Early Risers.

[TheQ]

I note Vegemite is owned by Kraft, having been very insulted, while in Saudi, by their extremely poor versions of Worcestershire sauce and various other condiments, there is no chance I'll try it.

 

Even calling it HamPshirE, is a contraction, it was of course pronounced Southamptonshire.

 

Drawer under stairs built, it actually rolls on the floor courtesy of six 3/4 inch rollers, not quite happy with it, because the floor isn't level, It slopes away from the stairs, the top sticks out a little.

I'm going to remove the front tomorrow and cut back the horizontals at an angle to get a vertical front.

 

Then I took Ben the meteorologist Collie for his long walk.. He cut it short, and was right... On the way back it started drizzling, soon after we returned it turned to rain, and when I went to bed for a serious eyelid inspection, it turned to very heavy rain.

 

Serious eyelid inspection, yep nearly 2 hours, I needed that.

 

In just under an 'our, I'm off to the MRC, I've already loaded some necessaries for muddling and sailing that have arrived during the week. I just have to remember to put a power saw onboard for tonight.

 

 

 

 

[Tony_S]

28 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Went to the ivory sculptors this morning.  

My very nice dentist isn’t likely to be sending out surveys. All the dental equipment is high tech but all the booking system is paper based and payment is by cash or cheque. I haven’t seen anything more advanced than a land line telephone. 

[Coombe Barton]

... I just hope that the trend for portraying yourself as a victim doesn’t migrate downwards from ex-leaders. Some chance. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/03/31/going-down-by-zoe-and-last-ons-bulletin/

[New Haven Neil]

Morn...oh.  Struggled out of bed at 8 to rush around to go out with 'da Boys' for breakfast on the bikes.  Didn't feel right at all, and that hasn't changed all day, maybe just run down after a week of coughing at Olympic standards.

 

It appears a lot of our friends in the UK are moving house suddenly, downsizing, upsizing, new-towning, all on the move though.  Odd, given mortgage rates etc although some of the moves won't involve lending. 

 

A bit of good news is our Not-God-Daughter has been accepted for her PhD, some kind of marine biology thing, in Edinburgh which is where she is doing her MSc.   Well done Katy, we're so proud of you.   She grew up in Darrington, the village where Simon's dad was the vicar, we haven't heard from him for a while.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Ah. 
 

I seem to be here. In the vicinity of Bag Tor

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

Amex are less well liked by many retailers in the UK - it seems they charge higher rates and are slow to pay the bills to the retailer, with many refusing to take them.

They do and they do.

 

11 hours ago, polybear said:

So what did the bean counters at The Great Empire select for a suitable Business Card for it's Employees who travelled regularly?

I can go one worse. The bean counters at my old company chose "Diners Club". (The original credit card that no one takes.) Ultimately there was a revolt - travelers used their personal cards - and the T&E (travel and expenses) card went to MasterCard or Visa (I don't remember which).

 

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 26/03/2023 at 13:29, pgcroc said:

Then, how does the ANPR system transmit their data if you overstay or not pay? 

Are they already on 4G?

The ANPR ones I have used are pay on exit, except for one at an airport where you pre-booked a space and put in your flight number. That one let you out without question up to a certain time your flight had landed. 

I've used two ANPR ones this week. The first was at Llyn Brennig, which I think is owned by Welsh Water. Very easy system, no barriers, just cameras. When you put in the last three characters of your reg plate it shows a picture of you arriving with the time and the charge due. Pay by card and off you go.

The second was at a car park operated bt Denbigh Council. First it didn't want to let me in, then at the exit barrier said there was no record of my number plate entering. It asked me to select the time I arrived then told me the charge. I had a similar problem in the past at Gisburn Forest with one with the same type of cameras.

I don't do Pay by App. I just take my custom elsewhere, so if it's a shopping centre they not only lose my parking fee but the profit on my purchases as well.

Edited March 31, 2023 by TheSignalEngineer

[tigerburnie]

Back home after operation, all went to plan, kidney stone lasered as was the prostate, don't feel to bad at all really, well done Perth Royal Infirmary.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

My very nice dentist isn’t likely to be sending out surveys. All the dental equipment is high tech but all the booking system is paper based and payment is by cash or cheque. I haven’t seen anything more advanced than a land line telephone. 

My dentist (who has been treating me for about 25 years now) is on a retirement glide path. He recently brought in a new partner who is in the process of modernizing the practice. She is very good and thorough in different ways the older dentist is not.

 

Where in the old days I would be handed (and still can receive) an appointment reminder in the form of a business card-sized piece of card, today I got an SMS reminder of my appointment a fortnight from today. No doubt I will also receive an email insisting that I confirm my planned attendance. (There is an 'opt out' for the SMS.)

