Early Risers.

[Joseph_Pestell]

11 hours ago, polybear said:

 

Yet another crossed off my chrimbo card list.....

 

In other news:

 

Bear has been removing the kitchen "ceiling box" which covers the top part of the staircase, with a view to making it smaller and less of an eyesore.

An investigation hole was first drilled, to see if I was onto a winner:

 

Then the first side disappeared......

 

 

Why is it that builders consider it ok to bury all the crap where it doesn't belong? :

 

 

And then it was gone; the vertical timbers will be removed, shortened and re-used to support the new plasterboard.  Various options exist for boxing in, with appearance, complexity, as well as ease of plastering all playing a part:

 

edit:  There's some real scope for making the box much smaller - probably by around 50%, and also altering the shape to make it a bit easier on the eye.

 

 

Oh yes, and here's some vintage wood filler - circa 1990. It looks suspiciously like newspaper to me.....

Courtesy of the superstars working for Charles F. Hunt Ltd. Building Contractors, working on the house refurb programme for the local council.  I've spent the last 30 years slowly correcting their cr@p workmanship....

It appears they no longer exist, thankfully.

 

 

Mess?  Oh yes, and some.   Dated from 1925 onwards..........

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We owned a similar ex-Council house for a few years. Interesting how/why they decided that the kitchens should not be plastered. What were they expecting tenants to be doing in their kitchens?

[Tony_S]

Morning all.

Somewhere between misty and foggy here. We had an early morning phone call to let us know our new oven is in its way. I also had a text message to say something from Margate is arriving too, but after lunch.  
We don’t have to worry about being out when the deliveries come. Today was the first day we were not supposed to have a newspaper but we got one. Not the paper we used to have but for someone down the road. The paperboy doesn’t cope well with change of routine. We have frequently had their paper if he has made a mistake earlier in the round. Perhaps I need a notice that says “not number 35”.

This week seems to be free of medical appointments, apart from requesting medications online for collection later in the week.

Tony
 

[TheQ]

Mooring Awl Inner Temple hare,

6 hours plus 1.5 hour sleep which is very good for me and very much a surprise as my spine felt it wanted to leave home last night and is annoying me now..

 

Dull grey damp, very quiet out there on Ben the indecisive Collies patrol. He was very reluctant to go out, wanted reassurance several times, and then decided he liked it and had a good snuffle.. That made me a couple of minutes late, So I came up behind the toolbank van doing it's usual 40mph in a 60.

 

Chaos electronically this morning. Some sort of power surge over the weekend, a large section of the building tripped out, and anything in the labs failed miserably on what ever they were running at the time.. Many computers tripped out, Not this one in the lab , but mine at my desk did..

 

-999.9938 V, last of the DCV measurements on this system, onto measure current..

 

SWMBO has a drive through flu vaccination coming up, amazingly she was able to get one for Saturday, which means one less complication, as without the landrover, we don't have an alternative vehicle available at the moment.

 

I have a 4 day week this week, and the Boss is off all week. So Friday they can panic on their own..

 

Time to  switch from Positive to negative Zeroing..

 

 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

Another dull and wet start to the day, not that I’m going outside (until tonight’s shopping trip that is) anyway. More paint stripping to be done in the cellar, i don’t think I’ll finish it today, but I’m hoping to most of this particular wall done. 

 

Apart from that there’s not a lot else planned. 

 

Mick, best wishes for  your brother. 

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

 

Brian

[Tony_S]

25 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

We owned a similar ex-Council house for a few years. Interesting how/why they decided that the kitchens should not be plastered. What were they expecting tenants to be doing in their kitchens?

My Grandparents (Mum’s side) had a Birmingham council house. Built in the late 1920s. It was well built and decorated. There were at the time people who thought such nice houses were wasted on the working class but the not the view of Birmingham Corporation. Perhaps influenced by Cadbury’s? 

[Joseph_Pestell]

9 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

My Grandparents (Mum’s side) had a Birmingham council house. Built in the late 1920s. It was well built and decorated. There were at the time people who thought such nice houses were wasted on the working class but the not the view of Birmingham Corporation. Perhaps influenced by Cadbury’s? 

 

Ours, on the outskirts of Newbury, was built in 1926. A very well built house with, originally, a huge garden. An upstairs bathroom had been put in during the 1960s, taking space from a huge main bedroom.

But, exactly like Polybear's house, the kitchen was not plastered. Instead, the bricks had been painted with a rather vile gloss green. It looked rather as though they were expecting tenants to be butchering their own homegrown livestock.

