Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

Garden centre was visited and a very enjoyable breakfast was consumed.  I only had the "Light English version" which was enough for me as I'm supposed to be watching the waistline.

Spent a pleasant 45 minutes wandering around and browsing, could have spent a lot especially in the non-plants section  but in the end came away with just one shrub.  This has now been plonked planted.  Model plant plonking is imminent

 

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Me too Tony.  We've been on that "Ferry" four times and really enjoyed it and have booked again for next year.

We have been on various P&O ships but not Britannia. When we went on our first cruise on Ventura in 2012, Aditi was welcomed on board with “Good Afternoon, Madam, have you sailed with P&O before?” She told them she had ,from Bombay to Tilbury in 1959.  The greeter replied that she didn’t think they had records that far back! That would have been one of the Strath class ships that travelled on the UK Australia route. 
Cunard don’t really like QM2 being described as a cruise ship, preferring “ocean liner” and “voyage” instead of “cruise”. 

[jjb1970]

58 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Cunard don’t really like QM2 being described as a cruise ship, preferring “ocean liner” and “voyage” instead of “cruise”. 

 

The QM2 is the one ship about which that isn't just empty marketing guff. There is a lot of marketing in it but the ship is unique in today's world as her hull form and machinery are indeed those of a true liner, designed for speed and maintaining performance in heavy seas rather than the barge like very high block coefficients of typical cruise ships. Her construction was very different from cruise ship norms, designed for higher hull stresses, maintaining performance across a much wider range of sea conditions and trans-oceanic endurance.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, DaveF said:

Their cake portions tend to be quite large so I may settle for a chocolate biscuit. 

 

Huh?  😲

 

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

As life returns to normal here after the racing, the post-mortem will take place of the altered timings of the event - the racers hate it, the marshals hate it, the fans hate it, Govt. says it is a great success and will refuse to return to the old format. 

 

How have they altered the timings?

 

3 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

It is the opinion of many it is deliberate to run the event down prior to stopping it, and from discussions I have had with many visitors they won't be coming back unless things change, thus fulfilling the wishes of some.  Of course many businesses large and small depend upon these events, so there will be a scrap looming.

 

Why on earth do some want it stopped?  It must be a huge income generator - and so the Gov stands to benefit big-time thru' taxation.

 

ION.....

Cleaning of the Muddlin' Room now complete, as is the upstairs loo.  Big Tick.

Still no news from EE regarding the phone purchase.  Ar5ebadgers.

 

BG

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

Kippered I am, smoked.. yes the wind went northerly and it's quite breezy out there. 

Legs knackered after much venturing round the garden collecting burn heaps once the main bone fire had reduced in size.

 

Tyre pumped up, I'll keep an eye on that over the next few days..

 

Little red driving machine measured with rear seat down. 37 inch wide, 36 inch deep, 30 inch tall, unfortunately the rear window/ loading hatch is only 22inches high. So I'll restrict the unmentionable to 36*30*20. To allow for other small items to get through the gaps... Like paws.

Design thoughts on folding, carrying, assembly, legs and construction are now underway.

 

Ben tried to persuade me to go the maximum route. Unfortunately my undercarriage was already in failure mode, so just his medium walk was traversed.

 

I've revealed the plan for another unmentionable to SWMBO, it went fairly well, but I still have some way to catch up with her 6 looms...

 

Ah,  unmentionable folding solved, solution just popped into brain, now to consider legs and how long.

 

 

 

 

 

[The White Rabbit]

Afternoon all,

 

Another 'this and that' day and a half, perhaps a bit more than 'unspecified pottering' but certainly with more than a hint of that type of activity. One thing which has been done recently has been to start going through emails. BT (who I am currently with) have upset us quite a bit and the writing is on the wall. So in anticipation of changing sometime between now and Christmas (though best laid plans of mice, men and rabbits!) I've had a look and have been saving, forwarding or printing the more crucial ones. And deleting many hundred no longer needed. 

 

One which might interest a few ERs is one with a photo showing a certain young lady from down under engaged in an intimate clinch with what looks suspiciously like Bear...  a caption competition may be about to start! 