 

When I was last there all the paper files in the office were gone - the office is to be completely renovated (not needing file space) and the waiting area (which is very small) increased.

 

The front office software has an interesting user interface. The screen displays what appears to be a photograph of a dentists office (but may be a photorealistic representation). Everything is clickable to bring up different functions. Click on the wall calendar for scheduling, etc.

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
Grammar

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, Barry O said:

you can also get "Our mate"  in Kiwiland.. made by Marmite... for Kiwiland only? 

That stuff is the real Marmite re-named for Antipodean markets. 
 

Sanitarium produce numerous “copies” of international brands including “Weetbix” which are Weetabix but slightly thinner and milled a little coarser, with sqaure corners. 
 

They also produce “Marmite” which isn’t Marmite. Our Mate is. 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

 

Went to the ivory sculptors this morning.    

 

Got an Email from them this afternoon; "Would I like to do a survey on how well they did?"    

 

What do you reckon .......

 

 

Let's see now.....

"I have to pay for your time - would you like to pay for mine?"

 

Bear here........

Lining Paper finished**  Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

 

(**OK, so not strictly finished - I've not done the triangular wall on the left side of the stairs, which is the one directly below the Banister; I won't be painting the Banister until ladder acrobatics are complete (in case I mark the paintwork), which won't be until the upstairs walls are all wallpapered and painted.  Once the Banister is painted then I can line and paper that final wall.)

 

I also got a letter of apology from Thames Water because they'd not managed to install a water meter within the 50 day window (I was wondering when they were going to show up); as an apology it seems that Bear's water is now going to be free until the meter shows up, which presumably will mean a rebate off the yearly fee.  Hopefully they won't be appearing anytime soon then....

 

Bear gone.

[Ian Abel]

Very late check-in...POETS, doing that.

 

Whitney dropped off yesterday afternoon, as both Brendan and Jemma are in the air.

Busy last evening with choir rehearsal which went as expected, i.e. LONG!!!

We did have our post-rehearsal happy hour, managed to squeeze it in, and raised a special glass due to some breaking "news".

 

Today, we're having a neighborhood/friends/family happy hour, again prompted to celebrate "things that apparently can't be mentioned here...".

 

Weekend will feel busy, tonight the happy-hour, tomorrow much rushing around with apparently a large to-do list (what I don't know yet, I've just be alerted is all!), then tomorrow evening a Zoom happy-hour with our friends in Arizona.

Sunday, up early, two services to sign at, and then HOPEFULLY, a chance for a nap mid-afternoon.

 

The seaweed twirlers are forecasting/threatening we're getting 6+ inches of heavy wet snow overnight. That was SUPPOSED to be preceded by a day of rain and falling temperatures. NOT MATERIALIZED, and it really doesn't feel like a lot of snow is coming - we live in hope...

This am -1c and light drizzle, tapered by 10am. High of 2c and no more precipitation, YET.

 

Carry on.

 

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, TheQ said:

note Vegemite is owned by Kraft, having been very insulted, while in Saudi, by their extremely poor versions of Worcestershire sauce and various other condiments, there is no chance I'll try it.

 It has been owned by the Australian Bega Cheese company since 2017, so try away my good man!

[TheQ]

Evening Awl,

Not sure if I bagged Bag Tor when practicing for Ten Tors, twas a long time ago.

 

Tis dreich out their , very dreich. It's supposed to be soggy for the next 12 hours.

 

Only undrowned rats out there tonight, lots of them, washed out of hovels I suppose.

 

One prospective new member tonight. Nice bloke, but has a lot on in his life, not sure he'll have the time.

Not a huge amount done, but some windows I bought seem too big, thinking about that one.

 

Muggachoccy gone

Good night Awl.

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Couldn't be bothered to cook tonight so dinner was a cheese and bacon quiche. I was considering not going to Tess Coes this afternoon but the bread and milk situation  was such that I had to. I was hoping to get some hot cross buns but they'd sold out so I'll have to wait until next Christmas before they're back.

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I was hoping to get some hot cross buns but they'd sold out so I'll have to wait until next Christmas before they're back.

 

The Co-op usually have them....

[PhilH]

5 hours ago, TheQ said:

 

 

Even calling it HamPshirE, is a contraction, it was of course pronounced Southamptonshire.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll see your Southamptonshire (Sarfamtunsher) and raise you Hamtunscire…or even Hantescire. 
 

