Early Risers.

[grandadbob]

Sainsbury's trip cancelled, apparently it's not that important.  Just as well as I'd forgotten that I need to stay in to receive a promised phone call from the mobile phone/new broadband non supplier!  I do have some hopes as the promise is from "Kate" who kept her word a couple of days ago. (Unlike another member of their organisation)  She did go some way to restoring my faith with her very professional and helpful attitude.  I hope I'm right.

Edited May 18 by grandadbob

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

4 hours sleep, woke with hip pain and the feeling of imminent cramp, luckily the cramp didn't occur. 3 hours further sleep was obtained.

 

References to tyre pressure sensors sent me down the hole of looking at aftermarket additions.... They generally don't get good reviews...

 

Ben the good Collie didn't move till I did. We've been on a windswept patrol, Ben wagging his tail all the way round, a somewhat cool northerly with horizontal mist. Therefore all the grass is wet, I had hoped to mow today.. though first the fuel tank needs a clean out.

 

Also there is a little MRC accounting to do, and putting the time stickers on the new show boards. Some direction arrows need making too.

 

But first breaky time, just bacon and black pudding  and not in il Dottore's quantities...

 

 

[Grizz]

20 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Did you get the real deal steel? Sounds like you might have.

 

Or the cheaper, lightweight aluminium?

 

Hope you have a place to change into it close to the venue. It will be strenuous enough wearing that at the event. Travelling to and fro in it will be an endurance test.

Got the real deal. 
We are going by train. Don’t have anywhere to change but do have plenty of places to sit down. Going to be practicing wearing it this week, to get used to it. The hardest part is getting it on and off. This needs more than just me…

 

At the moment it smells very strongly of the oil used to keep it rust free. 
 

Ooooooo maybe wearing this could be part of an exercise and weight loss program. 

[iL Dottore]

58 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I don't follow. Did you want a tatami floor with Shikibuton, or something more western? Do Ryokan offer something else?

 

Ryokan, nowadays, all offer traditional Japanese accommodation (Tatami mats in a dual purpose room [living room & bedroom] with futons for sleeping on), some also offer Western Style accommodation (i.e. a bed) and some also offer a Japanese-Western Hybrid (my preference): Tatami matted room but with very low beds (or very high futons on a dias if you will) - so you have ease of getting in and out of bed combined with Japanese esthetics. I requested either a Western or Western-Japanese hybrid room.

 

The hotel the agency chose does offer Western-Japanese hybrid rooms - but the agency doesn't seem to be paying attention.

[Hroth]

58 minutes ago, Grizz said:

Morning All

 

About 18 months ago number 2 cub found out that Comic Con was coming to the UK and she has always wanted to go. 
So using a strategy she knew would work, she waited until a Saturday evening when I was ‘Tierd and Political’….and with witness to the event she pounced. 
 

So there I was with less than two weeks to go, I was gently reminded that not only did I agree to go to Comic Con…..but I apparently I agreed to ‘Go in Costume’ …..with witnesses. 
 

Running out of time and looking long term to tie in with a particular group on bonfire night, I planned an adventure into Wales. 
 

Now at this point you are possibly wondering why I would need to plan a last minute trip to far off and distant lands, just to go to Comic Con. Well this is to do with the bit where I had promised to go in costume. 
 

Basically I needed armour. More specifically chain mail and a helm. Now a detailed search of the web revealed a shocking result…..chain mail isn’t available from high street stores anymore. Amazing. 
 

Well I say that it isn’t…..except in the top left hand corner of Wales, I found The Knight Shop in Conwy. Wow. A wonderful place run by wonderfully kind and very knowledgeable people. They helped me try on a hauberk to make sure I got the right size. 
I haven’t been up to Conwy since 1988 and I had forgotten how stunning and imposing the castle is. Just wish that I had had more time to see it properly. For those not familiar with Conwy Castle the railway runs through the castle walls, which is one of my favourite bits. 
 

