Early Risers.

[Ian Abel]

BIN day, they're already serviced with the constant parade of BIN trucks around the neighborhood...

 

Yesterday the choir/scholar get together went exceptionally well, and by all accounts from the tech. folks the result is of good quality.

Great to see those people again, albeit from a distance and all behind masks! Also, singing in masks is actually far clearer than we expected!!!

18 people spread around the main church with recording equipment and cameras all over the place is a very bizarre sight!

Some day we'll be able to meet again the "real way" <sigh>

 

On the weather front, was -1 first thing, has just started to lightly snow AND we have thunder and lightning! It's VERY overcast, dark and dreary outside.

Apparently having provided the second largest snowfall EVER in October, on Tuesday, hasn't phased the weather gods one bit  

 

Carry on -  (I think I may go take a nap on the couch with Whitney!!)

Edited October 22, 2020 by Ian Abel

[The Stationmaster]

Afternoon all,

 

The lightin g shop visit was very productive, except for my pension money, with success in respect of the new light for the kitchen and the reservation ofa. new dining room main light plus - alas - an order placed for new wall lights to match it (none of which will match the lights illuminating the pictures - remember you heard that  bit from me first - realisation elsewhere may take time to dawn.

 

Train spotting was suitably impressive - one freight as we arrived (head end not seen) plus similar round the corner as we were leaving; two southbound container trains with green engines with yellow writing on them; 2 X 165 units shuttling from one end of the depot to the other and later back again; two IETs; 2x GWR 387 coupled; 1 x GWR/Hex 387 visible on the depot/.  All in a space of around 40 minutes.  Tesco subsequently successfully shopped, and then the Good Doctor taken to the surgery to see a Medical one of that sort of title as she was unwell last night - hopefully the prescribed pills will help.

[J. S. Bach]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

 ...snip... Every cloud has a silver lining.... ...snip...

Hmmm, I usually say "Every silver lining has a cloud around it.". 

[PhilJ W]

Afternoon all from Estuary-Land. 

4 hours ago, Tony_S said:

I wonder what percentage of visitors (not traders or exhibitors) drive to Alexandra Palace? I have always gone by train and bus for the last hill!

As The Q said below.

4 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

I believe Heathrow Terminal 4 may be vacant for the foreseeable future.  And it comes with it sown tube station (also currently unserved but that'a a minor detail!) 

There's a lot of empty department stores in the High Streets. I was thinking about suggesting them as an exhibition venue but the same reasons as to why they are empty also apply such as the enormous parking charges. 

3 hours ago, TheQ said:

I've not been to the unmentionables show there, but I do normally go to the National Dinghy Exhibition and the car parks and surrounding area are full during the two days..

For those of us well outside London, it's a lot quicker and cheaper to go to the show by road than rail.

 

For me to use rail it would be..

Half hour by car to the nearest station, (there is no public transport there from our village). 

3 hours train to Norwich , wait around a bit and on to London.

half hour including transfer time from Liverpool street to Ally pally..

then that **** walk up that hill.

So 4 hours if the connections are right.. at a price of about  £60

 

Or

 

2.5 hours by car 135 miles 3 gallons of fuel about £5:20 (each way) and then that ***** walk up that hill..

 

If forced Not to use the car inside the north Circular. I'd actually drive to a station just outside that had parking and get the train in for the last bit.. but parking and train would still add a significant cost.

The same applies even nearer to London. There are very few alternatives to rail travel and that being more geared to commuter traffic M-F is often disrupted at weekends by engineering work. IMHO the ExCel Centre is preferable to Alley Pally as the couple of times I've attended events there there has been plenty of free parking some distance away with a free bus link to the centre. Mind you that was a few years ago and things may have changed.

[grandadbob]

7 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

GDB - do you have a back-to-back gauge to check the wheelsets on your pp-prairie?  Careful study of how it goes wrong - if you can face the testing - should indicate which bit comes off first and likely causes especially the b-to-b (particularly on the pony trucks) and the spring tension on the leading truck or if a screw is too tight stop the trucks turning properly.

 

 

Thanks Mike and yes I do have said gauge and all appears correct in that department.  No spring on the pony truck but the screw was loose.  I know this because they (the pony truck and screw) fell off completely at one stage!  That explains the derailing problem and is now resolved.  Stalling on points is another matter but I'm getting there with some tweaking and re-levelling and even un-levelling.  

