Early Risers.

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple Hare. 1083/677

And moorings it very nearly is, a night of heavy rain on soggy soil has left nowhere much for the water to go, big puddles even on the major roads. the bit in Wroxham where the river escapes the on the car park and thence to the road was under water..

 

A bad nights sleep I just couldn't get comfortable and kept waking up, how much sleep did I get .. not a lot..

 

Ben the relaxed Collie however was happy curled up in bed, only to sneak out onto the sofa while I made breakfast, he returned to his bed when I re-appeared..

 

I remember receiving those punch cards in bundles of 10 in the post, very useful, as in those days the only time a bank was open was while you were at work and being in the RAF there was no getting off for a few minutes  over an hour to get into town and back to go to the bank.

 

When I get home to night I see I'm going to go on the main computer and give the sound board something to do. The noise level of all those Toccatas may well persuade Ben the I'm scared of loud noises Collie to hide in his cage..

 

Time to head for the lab...

 

[Barry O]

Ey up!

Lots to do today. Bits of wood are being turned into flat boards for the new "hobby orientated" baseboards.

 

So, positive thoughts to all who ail!

Chrisf..for the time being concentrate on your trip which sounds like it will be a good one.

 

Hoping that some of ourmissing ERs can call in.

 

Smiffy, hope the leg wounds are healing ok and that you can get the Black Dog back in its kennel.

 

Off to give my Tuesday a kick up the backside!

Baz

[Ozexpatriate]

We continue to be behind on our rainfall, now by as much as 6.8" since the beginning of October.

 

That might change a bit this week. Forecasts now indicate as much as 3" - 4" of rain beginning Wednesday through Friday. We certainly need to build up the snow-pack but the creeks will be full and there might be flooding in the usual trouble spots.

 

The latest meteorological buzzword is "atmospheric river". A stream of warmer wet air from the central North Pacific is targeting the Northwest coast. They used to call these a "pineapple express" if they came from the vicinity of the Hawaiian Islands. Even though the rain/snow altitude will rise, we should still get snow at higher altitudes.

[Dave Hunt]

Had a bad night due to back pain. Up at 0300 taking paracetamol and getting a hot water bottle to ease it. Currently consuming muggocoffee and being invaded by the cat demanding food and attention. Going to the local food bank volunteers Christmas get together this lunchtime then some domestic  niffnaff and trivia. 

 

Thoughts for all ailing ERs and hopes that diems will be carped. 

 

Dave

[grandadbob]

Good morning all,

It's been raining most of the night and still is and probably will for a while.

Bad night here too with The Hip and The Shoulder causing grief. Woke up about 2.00 and then 4.30 and never got back to sleep. Not helped by elderly neighbour across the road with dementia shouting and wailing until about 30 minutes ago.  

Busy day today. First task is a visit to the dentist at 10.00 for a check up and follow up re the tooth infection a couple of weeks ago which seems fine now. A parcel is also expected so The Boss will have to wait in while I'm out. Between 12.00 & 2.00 our new fridge freezer is due and between 2.00 and 3.00 we have a Sainsbury's delivery. Don't very often have them but they bribed us with a few quid off. 

Have a good one,

Bob.

[jamie92208]

24 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

Had a bad night due to back pain. Up at 0300 taking paracetamol and getting a hot water bottle to ease it.  

 

Dave

I thought that for you types who have served in the far east, that the solution was to get a young lady to walk grntly up and down your back!  However someone else might object to that nowadays.

 

Jamie

[Dave Hunt]

It was usually what took place after she'd walked up and down that took your mind off the back pain. Definitely a cause for objection in certain quarters!

 

Dave

Edited December 17, 2019 by Dave Hunt

[TheQ]

The plumbing in the bathroom is definately causing grief, now looking at bath tap reviver kits, as the hot bath tap is dribbling excessively. Luckily Screwfix seems to carry the required item in stock..

That's a task for Friday, So I'll go screwfixing tomorrow. I'm making another attempt to get my favourite whisky from Tes and cos tonight..

 

The ballcock was replaced again last night, took all of 5 minutes, when I tried to squeeze the new flush valve past the first replacement, it broke at the hinge point..

Why? the orginal was all brass and I could squeeze the flush unit past.. Having inspected the wreckage of the first replacement, that hinge is now plastic... So whenever the flush valve has to be extracted to change the flap I'll have to remove the ballcock first..

[sixoh8sixoh]

Morning all - I think I'll skip catching up on however many thousand pages have passed by since I last dropped in!

 

Railway modelling mojo well and truly gone, but getting on otherwise. Nice to see (looking at the last couple of pages) that many of the same folk are still here!

 

My morning walk into work from the new house takes me past one half of the Craigentinny depot in Edinburgh and this morning was a bit of a treat as there was an 08 shunter just finishing pushing into a siding a 47 and a 92 in Caledonian Sleeper livery. 

