Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

18 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

I can’t help thinking that this looks rather less like a peregrine falcon and much more like a rail-mounted platypus. 

 

I think the nicest of the JR East Shinkansen designs was the E4 MAX (now retired), they were double deck units with almost organic nose contours.

[PupCam]

Pre-Munch All!

 

19 hours ago, NGT6 1315 said:

Cheers all. Yeah, long time no see once again!

 

I'm now undergoing a medical rehab treatment for the next couple of weeks, in light of the variety of issues I've been dealing with for a while now. All of which have, in my view, resulted from excessive stress caused by trying to preserve my health and that of my family since about 2020, and having to deal with far too many ignorant and even openly adverse people at work.

 

This means I'm receiving a variety of treatments through the day but am home at night. I admit I do have high expectations from this treatment, but in a way, I suppose things can only get better.

 

SPTs and best wishes for a speedy improvement in your circumstances and your well-being.

 

17 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

When I moved to California in the mid-1980s there was no smoking in the (office) workplace*. I did know colleagues who had shared windowless, walled offices in defence/aerospace companies with smokers during the 1960s and 1970s.  It sounded awful.

 

* Smoking sections in restaurants were still a thing, but happily short lived by then.

 

It's amazing.   I remember telling Junior Puppers (he's mid 30s) about the years spent passive smoking in the office and how absolutely disgusting the whole environment was.    He really couldn't get a grip on the concept of people smoking in the workplace although it seems like only yesterday, well, maybe the day before yesterday, to me when it was banned for good.    

 

10 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

 

That must be Photoshopped.   What?  No loose and broken off bits sculling around in the box damaging the finish on the main components.   No, no, it's either fake or such pristine packaging will never catch on 😀

 

Yes, long pointy noses for aerodynamic reasons to reduce drag (obviously) and to reduce the shock of high speed objects entering closely fitting tunnels.

 

13 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There certainly are a lot of different workplaces and canteens.

 

Oh that's so "Last Millennia"!     We had a "restaurant" (it said so on the side) 🙄

 

Well, actually what we had was a very noisy tin shed (vaguely reminiscent of Kings Cross train shed but without any of the exquisite architectural touches or the bomb damage)  with a canteen in it .....

 

40 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Are you mad, Minister? Have you a political death wish?

You DO know the “cake with cream” voters were instrumental in securing the return of the party to government?

Your replacement programme completely contravenes the government’s policy that every citizen has the right to his/her choice of cake toppings and fillings in his/her own personal life. Your personal preferences Minister Bear, have NO place in the running of the Ministry of Cake.
 

Either you rescind your ban on cream fillings by end of business today, or you’ll be out of a job before you can say “LDC”

Is this perfectly clear, Minister?

 

E.N. Forcer

Special Advisor to the Prime Minister.

 

Ah! Do I smell a political U turn in under a couple of weeks from taking on the post?      Well, it seems all the rage these days .....

 

In Other News

 

Well the recent "Plumbing Procurement Procedure" didn't go without a hitch.   In essence; Needed new ceramic tap insert for kitchen cold tap.   Knob looked scabby too and Puppers spots a "Smarten up your taps kit including two inserts and two knobs fo the price of two inserts from other sources.   Puppers orders online for collection.   Puppers drives to Letchworth to collect said item.   Just as the lady hands me the item I have a flash of inspiration.  The bathroom basin  could do with a similar spuce-up so Puppers buys a second one there and then.     Puppers gets home goes to install new insert in kitchen tap BUT shock, horror  it's not a ceramic 1/4 turn jobbie its a traditional multi-turn  + tap washer type.   I believe the phrase is Turdycurses.      Puppers does more internet research.   Why oh why are there so many subtly different variations of ceramic tap insert that are all essentially the same thing.  What happened to standards for crying out loud!      Anyway,  Puppers gave up, took the old tap insert to local hardware shop and fortunately managed to find the correct one for the job.   It's a shame that the matching pair in sealed blister pack cost as much as the two complete "Tap smartening up" kits I bought yesterday!    I feel another trip to Letchworth and a refund coming on.

 

This afternoon I may be converting a small piece of aluminium bar into a high precision bush and swarf.   Wish me luck! 😀

 

TTFNQ

[NGT6 1315]

I'll just leave that here for setting the mood...

 

 

[simontaylor484]

Just taken the dachshunds for a walk in the park I slipped on a tree root that was hidden by leaves. Left knee now agony

[polybear]

31 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Are you mad, Minister? Have you a political death wish?

