Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

17 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

... regular exercises replicating that situation cost as much, and that the experience gave those involved and those in charge invaluable experience and knowledge ...

A large property (once upon a time a farm) is being developed for housing not too far away.

 

The old farmhouse was not demolished when the outbuildings were destroyed. The local fire department recently used it for a live exercise, as they had done a few years ago with the property next door.

 

I don't know if the developers get some kind of tax break by donating the structure for the exercise, but working with fire in a 'real' situation has to be a better training environment (if slightly more dangerous) than the fire department training facility.

[PhilJ W]

A very late Evening all from Estuary-Land. The reason I am so late is that Si Attica made a surprise attack yesterday evening. Its never been as bad before, I just couldn't get off the bed so I just had to lie there. Fortunately I had some Voltarol gel on the bedside cabinet and that eased the pain after a couple of hours. I was then able to make my way downstairs where I keep the Co-codamol. It now seems to have settled down but care will be needed so there's no recurrence. I was intending to go to the Rayleigh toy fair tomorrow, that now depends on how I feel in the morning.

[iL Dottore]

All this talk about diversity and awareness is most interesting, especially about the “training” of such which invariably - as Gwiwer has pointed - is given by white trainers to white trainees. Surely everyone, regardless of ethnicity, should have “D&A” training? Otherwise it’s meaningless.

 

I belong to a verein which is very international: at the last count we have Sunni muslims, Shiite muslims, Sikhs, Buddhists, various Christian and Jewish denominations, pantheists, one Zoroastrian and one Kirant. Ethnically, the verein spans the whole gamut from white with ginger hair to sub-Saharan African. We all get along pretty well and guess what?  We’ve never had a single moment of diversity and awareness training!
 

Of course, it’s not as though there aren’t moments of friction - humans are humans after all - but with us if XX is being a PITA we don’t think it’s because XX is a [____________], we think it’s because XX is being a plonker.

 

“D&A training” is like many such things nowadays: originally conceived with good intentions and aims, the whole “D&A” business has been hijacked by a certain socioeconomic/political stratum who have turned it into a well paid sinecure for the members of that stratum.

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

But you'd assume a knock-on effect - those who usually get the train have to get the bus or drive themselves and thus clog up the roads causing disruption for all commuters and travellers?

 

Here during industrial disputes rail workers have been turning  off the ticket barriers instead of striking, hurts the government but everyone else benefits! win win.

(My emphasis) Very, very clever…. And probably very effective as well - as you are hitting the decision makers where it hurts: in the wallet.

 

I recognise the value of unions*, but I do believe too many British Unions are stuck with the “All Out, Lads” mentality. There must be many creative and innovative ways of withdrawing one’s labour so as to inconvenience the decision makers. For example, withdrawing services only from certain postcodes would certainly impact on many of the decision makers….

* a good union will work with “management” and “keep ‘em honest” and vice-versa. Win-Win allround.

[jamie92208]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A large property (once upon a time a farm) is being developed for housing not too far away.

 

The old farmhouse was not demolished when the outbuildings were destroyed. The local fire department recently used it for a live exercise, as they had done a few years ago with the property next door.

 

I don't know if the developers get some kind of tax break by donating the structure for the exercise, but working with fire in a 'real' situation has to be a better training environment (if slightly more dangerous) than the fire department training facility.

One Friday afternoon we got a report of some unexploded ordnance being found in a suburban garden. This was at 3pm and the bomb disposal teams were 90 minutes away. My first order was to ring the Council emergency planners so that they could put plans for evacuations in place before everyone went home for the weekend.  The men from Catterick duly arrived and said that it was an inert practice mortar round so everything was wound down.  I then rang the Council and apologised for a false alarm.  The chief officer told me that it was the best training exercise that they had ever had and they'd learned a lot of lessons.  He thanked me profusely for making the initial call. 

 

Jamie

Edited May 7, 2023 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

Anyway good moaning from a grey Charente.  Yesterday was interesting.  As usual we talked to Emily and her mums. Sadly Rachel and Emily have decided to cancel their trip here this coming week. Rachel has been advised not to travel due to the problems with her blood. As you can imagine we are gutted but Rachel's health comes first.  She obviously had a very alert and good doctor examine her when she went to the hospital. 

 

The Coronation was then watched but Beth missed a couple of hours due to a hyper with very high blood sugar and having to sleep it off.  I was very impressed with the whole event and did have something in my eye at one point. 

