Early Risers.

[Robert]

My sympathies Andrew - I did one year of commuting from Hastings to London, and it is not an experience that I would care to repeat!  Unbelievably, my Father did it for over 30 years.

 

Broken rails, suicides, points failures, signalling failures, replacement buses, drunk passengers, passenger falling out of the train, emergency stops that put flats on the tyres, rescued by a 33/2 ex-Hither Green, leaves on the line - had them all...

Edited October 2, 2014 by Robert

[Killybegs]

Light cloud cover this morning but a fine day is promised.

 

There was a good Fleetwood Mac documentary on BBC4 a couple of weeks ago, or maybe it was Sky Arts. Between them they show quite a lot of old concerts and documentaries that jog a few memories.

 

Hope you all manage a relatively good day. I might get out on the bike.

 

John

[jamie92208]

Morning all.  It's nice an sunny here just north of Ikea but I'll be indoors this mornign as the ironing beckons.  I've got to do it this mornig as I'm off the Manchester to load a tram onto a low loader this afternoon so need brownie points.   We're bringing a tram over to Leeds tomorrow as part of an arts event so there will be a tram in Briggate for the first time since 1959.

 

I've just renewed my tax disc and tried to do it online with the reminder, but got told that the service has crashed and I should do it by phone.   I then used the phone which is automated.  I hate those things.

 

Jamie

[AndyB]

Morning all. Overcast but dry here. 

Power cut yesterday was fortuitous as it made me settle down to read a long govt report in preparation for a (hopeful) job interview later in the month. I say "hopeful" as whilst I am a good match for what they are looking for I've learn this can be a somewhat fickle process. 

 

Curiously at my mother's home a planning application has gone in for some garden grab further development on her next-door neighbour's property. We learnt about this via some locals and the application looks as if it will go through. The strange thing is that mum was the only person to not get a letter from the council warning of the development application. When I spoke to the case officer she said that she wasn't responsible for whether letters were delivered or not, just for sending them out, i.e. she blamed the Royal Mail. She also said "not to worry, I took your mother's opinion into consideration when I visited the site. Planning application is online for anyone to see."

"Erm, how did you do that if you never spoke to my mum? And my mum is 90, not "online" and not likely to spend her days scanning a website on the off chance of spotting planning applications if she was!"

 

There seems little that can be done to complain about procedure that somehow marches on without engaging effectively with those it affects.

 

In between job hunting and interview prep I've been working on the layout and concluded that "small is definitely beautiful" when it comes to making rapid progress.   

 

Anyway, greetings to you all. Andy

[PhilJ W]

Morning all, looks like the long range weather forcast I mentioned a few days ago was wrong. The current forecast is that its going to be 'normal' October weather by the weekend. ID, unfortunately I do not have any 10 year olds available to help me but the guy who is doing it for me is from the charity shop where I offered the old TV to. Jock, at the moment I only have one pill to take, for BP, but that might be having some adverse side effects so when I visit my GP tomorrow I'll have to ask him if it can be changed. I did read somewhere that a new BP drug has been found to have a beneficial side effect in that it can slow the advance of Alzheimers. I would prefer not to take any medications at all but I'll have to settle for as few as possible.

[PhilJ W]

Morning all. Overcast but dry here. 

Power cut yesterday was fortuitous as it made me settle down to read a long govt report in preparation for a (hopeful) job interview later in the month. I say "hopeful" as whilst I am a good match for what they are looking for I've learn this can be a somewhat fickle process. 

 

Curiously at my mother's home a planning application has gone in for some garden grab further development on her next-door neighbour's property. We learnt about this via some locals and the application looks as if it will go through. The strange thing is that mum was the only person to not get a letter from the council warning of the development application. When I spoke to the case officer she said that she wasn't responsible for whether letters were delivered or not, just for sending them out, i.e. she blamed the Royal Mail. She also said "not to worry, I took your mother's opinion into consideration when I visited the site. Planning application is online for anyone to see."

