Early Risers.

[BoD]

46 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Do you have to have downloaded the relevant maps for offline use for that to work? My  iPad has a data sim so I can download maps where there is mobile phone signal. The OS app is great. Aditi loves maps too. 

You can download a certain amount  of map data in advance but I haven’t really looked at how to, or how much mapping it allows.  I don’t have a data sim but set up my mobile phone as a mobile hotspot for my iPad to use.  It has only been the odd occasion where I have lost the signal and maps.  Whenever I know I will be out of range I use paper maps.  I would never,  ever rely on the iPad and phone when out in the wilds*. It’s map and compass for me. The ordnance survey subscription  I have allows unlimited printing of maps.

 

 

* not that I often go out into the wilds these days.  I can still sit with my memories and the relevant maps though.

Edited July 10 by BoD

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

My phone call from ‘The Christie’ was earlier than usual, 9:15, thankfully I’d finished eating by then. The news is my PSA has risen again, it’s now 20, but it appears that the rate of change is slowing down, so the plan is to leave things as they are for now. My next appointment will be in September, but I’m not sure if it’s face to face or a telephone call. Perhaps the confirmation letter will tell me that. 

 

So after the phone call had ended, I made myself a muggertea and headed outside to the garden to get some dead heading done, the roses in particular were in dire need of that. By noon, I’d filled the wheelbarrow and taken it round to the front to empty it into the garden waste bin. At this point it started to rain, so I picked up and went to the workshop. No model making was done before dinner, I mainly put away a few things that I no longer needed for the current project. 

 

However , after dinner, I did get some model making done, but not a lot, as I only had an hour. I knocked off early to finish making the fruit tea loaf, that I’d left soaking overnight. 

 

We spoke with Vickie this evening and she told us that Max’s school has a garage the Tatton flower show and he’s there tomorrow working on it. He’s also there one day next week, but she couldn’t remember which day. If he’s there next Wednesday, we’ll have to look out for him. 

[BSW01]

Goodnight all 

[BR60103]

We started the day with a heavy downpour which is supposed to be part of the hurricane that hit Texas.

I had an early appointment at a new cardiac clinic. About 40 years ago* I had an echocardiogram and they diagnosed something called a prolapsed mitral valve.  This has sat there doing nothing except requiring me to take penicillin before I see the dentist. My latest GP decided it should be checked. Turns out it isn't in that bad condition and I don't really need to take the pills.

 

 

* not sure the time, but the session was recorded on a Betamax tape.

[Ozexpatriate]

19 hours ago, DaveF said:

It is also 13°C again, I think the thermometer has got stuck.

Thermometers here were stuck above 100°F / 38°C for about four days. Cooler less hot today at perhaps 34°C.

 

Edited July 11 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

16 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

From what has been said in recent posts I deduce that the regime is founded on racism and exploitation.

"You've got to be carefully taught."

 

Singapore had a master class from the previous regime. So did my homeland. As did the place where I reside. Sadly. 

 

These things can take a long time to undo.

 

Edited July 11 by Ozexpatriate

[roundhouse]

47 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Thermometers here were stuck above 100°F / 38°C for about four days. Cooler less hot today at perhaps 34°C.

Glad that we decided not to visit the West coast this Summer. my other half was saying that its going to be cold in mainland Europe when we are there. When I asked her what was the forecast temperature where we will be, she said 24 degrees which will be hot enough for her and  for me. Its the rain showers that won't be so good.

 

Yesterday was our first dry day for over a week so our garden and next doors lawns cut and oh boy didn't they need it. I had to cut a lot of the superb pink flowered bushes back in both gradens especially next doors to gain access to half the garden.

 

A customer came all the way from Devon to collect numerous weathered freight cars and his now sound fitted and Weathered loco , 'Seaton' and dropped off 'Blandford Forum' for the same treatment. He's got an eclectic range of stuff. Next up for work are two LM region kettles. A good few hours chatting about shows etc before he headed back off along the M25 M3 and A303.

 

Today I  will be Spooning it before meeting up with AndrewC' s other half and my other half near London Bridge for a few beers.

[Ozexpatriate]

55 minutes ago, roundhouse said:

Glad that we decided not to visit the West coast this Summer.

We're setting daily temperature records but California and Nevada have been brutal.  Death Valley lived up to its name over the weekend. Saturday was 128°F / 53°C and Sunday was 130°F / 54°C. A motorcyclist died and another was hospitalized trying to ride in Death Valley.

 

There was a point that our 2021 heat dome high temperature of 117°F* / 47°C was as hot as any recorded temperature in Las Vegas, but that record in Vegas fell over the weekend with 120°F / 49°C.

 

* Locally. The official record at the airport in Portland was 116°F.

