Early Risers.

[DaveF]

 

Compared to previous posters my Saturday must seem very mundane.  After breakfast I walked to the beach and then along the sand, the tide was low enough to walk round the seaward end of the the breakwaters.  The rain had just stopped and it soon became warm.  I did about 3 miles in all.

 

I spent most of the rest of the day finding space in my house to put away stuff Ive brought back from Mum's flat, including the rest of Dad's and her photo catalogues.  

 

I also moved the silt further away from the pond so it won't get washed back in when it rains, the water is beginning to clear now.  In due course I'll need to buy some new plants.

 

It may not seem much but it took all day!

 

2 photos taken during my walk:

 

 

 

David

[45156]

20 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

A busy but expensive day has befallen me today. The wood work in the spare  bedroom has been painted using Leyland trade satin first time I have used their paint plus point is its made in West Yorkshire Birstall to be precise.

 

First class paint, Simon - much better than d*lux, or valsp*r - and Johnstone's is even better - I use both all the time, and their centres can match any other maker's colours - we've had loads of Farrow and Ball colours mixed and you're looking at about 40 quid for 5 litres if Johnstones or 35 for Leyland as against £85 for F&B.  Now owned by PPG architectural coatings, but still both made in Yorkshire.

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

The beans are what make it world class instead of just German….

Surely adding baked beans would make it just “Euro class“? Whereas, to make it “world-class“ you’d have to add things like extremely over-sweet pastries and greasy hashbrowns (for the Americans), various rice and fish based dishes, a few mild curries and flatbreads (for the Asians). Oh and Vegemite and toast for the Aussies 😄

Mrs iD and I once stayed in a hotel in KL that had all the above and more; although she expressed initially expressed disquiet at the idea, she came to enjoy having a mild daal and roti with fresh mango for breakfast.

Actually, a hot, fresh and spicy curry for brekkies is one of life’s overlooked delights!

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

….though it claimed to be 5 star. 

What I found interesting, is that for many National Hotel associations, the star rating on of a hotel is based on the facilities available – which means as long as the right number of boxes are ticked, a hotel can be rated as three, four or (rarely) five star. Even though the experience may fall well short of that of a “real“ three or four star hotel.

I have stayed in enough four-star hotels – from big chains to small independents – to be able to assess how well a hotel meets the star rating it claims to have. (Although I suspect my criteria are partly subjective - I can say that an absence of baked beans at breakfast automatically adds an extra star to the rating 🤣)

 

Given that as long as they tick the right number of boxes in regards to facilities (even though – say – the “fitness centre” may consist of one clapped out stationary bike and a set of free weights with half of them missing) a hotel can get a 4-star rating; I’ve often found the best hotel experiences are at the two or three-star level.

 

In fact I’ve had three-star hotel experiences that have actually been much, muchr better than some of so-called “four-star“ hotels I’ve stayed in.

Edited July 31, 2022 by iL Dottore

[Gwiwer]

1 minute ago, iL Dottore said:

I can say that an absence of baked beans at breakfast automatically adds an extra star to the rating 🤣

And an honourable mention to those establishments offering grilled or griddled tomatoes (ideally with some seasoning added) rather than heated-up canned ones.  Our erstwhile favourite breakfast spot in Australia served a "Full Australian" version which included over-baked tomatoes spread with pesto; that was an acquired taste but seemed to go down well with many regulars.  

 

What else went onto the "Full Australian Breakfast"?  

 

Eggs as you liked though poached was the default; over easy was our preference and readily understood.  Bacon grilled until just crisp.  A small pork sausage.  Sourdough toast or toasted brioche slices.  Sauteed mushrooms.  And wilted peppered spinach 🤮

 

There were weekly specials in addition to a perfectly good and varied menu.  "The Elvis" was one; bacon, griddled bananas, maple syrup, peanut butter all thickly layered onto toasted brioche.  Calorie Central.  And sooooo good.  Another favourite was "Gujarati Spiced Potato" which comprised of toasted sourdough, a dollop of chunky-cubed potato cooked in and coated with Indian-style spices, a fried egg and a mix of red and green salsa.  Or you could have Nasi Goreng or Ice Cream Sundae with pancakes and berries for breakfast if you so wished.  Quite a variety of tastes catered for.  