Anyway  I was originally going to drive up from the Deep South of East Sussex, but at the last minute I chose to use my Priv travel and take the train, costing £36:40 return…..result. The 05:11 ex Lewes and got me to Conwy at midday and by 14:50 I was on my way back home again, with a long sleeve Chainmail Hauberk and a helm. This is where better planning would have taken into account that the whole lot weighs around +20kg and I didn’t bring a bag to carry it home in. This was resolved by a quick purchase from a charity shop of a couple of massive shopping bags. The only issue then was the need to carry this when changing trains and going on the tube. 
 

Got home at 20:00, totally exhausted and ploughed into a bottle of wine. 
 

 

 

 

Have a great day all. 
 

ATB Grizz

 

Conwy station has gone downhill since the illustration on the cover of "The London & North Western Railway" by OS Nock...

 

 

The rolling stock hasn't improved either!

 

[Gwiwer]

59 minutes ago, Barry O said:

@jjb1970 pupils in Leeds use service as well as special buses to travel around the city. Its more likely you need protection from them.. not them needing protection!

Not all schoolchildren are well behaved. Neither are all adults. But our public transport networks remain fundamentally safe and with staff having a duty of care under the law to all - especially minors - who travel. Failure to provide due care can result in a summons to explain to the court-room. It is rare. Because it is rarely needed. 
 

Two moments come to mind. 
 

I was travelling home one evening in Australia on a moderately-loaded suburban train with a typical cross-section of society. Towards the end of the journey it became obvious that the chap sitting in the next bay of seats was aiming his mobile phone camera at the beskirted legs of the schoolgirl opposite. And snapping away. 
 

We raised the alarm with the driver (on this driver-only railway with unstaffed stations this is the normal procedure) resulting in him calling the police. The offender was removed from the train and the girl was spoken to by a female officer out of our hearing.  That was all we heard although there was a non-specific news report some time later stating that a male had been jailed for inappropriate behaviour aboard a suburban train.  I think he got a month inside. 
 

When I was driving buses we had quite a number of schools using the services. Some on contracted runs, others sharing public trips. On one of the latter I was aware of one young lad attempting to lead a chant of “The driver is a w****r”. 
 

I stopped. I summoned the oik to the front and asked what time he wanted to get home. “Now mate” was the answer. 
 

I then told him I was not going anywhere until he apologised to the whole bus for his language and explained what that word meant. 
 

Eventually there was a sheepish apology. I didn’t press the second part of the deal. I had made my point. He was suitably reprimanded within my level of authority, crept back to his giggling mates and sat down. I never ever got any trouble on that run again. And I easily made up the two minutes of time I had used waiting for his response. 
 

Job done. 
 

 

 

[DaveF]

A good unbroken 8 hours sleep last night, the first time for weeks.  It's a dry brightish morning with glimpses of the sun between some patches of cloud and mist.

 

The plants I put in yesterday are all standing up which is encouraging and the pigeons after having a good look did not trample on them.

 

I will probably walk down to the beach fairly soon as it is "The Battery goes to war" weekend with reenactors, their vehicles and (hopefully) non working rifles and other armaments.   I think that later on the English and make believe Americans will again beat the make believe Germans and push them back into the sea.  It will be impossible to park there as it will be very busy, the nearest other car park with space is as far away as walking from home - which to be honest only takes 15 minutes at a moderate pace.  This morning it is also the weekly fun run on the prom and Links so it should be interesting.  The only downside is that most of the reenactors are a bit too "big" to be entirely convincing, some need to diet a bit.

 

Later on I may do a bit more in the garden, if I feel tired I'll work on photos.  I've had a request to send of a large batch for possible use in a book and must sort them out and check the captions will will take a couple of days work.

 

David

 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, the rock is a decent 15c but a bit misty.

 

We're off to an open gardens event later with Jayne, all the way south to Onchan (A suburb of the Big City really).  The highlight is the Lieutenant Governor's (your King's representative here) residence gardens, no doubt he'll be around to chat, the current incumbent is very hands on.  I bet there's no security bodies around either.  He passed by the Groudle Glen railway for a walk in pouring rain last winter, and he and Mrs Governor did some work digging out old track to help for an hour. Impressive.  Our LG's are mostly ex-services (or Diplomats), last one I met was a retired Admiral, nice bloke - my team and I got a gong for community services. Crikey was it that long ago!