"Erm, how did you do that if you never spoke to my mum? And my mum is 90, not "online" and not likely to spend her days scanning a website on the off chance of spotting planning applications if she was!"

 

There seems little that can be done to complain about procedure that somehow marches on without engaging effectively with those it affects.

 

In between job hunting and interview prep I've been working on the layout and concluded that "small is definitely beautiful" when it comes to making rapid progress.   

 

Anyway, greetings to you all. Andy

Did you ask for a copy of the letter 'sent' to your mum?

[Tony_S]

Tony, a question. When Robbie was done, did the vet leave his scrotal sack in situ?. I've just had to adjust Schotty's body stocking, as he is lying on his back and the body stocking is exposing the surgical site. I've noticed that the s c r o t u m is still present (but empty) and the incision site and sutures are further up the penile shaft, away from the sack.

Still, the sutures look clean and dry and appear to be healing nicely.

Thank goodness the human equivelant (a vasectomy), only involves a few snips and one or two sutures!

p.s. I had to edit the post as the stupid censoring software wouldn't allow me to use the "S" word!

Robbie's operation wasn't quite a normal one.  He seemed to have some infection (possibly as a result of injury, we never really knew) in the scrotom. The vet had to remove quite a bit of abnormal looking tissue (turned out not to be cancerous). So Robbie's sac is not present. I think the normal operation on male dogs is as you describe. Robbie was 8 when he had his op and had no behavioural or temperament changes, though he did get much furrier than before!

Edited October 2, 2014 by Tony_S

[45156]

Morning All

 

Chilly today, so I think that normal October weather has resumed here already, though it's very bright and sunny at present.  Had to put the heating on again this morning for a while.

 

Well, after yesterday's mess up with my e-mails, the wonderful new BT system is currently down "for some users and accounts other than those still on BT Yahoo" (in other words, could be everybody) and "normal service is not expected until after 3 o'clock".  I've got to say that my experience is of more outages than before, and seems to be indicative of the general deterioration in service all round from that company.  Cost cutting appears to be actively pursued in many areas.

 

Flavio, when Basil was castrated, his scrotal sac was left in situ, just his conkers which were removed.

 

On dinner duty again today, so mustn't forget to make it.

 

Also need to get in some practice with a glass cutter before next week....

 

Regards to All

Stewart

[Tony_S]

Andy, our local planning people blamed the Royal Mail for non-delivery of planning documents here. It was only when nearly everyone in two roads contacted them they accepted something had "gone wrong".

Tony

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

iD the supply situation for medicines has been doing odd things for some time with sudden shortages of various drugs and - as I said before - some of this was put down in the past to wholesalers selling off supplies earmarked to the NHS to overseas customers at a higher price.  And it does seem to affect all pharmacies, we have three in the town and we moved to Tesco some time back because one of the others was both very unreliable in supply terms and a bit lacking in helpfulness.  The Tesco pharmacists (mainly immigrants of various sorts - at least one of whom is a fully qualified Doctor back home but is paid more as a pharmacist than he would be as a Doctor in Poland) are extremely good but they do suffer occasional short supply of drugs.  As they have a good base of regular clients (and keep a version of metformin just for us) they do know their general rate of drug consumption for folk on regular medication, such as my 8 pills a day, so it doesn't seem to be an ordering problem and there are times - like last week - when they can't get drugs they have ordered.

 

Anyway to more mundane matters - not so sunny today and rain promised for the weekend.  So maybe Phil's source is right this time and October is arriving.  And the joys of rail commuting - well Reading to London and Reading to Swindon weren't too bad over the years but the big advantage in my final job was that I had two straightforward routes to Waterloo pus another two rather circuitous ones which were handy at the times of the Signalmens' strike back in 1994.  But every sympathy for those who have to put up with long journeys everyday.

 

Have a good one.

[Oldddudders]

Morning all

 

Bright and sunny, and no early morning mist today, either.

 

Alison here for the full day, so house and a bit of garden will look a sight better, I hope!

