Early Risers.

[PupCam]

33 minutes ago, polybear said:

After that it was a scout round the (R/C) Model Shop over the road - no choo choos, but some nice stuff all the same - though current model shops are a poor substitute for those of a Bear's youth, back when you actually had to build a plane (foam wings were considered hi-tech back then) rather than put a battery in it and go.  That's a mini-Rant.

 

Not like this then Brian?  

 

Here's an old school model shop Puppers was particularly fond of in his youth (complete with Senior Puppers 😀)!

 

The Mercury, Keil Kraft and Veron aircraft kits can't be seen or indeed the Aerokits and Billing Boat kits.  Nor the stock of model engines or R/C gear, the array of assembled (by Puppers) 1/72 Airfix aircraft on the wall, the N Gauge & OO test tracks, the stack of Hammant & Morgan train controllers and the assortment of sundry items to tempt a would-be Muddler.    When Ken (John Dutfield Models) saw the photograph he said he was still using the very same Plastruct display stand!     The photograph was taken sometime around 1975.

 

 

33 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Sadly he's currently un-named though - and he's very sad as a result 😢  So a name is needed......

 

He?   Looks like a Lady Bear to Puppers.

 

TTFNQ

 

 

 

[southern42]

47 minutes ago, polybear said:

snip...

But the best bit?  A new friend (plus racksack) comes to stay at Bear Towers as a freebie with every service:

 

 

Sadly he's currently un-named though - and he's very sad as a result 😢  So a name is needed......

 

I

 

Ermmmm...name? He has some initials....some guess work needed perhaps...or ask him....🐻

[45156]

Afternoon All,

 

Mucho skipping, as I have had no broadband since last night - there was a fault on my phone line, as Openreach started to change our pole yesterday, they met a complication as the pole was buried quite deep and after they had taken down the dropwires they found that they could not get the pole out to replace - they came back this morning and eventually had to break the pole and dig a new hole next to the stump, so we have just been reconnected and after checking for urgent emails, here I am.  Geneirc greetings are, of course, on offer as ever.

 

Not a whole lot here, other than the lack of phone/broadband/TV.  Next door neighbour, who is a teacher was frantic, as the kids couldn't do their homework - whatever happened to bringng it home in your schoolbag, and doing it on the kitchen table?

 

Regards to All

Stewart

 

 

[polybear]

6 minutes ago, southern42 said:

 

Ermmmm...name? He has some initials....some guess work needed perhaps...or ask him....🐻

 

Bear already has an "MG" - and a Mickey (after "the MG") - and a Ricky (after "the Rover")..... 

 

[Coombe Barton]

... In our daily staff newsletter we read that we can have a free MacDonalds all-day breakfast - errrrmmmmm – no thanks ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/10/18/downward-trend-stronger/

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

very sad as a result 😢  So a name is needed......

Maurice Grizzly, I, suspect from the MG label. 

[monkeysarefun]

51 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

 

 

 

He?   Looks like a Lady Bear to Puppers.

 

TTFNQ

 

 

 

Jenny bloody Agutter.

[BSW01]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

 

Sadly he's currently un-named though - and he's very sad as a result 😢  So a name is needed......

I agree with what Polly said, in that your new bear looks sort of feminine, especially as SHE has a pink bag. So as you got HER in October, what about Octavia? 

Or if you insist on it being a male bear, what about Octavus? 

Edited October 18, 2022 by BSW01

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Not done much today apart from a bit of shopping which woke up Arthur Itis but the Nurofen put him back to sleep again. Now for dinner, be back later.

[polybear]

46 minutes ago, BSW01 said:

I agree with what Polly said, in that your new bear looks sort of feminine, especially as SHE has a pink bag. So as you got HER in October, what about Octavia? 

Or if you insist on it being a male bear, what about Octavus? 

 

Ted says that (a) "....the rucksack's F. Red, not F. Pink", and (b) "I'm a He - though no way am I gonna flash me bits to prove it".  I did mention the name Octavus....his response (edited so as not to get a certain Bear banned) was something along the lines of:

&%%&3(__&$$GFD &^^$ £ L right off, you'll be wantin' to call me FjmshgRTBB  Tarquin next....🤬

Bear interprets that as Ted being somewhat less than keen.... 