 

Nowhere around here does that.  

[Gwiwer]

18 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

23 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

What ever is a  disposable BBQ, I've not seen one here

23 hours ago, 45156 said:

They are pre filled containers with charcoal in them - they come in differing sizes, and they have a grill on the top on which the cooking takes place. 

Even more interesting is the biodegradable barbeque

There is surely no such thing as the "Disposable BBQ"  

 

Those widely sold in many places now are single-use foil trays filled with charcoal and topped with a metal gauze onto which you place the items to be sacrificed.  They MUST NOT be left unattended and remain very hot for a very long time as charcoal always does.  Far too many are simply abandoned on beaches and at picnic spots when the users leave, whether or not they are cool and somewhat safer.  No attempt is made to dispose of them because there is enough sense among the users to comprehend that "hot" equals "might melt the plastic rubbish bin".  Each year dozens of severe burns are sustained by beach-goers who accidentally step on stones or sand beneath which a BBQ has been "disposed of".  Buried.  Out of sight out of mind never mind who comes along later.

 

They get very hot and because they are commonly placed on the ground they cause destructive fires in tinder-dry conditions.  Sometimes from conducive heat, sometimes from a stray spark.  Several of the recent large wildfires in the UK are known to have been started by these things.  

 

They might have their place.  Their place, if any, is in carefully-managed safe environments such as within a designated fire-pit or public BBQ spot.  The UK doesn't have many of the latter; Australia provides them as standard in many public places.  They are not well understood in terms of risk and disposability and in my very humble opinion they should be withdrawn from sale and banned from use on the grounds of public safety.  It is virtually impossible to trace and deal with those who recklessly discard them in any manner.  Lives of those who encounter them after use - through injury, fire or otherwise - can be changed for ever.  

[monkeysarefun]

10 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I think you answered it last time - it certainly is for local television stations, pundits and the providers of vote counting equipment.

2020 could prove a bumper year for them when all the court cases are settled, even after Hugo Chavez has taken his cut.

Edited July 31, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[The White Rabbit]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

..... And finally.....

Seems sensible to This Bear:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/10-fine-for-an-nhs-no-show-says-rishi-sunak/ar-AA108zFk?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=343c676d2d5e406b818975f3b169f668

 

 

Only if it works both ways - otherwise this is just another tool to beat the peasants with. Having suffered greatly from NHS arrogance and double standards in the last three years, pitchfork and torch salesmen could do well out of me. 

 

PS - £80 due to me as you're asking... perhaps LDC is available via the NHS, albeit not on prescription? 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by The White Rabbit
PS

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

National Hotel associations, the star rating on of a hotel is based on the facilities available

The hotel we last stayed in in Austria did have a pillow menu but I suspect most of the guests were more interested in the food menu. You could visit the hotel farm to see how your meat was raised but we just went round the kitchen garden. While there we had intended to travel to a few places in Italy and Slovenia but we hardly left the valley the hotel was in. We did intend to return but things like Covid outbreaks and my heart problems intervened. 

[The White Rabbit]

On a more cheerful note, memories of Sidmouth:

 

Rick may recognise the angle, it's from the South West Coast Path eastwards towards Branscombe, Beer and Lyme. After crossing the river (Sid, of course) you climb up some steps and through a belt of Sidmouth Suburbia, then emerge into a meadow which gives you a brief respite from the punishing uphill climb. 

 

I won't claim to know Sidmouth too well, we've visited a bit but not loitered. There's a traditional butchers (featured on one of Rick Stein's programmes) which we patronise, a decent bookshop (ditto) and a newsagent selling Holmfirth Specials. There used to be a nice art shop (Rock Pool?) which I and a friend used to visit and leave some money behind much more often than our bank managers would have approved of, sadly, now closed. Apart from the RNLI station and their two dummies and the 'bus' triangle, that's about my local knowledge of the place... 

[iL Dottore]

16 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

 

Only if it works both ways - otherwise this is just another tool to beat the peasants with. Having suffered greatly from NHS arrogance and double standards in the last three years, pitchfork and torch salesmen could do well out of me. 

