Early Risers.

[Erichill16]

On 07/06/2022 at 12:33, iL Dottore said:

Captain Cynical is rather annoyed with his procurement department: after acquiring an Embraer 190 and BAE 125, CC now - all by himself - has acquired a top-of-the-line Learjet*. This will arrive next week.

 

CC may convert the Embraer 190 to a Cake Freighter and wet lease it to @polybear . As for the BAE 125 - CC might sell it off or keep it for company “Jollies” for the minions (who would be able to reserve it for the weekend providing they pay for the aviation fuel and have a whip round for the flight and cabin crew).

 

* as you may all quite rightly surmise, I am talking about models (and not the Kate Moss type) and it took forever to track down the 1/48 scale Learjet

I saw this little number in a magazine I bought today. Quite modest and tasteful and thought it would suit Captain Sensible  Cynical to a tee. He may wish to know it comes with six leather seats, fridge, whiskey cabinet and ‘jump seat’. (What ever that is, may be a means of escape in an emergency. Adolf Hitler had an escape device installed in his personal Fw200 Condor.) I’m not sure if the nose mounted machine guns are functional, but a little ‘old hat’ anyway.

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

56 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Which is why I despise and loathe the kennel club

For what it's worth, according the CNN version of this story, the study by the Royal Veterinary College calling for 'urgent action' regarding the adverse effects of in-breeding in bulldogs was "funded in part" by The Kennel Club Charitable Trust.

 

Quote

Bill Lambert, health, welfare and breeder services executive at the Kennel Club, said in the statement: "As this research shows, there are increasing numbers of Bulldogs bred outside any sphere of influence and in a certain way because it is perceived to be 'cute', with little regard for health and welfare. A collaborative approach to tackling these issues is crucial; we must continue to work together with breeders, vets and welfare organisations to reduce and ultimately eliminate the health problems faced by brachycephalic (flat-faced) breeds, as well as reduce mass demand for these dogs."

There seems to be at least *some* awareness of what they have wrought. Whether it will change things, who knows?

 

The BBC quote from the same Kennel Club representative is different:

Quote

"We urgently want to see people choosing dogs not just because they like the way they look, which is often driven by celebrity and social media, and instead find breeders who use the health tools available and breed a non-exaggerated dog, where health comes first, as described in the breed standard," said spokesperson, Bill Lambert.

 

I have a fondness for large retrievers (Labrador, Golden, etc). They have well-known in-breeding issues with hip-dysplasia and particularly with Goldens a strong susceptibility to cancer.

 

[brianusa]

1 hour ago, Erichill16 said:

I saw this little number in a magazine I bought today. Quite modest and tasteful and thought it would suit Captain Sensible  Cynical to a tee. He may wish to know it comes with six leather seats, fridge, whiskey cabinet and ‘jump seat’. (What ever that is, may be a means of escape in an emergency. Adolf Hitler had an escape device installed in his personal Fw200 Condor.) I’m not sure if the nose mounted machine guns are functional, but a little ‘old hat’ anyway.

 

 

Why was I born too soon?

Brian

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Starting to get a bit muggy now, as the seaweed twirlers said it would. If you want to be vulgar perhaps this is for you.

 https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-10834055/Rolls-Royces-20MILLION-Boat-Tail-Pearl-unveiled-Worlds-joint-expensive-new-car.html

Personally I would prefer something a bit less gaudy, a Bentley in British racing green perhaps.

[Winslow Boy]

Well today has been extremely productive day in deed.

 

DD well on the mend. She has been under the weather for the last couple of days. Not certain why. Could be something she's eaten or over exertion.

 

Anyway managed to finish the new border, incorporating the Mk 2 shrub rose framework - Mk 1 had a manufacturing fault and had to be re-designed on site by the 'installers'. But it still looks the job.

 

Also got the bulk of the seasonal bedding in. Just five more pots to fill which will hopefully get done tomorrow. So just got to remember to keep them watered and fed.

 

So very pleased.

