Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. The joints were aching more than usual after the shopping trip so I took an eyelid inspection. Feeling better after that and a muggatee and a couple of mince tarts.

[TheQ]

Norfolk schools start half term 28th, and I think the radar museum closes to the public for the winter a week after that.

 

Evening Awl,

Radar museum very quiet in the morning, I saw no visitors till 13:00 then it got busy, I was still talking to visitors till 16:59...

 

So the morning was spent muddling, so I built a bloodhound missile and a type 259 radar in 1/1000 scale..

This very pair, though a 259 has nowt to do with bloodhound.

As a matter of scale that cube the T259 aerial sits on is a 8 ft square it's very economical in materials is 1/1000 scale.

 

Then I went to the Chinese and for a change had Chicken satay Thai style, I think the peanuts are still in Thailand, but other than that it tasted good..

 

MRC went well, wire knitting mostly,though  I gave up early as so much muddling had upset my back.

 

Still clear skies outside and it's quite chilly, but the weather radar shows soggy on the way here soon.

 

A heavy bit of farm machinery has just gone past all yellow flashy lights, at 21:56 I suspect he's of home to bed..

 

I'm already there,

Muggachoccy gone goodnight Awl...

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BoD]

57 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Well I got it, even if nobody else did!

 

22 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Early night not happening - Blues Brothers on the tellybox.

Surely you meant  Caeruleum fratis non somnambulus

[Erichill16]

13 hours ago, Barry O said:

 

 

I hope @Erichill16is OK..  he iwas trying to retire soon. I wish him well.

 

 

Drink my mugatea!

 

TTFN

Baz

 

 

 

Thanks for the thought but plans not going particularly well.

Ideally everything should be wrapped up next Friday, in time for the budget and should have been according to my team.

Unfortunately financial institutions are also having reservations and are apparently very risk averse until things become more clear after the budget.

A Mexican standoff is developing.

Some sort of compromise on my part may be needed but I have already bent over backwards (financially) to facilitate other peoples needs.

Very difficult and stressful situation which has certainly let the dark one out of his cage on allowed him to run amok.

When one reads about what’s happening in the world at the minute my problems do seem trivial.

Goodnight All

[iL Dottore]

Good morning from an unbearably warm (it is supposed to hit 30°C today!) and soon to be rainy Tokyo.

 

Yesterday, in the company of @railsquid I went to the famous electronic store Adobashi camera, where I was incredibly self disciplined and only purchased an MP3 player to the one I have with me which has failed. The MP3 players were stored on the same floor as the TVs and it does seem that, nowadays, big is better. As the photo shows:

 

As you can see you have 97 inch, 100 inch and 115 inch TVs available which use the micro LED system. The most expensive of which comes in at an equivalent of £8000. I really wonder where you would put such a television in a typical Japanese flat or apartment, given that such dwellings are incredibly tiny. 

 

In regards to charities, I really think that a shake up in how charities are defined, funded and run is long overdue. To be brutally frank, I find it totally obscene that for certain charities up to 80% of a donation goes to “administration”. I would cap the salary of the CEO at £100,000 (which is more than generous enough), I would prohibit “chuggers“ and the like - making it illegal to make money off of donations made to a charity. Of course such changes are unlikely to happen in the UK (or at least happen soon) as a lot of people make a nice comfortable living at the top of the big charity organisational pyramid.

 

My wife insists on supporting a number of big name charities, but as I am the one who makes payments and disperses funds, I have stopped giving donations to all but or two. Instead, I support some local charities which I know are not over burdened by expensive administration. There are certain large charities which are worthy of support, but ideally – if you can – provide that support in the form of your labour or by buying the charity what they need (So if a charity wants to raise funds for X and you can afford to do so, ask them how many X would they like you to buy for them - I suspect their answer would be very illuminative of how they view the purpose of donations to the charity). 

[Darlington_Shed]

3 hours ago, polybear said:

Bear's ideal strides are 30" rather than 31" long , which of course is "the norm"

 

I used to be a 30" leg, which was standard, and then manufacturers moved to odd-numbered lengths. Under the force of gravity and ageing I'm now a 29" leg. Sometimes things work for you, sometimes against you. I'll take the win where I find it.

[Chris Snowdon]

47 minutes ago, Darlington_Shed said:

 

I used to be a 30" leg, which was standard, and then manufacturers moved to odd-numbered lengths. Under the force of gravity and ageing I'm now a 29" leg. Sometimes things work for you, sometimes against you. I'll take the win where I find it.