 

Sherry has had a bit of a personal reverse, with the vicar suddenly clamping down on some of her (voluntary) church and school activities - because she is becoming divorced. Apparently if we marry she will be kosher again. Bless. So much for tolerance and forgiveness, the basic tenets of Christianity, I naively thought..... Sherry will seek an alternative place to worship. At least her flat really is going to complete tomorrow - woohoo!

 

Hope the days this week are going at the right speed for you.

[PhilJ W]

I remember a planning application ending up being thrown out when it came to light that not everybody who would have had a viable reason to object was informed. But this was over thirty years ago and things have changed now.

[trisonic]

I used to take Tetracyclene quite regularly but it is now unobtainable. Only one company in the world was still making it and it was found to be contaminated.

The problem with non - patented drugs (or off- patent) is that the big pharmaceutical companies stop making them as being uneconomic. The supply chain then ends up in Asia where standards are not so high. Then this happens.

 

Best, Pete.

[The Lurker]

Just been moved to the "new" BT email system... the system is OK apart from the odd glitch and hiccup...

 

Survived 3 games of Indoors 6 a side cricket today..

 

Results

 

Leeds University Ladies beat Leeds Metropolitan Beckett University Ladies

Leeds Metropolitan Beckett University Mens 2nd Team beat Leeds University Mens 2nd Team

 

and 

 

Leeds University Mens 1st Team annihilated beat Leeds Metropolitan Beckett University Mens 1st Team

 

Shame that the change in name at the Met has seen coaching funding in sport reduced by a considerable amount .....  to me the sports teams will always be Carnegie...

 

Baz

They'll always be the Poly to me (says he who went to the Uni!)

[Oldddudders]

They'll always be the Poly to me (says he who went to the Uni!)

As one who was not educated beyond A Level - and I'm sure it shows - I do find it odd that the former Colleges of Advanced Tomfoolery Technology have now morphed into Universities. I wonder who is kidding whom.

[eldavo]

Morning All,

 

Still shorts weather in this neck of the woods but not for long I suspect. Shorts in October, outrageous!

 

I would check the underside of the resident terrier, who is of the seedless grape variety, but he won't stay still long enough.

 

Loco photo!

 

...

 

When I made the 0-4-4 sometime in the early 1980s I was so pleased with it. It looks rather lumpy compared to a modern RTR locomotive (my newly unboxed Midland Compound).

Tony

Lumpy or not its Midland so can't be bad. Its a cruel comparison given the stunning quality of the paintwork of the latest Midland compound model.

 

Cheers

Dave

[Jock67B]

Morning all,

Trevor, I think you should take heed of Mick B and Tony_S, it's obvious that you are terribly happy in GF's company and that certainly can't be said of your time on the dark continent! I agree with them, you should concentrate on making that move as soon as you can!

Flavio, I can confirm that Archie still has the sac. He was 'done' on the Vet's advice, after one breeding session, because as a breed Westies are prone to testicular cancer. Doesn't seem to have changed his behaviour - still acting like a pup at seven and three quarter years old!

Stewart, my e-mails seem to be working OK this morning. Watch the fingers on the glass now!

Ian (Oldddudders), I'm sorry to hear of Sherry's set back at her local church. You two seem to attract the wrong type of clergyman (harking back to an earlier post!). These people simply re-inforce my antipathy towards the temporal church and those who supposedly serve it! Sherry knows what she believes in and has no need to prove it to these minions who cannot properly interpret the teachings of there own 'good book'. I hope the news on the flat exchange will be enough to cheer her up! Think on how you succeeded in your career without going beyond secondary school - I was lucky to have indulgent parents, a situation which allowed me to become a 'professional student' but I don't feel it made me 'better' than anyone else, or indeed any more successful! Did enjoy it a hell of a lot though!!

