Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

10 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

 

 

I used to get those sort of calls quite often but none recently.

You really are tempting fate.

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Clearly you were in the wrong job Jamie. You shouldn't be having fun. Fun is not permitted unless you have it authorised in triplicate.

No I enjoyed the job very much and did have fun and a huge amount of job satisfaction.  Not all my colleagues felt the same way.  One rapidly promoted Superintendent was quite taken aback when I told her that the job was fun.  In many ways I was lucky that the bad jobs never seemed to have a long term effect on me. Sadly some of my colleagues were not as lucky.

 

I even had a good laugh a few years after leaving when I heard that one Superintendent had got sacked for corruption as a deputy Chief and had later broken his neck falling down some aircraft steps when drunk.  Even more sadly he recovered after 6 months flat on his back. 

 

Jamie

Edited Thursday at 20:09 by jamie92208

[Ian Abel]

BIN day.

 

Yesterday was BIN day for Jemma/Brendan so we had to go over last evening to bring their BINs back in.

Nothing much else for the day other than a walk with/for Whitney.

 

Today, BINS sorted and retrieved. Later I'll be back at choir rehearsal after missing two weeks due to the lurgy, also means I get to have a pre-rehearsal happy hour pizza and beer. Missed that for a couple of weeks and it'll be good to get back into the routine.

 

Weather another pretty perfect day here, sunny  and 8c at BIN time hi9gh of 22c expected.

 

Tally ho.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. I might be moon-gazing this evening, if the cloud is not too thick. I binge watched the first three episodes of Solar System on BBC I-player earlier, I'll watch the remaining three later. But first I'll be watching A House Through Time later this evening.

[Andy Hayter]

Swerved a bullet.

 

Lots and lots of rain, but the thunderstorms stayed away -  They are still lurking and could come for revenge.

 

Elsewhere locally things are not so rosy.  Just about every river in the departement is on orange alert for flooding and our local one is just about or slightly over the great flood of 1995 (before our time so I am not sure what it was except that it was bad enough to be the benchmark.)

The other side of the plateau seems to be even worse (they did get/are getting the storms) and all of the rivers are on red flood alert.  

[Hroth]

Popped out and looked at the moon.

Its a full moon!

 

Went back in. 🙂

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[iL Dottore]

5 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Clearly you were in the wrong job Jamie. You shouldn't be having fun. Fun is not permitted unless you have it authorised in triplicate.

Errr...

 

and what about a job that:

 

- is loadsa fun

- ships you around the world in (comparative) luxury

- pays you serious folding money

 

is that permitted?

 

Edited Thursday at 21:19 by iL Dottore

[Chris Snowdon]

16 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

(The Hunter's moon, and not as orange as "Halloween" moons seem to be.)

I noticed it low in the sky when I was out and about a couple of hours ago.  Definitely a nice creamy-white colour, with pale blue shadows (to my eyes).  My mother saw something similar, 4deg north of me.  Very pretty.

[polybear]

BH.....

 

Today was Bear's last W/H day this week - today Bear drove the "Country Run" along with a Buddy** (who's a driver employed by the Charity); one of the drops was a right PITA as usual, as "those upstairs" who apparently know best decided that delivering every Thursday is essential - despite the fact that it's Market Day and the local Council seemingly rent out the Loading/Unloading Bays along the street to Market Traders.....🤬

Well the prime position (right outside our shop) was in fact unoccupied yet coned off by a Trader - Buddy hopped out and asked the Trader if we could use the space briefly for unloading...."Sure, no problem" - and he even shifted the cones for us.  Tick

Anyway, we're about 2/3rds thru' unloading into the shop when some guy approached Bear to ask if we were going to be long - I figured he wanted the space after us (it really is a bluddy Jungle out there for delivery drivers).  I told him we'd almost done - probably 10 minutes tops....at which point he started going off on one about how it was "his space" as he'd rented it for his stall and he was now parked up in the Bus Stop waiting for us to finish (and the Wardens are red-hot in town at mugging us poor s0ds by issuing tickets).  I told him we'd asked etc. etc. but it seems the guy who "said yes" had no business doing so.  Not my problem....and there's no signage saying the bays are off-limits on Market Days either.

At this point Buddy returned so the bloke started ranting at him instead as Bear just wasn't F.I.  Well Buddy is a master in such situations (see below) and despite the bloke spoiling for an argument/fight it got him no-where.  Game, Set, Match to The Boyz....

The only problem is I reckon we're shafted from using that space again on a Thursday (we've used it before without problem).  TC's

 

(**Buddy was a C.I in The Met. for ratheralottayears so has "heard it all" and knows how to handle people without it phasing him).

 

And at the next shop.....

A Certain Bear collected a stack of empty plastic crates (but with glassware donations being returned to the W/H in the top crate) from the store room and proceeded to carry them thru' the shop to the Van....only I suddenly discovered that I wasn't holding the bottom crate but the one above it.....

As a consequence the bottom crate dropped off without giving notice and tripped Bear up - I face-planted in the middle of the shop and the glassware became an Airfix Kit rather quickly.  Double TC's....

