Early Risers.

[simontaylor484]

Hello ding to thecpassingvof Leslie Phillips.

We have had a rainstorm here too now lots of standing surface water.

 

There are allegedly remains of bell pits in Pontefract Park down towards the M62 end. They dug out what they could before air fouled as they didn't understand the need for updraught and downdraught shafts and air doors

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

The builder/joiner guy is a mate, yes, but you can tell by the way he's working that he is fastidious.  he's very talented and skilful, I'm most impressed.  This may be why he's retired at 55 and is 'comfortably off' to say the least, only working for the odd mate job when he's bored.  Only been here a couple of years, he's from Epsom.  Top class bloke, biker too of course.

 

There was a restoration story in one of the classic bike mags last year about rebuilding a bike that had been unearthed from a garden somewhere, but the end result must have been grandads hammer.

[The White Rabbit]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

... 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....

 

22 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

That's for Bears, Hippos, etc.

 

Pedant mode on...  Male bears, female bears etc. surely?  ... pedant mode off... 

 

Though this morning ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-63549909 - so maybe the third or fourth might apply for that cat? For me, at least, the world just got weirder ... 

 

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by The White Rabbit
IT glitch

[Gwiwer]

As I am seeing the message "Sorry there was a problem reacting to this content" too often I have opened a topic in the Faults area.  If I can rate at all it is often only a "Like"; only very occasionally can I select anything else successfully.  

 

Of pits, mounds and allegedly buried objects I can relate the story, from Australia, of "Mount Newport".  Within the vast (former Victorian Railways) Newport Workshops complex is an unexplained and rather large mound of earth.  Beneath which it has long been suggested that the "strategic reserve" of steam locomotives has been concealed.  They must either be of a scaled-down size or the reserve be very small to fit!  

 

There is another unexplained mound near the expansive freight yards around Tottenham, also on the western fringe of Melbourne.  This is known as "Gunzel Hill" as it was, in busier times, a favourite spot for those of such a persuasion to gather and watch proceedings in the yards.  Gunzel is the Aussie term for what is known in the UK as a gricer or spotter and equates to the US railfan or foamer.  It is often used in a mildly disrespectful but typically Australian context.  

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, simontaylor484 said:

I am still alive just 

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

Shouldn't you know by now that - whatever it may be - in the eyes of of SWBO it is always your fault!

• Monster Raving loony Party gets elected - it's your fault!
• Coop runs out of kale smoothies - it's your fault!!
• The Heat Death of The Universe - it's your fault!!!

As there is NO right answer, the only thing to do is fall back to that old adage "might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb"

Edited November 8, 2022 by iL Dottore

[iL Dottore]

4 hours ago, polybear said:

..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.

Somehow I don't think that Putin's Russia, Xi Jinping's China, Modi's India, or Ali Khamenei's Iran (or much of the rest of the world, for that matter) give much thought to the above.-

 

And whilst the British government is fretting about what pronouns to use, Xi Jinping is quietly building a massive military with the proceeds from a massive economy...

Edited November 8, 2022 by iL Dottore
typo

[iL Dottore]

Greetings All,

 

Right now iD is channeling his inner Captain Cynical and CC is MEGA p1ssed off.  When iD was tasked with reviewing and editing some (a lot actually) of important documents there was the vague expectation of coherent and focused writing with all the right things in the right places and at the right level of detail.

 

What he got was, mostly, the equivalent of letters written in green ink......

 

He will say no more.

 

Let us just say that right now iD really feels like terminally inconveniencing someone, anyone, and he doesn't care who gets in the cross hairs....

 

He will be back later, probably dripping with blood and gore, with still-fresh trophy ears dangling from his belt....

[The White Rabbit]

Hopefully no news is good news but I'm still loitering by the telephone. Back to file-sorting while I wait. Wales again, mynydd a dwr. (Mountain and water). 

 

Following the Dysinni valley downstream from last time, Abergynolwyn is where the Dysinni takes a sharp right turn and the Fathew valley officially begins, though to a casual observer, it looks like the same valley. There is a track southwards leading to the old slate workings of Bryn Eglwys. You can then either go up onto Tarren Hendre (which feels like you're climbing onto the roof of the world) and along the ridgeline or down into the Dovey valley or circle round to the Tal y Llyn stations at Nant Gwernol or Abergynolwyn. I went up the first quarter mile as I knew this was treelined and gave me some respite from the rain. Coming back, the clouds cleared and the sun came out.