AndyB, planning is one of my soap-box subjects - having lived here for almost thirty years, we have seen some incredible projects approved! Any new estate now built has to include a proportion of 'affordable housing' which seems to become a dumping ground for London boroughs, moving people to an area where there aren't enough jobs for the existing populations! The last few years have seen a significant rise in drug related and knife crime. As 'Private Eye' would say, there must be some connection. I won't start on councillors being found with brown envelopes full of cash under their beds! Complete free for all now with ineffectual Government control at local or national level! Rant over before I bore you all too much!

Hope the rest of the week is good to you all,

Kind regards,

Jock.

[AndyB]

Did you ask for a copy of the letter 'sent' to your mum?

 

Good point. I'll get on to that. 

 

Andy, our local planning people blamed the Royal Mail for non-delivery of planning documents here. It was only when nearly everyone in two roads contacted them they accepted something had "gone wrong".

Tony

 

The excuse given to me by the case Officer was that other people in mum's road had responded to the letters sent to them. So, it might be that it wasn't delivered to the one address most affected by the new build......!  

 

Morning all

 

Bright and sunny, and no early morning mist today, either.

 

Alison here for the full day, so house and a bit of garden will look a sight better, I hope!

 

Sherry has had a bit of a personal reverse, with the vicar suddenly clamping down on some of her (voluntary) church and school activities - because she is becoming divorced. Apparently if we marry she will be kosher again. Bless. So much for tolerance and forgiveness, the basic tenets of Christianity, I naively thought..... Sherry will seek an alternative place to worship. At least her flat really is going to complete tomorrow - woohoo!

 

Hope the days this week are going at the right speed for you.

 

Such a shame. As a parent with school-age children we rely heavily on those who have the time, inclination and talent to make our schools work to their best potential. It is regrettable that one person's belief system should impact on those who offer their time to help others. I'd ask whether there have been any complaints from parents or children. I'd bet that some of them are either divorced or single parents (the parents, not the children!). 

 

 

As one who was not educated beyond A Level - and I'm sure it shows - I do find it odd that the former Colleges of Advanced Tomfoolery Technology have now morphed into Universities. I wonder who is kidding whom.

I believe my alma mater started life as a CoT. By the time I passed through it's doors it was a polytechnic with the quality of its degrees audited externally (CNAA). Later it became a University and was able to audit itself.

Ian, I'm left to wondering Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Qui praestat qualis est? Uno tantum humilis magister. Or for those who can't be bothered to Google translate back again....

"Who guarantees quality now. Why me, your humble teacher." 

[The Stationmaster]

As one who was not educated beyond A Level - and I'm sure it shows - I do find it odd that the former Colleges of Advanced Tomfoolery Technology have now morphed into Universities. I wonder who is kidding whom.

That's nothing Ian - Thames Valley University was created out of Reading Tech and Slough Tech (plus one at Ealing) - neither of them being techs of the ;'advanced' sort.  However I believe they did offer a degree course in kite flying and here are some of their current courses

 

http://www.ceebd.co.uk/ceeed/un/uk/uktv0027.htm

 

But quite practical courses at Reading -

 

http://www.reading-college.ac.uk/he/university-level-0

 

PS It's ranked 110th out of 123 on rankings for British unis.

Edited October 2, 2014 by The Stationmaster

[45156]

e-mail still not working for me, so this must be some sort of revenge on ex-staff!  The message did say SOME accounts, so that may well be the case.

 

Not yet started on the glass cutting practice, so fingers intact so far, though one student on the course yesterday did manage to cut herself within ten minutes of starting to practice with a glass cutter - tutor had warned us about all the Health and Safety aspects, including problems with lead, but glass is no respecter of H&S and it was inevitable that somebody would get cut before too long.  Hopefully that will be her first and last mishap.

 

I found some mince in the fridge, so have had a crack at a cottage pie for dinner - will let you know whether it poisons anybody.

 

Meantime, back to the other grindy tasks again

[Mike Bellamy]

Later it became a University and was able to audit itself.

Ian, I'm left to wondering Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Qui praestat qualis est? Uno tantum humilis magister. Or for those who can't be bothered to Google translate back again....

