Early Risers.

[AndyID]

and that yesterday was a Bonk Holiday in the UK

 

I've been out of the country for so long that I'm not sure how that works. Is one encouraged to abstain or participate?

[Tony_S]

I've been out of the country for so long that I'm not sure how that works. Is one encouraged to abstain or participate?

In Scotland you wouldn't have needed to choose. Not a Scottish holiday!

[4630]

Now for something different.

This lady stopped to take a selfie and showed me her puppies.

 

lrg_177144_1441004001.jpg

And very nice puppies they look too.

 

I wonder if she takes her cat for a walk too?

[DDolfelin]

That's a pretty good first post in ERs, Russ.

[Coombe Barton]

Back home yesterday evening.

 

Combination of being furiously busy before we went away then having lousy wifi on the campsite (the iPhone using GPRS was a darned sight quicker!) has meant that I've been out of it for a bit.

 

Catching up is hard to do, but I'll try.

 

But don't expect anything sensible. But from me you wouldn't anyway.

 

Back to work today. It's still there. And apparently I'm the best person to undertake a task, which isn't such good news.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Coombe Barton

[emt_911]

AndyB - Once it has been determined that a sinle piece of electrical is / isn't the culprit, the only sensible option is to get an electrician in to fault find and rectify. As long as they're registered with a relevant trade body (IET, NICEIC, JIB etc.) they will be insured.

 

I didn't do Latin at school which at the time was a bonus due to being hopeless at any language that required formal teaching. I have found that the only way for me to learn is to immerse myself in the culture of the country.

[AndyID]

Would a Bonk Holiday be similar to "a weekend in Brighton"?

 

I must stop it !!!

[AndyB]

Thanks everyone for your advice re the tripping out problem. Mum single-handedly keeps Lakeland and various other catalogues in business, so checking the numerous gadgets out is going to take time! Oh, and combine that with a "make do and mend" attitude (nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I have had to unilaterally put electronic items in the bin) there is quite a hoard. But, as they once said in Walmington-on-Sea: "I have a list: the kettle, remoska, slow cooker, spare slow cooker, spare remoska, freezer 1, freezer 2, fridge, ...are now on ze list!"

 

I may be sometime....!

[Tony_S]

Thanks everyone for your advice re the tripping out problem. Mum single-handedly keeps Lakeland and various other catalogues in business, so checking the numerous gadgets out is going to take time! Oh, and combine that with a "make do and mend" attitude (nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I have had to unilaterally put electronic items in the bin) there is quite a hoard. But, as they once said in Walmington-on-Sea: "I have a list: the kettle, remoska, slow cooker, spare slow cooker, spare remoska, freezer 1, freezer 2, fridge, ...are now on ze list!"

 

I may be sometime....!

When I worked supporting IT in schools many people complimented me on my ability to give advice by telephone. I think this was a transferrable skill acquired as a result of speaking to my Mum about faulty electrical items for many years.

Aditi's Mum has now appointed me to be the only person she will talk to about electrical, motoring or plumbing problems. Aditi's sister is very practical and lives round the corner from MiL and isn't listened to. I now ask my SiL what had she said and then give the same advice, giving credit where due. MiL is very generous but also very careful and often seems reluctant to take advice that involves hiring a professional. She lives in what is described as a penthouse apartment and I am reluctant to do anything that will flood the lower floors! So often my advice is "pay someone".

Edited September 1, 2015 by Tony_S

[Smiffy2]

My mother used to claim that if you didn't turn off the switch on a socket the electricity leaked out. She knew it was true because she could smell it.

 

She also believed that during thunderstorms you should cover the cutlery in the drawer with a teacloth. 

 

 

As a fish...

[AndyID]

She also believed that during thunderstorms you should cover the cutlery in the drawer with a teacloth. 

 

She might have been on to something with that one. Ozone accelerates tarnish on silver although I'm not sure a teacloth would help too much.

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Had a real humdinger of a hailstorm a couple of hours ago but like most such storms it soon passed. Be sitting down to watch 'New Tricks' shortly, still a favourite of mine despite the complete change of cast. Or perhaps because of the change of cast it is still kept 'fresh', if UCOS was for real it would probably have had several changes of personnel over the same period. Fortunately for me my brother is/was an electrician and if I have any problems I just give him a call. Mind you the last time I called him out I got an earful, it was the switch to the central heating pump which resides in a cupboard where I usually keep things like suitcases, I'd put a suitcase in the cupboard and accidentally  knocked the switch off DOH!

