Early Risers.

[Hroth]

57 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I seem to be having a quiet evening. Our canine house guest has decided that I am the favoured one to be sat upon. Fortunately it is our neighbours granddaughter’s Chihuahua not her Pyrenean Mountain  dog. 

 

My sister had a white long-haired Chihuahua with an uncertaln temper. Luckily it was toothless...

 

[The Johnster]

13 hours ago, polybear said:

Arthur Scargill was on it and asked if it was sensible that a Mine was going on strike when so many others were being closed (this was long after the Big Miners Strike).

 

I saw him speak in the Miner's Institute in Treharris during the strike; a formidable orator and I understand fully why the Government of the day hated him.

 

I did however subscribe to the theory of the time that Margaret Thatcher was in fact Arthur Scargill in a wig.  After all, you never saw the two of them at the same time, did you?  Same theory went for Col. Gaddafi and Fatima Whitbread, but that couldn't have been true; Fats was twice the man he'd ever be...

[The Johnster]

12 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

My sister had a white long-haired Chihuahua with an uncertaln temper. Luckily it was toothless...

 

 

I really hope this is not a euphemism.

 

Neighbours when I was an anklebiter had a similar Yorkie, always good fun to let it try to gum you to death, getting more and more cross with itself as if continued.  Stupid dog.

[Gwiwer]

10 minutes ago, The Johnster said:

24 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

My sister had a white long-haired Chihuahua with an uncertaln temper. Luckily it was toothless...

 

 

I really hope this is not a euphemism.

 

Neighbours when I was an anklebiter had a similar Yorkie, always good fun to let it try to gum you to death, getting more and more cross with itself as if continued.  Stupid dog.

A great aunt had a poodle which was given the genteel moniker of Bambi-Jane.

 

Wretched thing couldn't have lived up to that name less if it tried.  It yapped terrifyingly at anyone (or at no-one) for any reason (or none), it bit you for reasons only known to poodle-kind, it had bad teeth and it stank.  

 

We remember Great Aunt being otherwise a lovely kind woman but that wretched dog ......... we tried not to visit.  

[Winslow Boy]

6 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I have been prescribed Indomet(h)acin for gout which seemed to work whilst in Australia but doesn't do anything here.  As @iL Dottore and others noted some while ago it comes in different strengths meaning the Aussies may well allow a stronger version which is not authorised in the UK.  

 

I still have a few but use Nurofen when drugs are required.  Tart cherry juice works better than anything though.  Paracetamol doesn't seem to work and I am not able to get Co-codamol for this condition.  

 

The irony being that I can always get Indomethacin free of charge being over 60 but have to pay for over-the-counter Nurofen etc.  The GP won't prescribe that "because you can get it over the counter".  Or perhaps because, somewhere in the Great NHS Budget, their books balance better with me paying than receiving medication for free.  

 

Slightly pedantic I know but  no medication from the NHS is free. It is paid for out of the surgeries budget which ultimately comes out of your taxes. So in actual fact if  you cut out the middle man HMG you would still have pay for it.

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Evening All,

think an early night is in order, SWMBO and Hovis watch ‘Real housewives of Cheshire’.

What a load of bollox.

Goodnight.

 

 

Are you implying there are no real housewives in Cheshire?

[TheQ]

SWMBO did have her keys, I knew that because they weren't hanging in their usual spot.

However, I left a light on illuminating the notice I put up...

She didn't notice the notice for two hours after she'd put the light out!!!

 

As it was we passed each other in the next village, but she didn't notice me nor the fact the car was missing from the garden ...

 

Her group will not be attending the exhibition next year.. when they got there another group had taken all the tables, only grudgingly gave up three chairs and then spent the day complaining SWMBO's group was taking up too much space, which was 1/10 of what the other group had..

 

As for my evening it went much better , Guinness beef stew, plus spuds carrots peas , whisky gravy and a Norfolk dumpling. Followed by Guinness chocolate cake and cream, which went down very well. I have exceeded my sugar levels for the day though..

 

Followed by the prize giving we were expecting just one trophy but actually got 5.🙂.

 

The only problem I've got is my forepaws are complaining of the rain. The wheelbarrow is full to overflowing after just two days.

