Early Risers.

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

 I need to get my ears lowered and will do if they aren't to busy.

What else are your ears likely to be doing? 😉

[TheQ]

The disabled assessment centre in Norwich was on the second floor of a building with no lift!!!

 

Swmbo's mother never got a blue badge, even though by 50 metres she was near needing medical treatment..

 

It's a bit windy out side. This is a mile away..

 

There should be a beach between the ramp and that line of rock sea defences, but it's an onshore wind.

A little further down the coast at Hemsby, the cliffs will be being pounded and more chalets washed away.

Edited June 10 by TheQ

[Hroth]

47 minutes ago, petethemole said:

Mrs mole can walk substantial distances with one or two crutches, and short distances unaided.  The crucial point is she is always in pain doing so.  The criterion is the inability to walk the specified distance "safely, reliably, repeatedly and in a reasonable time and pain free".  So I suggest that a PIP claim may be worth doing.  If so, read the claim form very carefully, and if Sharon has to have a face-to-face assessment, accompany her, take notes, and watch out for the distance traps, such as the distance from the car park to the door, or the waiting area to the assesment room.  Mrs mole's was in a newly built health centre and I was able to disprove the lies with the aid of a plan downloaded from the planning application, backed up by a visit in person (with permission) to measure the actual distances.

 

And never try to "do your best". The critera should be how well the claimant can do "on their worst day". Some are their own worst enemy and will struggle to achieve the goals an assessor will set through pride, even if the goal is excessive.

 

Oh well.

 

Finished waterproofing the planter before lunch.   It is now assembled and it and its companion are displaying troughs containing flowering things. Not a clue what they are, just cheap bedding plants I got some weeks ago!

 

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

What about putting up signs saying “illegally parked cars may suffer from

criminal damage“. 🤣

 

A few smashed car windows and a dozen or so slashed tires would certainly make people much more aware about where they park….. not that I am advocating any kind of illegal behaviour, God forbid, but you know how these festivals are – apart from the usual punters, they also tend to attract assorted lowlife’s and the criminal element 😳😁

 

And with all the riff raff at these festivals there are many more more likely suspects for any such criminal acts, certainly not the good Bürgers and citizens who live near the park….. 😯😳🤣

 

 

In terms of criminal acts no doubt there have been a few but only one to which GMP are crowing about. Namely a scrote in possession of several dozen nitrous oxide containers.

 

As per the illegal parking. There was supposed to be a tow truck doing the rounds. From what I can tell from the posted photos it was either overwhelmed or the driver forgot he was on duty at the weekend and slept in.

[Winslow Boy]

28 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

And never try to "do your best". The critera should be how well the claimant can do "on their worst day". Some are their own worst enemy and will struggle to achieve the goals an assessor will set through pride, even if the goal is excessive.

 

Oh well.

 

Finished waterproofing the planter before lunch.   It is now assembled and it and its companion are displaying troughs containing flowering things. Not a clue what they are, just cheap bedding plants I got some weeks ago!

 

Just make certain that when you plant the cheap bedding plants that the green bit- technical term that , hopefully with flowers, is the bit sticking out of the ground. Strangely they don't seem to do well if you get this 'minor' point wrong. Can't for the life of me see why.

Edited June 10 by Winslow Boy

[Tony_S]

44 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

that the green bit- technical term that

In the first school I taught in there was a subject called Rural Studies. I could hear the students murmuring softly “green up, brown down’ as they progressed through the garden . 

Edited June 10 by Tony_S

[TheQ]

Rural studies they did at my first secondary school, a large part of which was digging the gardens to provide more veg for the kitchens. The only time I've done double digging.

[DaveF]

The GP rang me this morning as planned about my IBS flare up.  Like me he wondered if that was the simple cause as I also had a raised temperature, theoretically not a regular IBS symptom.  He thinks I may have had a viral infection, possibly even the latest version of Covid which can affect bowels and give a dry cough as well apparently as a temporary intolerance of lactose.  I have done a Covid test, negative result.  He also says I did right in putting any open food from the fridge in the bin to remove any possible cause of reinfection.

 

I'm just to rest for a few more days (I like that idea) and to ring the surgery if it recurs.  We also decided not to bother with the bowel cacncer screening test I was sent a little while ago.  He would rather that the hernia surgery is really fully healed before doing one just in case they want to do a colonoscopy.  As I had a colonoscopy last year he doesn't think I need one anyway as apart from polyp removal (benign) all else was very good.

 

My new cleaner came from the company and did the usual good job.

 

I've finished scanning the family photos, the last ones were my grandfather in the Home Guard, he organised the Trent River Patrol, there were photos of motor cruisers with machine guns on their deck and people with rifles.  I also scanned photos of my Great Uncle's time in PoW camps in Germany and photographed his watercolours.  I will either pass them on to my cousins or see if his regimental museum wants them.