[trisonic]

Hi, I’m back - I explained to Jock where I’ve been. He very kindly emailed me to see if I was OK (I am fine).

 

I was genuinely sorry to hear that the other Pete had “disappeared” - not what I wanted at all.

 

I do promise something and that is if someone does get under my skin and irritate me I’ll take a walk around the block first, instead.......

 

I do apologize  if I have upset anyone else (I haven’t read everything).

 

 

Ian D. Sounds like you have a fine system that should keep you in good stead for at least ten years if not a lot more. Just be careful if you let the iMac suggest what you write.......all iMac owners know this, to their cost, sometimes. Quality photos do look amazing on the big iMac screen

 

In the meantime we got cheques from insurance companies for both the house and my wife’s car (the engine is ok) due to the recent floods here. It was eventually determined that we received over 5 inches of rain in two hours flat. Amazing really considering that my MiL 17 miles away got nothing, nada, not a drop.

 

Anyway, later, Pete.

[bbishop]

At the present rate of attrition, ER may soon be the only thread left on RMWeb.

 

"When Andy's away, the Mods do play!"

 

Still glum, but Tales of the Sou' West (vol 2) is helping, Bill

[Ashcombe]

My mother used to claim that if you didn't turn off the switch on a socket the electricity leaked out. She knew it was true because she could smell it.

 

She also believed that during thunderstorms you should cover the cutlery in the drawer with a teacloth. 

 

 

As a fish...

When I was a child, if we had a thunderstorm in the night, my mother would cover all the mirrors with a blanket and make a pot of tea! I loved it! There was a novelty in being awake with the permission of the grown ups!

 

Perhaps that's why I enjoy random night-time sessions of TIB with Ian.

[Tony_S]

 

I know what you mean. When Robbie was little I started walking round the park with John who was a recently retired accountant. We met every day with our dogs and had a nice chat. John had oesophagal cancer develop after a couple of years and died. I really missed him and his tales of extreme accountancy and general common sense. I think I was more affected by his passing than family members.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Tony_S

[New Haven Neil]

Well, nice to see Pete back, and Jock has sent his address for a DVD full of bike photos once festivities end on Saturday, you'll be pleased to know.  I feel it is just a little helpful thing I can do for one who seems to care so much for others on here.

 

With Bill and Tony's comments about bereavement it digs into me how much I miss Gary - it's only been 15 months.  Jayne still really struggles, and it tears my heart to see her loss and anguish.  Life, eh.

[Oldddudders]

 

With Bill and Tony's comments about bereavement it digs into me how much I miss Gary - it's only been 15 months.  Jayne still really struggles, and it tears my heart to see her loss and anguish.  Life, eh.

It's almost 3 years since I lost Deb. Indeed three years ago today I spent some hours rubbing cream into her aching limbs, little realising she'd be gone within days. But you can either wallow or move on and try to enjoy what you have left. I try to do the latter. Thank goodness for Sherry!

 

Martin Wynne's complaint seems to have been that a thread was locked when it hadn't run its full grumpy course. He espouses a more generous view of his chief protagonist than many others might, I feel. Others had reported it to the "Moderators" - as if there were a cast of thousands waiting their call. So Andy Y found himself - away on holiday, working with a smartphone at 0500 - with a dilemma, and solved it by locking the thread. There are apparently 26k registered members, and a handful of Mods. I don't know their names, either - well, not all of them, anyway - but believe they are very, very few in number. Yet people routinely make a cock-up in posting and then cheerfully leave a note in the thread for the Mods to sort out by moving their script elsewhere, as if a Mod was on every thread every few minutes. P-lease! The Moderation on RMweb is extremely light IMHO, and we hardly know they are there. People do expect a lot when relatively minor trouble is brewing, it seems to me. I rather suspect some were hoping another member would get the size 9, instead we have lost Martin who knew a lot and has made a substantial contribution over many years of RMweb.

[Barry O]

This being on holiday lark is very tiring!

 

I think that martin should have contacted Andy Y at a sensible hour to see what was going on. I am not sure that the thread could have been allowed to continue anyway due to the path it was following. Perhaps it would have been better discussed by pm?