No deer on the way there or back but plenty of flooded out rats running across the roads.

 

As for the missing shoes, they were in the coat cupboard, why that's a good place for half the shoes I don't know.

Anyway I now have three complete pairs, as for the others?

 

Edited March 18, 2023 by TheQ

[Hroth]

5 minutes ago, AndyID said:

 

Are you implying there are no real housewives in Cheshire?

 

Pretty much all of them are completely unlike the "Real Housewives of..." airheads.

 

[PhilJ W]

Joints are still aching after this afternoons visit to Tess Coes so its co-codamol before bed tonight.

[Winslow Boy]

33 minutes ago, TheQ said:

SWMBO did have her keys, I knew that because they weren't hanging in their usual spot.

However, I left a light on illuminating the notice I put up...

She didn't notice the notice for two hours after she'd put the light out!!!

 

As it was we passed each other in the next village, but she didn't notice me nor the fact the car was missing from the garden ...

 

Her group will not be attending the exhibition next year.. when they got there another group had taken all the tables, only grudgingly gave up three chairs and then spent the day complaining SWMBO's group was taking up too much space, which was 1/10 of what the other group had..

 

As for my evening it went much better , Guinness beef stew, plus spuds carrots peas , whisky gravy and a Norfolk dumpling. Followed by Guinness chocolate cake and cream, which went down very well. I have exceeded my sugar levels for the day though..

 

Followed by the prize giving we were expecting just one trophy but actually got 5.🙂.

 

The only problem I've got is my forepaws are complaining of the rain. The wheelbarrow is full to overflowing after just two days.

No deer on the way there or back but plenty of flooded out rats running across the roads.

 

As for the missing shoes, they were in the coat cupboard, why that's a good place for half the shoes I don't know.

Anyway I now have three complete pairs, as for the others?

 

 

Did anyone say anything about you wearing boots instead of shoes or wasn't it that sort of do?

[TheQ]

This, the winter sailing club is very informal, some were in jackets and ties, but that's as smart as it gets. I'm normally the smartest there, being kilted up in what is called day wear, but then the boots would really have been out of place. So I wore long black trousers that hid most of the boot...

These boots, are black and more presentable than most. Especially when polished up.

 

The summer club, for the prize giving it's blazers with pressed trousers or suit, white shirt, ties, or in my case Argyll jacket, white shirt, tie , kilt, hose, and highly polished shoes,  ladies generally wear long dresses,  most other  events  have no specified or expected dress code.

[monkeysarefun]

3 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... A friend sent me a photo of Boris looking at a mobile phone, with the caption “Boris Johnson has been reselected to stand in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. He plans to visit as soon as he googles where it is.” ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/03/18/new-infections-spiked-a-data-anomaly/

 

 

I guess you aren't in the market for  my range of 00 scale 3D printed  Boris Johnsons then?

 

 

Speaking of which, I  finally succumbed to the Windows 11 update.

 

Logged back in after it had finished to find all the apps I use all the time  (blender, sketchup, inkscape, various 3D editing packages) had been removed from my start panel where I'd left them carefully arranged, to be replaced with *#^&%$*# TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram etc! 

 

I never even had these installed before the upgrade and have never ever intended to have anything to do with them yet Microsoft included them in its 11 release and installed them automatically, then figured that I would love looking at pics and short videos  of vapid  sheilas with pouty fish lips  so much that it added them all to my start panel.

 

Spent unnecessary time finding what it had added for me and then uninstalling them and getting things back to being sensible, then I hacked the registry to disable the setting that allows Microsoft to automatically install any apps that it likes.

 

This might ordinarily be considered a rant but its going to be sunny and 38 and lovely which isn't rant weather, so I'm downgrading it to a minor niggle.

Edited March 18, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Winslow Boy]

7 minutes ago, TheQ said:

This, the winter sailing club is very informal, some were in jackets and ties, but that's as smart as it gets. I'm normally the smartest there, being kilted up in what is called day wear, but then the boots would really have been out of place. So I wore long black trousers that hid most of the boot...

These boots, are black and more presentable than most. Especially when polished up.

