Early Risers.

[polybear]

9 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

In cake related news the youngest is making LDC next week at school

 

I am now hunting a pachyderm and ursineproof transport flask to get it home

 

The Ministers for C, P, D & B would like to draw your attention to the newly created laws regarding the transportation of uninspected LDC......

Fear not, however - such inspections are conducted absolutely free of charge.

 

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

There was (allegedly) a lorry buried under the pitch of the old Wembley stadium. When they built the bottling plant at the Romford brewery in the 1960's they found the remains of a Foden steam lorry. The scrapmen cut it up and carted it off.

 

ISTR a story about a workman (men?) who got trapped in a hole during a construction project (Forth Bridge maybe?).  There was zero chance of getting them out - or more likely it was decided by the Bosses that it would be far too expensive/delay the build/we've plenty of others to replace them anyway etc. - so they made out they were preparing to rescue them as they fed them with food laced with poison.

 

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

Interesting factoid: my current bike is a so-called “city bike“ and compared to my previous all-rounder bike is equipped with quite fat tyres. This, I think, makes it very slow, inasmuch as the same pedalling effort provides a lower speed than the same effort did on my previous bike (I don’t think it is the gearing, my current bike has 6 gears - the same as the old bike). Perhaps a change of wheels to something with a thinner tyre might improve the bikes speed?

 

 

Many, many moons ago a certain Bear purchased a bike of the pedallin' variety; I had gone to the shop with the intention of buying a Mountain Bike but when the shop keeper realised I had no intention of going anywhere near mountains with it he steered me towards a "Track & Trail" bike (mountain bike styling, a bit less rugged, thinner wheels) as he said the rolling resistance of the tyres was a lot less and would be better for road use.

So that's what I bought.  And hardly ever used the thing.  Luckily I was able to flog it to someone at work for nottalotta loss several years later.

 

40 minutes ago, Winslow Boy said:

That is because he's a mate and if he didn't clean up after himself you would be falling out with him not just as an 'employee' but also as a friend.

 

I always remember being told never to take on a paid job for a neighbour as you run the risk of falling out with them and then having the problem of seeing them everyday.

 

Bear HATES working in friend's houses (though I'll help out with small jobs/emergencies) - too much stress in case something goes wrong/costs them more in bits than expected/takes longer than usual/I forget to bring all the right tools.  As a consequence I'll only get involved with jobs for friends in the same street (easy to nip home for something) unless I'm just a pair of paws helping them do the job.  Money never changes paws - though it would be rude to refuse a Kit Kat or ten.....

[polybear]

23 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

The old appliance has been left outside to see if the metal fairies want it.....

 

 

The local OWL Neighbourhood watch sent a recent email reporting the results of a local Plod exercise to stop and check vehicles; they reported that they found 13 offences for being in breach of waste transport regulations - and coincidentally another 13 offences for unsafe/unfit vehicles (the same vehicles?).  IIRC another 2 were seized as the driver had no licence/MOT/insurance (or all of the above).  Whilst they didn't say it openly a certain Bear immediately thought "Metal Fairies".

[petethemole]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Out in country areas scrap cars have been buried as it cost more to have them taken away in days gone buy .. I've not found one, but have found lots of old bits of cast iron fencing...

 

 

On a dig in Bedfordshire we dug a test pit in a cottage garden, looking for part of a monastery.  We found several rusty iron or steel tubes which the resident said were from a traction engine that had blown up.  The same garden allegedly contained an old car and a motorbike.  

I still have scaffolders finishing the job and a skip outside.  Despite being delivered yesterday there's still nothing in it.  The roofer is due today.

[grandadbob]

Deleted

Edited November 8, 2022 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

36 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

The local OWL Neighbourhood watch sent a recent email reporting the results of a local Plod exercise to stop and check vehicles; they reported that they found 13 offences for being in breach of waste transport regulations - and coincidentally another 13 offences for unsafe/unfit vehicles (the same vehicles?).  IIRC another 2 were seized as the driver had no licence/MOT/insurance (or all of the above).  Whilst they didn't say it openly a certain Bear immediately thought "Metal Fairies".

Not surprised by that PB.  In my experience and dealings with certain people including metal fairies and the like over the past 40 odd years  they seem to think that the laws of the land don't apply to them.  I'll leave it at that.

Mind you, I don't mind them taking my scrap metal etc if I've left it out in plain view.  I did hear of a slight er "mishap" about three or four years ago when somebody was having a new kitchen fitted and they left the new oven outside and it disappeared.

Four minutes after my earlier post a van pulled up and lo & behold my old microwave has gone.

