Early Risers.

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. Just the odd twinge from Arthur Itis today but although they don't hurt the joints stiffen up if I remain in the same position for too long. The book model (castle) arrived but they sent the wrong one. The accompanying three others that I have are early editions and what I ordered was also the early edition but instead they sent me the later revised edition. I have contacted them and awaiting their reply.

[Tony_S]

23 minutes ago, 45156 said:

"we must remember where it has been put, we'll need it in winter"

I am somewhat relieved that that sort of thing happens to people other than this household. It is the same with the freezer. “Can you remember where you put…”?  I never can, I have always have to move stuff around to fit something new in so I lose track. Then of course there are items to be “found” that we have already eaten. 

We are meeting my cousin tomorrow at Waddesdon Manor. Thus is roughly halfway between our homes. It is forecast to be cold. So I have been sorting out the clothing I used to have for Winter dog walking. Fortunately everything still fits.  Aditi ordered a new pair of boots but they didn’t fit so they have been returned. She does have plenty of others but I think she thought it would be nice have some new ones. She has ordered some more but they won’t be here tomorrow. I will just use my everyday “handcrafted Bavarian” boots. It is really odd when I wear other shoes. I hardly ever go anywhere now where formal shoes are needed.

[polybear]

3 hours ago, BSW01 said:

This morning I will continue to put all the boxes of stuff back into the underfloor storage area. The boxes in question all contain items that will eventually find their way onto my layout. So, these are being stored together so they can be easily accessed by the hatchway in the big cellar room. I just need to sort out in which order to place them. 

 

 

Since BSW Towers is a fairly old house and the boxes are going in an underfloor storage area in the cellar - Bear wonders if there's any risk of damp?  Just a thought.

 

45 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

One nice tale - from way back when we used to send overseas, was an Accucraft live steam loco lost on its way to Australia.  Had to send a replacement.  Oof.  A YEAR later, it turned up, and the guy was so honest he gave it to a friend who paid us in full for it!  There is hope for humanity after all.

 

Bear once received a complete Peter Spoerer Lining Pen Set thru' the post rather unexpectedly, quite some time after ordering one for myself (sadly they're only really suitable for 7mm upwards); I contacted Peter and he realised that he'd made a Boo Boo (of the non-furry kind) and somehow sent someone else's order to my address.  He thanked me profusely and sent me another set of nibs/nozzles of my choice in exchange for me returning the set to him.  Both happy.

[southern42]

1 hour ago, DaveF said:

 

Earlier today I mentioned the Christmas Tree Festival at church - St Cuthberts, Blyth on Plessey Road, below are a few photos of it.

 

It is an annual event, the trees are provided and decorated by local businesses and organisations and there is a small prize for the one judged best from the votes of visitors.  It does get quite a lot of people to visit the church, especially as there are concert by various local choral/operatic societies or a brass band most evenings .  It runs from Monday to Saturday, 10a.m. to 9p.m. (4p.m.Sat).   Then the trees will stay in the church until after Christmas.  Another attraction is that the heating is on.

 

During some days entertainment is being provided by a real wind up gramophone playing old 78 r,p,.m. records.

 

There is also tea and coffee with biscuits and cakes and various craft items for sale. 

 

 

View from rear of church

 

 

Part of north side

 

 

Part of south side

 

Tree by the Friends of Ridley Park.  Bill and Ben the flower pot men live in the park now.  In the summer they spend a lot of time outdoors by the pavilion.  It's a long time since they were on children's TV!

 

 

Bill and Ben on top of the tree

 

Tree by the altar (it is on wheels for services)

 

 

David

 

 

 

 

Magnificent. What a lovely idea! And it has put a thought into my head...

I shall have to put my Bill and Ben, and Weed <<Wee-eed>> on our tree though it will not be going up for another week or so.

[Ian Abel]

HUMP day.

 

All quiet yesterday, nothing to report!

 

We DID get a Christmas tree at lunch time, but it was a very simple effort. Walked into the lot, saw one that fit the bill for the Mrs immediately, paid while it was tied to the top of the car, job done!

In a bucket of water on the porch at present while the Mrs determines the location she wants it this year. Looks like we'll be moving things around later today.

 

-12c first thing with some light snow flurries, partly sunny. Will hit -6c later 

 

Carry on.