 

The summer club, for the prize giving it's blazers with pressed trousers or suit, white shirt, ties, or in my case Argyll jacket, white shirt, tie , kilt, hose, and highly polished shoes,  ladies generally wear long dresses,  most other  events  have no specified or expected dress code.

 

Arr so not a tuxedo and Cumberband then. Can't remember the last time I had to wear formal attire, which given I used to be expected to be in such for most of my working life is probably a good indication of my changed circumstances.

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

be replaced with *#^&%$*# TikTok, WhatsApp, Instagram etc! 

How odd. I didn’t get anything like that when I installed Windows 11. 

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

 

Pretty much all of them are completely unlike the "Real Housewives of..." airheads.

 

 

One is assuming your speaking from first hand experience there young man.

[Winslow Boy]

Just now, Tony_S said:

How odd. I didn’t get anything like that when I installed Windows 11. 

 

I believe it's just for the land down under. 

[monkeysarefun]

19 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

How odd. I didn’t get anything like that when I installed Windows 11. 

 

 

 

Digging deeper it appears that while some at least are installed (Instagram definitely was for me - had to uninstall it from the Installed Apps panel) others are placeholders - the app isnt installed but will automatically download and install when you click on them.

 

https://bigtechquestion.com/2023/03/13/software/windows/tiktok-installed-windows-11-pc/

 

Still *&#&ed that they removed my wanted apps from my start panel and replaced them with these bloody things though.

Edited March 18, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

A great aunt had a poodle which was given the genteel moniker of Bambi-Jane.

 

Wretched thing couldn't have lived up to that name less if it tried.  It yapped terrifyingly at anyone (or at no-one) for any reason (or none), it bit you for reasons only known to poodle-kind, it had bad teeth and it stank.  

 

We remember Great Aunt being otherwise a lovely kind woman but that wretched dog ......... we tried not to visit.  

 

It is strange how your expectations of what a dog behaviour will be are so often formed by the person that owns/accompanies them.

 

Whilst out with DD I will encounter other dogs whose behaviour is counter to that of their owner. Most owners seem to expect the worst and react accordingly. There are I think a lot of fearful people out there and not just afraid of others but also of there own actions.

[polybear]

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

The irony being that I can always get Indomethacin free of charge being over 60 but have to pay for over-the-counter Nurofen etc.  The GP won't prescribe that "because you can get it over the counter".  Or perhaps because, somewhere in the Great NHS Budget, their books balance better with me paying than receiving medication for free.  

 

Bear is very lucky that the Doc prescribes Big Pink Pills (in Big Boxes) on repeat.

 

Bear here....

A Good Day....

Bear's very first Choo Choo Exhibition since before the first lockdown - Ally Pally; even the train strike caused no issues as trains were still running at two an hour.

Not too painful on the paw front (though that statement may well be revised in the morning), nor on the wallet front (a couple of "right results" from the MRC s/h stand, including a book that could quite easily have been "rather expensive" was announced to be worth a mere three quid).  I actually gained entry at 10-10am and didn't bvgger off until ten minutes before closing, so got my money's worth.

Very few specialist traders compared to previous years - plenty of box shifters and s/h sellers though.

Oh yes, and few if any "strange characters" spotted....apart from one.  That really did invoke a "WTF IS THAT??" moment from a certain Bear....🤣   Oh yes, and one character trying to (not very politely) haggle a quid discount on a fifteen quid s/h purchase and gettin' all 'umpy at being refused - so he stomped off empty-handed. Tw@t.   It was rather amusing to hear the stall holder saying afterwards that if he'd been polite he would've been onto a winner.  

Bear Tired Teddy gone.

 

p.s. For anyone going tomorrow:  Have some cash with you - most stalls accept cards, but many were struggling with the signal inside the Hall; I heard from one stall holder that if they wanted to use the Ally Pally signal (whatever that may be) for their card readers they'd be charged £78 for the weekend.  I got the impression there may have been a Rant there.....

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

I believe it's just for the land down under. 

That'd be it. Microsoft knows your location and based on that assigns the Apps it thinks you need. For Australia it knows we have Quokkas and cricketers with hipster moustaches so assigns us the "CoolKids" app suite, while the UK is all thatched cottages and TV shows about unlikely people solving all the  murders so you get the "Father Brown" set. 