Excellent service!!  😂

Edited November 8, 2022 by grandadbob

[grandadbob]

6 minutes ago, petethemole said:

I still have scaffolders finishing the job and a skip outside.  Despite being delivered yesterday there's still nothing in it.  The roofer is due today.

 

What happened to the spider?  Must've been a big b#gger if you got a skip for it!  🤪

Edited November 8, 2022 by grandadbob

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis was up to his usual tricks this morning but disappeared once I started moving about. I saw the remains of the Foden steam lorry being removed, all that was left was the bottom part of the smokebox and part of the chassis. Very rusty, the rest of it was just iron oxide, not surprising as it was alongside the River Rom. In fact the building (now gone) that was built on the site straddled the river.

53 minutes ago, polybear said:

ISTR a story about a workman (men?) who got trapped in a hole during a construction project (Forth Bridge maybe?).  There was zero chance of getting them out - or more likely it was decided by the Bosses that it would be far too expensive/delay the build/we've plenty of others to replace them anyway etc. - so they made out they were preparing to rescue them as they fed them with food laced with poison.

A few years back when they were stripping the topsoil off for an opencast coal mine they came across some old pits containing some skeletons including one female. There was no record of a mine but it was known that locals used to dig their own pits about two hundred years ago.

[petethemole]

The spider was in Tony S's bath.  Our spiders are treated with great respect.  Even the ones that create a huge web across the garden path overnight get an apology when moved aside.  It's the least one can do.

[PhilJ W]

An interesting discovery.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-63488027

Deepest identifiable shipwreck found.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61925862

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

A bright, dry and sunny start to the day here in England’s northwest corner. Given that we have some good weather predicted for the rest of the day, I’m hoping to move the buddleia and another tree to more suitable positions than they are currently in. They were both small when originally planted and looked great, but they’ve both out grown their surroundings and so need moving. This time of year is the perfect time to do this sort of thing, so, with a bit of luck and a fair wind behind me, they’ll both be moved today, hopefully both before dinner. 

 

Best get cracking then, back later. 

 

Brian

[simontaylor484]

Clang crash bang here this morning 

The great bathroom refit has started 

The Mrs is calling me all sorts of unrepeatable names.

This is another example of why me and the apprentice do most of the jobs.

Currently it sounds like my tiling is being removed from the wall

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, petethemole said:

The spider was in Tony S's bath.  Our spiders are treated with great respect.  Even the ones that create a huge web across the garden path overnight get an apology when moved aside.  It's the least one can do.

Yes, it was definitely my bath. I mistakenly thought I was being kind leaving it alone but gently gave it some help to a less slippy environment. What we really need is a mouse-eating spider for the summerhouse.  

Edited November 8, 2022 by Tony_S

[simontaylor484]

If you hear nothing else from me I will have been buried under the back garden

[TheQ]

 I can find a scrap price for a microwave in the US it's up to $10, couldn't find the UK price. I know a washing machine is about £10, and a car battery £5 to £10 depending on weight.

[DaveF]

This morning was another early start for the Asda delivery.  It was sunny but has now clouded over.

 

Yesterday started with the usual house jobs and washing, it was very damp so the tumble drier was called into action.  I had a good walk along the beach, the tide was low enough to go round the end of one breakwater, the other two I had to climb over which was quite easy as a lot of sand has returned to the beach.  The wind was strong, walking against it on the softer bits of sand was quite hard work.

 

I was back home in time for coffee and biscuits and had a long chat on the phone with a railway modelling friend.  I made some more changes to the phone set up, I am about satisfied now.

 

Later in the day I gardened, cutting down crocosmia and other plants for the winter - if I leave them they form a brown mush, not nice homes for small creatures in winter.  I feel that after several years of relative neglect I am beginning to get the garden back to how I like it, but there is still more to do.

 

While I was having my cup of tea I investigated which German and Swiss TV channels I can watch online, I found a nice Swiss volksmusik programme from Canton Appenzell and then a railway programme about the RhB's world record length passenger train.  I usually watch German TV on satellite but knowing which stations allow streaming to the UK is useful, as a number do not.  Swiss TV is not available on free to air satellite.

 

Later I watched a couple of episodes of 'Allo 'Allo on DVD and read a book.

 

David

Edited November 8, 2022 by DaveF

[jamie92208]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Arthur Itis was up to his usual tricks this morning but disappeared once I started moving about. I saw the remains of the Foden steam lorry being removed, all that was left was the bottom part of the smokebox and part of the chassis. Very rusty, the rest of it was just iron oxide, not surprising as it was alongside the River Rom. In fact the building (now gone) that was built on the site straddled the river.

