Early Risers.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright and sunny start to the day here in the northwest corner of England. My first task is to walk to the butchers and purchase the weekly meat rations, not forgetting a pork pie for todays dinner. After that, WE are going to the Trafford Centre, this means that the visit will be a lot more than the usual 45-60 minutes when I go on my own. On the plus side, I’ll drag Sheila into the cafe at John Lewis for a cup and a slice, so it’s not all that bad. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[Erichill16]

Morning All,

Managed to duck the nephews for tea yesterday but still had to visit mil to visit them and return Sydney to bil.

was hoping for a day out, anywhere, but the rain has set in and with SWMBO not being able to wear a shoe on her ‘bad’ foot I think I can kiss that idea goodbye.

Looks like taking Hovis out for a walk on my own then either paperwork or domestic engineering. My cup runneth over.

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Will have to do some shopping today but not until later, I'm still waiting for a package to arrive and until it does I have to stay in. Not much trouble from the arthritis/sciatica today but pills have been taken just in case. Biggest problem is the hay fever, I'm going through Kleenex as if its going out of fashion.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

There’s been much speculation about whether or not the Neanderthals were killed off by H Sapiens or were outbred by H sapiens who interbred with the Neanderthals (obviously, according to the DNA evidence). Probably both - given our species’ penchant for either (a) killings things and (b) mating with anything even vaguely suitable….

There is also a theory that  H sapiens brought with them a viral disease to which the Neanderthals had no resistance. There is a more recent parallel with the Conquistadors. When they landed in central America they bought with them smallpox which spread like wildfire among the native population. A similar thing could have happened 40,000 years ago. Also at the time there was global warming which drove H sapiens out of Africa and  removed a lot of Neanderthal food sources as well such as the woolly mammoth. Most likely it was a combination of all of those factors.

[The Johnster]

Plenty wildlife of the sort you'd expect on the mean inner-city streets around here*, magpies, woodpigeons, starlings, wagtails, the odd fox, plenty rats, but they don't like my patio much.  I can see why; it's small and enclosed, and if I were a burdy surveying it from above I think I'd be of the view that it might, at a pinch, be a bit difficult to extricate myself from in the event of a cat-related emergency, and there are plenty more open spaces nearby to choose from.  We get an occasional starling, and they sometimes bathe in the fish container (a fibreglass planter with goldfishes inside), and I put food out for them but the risk is clearly putting them off.

 

It's not my patio, the place is rented, so I can't do much to attract wildlife beyond what I've already done.  Planting has to be in containers, and we only get the sun on summer evenings as the surrounding buildings block it for most of the time, so it's not easy to grow some things that I'd like to grow to encourage wildlife.  We've usually seen the first bumblebees by this time, but they're either late or not going to bother this year.

 

*And the other sort of feral fauna as well of course, in their occasional forays away from His Majesty's free hotel service.  Trick is to look as if you haven't got anything worth stealing, and this is easy because actually I haven't got much worth stealing.  I keep the blinds down on my front windows, though, so you can't see my meagre posessions from the street, and keep the front yard as scruffy as the landlord will let me; tidiness and flowerbeds means pride in possession, a dead giveaway to the bad guys that you are worth casing out...  Despite some of my more lurid stories, it's not The Bronx, but you have to be aware and streetwise to a degree.  A neighbour got a new tv a while back and foolishly advertised the fact by leaving the box (clearly marked with '60" Smart 16K HDTV/Cinema Sound blad de blah') out for the binmen; of course he was burgled and the tv taken, though it must've taken some carrying.  When it was replaced on the insurance, he put the box out for the binmen again, and guess what happened...  He's learned his lesson now, but it's too late, the local crims have his card marked and know how to get in over the back wall from the back lane, so as well as the insurance premiums he's had to shell out on security, and the presence of security attracts the attention of the crims to the fact that you've got stuff worth protecting, and the vicious circle continues.  A lot of the lanes around here have been gated off to stop this sort of thing but ours isn't because 24/7 access is needed for the rear-access hotel car parks along Newport Road, which have floodlights and CCTV but that doesn't protect us on this side of the lane, and in some spots makes the shadows deeper and more crim-friendly.

