 

You'll need to use one of these.

 

And Don Bradmans bat to stir it with

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[iL Dottore]

Good morning all,

 

Friday beckons – a busy morning of “work“ work before a relatively relaxing afternoon catching up with my guitar practice duties which I have neglected the last two days.

 

I remain totally, well, “gobsmacked“ by the total and utter ineptitude of the police in the UK. What The Bear and others have referred to is criminal assault pure and simple. Apologies? A written caution? WTF?

One doesn’t have to be a “hang ‘em and flog ‘em“ type to realise something has gone terribly, terribly wrong with policing in the UK. Rob a house, beat someone up and – if you are terribly unlucky – the plod might turn up and quite possibly arrest you. However, tweet anything that might be construed as being “X-ist” or “X-phobic” and a whole Sprinter Van full of tooled up TSG types will turn up to feel your collar. Whilst it’s true better funding would be, of course, beneficial – it would still not obscure the fact there’s an awful lot of incompetency and political opportunism in the higher ranks of the police.

 

Anyway, enough of this light-hearted banter, let’s talk about something serious: baked beans. Whilst not my particular cup of tea (which I might have mentioned in passing once or twice 🤣) I know that there are quite a few aficionados of the baked bean on ERs, but I’m wondering how many of the baked bean appreciation society have actually had and/or cooked their own baked beans from the original recipe (and if I recall correctly, the original recipe is for Boston Baked Bean which is made with, amongst other things, fat back pork and molasses)?
 

The following recipe (provided with some interesting explanations) might well be worth trying https://www.seriouseats.com/boston-baked-beans-recipe. I’m wondering if any of the baked bean aficionados on ER would care to try out the recipe and report back to me?

 

However, it must be said that trying out a proper baked bean recipe might well have unfortunate consequences: like with many dishes, once you have tried the original version, properly cooked and served,  you’ll never want to go back to the commercially available pale imitations.

 

And on that beany note, I bid you a happy POETS day and a gas powered Flatulent Friday.

[polybear]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We may have a play with the waffle device tomorrow. 

 

Hmmm......LDW.  Could have possibilities.

 

23 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The following recipe (provided with some interesting explanations) might well be worth trying https://www.seriouseats.com/boston-baked-beans-recipe. I’m wondering if any of the baked bean aficionados on ER would care to try out the recipe and report back to me?

 

 

I hope they taste better than they look.....

 

Bear here....

Up at silly o'clock (0530) for a 7am - 10am delivery slot.  It'll be 10am then.....

Apart from that it's washing day, unboxing the sideboard day, inspecting the sideboard day, filling the sideboard with lotsalotsaguff day....oh yes, and MIUABGA day...

Bear gone.

[polybear]

WHAAAAAAT.......has someone FINALLY come to their senses at long last?

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/albanian-migrants-deported-just-days-after-illegally-arriving-in-the-uk/ar-AA11mGoQ?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=ae7d786a2d7c45c788d6d04a49afa03b

 

Edit:  Though it would be a LOT better if they never got in in the first place - I wonder how much kicking them out cost the Taxpayer?  That last bit's a Rant, by the way.

Edited September 2, 2022 by polybear

[jamie92208]

Good moani g.  It's cooler and damper here.  That means the weeds and then the grass will start growi g again.  The weed patch is already looking a tad greener.

 

More tidying got done in the shed. Only two sets of jewellers screwdrivers  discovered .  Then two friends came round for a meal and a good time was had.

 

Not sure what the morni g will bring but this afternoon  is trainspotting.

 

Regards to all and hope to hear more good progress reports from Baz.

 

Jamie

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

6 hours sleep with wake up and turn overs 2 hours of awake with occasional dozing off..

 

Then Ben the impatient Collie had other ideas, so we went on morning patrol, cool but not cold, less wind than the last couple of days. The gentle smell of Oder de cow shed.. yep they've been muck spreading on the corn stubble, therefore I expect the drone of tractors as it all gets ploughed in soon.

 

Two things going round brain this morning,

One, the spinny thingy, to become precise the assembly of the top motor holding unit , which has to be solid, but able to be disassembled. I think I've now decided on its build.. 

 

The second being wiring the unmentionable,, or to be precise unwiring the unmentionable... That is keeping the rat's nest to a minimum, routing, and ease of interconnection. While doing that I thought of an improvement to the connection of the submodules to the main units.

