Early Risers.

[jjb1970]

Having a splendid time in Indonesia, today we went to the family farm, there are some young puppies which the kids enjoyed playing with, and I quite like the goats. Chinese new year was quiet here, which is not so surprising, until relatively recently Chinese culture was suppressed here. The climate is hot and humid, but no rain so far, and the food is excellent. 

 

We flew with the low cost carrier (LCC) Jetstar. I find that LCCs are often a subject of hate because people judge them based on what they would like rather than what they are. We could have flown Singapore Airlines (SQ) and enjoyed good service, but for a 75 minute flight how important is that? Flying Trans-Pacific yes, but the fare difference between SQ and Jetstar was ridiculous.

 

Jetstar is like a lot of LCCs, they get you from A to B, end of. If you want good service or to enjoy the experience then fly with someone else but they sell their service as low cost no frills transport. If you judge them according to what they are and what they sell themselves as, and not what we want but don't want to pay for there's not much to criticize. 

 

I find Asia does LCC travel quite well. They tend to use the regular airports, not some former air base nowhere near the place claimed to be the destination and with poor transport links. Aircraft are generally spotless and crews immaculately turned out, and ground handling reasonable. I find them closer to European legacy carriers (which are basically LCCs for their short haul services) than airlines like Ryanair.

[PupCam]

Afternoon All, very late on parade today!

 

I do hope that the answer to @polybear's question does not reference the hatch and beamland!  🤞

 

I suspect something more to do with a power tool or maybe a power tool ceasing to be a power tool?    I do hope said tool has not provided unintentional consequences to the structure of Bear Towers during the micrometric adjustments of floor boarding in the great HSL refurb 🤞

 

In other news

 

We went for a really pleasant and relatively long (for Puppers) walk around Puppershire this morning.  Puppers hardly noticed the effort expended and could have carried on further - Very big tick.

 

I tried to resolve a medication query this morning (too complicated to go into detail here) by phoning the GP's surgery / dispensary this morning.    I explained the situation (including a number of previous hospital letters that they and I have mentioning the situation) but was unable to make progress.   I was told to Email  or phone them up and mention this call.   Hello?   I'm on the phone right now .......   The (lack of) logic  in this advice seemed to be completely missed.     It's not desperately urgent.  Perhaps I'll have a lie down and try again another day 🙄

 

My friends rather lovely Bridport mill has stopped working.   He removed the 3 phase motor (no mean feat; it's piggin heavy and right on top of the machine.  Investigations reveal that one of the sheet metal rotor balance weights had "let go" and chewed its way through one of the many stator windings.     Puppers was asked if he could effect a repair.    Puppers tried and hopefully succeeded, time will tell!

 

Puppers is hoping that the sky remains clear this evening.    I feel a Comet hunt is on the cards.

 

TTFNQ

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from a Sidcup which was -4 when I took Younger Lurker to school and -2 when I drove the car at lunchtime. In between times, there were plenty of meetings with the new boss. She has the plan to learn all there is to learn in about 4 weeks flat. What she will learn is that 4 weeks is not enough for that....

 

Well I was glad to see iD back but it made me realise we haven't seen SimonTaylor for a while now - he was having a tough IIRC when he last did a drive-by posting so I hope he is coping OK.

[Ian Abel]

Morning all.

 

Very busy weekend <phew>

Don't even REMEMBER Friday evening, Zoom with plenty of chat and wine...

Saturday, singing at the funeral/memorial celebration for a long time church/choir member. 17, yep SEVENTEEN grand-children there, just wow! 

Evening we were at a supper-club to hear some local musicians, great evening excellent music and food with a couple who are neighbors.

Sunday, was going to be quiet, turned into a support gathering for Meagan, as her older dog has been diagnosed with diabetes and we all decided she needed sort of an intervention to help her with the issue. She was grateful and has a better idea of the path now. Vet has explained it can be managed but as he's old (14) anyway she's having to confront the inevitable. It's a lot of stress on her as Otis has been there for a lot of her ups-and-down a while back. 

 

Today, last day of work before we take off for a week in AZ. Some sorting of various items before we leave, scheduling feeding for Bob by various folks used to the task, and of course deciding what to PACK! Not going to be as warm (hot??) as one might have expected/hoped, with highs only around 16-18c and lows 4-6c. Shant be taking shorts this year!

 

-12c and overcast, supposed to remain overcast all day, high of +1c if we're lucky.

 

Onward.

[pH]

2 hours ago, DaveF said:

I watched Vera.  As usual I spent most of the time working out where it had been filmed.  Where the body was found and where the factory was were on two different rivers.

We used to do that with shows like the “X Files” and “MacGyver” which were filmed in and around Vancouver. Best examples were things like car chases where they could  slide round a corner in downtown Vancouver and suddenly be in a different place several miles away.