 

[The Johnster]

41 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

There is also a theory that  H sapiens brought with them a viral disease to which the Neanderthals had no resistance. There is a more recent parallel with the Conquistadors. When they landed in central America they bought with them smallpox which spread like wildfire among the native population. A similar thing could have happened 40,000 years ago. Also at the time there was global warming which drove H sapiens out of Africa and  removed a lot of Neanderthal food sources as well such as the woolly mammoth. Most likely it was a combination of all of those factors.

 

It usually is a combination of factors rather than one overwhelming disaster, but the rate at which Europeans wiped out the populations of Central and South America with pathogens is terrifying.  Columbus made 'first contact' with the Caribs, who were probably not the largest of the ethnic groups in the area but were simply not there, vanished, gone, annhialated, all dead when he went back on the second trip.  All that now survives of them is the word 'barbecue'.  Death rates of 90% and higher were not uncommon throughout the 16th century, the age of the Conquistadores, who were fairly adept at slaughtering large numbers of the locals in battles but whose pathogens were the big killers, smallpox and syphilis.  In Africa it was the other way around, as European slavers succumbed to diseases as soon as they went inland off the beaches, until the arrival of quinine in the later 19th century, which triggered the major Colonial land grab on that continent.

 

Personally, I doubt that disease wiped out the Neanderthals in the same way as it did in Latin America, as contact was prolonged and the Neanderthals had plenty of time to build resistance, but that doesn't exclude it as a factor.  We know there was considerable interbreeding from the DNA surviving in our current populations, and while there almost certainly was competition for resources and  territory that resulted in DNA transfer by battle rape or slave-taking, there was probably a degree of peaceful co-operation and social transaction that resulted in consensual inter-species exchanges of bodily fluids as well.  If you're drunk or out-of-it on 'shrooms, and there seems to be evidence that they often were at festivals and such, you'll sh*g anything and it'll happily sh*g you back, as behaviour at modern festivals shows, and if the next species is close enough for jazz...  Out-of-town strange has always been attractive, and good for enlarging the gene pool.

 

But the image of the last Neanderthals hanging on in their cave on Gibraltar 30kya, pushed literally to the edge of existence at Europa Point only a few yards away and about to become extinct as a separate group, huddled hopelessly around their fire watching the water levels rising and realising that they had come to the end of their line, is compellingly tragic.

[polybear]

Bear here...

 

Danglin' done - the paint proved to be as nice to use as I'd hoped; I may have bunged some Owatrol Oil in the last time I used it - I can't remember now.  Architrave work didn't happen - a look at the sky suggested it was a Bad Idea and Bear was proved right.  Right, now for some MIUABGA...which mustn't involve anything that could cause dust to be kicked up on the landing and stick to the nice wet paint, which limits choices somewhat.

 

In other news....

It seems that HRH will be assisting passengers on the London Underground this weekend - he'll be uttering those immortal words "Mind The Gap"; whilst SWMBO will be saying "Have A Nice Day".

 

Bear gone.

[jamie92208]

Good afternoon from a high speed fibre connection in deepest rural Charente.  The fibre men have been and gone and done a good and neat job.  There were sounds of rage from the kitchen when Alexa stopped working when they disconnected the old line.  However happiness has been restored and Amazon Music is now playing again.  I even managed to get all other devices connected and the wifi extender paired up so that it gets through to the bedroom.  Whether this has earned any brownie points remains to be seen.

 

4 hours ago, Barry O said:

Was accused of being a nimby for objecting to a hair-raising £10million Road scheme near here. The council have said it will make travel less easy, slower and increase pollution..  they think this will force people to use bicycles or walk more...erm Leeds is a city built on hills. Its downhil going into the centre and z very long upward drag out of the centre,. I would imagine none of the council employees or elected members have noticed this.

Baz

Maybe they all live either on the lower part of Kirkstall road or just off Hunslet Road, the only level routes out of the city centre that the horse trams were allowed on with only 2 nags. Otley Road need three plus a pilot up the hill to the University, known as a trace horse.  Apparently the horse knew exactly where it's task ended and how many trips it should do before a rest and a bag of oats.

 

Jamie

Edited May 5, 2023 by jamie92208

[PhilJ W]

The package has arrived and I'm wearing the new slippers already (the old ones were falling apart). The new shoes will be tried this afternoon.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Sunny after a drop of the wet stuff earlier.

