Early Risers.

[polybear]

15 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

Never mind the price (even though it’s rather steep even by Swiss patisserie standards).

 

IT’’S GOT SOY IN IT?

 

What the #@#£# is @#£#@ SOY doing in a cake?

 

It can’t be because it’s made for vegans and uses soy “milk” ‘cause it clearly states eggs are used.

 

You seem to have dodged a bullet there, Bear, thanks to your wallet-opening aversion….

You’re asking Bear??  HTFWIK.

What I do know is it costs TEN Co-op LDC’s…....nuff sed?

 

Edited July 27 by polybear

[PhilJ W]

3 minutes ago, Gwiwer said:

It's made for ERs.  Because it "may contain nuts" 

Surely it should read "Contains nuts.".

[Gwiwer]

Just now, iL Dottore said:

the name of the station being Firenze in Italian. At which point the tourists angrily remonstrated about the lack of English sign posts in Italy…

I am reminded of the American cruise-ship passengers who a friend and myself met on meet-and-greet duties at Station Pier, Melbourne.  Our task was to welcome, direct them to the trams for the City and sell tickets.  

 

Most were fine.  Many were elderly Americans.  A handful clearly suffered "cruise lag" such as the couple who asked "Which of your cute little streetcars crosses the Harbour Bridge?"  Right country - only out by around 650 miles.  Or those who proffered US Dollars expecting them to be accepted as a worldwide currency.  

 

But the couple who are clearly arguing as they approached took the biscuit.  He said to her "Wilma - leave this to me"  

- He approached us and asked in very broken, step-by-step, English "Do - you - speak - Am - er - i -can?"

- Friend and myself looked at each other with a knowing glint in the eyes.  I relished my reply. 

- "I'm sorry, no we don't.  We speak English, French, Spanish, German, Indonesian and Kiwi.  Plus a little Portuguese and Latin.  But not American" 

- "Gee Wilma" he says to his now agonising wife "We might be in trouble here.  These guys don't speak our language"  

 

 

[jjb1970]

58 minutes ago, Coombe Barton said:

There is a current example with a certain orange ... (expletive deleted) ... as in quote The Telegraph  - "Trump calls Kamala Harris a ‘far-left bum’"  - source - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/27/trump-harris-united-states-biden-politics-democrats/

 

 

This is becoming more problematic internationally. Politicians in some countries are now so used to the awful, toxic, culture of their own politician bubble they assume it's the same everywhere and don't get it when they are seen as objectionable louts when visit other countries or interacting with others.

[iL Dottore]

6 minutes ago, polybear said:

You’re asking Bear??  HTFWIK.

 

It was a rhetorical question, cos I knew you wouldn’t have the answer…

8 minutes ago, polybear said:

.

What I do know is it costs TEN Co-op LDC’s…....nuff sed?

 

I repeat myself: You seem to have dodged a bullet there, Bear, thanks to your wallet-opening aversion….

[Hroth]

1 hour ago, PhilJ W said:

Surely it should read "Contains nuts.".

 

We all know thats so, its just wise not to draw attention to it!

 

[monkeysarefun]

11 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

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.

 

 

 

These days going by all the fussy  folds and creases in the bodywork of many new  cars  its obviously the work of  a couple of blokes with a pad of origami paper.

 

 

 

 

 

[Coombe Barton]

45 minutes ago, Hroth said:

We all know thats so, its just wise not to draw attention to it!

 

Thought that it was a requirement?

[Tony_S]

Cornwall looks very quiet for a Saturday. Though we are about 20km our to sea, heading east , near The Lizard. 

[PupCam]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

It was a rhetorical question, cos I knew you wouldn’t have the answer…

I repeat myself: You seem to have dodged a bullet there, Bear, thanks to your wallet-opening aversion….

 

Like someone else we could mention!  🙄    I think  Baldrick had the right idea in the bullet dodging department although I'm not certain his method is entirely fool(?) proof. 🤣

 

ION

 

A most enjoyable thrash was thrashed through the back lanes to "The Two Wheel Centre" over in East Harpenden this morning.  There used to be a very nice little station near there for vehicles that move on two parallel strips of metal that belonged to the proper railway company.   Sadly long gone in favour of a row of houses now unfortunately.