[Simon G]

Morning all,

The early morning rain has given way to a breezy cloudy day.  We will probably venture out soon for today's constitutional.  It will be shorter than yesterdays 6 miles I expect.

This afternoon I plan to do some checks on the alignment of the track on my layout, as there are a couple of areas which some locos dont seem to like.  I am also adding some extra lead weight to some small Hornby locos to improve their traction.

[Barry O]

been to the post office. Everyone is following the one way signs.. then a "regular" visitor goes the wrong way to skip the queue....

 

Me  " erm, can you read or are you just stupid?"   response "Oh I need to get this posted in a hurry".. man behind me in the queue "Not just blind  .. just stupid".. 

 

any roads up, she gets to the counter.. first class signed for please Graham (managers name). She hands over her envelope... Graham asks " is this a passport?"  obviously he recognised the address.. "Why yes . I am sending it first class as I need it for Friday as we fly to Spain for a month then"

 

 

She was not happy as Graham explained that she had very little chance of getting her passport by Friday... then followed it up.."but as we are in Tier 3 they are telling you not to travel".. "I need the sun" she says

 

Man behind me headbutts the wall.. 

 

I wouldn't waste good vaccine on her..but it would mean she would give the NHS someone else to look after...

 

 

Baz

[Tony_S]

The newspaper wasn’t even for 35 in our road. It was for a completely different road, so I phoned the newsagent and said she could collect it from my step. She asked me to leave it sticking out of our letter box and I declined saying I didn’t want to inconvenience the postman. Newsagent was concerned that it might get wet. In the past she has either asked for it to be returned to the shop or asked us to deliver it. Today I just said it wasn’t my problem and it was on the step.  When Aditi retired I said she could take over dealing with the newsagent as they really irritated me. She thought I was being ridiculous until she started paying the bill. Obviously not the size of the bill, just how long it took the newsagent to work it out. 
Tony

Edited November 30, 2020 by Tony_S

[Tony_S]

I shall make an effort to be less grumpy from now on today! On a jolly note our DPD driver’s favourite tune is “I’m forever blowing bubbles” if the delivery app is correct. 
Not sure what the oven delivery chaps musical tastes are. 

[polybear]

3 hours ago, AndrewC said:

Greetings all from the boring borough. Today is Monday, it is also Wednesday as I have a short week. The project mangler isn't happy that I'm down to 15 working days for the rest of the year. He told me to cancel. I told him the dates were booked before I was assigned to the project and that if they want me to cancel they'd have to get HR approval for me to carry over more than allowed. I also told him where to go and how to get there as my assigned number of hours for the project and therefore the budget was constrained by the dates already in the system. Tw@twaffle the first.

 

There's something delightfully satisfying about p*ssing off a Project Mangler.  Especially a tw@t one.....

 

2 hours ago, Winslow Boy said:

Dear Bear I am shocked and shocked again for I would have thought that a Bear of your wisdom and insight would have known that what you have described is Standard Operating Procedure for women. Good god my good bear you have taken a severe drop in my estimation. If it wasn't for this r....y virus you would be being sent away to attend a Man Awareness Information Nurture Tutorial Educational Normallacy Additional  Notification  Compliance    Exercise or MAINTENANCE for short. As this is not possible you are suspended from cake snaffling exercises or oggling you stash of Felicity Kendal photos for one week. Go to your room at once and just think on how lucky you are that I read your posting before anyone else.

 

Bear isn't married.  So Bear gets to:

Do what he wants

When he wants

How he wants

If Bear doesn't want to, Bear doesn't

Spend what he wants.  On what he wants.

Eat what he wants

Go where he wants

No-one spends Bear's money on drivel

Watch what Bear wants to on telly

Turn the heating on.  Or off.

Muddle when he wants

No-one bends Bear's ear.  Or rants, raves, throws a strop, or gives Bear the silent treatment.

No-one files divorce from Bear, then reckons she's entitled to all of everything.  And some.....

Finally, and best of all, Bear gets to scoff ALL the Lemon Drizzle Cake.

 

So in my book I reckon W.B. owes Bear a cake.  A big one.... 

 

2 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

We owned a similar ex-Council house for a few years. Interesting how/why they decided that the kitchens should not be plastered. What were they expecting tenants to be doing in their kitchens?

 

The word is that the council ran out of money, so cost-cutting was the order of the day.  Hence no plaster in the kitchen (possibly until the 1960's?).

 

33 minutes ago, Barry O said:

She was not happy as Graham explained that she had very little chance of getting her passport by Friday... then followed it up.."but as we are in Tier 3 they are telling you not to travel".. "I need the sun" she says

 

I do hope the combined members of the queue burst out in hysterical laughter at this point.  Oh how I hope her tickets are non-refundable.  Sadly it appears that because of C-19 the passport offices are shut for personal appointments and fast track passports.  What a shame. 

