Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Always wanted a unimat, but could never quite justify getting one, at the moment I have a distinct lack of worktop space to put one.

 

Mooring Awl,

5 hours near solid sleep,  short awake, 2 hours near solid sleep, needed

Day 2 of new, are they or aren't they pills, still feeling side effects.

 

Pictures are arriving from various members of the cousins reunion, of the event and of various members of the family to add to family historys.

Including a photo of a former member of Southampton, Manchester united and England football teams. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rawlings

 

Plans for the day,

There is a radiator cover to take apart ( was flat pack anyway), it had to be removed when mum had a stair lift fitted.

But first,

Time for muggacoffee .

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear's money is on the little kid.

If it follows the usual disaster movie format the little kid will discover something that will lead to the agent but not before the body count is higher, that body count will include the politician. 

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

There has been a recent outbreak of ML (“Machine Lust”)

All this heavy metal.

 

Should I get the Motörhead shirt / CDs out and crank the speakers up to 15?  

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. A good night last night with only one interruption, six hours sleep in all. It certainly rained last night by the sounds of it which must have lulled me to sleep. Will have to shop today, just the usual bread, milk and eggs, be back later.

[Hroth]

As its a grey, soggy day, I'm going on an ear-lowering trip.

 

Haven't seen the top of my ears since before the holidays....  🤪

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Another dull, damp and miserable day here in England’s northwest corner, there’ll definitely NOT be any outside activities being done today. The plan is to spend an hour or so in the office downstairs doing a bit of work on the computer and scanning some drawings of items that run on parallel metal strips. This afternoon we’ll do the weekly shop, as we’re getting low on bread, milk and fruit etc. other than that it’s more of the same. 
 

I’ve never owned a UNIMAT lathe, but Sheila did my me a micro lathe some years ago and it’s had quite a bit of use. In all the years I’ve had it, the only thing that’s needed attention is a replacement drive belt earlier in the year. It came with a 3 jaw chuck, but I bought an adjustable top slide when I got the lathe, which has paid for itself on many occasions. There is about 12 inches between the chuck and the tail stock centre and the maximum diameter work I can do is about 4 inches. I relocated it a few years ago, so it now stands in front of the window instead of in the corner, the light is much better there. I also have a bench drill stand and a small twin head grindstone too, this is great for sharpening drills etc. 
 

Here's a photo of the lathe in its original location. 

 

Back later. 
 

Brian

[Hroth]

3 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

All this heavy metal.

 

Should I get the Motörhead shirt / CDs out and crank the speakers up to 15?  

 

 

 

Dunno about Heavy Metal, when I saw iDs prescription for treating ML, I immediately thought of The Fall...

 

 

The first verse even mentions lathes, though I don't think Mark E Smith was referring to our esteemed colleagues...

 

[DaveF]

I had an earlyish start, was just getting breakfast at 08.00 when I had a phone call from Clare to say that either she or Scott would come between 9 and 11 to sort out the boiler.

 

I'd just finished the Monday morning jobs when Clare came at 9.  I now have new plastic pipes for the condensate/pressure relief boiler wastes.  One of the joints was leaking so she decided that rather than trying to reglue it it would be simpler just to replace the pipes as they are over 15 years old.  It took her just over 40 minutes, total cost including the bits £48.  If it doesn't cure it she will come back again. She also gave me some £5 notes for a £20 note I had which is useful if I am just buying a coffee - some places here really prefer cash.

 

I now have some bits of old pipe and some new offcuts for modelling purposes.

 

Apart from that I slept quite well, there has been a bit of light rain which may continue during the day and I have done the usual things with the PC, including getting cross with - it will get an overdue restart in a few minutes to setle it down.

 

The rest of the day will depend on the weather.

 

David

Edited 9 hours ago by DaveF

[Hroth]

Look!

 

Lug'oles!!!

 

[Erichill16]

4 minutes ago, Hroth said:

Look!

 

Lug'oles!!!

 

Where?

[BoD]

2 hours ago, Hroth said:

As its a grey, soggy day, I'm going on an ear-lowering trip.

 

Haven't seen the top of my ears since before the holidays....  🤪

 

 

You are lucky

 

The top of my ears haven't seen my hair for years

[Peter Kazmierczak]

Youngest daughter off to uni to do her Masters. I asked if she wanted me to walk her to the gates to check she was OK, but she declined...

As compensation, just got a summer 1956 WTT for the Derby - Bristol line in the post. Summer ones seem to be rarer to find than the winter ones.

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon, got busy earlier so fail to post.

 

Sky is leaden grey here, a really heavy overcast, but no rain, and the air is hardly moving.  This is because I have washing out, unlikely to dry much. Pah!

 

Had a trip out to complete messages list provided from SWMBO, and sent a parcel containing 'one of those things' to a friend well known on here.

 

Next lunch and housework I suppose, not really caught up since our holiday, dusting has been 'mentioned', double pah.  What a waste of energy, it'll be back by 5pm.

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

Where?

 

'ere!!!

 

[BoD]

Yay. 

I'm a long term delinquent 

Been trying for that for years.

 

 

 

Must dash of to pay my for my ticket in case they change their minds.

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by BoD

[Hroth]

34 minutes ago, BoD said:

Yay. 

I'm a long term delinquent 

Been trying for that for years.

 

 

 

Must dash of to pay my for my ticket in case they change their minds.

 

 

 

Here you go....

 

 

[Erichill16]

I wonder if @polybear has tried these or are they a bit too sophisticated for his palate? 