Well, quite. There’s far too much anecdotal evidence posted on ER (and elsewhere) about individuals never being notified of their appointments or - just as bad - getting the letter confirming their appointment quite some time after the appointment had been scheduled.

 

Unfortunately, it does seem that @The White Rabbit experience is not atypical and whilst mistakes can and do happen, why don’t things ever improve?  Why can’t those parts of the NHS who don’t do “X” well, learn from those parts of the NHS that do do “X” well? (whatever “X” may be).

 

It would certainly appear (and I’m being terribly cynical here) that nowadays whenever a large UK organisation (such as the NHS, Vodaphone, etc.) gets “found out” and can’t weasel their way out of the spotlight, then a “thorough investigation” takes place and then they announce “lessons have been learned”

And, I would venture, “lessons have been learned” is organisation speak for “we don’t care, you can’t touch us, now naff off”

[simontaylor484]

Afternoon all 

 

After a terrible nights lack of sleep I finally dripped of in the Stressless at around 5am.

Woke up around 11am had a bite to eat for the tablets then started on the floor of the spare bedroom.

We have fitted cork expansion strips round the perimeter of the room and laid the foam underlay. We then started laying the floor. We have laid 7 planks in total it doesn't sound a lot but its only a small room and there are plenty of cuts. So far a piece 20cm long is the only wastage.

 

It rained a lot during the night and has been very humid this afternoon as a result 

[Gwiwer]

1 hour ago, The White Rabbit said:

Rick may recognise the angle, it's from the South West Coast Path eastwards towards Branscombe, Beer and Lyme

Ah yes. I know it well. Beyond the town (in the middle-distance) one climbs the aptly-named Big Hill onwards towards Budleigh Salterton and Ladram Bay.  There is a minor road which also goes over that hill fairly near the coast and which is known to cyclists as ****ing Big Hill! 
 

The climb out on the eastern side towards Branscombe and Beer is also something of a bar steward. Steeply up through the woods, steeply down and then up again across the valley at Salcombe Regis and which sometimes felt like a completely unnecessary use of energy!  
 

“Sidmouth Triangle” has been the bus terminus since such things first arrived in East Devon. The town itself has some narrow streets and antique shops with varying levels of interest.  And the cliffs keep falling down. 
 

For those here with geological interest the beaches here are littered with fragments of the Budleigh Salterton Pebble Bed. The red sandstone matrix binds a selection of older shingle from millions of years ago.  I was offered some pieces of this by a chap we knew in Beer - fondly referred to as Mad Michael - who was compiling a book which would include photos of this “very interesting rock”. He wanted to know more and knew that two of us in the village, myself and my friend Varry, had studied geology. 
 

We were happy to help. I identified the rock and wrote a brief explanation. When published Michael Walton had given Varry the credit. Ah well. 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Gwiwer

[simontaylor484]

4 hours ago, 45156 said:

First class paint, Simon - much better than d*lux, or valsp*r - and Johnstone's is even better - I use both all the time, and their centres can match any other maker's colours - we've had loads of Farrow and Ball colours mixed and you're looking at about 40 quid for 5 litres if Johnstones or 35 for Leyland as against £85 for F&B.  Now owned by PPG architectural coatings, but still both made in Yorkshire.

I was impressed with the paint it has left a really good finish.

I will bear in mind your mention of getting Farrow and Ball colours mixed as her ladyship does like their colours. 

The last emulsion I got was mixed at Crown Decorator centre from their Historic and Classic 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Quite an interesting exhibition this morning, run by the local IPMS (plastic kit bashers). Its interesting to see the detail on some of the models, right down to an autumn scene including individual fallen leaves and an almost microscopic depiction of a Japanese Zero fighter flying over jungle, the aircraft was about 4mm long. My friends son pointed that one out otherwise both his dad and myself wouldn't have spotted it. I came away with a large (1/24 scale) kit of a Citroen van, complete and untouched with all the components inside the sealed plastic bag inside the box and all for a fiver. The hall was rather small and was got a bit stuffy but we were able to see everything in less than two hours.

