Early Risers.

[Gwiwer]

50 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

I was under the impression that the union members had voted to continue strike action for up to a further 6 months.

There is more than one concurrent dispute with more than one union. 
 

Those disputes which have recently been settled have involved the membership being balloted regarding acceptance. 
 

The mandate to continue with industrial action is in respect of one dispute with one union which has consistently refused requests from its membership to ballot on the offer currently on the table. 
 

And on that note I shall say no more out of respect for our house rules 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

The bloke who handed Charles the Spurs of Incredibleness or whatever has an interesting back story too.

 

If you believe Tony Robinsons et al research as to the "Rightful Monarch" based on the theory that Edward IV was illegitimate and the current lot are therefore a bunch of usurpers and German imports then the  bloke who  should have been the one in the big chair is apparently a farmer from Wangaratta, who played a part in the ceremony :

 

(From The Mudgee Guardian, A  paper of record:)

 

The only Australian with a role in the coronation of King Charles III has touched down in London and has been busy rehearsing.

Simon Abney-Hastings is the 15th Earl of Loudoun and will perform the Bearer of the Great Golden Spurs role on May 6. He is a Wangaratta resident and some historians say the rightful heir to the throne.

The Earl's private secretary Terence Guthridge said the final coronation rehearsal was completed on May 4 and Abney-Hastings was "very excited".

Mr Guthridge said Simon Abney-Hastings and King Charles III exchange birthday or Christmas cards each year.

"He's a loyal supporter of the monarchy," he said.

The Earl is directly descended from George Plantagenet, 1st Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III, who was King of England from 1483-1485.

Because of this royal lineage some historians believe the Earl is the rightful heir to the British throne. This argument involves the claim that Edward IV of England was illegitimate because he was born of an affair while his father was fighting in France. This thesis claims George should have been king as the legitimate eldest son.

The Earl's late father, Michael Edward Abney-Hastings, 14th Earl of Loudoun, was a British-Australian farmer and Jerilderie councillor who died in 2012.

He came to believe in the family's claim to the throne in 2004, when a documentary crew arrived at his door in the New South Wales town of Jerilderie with the news that he was royalty, as part of the documentary 'Britain's Real Monarch'.

 

According to Mr Guthridge, Simon Abney-Hastings has never held this view and has always been a loyal, staunch supporter of Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles III.

The Earls of Loudoun have been the bearers of the golden spurs at coronations dating to King Richard I who ruled England from 1189 to 1199.

Gold spurs were first included among the English coronation ornaments in 1189 at the coronation of Richard I the Lionheart.

 

 

 

I guess ultimately the current bunch got in cos' their Ancestors had the biggest stick with the biggest nail thru' it.

I should've been a Historian.

 

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

"Jill sees Jim come back from lunch with a client carrying a huge bag of cash". Should Jill  A) Question Jim as to why he has a big bag of cash B) Speak to Jeremy, their manager about the cash C) Demand half of the cash from Jim otherwise she will tell on him" and so on......  

 

Definitely C......

It worked for this Bear.

[tigerburnie]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

Man its so much easier when the only qualification needed  is pulling a bloody big sword out of a rock. Dont know why they changed it.

Bob the Minion nicked off with the sword........................................

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

 

[jjb1970]

I should stress that I have zero issue with training and management initiatives to eradicate prejudice, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and all the other forms of discrimination from the workplace. I would hope no reasonable person would object to that. My objection is to poor quality training which achieves nothing beyond becoming a subject of derision or which promotes the same bigoted stereotypes as the very behaviours the training is supposed to be countering.

[Ozexpatriate]

43 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I should stress that I have zero issue with training and management initiatives to eradicate prejudice, xenophobia, sexism, homophobia and all the other forms of discrimination from the workplace.

They can get a bad rap because they can make people uncomfortable - and based on their behaviour, some people should be uncomfortable.

 

I'm sure some of them are poorly taught, and some have a big 'cringe' factor.

 

There are many classes in a professional setting (separate from an educational setting where students know they have to 'deal with it' to matriculate) where an instructor without personal experience gets tuned out, whether or not the material is relevant. I've seen this happen regularly in sales training. Experienced sales people* - the intended target of the class - will be disruptive in a class, despite excellent instruction material, if the instructor did not have first hand experience in sophisticated selling roles.

 

* who want to do things their way / not change

 

Edited May 8, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

Now that the deed is done, when does the stoone of scoone get to go home to Scotland?

