Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

12 hours ago, polybear said:

.

 

 

Sounds to this Bear like an intermittent contact being caused by wind blowing the phone line cable about.

 

Must admit that’s what I think.

Calm outside now, internet on. 
As I said, Openreach changed a pole on Tuesday but as the pole is on the other side of the road and the cable drooped too low across the road, the opertunity was taken to divert the wire via another pole and thus maintain the correct headroom between the cable and road. 
When Openreach left at 5.00pm on Tuesday it was blowing a gale and the internet was off. Blokes said ‘nowt to do with us mate, get in touch with Openreach. ‘ I was in a rush to get to mils so couldn’t argue ‘you are Openreach and you’re on site and it’s worked fine for the last ten years regardless of the wind.

The village is being kitted out for super fast fibre broadband and wonder if that may have something to do with it.

Anyway, better get a move on.

 

Edited February 5, 2023 by Erichill16

[jjb1970]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Indeed, except for the second one reported over Colombia and Venezuela - assuming those reports to be accurate.

 

That one's even stranger.

 

It's no secret that the USA and PRC see eachother as adversaries and that their relationship has nosedived. So spying and espionage are perfectly logical (and I think we all know both are spying on eachother using every tool they have).

 

But Columbia and Venezuela? I suspect that if Beijing has any questions about Venezuela they can just pick up the phone and ask. 

[Erichill16]

@Barry O, Baz, I hope the family gets this stinking thing sorted and you enjoy your walkabouts.

Robert

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Blue sky and sunshine here and it should stay like that for the rest of the day.  6°C and a maximum 9°C forecast

Quite a good afternoon yesterday apart from the England rugby result, the less said about that the better mind you I've got used to it over the years.  We had a great evening with Nicki and Darren but as suspected my diet went up the wall.

A bonus to the evening was me doing some extra lottery lines which resulted in £60 and 3 lucky dips being won.  

A light cooked breakfast was enjoyed earlier and we're shortly going for a walk around the park.

This afternoon another game of rugby will occupy some of my time.

Have a good 'un.

Bob.

 

 

 

 

[jjb1970]

I have been led astray by ER!

 

This week, after perchance being made aware of the existence of a company called Auscision I happened to look upon their website and discovered that they make a Victoria railways L class electric locomotives. Applying a rigorous analytical process of evaluation I quickly verified the following key credentials:

 

-Made by English Electric? Tick

-Bull nose design? Tick

-Coat hanger on roof? Tick

-Nice liveries? Tick

 

By some accident of the Internet I appear to have ordered one.

 

If Mrs JJB get cross I shall plead extenuating circumstances and being influenced by others and provide details of ER. You have been warned.

[petethemole]

I started a new topic for this but I thought i would post it on ERs in case anyone can help.

 

SWMBO has an Amazon Prime account and yesterday was unable to complete a purchase because there was a 'problem with her card' as in they were 'unable to complete authentification'.  She deleted the card and re-entered it as this has worked before, but with the same result.  She also received a message that her Prime wouldn't renew next month for the same reason.  Card is a VISA Debit card on the Co-op Bank. 

The bank call centre is shut weekends, but on-line research suggests that banks tell you it's a problem with Amazon.  The Amazon help desk wasn't very helpful as SWMBO is not very tech savvy and also autistic, but did they get her order paid for, although the card problem remained.  A further message (screenshot below) again tells her to contact the bank.  This appears to be a very common problem according the internet but she's been unable to find explanations or solutions.  The timing is unfortunate as she's just out of hospital after a hip replacement.   Does anyone have any experience of this, or any idea how to solve the problem?

 

 

[jjb1970]

Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately is more appropriate) I have never had that problem with Amazon so can't help, sorry.

 

I have found Amazon help painful and very difficult. When Amazon works it is superb, but when I moved from UK to Singapore I had all sorts of issues because they were trying to keep charging me for Prime UK when I wanted to subscribe to Prime Singapore. It was resolved in the end but their contact stuff was terrible.

[PupCam]

Afternoon All!

 

14 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Would be interesting if its found to contain parts made in the west - if found please return to .............?

 

I suspect they are more likely to find "Western Tech, Made in China" inside ......

 

13 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Coober Pedy, (  South Australia) supermarket back in the day, late 70s, early 80s.

 

 

(Lol at @polybearhaving a sook  that time  the Europeans wouldn't let him buy dangerous paint stripper!)