 

This afternoon I,  Junior Puppers and two Junior Junior Puppers attended the Letchworth Model Railway Exhibition.    One needs to nurture interest in interesting things from an early age I feel.

 

TTFN

 

 

 

 

[Sidecar Racer]

6 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

 

I am reminded, by virtue of the way Andy's Clubhouse works, every time I log on of two events from the past.  "Top Posters" and "Popular Posts" always shows to the right of the reading / writing area.  Including the sad loss of Sandy and of tigerburnie's little brother.

 

 

 Try increasing screen zoom ratio to over 100% , I use Firefox at 110% and don't see those bits , knock

it back to 100% and they reappear .

Edited July 27 by Sidecar Racer
to add a word

[DaveF]

I had a quiet morning spent talking to friends on the phone and looking at my new and old photos - which has given me a couple of ideas for places to visit which I haven't been to for ages.

 

My new credit card arrived in this morning's post from my main bank.  The e mail the other day said it didn't need activating, the letter with it said it did - so it has been done.  Why does the bank decide to change its credit cards to "make things simpler" and then proceed to change the card's account number?  I suppse they mean simpler for them by only having one credit card offer not several different "grades" gold etc.  As usual the customer doesn't matter.

 

I checked two places where it is saved online - for the Tyne Tunnel toll paying system I had to put in the new card number.  When I looked at Paypal the number had already updated itself.  Typical of banks.  After lunch I thought I had better make sure the card worked, along with the card for my new account so I have been out and made small purchases so I now know I can use them for everyday payments.

 

I saw a bit of the test match but then rain stopped play so I did other things - using something called "grass mat".

 

This evening will be mainly reading/music and checking something for church tomorrow.

 

Below are a final few photos from Wallington yesterday.  They show doll's houses and model soldiers - the dolls houses wree given to the National Trust by someone local, the soldiers belonged to part of the family which donated the estate.  There are two rooms of dolls houses but unaccompanied adults can only go into one of them, the other says that children may take in the adult they are responsible for.

 

There are also photos of paintings in the Central Hall of the House.  It was a courtyard until the house was rebuilt and modernised in the 18th century.

 

Wallington a dolls house

 

Wallington a small part of the collection of model soldiers

 

Wallington paintings in the Central Hall showing Northumbrian History. l to r Building Hadrians Wall, King Egfrid landing on the Farne Islands to summon Cuthbert to be a Bishop, Danish Vikings near Tyenmouth and Death of the Venerable Bede in Jarrow Priory.  The main paintings are by William Bell Scott, the flowers etc by Pauline Lady Trevelyan and friends, including Ruskin.  Done 1856 to 1860.

 

Wallington  the Central Hall. Painting showing Tyneside industry, High Level Bridge in the background.

 

David

Edited July 27 by DaveF

[pH]

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

… Or those who proffered US Dollars expecting them to be accepted as a worldwide currency.  

…

With a large US Navy presence in the area, we were regularly offered, and were happy to accept, US dollars. Mainly because we were told to accept them at a rate of seven shillings to the dollar (it was a long time ago!) and  cash them in at seven shillings and thruppence. A 10 dollar note made you nearly half an hour’s wage.

[Tony_S]

7 minutes ago, DaveF said:

The e mail the other day said it didn't need activating, the letter with it said it did -

One of ours didn’t need activating but would only work for contactless use after it had been inserted into a chip and pin device. 

[polybear]

Bear here....

 

Nottabadday today......I had a chug chug ride along the parallel rails to Hertford, followed by a wander around town; it's the first time I've had a look round town for 15 - 20 years.  Jeez.

I did note that the "proper" Hardware Shop is gone 😢 - now a f. estate agents.  TC's.

Quite a few Charity Shops - all of which were visited, along with a few other "general shops" plus the Market Stall apparently selling "proper" bread n' cakes etc.; they certainly looked the part (no 80p loaves here....) and if the Pastel de Nata** (£1.50) that a Certain Bear tested in the interests of Culinary Science was anything to go by then they really were "the real deal".