[Ozexpatriate]

17 hours ago, polybear said:

One thing I'm very in favour of is both basic written and spoken tests prior to long-term visas etc. being granted - it's for the benefit of all, especially those from overseas who wish to make their life in the UK.  Am I correct in thinking that the US have such a system?

No, not for visas, though many classes of visa require an interview at a consulate. (Pretty much standard operating procedure for all countries I would think.)

 

There is an oral examination for naturalization. It was changed to be harder (and in cases, wronger) by a previous administration. The instructions in the online 'practice test' recommend that you respond with the answers they provide, rather than what you think is factual. Most of them are harmless (like how many senators are there? and how long is the president's term in office?) but there are a couple of "history" questions that bend more mythically patriotic than what might pass as accurate analysis in context.

Quote

Although USCIS is aware that there may be additional correct answers to the 100 civics questions, applicants are encouraged to respond to the civics questions using the answers provided below.

 

The visa long forms have always been fun:

Have you ever committed a crime of moral turpitude?

Were you ever a member of the NSDAP?*

 

* Spelled in the customary way - but I'm not putting that word here.

[Coombe Barton]

For me, paper map and compass - no technology except to find a grid reference to photograph so that I can locate the pix I take. My camera does not have a GPS function.

[pH]

14 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Have you ever committed a crime of moral turpitude?

Only “moral turpitude”?

 

In one company I worked for, a conviction for a crime of “gross moral turpitude” was required for immediate dismissal.

Edited July 11 by pH

[Ozexpatriate]

This evening my cousin related a story my mother told her recently - concerning butter and wartime rationing in Australia.

 

Looking it up, apparently tea and butter continued to be rationed in Australia until 1950.

 

During the war Australians rationed beef so it could be exported to Britain.

 

The article linked above includes a recipe for a (mostly) plant-based meat substitute sausage. People wanting fake meat is apparently not new.

 

Quote

Although sausages were never rationed, Mrs W Maughan of Clayfield in Queensland won a prize from the Women’s Weekly for her recipe for ‘mock sausages’. The magazine generously declared that the recipe ‘should prove acceptable’.  

 

To make the sausages boil one cup of rolled oats in ¾ cup salted water for 15 minutes. Then add finely chopped onion to flavour. Mix well, empty into basin. When cool add one beaten egg, pepper and herbs to taste, one cup of breadcrumbs. Shape into sausages, roll in flour, and fry in deep boiling fat till golden brown. Very tasty and a good substitute for meat.

 

[polybear]

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

Glad that we decided not to visit the West coast this Summer. my other half was saying that its going to be cold in mainland Europe when we are there. When I asked her what was the forecast temperature where we will be, she said 24 degrees which will be hot enough for her and  for me. Its the rain showers that won't be so good.

 

In Greece and Spain it's (or soon will be) hitting 45 degrees....no thanks.  A friend has just come back from Turkey and "hated it" as it was hitting 35C/95F and above.

 

1 hour ago, roundhouse said:

Today I will be Spooning it before meeting up with AndrewC' s other half and my other half near London Bridge for a few beers.

 

The Badgers and Puffins still live on in this Bear's memory - and always will.

 

38 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Most of them are harmless (like how many senators are there? ......

 

Really essential knowledge for daily living in the good 'ol US of A there then.....

 

38 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

The visa long forms have always been fun:

Have you ever committed a crime of moral turpitude?

 

 

Huh?

"Alexa - WTF is moral turpitude?"

 

Apparently it's nothing to do with thinning paint after all....

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Today sees Charlie the Citroen (driven 1ft so Bear could close the driveway gates.....) being collected by the Hire Car Company; the good news is that Mickey is due to be discharged from Hospital today too - hopefully fully cured and with no scars (and if he ain't then they'll be getting him right back again.....).  Hopefully those two activities will happen in that order......

 

First Beary Mission of the Day will prove to be truly monumental - and may even appear on the TV News.  Certain fellow ER'ers need to brace themselves......

Watch this space.....

 

Then it'll be yet more muddlin'.......

 

Right, furry ar5e in 1st gear.....

 

Bear gone.

 

edit:  Hope all is OK with @grandadbob.....

[BoD]

2 hours ago, roundhouse said:

Today I  will be Spooning it before meeting up with AndrewC' s other half and my other half near London Bridge for a few beers.

 

24 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

The Badgers and Puffins still live on in this Bear's memory - and always will.

 

I didn’t know Andrew or his other half personally but please let her know that he is still missed by his virtual friends here.

[BoD]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

For me, paper map and compass - no technology except to find a grid reference to photograph so that I can locate the pix I take. My camera does not have a GPS function.

Scrolling through maps on the iPad is fine for re-walking walks and prompting memories but there is something strangely satisfying about unfolding a paper OS map.