Similar experience.  Still coming to terms after >20 years with a well known brand offering trousers of 42"W/25"L, but since then have had a couple of good experiences.  Wherever Austin Reed are now, they did some decent OTP suits in their last few years, but since their demise I've used another firm which uses 0.5" increments, and seems pretty accurate.  

[Ozexpatriate]

1 hour ago, Darlington_Shed said:

I used to be a 30" leg, which was standard, and then manufacturers moved to odd-numbered lengths.

Even inseam lengths in Imperial units are still the norm here.

[Erichill16]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Even inseam lengths in Imperial units are still the norm here.

Never even thought about imperial v metric in trouser sizing!

Think I’d better try and get some sleep, thinking of other imperial v metric anomalies may help.

 

[Erichill16]

Shoe sizes, what’s all that about, UK, US and European?

It’s a rhetorical question.

I think it may be breakfast time.

 

[jjb1970]

On charities,  although I still support the RNLI my recommendation is to support local good causes where you can see what they do and whether they actually benefit the cause they claim to or are more about virtue politics and assuaging middle class angst. Some of them are sewers.

 

And never, never, include a gift of X% of your estate to a charity in your will. Always write it as £Y if you want to leave them something. Charities are notorious for their mercenary approach to chasing bunce left to them in wills.

Edited 5 hours ago by jjb1970

[iL Dottore]

As I said, @jjb1970, the whole "charity" industry (and it IS an industry) needs a complete overhaul. I really wonder how many of the highly paid charity "executives" and CEOs would stay if you halved their very generous salaries - damn few, I would say.

 

The charities to support are those small charities, like a dog sanctuary or a hedgehog hospital, run by one or two people who are devoted to their charges, plough every penny they get into their charities and sometimes go without so the dogs/hedgehogs/etc don't.  They have neither the time, inclination or need to "virtue signal" (how do you "de-colonise" a hedgehog hospital???).

 

Quite frankly, and I am being very cynical here,  charities - from the Red Cross to the RNLI - would work better and achieve a lot more if they dumped 50% of the paid (hem-hem) "professionals" and turned it over to the volunteers.

 

Middle/Upper Middle Class Angst, self-loathing and meaningless agenda driven virtue signalling has done much to Bu99er up Britain (and charities)

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a supposedly metric country.  Buying trousers here is tricky but C & A still have the Imperial measurements on their men's wear so they get my custom.  On the measurement front I have had to put some new holes in my belt recently, no not larger, smaller. 

 

Offout to Chef Boutonne in the rain this morning. 

 

 

Jamie. 

[Chris Snowdon]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

As I said, @jjb1970, the whole "charity" industry (and it IS an industry) needs a complete overhaul. I really wonder how many of the highly paid charity "executives" and CEOs would stay if you halved their very generous salaries - damn few, I would say.

 

The charities to support are those small charities, like a dog sanctuary or a hedgehog hospital, run by one or two people who are devoted to their charges, plough every penny they get into their charities and sometimes go without so the dogs/hedgehogs/etc don't.  They have neither the time, inclination or need to "virtue signal" (how do you "de-colonise" a hedgehog hospital???).

 

Quite frankly, and I am being very cynical here,  charities - from the Red Cross to the RNLI - would work better and achieve a lot more if they dumped 50% of the paid (hem-hem) "professionals" and turned it over to the volunteers.

 

Middle/Upper Middle Class Angst, self-loathing and meaningless agenda driven virtue signalling has done much to Bu99er up Britain (and charities)

Sorry for being Mr Grumpy-Drawers, but it's too early o'clock, I can't find my specs, and I only have one cigarette left until the shops open.  Which is a PITA as I had planned to have at least eight still in my packet by now.  Anyway, first rant of the day:

 

To "decolonise" a hedgehog sanctuary should be straightforward.  You do need a comb to get the ticks off them, and should probably wear PPE (approaching a hazmat suit) whilst doing this.  Then you let them run free for a bit (most will not wish to, during daylight) while you remove, burn and replace the bedding inside whatever you're providing as the lodge.  Don't put them in a nice warm bucket full of Vosene - yes it kills the ticks and helps the bites heal, but hedgehogs can't swim and don't like Vosene.  Let them bathe in a shallow washing-up bowl if you're convinced that you can and they actually want to, but be warned that when they open their bowels...

 

Please, nothing against the RNLI:  The price the volunteers risk paying is more than enough.  No politics about who they rescue or under what circumstances.  They do it and they do it for free.

