Early Risers.

[jamie92208]

2 hours ago, Barry O said:

Yep.. nowt but a tracked box....

 

Bas

 

 

I suspected that you might have a comment Baz.  

 

It's blowing a right hoolie here.  We've actually shut the shutters that face south West to stop them banging and have wedged the utility room door with cardboard to stop it rattling.  The mercury barometer, yes a real one, is  steady at 29 1/2  inches. 

 

Jamie

Edited November 4, 2023 by jamie92208

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... There is another reason for hoping for a general election soon. It’s the inhumanity expressed by this headline: Suella Braverman says rough sleeping is ‘lifestyle choice’. ...

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2023/11/04/covid-review-of-the-week-no-one-comes-out-well/

 

 

 

Sounds eerily similar to one of our recent PM's from 'that' side of the political spectrum who announced plans to cut spending on remote indigenous communities because living remotely on their ancestral lands in the  desert as they'd been doing for 60,000 years was a "lifestyle choice":

 

Tony Abbott has shrugged off the decision to close 150 Western Australian remote Indigenous communities, saying the taxpayer should not have to fund people’s “lifestyle choices”.

 

“What we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have,” Abbott said during a visit to the historic city on Tuesday.

 

Lucky for us his party had kicked him out of the top job long before the pandemic because during that he also kept popping up unasked and opining that we needed to work out a cost model that compares COVID deaths with the cost of keeping the country isolated and locked down, since there should be a magic number that says its doing more economic  harm than good and when it hits that we should open everything up no matter what.

 

He's now in the UK, giving talks about how climate change is not happening, but if it is it is a good thing because less people will freeze to death or something.

Edited November 4, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

 

 

Surfers waiting for a wave

 

 

 

 

DId  you give them one? Looks like they'd have appreciated it, it all  looks pretty grim out there. 

Edited November 4, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

16 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

 

Sounds eerily similar to one of our recent PM's from 'that' side of the political spectrum who announced plans to cut spending on remote indigenous communities because living remotely on their ancestral lands in the  desert as they'd been doing for 60,000 years was a "lifestyle choice":

 

Tony Abbott has shrugged off the decision to close 150 Western Australian remote Indigenous communities, saying the taxpayer should not have to fund people’s “lifestyle choices”.

 

“What we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices if those lifestyle choices are not conducive to the kind of full participation in Australian society that everyone should have,” Abbott said during a visit to the historic city on Tuesday.

 

Lucky for us his party had kicked him out of the top job long before the pandemic because during that he also kept popping up unasked and opining that we needed to work out a cost model that compares COVID deaths with the cost of keeping the country isolated and locked down, since there should be a magic number that says its doing more economic  harm than good and when it hits that we should open everything up no matter what.

 

He's now back in his native UK, giving talks about how climate change is not happening, but if it is it is a good thing because less people will freeze to death or something.

He just needs a bit of polish.

[PupCam]

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

As a matter of fact Sir Puppers I am interested.  I was born in WGC and lived there for  the first threeish years of my life and my Nan, Grandad and Great Aunt all lived there until they died in the 60s.  Nan and Aunt Daisy worked in the Welwyn Stores as it was in the 50s and I can remember a very young Robert (this was long before I became a Bob) being taken there by Mum in the 50s to see them.  Is the fountain still nearby?

 

What?   😀 This one?

 

 

Bring back any memories?

 

 

 

 

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Mum was a model during the war and had many pics taken by Lisa Sheridan (mother of Dinah Sheridan) who was a royal photographer and had a studio in WGC.

I think I've posted these before but here's a couple of Mum and me taken by her:

 

 The cigarette was probably a Craven A as apparently she was one of the Craven A girls and her picture was plastered over the London Underground.  Despite years of searching I've never managed to find a copy.

 

Yep, that's me and I even had some hair!   😂

 

Great photographs!

 

Nanna Puppers used to smoke Craven A.    I believe the advertising used to go along the lines of "They are good for your throat".     I think they lied .....   As young children, Puppers and his slightly older sister used to have to walk around the corner to the local newsagents which had a great view of one of the stations on the Hertford Loop to buy Nan's cigarettes when visiting.  We were ~ 7 and 11 years old at the time.   Different times!    I'm very pleased to say the experience did not induce Puppers to smoke (or even lightly fume).