Regarding Mr P.Bear's comment about sending it back there doesn't appear to be anything much wrong with the loco itself (apart from the loose screw, both on the loco and in my head).  Well not quite true now because in my temper enthusiasm grabbing hold of it I managed to break one of the front stays and a sand box off the back  (now glued back on) but I can't return it because of that.  It was stalling on 5 different points at slow speed but I've got that down to two.  It will now trundle around at half speed over everything.

If it wasn't for the calming influence of The Boss and her delicious ginger cake this afternoon it may have become more damaged but things are improving.  SMOG tonight with Shiraz and another glass now helped things along and I may well test a bit more of the Caol Ila later.

 

[polybear]

Bear's rant of the day:

ER'ers may remember Bear reporting the saga of the painful paws some weeks ago - is it due to fighting a losing battle with the lid on a jumbo jar of beetroot, or the onset of Arthritis of some form?

Well, several weeks ago Bear had blood tests - with not a lolly in sight

A week later I phoned for results - ok so far, with more to come.  So I phoned earlier this week for the missing results - also ok.  I enquired as to whether or not that was all results received.  A quick check reveals some still not back, despite the tests being two weeks ago.  The docs would investigate....

 

Bear receives a call yesterday from the Docs - could I recall how many blood test forms I had?  Dream on - 2? Maybe 3?  It seems that the Renal tests I was due to have were never done .  The secretary would just "check something" before printing off the form for the missing tests.  She phones back a few minutes later - the form was printed off several weeks ago, only they neglected to give it to me with the other two forms .  So that means yet another trip into town to get yet more blood tests done - more pain, no lolly

The secretary couldn't tell me if the Renal blood tests were needed as a part of Arthritis investigations, or if they were simply tacked on the end as a quick general MOT.  If it were the latter then dodging them would be less of an issue with regard to solving the painful paws issue.  As it is, the paws do seem to be less painful than they were (or I'm getting braver) so maybe it's a very bad sprain of some sort, taking several months to fix?

 

Rant mode disengaged....

[grandadbob]

Oh dear, poor old Bear.  If you weren't so far away in t'arctic circle I'd relent on my earlier stand and offer you a (small) piece of cake! 

[simontaylor484]

What is it with consumables with fireworks this year seems to have been a lot going off the last couple off nights, it seemed to have stopped for last couple of years through tougher legislation but it seems to have slipped.

 

Excel is fairly easy to get to in last experience ,suppose it is a case as how long it is in use as a Nightingale Hospital. Like similar venues up and down the country.

 

As with adverts the following has appeared. Not that it's difficult to look at and better looking than the saw mill of late 

[Tony_S]

17 minutes ago, polybear said:

As it is, the paws do seem to be less painful than they were (or I'm getting braver) so maybe it's a very bad sprain of some sort, taking several months to fix?

I don’t know if it affects others but injuries do seem to take longer to heal with age. I started to notice this when I was about 40.  
As for the kidney function tests they do get put on a lot of routine tests but if you are being tested for arthritis it might also be so they can decide what treatment would be most appropriate.  Having mildish chronic kidney disease has affected which heart medication and dose I get. One of my blood tests on Monday will determine whether or not I have to be attached to a drip on Wednesday. Last time I was ok, the previous time I was plumbed in! 

[simontaylor484]

On further investigations ie looking out of the bedroom window the fireworks seeem a fair distance off they are loud but we are not getting the reverb that we get if they very close. They are over the line of trees at the edge of the Cemetery I'm wondering if They are from a venue and have been sold on for a bit of extra cash. Also noticed some green laser lights in the sky from the Leeds direction wonder if it's Barry O of this parish signalling for his air drop of Harrods Xmas pudding.

 

[New Haven Neil]

It was 45 in my case, and again at 55, where I felt things 'slow down'.

 

Q, yes 'carb 'flu' is a thing.  Takes a few months to wear off, then you get carb craving.....still hits me once a week or so, I eat one of those oaty bars on a day when I have been 'good' and that seems to keep it at bay.

 

Our woodburner is in disgrace, there was an awful bang of metal cracking and now the bottom damper doesn't seem to, well, damp, now.  It is of course totally inaccessible without dismantling the whole thing, which will probably damage the refactory, which is mucho ££££ as its Norwegian. Grrr. Its hot in here tonight!

[Tony_S]

4 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

 

Our woodburner is in disgrace, there was an awful bang of metal cracking and now the bottom damper doesn't seem to, well, damp, now.  It is of course totally inaccessible without dismantling the whole thing, which will probably damage the refactory, which is mucho ££££ as its Norwegian. Grrr. Its hot in here tonight!

