Early Risers.

[Two_sugars]

Good night Jock . . . .Glad you're back with us 

 

John

[bbishop]

My TV and Freeview box are both so ancient that they can only retain one channel, which just happens to be E4+1.  So if I want to watch TV, which is about once in a month of Sundays, then I have to spend about ten minutes rebooting them.  Just out of interest, I switched on this evening and the number of channels has increased from 124 to 150 odd; but as the Cat has noted, most of them are just telling us that a channel has moved.

 

Frankly, my dears, I don't give a damn; just so long as I have R3, R4, R5SX (cricket) and Classic FM.  And so to bed.

 

Bill

Edited September 4, 2014 by bbishop

[NGT6 1315]

Morning all.

[Robert]

Morning All,

 

It is a rather grey morning here, but set to brighten up later on - if the forecast is to be believed.

 

I must admit to rather liking the Embraer 170.  As Ian mentioned, Cityflier have replaced their Quadrapuffs with them, and the last time I flew from City to Frankfurt I found them to be very impressive.  Of course, not everything can fly into City airport, not just because of the short runway but also because of the 5.5° glideslope.  The ILS glideslope of most airports is around 3°, and so for city the aircraft (and pilots) need a extra certification.

 

Oh well, time for a coffee!

 

Have a good day everyone...

[Smiffy2]

Good day to all, and it is day, just.

Very grey and overcast in the Greener Borough.

 

Chuffed to see Jock's positive attitude and resilience. Good to be 'in advance' Andy - I always tried to do that, and then be able to have the last weekend before the new year free. Didn't always work and I still didn't sleep, but there was a certain peace of mind...

 

Blondie came home from her first day in Year 1 yesterday and announced that it had been 'great'. So a good start. She's also got a male teacher for part of the week (which I think is important) and she's intrigued by that. When we were in France I got >slightly< dressed up to go out (ie a shirt with long sleeves) and she said that I looked just like a teacher - in olden days. I pointed out that I was a teacher in the olden days and she just grinned. But he won't be as good as me...

 

One of my jobs over the next few days is to build-in a small cupboard with two doors in an alcove next to the chimney breast in the dining room for Julie to store crap stock in. Tricky job as the depth is quite different each side and she doesn't want sides but she does want flush doors. There are also some very ornate skirting boards to take into account and not damage, the whole thing has to be easily removable. It'll take some care!

 

Whatever your day holds, make the best of it.

[bluebottle]

I mentioned, a few days ago, photographs from Miss bb's trip to Chamonix. I don't want to overdo it, so here's just a handful of pictures of the three metre-gauge railways in the area.

 

The view from the hotel balcony; Chamonix Mont-Blanc station on the Saint-Gervais-Vallorcine Line.

 

Chamonix station; Mont Blanc in background.

 

Lower terminus of the Chemin de fer du Montenvers

 

On the way up to the Mer de Glace.

 

The Tramway du Mont-Blanc

 

End of the line; Le Nid d'aigle. "Buffers? We don't need no steenkin' buffers!"

 

Miss bb & fiancé "Step into the void". Below their feet a sheet of glass, then empty air for 1035 metres straight down.

 

Original photographs © Helen Rachael Duff and Richard Joel.

 

 

 

 

 

[Smiffy2]

Very nic pix there! I'm not sure about the glass balcony, though. Certainly don't tell Olddudders about it!

[Tony_S]

Morning.

Slightly bleary eyed this morning as Robbie insisted on being let out at about 1.30 to sort out an intruder. From the evidence it was a fox. 

Can't think of anything I'm supposed to do today. 

Weather is warm and misty.

Tony

[andyram]

Morning all - I hope everyone is well. It is strange that most people are probably starting to look forward to the end of their working week whilst I am contemplating returning to work tomorrow. It does seem a strange timing to be expected to return for a training day on a Friday. That said it seems that many schools around the country have already returned earlier this week so I should not complain. We seem to have done quite well out of the Local Authority this year with 6 weeks and a day in total. I have not seen the term dates and holiday dates for the forthcoming academic year yet, but I expect they will claw back that extra day somewhere - most probably off the Christmas break.

 I have read, with interest, the comments about the problems with the Freeview retune. Thankfully that is something that has not affected us. The first thing we did when we moved in was to make sure we got Sky connected to the lounge and our bedroom. Since we took on Virgin for internet and phone services we also have one of their basic television packages to serve the kitchen. This is good enough to allow us to watch the news whilst tidying up after our evening meal and for me to keep an eye on Sky Sports News whilst Amber has the children's television programmes on in the other room.

 I have to admit that Sky's "On demand" service has been a Godsend this holiday. Since our stay in Norfolk Amber has become very keen on some of the CBeebies programmes, especially those including the character Mr Tumble. As Sky's service features BBC Iplayer, we have been able to download each day's episodes and she watches them constantly! I have developed quite a knowledge of children's television programmes during the last six weeks. The old classics are still around including Thomas, Fireman Sam and Postman Pat - Amber likes them all. She does seem to like quite a few of the educational ones too. She loves "Team Umizoomi" on Nick Junior. Dreadful dubbing, but great for teaching children basic maths and she has started to spot patterns as a result and does join in. Aside from the Mr Tumble show on CBeebies Amber also enjoys Nina and the Neurons which is a Science based show. I have picked up a few good teaching ideas from that one (you never switch off in this game) and some art ideas have come from Mr Maker! Interesting how all these shows have their own magazines too! It has cost me a fortune in treats for Amber!

