Early Risers.

[BR60103]

18 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Huh?  The sign might say "floor 5" but there's no getting around the fact that you are still on the 4th floor!

 

The only surefire remedy would be to seal it off.

IIRC one building I worked in used the 13th floor for building purposes and it wasn't accessible from the public elevators.

 

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

What's uglier than a Tesla Cybertruck?

 

A Tesla Cybertruck covered in a garish vinyl wrap.

 

 

 

Yay for living in a right hand drive market with Design Rules that don't cater for drive by wire so we wont see them here..   As a result we save 3 car parking spots per vehicle!

Edited 1 hour ago by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

12 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I'm surprised none of you suggested live impalement. The Ottomans allegedly did it on stakes in the Bosporus. 

 

 

   .......let alone Tickle Torture.

Edited 5 hours ago by monkeysarefun

[Ozexpatriate]

14 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

   .......let alone Tickle Torture.

 

Cardinal Ximénez, to Cardinal Biggles:

Quote

Biggles, fetch the cushions!

...

Fetch the comfy chair!

 

If anyone needs the reference 🙄 it is here or (skip a bit brother) here.

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Ozexpatriate

[jjb1970]

I managed to survive last night's dinner, my friend who invited me clearly knows me well enough to suggest I sit next to an elderly Yorkshire man who went to Singapore 50 years ago to start his own oil company  and was delightful company. We passed the evening in a most pleasant way saying b*ll*x to everything, splendid!

 

The food was as expected.  Awards ceremony dinners are like Christmas party dinners, venues know most people are there to 'network' and be seen as up and coming go getters (or because they are expected to be there), or there to get drunk and act like asses as applicable.  So they don't really have to impress with the food. Made worse by the fact they all know that all the alternatives are in the same boat playing the same game. The Shangri La has some superb restaurants and eating there in other circumstances would be a real treat, but catering for several hundred guests at a gala dinner they just go through the motions.

 

The British High Commissioner was there, I did think about answering some of his questions about the state of the world and shipping honestly when we had a brief chat but decided otherwise. Not only might it have embarrassed my hosts, he seemed a nice fellow and gave the impression of being in the same boat I was, I.e. he would rather have been doing something else but had to be there.

 

The taxi home highlighted one of the downsides of Singapore. Taking a taxi in London is often an educational experience,  as passengers recieve a philosophical monologue on right wing politics and why they should be strung'up. Alas my driver last night just took me home.

[iL Dottore]

20 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I'm surprised none of you suggested live impalement. The Ottomans allegedly did it on stakes in the Bosporus. 

Hmm.

But thinking about it, as exemplary as these punishments may be, they don't have any real psychological impact. So I'm thinking "Disappearance" and state initiated rumour, as in "you know Fred Bloggs, up to his neck in the XXX scandal, but they couldn't prove anything? Well he's disappeared, the Police and the authorities say that they know nothing and his colleagues and family are going frantic"

 

Drop a few hints along the lines of "The regime is rumoured to be disappearing high profile miscreants - although this is strongly denied by PB's government department" and watch panic ensue in certain quarters..,

 

p.s. we can keep the entertaining punishments for the common or garden "nasty scrote"

[Chris Snowdon]

8 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear has a new acquisition:

 

"Poole Quay by Gaslight"

 

 

- a purchase from the Warehouse; I often look at the piccies and this one just grabbed me.  It's a big piccy (34" x 24" framed) - the frame does it no favours though, so if I decide I like it enough (likely) I'll re-frame it; it's unusual in that it has the appearance of an oil painting (it's unglazed accordingly) but I'm sure it isn't - different sized versions are available on the 'bay & net.

Can't get to sleep.  Can't get this image out of my mind's eye.  Am positively haunted by it.  The moon and clouds bit is good...

[jjb1970]

I might suggest flogging round the fleet, but that rather presupposes the existence of a fleet.

[monkeysarefun]

3 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

Taking a taxi in London is often an educational experience,  as passengers recieve a philosophical monologue on right wing politics and why they should be strung'up. Alas my driver last night just took me home

 

Up until covid killed it it  was  traditional in Australia for solo  blokes  to ride in the front with the driver -  sitting in the back gave you an air of being up yourself, like you were being chauffeured around and the old-school  drivers could get a bit sarcastic about you!

 

Women were free to choose front or back. 

 

We still got right wing radio and hang' em high comments though,  along with  opinions on the body bits of various lady pedestrians we drove past.

[monkeysarefun]

9 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

although this is strongly denied by PB's government department" and watch panic ensue in certain quarters

 

 

Isn't  he that bloke who's scared of spiders?  "everyone falls around laughing" would be more likely!

Edited 5 hours ago by monkeysarefun

[Chris Snowdon]

7 minutes ago, jjb1970 said:

I might suggest flogging round the fleet, but that rather presupposes the existence of a fleet.

We ain't got one here.  Not any more.  But anyway, you only need the one ship to do a keel-hauling.

