Early Risers.

[Hroth]

4 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Brown Snakes - ,like Daleks -  are meant to not tend to  climb things but the number that get found in weird off-the-ground spots, eg:

 

 

Perhaps that one had been picked up by a rather unintelligent bird, which then decided it wasn't worth the bother and dropped it mid-air.  The snake landed on the vehicle roof and is now clinging to the aerial, wondering how the heck its going to get down....

 

Its a tough life!

 

[polybear]

Bear here....

Awake n' up at 05.20 again...at least it makes for an early start. though today sees Bear sanding architrave in the back garden and to de-dust afterwards I use the Air Compressor (which is rather loud) and I won't make noise before 8am on a weekday** so as not to upset the neighbours.

Then it'll be danglin' on the paint brush again....

 

(** 0900 on a Saturday, 1000 on a Sunday).

 

Some good news - I placed one of the two lengths of now fully-painted architrave into position and the upper wall colour does seem "acceptable" after all; if I'd had my time again I'd choose something with a bit more of a contrast but I can live with the current deal as it saves probably a hundred quid's worth of new paint and the effort of having to repaint (probably 2 coats) the entire H/S/L walls.  The upper colour is the same as used in the Lounge - so spare paint stored in the loft (for any repairs) will do for both locations; it also works well in that it's light (in a dark location) and pretty neutral - I'll leave the whacky paint jobs to the likes of LLB on the telly.

 

Bear gone.

[Hroth]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

and to de-dust afterwards I use the Air Compressor (which is rather loud) and I won't make noise before 8am on a weekday** so as not to upset the neighbours.

Then it'll be danglin' on the paint brush again....

 

(** 0900 on a Saturday, 1000 on a Sunday).

 

What a public-spirited Bear!

 

Bravo!!!

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Long day yesterday but we'll worth it. Had an interesting match yesterday. A batter slapped a high pit he'd non bouncing ball to a fielder who caught it.. she wandered down the pitch on the way tothe boundaryas Icalledand signalled No Ball. The away team thenclained a run out.  This is covered by LW 31. The batter was given Not Out as she was under the misapprehension that she had been court. The away team coach got a bit uppity until my colleague produced the Law Book... my colleague was amazed I know the Laws so well. I then mentioned "The Spirit of Cricket" 

 

Time was then spent strangling wires on the club layout.

 

Today involves hanging washing out, mowing the jungles and, hopefully seeing the scaffolding taken down and cleared.

 

Enjoy your day!

Baz

[polybear]

11 hours ago, grandadbob said:

When I got home it was "suggested"  that "we really ought to do some gardening as the front garden in particular is a mess, oh and we need some more plants."  Not so excellent.  Big sigh from me but as I'd already said that for once I was pain free I couldn't really get out of it. 

 

@grandadbob GDB really, really needs to engage Brain first before coming out with reckless statements like that....

Oh yes, and practice the "oohing" and "aahing" - along with limping/bent double/struggling to get out of the chair/ etc. etc., as well as statements such as "Turdycurses, I can't get up again"** after SWMBO has insisted that those plants she bought earlier just HAVE to go in the garden and you've been nominated to kneel down and do it....

 

(**Other phrases are available...)

 

[TheQ]

Yep, often the case where the neighbours only have a 3 ft fence or a fence that is total waste of time. But won't let you touch it. So the only alternative is to put up a extra fence, but I've not seen anyone leave a 6 inch gap before. We put up a six foot solid fence against the post and wire fence belonging to the neighbours at our previous house. That was so the dogs couldn't escape...

 

Mooring Awl,

 Couldn't get to sleep last night only half an hour was achieved in bed, came down to the sofa, then got 4.5 hours... Not enough.

 

House central heating set to 17.5C, but during the winter, we have coal / wood fire in the living room. Which can easily hit 23C, if warmer than that, and at night, the living room door is opened, to donate heat to the rest of the house.

 

There are 3 native snakes to Britain,

The Adder, which is poisonous but only fatal to small children, and those who are sensitive to anaphylactic reactions

The Smooth snake,

The Grass snake,

There is also the slow worm, but that technically is a legless lizard.

