Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

I had an excellent dinner of 'tasty pork' from the local hawker centre tonight, I can confirm it was indeed tasty. The stall was a zi char stall, for anyone visiting Singapore I recommend looking for zi char, it's basically the sort of food people cook at home here, traditional nyonya streaits Chinese SE Asian food, good hearty meals with generous servings. If the menu descriptions seem a bit home spun and basic ('tasty pork', 'fragrant pork', 'spicy pork' etc) it's because it is all a bit homespun. Straits Chinese food is completely different to Chinese Chinese food (if that makes any sense), though it is also true that talking about Chinese food is like talking about European food in that it describes a very wides and diverse group of cooking traditions and styles. The straits Chinese use stronger flavours, a lot of spices, chilli etc. One thing to be aware of is that if you don't like fish it's worth asking if they use fish sauce in the dishes as fish sauce is used much more widely than just sea food dishes. My pork dish had fish sauce in the sauce, I like it but if you don't like fish it's easy to be caught out.

[BoD]

18 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

and don't expect roasting sunshine. 

 

We never holiday for sunshine.  We are not heat/pool/sunlounge people.  We would rather be looking at/doing something interesting.  Even if it is wet we don our coats and hats, stick the umbrella up (if possible) and just get on with it.   

[simontaylor484]

Afternoon all 

Late check in from me 

Got up late as had the Mrs in a&e at Pinderfields last night 1615 to 2315 the place was like a war zone people on trolleys in the corridors a full waiting room.

She has been referred to a surgical team again.

 

[BoD]

2 hours ago, PupCam said:

Automatically answered and usual recorded diatribe about how short-staffed, how busy and how -worked they are (which no doubt is true) but my call was important and I was asked to hold and wait while the muzak played. 

15 seconds later I was reminded how important my call was.   

15 seconds later I was reminded how important my call was.

15 seconds later I was reminded how important my call was.......

 

Our doctor's system tells you what number you are in the queue.  I joined to queue at number 12 but only had about a ten-minute wait.  With the phone on loudspeaker you can at least do something else meanwhile.  I guess though, the way my number in the queue fell more than one number a couple of times, that others were just hanging up.

[simontaylor484]

3 minutes ago, BoD said:

 

We never holiday for sunshine.  We are not heat/pool/sunlounge people.  We would rather be looking at/doing something interesting.  Even if it is wet we don our coats and hats, stick the umbrella up (if possible) and just get on with it.   

We were the same even abroad I can't sit by the pool all day or be bothered with the stampede for sun loungers.  We took the boys to markets even supermarkets to experience the culture. 

We did drop in to Castorama in France to find it was B&Q.

The boys were amazed by what you could buy in an Auchan hypermarket including a new car

[polybear]

2 hours ago, PupCam said:

Try and enjoy your day, it won't be repeated and there's definitely a finite number of them.

 

TTFNQ

 

Bear's day so far......

Half a Deltic blown on coving and sand.......

Deltic Crew (plus added sarnies) blown on coving adhesive......

One Deltic (plus a couple of spare Napiers) blown on skirting and architrave......

Two ceilings still to be painted - the starting of which is looking decidedly iffy today as it makes more sense in this Bear's book to do the two desired coats on the same day.....

 

Enjoy?  Pah.

☹️

[DaveF]

Yesterday was peaceful and very pleasant.  After breakfast I had a walk along the beach in the morning sunshine with a distant rainbow over the inland hills where there were some dark clouds. the only shower of the day reached here about 4.30p.m. and only lasted a couple of minutes.  I felt very tired while I was walking back to the car against a fairly strong wind and I was reminded once again that I am not as young as I was.  Having walked nearly 6 miles on Tuesday probably didn't help.

 

At coffee time I sat and read for a while before my usual salmon lunch.  The gaps in the morning and the early afternoon were spent sorting out and working on the photos I took while I was out on Tuesday.  They are now straightened, cropped as needed, colour, contrast, brightness etc all corrected in Photoshop so I can enjoy looking at them.  There were only a bit over 100 to do.

