Early Risers.

[Winslow Boy]

3 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Have you seen “Ted”? I think rated “15”. Possibly older in some other countries. 

 

I believe that means you need a grown up to accompany you but as it's sometime since I've been to see a talkie it may have changed.

 

Does the organ still come up from the floor he says tongue in cheek.

[Mark Saunders]

Remember when children had to be accompanied by a responsible adult.

 

 I still believe that there is still a shortage of responsible adults!

[simontaylor484]

Well I have been missing for most of the day. We had a review meeting at school for Lucas' EHCP.

The doctors have also rung with Swmbos scan result she has a hernia she has now been referred to the hospital for surgical treatment.

The poor lass is having kittens about it she was never like it before she has had mucho surgery including 2 C sections,pins in and out of her leg and carpal tunnel on both wrists.

 

I have also had 20mins eyelid inspection. I am now going to read an old copy of model engineer magazine I bought this morning for 20p in a charity shop 

 

[iL Dottore]

29 minutes ago, BoD said:

 

UNinebriated? 
Or do you always use the 48h clock?

It was a typo, nothing more!

 

I am definitely sober - but happy - and raring to get going again.

 

Although I did drink a few pints and one or two whiskeys over the course of three hours, by the standards of the “brains trust“ I was practically teetotal.

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) when I have enjoyed a wee dram or two I tend to get the “munchies”.  So this evening’s meal will involve a traditional “post pub meal” of some kind or another. A haggis curry with rice and naan might well be on the cards!

 

Having an AMAZINGLY good time in Scotland 

 

iD

[BoD]

12 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Having an AMAZINGLY good time in Scotland 

An altogether easy thing to do I have found.

 

As it’s my birthday I am pushing the boat out and sitting here with a nice glass of red from the ‘pope’s new castle’.  Valerie knows how to spoil me.  There may well be not much left of the bottle before the night is over.  Well, it is only once a year.

 

 

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by BoD

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

Since I got back from the hospital nottalot exciting has happened.  Only 2 bin lorries arrived so the garden waste is still outside but I suspect it will go tomorrow.  Sainsbury's were most efficient and turned up on time with our complete order.  Went to the charity shop and the two ladies running it were over the moon with our The Boss's donation but I was a bit miffed because it transpired they only wanted books and I couldn't leave Herself there.  I did however find a book with pretty pictures of steamy wheeled metal thingys. 😀

Re foxes opening food waste bins,  The Boss was watching one along the road last week and it had the handle of the bin in its mouth and it was just shaking it and worrying it until it got the thing opened.  

Didn't get to The Shed, maybe tomorrow but we'll see.

Time for another drop of Shiraz.  🍷

 

P.S.  Happy Birthday Warren!  🍷🍷

 

Edited October 6, 2022 by grandadbob

[monkeysarefun]

One way here people  keep the lid of wheelie bins shut from ferals and cockatoos is to stick old running shoes into the handles/hinge bit. The resistance from the shoes is too much for animals to lift the lid but when the mechanical arm grabs the bin and upends it into the truck the weight of the stuff in the bin overcomes the shoe resistance and the bin empties.

 

Unless your entire rubbish is tissue paper or bean bag balls, I guess.

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

One way here people  keep the lid of wheelie bins shut from ferals and cockatoos is to stick old running shoes into the handles/hinge bit. The resistance from the shoes is too much for animals to lift the lid but when the mechanical arm grabs the bin and upends it into the truck the weight of the stuff in the bin overcomes the shoe resistance and the bin empties.

 

Unless your entire rubbish is tissue paper or bean bag balls, I guess.

The food waste bins many of us have are quite small (25L)  and the bin men here tip them into a smaller than usual bin lorry. The clever fox used to knock the bin over onto its side and push the handle into the unlocked position. 

In our district the only wheelie bins are for garden waste. General rubbish and recyclables go in plastic bags. Foxes, cats and birds don’t attack the recyclable bags but if anyone puts a general rubbish bag out overnight it will be distributed over a few nearby gardens. At our previous house badgers would tip the metal dustbins over.  At first we thought it was human intruders, but soon learned otherwise. 

Edited October 6, 2022 by Tony_S

[PeterBB]

49 minutes ago, BoD said:

An altogether easy thing to do I have found.

 

As it’s my birthday I am pushing the boat out and sitting here with a nice glass of red from the ‘pope’s new castle’.  Valerie knows how to spoil me.  There may well be not much left of the bottle before the night is over.  Well, it is only once a year.