 

 

[Tony_S]

9 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

incorporating the Mk 2 shrub rose framework -

I think we need a shrub rose frame. One of the roses has  gone a bit extreme this year, really nice flowers but the stems have grown longer than usual. Aditi looked it up in her rose catalogue and apparently it does do this. She attempted to create a structure with canes and some metal supports but it didn’t work. I cheated by using some plant ties attached by wire to a nearby pear tree. We will get something “proper” if we ever visit a garden centre again. The climbing rose that was planted a couple,of years ago at the front of the house is going really well now. 
Tony

[andyram]

Evening all and generic greetings. I hope that @BSW01 enjoyed the visit to Chatsworth, you certainly had decent weather. The Chatsworth Estate is not too far away from my shop although I am closed on a Wednesday.  I did venture up this afternoon to check on the water issues and I am pleased to report there were no  ill effects from yesterday’s incident and all seems to have been fixed.

 

This morning was a busy day of online college meetings and late afternoon was full of data compiling jobs for the final awards board later this month. There will be plenty more to occupy me tomorrow although I do hope that there will be some customers too.

 

This evening was spent in a friend’s garden having a much needed catch up over a coffee. It was a relaxing hour or so away from the stresses and strains.

 

Night all.

 

Andy

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

We've had a great day out at Chatsworth today, meeting up with our friends and spending the best part of several hours with them has been a boost to us both. Mick had to keep having a rest, as he’s having trouble with his right ankle, but the girls were quite happy to wander off as Mick and I sat down and chatted. Despite being almost 70, he’s still working for the probation service (he’s ex police) and really enjoys the work, but he’s thinking of finishing in February when he reaches 70. The day started out really sunny, but clouded over in the afternoon, which made the walk in the gardens very pleasant indeed, as it was warm enough to not need a coat, but not so hot that you felt as if you were melting! We finally got back home around 9 o’clock this evening. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

Spending the week  in COVID jail has given me the chance to add to my bird army. This is this mornings new arrival sitting on my aviary roof, though he wasnt popular with the rest of  the mob who ended up ganging up and chasing him off across the paddock.

 

 

 

He's a Grey Goshawk, the internet says he can be confused for the extremely rare Grey Falcon, which is ludicrous because as every Aussie bloke knows, the extremely rare Grey Falcon looks like this.

 

 

And obviously wouldn't be sitting on my aviary roof because I'd have flogged it off straight away since examples currently go for upwards of 400000 of your pounds shillings and ounces. 

Edited June 16, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Winslow Boy]

2 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

I think we need a shrub rose frame. One of the roses has  gone a bit extreme this year, really nice flowers but the stems have grown longer than usual. Aditi looked it up in her rose catalogue and apparently it does do this. She attempted to create a structure with canes and some metal supports but it didn’t work. I cheated by using some plant ties attached by wire to a nearby pear tree. We will get something “proper” if we ever visit a garden centre again. The climbing rose that was planted a couple,of years ago at the front of the house is going really well now. 
Tony

 

Well I haven't got round to patenting mine yet but given some of designs I looked at I'd make certain you're not near something breakable when you see the prices.

 

There are some cheap ones on Amazon but not worth it as they're very flimsy- light weight hollow steel tubes, bolted together. Harrods Horticultural do more robust versions but boy are they dear.

 

. In the end I got some road pins from the Bay - ten for £ 28, and the remains of a pot mover - gardeners are like modellers never throw anything away in case it can be reused. Got to work with the lump hammer and angle grinder plus some spray paint and it looks really good. I reckon it probably cost about £15, didn't use all of the pins, not including my time of course. Even got some ping pong balls to make into globes, just waiting for the foam filler to arrive, to finish it of.

[Ozexpatriate]

Today it wasn't raining, and it wasn't too hot, the grass was long after the weekend rain and I wasn't doing anything useful in the early afternoon, so I determined to mow the grassy verge.

 

That done and the weather being mostly cloudy I thought I could pull some weeds, including the errant thistle which at last report was 1m high but was at least 1.5 m high when I pulled it.  Still feeling productive I scraped a quantity of moss from between the patio paving stones. This remains incomplete but substantial progress was made.

 

After that I finally caught up with my son via telephone.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

Then on the evening NBC Nightly News, in a piece about the end of Microsoft Internet Explorer there appears (at 0:45) something incongruous:

 

Stock footage of a BR (ex-GWR) named 4-6-0 with a rake of cattle vans and opens:

 

Head codes suggest express freight / livestock.   Any takers for name and number - too blurry for me to identify.