 

There is one introduced species, from escaped pets, the Aesculapian snake, which il Dottore should be familiar with, it's the snake depicted round the staff of medical symbols. As depicted on the medical tag hanging round my neck .

 

Plans for today,

Fig tree pruning,

More work on that picture frame.

 

I'm getting big hints from Ben the I want to go out Collie

 

Time to move.

 

[AndyID]

1 hour ago, pH said:

I thought you got rattlers in Idaho? Or not in your part?

 

Idaho is a big state - it even has two time zones 🙂

 

Rattlers are in the Southern desert bits and likely in the deep canyons. It's probably too cold and wet for them up here.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Another dull, (with the occasional bright spell) sort of day here in England’s northwest corner, the temperature is currently 10C so it’s definitely getting warmer. Sheila is just finishing her breakfast and will then begin getting herself ready for her Zumba class, so I’m in the dining room perusing RMweb, keeping out of the way. My chauffeuring services will be required, so once I’ve dropped Sheila off at the church hall, I shall return home, make myself a muggertea and head off to the workshop to tidy it up ready for use for when Charlie calls round this afternoon. 
 

Back later

 

Brian

[tomparryharry]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

OK I was hoping someone else would ask this so I wouldnt have to because whenever  I do ask something about England  the answer will invariably be something like  "well obviously its because In 945AD King Hector The Inappropriate hid from a bunch of Roman Vikings in a gap between 2 fences and therefore decreed that ALL  English fences must henceforth have a 6 inch gap between them" and so on, but no one else  has, so here  goes:

 

 Why do you have a 6 inch gap between your back fence and the people behind?

 

Doesnt your land end at the point theirs starts? Perhaps the surveyors were working on say a 1:200 map and scaled up the boundary line on it, figuring a pencil line at 1:200 was a 6 inch line at full scale? So if its not an ancient law, or a popular  way to get around something like "The  Fencing  and Enclosed Lands Act of 1623" etc, nor a surveyors quirk then ..why?

 

You say you would be trespassing if you claimed it for yourself  but who's land would you be trespassing on? If it belongs to the people behind why did they not just use YOUR fence as their rear boundary rather than do themselves out of 6 inches of land as well as needlessly incur the cost of their own fence? If its not theirs then whos -  "The Crown?", some  land-holding gent like The Duke Of Bedford Vans? 

 

Gotta add, a 6 inch gap between fences here would be a scene out of a @polybear nightmare. Weeds and Kikuyu would grow rampant in it, creating a perfect environment for Eastern Browns and Red-Belly blacks in  the lower half, and a tangled mess of redback spider webs along the top half. Then in summer it would all  probably catch fire and burn your fence down.

 

 

 

Over here, our rear boundary  is also an ex-railway fence line, so everything is pretty well defined. We have a 600mm gap betwixt us & the neighbours, and as such, enjoy a good rapport  with all of them. The remnants of said wire fence have been replaced long ago with a wooden version, and the gap is a nature corridor. We get squirrels, etc, using it. The 'gap' as such, is an added security bonus, as any 'neer-do- wells' have 2 fences to encounter, instead of one. 

 

One real bonus, hitherto unrealised, is the social benefit gained. One neighbour came over to chat whilst observing me . One hour spent chewing the fat, and putting the world to rights is a very valuable tonic,  which provided my post from yesterday. 

[tomparryharry]

3 hours ago, AndyID said:

 

I 

 

Rattlers are in the Southern desert bits and likely in the deep canyons. It's probably too cold and wet for them up here.

 

Rattlers? Oh yes, we get rattlers!  Here's one! VROOM!!!  I do wish they would get that exhaust fixed.....

[DaveF]

About the gap between the fences at the back of my house.

 

Originally there was no gap, people along my road replaced the builder's original post and wire fence with "normal" 6' fence panels in the early 80s exactly on the boundary.  Apparently the people behind didn't like the mismatch as their gardens are a different sizes from ours (their houses are a bit bigger), so they saw bits of two people's fences from their windows.  They all put up their own fences about 6" on their side of the boundary so it looked better to them.  So as far as I am concerned that is their problem.