[BoD]

Morning all.

 

Really good to see a post from Mike, sixoh.....

[Kingzance]

Morning from a beyond damp NEHerts. Tuesday means fish, golf lessons and cribbage but this week is extra smoked fish for the middle of next week and a tending of straggly follicles above KZ's shoulders to see out this year. The window cleaner has arrived and a new wall mounting bracket for Madam's kitchen TV is also expected sometime today. More light emitting devices were delivered at her behest yesterday, I simply have to put up the bl@@dy things. Doesn't she know there is an ongoing climate crisis and we should be cutting our energy usage?

Pah, bumhug, crape dimes!

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Rather damp this morning but quite warm for the time of year. Not helped by my having a bit of a cold for the past few days that I just can't shake off. I'm not that fond of turkey so I'll have to seek out an alternative for Christmas dinner, a nice piece of salmon for favourite, wild not farmed. Thats it for now, be back later.

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

I am having a quiet day today. I went back to sleep after making some tea this morning.  I need to ring the clinic to confirm I want the cardiology care appointment for February. 
Tony

[Happy Hippo]

2 hours ago, Dave Hunt said:

It was usually what took place after she'd walked up and down that took your mind off the back pain. Definitely a cause for objection in certain quarters!

 

Dave

So those scars you've been claiming were from flak over the Ruhr where actually caused by Ming Ming's stiletto heels?

[The Stationmaster]

Morning all,

 

The management and the Good doctor have gone out - presumably to the singing group they have taken up with which is some sort of 'sing and be less miserable happier' thing designed to get folk out of the house.  Talking of which I really need to visit various local emporia in continuing search of round head woodscrews - even KZ's excellent information re another source drew a blank but there are three local outlets to try although two are parts of a major group so offer little hope judging by other major groups' lack of suitable items.  Great shame that the one local source for the harder to find items should have closed down, probably an indication of the building etc trade nowadays wanting to do everything the quick and not so neat way - my dad would no doubt be rapidly rotating in his grave if he were to know of such things.

 

We have now joined the 'Flood Alert' situation with the river locally teetering on the brink of coming over the top in various places where nobody lives.  Well that's what the website says but looking at the same website's map tells a different story although it seem alarmist  as it shows the warning area extending a long way beyond the 100 year flood level!  The most likely scenario is that the river will burst its banks in a few places but not by anything really noticeable as the web extract below shows.   No worry for us of course as we're nearly 100 feet above the lock.

 

 

May the rest of the day go well for you all

[The Stationmaster]

Amendment - they went shopping instead (well shopping at Tesco if you can call that shopping)

[TheQ]

26 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Morning all,

 

The management and the Good doctor have gone out - presumably to the singing group they have taken up with which is some sort of 'sing and be less miserable happier' thing designed to get folk out of the house.  Talking of which I really need to visit various local emporia in continuing search of round head woodscrews - even KZ's excellent information re another source drew a blank but there are three local outlets to try although two are parts of a major group so offer little hope judging by other major groups' lack of suitable items.  Great shame that the one local source for the harder to find items should have closed down, probably an indication of the building etc trade nowadays wanting to do everything the quick and not so neat way - my dad would no doubt be rapidly rotating in his grave if he were to know of such things.

 

We have now joined the 'Flood Alert' situation with the river locally teetering on the brink of coming over the top in various places where nobody lives.  Well that's what the website says but looking at the same website's map tells a different story although it seem alarmist  as it shows the warning area extending a long way beyond the 100 year flood level!  The most likely scenario is that the river will burst its banks in a few places but not by anything really noticeable as the web extract below shows.   No worry for us of course as we're nearly 100 feet above the lock.

 

 

May the rest of the day go well for you all

https://www.toolstation.com/search?q=wood screws slotted

 

And we are still,

 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning afternoon everyone 

 

Late In parade as we were both late up this morning, so it was a bit of a rush, as Sheila was due at the hairdressers at 9:45, so a lift was requested and she just made it! I then carried on to complete the Sainsbury’s Grand, along with a visit to a couple of other local shops for a few bits and pieces. We seem to be blessed with a very good stationary shop and I picked up a couple of drawing pads, one with small squares on and the other graph paper. The pad with small squares is particularly useful when planning component layout on veroboard. 

 

Evie has requested chicken curry for tomorrow nights tea, so the plan is to make a huge batch of curry sauce after dinner, most will end up in the freezer for future use. 

 

Nice to see Mike posting again, it’s been far too long. 

 

Enjoy (what’s left of) the day, back later. 

 

 

[Ian Abel]

Chewsday

 

Nice dinner with Jemma yesterday as she wasn't called out, especially worthwhile as I don't usually bother to inhabit the local restaurants solo.