 

I consider myself a GWR fan, but frankly sometimes I can't tell them apart. Hall perhaps? (Suggested by the straight steam pipes and right side boiler and cab-front piping.)

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by Ozexpatriate

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[TheQ]

The sea level charts are exaggerating it a bit somewhat.

If any part of a district might flood then they've mapped it as the entire district.. for instance the north Norfolk district shown as entirely flooding , includes areas of land above the 100ft level,and even beacon hill which is 344ft above sea level...

 

A jump seat is normally an extra fold down seat in the cockpit, not comfortable for a long trip but sometimes useful .

 

Boat tail Rolls Royce?  That's extremely tacky, it's not a boat tail, which should come to a point or near a point, its err.... yuk.

[iL Dottore]

6 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Starting to get a bit muggy now, as the seaweed twirlers said it would. If you want to be vulgar perhaps this is for you.

 https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-10834055/Rolls-Royces-20MILLION-Boat-Tail-Pearl-unveiled-Worlds-joint-expensive-new-car.html

Personally I would prefer something a bit less gaudy, a Bentley in British racing green perhaps.

That just screams oligarch/oil sheikh noveau-riche.

 

I think you can now view RR as the “official car” of the vulgar moneyed. Thank goodness there’s still Bentley for “Gentlemen”….

[chrisf]

18 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I think you can now view RR as the “official car” of the vulgar moneyed. Thank goodness there’s still Bentley for “Gentlemen”….

So how do you rate the VW Polo, says he, apprehensive of the answer?

 

A pleasant evening yesterday near Dunstable Downs - it was an Area Group meeting at the home of a member.  The host's GW-themed l*y**t was, as always, a joy to behold.  O for the confidence to emulate.

 

Chris

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Fangpuller visit did not go well. She had to give me an injection which was OK but she overdid it... my lip is still numb. Then she managed to catch my inner lip with the drill.. it still hurts. The filling has rough edges to it.. shevis a lot slap dash.. I may have to find another fangpuller. 

 

I didn't get a lot done after that as I couldn't be bothered.

 

Today will involve a bus trip into town for a delayed meeting with our regional ecb rep. A nice cup of coffee and a toasted sandwich from a prope Italian cafe should help the conversation.

 

On my return grass cutting and hedge clipping awaits. Pah!

 

Stay safe!

 

Baz

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Sunny start again and it will be another fine & warm day with temperatures possibly reaching 29°C.  This means that once again I will remain mainly in the shade doing nottalot although we may go for a walk after breakfast before it gets too hot.

Usual Thursday fare of 3 bin lorries due but with the added excitement of our first Ocado delivery.  Haven't heard yet whether or not we're getting everything we ordered.  The ex Sainsbury employee in the household and their biggest fan is still very sceptical.

Talking of Herself I better take her a muggatea.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Edited June 16, 2022 by grandadbob

[iL Dottore]

Good morning one and all,

 

Today I must introduce a sharp note of “wake up“ to those of you perusing ER over your breakfast kippers or toast and marmalade.

 

We need to have an honest conversation about PLAKOPHAGY (from the ancient Greek: plakous [cake] and phageîn [to eat, devour]). This little known, but debilitating condition, dates back to the ancient Greeks (https://www.bettertogetherbc.ca/blog/single/the-surprising-history-of-cake).

 

It is an insidious condition: it starts off with apparently innocuous symptoms such as having second helpings of things like a Victoria Sponge or a Carrot Cake and the next thing you know the patient is hanging around the dodgy end of eBay flogging off their prized possessions to feed their 10 a day LDC habit. One of the hallmarks of this affliction (which experts believe is a combination of psychological and biochemical dysfunctions) is the sometimes torturous self justification made by sufferers: commonly heard are statements like “that’s so good, I’ll have another slice“, “well, they were on sale“ or “it’s a sin to let good cake go to waste“ 

 

A variant of this condition, and one with an extremely poor prognosis is KYAMITIPHAGY (from the ancient greek Kyamites - bean) whereby the sufferer forms a fetish like attachment to baked beans. Afflicted individuals rapidly deteriorate and die in agony - sometimes in as little as 60 or 70 years after their first plate of beans on toast.