Edited November 30, 2020 by polybear

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Overslept this morning big time. Last night the sore foot kept me awake until the early hours with Arthur Itis joining in for a chorus. I did eventually go to sleep about five but when I woke up it was gone ten. Thoughts are with NB and his brother, this time last year my brother was in hospital with sepsis brought about by kidney failure, luckily he has recovered but he was very ill at the time.

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Ours, on the outskirts of Newbury, was built in 1926. A very well built house with, originally, a huge garden. An upstairs bathroom had been put in during the 1960s, taking space from a huge main bedroom.

But, exactly like Polybear's house, the kitchen was not plastered. Instead, the bricks had been painted with a rather vile gloss green. It looked rather as though they were expecting tenants to be butchering their own homegrown livestock.

When the LCC Becontree Estate was developed in the 1920's the tenants were expressly forbidden to keep pigs or cows and IIRC chickens as well until WW2. My dads relatives had a smallholding at Rainham where they raised pigs on behalf of the tenants of the estate, each family had its own pig.

[New Haven Neil]

My grandparents house was bombed during the WW2 nastiness, so was rebuilt in austerity style after the end of unpleasantness - this had an unplastered kitchen for many years when NHN was but a cublet.

 

They device was presumably aimed at the shipyards a mile or two away and somewhat missed, and must have penetrated to great depth before exploding as despite the devastation, nay obliteration of their house, those around were still standing, if somewhat, er, knackered.  The grandparents survived unhurt if shaken in the Anderson shelter at the bottom of a long garden, which was buried under tons of soil and debris.  This was believed to be the biggest bomb that fell on Tyneside during the war.  Thankfully, even though politicians leave something to be desired, we don't have this level of disagreement now.  Let it remain so.

 

The chap in the dark coat and trilby standing to left of centre is believed to be Grandad.

 

 

 

[Dunsignalling]

My folks moved into a new council house in 1952 when I was a few months old. Mum is still there at 92. Kitchen fully plastered but the attached "service block" comprising wash house, coal store, second loo and workshop (yep) was, and mostly still is, painted brick/block and single-skinned to boot.

 

John

Edited November 30, 2020 by Dunsignalling

[petethemole]

An interesting weekend, compared to most, lately.  Saturday I accompanied Mrs mole to collect her new Motability car, a KIA Nino hybrid, and turn in her old Hyundai i20.  Main drawback is the lack of a CD player.  She has a huge CD collection that she cycles through the car.  Copying them to a USB device would take forever, so she bought a USB CD player.  We took it for a familiarisation run several miles to the nearest Morrisons to spend a £100 voucher that she's been given for driving some friends to the funeral of their mum/gran who was one of her closest friends from way back.  We filled up and spent the rest on grocery stocking up.  I received an extended lecture on how Covid vaccine is going to alter my DNA.  Unfortunately she talked over the music, so I could hear neither clearly.   I retreated to my den and watched Galaxy Quest, which improved my mood, along with some strong cider.

 

Sunday  I was tasked with dealing with draughts in the garden building, which were thought to be caused by  the windows not fitting. They do fit if they are properly shut, which is difficult on one as the wood has swelled slightly from being on the wind and rainward side.  The draught turned out to be caused by the external architrave on one window coming away from the wall, exposing a narrow gap at the side of the window frame. This had been caused by movement in the wall timbers.  Fortunately I had some suitable sealant, and also plugged part of the gap with a handy-sized rocket stick from my stock of potential modelling wood. I then fixed the architrave back with a couple of nails to hold it and several big screws.  It had been held with a few thin nails and two short screws.

 

Thoughts go to Warren and Mrs Bod, and to Mick and family.

 

Stay elfy.

[AndrewC]

On the subject of strange findings during house renovations, we found all sorts of crap. Newspapers from 1952. Original bits of brick and tile cuttings under the floorboards. Ancient bottles, tins, and other waste buried in the garden. Abandoned gas and water pipes all over the house. One wall in particular looked like something from Mario Brothers as behind the plasterboard there was at least 100' of copper pipes going up, down, loops, bypasses, etc. Obviously the former kitchen and where the first boiler was. At one point they'd just concreted over the front garden, path and all. Then someone else concreted over that, and added pea gravel to boot. After breaking all that up (4.5tonnes of rubble) we found the original ceramic path edging buried but still intact since the concrete wouldn't stick to the glaze. We were able to save about 2 metres worth. The builder also found a pair of mouse skeletons in the false ceiling in the old bathroom. We did leave some "Easter Eggs" in various locations for the next person who renovates the place to find. 