 

[New Haven Neil]

Miles.  He came with the service at 30k miles....

[New Haven Neil]

Well the secondary old farts ride today was short on membership, just NHN and Steve, and he's not near 60 yet so isn't an old fart officially.  However the day although starting distinctly chilly, ended up very nice indeed.  We went way down south.

 

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Miles.  He came with the service at 30k miles....

I showed Aditi the bear and after admiring said bear she said “Imogen or Meg”. I then explained that the bear had identified as male so she said Magnus. 

[New Haven Neil]

As for Bear's bit of wood - here's the fan on the back of one of NHN's old tubs to compare it against:

 

 

Yer man here is 5'11', but am a bit shorter nowadays.

[monkeysarefun]

Another loverly spring week ahead!

 

 

 

Average October rainfall here is  63mm, so far we've had almost 3 times that at 181mm and if we get all thats forecast this'll be the rainiest October ever, beating 1997's brave effort of 242mm. (Again London  - which we like to smugly mock for being always rainy - has an average yearly total of 615mm...)

 

At least theres not enough in that forecast in a short enough period  to risk flooding here yet, unlike out west, where the  whole country being so flat seems to be  slowly turning into a giant flood plain.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

22 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

At least theres not enough in that forecast in a short enough period  to risk flooding here yet, unlike out west, where the  whole country being so flat seems to be  slowly turning into a giant flood plain.

Dr. SWMBO has reported further on the flooding to her friend's home in Maribyrnong.  

 

Friend was assured when she and her partner bought the property that flood mitigation had been completed some years previously and that the risk was "zero".  Local people and those who understand such things had all complained that the work had been (a) inadequate and (b) incomplete leaving the risk as high as it had ever been if not higher.  

 

Flemington Racecourse - home of the Melbourne Cup and other horse-chasing events at which large sums of money are usually lost - is almost next door.  The had flood mitigation built to protect the course.  The mitigation to protect the surrounding suburbs which was supposed to be a part of the project was in fact never built.  

 

Friend was alert to the situation and as the creek rose very quickly she began moving valuable property to upstairs.  Luckily they have an upstairs - that is less common in Australia apart from some of the older inner suburbs.  Maribyrnong just about qualifies as "older" and has a proportion of double-storey homes.  By early the next morning water was flowing down the street.  By mid-morning it was flowing through her home and many others.  By lunchtime there had still been no flood warning given and no emergency alert to mobile phones - the latter should now be standard when any "must act now" emergency is imminent.  

 

36 hours later the water began to recede leaving black slime everywhere, a fair amount of irretrievably-damaged property and then - and only then - did the suburb get the government emergency warning alert by phone.  

 

A class action is being taken out against the Victorian Racing Club, owners of Flemington Racecourse, for failure to complete the works around the suburb which was a condition of their being allowed to protect the racecourse.  This alleged failure resulted in a flood-swollen creek having nowhere else to go but through homes some of which might have been spared the drama had full mitigation been in place as was intended.  

 

A formal complaint has also been raised about the timing of the emergency warning.

 

More rain is due.  

[Ozexpatriate]

7 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

A class action is being taken out against the Victorian Racing Club, owners of Flemington Racecourse, for failure to complete the works around the suburb which was a condition of their being allowed to protect the racecourse.

In a zero-sum game, the flooding of homes versus a paddock around which horses run is a simple calculus to me.

 

Sadly it says something about Australian* priorities.

 

* Similar things exist elsewhere of course, but the enshrinement of gambling in Australia is particularly notable.

[Gwiwer]

8 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

In a zero-sum game, the flooding of homes versus a paddock around which horses run is a simple calculus to me.

 

Sadly it says something about Australian* priorities.

 

* Similar things exist elsewhere of course, but the enshrinement of gambling in Australia is particularly notable.

I could not agree more.  

 

Whilst there is much that is good about the Great Southern Land there is a good deal which is rotten to the core and that's putting it politely, mildly and apolitically.  

[polybear]

Bear here.....

