Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Knackered I am, Ben the cheerful Collie decided he must go for his longest walk, yours truly having been grovelling around at near ground level for several hours was not so enthusiastic..

 

Under stairs drawer was modified so the outside face sits flat against the stairs side. I'd made the mistake of building it properly square.

 

SWMBO wanted somewhere to sit to remove boots etc, our hallway is too narrow for a fixed chair, so I've spent most of the day so far building a fold up chair built onto the wall, Its built, and tested. The design is such that, as much as I could, it will blend into the rest of the hallway once painted.

[PupCam]

Lunch made and scoffed (all but the last mouthful) when the call was answered (after 1h 5 minutes) ...  

 

The very helpful lady confirmed the required information and she was able to "expedite" my business with a couple of mouse clicks.   How much longer it would have taken (it's been pending for 2 months already)  is anyone's guess.

 

Anyone remember the heady days of, was it, the 90's when all call centres had targets like answering all calls within 3 rings?    Tell that to the kids of today and they won't believe you.

 

TTFN

[tigerburnie]

56 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

 

As I understand it, where a civil matter is concerned in the UK the civilian police have jurusdiction over military personnel and the civilian police concerned were escorted by the officer i/c RAF police on the base.

 

Dave

I was told of a situation where police turned up to arrest a serviceman, they arrived at the main gatehouse and informed the officer in there, they were just going to go into the base and get him. "You can try if you like, but we are on high terrorist alert just now and those lads on the next gate are armed and under instruction not to let anyone in without a pass, even ones in fancy dress". The plod waited outside the gate until the miscreant was delivered to them.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, tigerburnie said:

I was told of a situation where police turned up to arrest a serviceman, they arrived at the main gatehouse and informed the officer in there, they were just going to go into the base and get him. "You can try if you like, but we are on high terrorist alert just now and those lads on the next gate are armed and under instruction not to let anyone in without a pass, even ones in fancy dress". The plod waited outside the gate until the miscreant was delivered to them.

 

A Buddy worked for a short time on a Base in Saudi - the kit he was working on was in the Flight Hangar (so high security).  IIRC he came off Base (lunchtime maybe?) then returned, only to be refused entry at the Gatehouse as his "Pass wasn't Valid".  Much confusion ensued - eventually solved by him phoning the RSAF Guy he was working with, who came down to sort it out; he asked what the problem was.  It seems the Guy in the Gatehouse (a Conscript?) had been told that if the photo on the Pass didn't match the person then they were to be refused entry.

It seems he had a different shirt on..... 

[TheQ]

Hmm , including our own stuff from before, we now have 5 microwave ovens, 5 freezers, 3 fridges, 2 washing machines,  4 digital cameras, three computer scanners, 2 printers. 2 sets of hair clippers electric, 5 Hoover's, 5 double beds, 3 laptops, 3 dining tables,  many dining chairs,  excavations are still continuing ...

As for knives forks spoons, plates, I think we can supply the entire 2+ Mile street for something on 6th May 2023...

Edited April 13, 2023 by TheQ

[polybear]

21 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Hmm , including our own stuff from before, we now have 5 microwave ovens, 4 freezers, 2 fridges, 2 washing machines,  4 digital cameras, three computer scanners , 2 printers. 2 sets of hair clippers electric, 5 Hoover's, 5 double beds, 3 laptops, 3 dining tables,  many dining chairs,  excavations are still continuing ...

As for knives forks spoons, plates, I think we can supply the entire 2+ Mile street for something on 6th May 2023...

 

But no Lathes, Milling Machines, Router Tables, MIG welders, Ultrasonic Cleaners.....?

 

 

[TheQ]

Sadly no extra tools other than two screw drivers, so I just have my own bought, wood lathe, pillar drill, router table, and power hand tools.

 

Definitely the sort of thing that would happen in Saudi, one of our guys was arrested for stealing computer parts.... It was a window frame part for his car.. took iirc 5 hours to get him out...

Edited April 13, 2023 by TheQ

[Ian Abel]

BIN day... LOTS to put out as a result of the big clear-out. Fortunately much was recycle and only limited never-cycle garbage.

 

Yesterday full of excitement!😃

HEADLINING was the weather -> a week ago it was -11c low and -2c high, yesterday we broke the RECORD HIGH set in 1931, low was 14c and high was 31c!!!

Cap that with pretty much every last bit of snow gone except for the huge piles in parking lots where the plow a mountain. Swing of 33c degrees for the high in one week!

 

Additionally, the storage container was picked up, so we have our full driveway back, dropped off some donations at the Sally Army and then we went (CEO decided we "need" one, and found a long-term storage unit a mile+ away to store the remaining stuff that's not binned but is to be kept. 

Had lunch out while we were out farting about running the errands.