Fortunately I didn't land on the glass or wipe out any punters in the process; even my naughty word of choice wasn't actually that  naughty either (amazingly....).

 

I decided that laying claim to the last remaining Cornetto in the W/H Freezer was therefore justified later;  I did in fact supply them several weeks ago anyway and others have had ample opportunity to snaffle them since then.  You snooze, you looze....

 

It's also quite possible that a Pizza may have featured for din dinz as well.  Big Tick...

 

BG

Edited Thursday at 21:34 by polybear

[Chris Snowdon]

6 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

I’ve just had a call from a foreign sounding lady (other terms are available) purportedly from HMRC telling me that I owe them money and if I don’t pay by tonight I’ll be prosecuted and even arrested. The caller was a bit upset when I told her that if she knew of a nearby lake to go and jump in it.

 

Dave

Got some similar 5h1t by SMS a couple of days ago, inviting me to apply for benefits, clearly a scam (the English was utter cr49, even by the standards of the current Civil Service).  The benefits system is so complicated and slow, and DDs to the utilities give us such a sense of security, just be very careful, and then even more so.  Dave's response wasn't particularly kind to the lady in the call-centre, but then again, it was rather more polite than mine would have been.

cs

[Coombe Barton]

14 minutes ago, Chris Snowdon said:

 with pale blue shadows (to my eyes).  

So what difference does the colour of your eye shadow make?

 

[Chris Snowdon]

25 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Errr...

 

and what about a job that:

 

- is loadsa fun

- ships you around the world in (comparative) luxury

- pays you serious folding money

 

is that permitted?

 

Mine was sometimes fun but often terrifying, flew me around the world but in the back, and just about covered my rent, bills and expenses.  But I wouldn't change any of it, and am happy for those who still get the opportunity.

[Andy Hayter]

Ol' big mouth here.

 

No sooner had I posted about how we had missed the storms, than the storm leapt 30km eastwards.  Everything unplugged while the storm raged for an hour and even more rain fell.  Then the power went out - only a few minutes though.  

 

We are officially out of red alert in 8 minutes, what can go wrong?

[PeterBB]

9 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

I bumped into the chap we bought the cottage from yesterday on my way to the Co-op. In a small town we would normally see each other every few days at least. It is his father-in-law who lives next door. It seems most of the town knows why I had ambulances, a police car and an emergency motorcycle outside over a 36-hour period.
 

That’s small town life for you. At least we know there are a goodly number of people we could call on if needed.

Here, here for us it has been a good move as we have good views front and back our road is a mile plus with no other exit of the worst sort in reality of ribbon development on one side only.  We know our neighbours either side and others we have met - normally walking dogs - when working in the garden but that is it.  The nearest shop, a good one, is in the next village 'but one' and had an integral  post office ... now we can drive to a car park between specified hours on specific days for a mobile post office (thankfully) or travel into the nearest town for a'proper' Post Office.  For other reasons we turned to delivered groceries but have kept it on because it has been reliable and saves the hassle of travelling into town and for one of the 'big four' supermarkets (of the variety we used before we moved here there are parking charges) so it has become a no brainer to order on-line and have deliveries.  If 'just visiting'  town the Park and Ride system is pretty good and effective via the OAP bus pass.  There is one bus a day into town and because of our long road 'dead end' you can hail it to stop, return has  three possibilities.

 

GP Practice ... generally very good locally even (bearing in mind some of the above comments) the admin staff.  The one awkward point is telephone contact ... waits are rather excessive, but once 'through' response has also been excellent.

[Chris Snowdon]

12 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

So what difference does the colour of your eye shadow make?

 

Quite possibly one for the photographers among us, and certainly for the YouTubers and TickTockers. 

And are you reminding me of my confession about nail-varnish?

I don't think that there any videos of me online, but do recall a couple of splendid presentations I made with no make up, and apparently I passed as human.  However, I've seen several videos of C-Level people at conferences and must I confess, whilst I know about the need for a "slight dusting" of cheap foundation, for both ladies or gentlemen (to cover shaving errors, shadows caused by jowls, bags under eyes caused by no sleep for two nights, or just a possible hangover, etc, and never ever use talc because it makes you look like an animated corpse) I have seen a couple of mis-steps involving yellow foundation, black lipstick, and a touch of the "Groucho Marx" about the eyebrows.  1920/30s Hollywood makeup just ain't got that swing today...

[Winslow Boy]

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

No I enjoyed the job very much and did have fun and a huge amount of job satisfaction.  Not balmy colleagues felt the same way.  One rapidly promoted Superintendent was quite taken aback when I told her that the job was fun.  In many wYs I wS lucky that the ad jobs never seemed to gave a long term effect on me. Sadly some of my colleagues were not as lucky. I even had a good laugh a few years after leaving whe I heard that one Superintendent had got sacked for corruption as a deputy Chief and had later broken his neck falling down some aircraft steps when drunk.  Even more sadly he recovered after 6 months flat on his back. 