 

Anyway later, tea was being prepared, when we got a phone call from some friends saying that they were coming to collect the old Rover 75 that we inherited with the shed over 7 years ago.  Much activity ensued, clearing a path out for it.  Tyres were then pumped up and the car was manouvered out, down past the layout. I was appointed steersman and was then launched down the access ramp. Fortunately the brakes worked.  It was then loaded onto a trailer. Seb and Jo stayed for a drink before setting off.  We then had a late tea. 

 

Today it's off to the market this morning and drinks and some nosh with some other Brits this afternoon. 

 

Jamie

Edited May 7, 2023 by jamie92208

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

Lots of sleep again, 3 hours then 5 hours near solid, which is surprising with my back complaining and not having taken pink pills.

It was chucking it down during the awake period, a peer out of the window shows its very misty as the sun is trying to burn off the soggyness.

I've just checked our forecast is for sun scattered clouds and mist.

 

In local news, the police have banned the local independent lifeboat from using blue lights towing their lifeboats to inland rescue, because they are not RNLI.

 

The set up of the new computer room went fairly well, except that despite having boxes of odd leads collected over the years, I've had to order two new ones. We've also got an inherited TV without remote, and the controls on the side don't seem to access all the functions. Luckily a new remote is still available and has been ordered.

Some research was done on disconnection the printer we've been given from HPs "instant ink " programme which operates almost like ransom ware.

I've loaded up the computer with the MRCs financial records, first thing start splitting up all the files into separate directories. So all previous years are not clogging up the access to current files.

 

Plans for today,

Off to the SC, mostly to fit the new gooseneck,  so I'd better wander around collecting all the tools that might be needed.

 

But first, Ben has got up, 

 

Time to patrol..

 

B

 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

As it happens I did watch the Coronation. A splendid affair but her indoors commented (quite rightly) she would have preferred to listen to the music than hear the verbal gushing of commentators.

 

No cricket for me yesterday  (which was good as it rained later in the afternoon and lots of games were abandoned).  I have a game today. Heavy rain yesterday and overnight means it will be squelchy. It is supposed to get up to 20C today.. really?

 

@monkeysarefun.. don't ever cross the working Royals.. especially not the Princess Royal..she is dead hard! 

 

and, unlike a lote of "State" leaders in Oz  a lot have seen active service and have been shot at!

 

mugatea time then prep for cricket!

 

stay safe!

 

Baz

Edited May 7, 2023 by Barry O

[Grizz]

These jokes made me smile. 

 

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are going camping.
They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes Watson up: "Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you deduce."

Watson: "I see millions of stars and even if a few of those have planets, it's quite likely there are some planets like Earth, and if there are a few planets like Earth out there, there might also be life."

Holmes: "Watson, you idiot, somebody's stolen our tent!

 

 

A couple of hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing. The other whips out his mobile phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps out to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?"

The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: "OK, now what?"

 

 

[DaveF]

It's alternating between rain and fog here this morning, not at all pleasant.  At least there isn't much wind and it isn't too cold 9C again, the forecast says it might reach 12C by teatime.

 

There isn't too much on the agenda for today, just the usual e mails and phone calls, a visit to church, lunch and so on.  I didn't sleep well last night so I might have a very quiet afternoon.

 

When I was at work I used to have to go on courses to do with diversity from time to time.  Once or twice good points were made but usually it was on a par with most training provided by trainers with no experience of the job - in my case teaching and helping manage a large school.  To be honest I found it much more useful to talk with students from different backgrounds and try to understand their experiences and then make sure I was not hindering them accidentally by anything I might say or do.

 

David

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Grey start to the day with showers, sunny spells and more showers possible.  12°C now rising to 22°C possibly.

Slight Aching in The Hip at present but pills taken anyway to ward off more pain.

Lazy day yesterday watching most of the Coronation followed by rugby.

Busy day expected at GDB Towers as we're having a "welcome home" BBQ this afternoon for Joe.   Need to erect the gazebo just in case, dust down the furniture and make some burgers among another things.

Timetogettamoveon!

Have a good one,

Bob.

[Grizz]

Questionable or inappropriate product naming when viewed by a different nation. These two are genuine examples from Denmark, found during our last trip home. 
 

One is a bit abrupt and the other is perhaps best described as just wrong…can you spot which one is which?
 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 7, 2023 by Grizz
Too many froms

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Barry O said:

and, unlike a lote of "State" leaders in Oz  a lot have seen active service and have been shot at!