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

53 minutes ago, DaveF said:

The only downside is that most of the reenactors are a bit too "big" to be entirely convincing, some need to diet a bit.

 

 

And the  make believe Americans   will all be in the 101st Airborne.

 

Edited May 18 by monkeysarefun

[southern42]

10 hours ago, southern42 said:

23:24 The rescued iris can't get much better than this.

Snip...

 

 

Oh, no?

 

Who says?

 

Ta dah...

 

08:57

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright, sunny start to the day here in England’s northwest corner. But today is not like our ‘usual’ Saturday’ as Ava is not coming round today. She’s spending the day with her boyfriend, but then as she’s now 16 and will be 17 later in the year, this is something to be expected. Apparently he’s a very nice lad, Vickie and Ian both like him, so we hope she has a great day. So, Sheila has expressed a desire to go to the gift shop near Dunham Massey this morning, getting there for when it opens at 12 noon, so this morning I’m doing some card modelling to pass away the hour or so before we head off. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian 

[Tony_S]

Is the helm Bluetooth compatible and needs to be charged?
 

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Sunneeeeee 😎 and second load of washing in the machine...

15C so may venture out for a mugadecaf in the garden after my TOTF 🎶.

I say "may" because there is some building work going on nearby and it can get a bit noisy out there with the addition of a not so enticing drone of "music" in the background.*

 

*Was that a rant? 🤣

 

Jobbies to get on with. 

Take care. Be good. Make the most of it.

Polly

 

[monkeysarefun]

5 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is the helm Bluetooth compatible and needs to be charged?
 

 

 

Wasnt Bluetooth technology named after some Viking bloke? I think it was, but the AFL is on so  I can't be Ar5ed googling it..

Edited May 18 by monkeysarefun

[Tony_S]

2 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Wasnt Bluetooth technology named after some Viking bloke? I think it was, but the AFL is on so  I can't be Ar5ed googling it..

Yes Harald Bluetooth. It was my weak attempt at humour!

[PhilJ W]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Rather a lot of years ago, probably about 1968 I did the same in reverse.  A very smooth, and quiet, but old trolleybus across Bradford to the Leeds boundary then a new Leyland Atlantean into Leeds. Thst tried to shake itself to pieces every time we stopped. 

 

Jamie

IIRC the Leeds Atlanteans had MCW Orion bodies. Rather aptly described as 'heaps of shivering tin'. My grandparents lived in Hastings and I remember when the trolleybuses were replaced by the first Leyland Atlanteans in 1959. They had Park Royal bodies though that didn't try to shake themselves to pieces.

[Hroth]

38 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Is the helm Bluetooth compatible and needs to be charged?
 

 

Not just that, how many bottles of wine will it contain?  Is it any good for quaffing*? 🤔

 

*  ie what proportion will go into the mouth, and how much will run down ye chest?

 

[PhilJ W]

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

I had one of those moments where I simultaneously thought 'crikey, I really am thick' and 'well, maybe I got the better deal'. My daughter is a sort of prefect at her school, looking after young pupils. We bumped into one of them on the MRT and had a social chat. This girl is six, Chinese (from China, not Singaporean Chinese) and is fluent in both English and Mandarin, including written Mandarin. Her English is impeccable. Which is pretty impressive.  However she said she loves Singapore because the teachers are nice and don't beat pupils and hit them with sticks. I couldn't help thinking that perhaps there's something to be said for slapdash attitudes rather than being flogged to perform well.

 

7 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

Something that is quite telling, as is normal here she was going home on her own using the bus and MRT. In the UK that'd probably be considered abuse and bring in the Police and social services,  here people say public transport is safe and the staff will look after them if they get stuck or lost.

As mentioned above, my maternal grandparents lived in St. Leonards, a suburb of Hastings. During the 50's and into the sixties my brother and myself were put on the train* at either Charing Cross or Victoria and travelled by ourselves to St. Leonards (Warrior Square) where our grandmother collected us. At the time we were no more than about 6 or 7 years old. Two or three years later my sister when she was about the same age done the same journey by coach, on her own.

*It was steam hauled, probably by a Schools class.

