Early Risers.

[polybear]

Now if this news doesn't really, really p1ss you off then n'owt will......

 

Cristiano Ronaldo will be paid €200m-per-season at Al-Nassr (Saudi Arabia), reports @marca. Here's the breakdown…

€200,000,000/year

€16,000,000/month

€3,800,000/week

€760,000/day

€96,000/hour

€1,600/minute

€26/second

[Erichill16]

5 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Polar Bears are distinctly off-white, tending to yellowish.

When watching nature programmes on  tv you often see polar bears with red around their mouths. Until recently i thought it was blood from their prey but now i know its baked bean juice.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

Billy Connell's second rule I believe.     His first being that "men over 50 should never pass a working toilet" and his third being "due to rarity, never waste an erection".

 

I think Billy is very observant and has got this thing called life well sorted .......

Spot on, Sir.

 

In other news.  News reached me this afternoon from a good friend back home in Cornwall.  It's just her and the boy and has been for some years now.  So yesterday she found water pouring through the ceiling and discovered the bath upstairs was leaking from around an insecure drain.  Having spoken with her housing association today they promptly arrived and ..... disconnected the heating!!!  Because it all runs off one boiler.  So there they are, sitting in a cold (and draughty) house, no heating, no hot water and the next date anyone can apparently come to fix the problem is ...... 

 

...... 10th January 😯 😥

 

She does have electric heating available but cannot afford  to run it.  

 

I asked how I could help.  There's not a lot I can do from 300-plus miles away but I could always arrange some funds to boost her prepayment meter allowing her to turn on the electric heaters.  Offer very graciously declined although she is aware that it stands and to let me know if it gets too cold.  We have forecasts of -6C later this week.  🥶

 

So there's one of these on its way to her.  Called a "changing poncho" it is designed for use at those pools where privacy is apparently not a priority and where the hardy swim all year round.  It's thick, fleecy and has a generous hood as well.  I know because Dr. SWMBO has one.  And it is very, very warm.  I'm sure friend will tell me off when it arrives but hey - it's Christmas and I won't see a friend go cold if I can help it.  If I knew her lad's size I'd do something for him too.  Just how big is a 12 year-old boy?  

 

[The Lurker]

10 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 

 If I knew her lad's size I'd do something for him too.  Just how big is a 12 year-old boy?  

How long is a piece of string?! Younger Lurker started a growth spurt before he was 12 and it hasn't really ceased and now he is nearly 14. He has gone past Mrs Lurker and Elder Lurker but has not caught me up!

[J. S. Bach]

Yet!

[polybear]

20 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

When watching nature programmes on  tv you often see polar bears with red around their mouths. Until recently i thought it was blood from their prey but now i know its baked bean juice.

 

🤣🤣🤣

That gets Bear's Golden LDC Award of the Week......👏

 

16 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Spot on, Sir.

 

In other news.  News reached me this afternoon from a good friend back home in Cornwall.  It's just her and the boy and has been for some years now.  So yesterday she found water pouring through the ceiling and discovered the bath upstairs was leaking from around an insecure drain.  Having spoken with her housing association today they promptly arrived and ..... disconnected the heating!!!  Because it all runs off one boiler.  So there they are, sitting in a cold (and draughty) house, no heating, no hot water and the next date anyone can apparently come to fix the problem is ...... 

 

...... 10th January 😯 😥

 

 

An immediate Snottogram to the H.A - copied to the local M.P. and newspaper - should focus their attention somewhat.

[Coombe Barton]

... In Britain, when all else fails, we’ll talk about the weather (cue here, Pirates of Penzance) ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/12/05/sounds-of-the-season-2022-23-09-mainly-up/

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Mustn't have been at the mountain redoubt. It needs redecorating now....

 

 

 

Thank God for that. CC was trying to get Mrs CC to agree to a complete re-furb. Now she has no option*

 

Do you know how depressing a 320’000 square metres of magnolia is?

 

* but now she’s eyeing up the wallpaper Bojo installed at No. 10 and is muttering things like “what sort of discount do you get on 20’000 rolls”

Edited December 5, 2022 by iL Dottore

[monkeysarefun]

Re museum enhancements, a few years ago the Oz War Memorial in Canberra got Peter Jackson  to devise an  exhibit for the   Flying Hall (where Lancaster G for George is if you've been there).

 

Given his film skills and WW1 enthusiasm especially aircraft ( eg he created the Wingnut Wings WW1 aircraft model kit range)  it was pretty bloody good gotta say, especially the light and sound scapes and wrap around cinema screen playing restored archive footage ( a 'test run' for that later WW1 film he did a couple of years ago..). One rare museum enhancement that DID actually add to the static WW1 aircraft sitting there. Its  a pity its no longer running.