 

[Tony_S]

Aditi had organised everything very efficiently ready for her uncle coming to stay for a few days before we take him to Stansted for next bit of his holiday. However we got a message today from Waitrose saying our food order was cancelled for technical reasons and we would receive an email later. The later email just said book another slot, if we had done that when the first message came there would have been some available. We have rebooked for Friday, very early! This is the first no show in many years and it isn’t as if we are in lockdown anymore. I would just offer to go to the shop but I feel a bit grim today. So much so that I did a Covid  test. That was negative so just mystery lurgy then. Actually I am not that surprised, there were a lot of people at the family do on Sunday in Enfield, and being immunosuppressed, I do tend to get some over reactions to mild viruses. Usually not for long though. 
 

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

caption competition may be about to start! 

 

Hello everyone, this is Mike.

[Hroth]

14 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

a caption competition may be about to start! 

 

Not soooooooooooo tightly....

 

[Tony_S]

32 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

 

The QM2 is the one ship about which that isn't just empty marketing guff. There is a lot of marketing in it but the ship is unique in today's world as her hull form and machinery are indeed those of a true liner, designed for speed and maintaining performance in heavy seas rather than the barge like very high block coefficients of typical cruise ships. Her construction was very different from cruise ship norms, designed for higher hull stresses, maintaining performance across a much wider range of sea conditions and trans-oceanic endurance.

We have been in two Atlantic storms while on QM2. Extremely stable and ran to time crossing both ways. On all our QM2 trips we have had cabins (they prefer “staterooms”) on deck 13 which is the highest accommodation deck and not far from the gas turbines. No noise and no motion problems. Food is pretty good too!

[PhilJ W]

29 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

Afternoon all,

 

Another 'this and that' day and a half, perhaps a bit more than 'unspecified pottering' but certainly with more than a hint of that type of activity. One thing which has been done recently has been to start going through emails. BT (who I am currently with) have upset us quite a bit and the writing is on the wall. So in anticipation of changing sometime between now and Christmas (though best laid plans of mice, men and rabbits!) I've had a look and have been saving, forwarding or printing the more crucial ones. And deleting many hundred no longer needed. 

 

One which might interest a few ERs is one with a photo showing a certain young lady from down under engaged in an intimate clinch with what looks suspiciously like Bear...  a caption competition may be about to start! 

 

No wonder he's smiling.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Got to do a bit of organising this afternoon, I recently purchased a Tupperware Breadsmart as I found I was throwing out a lot of bread because it was stale or mouldy. Problem is it's a small kitchen and I have to find space for it on the kitchen worktops so I will have to move some things about. The only real space is on the top of the fridge freezer, not ideal on a couple of counts so I've got to decide what will go on there to make space on the worktops.

[polybear]

5 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

My issue with a lot of the arguments over historical injustices is that I can't help wondering about some of the motivation. 

 

So they can demand oodles of compensation for their Great Great Great Great Uncle who's been dead 200 years and was sold into slavery.

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

So they can demand oodles of compensation for their Great Great Great Great Uncle who's been dead 200 years and was sold into slavery.

Seems reasonable when the descendants of the slave traders are generally doing quite well economically. Just how did a small island off the coast of Europe amass so much wealth after Tudor times? When we were in Spain recently, the tour guide suggested piracy was responsible for England’s origin as a wealthy nation. No mention of where Spanish wealth back then originated!

Edited August 30, 2023 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Tupperware Breadsmart

I had to Google what a Breadsmart was.  I was equally surprised that Tupperware still existed. Did you have to go to a party? 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Tony_S

[tigerburnie]

4 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Garden centre was visited and a very enjoyable breakfast was consumed.  I only had the "Light English version" which was enough for me as I'm supposed to be watching the waistline.

 

I'm watching my waistline too..........................................................yep it's definitely expanding..........................

[polybear]

2 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

One which might interest a few ERs is one with a photo showing a certain young lady from down under engaged in an intimate clinch with what looks suspiciously like Bear...  a caption competition may be about to start! 

 

 

Your place or mine?

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

It’s when you read accounts like London Labour and The London Poor by Henry Mayhew (1840s) that you get a sense of what absolute poverty is like.

