Early Risers.

[Andy Hayter]

52 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Not forgetting the fact that many of The Great Unwashed were (and still are) thoroughly p1ssed off by the fact that the EU keeps stickin' it's oar in and telling us what we can and can't do - the ECHR being a prime example (the sooner we ditch that the better).  Is that a Rant?

 

Would that be the ECHR that was largely set up by/under Winston Churchill?

Would that be the ECHR that was set up before the EU - or in those days the European coal and steel agreement, then EEC - and has absolutely no link with the EU?

Or perhaps it is the ECHR that ensures you cannot just be picked up on the street and thrown into jail without trial just for being a bear?

 

Getting your news from dubious sources again?

[Hroth]

Thanks to the shrinkage of the currency, even tuppenny washers are too small!

 

[iL Dottore]

11 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Thanks to the shrinkage of the currency, even tuppenny washers are too small!

 

Tuppenny Washers!?!

 

That's posh!

 

Whatever happened to making your own from an old tin can?

 

Besides, learning how to use tin snips was instructional, especially the bit about how to get by with just 8 fingers....

[Debs.]

11 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Thanks to the shrinkage of the currency, even tuppenny washers are too small!

 

I recall expressing ironic surprise at a trade counter some years ago, when purchasing a bag of 50 galv. penny washers cost over £5....my attempt at humour fell flat at the chap's feet, and I was rewarded with "inflation init"😊

[Winslow Boy]

1 hour ago, jamie92208 said:

I spent half an hour watching one doing things, I presume training or trials, off

Callaghan will alway get a good mark from je.  He and Merlyn Rees gave the Police the Edmu d Davies pay formula that was later rui Ed by the other party but did me and my family well.  He had been the first Parliamentary advisor to the Police Federation. 

Sadly Bear, as pointed out by ID the ECHR had absolutely nothing to do with the EU. 

 

Jamie

That might be case, but as with most of these types of organisation it's staffed from the same 'gene pool'. As a result it tends to come out with the same or similar decisions due in part to group think.

[45156]

Morning All,

 

Just a quick visit to let folks know that I'm still around and am still slowly improving.  Not a lot to report - but I was hoping to get to the Ludlow brewery on Friday to see Remi Harris - an incredibly gifted guitarist.  I was actually prepared to pay out for taxis both ways - got to the Ludlow fringe website to book to be greeted by the words "sold out".  Just to give an idea of how good this guy is  Here he is jamming 14 years ago - and he's come on since then

 

 

Out to Ludlow for the shopping phase 2 when 30747 gets in with phase 1

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

Edited June 17 by 45156

[Coombe Barton]

10 hours ago, PupCam said:

Colyton

"The most rebellious town in Devon" due to the number of its inhabitants who joined the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685

[Debs.]

2 minutes ago, 45156 said:

Morning All,

 

Just a quick visit to let folks know that I'm still around and am still slowly improving.  Not a lot to report - but I was hoping to get to the Ludlow brewery on Friday to see Remi Harris - an incredibly gifted guitarist.  I was actually prepared to pay out for taxis both ways - got to the Ludlow fringe website to book to be greeted by the words "sold out".  Just to give an idea of how good this guy is  Here he is jamming 14 years ago - and he's come on since then

 

 

Out to Ludlow for the shopping phase 2 when 30747 gets in with phase 1

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

👋👍🥰🤗Hi Stewart, lovely to see you.

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

I remember watching Skippy when I was a kid. I was most disapointed not to see kangaroos in the wild when we travelled around Oz in the early 90's. We only saw them in Sydney zoo. Our relatives near Frankston on the Mornington peninsular used to see them a lot but by the mid 90's when I visited them on a seocnd trip to Oz they hadn't seen wild roos for quite a few years.

G'day all.  What's that Skip?  No-one has seen a wild roo in donkey's ages???

 

We lived near Frankston for 14 years.  It was within the "City of Frankston" but that is akin to saying within a London Borough or similar.  "City" is an administrative area; the Greater Melbourne region contains many Cities.  Frankston is the outer-most to the south and lies beside Port Phillip Bay and immediately north of the wine-growing region of the Mornington Peninsula about 30 miles from the centre.