 

Does it get a guard of kilted Royal Regiment of Scotland soldiers, piped out of the Abbey by the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?

 

Or do a couple of strong lads in grey coveralls stuff it in a white van on the down low?

[Hroth]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Now that the deed is done, when does the stoone of scoone get to go home to Scotland?

 

Does it get a guard of kilted Royal Regiment of Scotland soldiers, piped out of the Abbey by the Pipes and Drums of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards?

 

Or do a couple of strong lads in grey coveralls stuff it in a white van on the down low?

 

It'll be bundled up in bubblewrap and shipped up back to Scotland via courier.

 

Evri, possibly....

 

[polybear]

4 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

My objection is to poor quality training which achieves nothing beyond becoming a subject of derision or which promotes the same bigoted stereotypes as the very behaviours the training is supposed to be countering.

 

It does of course achieve that all-important goal that it was intended for in the first place:

It allows HR to put a tick in the box.

 

42 minutes ago, Hroth said:

It'll be bundled up in bubblewrap and shipped up back to Scotland via courier.

 

Evri, possibly....

 

 

Then delivered by chucking it over the wall.  Of the wrong house fifty miles away.  Broken

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a grey but brightening Charente.   Most of the bees have been taken just a few hundred stragglers left, who will, hopefully, be removed today.  Drinks and nibbles in celebration of the new king were had with friends, both French and English, last night.  

 

Today is another bank holiday in honour of Liberation day.  We are due to assemble at the Mairie at 11.30 to process to the war memorial before returning to the Mairie for Cognac and nibbles.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

Bear here.....

Up at silly o'clock (0530)...bluddy No. 1's....

Bear watched part of some sing song in London on the Telly - the rest is recorded but as to whether or not I'll bother watching it is debateable.  I saw a few bits mentioned on the news afterwards - sacking Paddington in favour of that stupid gobby p1g was a big, big mistake in this Bear's Book.  I thought the lighting trick done with drones looked clever though - over to you, Puppers....

 

Today is still designated as MIUABGAD - architrave maybe, or possibly put the lining paper on the last remaining section of wall (immediately below the Bannister).  Or if I get really keen then a combination of both....

 

In other news:

A new angle I've not seen before:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/cars/news/sheer-weight-of-electric-vehicles-could-sink-our-bridges/ar-AA1aRpUq?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=b2725992686446a3bf683278702dc3e0&ei=58

 

Bear's Sunday Funnies:

 

 

One for Puppers:

 

 

How it used to be:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One for Puppers:

 

 

 

 

One for GDB:

 

 

I was in my garden this morning and the neighbour peered over the fence and said. “What are you doing?”
“I'm putting all my plants in alphabetical order” I said.
She replied “Really? I don't know how you find the time!”
"Oh that's easy" I said, “Its right next to the sage.”

 

 

In the bar a fellow finishes his drink, looks inside his jacket pocket, then orders another.
The same sequence 3 times,
The barman said “I've been bringing you drinks all night long, but you gotta tell why you keep looking in the jacket pocket.”
The man said, “I keep looking at a photo of my wife, and when she starts to look good, I know it's time to go home.”

 

 

Hello?”
“Hi honey this is Daddy. Is Mommy near the phone?”
“No Daddy. She’s upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Paul.”
After a brief pause, Daddy says, “But honey, you haven’t got an Uncle Paul.”
“Oh yes I do, and he’s upstairs in the room with Mommy, right now.”
Brief Pause.
“Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy that Daddy’s car just pulled into the driveway.”
“Okay Daddy, just a minute.”
A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone. “I did it Daddy.”
“And what happened honey?” he asked.
“Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser and now she isn’t moving at all!”
“Oh my God!!! What about your Uncle Paul?”
“He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I guess he didn’t know that you took out the water last week to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I he isn’t moving either.”
Then Daddy says, “Swimming pool? Is this 486-5731?”

 

 

During lunch at work, I ate 3 plates of beans (which I know I shouldn't). When I got home, my husband seemed excited to see me and exclaimed delightedly, "Darling I have a surprise for dinner tonight." He then blindfolded me and led me to my chair at the dinner table. I took a seat and just as he was about to remove my blindfold, the telephone rang. He made me promise not to touch the blindfold until he returned and went to answer the call.

The beans I had consumed were still affecting me and the pressure was becoming unbearable, so while my husband was out of the room I seized the opportunity, shifted my weight to one leg and let one go.