A polite snottogram has been received from the buyer of one of the items that Bear had sold via the 'bay - whilst they are the buyer they're not yet the recipient, as it's stuck who-knows-where thanks to RM.  Ar5ebadgers.  Their Track n' Trace is a waste of space as well - it seems that it'll record the fact that it's been collected by the Post office but doesn't update until it's actually been delivered.  The buyer has announced they're gonna ask the 'bay for their money back - though Bear has received info that suggests Ebay won't take such action until the 20th, so it'll be interesting to see what they do.  I just tried to fill out a Lost Item Claim on the RM website but they won't play "because it hasn't been ten days" - even though they collected it on the 7th, and today is the 18th - maybe they don't include weekends?  Ar5ebadgers #2.

[40F]

3 minutes ago, polybear said:

Bear here.....

A polite snottogram has been received from the buyer of one of the items that Bear had sold via the 'bay - whilst they are the buyer they're not yet the recipient, as it's stuck who-knows-where thanks to RM.  Ar5ebadgers.  Their Track n' Trace is a waste of space as well - it seems that it'll record the fact that it's been collected by the Post office but doesn't update until it's actually been delivered.  The buyer has announced they're gonna ask the 'bay for their money back - though Bear has received info that suggests Ebay won't take such action until the 20th, so it'll be interesting to see what they do.  I just tried to fill out a Lost Item Claim on the RM website but they won't play "because it hasn't been ten days" - even though they collected it on the 7th, and today is the 18th - maybe they don't include weekends?  Ar5ebadgers #2.

 

They do not include weekends ,only working days.

[PupCam]

16 minutes ago, polybear said:

Their Track n' Trace is a waste of space as well - it seems that it'll record the fact that it's been collected by the Post office but doesn't update until it's actually been delivered. 

 

I have found this to be the case the hard way previously. A complete and utter waste of fu.......

 

12 minutes ago, 40F said:

They do not include weekends ,only working days.

 

Another 14 weeks to wait then @polybear .......

 

[Tony_S]

47 minutes ago, polybear said:

it seems that it'll record the fact that it's been collected by the Post office but doesn't update until it's actually been delivered.

That sounds like ‘signed for delivery ‘ was chosen. Not the same as fully tracked, which costs slightly more. 

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. It feels quite warm this evening, and a bit humid as well. At least Arthur Itis is staying quiet so time for a bit of supper (pork pie) and then to tackle Farcebook.

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

Whilst there is much that is good about the Great Southern Land there is a good deal which is rotten to the core and that's putting it politely, mildly and apolitically.  

 

 

Both Star City Casino in Sydney and Crown Casinos in Sydney, Western Australia and Melbourne have been the subject of  Royal Commissions and / or other investigations and both have been found unfit to hold a license due to flagrant rule breaches, flouting of their conditions to operate, and coverups when breaches were discovered.

Star this week  copped a 100 million dollar fine and has had restrictions placed on it but is still allowed to operate, reason being the concern for jobs, despite most jobs affected being in hospitality where there is a  huge demand for workers without the casino. Not sure what the Crown outcome is.

 

The Ironic thing is that this bloke  got knocked back on recommendation of the NSW police  in the '80's when the Star license went out to tender, reasons given were his dodgy business maths   and mafia links, he later went on to bigger and corrupter things! 

 

NSW clubs and pubs have  the second highest number of poker machines in the world  after Nevada, their throughput exceeds the GDP of some of the suburbs they are in, pointing to huge money laundering operations, despite this the NSW government refuses to do anything about it ( limit amounts gambled daily, making them card-only rather than cash and so on) because the NSW pub and club industry calls the shots. 

 

Maanwhile online (#$*@#($  bookmakers - homegrown and blow-ins like Ladbrokes -  spoil every sporting event on TV with their endless ads enticing you to download their apps and place a  bet on the result, all aimed at young blokes and pitched as harmless fun that adds to the excitement. 

 

At the end of the  day though, its just an on-going  rich tradition of graft and corruption that was  started by the British Army!

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_South_Wales_Corps

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Winslow Boy]

13 hours ago, Grizz said:

Morning All….

 

Thought that I’d go for a stroll this morning, down into the valley and around the Island.
 

But after taking a look out of a window of the East Wing of Grizz Castle….I thought…

 

…..FOG IT! 
 

 

 

You can just see the church in the second photo but sadly as usual my iPad doesn’t do it justice.

 

Have a great day all….

 

ATB Grizz

 

Here you go Grizz one from this mornings constitutial.