 

We were in Leawarra.  Famed in certain circles for having the shortest operational railway platform in the State of Victoria; it held slightly shy of two carriages and had to be lengthened when locomotive-hauled trains (!!) were replaced by Sprinter cars.  Different to the UK ones but that is how they were and are known.  Two coupled formed most trains otherwise just a single car.  

 

Roos.  We were discussing roos.  

 

We saw a few hopping along the street and we had one or two come up the court (cul-de-sac / close in English) but not many.  There were roos a-plenty in the semi-open bushland the other side of the main road.  There were roos a-plenty hopping around Cruden Farm, home of (the late) Dame Elisabeth Murdoch, matriarch of that dynasty and a friend at the time.  There were always roos trying to hop across the newly-built Peninsula Link Freeway, causing mess and chaos in the process often as not, because that road was built through their land without a care.  

 

But when my sister came to stay could we find any boingaroos for her?  Could we heck.  We ended up driving out west to the grasslands and there found a paddock-full of them quietly going about their kanga-business right beside the road. 

 

SWMBO (long before she was a Dr.) saw swamp wallabies daily; they lived in the Royal Botanic Gardens where she worked.  She also saw bandicoots, snakes and wombats most days and occasionally a platypus or a koala.  I did see a wild koala near home; we were at a friend's house in Balnarring and found one asleep up their gum-tree.  As dusk turned to night it came down and ambled across to the beach.  

 

The Great Australian Wildlife does not put on a show for tourists.  Unless you pay to see the "Penguin Parade" at Phillip Island which is gross commercialisation of a perfectly natural event.  

 

In other news the first print run of the book - 100 copies - has all but sold out.  Just one remained available when I looked a few minutes ago.  More are coming.  I think we'll call that a successful project.  

Edited June 17 by Gwiwer

[Coombe Barton]

Car in garage - will get it back on Wednesday. Why? The problem is the fuel gauge transponder, which came from Germany, and the tank needs to be dropped to fit it. 

 

Edited June 17 by Coombe Barton
Autocorrect

[Peter Kazmierczak]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

 

 

Will Puppers be one of those very sad people that takes a piccy at that momentous occasion?  (29th October 2012, incidentally).

 

 

 

 

I recall in an episode of the Simpsons, Homer is on an African safari when he suddenly gets very excited, jumping up and down, and gets his camera out to take a picture.

A lion, an elephant? No; the jeep they are in just got to 100,000 miles...  

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Well the weather hasn’t changed much, still dull and grey. Although it’s not raining at the moment, it looks like it could do so at any moment. So, the plans are to chance heading to the workshop, I won’t do any model making today as it’s in dire need of a good tidy up I’ve got several part started projects laying around on the bench, some of which are not mine, as both Charlie and Max have got unfinished projects. But I do need to decide what I’m going to work on and pack away all the ones I’m not working on, leaving just that one on the bench. It’ll make finding things and doing things a lot easier. 
 

Best get a move on. 
 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[monkeysarefun]

2 hours ago, roundhouse said:

I remember watching Skippy when I was a kid. I was most disapointed not to see kangaroos in the wild when we travelled around Oz in the early 90's. We only saw them in Sydney zoo. Our relatives near Frankston on the Mornington peninsular used to see them a lot but by the mid 90's when I visited them on a seocnd trip to Oz they hadn't seen wild roos for quite a few years.

They can come and go with the weather conditions, during the drought I saw them here regularly as they moved to areas with more water. The open grasslands outside  major cities are the best places to see them, in the  thicker bush in areas like the Blue Mountains they are less common, you are more likely to see Rock Wallabies.

 

Also during the day they don't move around much, dawn and dusk are the best times. 

 

The most I've seen at one time  across the paddock behind here  were a mob of about a dozen feeding on the crops,

 

this is the most recent one, probably about a month ago

 

 

But I see them pretty much daily on the drive to work, the main places are in the stretch of road that runs alongside the Sydney Water catchment area this is fenced off to prevent dogs and ferals from entering so the roo numbers a quite large there, the other place is in the huge area of Defence Land just outside Penrith, again this has a high security fence so the roos are safe from predators. 

Edited June 17 by monkeysarefun

[Gwiwer]

46 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

Car in garage - will get it back on Wednesday. Why? The problem is the fuel gauge transponder, which came from Germany, and the tank needs to be dropped to fit it. 