 

Otherwise and hopefully lighter, there was once a lass who tried to get me to sign up to "Save the Tigers" outside KX.  Bad jokes aside, I explained that by coincidence, I had been doing some research into the animals, their conservation, and fake-fur rugs, and explained to her my plans for fake tiger-skin rugs in order to raise money for her charity.  That did not go down at all well, but I later found out that some bloke called Corbett had had similar ideas and better about 85 years ago...

 

For the curious, that was Jim Corbett, not William Cobbett.  But both are "must reads" if you can [find these in print, either in library or bookshop, but am not aware of either authors' work available as e-Books at present].

 

Have a good day, and a good weekend,

regards

cs

Edited 3 hours ago by Chris Snowdon
Original text was insulting to readers.

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

@iL Dottore couldn't agree more about overpaid execs in charities. Problem is volunteers can't be "accountable"  but paid staff can ( not my thoughts but used by some charities and companies as a good excuse to increase the salaried staff). Its not good and a majorboverhaul is required.. butbif wecare doing that its time to shake the City of London.. hard. Sood some shares yesterday. FTSE says they are worth "x" the brokers say the "consideration" value is x- a lot... now to my mind thats a bit of a huge hidden charge.. or am I just being a simple engineer here?

 

off out this morning to help ar a friends layout as our junior club members are off to operate it for a while.. frabjoy!

 

Enjoy your day if you can!

@Erichill16 I hope it all turns out OK over the next week or so...come and give me ear ache next week at our show if you need someone to shout at.. might be a coffee innit for you!

Baz

[iL Dottore]

29 minutes ago, Chris Snowdon said:

Please, nothing against the RNLI:  The price the volunteers risk paying is more than enough.  No politics about who they rescue or under what circumstances.  They do it and they do it for free.

Abso-bloody-lutely! My "beef" is not with the selfless and - often - incredibly brave volunteers, but with the overpaid "professionals" who **** upon the volunteers from a great height (as seems to be the case if a number of newspaper articles are even remotely close to the truth).

 

In trying to get some background on the RNLI stories I stumbled across this: https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/ I had a look through and there's almost nothing about what the charities actually do

 

I also came across this and I don't know whether to be amused or appalled.https://cherryflava.com/the-worrying-rise-of-a-culture-of-/amp/

Edited 3 hours ago by iL Dottore
If the last link doesn't work, try putting in bullsh1t (uncensored) after culture-of

[polybear]

8 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

In regards to charities, I really think that a shake up in how charities are defined, funded and run is long overdue. To be brutally frank, I find it totally obscene that for certain charities up to 80% of a donation goes to “administration”. I would cap the salary of the CEO at £100,000 (which is more than generous enough), I would prohibit “chuggers“ and the like - making it illegal to make money off of donations made to a charity. Of course such changes are unlikely to happen in the UK (or at least happen soon) as a lot of people make a nice comfortable living at the top of the big charity organisational pyramid.

 

As regards the Charity Bear volunteers for, their "Charitable Expenditure" exceeded the "Expenditure - Raising Funds" by £1.5M last year (this is on a Charity raising £8M-ish per year).

As regards re-numeration for The Very Grown Ups, there are three earning between £60.000 - £69.999K p.a. and four earning between £70.000 - £79.999K p.a.; basically Train Driver money really.... (figures from last year's accounts).

 

As regards paid staff, there is one that I (and all others....) would most definitely describe as "taking money under false pretences" and has no business being there (I've a feeling he may not be for much longer either, unless he SIGNIFICANTLY ups his game).  There are two others that no-one would be too upset about if they left either (they have a habit of "timing" their work in order to try to avoid being given further tasks....🤬) - fortunately they don't work many days each week and one of those is zero-hours contract as well.  I won't work with them - they're nice enough people to talk to but simply have no business being there; I want to crack on and get the job done.

 

As regards Volunteers are concerned, well I've yet to come across one** that has no business being there; until recently one of our shops had someone working in there (incl. on the till) that is 102.....

 

**Oh, hang on....there is one.....we suspect he's there because it "looks good" down the DHSS Office; he apparently has "health problems" making getting a job difficult....he seems fit enough to us, however.  T0sser.  Fortunately I rarely come across him.  As an example he was on the rota "to do a day" yet didn't show up; when the Boss phoned him to check he was ok he said "I'm still in bed" - for no reason other than he just couldn't be ar5ed.

 

There may be several Rants there...possibly....

 

3 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

On charities,  although I still support the RNLI my recommendation is to support local good causes where you can see what they do and whether they actually benefit the cause they claim to or are more about virtue politics and assuaging middle class angst. Some of them are sewers.

 

 

The one I Volunteer for is most definitely a local Charity; there are over 170 employees, however (some part-time, including casual/bank staff) - plus over 500 active Volunteers.