[grandadbob]

Well Kate did keep her promise and phoned however I missed the call 'cos my phone was still on silent from when I had my eye test yesterday! Silly prat!  However she has left  a voicemail and sent a text saying she will phone back between 12.00 & 1.00pm.  Phone now on full volume and sitting beside me.

[PhilJ W]

One for the dog lovers such as @TheQ and @iL Dottore Live on BBC Breakfast earlier this morning.

https://www.goodwood.com/goodwoof/

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I happened to look at the 'Most number of likes' last night. Most of those in the top ten number of likes are ER's. I notice that @polybear has just moved in at number ten.

[polybear]

4 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Good Morning All,

 

The sun is up, I have had a modest repast to break my fast (nothing fancy, some cold sliced beef, a half-dozen each of sausages, eggs and black pudding slices, a brace of devilled kidneys, a pint of small beer) and now I am looking forward to doing absolutely nothing!

 

Yesterday ended the week with both positives and negatives. The positive being I had my weekly “Grand Rounds” teleconference with my Berlin colleague and we reviewed the specialised data analysis I did on a small study and we agreed to repeat the exercise on a larger study. Ergo much, much, more work; slow, meticulous, time-consuming work and all “on the clock” 😁 My bank account will be happy…

 

The negative news is that I got the second detailed proposal from the Travel Agent for my October holiday in Japan and much of it is unacceptable - especially the accommodation. Now I have a pretty decent budget to spend at the travel agent (even after taking flight purchases back “in house” ‘cos they were useless at getting a competitively priced business class fare to Tokyo), but to be put into sub-budget hotels and have my wishes ignored (for a Ryokan stay I said: no futon on floor sleeping [traditional Japanese] please - so they have a traditional Japanese room organised!) for what I am prepared to pay just isn’t on. They’ll get one more chance, then I’ll go elsewhere.

 

Finally like The Portly Bear (or should I say [almost] formerly Portly Bear), I have been dieting. Unlike The Bear, I haven’t had any cravings for cake (not even real artisanal, LDC) or sweetmeats, nor - surprisingly - for things like pasta or noodles. A high protein, low carbohydrate diet (with plenty of water to keep the kidneys flushed) plus regular weight and cardiovascular training should see me buffed and ripped* by October.

 

And now another coffee before dashing out to get some foodstuffs for Lucy and Schotty.

 

Have a good one!

 

 

* bodybuilding terms, apparently.

“Portly??”

 

I’m hurt….😢

[TheQ]

Time numbers put on show boards, some painting of the permanent lettering done to tidy it up.

Direction Arrows made and partly  painted.

Swmbo was complaining the spinny thingy wasn't working. I got her to use the controls properly and it did work.

Some modifications done to the spinny thingy, just to improve clearance.

 

Shortly I'll be modifying her entry to the weaving competition, she wants the base reinforced as the doesn't trust the organizers not to break it. Which reminds me it's the same blank  panels I need for the radar museum ultrasonic radar. So I'll get two out, put one in the landrover, and extract the sail cloth from there and bring it into the house ready to start work... I also need to find the wood blanks I made for the diorama and put them in the landy as well.

 

[Grizz]

3 hours ago, Tony_S said:

Is the helm Bluetooth compatible and needs to be charged?
 

 

Yes that charges the in build sound system, that plays my favourite Death and Thrash Metal tracks. 🤘😝🤘

 

It also has wifi hub. 
 

All I’ve got to do now is figure out how I can install a bar….

[Gwiwer]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

“Portly??”

 

I’m hurt….😢

Take it as a compliment. If you had been “Starboardly” you would have always been on the wrong side of life. 🤣

 

Mail has arrived. Dreckly as always. It seems to appear twice a week here not on all six delivery days.  The outstanding birthday correspondence has therefore arrived. Not one but two vouchers to spend with our friends in Camborne, among other things. 
 

Five of us made it to brunch with the sixth crying off due to exhaustion and a dose of throatillitis. It would have been tonsillitis if she still had any to swell. There was even a special birthday toast. 
 

 

In other news sister has taken nephew the youngest up to London today for a special event. As she says “Full marks to whoever arranged a Lego exhibition on Brick Lane”.