Early Risers.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I wouldn't wish that smoke on anyone. It is interesting however, when it happens in New York City, it is the lead national story on the nightly network news (broadcast from New York).

 

When the same conditions happen in a west coast city (even a big one like San Francisco) it isn't covered until 15 minutes in.

At the risk of being all "Thats not a knife THIS is a knife!"

 

 

 

Oops too late.

 

PM2.5  peak concentrations in New York on Wednesday :  868ppm

PM2.5 peak concentrations  in Western Sydney 10/12/2019: 2200ppm

 

Not attempting to take away any of the seriousness of the current situation though, here levels sat around 300 to 400 for much of December and that was pretty awful so can picture what NY is going through.

 

One difference though is seeing all the warnings and so on given to those in New York about not going out in it.

 

In comparison.......

 

 So are we in Australia    A)tougher,      B)dumber       or C)is eucalyptus smoke just like living in a giant Vics vaporub  world!

[Ozexpatriate]

44 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

unless convicted of a subsequent crime while here ...

In which case it was off to Port Macquarie. (Or Norfolk Island, or Macquarie Harbour etc).

[monkeysarefun]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In which case it was off to Port Macquarie. (Or Norfolk Island, or Macquarie Harbour etc).

Or to Port Arthur, where you could get the chance to work on the railway!

[Ozexpatriate]

32 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Not attempting to take away any of the seriousness of the current situation though, here levels sat around 300 to 400 for much of December and that was pretty awful so can picture what NY is going through.

Mad dogs and Aussies go out in the wildfire smoke. NYC had the worst air quality of any large city in the world on Wednesday. It was a bit of a wake-up call for them.

 

I did see a clip on the news of west coast US Senators in Washington saying "now you know what we've been dealing with for years".

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

17 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

you could get the chance to work on the railway!

I never noticed the tree ferns in the background or the sawn transverse tree in that sketch before - even though I've seen it for many a year.

 

The tree ferns are a uniquely Tassie and authentic detail.

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

PM2.5  peak concentrations in New York on Wednesday :  868ppm

PM2.5 peak concentrations  in Western Sydney 10/12/2019: 2200ppm

What is this ppm data? (Parts per million doesn't make sense for PM2.5 - µg/m^3 is a more meaningful measure of PM2.5 concentration - density of particles in a volume.)

 

According to one source, New York had a US-AQI of 405 (out of 500) on Wednesday. From here, this represents a concentration of 356.5 µg/m^3 of PM2.5). (Looking at IQAir the highest was 303 µg/m^3.)

 

The NSW government states that:

Quote

The highest daily PM2.5 level reached 560 µg/m3, 22 times the benchmark, at Wagga Wagga North in the South-west Slopes on 5 January 2020 due to bushfire smoke.

...

The Katoomba air quality monitoring station in the Blue Mountains and Lithgow Air Watch Project recorded 436 µg/m3 (17 times the benchmark) on 26 December 2019.

Clearly all of these are pretty bad, but the orders of magnitude are roughly similar. (I don't know what the ppm data means.)

 

Edited June 9, 2023 by Ozexpatriate
µg

[monkeysarefun]

16 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What is this ppm data? (Parts per million doesn't make sense for PM2.5 - ug/m^3 is a more meaningful measure of PM2.5 concentration - density of particles in a volume.)

 

According to one source, New York had a US-AQI of 405 (out of 500) on Wednesday. From here, this represents a concentration of 356.5 ug/m^3 of PM2.5). (Looking at IQAir the highest was 303 ug/m^3.)

 

The NSW government states that:

Clearly all of these are pretty bad, but the orders of magnitude are roughly similar. (I don't know what the ppm data means.)

 

 

Yes I made a misreading of the units based on a paragraph that had a whole heap of different kinds of air quality readings, it should by micrgrams per cubic metre as you say.

 

I cant find the  original government air quality records which were published on the day of the high values I mentioned, best I can do is paragraph 3 from the Guardian at the time.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/dec/10/nsw-bushfires-doctors-sound-alarm-over-disastrous-impact-of-smoke-on-air-pollution

 

 

Here though are some regional readings of the same time which show extreme levels were also  achieved in some areas (ug/m3 values..)

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

5 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Here though are some regional readings of the same time which show extreme levels were also  achieved in some areas

No question that the NSW bushfires in 2019/20 created worse air quality. The numbers will vary a lot based on hourly/daily sampling and proximity to the fire.

 

Bear in mind that the fires in Quebec are centered around ~900km from NYC. (About as far away as Broken Hill from western Sydney.)