 

 

 

Happy birthday.

 

[monkeysarefun]

30 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The food waste bins many of us have are quite small (25L)  and the bin men here tip them into a smaller than usual bin lorry. The clever fox used to knock the bin over onto its side and push the handle into the unlocked position. 

In our district the only wheelie bins are for garden waste. General rubbish and recyclables go in plastic bags. Foxes, cats and birds don’t attack the recyclable bags but if anyone puts a general rubbish bag out overnight it will be distributed over a few nearby gardens. At our previous house badgers would tip the metal dustbins over.  At first we thought it was human intruders, but soon learned otherwise. 

We don't have "Bin men", just one bloke driving a truck. Or actually 3 blokes driving 3 different trucks (rubbish, recycle, green waste), unless  perhaps its the same truck and same bloke with just  the label on the side  changed each time.

 

Given the demand for labour in the construction and mining industries, "bin men" would probably bu99er off and get  say an entry level drillers assistant job in the mines where unskilled labour is currently getting the equivalent of minimum 60K up to 75K UK pounds. ($130K Australian, plus on top of that thousands in retention bonuses, meals, accommodation, flights etc...

Edited October 6, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Tony_S]

6 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

WE don't have "Bin men", just one bloke driving a truck. Or actually 3 blokes driving 3 different trucks (rubbish, recycle, green waste), unless  perhaps its the same truck and same bloke with just  the label on the side  changed each time.

I don’t know how many of each type there are in our district but you sometimes see more than one out and about on bin days, I assume where collection routes cross. The Borough gets split so general rubbish, one week, recycling next week, with some roads on the opposite timetable.  However garden waste and food waste get collected weekly. The garden waste used to be seasonal (not winter) but it is all year round now. In sunny south Essex vegetation grows all year. We do compost a lot but still manage to make use if the garden bin some weeks in winter. 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

Does the organ still come up from the floor he says tongue in cheek

It probably did in “Ted”.

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, BoD said:

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

A brief pause will be enjoyed before meeting up again at 30:00

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

A strangely UNinebriated but nonetheless very happy ID

UNinebriated? 
Or do you always use the 48h clock?

Those unfamiliar with the ways of certain transport (and maybe other) operations may be surprised to learn that 30:00 does indeed existI myself have booked off duty as late as 26:30. 

 

In my case it was the Melbourne (and State of Victoria) systems which adopt the method of distinguishing between days by continuing to add beyond 23:59.  

 

So if you book on at 16:00 but off at 2am next morning then your book-off time will be 26:00.  This is shown on staff rosters and diagrams, tram driver's table cards (the equivalent of a bus driver's duty card) and other largely internal documents.  Australia generally uses the 12-hour clock for public purposes.  When on a night shift the driver might book on at 23:00 and off at 31:00.  A colleague who worked a slightly later shift might book on at 00:05 and off at 08:05 but largely working the same actual hours.  The public would see the 12-hour version on train departure boards, bus and tram stop information panels.  Public announcements also use the 12-hour clock.  

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The bins themselves are 'locked' by positioning the carrying handle upright, at least one neighbour has put the handle down and the foxes have had a field day.   

10 hours ago, grandadbob said:

 ... our food waste bins are like that and it didn't take the local foxes very long to learn how to get them open.  People have tried putting bricks on them and putting them up high on big wheelie bins and that doesn't always work.  I wedge ours and our neighbours in a triangle of no less than three big wheelies.

I was quite proud of the DIY raccoon-proofing I was required to do in the Chicago suburbs. This was pre-wheelie bins and we had  a big plastic bin with locking handles that folded up, grasping a slot around the lid. This was no defence against raccoons. I used short bungee cords (stretchy straps with hooks, I presume these are familiar in the UK) to keep the handles in the locked position, even if the raccoons knocked the bins over.

A similar approach could work with wheelie bins, but they'd have to be removed when the bins are on the kerb/curb.

 

[Gwiwer]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

kerb/curb.

Kerb - a roadside margin often delineated with large stones or blocks

Curb - to cease, abate, reduce or modify.  