 

3 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Yep, that's me and I even had some hair!   😂

 

There are similar photographs of Puppers at such an age with a similar amount of hair.   Hair?   Yes, I remember that.

 

In Other Late News

 

I had another quick play with the telescope this evening on the front door step.    Jupiter was looking splendid in the sky and it would have been rude not to have a closer look.     The mount was very crudely polar aligned and was tracking  so some twit didn't keep moving it quite so quickly.    I'm still stunned by the sight of Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons when viewed through even my modest telescope   All 4 were clearly visible and nicely spaced this evening.    I also had a quick go with astro-camera and failed once again to really get to grips with the exposure settings in the software so although I took a sequence of images they were all under exposed so the moons were not visible (not helped by imperfect focusing but that's another story) but with a bit of Tom-Foolery in Affinity Photo I managed to tease this not-very-good image of Jupiter itself.   As I say, it's not very good but I can distinctly see some bands on there which gives me hope for the future!

 

 

Night All!

 

 

 

Edited November 4, 2023 by PupCam

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, PupCam said:

I had another quick play with the telescope this evening on the front door step.

Could you maybe move to the end of your path?  you'd be a bit closer then.

Edited November 4, 2023 by monkeysarefun

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[Winslow Boy]

31 minutes ago, PupCam said:

 

What?   😀 This one?

 

 

Bring back any memories?

 

 

 

 

 

Great photographs!

 

Nanna Puppers used to smoke Craven A.    I believe the advertising used to go along the lines of "They are good for your throat".     I think they lied .....   As young children, Puppers and his slightly older sister used to have to walk around the corner to the local newsagents which had a great view of one of the stations on the Hertford Loop to buy Nan's cigarettes when visiting.  We were ~ 7 and 11 years old at the time.   Different times!    I'm very pleased to say the experience did not induce Puppers to smoke (or even lightly fume).

 

 

There are similar photographs of Puppers at such an age with a similar amount of hair.   Hair?   Yes, I remember that.

 

In Other Late News

 

I had another quick play with the telescope this evening on the front door step.    Jupiter was looking splendid in the sky and it would have been rude not to have a closer look.     The mount was very crudely polar aligned and was tracking  so some twit didn't keep moving it quite so quickly.    I'm still stunned by the sight of Jupiter and its 4 Galilean moons when viewed through even my modest telescope   All 4 were clearly visible and nicely spaced this evening.    I also had a quick go with astro-camera and failed once again to really get to grips with the exposure settings in the software so although I took a sequence of images they were all under exposed so the moons were not visible (not helped by imperfect focusing but that's another story) but with a bit of Tom-Foolery in Affinity Photo I managed to tease this not-very-good image of Jupiter itself.   As I say, it's not very good but I can distinctly see some bands on there which gives me hope for the future!

 

 

Night All!

 

 

 

I believe that if you ask nicely NASA will let you have a go with one of there's - the Hubble I think it's called.

[polybear]

BH.....

BG......

 

 

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

The weather here has remained awful, raining for most of the day, only stopping about an hour or so ago, but as we’ve stayed inside, that hasn’t mattered.

 

The cake Ava and I made this morning went down well with everyone, so much so that there wasn’t enough left to send up to Vickie’s, luckily, there’s enough for Sheila and I to have after tea tomorrow night. Apart from that there’s not much else to report. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[monkeysarefun]

11 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

... Almost too late did Chimpy realise that the sudden absence of the "Psycho Horses" was but a devious ruse to lure @monkeysarefun out of the safety of his house...

 

 

hmmm, didnt think of that. 

[The Johnster]

Barometer now down to 956(ish).  'Personal record', if it goes much lower it'll be reading in the high 1060s...  Nothing cataclysmic is happening outside, it's cloudy so I can't check Jupiter out (got a cracking view Friday evening) but otherwise a fine evening.