 I don't know how many ER's are familiar with some of these kiddies shows. If you are I wonder if "Show Me Show Me" on CBeebies annoys the cr*p out of you as much as it does me. Oh! And as for "In the Night Garden" - what on Earth is that about. I ask two questions. Who invented it, and what the hell were they on at the time!!!

 Anyway it is grey and overcast here. I have one or two bits of planning to complete before Monday. I could pop into school and then spend the day finishing them off. That is what Sarah expects me to do whilst she visits her mum today. The lure of one last fix on the Severn Valley remains very strong though and is likely to win out  - shh, she'll never know ;-)

[Barry O]

Fatchy pog!

Shopping for our trip to the real home of cricket to watch England being hammered tomorrow to be done,house to be cleaned as we have a friend staying overnight tonight and tomorrow and the ...some more wagons to be weathered!!!

 

Have a good day everyone.

 

Baz

[Barry O]

Andyram..

So does that mean no Pugh,Pugh,Barney magrue,Cuthbert, Dibble and.....

 

Anymore?

Or Andy Pandy? Or the biggest spotty dog you ever did see?

 

Obviously not. But times change..

 

Baz

In the Herb garden remembering Parsley,Dill the dog and Bay leaf the gardener

[andyram]

Andyram..

So does that mean no Pugh,Pugh,Barney magrue,Cuthbert, Dibble and.....

 

Anymore?

Or Andy Pandy? Or the biggest spotty dog you ever did see?

 

Obviously not. But times change..

 

Baz

In the Herb garden remembering Parsley,Dill the dog and Bay leaf the gardener

You forgot Grub!! Sadly it seems that Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green no longer get an airing on any of the BBC channels I have seen. Such a shame as I loved them when I was a kid - "Time flies by when you're the driver of a train...and you ride on the footplate there and back again".

 Andy Pandy and Bill and Ben were updated for modern viewers fairly recently though!!!

 

 Funny though, you brought up some of the old shows. A couple of years ago I did a topic with the children at school about life during Queen Elizabeth's II reign. It was linked to the diamond jubilee in 2012. We studied the major events during those 60 years. One of the things I did was to show them children's programmes from each decade so I dug out old episodes of Andy Pandy, Bill and Ben, The Woodentops, Muffin the Mule, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Thunderbirds, Bagpuss, Mr Ben etc etc, They loved them all!

[Purley Oaks]

Morning all

Great to hear from Jock.

Am heading to south-central France for a few days with my wife, daughter and mum. First time my mum's travelled abroad with a 3-wheeler walking-frame. Flying to Toulouse then driving south.

My favourite kids programmes were Bill & Ben, Woodentops, Andy Pandy and Picture Book. Always though Rag, Tag & Bobtail was too slow.

Hope we get some good news from DonB soon.

Good luck to all

Mal

[Debs.]

.........the monorail takes you to the station.

 

How very futuristic .................I`m now visualising Woody Allen being chased along it by the dystopian police.

[skipepsi]

Morning all, woken early by a noise and unable to go back to sleep due to 4 cats even Clyde joined in.  Now they have all been fed they have gone quiet again...... but I can't sleep. Dismal day outside but hopefully it will brighten later. Have a good day all.

[Happy Hippo]

Grey and windy this morning..............................I wonder what the weather is like outside?

[DDolfelin]

"Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green"

 

Now you're talking!

I still miss Windy Miller (?) walking out of the Mill between the rotating sails.

I would watch them today.

[Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71]

Mornin' all,

 

Another lovely misty sunshine Autumn morn in the Staffs Moorlands....relaxing day in the garden ahead, planting the various shrubs collected on our recent garden centre trip.

 

Here are a few clips from our church fundraising trip on the world's last sea going paddle steamer 'Waverley' out of Clevedon yesterday

 

 

Have a great day all

 

Dave

Edited September 4, 2014 by Torr Giffard LSWR 1951-71

[Debs.]

"Trumpton, Chigley and Camberwick Green"

 

Now you're talking!

I still miss Windy Miller (?) walking out of the Mill between the rotating sails.

I would watch them today.

 

I`m from the Muffin the Mule generation.......

 

......of course back then, it was still legal!

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

The sky is blue and the sun is shining. It probably won't last.

Mrs GB is not very happy this morning - I've probably done (or not done) something to upset her.

Shopping trip for stores replenishment needed ......and on that exciting note I bid you farewell, (for now)

Have a good one,

Bob.

Edited September 4, 2014 by grandadbob

[trisonic]

How very futuristic .................I`m now visualising Woody Allen being chased along it by the dystopian police.

I was thinking more of Woody playing the Cello in the School Marching Band.....