 

"Oh yes please.   May I have a large bloomer, a bottle of washing-up liquid, 3 sticks of jelly and a detonator?" 🤣

 

5 hours ago, polybear said:

The use of a Sidewinder seemed like overkill to this Bear, unless they just happened to have one that was about to go lifex and needed disposal anyway.

 

More than likely and such fun too!

 

5 hours ago, polybear said:

I would've thought a using the aircraft's gun (they do still have those, don't they?) would've been equally effective and with less risk of damage to any electronics being carried.

 

Will bullets go ~20000' uphill I wonder?  (Assuming service ceiling of the aircraft circa 60K  and the balloon was flying at circa 80K)

 

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Dr. SWMBO is on the phone dealing with matters Downunder. Dragon-in-Law asked her to write something to be read at the funeral of her late uncle. She read it through to me and it sounded perfect - thoughtful, respectful and concise. DiL called her at silly o’clock this morning to say it was “unacceptable” and that she would “have to say something altogether different”.  That hasn’t gone down at all well.

 

Hmmm.  If someone is asked to produce such a script and it is done in the way you describe then that, in this Puppers' view, is that!    If the content was blatantly untrue, disrespectful or unnecessarily controversial that would be a different matter but a respectful, considered offering are the true thoughts of the author and should also be respected.   If I was the author and somebody said that to me my response to them would be thoroughly considered but might  would not be polite or respectful to them.

 

Families; don' you just love 'em!

 

In Other News

 

A nice but chilly morning for a bimble over to Jordans Mill for breakfast.    A somewhat more modest 25 mile run than Thursday's 75 mile job but very nice nevertheless.

 

The second astronomy gadget (for a friend) is giving me a right load of grief.     The GPS unit takes an age to get lock when its been off for awhile.    Just wondering if there's a teeny weeny defunct button cell secreted about the GPS module somewhere that's meant to store the ephemeral data when its powered down?   I'll have to get the magnifier out!

 

TTFNQ

 

Alan

[BoD]

8 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

If Mrs JJB get cross I shall plead extenuating circumstances and being influenced by others and provide details of ER. You have been warned

Good grief.  We are all class correspondents in a divorce case.

[DaveF]

Reading the posts on here concerning relatives' estates I realise how fortunate I was that Mum just left everything to me, having quietly told me before she died to decide if anyone (i.e. cousins and an aunt) should receive any of her possessions.  Even more fortunately no one actually wants anything, they all have enough things from other relatives who have died.

 

This morning started cold and frosty, it is warmer now but has clouded over.

 

Yesterday after breakfast I went shopping in Lidl as I decided I fancied a jam doughnnut with my coffee.  I came home with a tray of primulas, a pot of hyacinths, a bunch of daffodils, some new food storage containers, a bottle of Calvados and quite a lot of food.  Certainly an expensive doughnut!  Then I had to plant the primulas in the garden, they have nicely filled some gaps which were annoying me.  After planting them I tidied the plants in the greenhouse and the pelargoniums and Christmas cacti which are spending the winter in the garage.  As I expected the ones I was doubtful about keeping are not doing too well.  Next year I must not bother keeping the weaker plants.

 

Later on I watched Scotland beat England, I was not surprised at the result, England seemed more than a little dozy.

 

In the evening I watched the first episode of Hotel Portofino on ITVx, I'm not quite sure why I bothered but I suppose that being the first episode it was all about introducing the characters rather than having a good storyline.  Then I watched the last episode of 'Allo 'Allo from my DVD set, what will I find to watch next?

 

David

Edited February 5, 2023 by DaveF

[jjb1970]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

Apparently several Charities have been known to go to great lengths to screw as much as they can out of Estates as well - sadly I don't know which ones though, as I'd make bluddy sure they didn't appear in a certain Bear's Will in the first place.

Insofar as squabbling is concerned, I've read in many places (and some of it *apparently* based on the experiences of numerous Solicitors) that the fairer of the sex are by far the worst, though I've no idea if that's actually correct or not.

 

 

 

 

Charities are notorious, standard advice is that if you want to leave something to charity write it as £xx, never write it as a proportion of the estate. I've had friends who went through hell as charities took a very predatory approach as to what constituted 20% of the estate or whatever the proportion they wanted was.

[jjb1970]

32 minutes ago, BoD said:

Good grief.  We are all class correspondents in a divorce case.