There's a few we wish had been.

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

There's a story in the news of a Florida man who punched and knocked out the 63-year old umpire of his son's high school baseball game.

 

Hopefully he'll do time for it.

 

9 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In the (so-called) "sport of kings" today:

 

CNN: 7 horses have died at Churchill Downs since the start of Kentucky Derby week

 

The mile and a quarter, "fastest two minutes in sports" is yet to be run. (There were commercials on that channel as I typed but just called 'riders up'). The broadcast for a two minute event lasts five hours (reminding me of another event* today) and still has most of an hour to go.

 

* That one has a post-match commentary show on presently. That is nauseatingly unwatchable.

 

I wonder if some of those being "euthanised" are being done so because the Owners/Trainers are deciding that as they'll be no good as a race horse any more then the the expense of getting them back to health just isn't worth it?

And are race horses being bred for speed at the expense of being robust enough?

 

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Monkeys feels that if he was innocent of the alleged incident then he would have held out for justice rather than paying for it to go away  and  thus have  it forever hanging over his head causing him to be banned from everything for ever more and totally bugg3ring up his life.

 

I suspect that decisions were being made way above a certain person's head on that one - the thought of having a Royal in the witness box as the accused being far too much to handle.  If stories are true it seems that HRH is less than happy about Harry's current court proceedings against the media and wanted him to drop the case.

 

Bear here.....

More danglin'....and pondering colour schemes....

 

In other news.....

Bear has just made a sale on the 'bay - at long last as I've been trying to unload it for quite a while; it's collect only so no aggro packing n' posting it - the buyer tried a cheeky "what's the lowest you'll accept?" message last night but I held out for the start price and he's paid up.  A bit more room in the loft.

BG

Edited May 7, 2023 by polybear

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Not much sign of the sciatica this morning but pills have been taken just in case. My mobility problems are coming to the fore. I can only take a few short steps before having to lean on the furniture. I'm off to the Rayleigh toy fair shortly with some tokens to spend. 

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

* a good union will work with “management” and “keep ‘em honest” and vice-versa. Win-Win allround.

The union that I 'repped' for (GMB) had their own training college in Manchester. They not only instructed their own reps but also management from several employers in things such as the Health and Safety at work act. Regrettably many companies would have no truck with the unions, usually ones with bad labour relations.

[iL Dottore]

15 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

The union that I 'repped' for (GMB) had their own training college in Manchester. They not only instructed their own reps but also management from several employers in things such as the Health and Safety at work act. Regrettably many companies would have no truck with the unions, usually ones with bad labour relations.

Forgive me for being cynical - but these wouldn’t be those companies with lots of Tarquins and Cressidas in “management”? God forbid that a Tarquin or Cressida have anything to do with (let alone listen to or heed) “the Oiks”

[New Haven Neil]

Back in my NHS days I spent a year on secondment to a project - positive action for ethnic minorities & asylum seeking qualified medical practitioners - it was about getting a fair deal to get them registered and working, and we were desperately short of said staff.  Not long afterwards my commitment to equality was questioned in one of those courses mentioned earlier.  To say I had a field day is putting it mildly!

 

Oops, getting shouted at to go to archery.  Laters.

[Mike Bellamy]

15 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

> interesting to note how the Metropolitan police failed to move on the eco-protesters when they interrupted normal people’s live and stopped ambulances, but as soon as they started their idiocy at the coronation the Met suddenly remembered the law…

 

New laws were introduced just a few days ago

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/public-order-bill-overarching-documents/public-order-bill-factsheet

 

 

 

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

. .  she would have preferred to listen to the music than hear the verbal gushing of commentators.

 

I can't be sure but I thought I heard something about that being available " on the red button " ??

.

[Erichill16]

Morning All,

Like most, spent much of yesterday watching the old gogglebox and felt very proud of what ‘we’ can put on.

Also managed some paperwork and completed the monthly ONS surveys and even managed a bit of the m word.

As for today, the last regular match of the season beckons, Hovis will need her walk and I have a feeling domestic engineering may be on the cards. ‘We’ve’ managed  quite well with SWMBO’s incapacity, but I fear I have been less than thorough with some of my tasks so a bit of catch-up may be in order.

Robert

[The White Rabbit]

Morning all,

 

A TV free day was had yesterday and a perambulation indulged in instead. Very few houses round here had any flags or other visual signs of enthusiasm for the big day. It was very quiet though, so I suspect the TV had more than average numbers watching. 