[PhilJ W]

When I moved in to my cottage at Burnham-on-Crouch I had to have it damp treated. This involved removing the plaster from  the downstairs walls. That plaster was almost certainly original and contained horsehair as a binder. The scullery was added to the rear in the 1920's and the walls were not plastered until the 1950's/60's.

[PhilJ W]

Interesting find.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-54175441

[pH]

Friends of my sons undertook a big renovation of an older house they had bought. Stripping a wall, they found around 10,000 dollars concealed in it. By the designs of the notes, it had been there for quite some time. They reported the find to the police and deposited the money with them, then made efforts to trace previous owners of the house, but without success. After the appropriate time, with no-one having claimed it, the money was returned to them. It paid for a large part of the renovation.

[Winslow Boy]

2 hours ago, polybear said:

 

There's something delightfully satisfying about p*ssing off a Project Mangler.  Especially a tw@t one.....

 

 

Bear isn't married.  So Bear gets to:

Do what he wants

When he wants

How he wants

If Bear doesn't want to, Bear doesn't

Spend what he wants.  On what he wants.

Eat what he wants

Go where he wants

No-one spends Bear's money on drivel

Watch what Bear wants to on telly

Turn the heating on.  Or off.

Muddle when he wants

No-one bends Bear's ear.  Or rants, raves, throws a strop, or gives Bear the silent treatment.

No-one files divorce from Bear, then reckons she's entitled to all of everything.  And some.....

Finally, and best of all, Bear gets to scoff ALL the Lemon Drizzle Cake.

 

So in my book I reckon W.B. owes Bear a cake.  A big one.... 

 

 

The word is that the council ran out of money, so cost-cutting was the order of the day.  Hence no plaster in the kitchen (possibly until the 1960's?).

 

 

I do hope the combined members of the queue burst out in hysterical laughter at this point.  Oh how I hope her tickets are non-refundable.  Sadly it appears that because of C-19 the passport offices are shut for personal appointments and fast track passports.  What a shame. 

Oh so your one of those so called 'trouble makers' are you Mr Bear. Well we know how to deal with your sort. Please ensure that you are ready as the no- binary defined operatives in white coats will be with you shortly, they are just in Yorkshire at the moment dealing with an incident in a post office where three men thought they knew better than a women -  something to do with them trying to stop her going on holiday. If you are a good patient your 're-education' or as we like to call it 'de-manning' shouldn't take more than a week and you will be able to return to society as a humiliated and de-clawed bear.

 

Yours sincerely

 

A R S  Wipe

Head of Woke and Reeducation.

Edited November 30, 2020 by Winslow Boy

[Erichill16]

3 hours ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

Ours, on the outskirts of Newbury, was built in 1926. A very well built house with, originally, a huge garden. An upstairs bathroom had been put in during the 1960s, taking space from a huge main bedroom.

But, exactly like Polybear's house, the kitchen was not plastered. Instead, the bricks had been painted with a rather vile gloss green. It looked rather as though they were expecting tenants to be butchering their own homegrown livestock.

Near where I Iive, it’s reported that a family keep their chicken in the kitchen and I’ve heard that they allow a pig  to roam into the kitchen as well.

 

[simontaylor484]

Best wishes to newbryfords brother and any one else suffering.

 

My first house was a terrace house the boss wanted down lighters fitting so after measuring and marking out i cut holes with holesaw and got absolutely covered in soot i looked like al jolson. There were piles of it under all tge holes i cut

[Joseph_Pestell]

Just now, Erichill16 said:

Near where I Iive, it’s reported that a family keep their chicken in the kitchen and I’ve heard that they allow a pig  to roam into the kitchen as well.

 

 

House pigs are not that uncommon and I don't think that it would be difficult to housetrain a pig.

 

We did keep a chicken in our utility room briefly after her "sisters" had been killed by a fox and she was attacked by a large dog.

 

I was rather more surprised by a post on here that reported two Dexter cows being kept in a house.

[simontaylor484]

The Boss in her infinate wisdom has just decreed that we are having a new Xmas tree this year nit that there are any in stick on line that she likes. Me think she just been awkward, she gets like this from time to time.

[Winslow Boy]

8 minutes ago, simontaylor484 said:

The Boss in her infinate wisdom has just decreed that we are having a new Xmas tree this year nit that there are any in stick on line that she likes. Me think she just been awkward, she gets like this from time to time.

I think it is pay back for supplying you with, not one but two items that just happen to fit into those things that shall not be mentioned on this thread.