You DO know the “cake with cream” voters were instrumental in securing the return of the party to government?

Your replacement programme completely contravenes the government’s policy that every citizen has the right to his/her choice of cake toppings and fillings in his/her own personal life. Your personal preferences Minister Bear, have NO place in the running of the Ministry of Cake.
 

Either you rescind your ban on cream fillings by end of business today, or you’ll be out of a job before you can say “LDC”

Is this perfectly clear, Minister?

 

E.N. Forcer

Special Advisor to the Prime Minister.

 

Dear PM,

 

We trust you noted that at no time did the Dept. for Cake state that real cream would no longer be available - indeed there are "specialist" sellers, should the misguided still wish to purchase it**

The revised policy has been introduced with the full support of the Minnester fore Ejamakation, the Rt. Hon. HtH; once Joe Public realises what they've been missing all these years they'll be faithful voters for life.  Besides, we'll tell them that "if the other lot" get in then the best yummy they'll ever see will be a stick of Celery....

As regards your last point, I would just like to remind the PM of the existence of a certain photo from the Chrimbo Party - yes, the one with the blow-up Pinguin.....

Glad we got that sorted.

Yours,

The. Rt. Hon. Bear & White Rabbit, Ministers for Cake.

 

**Hamish's Tea Shop, Eriskay, Outer Hebrides (open between 7am-8am every other Thursday, just so long as (a) the month has an "O" in it, and (b) it's a full moon.  And a Leap Year.

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I think that it's partly down to the fact that in the Anglosphere and Scandinavia not allowing youngsters (i.e. under 18 years of age) to drink in pubs or bars is rigorously enforced - unlike the Latin countries who seem to be more relaxed about it (even though Spain, France and Italy also have an 18 year lower limit for drinking in pubs and bars). But the biggest factor to my mind is that in Spain, Italy and France minors often have a small glass of (watered down) wine with meals - mostly at special occasions (or at least it used to be the case). This leads to a mindset that alcohol is nothing particularly special - so there is no impetus to "go out and get rat ars3d" as soon as it's legal to drink. Another factor, again in France, Spain and Italy, is that public drunkenness is a big social no-no and you almost never see falling-down drunks, violent drunks or other extreme forms of drunkenness on the streets

 

That's not to say there isn't alcoholism in these countries - there is. Although overall the top 10 Countries with the Highest Rates of Alcohol Use Disorder/Alcoholism are mostly Eastern European (with the US at No. 7 and South Korea at No. 5), when broken down by gender, the ladies put the UK at No 8! France has a combined rate of 7%, Italy 1.3%, Spain 1.5% (the Swiss get seriously boozy at 9.5% but even then you don't get falling-down and abusive drunks on the streets....)

 

One final little trivial nugget: when I was a paramedic and an overdose was phoned in, we always prayed that it would be a stoner (marijuana overdose) or a junkie (opioid overdose) as these were SO easy to handle and treat compared with a raving drunk.....

 

The Republic of Korea and Japan both have drinking cultures and men especially often drink very heavily but it's unusual to see anti-social drunkenness in public. Certainly not like what is normal in Britain. Korean women can also drink, the funny thing about Japan is the number of men who desperately find any excuse to delay going home to their wives. China has a drinking culture and some of them can be crazy drinkers but again you don't see anything like the same anti-social behaviour of British cities. Here in Singapore there are nightlife areas and things can get a bit rowdy but it tends to be high spirits and the Police are quick to intervene if it develops into anything threatening or more than a bit of merriment. And it tends to be tightly localized to certain nightlife areas like Clark Quay. They don't tolerate any misbehaviour on public transport or threatening behaviour.

[TheQ]

I 'll have tea with my cake..

[45156]

Afternoon All

 

FIrst off, apologies for skipping, due to laptop being needed for "more serious" uses, and also bringing forward tomorrow's trip to the bank at Leominster to today. 

 

After today's interest rate rise, we are heaving a sigh of relief that we managed to secure our equity release at 3.8% - when we expressed our fears of interest rate rises with our advisor and he said that it was highly unlikely - how he has been proved wrong.  Our memory is of weekly increase notices on out mortgage in about 1994 - culminating in a rate of just under 16% - and at the time, I had been made redundant from my job in pensions (largely for being a prophet of doom, and openly predicting that the pensions mis-selling scandal woud result in a disaster). 