 

Presumably a coincidence but yesterday was the first time this year I heard a cuckoo. Up by a small gill near a farm, it was sounding off as we walked past. Then a little further along, another one, from somewhere in a small straggling spinney which acts as a field boundary. 

 

Scanning the papers this am, I noticed https://www.theguardian.com/science/2023/may/07/revealed-modern-humans-needed-three-tries-and-12000-years-to-colonise-europe - may be of interest to those following the evolution debate? 

 

And - admittedly most of this is probably on the lines of a revelation that most Bears have toilets in the trees - I read https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/may/07/the-walking-cure-why-we-should-all-be-putting-one-foot-in-front-of-the-other - Though one item I saw (a little over half-way down) which caught my eye mentions bespoke walking boots which don't taper to the toes and don't have a heel. 'Barefoot' walking shoes sound like they might have some health benefits and I wondered if that included those with foot injuries? @New Haven Neil? 

 

The sun is out here and some blue sky. We had some overnight rain but it's warm and likely to be a good day for the plants. To imitate GDB, it's time to gerramoveon and get some air. 

[Tony_S]

45 minutes ago, Erichill16 said:

domestic engineering may be on the cards.

I have been doing some dusting and vacuuming. . Aditi invited a few relatives to lunch but they are coming for afternoon tea instead as Aditi’s sister has a hospital outpatient appointment late this morning. I have got to put the temporary handrail by the front steps so MiL can get in our house. There isn’t any bunting on our house so it isn’t a coronation party. There might be quiche though. 
Tony

[southern42]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

All this talk about diversity and awareness is most interesting, especially about the “training” of such which invariably - as Gwiwer has pointed - is given by white trainers to white trainees. Surely everyone, regardless of ethnicity, should have “D&A” training? Otherwise it’s meaningless.

 

 

Some years ago (40ish), our church was setting up a group to support those who needed help and "the disabled". A friend turned up in her wheelchair, all prepared to be involved, but was pretty much put in her place, downgraded and declared not needed: "What are you doing here?" being one of the first such expressions.  So shortsighted! But as far as I remember the group did not get very far off the ground. My friend decided to take her efforts elsewhere and I just continued to put my efforts where they were already needed or appreciated. Some attitudes do not seem to change - just the issues, maybe!

 

' morning all from red dragon land.

Woken by the sun streaming through the window's blinds wondering if I should get another hour's sleep or get up and enjoy the sunshine while it was there.

 

However, no early riser in me, today, I ended up trying to remember the next line of my new piece of flute music. When I got downstairs and looked at the notes, I was pretty close - Just got lost in the middle. Some more singing of notes to take place, this morning, to drum them into the braincells. What becomes interesting is the repetition of phrases in different places, within the bar, across the bar or beat, even long phrases can be repeated in another section, leading to me carrying on with the end of the wrong section. Talk about concentrating on exactly where you are when playing from memory. 

 

Time for.a mugadecafoutinthesun and maybe a look at those flute notes, again.

Polly

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

12 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Though one item I saw (a little over half-way down) which caught my eye mentions bespoke walking boots which don't taper to the toes and don't have a heel. 'Barefoot' walking shoes sound like they might have some health benefits and I wondered if that included those with foot injuries? @New Haven

Barefoot running shoes were all the rage about 15 or so years ago. They looked a bit like gloves for your feet, with individual toes and no sole. I'm not sure what's happened to them since.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

Back in my NHS days I spent a year on secondment to a project - positive action for ethnic minorities & asylum seeking qualified medical practitioners - it was about getting a fair deal to get them registered and working, and we were desperately short of said staff. 

 

Bear is all for that - though I have struggled at times with accents at times.  A previous GP (a nice Guy) once mentioned that Bear's lower back pain could be the result of "Attritis" - I asked if that was anything like Arthritis..."Same thing", he said.....

 

In other news.....

Priming danglin' done....now to think about din dins, then probably a 3rd (and final) top coat on the newel post and base rail.  Oh yes, and I've rescued the Ebay sale from the loft and given it a dust ready for collection; the buyer has paid me via paypal rather than cash on collection (= more charges 🤬).  T0sser.

 

In other, other news....

Did Bear detect a bit of War Film music being played at The Big Party yesterday - Dambusters/Battle of Britain/633 Squadron?

And there was mention of how many in the Church - 2000; apparently QE2's Party had 8000 - that must've been "cosy"....

BG