 

 

Not my video, and they got the name wrong - its Over The Front..

 

 

 

 

- 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, J. S. Bach said:

Also due to the cost of installation and maintenance and the equipment needed (or not needed) to do so.

Much, much cheaper in the long run - they don't need to send emergency crews out in the rain and wind and snow every time the line from the transformer falls down or the transformer on the pole gets struck by lightning, or the pole gets hit by a car. The increased reliability of a buried supply is vastly higher.

 

The installation of a buried supply is more expensive than a pole-mount transformer.

 

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[PupCam]

4 hours ago, PupCam said:

There's snow in Baldock allegedly!   That's way too close for us Bear!

 

False alarm apparently.   You can put the snow shovel away @polybear

 

[Gwiwer]

2 minutes ago, PupCam said:

4 hours ago, PupCam said:

There's snow in Baldock allegedly!   That's way too close for us Bear!

 

False alarm apparently. 

Someone got dandruff? 

 

Time to hit the hay.  But before I do a couple of things you may have missed.  

 

Dr. SWMBO packed a few items for Australia tonight and asked me to mail the box tomorrow.  I took the precaution of pricing it first.  £87.  It's only 2.4kgs and not very big but that's what Parcel Farce want.  DHL?  £179.  DPD?  Don't go to Australia.  I found an app called Parcel King offering a £43 rate which turned out to be Evri (nee Yodel) at this end.  Still too much.  She's re-thinking Christmas Downunder.  

 

And whilst ordering flowers for my sister at the same time of year the regular florist we use came back with a "IP Blocked" message "Due to suspicious activity".  Not from here it isn't.  I know IP addresses can be both shared and masked but there's nothing untoward at this end.  More internet embuggeration.  I managed to "unlock the IP" by using the phone to place the same order; this came up with the 9-square "Tick images with crosswalks" thing to prove I wasn't a robot.  Order placed.  

 

Strange times at Intertube Central.  

 

 

[Gwiwer]

4 hours ago, The Lurker said:

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 Just how big is a 12 year-old boy?  

How long is a piece of string?! Younger Lurker started a growth spurt before he was 12 and it hasn't really ceased and now he is nearly 14.

Friend's lad is the same age to within a few weeks as our Godson in Oz.  The latter is growing faster than a triffid.  Dr. SWMBO reckoned he put on 2 cms in the month she was there.  He's going to top six-foot (185cms in Australian terms) any time soon.  

 

Former Neighbour (Australian)'s son is a little older; 22 now I think.  We knew him and his sister for all of the 15 years we lived at that address.  They started out as small kids going to school.  By the time they had finished school she was a mighty 6' 4" and he was a towering 7' 2".  He's a bit more than that now - probably 7' 4". Neither parent is uncommonly tall but father is Dutch and there seems to be a "tall" gene amongst the Dutch.  

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Sausage and chips for dinner, whatever I could find at the back of the fridge. A bit of bad news this evening, our MRC has been broken into. No news of anything taken or damaged as the clubhouse has been sealed pending the police investigation. 

4 hours ago, The Lurker said:

How long is a piece of string?! Younger Lurker started a growth spurt before he was 12 and it hasn't really ceased and now he is nearly 14. He has gone past Mrs Lurker and Elder Lurker but has not caught me up!

My friends lad when he was about eight or nine was rather small for his age, he looked about six or seven. Now he is fourteen he's almost as tall as his dad. Its only in the last couple of years  that he's put a spurt on.

[polybear]

22 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Dr. SWMBO packed a few items for Australia tonight and asked me to mail the box tomorrow.  I took the precaution of pricing it first.  £87.  It's only 2.4kgs and not very big but that's what Parcel Farce want.  DHL?  £179.  DPD?  Don't go to Australia.  I found an app called Parcel King offering a £43 rate which turned out to be Evri (nee Yodel) at this end.  

 

Bear uses the following website - which seems to work rather well:

 

https://www.parcel2go.com/

 

I got notification that the parcel I sent via Evri on Friday was delivered today, which I thought was pretty good.

[polybear]

8 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

A bit of bad news this evening, our MRC has been broken into. No news of anything taken or damaged as the clubhouse has been sealed pending the police investigation. 

 

 

'Sterds.  It seems that once a house has been burgled there's a 1 in 4 chance it'll be hit again; as to whether or not this will apply in the MRC's case is anyone's guess.  Time to invest in some particularly nasty scrote traps methinks.

[Tony_S]

My car did pass its MoT, have its service and get its SIM card problem sorted. I haven’t got it back as I didn’t want to be trying to get to the garage by 5.30. We will go to. Chelmsford tomorrow after lunch to get it. While,I was waiting for Aditi this morning I had a look at the new cars. I don’t think I will be buying a PHEV Defender. It was over £100000.  Seats looked comfy though.