Certainly. There continues to be plenty of poverty in the US that is not all that dissimilar. As usual it is a vicious circle. The poorer you are the harder it is to function in society. It's very hard to be employed without a permanent residence or a means of transportation.

[Ozexpatriate]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I bet P&O really appreciate Britannia being called a ferry!

I wasn't sure if they just used the wrong image and the accident actually involved a ferry so I looked it up. (The news here is all hurricane this morning.)

 

This was my favourite headline for the incident when I did a search:

Quote

British tourists ‘left in tears’ after P&O cruise ship crashes into oil tanker

 

[Coombe Barton]

Bread - I buy, slice and freeze in slices. It thaws OK and toasts OK straight from the freezer.

[Compound2632]

46 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Seems reasonable when the descendants of the slave traders are generally doing quite well economically.

 

... thanks in no small part to the compensation they received for loss of property when their slaves were freed in 1833.

 

EDIT: sorry, that was the slave owners. There was no compensation for slave traders when the trade was abolished in 1807.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Compound2632

[polybear]

2 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Got to do a bit of organising this afternoon, I recently purchased a Tupperware Breadsmart as I found I was throwing out a lot of bread because it was stale or mouldy. Problem is it's a small kitchen and I have to find space for it on the kitchen worktops so I will have to move some things about. The only real space is on the top of the fridge freezer, not ideal on a couple of counts so I've got to decide what will go on there to make space on the worktops.

 

Bear keeps his bread in the fridge....yeah, yeah Google says NoNo but I never, ever have problems with mouldy bread (even though I'll often buy bread that is reduced cos' the date is up); in fairness I always buy what iD would probably regard as junk bread (sub-£1 Co-op stuff) and I far prefer toast to bread so that'll always hide any staleness.

 

In other news.....

A wasted afternoon - Poo.  After din dins there was a couple of hours zedding (early mornings catching up no doubt) so further cleaning hasn't happened ☹️

 

I caught the tail-end of "A Place in the Country" on the telly - there was a magnificent place in East Bilney, Norfolk; a large Bungalow (I think) with 5 Bedrooms, immaculate decoration and all set in 10 acres of it's own woodland with a stream running thru' it.  The price?  £680K (2020) - it'd be £3M+ (easily) if it was near Bear Towers (never realised I was that desirable as a Neighbour - maybe they're hoping to catch a glimpse of Kylie.....).

Did they buy?  They tried, but were outdid.  Very, very Big Turdycurses I suspect.

 

BG

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

56 minutes ago, polybear said:

So they can demand oodles of compensation for their Great Great Great Great Uncle who's been dead 200 years and was sold into slavery.

The reparations debate in the US is focused not on events 200 years ago but the impact on generational wealth in the intervening years.

 

Most (majority) Americans are the beneficiaries of the post war housing boom where there was widespread prosperity and home-ownership. The increased value of these homes increased family wealth generationally. Not so with minority community who were subjected to widespread 'red lining' - local government sanctioned (or even deliberately created) zones where people of a certain ethnicity were either forbidden or constrained to live.  There were even Federal Government programs not available to minorities. This sort of discrimination lasted well into the 20th century.

 

It is not so simple as glib "it was 200 years ago, get over it already" sort of thinking.

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I wasn't sure if they just used the wrong image and the accident actually involved a ferry so I looked it up. (The news here is all hurricane this morning.)

 

This was my favourite headline for the incident when I did a search:

 

 

Some had to fly home because one of the Lifeboats was badly damaged, meaning (IIRC) the ship wouldn't have met regulations  with the number of passengers it had on board.

I think volunteers were requested to leave, with a promise of a 20% discount on another voyage; I'd be wanting a bit bigger carrot than that I think

 

In other news.....

The dreaded "Big H" fired up unexpectedly yesterday evening, with more during the night and quiet a lot today.  TC's

Extra sweeties have been swallowed and I'm waiting for them to work their magic - it usually takes a day+

 

BG

 

 

[Tony_S]

8 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

There was no compensation for slave traders when the trade was abolished in 1807.

I wonder how they survived until the British and French governments forced the Chinese to allow merchants to trade opium.