 

At cup of tea time I went across to some friends who now have a family living with them and one of their neighbours from Ukraine.  As yet their English is not very good but it is improving.  Inga, the wife, had cooked various Ukrainian dishes for us all to try, most were delicious, though I avoided the ones with a lot of oil or fat.  Just about everyone who lives nearby was there, including another Ukrainian family who are staying just along the road.  It was very enjoyable - all the people who live near me are very nice and always look out for each other in case anyone has a problem.

 

Later on I watched more TV than usual including an offering from TPTV on"How to drive a diesel train" which was an instructional film about Class 114 dmus, it included clips of a journey along the line to Skegness.

 

David

Edited October 27, 2022 by DaveF
typos

[iL Dottore]

19 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... six student meetings scheduled - only one turned up, one was unwell, one didn’t realise it was a face to face meetings and three ignored me completely ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/10/26/downward-drivers-uncertain/

And if I were awarding marks to the last three, I would take a leaf out of the Eurovision Song Contest:

• "les "trois étudiants britanniques" : NUL point"
• "die "drei britischen Studenten": keine Punkte"
• "i "tre studenti britannici": nessun punto"
• "los "tres estudiantes británicos": sin puntos"

(if I was paying the sort of college fees demanded of British students, I would be attending every lecture, seminar, course and tutorial I could in order to get full value from my money)

 

4 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bear's day so far......

Half a Deltic blown on coving and sand.......

Deltic Crew (plus added sarnies) blown on coving adhesive......

One Deltic (plus a couple of spare Napiers) blown on skirting and architrave......

 

One and a Half Deltics? You blew £375'000* (£10,354,545.47 in today's money) on some building material? Bluidy Hell. You're not going to be appearing on one of those Grand Designs episodes where the house builder has more money than sense or taste, are you?.  If so, do we get to admire the diamond encrusted, gold LDC safe in the secure underground vault?

*A Deltic when first built cost £250'000 (about £6,903,030.31 in today's money)

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by iL Dottore
Missed out some text

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

 Landrover emptied,

Landrover delivered to garage, met the owners two dogs..

Lidled, note to Awl, there is an unusually large amount of tools and accessories in at the moment.

Drove home in heavy rain.

Ben the soggy pawed Collie loved every puddle on the big patrol, but at least it wasn't raining.

Last test equipment box modified to fit in its space, hinges fitted to lid, old fasteners removed, works well as a door.

During that some insect took a chunk out of my left shoulder through my shirt..

 

SWMBO now down at her spinning wheel doing trial separate spins of fur from.

Westie,

Yorkie,

Skye terrier 

Norfolk terrier 

Jack Russell,

Poodle,

 

Eyelid inspection urgently needed.

Bye for now.

 

 

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Bear's day so far......

Half a Deltic blown on coving and sand.......

Deltic Crew (plus added sarnies) blown on coving adhesive......

One Deltic (plus a couple of spare Napiers) blown on skirting and architrave......

Two ceilings still to be painted - the starting of which is looking decidedly iffy today as it makes more sense in this Bear's book to do the two desired coats on the same day.....

 

Enjoy?  Pah.

☹️

With the amount of money you’ve saved doing it yourself i bet your can buy a model of every Deltic and made inroads to the baby of the species. 

[The White Rabbit]

15 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Part of the charm of England is in its art  of the understatement. Other countries might have  a Puma, a Cougar or a Panther but England's all "no, a Kitten will do us!"

 

German names for some of their armour:

 

Tiger, Panther, Brummbar (Grizzly Bear - Panzer IV), Elephant, Leopard, Puma, Lynx...

 

British names:

 

Crab, Locust, Kangeroo, Dingo, Ram, Firefly. 

 

And one phrase which has stuck in my mind while somebody eminent was discussing early British defensive tank 'doctrine', "...concealed tanks will emerge from their hiding places like savage rabbits".  (And this was before the Pythons' Caerbannog Rabbit)! 

 

[Erichill16]

18 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Well, it is less than two months away - hardly egregious for retailers to mention it at this point.