Edited 1 hour ago by polybear

[TheQ]

The RNLI on high has in recent years had several disputes with its volunteers, leading to quite a few leaving..

 

Mooring Awl,

A very poor night's sleep, at first I couldn't get too, then 1.5 hours sleep,  short awake, then about 4 hours sleep....

First tractor of the day just rumbled past.

 

Dull grey, but other than a light drizzle so far , no major soggy, the radar indicates that's imminent.

So there was a short interruption in typing while I removed muddling equipment from the car to the landrover. Swmbo has her weaving group AGM today.

 

There goes tractor two, I think they are going to be ploughing in the rain..

 

Just got told I have to pay for the sailing club annual dinner by bacs.... How? Further emails sent.

 

Opened the next bottle of Semaglutide, so that makes it 3 months since I started... Won't know if it's doing any good for another couple of months when the next blood tests are due.

 

Time I think for breaky.

 

 

[polybear]

Oh yes...

 

Mickey Insurance Renewal arrived today - up 13 quid from last year (now £410); I was expecting it to be silly high because of that H.A.R Van Tw*t - even though all costs recovered ("any excuse" etc. etc.).  As I have zero complaints about how the claim was handled or the quality of work by their approved repairer I reckon I'll be staying put.

 

BG

[DaveF]

The rain has stopped and it is brightening up, I have several choices for today.

 

I had a good sleep for the first night for some time which helps a lot.  Breakfast has been eaten, some time has been spent looking out of the windows so now it is time to do something.

 

David

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a rock where the sun is breaking through the gloom, 11 of those elusive degrees of Celsius. Quite still too, which is going to change big time by this evening, Harbour Fraggles are deploying anchors for later as we speak.

 

Not sure of the Orders of the Day as yet, Mrs NHN off getting Pilated, I'm in more CBA mode.

 

Ah, RNLI.  One of Mrs NHN's senior colleagues is close to becoming a Cox'n here in Royal Ramsey, a rock that is of course the home of the RNLI.  It all runs tickety-boo here but there have been some very questionable senior management decisions in years recently past, mostly by people that have never had their feet wet, never mind volunteered on a lifeboat. Twates.

 

That's Edd looking like he's emerging from the ventilator!  He's a train guy BTW, PW Manager.

 

 

Oh not many pixels in that, sorry, it's a snip.

 

 

 

Obvs as a one-time sea-farer, I have an interest in the RNLI.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Just a quick look in before setting off to the Warrington model railway exhibition. Really looking forward to this trip, as I’ve not been to an exhibition since August!

 

Back later. 
 

Brian 

Edited 44 minutes ago by BSW01
Remove automatic Capital letters!

[Grizz]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Quite frankly, and I am being very cynical here,  charities - from the Red Cross to the RNLI - would work better and achieve a lot more if they dumped 50% of the paid (hem-hem) "professionals" and turned it over to the volunteers.

 

Ah….I suspect I know the types that you are referring to Doc. They are the Field Marshals and Generals of the organisations, the ‘essential’ highly paid consultants, who see themselves as irreplaceable and with which non of these money making machines can now do without? 

 

However in addition to the above professionals of course, most of us are probably more familiar with their ground troops, and here I do have some sympathy with some of these guys as some of them are probably doing it for sweet F. All…

 

And the chosen subject that they are rattling their bucket at you for, or more likely nowadays trying to get you to given them you bank details so that you can set up a direct debit. These guys are in it for the cause. It is their religion so to speak. So I do have some sympathy for some…but not all, and it does definitely depend on the cause, as I am sure it does for all of us. 
 

Many of us who have had to endure the tortuous punishment and sentence of the public transport grind into London (other big towns and cities are also available) probably know them or refer to them by the general term….’Chuggers’…..
 

However amongst these Chuggers, hiding in plain sight, are a breed of ‘Special Ops Chuggers’…(S.O.C.s)..trained to spot the especially vulnerable…..and I’m not kidding here either. They are recruited….hand picked by the above mentioned Field Marshals and Generals.
 

A couple of my commute buddies were picked off over the years. At moments of distraction, lost concentration or despair. Most importantly though, they were on their own at the time . So they were exploited by these SOCs.
 

Usually targeting them on a Friday evening…..(other evenings are definitely also available)…..retirement party evenings etc. 

 

For example…..they are already tired and exhausted, having done a weeks work of their own and covering for persistently absent colleagues at the same time. They battle the tube and arrive at Victoria (BR) station only to find that there was a trespass incident between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport an hour ago…….and As the law now requires, Network Rail have had to turn off the traction current supply of 750v DC (with stupidly high amps). Trains have been going nowhere for an hour already and won’t be going anywhere for at least another hour or so……because….no one can find the b……………..stard who committed this criminal act of trespass. Probably because they are not even still on the railway. 
 