[PhilJ W]

Edited January 23, 2023 by PhilJ W

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

Perhaps I'll have a lie down and try again another day

Do not they not invite you for an annual medication review? Aditi had one by telephone but I was sent for. I have been sent for to have another one at the end of the month specifically for my heart medication. I had the blood test for that this morning. I managed to fit in a trip to the recycling centre on the way home too.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. No problems from Arthur Itis or the eczema today so I was comfortably able to do a big shop today. Biggest problem is that over the last six months or so I have felt a lot weaker. In fact I have had to purchase items such as the bath stool. I've still got to sort out an alarm button.

[Coombe Barton]

... today sometimes “lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part.” ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/01/23/covid-uptick-and-china-figures-and-estimates-therefrom-way-up/

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear here.....

 

What goes:

"EeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekDoinkaDoinkaDoinkaDoinkaSplodgeFuggin'Piggin'Rattin'Turdycurses"

??

Bear gone.

A heavily insured Polina Bear “accidentally” falling down the stairs???

[polybear]

34 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Do not they not invite you for an annual medication review? Aditi had one by telephone but I was sent for. I have been sent for to have another one at the end of the month specifically for my heart medication. I had the blood test for that this morning. I managed to fit in a trip to the recycling centre on the way home too.

 

Bear has an annual medication review - the last was probably 3 or 4 years ago....

[polybear]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Bear falling through the hatch from beamland.

 

Nope......

 

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

I do hope that the answer to @polybear's question does not reference the hatch and beamland!  🤞

 

Nope.....

 

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

I suspect something more to do with a power tool or maybe a power tool ceasing to be a power tool?    I do hope said tool has not provided unintentional consequences to the structure of Bear Towers during the micrometric adjustments of floor boarding in the great HSL refurb 🤞

 

Nope......

 

25 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

A heavily insured Polina Bear “accidentally” falling down the stairs???

 

Warmer......

[polybear]

£One Hundred and Eighty Six Thousand.......

https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/black-boy-lane-renamed-offensive-186k/

FFS

[TheQ]

Splodge tends to indicate a can of paint, which came open after doink doink doing.

 

Evening Awl,

Two doors assembled, now glue drying near the fire.

Rudder sanded, second side of aft end given reinforcement.

Centre console modified, but there's more to do when the glue has set.

6ft of the bottom of the jib sewn, at 14 stitches to the inch, overlaid by stitches going the other way roughly that's 2000 stitches hand sewn.. Paws now tired.

[monkeysarefun]

6 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Doesn’t Gary Parrot deal with such visitors?

 

 

Birds do love them, I used to keep some King Quails in the bottom of the aviary, despite their name, fully grown they are the size of ducklings but they would take on any Huntsman spiders that were silly enough to appear in the aviary, and peck them to death before eating them - usually ended up in a squabble with legs sticking out of beaks like spaghetti - I couldn't imagine getting my face that close to them!

 

5 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

That’s only a baby one 

 

They do come in two size ranges "wheres that Chinese food container?" and "gonna need the lettuce crisper!". This one just snuck into the first category so yes he was on the small side. 

 

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

 

 

Jetstar is like a lot of LCCs, they get you from A to B, end of. If you want good service or to enjoy the experience then fly with someone else but they sell their service as low cost no frills transport. If you judge them according to what they are and what they sell themselves as, and not what we want but don't want to pay for there's not much to criticize. 

 

 

 

 

Jetstar is pretty much "Qantas-lite",  since they are  a fully owned subsidiary of them, created so Qantas could compete in the budget airfare sector without cheapening their brand. Jetstar Asia is 49% owned by Qantas.

Edited January 23, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Splodge tends to indicate a can of paint, which came open after doink doink doing.

 

 

 

Nope......

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Nope......

Okay.... You got the mail in. "Ah ha! a package - that'll be the 1994 Iphone I ordered to replace my old phone!" you thought "I'll open that at the top of the stairs"  Which you did, but only to find that you'd actually bought "eye-phone 1994" an art installation by Tracy Emin, comprising a  dial telephone with sheeps eye glued to it, you fell back down the stairs in shock and landed on the heap of cakes and baked beans you keep there for when guests come.

Edited January 23, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[The White Rabbit]

2 hours ago, The Lurker said:

... Well I was glad to see iD back but it made me realise we haven't seen SimonTaylor for a while now - he was having a tough IIRC when he last did a drive-by posting so I hope he is coping OK.

 

We exchanged PMs before Christmas. It sounded like things were not good. I've been hesitating over sending another. Maybe I've reading too much into it but he left the conversation and it looked like he wanted some space. At the same time he said thanks for [sending my best wishes]. Not knowing him too well I don't know whether to message him again or whether it would be seen as an intrusion at a bad time. We're both in Yorkshire but a fair few miles apart and at the moment I'm not able to offer anything much in the way of practical support. I did say that (subject to my own health time-outs) if he wanted a chat/rant I was here. Does anyone know him better and have a sense as to which is the better option? 