 

The reasons why we have big fences are obviously privacy and security but also because where I live being on the coast  is prone to gales and a lot of plants need protection from the wind - as do greenhouses and sheds or they blow away - that has happened in nearby gardens which are bigger or have lower fences.

 

This morning is a bit dull but fairly mild at it is likely to stay dry.  I am expecting a parcel around lunchtime so will not be too far from home.

 

David

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I don't have any double fences around my property but my fence between next door stops about a foot short of the boundary. Likewise the neighbours fence also stops short about the same distance so the (previous) owners put a fence at the bottom leaving a foot wide gap  between them and the property backing on to our gardens. This is wide enough for all sorts of wildlife including muntjac deer.

[tigerburnie]

We only have one snake around here, Grass snakes are slowly making their way into the borders with climate change, it's surprising how many Scots do not know that their local one is Britain's only venomous one'

Adder2 by tigerburnie, on Flickr

[polybear]

2 hours ago, tomparryharry said:

One real bonus, hitherto unrealised, is the social benefit gained. One neighbour came over to chat whilst observing me . One hour spent chewing the fat, and putting the world to rights is a very valuable tonic,  which provided my post from yesterday. 

 

Bear has 4ft fences in the back garden on both sides, whilst the one at the bottom is 6ft; I built the two side fences using concrete posts that'll need a JCB to shift (yes, really - there's more in the ground than usual and they're held in with a sh1tloadaconcrete).  Talking to the neighbours is no problem; one fence does have strong trellis with spiky stuff on top to act as a security deterrent (it borders the end house garden that was open to intruders at one point, though it has 6ft fences all round it now and is secure), whilst the previous neighbours (Bear's V.G. Buddy - who's SWMBO decided that moving was a good idea - b1tch🤬) in the other planted several bushes that give more privacy (Buddy said she'd like a 6ft fence there but as it's on my deeds she couldn't touch it 😁 and she didn't want to lose any garden.

As for the 6ft back fence - well Bear owns that too.  Turdycurses.  It'd be a b1tch to renew and would need access to the Ar5ehole's garden to do it properly - which is highly unlikely he'd ever agree to.  So I wouldn't ask - the Tenants would be more than happy though.  If he did ever find out and block me (I'm more likely to get someone to do the job though as they'll do it much quicker) then enough parts could be renewed from my side to make Bear Towers secure again (and look good) - and he'll be left with a fence line that looks sh1t from his side as part of it will be a view of a bluddy great prefab concrete shed......

 

[polybear]

Bear here....

Loadsa Architrave sanded** then de-dusted using the blow gun on the air compressor (dust doesn't hang around when being squirted with120psi); I also stripped the filters out of a couple of cheapo hand-held vacuums and blew them clean as well (they were totally fullash1t) - it's amazing just how well the things work afterwards.

I purchased architrave that was pre-primed - I shouldn't have bothered as the finish is very "orange peely" in places and after sanding I'll bung a couple of coats of primer on anyway.  TC's.

 

(**Bear predicts sore paws later....)

 

Right, Bear senses the approach of a Pizza....with Curly Fries.  Yahoooooooooo........

BG

 

[Hroth]

46 minutes ago, tigerburnie said:

We only have one snake around here, Grass snakes are slowly making their way into the borders with climate change, it's surprising how many Scots do not know that their local one is Britain's only venomous one'

Adder2 by tigerburnie, on Flickr

 

This is an Adder too...

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adder_(electronics)

 

There are also half-adders, but to illustrate one would be cruel...

 

 

 

Edited May 18, 2023 by Hroth
change of phrasing...

[Dave Hunt]

The subject of gaps between fences isn’t something that has ever concerned us. As far as I was aware the only legal stipulation has been whose responsibility it was to look after a particular boundary fence and that this was detailed in the title deeds. Whether we have just been lucky I don’t know but in all the places we have lived we have never had any trouble with neighbours and have only ever had single fences or hedges around our property.

 

Dave

[Sidecar Racer]

6 hours ago, Hroth said:

 

Perhaps that one had been picked up by a rather unintelligent bird, which then decided it wasn't worth the bother and dropped it mid-air.

