Early Risers.

[Winslow Boy]

5 hours ago, Grizz said:

Erm….Looking at them, the Border Collies (BCs) were diverse. 😂

 

Such beautiful dogs and so intelligent. 
I loved watching OMAHD or ‘Singular Individual and Their K9’ ….if  you prefer. 
When I was young it was sometimes on later at night, maybe BBC2?, and my dad used to let me stay up and we’d watch it together. 
 

These days there are at least three local farmers that I know well that have working BCs.

It’s always a great treat if they drop by for a cuppa and bring their dogs. With permission of course we usually play endless games of ‘fetch’ or ‘hide and find’ with them. They are totally loyal to their respective dads and all it takes is a click of the tongue or a slight whistle and they stop complete still and focus, just staring at them.  
 

 

 

Sounds just like our second collie, Bess. She came from a long line of BC and was registered with Crufts. Unfortunately she had been abused later on as a 'breeder'. My father 'rescued' her and she absolutely adored him. But compared to our first one she was as thick as to 'abridged wooden pieces'.

When we got her she used to go mental at eight o'clock each evening. Drove my dad bonkers wonting to go out. Anyway after making some enquiries it turned out that was when she used to go the pub for a pint of Guinness and a meat pie.

[southern42]

New out. Filmed in Betws-y-coed on Thursday, Ray in the driver’s seat - listen out for the words: Trên bach at 1 minute in.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0Q3Fp6pBEs8yBqEfddu8jmYAmHLoLoLpvfMggKLBCajqNBjqHSM3pAk2fS1o3RaZjl&id=100062419702816 

[Barry O]

Meeting ... had

Brownie points.. achieved

Food... fine 

 

But I could have spent some time doing other things....

 

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

do countries like Indonesia and Iceland get insurance cover for volcanos?

We don't have volcano coverage here. Though if flying hot projectiles landed on your house and burned it down, it might be covered under fire insurance. I don't know about being bulldozed and incinerated by a lava flow.

 

The most likely damage here is from a lahar - essentially a high-momentum mudslide formed of volcanic ash and the rapidly melting snowcap. There are large swathes of the Seattle southern suburbs that would be threatened by lahar flows in the event of an eruption of Mt. Rainier. The Toutle River valley was devastated by a lahar when Mt. Saint Helens erupted.

 

If you had flood insurance (which requires a separate rider) it might be covered.

 

You can get earthquake coverage but it is very expensive.

 

Edited January 14 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

The wintry precipitation has stopped. We saw only sleet here. It has accumulated on hard surfaces, less so on grassy surfaces - the opposite of snow when temperatures are closer to freezing. So there's a dense (not as slippery as frozen rain) covering of perhaps 20mm on the streets. It doesn't have that picture postcard "Winter wonderland" look of freshly fallen snow.

 

I find walking in the snow quite exerting. It was around -10°C when I headed out. With all the layers I was hot inside and tired after about 45 minutes (covering a distance that normally takes me around 30 minutes). The temperature has come up to at least -6°C but is nowhere close to a thaw.

 

At least there was no wind this morning. Yesterday was very windy with the sleet blowing around. There were many power outages reported on the news and footage of uprooted large trees slicing through houses and cars. Happily, here the power is on, the furnace is working and water is flowing when required.

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, southern42 said:

In my inbox, an hour ago this morning, was an announcement in the Reykjavik Grapevine's newsletter:

"An eruption has started just north of Grindavík. Unfotunately it seems to be closer to residential areas than before but as far as we know the town was successfully evacuated at 5 am a couple of hours before the eruption began."

 

Not good news for the town nor its people.

Now reported that multiple structures have burned.

 

CNN: Buildings burn as lava from Icelandic volcano eruption flows into evacuated fishing town

 

There's an interesting image in that article that shows Grindavík, the new fissure and what I'm guessing are the lights of Reykjavík in the background.

 

Edited January 14 by Ozexpatriate

[Coombe Barton]

Hattons and Warley in The Guardian

 

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2024/jan/14/an-aged-hobby-enthusiasts-struggle-to-keep-model-railway-industry-on-track

[Dave Hunt]

Greetings ERs. After an absence of several weeks I am putting fingers to keyboard once more. The causes of this hiatus have been various medical matters resulting from some vary unpleasant complications following a bad cold that unfortunately coincided with another unwelcome visit from the black dog. Put together they resulted in a complete lack of motivation to engage in any social interchanges including ER.  However, things seem to be improving (although I did think they were improving at Christmas but that was a false dawn) so I am venturing back into corresponding. I am not going to try catching up with all the posts that have been made during my absence but will try to interpolate from current exchanges.

