Early Risers.

[polybear]

43 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

Retirement is definitely kicking in now, I thought it was Friday all day.....

 

 

 

Wrong - it's definitely Tuesday......

[polybear]

Another fun day cleaning   About a half-day's worth to do - the TV, HDD, Video etc. , which is a pain cos' there are loads of cables to do as well.....  Everything not bolted down or not classed as "furniture" has  also gone upstairs - the room looks decidedly bare with no pictures, ornaments etc - heading towards minimalism.  The look has real possibilities - the next job after the kitchen refurb is the lounge refurb; part of me would like to do some of the messy bits in parallel with doing the kitchen, however I don't think doing two rooms at the same time is good for what little sanity I have left.  I'll just have to do a much better job of sealing off the new kitchen than I've done for sealing off the lounge.

Much of the lounge furniture has been grouped together and sheeted over (better late than never) - no way do I want this lark again.

Sister Gob & 'Ooter turned up at 9am for the C-19 doorstep test - soon done; not exactly fun but no hardship on the grand scale of things.

 

 

 

[southern42]

Congratulations to HH and Mrs HH on becoming grandparents again.  More £££ on little things that go round and round on parallel bits of metal, then?

 

A small(-ish, anyway)  job, this afternoon, turned into what seemed likely to be a catastrophe and a callout to an 'expert'. Ray was sweeping out the chimney when the top brush handle section would not go up any further.

'BIRD's NEST!' came the cry!

One trip to the Store, and one double screw acquired, and the nest (or rather loads of large twigs) - plus DEAD JACKDAW - came tumbling down filling two bin liners.  No wonder the room stank when I held the bottom end of the brush handle while Ray was outside checking to see if the brush head had come out the chimney pot.  Windows opened for a while and all seems OK.

 

Time for a mugadecafcoffee.

 

' night all and nos da.

 

Polly

Edited September 19, 2020 by southern42

[tigerburnie]

Evening all, congrats to the new Grandad and family, hope every one is in fine shape, we had a super day out in Perth with the Grandsons, picnic lunch in the garden, a nice walk and a takeaway tea, only downside was the birthday boy insisted we had a Mackie D's, that stuff sure is tasteless garbage, however it filled a hole.

[polybear]

11 minutes ago, southern42 said:

One trip to the Store, and one double screw acquired, and the nest (or rather loads of large twigs) - plus DEAD JACKDAW - came tumbling down filling two bin liners. 

 

That's Sunday Lunch sorted then.......

[simontaylor484]

20 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

That's Sunday Lunch sorted then.......

Tastes just like chicken

[Gwiwer]

9 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

I too have been looking at the data recently and my take on the situation is that, yes, the number of infections will rise

As I have done from early on I too look at the published numbers and the trends.  

 

For the UK detected infections are rising sharply but ostensibly it is known where those cases are since those tested must leave their details.  Daily updates on localised rates of infection are available (via the BBC website at least) showing by local authority area - and searchable by postcode - the current figures. 

 

Which brings me to another point.  London's Mayor Khan has been jumping up and down in the past 24-48 hours over "Sharply rising rates" in London yet this is not borne out by those same figures.  The trend and the weekly cumulative figures for most London Boroughs are actually down.  Of those which are rising, and of note they seem to be in areas of high-density low-income demographics with significantly non-white populations, they are rising at a rate I would call slowly.  

 

What am I missing?  Who is right?  Who is possibly misleading or being misled?  These things are important right now.  The infection rate for London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames which includes the Hill of Strawberries is below the nationwide average and the number of cases is falling.  Because of fewer tests being available?  Because fewer of the tests are positive?  Or what?  

 

It is acknowledged that mental health is taking a big hit during the pandemic.  It is not being helped by such blatant inconsistencies in information which places people in the position of not knowing who to trust.

 

In other news today has otherwise been a better day with SWMBO having taken herself off by tricycle to the garden centre.  That is a BIG first.  She has very seldom gone out on the trike without me as guide and lookout on the bike.  She has not found the courage to visit any form of shop since the emergency began (other than to collect a prescription on one occasion) so the unknown of a large garden centre which might have been crowded was a bold move indeed.  It was quiet, she assured me, upon her return.  

 

Shortly after she returned Former Neighbour (Upstairs) dropped by for a socially-distanced and outside afternoon drink with us both.  It could have been a little more amiable between the two ladies but one was already a little the worse for an afternoon's worth of vodka and lemonade and the other was wary of having a visitor and has been sceptical from the word go of a friendship between her 60-something husband and a 20-something young woman.  Nothing to fear on that score I can assure all concerned.  It was good to catch up.  And it was generous of SWMBO to stay and drink with us when she could have made her excuses and gone inside.  

 

Another day closes.  I hope to be upright and breathing in the morning.  Sleep well. 

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

Congratulations to HH and the family.