 

Best, Pete.

[45156]

Morning All

 

Horray, Morrisons shopping day, my favourite domestic task (not).

 

Interesting about the Freeview retune, as I tried yesterday about two and nothing happened for me the first time - just kept getting the same (rotten) channels in the same places.  About an hour later, a message appeared on the screen saying "new channels found" and when I hit OK, the scan went fine, and the channels all loaded.  So I went to do the same on the Youview box, only to find that it had happened automatically - so did the upstairs box, and the DVD recorder, no problems at all, though as I live three miles from the Lancaster transmitter, in direct line of sight, and Winter Hill signals don't get here, there is no problem - though the new box when first tuned the other day offered to tune to the Isle of Man transmitter - which would have given us some commonality with Neil - is Fraggle Rock TV any different?

 

Good to see that Jock appears to be taking a sensible approcah to recovery - I fully agree that resting and sleeping whenever your body needs it is the best remedy.

 

Shopping calls

Regards to All

Stewart.

[The Lurker]

Morning all the sun is breaking through the grey over Borough market junction as I type!

 

Yesterday's meeting with HMRC seemed positive though we have a long route ahead of us to solve things.

 

I've only flown into JFK once, but they were very grateful to see us as it was the end of October 2001, so not long after 9/11. We were vistiing for our 1st wedding anniversary and had only booked the trip the weekend before 9/11. It was a strange experience in some ways, people were still in shock that such a thing had happened to NY.

 

Our TV box (Talk Talk) told us abou the re-tune and automatically came up with the new numbers this morning. It had also mentioned that children's channels started at 120 so I knew CBeebies would be 121

 

Yes the younger is a fan of some shows. He'll tolerate Postman Pat, but his current favourites are QPootle 5 and the Adventures of Peter Rabbit. We don't allow the iplayer bit on a school morning but we do at other times so there can be extended runs of these programmes - and in the past Octonauts was  great fave. Like Andyram I cannot stand Show Me Show Me or in the Night Garden, nor Baby Jake.

 

On the subject of long gone children's TV favourites, mine was the Clangers, and I also liked the tales of Noggin the Nog (especially as you could get the books out of the local library too). But the preferred lyrics for Time Flies By are surely those from Half Man Half Biscuit:

 

Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew
Cuthbert, Dibble, Grubb

Let it happen bass player…

Time flies by when you’re a driver of a train
Speeding out of Trumpton with a cargo of cocaine
I get high when I’m the pilot of a plane
Touching down in Camberwick I’m stoned out of my brain

Under bridges, over bridges, to our destination
Careful with that spliff Eugene, it causes condensation

Every Saturday I get the Chigley skins
And they always smash my windows ‘cos the home side always wins
Yeah, time flies by when you’re a driver of a train
Gonna get me syringes out and crank up once again

Under bridges over bridges to our destination
Careful with that spliff Eugene it causes condensation

[AndyB]

Morning all,

Overcast and cool here. 

No ill effects from the curry with supplementary home-grown chillies. I suspect that neither of those used was the dreaded Naga Jalokia. Salad tonight though as I'm now officially behind track on the weight loss program. 

 

 

 

 

For anyone with an interest in air rail links it's worth checking out this link: 

 

http://iaro.com/airport-railways-of-the-world

 

You have to click on the country link to find out which airports have air-rail links. The site used to have links to each of the operators - not sure why those were removed, apart from the need to keep the database accurate. Bit of a backwards step them, methinks. 

 

Freeview retune? I was reminded of the Oglaronians in Douglas Adam's books. Baffled by the infiniteness of the universe they confined themselves to a single nut tree. Anything perceived beyond said nut tree was assumed to be a hallucination.

So, I'm aware of the retune and the vast possibilities for entertainment, but think that reading a book may be simpler.     

Edited September 4, 2014 by AndyB

[AndrewC]

Morning all from the boring borough. The big yellow thing in the sky is trying hard to burn off the early mist. Landy finally fitted with a new battery mount and passed for another year on the road.

 

Still working on the border edge. Hip and shoulder complaining but only 2 more 5' lengths to go.

 

 

Yes its supposed to be curved. The curvature matching the brick pathway and opposite border. The gap between it and the path will be a thin strip laid to lawn. Ground Force I ain't! It will be up to SWMBO to raise the beds and rearrange her planting.

 

Never bothered with Freeview. Our last place was in a bit of a valley and reception was almost non existent unless we mounted a bloody great antenna on the chimney. We opted for a small dish instead. Sky advertises over 600 channels. By the time you take out all the standard v HD duplicates, the +1 time shift duplicates, all the foreign and special interest things that don't interest anyone, there are about 100 left. All full of regurgitated dross. I think its currently possible to watch repeats of NCIS 24/7 by flipping through the dozen or so channels that are showing it daily. Needless to say the hifi gets far more of a work out. If not for the offspring wanting the sports package (paying for it and the multi-room box) I think we'd just pull the plug on the whole thing.

 

Right, more coffee, more concrete, and more Aleve await! Have a good one everybody.