 

Here we still have the Halloween juggernaut to keep Christmas out of the seasonal aisles until next week, but once that is over it will be full on. Thanksgiving puts up a bit of a fight, but the moment the turkey is carved the Christmas retail season is officially on - hence the origin of "Black Friday" shopping.

 

 

My reaction to Christmas is more personal.

BUT, three  penguins singing Christmas carols in ‘barbershop’ style MUST be wrong by anyones standard! 
Father Xmas lives at the North Pole( next door to Polybear) and there are no penguins up there. 

[TheQ]

Attempt at eyelid inspection, interrupted.

Destruction book removed from box, I've got some reading to do😀

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon all,

 

My call was so important to so many organisations, I've been able to do a lot more photo filing...

 

Ilkley, after climbing up the lower slopes of Rombald's Moor (as if to walk over the top to Dick Hudsons for ham and eggs like many Victorians did - preferably with hats) I turned round and took a few of the town below. The white building is 'White Wells', a spa bath. Ilkley is (nominally anyway) a spa town and a Mr C Darwin is supposed to have taken the air and waters here after composing a certain notorious academic treatise.  

 

 

Downhill and forward in time a bit and the white stuff had been falling for a while. This bridge is a candidate for the start of the Dales Way. There are a few options, including spots further downstream in Leeds but various 'feeder'/linked routes converge at or near Ilkley. Anyway, it seems as good a spot as any to nominate as the start line. 

 

 

Then, after a quarter of a mile slipping and sliding, the uncommitted might just have said something like, "I know a nice little pub up this road, shall we wait a little until it's thawed, say in about six months time"?

 

 

I like bridges. Maybe not as much as maps but they capture my interest. One of my nicknames played on my liking for them. There are three in Ilkley, this is pedestrians only, one of the smaller suspension bridges I've seen. In the summer it's a favoured spot for the local youth (and police diving unit training) but this day it was dogwalkers and ducks only. 

 

[simontaylor484]

More rain again 

 

Some humpty backed ferret interfering with barsteward had filled our garden bin up with tree prunings.

It's obvious where they have come from. Words will be had, if they had knocked on the door it wouldn't have been a problem there was only one cut of grass clippings in. If it was dry and I could get to cut the grass again then there would be an issue 

[Ian Abel]

BIN day.

Somehow, we had rather a lot of ALL varieties of stuff that needs taking away. Anyway, did manage to get everything out to the appropriate spot and all gone already, except the recycle which is usually picked up later in the day.

 

Yesterday quiet as expected, today will be the same until this evening.

We're singing at the "All Souls memorial service". 7PM and it's in the Memorial Garden, so may be a wee bit chilly. Supposed to be about 11C by then, and we're standing out there about 30 minutes singing much of the time, before repairing inside to finish!

 

RANT:

So yesterday, took the current collection of dead batteries, including the "dangerous/damaged Li one" to the nearest recommended recycle site. Happens to be one of several stores (this is a Battery store) listed that handle recycling of batteries. Turns out they CHARGE for recycling, $2 a pound weight for alkaline and Li/phone batteries are a flat $15 a piece - bit rude since a replacement of the same battery is only $19!!

 

Had I bothered to go to the local government recycle center it'd have been free, but that's a 20+ minute drive away.

 

It doesn't bother me that "I" had to pay, can afford it, of course, but with everyone pushing to NOT have folks throw batteries in the garbage to eventually end up in a landfill, what about those that cannot afford the cost, locally, or the time/ability to travel to an out-of-the-way location that's free. Limited/low income folks are probably likely to simply chuck them in the trash.

Maybe there should be a small recovery charge in terms of a few cents/pennies per battery to cover the cost and help make the recycling better???

RANT OFF.

 

4C and overcast at BIN time, high supposed to reach 14C MAYBE.

 

Carry on.

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Ian Abel

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Can't get into my email's just getting a message that there's a problem at their end. I think its a server problem as other items seem a bit flaky including here on RMweb.  I'll find out when I post this. 

[PhilJ W]

Well that seems to be ok, time to get ready to go out.