 

Extremities crossed.  

 

Which reminds me I still have to find a suitable two-days-together to book the Little Red Driving Box in for some bits and bobs.  Including fitting the idiot-cam which I feel sure might bring benefits of some sort sooner rather than later.  It's half way between MoT tests so a quick check-over won't go amiss given its age.  59-reg.  Almost as old as me!!!

 

In other news the last post caused me to delve into the older files and dust off some photos.  As these have auto-loaded into the post they are sort of back-to-front but whatever.  

 

The very last locomotive-hauled suburban train in Australia.  The night before Sprinters took over the Frankston - Stony Point service with regular-performer A60 and regular conductor Peter keeping a goodly load of "gunzels" happy 

 

 

 

Leawarra station.  The lack of platform length is not apparent other than the train being drawn forward so that the rear door of carriage two is platformed for the conductor.  Note the open door on the leading car too - doors were often left open on warmer days.  The chap is waiting to cross the line in the authorised manner - we just waited for the train to go and walked over the tracks to the footpath on the other side; there was no actual crossing.

 

The little station at the end of the line - Stony Point - where you take the ferry over to Phillip Island.  As far as a Melbourne suburban train and ticket will take you from the city centre at around 40 miles.  

 

 

Freight Australia provided substitute motive power on rare occasions as seen here with A79.  The somersault and rotating-disc shunt signals seen here at Frankston lasted until 2013.  

 

I have mentioned before in ERs that I once got up close and very personal with a grumpy cassowary or two.  This is as close as I got!  Kuranda, in the Queensland rain forest, where two of them followed me up the main street.  They are not to be trifled with - they can do you a very nasty damage 

 

And that koala at Balnarring I mentioned above?  Here tis.  Taken using a pair of binoculars to extend the range of the Minolta Dynax film SLR I was using at the time.

 

 

Edited June 17 by Gwiwer

[polybear]

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Dare I say this. Here goes. They know there's sod all that you can do about it so really don't give a s&;t. There I said it. It's off my chest.

 

And if you're silly enough to kick off then you'll wait rather a lot longer - or not get in at all.

 

2 hours ago, roundhouse said:

I remember watching Skippy when I was a kid. I was most disapointed not to see kangaroos in the wild when we travelled around Oz in the early 90's. We only saw them in Sydney zoo. Our relatives near Frankston on the Mornington peninsular used to see them a lot but by the mid 90's when I visited them on a seocnd trip to Oz they hadn't seen wild roos for quite a few years.

 

Those dastardly Ozzie's have made them all into Burgers.

 

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

 

Has anyone else noticed penny washers shrunk?  They are certainly smaller than they used to be,  so now you have to buy repair washers which are the size of the old penny washers.

 

 

Nyloc Nuts are your friend; as for large Penny (Repair) washers the 'bay is your friend - the seller I looked at has (e.g.) M6 x 50 for example.

 

32 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

 

I recall in an episode of the Simpsons, Homer is on an African safari when he suddenly gets very excited, jumping up and down, and gets his camera out to take a picture.

A lion, an elephant? No; the jeep they are in just got to 100,000 miles...  

 

Rumour has it that A Certain Bear may have a piccy of 100K as well.....

 

10 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Including fitting the idiot-cam which I feel sure might bring benefits of some sort sooner rather than later. 

 

Rear Cams are just as important - imagine someone smashing into the back of you then bvggerin' off without passing the front cam; Bear's recent inconvenience (other words are available) have also proved this - the rear cam showing the Van disappearing whilst draggin' his bumper behind him.

[polybear]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Sadly Bear, as pointed out by ID the ECHR had absolutely nothing to do with the EU. 

 

 

They've both got an E in - close enough.....

[45156]

1 hour ago, Debs. said:

👋👍🥰🤗Hi Stewart, lovely to see you.

And good to see you as well Debs

[monkeysarefun]

24 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

And that koala at Balnarring I mentioned above?  Here tis.  Taken using a pair of binoculars to extend the range of the Minolta Dynax film SLR I was using at the time.

 

 

 

 

The only place I've seen a koala in the  wild was while climbing the track that leads to the top of Hanging Rock down there in Victoria. There was one in a tree halfway up doing exactly the same as the one in your pic is doing. 