Victoria station concourse South Central side is half full of thousands and thousands of potential victims, all staring upwards at the brightly lit departure board in the vein hope that, in the 13 hours since they last dragged their ar$es through this magnificent part of the metropolis, Southern Trains (other train operating companies are available) have invented and introduced a train that teleports from Victoria to the Sussex Coast……

 

At this point with the old railway saying upper most in their minds and playing on a perpetually looped tape, like demented lift music….

 

🎵 “Remember……Things are never Sooooooo bad….that they can’t get Worse!!!!!!!! “ 🎵
 

……..they continue to vacantly stare at the board

 

They are like the Wildebeest, in a David Attenborough wildlife documentary, crowded around the water hole in the hot evening sun, desperately trying to survive the day. 
But we have all seen what happens haven’t we……we know there are vulnerable ones amongst them…..the tired, the young, the elderly and the weak and the weary. 
 

This is when the S.O.Cs ‘stealth in’ amongst the, by now, forlorn non travellers.

 

They scope their potential targets…..people who have been to an after work drink are the first to go. But then they only have themselves to blame. Easy pickings and they are S.O.Chugged without anyone noticing.
 

Next are those who look tired, single people on their own, dark bags under their eyes and with pale complexions…..potentially first time parents….always a good bet….they are weak through lack of sleep and cannot resist….because young Tarquin or Harriet (other names are available) have had them up all night for the past three weeks with their teeth cutting through. 
 

By now though the seasoned, tough old commuter veterans have spotted each other and are huddling together creating a small protective wall, somewhere near the alcoholic drink section of W.H. Smiths. They have seen this so many times before.

 

Meanwhile more victims have being exploited, as by now they are so mentally exhausted they will sign up to anything. Whereas the S.O.Chuggers are fresh and full of energy, having only got out of bed at 3pm….well rested, they can go on for hours. 
 

All the time the bank account details of the victims are being harvested…..a superbly subtle strategy in itself, as the poor Wildebeest, who are stuck and going nowhere, haven’t been physically been mugged of their hard earned cash…..no physical symbol of money has left their pocket……and later they may not even remember what happened on that fateful hot evening around the waterhole of despair….when they signed up to electronically donate half of the monthly income to save the….save the….cant even remember what they are saving…..but they are……..and every month too. 
 

I learnt a good strategy very early on….no matter what…. it has got me away from the S.O.Chuggers every time. 
 

By simply saying this in Danish…

 

Undskyld mig.....? Jeg forstår dig ikke. Taler du dansk? .....Ingen? (smiler)....Farvel!

 

Excuse me.....?
I do not understand you. Do you speak Danish? .....No? 
(smiling)....Goodbye!
 

I have yet to meet a S.O.Chugger who speaks Danish……..and fortunately as I had my commuter sentence cut short on medical grounds, I no longer have to stand around the water hole. So there is very little chance of encountering a Danish speaking S.O.Chugger nowadays……😎   🇩🇰  🇩🇰  🇩🇰……SKÅL.

 

 

 

 

[Grizz]

2 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Abso-bloody-lutely! My "beef" is not with the selfless and - often - incredibly brave volunteers, but with the overpaid "professionals" who **** upon the volunteers from a great height (as seems to be the case if a number of newspaper articles are even remotely close to the truth).

 

In trying to get some background on the RNLI stories I stumbled across this: https://www.thirdsector.co.uk/ I had a look through and there's almost nothing about what the charities actually do

 

I also came across this and I don't know whether to be amused or appalled.https://cherryflava.com/the-worrying-rise-of-a-culture-of-/amp/

I would add….over paid professionals who recuit and then exploit volunteers. This happened to my a neighbour a few years back, he wanted to volunteer to make a difference and to contribute to society.

 

But the charity organisation he first went into wasn’t like he thought that it would be. On the surface it seemed ok but very soon it became quite controlling. He likened it to being sold a timeshare for the first time…only that you didn’t know what a time share was and you found out later that you had to build the place, and could only stay there on  Christmas Day and only when that day fell on a Wednesday. He smelt corruption. 
 

He left the above organisation quite disillusioned annd anngry…but he didn’t give up and eventually ended up in the RNLI front line. All he wanted to do was just use his skill set to save people. He has many times.

 

He is a quiet, polite and kind guy. I admire him very much. He and all those folks who do these things are what it is meant to be about.