[BoD]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

German names for some of their armour:

 

Tiger, Panther, Brummbar (Grizzly Bear - Panzer IV), Elephant, Leopard, Puma, Lynx...

 

British names:

 

Crab, Locust, Kangeroo, Dingo, Ram, Firefly. 

 

 

 

Yet how often have you been stuck behind a caravan called a Swift... or a Sprite... or a Buccaneer... or a Laser ... or a Whirlwind... or a ...

[BSW01]

Other British tank names 

Churchill

Valentine

Matilda

Comet

Tetrarch 

Crusader

A10

A13

Edited October 27, 2022 by BSW01
Add more to the list

[polybear]

A Rant.......

 

Bear has just received a message from an ebay seller in China:

 

Dear Valued Customer, 

I am sorry to bother you .
But the item you‘ve  bought is out of stock now.
Can I cancel l the order and refund the money to you?

Waiting for your reply.
Sorry for the inconvenience.

 

Bear has responded, pointing out that they marked the item as despatched on 7th Oct, providing a tracking number in the process.  So how come it's out of stock?  Ar5ebadger.

They continue to list the same item that's supposedly out of stock......

I look forward to their reply with interest......

 

If it does end up as a refund then I'll be very sure to leave some really sh1tty feedback before I agree; sellers in China just HATE negative feedback....

Best Regards to you

[TheQ]

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

German names for some of their armour:

 

Tiger, Panther, Brummbar (Grizzly Bear - Panzer IV), Elephant, Leopard, Puma, Lynx...

 

British names:

 

Crab, Locust, Kangeroo, Dingo, Ram, Firefly. 

 

And one phrase which has stuck in my mind while somebody eminent was discussing early British defensive tank 'doctrine', "...concealed tanks will emerge from their hiding places like savage rabbits".  (And this was before the Pythons' Caerbannog Rabbit)! 

 

And Matilda..  was named after a cartoon duck...

I wonder why..

Edited October 27, 2022 by TheQ

[pH]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

(if I was paying the sort of college fees demanded of British students, I would be attending every lecture, seminar, course and tutorial I could in order to get full value from my money)

I’m sorry - perhaps you misunderstand the purpose of a university education 😏. It is not to acquire knowledge, it is to acquire a piece of paper which will open the door to untold riches. You’ve paid fees - you are entitled to that piece of paper! Any attempt by the organization to obstruct your acquisition of that paper e.g. by requiring proof of having attended the required lectures, seminars, courses or tutorials and having absorbed and understood the information presented therein is to be avoided and/or contested. 
 

(My son was a university lecturer for a while and said a significant part of his time was spent defending marks and assessments to students who had different, and much higher, opinions of their abilities than he did - plus they had paid fees which supported his salary!)

 

P.S. where have you hidden Captain Cynical?

Edited October 27, 2022 by pH

[simontaylor484]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

 

Yet how often have you been stuck behind a caravan called a Swift... or a Sprite... or a Buccaneer... or a Laser ... or a Whirlwind... or a ...

Ours was an Avondale Dart

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I wasn't their dad and if they couldn't be bothered to turn up for work I'd have them flown home and they could look for something they did want to do

In the first school I taught in there were some students who when they started school had expected to leave at age 15 and due to the raising of school leaving age had to stay for another year. To reduce disruption there were various activities arranged. One group were offered the chance to undergo a voyage on some sort of large sailing craft off the Scottish coast. The permanent crew made it quite clear what would happen if instructions were not followed. There was one student, who decided he didn’t have to follow instructions and even worse  told the boat (captain, master I suppose) course leader what he thought about him. He was put ashore with money to phone home (two 10p pieces allegedly) for his parent to collect him. This was all as agreed by parents and students before departure. His mother had to drive up and get him and I presume arrange some sort of accommodation until she arrived from Essex. Just to add some interest it wasn’t the Scottish mainland he was put ashore. The boys mother was a teacher at the school too. 
Aditi was very strict about behaviour on her field trips. She always had a “you will be sent home” if you break any of the fieldwork centre rules clause in the permission forms.