Early Risers.

[Ozexpatriate]

18 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

I would suspect it takes a bit longer when they design the 'real thing'.

Given that they have largely abandoned sculpting in clay for M-CAD in designing the bodywork probably doesn't take much longer - though no doubt they have a lot more goes at it.

 

Now if you are including the structural components and the gubbins then yes, the total staff hours required is considerably more. The largest amount of engineering effort in designing a modern automobile, is writing and testing the software.

 

[Ozexpatriate]

13 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

... Final packing today, and off as early as possible tomorrow, which depends on sleep and tiredness ...

John I know most of the days now feel like Saturdays but with your new liberties, why would you intentionally choose an actual Saturday to head southwest on the highways and byways with your grockle-vaggen?

 

Save yourself the aggravation and choose a midweek day.

 

Or are they worse? I wouldn't know.

 

In any case I wish you fair winds and carefree motoring, he says hopefully.

Quote

May the wind under your wings bear you where the sun sails and the moon walks.

 

Farewell, wherever you fare till your eyries receive you at the journey's end!

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

9 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

Camborne's weekly newsletter arrived 17:46 and I can see the pics normally. 

That one is highly unreliable in my mail utility, but it worked well today. As it intended, I shall no doubt be placing an order for the more drab "Great Way ..." items. The more colourful ones illustrated below should be on their way already.

 

EDIT

At least where it mattered. None of the TT images were shown. Very hit or miss.

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I thought the London ceremony was one of the best.  With the exception of one Mr. McCartney who even then was old, tired, missed some notes and missed his cue at least once.  However he is undeniably a British musical institution love him or otherwise.  

Yes, Sir Paul was awful.

 

There were many 'good' bits. I was happy to see the Child Catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And HM EIIR with Bond was fun. And ELO's Mr. Blue Sky.

 

Many awful bits too. Tim Berners-Lee? Meh. (If Elon Musk is presented at the upcoming LA games in 2028, you have my blessing to scoff. By then his excellency, El Presidente for life might be lighting the cauldron. On second thoughts it would more likely be Ivanka.)

 

The Parisian spectacle has only just begun on television here - on tape delay for prime-time in PDT. Snoop Dog is being interviewed as I type - followed by the stars of Wicked (the movie version). I will say that Cynthia Erivo is very fetching in emerald green. Bet you  weren't subjected to that.

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

Now watching a pastiche of Remy the rat and le fantôme de l'Opera in the catacombs de Paris. 

 

With commentary by a retired NFL quarterback for an extra je ne sais quoi.

 

And the Olympic refugee team in an inflatable raft much smaller bateau.

 

Later very fatigued looking asynchronous can can dancers in Pepto-Bismol pink - there's a dance for that too.

 

Revived by an upbeat commercial for Uber - featuring echoes of John, Paul, George and Ringo.

 

Once upon a time Douglas Adams would assert that Sir Paul could buy yet another estate in Surrey with the proceeds but I'm not sure if that doesn't fill the coffers of Sony Music Publishing these days.

 

Much Later:

 

Les Jeux Olympiques des les Minions. Très amusants.

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, pH said:

But, as for here on ERs - let us not speak of it again 😜.

Too late m'sieur.

[Ozexpatriate]

Much less frivolously:

 

CNN: California’s Park Fire now among state’s top 13 largest ever as it consumes 239,000 acres

 

California - Park Fire: 239,000 acres, or about 373 square miles

Oregon - Durkee Fire: 270,000 acres / 422 square miles

Alberta - Jasper Fire: 36,000 hectares / 88,957 acres / 139 square miles - 30% - 50% of the town burned

 

There is video of a house exploding (propane most likely) in the Park fire.

[monkeysarefun]

4 hours ago, skipepsi said:

Either you need to go to bed or he needs feeding/cage/entertaining.

Hmmmm, it was 8 oclock in the morning, it was his daily playtime when he either tramps over the lounge picking up things and dropping them on the floor, or re-configures my laptop by treading over the keyboard and stepping on mysterious keys.

Edited July 27 by monkeysarefun

[pH]

Is this ‘our’ Il dottore, or an impostor?

 

https://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?offset=0&where=||||||||1|18689|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

[Ozexpatriate]

The procession of the Olympic flag gave me a vibe of this:

Quote

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death

 

And after all those boats I'm left with les petits bateaux de Dunkerque.

 

Some of them were very little.

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[TheQ]

Hmm not a lot of wind at the moment.,

3 hours ish till I get there.

 

Not at the Moorings Awl... Yet...

Did I tell you it's regatta week?

5 hours sleep long awake, 1.5 hours sleep.

 

One thing I noticed on "flight radar 24" yesterday, was an RAF Joint Rivet aka spy plane , it was flying off Romania listening /watching the Russians off Ukraine, escorted by two RAF Typhoons. At the same time a USA Poseidon, maritime patrol aircraft was also in the area.. first time I've seen that amount of activity, I suspect the Ruskies needed watching about something.