[Barry O]

Ey up from a damp north west Leeds Highlands.  Pah!

 

Thankfully most places I have visited did not require a full review of the language in the country being visited.. unless I wanted to live there for the rest of my days.

 

Watched a bit of cricket yesterday.. ICC hand out games to umpires who are not very good

 

Today is a shark usage day (eye testing yesterday stopped that happening).

 

Time to get my body into movement.

 

Baz

 

 

[The Lurker]

14 hours ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I'm married to one of those, but don't ever, EVER call her that upon pain of a slow death! Deb, Debs, Debbie, hey you, but never ever Deborah.

 

ION been fighting laptop failure all day, battery not charging, despite icon saying plugged in and live etc.  All the usual things run and fiddled with, finally got it to charge but the icon doesn't show it as charging but will give the charge status.  Presumably 'Windows is ruining Your Computer' issues.  Shockingly while running diagnostics and appy things it decided to tell me it is 9 years old.  Surely not, it's the newish one,........ oh dear, doesn't time fly!  Might be about time to get a newie, but then have all the hassles of getting Office etc on it, all this modern cloudy stuff is well over my heed, I have a disc and a key for it....oh new ones don't have disc drives.....feeling old.

We had something similar with one of our laptops (HP Pavilion)  - it occurred regularly in the PC world cover period. They tried all sorts of things even replacing the battery. Eventually someone worked out that you need to do all the windows updates - and despite what it was saying about charge, it was recharging. Doing the windows updates solved the problem. It's happened a few times since but been resolved the same way - and now we regularly make sure we give it time to do its updates, rather than just turning it off. Bizarre, because it does not happen on a similar laptop bought about 6 or 8 months later - these are lockdown laptops - the troublesome one I manage to buy the day before Boris announced we were going to lockdown. The one we had at the time was getting old and very slow and our office had already told everyone to WFH.

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

No, not for visas, though many classes of visa require an interview at a consulate. (Pretty much standard operating procedure for all countries I would think.)

 

There is an oral examination for naturalization. It was changed to be harder (and in cases, wronger) by a previous administration. The instructions in the online 'practice test' recommend that you respond with the answers they provide, rather than what you think is factual. Most of them are harmless (like how many senators are there? and how long is the president's term in office?) but there are a couple of "history" questions that bend more mythically patriotic than what might pass as accurate analysis in context.

 

The visa long forms have always been fun:

Have you ever committed a crime of moral turpitude?

Were you ever a member of the NSDAP?*

 

* Spelled in the customary way - but I'm not putting that word here.

My boss has just become a Swiss citizen. This required an extensive written test and two long interviews where she was quizzed about everything and anything from history to local cantonal and village politics. And all in German (the canton she lives in is German speaking). She's multilingual but claims German is not one of the languages she can really cope with...thank goodness it was not me. Once I get beyond "zwei Bier, bitte." I am kind of lost.

[monkeysarefun]

56 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

During the war Australians rationed beef so it could be exported to Britain.

 

 

After the war the beef rationing remained in place  here  until June  1948 for that reason. 

 

 

 

 

 

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

"You've got to be carefully taught."

 

Singapore had a master class from the previous regime. So did my homeland. As did the place where I reside. Sadly. 

 

These things can take a long time to undo.

 

Much the same in France.  There is still a lot of resentment against the" Pied Noir". Literally black feet, who were the settlers who returned from Algeria and other former African colonies when DecGaulle granted them independence.  A friend if ours was virtually shunned by the village.  Even worse try being Parisian and living here.  No problem with some of the Anglais though. 

 

Anyway the trailer was duly emptied yesterday and is now full again after another length of hedge got a haircut.  There is a dead Laburnum tree to cut down this morning. 

 

Jamie

 

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, polybear said:

 

Really essential knowledge for daily living in the good 'ol US of A there then.....

We have a test too.  Essential knowledge should be "When bitten by a snake do you A) run around screaming         B) suck out the poison        C) apply tourniquet

 

and so on but they aren't its airey fariy stuff about rights.

 

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/test-and-interview/prepare-for-test/practice-test-new

Edited July 11 by monkeysarefun

[jamie92208]

5 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

After the war the beef rationing remained in place  here  until June  1948 for that reason. 

 

 

 

 

 

That formed part of the subject matter of several Nevil Shute books,  the Far Country springs to mind. 

 

Jamir

[polybear]

16 minutes ago, monkeysarefun said:

We have a test too.  Essential knowledge should be "When bitten by a snake do you A) run around screaming         B) suck out the poison        C) apply tourniquet

 

and so on but they aren't its airey fariy stuff about rights.

 

https://immi.homeaffairs.gov.au/citizenship/test-and-interview/prepare-for-test/practice-test-new

 

Bear's tokens would be on (c) - and that's without asking Alexa either....