 

I'm not posting any on here as most of the Home Guard ones were taken by newspapers and may be subject to copyright, the PoW things feel a bit personal and also I'm not sure this is a place to put them, interesting as they may be.

 

The next job is to go through Mum and Dad's "Souvenir" file.  I know it contains my "letters home" when I was a student, I've no idea about the rest.

 

David

[Ian Abel]

Mornin'

Good weekend overall, but with Saturday filled with a 1.5 hr. drive to the memorial service we were attending and said service running for 1hr. 45minutes 😮 followed by the return drive, the Mrs back told her she should NOT go to the garden party we were invited to/

Net result, she relaxed on the bed with an ice pack, I went alone to the party. Enjoyable, but would have been nice to have the Mrs there, everyone expressed regets and missed her, that was nice.

 

Sunday more relaxing, however still had me fixing a string of patio lights (replacing one wonky set with a new/working version), and also replacing the rear security light that had also gone t!ts up!!

Relaxed after that, weather all weekend was delightful.

 

Today - work slow but proceeding, barraged by intrusive emails declaring I've only got ONE DAY to change my password on the company system before it expires <bah>

Also, been informed, again by intrusive email that I've been scheduled for ANOTHER "Cyber Security Assignment". This is now becoming a 2-3 month repeat occurence which makes me wonder how many staff in this large IT consulting firm are actually idiots given we seem to perpetually have to yawn through these training videos!!

 

11c and sunny at newspaper retrieval time, remaining sunny all day with a high of 23c expected.

 

Onward...

[Hroth]

22 hours ago, TheQ said:

Rural studies they did at my first secondary school, a large part of which was digging the gardens to provide more veg for the kitchens. The only time I've done double digging.

 

One of the Sunday newspapers (the Sunday Express?) used to carry a strip about the horticultural adventures of an old gent who went by the name of "Adam the Gardener".  The strips were collected into book form for aspiring amateur toilers of the soil to refer to.

 

That was the only place I've seen double digging referred to!

 

Just did a bit of "digging" and yes, it was the Sunday Express.  I've also found a page of what you keen gardeners should have been doing a few weeks ago.....

 

 

His curious jawline beard is as I remembered.... 

 

Edited June 11 by Hroth
Additional info

[iL Dottore]

I wonder how much it would cost the government if it accepted all claims for disability and did away with flawed (to put it charitably) assessments, appeals, counter appeals plus the added expense of outsourced assessments. Keeping in reserve a “big stick” of spot checks by qualified personnel (medics, nurses) with draconian penalties for gaming the system.
 

Obviously guidelines on what is a typical “dodgy” claimant would be needed and such claimants carefully monitored* (although the government’s own figures show that disability cheats are very much a tiny minority)
 

What do I mean by Draconian penalties? You claim that you can’t walk more than 25 meters, but then you post on soshul meeja snaps of you on a skiing holiday: then it’s a mandatory prison time and full repayment - with punitive interest - of all monies received.

 

The only onus on the claimant would be notify the authorities of any change of status (so the impact of the change on the condition/disability can be assessed).

 

I reckon that the amount of money saved by adopting such an approach would not be inconsiderable AND it would more humane than the present system.

 

* I don’t think a “grass up a cheat and get £1000 tax free” would be entirely appropriate (or ethical), but it does have a certain appeal to it!

[polybear]

9 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Before I could go for a lie down a very apologetic young man has just knocked at the door to say that he can't continue as he has just broken his phone and needs it do the set up.  He has now driven off to Tooting to get it fixed and hopes to be back by 11.00.

 

 

= He's off down the Cafe for a fry-up.....

 

8 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

The event used to be held in a field away from the populace, but unfortunately the farmer had enough so it got transferred.

 

No doubt got fed up with a field full of cr@p (literally), rubbish and needles everywhere.

Now if you were to get that same farmer to muck spread the local park a day or so before the party I reckon that should do the trick.

[polybear]

I see two have been found guilty of murder, using a Machete.  Not too unusual nowadays, sadly.

Except....

The two in question are 12 years old.  FFS.

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

Broadband still working OK and the landline phone is up and running properly, that took 3 or 4 hours to fully function although I was advised that it would take a while.  I've managed to make a reasonable job of tidying up all the various wires and tuck them away although still got more to do as there are still 3 lots of gubbins * to connect but am leaving them until tomorrow.

I would have done more but Abbie asked if she could come round and use our broadband as theirs is playing up.  She was working from home today and had an important online meeting.  I didn't want to fiddle around with anything and inadvertently pull the plug on her.  I am quite capable of pulling out the wrong plug, wire or anything else when it comes to fiddling with electrickery and gubbins.  Happens quite a lot on the toy layout thingy in The Shed.   🤪

Nicki came round at 06.00 to collect Abs and also to give us a lunch invitation for Thursday- it's for our wedding anniversary and Gemma's 20th birthday.  Looking forward to that.

The rest of the steak & mushroom pie has been devoured along with French fries and the food of the Devil baked beans.  A glass of Malbec was enjoyed and another small one will be poured in a moment.