[monkeysarefun]

34 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

He's a bit more than that now - probably 7' 4". Neither parent is uncommonly tall but father is Dutch and there seems to be a "tall" gene amongst the Dutch.  

 

 

Future Collingwood ruckman?   

 

Tiny 6 ft 11 (and rare US import)  Mason Cox better watch his back.

 

[Thorness]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

 

 

Dr. SWMBO packed a few items for Australia tonight and asked me to mail the box tomorrow.  I took the precaution of pricing it first.  £87.  It's only 2.4kgs and not very big but that's what Parcel Farce want.  DHL?  £179.  DPD?  Don't go to Australia.  I found an app called Parcel King offering a £43 rate which turned out to be Evri (nee Yodel) at this end.  Still too much.  She's re-thinking Christmas Downunder.  

 

 

 

 

 

If the parcel can be split you may find it works out cheaper to send two parcels that are under 2kg.  Prices seem to shoot up above the 2kg mark.

[Barry O]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Re museum enhancements, a few years ago the Oz War Memorial in Canberra got Peter Jackson  to devise an  exhibit for the   Flying Hall (where Lancaster G for George is if you've been there).

 

Given his film skills and WW1 enthusiasm especially aircraft ( eg he created the Wingnut Wings WW1 aircraft model kit range)  it was pretty bloody good gotta say, especially the light and sound scapes and wrap around cinema screen playing restored archive footage ( a 'test run' for that later WW1 film he did a couple of years ago..). One rare museum enhancement that DID actually add to the static WW1 aircraft sitting there. Its  a pity its no longer running.

 

 

Not my video, and they got the name wrong - its Over The Front..

 

 

His aircraft museum in New Zealand is excellent as is the Gallipoli Exhibit at Te Papa museum in Wellington..

Baz

 

Edited December 5, 2022 by Barry O

[Barry O]

Dr Eldest Herbertvis 6' 5" , youngest Herbert is 6" ( the same as me). One of my grandma's was 5' 11", the other 4'9"..  my dad was about 5' 3". As is my little sister.. but my uncles on my mother's side were all over 6'.. them thar genes have a lot to answer for!

 

Baz

[Gwiwer]

16 minutes ago, Thorness said:

 

If the parcel can be split you may find it works out cheaper to send two parcels that are under 2kg.  Prices seem to shoot up above the 2kg mark.

Splitting it generated a price of £66 each. 

[Thorness]

2 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Splitting it generated a price of £66 each. 

Sorry, I thought it was worth looking. I have found it cheaper but that was about 3 years ago!

 

Don

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Another busy day here today, but at least the new waste water pipework under the sink has now been renewed. It took me just over 90 minutes and that included all the re-cementing work that ended doing outside. The biggest problem I had was the use of 2 incompatible sizes of pipe, which were also of a different material, one of which was incompatible with the solvent based glue. 

 

The original pipework that came with the waste trap is a soft polythene type material, 40mm in diameter, that does not react to the solvent based glue. The the new plastic pipework is PVC, 42mm in diameter and an inside diameter of just over 39mm, but does react to the glue. So what I needed was an asymmetrical coupling that was compatible to both sizes of pipework! Typically, there is nothing like that available, so I would have to make something myself. 

 

My solution was to force fit the 40mm pipe into the 42mm pipe. This was achieved by holding a short length of 42mm pipe in the chuck of my lathe and with the aid of a small off of wood and the tail stock, hold the smaller pipe against the opposite end. I then heated the free end of thee larger pipe with my hot air gun and at the same time slowly rotated it until it started to soften. I then wound in the tail stock, which then forced the smaller diameter pipe into the now softened larger pipe. Whilst still applying some heat to keep the larger pipe still soft. I managed to insert about 30mm of the small pipe into the large pipe, which gave me the reducer I wanted. As it was an interference fit, it is now, to all intents and purposes, a single unit and most importantly, it is also water tight!

 

The photo below explains it better and shows it after I’d cut it down to the required size, which is about 100mm long

 

Once the  modifications to the pipework were complete, I was then able to raise the height of carousel, enabling me to get a previously redundant wooden storage box under the sink. Into which a lot of bottles of cleaning and tins of polish are now stored. This also makes them easier to access things at the back of the cupboard and also getting them in and out, without things falling over, or even falling out! Result a very happy Sheila, always a good thing. 

 

After dinner I planted a rhubarb plant that one of Sheila’s friends gave us last week, into a large empty planter, then posted our voting papers and a few Christmas cards, before knocking off for an early afternoon muggertea. 

Edited December 5, 2022 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all