Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, PupCam said:

 

 

* I'm far too young to have been one of them by at least a couple of years.  I'm more the flares and cheesecloth  sort of era 🤣

That's got me thinking of a certain young lady who liked cheesecloth shirts, tied across the midriff..... 

 

Jamie

[Darlington_Shed]

6 hours ago, DaveF said:

I live a very quiet (or is it boring) life.

 

Only boring if it makes you unhappy/dissatisfied, Dave. Since I retired Mrs Shed often asks if I'm not bored; reply is always "Nope... happy as a pig in the proverbial". I think I was born to be retired 😄

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

Well, I’m pleased to say that since I dispatched those 4 flies this morning, there haven’t been any more all day, which is a RESULT! Not to mention that Sheila is extremely happy about it to. Charlie is house and dog sitting whilst his plane siblings are on holiday, but he did call round this afternoon and he and I spent a very pleasant 3 hours in the workshop. He brought round a couple of figures that he’d built during there absence. Whereas I built 2 more inspection pits and prepared the track to go in them. 
 

It started to rain about an hour ago and it’s absolutely chuckinitdarn now, still it’s filling the sump up. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Actually August is usually cooler with higher temps mostly in July.

That said, we DID break the record Tuesday in the Twin Cities at 98F surpassing the previous record set in 1971.

That heat was the same system we had about a week or so earlier. With it we hit an all-time record high for August of 108°F / 42°C.

 

It was nice for a few days after that. Today sees a forecast high of 33°C and continued "moderate" air quality (flirting with "unhealthy for sensitive groups" most of the day).

 

Our "normal" high for Labor Day (next weekend) should be around 80°F / 27°C.

 

Chicago usually saw warm weather through September. It was not unusual to have the A/C on through the end of September and the furnace on for freezing mornings by October 15. Autumn here is usually more mellow.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

I had hoped to rename certain models of moving kettles on slim lines and one of those would have been 'Hobbes'. With the enthusiasm for slim models, perhaps I could create a 'Philosopher' class?

I like it. Even with just the English/Scottish/British ones - Hobbes, Locke, Priestley, Paine, Hume, Bentham, etc.

[BR60103]

16 hours ago, southern42 said:

 

Not ever having heard of this place, I googled it!

 

Polly:  unfortunately, the best view of the Tooth of Time is from downstream.  They put in a lot of concrete reinforcing on the upstream side. The falls also seem to have been reinforced.

 

 

[zarniwhoop]

53 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I like it. Even with just the English/Scottish/British ones - Hobbes, Locke, Priestley, Paine, Hume, Bentham, etc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9SqQNgDrgg (sorry, no idea how to embed it)

[jjb1970]

Boredom gets a bad rap, generally it indicates people are in a bit of a comfort zone and there's not much bad happening.

 

One of the unintended side benefits of years at sea is that I really don't mind solitude, a quiet life and keeping myself amused, which was invaluable during lock downs and when doing two weeks of quarantine in Singapore. I am happy to stay at home reading, listening to music or doing a bit of modelling. And I walk a lot with just me and the camera, I find walking to be a hugely satisfying way to get a bit of 'me time', just think about things and relax. Ditto going out with the camera.

[monkeysarefun]

This morning I decided it was time to take the winter cover off the ute and take it down the street for a wash. I cant remember when I last drove it, but it must have been a while because the clock was still on daylight saving time which ended back in April. It started first go though and  the idle  quickly settled down to a V8 burble. 

 

 

Once I'd taken it to the car wash I thought I'd go the long way home to blow out the cobwebs (literally, in the case of the bunch   of redbacks that always make their home in the rear wheel wells!) and to  dry the drips off.

 

I ended up doing just over 200km, due to rediscovering  the fun of driving a  6 speed manual V8 along the coastal route to Wollongong and south -  so the car got well and truly dried off and exercised. 

 

I stopped at the Mt Kiera lockout and as usual when I am in the ute, some bloke came over for a chat about cars and how much V8s are worth these days and how he sold a 1973 Monaro in 1995 for $3000 or whatever and the bloke he sold it to just sold it on for $200,000 and so on... If only we all had balls of crystal.

 

Here's the view up the coast towards Sydney

 

 

 

 

and a zoom in of Port Kembla Steel Works which combined with the local coal mines was the main source of district  jobs when I left school back in the 80's. Even though its past its heyday it still outputs $2 billion worth of steel products annually.

 

 

 

On the way back down the hill  I  saw a small sign to a town called Mt Kiera which I wasn't even aware was a place, I thought it was just a large hill with a lookout on it.