Edited March 18, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I didn’t have to take Ava home tonight, as Vickie and Ian did so as they were going out for a meal this evening. 

 

Anyway, Ava and I have been busy in the kitchen, not only did we finish making the cheesecake this morning, we were also able to get our first harvest of rhubarb from the garden, which was used to make some vanilla and rhubarb jam, we’re looking forward to trying that in the not to distant future. 

 

Whilst at the kitchen sink this afternoon I spotted a robin in the garden gathering leaves and flying up into the hedge. I called Ava over to watch as well and over a period of about 5 minutes the little bird must have taken well over a dozen leaves into the hedge. So I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s building a nest. Both Sheila, Ava and myself to a lesser degree are excited by this development. 

 

This evening we opened a bottle of Shiraz and watched a film, tonight’s choice being “The Lighthouse” and was based on a true event that took place on the ‘Smalls Island’ lighthouse in the very early 19th century. Considering for most of the film there were only 2 actors, it was very good. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[The Johnster]

15 hours ago, BSW01 said:

This evening we opened a bottle of Shiraz and watched a film, tonight’s choice being “The Lighthouse” and was based on a true event that took place on the ‘Smalls Island’ lighthouse in the very early 19th century. Considering for most of the film there were only 2 actors, it was very good. 

 

I've seen this, and agree that it is very good indeed; I found the dramatisation of events quite believeable.  I'm familiar with the story.  What is known of the it seems to have been accurately enough covered in the film, though of course what actually transpired on The Smalls is not known beyond what the survivor, driven insane by the experience (understandably enough) was able to state.  A genuinely horrific situation, and after the Trinity House inquiry into it three-man teams were sent out to offshore lighthouses.  Even this did not prevent the unexplained loss of all three men at the Flannan Light in 1900, though it is quite possible that some outside factor or simply a large wave sweeping the island (this has been recorded on occasions) was the cause.  A film dramatisation based on this incident suggests abduction by criminals.

 

Spoiler Alert

 

What had happened on The Smalls was that two Trinity House keepers of widely different character and with a known antipathy towards each other were sent out to The Smalls lighthouse, a timber structure on a platform on a group of 'wave washed' rocks about 18 miles west of the Pembrokeshire coast in the Irish Sea for a period of duty, and were stranded beyond that period by bad weather.  One of them then died in a fall from the lighthouse while attempting a repair in a storm, and his companion, knowing that he would be suspected of murder, decided to keep the corpse until relief appeared so that it could be medically examined, exonerating him of possible suspicion.  Not a nice decision to have to make, but one can see the reasoning behind it.  However, inevitably, as the expected relief was further delayed by poor weather, the corpse began to smell.  In order to keep it but get rid of the smell, he lashed it to the outside of the lighthouse, but the next storm loosened some of the lashings. 

 

The result would play on anyone's mind in such circumstances I suspect.  The corpse was now hanging head-down, and swaying in the wind, it's hand stiffened in rigor mortis so that the finger repeatedly tapped on one of the windows, giving the effect of beckoning to the survivor, who lost his reason over it.  When relief was finally effected, he was in a poor state and it was not possible to make sense of his account; basically he was incoherently insane and spent the rest of his life in an institution.  The logs that had been kept were the basis of what was known of the story, and he'd stopped writing anything decipherable in them some weeks previously, but had realised he was losing his mind in entries prior to that. 

 

In fact it appears that both men had agreed that the priority was keeping the light and that that would take precedence over any personal opinions they had about each other; the job demanded that they work together and therefore they did.  Not only did they have to work watch on watch off to keep the light, they also had to cook for each other and share cleaning, laundry and other duties; personal antipathy was not really a viable option and could be restarted ashore where there was room for it!