Very enjoyable French wine bar that I've visited with the Mrs before.

Nothing else from yesterday

 

Jemma was assigned a morning flight from JFK -> Phoenix, so we were up with before the lark to get her to JFK for a 7AM "show time". It was/is raining here and that meant that both the trip to JFK and then back to the Long Island office were stupid, apparently everyone forgets how to drive if it's raining. Average speed on the freeways was 30-35mph, and it was just light rain!!!

 

2 first thing and as noted, light rain, supposed to reach 5 with rain off and on most of the day sounds like.

 

Carry on...

[Kingzance]

2 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

Talking of which I really need to visit various local emporia in continuing search of round head woodscrews - even KZ's excellent information re another source drew a blank but there are three local outlets to try although two are parts of a major group so offer little hope judging by other major groups' lack of suitable items.  Great shame that the one local source for the harder to find items should have closed down, probably an indication of the building etc trade nowadays wanting to do everything the quick and not so neat way - my dad would no doubt be rapidly rotating in his grave if he were to know of such things.

A good friend, recently sadly departed, swore by Drews at Caversham Bridge in Reading Mike. Is that the emporium that you say has closed down?

[Ian Abel]

9 hours ago, AndyID said:

Not a big surprise.

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/boeing-to-suspend-737-max-production-in-january-11576532032

 

Somewhere along the line Boeing management might have put a bit too much emphasis on software. The great thing about software is very few senior managers have the faintest idea about any of it, particularly as it relates to real-time events.

 

I better shut-up now.

Indeed - no surprise, frankly I'm amazed it's taken them this long to do it.

They've run out of places to store the blqqdy things  they had already started using the staff parking lot at Renton to park them by mid-summer.

Lord knows where all they have them parked now

Edited December 17, 2019 by Ian Abel

[TheQ]

The master 1A 10a and 20A references have returned from their Holidays down at Barnes Wallace bouncing golf ball land , near Gwiwer. So that gives me plenty to do tomorrow, comparing them, against our secondary master references, and since they have arrived against this weeks major system which is otherwise complete..

The predictions of what the values of the shunts should be and the actual measured values of those that came back from Teddington are within the uncertainty of measurement, which is always a good sign...

 

Well, half an hour to half past week for me as I have Friday off..A quick search for Highland Park, then time to go sit with Ben as SWMBO will have paddled her way to weaving group by the time I get home..

 

It's still raining...

Edited December 17, 2019 by TheQ

[jamie92208]

3 hours ago, BSW01 said:

The pad with small squares is particularly useful when planning component layout on veroboard. 

Over here it's almost impossible to buy lined paper. Everything is gridded up in 5mm squares.  If you ever need any pads or notebooks let me know.

 

Jamie

Edited December 17, 2019 by jamie92208

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Kingzance said:

A good friend, recently sadly departed, swore by Drews at Caversham Bridge in Reading Mike. Is that the emporium that you say has closed down?

Yes Kz.  Drews was an excellent shop where you could get just about anything in the screw and bolt, nut, and washer line plus an excellent selection of tools and various other things such as  'bar hinges sir - no problem how many pairs would you like?'.  Some years  ago I even bought several sets of those fabled hinges railway muddlers used to like to use to join portable baseboard sections but could never find so have to make their own - hinges with knockout spindles, standard stock item in Drews.  One of their big plus points was that when they bought in screws etc they always sold them at the normal mark up on their original price when taken into stock so slow moving items such as unusual sizes of mirror screws could be remarkably cheap because they'd had them in stock since Adam was a lad.  Plus most of the stock sizes of screws and bolts were sold singly so you could buy as many as you wanted and didn't have to rely on the pre-pack method of the D-I-Y sheds selling you packets of 20 when you only needed four to do the job.

 

I think they must have suffered a major rent review and that really clobbered them because despite seemingly every D-I-Y shed in the country having a branch within a mile they remained busy right up to the end because they had a lot of stuff the sheds didn't offer.  So yet another of Reading's really useful shops bit the dust going the same way as The Shop On The Bridge which many will remember when it really was on a bridge and which in its original site was a great source of everything you needed to wire your l*y**t and then some - ob ver 50 years ago as a mere lad I built an interlocked NX panel for my then layout using almost entirely various bits and pieces from them including lots of ex GPO relays..  They relocated to the opposite end of town and changed a lot in what they supplied but eventually also closed - another great loss but they were basically knocked out by competition from the D-I-Y sheds in the end.

[Dave Hunt]

4 hours ago, Happy Hippo said:

So those scars you've been claiming were from flak over the Ruhr where actually caused by Ming Ming's stiletto heels?

 

Who mentioned stiletto heels? Could it be that you know more than you are letting on? Come to that, how do you know about the scars?

 

Just which branch of whose army were you in Major (or should it be Herr Oberst?).

 

Dave