I believe that the Bear is also suffering from dark canine visits so I offer my condolences to him.

 

Dave

[Hroth]

Hi Dave, good to see you back!

 

ION

 

I've just had some "salted drinking chocolate". It wasn't just salted drinking chocolate, it was M&S salted drinking chocolate.  It was most unpleasant.

 

IMON

 

And the inhabitants wonder why the rest of the country think that the inhabitants of the fenlands are more than just a little bit odd...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-67969675

 

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

if flying hot projectiles landed on your house and burned it down, it might be covered under fire insurance. I don't know about being bulldozed and incinerated by a lava flow.

Fire, like Flood, has a very specific definition within the insurance industry. 
 

There must be a source of ignition, flames and loss for a valid claim. 
 

“No flame no claim” was one of the maxims we worked to. 
 

Damage from smoke alone is not fire damage. Damage caused by heat alone (such as scorching or melting) is not fire damage. 
 

So if a lava-bomb hits your home, causes damage to the roof but does not set fire to the place then no, it is not a fire claim. If it does ignite something causing a flame then you have a fire-damage claim. 
 

The presence, past-presence or absence of flame can almost always be established by an insurance assessor. In co-operation with the fire authority if necessary. 
 

If your home were to be swept away by a molten lava-flow but not set on fire then unless your policy includes volcanic events you may not have a claim.  As such things are unknown in the UK no policy is likely to specifically include it.

 

Some, however, will cover you in the event of an “Act of Nature” (previously sometimes called an “Act of God”) causing loss and if your property was to suffer from volcanic activity then you may have a valid claim

 

Most policies do include seismic activity as a specified risk though usually impose an excess on such claims much higher than the basic one for the policy. 
 

My home and contents has a zero-excess but for earthquake claims I cover the first £300. 
 

If the lava-flow ignites your home then an insurer is well within their rights to determine which action initiated the loss. Lava-flow razing the property or fire. The fire would likely be a secondary cause so your claim, if accepted, would be for the lava damage and not the fire

 

Funny old world, insurance. Always check the wording, the definitions and the exclusions. 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. It only took about fifteen minutes to sort out the documents for the car, some, like the V5 haven't seen the light of day since the car was new. A niggle is that I doubt I will get the full value from the insurance, the car because of its age was only worth about £2,000 I don't expect to get much more than half of that, even though cars like mine being ULEZ compliant are attracting a premium just outside of London. (Not that I would want to venture inside the M25.) Glad to see @Dave Hunt back and I hope the black canine stays in the kennel.

[Andy Hayter]

With a shortage of cars post-covid, I suggest that you stick out for a good deal on your car.  

 

I know things are a bit different in France but when my 9 year old Duster was written off I was a bit gob-smacked to get €12k from the insurance - admittedly low milage.  

[jamie92208]

I wonder what my Volvo, 20 years old in July and with over 200K on the clock, would be worth. I suspect that to get a car as capable and economical as my V70, would cost rather more than the Insurance payout. 

 

Jamie

[Gwiwer]

36 minutes ago, Andy Hayter said:

when my 9 year old Duster was written off I was a bit gob-smacked to get €12k from the insurance - admittedly low milage.

Quite a good sum even for a marque which holds value well and is sought-after in the second-hand market.  A quick scout around the traps suggests a best-quality lower-mileage 2015 model (currently 9 years old) would set you back £5800 - £6700, approximately €6750 - €7800.  Still not cheap for a 9 year-old but the Duster remains the best mid-sized car I have driven.  And the one with the daftest name after the Ford Ka.  

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BachelorBoy]

Happy Birthday to Pete Waterman.

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

If the lava-flow ignites your home then an insurer is well within their rights to determine which action initiated the loss. Lava-flow razing the property or fire. The fire would likely be a secondary cause so your claim, if accepted, would be for the lava damage and not the fire

Looking at Hawai'ian properties in the path of lava flows, they usually burn down before the lava covers their property. (The proximate heat from the lava usually causes ignition.) Irrespective of whether the insurance would cover the loss, the home could not be rebuilt if the property is then covered by hot lava which would take years to cool down to be safe 'enough' for construction. It's a bit academic, without roads, plumbing, etc, similarly buried.