I shall have to have my mugadecaf outside....😃

 

A pleasant afternoon was had yesterday over on Anglesey. I met up with a friend at the RSPB centre's Cafe near South Stack for a coffee. It was over a year ago that we last met so we had more than enough to chat about! I had to resist adopting some of the soft cuddly birds in the shop - I already have two gorgeous puffins from our sailing days, bought in Milford Haven, and our little GDs have enough cuddlies to last them a lifetime!

 

I think it is time to have that mugadecafinthesun. Catch up later - hopefully, after this afternoon's clickncollect groceries.

 

Polly

[grandadbob]

Asda visited and pills and other stuff bought.  I've gained a few Brownie points this morning with my Shark wielding and latrine cleansing duties and we've also hung some flags, bunting and balloons.  

Hip and Leg hurt so now need to take some more pills and then I can take it easy for the rest of the day.  We've just had one heavy downpour and it's now sunny but there are more dark clouds about so the car definitely won't get washed (by me anyway, the weather can take care of it).

Time for a muggatea and then have a think about what's for lunch.

Edited May 5, 2023 by grandadbob

[Erichill16]

Did manage to get out!

[TheSignalEngineer]

See some feeding antics from the jackdaws at my daughter's place. They used to hang around the feeder that the small birds use to pick up what falls to the ground because when they try to land on it they fall off. One has now found that flying into it at speed shakes some of the seed onto the ground.

Another big bird is their local heron that lives on the Goyt at Marple Bridge. Last week I saw two crows annoying it when it was  at the lake in the park nearby. It took off and the crows tried to attack it in flight. They quickly scattered when it dive bombed them with bill firmly closed.

[polybear]

I see the Oz Government has upset the Neighbours:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65492576

 

[Compound2632]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Good afternoon from a high speed fibre connection in deepest rural Charente. 

 

It seems to have had an almost miraculous effect!

[PeterBB]

4 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There is also a theory that  H sapiens brought with them a viral disease to which the Neanderthals had no resistance. There is a more recent parallel with the Conquistadors. When they landed in central America they bought with them smallpox which spread like wildfire among the native population. A similar thing could have happened 40,000 years ago. Also at the time there was global warming which drove H sapiens out of Africa and  removed a lot of Neanderthal food sources as well such as the woolly mammoth. Most likely it was a combination of all of those factors.

More recently the so-called 'Spanish flu' that was initially brought to Europe and thus the world via American soldiers in WW1.

[The Lurker]

16 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Bexley is most certainly an even more boring place without him.

It most certainly is...!

[DaveF]

 

In the end this morning I just went for a walk on the beach as there was very gentle rain together with glimpses of the sun.  The wind dropped so it was a pleasant walk to the west pier (which is at the eastern end of the beach), there were no shells or anything else of interest to pick up and it was very misty, so no photographs.  However I enjoyed it a lot - doing childish things like walking round the seaward end of a pipe as the tide was just low enough to get round it dry shod if you timed it perfectly.  I got it right so kept my feet dry.  I didn't try it on the way back as the tide had turned and was coming in quite quickly.

 

Then it was coffee time while I looked a catalogues which have come over the last few days.  I am now somewhat poorer as I found some nice Swiss cab rides, plus one on the ECML and a book I "need" on the ECML locally.  A little later I was looking at a web site and found a red (really crimson lake) object with 6 wheels and motor on the Dapol site - fortunately it was discounted.

 

Then it was model making followed by pork pie and salad.  After lunch the rain had stopped so I went to Homebase to buy some plastic covers for the radiator pipes where they come through the floor.  Somehow I also bought a car boot load of plants.  I shall be pleased when the sewer on the "other" road is repaired, it was very busy coming back.

 

Back at home again I worked on photos, had a cup of tea and did a Sudoku.  Next job is to water the greenhouse plants and get things ready to go outside to harden off.

 

David

 

 

 

Edited May 5, 2023 by DaveF

[Ian Abel]

POETS, yep, let's do that.

 

Yesterday, another quiet one.

Today, Whitney already dropped off by Brendan as he's off on a 4-day trip, and Jemma is out till Sunday late.

 

Later we're going to sort some goodies for the get together tomorrow, though I doubt we'll be able to find Union Jack bunting 🤪

We'll hopefully catch the Coronation on a rerun, certainly NOT going to make the live performance - enjoy.

 

9c and rain first thing, expecting 19c for the high and rain off and on all day. Tomorrow looking to be a repeat of today.