 

 

Edited March 31, 2023 by PhilH

[Grizz]

I’ve been buying toys again. In this case a fantastic Roco, DSB MZ (Series 2), in my favourite DSB livery and I’m so pleased with it. I’m lucky enough to have cabbed a couple of real MZs…and driven one. The model is very good, just got to fit the front hand rails. Sadly there are no more series 2 left in DK, apart from an occasional visit from 1425, which is now Swedish owned.

 

 

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well the rain held off during my walk to and from the butchers,  it it rained whilst I was in the Trafford Centre, but as I was inside, it mattered not one jot. 

 

As for the rest of the day, well it’s been a day when I’ve done notalot, although I did read the Model Boats magazine that I bought today. Apart from that, I’ve done nowt, zilch, nada, but I’m retired and I don’t care, so there! 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, PhilH said:

I’ll see your Southamptonshire (Sarfamtunsher) and raise you Hamtunscire…or even Hantescire. 
 

 

 

My understanding is that the settlement was originally Hamwih and then Hametun, gaining the South to distinguish it from the town in the East Midlands which gained the North; but that last bit may be a bit of folk etymology thrown in - although I am pretty sure I came across that in my degree course.

[monkeysarefun]

9 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

Which is why I carried the biggest pot of Marmite (catering standard sized) to Australia in January for a chef friend.. why even Oz Customs are used to Brits with Marmite.. Vegemite is nowhere near as good.. of course you can also get "Our mate"  in Kiwiland.. made by Marmite... for Kiwiland only?  (Go figure!)

 

Baz

 

 

Vegemites biggest scandal yet?

 

Kenyan  journalist April Yadsloof has recently unearthed information about an apparent secret long held  by  Australian cricketing authorities regarding the 1948  Australian Ashes team, Don Bradman's "Invincibles", detailing  an occurrence that happened during  their unbeaten tour of England, which if true is set to shake the  Cricketing World  to its very foundations.

 

Allegedly on one drunken post-victory night during which  many  celebration drinks were downed, Australian players all-rounder Keith Miller ( immortalised here due to  his famous line "Pressure is a Messerschmidt up your ar5e, playing cricket is not" when asked by Michael Parkinson about the  "pressure" facing modern professional cricketers) and fast bowler Ray Lindwall  got into a friendly competition to see who was the most accurate bowler. 

 

 

They commenced using  empty beer bottles placed a regulation 22 yards away as targets but no winner could be declared  as ball after ball from both players unerringly found its mark.

Even after the  bottles were progressively moved further and further away until they were at the far end of the hotel carpark almost  100 yards away, it remained  a stalemate - every ball bowled hit its bottle.

 

At this point they were out of beer bottles so Don Bradman suggested they try a smaller target, namely the Ashes urn which they had just won, and to make it more difficult, all balls bowled  must be bouncers.

 

 To set the urn at a height sufficient to hit it with a sharply rising ball, they placed  snoozing English player  Dennis Compton (who they had quietly stolen earlier in the  evening as he was sleeping in his bed) on a chair at the far end of the carpark with the Ashes urn on his head.

 

Since there was only one chance of hitting the urn before waking Dennis Compton  it was decided that both bowlers would bowl at the same time, (with slight allowances for the differing speeds of fast bowler Lindwall compared to the slower pace of Miller)   which they duly did. Unfortunately the combined power and accuracy of the two bowlers knocked the lid off of the  urn and the traditional English summer gale blew the contents away.

 

The Australian players panicked, until Wicket Keeper Don Tallon came up with the idea of refilling the urn with vegemite from the  500lb jar that accompanied the Australian players on tour.

 

This was successfully done, the  lid was replaced and the urn quietly returned to its place in the  House Of Lords cricket ground. . Dennis  Compton's' unwavering secrecy was won  by the players promising him that the Australian Government would rename the City of Adelaide after him, which he agreed to and went on believing had happened until his death in 1997.

 

So it turns out that from that day on, English cricketing teams have actually been battling for ownership of what is basically a jar of vegemite.

 

This grainy photograph is said to show the moment that Neal Harvey  and Sid Barnes steal  a sleeping Dennis Compton from his hotel bed. The sizeable crowd on the  left of the  picture is the  rest of The Australian tourists lulling Comptons roommate Len Hutton back to sleep with an AlCapone rendition of the classic Australian children's song "Kookaburra Sits In The Old Gumtree":

 

https://ak.imgag.com/imgag/product/full/ap/3476948/master_380x304.jpg

 

 

Edited April 1, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

Just checked the "Our Mate/Marmite" vs Vegemite situation in the local Woolies.

 

Hey, its so overwhelmingly popular that there's only one jar left!

 

[jjb1970]

I'd voice my opinion of marmite and vegemite, but given that I love sambal (a chilli paste made using fermented shrimp) maybe I should keep quiet.