[Ozexpatriate]

4 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

The mercury barometer, yes a real one, is  steady at 29 1/2  inches.

The internet suggests that barometric pressure here is 29.84" (Hg) / 1010.5 mB / 102 kPa.

 

More rain is expected tomorrow. With rain in the last two days we're in a rainfall surplus* for the first time in many months.

 

* Since the 'rain year' began on October 1.

 

Calendar year precipitation remains a deficit.

 

Edited November 5, 2023 by Ozexpatriate

[AndyID]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The internet suggests that barometric pressure here is 29.84" (Hg) / 1010.5 mB / 102 kPa.

 

More rain is expected tomorrow. With rain in the last two days we're in a rainfall surplus* for the first time in many months.

 

* Since the 'rain year' began on October 1.

 

Calendar year precipitation remains a deficit.

 

 

It seems to have eased off a bit now but it was whizzing down here for most of the day.

[polybear]

Bear still here....

Oh no - I've gone again.....

 

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The internet suggests that barometric pressure here is 29.84" (Hg) / 1010.5 mB / 102 kPa.

 

More rain is expected tomorrow. With rain in the last two days we're in a rainfall surplus* for the first time in many months.

 

* Since the 'rain year' began on October 1.

 

Calendar year precipitation remains a deficit.

 

It's 29. 3" now.  The barometer was inherited from an old maiden aunt.  I had to collect it from Bristol and only when I got there did I realise that it was a real mercury one and needed to be kept upright.  I carved a wine cork down to plug the bottom of the tube then strapped it upright in the front seat of my old Fiesta, using the seat belt and drove home with a rather strange looking front seat passenger. It was strapped upright onto a pallet with lots of other things around it, for the journey to France and survived. I believe that it is about 0.15"

Out in its reading but don't want to disturb it. 

 

Anyway good moaning from the Charente.  The wind has died down but I haven't looked outside yet to see if there is any damage.  It's time to to talk to Emily and her mums this morning.  She was at Beamish yesterday so we will look forward to her stories. 

 

Keep safe everyone. 

 

Jamie

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

Not raining but still a bit cloudy here.  Hoping for a dry day with some sunny spells.   8°C rising to 13°C.

We're hoping to get The Shed roof done today but a decision will be made around 09.30 about whether or not to go ahead.  Digits firmly crossed.

Time to take tea up to Herself.

Have a good one,

Bob.

 

Edit:  Blue sky is making an appearance.

Edited November 5, 2023 by grandadbob

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl,

8 hours near solid sleep. That's what 4 hours driving and 4 hours at a show do for you.

The bad part is left knee and right ankle didn't like it.

 

The below picture is the A1151 through Wroxham that I drove through yesterday, when I went through, there was no traffic so the little red driving machine paddled through on the right of picture it's considerably deeper on the left about a foot deep. From all accounts online the water level is now deeper overall.

 

The flood warning map we could be on an island soon.

Ben I didn't get a good night's sleep Collie, slept in this morning, he was very concerned last night due to fireworks , even though they were quite far off.

 

We've been on patrol, everything is of course still squelchy and at the moment it's drizzling.  It's very dull and overcast at the moment but we are promised sun mid afternoon.

 

Plans for today include.

Removing the summer cover from BM,

Removing the rudder,

Drying her out inside, 

Putting the winter cover on.

 

Maybe some work on the driveway. Making it easier for water to escape.

 

But first

Time for breaky.

Edited November 5, 2023 by TheQ

[Barry O]

Ey up @PupCam and @grandadbob those photos of the store in welwyn  bring back memories. Our first item of furniture we bought for our maisonette was a mackintosh dining table and chairs.. Still in use 44 years on.. bought from that store!

 

Still coughing up flags..very disturbed nights sleep. Pah!

 

Got a busy week coming up so could do with some more rest.

 

Yesterday a bit of wire strangling was undertaken with positive outcomes. A little bit more scheduled for today.