The use of the latter when a kerb is referred to should be curbed

 

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

bungee cords (stretchy straps with hooks, I presume these are familiar in the UK

Indeed they are.  Though I am mildly surprised you didn't refer to them as "Occy Straps" which is how I came to know them in Australia.  Abbreviated from "Octopus" as they have multiple "tentacles" and can sometimes be linked in the centre but are more commonly just single straps.  Applied in as large or small a number as is thought necessary for the job - usually about six fewer than might be safe with the expression "She'll be right, mate"  

 

 

[Ian Abel]

Happy birthday @BoD

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Home a bit earlier than expected, I got my dates wrong and the event is not until next Thursday. Not long after I arrived home I got an automated call saying that the water supply might be cut off. Not completely surprised as the water company are franticly digging up the roads all over the place. Only strange thing was the message was from the Northumbrian Water Company!

[pH]

21 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I was quite proud of the DIY raccoon-proofing I was required to do in the Chicago suburbs. This was pre-wheelie bins and we had  a big plastic bin with locking handles that folded up, grasping a slot around the lid. This was no defence against raccoons. I used short bungee cords (stretchy straps with hooks, I presume these are familiar in the UK) to keep the handles in the locked position, even if the raccoons knocked the bins over.

You mean like this?

Those were raccoon-proof, but not bear-proof.

 

For bears, the city issued these:

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Does the organ still come up from the floor he says tongue in cheek.

Stockport Plaza, which incidentally is celebrating its 90th birtday today, has a fine example of a Compton. It was built for the cinema's opening and was the first to have illuminated sunburst side panels. It is still is use.

https://www.cinema-organs.org.uk/venues/plaza-theatre/

Edited October 6, 2022 by TheSignalEngineer

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, pH said:

You mean like this?

Yes, I had exactly the same Rubbermaid bin - only the version before the lid came equipped with those articulated handle locks.

 

It was light blue.

 

1 hour ago, pH said:

For bears, the city issued these:

I presume you have to release those locking clasps before setting the wheelie bin out on bin day?

[PupCam]

An evening in the garden looking skyward has been had 😀

 

At last! 

 

I've had a real good look at Jupiter and fortuitously all four of the largest moons were positioned so that they could be clearly seen.   Absolutely fantastic.   Looking through the 'scope I could just make out some of the larger bands but I'd be fibbing  if I said I could see the great red spot.

 

I just need to find a way to focus the camera accurately "in the field" (well, in the garden) because only finding out that it wasn't when the photos have been downloaded and viewed on the PC is just a bit too late!

 

Anyway, here's a fuzzy photo .....

 

 

Night Awl!

 

Alan

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, PupCam said:

I just need to find a way to focus the camera accurately "in the field"

Was it a focus or an exposure issue?

 

It's hard not to get the image blown out, particularly with high intensity (Jupiter) adjacent to low intensity (moons) without a lot of exposure management.

 

Can you stack different exposures?

 

Does the camera show you the image you have taken immediately on a 'decent' size screen?

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Kerb - a roadside margin often delineated with large stones or blocks

Curb - to cease, abate, reduce or modify.  

The use of the latter when a kerb is referred to should be curbed

Where I currently reside, curb is accurate but I like to use both to avoid confusion.

Quote

A curb (North American English), or kerb (Commonwealth English except Canada; see spelling differences), is the edge where a raised sidewalk or road median/central reservation meets a street or other roadway.

 

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

Though I am mildly surprised you didn't refer to them as "Occy Straps" which is how I came to know them in Australia. 

I do remember bungee cords as Octopus straps. I don't recall "Occy straps" but it would have been long ago.

[Barry O]

Happy Birthday @BoD.. hope the wine was nice!

 

Garden waste bin left out for collection...hopefully the hoolie going on outside wont mean it gets blown over.

 

Baz

Edited October 6, 2022 by Barry O

[pH]

32 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Yes, I had exactly the same Rubbermaid bin - only the version before the lid came equipped with those articulated handle locks.

 

It was light blue.

 

I presume you have to release those locking clasps before setting the wheelie bin out on bin day?

We’ve got one of those blue bins as well, relegated to storage of something or other (it’s a while since I opened it).

 

Yes, we have to take the clips off. If we don’t, then the driver gets out of the truck, selects  one of several possible offences on a pre-printed sheet, attaches it to the bin and drives off without emptying the bin.

 

The bins have to be out by 7.30 AM, but may not be collected until about 4 PM. In the meantime, with the anti-bear clips off, it’s not unknown for the bears to sample the contents.

 

Our son was having problems with bears around their bins, so bought a ‘bear proof’ enclosure to hold the bins. Problem was, it wasn’t. In the first week they had it, a bear just demolished it. The store he’d bought it from refused to replace it, but the credit card company did.