Early Risers.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a sunny rock!  16c and herself is out there washing the windows!  As this is an NHN job I can only assume it wasn't done to the required standards.  Must remember not to do so more often. #cough#

 

Watched practice last night for the Pre-TT Classic racing, loud and fun.  Off for a ride ourselves soon, then a bit more of the racing, then....who knows.

 

Weather foreguess is miserable next week so I'm not sure how much practice for the proper TT there will be, looks like it isn't going to be a good year for weather.

 

@Hroth  Happy Rotation day, I've sent some of the sun over your way.

 

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Happy Birthday @Hroth. Its also Dr Eldest Herbert's birthday.

 

i have very quickly got used to having no umpiring to do on a Saturday.. a whole, cricket free day.

 

To use the words of Chris f.. "unspecified pottering" should take place today... or it could be more wire strangling...

 

time for breakfast!

 

Stay safe!

Baz

[polybear]

VHBBW's to CFD** @Hroth  🎂🎂

 

(**That'll be Cute Fluffy Doggie to the uninitiated)

[Hroth]

Cake!

 

I knew there was something I'd forgotten...

 

🤪

 

[southern42]

17 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The yellow pills will return to the cinema in a few weeks in Despicable Me - 4.

 

The yellow pills are certainly good medicine when you need it.

 

Edit: Cineworld, Llandudno 12 July - go on a weekday when the kids are in school :-)

 

Edited May 25 by southern42

[TheQ]

Partly good news

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn00rk1znkvo.amp

[PhilJ W]

Happy birthday @Hroth

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Just a quick hello and goodbye as I'm off to the Billericay exhibition shortly.

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Yeay! The sun has got its hat on....but only for awhile say the pinecone pundits. 

Washing machine on! Half an hour before I can put the washing out. So...

 

TOTF 🎶 new trix working...producing some of the best playing so far.  Still got a long, long way to go, though!

 

ION

Just received notification that it looks like we have a new cat in the vicinity - the lawn is covered with its unwanted deposits... 🙀 <<Arrrrrghhhhhh!!!>> Orders to keep a lookout for it and send it packing. Thankfully, I will not be the one clearing it up.

 

IMN

The G word out of the question, I may go for a trek up the hill, dodging sheep droppings, instead. It being so wet this year, I have not been up there for sometime.

 

Another 20 minutes before the washing machine finishes gives me time to make a mugadecaf and get ready for a walk before the sun goes to back sleeping on the job.

 

Take care. Be good. Consider some good alternatives.

Polly

 

Happy Birthday @Hroth

 

 

Edited May 25 by southern42
I think that will be obvious ;-D

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

Happy birthday @Hroth and here’s to many more of them.  
 

The sun is desperately trying to breakthrough the clouds here in the northwest corner of England, but is not having a complete success as yet.  I’ll shortly be setting off to collect Ava, who will be spending the day with us. As I mentioned yesterday, our first task will be to finish making both the fruit tea loaf and the cheesecake. After that, I think she’s hoping to finish off her current sewing project, with an eye to starting her next one straight afterwards. As for me, I’ll probably do a bit of surfing on the internet! 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[grandadbob]

Tea break.  Almost finished my domestic duties for today, one more bit of Sharking to do and then I'm free.

Watched some rugby last night, Gloucester demolished by South African Sharks. 

This afternoon we've got Leinster v Toulouse in the Champions Cup so I will become a temporary Irishman.

Righto, The Shark beckons.

[jjb1970]

7 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The Germans used a lot of horses as well for transport., many of them purchased from Ireland. The British army was highly mechanised, in fact it was ahead of even the USA on that matter. A lot of the surplus horses were sold to Irish dealers who then sold them on to the Germans.

 

The German army de-mechanized in 1940-41, the only way they could double the number of panzer divisions was to strip the infantry of what limited motorized transport they had and also to significantly reduce the tank complement. Reducing the tank complement may have upset Guderian who wanted very tank heavy divisions but actually aligned with other countries that developed more balanced armoured divisions in recognition that to be effective tanks needed all arms support and coordination. However the de-motorization of infantry had a huge impact on the invasion of the USSR where from the very earliest stages of the attack large gaps opened up between the armoured spearheads and supporting infantry and supply systems were grossly over stretched.

