Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A sunny start to the day here in England's northwest corner, currently C but due to get up to 9C later. We are also due a lot of cloud cover to, so that’s probably why there is only a 9C high forecast. I shall shortly be setting off to complete the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix, which shouldn’t take long. After that I’m not sure what’s planned, possibly a bit more reading. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[BoD]

58 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

We are also due a lot of cloud cover to, so that’s probably why there is only a 9C high forecast. 

Or it might be due to a cold northerly wind/arctic blast*.  There is already a light covering of snow on some of the Scottish hills. Might @tigerburnie be able to see some I wonder.

 

*Delete according to how sensationalist your forecaster is.

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, BoD said:

due to a cold northerly wind/arctic blast*.

I think we had that yesterday evening while we were on the M25 driving home. There was a short but intense hailstorm. There was a motorcyclist in the outside lane with hazard flashers on  doing about 40mph riding with feet near the ground, otherwise everyone seemed sensible. 
 

[polybear]

29 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think we had that yesterday evening while we were on the M25 driving home. There was a short but intense hailstorm. There was a motorcyclist in the outside lane with hazard flashers on  doing about 40mph riding with feet near the ground, otherwise everyone seemed sensible. 
 

 

Not a bright idea.....

 

Bear here....

Washing done.  Tick

Much planning and pondering where to place the two piccies on the stairway/landing wall - I would've liked them to be equally spaced between the walls at either end but that would've made one of them liable to getting whacked when carrying long (tall) stuff and and down stairs, so best compromise is the order of the day.  The positions for the hooks are now marked with sticky tape and I'll drill & plug them ready for the hooks (which I suspect will need ordering) after din dins.

Then it was the joys of the Co-op & Chemist - cake continues to be "HOW F. MUCH??" so it looks like Bear will be on a diet, at least until I raid Lidl in the near future.  TC's.

 

In other news.....

Rumour has it that the Driver's SWMBO has destroyed his shreddies as hazardous waste:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-65371074

Bear gone.

[grandadbob]

A walk has been walked hobbled to the surgery where I have been examined and now need an X-ray to see what's occurring.   Judging by how much it hurts it's a fairly safe bet that the arthritis has got worse.   A couple of other minor issues also dealt with at the same time.  Surgery was quite busy and I was surprised to hear one of the receptionists tell somebody on the phone that there were still appointments available this morning.  Things must be looking up.

On the way back I met The Boss at the domestic appliance emporium.  I am now three and a bit Deltics poorer  (Cue Medium sized Ouch)  and the new dishwasher will arrive tomorrow morning so I'll probably leave the X-ray until Wednesday. (walk in at local hospital)

Time to start thinking about my lunchtime sandwich, chicken, ham or both?  🤔  Decisions, decisions.  

 

[DaveF]

I've been posting here for about 11 months, since Mum died, usually around this time of day.  Most days I've written a summary of the previous day's events.

 

That doesn't really work any more, I finished sorting out most of her estate a little while ago and in the last few days have tidied up some loose ends, including making a final check on whether any relatives want anything - they don't - I had the last confirmatory phone call this morning.  So now the remaining jewellery, photos and boxes of "things" can be dealt at my leisure when (if) I feel like it.  There is no urgency to sell anything, I will do some research first.

 

As a result I am less tied as to what I do when so it would be a lot easier to post like most of you do, when there is something to say, usually on the day it happens at a suitable time.

 

So hopefully for the last time here is yesterday in retrospect.  Being Sunday there were phone calls and e mails followed by a visit to church which went well.  Lunch was simple - pork schnitzel - it could have been cooked a bit longer but was OK.  In the afternoon I started to pot on the tomatoes but have left the smaller ones until it warms up again.  Then it rained so the planned outside jobs got left.

 

In the evening I discovered yet again that some programmes are not available on catch up services (Channel 5 group) so must remember to set things I really want to watch to record.

 

There may be a post about today later on.

 

David

Edited April 24, 2023 by DaveF

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

I think we had that yesterday evening while we were on the M25 driving home. There was a short but intense hailstorm. There was a motorcyclist in the outside lane with hazard flashers on  doing about 40mph riding with feet near the ground, otherwise everyone seemed sensible. 
 