 

Edited January 15 by Ozexpatriate

[jjb1970]

8 hours ago, southern42 said:

I did not search Indonesian insurance.

 

On behalf of the people of Indonesia I've been asked to ask on their behalf - what is this thing 'insurance'?

 

One of the attractions of the Indonesian civil service and other state employment has always been benefits such as pensions and health insurance, which many in Indonesia have to self fund (or go without). State employment wasn't known for good pay but it did come with other benefits. One of which was often supplementary income from low level (or high level for top people) corruption, small gifts to oil the wheels and all that. 

[jjb1970]

On Indonesia and public sector employees, my brother-in-law retires this year at age 55. That may sound great (personally I'd hate to retire that early, but I know many others differ) but it begs some pretty serious questions about funding for pensions when we are in an age where people may well spend longer in retirement than working if they retire at that age. If we self-fund our own pension fund then it'd require biblical contributions to fund a pension anywhere close to providing a half-reasonable income with that ratio of time in work to time in retirement. In the case of expecting people still in work to fund them it would still be an enormous burden and beg the question of whether people of working age should fund an unsustainable system knowing that they'll probably not benefit if is cannot be maintained.

[Hroth]

They say that today is Blue Monday.

 

This should cheer you up!

 

 

[Erichill16]

41 minutes ago, Hroth said:

They say that today is Blue Monday.

 

This should cheer you up!

 

 

Feels like it.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

4.5 hours sleep, loooong awake, 2 hours sleep.

 

Ben the charging around Collie, had a good run round the garden, stopping every so often to look back and say hurry up.

Surprisingly right ankle is more painful this morning than the left hand side impact areas..

 

I remember seeing on TV  that there was a guy on a Hawaiian island who had a slow moving lava flow heading for his house. By hosing down the lava as it approached his property, it cooled enough to stop moving and formed a dam forcing the flow to go either side,  which he also cooled with water leaving the house and most of his garden  in a cooled U of lava.

 

Ben's still being lively he just leapt on to the sofa with me. He doesn't do that often these days.

 

I've just got the fire going again, first time I've used this type of manufactured "coal" was yesterday, seems OK, but it didn't stay in as well as real coal. 

 

Plans for today,

Mast step, rudder head, centre console,  

Club accounts.

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On Indonesia and public sector employees, my brother-in-law retires this year at age 55. That may sound great (personally I'd hate to retire that early, but I know many others differ) but it begs some pretty serious questions about funding for pensions when we are in an age where people may well spend longer in retirement than working if they retire at that age. If we self-fund our own pension fund then it'd require biblical contributions to fund a pension anywhere close to providing a half-reasonable income with that ratio of time in work to time in retirement. In the case of expecting people still in work to fund them it would still be an enormous burden and beg the question of whether people of working age should fund an unsustainable system knowing that they'll probably not benefit if is cannot be maintained.

Having retired at 49 3/4 I'quite happy.  Also by a quirk of history, and a decision by a certain W S Churchill, there is no Police pension fund.  Says a happy drone from France 22 years into retirement.  Only 7 more to go till I've drawn it for longer than I paid it. Roll on equalisation day in February 2031, but I'm not counting, honest. 

 

Good moaning from a slightly damp but slightly warmer Charente.  5 barrows of firewood have been fetched down from the woodshed and stacked. Beth insisted on doing the stacking one handed but it looms

Very neat. Some kindling was split and now it's sitting down time. 

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Frosty start but we have blue sky and sunshine.  Forecast claims it will stay like that for most of the day.  Chilly at -1°C rising to 2°C.

Slow getting going today and The Boss brought me up a muggatea at 08.30 which is very late for me.

Rugby watched yesterday and not really enjoyed with Bath nicking a bit of a contentious win and Leicester and Saracens getting hammered by French sides.  Vera was watched but as soon as a certain actor appeared it was obvious who the guilty party was. 

I retired at 55 and have never regretted it.  (20 years anniversary on the 31st of this month)

Nottalot planned today although I have a couple of financial things to deal with.

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited January 15 by grandadbob