Early Risers.

[Robert]

You had a lucky escape there Rob.

 

Presumably a case of SMIDSY?

[NHY 581]

You had a lucky escape there Rob.

 

Presumably a case of SMIDSY?

Indeed.....

[emt_911]

Morning all. A later than usual start today. A site visit that is so close I could walk it if I didn't need to take so much with me.

 

At least it should mean an early finish and just a lot of writing to do afterwards.

 

Have a good day everyone

[Barry O]

Isn't tea wonderful. I shall be getting ready to be taken to Swindon after drinking my tea and undertaking my ablutions.

 

Chrisf I have artificial tear drops as well but it didn't stave off the current problem unfortunately.

 

I may not be able to sign in over the weekend so have a great time and beware of the lady watching over us.

 

Debs have a restful weekend and hope your recuperation is rapid

 

Baz

[roundhouse]

Morning from a drizzly Surrey.

 

Sod law that when it's raining and we have a rucksack with us the bus is very late so we had to walk yo the station.

 

Southern services back to normal. Just late rather than not running. At least being Friday there are plenty of seats on our LBG service.

 

Tonight we are off to Luton maybe a quick stop in St Albans for a pint. Tomorrow we fly to Inverness.

[tetsudofan]

Morning from the far southeast. Bit sticky here last night so turned on the aircon in the bedroom (joys of living in a chalet bungalow) and slept like a log.

 

Thought I would see if I could find RMweb on my mobile this morning and bingo seems like I found it. Let's see if I can do a post....

 

Keith

[tetsudofan]

Seems like I succeeded. Not being a mobile or technical geek that surprises me.

 

Have a good day.

 

Keith

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone.

 

POETS day yeah! I've not got far to travel today, only going as far as Runcorn and with a bit of luck, I should be home just after lunch.

 

The weather seems a bit brighter this morning, but well have to see how it progresses.

 

Rob. A very lucky escape indeed, I've never been into motorcycles, but both my younger brothers rode them, which I think has made me more 'motorcycle' aware than some!

 

Roundhouse. Enjoy your trip to the land of the haggis.

 

Back later.

 

Edit for fat fingers doh!

Edited September 9, 2016 by BSW01

[AndrewC]

Good moaning. Cooler and cloudy in the borough of boring. It's Friday. Thank f... Fairly quiet still. Next week I'm covering for someone back at my previous project. I expect 5 days of Cockwomble fustercluck.

 

SWMBO has a day off. It's her company conference. That means a day of team building crap. This time it's watersports at the Olympic venue. Last time she did one of these corporate things she tore her acl and required surgery. Her option was sit and watch or take a day of leave.

 

Those of you I'm friends with on Farcebook, no I haven't dumped you. I've deactivated the account for a while.

 

Today marks 19 years since mum died. Seems like yesterday and seems a lifetime ago. A rather large G&T will be raised later.

 

Where ever you are, what ever you are doing, enjoy the day.

[Gwiwer]

A later than usual start today. 

At least it should mean an early finish 

 

 

As I always say "If you arrive late you have to leave early to make up for it"

 

Morning all.  Happy POETS Day.  It has been wet since late last night and the clouds continue to leak alarmingly.  Should I call a sky-plumber?

[jamie92208]

Morning all from a brightening village. Just had time for a quick skim read through the latest posts. Rob you certainly had a very lucky escape there.

 

Life continues at it's usual pace here. Beth is off back to the fracture clinic this morning and hopefully will now get properly plastered. Then this afternoon it's off to York for her PIP assessment. As a result she is somewhat nervous and as I'm driving her around perhaps I should take some earplugs. We went to visit her dad yesterday evening. Not a very good prognosis. They daren't operate due to his general health and are not telling him exactly what is obstructing his bowel. he actually said that the thought of having the op and expiring on the table was not a bad way of going. However as you can imagine this is also causing the stress and emotion levels to rise. All I can do is try and be a supportive, other half.

 

Got to go now as it's time to set off for Leeds.

 

Jamie

[AndyB]

Morning all, and it's another sunny one here. 

Not much to report so just dropping in to wish you all well, especially Debs.

 

Robert, hope you get the result you're looking for. 

 

Have a nice weekend everyone. Andy

[BoD]

Morning all

 

I will definitely be POETing today as I have just packed thrown some togs into a bag and will shortly be setting off across to the Lake District for a couple of days to wander lonely as a cloud..

I intend to have a slow drive across enjoying the scenic route up Weardale.  May even be forced to stop for breakfast at some point.

[Bibby Line]

Gents,

 

I have read with interest the posts regarding eye problems with blepharitis diagnosed as the problem.

 

I had the same issues and was told that I had blepharitis, however, it wouldn't go away. Eventually the eye hospital diagnosed that the problem was an infection ! Antibiotics were required.

 

Good luck.

 

Eddie

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Slightly cloudy but still pleasantly warm. Not a lot happening here at the moment apart from tea drinking and feeding medication to the dog. Robbie is fine now and can eat solid food again but he has become very suspicious about any medication. I think he associates it with the pain rather than the cure. Fortunately he will eat anything wrapped in cheese. Red Leicester this time rather than Wensleydale .

I will be going shopping today, I have a "click and collect" package to collect from Waitrose in Leigh so I may as well shop there too.