 

Shortly I'll get up take the first full strength pill, and then prepare for departure.

First the model Railway club and radar museum tool kits need removing from the landrover, then load up clothing for the week.

I noticed the forecast has now changed to Thor mid week.

Also although Saturday/ Sunday is the normal westerly/ south westerly, the rest of the week is forecast to be south easterly going to Easterly

 

time I got up and took the pill.

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Too late m'sieur.

Well that was very much le petit déjeuner d'un chien. Parts of it were excellent (The Minions [a French studio's creation], Eric Satie's Gnossienne no. 1 played on a piano in the pouring rain [Appropriately enough a piece of music that always reminds me of Paris in the rain], the Golden Statues of notable French Women arising from pedestals in the Seine),

 

There was also a lot of WTF? The parcours runner with the torch (which was - to be fair - occasionally inspired), the (ahem) "alternative lifestyle" fashion show. (enough weirdness there to keep the DEI mob mob blissful for weeks), the bizarre library sequence, the one horseman of the apocalypse.....

 

And then there was the phenomenally bad: Lady Gaga as a "chanteuse" (wrong sort of voice to start off with...), the "CanCan" dancers in cheap cosmetics pink (I've seen better CanCan costumes and dancing in B Movies shot on a Hollywood back lot), the choice of music (where was Jean Michel Jarre? why no Joe Le Taxi from Vanessa Paradis? Where was Voyage Voyage from Desireless - all big French music stars), the white, aging, "rapper"....

 

And finally, in this pean to Frenchness why no reference to French Food? Balletic baguettes may have been de trop, but some carefully choreographed chefs???

[jamie92208]

15 hours ago, DaveF said:

 

 

The pigeon may not have been used to traffic, a car going by every 5 minutes means the road is busy. 

 

David

If it's harvest time around there it's probably rather overweight from too much corn that's dropped from trailers.  Ours round here are very slow to move at the moment. 

 

I managed to avoid the opening ceremony by watching an aussie series in I player.  Much better viewing.  

 

Emily and her mums to be talked to soon the the delights of cleaning out the chickens.  

 

The missing parts for the flyscreens are being dispatched. 

 

Jamie

Edited July 27 by jamie92208

[BoD]

I’ve just  checked and I see Afghanistan is leading the medal table,

[iL Dottore]

The music they could have had at the opening ceremony in Paris (and all 100% French as well)

 

 

 

Okay, the last piece from JMJ is a bit weird, but definitely in the "weird but interesting" category

Edited July 27 by iL Dottore
Text

[polybear]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I have just endured (and I use that word deliberately) the “Olympic Hymn”.

 

Am I the only one thinking that it sounds like the National Anthem of a minor “People’s Democratic” country (i.e. totalitarian dictatorship) that has been written by a committee of press-ganged apparatchiks of no discernible talent?

 

It seems that the South Korean boat was introduced as carrying the DPRK Team.  For some strange reason South Korea are "somewhat p1ssed" and intend to make a formal complaint.....

 

As for "The Ceremony", well this Bear didn't watch any of it...zero, zilch, diddly squat.  I was too busy sticking red hot needles in my eyeballs as I figured that would be far more enjoyable.  Even Celine Dion was singing in some weird lingo....

 

Today?  MIUABGAD; I do have an out-of-the-ordinary idea in mind, but if that doesn't happen then I can always drive Bertie the Bosch instead.  Whoopee.

I still have two choo choo's (well one is actually a chug chug ) to inspect and test, as well as a chassis to complete (there's a rapidly approaching deadline on that one too 😱).

 

Time to wriggle....

 

BG

[Barry O]

Ey up!

 

Watched clunk Eastwood film instead as the sound quality from Paris was dreadful.

 

Today has no must do items listed .. I may (depending on the weather) have a toddle to a cricket match..

 

Time to.. finish my tea and make breakfast..

 

TTFN.

 

Baz

[polybear]

21 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

And finally, in this pean to Frenchness why no reference to French Food? Balletic baguettes may have been de trop, but some carefully choreographed chefs???

 

They were all at home scoffin' Pizza & CF's....

 

16 minutes ago, BoD said:

I’ve just  checked and I see Afghanistan is leading the medal table,

 

The radio reported that the first footie match (Morocco vs. The Argie's) had to be suspended for nearly 2 hours due to the crowd having a punch-up; it was eventually finished behind closed doors in an empty stadium.  A fine start.  

 

10 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

The music they could have had:

 

 

 

Okay, the last piece from JMJ is a bit weird, but definitely in the "weird but interesting" category

 

They'd all make good cat scarers in This Bear's Book.

[H2O]

19 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

Snip:

The radio reported that the first footie match (Morocco vs. The Argie's) had to be suspended for nearly 2 hours due to the crowd having a punch-up; it was eventually finished behind closed doors in an empty stadium.  A fine start.  

Story at BBC:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/articles/cv2gzll8wn5o

 

Couldn't find any links from their own pages so had to do a web search for above.