 

(**It would give those sampled in Lisbon a few weeks back a fair run for their money)

 

I spotted another shop that was selling itself as a "Lifestyle Store for Dogs"  🤨....ok......

 

https://www.margauxs.co.uk/

 

The wander included an explore of the riverside which runs thru' the town - I spotted this Narrow Boat with a rather natty paint job:

 

 

 

 

- someone's clever with an Airbrush.

 

I also discovered a shop that sells Jumbo squirty bottles of mint sauce at a bargain price as well, so that's definitely a Big Tick.  Filed for future reference.....

 

I even managed to dodge the lure of the F/E Brekkies as well (not easy for a Bear that's not so much as sniffed such a thing in, well, yonks....), making do with a BLT Baguette as a consolation prize.  Poo.

 

Izzy also informed me that I'd managed 12.6K steps today (4.7 M), so that's another Tick and hopefully a small addition to the dreaded D-word as well.

 

BG

Edited July 27 by polybear

[pH]

8 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

The pigeons under the nearby railway arches gorged themselves on the grain and became prey for the feral cats that also lived there.

They obviously appreciated “grain fed” poultry.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 hours ago, BoD said:

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

Too bad cricket is not an Olympic sport for the current Olympiad. 😉

[The White Rabbit]

9 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

309 miles, Taunton Deane Services is half way. Bristol is only a third of the way.

 

Yes. Someone from work (Leeds) went to St Ives for a weekend. Until he had to drive there, I don't think he grasped just how far it is from Yorkshire. When we set off early, we used to aim for a breakfast at Gloucester services as it was a bit over halfway in distance and time and two thirds in stress. But we were travelling to East Devon. St Ives (or your destination or Rick's place) - you get to Exeter and think you're nearly there? Oh no.... 

 

9 hours ago, PhilJ W said:

Many years ago, not long after the LT&SR lines to Southend were electrified there was a telephone wire that was hung on the outside of a bridge parapet. It was a favourite roost for pigeons and eventually the telephone wire began to sag. It wasn't too close to the 25Kv or so it was thought until a pigeon roosted right above the OHLE and pooped. That poop caused a flashover that put many of the phones in Southend out of action.

 

The Leeds - Airedale & Wharfedale lines were out of action for most of a morning due to a pigeon nesting in the pantograph overnight and causing a problematic short when it 'protested' at the train entering service and disturbing it's rest. That caused a lot of damage and a fairly catastrophic sequence of train failures, the whole [regional] network just went down, it took most of a day to sort out. Thankfully I wasn't trapped on one of those trains at the time but a lot of people were and were stuck for hours, some passengers forced the doors open and walked out as they were sick of waiting. And after several hours with only one toilet between 200-300 odd people, people started to get impatient. 

 

Edited July 27 by The White Rabbit
clarifikashun

[TheQ]

Now where am I?

 

I know I'm at the sailing club,that must be because it's Regatta week.

 

Set off to go to the broad.. turned the steering and...

It didn't...

Eventually after much messing around there was a crunching noise and steering returned.

I suspect some mollusc decided that good place to reside was between rudder and hull.

 

Race 1

1S, 4S,, 2P XS, 3S  or roughly Offset figure of 8.

 

Short start line heavily favouring port , my intention was to sail down the line on port, and tack at the port end of the line. Unfortunately one boat got in the way so one competitor got a flying start on port, he set off and left the rest of us behind.

BM other wise started I second, the first buoy was difficult, up in a corner of the broad, almost impossible to have a good run in, it took a couple of close tacks to round the buoy.

An almost run across the top of the 8 due to the way the wind was bending, then a gybe round 4, and the long reach which turns into a rundown to 2, BM still held 2nd place at this point. The another gybe round 2, and an almost close hauled up to X, tacking round that and another broad reach run to 3. Before tacking back up to the start 

During the second lap two boats from behind passed BM on the section between 4 and 2. Followed them to three, then over took them on the tacking up to 1. On the following lap they passed in roughly the same area, but I wasn't able to catch up in an even more reducing wind.