 

 

It happens .

 

 

[TheQ]

I'll bet our neighbours ex wishes he'd installed a 6ft fence... His dog has escaped again.. he was round doing some gardening.

 

Meanwhile some fig tree trimming was done, but not where it needs to be done.

I'm excavating my way through the undergrowth. 6 barrows of burnables to the bone fire, two of soil / natural leaf mold to the raised bed. Much more Todo.

In breaks I was sat on a bit of telegraph pole, next to the comfrey.. the bees love that stuff..

 

The fig tree prune has turned in to a refurbishment of the area,  so some digging around the old well, it revealed a large slab, it's dropped from being level with well surround and path. Do i dig up fill under and level or just fill above with concrete?

 

It's been decided the comfrey bed will be raised and neatly fill between...

path across back of house,

Path to well,

Well,

and fig tree.

 

At that point Ben and me took the long walk, no other dogs seen. He's asleep, so will I shortly..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Hunt]

1 hour ago, Sidecar Racer said:

 

It happens .

 

 

 

In 1979 in Germany I was on final approach to land in a Phantom when a buzzard flew across in front of me. There was a loud and thump and I assumed that it was the bird but when the aircraft was inspected after landing the remains of a rabbit were found on the nose wheel door and elsewhere. We then realised that the buzzard must have had it in its claws then jettisoned it for manoeuvrability when my twenty tons of F4 appeared close by. Air traffic control confirmed that the buzzard had escaped apparently unharmed.

 

Dave

Edited May 18, 2023 by Dave Hunt

[TheQ]

A missing doggy has appeared....

 

Outside their front door.

 

 

Cold,

wet,

Limping,

Looking sorry for itself.

 

So I think it's fallen in, in one of  many dykes around here...

 

Meanwhile, I've had a good eyelid inspection, and a soak in the bath... I suspect the boiler is on the verge of failing, F23 error code again, and difficulty keeping heat coming out of the tap.

 

We'll keep it hobbling along for two weeks, 

A, in the hope of more outside heat if it goes off line awaiting bits,

B, we have an 8 week window with no other events booked... If something major happens.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all,

 

Another reasonably fine day here Upon the Jungle Hill of Strawberries where the warmer weather has caused sudden extreme growth in the triffid forest gardens and grounds.  And another tolerably good day at the House of Fun despite having to train the unwilling who was mostly asleep and clearly not interested in the job.  That doesn't make it easy.  

 

Dr. SWMBO was espied aboard a train we dispatched on her way to Something Really Interesting in Docklands.  She later messaged me to say she "thought she saw me".  You would think after all these years she might know for sure ......... 

 

Speaking of whom I have this afternoon submitted two compensation claims for her adventures on Tuesday evening.  Having been delayed for over 90 minutes at Selhurst due to a trespass incident (which then became a self-evacuation incident) she has provided me with her Uber receipt and train ticket.  The former was the easier to deal with.  A modest wait on the phone to Southern's customer services team ended with a knowledgable and helpful chap taking the details, advising the next steps and accepting that the incident has generated a very large number of quite high-value claims as many hundreds of people were kept waiting for up to two hours.  A few took taxis all the way home, he said, costing up to £250 each.  We expect a rather more modest settlement to be agreed within a reasonable timeframe.  

 

Next.  Delay Repay.  The industry standard for any delay more than (usually) 15 minutes for (nowadays) any reason.  Log into Southern's web form which required me to set up an account.  The web form was not working.  Refresh it.  Not working.  Call their Delay Repay team who advised I need to claim from the "operator" who had sold me the ticket.  In this case Rail Staff Travel.  I called them.  A Singularly unhelpful and diffident woman sternly told me it was not their responsibility and that I had to deal with Southern.  When pressed on the point that Southern had pushed me to RST she simply repeated the script as though reading it from a card.  No joy there, then.  Back to Southern and a web form which now was working but required me to change my password first.  And then the claim was entered.  It should be - it MUST be made - easier than this on a national portal to claim the refunds now enshrined in TOC / Franchisee agreements.  Not a good experience at all  

 

In other news we received confirmation overnight that the settlement for the Australian house had gone through as planned and that we are no longer in any way responsible for it.  The funds will transfer as soon as all the deductions and fees are processed.  We also get a respectable rebate on the insurance (pre-paid annually) and rates (ditto) meaning there will be enough in the bank when we meet them next week to set up a joint account for future needs.  Such as purchasing a future home for cash when the time comes.  Because we won't be able to get another loan given age and working status.  