 

For many years most non-Soviet historians seemed to buy into the idea of a brilliant German general staff hobbled by a frustrated painter with delusions of being a strategic genius, the 'if he'd only listened to his generals they'd have won' version of history. Aided by writers like Liddell Hart who were instrumental in the myth of the 'clean' army and laying all the crimes of the regime at the feet of the great leader and SS. In recent years there's been quite a reappraisal as more studies have highlighted just what a poor plan Barbarossa was, failing to address fundamental, identified, problems of supply and strategic objectives and a gross under estimation of the Soviet army. And it was a general staff plan, Halder, Brauschitsch and others pretty much assumed that they'd kick the door down, maul the Soviets in a couple of weeks, advance into the hinterland almost unopposed after destroying the enemy in frontier battles and be safely in winter quarters long before winter. History books still tend to show the German advance as a continuous line joining furthest points of advance, indicating vast areas were conquered very quickly, but these advance points were of armoured units with no real front between them and large areas of contested land between them and the following infantry which had been left far behind. When the Soviets didn't roll over and die after the first shock, and mobilized huge new armies it left the German's in a real mess. The famous pockets were porous as the panzer units couldn't close them and the infantry was struggling to try and keep up. Those German commanders that expressed concern such as Bock were a minority and pretty much put in their place by the general staff. Adolf was an evil so and so, and he certainly became a strategic catastrophe for Germany, but it's questionable whether the General staff was much better. The famous sickle cut plan devised by Manstein certainly testified to Mannstein's operational genius but Hitler was the one who demanded it be adopted by a general staff which was pretty much planning a second go with the Schlieffen plan.

[jjb1970]

Happy birthday to Hroth!

[jjb1970]

On flying, sitting near the pointy end isn't cheap but it does make flying much less objectionable, even pleasant. I find there are three big advantages, expedited ground handling, being outside much of the scrum and being able to lie down and stretch out. If you shop around and don't mind a transfer there are some attractive options to fly business class. I won't call it cheap, but it may not be as expensive as people might think. I get business class travel but in return am expected to be 'responsible' when buying tickets (I do my own travel and claim back), i.e. don't just book Singapore Airlines for S$12,000 for a flight when there are alternatives for less than half that price. I have used Vietnam Airlines a few times to fly to London, two hours to Ho Chi Minh, a very painless transfer (it's a very small terminal) and then onwards in a 787 with a pretty standard 1-2-1 pod arrangement. They do all the important stuff very well, the flight attendants have always been very friendly and attentive and S$3600 for a business class return Singapore - London (about £2000) is excellent value. Lovely livery too. Another one I use a lot is Air China. They can be very competitive and despite a few negative YT reviews I find their business class product excellent, their A350's are superb. Turkish can be very good value and business class in their A350 is as good as it gets. Flying East from Singapore, other than Air China I like ANA and Asiana. Both are excellent, both have that polish and attention to detail, getting it right that is typical of Japan and Korea.

 

Something nice about Asian airlines is they still offer genuine business class short haul. I get smart alec comments about Vietnam Airlines from people in Europe, but even the A321's that operate Singapore - Ho Chi Minh and other Vietnam destinations have lovely 2+2 seating in business and provide a full hot meal service served in ceramic dishes with table linen, which is better than most European airlines provide short haul. A lot of intra-Asian short haul flights are operated by long haul configured 787. 777, A330, A350 and A380 aircraft so you get the full biftah lie flat seat which is nice if a little over the top for a two hour flight. I'm flying to Copenhagen with Thai in June and that is 777-300ER for both Singapore-Bangkok and Bangkok-Copenhagen.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Nor do iD and Captain Cynical (if the latter has to go commercial). 
 

The first step in having a stress free flight) is to avoid carriers like SqueezyJet and O’Leary Air - apart from the usual caveats associated with flying such airlines, they tend to depart and arrive at stoopid o’clock (possibly because landing slots and ground handling are cheaper???)