 

Not a lot more to report from this quarter.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[DaveF]

As I said yesterday started I early so I could be out of the house by 07.45 after eating breakfast to take the car to be serviced.  I decided to leave plenty of time as last year there was a lot of traffic and it took 35 minutes to get there (it normally takes 25 minutes).  However there was no traffic, so I was there at 08.06, rather early for the 8.30 I had agreed.  Fortunately the staff were at the garage so an early start was made on the paperwork, MOT and service.  I left and went for a walk just before 08.15.  The garage is at the Silverlink in North Shields, which has a big shopping centre, offices, car dealers and open spaces.  My walk started by passing dealers for the following makes: MG, Toyota, Mazda, Suzuki, Mini, BMW, Peugeot, Citroen, DS, Bentley, Ferrari, Mercedes, Hyundai and Lexus.  It did occur to me that I could have spent a pleasant morning looking at cars.

 

I decided not to and continued walking into the open spaces where there is an old pit heap which now acts as a viewpoint and has a large sundial.  Then I followed a number of footpaths, some in the open and some through woodland for about 5.5 miles.  A lot of the paths follow the trackbeds of colliery waggonways so it is an interesting walk.  There were autumn colours, but not as good as some years.  Eventually I arrived at the shops and visited a few, including Currys, so I now have a new large hard drive to use with the laptop, it will have all my photos and videos on it so I can easily look at them on the TV, at present only some of my own video material is on the small external drive with the laptop.  Everything is backed up to 3 hard drives attached to my PC upstairs so it is only a case of doing a lot of copying.  I also bought new phone for home as the displays do not always work on the old ones - I still find a landline useful as mobile reception is not too good inside my house.  I took the opportunity to look at TVs, the size I like is now classed as small!

 

While I was out the garage sent me a copy of the video of my car examination, all that was needed beyond the service was a new front wiper, which I already knew.  The car passed its MOT OK.  I got back to the garage about 11.00 and had a nice cuop of coffee and then sat and read a book until it was ready, just before noon.  It had been washed and the inside valeted which is nice.  As I have a service plan the only cost on the day was the wiper blade.

 

When I got home it was just time for lunch, then I did a few odd jobs.  As it started to rain hard I went down to the flat to see the gutter repair is working, I couldn't see any sign of a leak.

 

In the evening I simply listened to music on Radio 3 and read - by the end of the day my phoner said I had walked 6.7 miles.

 

I've just noticed I have an email from my solicitor which must have come while I've been writing this, I'd better read it.  Hopefully it will be about probate on Mum's estate.

 

 

Silverlink woodland path along trackbed of a waggonway.

 

 

Silverlink path along trackbed of another waggonway.

 

 

Silverlink, a third waggonway, once the Metro test track now the North Tyneside Steam Railway.

 

David

 

Edited November 3, 2022 by DaveF

[jjb1970]

One of my wife's cousins from Taiwan has just arrived to stay with us for a few days, I'm on best behaviour and have been banned from suggesting she might want to consider joining the Chinese Communist party to be prepared, just in case they get new bosses.......

[NGT6 1315]

33 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

The Republic of Korea and Japan both have drinking cultures and men especially often drink very heavily but it's unusual to see anti-social drunkenness in public. Certainly not like what is normal in Britain. Korean women can also drink, the funny thing about Japan is the number of men who desperately find any excuse to delay going home to their wives. China has a drinking culture and some of them can be crazy drinkers but again you don't see anything like the same anti-social behaviour of British cities. Here in Singapore there are nightlife areas and things can get a bit rowdy but it tends to be high spirits and the Police are quick to intervene if it develops into anything threatening or more than a bit of merriment. And it tends to be tightly localized to certain nightlife areas like Clark Quay. They don't tolerate any misbehaviour on public transport or threatening behaviour.

 

Yes, I'm aware of these attitudes to drinking in East Asia. I'm completely fine with people having a good time (especially after those creppie two years), provided it doesn't escalate into threatening or otherwise antisocial behaviour. That may very well be another slice of Asian mentality worth emulating in the West!

[southern42]

54 minutes ago, TheQ said:

I 'll have tea with my cake..

 

I'll put kettle on...

Polly

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Dear PM,

 

We trust you noted that at no time did the Dept. for Cake state that real cream would no longer be available - indeed there are "specialist" sellers, should the misguided still wish to purchase it**

The revised policy has been introduced with the full support of the Minnester fore Ejamakation, the Rt. Hon. HtH; once Joe Public realises what they've been missing all these years they'll be faithful voters for life.  Besides, we'll tell them that "if the other lot" get in then the best yummy they'll ever see will be a stick of Celery....