It was not only loud, but it smelled like a fertilizer truck running over a skunk in front of a garbage dump! I took my napkin from my lap and fanned the air around me vigorously. Then, shifting to the other leg, I ripped off three more. The stink was worse than cooked cabbage. Keeping my ears carefully tuned to the conversation in the other room, I went on releasing bombs like this for another few minutes. The pleasure was indescribable!

Eventually the telephone farewells signalled the end of my freedom, so I quickly fanned the air a few more times with my napkin, placed it on my lap and folded my hands back on it feeling very relieved and pleased with myself.

My face must have been the picture of innocence when my husband returned, apologizing for taking so long.

He asked me if I had peeked through the blindfold, and I assured him I had not.

At this point, he removed the blindfold, and twelve dinner guests seated around the table, with their hands to their noses, chorused, "Happy Birthday!"

 

Bear Gone.

 

[iL Dottore]

In regards to all these trainings being referred to, Captain Cynical has only one such training for his minions: Misanthropy in The Workplace.

 

Basically, it teaches minions that ALL people are “a bit suss” and “well dodgy” until proven otherwise on an individual basis.

 

And to be “proven otherwise” depends upon the individual’s character and not because of any external factor like race, religion or amorous orientation.

 

Seems to work well enough…

[roundhouse]

8 hours ago, Barry O said:

Had a busy day at the office. Start of mat h was delayed.. started at 3pm, 30 overs per team. First innings very slow..excellentvtea, then as we got near the result a batter took a ball right on his hand. As a doctor he recognised that he had broken his hand. The delay meant the game was late finishing so I missed out on having a pint orvtwo with @roundhouseand his good lady. Pah!

 

Baz

Foleys wasnt busy but a couple of very noisy groups so we didnt stay longer than for a pint.  Anywhere with outside seating was rocking, so probably just aswell you didnt make it into the city.

 

Train home this morning.

[TheQ]

The latest ethnic origin figures for the UK

Asian/Asian British: Indian 2.3%

Asian/Asian British: Pakistani 1.9%

Black*3%

Mixed 2%

Other 3.7%

White 87.2%

Other is often those of Arab / north African or similar descent.

So 12.9 % of non white origin.

Since half of those ish are women,  that means about 6.5% male.

 

Even white British women are unlikely to join the military let alone those from other cultures especially Muslim. That fairly reduces the chances of non white recruits.

It also should be remembered that much of the above increase in ethnic people is fairly recent, so many are disqualified from joining the military as they are not born in the UK and may not have British or an a allowed citizenship.

 

Mooring Awl,

After a couple of hours yesterday lying flat on my back whatever it was causing the back pain went back where it should be. This meant I could walk around fairly easily but with the odd sharp reminder not to do anything stupid. Pink pills were taken when I got home, and before bed.

 

Sleep, 1 hour, woke up cold still on top of the bed, 1 hour woke up hot being in the bed. 1 hour woke up disturbed by SWMBO arriving in bed. 1 hour, oh sod it, gave up went to sofa to watch TV.. fell asleep for 4 hours.

 

You'll have seen my points on my last employers race relations/ ethics carp in the past, usually a tick box exercise, usually aimed at managerial / customer facing personnel. Usually totally irrelevant to the majority of staff.

 

At this point Ben the I want out Collie arrived, getting the new riggers boots on was difficult, as they are recently out of their packing, the tops keep closing, and bending over to open the tops brought a reminder from my back... Then cramp joined in ....

 

Very heavy dew out there, blue skies , little wind.

Car heard to the south east, large engine little silencing, lots of reving up and slowing down, as it hammered up the country roads, eventually disappearing off to the north . The distance to through roads in those direction varies from a couple of miles down to half a mile then backup to a mile and a half.

Studied the bluebells out there, unfortunately many appear to be Spanish, I'm in two minds whether to try to dig out the foreigners (back permitting), or to swamp them by seeding more British bluebells..

 

The North Norfolk news(paper), had a big piece on bluebells being swamped out by Alexander. I'm sure this is partly due to the reduction of verge cutting so allowing the Alexander to spread . Each Alexander plant can put out 9000 seeds.... Driving down our road is going through a deep cutting of Alexander at the moment.

 

We've recorded last night's music event, so we can fast forward through the dross and past it performers.

 

Plans for today,

No bending over or lifting,

A delivery arrived yesterday of the two needed cables plus glues of magic and super varieties.

Therefore much of today day will be in the new computer room, while tomorrow evening I can fix bits of plastic together.