 

When I first started working on this layout the late Harry Nudd still owned it. There were 30 + circuit boards mounted underneath,  a huge rats nest of wiring , with a dozen power supplies, (I got that down to 3) as the builder the late DH Clarke had just added and added systems, and there was no simplification.. I'll be starting again with a designed system, not a let's add this system.

At that point I'll stop as getting into technicalities is likely to bring in low flying awls..

 

Today's work, is brownie point day, so the spinny thingy is top priority..

 

But first,

TIme for a muggacoffee coffee and breakfast.. beans a la Heinz or a la Boston will not be a part of it.. too much sugar.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Today is simple..have breakfast.. collect hire van put my gear into van with one operator, put fuel in van, drive to club, fit layout in van, drive to Liverpool with 2 operators, empty van, put layout up, test, go to hotel and check in, drink beer and eat food.........

 

We may be doing a bit of Terri's as the van is slightly smaller than we have hired before.. fingers crossed it will fit!

 

Weather so far is cool with grey and white clouds. Garden has gone back to being a green colour after some recent overnight rain.

 

Hope our poorly and missing ERs are OK.

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

[PhilJ W]

Many happy returns to @Tony_S and welcome to the coffin dodgers club.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Had a bit of rain last thing last night. Its probably what awakened Arthur Itis yesterday, fortunately he is in hiding today. Time to put the kettle on, be back later.

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from LBG which is dry. Sidcup had a fair amount of rain overnight but that too had ceased before I set off for what is my first Friday in the office since 13 March 2020. The reason I am in is because we are due to have a meeting face to face to discuss the future shape of the team with our boss. No-one else is in, though...

 

Happy Birthday Tony, if indeed it is today. I am afraid I have lost track, but hopefully you'll enjoy waffles!

[45156]

Morning All

 

Up at 06.20 this morning - 2 bedrooms now cleared into one, and every place where we can put stuff has had stuff put in it. 

 

Carpetright said the fitters would be leaving sometime after 9, once they have loaded - but we had a call about 20 minutes ago to say that they are already on their way.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a 17c rock that is still dry, but foreguessed to rain later.  Probably when I'm out on the bike with the old farts.

 

Norra lot to report, other than to wish Tony a happy birthday.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Another bright and sunny start to the day here in England’s northwest corner, it’s currently 16C out there so it should make for a pleasant walk when I head off to the butchers shortly for the weekly meat rations. After that it’s a trip to the put duke in the car, before heading to the Trafford Centre. After that, apart from adding flour to the fruit tea loaf that I’d left soaking overnight, there are no firm plans for the rest of the day. So I might do a bit more work on the control panel artwork, now that I know my idea works. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[AndrewC]

Good moaning. 

 

Just a drive by Birthday greeting to @Tony_S 

 

Happy Birthday Tony. 🎂🍺

[45156]

42 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Carpetright said the fitters would be leaving sometime after 9, once they have loaded - but we had a call about 20 minutes ago to say that they are already on their way.

And now they're here - so it's looking good for an early finish, AND AN END TO ALL THAT WORK.  Only small jobs left, as our new and very good builder came yesterday to repoint the back windows - and when he saw our "loft ladder" he suggested that we could get a much better one for about £200 plus his time to fit it.  But we've also decided to have the electric heated towel rail converted to work off the central heating as well, and it seems that this is actually possible, as it is dual fuel. 

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONY

 

And our new air fryer arrived within two days but has yet to be tested and used in anger.  I thought I would buy a digital model, but when we ordered off eBay, the 6.5L digital model was higher than our budget - we were going to get the 5L model, but decided that we needed a bigger cooking chamber to cope with a chicken, and that meant we had to order the analog model to keep in budget.

 

Also had a problem with the TV box this morning - it would not fire up at all, and a quick check also showed that the TV was still plugged in from last night - yes you guessed it - I unplugged the wrong appliance last night!!!

 

Might even be back later.

[petethemole]

Happy Birthday to Tony

 

Beans; in the '70s, on a very low income (archaeological "volunteers" were paid about the same as the dole in those days) I bought the "Pauper's Cookbook", which had a recipe for Boston Baked Beans.  It recommended Black Treacle as a substitute for molasses so I used that with belly pork.  The result was okay and I made it several times.  These days I do a Pork'n'Beans dish that varies according to mood; the beans might be baked (ASDA reduced salt/no added sugar) or canned Cannellini/Pinto or similar beans.  No added sugar though, so a different experience.  If I have time I use dried beans.