 

It turned out to be a small ex- coal mining town tucked away in a deep gorge, and what struck me about it was the seeming   resemblance to places I've seen on telly in the   southern US coal-mining areas, particularly the Appalachians. There however they are probably called something like "Whiperwill Holler" where here its more likely to be "Kookaburra Creek" or something.!. 

 

It shared many similarities - mountain slopes on all sides,  small wooden cottages hugging the roadsides and a couple of dogs barking from front verandahs. Main difference was that there was a bowling club in the middle of town which had a Saturday morning comp going on, I've never seen a bowlo in any  US versions. I'm sure there are many differences which make m y comparison a bit tenuous , but that's the vibe I got and I'm sticking to it!

 

I even found some comparison pics.  The lilies in the dam/creek were extremely fragrant.

 

Mt Kiera:

 

 

 

A mirror image US version?

 

 

 

Mt Kiera cottages:

 

 

Appalachian version

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

13 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

It shared many similarities - mountain slopes on all sides,  small wooden cottages hugging the roadsides and a couple of dogs barking from front verandahs.

Bet they listed to Slim Dusty back in the day - not much differently in spirit than Appalachia turned (mostly) Irish (or Scots-Irish) folk and African American musical traditions into country music.

 

Loretta Lynn wasn't called "the coal miner's daughter" for nothing.

[monkeysarefun]

12 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Bet they listed to Slim Dusty back in the day - not much differently in spirit than Appalachia turned (mostly) Irish (or Scots-Irish) folk and African American musical traditions into country music.

 

 

Quite possibly, though by the time I was old enough to know miners their soundtrack was 24/7 Cold Chisel!

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, Darlington_Shed said:

 

Only boring if it makes you unhappy/dissatisfied, Dave. Since I retired Mrs Shed often asks if I'm not bored; reply is always "Nope... happy as a pig in the proverbial". I think I was born to be retired 😄

I have a horrible feeling I’ll be working up until the day I die. I should have retired 2 years ago, but didn’t and even now - after indicating to my clients that I intended to step back from some of my projects - I’m still working two to three days/week. In fact, I find it rather strange NOT to be working on those days I manage to keep free.

 

Having said that, I’m in a much better job than most “wage slaves” inasmuch as the job…

• is an indoor job with no heavy lifting
• is one where I don’t get shot at, threatened or otherwise mistreated whilst at work
• allows me to set my own schedule 
• is definitely a WFH number

and the job…

• pays me an (almost) embarrassingly large numbers of Deltics.
• is incredibly fun and, frequently, incredibly easy to do

Maybe I’m just weird (NO comments PB!) but I just can’t imagine not working. I really don’t understand how someone can be workshy, ego ergo sum laboro I suppose.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

Boredom gets a bad rap, generally it indicates people are in a bit of a comfort zone and there's not much bad happening.

 

One of the unintended side benefits of years at sea is that I really don't mind solitude, a quiet life and keeping myself amused, which was invaluable during lock downs and when doing two weeks of quarantine in Singapore. I am happy to stay at home reading, listening to music or doing a bit of modelling. And I walk a lot with just me and the camera, I find walking to be a hugely satisfying way to get a bit of 'me time', just think about things and relax. Ditto going out with the camera.

There’s a damn few of us around @jjb1970. I think, nowadays, solitude and silence are avoided by most and regarded distrustfully by many. 
 

Looking at it from a psychological perspective, I wonder if this is because many seek validation-of-self externally  by interacting with and getting approval from others rather than internally through acquiring self-knowledge and being happy with oneself and in oneself*.

 

My late chum ChrisF was most certainly in the first camp, whilst I am emphatically in the second. Chris found the pandemic lockdown to be incredibly stressful and it took its toll on his wellbeing - because nearly everything he did was externally directed: going to concerts, meetings, clubs, Pride marches; whilst in my case the pandemic lockdown caused some minor inconveniences, but little else.

 

* mind you that doesn’t happen overnight. It can be quite a journey from the Woody Allen perspective (“my biggest regret in life was that I wasn’t somebody else“) to the  Popeye respective (“I am what I am”).

[jamie92208]

I think that I tend towards the internally driven camp  and have often done my best work alone. I didn't have any real problem with lock down as I had modelling to go at plus I spent a lot of time scanning images.  I have always been able to find solace sitting by a railway line watching trains.  Everyone to their own. 

Anyway yesterday was good as Andy and I were able to put the world to rights trainspotting

Then in the evening we had a good meal with some friends and some new neighbours.  We walked home looking at the dark and starry sky. 

 

Shortly it will be time to talk to a very busy four year old and her mums.   Then various jobs are needing to be done including rehanging a picture that came off the wall while we were out last night.  No damage apart from a broken string.  I will replace the string with wire. 