[BoD]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear here.....

 

What goes:

"EeeeeeeeeeeeeeeekDoinkaDoinkaDoinkaDoinkaSplodgeFuggin'Piggin'Rattin'Turdycurses"

??

Bear gone.

You bought yourself a pet Eeeeeeeek-er Dionka-er but stood on it.

[PupCam]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Do not they not invite you for an annual medication review? Aditi had one by telephone but I was sent for. I have been sent for to have another one at the end of the month specifically for my heart medication. I had the blood test for that this morning. I managed to fit in a trip to the recycling centre on the way home too.

 

Not since before Covid.      I have had just one face to face appointment with a GP since before Covid began after months of trying.  You may remember Puppers Patented 'ppointment Procuring Procedure trying to get appointments when to be frank, I was in no fit state to faff about with such shenanigans.   Anyway, approximately 5 hours after that appointment I collapsed in a big heap on the floor with a particular form of  heart failure.  Fortunately I was in A&E at the time so was scraped off of the floor very quickly and placed on a trolley.     Some hours later a kind surgeon had inserted a box of electronics ...

 

Over the months and years folk here may have noticed I'm not totally enamoured with our particular "normal point of contact with the NHS".   I have to speak as I find but I always make a point of thanking those in the wider service (and there have been many over the last couple of years) that have helped me through some difficult times.     But I'm afraid I have little time (or sympathy) for those who through their attitude or approach have not.   

 

It is far too simplistic to say the NHS is great or the NHS is terrible.      There is a huge amount of fantastic work and care going on in the NHS under very trying circumstances  (I should know, I've had quite a bit of it) but there are also plenty of occasions when a patient is just a number, someone can't be bothered or they are far too quick off the mark making excuses for something not happening or being done instead of actually doing it to give the NHS a universal "it's wonderful" badge.     Anyway, as Murray Walker once said; "I'm going to have to stop now as I've got a lump in my throat" although he said it on the rather more joyous occasion of Damien Hill winning the F1 World Championship not Alan writing a post on an internet forum.

 

Alan

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, BoD said:

You bought yourself a pet Eeeeeeeek-er Dionka-er but stood on it.

I suspect a precious heirloom like that Franklin Mint Flying Scotsman clock  has tumbled down and is now in kit form?  Will the problem need  some Milliput to repair?

[Barry O]

My few flights with Jetstar have not been great. Very delayed, no communications about delays (some of which were downright lies), but at least they got us to our destination.....eventually.

 

I would put them at the same level as fleasyjet or rhino air...but, as mentioned above by @jjb1970 they use proper airports.

 

What I cannot get my head around is the fact that things like spiders and snakes in Oz have to be removed rather than squidged. Is this part of a new "woke' culture in Oz @monkeysarefun?

 

Baz

Edited January 23, 2023 by Barry O

[Ozexpatriate]

27 minutes ago, Barry O said:

What I cannot get my head around is the fact that things like spiders and snakes in Oz have to be removed rather than squidged. Is this part of a new "woke' culture in Oz @monkeysarefun?

Australians* have learned the hard way that disrupting the ecosystem is problematic (rabbits, prickly pear, cane toads, Thylacine/Tasmanian tiger, forest habitat loss, etc). Everything in the natural world has its place.

 

* As have Kiwis with feral cats.

 

When that understanding is also applied to fossil fuels things will be better off.

[Compound2632]

4 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Australians* have learned the hard way that disrupting the ecosystem is problematic (rabbits, prickly pear, cane toads, Thylacine/Tasmanian tiger, forest habitat loss, etc). Everything in the natural world has its place.

 

* As have Kiwis with feral cats.

 

When that understanding is also applied to fossil fuels things will be better off.

 

 

Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and he'll drive the fish to extinction.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

They do come in two size ranges "wheres that Chinese food container?" and "gonna need the lettuce crisper!". This one just snuck into the first category so yes he was on the small side. 

As the appointed spider-catcher to the court we lived in I had a "Chinese food container" always on hand for spider duty.  It thus never got mixed in with the others which were kept in the kitchen.  And no spiders were accidentally barbecued! 

 

In a court (cul-de-sac for those playing at home) of only nine houses I was the only person willing and able to catch spiders, encourage possums to leave (you're not allowed to trap and remove them without a licence but you can spread a peanut butter trail which they will follow and go where it leads - away from the house!) and on a couple of occasions even deal with mice either myself or, on one occasion, by bringing the cat with me.  The cat, at that time, was a HUGE of 11kgs with which few mice were prepared to even negotiate.  Not obese - just naturally very very big.  And boisterous with it.  We miss him dearly but oh boy was he a handful or six.