Early Risers.

[polybear]

 

 

Good deed done today
At the local Tesco check out I was in a queue behind an old lady. Her bill came to £56.83 but when she counted out all her change she only had just under £10, I thought she was probably someone’s Nan and I’d like to think someone would have helped my Nan out when she was alive, especially around Christmas. She didn’t want me to help her but I insisted, and in no time at all we had all her shopping right back on the shelves.

 

At Christmas, I usually get terrible presents for my wife that she doesn’t actually want, but this year I found her Christmas list and I've got everything on it
Eggs
Milk
Bread
Butter
Bacon
Sugar
Toilet roll
She's going to be well impressed

 

Chris Rea and Mark Knopfler are collaborating on a Christmas charity single this year.
They are calling themselves Dire Rea.

 

I hate Christmas shopping for the wife, I've just wasted two hours in a queue to discover Poundland don’t do gift vouchers.

 

Can I just ask everyone for a big favour? Those of you who are planning to place Christmas lights/decorations in your garden can you please avoid anything that is red or blue and flashing? Every time I drive by I think it's the police and have a panic attack. I have to take my foot off of the accelerator, toss my wine, fasten my seatbelt, throw my phone on the floor, turn the radio down, push the gun under the seat and put my clothes back on. It's too much drama. Thank you for your cooperation & understanding.

 

My favourite Christmas story
Mary had given birth, she was tired after the delivery, both she and the baby were sleeping peacefully. There was a quiet knock on the stable door, Joseph answered and there stood three shepherds. "May we come in to see the baby?" They asked. Joseph replied, "Yes, but please be quiet, they are asleep"
The shepherds crept into the dimly lit stable. One of the shepherds, unwittingly, stood on a rake which shot up and hit him in the face. "JESUS CHRIST" he shouted in shock and pain, waking Mary and the baby. "What a nice name" said Joseph, "We were going to call him Norman.

 

I got a Womble pepper grinder for Christmas. It's rubbish. Everything is either underground or overground.

 

There are 357 days until Christmas, and people already have their Christmas lights up.

 

Just a reminder to anyone who had a book from me for Xmas, they are due back at the library on 13th January.

 

[Gwiwer]

3 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

There's always Arsenal shirts in a sports shop

Or on the tube station.  Beautifully juxtaposed …..  

 

 

 

In other news have you seen the price of Pigs In Blankets lately???   

 

[45156]

Afternoon/Evening All

 

Mucho late today, and not all posts read or rated - however, it is my second visit - I got as far as reading about the breakfast pizza - responded, and was then "asked" if we could visit GB Antiques where 30747 didn't buy anything, but I found a few railway books that I didn't have, including a pristine copy of Donald Binns' "Little North Western" which is fairly short, but then so was the line relative to those nearby like the Midland main, and the WCML.  I think that a fiver was a pretty good price, as I only ever saw one copy in the past, and that was tatty and eight quid.

 

Anyway, should get a visit in tomorrow after I've been to the parcel shop as I had an item closed on Ebay yesterday - it had been rolling over so much that it went relist on Christmas Day, and then was finally bought on Friday, and closed on New Year's Day.

 

Generic greetings

Regards to All

Stewart

[Coombe Barton]

Back from opticians.

• Virtually no change from 2 years ago to prescription.
• No sign of any of the age related degenerations
• Eyesight is good.

Didn't need new specs for the prescription but bought them anyway because of mechanical fatigue as I don't want them falling apart on me.

 

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by Coombe Barton
AUTOCORRECTMAN

[polybear]

1st Official Beary Rant of 2022.....

 

20Kg Bag of Ready Mixed Mortar late last year:  Eight Quid.

Same stuff this year, from the same place:  Eleven Quid 

 

I could save a couple of quid by going elsewhere, but the time saved and petrol used just ain't worth it for a couple of quid.  Turdycurses. 

[Tony_S]

43 minutes ago, polybear said:

1st Official Beary Rant of 2022.....

 

20Kg Bag of Ready Mixed Mortar late last year:  Eight Quid.

Same stuff this year, from the same place:  Eleven Quid 

 

I could save a couple of quid by going elsewhere, but the time saved and petrol used just ain't worth it for a couple of quid.  Turdycurses. 

Plaster, cement and glass are all more expensive and supply is variable. Has been for the last year according to neighbours who build stuff for a living. 

[Coombe Barton]

... carrot fields have, however, been depleted ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/01/02/education-and-planning-being-constrained/

[PeterBB]

20 hours ago, Barry O said:

Omicron link

 

This should work

 

Baz

Apologies I mistook the comment as intentional.

[simontaylor484]

Thanks for the funnies @polybear I nearly choked on my mug of tea 

The Christmas story one cracked me up 

[PeterBB]

15 hours ago, pH said:

A feel-good local story, associated with sports, but not about sports:

 

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/kraken/kraken-fan-nadia-popovici-lauded-for-pointing-out-canucks-equipment-manager-brian-hamiltons-cancerous-mole-during-game/

Fantastic presence of mind and doing something positive.

[J. S. Bach]

6 hours ago, BoD said:

I think you will struggle to beat randy butt

I look forward to being proved wrong - with photographic evidence of course.