 

It looks like Bear may well have to fly TrumpAir (= the Orange One) to Lisbon; my norm would be BA but they insist on flying there from LHR (= Nottafuggin'chance, matey) rather than LGW.  I quite like flying out at silly early - getting to an Apartment at midnight is a definite no-no in my book (and quite often theirs too, unless you cross their paws with a wedge of Euros).

 

Luton?  The Pits.

Stanstead?  OK, but I prefer LGW.

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

This, of course, presupposes that (a) you don’t have priority boarding because you are up at the pointy end of the aircraft and (b) you don’t have your entire three weeks of holiday clothing, gadgets and accessories plus the kitchen sink crammed into your hand luggage.

 

There were those on the Malta run that most definitely did have the kitchen sink in their carry-on bags 🤬; it really p1sses me off that they don't get bounced.  The cheapo airlines seem better at bouncin' cos' they make oodles out of it.

 

1 hour ago, Hroth said:

Cake!

 

I knew there was something I'd forgotten...

 

🤪

 

 

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.....................

 

49 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Partly good news

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn00rk1znkvo.amp

 

Excellent - hopefully they'll get custodials.

 

ION........

Lawns (plural) cut.  That's a Tick

Hedges?  Well it's gettin' adjacent to din dins time so that's an excuse.  It seems that weather post-din dins is down to be sunny though, so Bear is running out of excuses.  Oh Poo.  At least it'll feel good when it's done (or at least significantly started).

 

BG

[Gwiwer]

52 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

Happy birthday @Hroth and here’s to many more of them.

Woteesed 

 

 

[PupCam]

Morning!

 

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

.....  I loaded the landrover Friday night with all the signs then pat tested all the extension cables... Found one someone had re cabled since last time I'd tested it.... Live and neutral swapped over in the socket end!!!   ......

 

To think they walk and live amongst us!

 

3 hours ago, polybear said:

On the subject of Boosters, it'll be interesting to see just how many people have one next time?  I'm hearing that more and more people have felt pretty carp after this latest (Modena IIRC) one - and not just for a day or so either; I've a sneaky feeling that at least some of them will be of the view "never again".

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Idiots!

 

If you’ve seen anyone in end stage respiratory disease and you’ve seen them die from it, you’ll know that it’s a terrible way to die. Feeling pretty cr@p for a few days to avoid that is a pretty good trade off I reckon.

 

Besides, the so-called “side effects” (chills, muscle aches, headache, fatigue, fever, rigors and so on) are nothing more than the immune system “playing with its toys”, basically (to create an analogy) the immune system is getting some marksmanship practice time in at the rifle range before going on patrol and (possibly) facing the enemy.

 

I suffered for the first time recently from the booster (Moderna)  but will be taking the vaccination when ever offered.

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I am firmly of the opinion most of these reports about vaccine “side effects” says as much about the state of people’s immune systems as it does about a vaccine’s safety.

 

That may well be the case.     As I'm immunosuppressed it may not be surprising.   The nurse queried why I had been offered the jab as I looked too young for it (which I am).    I then told of my conditions and medication and she said words to the effect "Yes, that would do it!"

 

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

What I find ironic is that many of those refuse vaccines will happily take “alternative” medicines, which are - at best - worthless; at worst - dangerous: containing (or contaminated by) such fun things as cadmium, mercury, cyanide, strychnine, lead and other not-very-good-for-you chemicals.. 

 

Amazing isn't it.     "The bloke down the pub" or probably the modern equivalent; "Tarquin Smallbrain on Facebook" always know best.

 

ION

 

Birthday wishes to @Hroth which reminds me, I recently completed another solar orbit.  They seem to be coming thick and fast these days.  Still, it's much better than them not turning up at all.

 

On Thursday I found myself watching some of the live coverage of the Post Office inquiry where a certain ex CEO was being questioned.     Incredulity is a very good word ....    Unfortunately I missed yesterday's offerings but I note one particular highlight featured on yesterday's HIGNFY.      Amusing and stunning in equal measure.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

[BoD]

I suppose another advantage of flying at the pointy end is that if you have a ‘hard landing’  you find out about it before the plebs in economy.

