PhilJ W

There was a picture on Facebook recently. A recently laid concrete road (still wet) and a heavy truck that had succeeded in traveling at least 200 metres along it.

I had to pop into Martins newsagents today and they had plenty in stock.

Just been reading this on another forum. http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punxsutawney_Phil

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Sherry, glad to hear your op went well, I suppose its debatable which is the most painful, the op or the two old biddies yacking. At least they can give you something to ease the post op pain (how about a couple of gags for the two old biddies?). The sun is still shining here this morning but its predicted to rain later, by the way the trees are waving about its a bit windy. So long for now, be back later.

Goodnight all.

Yes indeed I have. A few months ago I was driving east along Clay Hill Road and coming up to Timberlog Lane mini roundabout there was one car in front of me. Waiting to come out of Timberlog Lane (on the left) was said horse drawn hearse. Instead of taking what was his right of way the doddery old fool in front of me signaled the hearse out together with the the inevitable long tail of traffic, at least 8 vehicles. To cap it all the d.o.f. then pulled into a car park about 10 metres beyond the junction. Fortunately there was an alternative route even though it was a couple of extra miles.

And then you woke up?

I was stuck behind two slow drivers this lunchtime, a pair of limosines returning from the cemetary, 20 mph on a busy main road where overtaking safely is impossible. The local undertakers concerned are well known for this having even received complaints from the local bus company. Their stock answer is they have to show respect for the dead, a bit of respect for the living would go down better.

Nearly forgot, best wishes Sherry (and Ian). As for hospital parking, I have to go for a blood test. Normally I would walk as I live quite near to the hospital, but thats not an option at the moment. I could use the car but if the blood clinic is busy it could be a couple of hours wait and parking fees lare high. Public transport would involve two buses and a three mile journey to cover less than one mile. I'm trying to find out if I can have my blood test at Orsett minor injuries clinic and ask them to look at my foot problem while I'm there.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. What Jamie said about collecting your pension for longer than you paid in set me calculating re. my own pension, later this year I will have been collecting my pension for a third of the time I spent paying in. I will have been retired nine years at the end of March. Wine lovers should look away now, I watched the program on Sicily on BBC2 last night and part of the program was about the local wines and had the presenter treading grapes. He was showing how it wasn't as easy as it looks, you had to get a rhythm to make the job easier so to avoid breaking their rhythm to go to the loo the treaders added a wee extra to the wine . The good news is the treading of grapes to make wine has been banned since the 1990's. The Corvettes disappearing down the sinkhole happened three years ago, almost to the day (12th of this month), fortunately all eight cars were recovered even if damaged.

Goodnight all.

Evening all from Estuary-Land. Ian, I suppose auditors are like policemen, the older you get the younger they look. I noticed this during my last few years before I retired. Another thing is where I worked in local government there used to be a civil service department called District Audit that made regular audits of all local authorities. They were hot, even if your books were in perfect order you still worried when they asked to check them. In the late 80's they were privatised and their work was farmed out to a big finance company. Within a few years the experienced auditors had been replaced by one newly qualified auditor in charge of a group of trainee auditors. As it happened I had heard rumours of a certain council project overunning its budget without it being bought to anyones attention until it was too late and then being brushed under the carpet.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Rick, I hope things go smoothly for your move. Sherry, hope your op is as successful as it should be, and no I do not want to see the movie. This talk of solicitors reminded me of the solicitor who dealt with my parents affairs, he trained and qualified as a doctor before deciding to switch careers, I thought that if they needed a coroner he would be well qualified to do the job. I am thinking about my own will, there are several courses of action that I can take and changes involving other family members means a rethink but I will have to consult other family members first.

Goodnight all.

I had exactly the same problem with British Gas. This was quite a few years ago before Farcebook and Tw@tter however. What got my back up was that they washed their hands of it and left me to sort out the mess. I had to contact my existing supplier to re-instate my account, there was no help at all from BG, not even an apology, they just didn't want to know.

The way some items disappear when rellies die I'm not surprised. When my grandmother died by the time of the funeral her flat was practically empty, my aunts had made sure of that. Not quite as bad as the Steptoes though. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4M-60QloZ8

Morning all from Estuary-Land. Slept pretty well last night, no problems with the arthritis or cramp. I was once told that a good cure for cramp was to rub the affected area with a wine bottle cork, and it worked! How or why it worked I've no idea, perhaps its a natural muscle relaxant in the cork. Not a lot to do today but I'm expecting a couple of parcels some time this week so waiting in for the postman who should be here before lunch. Bye for now, back later.

Back in the 70's I was courting a girl who lived at Pilgrims Hatch north of Brentwood. The Greenline 721 route used to terminate not far from where she lived (The Robin Hood, Brentwood) the last bus then ran empty to the garage in Romford. I often came up behind the last bus on this run back to the garage but if it was an RCL Routemaster it would leave me standing going down Brook Street Hill (then part of the A12), often reaching 90 mph.

Goodnight all, and belated birthday greetings to Gordon and Junior NB.

Eastern National used to fit speed limiters to their front engined double deckers (Bristol LD, FLF). Brentwood depot had a prototype, a Bristol FL which was a rear entrance FLF. This had a different gearbox and rear axle to the other buses but on one occaision the rear axle was replaced by a standard one with a higher ratio. Not one driver mentioned it to the management.

I found mine in the Basildon WH Smiths. Asda's and Tesco's stocked the last one locally.

I just spotted a copy in my local Smiffs today so I had to buy one. The manager told me that they might not carry them for very long. I must say that the mill looked quite impressive.

A common drink in the Carribean.

You should allways reverse onto a drive, unless you can drive off or have a means of turning the car. You should avoid reversing on to the road wherever possible. Most however seem to drive on/reverse off, even people driving vans where it would be impossible to view approaching traffic because of the van sides.

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I too had a scam call the other day, the timer had just gone off telling me that my dinner was ready and the kettle had just boiled when the phone rang. I picked the phone up to hear someone with an Indian accent asking about my 'recent accident'. He got a very short answer (two words, second one 'off') then I put the phone down, checked it on 1471 and it was an Indian number. A former colleague of mine, sadly no longer with us used to give a 'sob story' and I've known him keep it up for at least ten minutes, by then the person on the other end would have fallen asleep or even committed suicide.