I was shopping a KJ's and went to pick up some bananas, above them was some kind of "dip your banana in to this chocolate dip and have a ....". The image on the package is one of the most disgusting things that I have seen, at least in a grocery store. just picture a peeled, chocolate-covered banana!    I will have to go back with my phone to get a photo!, it was just so unbelievable!!  

[PeterBB]

6 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

There's always Arsenal shirts in a sports shop

That was lost one two ...

[TheSignalEngineer]

A much more enjoyable ride today in the same area as yesterday. This time the youngsters were coming so we were descended upon at the crack of doom, got parked easily in our favourite spot  and started the ride an hour earlier. The main collection of the great unwashed with their inbred ugly dogs didn't start to appear until we were threequarters of the way round and those going the same way as us were quickly overtaken. When we arrived back at the cars people were queueing to get into our places when we left. We got finished before lunch and a few minutes after arriving back home it started chukkinit darn so the latecomers would have had a nice soaking getting back to their transport. The rain finally stopped after lunch in time to get the gear cleaned up and stowed away before dark.

I see that there is the usual enthralling evening of TV on offer so I have two choices, either hide in the Railway room and try to reduce the Strategic Kit Reserve or spend a couple of hours editing some videos.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon/evening all from Estuary-Land. I watched 'Murder they hope' this afternoon and was rather disappointed. It's not a patch on the first series. It owes more to Wallace and Grommet than Agatha Christie.  I'll watch the third and final one tomorrow but tonight I'll watch Jonathan Creek.

[simontaylor484]

It's a bit of a Jonathon Creek marathon tonight 2 specials not finishing till 1230am

[New Haven Neil]

Mr Winslow needs to duck - Debs scored 353 today, female course record, beat her PB by 38.  A shame Debs won't enter competition outside of the island, she shoots for fun rather than as a competitive sport, of course the stress of competing at an international level may well cause a very different score!  The guy that cheats is off in a huff, as he got nowhere near that score today.  Quelle amusant!

 

iD, may I suggest you are far from the average home cook?  I can see the relevance to you, but not to the 'Average Modeller Cook'.  Not this one for sure, although I do manage a little above 'Bear Pizza' when pushed.....

[leopardml2341]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Plaster, cement and glass are all more expensive and supply is variable. Has been for the last year according to neighbours who build stuff for a living. 

Brexit?

[leopardml2341]

Spotted in Tesco earlier today:

 

FFS!

Edited January 2, 2022 by leopardml2341

[Dave Hunt]

But remember, there's only 357 days to Christmas. Best start Christmas shopping now.

 

Dave

[New Haven Neil]

5 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Spotted in Tesco earlier today:

 

FFS!

 

Ashamed to say they have been in Shoprite here for a fortnight, Andy!

[Winslow Boy]

26 minutes ago, leopardml2341 said:

Brexit?

 

No market forces. More demand = higher prices.

[polybear]

41 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Mr Winslow needs to duck - Debs scored 353 today, female course record, beat her PB by 38.  A shame Debs won't enter competition outside of the island......

 

But think of all those muddling vouchers it'd cost - ferry, accommodation, fuel, scoff.....

[simontaylor484]

11 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

No market forces. More demand = higher prices.

Higher energy prices as well glass and cement manufacturing are energy hungry. Coupled with supply chain issues the consumer ends up paying the price.

Then factor in the elastic relationship between price and supply and demand. 

 

@New Haven Neil please pass my congratulations to Mrs NHN both in beating the personal best and the cheating tw@

 

Edited January 2, 2022 by simontaylor484
Missed off text

[New Haven Neil]

8 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

But think of all those muddling vouchers it'd cost - ferry, accommodation, fuel, scoff.....

 

There is some sponsorship available, but it's just not her bag.  The all-island competition twice a year is enough, she really just shoots for fun with a good crowd (bar the cheat).  

 

Thank you Simon!  I'm more proud about it than Debs is, she just likes to enjoy the day.  I'm just happy if I don't fall on my ar$e.  Which for a change, I didn't, today!

[iL Dottore]

47 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

….iD, may I suggest you are far from the average home cook?  I can see the relevance to you, but not to the 'Average Modeller Cook'.  Not this one for sure, although I do manage a little above 'Bear Pizza' when pushed.....

Thank you for the compliment Neil, but I fear that you are seriously over estimating my abilities. Perhaps the only bit of equipment I use that most domestic kitchens don’t use is a vacuum packer and a Sous-Vide cooker (I have both a Sous-Vide cooker and a Sous-Vide “stick”).

 

Otherwise, whilst quite knowledgeable about food, cuisines and cooking techniques I have some very, very serious gaps in my skill sets. For example: I have yet to come up with the perfect roast potato (made from scratch, obviously) nor am I able to get a decent edge on a knife by using a steel.

 

Like so many things in life, with cooking the easy things look hard and the hard things look easy. Just as in music, railway modelling and many other areas of human endeavour.

Making a soufflé really is “easy peasy”  but most people think it’s incredibly hard to do (it’s not); on the other hand, working with sugar – creating caramel, toffee and other sugar work, is very difficult indeed.

 

iD

p.s. Am impressed by Debs’ archery achievements!