Funnily enough I saw several motorcyclists doing just that on our recent trip to the UK.  I dread to think what would have happened to them, and in several cases their pillion passengers, lif their feet had dropped another inch. I've picked up a few motorbike accidents and most weren't pleasant. 

 

Jamie

Edited April 24, 2023 by jamie92208

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, PhilH said:

for a rare trip out with just my son and daughter, sans partners and grandkids. We get on well so should be a bit of a fun day, of course pop will be covering lunch etc.,

Gosh Phil, you are a soppy softy with your kids. I was expected to financially support the family as soon as I was old enough to go down the mines (I was about 6 years old….) Be taken out for a slap up lunch? I should cocoa…

All joking apart, with a lot of hard work and a bit of luck (basically being in the right place at the right time with the right experience/qualifications), I’ve done OK. So, I was more than happy to financially help out my family when my parents were alive (well, you do, don’t you?), but now they are dead I am starting to become rather unhappy with being “Bank of ID” whenever my siblings need cash.

It’s the sense of entitlement that really rubs me up the wrong way. They expect me to fork out just because I was prudent enough to study the right things, eschewing gallivanting around the world for knuckling down and working hard. Mrs iD says that it is not my responsibility to compensate my siblings for their bad life choices. Family is one thing, but – she says – enough is enough!

 

i’m starting to think that she is quite possibly right.

 

And yes, the above IS a rant.

[TheQ]

Ham...

At least that's what's in the sarni I've just tested myself to.

 

Odd one, we've got broadband but no phone dialing tone , the neighbour has got dialing tone but no broadband..

Tried to contact BT, but the gadget self filled in the login, with the wrong password when I tried to change the password it sent it anyway. It then locked me out.. 

 

The cause of trying the phone was an email saying my order for the boat bit hadn't been processed please ring.

 

One thing that did work was the facia board replacement.

Didn't break any plastic holders for the gutters because most of them are metal. This did mean having undone the plastic ones at one end I had to slide the full length gutter out.

Then used crow bar to lever facia off wall, it was easier to remove the gutter clips on the work bench.

Found new meice hole behind the downpipe adapter.

Old cut nails were hammered in, after 60 plus years in situ they decided they weren't leaving.

Various possible access points behind the facia  for meices were then blocked with quick set concrete.

A new facia board was cut to length, 2 inches longer than the old 8ft board.

After trying, some cut outs at the top were made for brick work, and screw holes made.

Tried again, fitted screwed in place.

All ends and gaps silicon filled.

Clips screwed in place and gutters fitted.

All done in about 3 hours.

 Right my exclusion time is over time to try again.

 

[Erichill16]

5 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Want to buy an island? https://www.galbraithgroup.com/property/cad170147-barlocco-island-borgue-kirkcudbright-dumfries-and-galloway-dg6-4ud/ No trees or buildings and you need a boat to get to it at high tide or a tractor/quad-bike at low tide. Looking at the map it might just be visible from Fraggle Rock, perhaps Neil can confirm.

I might be interested except id want it accessible only by boat. 

[TheQ]

BT computer, she say, we've found a fault outside your home!!

 

[PupCam]

Afternoon All!

 

Another minor milestone has just been achieved! 

 

The Beeza powered itself (and me) down one of the roads in Puppers Magna and most importantly back home again.  Only a mile or so but small steps and all that.    I found one oil pipe union that I had omitted to tighten.    Still, the dynamo won't go rusty now with all that oil sprayed over it 🤣   The next trip will be a few laps right round the village to build up confidence in the old girl.   I've been bitten before but at least I now know why she kept giving up (i.e. the damage done by a previous butcher owner) and that and much more has been corrected BUT it is the first engine I've ever re-built from the ground up so who knows what faux pars I might have unwittingly been responsible for?

 

Ah this looks good!    Couldn't see much more than clouds last night although I did briefly witness Venus snuggling up to the crescent moon.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-65371512

 

TTFNQ

 

Edited April 24, 2023 by PupCam

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Strangely I just switched on my computer and was composing an e-mail when I noticed that the item on the toolbar indicated that I was not connected to the internet. However I can still view and post on RMweb and still browse the internet, and I could send my e-mail. The only thing tat was different is I'd forgotten to switch on at the mains and the computer shut down as the battery was low. I'm going to try switching it off and on again later to see what happens. I've provisionally booked a coach for the Ipswich Transport and Model Festival on behalf of SEERS, only one local company had a coach available, all the others were fully booked.