[New Haven Neil]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

He thanked me profusely and sent me another set of nibs/nozzles of my choice in exchange for me returning the set to him.  Both happy.

 

One thing never returned was my wedding ring - I was packing up a live steamer I had been fitting R/C to, and it was on my finger when I started - but wasn't shortly afterwards....and after the postie had been and collected the parcels.  Poo. My hands were cold so it had become a bit slack.  

[polybear]

Bear here.....

A day spent in the Shed.  The pre-cast Concrete Shed.  The uninsulated pre-cast Concrete Shed.  With no heating......

The temperature inside was 0 degrees.  That's Kelvin, by the way.  

Gerry the Gas Fire is currently on Warp 9, in the hope that a certain Bear can defrost sufficiently to scoff a slice of LDC.  At least I would if I actually had any 😭  I'll make do with a choccy Muffin instead.

Still, at least the College Project (a mount for a small vice I have, which will enable the vice to be secured to a bench using the clamp from another, smaller vice) is finished, apart from several coats of paint on the piece of mdf that's a part of the assembly.  Tick.  I could've saved the task until the next College evening (and done the job in the warm) but it makes more sense to do tasks requiring the use of a Lathe or Milling Machine instead - neither of which live in the shed at Bear Towers ☹️

 

In other news.....

A new angle on Anti-Vaxxers:

A New Zealand court has ordered a child at the centre of a case over blood transfusions from donors vaccinated against Covid-19 be taken into temporary custody by health officials.

The four-month-old boy is in a hospital in Auckland awaiting urgent treatment to correct a heart disorder.

His parents had blocked the operation and sought a court ruling that he receive blood from unvaccinated donors.

But the High Court ruled the operation was in the child's "best interest".

(From the BBC News Website)

[polybear]

Oh yes.....

Are any fellow ER'ers seeing videos in the empty spaces that appeared between some posts a few days ago?  Mine seem to be from such bunch called "CoinDesk.tv"

[Tony_S]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

Oh yes.....

Are any fellow ER'ers seeing videos in the empty spaces that appeared between some posts a few days ago?  Mine seem to be from such bunch called "CoinDesk.tv"

 No, not seeing any videos, empty spaces at all. But I wouldn’t expect to. 

[Gwiwer]

50 minutes ago, polybear said:

Oh yes.....

Are any fellow ER'ers seeing videos in the empty spaces that appeared between some posts a few days ago?  Mine seem to be from such bunch called "CoinDesk.tv"

No.  What am I missing? 

[BSW01]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

Since BSW Towers is a fairly old house and the boxes are going in an underfloor storage area in the cellar - Bear wonders if there's any risk of damp?  Just a thought.

It's sorted, the new sub floor is built on timber that has damp proof membrane on. Also the boxes with my stock in are all large plastic crates. 

[polybear]

4 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

No.  What am I missing? 

 

Absolutely nothing.....

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

There are some cracking spots along that coast.  Port Kembla is not one of them 😂

 

Kiama is however.  And so would Bateman's Bay have been had we not had the reception we did.  We drove the long way around via Mallacoota (another top spot) staying in Bemm River on the way out when SWMBO had a conference in Eurobodalla.  They put us in a hotel in Bateman's Bay.  The Kia Rio wasn't very old at the time and this was its first really big road trip.  Around 2000kms round trip from Melbourne.  

 

We paused at Bega for cheese.  Anyone who knows, knows.  We admired magnificent scenery much of the way.  We even took the old road from Bemm River to Cann River which is a rough 4WD track through a lot of bush.  The 2WD Rio coped superbly.  And we passed countless hundreds of kangas lining the route none of which chose to hop out in front of us as they are wont to do and which usually leads to the car and the roo both being written off.  

 

And then there was Bateman's Bay.  The car, of course, carried a Victorian registration.  We pulled into the hotel car park and were spat at by locals.  Not, perhaps, representative of the entire population but they clearly took exception to "Mexicans" being in "Their" town.  Late in the day I was verbally abused by different locals when trying to shop in the supermarket; the gist was much the same in that we were not local and not wanted here.  There was intimidation but no actual threat.  That persisted at times across the three days we were there.  

 

The hotel was basic, cold and damp.  It was also self-catering due to being off-season.  The best meal we had was that provided by the conference organisers on the final day.  