 

Any roads up its time for more sleep so stay calm and have a good night's sleep.

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

This being on holiday lark is very tiring!

 

Baz

If I thought about it logically I would probably stay at home as it doesn't take much to exhaust me! However I am glad we had our recent holiday. I need to get used to the idea. Aditi has us going to Holland the week she retires and off to Paris the weekend after for her birthday.

Holland will be from our local airport and Paris from Ebbsfleet station which is just over the river.

[jamie92208]

Evening all. Good to see both Pete's back in the fold with generosity of spirit being shown all round. Very typical of ER's. I do hope that things calm

 

It's getting late and I have had a good day working on the railway in between phone calls connected with the house purchase in France. That has resulted in me having to sit down and rad through a 20 page document in French and make notes. I think that my late French teachers would have been rather surprised that I managed this task.

 

I was quite overwhelemed by the number of 'friendly/supportive' comments on my post about my late and unlamented Latin master. Reading it back now it could appear that the school was a brutal version of something from Dickens. In some ways I suppose it was. It just happened to be the boys public school (Giggleswick) that was in the village where I grew up and in those days if you passed your 11 plus you got sent there as a day boy at the county's expense. In many ways I hated the place due to the culture of bullying that some of the staff encouraged and relied on to make their lives easy. However I have mixed memories of the place due the high calibre of some of the staff who were inspirational. Our Chemistry teacher had worked at Winscale during the fire and got us interested in nuclear chemistry by teaching us how atom and hydrogen bombs worked. Our art teacher was the forger for the Great escape and was waiting in the hut at Stalag luft 3 ready to enter the tunnel when the balloon went up. He was a great bloke and very inspirational. I came out of the place with a good education as well as a hatred of bullying in all its forms that is still with me. I also used to love watching the trains shunting the lime sidings at Giggleswick station when out doing cross country. I am told that the place has been transformed since it went Co-ed and one day will go back and attend an old boys event.

 

Good night all.

 

Jamie

[emt_911]

Night all

[Tony_S]

I got a good education at my secondary school. I wouldn't want to go back and see anyone who was also there. I also gained a lifelong dislike of bullies and people who wield positional power for their own advantage.

[newbryford]

  I still have the Peugeot at the door, as the insurer would only offer a repair from a body shop in Carlisle, or one in Heywood - nothing in between.  I am still waiting for the Carlisle people to call me with an update on when the flatbed can cover the 60 odd miles to come and get it.

 

30747 has not suffered any breaks, but has been referred for a (hopefully) short course of phyiso to unlock her back and neck.

 

So once I had this car, I decided to to go to Asda, and picked up a few beers on their 4 for a fiver offer, and when I got home, the handles on one of the bags burst, so it was farewell Lancaster Red, and farewell Courage DIrectors....

 

 

 

Glad to hear 30747 is relatively unscathed.

 

I would kick off about using the insurance company approved bodyshops. It depends on the insurance company as to which ones they "prefer" to use (probably due to backhanders, but that's just my way of thinking about insurance companies after my recent annoyance for call centres ringing me about claiming for an accident), but I believe you can have the repair done at any approved bodyshop. Someone bumped my car (Ford) and I naively accepted their choice of repair company (actually another Ford dealer). It later transpired that I could have nominated my own - very local - Ford dealer for the repair as it is on an approved insurance repair list, but not at the top of it.

 

Biggest issue I had was with the fuel after using the replacement vehicle - I had clear records that the vehicle was delivered to me with a half-full tank. Their normal procedure was delivery with a full tank, but the delivery driver assured me that it was OK and to return with a half tank. The sign-off sheets for both delivery and later collection showed the same amount of fuel in the car. I made a point of mentioning it to the collection driver.

 About a month later I got a bill for the other half tank and a "service charge". Somehow, they had my credit card details and had charged it already Copies of the delivery collection notes were sent to the hire company and a number of emails before I was credited with the relevant amount.

The next month, the same happened again and they blamed it on a glitch in their system and that it wouldn't happen again. Credit duly applied.

When a third bill arrived for a completely different vehicle, I really wasn't amused. Their poor operator got both barrels of NB in a bad mood - which is a very rare thing.

 

As for the beer - now that is a disaster.

 

Cheers,

Mick

Edited September 1, 2015 by newbryford

[laurenceb]

Night all