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a sunny Charente.  Departure day has arrived so a little bit of peace and quiet before we start to pack the car and close shutters etc.  All being well, this time tomorrow we will be on the high seas heading for Portsmouth and then Bournemouth. 

 

Ttfn. 

 

Jamie

[iL Dottore]

My thanks to all for your Birthday Wishes - much appreciated.

 

In all, it was an enjoyable and low-key day. Most pleasant except (and @polybear may need to take a few deep breaths, steel himself and sit down for this) THERE WAS NO CAKE!, NOT EVEN A TINY CUPCAKE WITH A SOLITARY CANDLE!!!

 

To compound this shocking state of affairs, at dinner THERE WERE NO CHIPS!!!

(can someone please pass PB the smelling salts?)
 

OK! OK! In the interest of veracity, accuracy and “tellin the troof wot mum said I shud”, I must say that I’m really not much of a cake eater and we usually don’t have birthday cakes. The reason there were no chips was because we had a Thai meal (which really was disappointing).
 

We‘d gone to a recommended Thai restaurant (knowing that it was expensive but supposedly very good) and although pleasant, it certainly wasn’t worth the money (£172 for two - yes really!) it was bland (my supposed hot Duck dish [two chillies next to the item on the menu] couldn’t have been blander if they had only waved a picture of a chilli at the food), the choice was limited and not exciting (they didn’t even have Pad Thai on the menu - how weird is that? A Thai restaurant not serving Pad Thai. A bit like going to chippy and finding out that they don’t do chips….) and the mark up on two Singha beers (330 mL), a Mai Thai cocktail, a bottle of water and two expresso was outrageous (these few drinks were over a third of the bill!)

 

Though the meal was pleasant (especially as I was in the exalted and prestigious company of Mrs iD), I won’t be going back there. I don’t mind paying £££ for a good meal, but for that sort of money I don’t want “that was pleasant” I want “Oh wow, that’s amazing”

 

But, hey-ho, so it goes!
 

Enjoy POETS day.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl 

A very poor night, such ever side was down became painful after a while, at intervals of half an hour to an hour. This wasn't helped by an errant bird scarer which has been going bang all night.

 

I needed to get up, which awoke Ben the now sleeping Collie , so we've been on patrol, it's definitely warmer than it has been though it's still very breezy. No smoke left from the bone fire, I'll rake out any metal tomorrow for the recycling bin, the ashes will go in the raised bed.

 

I've ordered a hundred metre roll of 2mm dyneema, this is to use in the striking up of the loom. Looms use a lot of string between treadles, lamms, shafts, and the rollers on the overhead beam.

This is an 8 shaft loom, SWMBOs is setup at the moment as a 4 shaft so only half the amount of string in the picture. But it can be upgraded to a 8 shaft.. bottom treadles hinged at the rear, middle lamms hinged on the left, top is the bottom shaft, very top, bottom part of the lifting mechanism.  SWMBO's lifting mechanism has 3 horizontal rollers up there, when rigged.

 

A lot of the awake periods overnight, was spent considering a seat for the loom, SWMBO is only little, so has to sit forward to reach peddles, beater, roller release leavers and winding handle ( looks like a small ship wheel). The problem being there is a beam across the front of the loom at waist height and the stretcher near the floor. A trial of using a normal chair found her being human origami trying to get in there.

 

Time I moved again , I have to make an exhibit of myself at the radar museum.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

@iL Dottore shame the Thai food was poor.. the restaurants I have been to in Leeds have all provided food with plenty of flavours.

 

Her indoors is off volunteering today.. my hip has been reminding me that it is unhappy.. didn't sleep well at all.

 

Time to drink my tea and have a shower..

 

Enjoy your day!

 

Baz

[polybear]

9 hours ago, Erichill16 said:

Thought group must have folded as you’ve no5 mentioned it recently.

Made anything exciting recently?

 

Not exactly "exciting" - more "useful" (hopefully); the current project is a cutting table when using a Jeweller's Saw (one of the Tutors at Missenden Abbey had one and Bear thought "that looks rather useful").  At the moment I'm tending to concentrate on simpler, quicker projects rather than anything too involved & time consuming (so that 7.25" Hush Hush is gonna have to wait) just in case the Club folds, which is a very real threat.

Bear & a couple of College Buddies are taking one of the Tutors (who's currently off sick) out to lunch next week and we hope to learn more.

 

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

The good news is that he has 7500 happy Birthday videos on his channel so every ER can get a personalised one from now on.