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

 

I will bear in mind your mention of getting Farrow and Ball colours mixed as her ladyship does like their colours. 

 

Just as a change from Magnolia on the walls, the only other paintable surfaces in our house are radiators and some doors. Those are painted with eggshell Farrow and Ball “House White”. We wouldn’t want anything too colourful! The Farrow and Ball eggshell is great for radiators and is available in a lot more colours than so called radiator paint. 

[TheQ]

Afternoon Awl,

There have been problems with burnt Squares in the fibreglass of hire boats. A favourite place is a locker lid on the rear of the hire boats because it's flat....

Beneath the locker lid?

 

 

 

The gas bottles😲.

 

The forecast was carp, we've had intermittent rain all day and not till 16:00 did we get any wind with north in it.

 

Race 1,

Good start. Very windy, kept up reasonably well, got very wet.

 

Race 2,

average start. Over took two boats from previous starts, did very well.

 

Race 3, fabulous start, in first place for 30 seconds,  kept up well for the first lap,

Then the wind dropped changed. Changed. Gusted changed you name it it did it.

We did 120 degree tacks and remained head to wind. Evil it was.

Came in very last...

Edited July 31, 2022 by TheQ

[polybear]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

We then started laying the floor. We have laid 7 planks in total it doesn't sound a lot but its only a small room and there are plenty of cuts. So far a piece 20cm long is the only wastage.

 

Leccy sliding mitre saws are rather useful when doing laminate floors.....

 

Bear here....

A bit of afternoon pondering regarding shelving in an alcove; I decided that using the same Meranti Timber I used for the window sill and mantle piece would be a sensible idea - all I need to do now is phone the Timber Yard tomorrow and scare myself with the ££.

Currently watching the kickball - getting a bit tense now; I'm no great fan but it would be good to see a win.  One observation - Germany are keen on playing dirty.  Yep, that's a Rant.

[PhilJ W]

Being not the least bit interested in the kick ball I tried to do some eye-lid inspection only to be kept awake by the ice cream vans.

[Coombe Barton]

... Coverack, sitting on the junction between mantle and crustal rocks, right on the obducted Mohorovičić discontinuity ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/07/31/postcards-from-the-periphery-2022-10/

[simontaylor484]

@polybear I have used my jigsaw with a blade for laminates its like a knife through butter.

I do have a sliding mitre saw 

[polybear]

As a picture is worth, well, lots of words.....

 

 

One strip, now minus the "step" that was there before a certain Bear attacked it with an SDS Chisel.  Bear happy.

I actually managed to judge the amount of SLC to mix (2.5Kg) almost exactly - which was a result 😎; for the trench (which is underneath this lot) I mixed 10Kg, of which a fair amount got wasted 😢.  Now I'm left with 7.5Kg of SLC cluttering up the shed - along with all the other stuff that's in there.  Maybe I'll scare you all with a photo sometime 😱

[polybear]

3 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I was impressed with the paint it has left a really good finish.

I will bear in mind your mention of getting Farrow and Ball colours mixed as her ladyship does like their colours. 

The last emulsion I got was mixed at Crown Decorator centre from their Historic and Classic 

 

What flavour of Leyland paint was it?  Oil based/water based for woodwork/emulsion?

Bear has been using Crown Trade for the lounge - with their oil based satin for the woodwork - all seems to have worked very well.

[tigerburnie]

I replaced all of our woodwork in the house with oak, polish it once a year, dust as required, will never have to paint the house again..................sorted, (emulsion on the walls where wall paper does not hang) upvc windows and soffits/facia, means only the guttering and down pipes to maintain about every 10 years with some Hammerite, I don't actually own a paint brush at the moment. Retirement..................................it's a doddle.

[iL Dottore]

I’ve just caught the end of the Women’s football and I was struck by a deep, philosophical question:

 

If male footballers have their WAGS, do female footballers have HABs?*

 

* Husbands And Boyfriends 

Edited July 31, 2022 by iL Dottore

[Barry O]

BBQ went well.. some food left over..how?

 

Beer and wine stocks.. very depleted.

 

I will clean the bbq tomorrow although some parts of it are in the dishwasher.

 

Time to have an early night methinks

Baz