 

It is difficult in this day and age to appreciate how isolated and remote some of these lighthouses were in the days before radio telegraphy, and lightships were a similar case (but had larger crews).  In both of the above cases, the alarm was not raised until passing ships were able to report that the lights were not lit.  In the Smalls case, the men were overdue for relief by several weeks, as persistent bad weather had prevented any attempt at landing, but Trinity House hadn't even tried to establish contact, and why would they; there was sufficient food and fresh water on the light and the men were expected to carry on with their normal duties until relief could be effected.  Until the light was reported not lit, which depended on chance observation from passing ships and it is likely that many of those proceeding throught St George's Channel would have put the non-appearance of the light down to poor visibility in the bad weather, they had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss out there, and acted, or rather didn't, accordingly.  And of course if the first indication that something is amiss comes from a passing ship, there is no notification until it reaches port, two or three days to Liverpool or Bristol for example, and then by post...

 

 

Edited March 19, 2023 by The Johnster

[NHY 581]

3 hours ago, The Johnster said:

 

I've seen this, and agree that it is very good indeed; I found the dramatisation of events quite believeable.  I'm familiar with the story.  What is known of the it seems to have been accurately enough covered in the film, though of course what actually transpired on The Smalls is not known beyond what the survivor, driven insane by the experience (understandably enough) was able to state.  A genuinely horrific situation, and after the Trinity House inquiry into it three-man teams were sent out to offshore lighthouses.  Even this did not prevent the unexplained loss of all three men at the Flannan Light in 1900, though it is quite possible that some outside factor or simply a large wave sweeping the island (this has been recorded on occasions) was the cause.  A film dramatisation based on this incident suggests abduction by criminals.

 

What had happened on The Smalls was that two Trinity House keepers of widely different character and with a known antipathy towards each other were sent out to The Smalls lighthouse, a timber structure on a platform on a group of 'wave washed' rocks about 18 miles west of the Pembrokeshire coast in the Irish Sea for a period of duty, and were stranded beyond that period by bad weather.  One of them then died in a fall from the lighthouse while attempting a repair in a storm, and his companion, knowing that he would be suspected of murder, decided to keep the corpse until relief appeared so that it could be medically examined, exonerating him of possible suspicion.  Not a nice decision to have to make, but one can see the reasoning behind it.  However, inevitably, as the expected relief was further delayed by poor weather, the corpse began to smell.  In order to keep it but get rid of the smell, he lashed it to the outside of the lighthouse, but the next storm loosened some of the lashings. 

 

The result would play on anyone's mind in such circumstances I suspect.  The corpse was now hanging head-down, and swaying in the wind, it's hand stiffened in rigor mortis so that the finger repeatedly tapped on one of the windows, giving the effect of beckoning to the survivor, who lost his reason over it.  When relief was finally effected, he was in a poor state and it was not possible to make sense of his account; basically he was incoherently insane and spent the rest of his life in an institution.  The logs that had been kept were the basis of what was known of the story, and he'd stopped writing anything decipherable in them some weeks previously, but had realised he was losing his mind in entries prior to that. 

 

In fact it appears that both men had agreed that the priority was keeping the light and that that would take precedence over any personal opinions they had about each other; the job demanded that they work together and therefore they did.  Not only did they have to work watch on watch off to keep the light, they also had to cook for each other and share cleaning, laundry and other duties; personal antipathy was not really a viable option and could be restarted ashore where there was room for it!

 

It is difficult in this day and age to appreciate how isolated and remote some of these lighthouses were in the days before radio telegraphy, and lightships were a similar case (but had larger crews).  In both of the above cases, the alarm was not raised until passing ships were able to report that the lights were not lit.  In the Smalls case, the men were overdue for relief by several weeks, as persistent bad weather had prevented any attempt at landing, but Trinity House hadn't even tried to establish contact, and why would they; there was sufficient food and fresh water on the light and the men were expected to carry on with their normal duties until relief could be effected.  Until the light was reported not lit, which depended on chance observation from passing ships and it is likely that many of those proceeding throught St George's Channel would have put the non-appearance of the light down to poor visibility in the bad weather, they had no reason to suspect that anything was amiss out there, and acted, or rather didn't, accordingly.  And of course if the first indication that something is amiss comes from a passing ship, there is no notification until it reaches port, two or three days to Liverpool or Bristol for example, and then by post...

 

 

 

 

Spot on Jonners. Excellent review.

 

As an observation, when endorsing BSW, you could have stopped at this point. 

 

Today's word for you therefore is "spoiler"

 

Rob