 

Robert gets 2!

 

https://www.youtube.com/@HappyBirthdaySinger/search?query=robert

 

Bear wasn't very hopeful 😢.....but even Bear gets one!! (well, two actually - a short one and a quick one).  YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO.................

@PupCam Gets one too (Puppy), as does @The White Rabbit (bunny).

None for @Happy Hippo , @monkeysarefun  or @Grizz though ☹️ - but Grizz is welcome to borrow Bear's (just bring it back afterwards though).

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

My thanks to all for your Birthday Wishes - much appreciated.

 

In all, it was an enjoyable and low-key day. Most pleasant except (and @polybear may need to take a few deep breaths, steel himself and sit down for this) THERE WAS NO CAKE!, NOT EVEN A TINY CUPCAKE WITH A SOLITARY CANDLE!!!

 

To compound this shocking state of affairs, at dinner THERE WERE NO CHIPS!!!

(can someone please pass PB the smelling salts?)
 

 

NO CAKE??  NO CHIPS??😭

Well at least you had Pizza.

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

We‘d gone to a recommended Thai restaurant (knowing that it was expensive but supposedly very good) and although pleasant, it certainly wasn’t worth the money (£172 for two - yes really!)

 

Bear needs a "Fainted" emoji......   😲

(edit:  You could've had a Deltic for that - and a couple of Twix's)

 

Bear here......

Today's fun sees...more Architrave work.....

Also a bit of planning for the College Project (I need to work out the dimensions for a clamp to secure the Saw Table to a bench); I also have Sainsbury's delivering the shopping order this afternoon - it seems that four items are out of stock (the most serious being no mint sauce), and as I'd selected "no substitutes" there won't be any.

 

In other news.....

No idea if they passed or not:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-latin-america-65852316

 

Jeez, it's half eight - need to get the little furry ar5e in gear.......

BG

Edited June 9, 2023 by polybear

[iL Dottore]

59 minutes ago, polybear said:

…NO CAKE??  NO CHIPS??😭

 

 

Well at least you had Pizza.

Nope! No pizza neither. 

Not that I missed much. Even the freshly made pizzeria pizzas here are only marginally better than a 2 for 99p frozen jobbie from elCheapo Supermarket.

 

In fact, the only place I’ve ever had a decent pizza was in Naples when I had a plain Margherita. 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. No arthritis/sciatica this morning but the pollen count is high. When I went to Tess Coes yesterday I bought a large* bag with not only the normal hand holds but some longer ones that make good shoulder straps, very handy for carrying the washing upstairs. *At least 50% bigger than the usual bags.

[Sidecar Racer]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

In other news.....

 

No idea if they passed or not:

 

 

 No , just a trip to the hospital .    😎

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

 

@iL Dottore Belated birthday greetings. Glad you had a good day.

 

Hot and sunny. Shame I have a dental appointment followed by C&C groceries.

Next hour or two: shoving Henry around and sorting out the cupboards and fridge in preparation.

 

Twiddle on the fiddle flute progressing slowly - two 3-note phrases added yesterday, though I had to rack my brain this morning to remember how to play them - I was sorely tempted to re-watch the video but I worked it out in the end which boosted my faith in the ageing brain cells! There is hope for me yet! 🤣

 

Gottago - Henry is waiting....!!!!

 

Take care. Be good. Enjoy the day.

Polly

[TheSignalEngineer]

When I was looking at some family history I was particularly interested in one branch on the North Staffs side. My first information came from a great aunt who although about 90 at the time helped with drawing up a tree of over 100 people. Checking her memories for documentary evidence I only found two errors in the whole lot. 

What I did find that the main name in that branch had been very localised and early DNA testing pointed to almost 95% with that name could be linked to a particular small area. 

During the 1745 uprising and Bonnie Prince Charlie's march to Derby it was reputed that he stayed on property owned by the family. Some had remained Catholic supporters so would have been sympathetic to the cause. 

During my delving into history I found that someone in America had written about the family. According to him the name was unknown over there in early settlement, but suddenly around 1750 a few hundred turn up at one location. Sounds like they could have made a sharp exit around 1746.

 

[DaveF]

I know I'm late checking this morning but I have been awake for almost six hours, starting with a mug of tea, then getting up and having breakfast.  It started very dull, it is still grey but the sun has been out a few times, each time for about 5 or 10 minutres.

 

Then I got busy - that will have to wait until I get to the end of the story later today, but it involved a car trip straight after breakfast with three destinations before I returned home about thirty minutes ago.