[PhilJ W]

What people think of the monarchy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65326467 Personally although I'm not a Royalist by any stretch of the imagination the alternatives as head of state could be far worse.

[PhilJ W]

8 minutes ago, PupCam said:

Afternoon All!

 

Another minor milestone has just been achieved! 

 

The Beeza powered itself (and me) down one of the roads in Puppers Magna and most importantly back home again.  Only a mile or so but small steps and all that.    I found one oil pipe union that I had omitted to tighten.    Still, the dynamo won't go rusty now with all that oil sprayed over it 🤣   The next trip will be a few laps right round the village to build up confidence in the old girl.   I've been bitten before but at least I now know why she kept giving up (i.e. the damage done by a previous butcher owner) and that and much more has been corrected BUT it is the first engine I've ever re-built from the ground up so who knows what faux pars I might have unwittingly been responsible for?

 

Ah this looks good!    Couldn't see much more than clouds last night although I did briefly witness Venus snuggling up to the crescent moon.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-65371512

 

TTFNQ

 

Having re-built two car engines in my yoof I can understand what horrors await when repairing an engine. I was fortunate in that I had expert guidance in the shape of my dad who was trained in motor mechanics in the army.

[iL Dottore]

13 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

What people think of the monarchy. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65326467 Personally although I'm not a Royalist by any stretch of the imagination the alternatives as head of state could be far worse.

President @polybear?

 

Captain Cynical - Dictator for Life?

 

Yep, could be worse....

 

... or even better?

 

Who can tell???

Edited April 24, 2023 by iL Dottore

[PeterBB]

Just look at USA, China and Russia as examples to see what an 'elected' HoS can be/do ... much better our, although inefficient, parliamentary system and the fact that we can criticise our politicians beyond reason without being clapped in jail or worse.  

[Compound2632]

3 minutes ago, PeterBB said:

the fact that we can criticise our politicians beyond reason without being clapped in jail or worse.  

 

They are working on that one.

[Gwiwer]

17 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I think I only went for one (return) journey on a green London bus. Aditi and I were house hunting back in 1977 and the estate agent in Grays recommended a property in South Ockenden. Aditi would have had to have travelled by bus from South Ockenden to Upminster or Hornchurch to work. The bus went from Romford to Tilbury

The 370.  A curious survivor into the present day.  Once run by Eastern National it passed to London Transport in 1933 as it fell largely within their "Special Area" and was assigned to the Grays garage because, while it overlapped significantly with the red bus area it ran more than half its length within the "country" area.  It paralleled red buses between Corbets Tey, Upminster and Romford.  It also paralleled Green Line 722 between those places; that route was a casualty of the service cuts and last ran in 1970 iirc.  The Routemaster coaches used on the 722 and the related 721 (which ran between London Aldgate and Brentwood - entirely within red bus territory as did the 722 making them unique in that respect) were repainted as buses with yellow waist bands instead of pale green and transferred onto the 370.  

 

The route sits, operationally awkwardly, across several boundaries.  What is now the TfL operating area, the Greater London / Essex border and political constituencies.  It remained one of the busiest routes at the Romford end and was latterly run by London Country (North East) until that company was sold to what is now Arriva.  A deal was then struck between TfL and Arriva, with support from Essex County Council, that the route would be diverted into the new Lakeside Shopping Centre but truncated there; anyone requiring travel onward to Grays would have plenty of choice by changing there.  It had been cut back from Tilbury Ferry to Grays many years earlier with the Tilbury section covered by other local routes and the ferry extension having been little used, in part due to the significant time penalty incurred by having to run back almost into Grays to cross the railway after the old Tilbury bridge was condemned and closed.  A minibus shuttle now links the ferry with Tilbury Town station as Riverside has also been closed for many years - this retains a modest but little-used public transport link to the northern side of the ferry.  

 

Thus London Buses (and now TfL) came to operate the 370 between Romford and Lakeside which remains the position today.  There is a second route too - the 372 via Rainham - also running well outside the TfL area but in common with the 370 charging those who pay just £1.75 per trip.  That is cheaper in 2023 than the former country bus fare between Romford and Grays was when they route was handed over.  