[Chris Snowdon]

11 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Up until covid killed it it  was  traditional in Australia for solo  blokes  to ride in the front with the driver -  sitting in the back gave you an air of being up yourself, like you were being chauffeured around and the old-school  drivers could get a bit sarcastic about you!

 

Women were free to choose front or back. 

 

We still got right wing radio and hang' em high comments though,  along with  opinions on the body bits of various lady pedestrians we drove past.

Over here we don't get much choice, at least not in The Metropolis - black cabs are still arranged so that passengers can only go in the back, and minicab/ private hire drivers always travel with the fron passnger seat pulled all the way forward.  The last two times I've gone in the front, have been occasions when I have seriously thought that it would be better to swap places with the driver and risk getting caught driving w/o insurance rather than to allow them to continue as they were.   Which brings me to my next...

[Chris Snowdon]

37 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Hmm.

But thinking about it, as exemplary as these punishments may be, they don't have any real psychological impact. So I'm thinking "Disappearance" and state initiated rumour, as in "you know Fred Bloggs, up to his neck in the XXX scandal, but they couldn't prove anything? Well he's disappeared, the Police and the authorities say that they know nothing and his colleagues and family are going frantic"

 

Drop a few hints along the lines of "The regime is rumoured to be disappearing high profile miscreants - although this is strongly denied by PB's government department" and watch panic ensue in certain quarters..,

 

p.s. we can keep the entertaining punishments for the common or garden "nasty scrote"

I apologise to all who do not follow The Archers, and anyone who does but listens at lunchtime should not read the rest of this.  Several blank lines entered below to force text down.

 

Edited - CARP!  Didn't realise you can't hide text that way.

 

Will resend that part of my rant after Sunday's Omnibus, if I remember.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Chris Snowdon

[Ozexpatriate]

44 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Isn't  he that bloke who's scared of spiders?  "everyone falls around laughing" would be more likely!

Cardinal Ximénez: "Biggles, fetch the Daddy Longlegs!" 😉

[Ozexpatriate]

17 minutes ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Didn't realise you can't hide text that way.

Enter it and change the colour to white. Anyone who wants to read it can select it.

 

Hello

 

Like so

 

[iL Dottore]

59 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Isn't  he that bloke who's scared of spiders?  "everyone falls around laughing" would be more likely!

Aren't you the Scofflaw, Chimpey.

 

Well, you're now obviously "on the list" then

 

ps PB's "dishing it out", not taking it. I am certain he will have enough LEOs around him to protect him from nutters armed with spiders and snakes 

[Cowley 47521]

Morning all.

 

We pretty much reduced our drinking by about 90% over the last six months, we had a couple of drinks while on holiday last week but nothing this week and we never drink at home now. This has pushed us into going to bed earlier (10pm) and reading, which I’m really enjoying, but I do sometimes wake up quite early - 5am yesterday and today for example.

 

Unfortunately I put the phone on sleep mode two minutes before the texts arrived saying that the Northern Lights were visible last night... 🤦‍♂️

 

In other news (that may or may not be related to strange sky based phenomena), I bought a cheapo 3D printed oil tank the other day, made a little plinth for it and painted it up for my new O gauge project. But it’s gone, and I mean really really gone.

 

I’ve looked everywhere for it. I’ve tidied all the tools up, emptied the shed out, pulled the cupboards out, looked at least twice in all the places there’s absolutely no chance (but maybe just the faintest chance) it could have ended up, looked in my shoes, blamed my daughters dog, looked into the eyes of the cats and couldn’t see any signs of shiftiness (apart from the normal levels), looked in the garden in case it was the dog. I’ve even said to Mrs C that if she’s stood on it by mistake and has hidden it from me to save her embarrassment that I can easily buy another one, but please please tell me because I actually think I’m going mad!

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Due to other lights in the sky and cloud we only glimpsed the Northern Lights last night. Pah!

 

Rather than keel hauling a quick trip around a submarine while itbis submerged would be entertaining for some.. andvyes we have a few of them now..

 

I thought Vlad was the impaler.. not someone to get the wrong side of!

 

Off out to celebrate her indoors and my new family member through marriage birthday at a nice Italian restaurant tonight. Pizzas are nice (and no I don't have fries with pizzaL but there looks like a seafood linguine lurk8ngnon the menu..

 

Time for a mugatea then.. onwards and upwards..

 

Have a good day!

 

Baz

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

I was talking to my sister at my sons wedding - she's moved up the Far North Coast so I've not seen her for a while.  Given the bloodlust on here for those in senior positions I won't mention that she is a big poobah in the Australian Frangipani Society.   But anyway, she has joined a camera club and was saying about how her latest assignment was to photograph stuff on her drive to work, and that I should give it a go because it makes you look at things in a different way or something.

 

I told her that no one would  want to see photos of potholes and skittled wombats  but she suggested I give it a go anyway and so as today was a quiet morning I did.