 

I have had an e mail from my energy supplier, Scottish Power, asking me to reduce my payment to them from 1st July.  It was £208/month, they suggest £116/month.  I have decided to pay them £130/month which over the year will about halve the current credit balance I have with them.  It also allows for the expected (hopefully) small increase in prices next winter.  Naturally I am feeling pleased.  I never ask them to return any credit balance to me, I just deduct it from the monthly payment so it works out over a year.  Fortunately they let me set my own direct debit amount (within reason).

 

Soon be lunch time now - a decision awaits - scrambled eggs or a simple salad?

 

David

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Nope! No pizza neither. 

Not that I missed much. Even the freshly made pizzeria pizzas here are only marginally better than a 2 for 99p frozen jobbie from elCheapo Supermarket.

 

In fact, the only place I’ve ever had a decent pizza was in Naples when I had a plain Margherita. 

Best pizza I ever had was when my daughter worked in Italy. She took us to a restaurant where she was living in Monza. 

Whilst we were waiting outside for our table two English ladies turned up. Now Liz looked the complete part in Italian clothing and a suntan. She was giving a waiter our order in advance, conversing with him in fluent Italian. When she had finished the ladies tried to ask her what the food was like in their best holiday phrasebook translation. There was general hilarity all round when she answered in rapid conversational Italian before repeating in English in  her best Brummie accent.

[woodenhead]

Whilst I love a Pizza Hut Vegetarian or Supreme  pizza, all the cheese also loves my waist, but I have discovered that not all pizza is cheesy.

 

Enter the pizza marinara, no cheese, and lots of other toppings like veg or meat - a lot healthier.

 

Had something like this when I last went to Pizza Express and chose from the Vegan menu - there was hardly any vegan cheese on it and really it didn't need that either.  So I can still enjoy a pizza with all the flavour, just no cheese.

 

However, I will be treating myself to a Pizza Hut Veg hot one in July, delightful.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

I have had an e mail from my energy supplier, Scottish Power, asking me to reduce my payment to them from 1st July.  It was £208/month, they suggest £116/month.  I have decided to pay them £130/month which over the year will about halve the current credit balance I have with them.  It also allows for the expected (hopefully) small increase in prices next winter.  Naturally I am feeling pleased.  I never ask them to return any credit balance to me, I just deduct it from the monthly payment so it works out over a year. 

 

Bear is with EDF - they allow you to "PAYG" every month, meaning you pay for what you've used - no more & no less.  It means they don't get to sit on oodles of your money cos' you're in credit.

 

Bear here......

Architrave around the front door now completed (apart from some beading once fitted n' painted) - all planned n' measured n' cut n' drilled n' fitted to the wall n' removed n' sanded n' ready for painting.  Did you get that?

 

In other news:

Sainsbugs are due anytime from 3 till 4pm.  Can't wait.

 

BG

[The Lurker]

17 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

Well ... actually, the ancient Greeks did*. They saw it as a moral duty to contribute to their society which had allowed them to prosper. By the richer citizens giving money to the state, they were helping others, giving them a chance to better themselves, enriching society as a whole.

 

. 

Japanese companies vie to be on the list of of the top taxpayers in Japan. It is kind of honour. They are equally as adept as many other companies when comes to avoiding other countries' tax.

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Nope! No pizza neither. 

Not that I missed much. Even the freshly made pizzeria pizzas here are only marginally better than a 2 for 99p frozen jobbie from el EXPENSIVE Supermarket.

 

In fact, the only place I’ve ever had a decent pizza was in Naples when I had a plain Margherita. 

 

There you go Doktaree I've corrected that for you. The Co-op is not cheap I'll have you know.

[Tony_S]

We will heading south and easterly next week . So I have been sorting out all the documents we need. Of course the ones I couldn’t find were where I thought they were but on my initial search I had missed them. We haven’t needed all the documents and travel insurance policies for a few years now. I will clean the car soon and make sure I put my UK sticker on. 
I know I don’t need breathalysers for France now. I have all the yellow vests and warning triangle as before. Has anything else changed. The travel info about taking your own dairy or meat snack seems to have become “don’t” , though bananas are permitted it would seem.  Has anyone actually had their sandwich confiscated?
One piece of info would be helpful. Do most parking payment devices still take cash? Will any accept a debit card? 
On one of the weekend days we are in France we may drive to Switzerland  to meet our Nephew and his partner who live in Zurich. We will choose somewhere between where we are and there. 
Tony