I didn’t put my name forward for treasurer of my MRC in January this year as after 20 years of doing the job I wanted a break. In July the current Chairman resigned and I was co-opted onto the committee as chairman. Out of the frying pan and into the fire. I’d rather have continued with the treasurers post. It’s a lot easier dealing with numbers rather than people! Anyway with the Covid situation things have been a bit quiet and by the time things are back to ‘normal’ I can be out of the post.
Goodnight

Robert

[Barry O]

Evening all. 

 

Congrats HH!

Sunny but windy day at the office. Hat trick finished the game! All bowled so not much involvement from me!

The person in charge of Leeds City Council is saying that, while the number of positive cases is rising they don't want to be seen as big brother handing out lockdowns... not the best thing to say (or do) at the moment.

 

Baz

Edited September 20, 2020 by Barry O

[jamie92208]

5 hours ago, Coombe Barton said:

Barclays and expats and cancelling credit cards from a couple of weeks time - don't know if it affects anyone here.

https://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2020/09/15/barclays-to-cancel-all-expat-credit-cards-because-of-brexit/?utm_content=buffer32078&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer&fbclid=IwAR0twYjdpG5XvlYfizMnYyLTZOdwikwsGuvCq3QE1L87CHQQKSuDyiSSnN8

Thanks John. This has actually been going on for some time. My Barclaycard, which at the time was the only piece of plastic that worked at motorway toll booths, was cancelled about 6 months after we moved here in 2018. I talked to the girl who answered and she read me a list of of countries where we could live and keep the card, Jersey, Guernsey,  Gibralter plus some others.  I replied that it must obviously be OK to live in a tax haven but not in a country with a regulated banking sector. It went straight over her head so I gave up.  The motorway tolls were solved by buying a gizmo to stick on the windscreen that works like a dream.

 

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs HH.  I suppose the good part is that his pannier fund will now be emptied.

 

Jamie

 

PS, good news Rick, I hope that the recovery continues, early days yet but positive progress.

Edited September 19, 2020 by jamie92208

[Coombe Barton]

... the sapiens bit of sapiens ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/09/19/best-laid-plans/

 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Reading John's blog on the demonstration in Trafalgar Square by the anti-vaxers/Covid is a hoax/5G conspiracy theorists if I was Corvid-19 positive I would be tempted to join their demonstration before self isolating. More mundane things, spider season is upon us, I've just had to rescue a rather large spider from the kitchen sink for the second time today. I don't kill spiders as they keep insects such as moths down. Congratulations HH on becoming a granddad and I hope it doesn't leave a big hole in your modelling tokens. Thats it for now, be back later.

[The Lurker]

1 hour ago, Gwiwer said:

As I have done from early on I too look at the published numbers and the trends.  

 

For the UK detected infections are rising sharply but ostensibly it is known where those cases are since those tested must leave their details.  Daily updates on localised rates of infection are available (via the BBC website at least) showing by local authority area - and searchable by postcode - the current figures. 

 

Which brings me to another point.  London's Mayor Khan has been jumping up and down in the past 24-48 hours over "Sharply rising rates" in London yet this is not borne out by those same figures.  The trend and the weekly cumulative figures for most London Boroughs are actually down.  Of those which are rising, and of note they seem to be in areas of high-density low-income demographics with significantly non-white populations, they are rising at a rate I would call slowly.  

 

What am I missing?  Who is right?  Who is possibly misleading or being misled?  These things are important right now.  The infection rate for London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames which includes the Hill of Strawberries is below the nationwide average and the number of cases is falling.  Because of fewer tests being available?  Because fewer of the tests are positive?  Or what?  

 

I suspect it is our dear mayor clamouring for attention as usual - he’s got a deferred election campaign to run and as you say London rates remain relatively low. He is of course a politician- and I am always reminded that when “political” first became a term to describe someone in the (I think) 16th century, it was an insult. How does the saying go? Those that seek power are the least deserving of it.

[PhilJ W]

Oops nearly forgot. Some local schools are closed due to Corvid-19 including one where there is/was a regular toy fair/swap meet. They were cancelled of course as soon as lock down commenced.

[The Lurker]

3 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

Afternoon all...

 

Lemme see, yesterday "man" came and built the shed base for us, shed kit will arrive next Friday, so we're now all ready for it

 

 

 

It looks like you have decent boundary markers but the outfield looks a little long

[BSW01]

Good evening everyone 

 

We spoke to Amelia this morning and wished her a happy birthday, it was nice to talk to her as we haven’t seen or spoken to her since March! After that I disappeared to the workshop where I did a little more painting of the control panel fascia, basically tidying up the amendments I made last weekend. I then made a start on the vacuum motor platform I’m making for the bridge. So far I’ve cut out the actual platform footboards and fitted some angle below, tomorrow I’ll start on the support framework. It’s all being made using guess work from a number of photos I’ve been able to find on-line. 

 

Tonight’s meal was once again chicken curry, served with aloo saag, onion bhaji, vegetable pakora and naan bread. This was followed later by a bottle of red. 