 

It may be more likely to be manslaughter, depending on how cross she is with me. Just saying.

[polybear]

5 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Dr. SWMBO is on the phone dealing with matters Downunder. Dragon-in-Law asked her to write something to be read at the funeral of her late uncle. She read it through to me and it sounded perfect - thoughtful, respectful and concise. DiL called her at silly o’clock this morning to say it was “unacceptable” and that she would “have to say something altogether different”.  That hasn’t gone down at all well. 
 

It seems the family are also not prepared to observe the written-down wishes for the farewell. Instead of a full graveside service and a private wake at the golf club they are insisting on a basic commital followed by a huge party at the home. With party pies and lashings of alcohol. Not a professionally-catered wake. It’s not the money. Uncle M. was extraordinarily wealthy and owned swathes of land. It seems the family are set to drink and gamble any inheritance away overnight. Dr. SWMBO is not impressed. 

 

Wouldn't it be fun if the Will were to read something like:

 

"I leave everything to my Family in equal shares, so long as they carried out my Funeral Wishes exactly as I had wished; if not then they get sweet F.A. and the whole lot goes to The Cat's Home"

 

44 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Will bullets go ~20000' uphill I wonder?  (Assuming service ceiling of the aircraft circa 60K  and the balloon was flying at circa 80K)

 

 

Trust Puppers to be picky with the details.......

 

9 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

It may be more likely to be manslaughter, depending on how cross she is with me. Just saying.

 

Bear wants a choo choo.....Bear buys a choo choo.

Being a sad & lonely Bear does have some advantages....

[BoD]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear wants a choo choo.....Bear buys a choo choo.

Where’s the challenge in that.

[PupCam]

2 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear wants a choo choo.....Bear buys a choo choo.

Being a sad & lonely Bear does have some advantages....

 

Just seen an add about the DPS commisioned further  run of Accurascale Deltics.

 

NO! NO!  I mustn't!!!!!   (Just spent a ~ third of a Deltic on a die and a set of taps for the Beeza's crankshaft & nut!)

 

Alan

[polybear]

1 minute ago, BoD said:

Where’s the challenge in that.

 

It's deciding which choo choo to buy.....and being "good" and only buying one (not hard nowadays cos' of the silly prices now being asked for many models)

 

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon all,

 

I've been thinking ... you may wish to take cover now ... But the problems and crises suffered by various ERs dredged up an old memory. The Romans used to mark a bad day with a black pebble and a particularly good or lucky day with a white pebble. Doesn't work too well with today's wall calendars... Apparently there were no shades of grey, it was white, black or unmarked. 

 

That got me onto classics in general. I'm used to seeing Jamie's Latin motto/comment in his signature but have seen a few more appear over the last couple of weeks or so. At the risk of being called 'Pegleg', perhaps I could offer a few suitable phrases for anyone wanting a new forum motto:

 

(literal translations first, then more colloquial language) 

 

Animis obibusque parati – prepared in mind and resources / ready for anything

 

audaces fortuna iuvat – fortune favours the bold.

 

Cacoethes loquendi – a compulsion to write/the desire to compose

 

carpe diem – seize the day/make hay while the sun shines

 

cave quid dicis, quando, et cui – beware of what you say, when and to whom/ think before speaking/typing  

 

de gustibus non est disputandum – there's no accounting for taste/taste is [very] subjective

 

delenda est Carthago – Carthage must be destroyed [at all costs] / an example of rhetoric stirring irrational passions

 

deus ex machina – a god out of a machine / a rabbit out of a hat

 

diem perdidi – I have lost a day / an unproductive/wasted day

 

eheu fugaces labuntur anni – alas, the fleeting years fly by / time passes quickly

 

errare humanum est – to err is human

 

etiam atque etiam – again and again / excessive repetition

 

felicitas habet multos amicos – prosperity has many friends / everyone likes a winner

 

festina lente – make haste slowly / don't rush into things

 

hoc age – do this / get on with [your work you lazy *]

 

iacta alea est – the die is cast

 

ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros – fire tests gold, adversity [tests] strong men / life is no bed of roses

 

 

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone 

 

Very late on parade today, but I've not been idle. We had our usual Sunday morning lie in then after is dressed I went straight outside to do some work in the garden. 2 sets of solar lights has stopped working, so these were looked at first. I ended up changing the batteries in both and they now work OK. Then I cleaned and refilled the bird feeders as they were getting a bit low. Then a bit of tidying up was done, as this hadn't been done for a few weeks. 