 

Mrs has developed fairly severe  tooth ache and has an appointment at 5pm to have it looked at, so I'll miss the pre-rehearsal happy hour - one of the few times a single-car family is restricting.

Choir have one last official performance for Earth Day, 23rd. Sunday a couple of weeks from now, so we're still in rehearsal mode, though we sing pretty much the same set each year for that day. Should be... SHOULD BE... a shorter rehearsal, here's hoping!

 

Weather, YEP, expecting to break another record today as the high due to be 29c. First thing a sunny 15c.

Had to use the A/C yesterday as the inside temperature shot up.

 

Onward.

 

EDIT: Whoops, forgot, my NordicTrak bike decided a pedal should destroy its bearing Tuesday, so no riding until a new pair arrive today...

Edited April 13, 2023 by Ian Abel

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Just getting the bin bags sorted for tomorrow, 'double' lot as I forgot to put them out last week. Only one small black sack (landfill) though as almost everything is recycled. SEERS meeting tonight ready for Saturdays event so I've got to get ready for that.

[Gwiwer]

Evening all. 
 

My apologies to anyone affected by today’s shennanigans. It seems a mouse chewed through a wire and all of Waterloo’s signalling went down for the morning. 
 

A lot of people were terribly inconvenienced. A number of very curious decisions were made by people paid more than me.  Some of those made things much worse than they already were. Out of respect for my colleagues and my membership of Andy’s club I shall leave it there and bite my lip. Hard. 
 

I’ll read through later. The overtime earned has been donated to the local Indian deliverestaurant who are due to arrive very soon. 

[Hroth]

7 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Evening all. 
 

My apologies to anyone affected by today’s shennanigans. It seems a mouse chewed through a wire and all of Waterloo’s signalling went down for the morning. 
 

A lot of people were terribly inconvenienced. A number of very curious decisions were made by people paid more than me.  Some of those made things much worse than they already were. Out of respect for my colleagues and my membership of Andy’s club I shall leave it there and bite my lip. Hard. 
 

I’ll read through later. The overtime earned has been donated to the local Indian deliverestaurant who are due to arrive very soon. 

 

Sounds like part of Flanders and Swanns "The Gasman Cometh"

 

"Then a mouse gnawed through a cable

POP!

And out went all the lights!"

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=v1dvAxA9ib0

 

[Barry O]

Ouch! Said my wallet.. scarbados coughed up some clothes for her indoors and some "stuff" for Dr Eldest Herbert.

 

Talking of Dr Eldest.. he got a direct train from Scarbados to Manc land.. it was on time.. but a 3 car set substituting for a 5 plus a loco train. As he was early.. he got a seat.

 

Had a very nice hot pork, apple and stuffing sandwich  for lunch.

 

Attended a last of the week tea and wads.. very nice but a new diet is now required.

 

Time to go and cook our tea methinks.

 

Baz

Edited April 13, 2023 by Barry O

[Tony_S]

6 hours ago, polybear said:

I've just seen President B. meeting the Irish President - I'm struggling to decide who looks the oldest & dodderiest (dodderyest?).

Micheal D Higgins has superhero status. His battle beast is a very large dog. Do not be deceived by outward appearances. 

[Coombe Barton]

... The annual leave to do list has not shortened as much as I hoped ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/04/13/still-downwards-but-recent-deaths-increase-and-xbb-1-16-in-the-uk/

[Dave Hunt]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

 

A Buddy worked for a short time on a Base in Saudi - the kit he was working on was in the Flight Hangar (so high security).  IIRC he came off Base (lunchtime maybe?) then returned, only to be refused entry at the Gatehouse as his "Pass wasn't Valid".  Much confusion ensued - eventually solved by him phoning the RSAF Guy he was working with, who came down to sort it out; he asked what the problem was.  It seems the Guy in the Gatehouse (a Conscript?) had been told that if the photo on the Pass didn't match the person then they were to be refused entry.

It seems he had a different shirt on..... 

 

I once landed a Tornado at the civvy airport Prestwick for refuelling and went into flight ops to do the paperwork. The flight ops centre was in  the same building as the arrival/departure area and when my backseater and I went to walk back out to the aircraft we were stopped by a security individual who wanted to know where we were going. Despite being in RAF flying kit and pointing out that we had walked in past him some fifteen minutes earlier having landed the funny grey aeroplane outside he was adamant that since we didn't have air side passes we couldn't proceed. Fortunately at that point a chap I knew who had once been on the same Squadron but was then an instructor at the Prestwick flying school came up and asked what was going on. When I explained he simply said to the security guy, "It's OK, they're with me," which was obviously the secret password and through we went.

 

Dave

[Ozexpatriate]

30 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

... when my backseater and I went to walk back out to the aircraft we were stopped by a security individual who wanted to know where we were going.

I can easily imagine something like that happening in the US post-9/11, and not unreasonably. People in such roles roles are rarely permitted the latitude to use common sense (or worse lassez-faire*) instead of following restrictive rules.