 

There is a colony of them in the bushland south of Sydney, near Appin down to the Gong.  They are often getting skittled by cars along Appin Road sadly, since they come out at night and try crossing the road.

 

They are putting in koala-proof fencing with the occasional koala  bridge along it - 

 

 

but that has led to  concerns that in  bushfires the koalas may get trapped against the fence ..

Edited June 17 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

9 minutes ago, polybear said:

Rumour has it that A Certain Bear may have a piccy of 100K as well.....

 

 Put some  effort in, mate!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

11 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 Put some  effort in, mate!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whats that in Real Money?🤔

 

(Its 248548 miles*, neither one thing or t'other!)

* Or 1988384 furlongs, for the pedantic.

 

 

Edited June 17 by Hroth
done the sums for you!

[DaveF]

A late start today as I slept rather well.  The washing is on, my part of the housework is done, someone should come to do the rest very soon. 

 

A parcel containing something I ordered from a shop in Sheffield is due to be delivered later today by Royal Mail according to this morning's Royal Mail e mail.  The e mail Royal Mail sent me yesterday said it would come tomorrow, I am pleased it will come today when I plan to be at home.

 

The main jobs for today are to finish sorting out the family photos to send to the cousins on the other side of the family and get them onto memory cards to post.  Then I may start on the covering letters to explain the captions as I have referenced them to myself and my Mum and Dad in terms of generations.  Fortunately hardly any first names were used more than once over the generations.  I also intend to finish dealing with the paperwork I want to get rid of, so there will be some tearing of paper and shredding later on. I am wondering why I have kept so much of the paperwork about the last few cars I have owned, I always used to just bin it as soon as I sold them.

 

David

Edited June 17 by DaveF

[Hroth]

Oh well, its bright but overcast out, don't know how warm it is at present, but its time to go a-foraging...

 

Ta-ra la!

 

[Debs.]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

The problem is the fuel gauge transponder, which came from Germany, and the tank needs to be dropped to fit it. 

 

That must be the only thing connected with fuel that's dropped lately!🤭

[southern42]

' morning all from red dragon land.

Overcast. Slight northerly breeze. 12.5C.

 

 

On 12/06/2024 at 10:07, southern42 said:

Windpipe permitting, a few jobbies to do before some TOTF🎶. I should be able to do that though a snooze on the sofa sounds more enticing!

 

Hmmm. Yesterday, I succumbed... 😴

Not to worry. Later, after putting the washing out, I made a beeline for the dying columbine flowers along the fence and broke them off before they go to seed otherwise they will be everywhere next year. They will be dug out, anyway, when I get round to replanting the area. There were a few weeds growing down at the bottom of the garden which also got pulled out. Two armfuls got dumped into the garden waste bin which is so large it hardly made an impression!

 

Just waiting for the pinecone pundits' promise of sun to materialise to finish airing yesterday's washing. With no heating on indoors in the summer <<er...you call this summer? Brrrr>> it can take awhile to dry washing completely inside.

 

No plans for today, yet, except a mugadecaf to get me going.

 

Take care. Be good. Think ahead.

Polly

 

[roundhouse]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

G'day all.  What's that Skip?  No-one has seen a wild roo in donkey's ages???

 

We lived near Frankston for 14 years.  It was within the "City of Frankston" but that is akin to saying within a London Borough or similar.  "City" is an administrative area; the Greater Melbourne region contains many Cities.  Frankston is the outer-most to the south and lies beside Port Phillip Bay and immediately north of the wine-growing region of the Mornington Peninsula about 30 miles from the centre.

 

We were in Leawarra.  Famed in certain circles for having the shortest operational railway platform in the State of Victoria; it held slightly shy of two carriages and had to be lengthened when locomotive-hauled trains (!!) were replaced by Sprinter cars.  Different to the UK ones but that is how they were and are known.  Two coupled formed most trains otherwise just a single car.  

 

 

Our Uncle lived 3km West from Leawarra station and we did make a trip to Stony Point on one of the loco hauled trains back in 1998 when we were staying with him for our cousins wedding. It was a big wedding and I always remember the brides father effectively threatening our cousin if he ever let his daughter down. The marriage didn't last long as she went very weird and ran off with someone else.

 

Our trian at Stony Poin

Edited June 17 by roundhouse