 

 

Welsh sheep always seem to have whiter fleeces than Yorkshire sheep.... all that liquid sunshine? A few miles downstream, the sheep are all hiding (from me or the sun?) but inland the Bwlch Llyn Bach is getting wet. 

 

 

White sheep, black cattle... 

 

 

Sorry, steam train in this one but I thought I'd risk the awl as it shows the valley and a green lane ( but with two rails down it). This one was taken from the overbridge by Hendy farm. 

 

 

An oak tree near Pendre (Tywyn), also showing the starts to the steeper sided sections of both Dysinni and Fathew valleys.  

 

 

[polybear]

8 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Greetings All,

 

Right now iD is channeling his inner Captain Cynical and CC is MEGA p1ssed off.  When iD was tasked with reviewing and editing some (a lot actually) of important documents there was the vague expectation of coherent and focused writing with all the right things in the right places and at the right level of detail.

 

What he got was, mostly, the equivalent of letters written in green ink......

 

He will say no more.

 

 

Rule One:  If it's a nice easy job they'll do it in-house; if it's a sh1tty job they'll outsource it.  Simples.

 

Bear here......

A bit more progress on the chassis construction jig modifications - should get it finished without too much trouble at the next M.E. Group.  Hopefully.  Actually I really ought to sort out what to do next as well, just in case I finish it too quickly....

Right, Tea to drink then more PS to splurge on to the stairs.

Bear gone. 

[TheQ]

The oldest equivalent of Bell pits I can think of would be Grimes graves, estimated to be 4500 years old.

https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/places/grimes-graves-prehistoric-flint-mine/

 

Ding ...D O N G  ... People would complain if you were to use that expression as Leslie Phillips did, especially if prone to use the 3rd and 4th choice of pronoun..

 

edited to put in D.O.N.G due to net nanny

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by TheQ

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday, and here in the US it's one of those terrifying days on the calendar...Mid-Term Election Day 🤯🤯🤯🤯

 

Yesterday, nothing to report, all quiet save a quick update of some reports that APPEAR SO FAR to have been the way they're needed.

 

Today - Mrs NOT a happy camper as she was awoken by large amounts of leaf-blowing by the company contracted by the neighbor across the street.

Can't start ANY such work here until 0730 according to city ordinance, they started with an intolerable din at 0731, Mrs VERY unimpressed.

 

At least it meant we went to vote early as the polls open at 0700 anyway. So, done our duty, we'll see what the outcome is.

 

Nothing else on the calendar, just slowly working and continuing to deal with the early darkness in the evening now our clocks have set back - as of Sunday 2AM

 

ZERO and overcast when the Mrs was rudely awoken, expecting 13 for the high, though I think that's optimistic. Some rain/slush possible also.

 

Onward.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Went down to Tesco's today for a few items and I saw that they had the festive goodies on display, including STOLEN! So I just had to buy one, whether or not it will survive until the festivities is debatable.

[iL Dottore]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Rule One:  If it's a nice easy job they'll do it in-house; if it's a sh1tty job they'll outsource it.  Simples.

Actually, it wasn’t a crappy job at all – I quite enjoyed it (especially as having to wade through a lot of poor quality material meant that I racked up the hours and thus racked up my income!). 

Of course, life would have been simpler had the documentation being of a fairly decent standard. Fortunately for me, though a little bit more complicated, the job was pretty straightforward. And I had the great satisfaction of putting in comments like “do you really mean this?“, “do you really want to put that average of days passed to 7 decimal points?“ but it really annoyed me that The material was of such poor quality and that someone was paying a third-party a lot of money for what was basically a substandard product. To put things into a Beary perspective,  it was a bit like ordering a very expensive LDC only to find that there was no lemon and no drizzle icing!

 

A lot of the time, at least in my line of work, things are outsourced because there is (a) not the experience needed within the company; (b) not enough permanent staff to do all the work; or (c) the company is so new is that all that it has is a very promising new drug and absolutely no clue about how to develop it (or any combination of the above).

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Trying to find a bit more information on the lorry buried in the Romford brewery I found this. 

http://www.glias.org.uk/news/167news.html some very interesting items in there.