Are those naughty welders still on the island? Repairing your damper might be possible. 

[simontaylor484]

3 minutes ago, New Haven Neil said:

It was 45 in my case, and again at 55, where I felt things 'slow down'.

 

Q, yes 'carb 'flu' is a thing.  Takes a few months to wear off, then you get carb craving.....still hits me once a week or so, I eat one of those oaty bars on a day when I have been 'good' and that seems to keep it at bay.

 

Our woodburner is in disgrace, there was an awful bang of metal cracking and now the bottom damper doesn't seem to, well, damp, now.  It is of course totally inaccessible without dismantling the whole thing, which will probably damage the refactory, which is mucho ££££ as its Norwegian. Grrr. Its hot in here tonight!

Ooh refractory brick we used to deliver it in industrial quantities to Aldwark and Scunthorpe steelworks and about 20 tonne a month of domestic stuff usually to Aga Rayburn in the Stoke area and various hardware wholesalers. I got some rayburn bricks for a family friend at a substantial saving at one time. 

[Tony_S]

4 hours ago, Ian Abel said:

 

Yesterday the choir/scholar get together went exceptionally well, and by all accounts from the tech. folks the result is of good quality.

Aditi’s French group assume their Christmas party will be using Zoom. They like a sing song of festive French tunes. I was pleased to be able to find YouTube videos of how to do Zoom sing-alongs. Even how to livestream to YouTube. 

[New Haven Neil]

Kicked off as soon as released from prison, Tony!  All sorts of sob stories in the UK press from them, but the truth is rather more prosaic.  One local given 6 weeks yesterday too - went to McDonalds with his mates.....

 

I don't really know what has happened to the stove, the mechanism for the damper is buried between two plates and I doubt is able to be repaired without dismantling the whole thing, which isn't an option at the moment.  I have an idea what has happened, if only I could see the relevant part!  I may be able to block it up somehow, it is only needed to light up anyway, and isn't used for long - the top vent does all the work.  It just takes a bit longer to light without the bottom air (steadyyyy!).

 

 

[Erichill16]

Evening All,

managed to get down to see mum and weather was very kind to us, dry, sunny but a little chilly. Feeling drained again but don’t know why so early night. Better get some book work done tomorrow before it builds up. SWMBO has already mentioned the g word so it might be up to the weather to decide what actually gets done, may even get some of both done, oh joy.

Better get my head down in anticipation for the day ahead.

goodnight,

Robert 

[Dave Hunt]

I bought my Dad a new laptop a couple of weeks ago but intermittently it won't switch on so I spent three hours on the phone describing the problem to various people and eventually one of them said that it was probably a problem with the power switch. I then set about getting something done about it but after getting the runaround once too often I told one person that it was her choice - either someone came to fix it within 48 hours or I was cancelling the order within the statutory 14 days and wanted my money back. Strangely enough an engineer's slot became magically available for yesterday but in the event was delayed until today after we'd waited all day so my mood wasn't improved. Today an engineer arrived and replaced the little plastic power button. Note - not the switch mechanism or the circuit board but just the bl**dy button. Tomorrow will see some more discussions with the so-called customer service department that are likely not to be too complimentary. The likelihood of me agreeing to keep the machine is fast receding. 

 

Apart from that today has been, er, Thursday.

 

G'night all.

 

dave

[simontaylor484]

Mmm I predict a surgical air strike on the customer services department of an electronic a retailer

[Coombe Barton]

... and the double firkin ...

 

https://johncolby.wordpress.com/2020/10/22/screen-scraping/

[Coombe Barton]

1 hour ago, Tony_S said:

Even how to livestream to YouTube. 

They may feature on my blog???

[Barry O]

A winning sort of day so..

 

Time to say "Goodnight all!"

Baz

[J. S. Bach]

58 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

Mmm I predict a surgical air strike on the customer services department of an electronic a retailer

With a "Tallboy"?

[Erichill16]

Can’t sleep so thought I might post a picture of Sydney on the beach at Filey from earlier this week. 

[tigerburnie]

G'night all

[PhilJ W]

Evening all from Estuary-Land. An item appeared in the paper the other day about which second hand cars had the least problems. Needless to say the top cars were Japanese or Korean. The top three, all Japanese got the perfect score of 100%. One car failed dismally with a score of only 40%. I cant remember the make but the indicators had hardly been used.

43 minutes ago, J. S. Bach said:

With a "Tallboy"?

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/10/14/europe/poland-tallboy-bomb-explodes-scli-intl/index.html