[Tony_S]

Happy Birthday, @Hroth

We received our cheque from EonNext yesterday. As usual it wasn’t possible for the phone app to recognise the unsigned cheque. I don’t really want to drive to another town (no bank here) to pay the cheque in so took it to a post office. It takes a day longer but it is a bank holiday weekend anyway. We have got to out again soon as Aditi needs to collect a prescription that was incomplete earlier this week. Benfleet was really busy this morning. There were a lot of people heading to a snooker/sports bar place. Probably reserving a spot where they can see the football this afternoon. 
Tony

[Tony_S]

19 minutes ago, PupCam said:

That may well be the case.     As I'm immunosuppressed it may not be surprising.   The nurse queried why I had been offered the jab as I looked too young for it (which I am).    I then told of my conditions and medication and she said words to the effect "Yes, that would do it!"

The NHS booster was only for the over 75s and immune compromised so I am not surprised the young and healthy didn’t report side effects. This Moderna update was my 8th Covid vaccine.  My immune system hasn’t changed much over the last few years and the after effects of this jab were definitely more noticeable. Just a comment, it isn’t going to affect whether or not I have more, I will be having the Autumn booster. Aditi paid for a private vaccine at Boots. That was the Pfizer version. She had very noticeable after effects including blood pressure increase. MiL aged 96 had no reaction , she never has. Doesn’t seem to get ill very often. 

Edited May 25 by Tony_S

[polybear]

30 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I won't call it cheap, but it may not be as expensive as people might think. I get business class travel but in return am expected to be 'responsible' when buying tickets (I do my own travel and claim back), i.e. don't just book Singapore Airlines for S$12,000 for a flight when there are alternatives for less than half that price. I have used Vietnam Airlines a few times to fly to London, two hours to Ho Chi Minh, a very painless transfer (it's a very small terminal) and then onwards in a 787 with a pretty standard 1-2-1 pod arrangement. They do all the important stuff very well, the flight attendants have always been very friendly and attentive and S$3600 for a business class return Singapore - London (about £2000) is excellent value.

 

Bear has always flown long haul in Business Class (the Great Empire was paying 😁 - it's also been rather good for jackin' up the airmiles total 😁😁).

Private flights have always been S.H., so the extra for Business just hasn't been worth it in This Bear's Book.

However, and taking the £2K cost above as an example, half of that** is enough to pay for a week's accommodation in Malta (see piccies below) for a Bear (and that's without slummin' it) so I reckon I can suffer cattle class for 13 hours.

 

(**A cattle class fare, at a guess).

 

 

 

24 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

See the story in today's news, about the fatality at the Essex driving range. I'd regard it as highly undesirable that an unlawful killing has taken place and no-one has been prosecuted. 

 

Manslaughter, surely?

[polybear]

27 minutes ago, BoD said:

I suppose another advantage of flying at the pointy end is that if you have a ‘hard landing’  you find out about it before the plebs in economy.

 

Bear's Travel Tip of the Day:

 

When choosing where to sit on an aircraft use the "Seatguru" website and go for a seat number close to an emergency exit**; it also allows you to see what seats might have no windows, next to the bogs, restricted legroom etc.

Sadly it doesn't show where screamin' little b'sterds, etc. are gonna sit.

 

(**It'll prove useful if you have to bale out rather quickly - and might just make all the difference between making it or not).

 

BG

 

 

 

 

[polybear]

Shoplifting Doggies now:

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c6pp70xd1n7o

 

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

I suppose another advantage of flying at the pointy end is that if you have a ‘hard landing’  you find out about it before the plebs in economy.

Errr, No. When you land it's always "nose up, tail down" for the last few hundred feet. And the last few hundred feet is where things can really go pear shaped.

 

Once again, "the plebs" get the worst of it...

[iL Dottore]

A Happy Birthday to @Hroth

 

And I wish for you a total and complete absence, on your birthday, of

 

> Sobriety

> Inadequate provisions

> Food that is "good for you"

> Any sort of restraint.

 

I fully expect your first post of tomorrow morning to be along the lines of "that was a great birthday. Can anyone tell me what actually happened? I don't remember! much except the  Champagne and Brown Ale cocktails, they seemed like a good idea at the time. God what a hangover.Has anyone got an aspirin?