As regards your last point, I would just like to remind the PM of the existence of a certain photo from the Chrimbo Party - yes, the one with the blow-up Pinguin.....

Glad we got that sorted.

Yours,

The. Rt. Hon. Bear & White Rabbit, Ministers for Cake.

 

**Hamish's Tea Shop, Eriskay, Outer Hebrides (open between 7am-8am every other Thursday, just so long as (a) the month has an "O" in it, and (b) it's a full moon.  And a Leap Year.

Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable!

 

Clearly you don't have what it takes to be a Minister of Cake for ALL the voters. You let personal preferences get in the way of professional performance and standards.

 

You are fired.

 

E.N.Forcer

Office of The Prime Minister

 

p.s. the photo with the blow up penguin has been shown to be a photoshopped fake - unlike the the PM who has some revealing photos of PB and several Polina Bears (and the corroborating photos from an entire busload of Japanese tourists who thought they were taking oodles of photos of a quaint British custom...)

[DaveF]

Just a quick update from me.

 

The e mail from the solicitors is indeed to say that they received the official notification that probate has been granted, so the flat sale can now be completed as soon as possible.  

 

I am feeling very pleased!

 

David

[polybear]

1 hour ago, 45156 said:

I had been made redundant from my job in pensions (largely for being a prophet of doom, and openly predicting that the pensions mis-selling scandal woud result in a disaster). 

 

 

I know of a certain Bear that "did alright" out of that....

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Unacceptable, unacceptable, unacceptable!

 

Clearly you don't have what it takes to be a Minister of Cake for ALL the voters. You let personal preferences get in the way of professional performance and standards.

 

You are fired.

 

 

The Minister for Cake has just called for a Vote of No Confidence in the PM - support for the motion is "significant"....

 

In other news.......

A new box of latex Gloves** delivered - bluddy hell they ain't arf gone up in price over the last couple of years 🤬, along with 10L of P.S. (two different flavours) and a Plaster Ceiling Rose for the hallway.  Muddlin' stuff sorted as promised too.  Tick.

 

**Bodyguard GL890 - I find they are streets ahead of others, being much, much stronger and longer lasting; the first box I had were freebies from a friend - they were "out of date" so couldn't be used in the Medical Lab. where they work.

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

the top 10 Countries with the Highest Rates of Alcohol Use Disorder/Alcoholism are mostly Eastern European

Australia must surely rank among the worst serial offenders.  Drinking vastly and excessively seems to be a national sport.  Drinking all of Friday night, through Saturday and into Sunday is far from unknown both at home and in public.  Quite apart from the huge binge-drinking halls which are called pubs there are the drive-thru bottle-o * venues in most towns and suburbs where you will see a queue of expensive cars mostly drawing large cage-trailers in line for their weekly supplies.  Each departing with the contents of what a corner off-licence in the UK might sell in a month but which will probably be consumed by the driver and a few mates in the next 24-48 hours.  

 

It is a sad fact that a hot climate and excessive levels of alcohol on board do not mix.  Alcohol-fuelled violence results in far too many deaths either of the drinker or of those they choose to assault.  It also causes a huge number of injuries and pressure on hospitals.  It is also said (although I have not researched the matter fully) that persons of indigenous descent have little or no alcohol tolerance; certainly "whitefella's grog" is a huge problem in the regional and rural indigenous communities and bans / restrictions exist in an attempt to prevent the stuff being made available to them.  

 

The problem is that once a rule is put into place there are plenty of those who will seek to break it.  Night-time road-blocks on rural highways and even back-roads sometimes land unsuspecting folk in jail for attempting to transport sometimes-stolen alcohol into restricted areas.  

 

During my time in Melbourne two attempts were made to reduce the effect of binge-drinking on society.  One was the campaign to rename the "king-hit" as the "coward-punch".  King-hits kill.  Sometimes almost instantly.  There is never any excuse for them.  The other was the "1am lockout" whereby bars and clubs were still able to operate all night (typically until 4, 5 or even 6am and that after a concerted campaign against a proposed mandatory 3am shut-down) but there was a lock-out at 1am meaning you were no longer able to roam from bar to bar theoretically reducing on-street drunkenness.  If you were in you could stay in and drink until they closed or until they refused you service, a rare event in Australia, but you couldn't enter anywhere after 1am.  

 

Ice-cold beers, hot nights, hot bars, hot tempers and hot passions (over football, other sport, politics and women - in that order) were always a recipe for trouble.  The always-armed police gave as good as they got but there were occasional tragic errors of judgement where a firearm was discharged in, literally, the heat of a moment.  