 

As I was not involved in the conference I was able to explore a bit further and drove up to Nowra.  From here I caught the train to Sydney along a line which I had mostly travelled before but never south of Wollongong.  I was relieved to find the car still in the car park upon my return and noted that the good folk of Nowra and Bomaderry were far more pleasant than those a bit farther south.  It's a lovely ride in parts too.  Right beside the sea and then twisting and turning through the hills.  I recalled my first visit to the area as we passed through Waterfall; I had been in Sydney when the dreadful accident occurred there; my planned trip south had to be deferred by a couple of days until the line reopened.  

 

That was when I discovered how grotty Port Kembla is.  It's a steel-making town in the middle of some lovely coastal scenery and backed by the Illawarra Escarpment.  Because coal came down the escarpment to fire the blast furnaces and the finished produce could be exported by sea.  Geographically a great location.  Aesthetically a major blot on the landscape.  And, at the time, busy with interesting objects which used steel rails for guidance and which carried numbers worth collecting .....  

 

I'll have to dig out some photos.  

 

 

 

I recall driving around Tasmania in 1989 in the midst of some major conservation issue, I think a proposed ban on logging some forest or other. Any non -local was automatically assumed to be some kind of anti-logging protester down there hellbent on taking Tassie jobs away.  Never had any direct confrontations but in one or two of the smaller more isolated towns there was a distinct frostiness, and lack of usual oz friendliness.

 

Australian Iron And Steel at Port Kembla was a major source of apprenticeships,  and traineeships when I was at school, "The steelworks" was about a 45 minute drive south so was a distinct employment option and I know quite a few from my school who worked there. Was always in the news in the 70s and 80s for  stories about sulphur and acid in the air etc. I recall one story recording how The  Locals would hang out their washing and when taking it in find dozens of small holes in their sheets, the air there really was suss!

 

Cleaned up its act now a lot and  still produces 3 million tonnes of steel a year. Despite the steelworks and coal port , it is  a pretty place, beachfront real estates is priced accordingly!   (Estate agents have to get creative in their location shots to avoid the AIS chimneys and the nearby bulk  coal loader facility....)

 

https://www.realestate.com.au/property-house-nsw-port+kembla-140587139

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[J. S. Bach]

3 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

Earlier today I mentioned the Christmas Tree Festival at church - St Cuthberts, Blyth on Plessey Road, below are a few photos of it.

 

It is an annual event, the trees are provided and decorated by local businesses and organisations and there is a small prize for the one judged best from the votes of visitors.  It does get quite a lot of people to visit the church, especially as there are concert by various local choral/operatic societies or a brass band most evenings .  It runs from Monday to Saturday, 10a.m. to 9p.m. (4p.m.Sat).   Then the trees will stay in the church until after Christmas.  Another attraction is that the heating is on.

 

During some days entertainment is being provided by a real wind up gramophone playing old 78 r,p,.m. records.

 

There is also tea and coffee with biscuits and cakes and various craft items for sale. 

 

 

 

Here is ours from last year (this year's photos need to be re-taken):

[polybear]

10 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

Was always in the news in the 70s and 80s for  stories about sulphur and acid in the air etc. I recall one story recording how The  Locals would hang out their washing and when taking it in find dozens of small holes in their sheets, the air there really was suss!

 

I wonder what it did to people's Lungs?

[monkeysarefun]

5 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

I wonder what it did to people's Lungs?

Main issue was the copper smelter there, not sure what copper smelting involves but apparently it made the air pretty toxic.  Finally cleaned up after much protesting.

 

 

[grandadbob]

Evenin' each,

 

A  day morning spent in the Shed.  The pre-cast Concrete Wooden Shed.  The  uninsulated pre-cast Concrete insulated Wooden Shed.  With   no  heating......

The temperature inside was 0 degrees warm.........sorry PB.

I enjoyed myself playing with the new toys amongst other things.   

Warning: Offensive pictures to follow.

 

This afternoon was spent in the armchair where I started to watch a Christmas film on TV but I must admit it was so enthralling (not) that some (a lot of)  eyelid inspection took place.  I haven't a clue what the film was about although I'd hazard a guess that it was the same one or at least the same plot that Stewart was talking about earlier.  A light meal of chicken salad has been enjoyed accompanied by a glass of Fleurie.   A second glass has just been poured and all is well in my little world.

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

Are any fellow ER'ers seeing videos in the empty spaces that appeared between some posts a few days ago?  Mine seem to be from such bunch called "CoinDesk.tv"

Still get the gaps (and the reduced margins). No advertising inserted in them.