 

[DaveF]

The rest of the day has passed peacefully, at least so far.  The boiler is behaving itself so I can relax about it.  It may seem odd but I had "felt" there was something not quite right for a couple of weeks but couldn't put my finger on it.

 

The cleaning has been done and I have given Amanda the contact details for my heating people, and also a number for the people who looked after Mum's boiler as she and her husband are trying to find a plumber to do some work on theirs.  She says they have tried 3 people without success.

 

I've had another quite long series of chats with some of the neighbours and read part of a book and also had a nap.

 

The rain has gradually become heavier and more peristent as the day has gone on so I haven't been far.  Tomorrow is supposed to be dry.

 

David

[iL Dottore]

18 hours ago, PupCam said:

If you wanted to be really posh (aka pricey) you could go for something like this but me being me I'd go for a home built job of my own design and making.

 

 

Arthur Daley lives!😱

[zarniwhoop]

I see the Grauniad is back into "drink less alcohol" stories - a report last week about some experiment in Cambridge to serve 2/3 pint  of beer (379ml) instead of a full pint, then today a columnist who had come here from Oz and said she found a pint was always warm by the time she got to the bottom of it (and halves were finished before her fellow drinkers finished their pints, which is a fair comment), and that she found a Schooner (425ml) in Oz was the right size.. She also said that studies denying this were funded by the drinks industry.

 

In both articles it was asserted that alcohol causes cirrhosis of the liver. Last week I was re-reading 'The Alcohol Paradox' by Tony Edwards. TLDR: for moderate consumption of beer or wine it increases your life expectancy over tee-totallers, and doesn't have a statistically significant influence on cancer, perhaps related to the antioxidants.  He suggests that perhaps the need to drink small beer or weak wine in the absence of clean water maybe caused adaptations - for some populations, particularly in East Asia, alcohol is less well tolerated.

 

He also suggests that doctors have tended to say what those who have reached the top of that profession say, and hold the party line to discourage excess drinking, although their personal life may be different from what they preach.

 

[The Lurker]

Greetings all from the Fold in the Hill, where I can at present see some blue sky. It rained heavily overnight and the Cray was running high when I walked along its banks at lunchtime but no flooding*, no holes in football pitches and no cars submerged (a la A421).

 

I hope our correspondents in such far flung places as Stevenage and Bedfordshire have not experienced any flooding themselves.

 

But it's not all dry and warm ahead. The Boring Borough is promised rain again around midnight through to around 7, and the same the following evening although the rain might not stop. So we will be getting our share too!

 

* they've modified the lake upstream of the Five Arches bridge so that it now floods into the floodplain and into the woods. All part of the "re-wilding" of the Cray and an attempt to literally by pass the listed bridge and associated weir. This area dried up completely in the last few months but had moorhens swimming on it today. This was a change that was made this spring, so it is all new and interesting to see what will happen over time. The Cray is a chalk stream (at least for part of its length) but has seen a lot of adaptations for mills and by Capability Brown over the years. The plan seems to be to try to allow it to have more natural flow where they can.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, BoD said:

Yay. 

I'm a long term delinquent 

Been trying for that for years.

 

 

 

Must dash of to pay my for my ticket in case they change their minds.

Along those lines recently there has been a series of scam eMails purporting to be from the Swiss Bundesamt für Polizei informing the recipient that they have been accused of very serious crimes (which are listed in the eMail) and that there is an "open dossier" which "can be corrected" upon clicking on a link and an "fee paid" for access (there's an awful lot more waffle designed to scare the beejezus out of anyone receiving such an eMail).

 

Now, I'm no expect in the field of criminal investigation, but somehow I don't think any police force, suspecting that an individual was committing very serious crimes, would announce their investigation to anyone before they've had a chance to - at the very least - bring the suspect in for questioning - let alone notify the "prime suspect" that they are under investigation.

 

Apart from the fact that Bundesamt für Polizei  is written in CAPS in such eMails (in all materials from the BfP the name of the department is only capitalised as above), the spoofed eMail address is not even remotely like the BfP eMail address (as described on the official Governmental website).

 

I can well imagine how much anxiety, worry (and even fear) such eMails could cause in a non-Tech savvy older person, especially if they haven't had as much as a speeding ticket in their lives.

 

Scrotes sending out such eMails should be sent to @polybear to face his retributive, vengeful wrath he reserves for deserving scrotes...

[Peter Kazmierczak]

My wife got one recently. Wondered why the DVSA (Driver and Vehicle Standards Authority) would be interested in issuing a parking ticket...

If you're doing a scam, get it right please chaps with at least some form of gov.uk address. 

Of course, I'd never get caught by any of this. Anyway, must send some more £££ to my African friend who is going to repay me with loads of dosh next month.

[Tony_S]

We needed to set off early to get to the Solihull by 11.30 to attend a funeral. The two main routes to the M25 , one closed , the other route blocked by an accident . All the salt nav and map app suggestions were to head to Chelmsford, go near Stansted Airport , join the M11 and cut across to the  M6 via the A14. Then the rain started. It was slow traffic until a total stop on the A14 when a lorry lost a tyre. Got to the crematorium a few minutes after the service started.  Back home now. Very tired. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Tony_S

[Coombe Barton]

... As today would have been the first day of teaching I’m glad that my bum is on the sofa. Bach is also issuing from the computer speakers ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2024/09/23/postcards-from-home-2024-26/