 

* Essentially how 9/11 happened.

 

It's conceivable that a mal-actor could disguise themselves in a flight-suit - how many civilians would recognize the correct insignia?

 

At PDX the Oregon Air National Guard (F15s of 142nd Wing) operates along with commercial traffic. The air base is, however, on the other side of the airport from the commercial and GA areas (south of 10R / 28L).

[polybear]

21 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

It's conceivable that a mal-actor could disguise themselves in a flight-suit

 

And all of the bits are readily available on Ebay.

 

Bear here.....

After much pondering and planning, the H/S/L walls have now been marked for the Dado Rail centre line; I can now paint the upper & lower colours without having to faff about with all that cutting-in aggro either side of the D.R. cos' the joint line will be covered when the Dado Rail is screwed to the wall.  Then the amount of Dado Rail required was calculated and ordered - that's another 1/3rd of a Deltic that this Bear won't be seeing ☹️

Bear gone.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The weather was very mixed this morning, very dull with the occasional sprinkling of rain, but the afternoon was lovely and sunny. 

 

Anyway, the office has had a good clean and I’ve also re-arranged the desk to give me a little more room. The recently bought computer and the new monitor  which arrives tomorrow are smaller than the old ones, hence the re-organising. 

 

Charlie didn’t call round this afternoon, as he’d had a very busy week at work and was shattered. So I decided to in stall the new solar lights I bought on Monday for the shady part of the garden close to the dining room balcony.

 

On the subject of military bases and the gate staff. I recall going to the army base just outside Chester to complete the annual calibration check of the gas meter’s electronic gas volume corrector, which is something that is required by law and it’s actually an offence to prevent someone from inspecting the integrity of a gas meter. So, we never made appointments for this sort of work, we just turned up, as one of the checks we did was to ensure that the meter hadn’t been tampered with and if we made an appointment, any tampering could be removed. Anyway, the guy in charge of the gatehouse called the quartermaster, who was the key holder to the gas meter room. The quartermaster basically told me to “p!ss off and don’t bother me”, so I immediately reported this as a near miss. The company was getting fed up us being refused access, so we were told that if anyone refused us access for any reason, we were to report it as near miss! Now, the HSE don’t like reports of near misses. So, as soon as I’d left the gatehouse and was still in earshot of the guards, I phoned in a near miss report. It escalated very quickly, getting as far as the company who supplied the gas to the barracks! When I went back a week later, I was escorted to the quartermaster office , where he then handed me the key and told me to leave it with the gatehouse staff when I’d finished. I assume he’d got a roasting from his CO, after the gas supplier had been in touch. As for me, it was a hard struggle trying to stifle the smug look on my face when the quartermaster gave me the key. 

Edited April 13, 2023 by BSW01

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Ozexpatriate]

I received an unsettling SMS today (from a 'local' number):

Quote

Thank You

You sent a payment of 1599$

to block chain wallet using your

account . If you didnt make this

payment call on toll-free number

1-959-xxx-xxxx

Of course the 959 area code (Connecticut) is not toll-free. The SMS is poorly worded, with grammatical errors and utterly no one in the US puts the $ at the end of a number. Of course it's a scam - probably low-grade data phishing and benign unless one is taken in by it.

 

At least it is not a link to 'graphic' content.

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
Gramar

[Ozexpatriate]

Rapido published their North American newsletter today. In it, Jason Shron, links to a blogpost/article he wrote that was published in the March Railroad Model Craftsman.

 

He talks about how online strum und drang over model railways hurts. It's why I stopped reading most of the manufacturer-related threads on RMweb that drew me here (even though RMweb is much more 'shipshape' than other parts of the internet). 

 

I found it thoughtful and thought-provoking.

 

(I attended the scanning party where Bill Schneider scanned the Alco PA. The model looks 'just the thing' to me.)

[Tony_S]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

And all of the bits are readily available on Ebay.

Even the Tornado?

[monkeysarefun]

32 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I received an unsettling SMS today (from a 'local' number):

Of course the 959 area code (Connecticut) is not toll-free. The SMS is poorly worded, with grammatical errors and utterly no one in the US puts the $ at the end of a number. Of course it's a scam - probably low-grade data phishing and benign unless one is taken in by it.

 

At least it is not a link to 'graphic' content.

 

 

Must be a new scam cos youtube anti-scammer kitboga posted this youtube video up just yesterday where he deals with the  same scam text  by Rick-rolling the scammers..

 

He's probably the best anti-scammer watch on youtube, has antics such as getting them to sing songs he's composed etc, also messes with their heads generally.   5 stars!

 

 

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

4 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Even the Tornado?

https://avpay.aero/company/jet-art-aviation/product/1984-panavia-tornado-f2a-military-jet-for-sale/

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.