 

The gaps usually follow a post by a Premium or Gold member.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 hours ago, 45156 said:

Girl meets boy (variation on whether a stranger or a previous boyfriend)

GIrl and boy fall in love

Mid film row between boy and girl

Row resolved and boy and girl live happily ever after

I am happily able to avoid such schlock. 

 

City girl (fashion designer / architect / lawyer / etc) goes home to her small town for holidays with doting parents

Meet cute with high school classmate (hardware store clerk / handyman / barista / etc) who secretly is heir to a vineyard / Christmas tree farm / ski resort / etc

Mistletoe-related palpitations, durm and strang, reassessment of priorities ensue

Blah blah blah

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I am happily able to avoid such schlock. 

 

City girl (fashion designer / architect / lawyer / etc) goes home to her small town for holidays with doting parents

Meet cute with high school classmate (hardware store clerk / handyman / barista / etc) who secretly is heir to a vineyard / Christmas tree farm / ski resort / etc

Mistletoe-related palpitations, durm and strang, reassessment of priorities ensue

Blah blah blah

Can be compressed  into a song to avoid wasting movie length time. This one is a perfect example.

 

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by monkeysarefun

[J. S. Bach]

2 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Evenin' each,

Warning: Offensive pictures to follow. ...snip...

Not to me.

[enz]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 Snip...

 

Australian Iron And Steel at Port Kembla was a major source of apprenticeships,  and traineeships when I was at school, "The steelworks" was about a 45 minute drive south so was a distinct employment option and I know quite a few from my school who worked there. Was always in the news in the 70s and 80s for  stories about sulphur and acid in the air etc. I recall one story recording how The  Locals would hang out their washing and when taking it in find dozens of small holes in their sheets, the air there really was suss!

 

...EndSnip

 

 

Sydney - where even the air wants to kill you.

 

Actually, I'm not sure you can blame the steel mill - this is Australia, with all it's interesting wildlife. It could have been tiny spider hatchlings ballooning and being blown on to the washing, and being babies (not yet fully in control of mouthparts) drool some venom on it, thus corroding the holes. I mean - which is really more likely in Australia - production or wildlife.

 

(Not a conspiracy theory at all.)

 

Regards from NZ - e.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Bin day tomorrow so I have to get the bin bags ready. The food waste bin isn't even half full so that can wait until next week. The thingy giving the weather at the bottom of the page earlier said it was snowing, I looked out to check but it was bone dry. Thats it for now, be back later.

[Darlington_Shed]

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

accompanied by a glass of Fleurie

I applaud your excellent taste 👏. A favourite in these parts since I first tried it in a Soho restaurant some 35 years ago*.

 

* Eeek!

[polybear]

3 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Main issue was the copper smelter there, not sure what copper smelting involves but apparently it made the air pretty toxic.  Finally cleaned up after much protesting.

 

 

 

Sounds like an ideal compo claim case for Julia Roberts to investigate......

 

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Evenin' each,

 

A  day morning spent in the Shed.  The pre-cast Concrete Wooden Shed.  The  uninsulated pre-cast Concrete insulated Wooden Shed.  With   no  heating......

The temperature inside was 0 degrees warm.........sorry PB.

 

 

No offence taken; any coincidence between @grandadbob's post and the Lat-Long coordinates of GDB's Shed now being known by The Great Awl are purely coincidental.....

 

21 minutes ago, enz said:

Sydney - where even the air wants to kill you.

 

Actually, I'm not sure you can blame the steel mill - this is Australia, with all it's interesting wildlife. It could have been tiny spider hatchlings ballooning and being blown on to the washing, and being babies (not yet fully in control of mouthparts) drool some venom on it, thus corroding the holes. I mean - which is really more likely in Australia - production or wildlife.

 

(Not a conspiracy theory at all.)

 

Regards from NZ - e.

 

Any suggestion that @enz is the PR Director for Port Kembla Steel Works is being vigorously denied....🤣

 

In other news......

Highly recommended viewing:

 

BBC4 at 02-55am tomorrow - "Winterwatch 1963 - The Big Freeze"

About 45 minutes of uninterrupted B&W footage, with a bit of modern blurb at each end.  Choo Choos feature significantly, as does life in general.

No doubt it'll also be on BBC iplayer.