 

Race two, tried the same again and it worked, tacked onto port at the port end of the start line, everyone else below BM, one boats much larger daik area allowed them to pass below BM and get far enough ahead to tack for buoy one Clear Ahead.

That boat got away from everyone, BM tacked round 1 with two other boats close behind, , their huge sail areas swamped wind , and they swept past. After that BM just followed the three leaders for the rest of the race. Catching upwind loosing down wind.

 

In both races after handicap I suspect BM was second..

 

Now it's club officers invitation evening,ie free snacks, but buy your own  booze.

 

 

Did i tell you it's regatta week?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

7 hours ago, polybear said:

There was a news item a few months back where the EU referred to the Falklands as the Malvinas (IIRC), much to the glee of the Argies. The UK and Falklands were less impressed,

Islas Malvinas was a legitimate term during the period(s) when the UK quit their territorial claim (which was reasserted in concept in 1833).

 

The US actually claimed possession from 1831-1832.

 

Claimants to the Falkland Islands / Islas Malvinas are: France, UK, Spain, UK, nobody, United Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, US, nobody, Argentine Confederation, UK, nobody, UK, Argentina, UK.

 

A thoroughly "colonial"* mindset if you ask me.

 

* That's not a positive word in this context.

[Ozexpatriate]

11 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.....

Introduced by whom?

 

On the NBC broadcast I watched I don't recall the official audio announcement, but the DPRK boat was clearly signed as "DPRK". Of course the US broadcasters helpfully called it "North Korea" for US audiences. They talked about how this was the first DPRK Olympic delegation since the Pyongyang Winter Olympics where all Korean athletes marched as a unified team in the procession of athletes.

 

Having looked it up, ROK was 48 and DPRK was 128.  The NBC broadcast did not confuse the ROK contingent.

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Ozexpatriate]

10 hours ago, jjb1970 said:

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'.

There is no such country as South Korea either - yet everyone knows what is meant by "North Korea" and "South Korea". I don't think it's a windup if those distinctions are used consistently - even if the formal names are (abbreviated) DPRK and ROK.

 

It's like using "France" instead of the République française / French Republic. 

 

If an entity is consistent with ROK, but uses "North Korea", then I would stipulate that is problematic.

 

No such country as "China" either. It is the People's Republic of China.

 

Then there are the athletes from "Chinese Taipei". 

 

Does anyone ever see the Hong Kong flag these days? (The flowery one, not the defaced blue ensign.)

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate

[Coombe Barton]

48 minutes ago, The White Rabbit said:

St Ives (or your destination or Rick's place) - you get to Exeter and think you're nearly there? Oh no.... 

 

Exeter to St Ives is about 150km as the crow flies. Add in all the bendy and ;lumpy bits and ...

 

 

Edited July 27 by Coombe Barton
Typoman

[Coombe Barton]

1 minute ago, Coombe Barton said:

Exeter to St Ives is anpit 150km as the crow flies. Add in all the bendy and ;lumpy bits and ...

It's not for nothing that the Romans used Gweek as a port of lading for tin. I used all this evidence when I was leaving field trips in the area and got people, mostly unfamiliar with the sea, how transport by land of heavy lumps of tin was totally impracticable.

[Ozexpatriate]

6 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I mean, you don’t have to learn a whole new syllabary, like Kanji, Katakana or Hiragana (or even Sukhothai script) to be able to read Firenze!

How many Japanese railway signs are posted in Romanji? (Or Chinese or Korean)?

 

The state of Israel posts all signage in three languages/scripts: Hebrew, Arabic and English.

 

The real problem is why do the English (and I am being specific) insist on renaming so many of the cities and countries of Europe - then insist to English-speakers that the English name be used for that place when referring to it in their vernacular.

 

Does Roma need to be Rome? Does Milano need to be Milan. Napoli. Genova, Venezia, Firenze, Köln, München, Deutschland, Suisse/Schweizer, Österreich, etc, etc,

 

Edited July 27 by Ozexpatriate