 

It was often the 18-30 males who were the offenders but serious drinking problems existed among female youth as well.  In a multi-cultural city there was sometimes an element of racial disharmony involved but not at a level the UK or US might know.  And yes it spilled over onto public transport at times which caused even more problems; when something kicked off in a tin-can full of mostly well-oiled folk going somewhere then it was too often the case that someone else decided to get "stuck in".  Then someone else and someone else again.  Until the next station (or tram stop) was reached and the doors were released.  Two transit officers were supposed to be on duty at every station all night as a security presence.  They were often there but not always.  And not always on the platform when you needed them.  Sometimes they could and would help.  Not always.  

 

My limited experience of Sydney and Brisbane at night suggest they are as bad as Melbourne for the same reasons; having said that I have had some cracking nights out in those cities thoroughly enjoying the open and friendly Australian personality whilst drinking sensibly enough to remain well-behaved.  

 

* Spelling as normally used down-under.  "Bottle-o" or "Bottle-oh" is the common term for a "bottle shop" (which can be a vast bottle / tinny warehouse) better known to the Poms as an "Offy"

. 

Edited November 3, 2022 by Gwiwer
Stuff.

[southern42]

' afternoon all from red dragon land.

Sun shower shower sun shower...

 

Yesterday, some pine cone predictors said it would be showery with sunny periods all day, today.

This morning they said it was going to be dry all day with sunny periods.

Washing went outside.

Heavy shower descended...

Washing came back inside - wetter than it was when it went out!

 

Click n collect groceries arriving shortly. Looks like I may have to deal with some soaking wet bags. Maybe Ray, with bags, will dodge the showers... <<wishful thinking>>

 

Best get on and get ready for the onslaught.

 

Polly

Edited November 3, 2022 by southern42

[iL Dottore]

22 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

The Minister for Cake has just called for a Vote of No Confidence in the PM - support for the motion is "significant"....

 

The PM has other "useful" photos...

[BoD]

Afternoon all

 

15cm short of five way point rodding runs. Curdyturses!!  How did that happen?

Still, I've got plenty of parts and compared to some woes on here it is a very minor inconvenience.

Look after yourselves and my thoughts are with those who need them.

 

[Gwiwer]

3 minutes ago, BoD said:

15cm short of five way point rodding runs. Curdyturses!!  How did that happen?

Pop a compensator into the run 😉

[iL Dottore]

18 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Australia must surely rank among the worst serial offenders.

Actually, according to https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/alcoholism-by-country Australia's rate of alcoholism is 6.10% in males, 2.7% in females and 4.4% overall.

 

Death rates due alcohol (per 100'000 individuals) are 1.07 for Oz, 1.76 for the UK, 1.53 for Switzerland 3.29 for France and only 0.26 for Italy (in Belarus it is 19.82 per 100'000). According to the European Journal of Criminology, Alcohol- and drug-related public violence in Europe amongst men, (i.e. getting involved in fights after drinking alcohol) is more common in Germany (5.5 percent), the UK (7.5 percent), Finland (4.2 percent) and Ireland (11.5 percent) than in Italy (1.2 percent), France (2.0 percent) and Sweden (1.3 percent). Australian research estimates that a significant proportion of assaults involve alcohol; from 23 to as much as 73 percent of all assaults (https://www.aic.gov.au/publications/rip/rip4)

 

However, what my brief review of the literature and Health Body data has shown is that (probably) the most significant factor is a culture of drinking to get drunk.

 

It's almost enough to make me teetotal....

[TheQ]

after that I fancy a whisky.

[iL Dottore]

Just now, TheQ said:

after that I fancy a whisky.

Me too!

 

A German whisky from the Black Forest for me tonight!

 

[45156]

And me, but I'm on my whisky day off, as I have a pretty bad headache.

 

Just got back from the pharmacy, and putting a letter into the Docs.

 

The parking in Ludlow went up from 50p an hour to 60p an hour short stay, and 30p an hour to 40p an hour long stay.  The locals are moaning about this - they actually don't know how lucky they are to have such cheap parking - compare to Lancaster -

https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/parking/car-park-charges

 

I'm so glad I no longer live there.

 

And why don't LG call the brighness control on my new TV brightness - it is called Black Level, which I only found by fiddling, as the TV only came with the inevitable quick start guide, and the user guide came only online, and runs to 147 pages - which of course will cost a fortune to print in paper and ink - but that's the point for the maker, isn't it?

 

Edited November 4, 2022 by 45156
to remove duplicate text