"Who guarantees quality now. Why me, your humble teacher." 

 

Not quite true as the Quality Assurance Agency undertake regular audits of all institutions with degree awarding powers as well as colleges that offer HE provision in partnership with a university

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/about-us

 

If you want to see the latest report on your own institution, copies of all reports are published here

http://www.qaa.ac.uk/reviews-and-reports

 

 

.

[The Lurker]

Morning all,

Ian (Oldddudders), I'm sorry to hear of Sherry's set back at her local church. You two seem to attract the wrong type of clergyman (harking back to an earlier post!). These people simply re-inforce my antipathy towards the temporal church and those who supposedly serve it! Sherry knows what she believes in and has no need to prove it to these minions who cannot properly interpret the teachings of there own 'good book'. I hope the news on the flat exchange will be enough to cheer her up! Think on how you succeeded in your career without going beyond secondary school - I was lucky to have indulgent parents, a situation which allowed me to become a 'professional student' but I don't feel it made me 'better' than anyone else, or indeed any more successful! Did enjoy it a hell of a lot though!!

Kind regards,

Jock.

I think the problem is that the church is full of human beings and there are a fair proportion of inconsiderate so and sos across the general population of human beings and the church is no different. This particular clergyman seems to be making up rules to suit his own conceptions as to what is right. Particularly as not so long ago, the thought of being re-married was also anathema. Good lord, next they'll be allowing women bishops....what? they do? Note to Dawn French - please please please don't suggest a series of the Bishop of Dibley

[The Lurker]

Morning all. I'M ON A TRAIN. He says, shouting like most people do on their mobiles. No emoticons or likes available with the crappy mobile version of the forum's software. Happy likes and friendlies to all.

 

It's a long week on a course that requires a 5 hour round trip commute. Throw in the track problems @ Lewisham and it hasn't been pleasant. If Network Rail hadn't had to go all P4 they could have just called Hattons and had a replacement PECO delivered in a day. We've now got 4 weeks of no evening service and no trains to Victoria at all.

They've managed to cancel the train I get evey morning and the train I get in the evening for the same 4 weeks. Those trains avoid Lewisham (i've thought this to be generally A Good Thing ever since my parents' car broke down outside Lewisham clock tower when I was about 3) so I feel hard done by! Standing all the way now. Still a foretaste of things to come in January when the Charing Crossers stop calling at London Bridge for 18 months(thus reducing my available trains by 2/3rds). Slower and standing room only, here we come!

[Pete 75C]

Now, I'm a level-headed chap. I know my limitations. I'm not daft but ask me about nuclear physics or fashion and I glaze over. I fully accept that there are millions of people out there that know more than me about lots of things and I'm fine with that. Trouble is I've met most of them this morning and they've all taken great delight in telling me I know nothing. I assume beating somebody to a pulp with an Encyclopedia Brittanica volume is still frowned upon? Thought so. Need coffee. Grump over.

 

Edit: Sorry... morning all! It's actually 1pm but whatever...

Edited October 2, 2014 by Pete 75C

[Tony_S]

As one who was not educated beyond A Level - and I'm sure it shows - I do find it odd that the former Colleges of Advanced Tomfoolery Technology have now morphed into Universities. I wonder who is kidding whom.

Where Aditi works used to be a humble college of further education. They used to run a lot of railway engineering courses back in BR days, HNC, City & Guilds. All that sort of work disappeared as did the automotive and construction work.

The colleges big earner now is English language. There are lots of "Access" courses getting people up to a level to start whatever other academic or practical subject they want to start.

Aditi now works only in the colleges "University Centre". They run Combined Studies, Business Studies, Psychology and Counselling degrees. They can't issue their own degrees, they are mainly validated by the Open University. They have OU visits and have visiting examiners to moderate their marking. The scandal last year of people being given grades without attending wasn't in the uni bit of the college!

Most of their students are older than at traditional universities, and are trying to get qualifications while working and juggling child care so Aditi has to be very creative with timetabling.

Tony