 

Yes journalists and non tank people generally call most largish items a tank. The photo shown was of an Armoured Personnel carrier. Generally a tank will be 60 tons plus in weight, heavily armoured and have a very large "bang stick" fitted.. (120mm bore is a good size to start with) and no you don't need to have a shotgun licence for one in the UK. When deactivated to stop the bang stick working most people leave them like that.. the Chieftains shipped to the USA have been reactivated by their new owners.... very dangerous.

 

Time to drink my tea, take my meds and have breakfast.

 

Have as good a day as you can!

 

Baz

 

[Hroth]

Went to a very fine firework display last night, put on by the local sailing club in support of the RNLI.

 

Arrived early and had a fish'n'chip supper in the car opposite the firing point, while it drizzled copiously outside.  As the time for the display to start approached, cars started coming down the prom looking vainly for somewhere to park and watch the display, but they were out of luck....

 

Got out to find that the precipitation had slackened off so the display went ahead in relatively dry conditions, with a duration of about 30 minutes of continuous bangs, ooohs and ahhhhs.

 

Didn't take any photos this year, but a few years ago, I got some snaps of a very windy display.

 

 

Tonight I will let off a "fire and forget" 12 shotter in the back garden, just because....

 

[Mike Bellamy]

On 03/11/2023 at 23:01, TheQ said:

 

A couple of Questions to MikeB or anyone else who has used the sumup or sumup solo system.

Do you have to use the unit regularly to keep the SIM "live"?

Can you identify using the system, what it was used for, ie on our bank statements? , we'd like to see each purchase marked as either, door, cafe, or S/H ( second hand sale).

 

 

We 'inherited' our first "Solo" unit from another club who had last used it in January, but after charging it up and re-registering the machine to our account, it worked perfectly in October so that was a gap of 9 months out of use. I have since bought a second machine so that we can use one for second hand sales and the other on the door. We run three swapmeets and one exhibition each year and as it obviously boosted sales it has been a worthwhile investment.

 

You do have the facility to type in what it has been used for and that will be shown on your summary sent as a PDF by email a couple of days later when the cash goes in the bank - however the amount into the bank will be the total transactions for that day so you need to keep your PDF sheets as evidence of what the card was used for. However even though we have this facility, we haven't actually used it as all transactions at the show last month were on the club sales stand (and the same at the swapmeets). In addition to the daily payout sheet, you also get a monthly summary and an invoice to show the total charges that have already been deducted (1.69%).

 

One thing I didn't mention is the ability to send a payment link to people. We had a lot of members who wanted to support the club by remaining as members but didn't come to the meetings or take any other active part in our activities. I was able to email them a renewal membership form and a link to the SumUp website where they entered their card number onto a secure site and that was their membership paid for. At no time do we see the card number or customer's name so if sending out these payment links you need to use their initials so that you know who has paid - such as Membership MB.

 

Hope that helps . . . . . . 

 

Mike

 

[DaveF]

The overnight rain has just stopped and it looks as though it might brighten up a bit.  I had a night of "interesting" dreams, I think it may be something I ate rather than the medication.  It could also be because I read the leaflet about the tamsulosin I am taking so now I have all the side effects - I haven't really though, it's all in the mind.

 

I saw a lot of the beach fireworks last night, I can see all the ones which explode in the air from my house but gone are the days when I would walk down to the beach to see the display.  The aerial bits were good and the whole thing lasted for about 25 minutes.

 

I made an early November resolution yesterday to stop wasting so much time looking at things on the internet.  I find it very easy to be drawn into topics which come up in searches and links and especially from the little box at the left hand end of the toolbar with Edge's selections, it came to a head when I realised I didn't need to know about differential charges for car parking in towns in the south depending on whether you drive petrol, diesel or electric cars.  After all the only important things to look at are trains (can I say that word), everything else I can catch in the news headlines on radio or the TV news.

 

Today will be phone calls, e mails, church and hopefully relax - I am not going to garden or move more things round for a day or two.

 

David

Edited November 5, 2023 by DaveF
typos

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. No interruptions from bladder control last night, visiting the bathroom before getting into bed was a good move, seven hours unbroken sleep. Now to get ready for the Rayleigh toy fair, be back later.

[Coombe Barton]

I keep telling myself that I should really get a move on, but it seems that I'm not listening.