 

Richard. Congratulations on becoming a grandfather again. 

 

Goodnight all 

[The Stationmaster]

G'night all

[newbryford]

6 days of catchup done....

 

Congrats to new grandparents, commiserations to those suffering the various degrees of fallout of Covid-19.

 

A very pleasant 5 days have been spent deep at points west of Bristol, but seeing as the daily routine entailed the observation of part of the former LSWR mainline, I deemed it suitably socially distanced from G*R territory................

 

Dartmoor in the morning. Meldon Viaduct is the light coloured straight line on the centre right.

 

 

5 days of golf in the sunshine, with a rapidly improving Junior NB (including a 9-hole outing with Mrs NB as well), lots of other stuff done, including activities close to HH and Mrs NHN.

 

The 7th on the Oakwood Course at Ashbury. A good drive, just left edge of the sloping fairway........

 

One for HH.

Air rifle.

Not bad for 10 minutes tuition.....

There was a daily competition and it could only be won once per visit - as it turns out, my scores would have won each of the three days I entered! And the same for the air pistol!

 

And for Mrs NHN's speciality - I had a go at archery for only my third time.

 

It took a few arrows to get used to "not thinking about the shot" and just let it go when ready.

I didn't win the 10 shot daily competition, but the final arrow of the session is carried out on the instructor's "draw/set/loose" quickfire command and nearest the bull wins.......

 

Going back to the "never shout BINGO!" from a couple of days back.

Each evening, there was a friendly game of Bingo and on day two, Junior NB wins game 1 with a line.

Two evening later, she "wins" again with game three and a full house and calls out the relevant five-letter word.

"I'm not going up again - you claim it" she says.

I'm halfway across the floor looking at her card and see one number not crossed out......................

Cue the walk of shame.

I think this was her revenge for me beating her at golf.

 

I did a bit of pyrography amongst other crafty stuff.

Jamie may recognise the location.

 

 

The Manor House (and Ashbury Hotel) near Okehampton is a place we have been visiting since 2000 and even from the first visit - when Junior NB was three and 13 of us went - we love to go back there as there's so much to do for everyone in the family.

 

The establishment was very proactive in promoting social distancing, mask wearing, hand sanitisation and other procedures to instil a great confidence in Covid awareness to the guests. At no point in the five day stay did we feel uncomfortable about the presence of others in a leisure/social environment.

 

The only usual downside to a trip to The Manor is the drive home [*] - 300 miles of A30/M5/M6 - usually on a Friday or Thursday. 

The return involved a three lanes-into-one north of Bridgwater around an incident. Thankfully, it didn't look too serious, although 2 of the 5 vehicles involved were 2 vans that were side by side from the same company......... Try explaining that to the boss the morning after. 

7 hours of stop/start with a couple of PNB stops = one grumpy NB driver.

 

[*] The drive down was on Sunday evening with an overnighter at a Travelodge near Taunton for less than £33 for the three of us was a no-brainer, leaving me with only an hour's drive to get there in plenty of time for the 9.30am pottery class on Monday morning. 3.5 hours to Taunton, plus 1 to get there. Result on two fronts.

 

Despite the M5 tribulations, it was a much-needed break from the hectic schedule at work that has seemingly not stopped since the lockdown started way back when. Especially as our main holiday to the USA that should have happened about three weeks hence, fell by the wayside as the pandemic progressed though summer.

 

Sunday beckons.

Have a good one folks.

 

Cheers,

Mick

 

 

[PhilJ W]

Goodnight all.

[laurenceb]

Congratlations HH

Night awl

[pH]

We picked most of our grapes on Thursday, leaving some (hopefully) to further ripen on the vine. Nowhere near our best yield, but good quality. 
 

Then, today, my wife was working in the yard and a raccoon approached to within about 6 feet (socially distancing, obviously). This is not necessarily a good thing as, apart from being vicious if provoked, raccoons are one of the ‘reservoirs’ of rabies in this area. She managed to shoo it away - they don’t scare easily - but it then climbed up onto the trellis and started digging into the remaining grapes. I had to use a long hoe to convince it to move on. It looks as if we picked the grapes just in time, and we may not get many more. At least the recently-returned local bear does not appear to have found them yet.

[J. S. Bach]

Today being rather cool outside (to me at least) at 528°R, I decided to see if the heat is working. I have a dual-mode unit, heat and ac so I set the thermostat to four degrees above the inside temp; the heat came up and it felt almost warm enough to toast marshmallows! One less thing to worry about this winter season.

Edited September 20, 2020 by J. S. Bach

[J. S. Bach]

Night Owl from the Piedmont.

[BR60103]

11 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

There are three versions of what we say today.

A) What we actually say.

B) What Jamie puts in the minutes

And 

C) What Jamie actually does.

 

At work, after a few meetings, one person observed "He who writes the minutes controls the meeting".