Now off to listen to some loud rock music.

Not a bad day all told.

 

*TV Box Pro for er TV stuff and recording.

  Hybrid Connect Box (apparently this ensures internet connection via 4G if broadband goes down)

  Smart WiFi Plus Box  (to boost the signal ...I think, don't know if it's absolutely necessary but it was suggested it was A Good Thing and is included in the package.)

Edited June 10 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

For those interested in such things my Broadband download speed this morning before the change over was 69.82 Mbps.  I'm currently getting 301.83Mbps and have been advised this will increase over the next 3 days.

TBH that is all Greek to me but I'm assuming that this too is A Good Thing.

[Coombe Barton]

11 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

morning before the change over was 69.82 Mbps.  I'm currently getting 301.83Mbps and have been advised this will increase over the next 3 days.

You can now make mistakes in posting five times quicker.

[grandadbob]

I have just started the evening with this and thought I'd leave it with you.  Some may like it, others may not but I just love these young ladies.  Turn the volume up to 11 !!

 

 

[Debs.]

2 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

I have just started the evening with this and thought I'd leave it with you.  Some may like it, others may not but I just love these young ladies.  Turn the volume up to 11 !!

 

 

🫣That poor girl's put her knees through her trousers; the music business clearly is no picnic!😱

[Coombe Barton]

... Spreadsheets - getting more like Hades every day. Checking, rechecking, eventually, tomorrow, sending. Of course, they could have been done right in the first place, but what do I know? ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/06/10/combined-covid-and-flu-vaccine-in-trial-pandemic-outsourcing-back-to-spreadsheets/

[PhilJ W]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

What about putting up signs saying “illegally parked cars may suffer from

criminal damage“. 🤣

 

A few smashed car windows and a dozen or so slashed tires would certainly make people much more aware about where they park….. not that I am advocating any kind of illegal behaviour, God forbid, but you know how these festivals are – apart from the usual punters, they also tend to attract assorted lowlife’s and the criminal element 😳😁

 

4 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

In terms of criminal acts no doubt there have been a few but only one to which GMP are crowing about. Namely a scrote in possession of several dozen nitrous oxide containers.

 

As per the illegal parking. There was supposed to be a tow truck doing the rounds. From what I can tell from the posted photos it was either overwhelmed or the driver forgot he was on duty at the weekend and slept in.

Some ideas here about how to deal with bad parking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8CcO11KTec

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Today was rather different in that I did an extra stint at the Warehouse (hols means they're short of drivers) - so Bear was let loose on his own 😱 in one of the big Vans to run a Donation Event; fortunately another Volunteer met me there so I wasn't Billy No-Mates all day and not only had help but also someone to talk to as well.  It turned out he used to live in Bearsville so a lot of gossip was received and given, which was all rather interesting.  I even got the Van back unscathed as well, so that's a Tick.

 

By the time I'd finished unloading the van I was literally Last Bear Standing - everyone else had gone home by then (but only just), apart from one person in the Donations Centre so it was lock the shutter door time before going home.  A couple of the donations would've been unsellable in a Charity Shop sadly (e.g clear plastic A4 filing "envelopes") - so Bear brought them home and a couple of Neighbours were very pleased to unexpectedly receive them - so it kept them out of landfill as well.  Big Tick.

 

Harry the Honda is now up for sale and appears to be generating a lot of interest - there are already two people who want to come and view; unfortunately the weather forecast isn't great over the next few days for such activities but we'll see.  If only I had a Garage......(have I mentioned that?).

 

No donuts today though, sadly 😞 - but I did get a plain Scone and a pot of Strawberry Jam** to bring home with me for my Tea, so that's a reasonable consolation prize.

 

(**I've already got S.J at home - but this was in one of those little glass jars which come in handy when they're empty, so that's a plus point.).

 

BG

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Winslow Boy]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

In the first school I taught in there was a subject called Rural Studies. I could hear the students murmuring softly “green up, brown down’ as they progressed through the garden . 

They were clearly the ones who wanted to progress in there chosen career as horticulturists.

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

They were clearly the ones who wanted to progress in there chosen career as horticulturists.

Some of them were students whose only CSE entry was Rural Studies. In those days local councils had work opportunities for them. 

[Winslow Boy]

15 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Some of them were students whose only CSE entry was Rural Studies. In those days local councils had work opportunities for them. 

Yes in those days most councils had training budgets. Those days are long gone I'm afraid although some councils do try to ensure there staff have a basic knowledge. Unfortunately the systems in place don't 'encourage' the practical application of the skills they have. 

[Winslow Boy]

Update on crimes at Parklife.

 

It would appear that GMP have been busy. The little scamps. They made 62 arrests ranging from drug dealing, violence, parking offences, theft and intoxication. Of the 62, 52 have been detained at HMG's pleasure.

 

Nice to see my tax pounds in action for once.

Edited June 10 by Winslow Boy