[Coombe Barton]

5 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

John I know most of the days now feel like Saturdays but with your new liberties, why would you intentionally choose an actual Saturday to head southwest on the highways and byways with your grockle-vaggen?

 

Save yourself the aggravation and choose a midweek day.

 

Or are they worse? I wouldn't know.

I booked these dates six years ago before Sandy got ill. I'm not travelling today, still finding stuff. Setting off early tomorrow which is a quieter day travel wise.

[jjb1970]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

It seems that the South Korean boat was introduced as carrying the DPRK Team.  For some strange reason South Korea are "somewhat p1ssed" and intend to make a formal complaint.....

 

Oh dear......knowing a lot of Korean people I don't think they'll see a funny side to that one........

 

There's a silly game in some UN bodies where the European countries especially like to wind up the North Koreans by referring to them as North Korea. Of course there's no such country, and they should be referenced in full or abbreviated to DPRK. They do it deliberately to needle them, followed by a complaint and a telling off. And everyone else is thinking 'ffs, we've got better things to do than waste time on this nonsense'.

[New Haven Neil]

Morning, from a sleepy rock (well this Fraggle is - small blue pill effect) 19c and a stiff breeze, that'll do though.

 

Mrs NHN is off getting Pilated so I have an hour to myself, and wonder how I was skilful enough to miss the Limpicks opening dirge.  Oh yeah, I was reading - lucky.

 

I did once photograph the Limp-ic torch when it passed through here - purely by chance as was carried on the Manx Electric Railway and I happened to be in Laxey as it arrived. I wondered why it was so busy.

 

 

[Gwiwer]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

15 hours ago, The White Rabbit said:

Camborne's weekly newsletter arrived 17:46 and I can see the pics normally. 

That one is highly unreliable in my mail utility, but it worked well today.

My phone spent much of yesterday offering only a white screen when asked to browse the internet. 
 

The desktop was very slow. 
 

I suspect something was awry upstream because it all seemed to right itself late in the day. A flurry of emails arrived some of which had been sent much earlier. The image-rich Newsletter from Camborne was among them and opened as normally as it ever does. It is sometimes sent in apparent haste (and no doubt their staff are as busy as ever multi-tasking while it is compiled) with the occasional wrong or missing image. 
 

It’s all good now

 

Which is more than can be said for me. Not much sleep was had due to two other parties hogging both bed-space and duvet rights. I was cold and clinging to the cliff-edge and at 2am abandoned that in favour of the sofa. 
 

Not much sleep was had their either although matters improved slightly after a 3.30am cuppa with Marmite toast. 
 

This morning’s agenda is largely empty so a slow late start is of no consequence. 

[Gwiwer]

6 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

I did once photograph the Limp-ic torch when it passed through here

Our friends in Penzance did slightly better in 2012. 
 

The Flame toured the UK and came through Penzance.  As both managers of the YHA hostel and champions of deaf children’s affairs (with two profoundly deaf daughters) they were granted an official visit. 
 

The flame came up their tree-lined drive and around the building before - to their great surprise - being offered to each daughter in turn who then carried it around the car park and lawns. What a morning to remember for two teenage girls. And their parents. And those guests they had staying. 

[The White Rabbit]

6 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

John I know most of the days now feel like Saturdays but with your new liberties, why would you intentionally choose an actual Saturday to head southwest on the highways and byways with your grockle-vaggen?

 

Save yourself the aggravation and choose a midweek day.

 

Or are they worse? .... 

 

I'm a bit out of touch but after 30 odd years of driving to the southwest my experience has been Saturdays in July and August are best avoided. The M5 (Birmingham to Exeter) becomes a horrible piece of tarmac. It's normally one of my 'favourite' motorways, much less stressful than the M1 or M62. But summer Saturdays during the holiday season (now!) are nerve-wracking in the extreme. The volume of traffic, high percentage of holidaymakers and people who don't drive a lot, cars with limited visibility due to boot space and above being crammed with suitcases, sunshades etc. and folk getting distracted by little Johnny - all make for a very poor standard of driving and a lot of accidents and breakdowns. There's usually a lot of 'slingshotting' and I find that stressful - you can be good but still at the mercy of other drivers, many of whom tailgate. If anyone wants to know what it's like to drive in a motor race, come and travel on the M5 mid morning on Saturday! The level of concentration required is similar and it can go on for a few hours, especially if you can't actually get into a service area to change drivers or have a rest. 

 

I'm not as familiar with the A30 and A303 but I hear that like the A3052 they get very busy Saturday mornings during holiday season. The A3052 has some big hills and a lot of tractors, campers and caravans struggle on them. There aren't many safe places to overtake so everyone's travel time increases.  

 

Pre Covid I used to get round the M5 problems, especially round Bristol and the Gloucester plain and Somerset Levels by setting off early - 4/5am - and that made a huge difference. Travelling in June or September rather than the school holidays also helped.