 

The Rurality - 

 

 

 

Well, you can have more than one size spanner or screwdriver, so why not mowers?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waterhen, Little Corellas and a wood duck -

 

 

 

Corellas In The Mist!

 

 

 

Due to harsh weather and whiteants iron was a much used construction material in place of wood, but jeez it must have been hot in these country halls and churches dressed in your Sunday best - 

 

 

 

 

 

A scenic spot - 

 

 

 

 

Going on The Long Walk - 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 1 hour ago by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

You know its a dry country when  "Moderate" is the lowest fire rating - 

 

 

Rural letterboxes - 

 

 

 

Yeah typical , what OTHER animal would think its poo was worth money?

 

 

 

 

Oh, apart from ducks!

 

 

 

 

Wildlife Test:  Are they Wallabies........or are they 'Roos?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roadside Relics -

 

 

 

 

 

[Hroth]

11 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

32ft Bombarde?

 

Evening orl, from what was a sunny rock, but I was less than sunny, just couldn't get going this morning.  I took myself off the the Point of Ayre (John O'Groats Fraggle stylee) for a walk, then around the Bright Lights of Royal Ramsey for another mile.  That helped a bit, spent a couple of hours in the garage tending to live steam locos after their trundle out at the weekend, the naughty one has a slot on the bench booked.

 

Looking back towards the hilly bit (2,036 feet).

 

 

 

32ft Bombardes are usually the "Big Boom" pipes on parish church organs.

(the "Little Boom" rank is the 16ft equivalent)

 

Apart from some modern atrocities, the lowest conventional recorder is the contrabass in F which is 8ft long

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrabass_recorder

 

[Grizz]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Hmm.

But thinking about it, as exemplary as these punishments may be, they don't have any real psychological impact. So I'm thinking "Disappearance" and state initiated rumour, as in "you know Fred Bloggs, up to his neck in the XXX scandal, but they couldn't prove anything? Well he's disappeared, the Police and the authorities say that they know nothing and his colleagues and family are going frantic"

 

Drop a few hints along the lines of "The regime is rumoured to be disappearing high profile miscreants - although this is strongly denied by PB's government department" and watch panic ensue in certain quarters..,

 

p.s. we can keep the entertaining punishments for the common or garden "nasty scrote"

Erm…   @iL Dottore …..perhaps you might have been spending just a little too much time with CC?
 

Some might say that he is beginning to rub off on you…🤨

 

I wouldn’t be one of those though…..so when do we get started? 😆

 

There is a fascinating location to play a game of ‘Terminal Hide and Seek’….it has the added advantage of being inside a private hospital, so under the guise of a poorly patient who is desperately in need of ‘a cure’, and with your medical credentials it would be easy getting access. 
 

Solution….
 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodingdean_Water_Well#:~:text=The Woodingdean Water Well is,provide water for a workhouse.

 

This is the deepest hand dug well in the world…..and it is only just up the road from here, just a couple of miles South of Brighton’s football ground. 
 

It’d take ages to fill it up. Years and years of ‘Horrible Herbert Terminal Hide and Seek’ candidates could be accommodated.

 

Not that I’ve thought much about this subject obviously……🤔😎

 

[TheQ]

Having moored up on Poole quay many years ago, I just had to look that painting up.

Painted by Rodney Charman, after 1979 when he started marine painting.

Still available new in two versions,

The cheap and nasty print £15.

The expensive print, which I think the Bear has, is £42.

 

The artist does a range of similar atmospheric paintings.

 

Poole quay is famous among sailors, because the council removed all the mooring eyes because they were a trip hazard, then complained when the boats tied up to lamp posts and planters.

 

 

Mooring Awl, 

6 hours of very interrupted sleep, get to sleep, wake in pain from some joint, find new comfortable position, go to sleep and repeat.

 

Very blue Welkin, just the odd cloud, grass wet, but the road has dry patches due to the wind.

 

Museum day,

Must get ready..

But first

Time to wake up the fire.

 

 

 

[Grizz]

Morning All ERers

 

Off shift today……Woooooooooohoooooo!

 

As already posted on here, the Northern lights became the Southern Lights last night. 
 

 

 

 

Not going to bother going back to Norway to see them any time soon.

 

It was a relatively cold night down here in the Deep South. But this had the usual wonderful result in a great sunrise. 
 

 

 

and on the downs South of Lewes…..

 

 

Muddling is on the cards today. I’m sure that may others feel this way, but I have found that muddling is very good for my mental health. Even when it sometimes goes wrong. 😑……it is still very satisfying. At the same time I have a ritual of listening to radio shows, comedy and drama. Terry Pratchett audio books, old black and white movies and classic tv comedy…..to name but a few. 
 

Have a great day all….

 

ATB Grizz

Edited 1 hour ago by Grizz

[Grizz]

1 hour ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

 

 

So you have discovered where white Rolls Royce (possibly Bentleys) cars go to die. Fascinating…….😂

 

They must be migratory…..