 

Regards to all and of course Sundry. 

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Blue sky and sunshine at the moment.  Patchy cloud and showers forecast for this afternoon with the chance of thunder.

13°C now and might reach 21°C.

I hope the forecasters are wrong because we're going to a surprise 80th birthday BBQ at 2.00pm for our friend who took us all out for a meal last week.   However a large gazebo was erected yesterday so we should be able to keep dry.

This morning I will continue my ongoing construction, destruction, reconstruction efforts in The Shed.

 

46 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I have a horrible feeling I’ll be working up until the day I die. I should have retired 2 years ago, but didn’t and even now - after indicating to my clients that I intended to step back from some of my projects - I’m still working two to three days/week. In fact, I find it rather strange NOT to be working on those days I manage to keep free.

 

Having said that, I’m in a much better job than most “wage slaves” inasmuch as the job…

• is an indoor job with no heavy lifting
• is one where I don’t get shot at, threatened or otherwise mistreated whilst at work
• allows me to set my own schedule 
• is definitely a WFH number

and the job…

• pays me an (almost) embarrassingly large numbers of Deltics.
• is incredibly fun and, frequently, incredibly easy to do

Maybe I’m just weird (NO comments PB!) but I just can’t imagine not working. I really don’t understand how someone can be workshy, ego ergo sum laboro I suppose.

 You're very lucky Flavio, some of us had jobs completely different to yours which in my case (and I suspect others) I spent 30 years loving and the last 8 hating and it made me ill.  I worked many extra (unpaid) hours and at times I was abused and even threatened by customers.  I was not very highly paid, never able to WFH or set my own schedule etc etc.  When I got the chance I was only too glad to take early retirement and was only able to do that with the help of an inheritance.  I have never regretted it.  

Workshy?  I find that quite insulting!

Have a good day,

Bob.

 

[polybear]

Bear here.....

Work?  Well the last time I recall actually having interesting stuff to do there was in the mid 2000's, after which it slowly (rapidly?) went downhill; sure, there were interesting but short-lived periods usually of only two or three weeks maximum (usually involving rare overseas jollies) but these were few and far between (much less than one a year).

Eventually I pretty much ended up on the scrap heap (Customer Support, against my will - thanks to a certain B'sterd that I very much hope comes to a slow, very painful end sometime very soon**) and after the Boss/very good Buddy retired I knew it was time to get out PDQ.  My only lifeline was I was rather good at appearing busy amusing myself/keeping out of the way and the Big Boss was such a total kn*b he didn't know any better.

The fact that my application for early retirement went through at least three Departments (including HR - who needed help tying their shoelaces) in less than 18 hours showed they weren't prepared to offer an interesting job to me - they were going to the young high flyers fresh out of Uni that, whilst no doubt clever just didn't have a clue - and as soon as they started to find that clue they'd resign and go elsewhere, meaning the process would start all over again.  #Wottabunchoftotalfumbducks.

 

As for today, well I guess I'll give the bathroom the total Bearycleanuptreatment, after which I can safely say that all the lower part (and a diddy bit of the upper) of Bear Towers is rather clean.  A Tick has been reserved, pending award.

 

Bear Gone.

 

**Warning to fumbducks:  Bears can, er, bear a grudge for, well, EVER.....(maybe that's where the term bear a grudge comes from?)

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by polybear

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, grandadbob said:

 

Workshy?  I find that quite insulting!

Have a good day,

Bob.

 

Where did I say (or imply) that anyone was "workshy"?

 

There are those whose antipathy to working (which is completely different to working and hating it [that's happened to me once or twice early on in my career]) is such that they'll avoid working at anything, even hobbies and recreation,if they can. Often referred to as the workshy, I can never envisage myself as getting like that. Even when I finally do give up "paying work", I'll still have a ton of other work to do...

[Grizz]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 (including HR - who needed help tying their shoelaces) 

 

**Warning to fumbducks:  Bears can, er, bear a grudge for, well, EVER.....(maybe that's where the term bear a grudge comes from?)

 

HR……..Ha……..over the years my ‘interface’ with HR (or whatever they’ve probably been rebranded this week) has on the whole not been a positive one. Leading to our entire department of the last major transport company I worked for referring to HR as ‘Hindering Resolution’. An extremely politically zealous organisation IMHO.
 

On one particular occasion, following a lost time injury to a colleague in the work place, I asked numerous times for HR to clarify the company’s legal position when set against the relevant UK employment law. Eventually via my boss I was accused of being a ‘disruptive element’ and further more  of being ‘Unhelpful’ and ‘Off Message’…..WTF. From that day onwards I suspect that my HR file had a note on it. Something like …..’Warning - ’Grizz does not play well with others’.