 

Jamie

It is amazing what a difference it makes when the career you choose is something that you actually enjoy. Like yourself I also obtained a good deal of job satisfaction. I also like to think that some of the projects  I implemented where able to improve parks and open spaces. Sometimes though it's difficult to remember that.

[Chris Snowdon]

17 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I'm tempted to respond something along the lines of
 

Or 

 

"Beware of the Leopard".  Yes.  Used that one in a previous life, inspired by the same source and for the same reason.

 

As for the plight of Josef K, from my own POV, reading The Trial again whist actually being 30 was a bit unsettling.  But in another previous life, I introduced a client to The Castle, explaining that everyone we were dealing with was pleading that they were only Barnabas.

[Winslow Boy]

54 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Errr...

 

and what about a job that:

 

- is loadsa fun

- ships you around the world in (comparative) luxury

- pays you serious folding money

 

is that permitted?

 

Definitely not. Go and write a thousand lines - I will not enjoy myself, nor will I permit other people to enjoy myself. I've been a very naughty boy.

 

On my desk by next Monday and no excuses.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

I took full advantage of the good weather and apart from coming inside for dinner, I’ve spent most of the day outside. I decided that cleaning and cutting the rods for the metal dowels can wait until a day when it’s raining and I can’t work outside. 

 

However, before I went outside, I started a fruit tea loaf, this is being left to soak overnight and will be caked tomorrow, after I’ve added the flour. 

 

By the time I packed up, I’d sanded 9 legs and 8 support beams, whose lengths varied from 20in to 94in. These are all now back in the cellar, waiting to be assembled. I also trimmed 5 small rectangular helix boards, so that they each had 2 straight and parallel ends. Before getting changed out of my ‘work’ clothes, I put the recycling bin out ready for tomorrow morning’s collection. 

[PupCam]

We went to a spot with a good view of the west horizon just after sunset to see if we could spy the comet.    We couldn't but did spot some clouds 🙄

 

On our return the Hunter's Moon had risen above the distant clouds into the clear bit of sky.     I felt obliged to give the old 70-210 zoom lens and astrocamera combination a try but didn't have the stamina to set up and polar align the tracking mount so I just stuck it on a tripod and watched it track across the field of view.     Images (video & stills) were recorded and will be processed anon but this was a quick furtle with one of the stills.

 

 

 

Bedtime, night awl.

 

 

Edited Thursday at 22:12 by PupCam
Image didn't load

[BSW01]

Goodnight everyone 

[iL Dottore]

35 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

It is amazing what a difference it makes when the career you choose is something that you actually enjoy. Like yourself I also obtained a good deal of job satisfaction. I also like to think that some of the projects  I implemented where able to improve parks and open spaces. Sometimes though it's difficult to remember that.

My job, although incredibly demanding, was lots of fun to do AND I have the satisfaction of knowing that three of the drugs that I developed with my teams have now gone on to become standards of care for treating lung cancer, colon cancer and breast cancer.

 

As much as I am a hardened and cynical misanthrope, I do have a bit of a soft centre; so it is a gratifying to know that what I’ve done will help truly nice people in their hour of need (and also, annoyingly, the not so nice and nasty people as well).

 

One final benefit in my dotage is that the skills, experience and insight I acquired over 40 years of doing the job, means that now I have a very profitable part time “nice little earner“ doing things which for me – given my years of experience – are easy peasy. Although I’ll probably give it all up when I hit 70 in a couple of years.

[monkeysarefun]

38 minutes ago, PupCam said:

We went to a spot with a good view of the west horizon just after sunset to see if we could spy the comet.    We couldn't but did spot some clouds 🙄

 

On our return the Hunter's Moon had risen above the distant clouds into the clear bit of sky.     I felt obliged to give the old 70-210 zoom lens and astrocamera combination a try but didn't have the stamina to set up and polar align the tracking mount so I just stuck it on a tripod and watched it track across the field of view.     Images (video & stills) were recorded and will be processed anon but this was a quick furtle with one of the stills.

 

 

 

Bedtime, night awl.

 

 

Its upside down,  ya nong!

[iL Dottore]

I have just finished counting my yen (and no that is not a euphemism) and I have just realised I have only spent just under half of what I budgeted for three weeks and I only have four days in which to use up the rest of my cash!

 

Now, given that I am in Tokyo this means an urgent trip to Akihabara beckons in order to relieve myself of this cash. For those of you not in the know, Akihabara is where they have all the high-tech shops (lots of model railway shops as well). 

 

You can get electronic gizmos in Tokyo that you can find nowhere else in the world. For example a colleague of mine several years ago came back from a trip to Tokyo with a video camera that recorded directly to DVD (so there was a DVD recorder built into the video camera). nowadays, what with DVDs being rather old hat, I will be interested to find out what the cutting edge technology the Japanese techno geeks are lusting after nowadays.

 

I’ll be meeting up with one of RMWeb’s far flung foreign correspondents for drinks tonight, we may hit Akihabara at sometime during the evening.