Apparently when the brewery closed the production line was shipped to China.

[PhilJ W]

3 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

As I am seeing the message "Sorry there was a problem reacting to this content" too often I have opened a topic in the Faults area.  If I can rate at all it is often only a "Like"; only very occasionally can I select anything else successfully.  

I sometimes get the same message but I can select an icon from the list that appears but just the. icon. However if I wait a few minutes it works OK.

[polybear]

1 hour ago, TheQ said:

Ding ...D O N G  ...

 

 

Well HELLLLOOOOOOOO.............

 

Also the voice of The Sorting Hat in Harry Potter

 

31 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

To put things into a Beary perspective,  it was a bit like ordering a very expensive LDC only to find that there was no lemon and no drizzle icing!

 

Not sure if that's a crime or a nightmare.....both I think.

[PupCam]

Evening All

 

19 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Nearly 600  Spitfires, Mustangs, Kittyhawks, Boomerangs - many unbuilt still in crates,  transferred to an Australian airbase for destruction post-war.... but were they all? Local legends state many were instead  buried, hidden in mineshafts or stolen..  The search for the crated Spitfires has gone on for decades...

 

Cliffhanger:

 

No, wishful thinking .....

 

13 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?

 

Fat tyres (especially but not exclusively if under-inflated ) = More drag.   More drag = More work done to achieve and maintain 'X' velocity

 

Thinner tyres, correctly inflated to reduce contact patch size = Minimise resistance to motion.    At your our age I'd give the Lycra riding suit a miss though!

 

11 hours ago, TheQ said:

Time I headed for the lab, they promise to let me us have this week's major system.

 

There can't be many more now!  😀

 

1 hour ago, Ian Abel said:

Can't start ANY such work here until 0730 according to city ordinance, they started with an intolerable din at 0731, Mrs VERY unimpressed.

 

Funny old thing the English language.   This side of the pond it would be ordinance that made the loudest noise!

 

In Other News

 

After a somewhat unsuccessful attempt at splitting one of my replacement cranks for the Beeza with a view to inspecting and possibly re-using the big-end yesterday I fished out the last crank this morning and extracted it from its crankcase.    To my delight I found that this crank (despite being less than 100% pristine) has been fitted with a brand, spanking new big-end! Whoppee do!      

 

A new big end is ~ 2 Deltics!    I paid less than a Deltic for that crankcase, the complete crankshaft with big end and conrod plus it had two rare as Rocking Horse stuff cam followers.   I may have mentioned that some Joker on Ebay was  still is trying to flog a single cam follower for ~ 2/3 of a Deltic.   Anyway, there's still some fettling to be done with this crankshaft as the thread that holds the drive sprocket on had been Mullered at some point in its 80+ year old lifetime but hopefully we are making more progress.  

 

Talking of Deltics.   I happened to note the other day that there was just one Deltic left on the Accurascale website.   Not my favourite member of the class but it was in two tone green, no yellow warning panels (small yellow panels are the definitive scheme in Puppers' eyes) and equipped with sound.    I have to tell you that my wallet was open, the credit card was poised ready for action with a hit of ~ 1.75 Deltics and I was just about to Add to Basket.     I then thought, no, I'll do it tomorrow (Puppers doesn't need a Deltic and particularly a 4mm one!).   The next day I went and had another look; some bxggxr had bought it!    Oh well, as I say, I didn't need it.

 

Went for another attempt at the blood test this morning.    Parked in the hospital car park, walked to the phlebotomy department, handed form in, waited,  called in, "done" and out in 10 minutes!   Went to pay for the parking and I still had 19 minutes free parking left.    Now that was a result!

 

The moon and Jupiter are out, the sky is clearish, I feel  a trip to the garden with the telescope may well be on the cards.

 

TTFNQ

 

[monkeysarefun]

Everyone knows that if you are going to speed on the freeway between Sydney and Canberra, dont do it near Mittagong, and dont do it near Goulburn - both areas are  highway patrol hotspots.

 

But there's always one, isn't there.. 

 

Driver caught travelling 280km/h - Southern Highlands

Monday, 07 November 2022 02:30:18 PM

A driver has been charged after he was allegedly caught travelling at more 280km/h in the state’s Southern Highlands today.