Tony

Edited September 9, 2016 by Tony_S

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Starting to brighten up after a dull start this morning. According to the forecast next Tuesday will be a scorcher hereabouts, 27 degrees. Better get on with the hard landscaping then though the ground is still rock hard in places, fortunately in other places its workable so no need to call in the professionals, yet. Commiserations and congratulations where neccessary, have a good POETS day all, be back later.

Edited September 9, 2016 by PhilJ W

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

Bright and sunny here but hopefully it won't be so hot and humid as yesterday - one of the staff in Tesco was complaining about the heat and humidity and he comes from Bali although he's been over here for quite a while I believe.

 

Today we're off to Tilehurst to deliver Mrs Stationmaster to the tooth farrier during which time I might take the opportunity to look at a bit of overhead electrification, thence to Waitrose for 'a bit of shopping' - apparently there are lots of half price offers on currently so extra shopping bags have been assembled.

 

Have a good day one and all.

[lightengine]

Tis a grey overcast day in sunny Teignmouth today. A good chance of rain I imagine.

 

Years ago I had blepharitis several times and the gp told me that it was because I was a guard at the time and often had my head out of the window of a moving train. It did go (the blepharitis not my head, I was very careful).

 

Had a quote yesterday for approx 13 metres of fencing. The deforestation of plant growth, the taking away of said plant growth and the tidying of site. £850ish sounds good to me. 4x4" posts all tannalised etc and it needs dropping down the terraced garden in at least 3 steps. Just need to negotiate the hedgehog portal.

[The Lurker]

Morning all, it's greyer at London Bridge today. The Lurker boys are pleased to have reached Friday as there is no school tomorrow.

 

I had to look up Blephartis as despite various eye issues over the years I have never heard of it.

 

Not a lot to report - the routine is reasserting itself after the summer,. Swimming lessons etc

[edcayton]

Good morning all.

 

At the risk of being controversial (again) I am fed up with people with plums in their mouths talking about apprenticeships and vocational education/training. I do not believe that they know what they are talking about, and to me there is an implied "but not for my child of course".

 

I leave this for people to shoot me down in flames, I think I may be able to forecast the few people who agree. No friendly/supportives please!

 

3252 likes. Am I bovvered?

 

Ed

[Tony_S]

What technical and vocational education need is proper funding. Consistent funding too, plenty of initiatives have been thwarted when the money runs out when someone in power comes up with a jolly wheeze not so much to provide education but to reduce "headline" youth unemployment figures.

Edited September 9, 2016 by Tony_S

[Gwiwer]

I'm told the link should not be geoblocked but apologies if you find it is.

 

We had a very special little boy visit the Palace today.  Seen here making announcements under the care of our senior Station Master, Ray Mizzi.  

 

https://au.news.yahoo.com/video/watch/32578538/five-year-old-deaf-blind-boy-genetic-disorder-usher-syndrome-becomes-flinders-street-train-rail-station-master/?cmp=st#page1

[Donw]

One of the problems you have with vocational education these days is while for many it would be better suited than going to university it can be career limiting as in engineering jobs there is often a ceiling now which limits upwards progress if you do not have a degree. It can be galling to be a dam good engineer and faced with bosses who are less knowledgeable about technical matters but have a degree in some unrelated discipline which 'somehow' makes them better qualified to be a manager.

 

Don 

[Happy Hippo]

Ed,

 

No sympathetic hand wringing from me, as I tend to agree with you.

 

Successive governments meddled with education to such as extent that they were convinced that every child should go to university.

 

They singularly failed to recognise that universities are academic institutes,that do not suit those with a more practical bent.

 

So the one cap fits all was never going to work.

 

What this did in real terms was to devalue the degree qualification, as they were then the norm rather than the exception.

I think it took them about a decade before they the realised that degrees in footballers social activities, dry sphagetti knitting and mediocre studies were not really in the same academic league as applied mathematics, engineering or medicine.

 

Having seen the content of some so called modern apprenticeships, I am convinced they are just a method of formalizing the ability of an individual to stroke a pet goat.

 

I must emphasis that not all apprenticeships are such, as some require high levels of practical ability, where others require both academic and practical skills.L

[BSW01]

Training, a very touchy subject I feel.

 

I served my 4 year apprenticeship many years ago, the old fashioned way. 18 months in the apprentice training school, followed by 30 months on the shop floor, working next to craftsmen (some of these guys served 5 year apprenticeships). As part of that training regime, I was sent to college on day release to get my academic qualifications too. At the end of my apprenticeship I had the opportunity to continue to gain further academic qualifications if I wanted, the company would pay all the fees, but I had to study in my own time i.e. night school, I chose not to.

 

I changed employers when I was in my 30's and I was once again given the opportunity to further my academic career, this time I took it and after 6 years of studying I eventually gained a HND in electrical engineering. I could have looked for work in the office had I wanted to, but having been given a temporary promotion, I soon realised that it was not for me, I preferred fault finding and working on the tools to pen pushing and meetings.

 

A few years ago I was asked if I'd consider training to become an assessor, so I became a City & Guilds A1/A2 qualified assessor too, this meant that I could officially assess and sign off some of our young apprentices. Over the years I've trained several, using the methods that I had been trained with. I not only taught them them what to do, but also explained why and for what purpose they were doing it and importantly how to interpretate the readings, results they got and what to do if they were not what they'd expected. Only when I felt that they'd completely understood and grasped the whole concept did they pass their assessments. As far as I'm concerned that's the best way to become qualified.

 

Some have subsequently gone onto management, where I feel they will be an asset to the company, so I think I've done something right.