 

Onward.

[AndyID]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

I see the Oz Government has upset the Neighbours:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-65492576

 

 

Often seen on the cars of US Vietnam War veterans.

 

https://www.amazon.com/vietnam-stickers/s?k=vietnam+stickers

[polybear]

Bear here.....

Well the MIUABGA took the form of all the fun of the Co-op (where they had the bluddy nerve to label the LDC, SCC and CC with price labels proclaiming "New Lower Price".  Really?  If they think this Bear is gonna fall for b0llox like that then they're very much mistaken.  T0ssers.

The raid did produce a couple of bags of Grated Mozzarella at a fair price - enabling Bear to knock up a home-made Pizza for din dins.  Tick.

I could very easily have entered the Land of Zedd this afternoon, but common sense prevailed and I decided to paint the lower areas of H/S/L walls that are adjacent to the door architraves - a second coat in the morning will mean that I can then fit the architraves (once they've been cut n' painted, that is....).

The downside is I'm not entirely sure about the colour choice for the lower wall (= the bit below the Dado Rail) as yet 😐 - though I did have similar thoughts about the Lounge colour scheme at first and I rather like that now 🙂.  Hopefully it'll grow on me - and once the Dado Rail has been added it should help the effect a lot.  Hopefully....

 

Bear gone.

[45156]

Evening All

 

Wow - curtains, curtains and more curtains. 

 

30747 took it into her head that we need new curtains in the living room (2 pairs), the front door, and the landing window - and by chance we found 3 pairs of Sanderson print cutrains in an unusual size (104 x 82) - in near new condition, though one curtain had a slight stain on the lining - so slight that we couldn't see it - in a charity shop in one of the nearby villages.  Three pairs for £95 seems a bargain given the prices being asked online for similar.  And the pattern suits our decor - and the drop was just right for all the windows where they were to go.  When she want to change the curtains on the landing, the curtain pole came away with a mix of plaster and filler which had been used to get the old pole up - done as an emergency measure just after we moved in, when we reused the existing pole.

 

So a trip to the local emporium where they sell all that sort of stuff, and £18 later, and a new, much longer pole was obtained, and with a little bit of a struggle was erected - it helped to read the instructions, as it was unlike any others that I've ever put up.  And by a judicious choice of height, the curtains fitted the drop perfectly.

 

Many brownie points have been achieved as she's chuffed to mint balls with the result, and I have got to say, so have I.  She must have been pleased as the actually overlooked my pouring a 70 ml measure of Smokehead.

 

However, a bit of skipping has resulted - so the usual generic greetings are on offer,

 

I will not be around at all for a bit of next week due to personal commitments.  I will probably pop in tomorrow after the shopping and before and while his Kingship and her Queenship are crowned.

 

Regards to All

Stewart

Edited May 5, 2023 by 45156

[Coombe Barton]

... World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared that Covid-19 no longer represents a "global health emergency". ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/05/05/no-zoe-updates-again-today-and-the-spring-booster-takeup-now-34-41/

[DaveF]

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that I had put on some weight and decided that eating a bit less would be a good idea.

 

When I weighed myself this morning after my shower I found I've lost just over 3lb which is nearly half my immediate target.

 

During the week I've been watching the BBC4 programme about a canal jorney from Sheffield to Braunston.  Sadly a few potentially interesting bits of the journey were edited out, especially on the tidal River Trent aroundGgainsborough and the canal and river just west of Nottingham.

 

One thing that struck me watching the programme is the change in the condition of the canals in the past 60 years sine I first used some of the route on Dad's boat (and friend's boats).  It is all so much tidier and better maintained. There also seem to be a plethora of signs and notices telling you what to do and where you are.  

 

David

Edited May 5, 2023 by DaveF

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I also find it absurd that common scientific, medical and colloquial terms are automatically censored.

And of course you know that is not the case. It is the pejorative words that are filtered - as a work-saving measure for moderators. One can make a case for adding heuristics (aka artificial intelligence) to the filter to interpret the usage and determine whether the word is being used in a non-pejorative sense - rather than a dumb pattern match. Such technology is of course available, at a price.

 

One really irritating forum I once used would even flag word fragments rather than whole words. "Constitution" was redacted - as it contained 'tit' which I believe is on the permitted word list here.