 

So far it's been a reasonably goods week.  Let's hope we can ride that luck a little longer.  

[DaveF]

Those who read my post this morning will have assumed I was going to have a nice quiet day, so did I.

 

I had to go to church much earlier than usual as it was the service for Ascension Day which is very unlike our normal short communion with no music on Thursdays.  It was instead a full service with choir, anthem and hymns.  I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what was happening as it is a long time since I've been server at a service with music and there are more bits I could get wrong.  It all went well, fortunately I had checked where the vicar wanted to stand for the gospel reading as it was ina different spot from usual.  I also got in the right place for the procession and had got enough wine and wafers out.  I suspect that I may now be asked to serve at some of the Sunday services in due course.

 

While I was having my coffee after the service I was asked if I would take some photos at some future date and go to a meeting next month about a new web site for the churches together organisation in the town.  It is a long time since I've done any real web design, apart from the camera club which was very simple, so I hope I am only wanted to make suggestions as to layouts etc.  If it is more than that I may suggest they find someone a bit more up to date than me.

 

After that I had a short walk on the promenade, as far as I could without the toe hurting, I am still in sandals.  I think I will need the big dressing until at least the early part of next week.  On the way home I bought a pasty and a fruit slice for lunch for a change which were both very tasty.  I didn't sleep well last night as my toe hurt so I had a short nap and then went into the loft to put somethings out of the way for the time being.  I'd just done that when the doorbell rang with someone wanting to sell me a new drive, I diverted his attention by talking about my foot so he soon went away.

 

Then I went upstairs at about 2.45p.m. to continue sorting out photos.  After a few minutes I heard several sirens, not all that uncommon as there is a main road about 100 yards away parallel to my road.  Then I realised how loud they were and looked out of the window just as three fire engines and a fire officer's car arrived.  The second house along another road which has its junction about 20 yards from my house was on fire, I could see smoke coming out of the roof, but no flames.  It turns out that the ensuite had caught fire.  The fire engines left about ten minutes ago (4.40).  I don't know how much damage there was.   The house and the one attached to it now have all their doors and windows open presumably to let any remaining smoke out.  Of course everyone had gone outside to see what was happening, the fire officer reassured us all that no one was hurt and there was no danger.

 

I now hope the rest of the day wil be a bit more uneventful.

 

David

[polybear]

Bear here....

Danglin' on a brush completed...for today; another 3 coats still to do 😒 - and that's just to complete the architrave bits for the upstairs doorframes.  Then there's the bits for the two doorframes in the hall to do.....

Why not do all the bits at once?  Ideally I would, but I'd need somewhere large enough to do the job.  If anyone mentions the G-word......

And of course after that there's the skirting.....then the dado rail......

Yep, Turdycurses.

 

In other news....

How to really p1ss off the people working for you:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65637493

BG

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, DaveF said:

I'd just done that when the doorbell rang with someone wanting to sell me a new drive, I diverted his attention by talking about my foot so he soon went away.

 

Bear is getting increasingly p1ssed with recent phone calls from D.G. Scrotes which start with "Am I right in saying you're the home owner?"

At which point I hang up.  Next time I'll just put the phone next to Alexa and let them listen to Radio 2 (or Harry P.) for ten minutes.

 

10 minutes ago, DaveF said:

The second house along another road which has its junction about 20 yards from my house was on fire, I could see smoke coming out of the roof, but no flames.  It turns out that the ensuite had caught fire.  The fire engines left about ten minutes ago (4.40).  I don't know how much damage there was.   The house and the one attached to it now have all their doors and windows open presumably to let any remaining smoke out.  Of course everyone had gone outside to see what was happening, the fire officer reassured us all that no one was hurt and there was no danger.

 

 

This from the BBC News website today:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-65629502