 

Until now, treatment has simply been the management of the worst symptoms of plakophagy, treatment complicated by the fact that many patients with the condition refuse necessary treatment and have to be sectioned for their own good.

 

iL Dottore is pleased to announce a significant breakthrough in the treatment of plakophagy which is only available in his clinic in Switzerland. Building on the current gold standard for the treatment of the condition (kale smoothies), a regime of nutritious food and rigourous physiotherapy has been devised with a cure rate of approximately 80% of patients treated.

 

If you, or someone you know, suffer from plakophagy and want the best in treatment, contact iL Dottore for a free initial consultation at:

 

Das teure Institut für die Behandlung von Kuchen-Essstörungen

Sie können es sich nicht leisten Strasse 45

Zürich

Switzerland.

 

All correspondence will, of course, be kept in complete confidence

[iL Dottore]

42 minutes ago, chrisf said:

So how do you rate the VW Polo, says he, apprehensive of the answer?..

Depends upon the model year, but generally

• Good quality (it IS, after all, a VW)
• Functional
• Reliable (usually)
• Pedestrian styling
• Unexciting (except for the GTIs), but
• Gets the job done

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,,

 Three hours and then... some very un satisfactory semi dozing...

 

Elton John was in Carrow road last night, the Bishop of Norwich tweeted he was listening to the concert in the cathedral grounds half a mile away, the radio played a recording of his live performance.... Recorded in a garden 1.5 miles away..

 

SWMBO was teaching a new club member how to warp a loom yesterday,, The new member is young, Biologically female, has what would be called female hobbies weaving sewing knitting.., has boy friends, but want to be known as a male... I think some one is confused. which takes me to..

 

Ancestors.. a book by Professor Alice Roberts she of Red hair in Time team..  Hmm an unsatisfactory book , very recent.. it mentions covid..

 

The first third is stuff I already knew eg " the red Lady of Paviland"  (a bloke, that was an 1823  miss assignment) .  She then wanders around my life going to places like Stonehenge  and  Cletraval on North Uist (pronounced ouist, that's not O ist or U ist) which Now has RAF Benbecula's radar station on it, I worked on it's predecessor..

The middle section then gets interesting actually on DNA where people came from and  various Archaeological  discoveries, The last third starts off OK with the discussion of Augustus Henry Lane Fox Pitt Rivers, a Victorian Archaeologist, who for his time was remarkably good, his records in Salisbury Museum ( a few hundred yards from my aunts house in Salisbury cathedral grounds); She stayed at the same Hotel I did..  Then it all goes pear shaped, disappearing down a rabbit hole of disccussions of whether there are 5 or 7 genders!?  and Covid intrudes in the text.. 

 

The book feels like it was rushed, definitely padded out, as though she had promised so many words to a publisher but due to lock down, couldn't get to to do enough research..

 

Time I went to the lab..

 

[jamie92208]

Good moaning from a still sunny Bournemouth.  Some packing is due to take place today and then the beach has been mentioned. Regards to all.

 

Jamie

 

 

[Tony_S]

7 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

 

Well I haven't got round to patenting mine yet but given some of designs I looked at I'd make certain you're not near something breakable when you see the prices.

 

There are some cheap ones on Amazon but not worth it as they're very flimsy- light weight hollow steel tubes, bolted together. Harrods Horticultural do more robust versions but boy are they dear.

 

. In the end I got some road pins from the Bay - ten for £ 28, and the remains of a pot mover - gardeners are like modellers never throw anything away in case it can be reused. Got to work with the lump hammer and angle grinder plus some spray paint and it looks really good. I reckon it probably cost about £15, didn't use all of the pins, not including my time of course. Even got some ping pong balls to make into globes, just waiting for the foam filler to arrive, to finish it of.

Aditi had looked at the Harrod  Horticultural version and even she thought they were a tad expensive. Some were even available in a fashionable ready rusted finish. We then spent ages looking for garden stakes online. What we didn’t know was that road pins are exactly what “we” were looking for. I did notice while adjusting the rose (William Shakespeare) that it was very thorny. I hope it liked the blood I contributed to its environment.