Just after 9.30am (Monday 7 November 2022), officers attached to The Hume Traffic and Highway Patrol Command detected a blue Volkswagen Golf allegedly travelling 280km/h in a 110km sign-posted area on the Hume Motorway, Mittagong.

Officers directed the vehicle to pull over and spoke with the driver, a 22-year-old man.

He was issued with a Court Attendance Notice for drive speed/manner dangerous and is due to appear in Moss Vale Local Court on Tuesday 20 December 2022.

His driving privileges have been withdrawn.

 

Travelling at more than 45km/h over the speed limit is considered a serious speeding offence by NSW Police and carries with it a maximum fine of $3300 and instant six-month licence suspension.

It will be up to the courts whether the alleged offender is charged with a Hoon offence on top, potentially in the areas of excessive speed or street racing.

 

A photo uploaded to Twitter by NSW Police appeared to show the vehicle in question was a previous-generation Mk7 Golf R, the most powerful variant in the range.

Volkswagen does not claim an official top speed for the 235kW/400Nm, AWD, Mk8 Golf R, but German YouTuber Automann.TV legally hit a GPS verified 277km/h in one example on a section of Autobahn.

 

 

So if nothing else he  broke the Golf Mark 8 whatever  previous top speed record. Also, he'd  have had to leave his car there and either walk back to town from the middle of nowhere, or wait about 2 hours for a mate to get there and pick him up.  

 

 

 

 

[monkeysarefun]

36 minutes ago, PupCam said:

The moon and Jupiter are out, the sky is clearish, I feel  a trip to the garden with the telescope may well be on the cards.

Total lunar eclipse and blood moon here last night, looked very impressive  and weirdly crimson like the space  boffins said it would.

Edited November 8, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[Coombe Barton]

... writing, spreadsheeting, swearing because I made a c0ck-up, writing, spreadsheeting ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2022/11/08/northern-ireland-anomaly-and-electric-cars/

[monkeysarefun]

35 minutes ago, PupCam said:

No, wishful thinking .....

 

 

Given the fact that we bury everything here, I can well believe that many were disposed of that way,  it is whether they are findable or not that is the issue. (Similar stories claim hundreds of crated Harley Davidsons and Jeeps were similarly buried by the army at the end of the war).

 

There was a whole lot of war equipment stockpiled here in expectations of the Pacific Theatre going on for longer than it did,  hundreds of tanks were subsequently sold off to farmers who converted them to tractors and scrub-clearing bulldozers. There used to be a Stuart tank on a farm just up the road from here parked in the front paddock until the early 80's when the bloke sold it to a collector. 

Its still not uncommon to be driving along a rural road  and do a double take when spotting a turretless Matilda or M3 Grant sitting alone and overgrown in  a sheep paddock.

 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-19/tinkering-with-tanks-and-preserving-australian-farming-history/8017194

 

Edited November 8, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[BSW01]

On the subject of buried items. Unbeknown to next door, there is a Ford Engine buried beside the front door. A previous owner had changed the engine in a 1961 Ford Cortina and the old engine was put besides the front door, where it sat for about 4 months. His wife was getting p!ssed off having to walk past it every time she came and went. Finally, she gave him an ultimatum, get rid of it, or I’ll lock you out! So, once she’d gone to work, he moved the engine, dug a hole and then rolled the engine into said hole and the back filled the hole. When I came home from work I noticed it had gone, so I asked him what had happened to it, he told me what he’d done, but said don’t tell the missus, as she thinks a mate to take it to the tip!

[Tony_S]

36 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

Funny old thing the English language.   This side of the pond it would be ordinance that made the loudest noise!

The stuff that makes bangs is ordnance as in Ordnance Survey. The maps were originally for accurate artillery fire should someone naughty like the French invade. Though I suppose some religious ordinances could be a bit noisy. 

[simontaylor484]

On one of my Grandads final voyages on the Aircraft carrier it was used as an aircraft taxi. He told me that they ended up pushing crated up aircraft over the side as they were no longer required.

This was in the far East somewhere iirc

[Tony_S]

12 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

Its still not uncommon to be driving along a rural road  and do a double take when spotting a turretless Matilda or M3 Grant sitting alone and overgrown in  a sheep paddock.

I suppose they were getting ready in case the Emu War erupted again.