 

Time to... Carefully head to the kitchen, for a muggacoffee and breaky.

[Barry O]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

Foleys wasnt busy but a couple of very noisy groups so we didnt stay longer than for a pint.  Anywhere with outside seating was rocking, so probably just aswell you didnt make it into the city.

 

Train home this morning.

Foleys is owned by Black Sheep.. who went into administration last week....

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Well knock me down with a feather.. its raining again.. (any other fans of  Supertrampon here?)

 

Today will involve doing .. notalot. We have a facetime  catch up with Dr Eldest Herbert. But nothing else planned.. muddling may be attempted.

 

I have to do an ECB EDI course..couldn't do it in Oz or NZ as it decided we weren't in Britain.

 

Ihave a fair few friends who are from allsorts of faiths, cultures and colours. We are all the same.. force feeding some people with what to do or not to do just let's a vocal minority get more steamed up about some subjects..

 

I did a fair bit of training over the years..not everyone has the skills and character to deliver good training.

 

Time for my mugatea.

 

Stay safe and enjoy, if you can,  your time today wherever you are.

 

Baz

 

PS I would suggest that no one should ever upset Penny Mordaunt while she has a sword in her hands....

[jjb1970]

I plead guilty to being a Supertramp fan, I have their albums on my phone as FLAC files. My favourite song is Even in the Quietest Moments, not their most famous but I love it.

[jamie92208]

Ir is my sad duty to report three more murders most fowl.  All our three remaining cluckbirds were killed in the night, probably by a stonemartin.  CSI have investigated and found two brown and one white crime scenes.  One of the bodies has gone, the other two were in the run and the neighbours garden.  

 

We've enjoyed having them and the last eggs provided a lovely quiche for last night's bun fight. We've decided to clean Cluckingham Palace out but not replace them for the time being.  Young Emily, who was due to arrive on Thursday, before Rachel got Ill, has been told that they've gone to a farm to be with other friends. 

 

 

Jamie

Edited May 8, 2023 by jamie92208

[jamie92208]

8 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I plead guilty to being a Supertramp fan, I have their albums on my phone as FLAC files. My favourite song is Even in the Quietest Moments, not their most famous but I love it.

I saw them at Nottingham in 1971 or 72.  The Logical Song always reminds me of driving a rented Nissan through the Rockieson on our honeymoon in 79 with it on the radio. 

 

Jamie

Edited May 8, 2023 by jamie92208

[New Haven Neil]

I love the live Supertramp album, 'Paris'.  Simply superb.

 

Good morning world, from a damp, windy rock.  Bank holiday innit.

 

We're supposed to be taking Jayne out for lunch, but no idea where to go. It is a bit of a lottery  as some places are closed Mondays, some will be heaving, some will be expecting to be busy but not due to above weather.  Best guess....who knows.  A few restaurants have succumbed to trading pressures recently, the cost of foodstuffs here is beyond a joke.  We're used to paying a bit more than over the water, but it is getting silly.

 

 

[airnimal]

I have requested the Supertramp song  Dont leave me now for my wake when I pop my clogs. 

My wife thinks I am morbid. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I was feeling very sleepy last night, probably due to being up the night before with the sciatica. I did get seven hours solid sleep and then dozed for another hour. Very little sign of arthritis or sciatica this morning but pills have been taken.

[DaveF]

A thoroughly wet morning and still a bit fresh.  Apperently the rain may stop about teatime.

 

So far the housework is done and the first load of washing, which is now drying.  Shortly the second lot will go on.

 

Then I'll be amending the Asda order to be delivered tomorrow, there seem to be a number of items I don't need, it must be the diet.  I think the rest of the day will be part model making and part sorting out photos again.  I also have a couple of magazines to read and yesterday's crosswords from the paper to attempt.

 

I don't think bank holidays are much use after retirement.

 

David

[jjb1970]

27 minutes ago, airnimal said:

I have requested the Supertramp song  Dont leave me now for my wake when I pop my clogs. 

My wife thinks I am morbid. 

 

Probably better than Give a Little Bit.....terrific song but a bit of a cliche at funerals and charity events, it is regularly murdered on railway station concourses at the BBC kiddies telethon time.

[45156]

13 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Certainly in some US reporting with "The lady in blue" featuring in headlines. Now I am probably more familiar with British institutions than the 'average' American but arcana such as "Lord President of the Privy Council" needed to be explained to me.

Not really sure what it meant, but whatever her title, she carried off her duties admirably.