[Coombe Barton]

Happy Birthday @Tony S

[The White Rabbit]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

....  The following recipe (provided with some interesting explanations) might well be worth trying https://www.seriouseats.com/boston-baked-beans-recipe. I’m wondering if any of the baked bean aficionados on ER would care to try out the recipe and report back to me?

 

However, it must be said that trying out a proper baked bean recipe might well have unfortunate consequences: like with many dishes, once you have tried the original version, properly cooked and served,  you’ll never want to go back to the commercially available pale imitations.

 

And on that beany note, I bid you a happy POETS day and a gas powered Flatulent Friday.

 

Certain phrases which caught my attention included 'storage container ruptured...killing 21 people and several horses', 'good if you're a lumberjack but not great otherwise' and 'if you burn your house down [following this recipe], don't come looking for me'.   🤔  .... 

 

 

Many Happy Returns to Tony. 

 

We have a sandwich toaster with waffle plates, I've not got round to using them yet but do have a few ideas in mind. One day! 

 

I'd best get on with some procrastination, back in a bit... 

[DaveF]

 

Thursday was quite busy and I achieved a few useful things.  I started by taking down the curtains in the "spare" room which is also my office and r*****y room and putting them on to wash.  Then I got out the spare set I usually use in winter because they are a bit thicker and put them up.  I remembered that last time I washed them they had shrunk a little so used the top row of hook places on the tape at the curtain top (can't think of its proper name) which means they are still perfectly OK.

 

Then it was time to go to church to open up and act as server for the Thursday morning service.  That was followed by a cup of coffee at church.

 

Then back at home I started work on the greenhouse, at the end of last winter two of the panes at ground level had cracked.  Months ago I bought some polycarbonate sheets to replace them but with everything else this year hadn't got the job done.  Before lunch I got the pieces cut to size, then had my Hunters chicken followed by plums and custard.  Then it was simply a case of fitting the polycarbonate.  To get the cracked pieces out I had to remove all the panes above them which I managed without breaking any, which pleased me.  The glazing clips were rusty so they have been replaced.  The new bits fitted perfectly, I just had to make some new clips to stop the upper panes sliding down, those little almost S shaped pieces of metal.  Fortunately I had the necessary small pieces of aluminum in a box in the garage ready to bend to shape.  The whole thing took about two hours,  

 

Fortunately the cracks were only part of the way along each piece of glass so when I got them out there were no little bits to pick up, they are now safely stored leaning against the wall inside the back of the garage until I next need to go to the tip.  To make sure they don't break I've put tape over the cracks which will make handling them easier.  I bought several sheets of polycarbonate in case of any future breakages - greenhouse glass is not stocked by mnay local glaziers, the last time I wanted some it took a lot of phone calls to find somewhere with it in stock.

 

Polycarbonate is more flexible than glass so the supplier warned me to use plenty of glazing clips to make it really secure.

 

Then I had a phone call from the solicitors about the flat sale - asking who was doing probate- I enjoyed telling them that they were doing it, but a different person in one of their other offices.  I am expecting another call today as I think there are some other small queries to sort out.

 

Lastly I watched North by Northwest which I last saw a long time ago.  It was enjoyable like almost all of Hitchcock's films.

 

[simontaylor484]

Happy Birthday Tony S

 

North by Northwest is a brilliant film 

I also liked James Masons villains lair at the end 

 

More shopping for school stuff then her ladyship has an appointment this afternoon 

[iL Dottore]

Happy Birthday, Tony!

 

i’ve just had a thought: as Aditi bought you a waffle maker for your birthday present, would it not be appropriate to buy a Hornby or Bachmann locomotive for her birthday present?

I don’t think that she could complain, given that she set precedent 🤣

 

[Tony_S]

Thank you for all the birthday wishes. 
Aditi did go to the kitchen early this morning and make a batch of waffle batter. The Australian designed device is so much better than the previous one. Having a suitably sized moat round the waffle plates that can cope with expansion means it is easy to clean so will get used more. 
We had waffles with forest fruits and maple syrup. I am aware that it should be bacon instead of fruit…

Otherwise. Not a lot happening. Aditi’s sister said I should be careful blowing out 70 candles on my cake. By some oversight there doesn’t seem to be a cake! Aditi said I could stick a candle in a scone. The scones are really very nice though. 
Tony