 

Always a busy double-decker route it featured the well-known RT class in London's country bus days from around 1952 until 1972 when the Routemaster coaches (class code RCL) took over.  That was one of the longest continuous type allocations in the history of LT country bus operations.  When one-man operation, as we then called it, was required no suitable vehicles were readily available.  NBC effectively forced its subsidiaries into using the Bristol VRT as their standard double-decker but London Country already had a large number of Leyland Atlanteans and none of the former.  A batch of 14 Bristols (type code BT) arrived as a surprise and were largely confined to the 370 before being replaced by more Atlanteans (code AN), mostly second-hand or cascaded from within the fleet, after a few years.  The BTs were of the uncommon 14' 6" height when most were built to 13' 8" and were hard to sell on because of that.  I believe none survive.  Several RCLs do live on including at least one which saw service on the 370 from Grays.  

 

Here endeth the lesson! 

[Gwiwer]

24 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

or even better?

 

Who can tell???

The answers shall be determined by our forthcoming deliberations next month! 

[Gwiwer]

55 minutes ago, TheQ said:

BT computer, she say, we've found a fault outside your home!!

 

I hope it is fixed.

 

TW (Thames Water) she say we find fault outside your home late last night.  Two large vehicles pulled up outside the Hill of Strawberries at around 21 o'clock.  Engines ran, engines revved and something else made a large amount of noise.  I looked out expecting to see, perhaps, some sort of orange-army kit being unloaded onto the railway.  But no.  It was the drain cleaners who had turned up and the smell conformed that!  On overtime no less.  Sunday night.  What's that - double time?  And for this we pay some of the highest water bills in the land.  

 

And, for good measure, were kept awake until just after 23 o'clock when the noise ceased last night.  

[Gwiwer]

8 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

the best way to combat climate change is to donate money to green NGOs you've never heard off (I shouldn't be cynical given I've flown around the world to talk about emitting less).

Dr. SWMBO is very persuasive in her arguments about emitting less but acknowledges the need to sometimes fly to far-off places.  We have both been keenly aware of the carbon footprint left by our travels between the UK and Australia over the years.  Most of her flights now are for business which, specifically, includes raising awareness of climate change and how this might be mitigated or partially offset through nature.  

 

On a more localised level we have been aware, especially in the past three years or so, of the increasing carbon footprint of the "delivery-van society" where we order stuff from the comfort of our homes, or from our phones where ever we might be, and it turns up in one of those ubiquitous white (usually) vans we often moan about.  

 

We still do most of our shopping online.  We are agreed between us that it may well be a lower-carbon scenario to have one van deliver to 30 homes than to have 30 cars all drive to the shops.   A few of those shopping trips could be made by public transport but for many of us that isn't a realistic option.  As well we have moved a long way on from the daily shop in the High Street of 50 years ago to the weekly supermarket run which was the norm even before Covid appeared.  

 

We own a car largely because it fell our way almost as gift.  We decided having chosen our location that we wouldn't use one.  We had two in Australia out of sheer necessity; neither of us could reach work without one as is commonplace over there.  But we drive only when and where we really need to, plus two or three leisure trips in a year.  My insurer even offers a decent discount for us driving fewer than 3000 miles a year.  

 

We do our bit.  

[Coombe Barton]

... Another one from Coventry, the liturgically south wall of the new cathedral facing geographically east, with converging verticals straightened....

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/04/24/situation-may-be-confused-and-effects-on-younger-people/

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I think we had that yesterday evening while we were on the M25 driving home. There was a short but intense hailstorm. There was a motorcyclist in the outside lane with hazard flashers on  doing about 40mph riding with feet near the ground, otherwise everyone seemed sensible. 
 

 

That doesn't sound like the M25 I knew. In the 'good old days' they didn't slow down on such conditions in fact you used to get idiots wanting to pass.

 

But of course this was before everyone drove SUV's or Audi's with blacked out windows and were on Candi Camera all the time.

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

SUV's or Audi's with blacked out windows

Mine are only heavily tinted in the rear of the car. I don’t  sit in the rear passenger seats when driving so the darkened glass isn’t a problem. It isn’t an Audi. I don’t think Audi have a factory yet in Liverpool.