 

Time now for a mid afternoon muggertea, back later. 

 

Brian 

[polybear]

12 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Afternoon all,

 

I've been thinking ... you may wish to take cover now ... But the problems and crises suffered by various ERs dredged up an old memory. The Romans used to mark a bad day with a black pebble and a particularly good or lucky day with a white pebble. Doesn't work too well with today's wall calendars... Apparently there were no shades of grey, it was white, black or unmarked. 

 

That got me onto classics in general. I'm used to seeing Jamie's Latin motto/comment in his signature but have seen a few more appear over the last couple of weeks or so. At the risk of being called 'Pegleg', perhaps I could offer a few suitable phrases for anyone wanting a new forum motto:

 

(literal translations first, then more colloquial language) 

 

Animis obibusque parati – prepared in mind and resources / ready for anything

 

audaces fortuna iuvat – fortune favours the bold.

 

Cacoethes loquendi – a compulsion to write/the desire to compose

 

carpe diem – seize the day/make hay while the sun shines

 

cave quid dicis, quando, et cui – beware of what you say, when and to whom/ think before speaking/typing  

 

de gustibus non est disputandum – there's no accounting for taste/taste is [very] subjective

 

delenda est Carthago – Carthage must be destroyed [at all costs] / an example of rhetoric stirring irrational passions

 

deus ex machina – a god out of a machine / a rabbit out of a hat

 

diem perdidi – I have lost a day / an unproductive/wasted day

 

eheu fugaces labuntur anni – alas, the fleeting years fly by / time passes quickly

 

errare humanum est – to err is human

 

etiam atque etiam – again and again / excessive repetition

 

felicitas habet multos amicos – prosperity has many friends / everyone likes a winner

 

festina lente – make haste slowly / don't rush into things

 

hoc age – do this / get on with [your work you lazy *]

 

iacta alea est – the die is cast

 

ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros – fire tests gold, adversity [tests] strong men / life is no bed of roses

 

 

 

Illegitimi non carborundum - Don't let the b'sterds grind you down.

[petethemole]

Nunc est bibendum = Now is the time to drink

Ergo bibamus = Therefore let us drink

[Tony_S]

I don’t really have to worry about hiding trains from Aditi. She quite likes to see them. She does seem to favour those that are in nice colours.  Really she is pleased I have a hobby and that often I have been able to effect repairs to some household device with tools bought for modelling or by using the range of adhesives I have purchased. 
Recently I had a loco that I preordered and paid for a couple of years ago. It was then delayed due to some despatch problems. So when it arrived I was very pleased. Aditi was most unimpressed “you waited two years for that!”

[Tony_S]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

 

[Coombe Barton]

6 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet

 

I'd love to issue a challenge to music students - set lipsum to music for a massed choir.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I have been led astray by ER!

 

This week, after perchance being made aware of the existence of a company called Auscision I happened to look upon their website and discovered that they make a Victoria railways L class electric locomotives. Applying a rigorous analytical process of evaluation I quickly verified the following key credentials:

 

-Made by English Electric? Tick

-Bull nose design? Tick

-Coat hanger on roof? Tick

-Nice liveries? Tick

 

By some accident of the Internet I appear to have ordered one.

 

If Mrs JJB get cross I shall plead extenuating circumstances and being influenced by others and provide details of ER. You have been warned.

Just tell her you bought it before you were married.  I can still get away with that on occaisions.

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

 

Charities are notorious, standard advice is that if you want to leave something to charity write it as £xx, never write it as a proportion of the estate. I've had friends who went through hell as charities took a very predatory approach as to what constituted 20% of the estate or whatever the proportion they wanted was.

Yes.  Our father saved my brother and I a lotbof hassle by leaving us fixed amounts and only the residue to the cats home as we called it.  That meant that all the funeral and other expenses came out of their share.  It meant that when Dignity, plc, money grubbers of the funeral industry wanted £700 for a new plaque with both his and our mother's names on it we just said yes with a clear conscence.

 

Jamie

[Coombe Barton]

... Tennis mixed doubles match between flute and clarinet on one side and oboe and bassoon on the other, with the French horn as the umpire. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/02/05/covid-new-cases-very-slightly-up-and-the-next-pandemic-of-concern/