 

** Yep defo totally agree with that one….and not just little ones either…..big big totally enormous ones. 🤣 ….doesn’t play nicely with others….? Ha…

 

Anyway….Erm aren’t grudges where South Africans park their cars? 

[DaveF]

I had a feeling my comment yesterday about my quiet (or boring) life might produce some reaction.  To tell the truth I love it, it may partly be a reaction to having taught for 33 years, in a school you never get peace and quiet.  Before that for some years my parents ran boarding schools (prep schools) so there was never much peace and quiet when I was young, even in holidays there were always people living in the same building - other teachers, cooks, maids and so on.

 

So I really enjoy my peaceful life.  I love going to the beach first thing when there is hardly anyone about, shopping before it gets too busy and so on.  Even taking train photos I prefer to be standing by the lineside with as few other people as possible - quite easy in Northumberland. 

 

I do like being with other people as well, at the right time and place.

 

This morning is cool and sunny with a few clouds starting to appear.  The forecast seems a bit uncertain - yesterday evening it suggested rain later, now it says some cloud but dry.  We shall see.

 

Today will begin with a bit of shopping, then probably a short walk.  After coffee I want to look at more old photos.  If the afternoon is fine I'll garden, otherwise I'll read and/or work on photos.

 

David

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

here its more likely to be "Kookaburra Creek" or something.!. 

I always found it mildly entertaining to consider the origin of Australian place names as they are known to us in the west. 
 

Some are borrowed from the Mother Country (Rye, Hastings, Brighton …. ) and some are clearly if simplistically named in a descriptive style (Kookaburra Creek, Kangaroo Flat, Eggs & Bacon Bay). High points were named in a similar manner (Mount Surprise, Mount Disappointment) and a few places were named in “fake” indigenous style (Ulladulla, Wangara, Watanobbi)

 

Some are genuine indigenous names (Baan Baa, Wagga Wagga) and others named from indigenous culture and practice (Launching Place - for canoes on the upper Yarra river not for spacecraft which were launched from Woomera) 

 

The UK / GB has place names of far greater antiquity and deriving from many invasions, incursions and visitations. Some derive from “native” languages, more especially in Scotland, Wales, Cornwall, Ireland and the Isle of Man.  There are recognisable ancient elements everywhere such as -by in the east, notably Lincolnshire, for a farm which is hendra in Cornwall and Barton in Devon. The Saxon suffixes throughout their former lands of -ing, -ham and -ton survive today. As do ancient rural references in strange places such as Sheffield (sheaf-field long before it became a vast city) 

 

The UK has no equivalent for the Australian delights of Koolyanobbing, Fannie Bay, Wunghnu (pronounced one-ewe) or the apochryphal “Kickatinalong” although numerous town names do have the -along ending such as Binalong. There is also a saying locally that if you have missed someone they must be “on Binalong time”. 
 

I doubt Australia would have wished to copy and import the likes of Clitheroe, Penistone, Scunthorpe (the bodily references would amuse the Aussie senses and probably result in a typical abbreviation - or boast - that “I live in C*it”.  Aussies were welcome to have taken Cocking or Upper Dicker (both from Sussex) but chose not to use them. 
 

Quite how any Australian would cope with Ruyton-XI-Towns or Llandewi-Brefi remains to be seen. As for Druimuachdar even the Scots sometimes alter it to Drumochter but what do you do with Chatelheraux (shat-ler-oh)?  We know Milngavie is a Mull Guy but what would those poor folk down-under have made of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwrndrobllllantisilogogogoch?  
 

 

[monkeysarefun]

5 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

 Aussies were welcome to have taken Cocking or Upper Dicker (both from Sussex) but chose not to use them. 

Though we do have Mount Bu99ery.....

Edited August 26, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

So I really enjoy my peaceful life. 

Gotta say, more than once I've read one of your posts and thought "Jeez I wish I had his  life!" (except for all the rain obviously)

Edited August 26, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[grandadbob]

35 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Where did I say (or imply) that anyone was "workshy"?

 

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 

Maybe I’m just weird (NO comments PB!) but I just can’t imagine not working. I really don’t understand how someone can be workshy, ego ergo sum laboro I suppose.

 

I took that to mean that not working = workshy.   Seems I was wrong.

[Winslow Boy]

21 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

But would those poor folk down-under have made of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwrndrobllllantisilogogogoch?  

 

 

 

Probably would have shortened it to Llanfairarg.