A few years back when they were stripping the topsoil off for an opencast coal mine they came across some old pits containing some skeletons including one female. There was no record of a mine but it was known that locals used to dig their own pits about two hundred years ago.

Those would probably have been bell pits, so called duevthe shape of the underground chamber which went out from a central shaft as far as they could without putting in supports.  They were then left to collapse.  There used to beca field near our village called The Moonies which was all collapsed bell pits.  It's now a pet food factory.

 

Jamie

[polybear]

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Not surprised by that PB.  In my experience and dealings with certain people including metal fairies and the like over the past 40 odd years they seem to think that the laws of the land don't apply to them.  I'll leave it at that.

 

I suspect much of the problem is the Plod don't bother nickin' em for lesser crimes simply because as they have no fixed abode it starts to get pretty difficult when they don't bother showing up for Court.

 

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

 I can find a scrap price for a microwave in the US it's up to $10, couldn't find the UK price. I know a washing machine is about £10, and a car battery £5 to £10 depending on weight.

 

Bear's tame non-ferrous scrappie doesn't touch car batteries - he said it all starts to get difficult because of the acid.

 

Bear here.....

PS applied to the stair stringers all down one side and then cover with plastic bin bags - I'll bung another layer on top around 4pm and then leave it overnight to (hopefully) work it's magic.

Then it was a visit to the Chemist & Co-op; the woman in Boots wanted to check what dose of the magic pills I'm on (so she knows when to resubmit the repeat prescription to the Doc) in order to fix the dreaded Big H - the dose is actually variable (decided by a certain Bear, up to a certain limit) as advised by the Neuro Wizard.  Fortunately for most of the time I'm actually on nowhere near what they think the dose is, so I have some spare stock in the cupboard (though I keep an eye on shelf life dates and cancel if needed).  Comes in handy at Hols time and also in case the Ruskies invade.....

They also asked me to fill out a customer survey on the 'net (win an ipad n' all that, otherwise I wouldn't bother).  One question (gender) offers the following:

• Male
• Female
• Non- Binary/Third Gender (Huh?)
• Prefer to self-describe (WTF is that??)
• Prefer not to answer

Words fail this Bear.

 

In other news:

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/police-accused-of-harassing-youths-who-were-found-to-be-carrying-machetes/ar-AA13NP8L?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=3d7466afaddc4897954e571a4c599ce3

[simontaylor484]

2 hours ago, TheQ said:

 I can find a scrap price for a microwave in the US it's up to $10, couldn't find the UK price. I know a washing machine is about £10, and a car battery £5 to £10 depending on weight.

When we had the roller shutter garage door fitted the fitter said he would get £9 a piece for the doors

[simontaylor484]

I am still alive just 

The Mrs is getting stressed about dust and mess. It would all seem to be my fault

[Gwiwer]

Afternoon all,

 

I have learned today why we use the term "heavy rain".  It was falling so violently and heavily at 6am that it actually hurt my (covered) head.  Some of the most aggressive rainfall I have known in these lands though in places Downunder it can be very much worse and last for longer.  

 

Today shall also be re-named "Grumpday" on account of there being a grumpy bus driver, a grumpy duty manager, a large number of very grumpy indeed customers and a grumpy guard on my train home.  Was it something it that rain, I wonder?  

 

 

[chrisf]

Sad news for those of a certain age: the actor Leslie Phillips has died at the age of 98.  I remember him most from his role in The Navy Lark and the catchphrase "Left hand down a bit".

 

Chris

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

Was it something it that rain, I wonder?  

I don’t remember rain affecting the school age students but many teachers were convinced the students went a bit loopy at break time when it was really windy. The only way rain affected them was if it was a “wet break” and they had to stay in the classroom. The nicotine addicted used to be desperate to get out and would be unusually keen to take a message to the office or anywhere basically!

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

• Prefer to self-describe (WTF is that??)

 

That's for Bears, Hippos, etc.

[PhilJ W]

2 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Those would probably have been bell pits, so called duevthe shape of the underground chamber which went out from a central shaft as far as they could without putting in supports.  They were then left to collapse.  There used to beca field near our village called The Moonies which was all collapsed bell pits.  It's now a pet food factory.

 

Jamie

We don't have bell pits in Romford. The area in question was once very marshy and subject to flooding and because of the flooding the ground had been made up over the years. It had been a sports field for the brewery until it was concreted over as an open barrel store. Here is a photograph of the brewery taken from the station in 1908, the lorry was found roughly where the two wagons are standing on the left.

[Gwiwer]

15 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

1 hour ago, polybear said:

• Prefer to self-describe (WTF is that??)

 

That's for Bears, Hippos, etc.

Isn't that one of the things supposed to make you go blind? 🤔